Saturday, September 8, 2012

Corn a Plenty and Berry Crisp


We ended up having a lot of extra corn from a party the other night, so I tried to get creative rather than eating corn on the cob for 5 days in a row. I experimented with a few recipes, and a couple of them need some tweaking before I post them on the blog, but I've posted pictures of them all anyway. You'll find recipes for a really healthy Berry Crisp at the end

 After husking the corn, I had fun removing the kernels from the cobs. One of my friends sent me this hilarious yet useful email of food tips which included the following.


Hold the cob over a bundt pan. The end of the corn sticks right in the hole which helps you stabilize the cob. Then use an electric knife to remove the corn kernels and they fall right in the pan. It's brilliant:) Plus, I finally got to use the electric knife that we received as a wedding present over 6 years ago! 



It wasn't completely mess free, but certainly a lot better than any other time I've done it.


The first recipe I made was these whole grain corn and sun dried tomato muffins:


Then I made a Slow Roasted Vegetable and Corn Quinoa with Honey Lime Vinaigrette. I roasted Roma tomatoes fresh from my friend's deck garden and a zucchini in the oven for an hour.


Slow roasting tomatoes gives them a really bold flavour, almost like sundried tomatoes.


While the vegetables were roasting, I caramelized some red onions, added the corn to heat it up, cooked the quinoa, and made the vinaigrette. Once the vegetables were done, I put it all together and topped it with some pumpkin seeds for crunch.  


On Wednesday, it was a perfect day for my first batch of hearty chili for the fall. It was rainy and cold outside, plus its the beginning of football season which always makes me think of chili.


I was also looking for something to pair with the corn muffins I made the day before. The recipe was good, but hot! I ended up adding sugar, cream, and extra corn to try to tame the spice. My sinuses were clear by the time I was done my bowl. 


The masterpiece of my cooking adventures over the past few days were definitely these cute berry crisps, inspired by Teresa Cutter. It only took about 10 minutes to prepare them, and they bake for 40 minutes so you can pop them in the oven while you're eating you dinner. 



Raspberries have a lot of natural pectin so there is no need to add anything to thicken up the berries.

They're also healthy enough that I didn't feel guilty eating cold left overs for breakfast the next morning with a dallop of yogurt. 

 Berry Crisp inspired by this recipe by The healthy Chef

1 cup strawberries washed and sliced
1 pint raspberries washed
1 tbsp sugar
3 Medjool dates pitted and coarsely chopped
1/4 C oatmeal
1/4 C ground almonds

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Mix the berries together with the sugar in a bowl, and divide evenly between 4 ramekins.
3. Place the next 3 ingredients in a food processor and chop until it looks like crumble. Alternatively, you can do this by hand (which I did - it really mixed well).
3. Bake in oven for 40 minutes. It should be bubbly and golden brown.

Enjoy with whipped cream, yogurt, icecream or all alone. They're tart, yet sweet and so delightful that I think I'll make 8 next time:)

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