Pickled Grapes

No, this is not some sort of April Fool's Day joke- These things are real.

A couple of weeks ago, my 22 year old brother excitedly told me about a salad he tried at The Wild Grape Bistro in Salt Lake City, that contained Pickled Grapes. He said that they were A-mazing! and found a recipe that he wanted us to try when he came to visit me. He was here last week and one of the first things we did was make Pickled Grapes.
Making the pickled grapes was really easy. You combine vinegar, brown and white sugar, ground cinnamon, ground coriander, and whole cloves (I used ground since I didn't have any whole) and bring that mixture to a boil. Then you add chopped crystallized ginger and diced jalapenos. Next, the grapes are added to the spicy, vinegar-y bath to take an overnight soak.

That was the hardest part for my brother- leaving these grapes alone overnight so they could soak in all the spices and flavor.
He said that at The Wild Grape, there was a small hole in each grape, made with a toothpick or something, that helped the grapes suck up some of the spices and flavor from the vinegar mix. We didn't do that to the grapes, but next time I think I will, to help them pack even more of a punch.

The day that the grapes were ready we made a nice big salad for lunch. It was one of those hodge-podge, anything goes salads, where we just chopped things up and added them to the mix.
We used a base of baby spinach, spring greens and baby arugula. Then we added chopped bell peppers, chopped cucumbers and the pickled grapes. Next some poached chicken and roasted pepitas. We topped it off with a balsamic vinaigrette.
Goodness gracious! What a tasty salad. These things are spicy sweet, tart and vinegar-y, earthy from the spices. What a mix.

We had them on another salad the next day and the day my brother flew back home, he took a large plastic bag of these little guys to snack on, while on his travels through the airport and on his flights. I was wishing that I had more than a few leftover because I really wanted to experiment a little bit more with them- maybe turning them into some sort of salsa or in a different type of salad or something.

I guess that is a good excuse to make more!

Just a little note- my brother and I both thought that the red pickled grapes were more delicious than the green ones, but I am still glad we tried some of both.

Recipe for Pickled Grapes
* I used mostly red grapes, but green too
* I didn't have whole cloves, so I added about 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves to the vinegar/spice mixture
* I removed some of the seeds from jalapeno, but left the ribs when I diced them

Green Fruit Salad with Rosemary

Please excuse some of these photos lately! When my family was visiting from Utah, I really didn't take the time to get a good picture of some of the recipes that I really wanted to share.

I tasted this at a recent book club get together and knew there was a secret little something in the fruit salad besides the green apple, kiwi and green grapes.
I asked the hostess what is was and quickly decided that I would definitely be making this at home. A Rosemary simple syrup was the secret ingredient that added that punch of flavor.

I used the simply syrup recipe that I have used with other fruit salads before that is usually flavored with citrus juice and zest and just added fresh rosemary sprigs instead of the citrus. I just guessed on the number of fruits to use, so if you want more green apple or kiwi or grapes, feel free to add more of that fruit.

It might sound like a crazy combination, but it is so amazing.
I took this salad to one of our family dinners and everyone raved about it.

Green Fruit Salad with Rosemary
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup warm water
fresh rosemary- I used a lot
2 green apples, cored and chopped
3 kiwis, peeled and chopped
3 cups green grapes, halved

Combine sugar, water and rosemary in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil; remove from heat and let cool. Refrigerate until chilled.
Combine chopped fruit in a large bowl. Strain the rosemary from the syrup and add the syrup to the fruit. Stir to combine and chill until time to serve.

CEiMB-Curried Chicken Salad

This week's CEiMB recipe, Curried Chicken Salad, was chosen by Sarah, who blogs over at Sarah's Kitchen Adventures. You can find the recipe on her blog or by clicking HERE.
This will be the last time that I am participating in CEiMB and what a great recipe to go out on.

I really loved this one.
I made a few changes, which I noted on the recipe below.

I love curry powder, so I was pretty sure that I would like this take on chicken salad.
My mom makes a chicken dish that combines plain yogurt and curry powder, so the flavor wasn't really anything new to me.
Of course, I did not use mayo at all. Don't like it and never will.
I just subbed non-fat Greek yogurt.
I also subbed in pecans for the almonds, because I had them on hand. I just mixed them into the salad.
I love that Ellie serves this over lots of fresh salad greens. I didn't use any oil to dress my greens, just the fresh lemon juice which really gave this salad a bright taste.

I even served the leftovers in my husband's lunch, but turned it into a chicken salad sandwich.
My kids enjoyed this tucked into mini whole wheat pitas.
I will definitely make this again.
Check out the CEiMB Blogroll to see what everyone else thought about this Curried Chicken Salad!
Curried Chicken Salad from Ellie Krieger

• 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup water
  
• 1 1/4 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast halves, no more than 3/4-inch thick
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt (I used nonfat Greek yogurt)
  
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise (I omitted this completely)
  
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 cup halved red grapes
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 5 ounces mixed greens (about 5 cups lightly packed))
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (I omitted this)
  
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Bring the broth and water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add chicken to broth and simmer, covered, for 8 minutes. Turn the heat off and let chicken stand in the cooking liquid, covered, until cooked through, about 20 minutes. Remove the chicken from the broth and cool completely in the refrigerator. Cut into 1/4-inch dice. Toast the almonds in a small dry skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant and beginning to turn golden, 2 to 3 minutes.

In a large bowl, stir together the yogurt, mayonnaise, and curry powder. Fold in the chicken, grapes and cilantro and season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, toss the greens with the oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper, to taste. Arrange the greens on 4 individual plates, top with a scoop of the chicken salad and sprinkle with the almonds.

Recipe for Curried Chicken Salad

B-day stuff: Chocolate Cake with Whipped Frosting and brunch from The Pink Princess Book

Here is my little Ry-Bear. She turned 5 on October 25th. She loves the carousel, animals and dinosaurs, but sometimes has a thing for pink and princesses, too.
When we discussed her b-day cake, her first choice involved pink and princess, but she quickly changed her mind to dinosaurs and green frosting. I asked her multiple times and the dinosaur/green frosting combo was the winner.
She wanted to decorate it, so I let her put the little plastic dinos on top and then all the kids help throw the dinosaur eggs (candy-coated chocolate covered sunflower seeds) on top. Kind of relaxing to let the kids do all the work.
I had no problem getting rid of the extra frosting. The recipe for cake and frosting are below. Nothing too spectacular, but good enough for a birthday.
For her birthday brunch, the birthday girl flipped through the pages of Pink Princess Cookbook and chose a menu. The kids helped me prepare all of the food for our brunch.

I was not planning on taking pictures of this brunch, but my mom and husband both protested when I told them I was just going to have a relaxing time with no pics. They insisted. So, I grabbed the camera when everything was on the table (not the usual place for taking pics of food in my house) and I tried to get a decent shot of the brunch. Bear with me on these :-)
Ry chose Mini-Marshmallow Smoothies to start us off. I adapted the recipe from the book and placed 1 sliced banana, 1 cup sliced strawberries, 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, 1 cup vanilla yogurt, and 1 1/2 cups skim milk in the blender. I blended it well, then poured it into glasses and added the colored mini-marshmallows. (The adults enjoyed smoothies w/out marshmallows).
Next up
Blackberry Biscuits
1 can large-size refrigerator biscuits
1 cup canned blackberry pie filling
1 tsp ground cinnamon mixed w/ 1/4 cup sugar

Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray. Slice or divide each biscuit in half. Press one half in the bottom of 8 of the muffin cups, covering bottom completely. Leave 4 of the muffin cups empty.
Spoon 1 Tbls pie filling on top of each biscuit half.
Cover pie filling w/ remaining biscuits halves.
Sprinkle tops w/ cinnamon-sugar mixture. I used decorating sugar too
Bake for 15 minutes.
Serve warm.
Fairy Tale Fondue
3/4 cup heavy cream
12 oz white chocolate, chopped
1 tsp vanilla

Heat the cream in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat until hot, about 2-3 minutes.
When hot, add the chocolate and stir until it is just melted and smooth. Stir in vanilla.
Serve with your choice or fresh strawberries, banana slices, pound cake, pretzels, grapes, etc. for dipping
This was Ry's fave thing to help make for the brunch.

Little Ladybugs
12 seedless red grapes
12 toothpicks
12 whole strawberries w/ stems
1 package mini chocolate chips

Place a grape on a toothpick, sliding it all the way to the end of the stick. This is the ladybugs head.
Place a strawberry on the toothpick, stem end first, and slide it down to touch the grape. This is the body.
Lay the ladybug down and carefully push the pointed ends of several chocolate chips into the strawberry to make the spots.
Raspberry Tea Sandwiches
8 slices white bread
1/2 cup soft spread cream cheese
1 Tbls raspberry preserves
1 pint fresh raspberries

Cut bread into desired shapes with a cookie cutter. In a bowl combine cream cheese and raspberry preserves. Spread a thin layer of the mixture on each bread cut-out and place raspberries on top.

Classic Cucumber Sandwiches
1 English cucumber, sliced
8 slices whole wheat bread
2 Tbls softened butter
salt and pepper
cherry tomatoes for garnish

Cut crust off bread and cut into shapes with cookie cutter.
Spread butter on each cut-out. Lay cucumber slices on top.
Season with salt and pepper.
Garnish with cherry tomatoes


The whole brunch was really fun to prepare and even more fun to share. It was a great birthday!

Recipe for Chocolate Cake

Recipe for Whipped Frosting

CEiMB-White Gazpacho with Grapes and Toasted Almonds

When I saw this week's CEiMB recipe, White Gazpacho with Grapes and Toasted Amonds, that was chosen by Lauren over at I'll Eat You,
I wasn't sure how it was going to go over at our house. This was actually one of the last recipes I made and took pictures of, before our move. I figured since it was so easy and took about 5 minutes, it really wouldn't be that hard to get out of the way.
I threw it together and we had it as an appetizer before we ate our dinner. The verdict was split right down the middle. Half of us loved it. I mean really, really loved it. Half of us-not so much. Some adults loved it and so did some kids. The opposite was also true.
My gazpacho really didn't turn out white at all. I think it is because I didnt peel all of the skin off the cucumber. The color of the gazpacho in the cookbook, is much lighter.
It was fast and quite elegant looking (in my opinion), so if you love cucumbers and vinegar, try it out.
To see what the other CEiMBer's thought, check out the Craving Ellie Blogroll!

White Gazpacho with Grapes and Toasted Almonds
2007 Ellie Krieger
Ingredients
2 large English cucumbers (or 3 large regular cucumbers), peeled and roughly chopped
3 slices white bread, crusts removed
1/2 cup warm water
3 cloves garlic
6 scallions, whites only, divided
1/4 cup white wine vinegar or Sherry vinegar, plus more, to taste
1 teaspoon lemon juice, plus more to taste
1/4 cup plus 4 teaspoons slivered almonds, lightly toasted, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more, to taste
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup green grapes, halved
Directions
Set aside 1 cup of chopped cucumber for a garnish. Soak the bread in water until soft, about 2 minutes.
Place soaked bread, the rest of the cucumber, garlic, 3 of the scallions, vinegar, lemon juice, 1/4 cup of the almonds, salt and 3 tablespoons of olive oil in the bowl of a food processor and process until cucumbers are completely blended and liquid and almonds are almost completely invisible, about 1 to 2 minutes.
Season with additional salt and vinegar, if desired.
To serve, ladle 1 cup gazpacho into a bowl. Mound 1/4 cup reserved chopped cucumber, 1 tablespoon scallions, 2 tablespoons grapes and 1 teaspoon almonds in the center of the soup.

Up Next- Vegetable Soup- Warm or Cold

Red and Yellow Fruit Salad in Cinnamon Sugar WonTon Cups

I guess you could say I am on a WonTon Cup kick. I had some wonton wrappers left in the fridge and the idea came to me for a fruit salad cup. I cut up all my fresh fruit and realized all the fruit I had was red and yellow, hence the name. You could really use any fruit that you wanted to. I made my WonTon cups with cinnamon-sugar (watch everyone in the house- these will get swiped and eaten without anything in them), and filled them with this delicious salad. We had some as a afternoon snack and some with dinner. This would also be a great appetizer. It would brighten up any table with all the beautiful colors that are included in this salad.

Red and Yellow Fruit Salad in Cinnamon Sugar WonTon Cups by Mary Ann

1 small red apple, cut into slices and then in pieces

1 cup chopped, fresh strawberries

1/2 red grapes, cut in quarters

pomegranate seeds

1 cup fresh pinapple, cut in cubes

1 mango, cut into cubes
* Cinnamon-Sugar WonTon Cups

Combine all fruit in a bowl. Make Cinnamon-Sugar WonTon cups and fill with fruit salad.

*Cinnamon-Sugar WonTon Cups
12 wonton wrappers
cinnamon-sugar mixture
cooking spray
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray regular muffin tin or mini-muffin tin with cooking spray. Place one wonton wrapper over each cavity of muffin tin. Spray wonton wrappers with cooking spray. Generously sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture over wonton wrappers, so that they are covered. Press wonton wrappers down into cavity of muffin tin, so wonton makes a cup. Bake for 5-6 minutes, or until golden brown on edges and crispy. Let cool for a few minutes. Fill with fruit salad.

You can also store the pre-made cups, in a airtight container, for 4-5 days.

Coming Up Next- Tuesdays with Dorie- Dorie's choice- French Pear Tart