A Berry Compote for Pancakes!

Liberty LOVES Daddy's Pancakes & Berry Compote!

com·pote
/ˈkämpōt/
1. fruit preserved or cooked in syrup.

I never liked "Blueberry Pancakes". To me, the blueberries messed up how the pancakes cook & taste. It changed the moisture, the texture, and the color too much!

So, instead of putting blueberries IN my pancakes, I started making various berry compotes to put ONTOP of my pancakes -- and I'll NEVER go back! WOAH!

Here is a quick & easy recipe for a berry compote. You can use fresh or frozen berries of any type and blend. See my notes in the recipe if you use more "tart" berries.

Ingredients:

(in parts so you can have as much or as little as you would like)

• 1 Part Sugar (you may add 1/2 part MORE sugar for tart berreis)
• 1 Part Water (substitue orange juice or any type of cytric acid jucie for bitter berries such as cranberreis & add less water if you are using frozen berries)
• 1/8 Part Honey
• 2 Parts Berries (if you are using frozen berries, use less water)

[I usually use about 2 table spoons of sugar, 2 table spoons of water, 1/8 table spoon of honey, and about a handfull of berries and a "pad" or slice of butter. That makes enough for me, Katie, & Liberty - but Liberty only gets a little bit.]

Directions:

Use an appropriate sized sauce pan. Add sugar & water and place on high heat. Stir in honey after about a minute -- this is your "Syrup" in the definition of compote. Stir in clean/rinsed berries & reduce heat to medium/high.

As mixture begins to bubble/boil (5 - 8 minutes or so) fresh berries will begin to "pop" open & frozen berries will become mushy, reduce heat to low/medium and stir.

If you feel the mixture is too thick, you may add small amounts of water in incriments. A little water goes a long way. Sometimes I add just a little bit of butter to keep it the right consistancy. Stir on low heat until the berries are no longer whole and the juice is like a thick fruit juice.

You may set the compote to the side while you cook your pancakes, or use it fresh to help melt your butter on top of the pancakes!

If you try this one out, tell me about it!! I'd love to hear what you thought about it and any edits you make. This is one of our favorite Saturday morning traditions. I hope you like it!

Peace, Love, & Pancakes!

Cilantro Lime Tilapia

Cilantro Lime TilapiaTilapia is the chicken breast of fish. It is cheap, easy to cook, and did I mention it is cheap? Tonight, I will "live blog" an experience. We are blending together two recipe into one because we are hungry and don't want to spend any money!

Recipe 1 is a Mahi Mahi recipe that we LOVE. We will borrow a few of the ingredients but mostly, we will use this method to cook. This recipe we found courtesy of the Food Network's website. Ingredients we will be using from this recipe are: (I'll post a more organized recipe list below)

• sprigs fresh thyme (I would have liked to use dried thyme, but we are out)
• sprigs fresh parsley (SUB: dried parsley)
• 8 cloves garlic, smashed
• 4 (6-ounce) skinless mahi mahi fillets (SUB: Tilapia)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (SUB: regular salt & ground pepper)
• 3/4 cup dry vermouth
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (SUB: Not fresh, lime juice)
• bay leaves, preferably fresh
• 12 cherry or pear red and yellow tomatoes, for garnish

Recipe 2 is a Broiled Parmesan Tilapia from All Recipes.

• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (SUB: freshly grated parmesan cheese)
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise (Don't need since we are using olive oil)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (SUB: lime juice)
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/8 teaspoon celery salt
• 2 pounds tilapia fillets

So, OUR recipe ingredients look like this: 

• 8 or 10 springs of fresh cilantro
• 1 1/2 tablespoons dried parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 8 cloves garlic, smashed
• 4 Tilapia fillets
• 1 cup dry vermouth
• 1/4 cup butter, softened (halved)
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese 
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1/4 cup whole milk or heavy creamer

Directions

Preheat oven to 425

Just before we cover it and put it in the oven.

In a medium gratin dish or baking dish, make a "bed" of herbs with the springs of cilantro. Scatter smashed garlic over cilantro. Spread dried herbs evenly on top. 

Mix onion powder, salt, & pepper. Even coat both sides of the fish.

Lay fish on top of the bed of herbs. Add vermouth.

Mix extra virgin olive oil, parmesan cheese, lime juice, half of the softened butter. Ladle mixture on top of each piece of fish.

Cover fish and and bake for 15 - 20 minutes, until fish is opaque, depending on the thickness of the fillets. Our fillets happened to be huge and took about 23 minutes.

Carefully pour the pan juices into a small saucepan and set the fish aside. I poured ours into a wide mouthed glass, put a straining screen on top of the cup and turned over the screen and cup over the pan. As the juices flowed through the screen into the pan, I moved the cup around to speed it up. I didn't want herbs, garlic, or pieces of fish to make their way into the sauce. Reserve the garlic and any herb sprigs for garnish.

Let the sauce start to cool. Slowly add the whole milk or heavy cream (about 1/8th to 1/4th cup - depending on how creamy you want the sauce) with the remaining 1/8th cup of melted butter while you stir so the cream doesn't curdle. Once stirred, bring the sauce to a boil over high heat and cook until reduced by half, about 5 minutes (ours took 8 minutes). Season with salt and pepper. Taste. Add 1/4 tsp of lime juice if you can't taste a hint of lime in the sauce. Set aside in 4 small glass bowls.

Divide fish among 4 serving plates. Ladle about 1 tbsp sauce over fish and garnish with the 4 remaining cilantro sprigs & the reserved garlic.

We served ours with Garlic Cheddar Biscuits and Cilantro Lime Rice!

I think it turned out great! The extra sauce was sooo good! We added more on the fish as we ate and even added some to the rice! If you try this recipe, let me know what you think and include any edits you make! We were very pleased since we just "threw something together" with what we already had. We would make & eat this again!

Cilantro Lime Rice

This is a quick & easy recipie that we whip up every now and then.

Ingredients

• 4 cups of cooked, cooled rice (minute or regular) 
• 2 eggs 
• 1 cup forzen or canned whole kernal corn
• 2 table spoons of chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• 1/4 teaspoon lime zest
• Salt & Pepper to taste 

Directions

Cook Rice and let cool.
Heat corn in skillet or microwave
Scramble 2 eggs with Salt & Pepper
Add Cilantro, Corn, Eggs, Lime Zest & Lime Juice to Rice. Mix & Toss. Taste. Add lime juice, salt, & pepper to taste.

Sometimes we don't use the egg and corn. Sometimes we just use cilantro, lime, & rice. It depends on how we are feeling at the time. I hope you like it!

Quail & Egg on Creamed Spinach

Here is my photo of the Cornish Game Hen (carved by me!) version on Creamed Spinach with Herb Infused Olive Oil, topped with a Fried, Soft Boiled EggThis is one of my favorite recipes. It looks much harder than it is. When you break it down into parts it becomes a lot easier to tackle. The original recipe can be found here. It is by Chef Chuck Hughes. I saw him make this and thought it looked like a moderate challenge.

My Edits

1. Substituted Quail with Cornish Game Hen. Only added a minute or two to the oven time due to the increased size of the bird.
2. Substituted Quail Egg with Regular Egg & increased the time to "soft boil" by less than 1 minute.

Tips

Fried, Soft Boiled Eggs
This was the hardest part of the entire meal. Practice this step a few times before attempting the entire meal. Time the boiling process each time you practice so you can perfect it. Be sure to put the egg into an ice bath to stop the cooking. Don't leave it in hot water, or it will hard boil. Peal the egg CAREFULLY once it is cooled. When you cook the entire meal, cook 2 extra eggs per 4 or 5 that you need. They can bust easily. Don't over fry them! Just get the outside crispy and do this RIGHT before you serve them for the best results. You want the middle runny. As you serve them, slice the side open and let the yolk bring all the flavors together! 

Herb infused Oil Garnish
The first time you make the meal, do this second, right after or as you prep the eggs. As you start cooking, things begin to move quickly and you run the risk of forgetting all together. When you have done this meal at least once, you can create this garnish quickly while your bird is browning.

Creamed Spinach
It is important that you remove all of the moisture from the spinach leaves after cooking them. Put the leaves in a bowl, take another bowl and stack it on top. Squeeze over the sink until the moisture is gone! This tip is straight from Chef Chuck! It works GREAT!

Here is the recipe information from Chef Chuck Hughes with a few of my notes. Feel free to ask me questions as they come up! You can find me on twitter @RayZorback

Recipe

Total Time: 1 hr 25 min (but I beat that pretty easily the 3rd time)

Prep: 45 min

Inactive Prep: 15 min

Cook: 25 min

Level: Intermediate

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

Eggs

• 4 eggs (+2 extra if you serve 4 - incase one breaks open)
• Flour, for dredging
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs (flavored bread crumbs are ok, but try to match it with spinach, garlic, & challots so the profiles match up with the rest of your meal)
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

Quail

• 4 quails (or 2 Cornish Game Hens)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon canola oil

Herb Infused Oil Garnish

• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 1 clove garlic, minced - (make sure it is fresh & mash it before mincing to release the oils)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Creamed Spinach

• 2 pounds/1 kg fresh spinach, washed and tough stems removed
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 shallot, chopped - (you CAN use a red onion here instead, but use about 1/4th of a large. It DOES taste better with shalltos!)
• 1 clove garlic, minced - (make sure it is fresh & mash it before mincing to release the oils)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions (keep the tips above in mind!)

For the eggs

Cook the eggs in boiling water about 5 minutes for a soft-boiled egg. Drain and cool the eggs in icy cold water, and then remove the shell.

Put the flour in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Put the bread crumbs in a separate bowl and the beaten eggs in a third bowl.

Take the eggs and coat them in the flour mixture, then the beaten eggs, and finally the bread crumbs. Keep them in the refrigerator until ready to fry.

For the quails

Using a sharp knife, slice straight down the breastbone of the quail to open the breast cavity. Remove the rib cage so you have a boneless breast attached to the bone-in legs and wings. Cook's Note: If the breast breaks away from the legs, which can happen with such a small bird, cook each portion separately. Alternately, you can ask your butcher to de-bone the quails for you.

For the herb garnish

Mix the parsley, basil, thyme, garlic, and olive oil in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside. 

Back on the bird

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F/180 degrees C.

Season the quails with salt and pepper. In a large oven-proof saucepan, heat the canola oil on high heat and grill the quails in canola oil on all sides until brown. Finish cooking them in the oven for approximately 8 minutes. Keep the quails warm on a separate plate.

For the creamed spinach

Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the spinach and cook for 15 seconds. Drain in a fine mesh strainer, pressing with a large spoon to release as much water as possible.

In a small saucepan, heat the cream to a simmer and let it reduce by half, for about 10 minutes. Add the Dijon mustard and stir. Put aside.

Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and garlic, stirring until soft and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the spinach and cook, stirring, just until the liquid is released. Add the reduced cream mixture, season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and keep warm.

Lastly, finish the Fried, Soft Boiled Egg!

Using a deep fryer, heat the oil to 350 degrees F/180 degrees C. Fry the eggs for about 1 minute, or just until the crust is lightly brown.

For serving

Plate each portion with creamed spinach topped with a quail and garnished with the herb mixture. Finish the plate with the fried egg cut in half.

my Daily Mile

A few years ago, I was running, a LOT (up to 12 miles on my "long runs)!! When I injured my knee playing Ultimate Frisbee (a piece of my knee fell off), I had to stop running. A few years later, I started again and I was using a website called "Daily Mile". It was in "beta" at the time and you had to sign up for an invite to participate. It had an awesome way to log your runs and compare with friends. Then, I stopped running and started P90X. I did that for about 2 months. It was awesome, but I got busy and stopped that. I had also stopped running - which I really missed.

I started up again and posted a few of the runs on DM & then I stopped again (got too busy with the restaurant was my excuse, but I was working 18 hour days).

Now, I've started up again. I am not putting any pressure on myself this time around. I am just going to run. I'd like to sign up for a few 5Ks this year and complete a 10K. I have some running goals that should get me to the ultimate goal of running & finishing my first 10K sometime this year. So, I logged my first run of the year on daily mile. It was a tough run and chilly. I don't have the appropriate cold weather run gear. But it was a pretty good run. I did 1.5 miles in 16:50. That is an 11:13 pace. Then I went back and looked at my previous times: 12:00 was one of my fastest paces at the time. Most were around 13:00 or 14:00. WOW! This was really encouraging. I thought the run was slow and cold, but it was actually one of my best outside run times and it was the first run of the new year!

Then I realized, that is EXACTLY what Daily Mile is for! It isn't just to connect with other runners and get advice/encouragement. It is to see just how far you've come in overall fitness, focused on running.

Last year, I logged 100 miles. That sounds like a lot, but that really isn't much. This year, I want to run 350 miles. That is less than 7 miles a week on average and will be very doable with other fitness goals I have in mind. If I hit 350 early, I'll target 500, but it depends on how much time & effort are required from P90X at the start of the year and CrossFit by the end of the year. Follow along with me with the milage counter on the right side of the page. Jan 1, 2012 it was at 100 (unless I figure out how to make it count YTD only). 1.5 down, 348.5 to go!

This is why I've deemed 2012 is the Birth Year of the BEAST. Join up with Daily Mile and train with me. BEAST MODE!

Q: Website, Facebook, or Twitter for business? A: ALL

A few days ago, I refrenced the fact that facebook business pages were going to lose some "eyeballs" with the addition of limited social networks. It looks like this is already happening. According to a recent study by Pew Research Center states that only 3% of individuals look to the "social networks" (facebook & twitter) for information on a business. 51% use other internet sources (38% use search engines & 17% use specilaty websites). Here is a recent study on Mashable: Consumers Not Turning to Social Media Sites for Local Business Info [STUDY]

Take note businesses! Your website is still the number one way that your consumers connect with you, but you must be able to connect to the consumers through your website using the social networks.

iPad Today 75: Path 2.0, Office on iPad, ...

In the first half of the show, iPad Today takes on "Limited Social" applications for IOS. Path wins out!

I think Leo gets it a little more than Sarah. Path is NOT a facebook replacement. Path is a life sharing tool for CLOSE friends and family, not a public social network.