Grapes are most definitely a favorite fruit in our household, I’m sure in many other households as well – and for good reason too. They are the perfect bite-sized fruit snack! Can you believe on 3/4 cup of red, green or black grapes contains only 90 calories? Not to mention, they are a natural source of beneficial antioxidants and other polyphenols. Grapes are big winners when it comes to healthy choices that also taste GREAT!

I’m excited to partner up with Grapes From California and KitchenPlay to invite you to participate in the “Endless Possiblities with Grapes from California” Twitter party on October 13, 2015 at 9PM EST (6PM PST). (I’ll be there!) With California Grapes still in season through January, we will be sharing recipes and ideas to inspire you to add grapes to more of your meals and snacks all season long. Follow the hashtag #GrapesfromCA for some deliciously fresh grape ideas and plenty of chances to win cash prizes!

Don’t forget to register for the Twitter party (so you are eligible to win!) and follow Grapes From California on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

To get your grape ideas flowing, here are some of my favorite ways to enjoy and serve California grapes. The ideas are truly endless!

1. Smoothies – grapes in smoothies are awesome! Add a small handful of grapes to your favorite smoothie for a little added color and sweetness.
2. Salads – my mom got me hooked on adding grapes to salads, she adds them every time! Think grapes, crumbled gorgonzola and walnuts…mmmm.
3. Frozen – frozen grapes make the perfect healthy treat to satisfy late night cravings for something sweet. Eat them poolside to cool down or add them like ice cubes to your drinks.
4. On a cheese plate – you will always find a bunch of grapes when I’m entertaining and serving a cheese plate. Grapes and cheese are the best of friends, always remember that!
5. Breakfast – slice up some grapes to top your morning peanut butter toast or add them whole to a hot bowl of oatmeal.
6. Lunchboxes – my favorite fruit to add to my children’s lunchboxes. Just wash and throw into a container.
7. Snacks – my favorite snack right now is cottage cheese, grapes and sunflower seeds. Every afternoon!
8. Roasted – I have yet to actually try this on my own, but my good friend raves about a roasted sausage with grapes recipe she makes. I can’t stop thinking about it! I would think roasted grapes would be an amazing topping for crostini smeared with goat cheese too.

(Disclosure:  This post was written in partnership with Grapes From California via KitchenPlay. I was compensated for my time.)

The post 8 Ways To Love Grapes appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

How many of us have a beautiful bowl full of fruit sitting on our counter…that never gets eaten?

My fruit bowl is always full. It’s overflowing usually. Depending on the season and what’s on sale you can almost always find apples, oranges, bananas, lemons, limes, tomatoes and an avocado or two. (the rest of the fruit I buy gets stored in the fridge…pears, peaches, grapes, berries, etc). I tend to go overboard when I’m in the produce department apparently.

(more…)

The post Healthy Habit: Empty The Fruit Bowl appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

Another month…another gathering of the Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club.  This month one of our members suggested the theme, Cooking with Wine.  Now if you know me, you know that got me excited.  I love my wine.

There were so many great Cooking Light recipes using wine to choose from!  I really wish this “club” wasn’t virtual…I would love to have each of these wonderful ladies cooking these dishes for me!

Cheese Fondue with Apples – Shelby from Grumpy’s Honeybunch

French Onion Soup – Helene from La Cuisine d’Helene

Baked Rice with Butternut Squash – Val from More than Burnt Toast

Salmon with White Wine-Mustard Sauce – Jamie from Mom’s Cooking Club

Red Wine Pear Crisp with Spiced Streusel – Aggie from Aggie’s Kitchen

I’m not a huge dessert eater (not saying I don’t like dessert…just don’t have it often) but when I do I tend to make something with fruit.  I like fruit cobblers/crisps/crumbles…whatever you want to call them.  I like them because they are easy to make, usually without too much fuss, and for the most part they are on the healthy side.  This pear crisp was just that.  I’ve never made a crisp/cobbler/crumble with pears, so I was looking forward to trying this.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find Bosc pears to make this with (as the recipe calls for), so I had to settle for Bartlett and I left the skins on (it may not look as pretty but the skin is where the nutrients are!).  And instead of the whipped topping I opted for a dollop of vanilla Greek yogurt.

I don’t have to tell you how delicious my kitchen was smelling while the pears were simmering in the wine and then baking in the oven with the spiced streusel.  It is a great fall dessert to treat yourself with.

The recipe can be found here on Cooking Light’s site.

The post Red Wine Pear Crisp with Spiced Streusel appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

A little of this…

and a little of that…

If you are a reader of this blog, then I’m sure you know by now that I’m a big fan of both ladies and am often cooking up their recipes. Which is why I’m a member of two cooking groups – Barefoot Bloggers and Craving Ellie in my Belly. These groups are dedicated to making their recipes and sharing them with each other. This month was a little extra special for me because it was finally my turn to choose one of July’s Barefoot Blogger recipes! It didn’t take me too long to pick Peach Blueberry Crumbles, I was in the mood for a summery dessert, and since I’m not a very talented “baker”, a fruit crumble was exactly what I had in mind.

Right now in Florida, peaches and blueberries are everywhere. I love this time of year, there is an abundance of in-season fruit at the farmer’s markets and grocery stores. While my sister in law Jamie and I were preparing this dessert we were loving the sweet smell of the peaches cooking. We made these for 4th of July and couldn’t wait to get the fireworks going so we could enjoy our dessert while watching them.

The crumbles were very easy to make and I followed the recipe to a tee. It helped that Jamie was there and did most of the measuring while I handled the fruit part. If you know me, I’m not big on measuring which is why baking is not really my thing. The good thing with making a crumble or a crisp is that you can fudge the measuring up a bit without messing it up to much. 😉

Hope all the Barefoot Bloggers enjoyed this recipe as much as we did!

Peach Blueberry Crumble

Yield: 5-6 servings

Ingredients:

 

For the fruit

• 2 tsp grated lemon zest
• 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup fresh blueberries (1/2 pint)

For the Crumble

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 lb (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced
• 2 lbs firm, ripe peaches (6-8 peaches)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Immerse the peaches in boiling water for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until their skins peel off easily. Place them immediately in cold water. Peel the peaches, slice them into thick wedges, and place them in a large bowl. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, granulated sugar, and flour. Toss well. Gently mix in the blueberries. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes. Spoon the mixture into ramekins or custard cups.
3. For the topping, combine the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the butter is the size of peas. Rub the mixture with your fingertips until it’s in big crumbles, then sprinkle evenly over the fruit. Place the ramekins on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and back for 40 to 45 minutes, until the tops are browned and crisp and the juices are bubbly. Serve warm or at room temperature. If you want to make these early, store the unbaked crumbles int he refrigerator and bake before dinner.

Recipe by Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa at Home

Follow AggiesKitchen on Instagram and show us what recipes you are making from the blog! Use the hashtag #aggieskitchen - I'd love to see what you are cooking up!

This week’s Craving Ellie in my Belly recipe is Oven Baked Onion Rings chosen by one of my very favorite food bloggers Mary Ann from Meet Me in the Kitchen! I have been following Mary Ann’s blog since the beginning of my life as a blogger and she amazes me with her constant cooking and baking, everything she makes looks so delicious and you will leave her blog hungry for sure.

(We had our onion rings with awesome Honey-Teriyaki Chicken)

We loved these onion rings!! Why haven’t I made them before is all I kept thinking while I was eating them. I had to change up the original recipe a bit so that I could use what I had on hand. I subbed panko for the crushed baked potato chips and instead of buttermilk used some Oikos plain Greek yogurt (thanks for the coupons Oikos!!) thinned with some nonfat milk. I loved the kick from the cayenne in the breading and loved even more how crunchy they turned out – I used the air baking method that I use whenever I am baking anything breaded. These onion rings will definitely be making an appearance in my kitchen again!

You can find Ellie Krieger’s original recipe for Oven Baked Onion Rings on Food Network. Here is my version of it:

Oven Baked Onion Rings
Recipe adapted from Ellie KriegerCooking spray
4 cups panko
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup non fat milk
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 to 2 large Vidalia onions, peeled Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Place a cooking rack in large rimmed baking sheet and set aside. Place panko in a shallow bowl, add cayenne, salt and pepper to taste, and set aside. In another bowl, combine Greek yogurt, nonfat milk, 2 tablespoons of flour, salt and pepper and set aside. Slice onions into 1/2-inch circles and separate into rings, keeping only large, whole rings (reserve rest of onions for other uses).

Place the remaining flour in a sealable plastic bag, then add onions, and shake to coat. Dip onions 1 at a time into the yogurt mixture, then dip into panko and place on rack in baking sheet. Spray cooking spray evenly over rings and bake for 20 minutes, or until coating is crisp. Season with salt, to taste, and serve immediately.

The post Peach Blueberry Crumbles appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

Please…please tell me that I’m not alone.

Over the weekend, my sister in law Jamie was visiting and she perused through my mag pile and pulled a few out to take poolside. She came across this simple recipe and when we both looked at it we knew we were going to make it that night. This is one of those recipes that makes you wonder “why didn’t I think of that myself??”

We set up stations…bowls of crushed pretzels, chopped peanuts, shredded coconut and crushed cookies. Jamie chopped the bananas, then we dipped the chunks into the melted chocolate and rolled them into the yummy toppings. Then they were set on a cookie sheet and put in the freezer for a few hours to harden.

I loved these, and have been enjoying a couple (or few) nightly as my TV watching snack.

Chocolate-Dipped Frozen Bananas

Ingredients:

• 2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• Assorted toppings for coating bananas (such as crushed chocolate sandwich cookies, toffee bits, chopped Butterfinger candy bars, chopped salted peanuts, or toasted shredded sweetened coconut)
• 3 ripe bananas, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices

Directions:

1. Stir chocolate and oil in heavy small saucepan over low heat just until smooth. Let stand 15 minutes to cool.
2. Place each topping in separate shallow dish. Line baking sheet with foil. Arrange banana slices on foil. Using fingers, dip 1 banana slice in chocolate, coating completely. Shake off excess chocolate. Drop dipped banana in 1 topping. Using clean hand, sprinkle more topping over banana to coat; transfer to foil-lined sheet. Repeat with remaining bananas, chocolate, and toppings. Freeze until firm, about 3 hours, then serve.

Recipe from Bon Appetit magazine

Follow AggiesKitchen on Instagram and show us what recipes you are making from the blog! Use the hashtag #aggieskitchen - I'd love to see what you are cooking up!

The post Chocolate-Dipped Frozen Bananas appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.