Picnic Time Recipes

May also ushers in picnic season allowing summer to turn around the corner. Work dairy into your diet by bringing one of these appetizers to your next family picnic, pool party, or barbeque, or try my Sweet Potato Salad with a Mango Curry Dressing that uses Greek yogurt.

Balance and Enjoyment

Summertime is a time to create some special treats, and you can enjoy them in good health by implementing a few sensible guidelines, keeping calories under control and your diet balanced:

• The key to balanced eating and weight control is portion control, so feel free to enjoy a special treat like a slice of cherry pie a la mode or an ice cream cone, but have one scoop instead of three.
• Include low calorie, nutrient dense foods with every picnic or meal. Add fruit platters, fruit salad, green salads, bean salads or raw veggies to every party spread you plan.
• Grilling is a low fat cooking method. Try skewering kebabs – chicken breast chunks, lean beef sirloin, pork loin, or chunks of swordfish or tuna steaks.
• Grill veggies. Vegetables take on a whole new flavor when grilled, and it’s so easy! Take seeds and core from bell peppers, cut into 2 to 3 pieces and brush lightly with olive oil. Place on grill over medium heat, turn after about 4 minutes, until tender. Eggplant, onion, and zucchini can be sliced into one-quarter inch slices, brushed with oil, and placed on grill as well. Simple serve on a beautiful platter as a side dish.
• Add berries. Fresh strawberries and blueberries make a delicious topping for a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. Or add berries to angel food cake with a dollop of whipped cream.
• Cantaloupe ice cream bowls. My grandmother used to love this as a cool, refreshing summertime treat: Half one small cantaloupe and remove seed and pulp. Scoop one scoop of good vanilla ice cream into a “bowl” of melon. Delicious and loaded with vitamins C, A and calcium!

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

• 1 prepared 9-inch pie shell, unbaked
• 1 10-ounce package frozen chopped broccoli, thawed
• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 small (2.8 ounce) can french fried onion rings

Optional ingredients:

• ½ cup red bell peppers, chopped and sautéed
• ½ pound chopped ham
• ½ cup mushrooms, sliced
• 2 slices bacon, fried and crumbled
• ¼ – ½ cup (1-2 ounces) additional shredded Cheddar cheese, for topping

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook broccoli and drain. (If desired, add red bell peppers to the cooked broccoli, for a festive touch.). Stir in Cheddar cheese. Add cottage cheese, eggs, onion rings and, if using, ham, mushrooms and bacon. Stir to combine. Pour mixture into uncooked pie shell. Top with additional shredded Cheddar cheese, if desired. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

My brothers, sisters and I would get up early and head to the kitchen, tiptoeing and whispering as we prepared our feast. The breakfast menu was as limited as our cooking skills. In our younger days, we’d deliver smiles and cold cereal to Mom’s bedside. In later years, it was French toast or pancakes. One year, I loved poached eggs on toast so that’s what Mom got, too. Whatever we served, it was accompanied by a large glass of milk, poured generously to show her how much we care. (After all, that’s how she cared for us.)

Even then, we realized that coffee was essential in the morning. The only trouble was, we had no idea how to make it. The first year, I gave up trying to figure it out and finally snuck into my mom’s room to ask for instructions, whispering at her bedside, the same way we did many times when we woke up during the night. Other years, we’d try to decipher the label on the coffee can and attempt making coffee on our own. My mom drank that coffee, and ate the breakfast, no matter how it turned out.

Fast forward many years and I found myself waking to the sounds of my children in the kitchen, with hushed voices and banging cabinets as they prepared me breakfast in bed, complete with a large glass of milk. (After all, that’s how I care for them.)

With Mother’s Day this weekend, I smile knowing the tradition that has long died out at my house will be carried on in another household.

After being on both sides of the equation – as a child, wondering what to make and how to make it – then as a mom, eating whatever my children brought me, no matter how it turned out – here are a few ideas that might make your Mother’s Day morning more enjoyable.

And here’s my advice to dads: A little help on your part can help your kids pull off breakfast beautifully. Just pick your breakfast style, gather the kids, and enjoy! Your breakfast, served with love, is sure to be the recipe for a successful Mother’s Day.

• Make-ahead French Toast with vanilla syrup, from a kids’ cooking recipe contest.
• Grab-n-go breakfast: Strawberry Sunrise Breakfast Smoothie for a meal in a glass.
• Homemade Low-fat Granola with a delicious cinnamon scent that Mom will love waking up to.
•  A Breakfast Parfait, with yummy layers of three food groups that neither moms nor kids get enough of (low-fat dairy, whole grains and fruit.)

So, share your favorite Mother’s Day breakfast story. What’s the best Mother’s Day breakfast you’ve eaten? What are other ways your children make you feel special on Mother’s Day?

Last week, Bill spent countless hours spraying our corn fields to kill the weeds. Because we implement a no-till system to prevent soil erosion, we spray our fields to minimize the weeds. Last week, for the most part, it was just Aiden and me for dinner since Bill worked until after dark most evenings.  

This past weekend, Bill was harvesting our hay and another forage called triticale. Triticale looks like a tall grass and is a cross between wheat and rye. This is the first year we have planted triticale, and the yield from it has turned out really well. We made 41 round bales of triticale on 3 ½ acres. This is about 12 bales per acre. Our average hay fields make about four to six bales per acre.  All of our bales will be wrapped with plastic to preserve the forage.  Bill is really thrilled with how well this harvest has turned out, and we think the cows will really do well with this new feed.

Of course, when it’s a busy time of year like this, things always seem to break or the weather doesn’t cooperate. Last week, a part of the sprayer broke three times in one day, and Bill had to weld the broken piece (we have a rather old sprayer).  Then our skid loader decided to stop working and even though it was a sunny afternoon, the forecast was calling for rain that night. We needed to wrap our bales of triticale and hay before the rain arrived.  Having to stop to take time to fix the broken skid loader adds a bit of a wrinkle to Bill’s already busy day. Thankfully, with the help of the skid loader mechanic, the problem was fixed quickly.

On top of all of this, we have a cow sick with a stomach ache, so the veterinarian is on his way to treat her. With hectic days like this, all I can think is that I am very thankful for Crock-Pot dinners.  

Most days, Aiden will drink at least one drinkable yogurt as a snack. As he goes through a picky eating phase, I’ll gladly give him yogurt over other, less nutritious snack options.

But another reason why I love yogurt is because it helps my bovine babies when they have an upset stomach. The Lactobacillus that helps maintain gut health in humans also can help a sick calf. During times of the year like this spring, when our hutches are full with calves, I’ll regularly keep plain yogurt in our refrigerator just in case a calf needs it. If a calf gets an upset stomach, I will add some yogurt to her milk. I’ll also treat the calf with other needed medications or electrolytes. But the added yogurt usually seems to help the calf recuperate faster. I’d like to say I thought of this on my own, but it was our veterinarian who recommended this remedy.

So to my grocery list for the week, I have added yogurt drinks for Aiden, blueberry yogurt for Bill (it’s his favorite flavor) and strawberry yogurt for me. I’ll also add plain yogurt, just-in-case, for my calves.

Recipe created on behalf of by 3-Every-Day™ of Dairy Chef Scott Campbell of SQC, New York.

Makes 6 Servings
Prep Time: 20 min
Cook Time: 25 min

Ingredients

• 3 plum tomatoes
• 1 large red onion, cut into wedges
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
• 1 refrigerated crust for 9-inch pie
• 2 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) reduced fat shredded Cheddar, Jack or Mozzarella cheese
• 1 bag (10 ounces) spring salad mix
• 1 sprig fresh thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon, dried)
• 2 tablespoon fresh orange juice
• 2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut ends from tomatoes and slice each tomato into 4 wedges. Place tomato and onion wedges on parchment. Brush with 1 teaspoon of the olive oil. Bake 20 minutes or until edges of onion are lightly browned; set aside. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Unroll pie crust on baking sheet. Spread mustard over crust. Sprinkle cheese over mustard, allowing 1-inch border around crust without cheese. Remove about 1/2 of the onion wedges from baking sheet and set aside. Arrange remaining onion and roasted tomato over cheese. Fold 1-inch border up over tart edge. Bake for 25 minutes or until pastry crust is browned and cheese is melted. Sprinkle tart with thyme leaves and allow to cool at least 10 minutes before cutting.

Whisk together remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon mustard, orange juice, vinegar and salt and pepper in a small bowl. Toss dressing with salad mix and remaining onion. Cut tart into wedges and serve with salad.

Yield: 1/6 of tart plus about 3/4 cups of salad and 1/2 tablespoon of dressing, per serving

Nutritional Facts

Calories: 250
Total Fat: 15 g
Saturated Fat: 5 g
Cholesterol: 20 mg
Sodium: 470 mg
Calcium: 25% Daily Value
Protein: 9 g
Carbohydrates: 18 g
Dietary Fiber: 2 g

Luckily, many grocery stores are now carrying a wider selection of gourmet cheese varieties. And many (for example, Wegmans and Whole Foods) have their own staffed cheese counters, so you can still ask questions and sample before you buy. Spend some time at these counters to get a feel for what you love and what you don’t like, so later on when you are shopping at Costco and see a wheel of Locatelli on sale, you won’t feel guilty buying the whole thing.

You can also buy most of your favorite cheeses online. Two of the better sites are www.igourmet.com and www.artisanalcheese.com. So if you’re planning for a party, rather than an occasional snack, you can shop around for the best prices. For example, Prima Donna (a relatively mild style of a Dutch Gouda cow’s milk cheese) can run anywhere from $16.99 to $23.99 per pound.

For ideas on how to set up a cheese platter, read this article from the Food Network or visit MDA’s Dairy Pairings page.

                                                                                                                                                                          Recipe and Photo by Chef Dennis Littley, A Culinary Journey with Chef Dennis, www.askchefdennis.com

Prep time: 15 mins                                                                                                                          Cook Time: 30 mins

                                                                                                                                                Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Cup of All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/2 Cup Chobani Low Fat Greek Yogurt (vanilla or plain)
• 1/2 Cup Oil
• 2 Large Eggs
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
• 1 Lemon Zest(grated) and a good squeeze of juice
• 2 Cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)
• 1 Cup strawberries (cut into wedges)
• Raw Sugar to sprinkle on tops of Muffins before baking

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix all your dry ingredients together in one bowl.
Lightly beat the eggs and add in the Chobani Yogurt, oil, vanilla, lemon zest and juice from the lemon.  

Mix all these ingredients until well blended.
Add wet mixture to dry mixture and mix just enough to blend.

Now fold in the blueberries and strawberries into the muffin mix. (do not overmix; it will make the muffins tough)
This will yield 6 large muffins or 12 small muffins

Sprinkle tops with Raw Sugar and bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees until the tops are golden brown.