Valentine’s Day Linzer Cookies
Show your love this Valentine’s Day (and beyond) with homemade Linzer Cookies. They are a snap to make and look downright adorable – sure to please all the loved one’s in your life!
Ingredients:
1 C butter softened
2/3 C sugar
½ tsp Vanilla
1 1/3 C pecans, finely ground (UPDATED FROM ORIGINAL POSTING)
2 C flour (Pamela’s, GF123 or Bette’s featherweight GF flour all work great!)
Powdered sugar
Seedless Raspberry jam
Directions:
- In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar and vanilla.
- Gradually add pecans and flour. Blend all ingredients thoroughly.
- Refrigerate 1-2 hours or up to 2 days.
- Carefully roll out dough (it will be hard at first, but will soften up with rolling), on a well-floured surface (preferably on a silicon sheet).
- Using a well-floured rolling pin, roll ¼-1/2” thickness.
- Using a heart shape cookie cutter cut a top and a bottom for each cookie.
- For the top cookie use a smaller heart and cut out the center.
- Bake cookies for 12 minutes at 375 degrees.
- Let cool on sheet for 5 minutes before you remove them to cooling rack.
- Let cool completely.
- May be stored at this point for up to 2 days in an airtight container.
- Transfer all bottoms to a pan for spreading jam onto them.
- Leave tops on cooling rack, but place a sheet under it to catch the mess from the powdered sugar. Sprinkle the tops with powdered sugar using a sifter.
- Spread jam onto the bottoms
- Place the powdered sugar top onto the jam bottom, and VOILA!
NOTE FROM PEGGY: I usually make these cookies a day ahead and sugar dust and jam them just before giving them away. Also the batter is great just as a cookie cutter cookie! I keep all the centers and put them out to eat as well. They keep for 1-2 days, if not eaten all up!
Love all the seasonal produce at your local farmers’ market, but not sure what to do with it all? Founder Peggy Curry will be at the Manhattan Beach Farmers’ Market on February 14th, 1:15-2:15, showcasing recipes made with fresh produce from our local markets. Drop on by for a taste and go home with healthy recipes to share with your family!
Manhattan Beach Farmers’ Market – Open from 11am – 4pm at 13th Street & Morningside Drive
Peggy’s Workshop: Tuesday, February 14th, 1:15-2:15pm
Farmers’ Market Mediterranean Filet of Sole
Serves 2-3
Ingredients:
1 pound package of 2 Filets of sole, flounder, or another whitefish
1/2 lemon to squeeze onto fish
1 tsp fresh minced dill or 1/2 tsp dried
2-4 TBS extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped shallots
1 stalk fresh garlic diced, green part too, OR 2 cloves garlic
1/4 C small capers, rinsed and drained
1/4 C Greek pitted olives black or green or a combo
6 Cherry tomatoes halved
1/4-1/2 C diced marinated artichokes (optional)
2 TBS chopped green or red onion for garnish (optional)
Fresh ground pepper and sea salt to taste
Chili pepper flakes to taste
Directions:
- Season both sides of sole with lemon juice, dill and pepper, in that order.
- Place 2 tablespoons olive oil in a pre-heated 12 inch skillet over medium heat.
- Once oil is hot, brown fish on both sides. Fish turns an opaque and the edges become golden brown.
- Depending on thickness of whitefish, about 3-5 minutes per side.
- Transfer to plate, cover to keep warm and set aside.
- The fish will release a nice juice into the pan. Keep it.
- IF pan is dry, add remaining 2 tablespoons oil, shallots, garlic and capers into skillet. Sauté 3-4 minutes, until lightly browned.
- Add tomatoes, olives, capers and artichokes
- Season with sea salt and more fresh ground pepper to taste
- Spoon caper tomato olive mixture over fish and serve topped with chopped parsley.
Great served with roasted asparagus and salad. Also fish is served on a salad at room temperature served.
Peggy’s Famous Taco Pie
Last night, we had a wonderful Nutrition Workshop in Culver City, CA featuring our founder Peggy Curry. Peggy gave a demonstration on how to get organized in your kitchen so that healthy weeknight dinners are a breeze to put together. The Taco Pie was one of the raved about recipes so we thought we would share it with you here. Enjoy!
- 1¼ lb. Ground chicken, turkey, beef or tofu crumbles
- ½ – ¾ C. Organic Ketchup
- 2 tsp. Spice Hunter’s Mexican Seasonings
- ½ tsp. Garlic powder
- 1 tsp. Cumin optional
- ½ tsp. Ground Ancho Chili pepper (optional)
- Sprinkles of salt and pepper to taste, but taste first!
Heat pan on medium heat. Brown ground meat or tofu in pre-heated pan, crumbling meat with fork, until browned. Add the seasonings and ketchup. Simmer for 10- 15 min. on low heat. Make sure it’s nice and moist.
While meat is cooking ready the following:
1 pie plate or quiche dish
3 Organic flour tortillas, corn or brown rice tortillas
1 can refried black beans or pinto beans … be creative!
1 fresh corn husked and shucked from the cob or 1 can of organic corn
1-2 Cups grated blend of jack and cheddar cheeses, feta or a specialty Mexican cheese
Layer:
Start with tortilla, Spread 2 heaping spoonfuls of refried beans around onto tortilla. Make sure you will have enough to do this 2 more times. Spread some meat mixture, sprinkle with corn, and top with some cheese. Repeat two more times. Sprinkle top with some Mexican Seasonings, and some fresh cilantro.
Bake at 350 uncovered for 20 min., until hot, browned and bubbly.
Topping Ideas:
Guacamole, sour cream, and salsa
Vegetarian/Vegan Variation: tofu crumbles, vegan cheese, cooked brown rice along with corn over black beans.
Serve with a salad topped with toasted pepitas/pumpkin seeds
We are thrilled to announce that DoJiggy, an online fundraising solutions provider, listed GrowingGreat as one of their 2012 Grant Recipients!
They recently awarded us with a generous grant to continue our commitment to gardening and nutrition education in elementary schools. GrowingGreat is featured on their website here.
You too can support GrowingGreat by making a donation today. Your gift will make a difference in the lives of children throughout Los Angeles county and beyond! Click here to donate to GrowingGreat!
Thank you again to the DoJiggy team for their support!
GrowingGreat was nominated for the GOOD Magazine New Year Challenge: Get Healthy. We need your help to win $1,000! Click here to visit our submission page and vote for GrowingGreat today! The grant will help fund our gardening and nutrition education programs – including Spring Harvest Parties and Student-run Farmer’s Markets.
The contest runs through Tuesday, February 7th. You can only vote once, so please share this information with your family and friends!
Thank you!
The GrowingGreat Family
This week, all over LA county (and beyond), GrowingGreat’s volunteers have been busy teaching third, fourth and fifth graders the benefits of cooking with fats.
This lesson is full of hands-on activities for our students, who create and then eat a salad with healthy fats and a whole grain roll and butter. They also get to make the salad dressing from scratch – everything from cutting and squeezing the lemon, to measuring the olive oil and dijon mustard. From the looks of all the enthusiastic bottle shaking and wide smiles, this may have been their favorite part of the lesson!
There were a few skeptics in one of our classrooms, including one self-proclaimed ‘non-salad eater’, a third-grade boy who was adamant about not liking salad. But after a thorough nutrition lesson and a turn helping to make the salad, he came around for a taste test. Below is a picture of him enjoying his own healthy creation. By the look of things, I think he changed his mind. Sometimes a good dressing makes all the difference!
Salad Dressing Recipe:
Juice from 1 lemon (1/2 C)
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Either whisk together or put all contents in a glass jar, cover and shake!
Thank you to the following companies for their generous contributions which made the food sampling possible for this lesson:
Whole Foods, Rudi’s Organic Bakery, California Olive Ranch, Organic Valley, Earthbound Farm Organic, Newman’s Own Organics, Sprouts Farmers Market, and OrganicVille.
Our friends at
Bodega Wine Bar and Modern Estates are generously hosting a night of socializing and a silent auction for GrowingGreat. Please join us in Santa Monica tonight (Wednesday, January 18th) from 5:30pm – 8:30pm to raise awareness and spread our healthy eating mission!
Check out our latest press release regarding GrowingGreat & Mary Edwards’ big win in the Aetna Healthy Food Fight competition!
The $10,000 grant we received from Aetna will help us expand GrowingGreat’s school garden and nutrition education programs to more students in the Los Angeles-area and beyond!
Click on the link below to read the press release.
GrowingGreat/Aetna Press Release
Feel free to contact us at 310.929.9216 or communications@growinggreat.org for more information.
Mary Edwards’ winning recipe is here! Congratulations to Mary for being voted “Fan Favorite” in the Aetna Healthy Food Fight competition! We can’t wait to put our $10,000 grant to use in GrowingGreat gardens and classroom nutrition lessons.
Mary selected GrowingGreat out of thousands of possible nonprofit organizations presented to her by Aetna organizers. When we asked Mary why she selected us, here’s what she said:
I picked GrowingGreat because I loved their hands on, grass roots approach to promoting healthy eating habits, and in particular the work they are doing with children by getting them involved with their own gardens.
It was also an extremely personal decision for Mary:
My three year old grandson has recently come to stay with me, and I was extremely concerned about the eating habits he had developed. He didn’t want anything even remotely healthy. Other than milk, he was pretty much living off of chips and sodas. But one day I discovered that he would eat cherry tomatoes. I came to find out that he had seen them growing in a garden, and red being his favorite color, decided that they would be good to eat. Is there any doubt why when offered a list of charities to support that GrowingGreat just jumped off the page? By the way, on Sunday my grandson and I picked a persimmon off a tree and it was a new word and a new eating adventure for him!
In addition to generously selecting GrowingGreat as her charity of choice, Mary has also allowed us to share her award-winning recipe with all of you. Cook away, and tell us what you think!
Mary Edwards’ Fan Favorite Salmon Pozole
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Instructions
- Place the stock, jalapeno, tomato and garlic in a sauce pan and bring up to a boil. Turn the heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes.
- This is a good time to clean and prepare the vegetables.
- Pat the salmon dry and rub the top with the cumin. Divide the salmon into 4 equal pieces and broil it in a preheated oven for approximately 10 minutes per inch of thickness or until the top is slightly crispy and the inside is opaque.
- Pour the stock through a strainer into another sauce pan. Taste test for heat, and according to preference, either remove the jalapeno or lightly press it through the sieve along with the tomato and garlic into the stock. Bring up to a boil and add the lime juice and corn and simmer for 1-2 minutes.
- To serve, ladle the stock with the corn into a deep, wide soup bowl, place a piece of salmon into each bowl and serve with the vegetables to be sprinkled on top. Serve with warm corn tortillas, if desired.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 1 32 oz. box low sodium seafood cooking stock
- 1 large jalapeno, quartered
- 1 medium sized ripe tomato, rough chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely sliced
- 12 ounce skinless salmon filet, trimmed and cleaned
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 2 cups sweet white corn
- 1/2– 1/3 cup cabbage, thinly sliced
- 2-3 radishes, thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, stemmed and chopped
- 1 tablespoon green onion, thinly sliced
- 1/2 avocado, peeled and diced
- 4 corn tortillas, warmed (optional)
The Story Behind the Recipe
Having lived in Mexico I always enjoyed pozole – it’s like having soup & salad all rolled into one. For this dish I have substituted the pork with salmon, which is so high in Omega 3 fatty acids, and by using sweet white corn instead of canned hominy I have reduced the sodium. This dish is very flavorful, yet mild enough that the kids like to make salmon tacos out of it.
Thank you Mary! For all that you have done to inspire healthy eating in children and adults. Our GrowingGreat programs will blossom more fully because of you.
NOTE FROM PEGGY: I usually make these cookies a day ahead and sugar dust and jam them just before giving them away. Also the batter is great just as a cookie cutter cookie! I keep all the centers and put them out to eat as well. They keep for 1-2 days, if not eaten all up!
