For Sher- A Celebration of Food

I first ran ino Sher of What Did You Eat in the food blogging medium discussing Pollan’s book, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” on someone elses blog.

I never got the chance to meet Sher personally, but I remember she posted that Americans were a “bunch of corn chips” talking about the section in the book about corn.

The comment made me laugh and that was when I began reading Sher’s blog.
I read more than I commented, as the dial-up demons of the day kept me in comment wars with my computer.

I was saddened to learn of Sher’s passing on the 20th of this month.

The Bread Baking Babes are holding, For Sher- A Celebration of Food, today.

Since I first ran into Sher in a conversation about corn, I chose to make her
Jalapeno Corn Pancakes.

We grow our own jalapeno so I don’t have to worry about food warnings out right now about this pepper.

It is funny, but we were also discussing food scares and warnings the day I first began reading
What Did You Eat. It was around that big recall on spinach years back.

Jalapeno Corn Pancakes made a wonderful brunch served with egg, salsa, and sour cream since I lacked the avocado in Sher’s serving suggestion.

I will be missing Sher with the laughter and thought reading her blog, and comments on others blogs, brought into my life. I am sure many others that never met her in this life will be missing her too.

Jalapeno Corn Pancakes

3/4 cup flour
1/3 cup masa
1/3 cup corn meal
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 pinch salt
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil
2/3 cup jalapenos — seeded and chopped
(you can reduce the amount if you wish)
1 cup corn — fresh or frozen and
thawed

PREPARATION:
Blend dry ingredients in a large bowl. Blend milk, eggs and oil in a small bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix with a large spoon until incorporated. Lumps are okay, do not over mix.

Serve with fried, poached, or scrambled eggs, black beans and avocado slices.

Texas Tarragon Crustless Zucchini Quiche – WHB

Weekend Herb Blogging is hosted by Pam from Sidewalk Shoes this week.

WHB is a great way to learn about herbs and recipes, so if interested please visit the rules at Kalyn’s Kitchen to participate.

Since I have never yet been successful growing tarragon, I adapted this recipe from recipezaar.com (link to original recipe at the end of this post) to use Texas Tarragon to implement some of our zucchini and using skim milk for diet purposes.

Texas Tarragon has a similar taste to Tarragon but is a little stronger in my opinion. You can read about Texas Tarragon here.

Since I turned down the ingredients, using skim milk from cream, it seemed to need more salt and pepper but still turned out well. I grilled the zucchini because I love the look of the grill marks.

Texas Tarragon Crustless Zucchini Quiche- 4 servings 128 calories each

cooking spray
4 each medium zucchini — sliced lengthwise
2 tablespoons chopped fresh texas tarragon
1/2 cup parmesan cheese — grated
1 cup skim milk
2 each eggs — beaten
salt and pepper — to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F degrees. Spray a 9 inch casserole dish.
Spray a stove top grill with cooking spray and preheat. Cut zucchini in long strips and place on preheated grill. Flip when grill marks are obtained and grill other side.

Place 1/2 zucchini in sprayed casserole and sprinkle with 1/2 the Texas tarragon and 1/2 the parmesan. Repeat layer with remaining zucchini, cheese, and Texas tarragon.
Season with salt and pepper.
Beat the milk with the eggs and pour over the zucchini. Bake until set in center, about 35 minutes.

Serve quiche immediately.
adapted from Zucchini Gratin (link) at recipezaar.com

Low Fat Ham Crepes – WHB

Weekend Herb Blogging is being hosted by Joannas Food this week.

Link to Roundup

Make sure and check for the WHB roundup around next Monday.

If you wish to learn more about WHB visit Kalyn’s Kitchen.

I might be in a herbal rut. I am blogging about parsley again this week. I threw the herb in some ham crepes recently and was pleased with the outcome. They make a good light lunch or brunch.

First make your crepes. My recipe is low fat.

Basic Low Fat Crepes

1 cup skim milk
3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 eggs
1/8 teaspoon salt

Put all in a blender and blend to smooth. Allow to sit about 20 minutes before using. Heat a nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray until hot. In batches of 1/8 cup fill the pan and swirl the batter so that it is even in the pan. Cook until edges look dry then flip with a spatula. Cook underside until dry then slide the crepe onto a plate and repeat procedure until all batter is used. These freeze well if wrapped with wax paper between them.

Next make your filling

Ham Filling

2 each spring onions chopped
1 clove minced garlic
1 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
1 cup diced cooked ham
1 tablespoon cornstarch ( 1 to 2 )
grated low fat swiss cheese to taste

Wipe out your pan and spray lightly. Cook onion and garlic until soft then pour in broth. Add the ham and parsley and simmer about 5 minutes. Mix the cornstarch with about 3 tablespoon cold water and pour into the broth. Bring to a boil and cook until thick. Divide mixture between warm crepes and top with cheese to taste. Roll and place on plate seam side down to serve.

Enjoy, low fat and pretty good too.