Another problem caused by deforestation

Turkey & Balsamic Onion Quesadillas

Not your traditional quesadilla, these feature deli turkey and Cheddar cheese, along with onions quickly marinated in balsamic vinegar. Serve with sauteed vegetables or a tossed salad for a quick meal.

4 servings

Active Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 4 10-inch whole-wheat tortillas
• 1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
• 8 slices deli turkey, preferably smoked (8 ounces)

PREPARATION

1. Combine onion and vinegar in a bowl; let marinate for 5 minutes. Drain, reserving the vinegar for another use, such as salad dressing.
2. Warm 2 tortillas in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat for about 45 seconds, then flip. Pull the tortillas up the edges of the pan so they are no longer overlapping. Working on one half of each tortilla, sprinkle one-fourth of the cheese, cover with 2 slices of turkey and top with one-fourth of the onion. Fold the tortillas in half, flatten gently with a spatula and cook until the cheese starts to melt, about 2 minutes. Flip and cook until the second side is golden, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer to a plate and cover to keep warm. Make 2 more quesadillas with the remaining ingredients.

NUTRITION

Per serving: 328 calories; 12 g fat (6 g sat, 0 g mono); 56 mg cholesterol; 30 g carbohydrates; 24 g protein; 2 g fiber; 871 mg sodium; 33 mg potassium.

Nutrition Bonus: Calcium (30% daily value).

1 1/2 Carbohydrate Serving

Exchanges: 1 1/2 starch, 3 lean meat

Bavarian Apple Cheesecake

This comes courtesy of Mommy Moment

This is another one of my family's favorite recipes- we love it not only because it's DELICIOUS but also because it's an easy recipe where I can substitute the sugar with splenda- and my family doesn't even notice. So I can enjoy a yummy dessert a little more guilt free :)

Is your mouth watering yet? Here's how you make it:

What You'll need:

Filling
2 bricks (16 oz) softened Cream cheese
1/2 cup   Sugar/splenda
1/2 tsp    Vanilla
2              Eggs 

Crust

1/3 cup  Sugar/splenda

1/3 cup  Butter or margarine

1/4 tsp   Vanilla

1 cup      Flour

1/8 tsp   Salt

Topping 

2-3         Apples (peeled, cored, & sliced) 

1/4 cup  Sugar/splenda

2 tsp      Ground cinnamon

1/3 cup  sliced almonds (optional)

Now lets start with the filling: 

 Add the cream cheese and eggs together- and blend together until smooth. Now add in the sugar and vanilla- and blend until smooth. Now set aside.

To make the crust:

add the flour, salt, sugar and butter and mix until combined- it should be crumbly. If it's not- add more flour until it a consistency like shown above. Once it's mixed together and looks right press it into a pie plate. Now take the cream cheese filling you put aside- and pour it into the crust.

To make the topping

This is my kids favorite part, I have a apple, peeler, corer contraption that slices apples up in a matter of minutes. But if you don't have this contraption you'll have to cut up your apples old school- lol! Ideally the apples need to be sliced 1/2cm thick- but they can be a bit thicker and it will be alright. 


Once the apples are sliced add in your cinnamon and sugar and mix it together- do it gently to prevent breaking the apple slices as it's easier to work with whole slices. Now place the apples on top of the cheesecake, start on the edges placing them slightly over top the previous layer until the whole top is covered.


Bake it in a 400°F (204°C) for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes turn it down to 325°F (162°C) and bake it for another hour. It will be slightly giggly in the middle which is okay. Let it cool down to room temperature- and then stick it in the fridge until cold.


It's a great dessert to bring to a dinner party- if you decide to make it let me know what you think. 

Easter bread

Easter morning wouldn't be complete for many without a golden braided loaf of Easter bread on the table.

The rich egg bread is steeped in the culinary and religious traditions of various ethnic groups, each of which makes a unique version of this sweet bread.

Italian recipes call for flavoring the loaves with anise or orange peel, while Greeks use two special spices native to their Mediterranean homeland for flavoring. Slovaks, Polish, Ukrainians and other Eastern European groups let vanilla and butter provide the flavoring for the raisin-studded bread they call paska.

"Paska is a sweet yeast bread, rich in eggs and butter, which is symbolic of Christ himself, who is our true bread," said Nickie Dornack of Akron, who bakes for her family and for her church family at St. Michael's Byzantine Catholic Church on Crouse Street in Akron, Ohio.

Dornack follows a recipe she describes as Slovak for Easter bread that gets braided and then twisted into a wreath shape. Her recipe calls for two cups of golden raisins in the bread, which sometimes is left in unbraided round loaves.

"We always put a little cross of dough on top," she said, noting that the braided shape also represents the crown of thorns placed on the head of Jesus at his crucifixion.

It's not surprising that an egg bread is used to celebrate Easter. For Christians, the egg represents new life, and Christ's rising to new life, which is commemorated at Easter.

Greek immigrant Vasiliki "Vicki" Filippousis of Akron tucks hard-cooked eggs dyed red inside the braids of Easter bread she bakes, in the Greek Orthodox tradition.

"The red is the blood of Jesus," she said. "The whole egg means Jesus' resurrection."

Filippousis' bread is flavored with two specialty Greek spices: mahlepi and hiotiki mastika.

Mahlepi is the kernel of a wild cherry tree that grows in the Mediterranean region, while hiotiki mastika is the resinous gum of a small evergreen tree native to the island of Chios, Greece. Both spices, which can be found at specialty stores like Western Fruit Basket in Akron, must be ground before they are added to the dough mixture. Filippousis said that if mahlepi isn't available, nutmeg can be substituted.

Filippousis, who leads the Easter bread baking at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church on Union Street in Akron, also advocates using vanilla sugar, sometimes called vanilla powder, in her bread recipe instead of vanilla extract.

Mike Pallotta, who operates Pallotta's Pastries in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, said traditionally, many Christians gave up sweets for the Lenten season, so Easter bread was sweet for celebrating the end of Lent.

Pallotta bakes Italian Easter bread flavored with traditional anise or the increasingly popular orange flavor. Pallotta said making Easter bread at home is still a tradition with older Italian-Americans, but younger generations prefer to buy it, as making the bread is time-consuming.

As with the Greek recipes, many Italians who make the bread at home will put colored eggs into their braids, and some will ice the bread with a simple white frosting and decorate it with colored sprinkles.

"We do not put the eggs in it when selling it commercially, but traditionally, everybody did put the egg on top," Pallotta said. He said the icing can become messy when the bread is bagged, so he sells his plain.

Pallotta's will sell several hundred loaves of the bread in the weeks leading up to Easter, with orange outselling anise about 2-to-1, he said.

Older customers still prefer the traditional anise, which is sold in a long braid, but younger customers opt for the orange bread, which is made in a round loaf studded with orange peel.

"As generations go on, their tastes change," Pallotta said. "With the orange Easter bread, we always tell our customers it tastes really good toasted with a little bit of butter and a piece of ham on it."

Here are all three recipes for Easter bread.


Greek Easter bread

Ingredients:
8 packages (1/4 oz. each) active dry yeast (Red Star brand)
3 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla powder
5 to 6 lbs. flour 1 tsp. ground mahlepi or 1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground hiotiki mastika
2 tsp. salt
2 cups milk
1 lb. butter, softened
1 cup cooking oil such as canola
1 dozen eggs
1 1/2 cups hot water
2 egg whites

Place the sugar and yeast together with 4 to 5 cups of the flour. Add the vanilla powder, spices and salt and mix.

Place the milk and butter in a saucepan and warm over low heat until the butter is almost melted. Add to the flour-yeast mixture. Add the eggs and water.

Place the mixture in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix, using a dough hook attachment. Add the flour and oil alternately. You may not need all 6 pounds of flour. Continue to mix dough until it pulls away from the sides of the bowl and clings in a ball to the dough hook. The dough takes about 20 minutes to make.

Dough can be kneaded by hand, or recipe can be cut in half and made as two batches to accommodate a smaller stand mixer.

Allow dough to rise, covered, until it doubles in size.

Once doubled, punch the dough down and divide it into 9 portions.


Shape each dough ball into three strands to be braided and twisted into a wreath shape. Bread can be baked on baking sheets or in metal pie plates.

Cover braids with plastic wrap and allow them to rise again until almost doubled.

Brush tops with beaten egg whites before placing in oven. Bread can be baked 3 loaves at a time.

Bake at 325 degrees for about 40 minutes. If the bread is getting too dark, cover it with foil and lower the oven temperature to 300 degrees to continue baking.

Makes about 9 loaves of bread, about 1 1/2 pounds each.

--Vasiliki "Vicki" Filippousis, Akron




Italian Easter bread

Ingredients:
3 large oranges (see note on substituting anise flavoring)
4 oz. fresh cake yeast
2 1/2 cups water, room temperature
4 lbs. bread flour
1 oz. salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 oz. powdered milk (generous 1/3 cup)
3 oz. shortening at room temperature (1/3 cup)
3 oz. butter at room temperature (1/3 cup)
4 large eggs
Egg wash made from 1 beaten egg and 2 tbsp. water


Zest the oranges and set zest aside. Then peel the oranges and discard the white pith. Place oranges in a blender or food processor and puree.


Dissolve the yeast in the warm water.

Mix flour, salt, sugar and powdered milk together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.

Add shortening and butter and mix to combine. Add the eggs and mix in.

Add the orange puree and zest, and then add water-yeast mixture.

The dough will be on the softer side.

Continue to mix with the dough hook until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. If the dough is too wet and isn't coming together, add some flour 1/2 cup at a time.

Turn the dough out onto a board or baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise until it doubles in size, 1 to 2 hours.

Once raised, punch the dough down again, divide it into three 1-pound pieces. Let the divided dough rest on a floured surface for about 15 minutes.

Then divide each piece into three portions, roll the portions into long strands and braid or twist the strands into loaves or wreaths. Or dough can simply be left in round balls.

Place shaped dough on baking sheets.

Cover loaves with a towel and let them rise again until they are almost doubled, about an hour to an hour and a half.

Brush tops with egg wash.

Bake loaves at 375 degrees for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

Makes 3 loaves.

Note: For anise-flavored bread, omit the oranges and increase the water by 1 cup. Then add 1 teaspoon of anise oil or 1 tablespoon of anise extract with the eggs.

--Michael Pallotta, Pallotta's Pastries, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio



Paska

Ingredients:
2 cups milk
3/4 cup butter
6 to 8 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 tbsp. instant dry yeast
1 cup sugar
5 eggs, beaten
2 cups golden raisins
1 tsp. vanilla, optional
Egg wash made from 1 beaten egg mixed with 2 tbsp. of water

Warm the milk and butter together for about 3 minutes on high in a microwave.

Mix flour, salt, yeast and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add in the eggs and vanilla if using. Then add in the milk and butter mixture. Add in the raisins last.

Allow dough to mix until it pulls away from the side of the bowl. It will be a soft dough.

Place dough in a large, oiled mixing bowl. Cover with a towel and leave in a warm spot to rise until doubled in size.

Once raised, punch dough down and divide into 3 balls.

Each ball can be divided into three strands and braided, then twisted into a wreath shape. Or loaves can be left plain. Reserve a small amount of dough to shape into a cross and top each loaf with a cross.

Place loaves in round bread pans or cake pans or on flat baking sheets.

Allow to rise a second time until the loaves nearly double again, about an hour.

Brush loaves with egg wash.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

To test for doneness, stick a sharp knife in the middle of each loaf. If the knife comes out sticky, the bread needs to bake longer.

Makes 3 loaves.

--Nickie Dornack, Akron, Ohio.