Jun 282013
 

Chicken Salad with Pomegranate | My Little Gourmet

We’ve currently got a little bit of an obsession with pomegranates in our household. Arik and I sprinkle the delicious little sweet and sour seeds on our oatmeal or bircher muesli in the mornings or will just eat them by the handful as a snack. The only thing that bothers me about this fruit, is getting those seeds out of the white casing. I went on a little search to try and find an easier method than the one I was using, and actually found a way that seems to be the quickest and easiest method out there. Here are some step-by-step instructions in case you guys are also having issues with deseeding. If you are not, then please share your method because if it gets easier than this, I am all ears!

How to de-seed a Pomegranate easily | My Little Gourmet

What you’ll need is a medium bowl filled with some water, a knife, a strainer, and a big flat spoon like the wooden one above.
1.)To start you’ll want score the fruit horizontally with the knife. Don’t cut all the way through because then you’ll cut the seeds and that could get messy.
2.)Next take the fruit in both hands and twist it open.
3.)Take a half and place it open-side down in your palm and hold the spoon in your other hand. Now, over the bowl of water, whack (pretty hard) the backside of the pomegranate with the spoon. Continue doing this while turning the fruit so you get the seeds out of all of the sides.
4.)Repeat with the other half.
5.)Take a strainer or spoon and skim all of the white pieces off the top of the water.
6.)Dump the seeds out into a strainer and voila, you’ve got yourself some ready-to-eat pomegranate seeds in a matter of minutes.
You may want to put an apron on while doing this because every once in a while a little juice can squirt out. Well, now that you guys know how to get your pomegranate seeds out, you may as well try out this yummy harvest chicken salad.

Chicken Salad with Pomegranate | My Little Gourmet

There is absolutely no mayonnaise (only Greek yogurt) in this and it is still creamy and delicious! I season the chicken breasts with seasoning salt and pepper and cook them in a frying pan so that they are nice and golden brown. Usually I’ll just make this at the beginning of the week, so that numerous days of lunches are taken care of and all you have to do is toast some bread!

Chicken Salad with Pomegranate | My Little Gourmet

 

5.0 from 3 reviews
Harvest Chicken Salad with Pomegranate
 
Prep time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1 lb./500g chicken breast, cooked and diced into small chunks
  • ½ red onion, diced finely
  • ½ apple, diced into small chunks
  • 10-15 grapes, quartered
  • 2-3 tablespoons pomegranate seeds
  • 2 tablespoons sliced almonds
  • ½ cup/100g Greek yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and add salt and pepper to taste.
  2. Serve on fresh bread or rolls.
Notes
*I season the chicken breasts on both sides and cook them in some melted butter in a pan.

 
Recipe adapted from Nature Box
 Posted by at 12:32
May 032013
 

Bircher Muesli | My Little Gourmet

Bircher Muesli was developed around 1900 by Swiss physician Maximilian Bircher-Brenner for his patients and is still a very popular breakfast throughout Switzerland and Germany. The original recipe called for much more fresh fruit than grain and soaked the raw oats overnight since they took some time to soften. Nowadays, a soak time of 30-60 minutes seems to suffice when using quick oats, although I still prefer to prepare it the night before so that we don’t have to wait for our breakfast in the mornings.

Bircher Muesli | My Little Gourmet

Arik likes to not only eat the muesli for breakfast, but also in the afternoon as a snack. As far as toppings go, you can use just about anything your heart desires for fruit and nuts. We like to alternate between blueberries, strawberries, nectarines, hazelnuts, sesame seeds, and toasted coconut. And of course, no muesli is complete for Arik, without raisins, which we add the night before so that they are nice and soft.

Bircher Muesli | My Little Gourmet

Keep in mind, when using rolled or old-fashioned oats, they will require a longer soak time than quick oats. I also like the texture to be quite mushy (sorry…), so this recipe uses quite a bit of liquid and yogurt. If you prefer a thicker texture just decrease the amount of milk and yogurt.

Bircher Muesli | My Little Gourmet

If you and your kids like oatmeal and yogurt, you will love bircher muesli. It’s the perfect summer-time breakfast, and not only really easy to make, but healthy too!

Bircher Muesli | My Little Gourmet

 

5.0 from 24 reviews
Bircher Muesli
 
Author:
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 2 cups/150g rolled or quick oats
  • 1¾ cups/420ml milk
  • ¼ cup/60ml apple juice
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 apple, cored and grated with the peel
  • 1-2 tablespoons honey
  • 1½ cups/375g plain yogurt
  • A dash of cinnamon (optional)
  • Toppings : your favorite fresh and/or dried fruit, nuts, toasted coconut, etc.
  • Our favorites: blueberries, strawberries, raisins and hazelnuts
Instructions
  1. Combine oats, milk, apple juice and lemon juice and let sit overnight in the refrigerator.
  2. In the morning add the grated apple, honey (to taste), yogurt, and cinnamon, if desired, and mix well.
  3. Top with your favorite fruits and nuts.
Notes
* If you are short on time in the mornings, you can add the grated apple the night before to save a few minutes.

 

 Posted by at 14:00
Feb 012013
 

 Very Berry Breakfast Smoothie | My Little Gourmet

If I let Arik pick his own breakfast he would most likely choose to just drink 5 or 6 glasses of milk and not eat anything. With this thought in mind, I decided to come up with a breakfast in a glass for him. This way he gets everything he needs to start his day and he can drink it all through a straw, which, of course, makes him very happy. It also makes me very happy because it takes about 5 minutes to prepare and there’s enough smoothie for me as well.

I used frozen berries for our smoothie, so if you use fresh you may want to add some ice cubes before blending so you get a nice cold smoothie. If your little ones prefer it sweet be sure to add 1 or 2 tablespoons of honey. Depending on how thick you like your smoothies just increase or decrease the amount of milk until you get the consistency you want. Cheers!

Very Berry Breakfast Smoothie

 

Very Berry Breakfast Smoothie
 
Prep time
Total time
 
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 1 banana
  • ½ cup strawberries, frozen or fresh
  • ¼ cup blueberries, frozen or fresh
  • ½ cup greek yogurt
  • ¼ cup oats
  • ½ cup fresh-squeezed orange juice, about 1 orange
  • ½ cup milk
Instructions
  1. Toss all ingredients in a blender and blend to the wanted consistency.
Notes
*If your little ones prefer it a little sweeter, just add 1-2 tablespoons of honey. *If you use fresh fruit you may want add some ice cubes before blending. *Depending on how thick you like your smoothies just increase or decrease the amount of milk you use.

 

 Posted by at 13:43
Jan 182013
 

Tuna Salad Sandwich

Lunch at our house is nowhere near as diverse as our dinners. More often than not (ok, just about every day) Arik will get a cheese sandwich (he is absolutely obsessed with cheese) with some tomato and cucumber slices. If I’m feeling really crazy then we’ll have the left-overs from dinner the night before. As you can see, my lunch menus need some work. That is why I’ve made it my goal for the new year to gather lots of easy and delicious lunch ideas which, if they pass the Arik Taste Test, I will tell you guys about here.

As I started to brainstorm different lunch ideas, this tuna salad, which I used to eat when I was a kid, popped into my head. My mom used to always make this for my brothers and me, although she used mayonnaise. I decided to try this recipe out on Arik, but I substituted the mayo with greek yogurt. Everyone really liked it and I even liked it better than my childhood version…sorry mom. 🙂

Tuna Salad Sandwich

The recipe is for 1 can of tuna, but I just ended up doubling it so we would have enough for a few days. Our favorite way to eat this tuna salad is on toasted whole-wheat bread with a crisp leaf of lettuce (keeps the bread from getting soggy) and of course a slice of cheese for Arik’s sandwich. I hope you all enjoy and now I’m off to hunt for lots of new and delicious lunch ideas. If you don’t want to wait until I get around to writing a post on my finds (I tend to be a little slow :)) then you can follow my findings on Pinterest…and if you’ve got some great lunch ideas and recipes of your own I would love to hear about them.

Tuna Salad
 
Prep time
Total time
 
Serves: 3
Ingredients
  • 1 6 oz. can of tuna in water, drained
  • 1 small stalk of celery, chopped finely
  • 1 medium pickle, chopped finely
  • ½ tart apple (I used a Pink Lady), chopped finely
  • 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 3 tablespoons greek yogurt
  • salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
  1. Combine the drained tuna and all of the chopped ingredients in a medium bowl and mix thoroughly.
  2. Add the lemon juice and yogurt, mix well and season with salt and pepper.
Notes
We like it best served on whole wheat toast.

 Posted by at 13:31