Red, White, and Blue Panna Cotta

I have been trying to decide what direction to take my blog in.  I know that I want this to be about health and fitness and recovery, but I have been trying to decide what else to do.  I think I'm going to start making my posts 1-2 times a week.  I will blog my personal fitness progress, and once a week I think I come up with other topic to discuss.

My progress update:  I have done my exercises once, my legs three times, and I have been swimming and pool jogging twice.  I have logged in Lose It! every day so far.  I'm starting to fall behind in it today, but come on, it's the 4th of July.  I'm at my parents house with my entire family.  We are eating good food and drinking delicious drinks. Who wants to stick to calories with all those fun things going on?!

Which leads me to my next topic: Red, White, and Blue panna cotta.  I wanted to make a  desert that was delicious, but not quite as heavy as trifle or cheesecake.  The solution came when we went out to dinner a couple of nights ago.  Ben and I split a basic panna cotta for desert.  It was creamy, but not too rich.  I wanted to put my own spin on it and make it Independence Day themed. The idea I came up with was to do a layered red, white, and blue desert. I decided to make a strawberry puree for the bottom layer (or top if you flip it out of its dish), the panna cotta in the middle, and blueberries on top.   It is/was delicious!! Recipe below.

Ingredients:

Strawberry Puree

• 2 pounds strawberries
• 2 tablespoons honey

Panna Cotta

• 1 tablespoon powdered unflavored gelatin
• 1 cup whole milk
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon sugar
•  pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond flavor

Directions:
Remove tops from strawberries and slice.  Place sliced strawberries in bowl and puree.  (I used a hand emulsifier, but you could also use a food processor, blender, or any other tool that suites you).  Once strawberries are pureed add 2 tablespoons of honey and mix well.  Scoop 1/8-1/4* cup puree into desert dishes.  Place dishes in freezer for 1-2 hours until completely frozen.

Frozen strawberry puree in desert cups.

Once the puree is frozen, start making the panna cota.  Pour milk into small bowl and sprinkle gelatin over the top to soften.  I let it sit for about 5 minutes.  Next, add milk and gelatin mixture to a sauce pan and heat over medium heat until gelatin dissolves.  (It took a little over 5 minutes for me.)  Stir continuously and don't let the milk boil.  Once the gelatin has dissolved add the cream, honey, sugar, salt, and flavoring. (I combined all the ingredients in a small bowl before hand to make adding it easier).  Continue heating and stirring over medium heat for another 5-7 minutes or until sugar and honey has dissolved.  Remove from heat.  Pour 1/2-3/4* cup over frozen strawberry puree.  Place in refrigerator for 6+ hours for panna cotta to set.

Orginal Panna Cotta Recipe used: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/panna-cotta-with-fresh-berries-recipe.html

Remove and enjoy.  We topped ours with blueberries for the full red, white, and blue theme.

*I used 1/4 cup puree and 1/2 cup panna cota in our dishes.  I think next time I will use 1/8 cup puree or still use 1/4 cup and increase the panna cota to 3/4 cup.  They also could have used a crispy wafer of some sort. However, the flavor and consistency of the panna cota turned out wonderfully.