You are here: Home / Archives for Recipes / Condiments

Sometimes We Just Need a Little Help

May 18, 2012 By 2 Comments

Hi there! I’m so glad you’re sticking around while I obviously go through something here.  I’ve been so busy with end of school year stuff, business, expanding my skill set with some online, self directed learning and I’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed. Yesterday was my day to go pick up our co-op produce and I knew I had to go food shopping as well.  The idea of making dinner after all of that was just too much to bear, so I wondered how I might have a fresh, delicious dinner without breaking the bank or going off the processed food deep end.  Here’s what I came up with:

I stopped by our favorite fish place (Simply Seafood in Dunnellon) to see what they might have to help.  I was looking for their tuna salad, but they were out of it.  I decided to get some shrimp and crab salad and some salmon cakes that Deb makes fresh on site. I thought I’d make a garden salad to go with it, but then while I was at Publix, I decided that cole slaw was more what I was looking for.  I grabbed a bag of the angel hair, shredded cabbage (I think Dole makes it) and then I got inspired… When I got home, this is what we did.

Tartar Sauce: in a bowl, combine:

  • a couple of big scoops of mayo
  • a couple of spoonfuls of sweet relish
  • about a half teaspoon horseradish
  • couple of shakes of hot sauce (I used Crystal)

Stir well, cover and refrigerate

Cole Slaw: in a large measuring cup combine:

  • Couple of big scoops of mayo
  • about half a cup of white balsamic vinegar
  • couple of big pinches of celery seed
  • 4 packets of Splenda or Truvia (or whatever sweetener you like)
  • couple of grinds of black pepper

Whisk together and then pour over the cabbage.  With tongs, gently toss until all the cabbage has dressing.  Cover and refrigerate.

When you’re ready to eat, heat a saute pan on med/high heat.  Add a Tablespoons each of olive oil and butter.  Add the salmon patties and cook about 4 minutes on each side, or until you have a nice, brown crust.

Plate and eat. Literally 15 minutes prep and cook and you’re sitting down to a fresh, easy, delicious meal!  The kids couldn’t believe these weren’t crab cakes.  They were so good. The cole slaw was nice and sweet, but not over dressed and the horseradish in the tartar was inspired, if I do say so myself.  I think next time I’ll add a little more to it.  Squeeze fresh lemon over the whole plate and it’s even better.

salmon patties Sometimes We Just Need a Little Help

 I wasn’t going to share this, but when it all came together so well, I thought that there had to be other people who just can’t bear the thought of making one more dinner sometimes, and I wanted to those people to know that they’re not alone and there are lots of ways to get dinner on the table.



It is OK to use my photos or content provided a link back and proper crediting is given

Filed Under: All, Condiments, Easy Dinner, Fish, Lowcarb, Recipes Tagged With: , , , ,

Asian Chicken Soup with Noodles and Home Made Duck Sauce

October 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Inspired by Adam Richman’s Soup on the Chew.

When I saw this soup, I knew I had to make it.  Of course I had to change things up a little and when I went to the store I couldn’t find Duck Sauce that didn’t contain the dreaded HFCS (pretend I said it in a big bellowing voice, ok?).  So what’s a girl to do?  Make her own. I scoured the web for ideas and picked and chose what I wanted to put in mine, but I was most inspired by Lauren Groveman’s Kitchen

Duck sauce:

  • 1 cup apricot preserves
  • 4 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
  • 1 pinch red pepper flake
  • 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons, grated ginger
  • 2 teaspoons sesame oil

Combine all ingredients except sesame oil in a non-reactive pan,

duck sauce 1 300x225 Asian Chicken Soup with Noodles and Home Made Duck Sauce

whisk well and bring to a boil.  Lower to a simmer and let cook for about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat, whisk in the oil and set aside.

duck sauce 2 300x242 Asian Chicken Soup with Noodles and Home Made Duck Sauce

Let it cool and then transfer to a refrigerator container with a lid. Refrigerate.  This can be done ahead, as it will keep well in the fridge for at least a week. You will never eat the packet stuff again.

Soup:

  • 2 hearts celery, cleaned and chopped
  • 1 bunch of carrots, cleaned and chopped (if they’re organic, I leave the skin on, it’s delicious)
  • 2 medium onions, peeled and chopped
  • pinch of salt
  • olive oil
  • About 96 oz. of stock (I used 2 chicken and 1 vegetable boxed broth – use home made if you have it, I never have it)
  • about 6 thin sliced chicken breast (boneless skinless)
  • 8 tablespoons duck sauce
  • 2 teaspoons sriracha
  • 2 cloves garlic chopped
  • Two packages (six nests or bunches) of cellophane noodles
  • 1 bunch scallions

Heat a large pot with a lid on med/high heat.  Add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan – when the oil is hot, add the carrots, celery and onion, then the salt.

asian chicken soup 1 300x225 Asian Chicken Soup with Noodles and Home Made Duck Sauce

There are a lot of vegetables in this recipe so, I sautéed them for about 12-15 minutes to release a good amount of liquid, soften them a bit and even get a little caramelization going. Add the stock and bring it to a boil,

asian chicken soup 2 300x206 Asian Chicken Soup with Noodles and Home Made Duck Sauce

then lower the heat, cover and allow to cook for at least an hour.

About 30 minutes before you’re ready to eat, preheat your oven to 350 and line a sheet pain with foil.  Add the duck sauce, sriracha and garlic to a large bowl

asian chicken soup 3 300x216 Asian Chicken Soup with Noodles and Home Made Duck Sauce

Whisk to combine. Dredge the chicken through the sauce making sure to get it on both sides. Put the chicken on the sheet pan and pour whatever’s left in the bowl of the marinade on top of the raw chicken (discard any that may be left in the bowl – I used a scraper to get it all on top of the chicken).

Bake for 10 minutes, flip the chicken and bake for another 10 minutes 0r until cooked through and no longer pink in the middle.

asian chicken soup 4 300x235 Asian Chicken Soup with Noodles and Home Made Duck Sauce

Put 1 bunch or nest of cellophane noodles into each bowl

asian chicken soup 5 300x241 Asian Chicken Soup with Noodles and Home Made Duck Sauce

Ladle soup on top of the noodles until they’re completely immersed. Slice a chicken breas and place on top of soup, garnish with scallions.  Let sit about five minutes to soften the noodles and then serve.

asian chicken soup 6 300x191 Asian Chicken Soup with Noodles and Home Made Duck Sauce

This was spectacular. The spicy chicken with the sweet duck sauce and the chunky chicken vegetable soup. It was like Jewish/Asian Fusion.  Exotic, yet comforting and completely delicious!

Makes six generous servings with a little soup left over.

 

 



It is OK to use my photos or content provided a link back and proper crediting is given

Filed Under: Condiments, Easy Dinner, Healthy, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , ,

Penne with Capers and Basil in Tomato Sauce

October 4, 2011 By 2 Comments

 

The other night my husband called and asked me to meet him for dinner.  I jumped at the chance to go out, but I still had to make sure my children were fed, so I made them a very quick and tasty pasta dish.  Of course I cooked enough to feed an army, but this heats up beautifully for lunch the next day.

  • 2 packages whole wheat penne
  • 2 containers chopped tomatoes (I use Pomi)
  • 2 medium onions peeled and chopped (I like the chop slightly bigger in this dish, it’s more rustic)
  • 5-6 cloves of garlic peeled and chopped
  • a big pinch each of dried, basil, oregano and red pepper flakes
  • 1 jar capers drained
  • 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
  • a handful of basil leaves cut into a chiffonade
  • olive oil
  • shredded Locatelli cheese (or any hard Italian cheese)

Make this a one pot meal – put up a pot of water to boil and in the meantime, set up all of your other ingredients. Cook the pasta according to package directions, drain and set aside (I just leave it in the colindar in the sink)

Put the pot back on the heat and add enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan.  When it’s hot, add the onions and the garlic and saute until softened and onions are translucent.  Add your dried herbs and saute and stir for a minute to release their oils.

penne with tomato basil caper6 300x225 Penne with Capers and Basil in Tomato Sauce

Lower the heat to medium and add the tomatoes. Stir until they’re completely heated

penne with tomato basil caper5 300x225 Penne with Capers and Basil in Tomato Sauce

Add the vinegar and capers and stir to combine.

penne with tomato basil caper3 300x225 Penne with Capers and Basil in Tomato Sauce

Add the pasta back to the sauce and gently toss to coat the pasta. Add the basil right before serving and toss once more.

penne with tomato basil caper2 300x213 Penne with Capers and Basil in Tomato Sauce

Plate and serve. Grate some cheese on top, salt and pepper to taste.

penne with tomato basil caper1 300x235 Penne with Capers and Basil in Tomato Sauce

I had to have a tiny taste just to make sure it was perfect.

It was.

It took about 20 minutes, No fuss, no muss, the kids were fed, lunch for the kids, hubby and myself was ready for the next day and I got to enjoy a lovely night on the town.

 

 

 



It is OK to use my photos or content provided a link back and proper crediting is given

Filed Under: All, Condiments, Easy Dinner, Pasta, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , ,

Herb Butter

August 22, 2011 By 4 Comments

 

 

Oh my.  Sometimes just a little bit of effort results in something so delicious, so luscious that you can’t imagine that you don’t make this every day.  Then you remember that it’s an entire stick of butter and it doesn’t last very long because it’s so good – so you decide to only make it occasionally.

  • 1 stick of butter, set out at room temperature until it’s very soft
  • fresh herbs (I used flat leaf parsley, basil, chives and I didn’t mean to, but some cilantro got into the mix. You can use whatever you like)

herbed butter 1 300x208 Herb Butter

Chop the herbs as finely as possible (as the butter melts you’ll be left with the herbs and you don’t want them to be too big).  Add the herbs to the butter.

herbed butter 2 300x213 Herb Butter

With a fork, mash the herbs into the butter until it’s completely combined

herbed butter 3 300x221 Herb Butter

Cover and put into the refrigerator for about 20 minutes until it’s a little bit harder so that it will be easier to work with.

Cut a piece of aluminum foil and a piece of plastic wrap.  Set the plastic wrap on top of the foil.

herbed butter 4 300x194 Herb Butter

Spread the butter out into a sort of log onto the plastic wrap.

herbed butter 5 300x189 Herb Butter

Fold over the plastic wrap like you’re going to start to roll it up.  Shape the butter and then roll the plastic wrap all the way up.

Then roll and fold the foil (I do this because I’m not great with plastic wrap – if you are, you can skip the foil step).

herbed butter 6 300x161 Herb Butter

You can put this in the fridge or you can freeze it and slice off what you need when you need it.

herbed butter 7 300x179 Herb Butter

We used the bulk of it on corn and green beans with roasted chicken breast.  There’s not much left, truth be told.  The brightness of the herbs against the creamy butter is fantastic.  And biting into the fresh sweet corn on the cob with the herbs and some salt.  Yum.

You could put anything into this butter really.  Garlic, dried herbs, spicy peppers, sauces, the possibilities are really endless.

 

 

 



It is OK to use my photos or content provided a link back and proper crediting is given

Filed Under: All, Condiments, Recipes Tagged With: , , , ,

Easiest Mayonnaise Ever

November 10, 2010 By 12 Comments

I’ve been meaning to do this for a long time. I’ve researched it and thought about it and tried it and failed and researched it some more and finally(!), we have the easiest mayo you’ve ever made.  And delicious, too.

I’ve had so many false starts with this and I really wasn’t sure if it was going to work.  I came close last week, but I only had olive oil in the house and even though I used light olive oil, the consistency was good, but the taste was all olive.

I decided to try canola this time and lo and behold it’s perfect.  I made delicious mayo in less than 3 minutes. All you need are the ingredients and your stick or immersion blender.

1 fresh egg room temperature
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
1 pinch of salt
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
200 ml of canola oil

I dropped everything into a jar with a screw top lid and put the immersion blender in.  Turn it on a low setting and let it work for a couple of seconds until you feel the ingredients starting to come together and giving you a little resistance.  Slowly lift the blender up just a little, being careful not to bring it all the way to the top, or else you’ll have splashing all over the place.  Slowly work the blender up and down until you have mayo.

mayo1 300x255 Easiest Mayonnaise Ever

Hmm, the consistency looks good, the color is pleasant… I called the guinea pigs kids over and had them taste it.  They both loved it (full disclosure, I don’t like mayo unless it’s mixed in with something, so I didn’t taste it).  They were oohing and aahing and I was so excited!  And then I realized I hadn’t taken any pictures, so I decided to do a different flavor.

1 fresh egg room temperature
1/2 tablespoon stone ground mustard
1 pinch of salt
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
couple of grinds of fresh pepper
200 ml canola oil

mayo2 300x225 Easiest Mayonnaise Ever

Follow the same instructions as above with the blender until you have the right consistency.

mayo3 300x262 Easiest Mayonnaise Ever

The kids tried this one and liked it too. When Jim got home, they were chilled and in the fridge and he tasted them both and declared them delicious.  I think tomorrow I’m going to make some tuna salad and see how that goes, but I have a feeling I’m going to be making mayo myself from now on. So much cheaper, fresher and my mind is reeling with the flavor combination possibilities!



It is OK to use my photos or content provided a link back and proper crediting is given

Filed Under: All, Condiments, Recipes Tagged With: , ,

Bad Behavior has blocked 580 access attempts in the last 7 days.