Honestly, I have been in the kitchen and I have been cooking. Just nothing post-worthy. And, I made the cardinal sin of cooking: if it ain't broke, don't fix it!
On my ever-going quest to clean out my freezer, I did a search on AllRecipes.com to find a home for some turkey kielbasa, chicken, and shrimp. Up popped a gumbo recipe. Now, thanks to Jim's friends Cabbage and Diane Simpson, I was able to procure the absolute world's best gumbo recipe known to man (see 9-30-12 post: Diane's Seafood Gumbo). Better than anything we'd ever had in any restaurant on the Gulf Coast.
Now if my head had been put on straight, I would have compared the two recipes and simply have used Diane's recipe, just substituting the sausage and chicken for some of the seafood she uses (still wouldn't have come close, though). Needless to say, The Girls got lots of leftover sausage and chicken, sans roux. And needless to say, no way was I going to post that disaster.
But back to today. We're not even to Memorial Day and we're already in the upper 80s so I pulled out some old (old meaning type on a typewriter many years ago) salad recipes to have around as either a light lunch or a mid-day snack. This came from an old friend of mine who used to make this for potlucks at the law firm she worked at in Chicago.
This is perfect for summer, especially if you get farmer's market fresh vegetables. It's also great for picnics because it doesn't need to be kept refrigerated (although I prefer it cold).
Since I usually make just a portion of the recipe below and will get multiple servings that I'll keep around for a couple of days, I kept the dressing on the side and just pour a bit on each portion at serving time so the pasta doesn't absorb all the dressing before you get to it. The amounts are a guideline......shift them up or down depending on your taste. I do prefer halved grape tomatoes unless you can get your hands on some garden-fresh tomatoes. Use any kind of Italian salad dressing: Classic, Zesty, fat-free, or even that wonderful Garden Expressions Simple Vinaigrette Salad Dressing.
GARDEN PASTA SALAD
1 lb angel hair or vermicelli
2 medium chopped tomatoes
1 bunch chopped green onions
1 medium chopped green pepper
1 chopped cucumber
1/3 bottle of McCormick Salad Supreme seasoning
Prepared Italian Dressing
Cook pasta. Drain and cool. Add chopped vegetables and sprinkle with seasoning. Dress at time of serving.
Recipe Source: Cherie Bishop, Schereville, IN
Well, with temps climbing into the 80's this week, we are definitely creeping into summertime. Later sundowns and yard work to do means later dinner times.
I don't like eating a big meal late at night, so this time of year means much lighter meals like lots of fish, grilling, and salads. And this one is just about as basic and simple, not to mention a delicious light meal.
Serve with with some rice or quinoa and a simple garden salad or a green vegetable like asparagus or green beans. Make the salsa ahead of time and you can get everything on the table lickity-split.
GRILLED TILAPIA with MANGO SALSA (2 servings)
1/4 cup EVOO
1 Tbsp freshly-squeezed lemon juice
1 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
1 tsp minced fresh garlic
1 tsp dried basil
S&P, to taste
2 (4-6 oz) tilapia (or Swai) fillets
1 large ripe mano, peeled, pitted, and diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
2 Tbsp minced red onion
1 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1/2-1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (depends on your heat-tolerance and size of the pepper)
2 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp lemon juice
S&P to taste
For the fish and marinade:
Put together the olive oil, 1 Tbsp lemon juice, parsley, garlic, basil, S&P in a resealable plastic bag. Squish around until combined. Add the fish fillets, squeeze out excess air, and seal the bag Marinate in the refrigerate at least 1 hour.
For the salsa:
Prepare the mango salsa by combining the mango, red bell pepper, red onion, cilantro, and jalapeno pepper in a bowl. Add the lime juice and 1 Tbsp of lemon juice, and toss well. Season to taste with S&P, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
For the entire dish:
Preheat a grill for medium-high heat. Lightly oil or use "Grill" cooking spray to grill grate.
Remove the fillets from the marinade and shake off excess. Discard the remaining marinade. Grill the fillets until the fish is no longer translucent in the center and flakes easily with a fork, 3-4 minutes per side (use 10 minutes total for each 1" of thickness as a guide).
Serve fillet topped with mango salsa.
Recipe Source: www.allrecipes.com
This is (another) easy and tasty Publix recipe. It calls for Patagonian scallops which are very small (100-150 per pound). I hadn't heard of them and tried to find the difference between Patagonians and bay scallops (sea scallops being much larger, about 1 1/2" in diameter), but couldn't find what I was looking for. So I would absolutely use the bay scallops which are just a bit larger (than the Patagonians).
The recipe calls for cilantro herb paste. I've seen this is many markets in different states. It comes in a tube and is found in the produce section. You could certainly chop up fresh cilantro (to taste) and throw that in. It also calls for roasted garlic. I usually roast mine in the microwave (do an internet search for easy instructions) unless I'm going to be using the oven at a high temp for about 45 minutes. You should be able to find the marinade in the grocery store, but I just did a search and made my own (1/4 cup low-sodium soy, 1 Tbsp minced or grated fresh ginger, 1 Tbsp sesame oil, 2 thinly-sliced scallions, 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper).
Serve it over rice. Corn-on-the-cob or steamed broccoli would be a nice side dish.
SAVORY SCALLOP STIR-FRY (4 servings)
2 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp roasted garlic
1 lb steak-topper vegetables (fresh sliced mushrooms, chopped onions and green bell peppers)
1 1/2 lb Patagonian or bay scallops (thawed/drained if frozen)
1/2 cup sesame/ginger marinade
1 Tbsp cilantro herb paste
Cooked rice
Preheat wok or large saute pan 2-3 on medium-high.
Place oil and garlic in pan (pan should sizzle). Add vegetables, stir-fry 3-4 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender.
Move vegetables to outer edge of pan. Add scallops to center of pan and stir-fry 2-3 minutes. Stir vegetables, marinade, and herb paste into scallops, cook 1-2 more minutes, stirring occasionally, or until hot. Serve over rice.
Recipe Source: www.publix.com/aprons
I have to admit....I am a complete Anglophile and have been watching the Royals for a long, long time, mainly since the early days of Charles and Diana (but have devoured books of the whole Edward/Wallis scandal and watched every program ever produced about Henry VIII and his six wives.) The Granthams of Downton Abbey have nothing on the real royals! Nothing better than a real-life soap opera.
But I think this new generation is truly turning the monarchy back into a proper and respectable family thanks to bringing in non-royal blood with the class that Kate possesses and Diana's hands-on parenting which molded the man William appears to be.
OK...enough already. I'm in the majority here being thrilled that the new little one is a girl! I'll be watching all day to find out her name (and of course what Kate will be wearing when she steps out of the hospital!) With my help, Jim has been able to keep on top of all the odds (birth date, gender, weight) and I will continue to keep him posted on all the latest developments (or he'll keep bugging me all day if I don't!)
As soon as Jim and I were engaged, my father-in-law's wife introduced me to "Taste of Home" magazines. This was the Grand Prize winner in the very first issue I received and it was actually a few years before I tried it because, quite frankly, it just looked intimidating to me.
But when I finally did try it, it was actually one of the simplest recipes I had ever made. And yummy! And a great home for any leftover ham (although shrimp would be a great substitute). Oh, and now that asparagus is coming into season, a great value.
A great meal in itself, you really don't need anything else unless you want to add a green salad.
ASPARAGUS PUFF RING (6 servings)
3/4 cup water
6 Tbsp butter
3/4 cup AP flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
FILLING:
1 pound fresh asparagus, tough ends trimmed and remaining stalks cut into 1" pieces
1/4 cup diced onions
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp AP flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan
2 cups diced fully-cooked ham
In a saucepan over medium heat, bring water and butter to a boil. Add flour and salt all at once; stir until a smooth ball. Let stand for 5 minutes.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each; beat until smooth. Stir in 3 Tbsp Parmesan cheese. Using 1/4 cupfuls of dough, form a ring around the sides of a greased 10" quiche pan or pie plate (mounds should touch). Top with the remaining cheese. Bake at 400F for 35 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook asparagus until crisp-tender, 3-4 minutes; drain. In a saucepan, saute onion in butter until tender. Stir in flour and S&P. Gradually add milk; bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat; stir in cheeses until melted. Stir in ham and asparagus; spoon into ring. Serve immediately.
Recipe Source: Taste of Home magazine, April/May 1997, p. 26 (submitted by Shirley De Lange, Byron Center, Michigan)
Years ago (2004) there was an Adam Sandler/Tea Leoni film called "Spanglish." If you didn't see it, don't rush out and get it. A truly unremarkable film. In fact, I don't think I even watched it until the end. However, Adam Sandler (as a chef in the film) made a sandwich that not only stuck in my mind, but apparently many others due to the many different versions of this sandwich I found on-line (look at Pinterest, for example).
Therefore, I don't really have a true recipe here, but simply some possibilities to choose from. The one non-negotiable ingredient, however, is the egg (and for me, the pesto). And every recipe I looked at called for a runny egg (but if you, like my husband, would rather dance with a cobra than eat a runny egg, I won't tell if you use a hard-fried egg.....just don't call it a Spangwich!)
SPANGWICH
Toasted bread slices (whole grain, artisan country bread, sourdough, your choice)
Mayo
Pesto
Cooked bacon
Sliced deli turkey
Sliced cheese, your choice (gouda, cheddar, Swiss, provolone, Jack, etc)
Avocado
Tomato slices
Leaf lettuce
Butter (if toasting bread in a toaster oven or under a broiler)
Egg, cooked over-easy
I had some leftover ham and a bone from Easter. I generally use it to make a navy bean soup, but we've been getting some really good fresh corn at the market, so decided to go this route. Great choice!
This is so tasty. And the addition of cauliflower lends another flavor. While the original recipe calls for frozen corn, I urge you to use fresh corn when in season...it adds to much extra texture. And it's just better. I also added some smoked paprika, just because I love that stuff!
HAM and POTATO SOUP (8 servings)
3 1/2 cups peeled and diced potatoes, red or russet
1 cup diced cauliflower
1 cup frozen corn, or fresh corn but off the cob
3/4 cup diced cooked ham
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1/3 cup diced celery
3 tsp minced fresh garlic
1 ham bone, optional
4 cups water, or as needed to cover
2 Tbsp chicken bouillon granules
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
1 tsp ground white pepper
5 Tbsp butter
5 Tbsp AP flour
2 cups milk
smoked paprika to taste, optional
Combine potatoes, cauliflower, corn, cooked ham, onion, celery, garlic, and ham bone (if using) in a large soup pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduced heat to medium and cook until potatoes are tender, 10-15 minutes. Stir chicken bouillon, salt, and white pepper into mixture.
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat; whisk in flour to a make a roux. Cook for 1 minute and gradually whisk milk into flour mixture until smooth. Continue cooking until thick, 4-5 minutes, whisking often.
Stir milk machine into soup. Add smoked paprika, if using. Cook until heated through, 5-10 minutes.
Recipe Source: www.allrecipes.com
