Yum!



Tried a new recipe last night from Cooking Light and it was a HUGE hit! My nine year old loved the spicy radish and dijon mustard in the dressing. I loved the fresh spring taste in my mouth - I thought the fennel might be too much but it was spot on! Definitely add this to your list of wonderful summery side salads!

* 8 ounces uncooked orzo (rice-shaped pasta)
* 1 tablespoon kosher salt
* 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
* 3 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 1 1/2 cups diced fennel (about 1 bulb)
* 1/2 cup chopped radish
* 3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint ( I only had dried and it was fine)
* 3 tablespoons minced green onions ( used chives from my garden - nice light flavor)
* 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted

Preparation

* 1. Cook orzo pasta with 1 tablespoon kosher salt according to the package directions, omitting additional fat. Drain and rinse with cold water. Drain well.
* 2. Combine lemon juice and next 3 ingredients (through pepper) in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Add orzo, fennel, and the next 4 ingredients (through 1/2 teaspoon salt); toss well to coat. Cover and chill. Top with nuts before serving.

Rori Trovato, Cooking Light
APRIL 2011

I am in love.....

with siggi's that is!



I have always been a fan of greek style yogurt and while grocery shopping late last night the gorgeous packaging of Siggi's yogurt caught my eye...I had to give it a try!




I opted for orange ginger .... a flavor never before encountered in yogurt and now my favorite! I wished the container had been twice the size! Not only is this yogurt delicious - it is good for you too! And an added bonus for me it is "local" - made in Chenango County NY! Siggi buys milk from local family farms that grass feed their cows and do not inject them with any type of growth hormones. It is sweetened with agave nectar rather than artificial sweeteners or high fructose corn syrup.

The packaging has also been designed with a nod to the environment...Late in 2007, siggi’s skyr launches a new cup design that uses 40-50% less plastic than regular yogurt cups and is supported by a recyclable cardboard sleeve.

I had luck finding it at wegmans and their website lets you enter your zip code to find a retailer near you! You can also LIKE them on facebook...siggi's on facebook

Let me know if you try it - I would love to hear what you think!

Delicious Dinner Idea!

I had to share last nights recipes with you as my 8 year old said "If you make this everyday I will eat it!"

From Bon Appetit - the asparagus on the cover caught my eye!



Ingredients
* 12 ounces fettuccine or penne
* 3 ounces pancetta or bacon, chopped
* 1 1/4 pounds asparagus, trimmed, cut on diagonal into 1-inch pieces
* 2 cups shelled fresh green peas, blanched 1 minute in boiling water, drained, or frozen peas (do not thaw)
* 1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced, white and pale green parts separated from dark green parts
* 2 garlic cloves, pressed
* 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese plus additional for serving
* 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
* 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
* 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley, divided
* 1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil, divided

I also added some thinly sliced chicken breast for a bit more protein!


Preparation
Cook pasta in pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup pasta cooking liquid. Return pasta to pot.
*
Meanwhile, cook pancetta in large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Using slotted spoon, transfer pancetta to paper towels to drain. Pour off all but 1 teaspoon drippings from skillet. Add asparagus to drippings in skillet; sauté 3 minutes. Add peas, white and pale green parts of green onions, and garlic; sauté until vegetables are just tender, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
*
Add vegetable mixture, 1/4 cup pasta cooking liquid, dark green parts of green onions, 1/2 cup Parmesan, cream, olive oil, lemon juice, lemon peel, half of parsley, and half of basil to pasta. Toss, adding more cooking liquid by tablespoonfuls if needed. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Transfer to large bowl. Sprinkle pancetta, remaining parsley, and basil over. Serve, passing additional Parmesan cheese.

Another Dinner Hit!

I am feeling pretty good here - 2 for 2! Last night I tried another Cooking Light recipe and LOVED it! My changes to the recipe are noted on teh side - if you become a frequent visitor to my blog you will come to realize I almost NEVER follow a recipe exactly nor do I measure spices with a measuring spoon - more of an educated eye to the amount!

So, without further ado, may I present Chicken & Sweet Potato Curry!




Ingredients

* 2 teaspoons curry powder
* 1 teaspoon ground coriander
* 1 teaspoon ground turmeric *** I did not have tumeric so I upped the curry
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
* 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
* 1 bay leaf
* 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
* 1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
* 1 1/2 cups vertically sliced onion
* 1 1/2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger *** or more if you like ginger!
* 2 garlic cloves, minced
* 1 (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth *** used 2/3 of a lg can
* 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained *** used crushed and 28oz
* 2 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled sweet potato
* 3/4 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
* 1/2 cup frozen green peas *** ommitted - not a pea fan
* 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Preparation

1. Combine curry powder, coriander, turmeric, salt, black pepper, red pepper, and bay leaf in a small bowl.

2. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally. Remove chicken from pan. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion to pan; cook 10 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Increase heat to medium-high; return chicken to pan. Cook 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Stir in ginger and garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add curry powder mixture; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add broth and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour. Stir in potato and chickpeas. Cook, uncovered, 30 minutes. Add peas; cook 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat; stir in lemon juice. Discard bay leaf.

If you are veg - try adding more chick peas, onion maybe some spinach in lieu of the chicken.

We garnished with Major Grey Mango Chutney and practically licked our bowls clean!

My Love/Hate Affair with Cooking Light....

I have always loved the healthy recipes from Cooking Light but never liked the layout of the magazine. I would give it a try for a few issues but then the jumble of recipes and lack of photos inevitably turned me off and I would abandon the magazine...

so you can imagine my delight when some design and editorial changes were made at the magazine and it became visually more appealing - cleaner layout, photos for the recipes etc.... I decided to give it another go and have been very pleased. It has helped me with my new resolution to plan meals and make them healthy!

Last night I tried Dan Dan Noodles from the Nov 09 issue and it received a 5 out of 5 from my gang! Give it a try and let me know what you think... I am giving the recipe as it appeared in the magazine and indicating the changes I made...




Ingredients

* 1 pound frozen fresh wide Chinese egg noodles, thawed (I used Chinese RICE Noodles as that was what I had on hand)
* 2 tablespoons canola oil
* 1/3 cup dry-roasted peanuts
* 3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
* 1 tablespoon sambal oelek (ground fresh chile paste) (subbed red hot pepper flakes)
* 1 teaspoon sugar
* 2 garlic cloves
* 1 (1/2-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled (used closer to 1 inch)
* 8 ounces lean ground pork (used 99% ff ground turkey)
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
* 3/4 cup thinly diagonally sliced green onions
* 1 1/4 cups chopped seeded peeled cucumber
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (more like 1/2 c - I love cilantro!)

Preparation

1. Cook noodles in 6 quarts boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain in a colander over a bowl, reserving 3/4 cup cooking liquid. Place noodles in a large bowl.

2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add peanuts to pan; sauté 2 minutes or until fragrant. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Combine peanut mixture, soy sauce, and next 4 ingredients (through ginger) in a mini chopper; process until finely ground.

3. Cook pork and salt in skillet over medium-high heat 8 minutes or until done, stirring to crumble. Add peanut mixture and 3/4 cup cooking liquid to pork; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Add pork mixture, juice, and onions to noodles; toss well. Place about 1 3/4 cup noodle mixture in each of 4 bowls; top each serving with 5 tablespoons cucumber and 1 tablespoon cilantro.

this could be good if you marinate the cucumber in some rice wine vinegar and sugar for a few hours before adding to the noodles!

Enjoy!

Rotten Bananas ......

does this happen at your house??

we go through the banana cycle .... it starts with everyone loving bananas. So much so that I buy bunch after bunch at the store only to have them gobbled up the minute they ripen or even with a tinge of green!

then the winds of change blow through - or maybe it is a secret banana boycott organized behind my back to get me to make banana bread.

Not sure ... but I do know that this is the result!



ugh!

so I decided it was time for banana bread - or rather banana muffins. A little easier to grab and go.

Of course I can never remember which recipe I used last, so I hunted through my cookbooks until I came upon Muffin Madness in the Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home Cookbook and pulled out my trusty purple kitchen-aid!



This is a great recipe because it gives you directions for a tasty muffin base that you can flavor in different ways.

-- Basic Wet Ingredients --
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 - 1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

-- Basic Dry Ingredients --
2 cup unbleached flour (I use whole wheat)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Choose one of the following combos to add to basic ingredients (the above is NOT a plain muffin recipe, but the base for the following)

Apple muffins: Add 2 cups of grated apple and 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel to wet ingredients and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon to dry ingredients.

Banana muffins: Add 1 1/2 cups of mashed banana to wet ingredients and 1 cup chopped nuts and/or 1/2 cup of chocolate chips to batter. (this can be adjusted to personal preference - we like fewer nuts and use mini-chips)

Blueberry - lemon muffins: Add 1 1/2 cups of blueberries and 1 tablespoon of grated lemon peel to wet ingredients.

Zucchini muffins: Add 2 cups of grated zucchini to wet ingredients and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of ground cardamom to the dry ingredients. Fold in 1/2 cup of raisins or currants and 3/4 cup of chopped nuts to batter.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine wet ingredients, combine dry ingredients. Add two mixtures together and take care not to overmix. Spoon batter into oiled standard muffins tins and bake for 20-25 minutes standard size muffins or 10-15 minutes for mini muffins

the result was so yummy I made 3 batches in 2 days... and yep, I used up all of those black bananas !

Yummy Goodness....

Oven Roasted Plum Tomatoes.... run, don't walk to your nearest farmers market... scoop up the biggest basket you can find (I bought a 1/2 bushel) and pop a few trays of these tomatoes in your oven Pronto! You can come back here and thank me later... after you tempt your tastebuds with the rich, salty sweet taste of the roasted tomatoes... so good!



so... here is what you need to do:

rinse off your tomatoes & slice in half lengthwise

place on baking sheet - cut side up - drizzle with olive oil, sea salt, add a few cloves of garlic and I used fresh thyme leaves too


place in oven at 225 degrees farenheit (sorry celsius blog readers) and roast for 9-10 HOURS! yes... HOURS! we ate them on baguette, homemade pizzas, plain, eggs, you name it... diced like a dip or popped straight into your mouth the taste can not be beat! I have even frozen some and the taste is great even out of the freezer... so as I said earlier... RUN don't walk to your local farmers market and scoop up a bushel to make these beauties!!

What's Cooking??

I asked this question yesterday as I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner...I posted it to Twitter and Facebook and got some great ideas! Lynn a fellow teammate from etsy posted vegetarian stuffed pepper casserole!

I thought as my thanks for the delicious suggestions yesterday I would share a family favorite from our house...

Tempeh Fajitas with Cucumber Salsa
from Jeanne Lemlin's Main Course Vegetarian Pleasures



Ingredients
FOR THE MARINADE

* 3 tb Tamari soy sauce
* Juice of 1/2 lime
* 1 ts Brown sugar
* 2 tb Vegetable oil
* 3 cl Garlic; minced
* 1/4 ts Crushed red pepper flakes

FOR THE FILLING

* 3 Bell peppers; cut into 1/2"
* 1 md Red onion; halved vertically

FOR THE SAUCE

* 2/3 c Low-fat yogurt
* 1/2 sm Cucumber; peeled, seeded,
* And finely diced (1/3c)
* 1/4 ts Ground cumin
* 1 tb Minced fresh parsley

TO SERVE

* 8 8" flour tortillas


Preparation

Combine the marinade ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in the tempeh, bell peppers and onion. Marinate at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours. Preheat oven to 450 F.

In a small bowl combine the salsa ingredients. Cover and chill until ready to use.

Sprinkle a little water on each tortilla and rub it into each tortilla with your fingers. Stack the tortillas, then wrap in foil. Set aside.

Spread the marinated tempeh and vegetables on a baking sheet in one layer. Bake 15 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender and tempeh begins to brown. Do not toss while cooking.

Place the tortilla packet in the oven for about 7 minutes. This will heat the tortillas with a little steam to soften them.

To serve, place a tortilla on each plate. Spoon some of the tempeh mixture along the center, cover with a little cucumber salsa, then fold and roll to enclose the filling.

Soups On for Tasty Tuesday!

In the spirit of spring and fresh crops of rhubarb popping up everywhere I am sharing a favorite spring recipe of mine for Parsnip, Rhubarb & Ginger Soup!

This recipe is taken from New Covent Garden Soup Company's Soup & Beyond Cookbook




We picked this book up on a trip to London about 10 years ago and it remains one of my favorite cookbooks! This recipe was the creation of a retired tropical agriculturalist from England - Robert Austin. It was the winner in the 1998 "Create a Soup Contest" in the Daily Telegraph. One of the judges declared "Rhubarb and ginger is a classic combination in cooking, but blending this with parsnips to make a savoury soup is ingenious. The rhubarb really cuts through the sweetness of the parsnips and the result is both unusual and delicious!"



Serves 4 Prep Time ~ about 30 minutes

2oz butter
1 lb parsnips - peeled & roughly chopped
8oz rhubarb - washed and sliced
1 medium onion - finely sliced
2tsp fresh grated ginger
1T flour
1.5 pints chicken stock
2t. brown sugar
salt & pepper to taste

Melt butter & cook the parsnips, rhubarb, onion & ginger for 5 minutes in covered saucepan without coloring,

Add flour - stir well

Add stock & sugar - taste for seasoning - bring to boil stirring constantly

lower heat & simmer about 15min until vegetables are tender

cool a bit then puree in a blender until very smooth

adjust seasoning, reheat & garnish with chopped parsley

Smacznego!

It's Time for Tasty Tuesday!

I am trying to find some direction & focus for my blog and thought I might try adding a Tasty Tuesday post! Sharing a favorite meal, wine, dessert, beer...you name it! Anything tasty!

Last night we had a delicious dinner that was a hit all around so I thought I would share the recipe.

For the main course I altered a favorite shrimp dish to make it with chicken. Taken from one of my favorite cookbooks - Rao's Cookbook

I am pleased to present my spin on Chicken French!

3 whole(2-part) chicken breasts - pound thin
1.5 C flour
seasoned egg batter (see below)
1/2 - 1C veg oil
1C dry white wine
juice 1.5 lemons
salt & pepper to taste
6T butter
3T chopped parsley

*****seasoned egg batter ****
4 large eggs, 1/4C pecorino romano cheese, 2t parsley, slat & pepper to taste
in a small bowl whisk eggs, cheese, parsley, salt& pepper



Directions

1. dredge each pounded chicken breast in flour then in seasoned egg batter. allow excess batter to drip off then dredge in flour again - set aside.



2. Heat oil in large pan over medium high heat. When oil is hot place chicken in single layer (repeat if necessary)brown each side until chicken reaches internal temp of 165

3. After last batch of chicken has cooked and is still in pan drain excess oil

4. return pan to heat, add wine, lemon juice, salt & pepper bring to boil and add 2T butter - remove chicken to platter - raise heat and whisk in remaining butter. When sauce has thickened pour over chicken garnish with parsley and serve.



we served this with pasta tossed with a dash of olive oil, fresh tomato, fresh basil & herbed feta.



We served this with a nicely chilled glass of Tisdale Chardonnay - one of my favorite whites for summer - an unoaked chardonnay that is light and fruity for summer drinking.



Smacznego!