Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Facebook Page



My friend Jennifer talked me into starting a facebook page to post my recipes too so I have been trying to do a little of both here. I find it easier to post entire recipes to this blog, but want to show people the delicious things I am making on facebook. I will start to post my blog address for people to find the recipes.
Today for lunch I made a Quinoa and corn salad with toasted pumpkin seeds from a favorite cookbook of mine called Power Foods. I added black beans to mine and used half of a red onion in place of the green onion because I didn't have them on hand. They were way too strong. I should have minced them smaller and used less. I am thinking of added some lime zest too so I can get more of that lime flavor. It makes a ton of dressing. I don't like to put too much on because quinoa can get really mushy. I can't stand a mushy salad. So I drizzled maybe a 1/4 of the dressing on in the end. Super healthy and the kids actually ate some of it. Yeah!
The actual recipe was not found by me online for the link to it so this link is to another gals site who made it and posted it. I just don't have the time in my day to type out every recipe I make. She made hers a little different down in the bottom where she starts to assemble it. I actually only made one cup of quinoa. I wanted the ratios to be a little even with veggies to grains being equal. I do 1 c rinsed quinoa with a little under two cups of water. I have a rice cooker that I make mine in on the white rice setting. Love it. I use my rice cooker at least twice a week if not more. I've had it for years and it's an amazing machine. Perfect rice/quinoa every time!
Found a great write up on Power Foods if you are at all interested in that book. I love it. It's from the writers of Whole Living which is a division of Martha Stewart. I get the magazine too! I love this book so much. http://www.everydiet.org/diet/power-foods

For dinner last night I made another Everyday Foods recipe. I love these recipes because they don't require a bunch of bottled/packaged foods. Almost everything in them is a whole food. Love that. It's really easy for me to make them gluten free and almost all of them are naturally healthy.

Stir Fry Chicken with Bok Choy
adapted from the magazine Everyday Food

1/4 low sodium soy sauce
1 T rice vinegar
2 t light brown sugar
1 lb chicken breast or thigh meat cut into 1 inch cubes or sliced
4 t corn starch
2 T vegetable oil (I used my new favorite which is grapeseed oil-better for you)
2 garlic cloves thinly sliced
2 t peeled minced fresh ginger
4 c bok choy sliced from one head
1 small red chile or jalapeno seeded and diced
rice for serving (I used noodles)

In a small bowl combine soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar and 3T water. (I thought the sauce was a little weak so I wouldn't add the water next time or reduce it) Whisk. In a medium bowl combine chicken with the corn starch and toss to coat. In a large wok or skillet add oil cook garlic and ginger until fragrant about 1 minute. Add chicken and cook about 6-8 minutes. Add the bok choy and cook 1 minute or until wilted. Add the sauce and cook two minutes more. Serve over rice or noodles.



Friday, March 16, 2012

Sloppy is my middle name


I must say I am a sloppy joe connoisseur. I have to have tried a dozen or more recipes. I just love all of the flavors that go into them. All of the ingredients they can include and be so different. They are super healthy and an easy way to get kids to eat a lot of different ingredients without knowing it.
Tonight I am going to be making one of my favorites of all time. It's Rachael Ray of course. You know, now that I think of it, most of the ones I have made are from her. Amazing recipes. This one is called a Buffalo Joe. Follow the link though because for some reason she has a couple Buffalo Joe recipes. I really love this one.
In this recipe I changed a few things with much luck and actually have never made it the way it's called for. If you do and it's awesome let me know. But the day I was going to make it I realized I had no worcestershire in the house. So instead I googled good substitutes and did red wine vinegar (completely leaving out the cider vinegar) and soy sauce. (GF for me). It was amazing. I think I did just a couple splashes of each. It tasted amazing and have been doing it the same ever since!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Great food as of late

I have been making some great recipes lately. My husband gives me a hard time because I will make something the family loves, but may not see it again or for some time. I try so many new recipes, it is rare that I will make something twice. I must quote Marcel when I say, "I like that
about myself."
If you don't know who Marcel is look him up on youtube. Marcel the Shell with shoes on. He's a family favorite!


One recipe lately was a Korean Noodle Bowl from Rachael Ray. I have had the recipe for months and never made it. Then I went and became wheat free, keeping me from pasta until I found the great brown rice pasta at Trader Joes. I have to say, it was amazing. Even Jason ate it. Didn't comment on the pasta. It does get a little sticky on it's own but with the recipe gave it a creaminess that was really delicious. Couldn't even tell. I ate it for breakfast this morning. I used organic chicken thighs. I stopped using breast meat. I don't care if it's less fat. Less fat means less flavor. I am not going to get fat eating a meal with dark meat for crying out loud. I like to enjoy my food and have it taste good, thank you very much. It never turns out dry and disgusting like breast meat does.


Lucy had been asking me about eggplant a lot lately and on a trip to the grocery store wanted to pick some up. I had just the recipe I had been wanting to try. I love it so so much. It was amazing. Everyday Food never disappoints. Steamed Eggplant and Mushrooms It was so so yummy.


I just got a cookbook at the library that I am pretty excited about. Simple Food, Big Flavor by Aaron Sanchez. It is an amazing cookbook. I love how it's set up. There will be a recipe for something like a sauce and then the next whole section of recipes is based on that recipe using that sauce. I happened to make something that could be altered. There was a recipe for roasted tomatillo salsa but I opted to purchase my own in a jar. Had I had more time, would have loved to do that.
The recipe goes like this:

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa
1 1/2 lb of tomatillos
5 fresh serrano peppers or 10 jalapenos
3 whole garlic cloves peeled
1 large white onion peeled and sliced 1/2 in thick
1/4 olive oil
kosher salt
1/2 c fresh cilantro
fresh ground black pepper

After husking and washing tomatillos, broil along with garlic, peppers, and onion on a baking sheet. Drizzle with oil. Sprinkle with salt. After charred and turning a few times (7 minutes) let cool slightly. Transfer to a blender and puree. Store up to a week or freeze for two months.

I must say if you decide to purchase tomatillo salsa, see if you can find mild if you are feeding the kids or if you can't tolerate heat. This was spicy. I mean, my nose was running. It was tolerable to me because I can stand that kind of heat but the salsa I purchased was medium. The heat I tasted was definitely medium level. I loved it. The kids did now. Sad too because it would have been a great dish. I am thinking if you added a can of chicken stock it may even it out though. If you make this salsa from scratch, you could always do like 5 jalapenos and it may be fine. Serranos are a lot hotter than jalapenos. Plus always remove all of the ribs and seeds for sure. Don't just chuck those babies in whole after roasting them.

The recipe I made was sausage chili verde with hominy and pumpkin. These recipes are not available through the web as of yet so I will type it out for you. I kid you not, when I tasted this soup I let out a sigh of extreme flavor pleasure. This is bursting with flavor. I mean, I am totally in love. I was going to freeze a bowl of it, but really, who am I kidding, this stuff aint gonna last through tomorrow. I will dream about it tonight.

2 T evoo
1 large yellow spanish onion diced
1 lb sausage ( I buy an Italian chicken sausage from Super Target)
1 1/2 t dried whole oregano crumbled (preferably Mexican)
3 large cloves of garlic minced
2 c roasted tomatillo salsa
1 15 oz can hominy
1/2 c fresh cilantro
1/2 lb butternut squash peeled and diced into 1/2 in cubes

Heat oil in pan and cook your onions for about 4 minutes until translucent. Add the sausage and break it up until browned, about 10 minutes. Stir in oregano and garlic. Stir 3 more minutes. Stir in the salsa, hominy with all of it's liquid, cilantro and squash. Simmer covered until tender squash 15-20 minutes. Taste and season as necessary.

I did not salt mine at all as it was perfect. I am telling you, this is a winner. I will make it again and again. I love it. Hoping Jason likes it tomorrow as he didn't make it home for the first round. May be dining upon it for breakfast. :) Lately my theory is that you can put a friend egg on anything and call it breakfast. Ha ha ha.