Marinated Broccoli Salad

01. July 2012 · 12 comments · Categories: food, life, recipes, Savory, Side dishes, vegetarian · Tags: , , , ,

Broccoli Salad

This weather is disgusting.

When you wake up it’s already 80 degrees out, and by noon it’s 90. It just doesn’t feel right turning on the oven to cook. So it’s good to have a bunch of no-cook, cold, fresh salad recipes in your recipe box.

Salsa and tabouli are both great for this purpose, and this recipe is another good one.

Broccoli Salad

You need to make this a day ahead to give the broccoli time to marinate and soften. I didn’t realize this when I was making the recipe, so I blanched it as a shortcut. I recommend following the directions though :)

On a side note, did you know that sometimes pignoli nuts can cause you to have a bitter taste in your mouth for days? Yeah, I didn’t either until it happened to me. It’s not ALL pignoli nuts, but apparently some are affected.

I  also don’ t know if it only affects some people (since Nate didn’t seem to notice it) or if I’m just hyper aware of tastes, but it was disgusting. All food tasted bad/bitter until it wore off several days later. It probably didn’t help that I continued to eat this for 3 days until I realized that the pignoli nuts were the cause. Don’t let that this stop you from making this recipe, and I hope I haven’t in any way affected your love of these tasty little seeds.

On another note, I worked on more wedding crafts this weekend! I have to say they came out super cute…here’s a sneak peak.

I also had my wedding hair trial appointment today. I don’t know what I want to do! I hate making decisions.

Nate is pretty set on having me wear my hair down, and since he hasn’t asked for much I feel like I should honor his request. i know I want it off my face though, so maybe some sort of half up, half down thing? I think I want some loose waves.

The hairdresser showed me a few options. I defintely don’t want anything complex…I’m a simple girl.

Broccoli Salad

 

Cold Broccoli Salad

From mom’s recipe box (original source unknown)

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Serves 6

1 head broccoli, cut in 1″ pieces
1/2 cup sliced black olives
4 thin-sliced radishes
1/4 cup pignoli nuts
1/2 cup olive oil
3 Tbsp wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
tomato wedges for garnish

Soak broccoli in salted water for 10-15 min. Drain.

Add olives, nuts.

Combine oil, vinegar, and seasonings to make dressing.

Marinate broccoli for five or more hours, chilled.

Add rest of ingredients before serving.

My 15 seconds of fame…and some Tabouli

04. June 2012 · 38 comments · Categories: cooking, food, life, recipes, Savory, Side dishes, vegetarian · Tags: , , , , , ,

Tabouli

If you like chopping vegetables, then this recipe is for you.

Nate and I headed down to his mom’s for Memorial Day weekend, and as always I took advantage of her giant kitchen with ample counter space to make lots of recipes.

I love having room to spread out! I literally had every square inch of the counter covered with ingredients for three different recipes I was making at once. It’s such a nice change from our little apartment kitchen where I have to clean as I go (something I’m horrible at) if I want any hope of keeping some semblance of order in the kitchen.

Tabouli

I will be SO happy when we move to a house with *hopefully a nice big kitchen! Unfortunately, we just signed our lease for another year, so it’ll be at least a year til my dream comes true.

Anyway, this salad isn’t quick to make. There are a lot of vegetables to chop…and not just any vegetables, but small vegetables. I wish there was an easy way to chop small things.

I did use Rachel Ray’s tip for cutting cherry tomatoes. She kind of annoys me sometimes, but in this case, she’s a freaking genius. This is hands-down the best time-saver EVER.

Tabouli

Speaking of Rachel Ray, did I ever tell you guys I was in the audience of the Rachel Ray show, and they kept panning the camera to me. It was my 15 minutes (okay, seconds) of fame :) You can see it here…if you go to minute 1:50, you can see me!

Try to ignore the fact that I look directly at one of the cameras. I’m not an actress, folks. I was beckoning to the camera man. I’m also in the other segments from show that day, which you can find here. They loved me!

Ok, so back to the recipe. This may be time-consuming, but when all is said and done, it’s so colorful, fresh and delicious!

Be aware that this makes a lot of Taboulli. Perfect alongside your summer barbecues or for a light lunch!

Tabouli

 

Tabouli

From Mom’s recipe box (i.e. source unknown)

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Serves 8-10

1 cup bulgur, uncooked
1 cucumber, diced
2 tomatoes, diced (or 2 handfuls cherry tomatoes, cut in half)
1 bunch radishes, chopped in 1/4 dice
3/4 cups scallion, sliced
1/2 cup fresh mint, minced
1/2 cup fresh parsley, minced
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Wash bulgur in cold water til water runs clear. Place in bowl, cover with 4 cups boiling water. Mix and let stand 30-40 min.

Drain bulgur and squeeze out excess moisture. Place in clean bowl

Add rest of ingredients. Adjust seasonings.

Something a little different: Mulligatawny Soup

17. May 2012 · 4 comments · Categories: Appetizer, cooking, Dinner, food, recipes, Savory · Tags: ,

While going through my grandpa’s recipe collection, I came across a recipe for a sort of Mulligatawny. At least, that’s what the recipe called it although I’m fairly certain it’s not very authentic.

In case you don’t know, a Mulligatawny is a a curry-flavoured soup of Anglo-Indian origin (as per Wikipedia).

There are many variations on the recipe for mulligatawny. In the West, the soup typically has a yellow colour and contains chicken or other meat, and it is often thickened with rice.

This recipe said to add both chicken and rice, but since I knew it was something Nate wouldn’t want to eat anyway, due to the spices, I eliminated both and kept it light for me.

This is definitely a shortcut way to make this soup, but it was way tastier than I was expecting! The apple adds a nice sweetness and the hot sauce plus spices give it a real kick and make it full of flavor.

While this soup isn’t hearty enough to be a full meal, it would make a delicious first course. It’s always nice to change it up a bit in the kitchen, so if you’re in the mood for something different, give this a try! I garnished mine with a dallop of sour cream and it was perfect :)

Quick Mulligatawny Soup

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Serves 6-8

2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 package (10 oz) frozen mixed veggies, thawed
2 Tbsp flour
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce, or more to taste
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 quart water
1 can (10.5 oz) condensed low fat cream of chicken soup (or chicken with rice soup, if you want rice)
1 cup chopped apple
optional- 1 cup diced cooked chicken

Melt butter over med-high heat in a large soup pot.

Add onion and mixed veggies, saute just until onion is tender.

Stir in flour, curry powder, salt, hot pepper sauce and cloves. Add water, soup, apple (and chicken if using).

Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 20 min or until slightly thickened. Serve with additional pepper sauce if desired.

Remembering Grandpa, and His Favorite Foods.

09. May 2012 · 43 comments · Categories: Baking, cooking, Dinner, food, life, recipes, Savory, vegetarian · Tags: , , ,

Vegetable Lasagna

Since my grandpa passed away a couple months ago, my mom and aunt decided to help my grandmother go through her house to clean it up. Both my grandma and grandpa love(ed) to save things…I unfortunately inherited this packrat tendency.

This cleanup was necessary both because their house contains all sorts of crap, but also because my grandma will be downsizing to an apartment.

Vegetable Lasagna

During the cleanup my mom found and bequeathed to me a collection of recipes my grandfather had saved.

The ironic thing is that my grandfather didn’t cook (though he loved to watch the Food Network), and my grandmother also doesn’t cook…which makes you wonder what exactly he was saving these recipes for.

I think I also inherited his recipe clipping addiction.

Vegetable Lasagna

When my mom mentioned giving me this collection, my grandmother got upset, saying that maybe she would make some of these recipes now…even though she hadn’t made any of them for the last 50 years.

A lot of his recipe clippings came from newspapers and the back of food cartons, and some were hand written ones scribbled while watching cooking shows on tv.

Vegetable Lasagna

The recipes were super organized. He had different envelopes on each of which he wrote a category: Dessert, Salad/Vegetables, Side Dishes, Meat and Poultry, etc. There must have been 10 different categories.

Going through each category I was able to learn a little something about my grandpa- his favorite foods. There were about 20 recipes for the practically the same dish in each category, though the sources varied.

Apparently his favorite dessert was apple crisp/pie, he loved any type of chili, and in the pasta category, he preferred Lasagna.

Vegetable Lasagna

The recipe in this post came about from adapting one of “his” recipes. I think it must have come from the back of some lasagna noodle box, and I have to say that it turned out delicious! I’ll be sharing more of his recipes in the coming weeks.

When my mother gave me my grandpa’s recipe clippings, I knew exactly what I had to do- finally cook the dishes my grandpa had been saving for someone to make.

I guess maybe he was saving it for me :)

Vegetable Lasagna

Hearty Vegetable Lasagna

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Serves 8-10

1 lb lasagna noodles, not the “no boil” ones
1 lb sliced mushrooms
1 bunch broccolini, chopped in 1/2 inch pieces
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2- 26oz jars pasta sauce
1.5 tsp dried italian seasoning
15 oz Ricotta cheese
16 oz (4 cups) shredded mozzarella cheese
2 eggs
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350.

Cook pasta 8 min or until just tender. Drain and rinse with cold water. Spread noodles onto a sheet pan coated with cooking spray so noodles don’t stick together.

While pasta is cooking, heat a large saucepan over med-hi heat. Heat oil and add onion. (**You could easily add ground beef here and skip the broccolini if you wanted it to be non-vegetarian). Cook onion 2 minutes then add mushrooms, broccolini and garlic and cook until tender.

Stir in 4 cups (1 1/3 jars) pasta sauce and italian seasoning. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.

Mix ricotta, 2 cups mozzarella and eggs.

Spread 1 cup remaining sauce in greased 9×13 casserole dish.

Layer 5 noodles on top of sauce, slightly overlapping noodles to fit. Spread 2 cups of the veggie sauce over the noodles. Dollop with 1/2 of the ricotta mixture, spreading evenly in pan. Sprinkly with 2 Tbsp parmesan cheese.

Repeat above step, layering noodles, veggie sauce, ricotta, parmesan.

Top with 5 more noodles and top with rest of sauce.

Sprinkle with 2 cups mozzarella cheese. Bake uncovered 40 minutes or until bubbly. Put a sheet pan covered with foil underneath to catch any drips.

Let stand 15 minutes. Refrigerate leftovers.

*Note: I found this recipe much better the next day. Some of the sauce gets absorbed into the noodles and it’s not watery.

Roasted Corn, Shrimp, Mushroom and Goat Cheese Quesadilla with Red Pepper Jelly and Salsa Verde

30. April 2012 · 36 comments · Categories: cooking, Dinner, food, recipes, Savory · Tags: , , ,

I have the most romantic fiancé ever…

Shrimp Quesadilla

The other day at work, Nate and I were talking on gchat and he asked me what I was making for dinner:

me: why don’t you get a pizza for dinner

Nate: im just not sure i want pizza

me: well how do you know you’d be in the mood for whatever i made for dinner?

Nate: i can’t make these decisions anymore
thats why i’m getting married
so i don’t have to
my food thinking days are over

Shrimp Quesadilla

If that’s not a reason to get married (to someone you had a “good” date with), I don’t know what is.

Since Nate never has any idea what he wants for dinner, I have to come up with these things myself.

I knew I wanted to use my new panini press, one of my bridal gifts!! I immediately thought of quesadillas and tried to figure out what else was in my fridge.

Shrimp Quesadilla

I had that goat cheese I’ve been meaning to use, plus some Trader Joes Red Pepper Jelly that I haven’t tried yet (courtesy of Nate’s mom). For some reason I knew I wanted roasted corn too, and then I threw in mushrooms to add some more veggies and sauteed shrimp for protein.

Before I knew it, a delicious quesadilla was born.

Shrimp Quesadilla

Since Nate doesn’t mind making me come up with dinner ideas and cooking every day, I didn’t mind hiding some chopped up shrimp, his most hated of foods, into this tasty meal :)

Had it not been for a small piece of shrimp falling out of these very messy quesadillas, Nate never would have known.

And you know what? He saw it fall out and kept eating. They were THAT GOOD people!

Roasted Corn, Shrimp, Mushroom and Goat Cheese Quesadilla with Red Pepper Jelly and Salsa Verde

Recipe by Me

Print this recipe!

makes 4 quesadillas

*Note: amounts are not exact, as it really depends what you like

4 tortillas
15ish small shrimp
3 ears corn, kernels cut off (about 1 cup kernels I think?)
Olive oil
8 oz. sliced mushrooms
Cilantro
3-4 oz. crumbled goat cheese
Salsa verde (any jarred version is fine, or you could make your own)
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup Red Pepper Jelly

Toss corn kernels with some oil, spread on a foil-line baking sheet, and sprinkle with pepper.

Broil corn kernels, keeping an eye on them, until lightly browned. Set aside.

Put about a teaspoon of oil in a grill pan or skillet and heat over medium heat. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring until they begin to soften. Add a tablespoon of salsa, stir, and push to one side of the pan.

Toss shrimp with olive oil, cilantro, salt and pepper. Add shrimp to the empty half of the pan containing the mushrooms.

Flip shrimp over when the bottom side turns pink, and continue cooking another minute or two until entire shrimp is pink.

Remove shrimp from pan and cut each into quarters.

Remove mushrooms from heat and set aside.

Put 1 tortilla down. Spread half with about 1 Tbsp red pepper Jelly. Sprinkle 3-4 shrimp (9-12 chopped pieces) evenly over the jelly. Top with 1 Tbsp mushrooms and about 3-4 Tbsp corn. Sprinkle with an ounce of goat cheese, cilantro and 1 Tbsp salsa verde. (Amounts are all approximate and can vary based on your taste)

Fold tortilla over the filling and cook in a panini press for a few minutes or until crispy on outside and cheese is melted.

Cut in half and enjoy!

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