56 new of 253 responses total.
Israeli Couscous & Vegetables Ah, one of my favorite ingredients - Israeli couscous. I let the vegetables go well past the saute stage she calls for and instead pan roasted them, meaning getting them very soft over medium low heat. Then the liquids are given up and cooked away, so the veggie flavors become very concentrated. Otherwise I made the recipe as directed. Very yummy. http://susikochenundbacken.blogspot.com/ Susi's Kochen kind of runs her recipes together so you'll need to tail back to April 11th to see this one.
Here is an outstanding chicken recipe, from Ina Garten. It came out looking just like that photo and was moist and flavorful. I used chicken thighs but otherwise made it according to specs. http://tinyurl.com/3wxqyvt One last bit - must love garlic.
And Brooke, I didn't know you used the pseudo "Susi".;-) Man, she looks like you.
Holy crap!! She does!
I'm a pretty unfussy fan of coleslaw. I'll take it dripping wet and creamy all the way to bone dry and spicy. About the only ones I don't like are the ones that are more mayo than cabbage. So this month Cook's Illustrated decided to deconstruct slaw and come up with a sweet & spicy slaw and boy, did they get it right. The directions are unique in that the cabbage is microwaved to release excess water. But it works. I made this up early in the day so I didn't need to do their dressing-in-the-freezer-first bit. I just gave the finished slaw 6 hours to cool before serving. And it was amazing how much water the salad spinner extracted. The end product's flavor and texture was spot on. Cook's Illustrated online is a subscription service but the link below takes you to a blogger who reproduces the recipe, exactly. http://tinyurl.com/5r9jxwa
that sounds yummy. I love cole slaw and I am not fussy about it either. I like all forms. But, fwiw, there is a cart at Mark's Carts that had some really excellent non-creamy cole slaw for $3. I am totally going to be getting that again.
Will try. Mark's Carts sure has been getting a lot of good attention.
Yeah, so far I've liked everything I've gotten there. They have lots of healthy choices too.
Last night I made this recipe for baked fish. It was fast, uber easy and tasty. I made it as suggested. http://tinyurl.com/3mox96m
Boneless & skinless chicken breasts get a nice treatment here: http://tinyurl.com/4xukwo8 I made this last night and it was quick and delicious. I did use 1 Tbsp. each butter and olive oil for the initial step where the chicken is cooked. I find spray just doesn't cut it there. And, although that sounds like a lot of mushroom, not to worry. They shrink when cooked and they make the dish.
yummy
Last night I needed a quick side for marinated flank steak. So I went through my list of keepers and came up with Moon Beam Salad - a Cooking Light recipe from like 15 years ago. It's a mystery why I haven't made this for so long as it goes together in a breeze and would be great for a picnic or potluck as it could be made the day before, unlike with lettuce or pasta salads. I could no longer find it on Cooking Light's website but there was this link. It calls for two cans of beans and I used one. I like the proportions better with one. It yields 4 big portions. http://tinyurl.com/3o7edq7
Sorry this isn't a picture. But it looks quite pretty.
I made Jamie Oliver's salmon baked in prosciutto over herby lentils for the new fella last night. It's an old standby that gets great reviews, and to be honest, is super easy. http://www.jamieoliver.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=25795 The recipe is the second one down. I also made a salad of spinach, peas and feta, with an olive oil/lemon dressing.
Salmon on lentils - sounds tasty. I've seen it on restaurant menus and been tempted. Think I'll try it. Thanks!
I really love it. It's healthy date food. I also made this: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/good-eats/chocolate-mousse-recipe/inde x.html For dessert. I'm not sure if I bloomed the gelatin correctly, but it really does have an amazing flavor....I omitted the rum and used vanilla, as I had no rum. I love the consistency, as while it's light, it also has a bit of punch behind it. We each had a couple of spoonfuls and were done.
well, I've cooked again and it didn't suck. I took the leftovers from a Costco rotisserie chicken and put it in a pot with some water and vegetable soup bouillon. Trader Joes sells packages of already chopped up onions, celery, and carrots so I bought that and threw that in the pot too. It came out well but it made way more soup than I can eat. Guess I'll freeze it or feed it to the dogs. It was pretty damn yummy though. I might do this again since the rotisserie chickens are so cheap but also much too big for a single person. I think I might add more vegetables like green beans and maybe cauliflower since I am trying to work more vegetables into my diet. Other than all of the salt, this is probably somewhat healthy too.
I'd freeze it in individual portions then always have one portion defrosting in the fridge, ready to eat, until the batch is gone. You are right, soup is a great way to get more veggies. I feel that way about stir-fry too.
That is a really good idea to freeze the soup in individual containers. I think I even have a bunch of old yogurt containers just waiting for such a use. That way, I can also easily microwave a bowl of soup any time I need a quick dinner.
Last night I made this recipe for Shrimp Korma. It had just the right amount of seasoning for our taste and it came together in about 45 minutes, including the rice. I didn't add the water, used 10 oz of shrimp and 1 cup (cooked) brown rice. It then was a nice dinner for two. I like leftovers but not when they include fish or seafood. http://tinyurl.com/3nlvzm8
You all must make this sometime this summer. It's a wonderful, easy to make cake that looks great and tastes even better. It's from Smitten Kitchen and it's packed with strawberry goodness. I gave it a test run last night to see if it would work for company - and it would and will. http://smittenkitchen.com/2011/05/strawberry-summer-cake/
I've made it for a BBQ. And I'm with you - it's freaking amazing. And SO easy!!!!
Juneberries are ripe! Mulberries just starting, and we missed the local sweet cherry trees but will bike an hour north to check on some slightly later ones tomorrow. White currants barely starting to ripen. First peapods. Lettuce starting to get bitter. Mustard bolting. Amaranth growing an inch a day. Garlic about to flower - scapes are edible for a bit longer. Beet greens.
Tonight was salad and sandwich night. But with a twist. I made bbq chicken quesadillas with a side of chunky mango-cucumber salsa. The salsa is a recipe I've made forever and I can't find it online anymore, but if anyone wants it I'll enter it here. The quesadillas went like this: http://www.howsweeteats.com/2010/06/bbq-chicken-quesadillas/
Looks good!
We have a crate of cukes to use up.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/tzatziki-sauce/detail.aspx I keep meaning to make this because I *love* it and it has lots of veggies and I always figure if I love some food with lots of veggies, I should eat it more often. I like dipping cucumbers in tzatziki sauce. I might have to make some for the 4th of July festivities.
I've been trying to get keep more high protein snacks on the ready. Things like hard boiled eggs and hummus. Of course I've made (my mother's) hard boiled eggs before but they often cracked or had that ugly green covering on the yolk. Enter Ina Garten and her technique, which is dead easy and yields the perfect hard boiled egg, to my taste. Here is how she does it: http://www.barefootcontessa.com/recipes.aspx?RecipeID=322&S=0 On her show after the 15 minute bath she submerges the eggs in ice water for 5 minutes. This is what I did because I wanted to eat one NOW. I'd also like to keep hummus around and decided to try this dead-easy, 5 Minute Hummus recipe. It's adapted from Real Simple and this blogger marked the tahini as optional. So I left it out. The hummus is wonderful without it! http://tinyurl.com/3uqjojo
Oh no way. Tahini is what makes hummus taste so good. ;) Sometimes I even add tahini to store bought hummus. I have found the easiest way to have hard boiled eggs around for snacks. Trader Joes sells bags of hard boiled eggs that are already peeled and everything. They are much more expensive than regular eggs but cheaper and healthier than many other snack options. I also like making egg salad sandwiches (with cesar dressing instead of mayo) with them. Yum yum.
Now that I think of it, I'll bet using tahini instead of mayo in an egg salad sandwich would be worth a try.
I'm fairly new to Trader Joe's. I'm curious how long a peeled hard boiled egg stays fresh, refrigerated? Nice idea though. Regarding the hummus - I'm going to add tahini to the next batch and see if it improves it worth the calories and fat grams. If so, I'm there. But it's pretty tasty without.
resp:228 I've kept them as long as a week. I think they might be ok longer but I always eat them up.
My mother made the worst pancakes. They were like dog frisbees and you needed a knife to cut them. The whole time I was growing up I thought that restaurant pancakes were so good and mom's were so bad so it must be a restaurant trick moms don't know about. Well. About 20 years ago I finally got it. It's all about not overworking the batter. You stop when you can still see a few lumps. Mom beat her batter to death using an electric mixer. But lately I've been trying to come up with a tender but healthier pancake. And this morning I made a recipe that does that nicely. Now, be open minded here - it includes cottage cheese. That's not such a stretch when you consider good pancakes usually include buttermilk for the acid component. Here is the recipe: http://tinyurl.com/3as375p Now, my changes: I used an immersion blender on the liquid ingredients before gently hand mixing with the dry. For flour I used only whole wheat pastry flour. I halved the recipe using two eggs and ended up with 6 6" pancakes. Lastly, 1/2 cup of fresh blueberries went into the batter because it would be a sin not to. And there you have it. Fluffy, tasty pancakes, with added protein and fiber. Just right for a holiday breakfast.
I had a BBQ to attend yesterday, and at the hostesses' request, made banoffee pie, but then wanted something lighter. I had the last of my rhubarb in the freezer, so I bought some cheap strawberries and made this: http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/05/crumbling-crisp-convictions/ I doubled it and ended up with maybe a cup left. Which I brought home to heat up to eat tonight. It was GREAT! And everyone loved it!
I'd not heard of banoffee pie so I looked it up. Holy cow, that sounds decadent and wonderful. I'll also be trying that crisp recipe. I've been watching folks use electric ice cream makers and I'm intrigued. Not so much to buy one as to figure out how to make good sorbet, without one, and with less sugar than usual. So when I saw Giada make a watermelon version I decided to start there. I substituted diet ginger ale and only added the juice of one lime. I put the liquid into a plastic container and about every two hours into the freeze I'd go and give it a stir/flake. Worked! It's a light and refreshing ice. I'll be trying this with other fruits. http://tinyurl.com/44n3636
The banoffee is decadent - but it's also one of the easiest things to make if you buy the ingredients....I tend to like my own graham cracker crust better than anything I could ever buy, so that's scratch. And when condensed sweetened milk goes on sale, I buy a bunch so I can cook it down to dulce de leche....then it's just easier to make the dish. It's a real no-fail thing.
So, I found out there is a chemistry thing involved and if you want granita you can fork-scape the fruit/water mixture every half hour and end up with something scoopable. But if you want a true sorbet, frozen yogurt or ice cream, it needs to be churned. So I bought an ice cream maker. What a world of confectionary fun! So far I've made Alton's Serious Vanilla Ice Cream and a mango frozen yogurt from the Cusinart booklet that came with the device. Yummy. And with zucchini in season I made this quick bread with whole wheat flour, and raisins instead of chocolate chips. It's not overly sweet with a nice flavor and texture. Individual portions freeze well. http://tinyurl.com/5vrwlot
I have been thinking about buying an ice cream maker. Ironically because I am trying not to eat ice cream :). My substitute for ice cream has been frozen berries mixed with plain unsweetened greek yogurt but I find myself thinking that if I could freeze the yogurt/berry mixture and churn it, it would be pretty good.
This mango frozen yogurt has pretty good numbers. Here is a link to the recipe and nutritional info. http://www.cuisinart.com/recipes/desserts/6020.html Regarding purchasing an ice cream maker - I located the one I wanted, on sale, at Bed Bath & Beyondm for $50 and used a 20% off coupon so I was out the door at $43. http://tinyurl.com/6fsegxq
Er, Beyond.
I think I might try to get use one for less :) I would sure like to try that mango frozen yogurt though.
Is it here where I tell you that the new fella cooked for ME, and while I don't have a recipe, and holy crap was it decadent, it was seriously good? Grilled hotdogs, wrapped in bacon, grilled with BBQ sauce and topped with caramelized onions and blue cheese crumbles. On grilled naan. He also grilled some asparagus, because hey, gotta stay healthy, right? It was an amazing dinner, and it had been so long since someone cooked for me (he also made me a pretty amazing veggie omelet the next day), that seriously, it could have been Stouffer's and I'd have been thrilled. ;-)
Oh, man. You found a good one, Brooke.
resp:239 I always say that I would put up with a lot of BS from any guy who cooks me dinner :) I also have to say that his "swankie frankie" version sounds very delicious.
OMG! We are so totally going to call them that! Thanks!! And Mary, yes, I think I know that. ;-)
resp:242 You might want to spell it correctly though ;)
I once dated a guy that loved to cook; was nice while it lasted. :-)
Ice cream machine update summary: Oh my. Who would have thought research could be so much fun! Details: I've made four different frozen desserts in the ice cream maker thus far. A full, rich, butter pecan ice cream (NY style), a serious vanilla ice cream (Philadelphia style), a raspberry sherbet, a mango sorbet and there is a batch of cantaloupe sorbet chilling to be churned in a couple of hours. What I'm finding that isn't a surprise is an improved flavor over even premium store bought. What I didn't anticipate is how much more expensive it is to make quality ice cream at home. The ingredients add up especially when using vanilla beans. Here are a few links to those recipes: Butter pecan ice cream: http://tinyurl.com/42r7b9t Serious vanilla ice cream: http://tinyurl.com/56cdh6 Raspberry sherbet: http://tinyurl.com/3ufesr4 Mango frozen yogurt: http://tinyurl.com/3dfzt38 Cantaloupe sorbet (used only 1/2 cup sugar): http://tinyurl.com/6pcjfp
Where do you get ripe mangos?
Yes, the cost of milk and cream and eggs can be ridiculous. My friend made ice cream, and you could tell he cheaped out - and at that point, just buy what's on sale at the store.
The cheap ice cream at the store does not have eggs.
I got nice mangos at Krogers. The cantaloupe sorbet came out great! I used Midori instead of vodka. It comes in at 88 calories a serving without resorting to artificial sweetener. That's what I was looking to accomplish when I started this ice creeam making thing.
You can get canned ripe mango pulp at Indian food stores.
Overnight guests tonight and I'd like to serve something a little different for breakfast. So I had a trial-run of this recipe this morning and it's quite good. I made enough crepes for tomorrow, will put together a fruit salad tonight, and the morning will be golden. That's the plan at least. ;-) http://tinyurl.com/4xvw22z
the best laid plans....
I've been making lots of familiar dishes lately so not much to link to here. But for tonight I made a new recipe for Fried Rice with Tofu and it's very good. The only change I made was in using brown rice. This one is a keeper. http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/tofu-fried-rice-10000000689956/
You have several choices: