It's a Carrot Revolution!

Apparently Feb. 3rd was National Carrot Day - and I missed it!
But I came across this video on the Say Yes to Carrots Website.

Dear lord - I can't stop laughing, it's awesome!

Your mouth will say Ole!

Sorry no picture on this one, that's because they were so good I plum forgot!

Another recipe from my Better Homes and Garden Breast Cancer cook book - this is a great one if you don't already own it.

These burgers were so fun and good. Certainly a make again!

Southwest Style Chicken Burgers
1 egg slightly beaten
1/4 cup finely chopped tortilla chips - this is used as part of the binder for the meat, but I also had to add a little breadcrumb - to feel and see what you need.
3 T green sweet pepper finely chopped - I omitted this for 3 T diced chiles from the can.
3/4 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 pound ground turkey or chicken
2 oz. pepper jack cheese
hamburger buns or rolls
1 avocado halved
lettuce and salsa

In a medium bowl mix the egg, tortilla chips, pepper, chili powder, salt and pepper. Add chicken, mix well - mixture will be wet. Form in to 4 patties.

Place patties on the unheated rack of a broiler pan and broil about 4 inches from the flame for 18 minutes or until no longerpink and it registers 165. Turn half way. We just cooked ours on our griddle pan on the stove top.

Top each patty with a slice of cheese and let it melt.

Serve on buns with avocado slices, lettuce and salsa.

MMMM My mouth is watering thinking of this!!

I took a leftover patty with some salad and some of the Wish Bone Ranch Dressing Salad Spritzer and it was so fun and tasty!

Finally something else to do with spaghetti squash!

We love spaghetti squash - but we always eat it the same way.

I found this recipe in my Better Homes and Garden Breast Cancer Cook Book. It was supposed to be Friday night's dinner but we got to talking, it got late, and so we went to Subway before our run to the grocery store.

And yes, we are the two young dorks who shop in the market for the whole week every friday night. it's our date night, I know we're lame. But try it once, you'll thank me forever. You won't be dealing with weekend crowds, you won't be reaching things off the top shelf, you have no lines, no waits, and then you're done for the whole weekend. Oh another perk, no screaming kids around! Sorry if you're one of those with the screaming kids at the market, we're DINKS!

Ok back to the food.

So this became the side dish to go with our roast chicken on Sunday night and I ate the leftovers for lunch today.

This is so easy and good.

I'm posting the recipe with my alterations - which primarily lie in the cooking process of the squash.

Spaghetti Squash with Balsamic Beans

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

3 T olive oil

1 T honey mustard - I don't use this so I used half a T honey, half a T dijon mustard, but still added a touch more honey to the final dressing mix. so taste it first!

2 cloves garlic crushed

1 spaghetti squash cut in half and seeded

10 oz lima beans

1 can kidney beans drained and rinsed

1/2 7 oz. jar of roasted red sweet peppers rinsed, drained and cut in to strips - we don't eat pepper so i left this out.

salt and pepper to taste.

optional - parmesan cheese to top.

1. cut squash in half and remove seeds. place both halves, face up in a pyrex dish and add about an inch or 2 of water in the bottom of the dish. Cover with saran wrap and microwave, about 12 minutes but test half way through until tender. This is how we cook squash, but if you have your own way, follow that. The recipe caclls for boiling them in a dutch oven.

2. make the dressing in a jar with the vinegar, oil, honey mustard, garlic and shake well.

3. boil lima beans until tender and the last few minutes add the drained and rinsed kidney beans. drain and return to pan - this is when you'd add the roasted peppers in. Pour dressing over the beans.

4. When squash is done, shred the strands and place in a large bowl and top with the bean and dressing mixture.

Oh my gosh this is so good, seriously, make this - ASAP!! It's a great entree, side, lunch, vegetarian option, whatever... just make it!

Martha Stewart - How do I love thee??

I love thee so much that I will make this recipe again and again and even try some more of yours.

I found this recipe on a blog a long time ago but hadn't gotten around to making it. The recipe is from Martha Stewart's Every Day Food Magazine.

This was my first foray in to cooking eggs this way and it was so good I can't imagine cooking eggs any other way now.

This was a great entree salad. Again, will certainly be part of the rotation in our house now.

Warm Spinach Salad with Fried Eggs & Potatoes.

I made this to serve 2 but the recipe serves four. Since it was an entree salad for dinner I gave us each two eggs on it and I did add a couple of pieces of crumpled bacon on each salad - just the Oscar Meyer microwave bacon.

4 T Olive Oil

2 baking potatoes, about 1 pound, scrubbed and cubed in to 1/2 inch cubes

coarse salt and pepper

2 T red wine vinegar - I used balsamic, our red wine vinegar went bad

1 T dijon mustard

1 shallot minced - I put it through the garlic press

2 bunches spinach 2 lbs. total. Stems removed. I just used one bag of baby spinach leaves for the two of us.

2 oz. parmesan cheese

4 large eggs.

In a large nonstick skillet heat 2T oil over medium heat. Add the potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Cook tossing occasionally until they are tender and slightly browned. About 15 minutes.

Meanwhile in a large bowl combine the remaining 2 T oil, the vinegar, mustard, shallot and season with salt and pepper. Whisk to combine.

(The recipe asks you to toss the spinach with the dressing here but we topped our sald with the dressing instead).

Place spinach in a large bowl and toss with the warm potatoes when they are done cooking. The spinach will slightly begin to wilt.

Heat skillet over medium heat and gently crack eggs in to pan. Season with salt and pepper. Do not break yolks. Cook until whites are almost set, about 1 minute. Cover pan and turn off heat and let stand until whites are just set but yolks are still soft, about 2 more minutes. Top each salad with eggs and serve.

We topped with the dressing, the bacon and parmesan cheese.

Vegetable Polenta Pie

So I had planned on making a pasta with beans and veggies, but just wasn't feeling the pasta thing for dinner. So I opted for a polenta dish.

When I started I thought I'd make the polenta and just serve that and top the veggies on the polenta. But it just sort of turned in to this casserole dish.

We'll Call This Vegetable Polenta Pie.

Polenta/Cornmeal
Water/broth

Make the polenta as directed - I seasoned with some pepper and Penzey's Mural of Flavor Seasoning.

Once polenta is set, place in a casserole dish. Top with fat free ricotta cheese.

In a large skillet, sautee onion, garlic, fresh spinach, a can of canellini beans, zucchini, and some grape tomatoes.
Season the veggies with salt, pepper, and some basil.

Top vegetable mixture on to polenta. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and bread crumbs and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes until golden bubbly.

Really easy, tasty and filling! Made a great leftover as well!

Show Me Chicken Salad!

I love chicken salad. But I get so tired of the same thing all the time.

I had some leftover chicken in the house a few weeks ago and made these for dinner one night.

It was a great light dinner but it would be a great recipe to use for a bridal or baby shower or a weekend lunch.

The recipe is from epicurious.com and again, so tasty - such a great blend of flavors.

Thai Style Chicken Salad

For chicken salad
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh coriander
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh mint leaves
a pinch of sugar
2 poached whole skinless boneless chicken breasts (about 1 1/4 pounds), minces (about 3 cups)
1/3 cup finely chopped shallot
1/3 cup thinly sliced scallion
1/4 cup mayonnaise, or to taste

Make chicken salad:In a large bowl whisk together the lime juice, the salt, the chili powder, the coriander, the mint, and the sugar, stir in the chicken, the shallot, and the scallion, and stir in the mayonnaise. (The chicken salad may be made 1 day in advance and kept overed and chilled.)

The recipe called to have this on Cumin Quick Bread - which we obviously omitted, and replaced with wraps filled with greens. I served with Asian Cole Slaw which is a pretty standard recipe you can find online. Not quite the recipe for the cole slaw I wanted but oh well it was good.

Finally good Indian Food!

So I tried making curried chick peas a few weeks ago and it was such a bust I couldn't even eat the meal.

So I finally found a recipe on epicurious.com I thought I'd try - similar to what my friend Rupa at work told me real Dal is supposed to taste like.

I even made sure I had tumeric this time!

This was SO delicious, easy and fun. I served with diced tomatoes, naan (from the store heated in the oven), and fresh sauteed spinach.

I will so make this again!

Red Lentil Dal

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cups chopped onions
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups water
1 cup dried red lentils
3/4 teaspoon turmeric
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup basmati rice, cooked according to package directions
2 plum tomatoes, seeded, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 jalapeño chili, seeded, chopped

Heat oil in medium skillet over medium heat. Add 1 cup onion and 1 minced garlic clove and sauté until tender and golden brown, about 10 minutes. Set aside. Combine 3 cups water, lentils, remaining 1 cup onion, 2 minced garlic cloves, turmeric, cumin and ginger in heavy medium saucepan. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until lentils are tender, about 15 minutes. Transfer half of lentil mixture to processor; purée until smooth. Return purée to same saucepan. Mix in sautéed onion mixture. Simmer 5 minutes to blend flavors. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Spoon rice into bowls. Spoon dal over. Top with tomatoes, cilantro and chili.

We didn't have this with rice, instead the naan. It was so good either way.

Do make this!!

Warm, Satisfying, Flavorful

I love ethnic foods. I recently read an article in Cooking Light that when people are trying to loose weight and eat ehalthy the things they crave most are ethnic foods because of the diversity of flavors.

I would find that to be very true.

On Superbowl Sunday, I made this soup for dinner rather than our normal chili that we make. I know Superbowl Sunday and I'm just posting this - I'm behind and I"m sorry!

It was so good and satisfying.

From Cooking Light Jan/Feb 2008.

Tom Yum Goong (Spicy Thai Shrimp Soup)

1 1/2 pounds medium shrimp
9 1/2 cups water, divided
1/2 cup chopped peeled fresh galangal (about 2 ounces) - this is similar to ginger, I just used ginger - and I used dry and just used a tablespoon.
1/2 cup (2-inch) pieces peeled fresh lemongrass (about 4 stalks) - again I used a tsp. of dried lemongrass, I don't love lemongrass.
6 fresh or frozen kaffir lime leaves - this is the same as lime leaves, or the zest of the lime, we used zest of two limes.
1/2 cup canned straw mushrooms, quartered
2 tablespoons roasted red chili paste (such as Thai Kitchen) - omitted
1 tablespoon fish sauce - omitted
2 Thai chiles
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
6 tablespoons chopped dry-roasted unsalted peanuts
4 lime wedges

Peel and devein shrimp, reserving shells. Combine shrimp shells and 6 cups water in a Dutch oven; bring to a simmer. Cook 1 hour. Strain broth through a sieve into a bowl; discard solids. Combine broth and remaining 3 1/2 cups water in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. Add galangal, lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaves to pan; simmer 10 minutes. Strain broth mixture through a sieve into a bowl; discard solids. Return broth mixture to pan. Add mushrooms, chili paste, fish sauce, and chiles; bring to a boil. Stir in shrimp, green onions, and cilantro; cook 3 minutes or until shrimp are done. Discard chiles. Stir in fresh lime juice. Ladle 2 cups soup into each of 4 bowls; sprinkle evenly with peanuts. Serve with lime wedges.