Friday, May 17, 2013
The other day I saw a recipe for the strawberry salad Tricia Yearwood has in her cookbook. I decided to see how we could cut some calories from this delicious salad without sacrificing flavor. First I decided for the ramen mixture to cut out the butter and use a little cooking spray instead. That worked really well. I broke up the ramen onto a sprayed cookie sheet added almonds and sunflower seeds. Then you lightly spray the mixture with olive oil cooking spray. Then it was baked for about 10 minutes. Store any extra topping in a plastic baggie. This step alone cut out 1/2 stick of butter from the original recipe.
Some of the other things I did because I had it on hand was use regular iceberg lettuce, added cucumber slices, feta cheese in place of parmesan and skipped the spinach. If you are single or cooking for 2 doing the topping ahead can make any salad special during the week. I also changed the dressing up a bit to take out some of the sugar and replaced some of it with honey.
Strawberry Salad
Recipe adapted from Home Cooking With Trisha Yearwood, © Clarkson Potter 2010
1 package ramen noodles, crushed, flavor packet discarded
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
1 head romaine lettuce, washed and dried
1 5-ounce bag baby spinach
1 pint strawberries, hulled and thinly sliced
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Dressing
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
Preheat the oven to 350 ° F. In a small bowl, mix the ramen noodles, almonds, sunflower seeds and melted butter. Transfer to a baking sheet and toast in the oven, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
Tear the lettuce and combine with the spinach, strawberries and cheese in a large salad bowl.
To make the dressing, dissolve the sugar in the vinegar. Combine the oil, paprika, salt and garlic and add to the sugar-vinegar mixture. Mix well and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Just before serving, sprinkle the crunchy topping over the salad and toss with just enough dressing to coat the greens.
Serves 6
Nutrients per serving: 365 calories, 9g protein, 24g carbohydrates, 4g fiber, 20g fat (7g saturated fat), 32mg cholesterol, 485mg sodium
Below is a method to prepare the salad in the picture. I love having the topping mixture ready and it is not greasy! I have had this salad 3 times this week using different fruit each time. Pineapple was awesome.
Strawberry Crunch Salad
Yield: Serving 1
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Iceberg lettuce salad topping with strawberries, cucumber, feta cheese and crunchy topping with honey basil vinaigrette.
Ingredients:
1 package ramen noodle soup - discard flavoring package
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
cooking spray
iceberg lettuce
cucumber - seeded, cut in half, sliced
feta cheese
strawberries
Dressing
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
3/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Make the topping ingredients. Break up the ramen onto a sprayed cookie sheet. Add the almonds and sunflower seeds. Lightly spray the mixture with olive oil cooking spray. Bake for about 10 minutes or until golden brown. Store any extra topping in a plastic baggie when cool.
Mix up the dressing in a bowl and set aside until ready to use.
Prepare the lettuce you need for one or two salads (up to 6). Add the cucumber and feta cheese. Slice up the strawberries and add to the salad. Add the topping. Add dressing and serve.
Friday, May 17, 2013
I had the best day today. I went out antiquing looking for vintage kitchen accessories. One of the things I was hoping to find was a cupcake pan with a certain kind of lines on top made by Echo and I found one! It sure doesn’t take much these days to excite me but I really was surprised to find it. I ate a late lunch and by the time I got home I was just too tired to make dinner right away. About 8:00 I was going thru my recipe box and found a broccoli soufflé recipe from one of my moms friends that was a weekly recipe at her kitchen store years ago. It sounded perfect for now a late supper, broccoli, eggs, cheeses baked and I served it with a strawberry salad. Yum! I can also tell you this was a Chloe and Lola approved dinner, they both licked their plates clean. Oh and Lola and Chloe are my dogs so it is perfectly acceptable that they cleaned their plates.
Broccoli Souffle
Yield: Serves 4
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Broccoli, eggs and cheeses bake up perfectly in this light, delicious soufflé.
Ingredients:
4 eggs
12 oz, frozen broccoli - not thawed
1 lb. carton small curd cottage cheese
8 oz. cheddar cheese
4 tablespoons flour
1/3 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.
Pour mixture into a greased baking dish. In a regular bread type pan like the one in the picture this took 1 hour and 10 minutes to bake. If you want to cook it in 45 minutes or less use a pie pan type pan.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
I made these last night after finding this recipe in the new issue of Summer Grilling by Cook’s. I know that spiedies are usually sandwiches but I didn’t want to do the bread. I just did the skewers and used the mayonnaise mixture as a dipping sauce. I served it with grilled vegetables, it was so good. I love Cook’s Magazine recipes, they do so much research and their recipes always work! It is the one magazine I never throw out.
A few weeks ago I went thru my cooking magazines as it just was time to get rid of the ones I never go back to. I had 5 milk crates full of them going back to the 80′s. I tried putting them on Craigslist to give them away but found no takers much to my surprise. I did however find a magazine from the 80′s with a croissant recipe that I thought was forever lost. I am hoping to find the time this week to still make them. You’ll see them here when I do. Why is it so hard to get rid of things like this? I hope to be moving soon and I am trying to downsize. I am also going to downsize my cookbooks if I can. I have been collecting cookbooks since the 70′s and love collecting regional, vintage and technical books. Last count was over 500 cookbooks!
I have decided now when I buy magazines I am going to scrapbook the ones I think I might want to try at some time. I have always had a hard time tearing up my magazines but after throwing so many out with recipes I know I would of wanted to try, I think this might work for me. Do you like tearing up your cooking magazines and what do you do with them. Leave me a comment, I’d love to hear how you do it.
Spiedies
Yield: Serves 6
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: up to 4 hours if you marinade for 3 hours
Zesty lemon flavors these skewers of chicken breast.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves - minced
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 1/2 lbs. chicken breasts
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
6 6inch submarine buns or French buns if making sandwiches
Directions:
Mix all of the marinade ingredients together. Transfer 2 tablespoons of the marinade to a little bow and whisk in mayonnaise, lemon juice and red wine vinegar. Refrigerate sauce until ready to use.
Prick the chicken breasts with a fork all over. Cut the chicken into 1 1/4 inch chunks. Add to the marinade. Refrigerate covered for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 hours.
Remove from marinade and thread onto skewers.
Preheat the grill for 15 minutes on high. Cook the chicken skewers for about 15 minutes until they are charred and cooked through.
If making sandwiches transfer to the buns and drizzle with the mayonnaise mixture. Or do as I did and serve the mayonnaise as a dipping sauce.
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