We're broke.... so I've been making a lot of items like turkey and roast.

The turkey items have turned out mouth watering amazing, so I thought I'd share the recipes.  It IS coming up to thanksgiving. :)  No photos, as the meals tend to get torn to shreds very quickly.  One day I WILL remember to take photos..... And again, a lot of the items are lacking measurements as I just tend to throw things in by feeling while I'm cooking.  So.... just go by feeling and taste. :)  The Garlic Rosemary rub is pure evil in turkey skin form. ;)

Enjoy!!!!

I need a cool salad dressing recipe. I only need one serve.

I have
- Olive oil
- Balsamic Vinegar
- Various other vinegars
- A bit of plain yoghurt
- Capers
- Pretty much any dried herb or spice you could think of
- Lemon juice

There is a local deli/convenience store on the property at my work. Ranch supplies them with many items including Croissants of Justice, World's Greatest Chocolate-&-Cream-Cheese Muffins, and my newest find: Salad of Tasty Doom.

It was only recently that I realized they only stock the croissants regularly, and much to my disappointment that the goat cheese / strawberry / mixed green / walnut / balsamic dressing Salad of Tasty Doom would be a rarity... so I started making my own. And let me tell you, it's been a slice of fun little heaven. :)

Take the following ingredients...

1. Goat Cheese Crumbles (I found a package that mixes the crumbles with red pepper, parsley and thyme, SO GOOD).
2. Glazed Walnuts
3. Craisins
4. Prepackaged baby spinach leaves
5. Newman's Own Lighten Up Light Organic Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing
6. Avocado bits

Mix with portion sizes of your choice.

Enjoy!

hi everybody!

alright, here's my question. i'm throwing a party in a couple of weeks (a party for all my girl friends to hang out, watch movies, eat, etc.) but i have no idea what i should serve. i was wondering if anybody has any good, easy recipes for dinner party food that's kinda girly. i should be expecting about 10 people, and i'm up for making anything, as long as it's not too complicated since i'm not an overly experienced cook (and don't have tons of money to shell out.) my kitchen was also built in the 1920's so i don't have a fancy oven. any ideas (even for drinks) would be great. thanks!

and just so this isn't just text, here's the dinner i made last night for my boyfriend..



balsamic chicken drumsticks taken from: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_35997,00.html

(i didn't use the sesame seeds because i don't like them, but other than that they turned out great! also, the burning was not on the drumsticks.. i know it looks like it)

i made this dinner the other night..taken from a recipe on foodnetwork.

( rosemary chicken )

i've frequently asked questions or commented, but never actually provided porn - here are some pictures of some of the simplest recent treats i've had! (i get as excited as the next person for new and exotic foods and taste combinations, but it's important to indulge in common pleasures too.)


the perfect nectarine.

( more summer treats behind the cut )

So, at the Mad Hatter Tea Party this past weekend (which my wallet enjoyed so much it has now decided to stay -- twice!), I got a chance to indulge my love of WTF cooking! Yay me!

This time wasn't so crazy. It was a variation of tortellini salad consisting of whole-grain gorgonzola tortelloni, capers, and black and green olives (the green stuffed with garlic!) dressed in Trader Joe's Organic Balsamic Vinaigrette, into which had been mixed (approximately) 6 tablespoons of pesto, 2 tablespoons each of jarred eggplant garlic and artichoke dips, 1 tablespoon of tzatziki, 1/2 tablespoon of Thai yellow curry sauce, and 1 teaspoon each of cream style horseradish and pumpkin pie spice.

A couple of people REALLY loved it, and those who had the strongest negative reactions never said it was bad, just too many flavors or too sweet. I rather agree with the latter, actually, though that could have been due to the measuring spoon's strange flatness, which forced me to eyeball much more than I would have liked. Still, I'm thinking I could cut the pumpkin pie spice down to 1/2 teaspoon and possibly the Thai yellow curry sauce down to 1 teaspoon (as it also has sweet in it). Also, I found the horseradish almost undetectable whereas I had been hoping for some bite, so I'm thinking of increasing that to 2 teaspoons perhaps.

Alright so I made dinner a free-for-all. Ended up screwing up the rice like twice so I went ahead and added half the chickpeas from the salad to the rice with some spices.



( Salad and rice )

It's just 3 ingredients in a bowl: good quality vanilla ice cream, sliced fully-ripe local strawberries, a drizzle of good balsamic vinegar. Heaven.
It's also quite pretty when put in a pale green bowl, and gone now.

Katsu Chicken with Broccolli in ginger-soy sauce.

The broccolli was a Jamie Oliver recipe from his Cook With Jamie book. The Katsu chicken turned out beautifully, usually we burn stuff shallow frying it but this was perfect. I forgot about the Tonkatsu sauce until the last minute so kinda did a throw together job which didn't taste as good as it could - anyone got a good recipe? And of course there was the kewpie mayo, which I am addicted to.

( A couple of other things I made recently )

I just had an idea, and I want to see if anyone out there has done it:
Balsamic chipotle mayo.
I'm not talking about mixing some Balsamic into some best foods mayo, oh no, I'm thinking using it as your acid with a nice olive oil to create your emulsion. Mix in some very finely chopped chipotle pepper, serve it as a condiment on a rare hamburger with a cheese like Dubliner or Gruyere and really fresh good tomatoes?
What say you pornistas?

Plus only cooking required was the balsamic reduction. These tomatoes were so good you'd slap yo mamma!

I love summer.

Balsamic Chicken with Tomatoes

Ingredients
6-7 chicken tenders
2-3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon crushed red chili peppers (add more if you'd like more heat)
1 1/2 pints cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
6 medium sized garlic cloves, minced/put through garlic press
Kosher salt and pepper to taste

Method
1. Heat the pan over medium-heat and add the olive oil and butter and cook until the butter is bubbling.
2. Add the chicken tenders, making sure none of them touch each other. Cook for about five minutes or until browned, then flip and do the same on the other side.
3. Making sure there is enough oil/butter mixture in the pan (add a bit more oil if needed), add the garlic and cook until quite fragrant and beginning to brown.
4. Add the balsamic vinegar and tomatoes and turn the heat down to a fairly low setting, cover and cook for about five minutes. You may also add the dried red chili peppers, salt and pepper at this point.
5. Turn the chicken to coat in the vinegar and then remove the pieces and set aside. (Make sure the chicken is totally cooked through!)
6. Turn the heat to high and reduce the vinegar/tomato sauce by about half or until desired consistency.
Serve immediately, spooning the tomatoes and balsamic sauce over the chicken pieces on each plate.

( picture of it under the cut! )

--Rachel

tonight i came home and made myself a very simple plus yummy salad. sorry no pics this time, but this is what i used:

1/2 small red onion, sliced thin (it kind of overpowered everything so i think next time [read: tomorrow's lunch], i'm going to use a 1/4 of that...)
thinnish slices of goat's cheese (i found a dutch goat's cheese at tj's and realised it should have been sliced a bit thicker but it was still really good. very mild but very good, especially for someone who isn't a big fan of goat's cheese)
1/2 pear (i bought organic but any kind would work..i usually buy whatever looks nicest)
about a hand-full of sliced almonds
romane lettuce (any kind of salad green would do but i've been eating a lot of the baby greens so i wanted a change of pace)
trader joe's basalmic vinaigrette

layer everything on a plate and enjoy! i wish i had some crusty bread and a glass of wine, but the only wine in the house is sherry so i did without the wine and bread. instead, i had a glass of soy milk to wash it all down.

serves 1

yum! yum!

Some of you may remmeber that I was asking for recipe ideas for a cocktail party I was throwing for my other half's b-day. Well, the party was this past weekend, and thanks to a couple of great suggestions from people here to round out my menu I think it was a huge success (as the dishes I made based on ideas from you folks were the first to go!

This is similar to a roasted pepper hummus in some ways, but the flavor is quite different. It's super easy, and comes out a rich, deep orange-red color.

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1 tsp. Balsamic vinegar
1 (16 oz.) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 (7 oz.) bottle roasted red peppers, rinsed and drained (I used fire roasted - YUM!)
1 lg. garlic clove
2 tbs. olive oil
1.2 tsp. salt
1.2 tsp. pepper

Place first five ingredients in a food processor; process until smooth. With processor on, slowly add oil through food chute. Stir in salt and pepper. Yield: 2 cups.

Serve with fresh veggies or pita bread.

We tried to make pita bread, from the oh-so-easy looking recipe in a new cookbook. Yeah, that didn't work out at ALL. A couple things went wrong, so we will try again.

When I don't have much time to cook but I want to make something that will be high-impact with flavor, low enough in fat content, easy to make, and that will make good leftovers (if I am making it just for me...), I make quiche. Well, I make "fake" quiche, and I have found that this recipe is VERY adaptable, as its "base" preparation is great with or without bacon/sausage/chicken added to it. I will offer my recipe the way I usually make it--with asparagus and mushroom. I do not have pictures to offer. Sorry!

*warning--this is sort of a semi-home-made recipe*

Ingredients:

1. About 6 asparagus spears, blanched and then cooled in an ice water bath
2. One portobello mushroom cap, marinated in balsamic vinegar and then baked for 4 minutes on each side at 400 degrees. Mushroom, when cooled, should be cut into 1/4-inch strips.
3. One 16 oz. container of eggbeaters
4. One rolled pie crust from the refrigerator section of the grocery store (think pillsbury dough...)
5. One container of creamy low-fat blue cheese salad dressing (I tend to get WIshbone or Ken's if it's on sale, and ALWAYS get the smallest size container available)

TO DO:

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a pie dish, unroll the pie crust and arrange nicely.
3. Alternate asparagus spears and slices of mushroom in the bottom of the pie dish
4. In a large bowl, empty the contents of the egg beaters and the salad dressing and whisk together until well blended and smooth. Pour in the pie dish.
5. Bake quiche in oven for about 30-35 minutes or until it is mostly set and there is some nice browning on the top of the quiche.
6. Cool about 15 minutes.
7. Serve with a very lovely, light arugula salad with a lemon (or other sort of citrus) sort of vinaigrette.

...Seriously, this is an incredibly easy meal and it makes a very delightful brunch, lunch, or dinner dish. For me it's a compromise in using the salad dressing (and the pie crust, as I wish I had time to make my own...), because I normally do not like processed foods (though I use Ken's balsamic vinaigrette on my salads...), but the end result is so good, and the whole process of making this dish is so simple, that I can easily make exceptions.

...This meal works REALLY well with crumbled bacon added to the pie crust before pouring in the egg/blue cheese mixture. Many of my friends are vegetarian, so I tend to not include that.

Inspired by Joy of Cooking, 75th edition.

- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 smallish carrots, diced
- 1 rib celery, diced
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 parsnip, woody center removed, peeled and diced (optional)
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 3/4 cup lentils, rinsed and picked over
- 1 can diced tomatoes (plus a handful of cherry tomatoes that sort of got forgotten and were starting to look like tomato-raisins)
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 6 cups water or vegetable stock
- 1 medium potato, peeled and diced
- 2 cups fresh spinach, sliced into strips
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- salt to taste

In a medium pot, cook the carrots, onion, celery, and parsnip in the oil over medium heat until the vegetables are tender and beginning to brown (10-15 minutes). Stir in garlic and cook briefly until garlic is fragrant (2-3 minutes). Add lentils, tomatoes, thyme, and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes. Add diced potato and cook 15-20 minutes, or until potatoes and lentils are tender.

Remove from heat and stir in balsamic vinegar, pepper, soy sauce, salt and spinach. Cover and let stand 10 minutes.

Serve with crusty bread or corn bread. Makes 4-6 servings, depending on the appetites of those served.


And, just for kicks, an interpretation of a_muffin_story's ( Oatmeal Jam Squares! )