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Asian Chicken Salad

By kerry · Comments (1)

Sunday, January 15th, 2012

What a great weekend. On Friday, I decided to bake some cupcakes — my friends on Facebook helped me choose between lime and coconut or lemon with raspberry icing. Lime and coconut won the Facebook vote. I was leaning that way anyway because I’m getting excited for our trip to St. Martin in March where I expect to drink lots and lots of limey, coconut-y rum drinks! I spent the rest of the night watching Pretty in Pink and Project Runway. Love lazy Fridays!

This is my dessert tonight!

On Saturday, we went to a belated holiday party where we took part in a Yankee swap — I lucked up and ended up with a great scarf from Ecolissa. Sean got the new hot game among our friends, Quelf. It’s a pretty silly party game. He broke it out at the party. I sat out and still had a great time just watching. It was HILARIOUS!

Today, we met up with Ana & Jesse for dim sum. They just got back from Brazil where they got engaged! It was great to see them for some congratulatory dumplings. It was Jesse’s first time going to dim sum. I hope he liked it so we can do it more often.

We spent the rest of the weekend working on a project that we’ve been wanting to accomplish for a long time. We are creating a media library using an external media storage drive. Turns out it takes a long time to rip CDs into MP3s — after many hours, we’re still probably not even near half way done. But, it’s a good project to continue through the winter. I’m excited to finally have easy access to all of our music — and to be able to box up our CDs and move them to the basement so they aren’t taking up space.

Before we headed to the party on Saturday, I wanted to fill up on something that was filling and healthy. Like everyone else in the universe, I’m trying to eat healthier after the holidays. I didn’t want to get to the party and eat a bunch of junk. We had half a head of cabbage in the fridge, so I used that as inspiration to make this salad. It’s super fresh, flavorful, and filling. The salad base gets an extra punch from the cilantro and green onions mixed in.

This recipe makes a ton, so we had these for dinner last night and tonight. Plus we have leftover salad mix which we’ll use later in the week for something else (stay tuned!)

Asian Chicken Salad
Makes 6 HUGE Salads

GIANT, delicious salad.

Salad
1/2 medium head of cabbage, thinly shredded
1 head romaine lettuce, thinly shredded
2 large carrots, cut julienne
5 green onions/scallions, chopped
1 medium bunch of cilantro, remove the bottom couple of inches of the stem and then roughly chop the bunch
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, poached, cooled, and shredded
1 14oz. package of fettuccine style rice noodles, cooked and cooled (found these at Whole Foods — you could really use any noodles you like.)
3/4 cup of sliced almonds, toasted

Toss all of these ingredients together. If you are going to split this up over multiple meals, hold out the almonds and use them to garnish before each meal.

Dressing
6 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp. honey
3 tbsp. olive oil
3 tsp. soy sauce
3 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
3 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. granulated garlic/garlic powder
1 tsp. sesame oil

Whisk all of these ingredients in a bowl. Or put all of them in a plastic container with a tight fitting lid and shake, shake, shake until everything is well combined (this makes for easy storage for leftovers!)

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Categories : Asian, Cabbage, Carrots, Chicken, Cuisine, Healthy, Lettuce, Main Dish, Meat, Pasta, Quick & Easy, Recipe, Starch, Vegetables

Vegetable Green Curry

By kerry · Comments (1)

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

On Sunday, I did a bunch of cooking — and part of that was making a huge batch of green curry paste. Green curry is one of my favorites when I get Thai food. It’s not difficult to make on your own, but making the paste necessary for the curry does require quite a few ingredients and a little bit of time to whiz them together in the food processor. You can buy it in a jar at the store, but fresh tastes so much better.

I found the recipe that I used on Instructables.com It made A LOT. I froze the curry paste into 30 pucks using my mini-cupcake tins. Now I have at least a year’s supply.

Tonight, I went out for drinks with some co-workers. It was a really fun evening. I didn’t get home until 9:00 — thankfully, I was able to throw together a batch of vegetable green curry in minutes and we were having a healthy albeit late dinner by 9:30.

Vegetable Green Curry
Makes 2 Big Servings

Thank you green curry pucks!

1 tsp. olive oil
1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 medium green bell pepper, sliced into strips
2-3 tbsp. green curry paste
1 can light coconut milk
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Thai fish sauce
1 large sweet potato, diced large
1 carrot, sliced
1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into florets
1 can of chick peas
2 cups steamed white rice

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the onions and green peppers and cook for 2-3 minutes until softened. Add the coconut milk, curry paste, brown sugar, salt, and fish sauce. Bring to a boil. Add the vegetables. Cover the skillet and cook for about 10 minutes until the vegetables are cooked through and tender. Add the chick peas and cook for another minute.

Serve over white rice.

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Categories : Asian, Carrots, Cauliflower, Cuisine, Healthy, Main Dish, Peppers, Recipe, Sweet Potato, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Dinner Tonight: Tomato & Squash Pasta with Sauteed Shrimp

By kerry · Comments (0)

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

I am in love with this unseasonably warm weather. I am not into winter sports and I’m very clumsy which makes icy sidewalks my nemesis all winter.

Sean and I have been taking advantage by taking lots and lots of walks instead of going to the gym which is fantastic this time of year when the gym gets super crowded.

Tonight we took the 2 mile loop around the neighborhood with Barley and it was so warm I had to stuff my gloves and hat in my pocket! I wonder if I could bribe Mother Nature with some cupcakes to keep this weather coming.

Barley is confused why we are stopping to take a picture.

After our walk, I whipped up this pasta. If you know me at all, you know I’m my own worst critic — so you know that this pasta is delicious when I tell you that after three bites I started to get sad knowing my bowl would be empty soon!

Tomato & Squash Pasta with Sauteed Shrimp

Tomato and Squash Pasta with Sauteed Shrimp

All that's left in this bowl now are my tears...

Salt
Pepper
1/2 lb. medium-to-large shrimp, cleaned and shells removed
2 tbsp. + 1 tsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
6 large cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp. dried basil
1 large red pepper, diced medium
2 small summer squashes, diced medium
6 plum tomatoes, cored, seeded, and diced medium
1/2 lb. dried spaghetti, cooked al dente and drained
Parmesan Cheese, to taste

Heat 1 tsp. of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the shrimp with salt and pepper. Once the oil gets hot, saute the shrimp for 2-3 minutes until the shrimp get pink and just cooked through. Remove from heat and set aside in a bowl.

Add the rest of the olive oil and the butter to the saute pan. Heat over medium-high heat until the butter is almost melted. Add the garlic. Cook for about 2-minutes stirring to make sure that the garlic doesn’t burn. Add the red pepper, summer squash, red pepper flakes, and basil. Cook for 2-4 minutes until the squash and red pepper start to cook through stirring to distribute the heat. Add the tomatoes.

Cook for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally. The tomatoes will start to break down creating a bit of a sauce and the summer squash will be cooked through. Toss in the spaghetti and stir to combine (I find stirring with tongs helps distribute all of the vegetables into the spaghetti.)

Serve in large bowls and top with the sauteed shrimp. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese to taste.

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Categories : Cuisine, Italian, Main Dish, Pasta, Peppers, Quick & Easy, Recipe, Squash, Starch, Vegetables

Sandwiches & Sweet Potato Cupcakes

By kerry · Comments (0)

Monday, November 22nd, 2010

Sometimes things are really busy at work and I get home and just don’t want to cook. It’s a strange feeling because I almost always want to cook. Last Tuesday we decided to make sandwiches. My favorite kind of sandwich is an Italian sandwich — especially with a little proscuitto! I made a little roasted red pepper salad to go with them. Along with some stove-popped popcorn, and some carrot sticks, it made a perfect, delicious, and quick weeknight meal.

Balsamic Roasted Red Peppers

1/2 jar roasted red peppers, roughly chopped
1 quarter small red onion, sliced very thin
1 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
Salt & pepper, to taste

Easy roasted red pepper salad.

Italian Sandwich w/ Balsamic Roasted Red Peppers

Perfect, simply weeknight dinner.

This past weekend, we had two parties in one night. We attended an early Thanksgiving feast at Ronit and Ty’s; it was their yearly friends Thanksgiving and Ty has been throwing this for 13 years! I’m pretty sure we’ve gone to at least 6 of them. Lots of food and fun! Then we had to jet to party #2: Kevin’s birthday. We had a great time at both shin digs.

I never, ever want to go to a party empty handed — I always need to bake or cook something. In this case, I make two batches of Sweet Potato Cupcakes. I got the recipe idea from Martha Stewart’s Cupcake cookbook. I tweaked it slightly by adding cream cheese frosting along with toasted marshmallows and caramelized pecans (the cream cheese frosting was my idea; marshmallows and pecans from Martha.) I also added a couple of extra spices to the dry ingredients: ginger and cloves. These were DELICIOUS. Super tender, moist, and spicy. They also looked awesome (the caramelized pecans looked sparkly!) This is the second cupcake recipe I’ve made from her book — her yellow cupcake recipe was just as delicious, so I heartily recommend this cookbook.

Sweet Potato Cupcakes
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes

Yum! Sweet potato cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, toasted marshmallows, and candied pecans!

2 cups roasted, mashed sweet potatoes, cooled
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups miniature marshmallows
Candied pecan pieces (see below)
Cream cheese frosting (see below)

Preheat over to 325. Line cupcake tins with cupcake papers.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugars until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. Beat in mashed sweet potatoes and vanilla.

Reduce speed to low. Add the flour mixture in three batches, beating until completely incorporated after each.

Fill cupcake papers with batter to 3/4 full. Bake for about 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cupcakes on a wire rack before frosting.

To decorate, spread each cupcake with 1-2 tablespoons of cream cheese frosting. Top with 5-6 miniature marshmallows. Torch the marshmallows with a kitchen torch being careful not to melt the cream cheese frosting. You have to be quick. The marshmallows might catch on fire (like when roasting over a campfire!) Just blow out the flame as you go.

Sprinkle with crushed candied pecans.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

With an electric mixer, beat butter and cream cheese together until light and fluffy. Reduce to low and add sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, and then vanilla. Mix until smooth and combined.

Candied Pecans
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Heat sugar and water to a simmer in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved. Stop stirring; cook until syrup comes to a boil. Boil, gently swirling pan occasionally, until mixture is light amber. Remove from heat. Stir in pecans with a wooden spoon to coat completely. Immediately remove pecans from caramel; spread in a single layer on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Let cool completely before using or storing; break into small pieces, if necessary.

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Categories : Bar Food, Comfort Food, Cuisine, Dessert, Italian, Recipe, Sweet Potato

Fish Taco Wraps with Simple Slaw

By kerry · Comments (0)

Monday, November 15th, 2010

Sean and I headed to Albany this weekend for a pre-Thanksgiving celebration while his sister was in town from Reno. We spent Saturday at the New York State Harvest Fest where we sampled lots of NY State wine and foods. Then we had dinner with the family — roast pork, cabbage, latkes, and homemade applesauce.

On the drive home on Sunday morning we discussed our dinner plans. We decided to make fish taco wraps to use up a lot of the stuff we had in the fridge and freezer. Far from a gourmet meal, I bought frozen fish sticks at Whole Foods a few weeks ago (way better than the fish sticks you remember as a kid!) and used those.

Way better than Gortons!

Fish sticks, chimichurri sauce, simple slaw, and avocado. Yum!

I also had a quarter of a head of cabbage and a zillion carrots and red onions, so I whipped up this simple slaw to go with the tacos. I love a little cabbage on my tacos — and it’s fairly traditional when you get tacos from authentic taquerias. I also love slaw on sandwiches for an extra crunch and tang.

A note: I use a special vegetable peeler to shred my carrots. It’s a pretty awesome tool. But you can also just julienne the carrot with a knife — or just buy a package of pre-shredded carrots (I won’t tell!)

Oh yeah, I also baked a whole bunch of cupcakes for work — food porn below.

Simple Slaw
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. honey
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 medium head of cabbage, thinly shredded
1 large carrot, shredded
1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced

In a small bowl, combine vinegar, salt, pepper, cumin, garlic powder, and honey with a small whisk. Slowly whisk in canola oil.

In a large bowl, toss together the cabbage carrots, and red onion. Pour the vinaigrette over the shredded vegetables and toss well to combine.

Simple Slaw for Tacos

Cupcakes -- yellow with chocolate icing by popular demand.

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Categories : Cabbage, Carrots, Cuisine, Healthy, Mexican, Recipe, Side Dish, Tools & Equipment, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Kale and Butternut Squash

By kerry · Comments (2)

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

One of the reasons I started getting Boston Organics delivery is because I wanted a reason to be creative. I figured that if I didn’t have a say about what I was getting each week, I’d need to create new, delicious dishes. This is one of them. It’s super simple and a great way to use up scraps of butternut squash — which was the starting point for this particular brainstorm. You need about 10-minutes to get this on the table and it’s super nutritious, too!

1 tbsp. olive oil
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups butternut squash, diced medium
1 tsp. chili powder
1 bunch kale, roughly chopped
salt, to taste

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a non-stick saute pan. Add the garlic and cook for a minute but don’t let brown or burn. Add the butternut squash and chili powder and cook, tossing or stirring frequently, for about 5-minutes until mostly tender.

Add the kale and cook until the kale is tender and cooked, stirring often. Add salt to taste.

Comments (2)

Categories : Kale, Quick & Easy, Recipe, Side Dish, Squash, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Crispy, Oven-fried Eggplant

By kerry · Comments (12)

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

Recently, I had an eggplant hanging around and I had some leftover spaghetti sauce, so it made sense to make eggplant parmesan. I didn’t really want to take the time to fry it — plus, I really hate the mess that frying makes. And, while I do LOVE fried foods, I’m also trying to be more conscious of what I’m shoving into my face.

So, I decided to oven-fry my eggplant — and it came out DELICIOUS! It made for fantastic eggplant parm. And tonight, I decided to oven-fry another eggplant and stuff it into pitas with hummus and call it dinner.

Ok, ok, I know you’re wondering, “What the hell is oven-frying!?!” Basically, by oven-frying, I’m referring to breading a product and then cooking it in the oven at a super high heat so that it gets a nice, crispy texture that’s somewhat close to the texture you’d get when frying. I do this a lot with poultry, fish, and veggies — this is the first time I’ve tried it with eggplant.

I think it might actually be the best version of oven-frying I’ve tried. It was super crispy on the outside and soft and creamy on the inside. Aside from eggplant parm, and pita stuffing, I this eggplant would also be great on homemade pizza or just munching on as a snack.

Crispy, Oven-fried Eggplant

1 eggplant, cut into 1/4” rounds
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup egg beaters (or a few eggs, beaten)
1/2 – 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Spread the eggplant out over a cookie sheet. Sprinkle liberally with salt and wait 15-20 minutes. The salt will draw out water from the eggplant and you will see water start pooling up on top of the eggplant. After 15-20 minutes, use a paper towel to dry off the water — this will also remove some of the excess salt.

Set up a breading station — flour, eggs, and bread crumbs. Dip the eggplant into the flour and shake off the excess. You only need a thin layer of flour. Then dip into the egg and then the bread crumbs. Evenly coat the eggplant with breadcrumbs.

Place the breaded eggplant slices on a cookie sheet that you thinly coated with oil (or sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes. Flip the eggplant and bake for another 10 minutes. Eggplant should be brown and crispy.

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Categories : Appetizer, Eggplant, Healthy, Main Dish, Quick & Easy, Recipe, Side Dish, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Ginger Orange Chicken with Green Beans

By kerry · Comments (0)

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

Sean and I just joined Boston Organics. It’s a really great deal for organic fruits and vegetables — and they deliver, to boot! I was pretty excited about it because they send a basically random box every week. I figured it would help me be creative every week in what I make for dinner.

This week, we got green beans and some organic oranges. I’ve noticed those two items go bad fast, so I wanted to use them. We also received 5 pounds of carrots last week and a huge bulb of ginger. Since one of our favorite Chinese take-out dishes is spicy string beans, I decided to try and make something similar with all of these ingredients we need to use up.

Ginger Orange Chicken with Green Beans
Serves 4

3 tbsp. olive oil
1 lb. boneless chicken thighs
1 lb. green beans, trimmed
2 large carrots, sliced on the bias
1 small onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
zest of 1 orange
juice of 1 orange
2 tsp. freshly grated ginger, divided
1 tbsp. rice wine vineger
4 tbsp. soy sauce, divided
1/2 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. chili garlic sauce or siracha
2 tbsp. honey

Ginger Orange Chicken with Green Beans Mis En Place

Cut chicken thighs into 1 inch cubes. Put into a bowl and add 2 tablespoons of the soy sauce to season the chicken. Toss to coat. Set aside for 10 minutes.

Mix together half of the ginger, orange juice, orange zest, rice wine vinegar, the rest of the soy sauce, sesame oil, chili garlic sauce, and honey. Whisk to combine. Set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over high heat. Once the oil is very hot, add the chicken and cook until it’s cooked through — about 7-10 minutes. Remove from skillet. Set aside.

Once you remove the chicken, make sure the pan is still very hot, and add the onions, rest of the ginger, and garlic. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the green beans and carrots. Stir fry until the carrots and green beans are al dente, about 10 minutes.

Add the chicken back to the pan and pour in the sauce. Cook uncovered for another 2-3 minutes, stirring, until the sauce is mixed into the chicken and vegetables well and starts to thicken. At this point, if you need to cook the vegetables a little more, cover for a couple of minutes to let the vegetables steam.

Serve over rice.

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Categories : Asian, Carrots, Chicken, Cuisine, Fruit, Green Beans, Healthy, Main Dish, Meat, Oranges, Quick & Easy, Recipe, Vegetables

Corn and Poblano Chowder

By kerry · Comments (2)

Sunday, April 26th, 2009

Poblano peppers are my favorite type of peppers. They add heat, but that heat doesn’t get into the way of their great slightly-smokey flavor. I thought that they would work well in a vegetarian corn chowder since I was losing the smokey flavor from bacon that I’d normally use. A touch of cumin also helps create a smoky flavor. The sweetness of the corn plays well with the heat from the poblano.

The secret, I found, is steeping the corn cobs in the milk. I was really amazed at the intense corn flavor the cobs brought to the chowder! I also didn’t use a ton of butter or cream in this chowder. The creaminess came from reducing the liquid by simmering the soup and by blending the peppers with some of the corn kernels to give the chowder a thick, creamy texture without cream or a roux.

It would be awesome with some chopped avocados for garnish — but I didn’t think of that until it was too late this time!

Corn and Poblano Chowder
Serves 4

2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. butter
1 cup leeks, cleaned thoroughly and chopped
2 poblano peppers, sliced into Â½ strips
4 ears of corn
1 quart whole milk
Â½ tsp. cumin
salt, to taste

Heat olive oil and butter in a large soup pot over medium high heat. Once the butter is melted, add the leeks, and poblano peppers. Cook over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes or until the leeks and peppers are soft.

Meanwhile, take the husk and silk off the corn cobs. Cut the corn kernels off the cobs and reserve. Cut the cobs each into three pieces. Add to pot once the leeks and peppers are soft.

Add milk. Bring to a simmer and cover. Simmer for about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the corn cobs and discard. Add 3/4 of the corn kernels and simmer for about 10 minutes uncovered.

Then, use a stick blender to blend the corn, peppers, and leeks until smooth.

Add the remaining corn kernels, cumin, and salt. Simmer for another 10 minutes uncovered. Serve and garnish with chopped avocado.

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Categories : Appetizer, Corn, Cuisine, Healthy, Leeks, Main Dish, Mexican, Peppers, Recipe, Soup, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Parmesan Pasta with Peas

By kerry · Comments (0)

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008

Sean and I were driving home from Albany the other night and we were hungry. Of course, I had to make a pit stop at the one rest area on the Mass Pike that only had McDonalds. So, instead, we got some Chex Mix to tide us over. By the time we got home, there was only time to throw together something quick and this did it. It was super easy to make with basic pantry items — and it was super delicious. Just what we needed after a long drive.

Sidebar: I love frozen peas. As a kid I always hated peas — I grew up with canned peas and I hated the mushy mouthfeel. Imagine my surprise when I tried fresh peas for the first time as an adult. They were so delicious. I find that frozen peas taste closer to fresh peas than canned peas. They are easy to always keep on hand, cheap, and good to toss into everything from rice to soup to pasta. An easy, peasy way of getting some veggies, too.

Parmesan Pasta with Peas
Serves 2

6 oz. pasta of your choice*
1 cup frozen peas
1 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. shallots, finely chopped
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
Salt and pepper, to taste

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a big pinch of salt and the dried pasta. When the pasta is about 1-minute from al dente, toss in the peas. Drain.

Meanwhile, heat the butter and olive oil in a large skillet. Once the butter is melted and bubbly, add the shallots and cook 2 minutes or until soft. Toss in the cooked pasta and peas. Add parmesan cheese, parsley, and pine nuts. Stir to combine. Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

* I used a combination of angel hair and pasta shaped like little snails because that’s what I had. Anything tubular or shell shaped works particularly well with this because it gives the peas a place to settle so you get peas with every bite. However, in a pinch, any pasta will work.

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