Meat, Potatoes and Veggies – Summer Style June 8, 2009

In the winter, when I think of meat and potatoes, the image of a roast with a hearty gravy, cooked along with some potatoes and carrots is the image that comes to mind. 

However, in the summer, meat, potatoes and veggies means something very different.  Our summer version of this meal tonight was something different, a concoction of foods that we came across mostly by accident, but that made a delicious meal.

Yesterday, I ran to Lowe’s to grab just a few things, and happened to see a Shady Brook Farms turkey tenderloin on sale for only $5.  It seemed like it would be a waste not to buy it, so I threw it in my basket.  It was a Rotisserie flavored tenderloin, and when Ross grilled it tonight, he added some Thomas’ sauce while it cooked.  It tasted absolutely wonderful. 

Yesterday, I met my sister at her house before we headed to the Brad Paisley/Dierks Bentley concert (which was amazing, by the way).  One of her patients lives on a farm and had given her a whole bunch of yellow squash.  I cut it up tonight and put it on a cookie sheet.  I sprayed it with canola oil cooking spray, sprinkled it with salt, pepper and basil, and baked it for about 15 minutes at 400 degrees.  I added some fresh sliced tomatoes that my in-laws brought over to us today, sprinkled it with freshly grated parmesan cheese, and baked it for about 5-7 minutes more.  It was so super tasty.   I could have eaten twice the amount that I made.

Instead of wintry baked potatoes or mashed potatoes, we had potato salad.  I’ve used this recipe in my column before, but in case you missed it, here it is.  It was the perfect potato-ey touch for this delicious summer meal!

Potato Salad

2 ½ pounds potatoes

3 eggs

¾ cup mayonnaise

¼ cup sour cream

3-4 stalks green onion, finely chopped

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons sweet relish

1 teaspoon paprika

 

Peel potatoes partly, boil until tender when pierced with a fork.  Boil eggs until hard boiled.  Cool potatoes and eggs in fridge. 

Dice potatoes and eggs to desired size.  Add mayonnaise and sour cream, mix well.  Add green onion, salt, pepper, mustard and relish.  Mix well.  Sprinkle with paprika.  Chill before serving.

Fresh Veggies June 2, 2009

I haven’t written in FOREVER so I decided to ease back in slowly.  We’ve had a lot of repeats lately, so not too many new things to write about!  However, we have been having a whole ton of fresh veggies lately.  It maybe because of the season, but I haven’t made a frozen veggie in forever.  I’m kind of addicted.  Here are some of my favorite ways to cook fresh veggies.

Asparagus

This baby of ours seems to love asparagus.  I crave it all of the time.  It makes my pee smell horrible, which is worrisome in the first few seconds when I forget why it smells that bad, but once I remember that it is only the asparagus it doesn’t bother me all that much!  My Mom always boiled asparagus, and I don’t remember not liking it, but I much prefer sauteeing it.  I just melt about a tablespoon of butter and a splash of olive oil in a skillet, toss in the asparagus (usually cut into thirds or so, but however you like it is fine), sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss until tender.  I like it slightly blackened, but that’s just me.

Broccoli

I like to steam broccoli and toss it with some butter and a little lemon juice, but my favorite way is to roast it.  We had it this way tonight and it is oh-so-good.  Just cut the broccoli into long stalks, stem and all.  Place them on a baking sheet and sprinkle with olive oil.  Tonight, we were out of olive oil ( a tragedy, I know) and so we sprayed it with canola oil baking spray, and it worked great!  We minced fresh garlic over it and sprinkled it with salt and pepper.  Bake it in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes or so, until golden brown on the edges.  Love it.

Carrots

Fresh carrots are best and easiest when steamed.  Just peel, slice, and toss them in the steaming basket over a pot of water and bring the water to a boil.  Stir the carrots around every now and then until fork-tender, or to your desired consistency.  This part kind of takes the nutrition out of it, but put the carrots in a bowl, add a pat of butter, a sprinkle of brown sugar and a dash of ground ginger.  Stir and serve.  Very, very tasty.

Corn

We haven’t tried this yet, but my sister’s recipe for grilling corn sounds pretty awesome.  Just wrap each ear of corn in aluminum foil with a pat of butter and a little salt and pepper and cook until done – I have no idea how long that is.  She said that it kind of caramelizes and the corn pretty much just falls off of the cob into your mouth.  Sounds good to me!

Mushrooms

Saute in some olive oil and butter, add salt and pepper and worcestershire sauce, and serve alongside a nice, grilled steak.  Aaaaahhh.

Anybody else have any tasty ways to cook fresh veggies?  Enlighten me!

A Great Day with Summer Deliciousness April 17, 2009

Today was a great day.  “Spring Break” this year hasn’t felt like much of a Spring break since I’ve had some work to do everyday so far.  Today was the first day of the week that I didn’t have any work to do (well, I had to clean the bathrooms, but that’s just life).  I had a good morning at home getting things cleaned and organized.  I got 4 bags of clothes to Haven which I have been meaning to do for months.  They are so appreciative there, it makes you feel like you’ve really done something helpful!  After that small errand, I headed to Emily’s to meet up with her and her girls.  We had a great lunch at Fresh Choice.  Hailey and Leah were little ladies and entertained me with their napkin artwork and silly stories.  After lunch we headed to Dairy Queen.  Emily and I have been taunted for weeks by the ad for the Midnight Truffle Blizzard.  It was sooooooooooo good, but very, very rich!  After dessert, we all headed to get our hair cut which was so much fun and felt so good after 5 months without one!  On the way home, we stopped at Consign Design Boutique and I purchased my first 2 maternity outfits, for just $37!  I can’t wait to wear them!

After a busy but wonderful afternoon, I headed home to fix dinner.  Last week at the grocery store, I grabbed a pork loin roast just because it looked good.  I figured we’d throw it in the crock pot with something or other and call it a meal.  Well, when Ross suggested grilling it, there was no way I was turning him down!  I started my morning with searching for a good marinade recipe and starting the process.  The recipe I found was on cooks.com and is called Grilled Marinated Loin of Pork.  We loved it.  The honey and cinnamon add just the right amount of sweetness, and it came out perfectly tender.  Along with it we had a pasta salad that we first made and blogged about last summer, Spicy Vegetarian Peanut Noodle Salad.  It was even better that we remembered, and went perfectly with the pork. 

Today was a fun, beautiful day, and the sunshine, the carefree schedule and the awesome summer meal made me feel like summer is finally on its way.  I am so happy!

Paninis make me happy, too September 22, 2008

With the addition of our new panini maker, we have been having sandwiches more frequently lately.  Not just any old sandwiches, either.  Really, really good sandwiches.  Ross made homemade French Dips last week.  I had guided him to a website I found, paninihappy.com to suggest a recipe for Cheeseburger Paninis.   

 

I liked this site a lot, I thought it was cool how the writer led you through the steps it took to find the perfect way to make this recipe.  Well, Ross went to the site and found something else he wanted to make instead.  French Dip Paninis were awesome.  The best part about them was the roasted garlic aioli and the au jus, so be sure to make those to go along with it if you decide to try this recipe.

 

Tonight, Ross is grilling steaks that we are then going to use for paninis with provolone, asiago, caramelized onions, the roasted garlic aioli and the au jus for dipping.  We couldn’t let the leftovers go to waste!  I still want to make the cheeseburger paninis in the near future, as well as the Grilled Brownie Sundae Panini… ummm, hello.  It doesn’t get to sounding much better than that one!

Kabobs August 21, 2008

Sometimes I’ll go to the store and buy a few things, then come home and look them up online to see what kinds of recipes I can make with them.  This week, I went to the store and saw some Butterball Turkey Smoked Sausage for a very reasonable price.  I’ve never had this and wasn’t sure what it would taste like, but for $2, I figured I’d pick it up and see what we could do with it. 

 

When I got home, I really didn’t know how to start searching since I wasn’t sure just what kind of flavors I wanted to mix with this.  I decided to go to the Butterball website and see if they had any suggestions. 

 

What I found was the recipe for Turkey Smoked Sausage and Vegetable Kabobs.  I really liked the idea of putting sweet potatoes along with some other sweet veggies on the kabobs along with the smoked sausage.  It sounded a little different and very tasty.  The apricot and mustard glaze gave it a perfect finish.  It was a quick and easy meal to toss on the grill, and we both really enjoyed it.  Ross said he could have used more of the glaze while grilling, so maybe we’ll add a little extra next time.  This meal was healthy, too!  Ross said he never would have known it was turkey sausage if he hadn’t seen the package.

Buffalo Chicken July 3, 2008

When I was in high school, I have memories of my friend Alicia and I hanging out after school and each ordering a dozen chicken wings for our after school snack.  Those were the days, of course, when we could eat whatever we wanted and it didn’t seem to matter.  Unfortunately, I can’t still eat like that and fit into my clothes.  I do, however, still love the flavor of buffalo sauce.  Maybe that has something to do with the fact that I grew up next door to Buffalo, NY where the delicious food was born at Anchor Bar.  Or maybe it’s just because it is so darn tasty.

 

When Local Joe’s recently updated their menu to include a Buffalo Chicken sandwich, I had to try it.  Unfortunately for me, I am hooked.  I haven’t eaten anything else there since I had that.  It has a great flavor and tastes so good with an order of homemade chips.  Since I’ve talked about it so much (in case you can’t tell from the fact that I have a whole blog about food, I really love food… not just eating it, but talking about it too), Ross decided to make me Buffalo Chicken at home a few weeks ago.  It too was delicious.  I mentioned I was craving it a day or two ago so he cooked some up for me tonight.  When he told me he added some Asian Sesame salad dressing my first thought was… What?  I was slightly concerned that my craving wasn’t going to be fulfilled with this different twist on one of my favorites.  Once he reminded me that some restaurants serve a garlic soy chicken wing, I was a little more convinced.  Needless to say, it was delicious.  It still had the same wonderful Buffalo flavor, but with a hint of sweetness along with the heat, and just enough of something different without taking away from the original flavor.  Ross gets all of the points for this dinner… all I did was boil some corn on the cob.  That was also delicous, but the thanks goes to the farmers, not me.

 

Buffalo Sauce

2 sticks of butter (this is why it isn’t a regular after school snack anymore)

2 bottle Texas Pete hot sauce (or 1 stick of butter per bottle of TX Pete… less butter = hotter, more butter = milder)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 c. Kraft Asian Toasted Sesame dressing

1/2 bottle of beer

1 T oregano

1 t cayenne pepper

splash of vinegar

1 t Kosher salt

1 T onion powder

1 T sugar

3 lbs of chicken (we used 1 1/2 lbs of boneless skinless breasts and 1 1/2 lbs of boneless skinless thighs – Ross says that since we ate the skinless chicken it makes it ok that the sauce had 2 sticks of butter)

 

Ross made this recipe up for the most part, so add seasonings to your liking.  He marinated the chicken in the Asian dressing and grilled it until it was almost cooked.  While it was grilling, he simmered the sauce on the stove.  When he brought the chicken in, he added it to the sauce and let it simmer until it had finished cooking.  We thickened the sauce up a bit at the end, but again you can make this to your liking. 

Ross likes his dipped in Ranch, I like mine dipped in Blue Cheese.

 

We had some leftover sauce… I am seeing Buffalo Chicken Pizza in our near future.

Asian themed meal June 22, 2008

We had guests for dinner on Friday night.  My sister, Kara had requested grilled food since she never gets to eat it.  She’s also a vegetarian, so we had to work around those specifications.  We also had to work around some sketchy weather… but it all turned out fine in the end!  We had some great food and played fun games.  It was a really great night!

 

Ross made his homemade salsa for an appetizer… I’m not sure he’s ready to share his secret recipe, or if he ever will be for that matter.  It is the best salsa you will ever taste, though!

 

Ross grilled chicken for the carnivores in the group.  He used this marinade recipe found on recipezaar.com and spiced it up a bit with things like cilantro and green onion… and who knows what else.  The recipe is actually for sandwiches, but we just used the marinade.

 

Hoisin Chicken Marinade

• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup hoisin sauce
• 1 garlic clove 
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger 
• 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard

Mix all ingredients together and marinade chicken overnight.

 

We made Spicy Vegetarian Peanut Noodle Salad courtesy of Food Network and Ming Tsai.  It was also very easy to make, had fairly simple ingredients and was a super nice change from a typical pasta salad.  We all loved it!  I didn’t have any coriander, so I had to leave that out… I’ll put it in next time, but it was still great without it.

For Kara, we made Grilled Portabello Mushrooms with Artichoke Puree and Roasted Corn-Tomato Topping.  I found this recipe on another recipe blog with lots of vegetarian recipes.  This was nice because you could make the toppings ahead of time, so all you had to do at the last minute was grill the mushrooms.  We didn’t have room on the grill to roast corn, so I cooked some corn in a frying pan in a little bit of butter until it was slightly blackened.  We also cook corn this way to put in tacos or other Mexican meals and it is delicious.  The dish looks really pretty when you serve it, and Kara said it tasted great, too!  I want to make it again sometime soon when I can eat it!

 

At the last minute, we decided to skewer some pinapple and grill that, too.  The meal turned out really well, and Kara made us a key lime pie to have for dessert.  It was a great night with some good food, but more importantly, great company!

Greek Pitas with Tzatziki Sauce and the Wonderful Wegmans! May 26, 2008

We had Greek pitas tonight, one of our favorites.  When my Mom came to visit a few weeks ago, she brought me some of my favorite marinade, Lemon Garlic from Wegmans.  If you aren’t from the Upstate NY area, you may not know about Wonderful Wegmans - and if that is the case – I am sorry for you!  Wegmans is pretty much the best place in the world.  It is a grocery store, but SO much more.  They have a dry cleaner, a video store, photo lab, pharmacy, pizza shop, Chinese restaurant, Olive Bar, Chese Bar, sub shop, the most amazing bakery ever (nothing like a “grocery store bakery”, but more along the lines of a fine bakery you would drive miles to get to).  My Mom told me they have even added a spot where you can get your makeup done or a massage.  It is a beautiful store and they are great to their employees.  I can’t even tell you what the level of my excitement would be if Wegmans came to NC.  I keep my fingers crossed all the time.  So, when family comes to visit, Kara and I put together a list of things we need from Wegmans, and my list this time included this marinade! 

 

My Dad always used this marinade with chicken and it was the best.  Ross came home from the grocery store yesterday with a pork tenderloin and suggested putting the marinade on that.  I spotted feta and yogurt in the car and got really excited… we were going to have pitas!  We marinated and grilled the pork.  Ross made Tzatziki sauce, a Greek yogurt based sauce that is so delicious, either as a dressing or just as a dip with pitas.  Kara used to work in a Greek restaurant and I was introduced to this sauce then. Ross found this recipe for it http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_15500,00.html which tastes very authentic and it’s great.  Make sure you either use Greek yogurt or buy regular yogurt and drain the water out either through a cheesecloth or through a coffee filter covered strainer. We do the same with the cucumber, shred it and chop it and drain all of the water out of it.  The sauce is a MILLION times better without all of the water in it.  Emeril’s essence recipe is listed, which is great, but if you don’t feel like making that just sprinkle in some of the spices.  Put the meat in the pitas, top with Tzatziki and crumbled feta, lettuce, tomatoes and onion and you will have a delicious, healthy meal!

Spaghetti Salad and Super Good Burgers May 20, 2008

This cold spaghetti salad is one of my favorite summer salads.  It’s like a pasta salad, but with a twist!

 

1 lb spaghetti

1 green pepper

2 cucumbers

1 onion

3 carrots (or dump in a bunch of the matchsticks, I used about 1/2 bag)

2 tomatoes

1 jar chili sauce

1 c. Italian dressing

pepper, salt and garlic powder to taste

 

Boil pasta.  Toss with chili sauce and dressing.  Dice vegetables and add to pasta mixture.  Add seasonings to your liking.  Chill and serve.

 

Ross made burgers last night on the gril and they were the BEST burgers EVER.  He cut up a piece of really good steak into tiny pieces and tucked them into the middle of the burger before grilling.  I am not sure, but I think he brushed a mixture of worcestershire sauce and balsamic vinegar on them while they were grilling.  They were so incredibly good.  It tasted like a burger made out of fine steak.  Delicious.  Even Sully knew they were something special, he was going so crazy that we had to put him in the other room while we ate!  We had them with fresh tomatoes and corn on the cob.