Summery Tomato Salad

Aside from having both veggie and regular hot dogs and hamburgers for this past Saturday’s BBQ, I made a bunch of different side salads, and of course cupcakes. I have to admit, aside from my fiancé’s super spicy burgers, I think my salads were show stealers. In addition to the Corn & Black Bean Salad I’ve made a few times, I also made a tomato salad, which was awesome. I think this recipe came from Vegetarian Times, but I don’t remember for sure. I of course made some tweaks to what was available, and doubled the recipe. Thankfully, we had some left over, so I’m looking forward to enjoying some of it with a giant ear of corn later!

These fruit and vegetable salads are some of the most flavorful, and easiest dishes I’ve made! Since neither my fiancé or I are fans of mayo (I can eat things with it, but he can’t even be near it) we don’t ever have potato salad or maccaroni salad. So, I’ve been exploring other cook-out and picnic accompaniments, which have been awesome. This recipe suggests to make the dressing the night before and allow it to marinade overnight before combining it with the tomatoes and cucumbers and it’s defintely a suggestion to heed.

I’ve decided that ShopRite really isn’t cutting it for me these days. Unfortunately, we don’t have many other (better) options, aside from Wegman’s. I’d love to be closer to a Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s, but I know I’d wind up spending double every trip since they have such an awesome selection. My parents have a Trader Joe’s in their town, so if I’m looking for something specific or just want to treat myself to some yummy goodness, I’ll stop in. My latest problem with StopRite was their lack of heirloom tomatoes. Oh, and the fact that on Friday afternoon when we went after work, they didn’t have any corn left! Thankfully the Stop & Shop near our house had a ton of corn, so we stocked up. Since I didn’t get the heirloom tomatoes, I just used Jersey tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, grape tomatoes, and plum tomatoes – good enough!

So aside from the tomato mishap, the only other difference with this recipe was the cheese. I went with an herb seasoned feta, which was delicious! I also decided not to puree the dressing and just cut the basil into little pieces, and combined it only with 1/2 tsp of oil, leaving out the second two tsp. The salad was a hit, and everyone was asking for the recipe. So here it is!

Heirloom (or any tomato) Summer Salad
– Serves 6-8 –

Ingredients:
Dressing:
2/3 cup of fresh basil leaves (and more for garnish)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 1/2 tbsp olive oil

Salad:
12 oz. heirloom (or other) peak tomatoes, cut in different shapes
1 medium cucumber peeled & sliced
1/4 cup small red onion, chopped
1 1/2 oz. ricotta salata, crumbled

Directions:
1. Puree basil, garlic, and 1/2 tsp of oil, stir in remaining oil
2. Toss together veggies
3. Pour dressing and combine

Alcohol Infused Cupcakes: Do I have a problem?

This has now been the sixth alcohol infused dessert I’ve made this year. First there was Guinness cupcake with Bailey’s buttercream, another cupcake with just the Bailey’s, jello shot cupcakes, Kahlua and espresso chocolate chip cookies, and rum & coke brownies. And now? Pina Colada cupcakes! I actually got this recipe off Betty Crocker’s website, but made some tweaks to turn the rum extract into, well, regular rum.

Making an alcohol infused dessert really works well when you’re going to a party, I think. Most people bring either a food item, or some type of alcohol. So, why not bring both, together?! My fiancé and I decided to have a wedding party BBQ, so everyone from both of our sides could get together, hang out, and get to know each other more. The wedding isn’t until next September, but we figured since we recently procured a grill (thanks mom & dad!), and hadn’t had a party in a few months, it was the perfect opportunity. I also made a batch of regular chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting, and a layer of chunky peanut butter in between the cake and frosting. Yeah, they were good too.

They wound up being a little smaller, just below the cupcake liners. So, I had to load on the frosting, which everyone at the party appreciated. Since my pastry bag broke, I’ve resorted to using a smaller and regular sized spoon to do my swirling. Not bad, but not great either. I also had some leftover crushed pineapple, so I threw that in some Tupperware with regular and flavored rum and let it soak together for a few hours. It came in handy later in the night for a wedding party toast/shot!

For now, I’ll just chalk my love of boozy desserts up to being Irish 😉

Pina Colada Cupcakes
– 24 cupcakes –

Ingredients:
1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® yellow cake mix
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon rum extract*
1 can (8 oz) crushed pineapple in juice, undrained
3 eggs
1 teaspoon coconut extract*
1 teaspoon rum extract*
1 container (12 oz) Betty Crocker® Whipped vanilla frosting
3/4 cup shredded coconut

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375°F (350°F for dark or nonstick pan). Place paper baking cup in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups. In large bowl, beat cake mix, oil, water, 1 teaspoon rum extract, the pineapple and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
2. Bake 14 to 19 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
3. Stir coconut extract and 1 teaspoon rum extract into frosting. Spread frosting on cupcakes. Dip tops of frosted cupcakes in coconut. Store loosely covered at room temperature.

*instead of using rum extract and coconut extract, I substituted both for some Admiral Nelson coconut rum. I’d imagine any flavored rum would work well!

Spicy takes on a whole new meaning: Curry Udon Stir-Fry

I’ll be the first to try something spicy. It takes a lot for me to really think something is spicy, and even more for me to have it be at an unbearable level. Well, my friends, I may have met my match last night.

While grocery shopping last weekend, I scoured the asiles for a red chile. When ShopRite came up empty handed (no surprise there), I picked up a bag of Jamaican hot peppers, and hoped for the best. The bag itself gives no indication on what type of peppers they are, but there was some red, green, and orange, so I figured I would just use one of the red ones in the bag. I needed the pepper for a recipe I had found last week on Serious Eats, a Curry Udon Stir-Fry. The recipe has a great combination of Indian, Thai, and Japanese flavors that work really well together. The recipe also called for Garam Masala, which I realized is really just a combination of spices. After talking with a co-worker, she told me I should just look up a recipe and make it myself, since everyone makes it differently, and while they sell it mixed, it’s best fresh. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any cardamom, so the Garam Masala was out. It was still really great though!

It was an easy recipe, but required a lot of attention – quite a few things were going on at once (making the roux, sautéing the vegetables, cooking the noodles). But if you don’t mind multitasking and trying to keep everything going, you’ll be fine! I also had the luxury of using my newest obsession, thanks to Shelby over at Eat, Drink, Run. I’ve been on the prowl for a decent online recipe cataloging-styled system lately, and she suggested KartMe. Well my friends, so far, so good! I currently have two categories of carts – Dinner Recipes and Baking/Dessert Recipes, but you can make carts and lists of anything. I’m a fan!

So a word to the wise would probably be to not buy a random bag of hot peppers if you don’t want to sweat during your meal. However, if you’re like myself and my fiancé and think that’s fun, then go for it! We sweat throughout our meal, had stinging tongues and lips, and actually grabbed some milk (a first for both of us). My stomach was warm for quite a few hours afterwards also. But it was definitely worth it. Maybe next time I’ll use half of the pepper, though. Now that I have an entire bag of hot peppers, I guess I should start scouring the internet for some yummy recipes I can throw into my KartMe list. Any suggestions are welcome!

Curry Udon Stir-Fry
– Serves 2-3 –
Adapted from The Kitchn.

Ingredients:
1/2 pound fresh udon
4 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
3/4 cup vegetable broth
2 teaspoons sugar
1 large yellow onion, sliced thinly
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
1 red bell pepper, seeded, and thinly sliced
1 hot red chile, stemmed, seeded, and thinly sliced
1/2 pound broccoli florets, chopped
3 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions:
1. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Cook the udon according to the directions on the packaging. Drain, and then rinse well under cold water.
2. Pour 2 tablespoons of the oil into a medium saucepan. Turn the heat to medium-low and add the flour. Stir well, and cook until the roux browns, about 10 minutes.
3. Add the curry powder and garam masala to the roux, cook for another minute. Slowly whisk in 1/2 cup of the vegetable stock. Continue whisking, and add the sugar. When the sauce is thick, turn off the heat and set the saucepan aside.
4. Pour 2 tablespoons of the oil into a large non-stick skillet set over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft, about 5 to 6 minutes. Then add the ginger, red bell pepper, and chile. Cook for another 5 minutes. Add the broccoli, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes.
5. Add the udon noodles to the pan. cook for about a minute, and then pour in the soy sauce. Cook for a minute.
6. Whisk in the remaining vegetable broth with the curry roux. Pour this sauce into the pan with the noodles. Stir well, and cook for another minute or so, until warm.

So today I’m going to leave you with a question: Do you like spicy foods? What’s the spiciest food/meal you’ve ever had?

Polenta Take 2: Pizza Style

After making the Polenta & Pinto Bean Pie, I had quite a bit of polenta left over. So, after doing some research (a.k.a Googling), I decided to try my hand at a polenta crust pizza. I suppose it’s less of a polenta crust pizza, and more of a polenta-styled pizza, since you need a fork and it isn’t super crispy like pizza (well, New York pizza at least).

By having little of it’s own flavor, polenta really allows you to do whatever you’d like with it. I can only imagine the different flavor combinations that could top a little slice of polenta – yum! At any rate, I decided to go with regular mozzarella cheese and some sautéed onions and peppers. It was actually really delicious, and surprisingly filling. Since the pre-cooked polenta I bought was rectangular, our pizza was more Elio’s shaped than anything else, which was a nice gourmet and healthier throwback to a childhood favorite.

Onions & Peppers Polenta Pizza
– Serves 2 –

Ingredients:
16 oz polenta (tube or squared)
1 1/2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup sliced yellow onion
1/4 cup sliced green pepper
1/3 cup tomato sauce (any variation will work)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and coat 9 x 13 baking dish
2. While oven is heating, sauté onions and peppers in pan with just cooking spray (no oil) until slightly soft (onions are beginning to become translucent and peppers have a slight char)
3. Slice polenta into desired pieces (depending on shape, how many you’d like to make) and place in greased baking dish
4. Top polenta with equal amounts of sauce, cheese, onions, and peppers
5. Bake for 10-15 minutes

Simple Vegetarian: Polenta and Pinto Bean Pie

After searching for which vegetarian cookbook I got this recipe from, I was able to find it! This bad boy comes from Quick-Fix Vegetarian by Robin Robertson, and it’s delicious! I’ve actually never had polenta before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. To me, it tasted a lot like a Matzo ball, which I love. So I’ll definitely be adding polenta into our diet a little more regularly; it’s a nice alternative to pasta and rice.

The recipe itself is straight forward and easy. Aside from the 30 minute cooking time, it took a whopping 5 minutes to prepare. It uses pre-cooked polenta which adds to the convenience factor, but I’m sure you could cook-up your own if you have the time. Just a side note, it took my fiancé and I a solid 30 minutes to find the polenta in the grocery store on Sunday. We looked everywhere; pasta section, international section, rice section, refrigerated section. Finally we called our friend that happens to work at that particular Wegmans, and he directed us to it’s proper location (all the way in the corner of the pasta aisle).

It’s also really filling. I made the entire recipe, and there was enough for another large meal (as in TWO dinners!). We added some home-made poor man’s guacamole and a little sour cream and paired it with a salad. I decided to heat up what was left over still from the two dinners for breakfast, and paired it with an egg – not bad! Of course being the failure that I am, I didn’t take a picture of the deliciousness. To be fair though, it’s quite a messy dish once you cut it up and put it on a plate, so I don’t think a picture would have done it justice anyway. You’re just going to have to make it to find out!

I have quite a bit of polenta left over, so I’m going to attempt a polenta-crust pizza. I have no idea how it’s going to turn out, but with some onions and peppers on top, I can’t imagine it being horrible. We’ll see!

Polenta & Pinto Bean Pie
– Serves 4 –

Ingredients:
16 oz. package cooked polenta
16 oz. can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
16 oz. of salsa or picante sauce (mild, medium, or hot)
4 oz. can mild green chiles, drained (one small can)
1 Tbsp chili powder
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup shredded vegan cheddar cheese
1/2 cup crushed tortilla chips

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Cut the polenta into 1/2-inch thick slices and arrange in the bottom of a lightly oiled 9- or 10-inch square baking dish. Set aside.
2. In a bowl, combine the pinto beans, salsa, chiles, and chili powder, and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper and spread over the polenta.
3. Top with shredded cheese and tortilla chips. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 minutes longer to lightly brown the top.

Happy quick & easy veggie nomzing!

Homemade fruit smoothie!

Since it’s summertime, I figured a fruit smoothie would be the perfect way to enjoy something cool, refreshing, and nutritious post-sweltering run. So, while I was at the store earlier this week I grabbed myself some almond milk, frozen fruit, and plain Greek yogurt. My fiancé is a huge smoothie fan, so I figured he’d be down with the idea as well, and of course he was!

We decided to go with the “deluxe mixed berry” fruit mix, which has blueberries, rasberries, blackberries and some strawberries in it. As I mentioned, the Greek yogurt (Chobani brand) was plain, and I got vanilla flavored almond milk (Breeze brand) to add some extra flavor dimension. I only needed to blend it all together with some ice for a few seconds, and voila! I decided to serve it up in our Firecracker Four Miler glasses, since we’ll be running that beauty on Sunday, also I will be using dry ice to keep it cold for a longer time! My only qualm about my particular homemade recipe was it was a bit too liquid-y. I’m not quite sure what I could use to thicken it up, though. More yogurt? A powder of sorts? Any suggestions are welcome!

Smoothies really are quite diverse. Breakfast, lunch, snack, dessert, you name it they can be worked into a meal. I definitely plan on tweaking and “perfecting” this recipe, because let’s be honest, a $5 Jamba Juice smoothie is a treat, and we should be able to have smoothies more than just once in awhile!

Homemade Fruit Smoothie
– Serves 2 –

Ingredients:
1 cup vanilla flavored almond milk
1 cup plain Greek yogurt

1 teaspoon of honey (I usually get this Tupelo Honey for Sale)
1 1/2 cups frozen (or fresh!) fruit (any variety)
10 ice cubes

Directions:
1. Measure all ingredients, pour into blender
2. Pulse on “max ice crush” until frothy and smooth
3. Enjoy!

Greek Chicken Quiche!

I had a lot of leftovers from the Greek chicken my dad had so graciously made me over the weekend. So, aside from having it the “traditional way” (in a pita, of course) I decided to snazz it up, quiche style. I had all the ingredients I needed, but was unsure of the best way to go about assembling the quiche itself. I spent quite some time on Google trying to find the perfect egg to milk ratio, and eventually just decided to wing it, after reading on ChowHound that most people “blind-bake” quiches anyway.

This might sound silly, but I never realized the typical “quiche” taste came from the nutmeg. Who would have thought?! On a fun little side note, while watching the news over the weekend, a story came up about kids snorting nutmeg to get high. What is this world coming to?! I’d rather not burn my nostrils, thanks!

Anyway, I wasn’t really sure how it was going to come out, but thankfully it worked out in the end! So, not only did we find a yummy way to use up the rest of my dad’s delicious chicken, but we also got ourselves dinner for two nights AND lunch one day! And now that I have the general understanding of how quiches work (so complex, I know) I’m definitely going to experiment some more with ingredients!

Greek Chicken & Feta Quiche
– Serves 4 –

Ingredients:
1 9-inch pie crust, defrosted
1 1/2 cups of the Greek Chicken (recipe here)
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/3 tbsp nutmeg
1 cup crumbled feta
1 cup chopped yellow onion

Directions:
1. Prepare Greek Chicken according to directions
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
3. Place pie crust on un-greased pie dish, poke holes liberally
4. Pre-cook pie crust for 10-12 minutes
5. While crust is cooking, sauté onions in cooked chicken mixture, approximately 5 minutes
6. Whisk together eggs, milk, nutmeg and 1/2 of the feta
7. Once pie crust is done, sprinkle remaining feta on the bottom of the crust, then top with chicken and onion mixture, followed by the egg mixture
8. Bake 20-25 minutes
9. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before cutting

PS – I’m so proud of myself for coming up with this recipe on my own! WOO!

It’s all Greek to me!

A few years ago, my sister took a trip to Greece. She was obsessed with the food, and my parents, as culinary and taste adventurists, were overjoyed at her expanded palate (more so than what was done by the palate expander she had in Middle School for a few years). Though we often enjoyed grape leaves (dolmas), hummus, pita, tabouleh and baba ghanouj, they were seldom.

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it, but on top of being willing to try anything and loving almost all food (except couscous and ginger), my dad is a great cook. So, he came up with a “Greek Chicken” recipe, that’s very similar to what you would find in a gyro or on a kabob. It’s seriously delicious, and can go with so much – in a pita, atop a salad, with some seasoned rice… the possibilities are endless! So, I figured I’d share the amazing recipe, one because I’m a big fan of my dad and want everyone else to be too, and also because later this week I’ll be posting about the amazing quiche I made with the left-over chicken!

So next time you’re in the mood for a little Mediterranean flare but don’t have the bucks to hop on a plane, grab some Greek eats instead! And just to note, the recipe is very general, so it all depends on how many people you’re planning to feed, etc.

The Irishman’s Greek Chicken

Ingredients:
Equal parts olive oil and lemon juice.
Equal amounts (or so) of granulated garlic and dry dill
Dry mustard (say about half of the amount used of the garlic and dill)
Green peppers (optional)
Sea salt to taste
Thinly sliced chicken breasts

Optional Ingredients:
Greek yogurt or Tzatziki sauce
Feta
Pita bread
Cucumber and/or Tomato
Shredded lettuce

Directions:
1. Mix up the ingredients in a large enough container to hold chicken cutlets – taste and adjust if needed
2. Place thin chicken cutlets into container with tight cover – shake up the contents.
3. Let chicken marinate for at least a couple of hours in refrigerator.
4. Lightly oil skillet and start frying up the cutlets, with marinade.
5. Let chicken cool – slice/cut it up. (or you can slice up/cut up chicken before marinating and cooking. Either way is fine).
6. Cook peppers (and any other vegetables you may want to use) in marinade sauce. 7. Add cooked chicken back in with peppers at the end. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
8. Serve with/in (heated) pita, and with Greek yogurt or Tzatziki, feta, shredded lettuce and/or sliced tomato/cucumber.

Vegging Out

The past few days have been less than ideal to run in since it’s grossly hot by 9am and stays that way all day, and I cannot get myself up to run at 5am. Swimming at 5am was one thing in my youth, but running, I’m still working on it. So I’ve been trying to get runs in wherever possible, but Tuesday night was afforded another no-go, since by the time I got home and was ready to head out, there was a massive rain/thunder storm in the area. This leaves me four days since my last run. I’m signed up for the Firecracker 4 Miler on the 4th of July, which will mark the 1 year anniversary of the beginning of my running “career.” Hurray!

So because of my lack of running, the “veg” part of my title has two meanings! I’ve been super lazy on that front this week, but have managed to get in a serious amount of veggies in it’s place! Tuesday night’s dinner was another veggie delight, this time coming from Vegetarian Times, a magazine my co-worker subscribes to, and I get their newsletters via e-mail. This particular recipe was under the “Dinners for One” section, so I just doubled the recipe for myself and the fiancé. This is a pretty nice twist on a stir-fry and noodle-bowl combo, and I’d definitely make it again.

Since this past Sunday was Father’s Day, I left the shopping in the hands of my fiancé so I could head to my parent’s house early. To be fair, I wasn’t sure what they looked like either, but he bought vegan gluten free brown rice spagetti. The recipe called for rice noodles, and these were close enough, and had a pretty decent taste since they had so few ingredients! Other than that minor hiccup, the recipe was followed and went off without a hitch!

The “sauce” I suppose you could call it was really good – I’m definitely going to use it in other stir-fry like dishes, since it had nice heat and a good flavor between the tangy rice vinegar and salty soy sauce. Hopefully next time I can figure out what the rice noodles are, and grab those too. Maybe I’ll get crazy and mix up the veggies. Who knows!

Rice Noodle Bowl with Broccoli & Bell Peppers
-Serves 2-

Ingredients:
3 oz. dried rice noodles, broken into 1-inch pieces
4 tsp low-sodium soy sauce
2 tsp rice vinegar
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp chile sauce
4 tsp canola oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic
1 cup sliced-thin red pepper
1 cup broccoli
2 tbsp peanuts

Directions:
1. Bring 4 cups of water to boil. Add noodles. Remove from heat. Let stand 5-7 minutes. Drain, discard water.
2. Whisk soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, chile and 1/2 cup of water. Set aside.
3. Heat oil in skillet. Add onion and garlic, stir-fry 1 minute. Add broccoli and pepper, cook 1 minute more. Add sauce mixture and bring to boil for 1 minute.
4. Stir in noodles. Serve with peanuts.

Happy nomzing!

Meatless Monday!

I had been reading about Meatless Mondays for awhile, and recently started following them on Twitter. Though I don’t necessarily do it every Monday, I do go meatless a few times a week. Yesterday I stuck true to the name, though, and had a meatless Monday by making a Tex-Mex summer squash casserole. It sounds kind of weird, but it was really good.

I actually found the recipe on CalorieCount.About.com, which I had joined right after graduation to ensure I didn’t blow up, post-college 15 style. The site is actually pretty decent to track calorie intake and what you burn, but it’s a lot of upkeep so I abandoned it. Before I did, though, I grabbed some user-posted recipes including what I made last night.

I’ve been leaning more and more towards vegetarian dishes, for a bunch of reasons. They’re healthy, flavorful, and really versatile. Plus, since I’m almost always just cooking for two, they last longer. It’s much easier to ensure that the veggies haven’t gone bad instead of meat. And I feel better about myself and my choices when I eat an all veggie meal. However, I still can’t pass up the occasional burger, salmon, and things like that. But like my fiancé says, when given the choice, I’ll choose veggies and tofu over meat. So I’ll stick to my claim of being a halfetarian!

The recipe is for 10 servings, but I cut everything in half, which required some serious math. Since it was our main dish, we each had two servings and had enough left over for lunch the next day. The jalapeño added really nice spice, and the chunky salsa added some more veggies which are always welcome. I would definitely make this again, as a main dish or even a side dish. After cutting all the veggies I just had to put it in the oven and wait… Nice and easy!

Tex-Mex Summer Squash Casserole
– Makes 10 Servings –

Ingredients:
10 cups of summer squash, sliced
4 1/2 oz. green chilies, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup flour
4 scallions, sliced
2/3 cup yellow onion, chopped
4 1/2 oz jalapeños, chopped (about 2)
2 1/4 cups shredded Mexican/taco blend cheese
3/4 cup chunky salsa
1/4 cup red onion, chopped

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Coat 9 x 13 inch baking dish with cooking spray
3. Combine squash, yellow onion, chilies, jalapenos, salt and 3/4 cup of cheese in a large bowl. Sprinkle with flour, and toss to coat. Spread mixture into dish and cover with foil.
4.. Bake the casserole until bubbling and squash is tender, 35-45 minutes. Spoon salsa onto the casserole and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 cups of cheese.
5. Bake, uncovered, until golden and heated through about 20-30 minutes.
6. When ready to serve, sprinkle with scallions and red onion

Happy veggie nomzing!