Archive for the 'Entrees' Category

Corn Fritter Salad Stack Recipe – Celebrate Summer’s End with a Meatless Monday Labor Day Feast

Published on September 6, 2010 in Entrees, Gluten Free, Healthy Fare, Side Dishes and Vegetarian Entrees. 13 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .
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Corn Fritter Salad Stack with Tomatoes and Arugula

“Sex is good, but not as good as sweet, fresh corn.”  — Garrison Keillor

I agree with America’s favorite radio host that corn – while sweet and fresh – is one of the very best simple pleasures of life. When I bite into a steamy ear dripping with butter and salt, I  just want to stand up and shout “Life is GOOD!” Naturally, I am always looking for easy recipes that will enhance corn’s golden goodness. Especially easy, flavorful and healthy meals. Yes, I did use the word “healthy,” which corn is when eaten in its whole state. I was inspired by this month’s Cooking Light recipe, but skipped the flavored mayo and left out the meat for Meatless Monday.

(**Food Trivia Question: Is corn a vegetable or a grain? See the end of this post for the answer!)

There are two schools of thought on corn fritters: deep fry them so they’ll be globe shaped, or make them pancake style. I think you can tell by the photo which style I chose. That way, you can make a pretty stacks with a little dressed arugula and some ripe tomatoes. And, a bonus: this easy dinner takes 20 minutes, max – even if you have to shuck the corn!

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Fab Frugal Friday: Inspired by State Fair Cuisine (no, really) – Chili & Polenta Savory Parfait

Published on August 27, 2010 in Entrees, Frugal Tips and Vegetarian Entrees. 12 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Chili Parfait With Text

Many of us foodies, in our low-brow moments, are fans of State Fair fare. C’mon. Who doesn’t love funnel cakes, or corn dogs or deep fried Coca Cola? If you don’t know if you’re a State Fair food junkie, take this fab quiz and find out. Did you know that the Iowa State Fair’s claim to fame is an annual life-size butter sculpture of a cow? But, I digress. Fair food is unabashedly uber UNhealthy, but intensely fun. Food should always be FUN, shouldn’t it?

Anyway, this month’s Food Network Magazine features a State Fair savory parfait of pulled pork and mashed potatoes. I laughed out loud! Then, I decided a veggie version was in order. If you whip up some chili and polenta and spoon it into fancy parfait glasses and eat it on your porch swing, you’ll have just as much fun as you would at the State Fair. Maybe even more, depending on who is sitting next to you!

(SHAMELESS PLUG: Come and watch my Demo at the Utah State Fair on Saturday, September 11, 2010 at 4:00. I’ll be doing quesadillas and promoting my new book – Quesadillas! )

– posted by Donna

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Meatless Monday: A Light, Cool, Refreshing Summer Salad – Crispy Tofu Cubes with Mango and Avocado in Sweet Chili Sauce

Published on August 2, 2010 in Appetizers, Entrees, Gluten Free, Healthy Fare, Vegan Recipes and Vegetarian Entrees. 18 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

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I make a cold shrimp salad with avocado and mango in an Asian sweet chili sauce. It is a great go-to quick main dish salad for the summer – cool, refreshing and so flavorful.  Crispy tofu cubes in place of the shrimp is a wonderful switch up – added at the last minute, of course, to preserve their crispiness.

Anne and I have been huge tofu fans since writing 101 Things to do with Tofu a few years ago. It’s a fab frugal source of protein – and has a mild flavor that plays well with pretty much any other flavors. And, this sweet chili dressing is bright and flavorful with a touch of heat. If I wasn’t in mixed company when I ate this salad last night, I would have licked my plate. No, really.

Perfect for a summer Meatless Monday!

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A Soup That Uses Your Outdoor Barbecue Grill: Coconut Red Curry Summer Soup with Raw Veggies and Grilled Shrimp

Published on July 27, 2010 in Appetizers, Entrees, Gluten Free and Healthy Fare. 6 Comments Tags: , , , , , .
Grilled Shrimp Thai Coconut Curry Summer Soup

Grilled Shrimp Thai Coconut Curry Summer Soup

I love any recipe with coconut milk. If you add coconut milk to pretty much anything, my theory is it will always taste delicious.  A few years ago, I discovered how wonderful the soups are at Thai restaurants, because veggies in the soups are added in at the last minute, adding a nice fresh taste and texture. So, with a soup that’s not slow simmered, why not add a grilled element and make it a backyard summer style soup? Hmmmm . . . First, the broth.

It does sound very strange – making broth  without heating up your kitchen. But by just letting the flavors steep, your kitchen will not reach the sauna stage. Not even close. Then, you add raw fresh vegetables, whatever pasta or rice you have on hand, and grilled shrimp and – VOILA! - an almost effortless summer soup that is refreshing and flavorful.

I saw this idea in the August issue of Fine Cooking magazine (one of my all-time favorite cooking magazines!) I simplified it a bit and added a fun “grilled” taste.  Instead of “tea smoking” the shrimp I simply threw them on the grill. Amazingly easy and flavorful! The broth is made by steeping the aromatics with coconut milk and red curry paste. So, so, SO flavorful with so little effort!

I made this soup with shrimp, but you could use grilled chicken or grilled white fish fillets. I’ll bet even grilled tofu cubes on skewers would be delish as well for a vegetarian and vegan version. Must try a veggie version soon . . .

Cheers!

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Daring Cooks July "Nut Butters" Challenge: Roasted Hazelnut Sauce and African Peanut Soup

Published on July 14, 2010 in Appetizers, Entrees, Gluten Free and Vegetarian Entrees. 39 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .
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Roasted Hazelnut Sauce with Scattered Mushrooms and Hazelnut Pieces

The Daring Cooks July challenge was to use nut butters in a savory recipe, sponsored by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. As of a week ago, there were already so many amazing dishes posted (many Asian themed) that I knew I couldn’t compete with them.The most impressive was a dish posted by Australian food blogger Audax Artifex: Crisp Waterchestnut Sardines Stuffed with pinenut and macadamia nut butter, served with Green Thai cashew butter AND with homemade seaweed noodles. Incredible! So, I decided to stay away from competing in Asian flavors and use nut butters in a Mediterranean sauce and an African style soup.

First, I made a roasted hazelnut cream sauce for pasta (seen above on cheese ravioli). I thought the earthiness of mushrooms went well with hazelnuts, so I blended half of the mushrooms into the sauce and scattered the rest on top. The sauce was deep and rich and savory. There really is nothing like the taste of roasted hazelnuts, is there?

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A Kelly Family Favorite: African Peanut Soup

Then, I reworked a family favorite of ours: African Peanut Soup. This is a hearty, rich vegetarian soup that fills you up with just a small bowlful. I made my own peanut butter for this, and was amazed at how intense the flavor was compared to store-bought peanut butters. I just roasted the peanuts first then whirled then with some EVOO and sea salt.

Thanks, Daring Cooks Margie and Natashya for a fabulous challenge!

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Meatless Monday: Wholegrain Confetti Zucchini Cakes

Published on May 31, 2010 in Entrees, Side Dishes and Vegetarian Entrees. 11 Comments Tags: , , , , .

I have been trying for about a year now to come up with a vegetarian version of crab cakes, a perfect task for Meatless Mondays. My family members can testify if need be: at least two dozen attempts.

Then my neighbor Joyce,  who owns the on-line business Dr. Grandma’s specializing in healthy and convenient products, decided to host a recipe contest using her products. My favorites are her whole-grain muffin and pancake mixes. ( If you can’t find Dr Grandmas where you live, you can buy Dr G’s online or  just use any multigrain pancake mix that requires the addition of an egg.) I decided to toy with making a veggie pancake using veggies with just a bit of pancake mix as a binder to hold the veggies in a patty while cooking.

Since zucchini season is coming, I went heavy on the zuks, but you can try any grated veggie you like. These are so tasty and make perfect sides for your main course, or three of them make a fine vegetarian entree. They take only about 20 minutes to make – a great healthy weeknight meal! I like them drizzled with a Greek yogurt sauce mixed with a little Frank’s Red Hot Sauce and some cumin. Yum.

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Fab Frugal Food Cooks up Quesadillas on Studio 5 TV !

Published on May 25, 2010 in Entrees. 6 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

What fun to be on KSL’s morning show today making quesadillas! I demo’ed a recipe from the Quesadilla cookbook – Shrimp on the Barbie – which is a fun quesadilla to make on the barbecue grill. Perfect for Memorial Day Weekend or any summer grilling!

Happy Summer Everyone!

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Meatless Monday: An American Classic Goes Healthy – Lentil Sloppy Joes

Published on May 24, 2010 in Entrees, Gluten Free, Healthy Fare, Vegan Recipes and Vegetarian Entrees. 14 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

For Meatless Monday, I decided to attempt a re-do of an American classic recipe – Sloppy Joes. I tried a version with a variety of beans, but the beans turned out too starchy for this – not at all resembling ground meat. So then I thought of lentils. These little high-protein gems are packed with nutrients and they are so much easier and handier than using dried beans – no pre-soaking required! Turns out they are similar to the texture I was looking for to replace ground meat.

I used the ingredients I would have used 25 years ago to make Sloppy Joes for one of my kid-friendly desperation dinners – onions, peppers, tomato paste, brown sugar, spices and just a touch of mustard. Takes me back to the big-hair and florescent-fashion 80′s.

Sometimes a vegetarian re-do of a recipe is a distant second to the original in taste. Not so here. I was shocked to find out that this is a BETTER dish than if I had used hamburger. Seriously – much better. Bye, bye ground beef - Hello lentils!

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S.O.S. Challenge: Wilted Spinach Salad with Thai Peanut Vinaigrette

Published on May 19, 2010 in Entrees, Gluten Free, Healthy Fare, Side Dishes, Vegan Recipes and Vegetarian Entrees. 7 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

It’s strange. I don’t like peanut butter, but a good spicy Thai peanut sauce is one of my favorite things. I love it drizzled on just about everything and I discovered that it is a fabulous flavor pair with spinach. This recipe is re-worked to make it low-glycemic and vegan this time around and for the May vegan recipe challenge – SOS (a.k.a Sweet or Savory) - by Ricki of Diet, Dessert and Dogs and Kim of Affairs of Living. We agree with these two fabulous food bloggers: spinach is one of the healthiest things you can put in your mouth – calorie for calorie dark greens have the most nutrients of any food! We should all eat it every day!

I always had trouble making good peanut sauce until it finally dawned on me: to have really good Thai peanut sauce, you must start with really good peanut butter. It was one of those “Duh” moments for me!  It is a little more expensive, but you only use a little and it is well worth it. I like the all-natural “dark roasted” style with only two ingredients: salt and peanuts. I made this recipe with the idea of serving it cold on salads, so it is more like a vinaigrette than a sauce you would serve warm with chicken. I must admit that I tried to mimic Trader Joe’s Peanut Vinaigrette, which is also good BUT mine turned out even better – fresher tasting and more of a flavor punch!

I very lightly and briefly sauteed some rough chopped spinach for less than a minute until it just barely started to wilt. You could also blanch it quickly in boiling water. I then drained it and drizzled it with peanut vinaigrette, and sprinkled it with some diced roasted peanuts. Wow! Such an explosion of flavors!

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Daring Cooks Challenge: Stacked Green Chile and Chicken Enchiladas – made here with Pumpkin Seed Mole

Published on May 14, 2010 in Entrees and Gluten Free. 27 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

I love Daring Cooks challenges – they force me out of my comfort zone as a cook and I especially love how much I learn and grow as a cook each month. Thank you Bunnee of Anna+Food and Barbara of Barbara Bakes for this most excellent adventure!

For this month, the recipe challenge was Stacked Green Chile and Chicken Enchiladas. I grew up a few miles from the Mexican border in Tucson, Arizona. While most American kids were eating PB & J for lunch, we were eating bean burros (Yes, they were called burros, NOT burritos then). Needless to say, this challenge was right up my alley.

One requirement of the challenge was that we make “any homemade Mexican-style sauce.” I chose a Pumpkin Seed Mole that I once had at a fabulous Southwest restaurant in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Coyote Cafe, famous for its contemporary southwest cuisine. I have been craving this sauce ever since I ate it a few years ago – and now was the perfect time to re-create it.

This “pipian verde” mole has pumpkin seeds and fresh greens as a base. It also has a surprising ingredient: radish leaves, which give it a peppery flavor. (and, YES! Radish leaves are edible!) To the Coyote Cafe recipe, I added a few jalapeños with their seeds for heat and a small can of tomatillos and onions for acid. Unlike most moles, this one has a short ingredient list and doesn’t take all day to make. A 30 minute mole – surprisingly easy and incredibly flavorful. What’s not to love?

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