Chile Rellenos Casserole

I made this a couple of nights ago, but we had a last-minute glitch, so we didn't eat it until last night. It was good, but while I was making it (and confirmed last night), I was thinking that salsa instead of chiles would add a lot of flavor. I really think that, now! Ha!

So, here's what I did, along with the salsa suggestion and a guess as to quantity!

Serves 4

2 cans, 7 oz. each, whole green chiles, rinsed and seeded

1 large red bell pepper, cut into strips

1 medium shallot, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 1/2 cups grated Cheddar cheese

8 large eggs

1 cup whole milk

1/4 tsp. paprika

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

1 bunch cilantro, leaves chopped

4 green onions, thinly sliced

Opt.: 2 medium tomatoes, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with canola oil (or olive oil) spray. Lay opened and cleaned chiles in a single layer on the bottom of the baking dish. Sprinkle the bell pepper, shallot, and minced garlic over the chiles. Sprinkle the cheese over everything!

In a large bowl, mix eggs, milk, paprika, salt, and pepper with a fork or a whisk. Pour this mixture over the cheese.

Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 40 minutes, or until the top is slightly browned. Remove from oven and let it sit for about 10 minutes to make cutting easier. Top each serving with cilantro, green onion, and optional tomatoes.

OPTION: Instead of using chiles, red pepper, shallot, and garlic, substitute 1 cup--this is the "guess" part!--of salsa. I think medium would be good--a little zip mitigated by the eggs, milk, and cheese. Finish the dish as directed above, and top with cilantro and green onions. I think this would taste great! AND it would be a lot easier than chopping stuff! Ha! Enjoy, either way!

Portabella Mushroom Salad

I've been playing with a raw food diet, and in the course of this playing, I've learned a couple of nifty tricks to make things taste cooked without any cooking! Woohoo!

One of these is marinating stuff I wouldn't have thought to marinate before. Marinades soften vegetables, so you still get the vitamins, minerals, and enzymes present in uncooked food, and you also get the feel of cooked vegetables in your mouth. For instance, if you take a vegetable peeler and make strips of zucchini (down to, but not including, the seeds) and marinate them, they end up feeling like pasta, but there's no heavy, bloated feeling that accompanies the pasta--at least, for me! Ha!

And the best part is that you can have tasty, feel-good food without cooking--which, in summer, absolutely works for me!

Serves 4 hearty appetites

For the mushrooms:

4 large portabella mushrooms, stems and gills removed, caps sliced in 1/4" widths

1/4 cup olive oil

3 Tbs. soy sauce

2 tsp. apple cider vinegar

Pour the oil, soy sauce, and vinegar into a covered bowl. Shake well to mix. Add the mushroom slices. Shake again to coat. Refrigerate for several hours. The longer they're marinated, the better they taste! And don't worry about soy sauce giving them an Asian taste; when the mushrooms are added to everything else, the flavors blend well.

For the salad:

1 5-oz. bag salad greens

1 5-oz. bag baby spinach

1 beet, grated (I use my food processor--less mess! And beets are optional!)

1 large, or 6 "baby," carrots, grated

1/4 jicama, cut into 1/2" cubes

4 green onions, thinly sliced

Mix the greens and spinach. Divide them between 4 dinner plates. Separately sprinkle the grated beets, the grated carrots, and the jicama over the greens. Top with the green onion slices.

For the dressing:

1/4 c olive oil

1 1/2 Tbs. red wine vinegar

1 1/2 Tbs. apple cider vinegar

1 small shallot, minced

1 small clove garlic, minced

1/16 tsp. pepper

1/8 tsp. salt

Add to a covered bowl and shake well to blend.

To serve:

Divide the salad between 4 plates. (See above.) Place the mushroom slices on the salad, spooning a little of the marinade over the mushrooms. Pour some of the dressing over each salad. You can serve this alone or with garlic bread. (Garlic bread isn't considered "raw!" Ha!) MMMMMM!

Better Citrus Salad (and Roasted Asparagus Spears)

Tonight, I roasted asparagus--

2 lb. fresh asparagus, break ends off and put spears into a plastic bag,

squeeze 1/2 a lemon into bag and add

3-ish Tbs. olive oil,

1/4 tsp. salt

Close bag and twirl the top, so it's tight. Holding it tight with one hand, squish the spears so the oil and juice coat all the spears.

Put spears into a 9 x 13 sprayed baking dish, and drizzle oil/lemon juice from the bag over them. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Crisp tender spears. Sprinkle with the lemon zest, if you like. It's really good!

Anyway, back to the salad! I published another citrus salad with herbs and stuff, but this one is much better!

1 pomelo, halved and scoop out the sections, like a grapefruit. (Chelsea looked this up. It's a Chinese grapefruit, ancestor to our ruby grapefruit. Chelsea did this, because Marste and I were on the phone, speculating about which fruits were combined to make this one! Ha!)

1 5-oz. bag fresh spinach

1 ripe avocado, diced

1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced

Juice of 1 lemon

Equal-ish amount of olive oil

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

A very small pinch of stevia powder. One of those tiny spoons that come in the jar of stevia, filled scantly, is about the right measured amount.

Dice the pomelo sections, so the pieces are about 1/2 inch "square." (I realize "square" is a reach, shape-wise!) Add the spinach, avocado, and green onions.

Mix the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and stevia--add the stevia a bit at a time and taste in-between. The dressing needs to be not-quite-tart, as opposed to sweet! The pomelo is sweet and in those bites, sweet dressing would be bad! Ha!

Toss the salad with the dressing, and enjoy! Obviously, I served this with the asparagus. It looked like a lot of food, but I didn't have any leftovers! Ha!

Whipped Cream Fruit Salad

I love this salad now, and I loved it when I was a kid! My brother was diagnosed with diabetes when he was 3 (I was 6), so we didn't get to eat sweet stuff! And my parents are from the midwest, so when we visited our extended families, there was always a picnic! And always, always, someone would bring Ambrosia, the sweet salad with marshmallows, jello, and canned fruit! I'm sure there's other stuff in it, but I never got to eat it, either, so I don't know! (My mother fed us only what Mark could eat. A serendipity was that I didn't get cavities, so there's always an upside! Ha!)

This is my mother's version of a diabetic "Ambrosia."

1 15 oz can unsweetened pineapple bites, or tidbits (rings cut into bite-size pieces), drained

1 14 oz. can unsweetened peach slices, drained and cut into bites

1-2 (depends on the size) bananas, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/8"-1/4" slices

1-2 cups whipping cream, whipped and sweetened (my mother used saccharine) with Splenda or xylitol, if you don't want to use sugar!

Mix the drained fruit and bananas. There will still be juice on them, so mix in 1 cup whipping cream, whipped and sweetened. This should be plenty for a dressing! The 2nd cup is for people like me, who like the whipped cream more than the fruit! Ha!

I've actually tried this with fresh everything. Ironically, I think this is the only fruit salad that I like better with the canned fruit. I wondered if it has something to do with the canned juice! I may try it again with fresh, because it goes against my "grain" to recommend canned anything! Ha!

Also, I've been dealing with my dad's failing health and heart for quite a while now, and "easy" is almost my middle name! The last few salads have been what I think of as "refrigerator salads," which means open the fridge and see what one can add to lettuce to make it at least more interesting! Also nutritious! Also tasty! Sleep is out, so I'm using food for energy these days!

Happy eating!

Plummy Salad

Champagne grapes, which I bought for the first time at Costco, taste a lot like red grapes. I think they're slightly sweeter, and they're tiny! They're fun to eat--we just sucked them right off the stem! Ha! I don't know about Steve, but I definitely felt like I was "getting away with something!" Ha! My very proper, Southern-upbringing mother might have frowned, or she might have joined me! I never could guess which it would be, making for an interesting childhood! Ha!

And two days later, I found champagne grapes in another store, and they were almost as big as red grapes! So, red grapes halved would be good! Ha!

4 servings

For the salad:

4 ripe red plums, seeded and diced (Black plums will work, but red plums are prettier!)

1 bunch champagne, or red, grapes

5-oz. bag of mixed greens (or a handful, or two, of greens from a 1-lb. container per plate! MMM!)

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

2-3 slices white onion, quartered and rings separated

1/2-1 cup pecans (this depends on how many nuts you like on a salad!)

For the dressing:

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar (try Costco's Balsamic Vinegar of Modena! MMMM!)

2/3 cup canola, or safflower, oil

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

OPT: sweetener (agave nectar, xylitol, sugar, etc.) If you're using a high-quality balsamic, it will already taste sweet, so these won't be needed!)

Wash and dice the plums. Rinse the grapes and drain in a colander or on a towel (or?). If you haven't already done so, halve the red grapes, if you're using them.

To serve:

Put the washed lettuce on 4 plates. Top with the cilantro, plums, and grapes. Sprinkle the onion pieces over this. Sprinkle the nuts over the top. (This is a nice-looking salad: red skin and yellow meat of the plums, red grapes, green cilantro and lettuce, white onion pieces, and brown nuts!) Serve with the balsamic dressing!

If you're using more lettuce, this can be a main dish salad. If you've limited yourself to a 5-oz. bag, then it's a side salad--which would be great with grilled chicken! To add more color, add roasted ears of corn! MMMMMMM to any or all! Ha!

Peachy Keen Salad!

And still more salad! Woohoo! Ha!

A word about lettuce--well, several, really! Ha!--I always buy the 1-lb. size box (or bag) of mixed greens. This gives me enough to eat salads for lunch and to feed extra people, if they drop in. A 5-oz. bag gives me 4 skimpy servings, but I also know that not everyone eats salad like I do! I love to pile lettuce on the plates; it gives a salad a luxurious feeling. It's not a "diet food," if it seems luxurious! And it's okay to eat a lot of it, because it's not only nutritious, it also doesn't add a lot of calories--or fat, if you're just drizzling the dressing, instead of pouring it on! Ha! But I actually do like--yes, LIKE--the taste of greens!

4 servings

5 oz. bag mixed greens

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

6 green onions, thinly sliced

2 peaches, halved and diced

1 c. pine nuts

Dressing:

1/3 cup great quality balsamic vinegar (try Costco's Kirkland brand Balsamic Vinegar of Modena--yes, it's really imported! I have to thank Jill Erickson for introducing me to this!)

2/3 cup canola oil (or 1/3 c. olive oil and 1/3 c. canola oil)

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

OPT: sweetener or sugar, if balsamic isn't a great quality one! Dressing should be without a lot of tartness!

Combine the dressing ingredients and buzz, shake, or stir!

To serve: layer lettuce, cilantro, green onions, peaches, and 1/4 c. (each salad) of pine nuts. Drizzle dressing over it, add a fork, and enjoy! (Chelsea just said, "It's good." Complete with a roll of her eyes--this is ecstasy, for her! LOL!)

Watermelon Salad

I love salad, and I'm grateful to warm--or hot!--summer weather, so no one here expects me to turn on any heat whatsoever! Ha! I'm also grateful to Mother Nature for giving us lots of fun fruits to mix with various vegetables! I try to do seasonal fruits, even though I know they're available year-round; it seems like someone somewhere is in the middle of summer at all times! Ha!

This is quick, if you use seedless watermelon. I sometimes choose to pick out seeds, because I think the seeded watermelons are better than the seedless! They're more flavorful and sweeter. BUT seedless ones work, too.

The chili powder adds extra flavor, which I also prefer. Chelsea likes less chili powder and a bit more salt. So, maybe I need to add salt, pepper, and chili powder shakers to my table next time!

Salad:

1 small seedless watermelon, cut into bite sized pieces, or melon "balled."

1 small jicama, diced

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

3 green onions, thinly sliced

5 oz bag of mixed field greens

Opt.: 1 small avocado, diced

Dressing:

1/3 c. lime juice

1/2 c. canola oil (or some other mild oil--safflower, for instance!)

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp agave nectar, or to taste (this depends on how tart your limes are!)

Mix watermelon, jicama, cilantro and green onions. Add dressing, and toss to coat.

To serve:

Place a bed of mixed greens onto four plates, and spoon the salad mixture over. Spoon the rest of the dressing over the watermelon salad, so the lettuce below will have some, too! Top with avocado pieces, if you're using them. Sprinkle a little chili powder over the top, if you want some extra zip!

PHOTO COURTESY OF CHELSEA!!! THANK YOU, CHELSEA!!!

Sweet Summer Salad

I still love salad!

Serves 4.

For the salad:

5 oz. bag mixed greens

1 pint grape tomatoes (small plastic box!)

2 ears white corn, niblets shaved off and ears reserved

1/4 medium red, brown, or white onion, diced

4 green onions, thinly sliced

1 medium ancho (aka "pasilla") chile, diced This should not be a hot chile! Instead, it's a sweet tasting chile! Be sure to remove ALL the seeds!

2 medium carrots, shredded

1/4 medium jicama, peeled and shredded

1 bunch radishes, cleaned and shredded

2 ripe avocados, cut in large dice (4 cuts lengthwise and 4 cuts crosswise)

For the dressing:

2 large, or 4 small limes, juiced--should be about 1/4 cup juice

1/3-1/2 cup canola oil (Olive oil is too heavy for this!)

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. dried oregano leaves, finely crushed as adding

Corn "milk"--stand the shaved ear on a plate, and run a knife down it to force the rest of the kernels and the juice out. Add this to the dressing to add texture and sweetness.

Agave nectar to taste; this dressing needs to have a sweet taste to it! (Some limes are sweeter than others!)

Mix the salad ingredients except the avocado, and chill. Make the dressing, and chill to allow the flavors to meld.

To serve: mix the salad, still omitting the avocado, and the dressing together and dish it onto 4 serving plates. Top with avocado "cubes." Enjoy!

Spinach Grapefruit Salad with Citrus Dressing

I love salads. I even eat them in the winter, when tradition dictates warm stuff. So, we have sort of warm salads; I roast vegetables and put them on lettuce of some sort! Ha! After 35 years of this, my husband, Steve, doesn't even blink anymore! His was a meat-and-potato household, as was mine, but I think my mom was more adventurous than his was. Of course, my mom fed the four of us: 2 kids and 2 parents, while his mom fed 12: 10 kids and 2 parents! Under those circumstances, I'm not sure how adventurous I'd feel in the evenings, either! Ha! She amazes me still!

This is one of my favorites, and it's the dressing that pops it. The ingredients for the basic salad are spinach, grapefruit, and onion rings, and, like fashion, if you coordinate the colors, it's pretty enough for a party salad. Pink grapefruit sections with white onion, or white grapefruit with red onion. Either way, it goes great, color-wise, with the deep green of the spinach!

Per serving:

2 cups spinach leaves, washed and chilled

1 thin slice of onion, off a medium-sized one

1/2 grapefruit, peeled (To cut the grapefruit sections away from the membrane, run your knife from the outer edge to the inner core along the membrane walls. Remember, there are 2 sides to each section, so you're running your knife twice between each section! It's quicker the more you do it; "practice makes perfect," to be sickening about it! Ha!)

OPTIONAL: 1/2 an avocado adds creamy texture (and a yellow color, if you're using pink grapefruit and white onion). You can also add walnuts to this. (The brown color provides an "earthy" note!) These two ingredients are just filler, though; the real taste is the combination of spinach, onion, and grapefruit. Obviously, you can add other stuff, too! I wouldn't add really strong-tasting stuff, like olives, for instance!

For the dressing, also per serving:

1 Tbl. lemon juice (1 small, ripe lemon gives about 2 Tbl. juice)

2 Tbl. canola oil

1/2-1 tsp. (or a bit more) honey, agave nectar, xylitol, or sugar--sweetener amount depends on how tart your grapefruit is, so tasting--of both grapefruit and dressing--is involved here!

a few grains of salt to punch the sweetener--not enough to actually taste! 2-4 at the most! So, a tiny pinch of salt!

Stir, or whisk, to dissolve the sweetener and salt and to mix the dressing.

To serve:

Put the spinach on a plate. Separate the onion into rings and arrange on the spinach bed. Arrange the grapefruit over the onions. Pour the dressing over, and eat! MMMMM!

Sweet and Spicy Garlic Chicken - Part 1

This was inspired by a noodle dish that I used to love (well, I still do, but it's REALLY bad for you, so I don't make it very often). I used the same spices and sauces on chicken, and it came out pretty well. (I cooked it a little long, so it was a little dry – but I know what I should have done differently, so the recipe is fixed. :D) I call this “Part 1,” because later I’ll shred the chicken in the recipe below, add some veggies and some cooked pasta, and stir-fry the whole thing. YUM.

Note: I made this in the CrockPot, but you can do it in a roasting pan (or glass baking dish) in the oven. Just cook it on 350 for 45 minutes (if using thawed chicken) or an hour and fifteen minutes (if you're using frozen chicken).

The Recipe:
Serves 2 hungry adults, or 2 adults and 2 kids (Figure about 1 pound of chicken per person, if you're using bone-in pieces. I only had 3 pounds, so that's what I used. But that's why the serving size is weird. Just FYI.)
3 lbs chicken pieces (I used breast halves with the bone in and the skin on)
3 Tbs rice wine vinegar
8 cloves garlic, minced (yes, EIGHT)
1 Tbs sesame oil
1/3 cup oyster sauce
½ tsp hot sauce (optional)

Put the chicken pieces in the CrockPot. Mix the sauce ingredients together and pour over the chicken pieces. Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours. (I cooked it on low for nine and a half hours, and it was really dry. Don't cook it longer than 8 hours. Seriously.)

Ta-da! Yummy goodness. (Oh, and that funny white mark is where I tore a piece off to see JUST how dry it was. Very dry. Eight hours MAXIMUM, my friends. No lie. Nine and a half was WAY too long.)

Eggplant "Steaks" with Lemon-Rosemary Sauce

Sometimes, we just like the Standard American Diet--or at least, something that looks like it!  And since I'm still running and gunning, we're still eating out a lot, only eating at home when I think I'd have to hurt someone if I had to look at, let alone eat, more restaurant food!  Even GOOD restaurant food!  That isn't usual for me, by the way!

So, comfort food, according to my upbringing, is meat, potatoes, and vegetables on a plate.  Not combined.  Three separate piles.  And today, I really want comfort food a la childhood!  My dad's doing a lot better, and my stress level should be going down, but it kind of all "hit"--hence the comfort food crave!  Ha!

I love eggplant grilled on a barbecue of any kind!  So, I highly recommend this!  Unfortunately for me, our grill is gas-powered, and the tank is empty, so I'll brown these in a skillet, instead.

Serves 4-6, depending on side dishes!

For the eggplant:

Canola oil spray

1 Tbs. canola oil (olive oil is too heavy a taste for this), per batch

1 garlic clove per batch, minced

1/4 tsp. salt, per batch

2 eggplants, cut in half lengthwise (easier to fit into a pan; don't do this, if you're grilling!) and sliced into 3/8" slices

For the sauce:

(Double this if you're grilling.  It makes a great basting sauce for the eggplant!)

1/4 cup canola oil

2 tsp. lemon zest

2 tsp. lemon juice

2 Tbs. chopped fresh rosemary

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

Spray a large skillet.  Add canola oil, and heat on low.  Add 1 clove of garlic and the salt, and cook a minute or two, until the garlic is fragrant.  Turn up the heat to medium-medium high.  (Eggplant soaks up oil like crazy and becomes heavy with oil, has a gloppy texture, and tastes disgustingly like oil unless the heat is high enough to cook the eggplant quickly.)  Place the eggplant slices in the skillet.  Cook for 2-3 minutes, until the slices are lightly browned on one side.  Turn the slices, and continue cooking for 2-3 minutes more.  (The oil should be gone; DON'T ADD MORE!  If you've sprayed the pan, it won't stick.)  Now turn the slices again, cooking briefly to darken the color.  And turn for a brief time on the other side.  Dish them onto a plate, and put it into the oven on the lowest setting possible--150 degrees, or so!  Finish cooking the remaining eggplant slices, starting with 1 garlic clove for each batch.  Add them to the plate as they're finished.  On the last batch, cook the eggplant slices a bit longer on lower heat, until they're tender.  (Placing the plate with the first slices in the oven continues the cooking process, and the slices will be tender when they're ready for eating.) 

While the eggplant is cooking, between bouts of turning slices!, combine the oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, rosemary, salt, and pepper.

To serve:  place eggplant on a plate, and spoon the sauce over it.  Serve this with salad and citrus dressing ( 1/3 cup oil, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/16 tsp. pepper), and Green Beans, Mushrooms, and Sweet Potatoes.  MMMMMMM!  Enjoy!

Eggplant and Zucchini Puttanesca

"Puttanesca" is Italian for--well, let's just say that "ladies of the night" made it to attract customers.  So, the sauce is fragrant and tasty!  It could also be served over tilapia, chicken, salmon, or shrimp, with or without the zucchini or eggplant.  (I'd keep them, just for the extra vegetables!)  Also, you can add pasta, but I never do, unless I have guests drop in, and I need extra food in a hurry!  Ha!

4 servings, vegetables only.  6 servings, if you include pasta

1 Tbs. olive oil

1 large onion, preferably red, cut into smallish wedges

1 Tbs. olive oil

1 medium eggplant, cut into 1" dice

3 medium zucchinis, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1/2" pieces  (These are denser than eggplant pieces, so cutting them smaller allows them to cook at about the same rate as the eggplant.)

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 14.5-oz. cans diced tomatoes, undrained

1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano leaves, crushed as adding  (or 1 1/2 Tbs. fresh!)

1 tsp. dried thyme leaves, crushed as adding  (or 1 Tbs. fresh!)

1/4 tsp. dried red pepper flakes (less if you don't like much spice, more if you like it hot!)

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 Tbs. capers, drained

2 Tbs. chopped fresh Italian (flat-leafed) parsley (or 1 Tbs. dried parsley)

Grated Parmesan cheese, for sprinkling over the top

1/4 cup Kalamata olives, pitted--I hate olives, so I definitely consider this "optional," although it's a traditional ingredient in this!  Ha!

8 oz. pasta, also optional!

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil, and cook the onion until tender, about 8-10 minutes over medium heat.  Add the garlic, and cook until it's tender, too--a couple of minutes.

While it's cooking, add the next tablespoon of olive oil to another large pan.  (I use my soup kettle.)  Add the zucchini, and cook, stirring occasionally, until its browned on a couple of sides.  Add the eggplant, brown it, and add 2 Tbs. water, and cook, covered, until the zucchini and eggplant are tender, about 20-25 minutes.

While this is cooking, go back to your skillet, and add the tomatoes, oregano, thyme, crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper.  Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 5 or 10 minutes to meld the flavors.  It will also reduce the sauce, so you might need to add a couple of tablespoons of water at the end of this cooking cycle.  Add the capers and olives, if you're using them.  Heat through.  Turn off the heat.

During this cooking time, cook the pasta, if you're using it.  Drain.  Set aside.

Drain the tender zucchini and eggplant.  Pour the sauce over them and toss.

To serve:  place some pasta, if you're using it, on a plate.  Spoon the vegetables and sauce over it.  Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the top.  This is great with spinach, halved cherry tomatoes, red onion slivers, and balsamic vinaigrette!  Enjoy!

Herb-Crusted Salmon

I looked high and low for a recipe for Ranch Dressing Mix. I finally found one, and promptly proceeded to alter the ingredients so that I could coat salmon in it and grill the salmon.

YUM. (Although it doesn't taste at ALL like a packet of mix - which might not be a bad thing.)

The Recipe:
Serves 4

1 pound salmon fillet, cut into 4 pieces
2 cups buttermilk
1 Tbs mayonnaise (optional)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbs dried minced onion
4 Tbs dried parsley
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs cracked black pepper
1 Tbs dried dill weed (optional - this doesn't actually appear in Ranch dressing; I just like it.)
1 Tbs dried dill seed (same note as for dill weed, above)
1 tsp ground coriander (also not part of Ranch dressing, but . . . well, you get the idea.)

Pour the buttermilk into a large bowl or into a casserole dish, and soak the salmon pieces for about 15 minutes. (This will remove the fishiness from the salmon.)

While the salmon soaks, combine all remaining ingredients except mayo in a shallow bowl.

Remove the salmon from the buttermilk and pat dry. If you're using the mayonnaise, rub some mayo THINLY over the fleshy part of each salmon piece. (Note: the ranch mixture will stick just fine without the mayo, but the mayo makes it a little crispier and moister.) Coat both sides of the salmon in the herb/Ranch mixture.

Using a non-stick grill pan (or a regular frying pan sprayed with non-stick spray), cook the salmon over medium heat for 5-7 minutes per side. (It will seem like too long. It's NOT. The salmon will get a little charred around the edges. That's GOOD. It needs to cook that long because it was soaking in liquid, but it won't be dry.) When the fish flakes easily with a fork, ta-da! You're done!

(Veggie) Sausage and Grilled Onion Breakfast Casserole*

*with a healthier version below! ;)

Serves 6-ish

When I was growing up, every Christmas morning we had some sort of breakfast casserole (well, until I was about 12, and Mom got sick of making the same freakin’ thing every year; then we started having stuff like Shrimp fra Diavolo – for brunch!). There are 5 components to a breakfast casserole: meat, cheese, bread, milk and eggs. The varieties you use of each are interchangeable, and you can add whatever else you feel like adding, but those 5 things are the backbone of the recipe.

They’re also practically the definition of what’s wrong with the American diet. Not a fruit or veggie in sight! But if you grew up with some variation of the Standard American Diet (does anyone else notice that the acronym for that is SAD?), breakfast casseroles evoke either pleasant, warm, comforting feelings or the gag reflex. There doesn’t seem to be a middle ground. I fall into the former, though, and I needed some comfort food recently, so this is my version of the breakfast casserole. (And for good measure, I altered the recipe to make a frittata below – no bread, less milk, WAY healthier. But not QUITE as comforting on the nostalgia scale. I’m just sayin’.)

The Recipe (1):
1 Tbs canola or grapeseed oil
1 large white onion, halved and thinly sliced
4 croissants OR 6 slices of white bread (Don’t even bother with using whole-grain bread for this; it tastes weird. Just make the frittata below if you can’t bring yourself to buy white bread.)6-8 cooked sausage patties, chopped (I use Morningstar Farms veggie patties, just because I like them and they’re easy.)
2 cups grated jack-and-cheddar cheese blend (or 1 cup each, if you’re grating your own)
12 eggs
1 ¼ cups whole milk
½ -1 tsp hot sauce (Frank’s Red Hot is my favorite in this, although I’ve been known to use Sriracha sauce from the Asian food aisle.)
1 Tbs fennel seeds (optional: they add a lot of flavor, but it’ll still be good if you don’t have any on hand)
Salt and pepper

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat and add the onions, breaking them up as you add them. Add a light sprinkle of salt, stir, and reduce the heat to low.

Spray a 8 ½ x 11 casserole dish with nonstick spray, and then shred half the bread of your choice into the bottom. You want pretty small pieces: maybe ½ an inch or so.

(Stir the onions. They should be getting soft by now, so turn the heat up to medium.)

Chop the sausages if you haven’t already, and add them to the casserole dish.

(Stir the onions. Continue to stir them whenever you have a minute. We want them to get really brown and soft. Altogether they’re going to spend about a half-hour on the stovetop, just FYI.)
In a LARGE bowl, crack the eggs. Whisk them together, then add the milk, hot sauce, fennel, salt and pepper. Stir to combine and set aside.

When the onions are done (read: pretty brown), spread them over the sausage in the casserole dish. Top with half the cheese. Shred the remaining bread over the mixture, then pour the egg mixture over THAT. Top with the remaining cheese and set aside.

Now. If you’re going to cook this within an hour or so, I’d just leave it on the countertop. (Note: that is NOT recommended by the food safety folks, so proceed at your own risk. No one in my family has ever gotten sick doing that, but we’re pretty blasé about these things.) Otherwise, put it in the fridge and let it sit for a couple of hours. Take it out of the fridge about 40 minutes before you want to cook it, so it can come to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the casserole covered for about 30 minutes, take the cover off, and bake it for about 15 more, so the cheese on top is melted. Allow to stand for 5-10 minutes so it sets before you cut it up.

This is great on its own, but if I’m serving it to guests, I usually put out extra cheese, some sour cream, ketchup, salsa, guacamole, cheese, whatever I can think of that I have on hand. Pretty much EVERYONE feels the need to mess with their eggs (including me).

Um, usually I have a picture here. But I had guests, and I served it before I thought about it. Oops.


The Recipe (2):
Serves 4-6

This is a little healthier. The key to the preparation on this is to use an oven-safe skillet. Otherwise it’s a HUGE pain. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

1 Tbs canola or grapeseed oil
1 large white onion, halved and thinly sliced
6-8 cooked sausage patties, chopped (I use Morningstar Farms veggie patties, just because I like them and they’re easy.)
1 cup grated jack-and-cheddar cheese blend (or ½ cup each, if you’re grating your own)
6 eggs (8 if you have a BIG pan)
½ -1 tsp hot sauce (Frank’s Red Hot is my favorite in this, although I’ve been known to use Sriracha sauce from the Asian food aisle.)
1 Tbs fennel seeds (optional: they add a lot of flavor, but it’ll still be good if you don’t have any on hand)
Salt and pepper

Prepare the onion the same as above.

While the onion cooks, chop the sausages, and set aside.

When the onion is done, add the sausages to the pan and heat through. Spread the mixture out evenly over the pan.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, ½ the cheese, hot sauce, fennel, salt and pepper together. Pour the mixture over the sausage mixture in the pan, and allow to set – DON’T STIR IT. When the eggs start to solidify around the edges (it will still be liquid in the middle), sprinkle the remaining cheese on top, remove the pan from the heat, and put it (uncovered) into the oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. The cheese will be melted, and the frittata will get nice and puffy-looking. (It’s actually pretty impressive.)

Vegetable Curry

I ran across a blurb (Better Homes and Gardens) about research on bone health done at Tufts University.  It seems that, as you get older, your kidneys don't excrete acids as efficiently, so bones release alkaline stuff--including calcium--to restore the chemical balance.  When you eat fruits and vegetables, your body creates bicarbonate, which counteracts the high acid levels.  So, your bones are more likely to retain their calcium and stay stronger if your eat more produce!  Yet another reason for my being a vegetarian!  Ha! 

Here's a recipe for Thai curry that's mostly vegetables.  I looked up a bunch of curry recipes online to figure out the main ingredients, excluded the ones I couldn't buy here, and included the ones I could buy and liked!

We liked the result--except for Marste, who hates coconut milk!--and so did our neighbors!

I've used zucchini instead of mushrooms, and I've used zucchini with the mushrooms, but I like this combination best!  I haven't yet tried green beans, broccoli, or any of the other myriad vegetables, but I intend to!  Broccoli, in particular, interests me because of its stronger flavor!  So, broccoli and zucchini....

I hope you try this.  It's easier than it looks!

1/2 cup brown basmati rice

1 cup water

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 can unsweetened coconut milk (not fat-free!*), shaken before opening to recombine the milk and the fat

1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped**

1 Tbs. micro-grated, or finely minced, ginger

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 lb. eggplant, unpeeled, cut into even pieces

1/2 lb. mushrooms, sliced

1 Tbs. canola oil

3/4 c. green onions, sliced

1 Tbs. curry powder

Small pinch of red pepper flakes (We thought 1/8 tsp. made it too hot, but we don't like a lot of heat!)

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cup grape tomatoes

1/4 cup cashews (you can also use peanuts, if you don't like cashews!)

1 lime, quartered

Rice:

Combine rice, water, salt, and pepper.  Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer on lowest heat for 45 minutes.  In a blender, or food processor, put 1/2 cup coconut milk, cilantro, 1 tsp. ginger, and 2 cloves garlic, and buzz until it's smooth.  When the rice is cooked, stir this mixture into the rice.  Set aside, and keep it warm.

Vegetables:

Heat the oil in a large skillet.  Cook the eggplant over medium high heat.  Turn the pieces occasionally, until they're all brown on every side.  (I usually do "almost" every side; I'm learning not to be perfectionistic!  Ha!)   Add the mushrooms, and cook until they're soft and all the water has evaporated.  In other words, the pan is dry!  Add the green onions, curry powder, pepper flakes, salt, 1 clove garlic, and 2 tsp. ginger, and cook until green onions are slightly softened, about 1-2 minutes.  Add the remainder of the coconut milk (about 1 1/4 cups), and stir it in.  Add the tomatoes, and heat through.  

To serve:

Spoon some rice on a plate, and ladle some of the vegetables and sauce over it.  Sprinkle a few cashews over the top.  If it's needed, add salt and pepper to taste.  Add a lime quarter to the plate, so each diner can squeeze as much as s/he likes.  Enjoy!

*Coconut milk with the coconut fat will mitigate the heat of the red pepper flakes, in case you get heavy-handed.  Also, the coconut fat is a plant fat, as opposed to animal fat, and it's considered good for you!

**More nutrition trivia:  cilantro is a very cleansing herb.  There are studies (that I read online) that say it helps the body release toxins, including heavy metals.  It also has many beneficial nutrients.  I consider these a bonus; I'd eat it anyway, because I just like it!  

Practically Pasta Primavera

I love pasta in pretty much any way, shape or form. Pasta Primavera is one of my favorite things to eat, and it’s a great way to get a big helping of vegetables in the bargain. Most of the time I eat Pasta Primavera cold: some defrosted frozen veggies, leftover noodles, and some olive oil and lemon juice. But traditionally it’s served warm (with fresh vegetables, not frozen, LOL), as below. I added Mozzarella cheese to the recipe below, so this is a tiny bit heavier than traditional Primavera, but it comes out great. If you need more protein, you could add a pound of meat of your choice: chicken is easy and would be good, but shrimp would be FANTASTIC in this. If you do that, the recipe should serve closer to 10 people.

The Recipe:
Serves 6-8

3 small zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced into bite-size pieces
1 large yellow squash (aka summer squash), halved lengthwise and sliced into bite-size pieces
24 oz. cherry tomatoes: 12 oz whole, 12 oz halved (I use 2 of the little bags of “Nature Sweet” on the vine)
1 red pepper, cut into thin strips
1 yellow pepper, cut into thin strips
1 orange pepper, cut into thin strips
½ small package frozen green beans*
15 baby carrots (the ready-to-eat kind in the packages)*
2 cloves garlic, minced, OR 1 tps garlic powder
½ cup olive oil
salt and pepper
1 pound pasta, regular or whole-wheat (farfalle/bowtie, penne/little tubes, fusilli/corkscrews – something that will hold sauce – NOT long thin noodles)
8 oz. ovolini mozzarella OR 8 oz. whole milk mozzarella, cut into ¾-inch pieces
grated Parmesan cheese for topping
(Note: if you want to add protein to this, add a pound of cooked large shrimp.)

*Or ½ package Trader Joe’s Brittany Blend, in the frozen food aisle.

Preheat the oven to 400F. In a large baking pan, combine the whole tomatoes with the zucchini, summer squash, peppers, beans and carrots with the garlic and olive oil. Add a little salt and pepper and stir to combine. Bake for 40 minutes, stirring once.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling, salted water until tender (about 8 minutes at a rolling boil). Drain, reserving 1 ladleful of the cooking liquid.

Add the roasted veggies and halved tomatoes to the pasta pot, along with the pasta, pasta water and the mozzarella. Mix thoroughly. The cheese will begin to break down a little bit, getting soft and gooey around the edges, but it won’t melt completely. (That’s how it’s supposed to be.)

Serve topped with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

Lazy Cherry Vanilla Bread Pudding

I love bread pudding. This is one of those recipes, like French Toast, that housewives came up with to use stale bread. When times are tight, you can’t afford to let half a loaf of bread mold or turn so stale that no one will eat it, and when this recipe originated, most women (and it was mostly women, not men) were still baking their own bread. So they came up with a number of recipes to use up everything they had, even when the bread was no longer considered fit to eat. (Um. Their standards were higher than mine. I’ll eat bread in pretty much any form, and if it’s stale, I just toast it!)

This recipe results in a drier, more traditional consistency, although I have to admit that I like mine better a little custardy-ier. I’m still working on getting that custard consistency though, and this is pretty darn tasty in the meantime.

The Recipe
½ loaf white bread (brioche is best, but any good white bread will do)
1 ½ cups dry vanilla cake mix
2 cups whole milk (whole is important because nonfat will taste weird in this)
1 cup dried cherries (or other dried fruit of your choice)

In a 9x12 baking pan, tear the bread into smallish pieces, about ½ - 1 inch each. In a separate bowl, mix together the cake mix and milk until smooth. Add the cherries and mix again. Pour the liquid/cherry mixture over the bread and gently squash the bread with the back of a spoon to make sure it’s all saturated. Cover with foil and allow to sit for about 15 minutes on the counter.

Bake at 350F for 30-40 minutes, or until you can smell it. Remove it from the oven and allow it to sit for 15 minutes to set.


Serve warm with either vanilla ice cream or Ben & Jerry’s “Cherry Garcia” ice cream.

Vegetable Chili

This recipe is for my daughter, Chelsea, who is now on her own with no Mom to make it for her!  She requested it!  Ha!

I arrived at this recipe after I became a vegetarian, because my family loves chili, and they mourned its passing without taking into account that chili is also one of my favorites!  This is the end result, and we all agree that it tastes great and feels like "regular" chili in your mouth!  (I served it to my meat-and-potatoes dad, and he insisted I was wrong and that it had meat in it.  He wasn't kidding, which made it really funny!)

I highly recommend a food processor for this, if you're as impatient as I am!  On the other hand, my brother, Mark, and his wife, Kathy, happily chop together as they talk to each other!  They do this, they told me, because they love this chili, and they make it often.  

Like many of us, they're looking for tasty ways to include more vegetables in their diet, and they say that this is a favorite, not only of theirs, but also of friends and neighbors with whom they've shared it.

1 eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 Tbl. salt

1-2 Tbs. olive oil

2 medium-to-large onions, finely chopped

4 zucchini, finely chopped

1 large garlic clove, minced (or 1 frozen cube, 1 tsp. jarred, or 1/8 tsp. garlic powder)

1 28-oz. can peeled, diced tomatoes, undrained (or 2 14.5-oz, cans)

2 c. tomato, or V8, juice

1 c. vegetable broth

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

2 Tbl. chili powder

2 tsp. ground cumin

Cayenne pepper:  1/8 tsp.--mild, 1/4 tsp.--medium, or 1/2 tsp.--hot!

2 Tbl. dried basil

1 Tbl. dried oregano

1 tsp. ground black pepper

3 tsp. unprocessed (gray-colored) sea salt, OR 1 1/2 tsp. regular salt

Garnishes:  shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, and chopped green onions

Chop the eggplant and soak it in water with 1 Tbl. salt for 20-30 minutes.  Drain and rinse. 

In a large soup pot, sauté the eggplant in the olive oil over medium heat until it's tender.  (You might need to add a bit more oil during cooking.  The higher the cooking heat, the less oil is absorbed.  If you're willing to stand there and watch and stir it constantly so it doesn't burn, this is a great way to go!)  With a slotted spoon, transfer eggplant to a plate.

Add olive oil to the pot, if it's dry.  Toss in the onions, zucchini, and garlic, sautéing until tender.  Add the eggplant.  Add everything else except the garnishes.  Simmer for 30-60 minutes, or until the chili tastes great!

CAUTION:  Since vegetables can become mush, you don't want to cook this chili all day!  An hour is about right, not only for the taste, but also for the mouth feel, which I think is important!  I cooked it all day once, thinking it needed cooking like regular chili, and I served it to guests!  Ha!  Nobody asked me for the recipe that time!  LOL!

Serve topped with the garnishes!  Enjoy!  

Rosemary Potatoes

Easter is this Sunday, so I thought I'd offer this potato dish to accompany your ham, turkey, or other meat dinner.  Since I'm a vegetarian, and since I dislike cooking the same blasted "holiday meal" every year--it's boring!--we're probably going to have chili, which my youngest daughter, Chelsea, asked me to post.  I'll do it next week!  In the meantime, I'll take this dish over to my dad's, who hates it when I DON'T cook the regular stuff!  LOL!  Poor Dad!

We all like this very much, and my daughters actually ask for it periodically--usually when they need comfort food!  AND it's really easy!

It's actually an adaptation of a fried potato dish, which I thought took too long to prepare.  This is equally great-tasting, my oven does the work, and clean up is a lot easier!

6 medium red, white, or brown potatoes, thinly sliced (I used my food processor) and rinsed

1 Tbs. fresh rosemary, or 1 1/2 tsp. dried, either of them finely chopped

3 Tbs. butter

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

Lay the potato slices in a 9 x 13 casserole dish, which has been sprayed with canola oil spray.

Melt the butter.  (In a 900-watt microwave, one minute at 30% power melts it without causing it to overflow.)  Stir in the rosemary, salt, and pepper.  Pour this over the potatoes, and toss them to distribute the butter mix.

Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

If you're using this as a main dish, it goes well with garlic bread and steamed brussel sprouts with Veggie Dressing.  Enjoy!

Green Sauce Enchilada Casserole

I use La Victoria green enchilada sauce, because I can get it in all the places I travel in the U.S.  It has a sour taste, so I add "sweet" vegetables--onion, carrots, and corn--to offset this.  I usually top another enchilada casserole I make with tomatoes, green onions, and sour cream, but the tomatoes and onions don't taste great with this!  I didn't think that was possible!  Ha!

1 Tbl. canola or olive oil

1 medium-large onion, chopped

1 large garlic clove, minced (or 1 tsp. jarred, 1 frozen cube, or 1/8 tsp. garlic powder)

2 medium carrots, thinly sliced into "coins"

1 lb. package frozen, chopped spinach, thawed

1 14.5 oz. can whole kernel corn, drained (or 1 cup frozen, thawed)

1 29 oz. can La Victoria's green enchilada sauce

6 corn tortillas

*Grated cheddar cheese

Sour cream for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-low.  Add the chopped onion, garlic, and carrots.  Sauté until onion is tender.  Add the spinach.  Continue cooking about 15 minutes, then add the corn.  Pour about 1 cup of the enchilada sauce into the spinach mix, stir, and heat until bubbling.

Break the corn tortillas in half.  In a 9x13 baking dish, place 3 tortillas, each whole tortilla with its halves slanted and offset.  (The 6 halves should cover most of the bottom of the pan.)  *See possible alteration below.  Pour the spinach mix evenly over the tortillas.  *See possible alteration below.  Place the 3 remaining tortillas, arranged as above, across the top of the spinach.  Pour the enchilada sauce evenly over the tortillas.  Add enough grated cheese to make an opaque cover over the sauce.

Bake, covered, at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the casserole is heated through.

Let it sit for 10 minutes before you cut into it.  Serve it with a dollop of sour cream on the side.

MMMMM!

*Another option, if you'd like a cheesier casserole, is to sprinkle cheese over the 1st layer of tortillas, again over the spinach and before the last tortilla layer, and finally, on top of the final sauce layer.