Sweet-ish Broccoli Salad

I'm eating this for breakfast, although I realize that most people would eat it for lunch or dinner. Fortunately for me, it's great any time of the day!

This makes one serving--Steve prefers "regular" breakfast food! Ha! You can double or triple the vegetables for more servings. The dressing will need to be added and stirred, adding more if it's needed, to maintain a crunchy consistency.

And finally, I used my mini-chop for the broccoli and carrots. Bless the inventor of this gadget!

4 large broccoli florets, chopped

4 baby carrots, chopped

2 Tbs. thinly sliced green onion

6 grape tomatoes

small handful of raisins (I would use cranberries here for Chelsea; she hates raisins.)

6 walnut halves, broken up into 3 or 4 pieces each--small chunks

1/2 c. olive oil

1 Tbs. dijon mustard

1 1/2 tsp. agave nectar (you could also try pure maple syrup, and this can be doubled for a sweeter dressing.)

2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

Combine broccoli, carrots, green onions, tomatoes, raisins, and walnuts in a small bowl.

Whisk together the olive oil, dijon mustard, agave nectar, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. Pour about 2 Tbs. on salad. Taste and add more, if you'd like.

I thought this tasted great--and I'm not a big sweet-eater!! Ha! I hope you enjoy it!

Waldorf Salad PLUS

Steve said he wanted salad for dinner, and for whatever reason, neither lettuce nor spinach appealed to me. This doesn't happen very often, mind you!

So, I just decided to make Waldorf Salad and call it quits, but of course, it didn't work out that way! Ha! Here is our dinner salad for this evening. We both really liked it, and I hope you do, too!

Serves 2-4, meal or side!

1 large, crisp apple (I used a Red Delicious; they're just now coming into season, so they're good!)

2 stalks of celery, cleaned and sliced

2 medium cucumbers, quartered lengthwise and sliced crosswise about 1/4 inch thick

3 green onions, thinly sliced

24-30 red flame grapes, halved lengthwise

2-3 handfuls of walnuts, depending on how much you like them!

Bleu cheese crumbles (they can be "optional," but they really add a flare to this!)

Mayonnaise, about 1/2 cup?

Dijon mustard, about a tablespoon?

Olive oil, maybe a tablespoon or two--enough to thin the dressing to make tossing easier.

Chop the apple, toss it into a bowl, and add the celery, cucumbers, green onions, and grapes.

Dressing: combine the mayo, mustard, and olive oil in a small bowl. The dressing needs to be pretty tangy to offset the sweetness of the fruit, so add more mustard if I've misjudged my own addition. Obviously, this is "to taste!" Ha!

Toss the dressing with the fruits and vegetables. Add the walnuts, and toss again. I just served it on salad plates without further prep; it would look great on a bed of greens, and you could add extra dressing to seep down into the greens, too. However you serve it, toss some bleu cheese crumbles on top of it! Enjoy!

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!

Shrimp and Quinoa with Sun-Dried Tomatoes: Dinner from Trader Joe's!

Some nights I am too lazy - I mean, BUSY, to cook something that requires a recipe, but I really want some “real” food. On those nights, a frozen dinner just won’t do. This is a recipe I discovered when I was trying to clean out my fridge at the same time that I was trying to get out of cooking anything that required thought. As it turned out, it was really good!

All ingredients can be found at Trader Joe’s, too – so if you live near one, it’s a one-stop-shop!

The Recipe
Serves 6

1 package Trader Joe’s quinoa (about 2 ½ cups)
1 1-lb package Trader Joe’s frozen, cooked shrimp (any size), tails removed
1 jar Trader Joe’s Julienned Sun-Dried Tomatoes (undrained)
2 Tbs olive oil
3 Tbs dried basil
Salt and pepper to taste
Grated Parmesan cheese (for topping)

Prepare the quinoa according to the package directions. (This will require about 15 minutes of unattended cooking time.)

While the quinoa cooks, thaw the shrimp. (I put them in a bowl of water and put the bowl in the microwave on the “defrost” setting. Works like a charm.)

Add the cooked, thawed shrimp to the quinoa, along with the jar of tomatoes, the olive oil, basil, salt and pepper. Stir well to combine.

If you’re feeling dedicated, serve over cooked vegetables (green beans or broccoli would be good). When I want comfort food, I just spoon some of the shrimp/quinoa mixture into a bowl, top it with Parmesan cheese and eat it. YUM. Good-tasting and good for you! Woo-hoo!

(Yeah, the picture isn't great. It tastes better than it looks, though! ;D)

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!

Zucchini "Quiche", Crustless

Okay, this "quiche" has no cheese!  I just couldn't think of another name to call it!  Ha!

My dad is still having health issues, and we've gotten tired of eating in more-or-less fast food places--the kind where you order at a counter, and someone brings it to you!--AND fast food places!  So, I've been making what I think of as "blender food."  I went from lots of soups, which we also got tired of, to other things that involve some sort of cooking.  This is probably the longest, time-wise, thing I've made.

 

It has occurred to me that these are good for those of us who "run and gun," to use my brother's descriptive phrase, pretty often!  They're also good for those of us who hate to cook and want to spend as little time as possible doing so!  Ha!

 

350 degrees F.

4 servings

 

Quiche:

1/8 small onion

1 small clove garlic

1 small zucchini

4 large eggs

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

OPT: If you're not using the sauce, you can add one of these to perk up the flavor:  1/2 tsp. of dried basil, dried thyme, dried oregano, dried rosemary, dried savory, or any other herb you like!

 

OPT:  Lemon Basil Sauce

1 small clove garlic

1/4 cup olive oil

2 Tbs. lemon juice

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

OPT:  1 tsp. sugar, or its equivalent, if the lemon juice is too tart!

1/4 c. packed basil shreds

 

OPT:  2 green onions, thinly sliced

 

For the quiche:

Put onion in a blender, and pulse until it's coarsely chopped.  Add garlic, and pulse it.  Add zucchini, and pulse it until it's coarsely chopped.  Add eggs, salt, and pepper, and blend it until everything's mixed, but not necessarily smooth.  Put this into a sprayed, 8x8 baking dish, and bake at 350 degrees F. until the top is light brown and a knife tip inserted into the middle comes out clean.

 

For the sauce:

Put the garlic clove, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and sugar (if you're using it), and blend.  Pour into the measuring cup you used, and add the basil shreds.  Stir.  

 

To serve:  put 1/4 of the quiche on a plate.  Spoon some of the sauce over it, spreading the basil leaves with the back of the spoon.  Add green onions, if you're using them.  Enjoy!

What I Ate for Dinner - the Half-A$$ed hors d'oeuvres

Ok kids, I'm dealing with some bug issues at my apartment, so this is a SERIOUSLY compromised post. There will also be no Sunday post, as I will be scrubbing everything down after fogging the WHOLE FREAKIN' PLACE.

Not that I'm frustrated. Ahem.

BUT! There's still a half-a$$ed post for today! Woo-hoo!

This is for Karen L., who asked about hors d'oeuvres to serve at parties: preferably easy ones that didn't look like they came from a package. THIS is my specialty, folks: finger foods that look WAY more impressive than they are. (Because I love feeding people, but at some point I WANT TO PLAY, TOO.)

The Stuff (because you know, it's not really a recipe):

Hands-down, the easiest thing (which is still impressive-looking):
Salami
Cheese
Crackers
Fruit

But wait! It's better than it sounds.
Salami: Get a good quality salami. You can get something presliced, but if it came from Oscar Mayer, pass on by. Get a package (or 2) of the Columbus brand (found in the fancy cheese case). They have regular AND peppered, and I usually grab one of each package.

Cheese: At least two kinds. I like a double- or triple- cream Brie and a soft blue, and occasionally a Jack or Cheddar, if I'm not sure of my guests' tastes (Cheddar is a SUPER safe choice). Trader Joe's makes a FABULOUS soft blue (Castello? Costello? Something like that. Squeeze it a little: it will be as soft as a good Brie. When you find that blue - or bleu - cheese, that's it! Buy it! Buy a LOT of it! YUM . . . )

Crackers: Two words, folks: WATER. CRACKERS. Doesn't really matter what brand. Whole-grain crackers work, too, but only the fancy kinds. Don't go busting out the Triscuits, ok? (Although I DO love some Triscuits, I won't lie.)

Fruit: The part that makes your spread look fancy! Red grapes or sliced apples. If you slice apples, squeeze some lemon juice over them. It'll change the taste a little, but it will still be good with the other ingredients. I'm not gonna lie though, red grapes are my FAVORITE. They're AMAZING with salami and blue/bleu cheese.

The key to that spread is to put everything on plates, and ARRANGE it. It doesn't really matter HOW you arrange it; just don't dump it all on there, and it will look fantastic.

So there's that. Depending on the gathering, you also can't go wrong with potato chips and onion dip. I'm working on a substitute for the packaged dip, but honestly that Lipton crap hits people right in the nostalgic part of their brain. It's ALWAYS a winner.

Cookie dough! Even from a package, in teeny-tiny cupcake holders. These are a little time-consuming though, and be advised that they don't keep out on a table very well for very long: they turn a funny color. Yeesh. But a few at a time are always good. I use a cookie dough scooper (yes, really - STOP LAUGHING AT ME!), which forms them into little balls, so they look cute(that's the part that's time-consuming), and then sprinkle some cocoa powder over the top of them. Mmmmmm.

Ummm . . .

Bruschetta is easy if you have a broiler. Get a baguette, slice it up the night before, toss it in the fridge with a package of Bruschetta topping. The next day, arrange the slices on a broiler sheet, top them with the Bruschetta topping and broil them for about 3 minutes. Ta-da!

Alternately, you can brush the bread slices with some olive oil (or if you're lazy like me, just pour some olive oil on a plate and dip the bread in), sprinkle them with garlic powder (or add minced garlic to the oil on the plate), salt and pepper, and then dust them with grated Parmesan. Broil for the usual 3 minutes, and they'll be nice and toasty without TOO much cheese.

Olives! Olives are great and easy. Toss them in a pretty dish, put a smaller dish of toothpicks on the side, and you're done! But go to the olive bar for these, and get a couple of kinds: Kalamata, maybe some cheese- or garlic-stuffed green ones, whatever looks good. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT buy your olives in the jar in the middle aisles of the store. They taste funny for this type of thing. DO. NOT. Seriously.

Antipasto platters are also good. Remember that baguette? Slice it up and arrange it on a platter. Now on a separate platter, pile up some prosciutto (or thinly sliced ham), a little salami, some jarred roasted red peppers, some jarred sun-dried tomatoes, a little bit of olive tapenade, and some knives to spread all the stuff with. Let people build their own almost-crostini ('cause you know, crostini are toasted, and these aren't)! If you're feeling REALLY adventurous, add some pickled vegetables. (Giardiniera is fabulous - and I probably misspelled it - I never can remember how to spell it. But it's pickled carrots, cauliflower and pepperoncinis. YUM.)

Put out a dish of cleaned radishes. Next to that put a dish of butter and some salt. You dip the radish in the butter, sprinkle a little salt over it, and you're done! (Yes, really. It's good. I SWEAR.)

Watercress sandwiches! Ok, I know that sounds weird. But they're YUMMY. You need a baguette, sliced (are you seeing a theme here?). Put some butter on each slice and top it with some watercress. The watercress has sort of a peppery bite to it, and the butter balances it out nicely. Sprinkle a little coarse sea salt over the top, and it's pretty, too!

What else can I think of? Hmm . . .

OH! Meatballs! But not in BBQ or Teriyaki sauce, because EVERYBODY does that (unless you make a REALLY, REALLY good one). Serve meatballs in marinara sauce, with a little dish of toothpicks on the side. (You can either make your own marinara, or buy a good quality version from the store. Either way works.) Seriously, I know it seems sort of pedestrian, but people love meatballs. Sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese over them if you want it to look fancy.

Ok, I think I'm tapped for now. (Nope, one more: if your friends are like MY friends, put out some hummus and pita chips. But put the hummus in a bowl and drizzle a little olive oil over the top. A LITTLE, I'm not kidding about that part. But it makes it look more gourmet. If people only knew . . . )

Ok, NOW I'm tapped out. No pictures today (I can't even IMAGINE cooking all that for a post), so you'll have to use your imagination! And if you have any other ideas that have worked well for you in the past, by all means post them in the comments!

Sort of Asian Soup!

This is for Nezu, who asked me for something without eggplant, tomatoes, or pepper of any kind.  Okay, this has red pepper flakes, but you could certainly delete them and substitute more ginger!  I'm sure, Nezu, that you have other ideas for spicing things up, since you've lived with this forever!  Might horseradish work?  If you use this, I think I'd omit the thyme, but you'd have to taste it to know!)  As for me, I really love this soup! And I buy a large head of my vegetable choice, and I use the rest for Kung Pao, as in "Kung Pao Cabbage," e.g.  MMMMM! 

1 Tbl. canola oil

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 stalks celery, diagonally sliced

1 bunch green onions, sliced into 3/4" - 1" pieces

4 cans vegetable broth (I use Swanson's)

1 Tbl. freshly grated (or finely minced) ginger--about 1 1/4" - 1 1/2" of a 1" diameter root (Marste introduced me to a microplane grater!  Boy, does this make life easier!  Ha!)

1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves (or 1 1/2 tsp. fresh!)  (I know this sounds odd--just trust me!)

3 Tbl. soy sauce

1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes (mild; 1/4-medium; 1/2 hot!)

1 small head bok choy, Chinese cabbage, or green cabbage, cleaned and thinly sliced

1 lb. frozen vegetarian meatballs

1/2 tsp. sesame oil

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

OPTIONAL:  1 8-oz. can sliced water chestnuts, drained (adds crunch)

1 15-oz. can baby corn, drained (adds color and fun!)

Heat oil in a soup pot.  Add the onion, and cook over medium heat until it's soft.  Add garlic and celery, and continue cooking until the celery is soft.  Add the green onions and broth.  Add the ginger thyme, soy sauce, and pepper flakes (or other spicy seasoning, Nezu!  :)).  Simmer until it's fragrant.

Add the cabbage-family vegetable, and cook until it's crisp-tender.  Add the meatballs, and cook until they're thawed and heated through--if the broth is bubbling, it's heated!  Turn off the heat, and add the oil and cilantro, stir them in, and serve.

This is a thick soup because of the vegetables and meatballs.  If you like a thinner soup, add a can, or two, of broth!

Balsamic-Roasted Tomatoes with Mushrooms and Spinach

Vinaigrette:

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

2/3 cup olive or canola oil

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

2 cups grape tomatoes

1 Tbl. olive or canola oil

3 cloves garlic, minced (or 3 cubes, 3 tsp. jarred, or 3/8 tsp. garlic powder)

16 large mushrooms, wiped and sliced

1/4 cup water

1/2 lb. fresh baby spinach

2 Tbl. chopped fresh basil

Spread tomatoes on cookie sheet, and drizzle with balsamic vinaigrette.  Roast at 450 degrees for 15-17 minutes, or until they pop.  Remove from oven, and set aside.

In a large pan, heat oil.  Sauté garlic until soft.  Add mushrooms and water, and cook until "crisp-tender," about 10 minutes, or so.  Add spinach and stir into mushrooms.  Cook, stirring frequently, until spinach is wilted.  Add basil, and mix it into the mushrooms and spinach.  Using a spatula or slotted spoon, move the tomatoes from the cookie sheet to the pan.  Stir just a bit to mix things.  Spoon either into a serving bowl or onto plates.  Drizzle with a little balsamic vinaigrette, and serve immediately.  Enjoy!

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.

Veggie Dressing

One of my favorite quick meals is a Boca burger and a side of vegetables, all microwaved.  I really like vegetables!  I like them steamed, baked, boiled, etc., and without anything on them!  I just LIKE them!

Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with me.  Ha!  And my husband and daughters were all in agreement:  vegetables were "yuckie!"  I used to let them dip everything in mayonnaise, so they'd eat vegetables!  I didn't care that I was developing a bad habit; I figured they could deal with that when they got older!  And in the meantime, they'd at least have a few vitamins and minerals!

It finally occurred to me to make a "dressing," like I used for salad.  Even I think that lettuce needs dressing!  Ha!

So, here is my vegetable "dressing," which we all could eat with a spoon and no vegetables!  Ha!

Vegetable Dressing

1 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

1/8 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. onion powder

*1 tsp. dried thyme leaves

2 Tbs. water

**1 c. olive oil

**1 c. canola oil

In a 2 cup container with a lid, combine salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme leaves, and water.  Shake, or let it sit for a few minutes and then shake, until the salt and the powdered stuff are dissolved.  Add the oils, and shake to combine.  (I like the combination of oils, because I think olive oil has a sharp taste.  If you love olive oil, just use that!  Or just use canola oil for a stronger herb taste!)  Refrigerate.  To use, shake well and pour it on!

*I've also used oregano leaves, rosemary leaves, and other herbs.  I like thyme best; it seems to go well with all the vegetables I've tried.  (Oregano, for instance, makes green beans taste spoiled to me!  Ha!)

**If you're using a 2-cup container that leaves no room for extra stuff, then just add oil until it's full.  I use a 16-oz. container that used to hold honey.  It works great, because I have to squeeze it out, and I have less of a tendency to just keep pouring!  Ha!  

In the above "meal," I feed Steve a piece of already-cooked chicken (like Tyson's mesquite chicken available at Costco) and vegetables with this dressing, and he's a happy camper.  You should understand that his favorite meal is a Hungry Man Fried Chicken dinner!  Mmm--grease and salt!!!  Ha!

This dressing is also great on Boca burgers, chicken pieces, fish, etc.  It's just good!  Since there's no acid component, it's not so great on salad!  Ha!

I hope you enjoy it!