Super Salad & Apologies

Sorry, my husband was working on my computer this week -- so I haven't been able to upload pics as normal, so the posts on the new blog have been lacking. Again, my apologies. Now, salad.

 We made the most delicious salad at my parents the other night! However, it was a bit of a salad bar because not everyone wanted everything on it. So we had a base bowl of salad that everyone was going to eat, and little bowls of extra deliciousness. The first picture is the shared salad bowl; the second picture (which I wish I had taken in the same lighting) is the finished salad.

Super Salad : 

Romaine Lettuce (however much lettuce you prefer in your salad)

1 Cucumber

1 Roma tomato

1 Small purple onion

1 Peeled Carrot

1 C Bean sprouts

Lemon

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Medium bowl with water 

- Thinly slice 1/2 the onion & place into water bowl for at least 15 minutes (so the smell won't overcome the rest of the salad) 

- Wash all veggies

- Chop the lettuce into bite size pieces & place in a large bowl

- Remove onion from water bowl & pat dry -- place in large bowl

- Peel cucumber, dice & place in large bowl

- Dice tomato & place in large bowl

- Use the peeler & peel the carrot to get light shreds into the large bowl (I like them better than julienned carrots)

- Sprinkle the bean sprouts into the bowl 

- Zest about a 1/2-1 t lemon over the salad bowl (make sure not to zest down to the white rind, it's bittter)

- Sprinkle salt & pepper to taste over salad

VOILA!

Super Salad 

Grams' Snack

Growing up I spent a lot of time at my grandma's. During all of this time I ate many many of her meals & lots of snacks. One of my favorite snacks growing up took her just minutes to prepare, was healthy, & super delicious. Now I make it for our after dinner dessert & my husband loves it too! He doesn't like coconut, so I just leave it out of the dish. I know, oranges don't seem like a dessert, but with sweetened coconut & sweet, juicy cherries it is a sweet treat!

Grams' Snack:

Orange slices

Sweetened coconut

Maraschino cherries

- Place the orange slices in the bowl

- Sprinkle as much coconut as you like

- Top with however many cherries you desire

(So it's almost not a recipe, but it is do delicious -- I wanted to share with everyone to enjoy!)

VOILA!

Simple Healthy Dessert!

Chicken Chow Mein

Before I met my husband, I never ate any type of Asian foods at all -- ever! Now I am quite obsessed with trying new Asian recipes. One of our favorite dishes is our chicken chow mein! (adapted from Chinese Food Made Easy) The ingredient list & recipe look long, but all it amounts to is simple prep work & quick cooking. An especially important ingredient in chow mein, is the right type of noodles, we usually head to our Asian grocer and pick up some of the wheat flour noodles. 

Chicken Chow Mein :

7 oz Noodles (If you have a package like this, 1/2 the package)
Sesame oil

11 oz Boneless-skinless chicken breast (trimmed & sliced into strips)

Less sodium/light soy sauce

 1/2 t Garlic sea salt

Juice of 1/2 lime

2 T Chile garlic sauce (found in the Asian section of the grocery store/at Asian grocer)

1 T Corn starch

Peanut Oil

1/2 Red bell pepper (sliced in 1 inch strips)

1-2 C Bean Sprouts (depending on how much you like bean sprouts -- we adore them)

4 Green onions (slice the green section into the same size strips as the bell pepper & dice the white part)

Fresh ground black pepper

4 Garlic cloves minced

1 C shredded carrots

Noodles :

- Boil noodles until al dente -- drain
- Rinse with cold water to stop the noodles from cooking
- Drizzle the noodles well sesame oil to prevent sticking

Chicken :

- Season chicken with 4 T soy sauce, garlic salt, chile sauce, & lime juice -- mix

- Once chicken is mixed, add cornstarch and coat

- Heat wok at medium-high - add 1 T peanut oil

- When oil is heated add chicken and cook until chicken is done

Vegetables:
- After the last step (cooking the chicken in the wok) start adding the vegetables step-by-step

- Add bell pepper, garlic -- stir -- then drizzle with soy sauce to taste -- add black pepper to taste -- cook until bell pepper starts to soften

- Then add bean sprouts, the green onion strips (green section) & carrots - stir - then drizzle with soy sauce to taste - add black pepper to taste - cook for about 30 seconds

- Finally add noodles - then drizzle with soy sauce to taste - add black pepper to taste - stir - cook for about 1 minute

- Plate in serving bowl and top with diced green onions (white section)

Notes :

 *If you notice the ingredients in the wok drying out at any time, just add sesame oil/peanut oil -- whichever your favorite is

*With the last few steps just add a bit of soy sauce and black pepper at a time -- you can always add those to your bowl -- but it is very important to add them with each additional layer of ingredients to the wok for good flavor

VOILA!

Simple Chow Mein!

Alfredo Sauce

We love Alfredo sauce, the creamy texture, the bold, yet gentle flavors...mmmm. However, years ago we use to just pop a jar of store-bought Alfredo sauce & be content with what I now consider mediocre goo all over our pasta. But then I decided to take on one of my favorite tasks -- compiling recipes, editing & creating our own. As it often is in our house, we want to make something neither one of us have a clue about, so I usually read 10-15 recipes (to figure out what is in the food we love) & then edit to our tastes to create our own simple recipe. So after some work, we have finally created the perfect simple Alfredo sauce!

Alfredo Sauce :

1/2 C cream cheese

1/2 C mascarpone cheese

1/2 C freshly grated parmesean

1/2 C butter

1 1/2 C milk

6 cloves of garlic (minced)

2 T freshly grated pepper

1 t of garlic sea salt

5 T dried parsley

- Let all cheeses, butter, & milk come to room temperature

- Blend everything -- except parsley -- until there are no clumps

- Pour into a saucepan & cook on medium-high heat for 10 min -- while stirring 

- When simmering -- add parsley & finish simmering on low

VOILA!

Simple Shrimp Alfredo!

New Year - New Food - New Blog

Happy New Year!! We kicked off the new year with some good friends & good food cooked in a new way (for us)! So we decided a new blog dedicated to food would be best. After hours in the kitchen, a screwdriver, and a worm, we were all able to enjoy a delicious seafood medley.

Cleaning the oysters - so fresh that they had living barnacles, worms, & crabs

Shucking the oysters - yes - with a screwdriver - for raw oyster eating
(And yes, they were too impatient & ate as they cracked them open...)

Meanwhile we worked on preparation for the oysters rockerfeller

We used this recipe:
http://www.food.com/recipe/oysters-rockefeller-193513
(except we all thought maybe a little less spinach in the rockefeller mixture / perhaps only 1 cup)
Unfortunately time slipped away from me & I realized I failed to get a picture of the oysters rockefeller, although there is a small picture in someone's bowl further down

Lobster time!

We threw the lobsters in a boiling pot with  1 container of seafood boil, 15 red potatoes, 3 onions &
3 garlic bulbs for 6 minutes/batch - let the lobsters cool - then cut them in half & cleaned out the juicy bits

Then we put the batches of crabs on the grill for ten minutes while basting

Basting Sauce Recipe:
1/2 C of Butter
Juice of 1 Lemon
4-5 Garlic Cloves
1 T of Seafood Seasoning

After all of this was cooked we sauteed some shrimp with the basting sauce recipe and a little lemon pepper and threw the crabs & corn into the boil
VOILA!

 The small pic of oysters rockefeller is at the top of the bowl

Pure Food Happiness!