Carrot Slaw

Tags

carrot, food, foodie, picnic, salad, slaw, vegan, vegetarian

I love carrot slaw, but the not the type you see at most picnics. You know, the one with too much mayonnaise and raisins in it (I really dislike raisins). I want my carrot slaw to be crunchy and cleansing to my palette.

Carrot Slaw

Ingredients:
3 c. julienne carrots, 1 golden delicious apple, 1 c. lemon juice, 3 Tbsp. fresh chopped parsley, 3 Tbsp. brown sugar, 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard, 1 tsp. celery seed, fresh ground sea salt

Directions:
Cut apple into julienne strips and immediately soak in lemon juice for 1 minutes. Toss apple and carrot sticks together. Mix together lemon juice, parsley, sugar, mustard, celery seed, and sea salt. Pour dressing over carrot slaw and toss to coat.

What’s on your plate?

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Sausage & Gnocchi Soup

Tags

carrot, dinner, food, foodie, gnocchi, lunch, recipe, sausage, soup, spinach, tomato

Today I have the urge to bake… and drink a mimosa. Yet I have no eggs, milk or juice in the house and I do not want to run out to the grocery store. I even looked through a few vegan cake recipes. What’s a young wifey to do? Make soup or course!… Then drink the champagne…

Sausage & Gnocchi Soup

Ingredients:

olive oil, 1 lb. ground turkey sausage, 1/2 dice yellow onion, 1 Tbsp. minced garlic, 1 shredded carrot, 2 c. chopped spinach, 2 diced tomatoes, 2 Tbsp. tomato paste, 6 c. chicken or veggie stock, 1 batch of gnocchi, fresh ground sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper, fresh grated pecorino romano cheese

Directions:
At the bottom of a stock pot, sauté onion in olive oil. Add ground sausage and break into small pieces, cook until meat is no longer pink. Add garlic, salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes. Add tomato paste, stock, carrot, tomatoes, and spinach to pot and bring to a boil. Allow gnocchi and simmer for about 4 minutes, or until gnocchi puff and begin to float. Top with fresh grated cheese and serve with hot focaccia bread.

Moral: If life doesn’t give you milk. eggs or juice, make soup! haha

I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend!
What’s on your stove/in your oven today? 

Curried Carrot Ginger Soup

Tags

carrot, curry, food, foodie, garbanzo, Garbanzo beans, ginger, meal, onion, recipe, soup, vegetarian, yogurt sauce

I’ve stated many times before that Hubster is not a soup fan. I however cannot get enough of it, especially during the snow squalls and is bitter cold. The restaurant where I worked during grad school served a ginger carrot soup that was sweetened with brown sugar. However, I believe that carrots are sweet enough as if and need a lil’ added kick.

Curried Carrot Ginger Soup

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. butter, 1 small onion diced, 5 large carrots (peeled and chopped), 2 Tbsp. grated ginger, 1 Tbsp. minced garlic, 1 c. cooked garbanzo beans, 1 c. vegetable stock, 1 c. coconut milk, 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice, 1 tsp. curry, fresh ground sea salt,  fresh cracked black pepper

Directions:
At the bottom of a pot, sauté onions in butter. Add garlic, ginger, curry, salt, pepper and warm. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Blend soup in high power blender. Garnish you chopped cilantro, yogurt sauce, curried pecans, and/or red pepper flakes.

Notes:
I look forward to trying yellow carrots in this recipe, one I grow my own.
For Hubster, I added chunks of chicken and many curried pecans to curb his meat cravings.
For a vegan version just swap in olive oil for the butter.

What soup has warmed you up recently?

Honey Chicken Stir Fry

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carrot, chicken, chicken stir fry, dinner, easy dinner, food, foodie, honey chicken, meal, quick and easy, quick dinner, red bell pepper, soy sauce, stir fry, yellow carrot, zucchini

Finally back in the kitchen! I haven’t taken a complete hiatus, but I haven’t cooked anything new over the holidays. Our lives are busy, I never feel like I get as much do as I actually want to get done. So it’s time to start prepping meals ahead of time.
I like to buy and cut/slice/dice veggies and chicken ahead of time and vacuüm seal them for later use. This is a fantastic use of a surplus of summer veggies, just vacuüm seal and freeze. Stir fries, casseroles and soup tend to be the best meals to prepare this way, as well as anything you want to put over pasta or rice. Tonight’s dinner was simple to cook, since I prepped everything ahead of time.*

Honey Chicken Stir Fry

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil, 2 Tbsp. soy sauce, 5 Tbsp. honey, 1 tsp. minced garlic, 1 tsp. minced ginger, 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, 1 orange carrot, 1 yellow carrot, 1 zucchini, 1/2 red bell pepper, green beans, steamed brown rice

Directions:
Cut, dice, slice, julienne and chop veggies anyway you like (I played around with all of these techniques, have I mentioned before that I love my crinkle cutter and julienne peeler?). Cut chicken into small pieces. Warm oil, garlic, and ginger in wok. Add soy sauce and honey and stir until dissolved. Add chicken pieces and cook until chicken is done. Add veggies and sauté until tender. Serve over hot brown rice.

*Disclaimer: I did find the yellow carrots already sliced in the freezer section, this was a score because I love love love them and can never find them in our regular produce section. That’s one root veggie I plan to grow this year.

What’s on your dinner plate?

Red Cabbage Salad

Tags

apple, cabbage, cabbage salad, carrot, edamame, food, foodie, grilled shrimp, healthy eating, honey, postaday2011, recipe, red cabbage, rice vinegar, salad, seafood, sesame, shrimp, side dishes, slaw, summer, vegetarian

Hubster is working late this week, so that means I can indulge my palette… time for meatless dishes and seafood…

Red Cabbage Salad

Red Cabbage Salad Ingredients:
shredded red cabbage, edamame, green apples, shredded carrots, sesame seeds, lemon juice, rice wine vinegar, honey, sesame oil, fresh ground sea salt, fresh cracked pepper (I used a four-color peppercorn blend)

Red Cabbage Salad Directions:
Add edamame, water and salt to saucepan and bring to boil. Simmer over medium heat for a few minutes. Remove pan from heat, and allow to cool slightly. Remove beans from pods and set aside to cool. Chop, cut or shred green apples, immediately place into lemon juice. Whisk together sesame seeds, rice wine vinegar, sesame seed oil, honey, salt & pepper. Toss together carrots, cabbage and edamame. Pour vinaigrette over cabbage salad and mix. Let rest & chill. Toss in apples just before serving. Garnish with sesame seeds.

*Serve this red cabbage salad as a side dish at a BBQ or picnic.

Non-veggie suggestion: Place  layer of the red cabbage salad on plate. and add grilled ginger shrimp or chicken.

Grilled Ginger Shrimp & Red Cabbage Salad

What’s on your dinner plate???

Chicken Pot Pie

Tags

carrot, celery, chicken, chicken breast, chicken stew, corn, crust, dinner, dinner recipe, dough, lunch, lunch recipe, pie crust, pot pie, potato, recipe, rosemary, rosemary pie crust, savory pie crust, wheat germ

Yesterday, I had my nieces help me with dinner. I forgot how much longer it can take to make something, when you have kids doing it for the first time. While I made the filling, I talked them through making the dough. They each made enough dough for several pot pies, measuring, mixing and rolling it out. These are not exact measurements, I definitely estimated for the filling. The dough had more precise measurements.

Chicken Pot Pie

Filling Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb. chicken breasts, 2 large potatoes, 2 carrots, 3 stalked celery, 2 c. corn, 2 Tbsp. minced onions, 1 tsp. ground cumin, 2 tsp. paprika, 1 tsp. celery seed, 3 Tbsp. butter, 3 Tbsp. flour, 3 c. water, cooking wine, 2 bay leaves,  2 c. milk, fresh ground sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper.

Filling Directions:
Cube chicken. Over medium heat melt butter, added cumin, paprika and minced onions. Add chicken and cook until no longer pink. Remove chicken from pan. Chop celery, carrots and potatoes. Add vegetables, water, wine, celery seeds and bay leaves to frying pan, cover and reduce heat. Simmer until vegetables are tender. Remove bay leaves. Return chicken to pan, add milk, flour, salt and pepper. Remove from heat.

Dough Ingredients:
3 c. flour, 1/2 c. wheat germ, 1 c. butter, 1/2 c. vegetable oil, 2 Tbsp. rosemary, 2 tsp. salt, 1/2 c. water.

Dough Directions:
Mix ingredients together. Chill for two hours. Roll dough on a floured surface. Cut six smaller circles for the top crust and 6 larger circles for the bottom crusts.

Pot Pie Directions:
Preheat oven 350°F. Press large dough circle to bottom and sides of each dish. Scoop filling into dish and place smaller dough circle on top. Press seams together. Beat an egg and brush egg over top crust, cut a small slit in top of the crust. Bake on a tray for 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

My nieces worked really well in the kitchen, I am impressed with their developing culinary skills (they seemed to enjoy getting their hands messy in the dough).

*I didn’t have any cooking wine on hand, I used the only open bottle of wine I had, Hazlitt’s Red Cat.

This recipe would work well with beef as well. Any combination of you favorite vegetables would work well.

What do you do with teens in the kitchen?