Summer Slaw

When browsing Bon Appetit the other day I found this recipe for Cabbage and Corn Slaw with a Cilantro and Orange dressing.  I have been thinking about making Turkey Burgers lately for dinner and it made the perfect compliment.  I just get so bored of the same old salads and there is nothing better than a nice refreshing 

side dish to mix up an otherwise ordinary dinner.  

Ground Turkey is an easy, inexpensive, versatile protein to buy and I always find myself recreating last night's dinner into something else the next day for lunch.  It cooks quickly and is low in both calories and fat.  Perfect for weeknights and quick cooking.  This week, I had actually bought it to throw into a quick pasta that I had been dreaming up in my head with roasted garlic and Parmesan cheese, but then when I saw this slaw recipe I changed my mind.  Note: If you are wondering why my turkey burgers in the background look like a hot dog shape, it is because they were.  I only had hot dog buns in the freezer so I just went with it! 

Cabbage and Corn Slaw with Cilantro and Orange Dressing

Courtesy of Bon Appetit

Ingredients

-1/3 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

-1/3 cup unseasoned rice vinegar

-1/3 cup canola oil or vegetable oil (I used about half the amount to cut the fat and calories)

-2 (8 oz) bags of coleslaw mix

 -4 ears of fresh corn, shucked, kernels cut from cob 

(I roasted mine on the BBQ for a few minutes to cut the raw taste)

-2 medium carrots, peeled and coarsely grated

-1 medium red bell pepper, stemmed, cored and cut into thin strips

-6 green onions, thinly sliced

-1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions

Whisk orange juice concentrate, rice vinegar, and oil in a small bowl.  Season with salt and pepper.  Dressing can be made 1 day ahead.  Cover and refrigerate.  

Combine slaw mix, corn, carrots, bell pepper, green onion and cilantro in a large bowl.  Toss with enough dressing to coat.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  

Let stand 15 minutes to allow flavors to blend. Toss again and serve. 

A Taste of the Past

Growing up in the South Bay, we had this favorite Mexican restaurant we used to go to that made the best tostadas.  It was the combination of the thinly shredded lettuce, the chicken that sprinkled on top and the homemade dressing was the ultimate.  Unfortunately, we moved and the owners sold the place...it just wasn't the same.  This tostada is just a taste of my childhood that I have been meaning to recreate.  It had to look the same, taste the same and bring back the same memories that I shared with my family at Arturo's in Harbor City.

After some research online about traditional Mexican salad dressings and the ingredients used, I managed to come up with something really similar.  I knew that it consisted of three main ingredients: Oil, Red Wine Vinegar and Sugar.  After looking at some recipes for things that seemed similar, I decided that I was right, but other people had also used Apple Cider Vinegar, Honey, Olive Oil and Water.  I had to try it a couple different ways to make sure, after all, it has been at least 10 years since I last ate this!  

Tostada Salad

A Recreation from Arturo's

Ingredients

1 head Iceberg Lettuce, shredded very thin

4 Chicken Breasts, roasted simply with Salt and Pepper, shredded

1/2 cup Black Olives, sliced

1 cup Red Onion, diced

1 cup Tomatoes, diced

4 dollops Sour Cream (I used non-fat Greek Yogurt)

1 Avocado, sliced

1/4 cup Red Salsa, Mild

1 can Refried Beans (I used the Vegetarian kind, but you could use what you want)

1/2 cup Red Wine Vinegar

1/4 cup Vegetable Oil

4 tablespoons Sugar

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

In a small pot heat up the refried beans until heated evenly.  Spread an equal amount of the beans on the 4 plates in the middle.  Top with a mound of lettuce.  Sprinkle tomatoes, black olives, red onion over lettuce.  In the middle top with one shredded chicken breast per plate.  One dollop of sour cream over chicken, then 1 tablespoon of salsa and 2 slices of avocado per plate.  

Combine red wine vinegar, oil and sugar in a small bowl and whisk till combined.  If you have a small squeeze bottle pour the mixture inside so you can shake the dressing easily.  Otherwise, just drizzle from the bowl over the salads and serve!  

I hope you enjoy this taste from my past!  When you start eating the salad you get little bites of beans, lettuce chicken and all the other things mixed together.  The dressing really completes the whole thing.  

What is your favorite food memory from your childhood?

Missed the Boat

I don't know how I missed the boat...

On John Grisham.

After all the books I have read and all the trips to the bookstore who knows what happened along the way, but I just never started reading his books.  Probably because he wrote his first book way before I was born and, as I have mentioned before, I have an obsession with starting with the very first book an author has written and making my way towards the most recent.  

Of course, I know who he is and have heard of him.  I know a good amount of his books have been made into movies and have even seen some of them, but I just never started reading them.

Well, that all has changed two weeks ago and by extension I am a changed person.  I am obsessed with them and can't wait to keep reading in my spare time!  Last week I finished "A Time to Kill" and am already almost done with "The Firm".  I am hooked!

"A Time to Kill" had me mesmerized by the struggle between fighting for family and doing what is lawful.  I read it in perfect timing with the Caylee Anthony trial and the whole thing had me thinking about what it must be like to be a juror in a trial that has the whole country deciding what is right and what is wrong.  Both juries were sequestered and kept from the comforts of home, their families, their jobs with the weight of someones life in their hands.  If you haven't read this book, you really need to!

What is your favorite John Grisham book?

A Fresh take on Cucumber Salad

We went to a new Japanese Sushi Restaurant the other night and when perusing through the menu I saw something interesting.  Plum and Cucumber Sushi.  At first I thought it sounded weird, but then I started thinking it would probably be a really lovely combination.  One of Brian and my favorite things when we are going for Sushi is the cucumber salad which I also make at home fairly often.  I have tried rolling my own sushi at home and it just never comes out exactly like the professionals so I wasn't going to embark on that again.  Not to mention buying all the necessary tools to make sushi is more expensive than going down to the restaurant and paying the whole $5 for the roll.  

Anyways, below I made my own rendition of Cucumber Salad with Plums.  It turned out beautiful and the flavors were perfect together.  This is the season to make it too with Plums so ripe and gorgeous right now.  Just looking at the picture is making my mouth water because it was so fresh and light!

I know this picture isnt that attractive, but I had to show you how to best sliver the plums.  Using a mandolin, slice the plums into fairly thin slices (upper right).  Then using your knife, stack a couple plum slices together and sliver them vertically (lower left).  I also used my mandolin to slice the cucumbers since I already had it out.  Usually I am so lazy to wash it I just use my knife!

Cucumber Plum Salad

Ingredients

2 cups Cucumber, thinly sliced

1 cup Plum, thinly sliced and slivered

1/4 cup Red Onion, thinly sliced

1/4 cup Carrot, match-stick cut

1 tablespoon Sugar

1 tablespoon Cilantro, fresh and chopped roughly

2 tablespoons fresh Lime Juice

2 tablespoons Rice Wine Vinegar

1 teaspoon Soy Sauce

1/8 teaspoon pepper

salt to taste (won't need hardly any)

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a medium sized bowl and toss gently making sure to combine all ingredients.  Enjoy!

Nouveau Roasted Potatoes

Ever on the quest to find or reinvent new side dishes, I came up with something last week that was sure to breakup my feeling of boredom for my current collection of side dishes.  Potatoes are not my favorite vegetable and I feel no inclination to like them because they really don't provide any fabulous health benefits, but they are pretty much the ultimate starch.  If I am going to indulge in an unhealthy starch, I would much rather a giant piece of homemade bread.  

When I was young I remember my mom making these Roasted Potatoes with Caramelized Onions.  They seemed so sophisticated and special!  She later told me, "oh, those potatoes?  They are so easy!"  They are easy, and still look so impressive to me, but even though I make them all the time for Brian and my sis (the potato fiend), I still don't eat them.  

Then, it hit me!  I like sweet potatoes and I could do the same thing with them!  They were delicious and different.  I love the color and the more intense flavor.  I also felt good knowing I was getting some nutritional benefits to go with my happy taste buds.

Nouveau Roasted Potatoes

(I also had to give them a sophisticated name because I am just so impressed with myself.  Ha!)

Ingredients

4 Sweet Potatoes or Yams, chopped into 1 inch cubes

2 medium Red Onions, sliced

2 tablespoons fresh Cilantro, chopped

2 tablespoons dried Tarragon

2 tablespoons Olive Oil

1 teaspoon Sea Salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh Cracked Pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Arrange sweet potatoes and onions on a cookie sheet covered with cooking spray.  Toss with olive oil, herbs and salt and pepper.  Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until potatoes are golden brown and onions are caramelized.

Restaurant Review: Taco Asylum

After hearing and reading many accolades for Taco Asylum, I have been dying to try it for months.  Of course, I always remember I want to go there when I am already someplace else.  The other night Brian and I were looking for a fun, casual place to go eat because neither of us thought the halibut I planned to prepare sounded appetizing.  Suddenly, I remembered the glorious article I read about this hip, intriguing taco joint that prides itself on "non-traditional gourmet" tacos.  Who wouldn't want to go here and try a Short Rib Taco with Ghost Chili Sauce??  

We set off to "Camp", the shopping center it is in, and miraculously found a parking spot.  As we approached the restaurant I noticed that all the other places surrounding it were packed, yet the line at Taco Asylum was dismal.  Undeterred by my mission to experience the best tacos on earth and my thoughts of greatness drowned out my husband's negative comments about how "good places are always busy"...blah, blah, we entered.  The menu was a bit confusing and the cashier did not lead us on the culinary exploration I had hoped, but my thoughts were still so positive and I was thrilled to find they had Ginger Ale on the extensive beverage menu.  Yay!  How could all of this go wrong?  I am thinking, "I am in for a wonderful experience and this will be our new favorite place!!"

Well...I don't even know if I can express my disappointment thoroughly.  I will start off by saying that I left having eaten, but I was not satisfied.  At all.  My tacos came, Short Rib and the special of the night Crispy Chicken, and they were just "Okay".  Brian ordered the Wild Mushroom, Lamb and Duck.  He couldn't even eat his Lamb one because it was dripping so much grease that it initiated a gag-reflex in both of us when he attempted to pick it up.  Also, the tortilla was so soaking wet from the grease that it just fell apart in his hands.  Gross.  Needless to say, I left feeling sad, frustrated and defeated.  And, our experience only took a total of 20 minutes!  So much for a wonderful dinner with great food and interesting atmosphere.  I would have much rather gone to Baja Fresh.  That would have been a treat.

My wonderful husband saw my sad face and drove straight to one of my favorite Italian restaurants for dessert.  Their Budino, a chocolate and salted carmel pudding with fresh whipped cream, can cure any aliment.  Plus, we had to get a pizza to go as well.  I know, we are pigs.

The Ginger Ale literally tasted like battery acid.  I have never tried battery acid, but I promise it was horrible.

Crispy Fried Chicken and Short Rib Taco

 

 Hot Sauces.  Only cool thing there was the Ghost Chili Sauce.  

In conclusion, I would not go back here.  I really had such high hopes of it being fantastic, but it just wasn't.  In fact, it wasn't even good.  Also, although I am never really concerned about the value and money I spent to eat someplace, I have to mention that it was expensive.  We spent $40 on 5 tacos and 2 Ginger Ales.  Outrageous I know!

'Tis the Season

One of the best vegetables that summer brings in season are artichokes.  It seems like every time I walk around the grocery store there is a special on them and I just can't resist picking up a few.  They are so easy to prepare and are fun to eat!  They are a great source of folic acid, dietary fiber and Vitamin C, but their nutritional benefits are easily compromised with the traditional sauces that are usually served with them.  I like to serve this healthy dipping sauce with it that is full of fresh flavor and health benefits too!

Yogurt-Dill Dipping Sauce

Ingredients

1/2 cup Fat Free Greek Yogurt

1 tablespoon Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice

1 teaspoon Dill

1/2 teaspoon Tarragon

1/8 teaspoon fresh chopped Garlic

1/2 teaspoon Dijon Mustard or Trader Joe's Garlic Mustard Sauce

Directions

Mix all ingredients well in a small bowl.  Serve!