Salmon Salad

After an afternoon of errands, and mostly shopping – and let’s not forget the ridiculously huge Burger Joint burger and side of fries, oh yea and a strawberry milkshake – I thought I should probably take it easy for dinner tonight. It was definitely one of those let’s pretend all the junk I ate today didn’t have any calories kind of day.  Salad is light, depending on the ingredients you use, so I went for a salad. I don’t really have salad items, however I had an unopened package of mixed greens, some smoked salmon and a brand new package of herbed goat cheese I knew I’d be able to put to use. From there, I created the salmon salad.  For dressing, I added a couple swirls of lemon juice.

 

 

Salmon Salad Recipe

Ingredients

Mixed Greens
Smoked Salmon
Capers
Herbed Goat Cheese
Pine Nuts
Lemon Juice
 

Directions

Mix together mixed greens, salmon, capers, goat cheese and pine nuts. Add lemon juice.

Easy Crab Parmesan Dip

Crab Parmesan Dip

A few months ago, I made a celebratory dinner of sorts which included an appetizer – Warm Crab Parmesan dip served with pita chips. Ever since then, it’s become one of my most popular dips. I don’t make it often at all because, as you’ll see from the ingredients, it’s not very heart-healthy. It’s really easy to make, and absolutely delicious. You can have it with pita chips, tortillas and even water crackers.

Since we haven’t had it in a while, and I just bought some pita chips at Safeway last weekend, I decided to make some. I’m telling you, people love this stuff – it’s perfect for a night in, or even to take along to parties.

Easy Crab Parmesan Dip

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 1/3 package of crabmeat
  • ½ cup cream cheese, softened
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Mix together crabmeat, cream cheese, mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese, sour cream and garlic in a baking dish.
  3. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes, or until lightly browned.
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Chili Bowls

Chili Bowl

I credit my mom with this idea. Why serve chili in a plain old bowl when you can serve it in a bread bowl topped with melted cheese?

The chili recipe is not original by any means. I will openly admit that I asked my friend McCormick for some help. Conveniently, McCormick makes these easy-to-follow instructions with each packet of chili mix.

After a long day at work, chili was just what I needed to relax. I had a side of The X-Factor with my chili bowl. It was perfect.

Chili Bowl

Chili Bowls

Ingredients

  • 1 pkg. McCormick® Chili Seasoning Mix
  • 1 lb. lean ground Beef
  • 2 cans (8 oz. each) Tomato Sauce OR 1 can (14 ½ oz.) Diced Tomatoes, undrained
  • 1 can (15 to 16 oz.) Kidney or Pinto beans, undrained
  • Shredded Mozzarella or Cheddar Cheese
  • Kaiser Rolls

Instructions

  1. Brown meat in large skillet on medium-high heat.
  2. Stir in Seasoning Mix, tomato sauce and beans.
  3. Bring to boil; cover. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  4. While the chili is simmering, cut the top of the Kaiser roll to form a small bowl – do not remove the insides.
  5. Once chili is cooked, spoon chili into the bread bowl, top with cheese and broil until the cheese melts. 
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Farewell to Summer

Friday, September 23 marks the first day of fall. I’ve noticed because I’ve been pining for my boots and thick sweaters and we haven’t had a day over 80 degrees for two weeks. While fall brings us so many delicious flavors (and fabulous fashions) I’d like to bid summer farewell with a special strawberry salad.

Let me note that I really don’t believe in fruit in my salad or on my pizza (tomatoes don’t count). There’s something about mixing salty and sweet in a salad or on a pizza is not appetizing to me. However, I put my predetermined notions aside and took a risk, the result was a beautiful blend of summer flavors.

 

 

Strawberry Pecan Salad Recipe

Ingredients

Mixed Greens
Strawberries
Candied Pecans
Feta Cheese, crumbled
Organic Raspberry Dressing
 

Directions

 Wash Mixed Greens and cut the strawberries into slices.
Mix together mixed greens, strawberries, candied pecans and feta cheese.
Top with organic raspberry dressing.

How Clean is Your Kitchen?

I was browsing around The Nest this afternoon when I came across this article Would Your Kitchen Pass a Health Inspection? 

 A very interesting article, that we should all take into consideration. I do a full house cleaning once a week – that means kitchen, laundry, bathrooms, floors and dusting, an everything in between. I also wipe down my kitchen counters after cooking. However, this mini quiz opened up my eyes to some interesting information. Take the quiz: Quiz: Would Your Kitchen Pass a Health Inspection? 

 

My Quiz Result: Cleanish.

Take the quiz and share your results in the comments.

Koussa Mahshe Bel Laban (Stuffed Zucchini in Yogurt Sauce)

Koussa Mahshe Stuffed Zucchini in Yogurt Sauce

I love yogurt, and cheese. Actually, I love most dairy, but mostly cheese. Yogurt comes in at a close second. Some Middle Eastern foods (mostly from Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon) focus on dishes with yogurt. Most famously, Fatteh is topped with a garlicky yogurt and crunchy homemade pita chips. Some of these yogurt-based dishes include cooked yogurt. It’s really hard to explain without giving you the full recipe, but I promise you cooked yogurt is absolutely delicious. One of my favorites is Jordanian Mansaf (a traditional dish that calls for yogurt derived from goat milk and lamb). It’s served over lots of rice and large chunks of lamb meat. It’s heaven on a plate. It requires a little more work than what we (palestinians) call Labaniyeh, which is cooked yogurt with corn starch.

Koussa Mahshe Stuffed Zucchini in Yogurt Sauce

There are a couple steps to this dish, but they’re all fairly simple. The nice thing about the yogurt is that you can use it for stuffed zucchini, as well as kubbeh.

Koussa Mahshe Stuffed Zucchini in Yogurt Sauce

Koussa Mahshe Stuffed Zucchini in Yogurt Sauce

Koussa Mahshe Bel Laban (Stuffed Zucchini in Yogurt Sauce)

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

    For the Zucchini
  • 8 Small Light Green Zucchini
  • ½ cup Vegetable Oil for frying
  • Very thin Vegetable Corer
  • For the Stuffing
  • 1 lb Ground Beef
  • 1 medium Onion, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon Vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoon Seven Spice
  • Salt to taste
  • For the Yogurt
  • 4 cups Plain Yogurt
  • 2 Egg Whites, beaten until frothy
  • 4 tablespoons Cornstarch
  • 2-3 cups waster
  • 1 tablespoon Cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon Nutmeg

Instructions

    For the Zucchini
  1. Remove the insides of the zucchini without piercing the sides or the bottom.
  2. Discard the insides (or save them for soup later)
  3. Fry the cored zucchini in vegetable oil until it is browned and slightly soft on all sides, about 5-7 minutes
  4. Let the zucchini cool
  5. Stuff the zucchini with the meat stuffing, making sure to push the stuffing all the way down, and leave about 1/8 inch from the opening of the zucchini, and set aside
  6. For the Stuffing
  7. Heat the vegetable oil, add the onion and cook until translucent
  8. Add ground beef, and cook until browned, stir.
  9. Season the meat with salt and seven spice.
  10. If you want your stuffing very finely chopped, place the meat mixture into the food processor and blend for 15 seconds.
  11. For the Yogurt
  12. Place yogurt in a heavy saucepan.
  13. Blend egg whites into the yogurt.
  14. Add cornstarch
  15. Stir in the same direction until well blended
  16. Cook over medium heat, stirring regularly until it comes to a boil
  17. Once yogurt boils, lower the heat.
  18. Add water, cinnamon and nutmeg
  19. Carefully add in the zucchini and bring to boil
  20. Once boiling, turn to low and simmer for 15 minutes
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