March 2010

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Grilled Kale Caesar

March 29, 2010 in Salad, Salad Dressing, Vegetarian | 5 comments

What is it about Kale? Everywhere I turn it seems I hear about Kale.  Kale is all over the place!  It is on all the food trend lists and it seems every food blogger is coming up with their own version of kale chips.   The fact that I am talking about Kale being trendy probably means that it has reached its tipping point and it is no longer cool to cook with Kale.  Oh well.  I still thought this recipe was pretty good and thought I would share. 

Awhile back, some girlfriends and I went to a super duper Boise restaurant called Red Feather for dinner.  It is a very cute place with great food.  I ordered the grilled Kale Caesar to start and it was AMAZING.  At least, I thought it was amazing.  Some of the other girls thought it tasted like burnt lettuce, but I thought the smokey greens were fantastic.  Of course, I went home and tried to copy the recipe.  I hope you like the result!

 

Grilled Kale Caesar

Printable recipe here

1 or 2 bunches of Kale (don’t cut into bite sizes pieces until after grilling)

Shaved Parmesan

Garlic Croutons – Recipe below

Caesar Dressing – Recipe below

Pre-heat grill to medium heat.  Grill Kale over medium for 30 seconds – 1 minute each side. 

 Watch carefully, because it will burn and not be edible.  A few of the edges should be crispy and a little burnt, but the leaves should mostly be green.  Remove from heat and toss with dressing, croutons, Caesar and parmesan shavings.  Enjoy!

Caesar Dressing

2 Cloves Garlic

2 Tablespoons Mayo (I use this in place of a raw egg)

½ Teaspoon Dijon Mustard

3 Tablespoons Fresh Lemon Juice

1 Teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

1 Teaspoon Anchovy Paste (this won’t make it fishy.  At least I don’t think it does.)

5 Tablespoons Olive Oil

¼ Cup Freshly Grated Parmesan plus another ¼ cup for top of salad.

Salt and Pepper to taste

In a food processor grind up garlic, mayo, Dijon, lemon juice, Worcestershire and anchovy paste. Salt and pepper to taste, but it won’t need much due to the cheese and anchovy paste.    Pour over Kale.

Croutons

1 Loaf of Fresh Sourdough bread chopped into small crouton sized cubes. (I like sourdough, but you can use any kind you want.)

¼ Cup Olive Oil

2 Cloves Garlic Crushed

Lawry’s Seasoning Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix olive oil, garlic and seasoning salt together in a small bowl.  Put 1/3 of the bread cubes in a large bowl and pour 1/3 of oil mixture over the bread. Mix well. Continue this process until all the oil and bread cubes are used.  Add to a cookie or baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes until hard and toasty brown.  Watch carefully or you might burn.

 

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Sweet Pork Enchiladas with Roasted Green Chile Tomatillo Salsa

March 24, 2010 in Entrees, Pork | 3 comments

 


 

You can probably tell by how much of it I post on this blog, but I absolutely love Mexican food.  I am starting to think I should rename the blog Pink Burrito.  Yes, I said burrito and not taco :) .  Jav loves Mexican food too, which make it easy to please him with my cooking.  I don’t think he ever met a taco that he didn’t like.

It is also fairly easy to prepare and simple to make healthy and low-calorie with a few substitutions.  The key to this recipe is making your own salsa.  I personally am not a big fan of any jarred salsa since it is so easy to make.  But, if you really feel like you want a shortcut, then go ahead and purchase a salsa verde to substitute for the green chile tomatillo salsa in the recipe. However, please don’t tell me about it.  It will make me sad.

The sweetness of the pork contrasts well with the sharpness of the cheese and salsa in this recipe.  To make it healthier than your average enchi,  I used low-fat cheese and purchased a package of low-fat pork sirloins from Costco.  It is a very lean cut of meat with only about 100 calories per 4oz serving.  Plus it is yummers when cooked in the slow cooker!  I would recommend putting the pork in the slow cooker in the morning and letting it cook for 6 hours or up to 10 on low if you need to leave the house.  It will do its magic while you are away!

Sweet Pork Enchiladas with Roasted Green Chile Tomatillo Salsa


Pork

2lb Pork Sirloin Roast

1 Cup Roasted Green Chile and Tomatillo Salsa (Recipe below)

2 Cups Orange Juice

½ Cup Brown Sugar

1 Tablespoon Cumin

1 Tablespoon Chipotle Chile Powder or regular Chile Powder

Put all ingredients in the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-10 hours.  Once cooked, remove from cooker.  It will just fall apart like this if cooked enough.

Shred with two forks.

For extra sweetness and flavor, add the shredded pork back in the slow cooker and cook in the juices for about 20 more minutes on low.  Drain juices and set aside.

Enchiladas

12 Corn Tortillas

1 Can Fat Free Vegetarian Refried Beans

1 Cup 2% Shredded Mexican Cheese (I used Kraft)

Shredded Pork (Recipe above)

Roasted Green Chile and Tomatillo Salsa

Preheat oven to 400.

Cover bottom of casserole dish with a thin layer of green chile salsa. 

Place one tortilla in dish and rub bottom in the salsa. 

 Spoon 1-2 Tablespoons of the refried beans onto the tortilla.  Place 1 oz of shredded pork on top of beans.

 

  Roll up.  Repeat process until all tortillas are used. 

Cover all of the enchiladas with remaining salsa (or less) depending on preference.  Sprinkle with cheese. 

 Bake for 20 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Roasted Green Chile and Tomatillo Salsa

2 Pasillo Peppers (These are mild)

10-12 Medium Tomatillos peeled

1 Jalapeno seeded and deveined

½ White Onion cut into chunks

1 Clove Garlic

Couple of Handfuls of Cilantro

Juice of ½ Lime

1 Teaspoon Salt

Roast peppers and tomatillos on the BBQ over medium heat.

 I only roast the tomatillos for about 5 minutes turning halfway through.  They should look like this when done.

I roast the peppers for 8-10 minutes until the skin turns completely black. 

 Remove from heat and let cool.  Rub and Peel off the charred skin.  It should come off fairly easily. 

 Cut off stems and remove seeds.

Add peppers, tomatillos, onion, garlic, cilantro, lime and salt to the blender. 

Blend until smooth. 

If you want it more chunky then do this in a food processor and pulse into rough chunks.  I like mine smooth.  Keep tortilla chips nearby for tasting. 

 It might need more salt…add more if necessary after tasting.   Chill in fridge to let flavors marry.

Enjoy!

Love,

Lindzee

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Caesar Salad with Homemade Garlic Croutons

March 17, 2010 in Salad, Salad Dressing, Sides | 5 comments

Happy St. Patrick’s day!  And happy birthday to my dad! He would have been 66 this year.  As many of you know, my dad passed away about two months ago after a relatively short battle with cancer.  I miss him so much.  I was very lucky to have him for a dad for the amount of time I did.  In order to celebrate his birthday and St. Patty’s day, my fabulous friend and wonderful cook Cristopher Wobbin hosted a little shindig at her house.  She is on the left, Katie is in the middle, and Cortnay is on the right.

 

She made these fantastically good pizzas.  Here is the fig, pistachio and goat cheese. This was my favorite. So creative.

 

Also, a blue cheese, fresh mozzarella, beef filet and onion pizza. Holy lord.

 

Everyone ate a lot.  In fact, I ate way too much and almost had to be carried home by Jav.

Michelle brought her cute little puppy Charlie.

 

Maverick got scared with Crissie’s huge chocolate lab Gus and Charlie running around, so he got on the table.

 

He then needed a Guinness to recover.

 

My contribution to the meal was my dad’s favorite meal ever.  The Caesar salad. Everywhere we went, no matter the restaurant, he would order a Caesar salad.  He judged every restaurant by the quality of their dressing and usually ordered an extra side of dressing.   It was also the first thing I learned to make at my dad’s restaurant when I was 15.  I was also in charge of cooking the chicken on the grill and served many raw in the middle chicken breasts.  I am not kidding.  My dad was always so complimentary of my cooking and really enjoyed my Caesar, which is fairly lemony. I hope you enjoy it too!

The secret is the homemade garlic croutons. Store bought croutons suck.  You can quote me on that.   If you do one thing while making salad, please don’t ever buy store bought croutons.  They taste like cardboard bits of toasted cardboard.  Homemade croutons are very quick and inexpensive to make and keep well in a sealed container.    Thank you for your cooperation in advance of this matter.

Caesar Salad with Homemade Garlic Croutons
Printable recipe here

 

Salad and Dressing

1 Head of Romaine Lettuce washed and torn into bite size pieces

Croutons (recipe below)

2 Cloves Garlic

2 Tablespoons Mayo (I use this in place of a raw egg)

½ Teaspoon Dijon Mustard

3 Tablespoons Fresh Lemon Juice

1 Teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

1 Teaspoon Anchovy Paste (this won’t make it fishy.  At least I don’t think it does.)

5 Tablespoons Olive Oil

¼ Cup Freshly Grated Parmesan plus another ¼ cup for top of salad.

Salt and Pepper to taste

In a food processor grind up garlic, mayo, dijon, lemon juice, Worcestershire and anchovy paste.

Slowly drizzle and mix in olive oil.  Turn off processor and stir in ¼ cup parmesan. 

 Salt and pepper to taste, but it won’t need much due to the cheese and anchovy paste.    Pour a little over romaine and mix up with croutons and extra parmesan.  Taste for flavor and if needed add more dressing.  You can always add more, but you can’t remove dressing.  Made this mistake a few times :) . 

Croutons

1 Loaf of Fresh Sourdough bread chopped into small crouton sized cubes. (I like sourdough, but you can use any kind you want.)

¼ Cup Olive Oil

2 Cloves Garlic Crushed

Lawry’s Seasoning Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix olive oil, garlic and seasoning salt together in a small bowl.  Put 1/3 of the bread cubes in a large bowl and pour 1/3 of oil mixture over the bread. Mix well. Continue this process until all the oil and bread cubes are used.  Add to a cookie or baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes until hard and toasty brown.  Watch carefully or you might burn.

Love,

Lindzee

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Chinese Orange Chicken Lightened-Up

March 15, 2010 in Entrees, chicken | 10 comments

 

 

Gooood Evening!!  It has been entirely too long since my last post.  Unfortunately, a person who shall go unnamed dropped my camera on the hardwood floor and smashed my cute little lens to smithereens. I had to hold back the tears when it happened. RIP little guy.  I shall always remember you.  Fortunately, I received my new lens in the mail just the other day.  So here I am, back at da food blogging.

I have been waiting for this day to come for years.  I am dead serious.  I have been trying to make a healthier version of Chinese restaurant style orange chicken for many moons. I am in love with Chinese food, especially the dishes with deep-fat fried breaded pieces smothered in sugary sauces (yes, I know this is Americanized Chinese food for you food snobs who will undoubtedly leave a nasty comment correcting me).  Regrettably, I know from experience that if you eat this type of thing every night you will gain weight.  So, I have tried and tried to come up with a recipe that is sort of lightened up and tastes like the real thing. The sauce is the key to making this dish work. No store-bought sauce will do.  I even tried the new Panda Express Orange sauce from Costco.   Ladies and Gentlemen, I am here to tell you after countless attempts, I think I am finally satisfied.!While it might not be super healthy, it is healthIER than the restaurant versions.  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did!

Chinese Orange Chicken Lightened-Up

 

Chicken

1 lb Skinless Boneless Chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces

4 Tablespoons Flour

Salt and Pepper

1 Tablespoon Vegetable or Canola Oil

Optional:

Steamed Broccoli

Whole Wheat Noodles

Add flour, salt and pepper to a medium ziplock bag.

  Add chicken and toss until all chicken pieces are evenly coated.

  Heat oil over medium high heat in a large skillet. 

 Add chicken pieces and cook for 3 minutes until browned on one side and then turn over and cook another 3 minutes until cooked through. 

 Turn heat down to very low and add enough sauce to fit your tastes. 

I serve mine over broccoli and whole wheat spaghetti. 

 

Orange Sauce

(Depending on your tastes, this probably makes way more sauce than you will need for this recipe)

1/3 Cup Orange Juice

½ Cup Rice Wine Vinegar (Must be rice wine and not regular white vinegar)

½ Cup White Sugar

2.5 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

1 Tablespoon Orange or Lemon Zest (I use lemon)

½ Tablespoon Toasted Sesame Oil

2 Teaspoons Corn Starch

1 Tablespoon Red Pepper flakes (more or less depending on your preference for heat)

Mix corn starch into orange juice until lumps are gone.  Add orange juice mixture and rest of the ingredients together in a small sauce pan over medium heat. 

 Bring to a boil and cook until sauce thickens and coats the back of a spoon – about five minutes. 

 If it doesn’t get thick, then add a little more cornstarch mixed in water. Set aside.

Thanks to my friends over at Spark Recipes I was able to calculate the calories in each serving (this is using all the sauce).  Pretty good compared to the typical 400 calories and 20 grams of fat in the same serving size at a restaurant.

Nutrition Facts
  4 Servings
 
Amount Per Serving
 
  Calories 295.3
 
  Total Fat 5.7 g
 
      Saturated Fat 2.9 g
 
      Polyunsaturated Fat 1.0 g
 
      Monounsaturated Fat 0.8 g
 
  Cholesterol 60.0 mg
 
  Sodium 1,145.7 mg
 
  Potassium 118.7 mg
 
  Total Carbohydrate 34.0 g
 
      Dietary Fiber 1.4 g
 
      Sugars 27.0 g
 
  Protein 26.0 g

 

Holy yum!

Love,

Lindzee

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