Posts Tagged ‘AllRecipes’

Sep
27


You might not know this, but I have a dairy kitchen and haven’t prepared meat for over 20 years. This is one of the reasons why I post so many salad recipes!! I truly do love eating salads and when I have guests over that don’t eat dairy or wheat….then it’s a great opportunity for me to try out new recipes!!  The menu included: tuna burgers (see previous post), kale salad, napa cabbage salad with lemon pistachio vinaigrette, sesame tofu, and dessert. A perfect combo of protein and vegetables.

Will be making this again!!

I have made napa cabbage salads before but  always with an asian vinaigrette. This recipe appealed to me as it WAS TOTALLY different. My only complaint was I had to shell the pistachios as I didn’t have time to find them unshelled. Not the end of the world.

proof that I unshelled each and every pistachio for this recipe!

Napa Cabbage Salad with Lemon Pistachio Vinaigrette (taken from AllRecipes.com)

 

Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon pistachio oil….I used good old olive oil as I was too lazy to buy another oil
  • 3 cups thinly sliced napa cabbage
  • 2 cups thinly sliced romaine lettuce leaves …oops forgot to mix in romaine lettuce even though I had some in the fridge
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley….
  • 1 tablespoon finely sliced fresh basil
  • 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons chopped pistachios (I used more)

Directions

  1. In a small bowl, whisk together lemon zest and lemon juice. Slowly drizzle in the pistachio oil, whisking constantly, until the dressing is mixed well.
  2. In a large bowl, toss together the sliced napa cabbage, sliced romaine lettuce, parsley and basil. Mix in the dressing, salt and pepper. Gently toss until dressing is distributed evenly. Top with chopped pistachios. Enjoy!

This recipe was super easy and super tasty. I can’t wait to make it again.

Happy Cooking!!

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Sep
18


For some reason I’ve never made a pavlova before.  But my friend assured me, that it’s super easy to make so I tried it. I searched online (for a change) to find a recipe  (thanks AllRecipes.com) and before you know it my Kitchen Aid was on full blast whipping up egg whites. What I didn’t know, is that it takes A LOT OF  TIME TO BAKE. This is not at all like making cookies!! However it’s worth it.

Here’s the recipe: (taken from AllRecipes.com)

Ingredients

  • 3 egg whites
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 pint fresh strawberries

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Draw a 9 inch circle on the parchment. An easy way to do this is to draw around the outside of a 9 inch pan with a pencil. (I skipped this step)
  2. In a large bowl, beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. (be patient, be patient) Add 3/4 cup of the sugar gradually, while continuing to whip. Make sure sugar is completely dissolved. Mix together the remaining 1/4 cup sugar with the cornstarch; lightly fold into meringue with lemon juice.
  3. Spread a layer of meringue to fit circle on parchment, approximately 1/4 inch thick. With remainder of mixture, pipe or spoon swirls around the edges to form a shallow bowl shape.
  4. Bake at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 1 hour. Turn off oven, but leave meringue in oven for an additional 30 minutes. When cool, the meringue should be hard on the outside, and slightly moist on the inside.
  5. In a large bowl, combine the cream and half a cup of confectioners sugar, and whip until thickened. Decorate with fruit of your choice; strawberries are excellent.

I’m not kidding. A pavlova is a crowd pleaser. Can’t believe I’ve never made it before!!

Happy Baking.

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Sep
03


In the past, I’ve made crisps, crumbles and cobblers. Now I can add  “BUCKLE” to that list as I just made my very first Huckleberry Buckle. That’s right,…I used the huckleberries that I picked up at the Ottawa Farmers’ Market.

There is a probably a reason why you don’t see this fruit very often.

After a lot of research on the internet, I selected a recipe from AllRecipes.com.

I am not going to tell you that this recipe was a winner, infact the final result was HORRIFIC.!! I  actually spit out the huckleberry and so did others. Trust me…I like almost everything. It’s hard for me to remember the last time I spit out food. But this FRUIT is not very likeable. It’s not sour, i’ts not sweet., it’s just FOUL. The buckle was a hit though. I would certainly use this recipe again but would use raspberries or blueberries instead.

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 cups Hucklberries

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup boiling water

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup of butter

3/4 cup of sugar

1/2 cup milk

1 tbsp butter

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Place the huckleberries in a bowl and add the boiling water and sugar. (I then drained it after 10 minutes due to a readers comment on allrecipes).

Huckleberries, water, sugar…so far so good

Grab another bowl, and mix the flour, baking powder and salt.

Flour, baking powder, salt….easy enough

Grab yet one more bowl and cream the butter and sugar.

Take the flour mixture and add it to the butter/sugar mixture. Then stir in the milk. The mixture will be thick and lumpy.

Spread the batter into a greased pan. (I used a pie plate) Pour the huckleberrie mixture ontop of the batter. Dot with remaining butter. (I dotted it with a bit of batter too for “visual appeal”)

Bake in a preheated oven for 45-50 minutes. I read another comment that suggested to place a pan underneath your pie plate in the event that it bubbles over. Great advice. Oh how I love comments that are posted on the internet.

FINAL RESULT

Looks can be deceiving.

PS I had another 2.5 cups of huckleberries left and I threw them out. Won’t be buying this fruit anytime in the near future but will certainly be baking another buckle again with another type of berry!! Stay tuned

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Jul
05


It was a hot humid day in Ottawa on Sunday and the line ups at Taras Lemonade Stand at Landsdowne Park indicated that everyone was thirstier than normal.

Eventually I knew I had to stand in line too!! I ordered a cucumber lemonande drink but was so thirsty that I didnt have time to take a picture of my drink !

This motivated me to google a recipe and to try it at home!! I found a recipe on the All Recipes website, then I adjusted it (naturally).

Basically you need to have just two ingredients – a cucumber and some lemons

Ingredients:

1 english cucumber, sliced thinly

3 lemons, juiced (you need about 1/4 cup of lemon juice)

1 cup water

1/2 cup white sugar

Method:

Boil the water and the sugar to make a simple syrup

Mix the sliced cucumber in a blender and then strain the pulp from the liquid

*I added a touch of water to help it get going

this resulted in 1 cup of cucumber juice

Mix the simple syrup, the lemon juice and the cucumber juice – I used 1 cup of cucumber juice, to 1 cup of simple syrup and 1/2 cup of lemon juice but I found it too tart and added quite a bit more water till I found the right balance. Next time, Im going to try and use only 1/4 cup of lemon juice.

END RESULT


It is indeed an interesting mix of flavors and a GORGEOUS summer drink – I totally love this shade of green.

I wonder how it will taste with vodka? hmmmmm.

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