5 August 2010

Make Dinner in 15 Minutes with Stuff You Already Have

I’m in love with this new tool from Real Simple. You just pick a main ingredient (from veggies, beef/pork, pasta/rice/grains/cheese, fish/shellfish, or a surprise), pick a type of dish (5 ingredients or less, soups/salads, no-cook, breakfast for dinner, sandwiches, or a surprise), and then get some recipe options!

Real Simple never ceases to amaze me with their simple, taste-tastic recipes! Go ahead, try it for yourself.

4 August 2010

Sriracha Butter from Two Coast Table

Sriracha? Good. Butter? GOOD. Sriracha BUTTER? DIE. Thanks, TCT!

Ingredients & Directions:

• 1 Stick of Butter
• 1 Minced garlic clove
  
• 2 tsp Soy sauce
  
• 2 tsp White Wine Vinegar
  
• 4 T Sriracha

I softened the butter, but next time I will melt the butter.  I believe it will give the butter a smoother finished texture.  Add all the ingredients in a bowl and thoroughly mix.

Scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure all ingredients are combined well.

 

I made a small box the keep the butter shape, lining it with wax paper so the butter wouldn’t stick.

Pack the butter mixture into the butter shaped box, wrap in wax paper, and place in the refrigerator until solid.

Here’s my finished Sriracha butter, you can see it looks a little weird and textural, but it was delicious and I’m not just saying that.  My mother who is my guinea pig when trying new things loved it.

Once the butter was melted I served it with the King Crab legs.  What’s your favorite use of Sriracha? You can leave us comments, email, or even respond to us on twitter.

29 July 2010

Two Must-Try Condiments to Spice Up ANY Dish!

Reader Amanda recently sent me an email saying, “Sometimes when I’m in my kitchen I think ‘Leah would probably like this!’, and so now I’m going to tell  you about a couple things while that thought is still fresh.”

First of all, knowing that someone thinks about me and the food I would like when they’re cooking made me so happy! If I accomplish nothing else with this blog but that, I’ll be perfectly content.

Second of all, the foods Amanda sent me are DEFINITELY things I would like. And thus, things you guys might like, too. I’m going to share them with you now, along with Amanda’s suggestions for use. I haven’t had a chance to try them out yet, but I definitely plan to. A BIG thanks to Amanda for such wonderful foodie finds!

• Foodie find number one: Ajvar

Amanda says:

This is a spread made from eggplant, garlic and roasted red peppers.  It is delicious and appears to be devoid of weird ingredients and preservatives.  My faith that this is true is further proven by the fact that unlike many other jarred foods, this will start to mold within a couple weeks after it’s opened.  Every time I buy it I play an awful game of wanting to ration it to save it for as long as possible, but I often fail and it spoils instead.

Here are some of her favorite ways to use it:

• Slather it on sandwiches, burgers, any other similar item.
• Serve it with your cheese platter for smearing on crackers, pita or crusty bread.
• Toss a few spoonfuls with warm pasta-really yummy with ravioli-and use it as a sauce (it’s concentrated—you don’t need a ton).
• Add to a sautee pan with chicken breasts and a veggie montage for a different take on chicken cacciatore.
• Use it as you would a hot sauce and spoon onto scrambled eggs.
• Or just serve it with pretzels and veggie crudite.

 This stuff looks fabulous and I can’t wait to try it!

• Foodie find number two: Grace Jamaican Curry Powder

Amanda says:

I bought this on a total whim and it is incredible.  I have tossed veggies in it before roasting, used it as a seasoning on shrimp before grilling, and I also have been using it liberally as a seasoning for hard boiled eggs.  I’m pretty sure it can go on anything and make it taste better.

Alright, Amanda, I’m totally sold on both of those items! Thanks again. Have any of you tried either of them? Do tell!

22 July 2010

Easy Peasy Meal Builders

You guys know that when it comes to meat, I’m all about quality over quantity. But I also recognize that sometimes, you need a product that’s good, but also fast and cheap. Enter Trader Joe’s pre-seasoned frozen meat. I recently tried two types:

Carne Asada and Pork Al Pastor. Both are well-seasoned and easy to prepare (just heat ‘em up however you want!). The ingredient list is definitely acceptable (all things I recognize), so even though they’re not necessarily grass-fed/free-range, as an occasional quick meal, I can get down with the TJ’s meat.

Combine either one with some fresh or frozen veggies, rice (if you want it!), and some extra spice for an easy Mexi-bowl. Definitely not a shabby meal, and one that you could prepare in all of 5-10 minutes! You could also top a salad with some of this pre-chopped meat, or even make a sandwich with it.

20 July 2010

Pesto Presto!

My lil garden patio is growing basil like craaaazy! My basil plants are downright bushes at this point.

This is what the plant used to look like; It’s about twice that size now! So what does one do with an abundance of basil? There’s only one answer: pesto.

Pesto is so easy to make if you have a decent food processor (or even a blender).

You’ll need (makes about 1-1.5 cups):

• 3-5 cups basil
• 1 cup parmesan
• 4-5 garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 1/2 cup olive oil

Make it:

• Combine basil and about half the olive oil in your food processor and pulse a few times until the basil is finely chopped (but not mush!).
• Add all the other ingredients except the other half of the olive oil.

• Process slowly, adding olive oil as needed to create the desired texture until it looks something like this:

• Taste and add more of anything if you want it! That’s why food processors are so great — it’s easy to tweak recipes.

I love the color green basil produces — so beautiful! This was the most delicious pesto EVER. EVER, people. Fresh and simple ingredients make beautiful food.