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Monthly Archives: July 2017
I cannot believe July is almost over! This month flew by… and once again here on the final Sunday of the month is a picture post of some of the meals I made this month that did not become blog posts. So without further ado, here they are! Leftover Carne Asada Tacos Italian Sausage with Peppers and Penne Sweet and Sour Pork Smoked Pork Loin with Curry Orzo and Peas Caprese Salad Faux Won Ton Soup Bolognese with Farfalle Grilled Beef Kebabs Prawn Stir Fry with Soba Enjoy! Save Save…
Here is a perfect Summer dish – a Vietnamese-style Noodle Bowl with Chicken. Herbs like mint and cilantro bring a freshness while lime brings brightness, chili brings heat, carrot sweetness, and the dressing tons of flavor to support it all. And let’s not forget the chicken; cooked in oyster and hoisin sauces before grilling or searing to add even more flavor. You have to agree there is a lot of flavor in this meal. Go ahead and take the challenge by making this dish. The lengthy recipe is not difficult and the results are spectacular! Save Print Vietnamese-Style Chicken Noodle Bowl Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 2 hours 10 mins Total time: 2 hours 30 mins Serves: 1  …
“If you like piña coladas, this recipe will save you some pain. If you desire something tropical with flavors exciting to your brain.” Ok, that’s enough mocking of the lyrics of the song (or trying to), let’s get down to the business of making a tasty piña colada. This recipe and the process is adapted from Serious Eats that delivers a balanced cocktail without the artificial flavors that pre-mix or other recipes deliver. The keys to this recipe are fresh and natural ingredients pre-frozen to minimize the amount of ice needed to make a slushy drink. This easy drinking cocktail is perfect for relaxing on a warm Summer day (or evening), soothing and melting away your worries and…
Summer has arrived here in the Pacific Northwest and it is time to enjoy the grill as much as possible. Tonight I want to enjoy the grill with a quick dish – grilled prawns. I bet there will be more time spent preparing the prawns than actually grilling them. But that is OK… because when a dish is quick and incredibly delicious, it does not have to take a large investment of time. I paired this dish with Sesame Asparagus Salad and white rice. Simple, delicious and easily extensible from one diner to a group, what’s not to love here? Give this recipe a try, you won’t be disappointed! Save Print Sweet Chili Grilled Prawns Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: …
Tonight I made a simple asparagus salad to accompany the Sweet Chili Grilled Prawns. With the dog days of summer here, this dish keeps you out of the kitchen and away from the stove, but delivers loads of flavor. This dish is great with the grilled prawns, but would also be wonderful with beef or chicken. This recipe is a tweak on this recipe from the AllRecipes website – a great resource for creative dishes. I added shallots and substituted Chinese mustard for the dijon mustard; it just seemed like the better choice in my humble opinion. The results are flavorful, so make this dish and eat your vegetables! Save Print Sesame Asparagus Salad Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 5 mins Total time: 15…
Here is a variant of my Banana Pancake recipe – perfect for your weekend breakfast. Pancakes and waffles from scratch are not as hard as you may think. The mixes you buy were just created to simplify the making of these delicious breakfast dishes. But you already have all of the basic ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, eggs, milk, and butter) and can easily control what and how much you use – so why bother with a pre-made mix? In researching this recipe, I learned the basic difference between pancake and waffle recipes are the amount of sugar and fat used. Pancakes are browned and more cake like (of course!) while waffles are crispy outside and airy inside and these recipe adjustments help that difference occur…
Tonight’s cocktail is a classic – one of the six basic drinks listed in The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks by David Embury. The daiquiri is simple yet elegant, potent yet enjoyable, and mostly overlooked (at least in my circles). Let’s fix that, shall we? The base daiquiri is just white rum, lime juice, and simple syrup. The International Bartenders Association’s recipe for this drink is 9 parts white rum, 5 parts lime juice, and 3 parts simple syrup. Yes, you read that correctly… 9 parts of white rum. There is your potency right there! Of course, I couldn’t resist tweaking the recipe slightly… again with my adding a slight bit of lemon to temper the lime’…
Last night I decided to try something new with Caprese salad. Instead of just layering the tomato, mozzarella, and basil and dressing with olive oil and balsamic glaze, I wanted to incorporate the basil into the dressing. My thoughts were to put basil into every bite easily and I needed a tasty medium to hold the basil. I could use olive oil (which would have worked just fine), but I wanted to punch it up a little. So, out came the blender and a bottle of champagne. Yes, that’s right… I chose to use champagne as the medium to carry the basil in this experiment. And the results, delicious. Of course, feel free to play with the ratios to get the results you desire. I…
I did a quick check and guess what? I have not posted a classic margarita recipe yet. Well, it is high time to correct that oversight! I am not talking your cheap tequila and bottled margarita mix with ice into a blender kind of margarita, but the robust and intensely flavorful Classic Margarita. I found the ratio for the ingredients on the Serious Eats website, but I definitely tweaked it… and here is why. I believe using straight lime juice is fine, if you want to taste the standard tequila shot in your drink. I want more… so I added a portion of lemon juice. Also, I do not use simple syrup in this cocktail if it needs sweetness (which really depends on the Triple Sec…
Have you ever wondered what I do with the remaining portions of raw ingredients that do not show up in a following post? I think solving that dilemma was critical to success when cooking for one – menu planning. It is easy enough to know that even moderate amounts (like one pound of ground beef) needs to be split into two or three (preferable) portions for different meals. But what about vegetables like bundles of asparagus, half peppers and half onions, half cans of diced tomatoes, etc? Typically I create a weekly menu and shop for the ingredients needed for those meals. I construct the menu so that I can make dishes that use partial amounts to reduce waste, but avoid stagnation in dishes. Well, this post should…