Oh, yum. It’s meals like this surprisingly healthy Lamb and Eggplant Ragu that makes chillier evenings a happy or at least tolerable time. Yes, that is a little pile of feta tempting you on top those curly noodles (the recipe calls for wheat, which lowers the calories and tastes just as good). The eggplant, carrot and makes the ragu sauce nice and hearty and the lamb gives it a unique flavor.
My friend Mike amazes me often with two qualities I do not possess: patience and being good with his hands. He always has something time consuming and wonderful going on. Home made peppermint patties from scratch, hand made molded candies, pretzels straight from his oven, a new tasty ice cream every few months, as his friends, we reap the benefits of his craftiness – until recently.
For weeks he bought odd and neat sounding herbs and spices, including sarsaparilla and sassafras and even found some great bottles to make home brewed root beer. Sounded lovely and we all eagerly awaited the first batch. Then, we heard nothing for a bit, but one look on Mike’s face when we asked how it turned out said it all.
I guess using a 200 year old recipe can result in unexpected things, in this case a bizarre medicinal beer like froth. Not to be totally dissuaded though, he's going to try again with a more modern and familiar recipe.
Loose meat Sandwiches
don’t conjure up the most appetizing of images. The words “loose” and
“meat” themselves sound either like the meat that falls off saggy
thighs or some slutty animal on the farm.
But would you believe me if I told you this
is one of the best things I’ve cooked all year? It’s simple and yummy
in a totally American way. The key is to get a solid roll that can
stand up to the filling without sogging.|
Any excuse to make Deviled Eggs, any at all and I am there. Jim too, it’s probably the food we are most in happily agree on, so we eagerly made them for the Halloween season, (sort of) ingeniusly, adding on a slice of cornichon and ta-dah! We have Devils Eyes Deviled Eggs! This is a recipe of our own, just a basic with our favorite flavors thrown in, vary it according to your own tastes:
6 eggs - hard boiled, peeled and halved
Place yolks in a bowl with about 1 1/2 Tb Mayo, 2 tsp Dijon, a few splashes of Tabasco, and a tsp of capers. Smash together and refill the egg white halves with the mixture. Add slice of pickles on top to make "eyes" and sprinkle a dusting of paprika on top. Enjoy!
I love making healthier, tastier alternatives to meals I usually only eat at restaurants. This Thai Curry Rice Bowl can be made with low fat coconut milk without sacrificing taste and flavor. The addition of corn and roasted red bell peppers are great and the brown sugar adds a nice sweetness.
Curry differs from country to country and this recipe reflects the Thai way, meaning soupier than its Indian counterpart.
I have recommended Simply Recipes, a great site for delicious meals before, but lately haven’t cooked too much from it because I’m devoted mostly to sites that show calorie counts. When our bake sale approached, though, and calories be damned, I was back and found two excellent sweet recipes: Peanut Butter Cookies (I used low fat Skippy and opted for the chewy version) and Spicy Chocolate Flourless Cake (chipotle chili powder is not the easiest to find so I used regular grocery store stuff). I thought both were excellent, and others agree - they sold out quickly.
I know, a salad with pork is a Seinfeld closing monologue that writes itself.
“I was in a restaurant and they had a pork salad on the menu” light chuckling.. “Now I don’t know, but doesn’t pork defeat the purpose of ordering a salad?” “Oh, excuse me, care to join me in a healthy jog? I’ll bring the smokes if you get the cheeseburgers.” Music sounds…
But ladies and gentlemen, all joking aside, this Roasted Pork Tenderloin Salad with Mango and Ginger-Lime Dressing is a nice middle weight dinner. I had to nix the jalapenos because we ended up with a rare curiously strong one that there was no way Jim could have eaten. I updated the dressing by using some ponzo sauce and the rest of the written ingredients.
It's taken awhile to convince Jim of the wonders of salmon but this light, airy recipe, that gains it's citrus flavor from a bit of grapefruit helped me to do so. The Real Simple recipe pairs the fish with a watercress salad but we opted to also add in an avocado salad which worked really well too.
This Spicy Chicken with Poblano Peppers and Cheese tastes like it’s bad for you, but it isn’t. From Cooking Light (again) this is a great Americanized Mexican flavor with corn chips crushed up in a cheesy chicken blend, baked in a casserole dish, which, frankly I just don’t use enough.
And despite its name, it’s not truly that spicy. Poblanos are pretty mild so I spruced it up with that addictive topping, Tabasco Chipotle. I can pretty much love any dish that that stuff goes on top of.
Tangy and hearty, this Pork Chops with Sage and Lemon Breadcrumbs from Real Simple is one of the best pork recipes I’ve tried in a while. The pork chop is basically universally known as a difficult thing to prepare. They can often be dry and bland, but the rich sauce and cheese solve that problem.
Good Eats devoted an entire show to the notoriously difficult cut, which once according to Alton Brown pork once was “king of meat in this country and the richer you were the higher off the animal you ate. And since that pork chop came from the loin or back, you're technically eating high on the hog. Of course, firing up a pork chop today is kind of risky business, you know. That's because the modern American hog is like a supermodel—it's lean and clean and potentially as dry as a James Bond martini”.
I suggest if you’re interested in the episode and more pork chop facts, see this site which has the transcripts and photos but you don’t have to hear his annoying voice!
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