Shrimp Salad Rolls

My mom is retired and has the luxury of spending a month out of each summer traveling around to cooler climates. She's so lucky! This summer she spent a week at her time share at a lake in eastern Washington, then some time in Seattle visiting my brother, then a week on the Oregon coast and finally finishing up her trip with a few days in Portland before she drove home. Sounds nice, doesn't it? Especially when it means she's escaping the 100+ degree temperatures we have in Phoenix. Oh, I can't wait until I can do the same!! Anyway, while she was in Oregon she got a smokin' deal on fresh Oregon bay shrimp and she was nice enough to bring some home to me. Woo hoo!! I had so many ideas what I could do with it that I got overwhelmed and stuck it all in the freezer. Then I was looking through the most recent issue of Cooking Light and saw a recipe for shrimp salad rolls. I knew that would be a use for one of my pounds of shrimp!

Shrimp Salad Rolls
Source: Adapted from Cooking Light, August 2012

1 pound Oregon bay shrimp, cooked
1/4 cup canola mayonnaise
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
1-2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 hot dog buns
4 romaine lettuce leaves

Combine chopped shrimp, mayonnaise, and next 6 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl.

Open buns without completely splitting; arrange, cut sides up, on a baking sheet. Broil 1 minute or until toasted. Place 2 lettuce leaves in each bun; top each serving with 1/2 cup shrimp mixture.

*****

If you look at the original recipe you'll see I made a few modifications. It called for larger, raw shrimp and then to chop it. Since the shrimp I had were little already, I skipped that. It also called for fresh tarragon, which I didn't have, so I used some Old Bay instead. I might have thrown a little Tony Chachere's in there, too, for good measure. Rarely can you go wrong with adding a little Tony's to something. And the original said this made four sandwiches, but I love me some shrimp, so I only made two. My kids aren't big seafood fans, and I wasn't about to waste these yummy shrimps on them, so the husband and I had them for a date night dinner one night after the kiddos were in bed.

These were fantastic. I've only ever had lobster rolls once, when we were back east for my cousin's wedding a few years ago, but these sandwiches really reminded me of those. These were a great, light, easy summer dinner. I'll definitely make them again, even without the delicious Oregon shrimp!

Oven Hot Dogs

We had these for dinner last night, and they were SO GOOD I could not wait to post the recipe. I only kind of found it through Pinterest.com. Something I had pinned took me to foodgawker.com and that's where I discovered this. Let me tell you, foodgawker.com is a pretty cool website too. I could spend hours and hours looking at pictures of tasty food. It actually makes me sad when I think about how many amazing recipes there are out there that I'll never try. Sigh.

Anyway. Even though I know how awful hot dogs are, I can't stop eating them. I know they're full of nastiness, but it's one of the few foods that I don't care what the ingredients are. Okay, it may actually be the only one. I went through a long phase when I was younger of not eating hot dogs. Then I had a grilled one at a barbecue at one point in college I think it was, and I was reeled back in. Why are hot dogs even more awesome when cooked on a grill? I don't know. When I saw this recipe I thought it looked super tasty and definitely worth a try. She has great step by step pictures on the original blog post, too.

Oven Hot Dogs
Source: In The Wabe blog via foodgawker.com

8 hot dogs
8 hot dog buns
1 can of chili
1/2 an onion, diced
cheddar cheese
mayonnaise
mustard
sweet relish

Line inside of hot dog buns with mayonnaise and sweet relish. Evenly add mustard. Fill with hot dogs and squish into a 13×9″ baking pan.

Top hot dogs with chili, cheese, and diced onion. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350F for 45 minutes.

Carefully remove from the pan with a spatula.

*****

There were some mixed reactions when my family saw what was for dinner. Boy #1 had soccer practice last night, and the husband is the coach, so they weren't home while I was getting dinner together. The husband was ecstatic when he saw these. Boy #1 was less than enthused to say the least. He said he wasn't going to eat dinner. I told him then he could go to bed. What can I say, sometimes I'm mean mommy like that. He decided he'd just eat the hot dog. When he was done with the hot dog I said he at least needed to try the bread. Wouldn't you know he ended up loving it and eating every bite. Darn kids. So this ended up being an overwhelming hit at our house and definitely something I will be making again. Oh, and since we count calories in our house, in case anyone is curious these worked out to just be 321 each--using whole wheat hot dog buns, turkey hot dogs, turkey chili, and reduced fat cheese. I thought that was a pretty good calorie count for something as decadent as chili dogs!

Now, you'll have to excuse me as I go eat one of the leftover dogs for lunch...

Hot Crossed Tuna Casserole

Recently on the parenting message board I belong to there was a discussion about tuna casseroles. It made me think of this one my mom used to make when I was little. It was our neighbor Julie's recipe. It's not your typical tuna, cream of mushroom, noodle casserole either. I was glad my mom knew where to find the recipe because once I started thinking about it, I couldn't stop. I also couldn't stop thinking about cheddar and sour cream potato chips because one of my friends said her mom topped tuna casserole with those. Damn...now I'm thinking about cheddar and sour cream chips again. Sigh. At least they come in a baked variety so I don't have to feel as guilty when I eat them.

Anyway, once my mom gave me the recipe I had to make it within days. Thankfully all I really needed for it were the crescent rolls. I'll admit I was a bit nervous about it since the last time I remembered having it I think my age was in single digits. I liked spam a lot, too, when my age was in single digits, but I doubt I could stomach it now.

Hot Crossed Tuna Casserole

3 cans tuna, drained
1 16 oz. package frozen peas, thawed
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 c. celery, sliced
1/2 c. bread crumbs
1/4 c. chopped onion
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tube crescent roll dough

Cucumber Sauce:
1/2 c. chopped cucumbers
1 T. chives, chopped
1 T. chopped parsley
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. dill weed
1/2 c. mayo
1/2 c. sour cream

Combine tuna, peas, cheese, celery, bread crumbs, onion, seasonings, and mayonnaise; mix well. Spoon into 106 baking dish. Separate crescent roll dough into 2 rectangles. Press perforations to seal. Cut dough into 4 long and 8 short strips. Place strips over casserole in lattice design. Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes or until crust is brown. Serve with cucumber sauce.

To make sauce, combine all ingredients and mix well. Chill. Pour over top of each serving.

*****

I modified the original recipe slightly; what's posted above is how I made it. I just added more tuna and peas. I like peas. I thought the sauce recipe was kind of funny--sounds like tzaziki (I have no idea how to spell that, by the way) to me, but perhaps in suburban Seattle in the late 70s and early 80s it was easier to just call it cucumber sauce. Who cares, it's tasty.

I'm happy to report that this dish was in fact as tasty as I remembered it. My bff Clementine (she's decided we're too codependent on each either so we've come up with new monikers for each other to make it appear that we have other friends. We really do have other friends, but I thought it would be fun to call her Clementine.) was over one day last week to make plum jam (aptly named Jamfest) and sampled some of the leftovers because she was skeptical when I told her about it. She approved and told me to post it so she could make it. I love me a good casserole, and this totally fits the bill. My kids loved it, too. Boy #2 actually had leftovers of it twice for lunch and cleaned his plate each time he ate it Winner winner, tuna dinner!

South Beach Tuna Salad

The husband and I are going back to Phase One of the South Beach Diet to drop the extra weight we gained over Christmas and to help us get to our goal weights. He's training for the Alcatraz shark swim this coming June and wants to lose some body fat before the race. I just want to get down to my goal weight. We unofficially started yesterday. I say unofficially because we did have some carbs, but we kept it pretty minimal. Okay, I cheated a few times and had a Hershey Kiss here and there, but they were sitting out in the kitchen, and I couldn't help myself. But now today I'm on track. I figured out our meal plan for the week--including breakfasts, lunches, and snacks--and we're ready to do this.

For lunch today I made us some tuna salad. It was loosely based on a recipe I've made before that I found on Food.com. They have an entire South Beach Diet section of recipes, which I love. It's a great recipe because it's really versatile and can be modified to fit what you have on hand. I had cilantro like the recipe calls for, but it was questionable. The recipe below is the version I made today.

South Beach Tuna Salad

2 cans tuna in water, drained
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4 cup light mayonnaise
1 tsp lemon pepper (not really sure how much this was...I have a grinder and just ground some up into the mixture)
1 green onion, chopped
2 dashes Frank's Red Hot Sauce
1/2 tsp Tony Chachere's seasoning
4 cups spring mix greens
1-2 tsp balsamic vinegar

Combine all ingredients except greens and vinegar. Mix together. Split greens between two plates, divide tuna mixture in half and place on greens. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

*****

See? Super easy. I find it to be a really filling lunch, too. If I'm making it for myself I just use one can of tuna, and I don't normally eat the whole mixture in one sitting, but we were pretty hungry today, so I figured I'd just go for it. Like I said, this recipe is easily modified to use whatever you may have on hand. I really like the addition of the Frank's sauce to give it a little kick. This is one of my staple lunches when I'm doing Phase One of SBD.

Surimi Rolls

Do you know one of the things I love about my meal planning spreadsheet? It's a super easy way for me to go back and see what things I've missed posting on my blog! Plus I love spreadsheets, but since I'm not out in the corporate world anymore I don't have many occassions for them, so really any chance I get to create one, I jump on it. Have I mentioned before that I planned probably 75% of my wedding using spreadsheets? I even had a way cool one for our seating chart at the reception using conditional formatting, SUMIF formuals, etc. It was pretty awesome if I do say so myself.

Anyway...I was figuring out my meal plan for the coming week (which isn't very exciting since I'm challenging myself to use stuff we already have on hand) and went back and looked at previous weeks' meal plans because I do a new tab for each week. I realized there are quite a few things I need to go back and post. The baby is napping, the boy is watching a show, and the husband is napping on the couch, so I'm having some computer time.

As a parent I feel I'm obligated to have a subscription to Parents magazine. Along with that I get weekly emails with meal ideas. Sometimes I take the time to read through them and see if there's anything interesting, other times I just delete it. This recipe was in one I actually read, and I loved how easy it sounded!

Surimi Rolls
From Parents.com

1 pound imitation crab meat (surimi), chopped
3/4 cup light mayonnaise
3/4 cup chopped celery (about 2 large ribs)
4 teaspoons fresh chopped tarragon
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 hot dog buns, top-sliced variety

1. In a large bowl, mix together the imitation crab, mayonnaise, celery, tarragon, mustard and olive oil until well combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

2. To serve, spoon a generous 1/3 cup of the crab mixture into each roll. Garnish with parsley, if desired.

*****

I didn't have any tarragon, so I sprinkled in some Old Bay seasoning to add a little something to it. This came together ridiculously fast which is always nice. I was honestly surprised at how my kids gobbled this up. The baby could not get enough of it, and the boy ate every bite on his plate. This was a great dish for summer when it's hot out and you don't feel like cooking or heating up the kitchen but want something filling. I'd definitely make it again!

(I forgot to take a picture of it, but the post on Parents.com has a picture on it. I included the link in the recipe title up above.)

Barefoot Contessa's Blue Cheese Coleslaw

I can't remember if I mentioned that my awesome mom got me an awesome birthday present. It's something I've been coveting for awhile now but never in a million years ever thought anyone would buy it for me. She got me the Cuisinart Elite food processor. Lordy mama, I was so flippin' excited!! My friend Jen came over for a food gadget play date last week so we could break it in. I also got the food grinder attachment for my KitchenAid mixer from my aunt and uncle that I'm dying to try, but we ran out of time to play with that one. Her darn twin baby girls needed to be fed and she had to beg and plead with me to give one of them a bottle. Yeah right...who am I kidding. I went and got the one she wasn't feeding out of her car seat and popped the bottle in her mouth. I'm a complete sucker for babies--especially super cute girl babies. Anyway, we made a guacamole recipe that came with the food processor, and it was pretty good, but I was still dying to play with it more. Jen had mentioned we should do something with blue cheese because her husband doesn't like it, so she never gets to eat it, but sadly I didn't have any on hand. I did, however, remember this Barefoot Contessa recipe I had seen and promptly went to the store over the weekend to get some so I could make it because it's a very food processor heavy recipe. Woo hoo! First, a picture of my new toy:



Now, on to the recipe. Conveniently it's posted on the Food Network website and on the Barefoot Contessa website. But I'll go ahead and post it here, too.

Blue Cheese Coleslaw
Copyright, 2006 Barefoot Contessa at Home, All Rights Reserved

½ small head green cabbage
½ small head red cabbage
4 large carrots
2 cups good mayonnaise
¼ cup Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon celery salt
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1½ cups crumbled Roquefort (6 ounces)
1 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Cut the cabbage halves in half and cut out the cores. Set up the food processor with the slicing blade and place the pieces of cabbage horizontally in the feed tube, one at a time. (If they don’t fit, cut them to fit lying down.) Insert the feed tube pusher and turn on the processor, but don’t press on the feed tube pusher or the slices will turn out too thick! Continue with the remaining red and green cabbage. Transfer to a large bowl, discarding any very large pieces. Before you pour the dressing on the salad, save a handful of the grated vegetables to decorate for serving.

Change the slicing blade for the large shredding blade and cut the carrots so they will fit horizontally into the feed tube. Replace the feed tube pusher and press firmly with the food processor on. Transfer the shredded carrots to bowl with the cabbages.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, two mustards, vinegar, celery salt, kosher salt, and pepper. Pour enough mayonnaise dressing over the grated vegetables to moisten, and toss well. Add the Roquefort and the parsley and toss together. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours to allow the flavors to meld. Serve cold or at room temperature. Garnish with the reserved granted vegetables.

*****

I only had a head of green cabbage, so I just used the whole thing instead of getting purple as well. I also couldn't find the celery salt in my pantry, so that got left out of mine. Now, I want to point out something very important in the instructions above:

Pour enough mayonnaise dressing over the grated vegetables to moisten, and toss well.

Note that it does not say to pour in ALL of the dressing, which is what I did. I'm just trying to save you all from the same mistake I made. And of course I read that part as soon as the last drop of dressing was in my big mixing bowl. Sigh.

In spite of my oversight, this coleslaw was awesome. I of course had a taste once I took it out of the fridge and was instantly in love. So I kept taking more test bites just to make sure it was all okay. Then I called the husband over to make sure he liked it--and he kept doing the same, even though it was really, really wet and had way too much dressing on it.

This is definitely something that I'll make again, only I'll gradually add in the dressing. It was really fine the night we had it, but leftovers the next day and day after that were really too soggy to enjoy.

Chicken Spectacular

Neither of my kids are napping today like they were supposed to, so this is going to be really short. Years ago when I was doing Weight Watchers I stumbled across a WW recipe website that had a ton of great recipes on it. This was one I printed off, and we've loved it ever since. It's one of my most favorite casserole recipes. Have I mentioned I'm on a casserole and crockpot kick lately? I don't know why, maybe because dinner time has been so crazy lately I want something easy in an effort to make things slightly calmer. Anyway, I had originally planned on roasting a chicken on Thursday night (the baby's birthday) and then using the leftover chicken meat to make this casserole tomorrow night. But, I got too excited at the idea of having this casserole because we haven't had it in forever, so I changed it around and just cooked up some chicken breasts to use for it.

Chicken Spectacular

By the way, it's 8 points per serving. I have a hard time sticking to just one serving though. ;)

Honey Walnut Shrimp

One of the things I miss about living in Seattle is the really good Asian food you can get there. There are a couple Chinese restaurants in Phoenix I like, but I have yet to find anything that compares to Seattle Chinese restaurants. I've lived here 10 years--trust me, I've checked! I think I've found my most favorite Chinese restaurant up there, Lee's Asian Restaurant in West Seattle. It's so deliciously yummy and tasty!! I've eaten there the last two times I've been in Seattle, and it's like heaven on a plate. When we were up there a month ago I think I had thirds when we got take-out from there for dinner one night. And then ate leftovers for breakfast the next day. Oh man...I dream about good Chinese food!

One of the menu items we've gotten each time from Lee's is honey walnut shrimp. My brother is a pescetarian (vegetarian who eats fish, for those of you not "in the know"), so we get a few shrimp dishes so he can eat with us. The first time I tasted this I was amazed--it was so good! I was kind of surprised because I thought the sauce tasted like it had mayonnaise in it. I did some Googling after dinner for recipes and found out that the sauce does indeed have mayo in it! Crazy!

I had something else entirely planned for dinner tonight, but upon reviewing the recipe I realized that we don't have any cheese. We always have cheese, so I have no idea how this happened. I knew I had some shrimp in the freezer that needed to be used, so I looked up recipes for Honey Walnut Shrimp and was delighted to see I have everything on hand for it. Well, except walnuts, but I'm thinking of either skipping that or using pecans instead. I found this recipe on RecipeZaar.com.

Honey Walnut Shrimp
RecipeZaar.com Recipe #31581

1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups oil
1 lb jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 cup cornstarch
3 egg whites
1/4 cup honey
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar
1 tablespoon sweetened condensed milk
1/2 head shredded cabbage

Boil walnuts in 5 cups water for 10 minutes; drain. Place walnuts and 1/2 cup sugar into 2 pints of boiling water. Boil for another 10 minutes. Remove walnuts from water and coat with honey.

Heat 2 cups oil until almost smoking, then fry walnuts until they are shiny and brown, about 5-8 minutes. Remove and place on cookie sheet to cool.

Mix cornstarch and egg whites together to form a thick, sticky mixture. Mix shrimp into this mixture and set aside.

Mix mayonnaise, lemon juice and condensed milk in a medium bowl until smooth.
Heat 1/2 cup oil and deep fry shrimp until golden. (Put only a few in at a time or they will stick together).

Drain shrimp and then fold into mayonnaise sauce.

Serve over the cabbage the sauce is great with it.

*****

I'm skipping the cabbage because I don't have any, and I don't think it's really needed. I'm still not sure what to do about the nuts. I'll think on it while I'm getting everything ready. I'm going to make some WW fried rice to go with this, and we have some Trader Joe's egg rolls in the freezer. I'm really excited for this dinner!!

Niman Ranch Burgers

Apparently I'm on some sort of Barefoot Contessa kick lately. My dinner plan for last night failed (more on that in my next post!!), so I quickly had to come up with something new to make at 5:30. I had made hamburger buns to use with my original dinner plan, so I figured I'd just go with some kind of burger. I remembered that my friend Jen B. had made these burgers and raved about them, so I pulled out my Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics cookbook to see if I had everything on hand for them. I did! Well, mostly but I'll get to that in a minute.

Niman Ranch Burgers

1-2 pounds ground Niman Ranch beef OR other beef (80 percent lean and 20 percent fat)
1 tablespoon good Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons good olive oil, plus extra for brushing the grill
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 sandwich-size English muffins, halved OR toasted hamburger buns of your choice
Good mayonnaise, for topping
Caramelized Onions, recipe follows

Directions:
Build a charcoal fire or heat a gas grill.

Place the ground beef in a large bowl and add the mustard, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix gently with a fork to combine, taking care not to compress the ingredients. Shape the meat into 6 (3 1/2-inch) patties of equal size and thickness.

When the grill is medium-hot, brush the grill grate with oil to keep the burgers from sticking. Place the burgers on the grill and cook for 4 minutes. Using a big spatula, turn the burgers and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes, until medium-rare or more, or cook longer if you prefer hamburgers more well done.

Meanwhile, break apart the English muffins and toast the 6 halves cut side down on the grill. Spread each half with mayonnaise and top with a burger and then with a heaping tablespoon of caramelized onions. Serve hot.

Caramelized Onions

2 tablespoons good olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 pounds yellow onions, peeled and sliced in half-rounds
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
2 tablespoons sherry wine vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Heat the olive oil and butter in a large shallow pot, add the onions and thyme, and toss with the oil. Place the lid on top and cook over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes to sweat the onions. Remove the lid and continue to cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 25 to 30 minutes, until the onions are caramelized and golden brown. If the onions are cooking too fast, lower the heat. Add the vinegar, salt, and pepper and cook for 2 more minutes, scraping the brown bits from the pan. Season to taste (they should be very highly seasoned).

*****

I had to make a few slight changes. Like, I don't keep Niman Ranch beef on hand. I wish I could...it sounds fantastic! But, at $7/pound it's kind of out of my price range for ground beef. And I don't know where to get it here in Phoenix. I didn't have English muffins, but that was fine because I had made whole wheat hamburger buns with the intention of using them. Sadly I didn't have enough time for the onions to really caramelize, but they were almost there.

The husband had one burger as written in the recipe and one with ketchup, onions, and American cheese. He said the one with cheese was his favorite, but I think if I were to have cheese on it, I'd want something like Swiss or Monterey Jack, but I really liked them as they were--mayo and the onions. These were a really tasty, flavorful, easy burger to throw together! We will be having these again.

Turkey Salad Wraps

Did you know that Whole Foods has an app for the iPhone? They do. I heart Whole Foods (although I can't afford to shop there on a routine basis), and I heart them even more after I found that cool app. I needed some dinner ideas for this week and decided to check that out and see what I found. Since it's blazing hot and I don't feel like heating up my kitchen, I searched their sandwich recipes. When I got the new fridge and was cleaning out the old one I came across a bag of diced turkey meat that needed to be used up. Safeway had cooked turkey breasts for $5 awhile back, so I bought one and diced it up and stuck it in the freezer for later use. Honestly I had kind of forgotten about it. When I saw this recipe I thought it would be perfect because it would be a light summer dinner and use up the turkey I have!

The husband, however, is not a fan of turkey, so if he asks (since I don't think he checks my blog anymore), I'm telling him it's chicken. Same goes for the boy so he doesn't blab that it's turkey!

Turkey Salad Wraps

Salt to taste
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless turkey breast fillets
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup lowfat yogurt
2 teaspoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Pepper to taste
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1 cup frozen yellow corn, thawed and drained
1 jalapeño pepper, finely chopped
4 tortillas, preferably red chile variety
1 pint alfalfa sprouts

Bring 2 quarts water and 1 teaspoon salt to a simmer in a medium pot over low heat. Add turkey and simmer 10 to 12 minutes, or until cooked through. Transfer to a plate and set aside to let cool for 15 minutes, then cut into 1/2-inch cubes.

Whisk together mayonnaise, yogurt, lime juice, and cumin in a small bowl; season with salt and pepper. Add cooked turkey, celery, onions, corn and jalapeños and toss to coat.

Spoon about 1 cup of the turkey salad onto each tortilla, then top with a generous handful of sprouts. Roll up and serve immediately.

*****

I'm only making a couple variations. In the past when the husband has gone grocery shopping for me, he's been unable to find plain yogurt, so instead of making him go through that rigmarole again I'm going to use sour cream instead. And I forgot to put red onion on my grocery list, so I'll have to make due with a regular yellow onion. And I don't like frozen corn, so I don't buy, which means I'm going to use canned corn instead. And I don't have alfalfa sprouts, so we'll deck out our wraps with lettuce and possibly tomato if I think it would work after tasting the final product. There's quite a bit of the pasta salad from yesterday leftover, so I think we'll just have that on the side and call it good.

*****

This was really yummy!!! We all really liked it, although the boy really just picked out the turkey. The husband had the leftovers a couple days later and said it was definitely a lot better the first time around. There wasn't a whole lot left anyway. I will definitely make this again, and I think chicken could easily be substituted for the turkey. Oh, the red onion. Flavor-wise I don't think it would add a whole lot, but it would be nice for the color. And we did have them with lettuce and tomato. Man, just typing this makes me want to have it again!

Fish Tacos

What a crazy weekend we had! That's why I'm just now posting for the weekend on Monday. I'll have to do a separate post on why our weekend was so crazy--it's because my husband is the best husband ever!! But, I'll post on that next.

Last week the husband had requested fish tacos for dinner one night. I wanted to find a new way of doing them and RecipeZaar.com of course came through for me!


Fish Tacos
Recipe #26516

1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 package taco seasoning mix, divided
1 lb cod or white fish fillet, cut into 1 inch pieces (about 4)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 (12 count) package taco shells, warmed or flour tortillas
Toppings (shredded cabbage, chopped tomato, lime juice, taco sauce)

Combine sour cream, mayonnaise, cilantro and 2 tablespoons seasoning mix in small bowl.

Combine fish, vegetable oil, lemon juice and remaining seasoning mix in medium bowl; pour into large skillet. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium-high heat for 4 to 5 minutes or until cod flakes easily when tested with a fork.

Fill taco shells with fish mixture. Top with toppings.

*****

This is my new favorite way to make fish tacos. The sauce was fantastic, although it made way too much. I'll cut it in half next time because I had to throw out a lot of it (I couldn't come up with anything to do with what was left). We all really liked this--even the boy who usually isn't very fond of fish tacos. I had some catfish nuggets in the freezer that needed to be used up, so that was the fish I use. For toppings we had tomatoes and avocados. I was kind of kicking myself because I had just thrown out half a head of cabbage on Saturday because I didn't know what I was going to use it for, and I could have used it last night as a taco topping. Oops!

Barbecue Macaroni Salad

Another friend of mine had a baby recently, and I took them dinner Monday night. I wanted something easy because we were supposed to have our Bible Study group here at 6:30. I had bought a pork loin roast last week and hadn't run it through my Food Saver yet, so I figured I'd throw that in the crockpot for pulled pork sandwiches and kill two birds with one stone. Actually more than two birds since 1) I didn't have to Food Saver the pork, 2) it gave me dinner for my friend, and 3) it gave us a dinner that would be finished on time. I wanted something easy to go with it that I could make ahead of time and would make enough for us and to take to my friend. This macaroni salad recipe was in the Cook's Illustrated I bought on Saturday, and it sounded interesting and worth trying.


BBQ Macaroni Salad
From Cook's Illustrated Summer Grilling

1 lb elbow macaroni
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped fine
1 celery rib, chopped fine
4 scallions, sliced thin
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
salt & fresh ground pepper

Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot. Add 1 tablespoon salt and macaroni and cook until nearly tender, about 5 minutes. Drain in colander and rinse with cold water until cool, then drain once more, briefly, so that pasta is still moist; transfer to large bowl. Stir in bell pepper, celery, scallions, vinegar, hot sauce, chili powder, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper, and let sit until flavors are absorbed, about 2 minutes. Stir in mayonnaise and barbecue sauce and let sit until salad is no longer watery, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve. (The salad can be covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Check seasonings before serving.).

*****

I was a bit apprehensive about how this would turn out, but it was pretty tasty. I realized when posting this that I used a tablespoon of chili powder instead of a teaspoon, so mine had a bit more kick to it than it normally would have. I kind of liked it that way, though. I'd maybe cut back on it a little if I was taking it somewhere, but I think just a teaspoon might not be quite enough. I used organic whole wheat macaroni for the pasta and a yellow pepper instead of red. I would definitely make this again. It came together really fast and the taste was unique for a macaroni salad.

Tom Douglas' Tartar Sauce

I had wanted a Tom Douglas cookbook for awhile now and kept asking for one for holidays but never got one. I happened to be at Sur La Table a few weeks ago and was looking in their clearance section and saw the one I wanted there, Tom's Big Dinners. Needless to say, it jumped into my basket! I had only flipped through it until Saturday afternoon where I sat down on the couch and read each recipe and looked at all the pictures. There's so much goodness in this cookbook, it's ridiculous. I can't wait to try more of the recipes. There's an Asian Feast menu I'm dying to try. I'll have to work that in once potty training is totally complete.

Tom Douglas' Tartar Sauce
Tom's Big Dinners, Copyright 2003
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 Tbsp chopped capers
3 Tbsp finely chopped cornichons or dill pickles
1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp finely chopped red onion
1 Tbsp minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp Tabasco sauce or to taste
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Put the mayonnaise in a bowl and stir in remaining ingredients. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

*****

This. Was. Awesome. I will never buy tartar sauce again. I told the husband at dinner that I could just eat it with a spoon. I made it up a few hours before dinner so it would have time to sit and the flavors would combine. Most of the ingredients are things I always have on hand which will make it easy to whip up. Plus I never use an entire bottle of tartar sauce when I buy it before it goes bad, so this is an easy way to make however much I need.

In the cookbook, the tartar sauce is listed with a recipe for Fried Jarlsberg Cheese. Sounds yummy, so I'll have to try that as well. Oh, Tom, how I heart thee.

Nacho Chicken

I'm still reeling from the weekend of birthday festivities (and so is my house!), but life must go on which means making dinner tonight. The husband talks about this recipe a lot, but it's not something I make very often since it uses Doritos, and we rarely have Doritos in the house. We had them for the boy's party on saturday, so I figured this would be a perfect time to make it since I plan on throwing away the bag of chips after I'm done with dinner tonight. Normally I wouldn't waste food like that, but if I have chips around I'll eat them. And, as today starts my new diet (not so much a diet as back to eating healthy all the time), a Costco-size bag of Doritos will be a major detriment. As will the Costco bag of Ruffles, so I will be bidding those adieu as well.

Anyway, aside from dinner tonight all my meals going forward are going to be healthier than what I've been making over the past, oh, 11 months. I gotta start getting rid of this baby fat. the husband is pleased too...he said he tends to lose more weight when I'm trying to, so we can all be a little slimmer. Well, he and I can...the boy could probably use some fattening up.

Nacho Chicken
2 Tbsp mayonnaise
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp Italian seasoning
2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
3/4 cup crushed nacho cheese Doritos (about 30)
1 Tbsp butter or margarine, melted

Combine first three ingredients; spread on both sides of chicken. Dredge chicken in crushed chips. Place chicken on a lightly greased baking sheet or jellyroll pan. Drizzle with butter. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is done.

*****

Pretty trashy, I know, but aren't trashy foods some of the yummiest? Maybe not yummiest, but I like to think of them as guilty pleasures. i still haven't decided what to have with this. We're having glazed carrots because I bought way too many baby carrots for the party on Saturday (we'll probably have them a couple times this week actually), but I don't know what to do for a starch.

Pioneer Woman's Favorite Sandwich

Let me tell you how hard it was to come up with a menu for this week. My due date is Thursday. Last Thursday my doctor told me I was 5 centimeters dilated, which I took to mean, "This kid is coming soon, and this kid is coming fast." Here I am on Monday still pregnant with few signs my next son is going to make his grand appearance any time soon. I go to the doctor again on Wednesday and fully plan on saying, "Aside from some kind of drug, do what you can to get this kid out of me!" So I figured I'd plan dinners through Thursday and call it good.

I wanted to try to add in at least one vegetarian dinner since we'll be mostly relying on meals from friends over the coming weeks (that is, if this kid is ever born!). I remembered how much we loved these sandwiches the one other time I made them, so I figured it was worth having them again. I'm excited. I heart Pioneer Woman. She's one of my Facebook friends but only because I saw a link for her FB profile on her website and decided to be a stalker. Really, she's the only one of my friends on there that I don't actually know. Anyway. I have yet to be disappointed with anything of hers that I've made. I kind of take that back, her lasagna was only okay, but it wasn't bad. Plus I'm hoping enough chilies on my sandwich might get things going and start labor. Fingers crossed...I wouldn't mind this being my last meal before becoming a mom of two!

Pioneer Woman's Favorite Sandwich
whatever type of sandwich bread you like...I used wheat (PW likes rye)
mild cheddar cheese slices
provolone cheese slices
sliced tomato
thinly sliced red onion
canned Hatch whole green chiles
1 Tablespoon of mayo
1 Tablespoon of Dijon mustard
Lots of softened butter or margarine

Directions:

1) For spreadable sauce: Thoroughly combine 1 Tablespoon of mayo and 1 Tablespoon of Dijon mustard in a small bowl.
2) Spread a very thin layer of sauce mixture on the inside of both pieces of the bread that you will be using to construct your sandwich.
3) Place two slices of tomato and some thin red onion slices on one side of the bread. Then, top that bread piece with 2 slices of provolone cheese and one or two slices of whole green chiles. Don't be shy with the green chiles.
4) On the other piece of bread, place 2 slices of cheddar cheese, and very carefully close your sandwich. Be gentle.
5) Now, spread a generous amount of butter on each side of the tops of the bread, not missing anything. Really butter 'em good! Seriously, use the butter...it is okay.
6) Heat a non stick skillet over LOW heat, and cook on each side (flipping once)...5 minutes per side. You can turn the heat up to Medium-Low (but do not heat past Medium) to get your desired brown/toastiness accomplished.

I started mine on low and then turned it up during cooking to get my bread nice and toasted. THE TRICK IS TO BE PATIENT AND NOT TURN THE HEAT UP TOO HIGH. I promise your patience will be rewarded.

Also, these babies are tricky to flip. Be careful.

7) Remove ooey-gooey delectable sandwich from skillet and cut into halves. Serve immediately. Say a prayer and go to confession quickly after consuming this masterful sandwich. They are so good you will feel dirty.

*****

Last time I did them in my electric skillet, but they were still kind of hard to flip because of the deep sides. I think I might bust out my rarely-sees-the-light-of-day electric griddle and try them on that. We're not having anything fancy as a side, just some crinkle fries and salad.

Barbecued Chicken with Blue Cheese and Celery Paninis

My panini press has been neglected lately. I just felt like I was always making the same sandwiches with them, so I got the genius idea to look up panini cookbooks at the library instead of buying one. I heart the library...especially for cookbooks! Since I have an overwhelming cookbook collection already, it's a nice way to indulge in my guilty pleasure without dropping a small fortune.

So I flipped through the book and found several that sounded good. Unfortunately some have really obscure (or expensive...or both) ingredients, and some there is no way the husband would touch them with a ten foot pole. I'll still have to copy them down before the book is due back.

The husband is actually sick today, but when I asked if he'd want dinner he asked what the choices were and thought these sounded good. The other choice, by the way, was Shepherd's Pie, which we were supposed to have last night, but due to some issues at our vet's office (i.e. they're slow and incompetent and ALWAYS take forever to get simple things done), there wasn't going to be time to make it and pick up the dog before they closed. So it was a mac & cheese and hot dog night. Anyway...on to the recipe.

Barbecued Chicken with Blue Cheese and Celery Paninis
1-1/2 cups (about 8 ounces) shredded barbecue chicken
3 Tbsp barbecue sauce (optional)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp sour cream
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 scallion (white and light green parts), finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 ciabbata rolls or store-bought Italian rolls
1 celery stalk, trimmed, tough outer strings peeled away, and thinly sliced

Heat a panini or sandwich press. Combine the chicken and barbecue sauce, if using, in a small bowl and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper.

Slice the rolls in half and spread some blue cheese dressing on the inside of each roll. Arrange the celery on the bottom halves of the rolls. Pile the chicken on top of the celery. Top each sandwich with the top half of the roll.

Put the sandwiches on the press, pull the top down, and cook until they are brown and crisp, 4-7 minutes, depending on the machine. Carefully remove from the press and serve immediately.

*****

I don't think I'm really changing things up except that I have some foccacia rolls I'm using instead of ciabatta. I just realized I need to go hustle so we can eat at 6:00. Not sure what we'll have with it, I may throw some tater tots into the oven because I have them and they're easy.

Oh, and I didn't have any barbecue chicken laying around so I just cooked up some chicken breasts and shred them, then I'm going to mix them with some BBQ sauce. This would be a great use for leftover chicken meat from cooking a whole chicken!

Pioneer Woman's Favorite Sandwich

Unless this is the first time you've read my blog, you know that I heart Pioneer Woman. Pretty much everything I've tried making from her website has been super tasty. Jen B. made this a couple weeks ago and loved it. Our friend Kimberly (Hi, Kimberly!!) made it recently and raved about it, too. Our friend Jen A. made a modified version and really liked it as well. So I'm jumping on the bandwagon. Doesn't hurt that Jen B. gave me some of her leftover whole chiles to use! I'm totally excited for this dinner.

Pioneer Woman's Favorite Sandwich
whatever type of sandwich bread you like...PW likes rye
mild cheddar cheese slices
provolone cheese slices
sliced tomato
thinly sliced red onion
canned Hatch whole green chiles
1 Tablespoon of mayo
1 Tablespoon of Dijon mustard
Lots of softened butter or margarine

1) For spreadable sauce: Thoroughly combine 1 Tablespoon of mayo and 1 Tablespoon of Dijon mustard in a small bowl.
2) Spread a very thin layer of sauce mixture on the inside of both pieces of the bread that you will be using to construct your sandwich.
3) Place two slices of tomato and some thin red onion slices on one side of the bread. Then, top that bread piece with 2 slices of provolone cheese and one or two slices of whole green chiles. Don't be shy with the green chiles.
4) On the other piece of bread, place 2 slices of cheddar cheese, and very carefully close your sandwich. Be gentle.
5) Now, spread a generous amount of butter on each side of the tops of the bread, not missing anything. Really butter 'em good! Seriously, use the butter...it is okay.
6) Heat a non stick skillet over LOW heat, and cook on each side (flipping once)...5 minutes per side. You can turn the heat up to Medium-Low (but do not heat past Medium) to get your desired brown/toastiness accomplished.

Also, these babies are tricky to flip. Be careful.

7) Remove ooey-gooey delectable sandwich from skillet and cut into halves. Serve immediately. Say a prayer and go to confession quickly after consuming this masterful sandwich. They are so good you will feel dirty.

*****

I'm using wheat bread because I don't like rye. Plus it's what I have. I'm also going to bust out either my griddle or my electric skillet because my regular skillets just aren't big enough to accommodate three sandwiches. Actually the boy is just going to have regular grilled cheese. I can't wait for this sandwich. Have I mentioned that?

Not sure what we're having with it. There's broccoli salad left from last night (shoot...forgot to do the review from last night's dinner...I'll do that later), so the boy and I will probably have that, the husband can have regular green salad, and maybe we'll have a fancy accompaniement like pretzels. We go all out here at my house.

Beth's Broccoli Slaw

My friend Beth from MOMS Club made this salad for my friend Jen B. when her father passed away recently. Jen LOVED it and got the recipe from Beth. I think she's made it a couple times since then and has rave reviews every time. I've been anxiously awaiting broccoli to be on sale so I could try it.

Beth's Broccoli Slaw
In large bowl mix:
2 heads broccoli, cut into florets and finely chop about 1/2 of the stalks, cut about 15 baby carrots. Approx 1/2 cup of raisins, Approx 1/4 cup of cashews.

In medium bowl mix:
1 cup mayo, 3 tablespoons of white wine vinegar, and 2 tablespoons of sugar.

Directions:
Pour Mayo mixture over broccoli mixture, toss, and chill for minimum of 1 hour before serving.

*****

I almost didn't make this because the husband doesn't like broccoli. The boy and I, however, do, so husband lost out. More for us I figure, although I'm going to make him try one bite of it. I was a bit shy on the mayo, but hopefully that doesn't affect it too much.

Cheese Bread

This recipe has been around my family for almost as long as I can remember. I think it came from one of my grandma's sisters, and we had it at a family reunion in Missouri in the mid-80s. I think the husband had it for the first time at my parents' house the first time we went to visit them while they still lived in TX. Then he was hooked and asks me to make it every now and then.

WARNING: It is neither diet nor cholesterol friendly, so consider yourself warned. And I'm sure you could make it diet or cholesterol friendly, but I just don't think it would be as good. Kind of like substituting fat free half and half for heavy cream. Yeah you can do it, but somehow it's just not the same.

Cheese Bread
1 loaf french bread
3/4 c. soft butter
1 c. mayonnaise
1/2 lb. mozzarella cheese

Split loaf of bread lengthwise. Mix butter, mayonnaise, and cheese. Spread butter mixture on each half. Bake bread for 25-30 minutes at 350, until cheese is melted and lightly browned. Slice into serving pieces.

*****

Don't be put off by the mayo if you aren't a mayo fan. But, also make sure you don't use too much or you'll really taste the mayo above anything else, and that would be a shame. I've made that mistake before when I tried to eyeball everything. I'm just watching out for you guys so you don't make the same mistake. And of course I use way more cheese than is called for. I sometimes mix in other cheeses than mozzarella to jazz things up a bit. Really it's whatever I have on hand. Oh, and don't undercook it either, you want to make sure the cheese mixture is melted and gooey and delicious.

Oh man, I can't wait for dinner tonight. I meant to get going on it five minutes ago, so I'd better get my toosh in gear!

Cap'n Crunch Chicken and potato salad

Alright, I'm back on track!! Posting the same day as I made something...are you shocked? Did you fall out of your chair? I almost did. Not really. This was one of the things I was going to make last week but then never did. I was going to make it Friday but realized I had no oil to fry the chicken, so the boy and I ran to the store after his nap, and I got oil. Unfortunately it was almost 6:00 when we got home, and I hadn't gotten out the chicken to defrost yet. Oops. So the husband stopped and got pizza for us on his way home. I heart my husband. :) He was way bummed we weren't having this, so I made sure it was first up this week.

This recipe was in the cookbook put together by members of a parenting message board I frequent. I first came across the recipe when I was in college, and used to make it every now and then. I think it was one of the first things I made for the husband when we started dating, but I haven't made it in FOREVER. We were really excited for dinner tonight.

I went to the Phoenix farmer's market on Saturday morning (don't you love farmer's markets?!) and got some red potatoes and some fresh dill. I'm a sucker for fresh dill. I love the smell of it, the taste of it...I just love it. I went to trusty allrecipes.com and searched on "potato" and "dill" (but not pickle...at first all the recipes had dill pickles) and salad. The below recipe sounded good, and I had everything for it. I found one on the FOod Network website but was missing a couple ingredients.

First...the chicken!

Planet Hollywood Cap'n Crunch Chicken
2 cups Cap'n Crunch cereal
1 1/2 cups Corn flakes
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
chicken breast tenders
vegetable oil -- for frying

Coarsely grind or crush the Cap'n Crunch and Cornflakes. Set aside. Beat the egg with the milk. Set aside. Stir together the flour, onion and garlic powders and black pepper. Set aside. Dip the chicken pieces into the seasoned flour. Move around to coat well, then shake off excess flour. Dip into the egg wash, coating well, then dip into the Cap'n Crunch/Cornflakes mixture, coating well. Heat oil in a large heavy skillet to 325°F. Drop coated chicken tenders carefully into the hot oil and cook until golden brown and fully cooked.

*****

I put the cereals in a gallon size Ziploc bags and crush them (actually I had the boy help me...he loved it!) and then put the coated chicken tenders in there and shook them around to coat. Super easy! I also used two sets of tongs...one for moving the chicken pieces through the coating process and one for frying. This was super yummy!! We all really liked it. Now that I have the recipe somewhere (instead of a loose piece of paper floating around my kitchen), I hope to make it more often.

Now the potato salad...

Dill Potato Salad (I renamed it)
6 red potatoes, cut into chunks
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 1 tablespoon dried dill weed
1 teaspoon celery salt
salt and pepper to taste

1. Place potatoes in a pot with enough water to cover, and bring to a boil. Cook 15 minutes, or until tender. Drain and cool.
2. In a bowl, gently toss potatoes, mayonnaise, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, dill, celery salt, salt, and pepper. Cover, and refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving.

*****

I mixed up the dressing while the potatoes were cooking. Some of the reviews said the dressing made too much, so I mixed it up in a separate bowl to add in to the potatoes. I tasted it after making it per the directions (except I used fresh dill and a lot more than 1 Tbsp...and I didn't have celery salt), and it tasted way too mayonnaise-y. I chopped up more dill, but it still tasted off. I added garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper but still off. I added another Tbsp or so of Dijon mustard, and it was getting a little better. I had some Pampered Chef dill seasoning, so I added that in and it FINALLY tasted right! The salad was really good...super easy (once I got the dressing right) and fast to put together. Oh, and I only used about half the dressing I made, and it was PLENTY.