Thursday, February 16, 2012

Chinese sauce and soup

I thought I'd posted these before, but apparently I was dreaming of posting to my blog...or something equally weird. I just need to get these recorded so I can easily find them.

White sauce

2 Tbl soy sauce
3/4 C water/white wine
1 Tbl grated ginger (or a squirt from a tube)
1 Tbl cornstarch

Combine and add to stirfry. Allow to cook down a couple of minutes.


Egg drop soup

4 C chicken broth
1/2 tsp ginger
2 tbs chives, chopped
1 1/2 Tbl cornstarch
3 eggs, beaten

Combine everything except eggs in a saucepan.

After its cooked down a bit, use a fork to drizzle the egg into the soup. Serve immediately.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Buffalo wings

These are semi-healthy. The sauce will be played with a lot, methinks.


2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
8 Tbl hot sauce (Louisianna or whatever)
stick butter
1 1/2 Tbl white vinegar
1/4 tsp
2 shakes garlic powder
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Dice chicken and cook.
Mix the other ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a simmer.
Add chicken into sauce to coat.
Nom

First thing I want to play with - reducing the amount of butter in this. Actually, though, 2 breasts only used about half the sauce, if that. All in all, not too horrible a meal.

Salsa...finally

ALRIGHTY, sportsfans. I think I have it. After I blogged, I did some research and over a couple of days figured out some of the finer points of my salsa. Here's what I have...

3 tomatoes still on the vine in the store
1/2 small white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 pablano pepper
1 jalapeno pepper
1 lid full cilantro (larger bottle of McCormicks)
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 lime

Start the broiler on the oven and place the rack as high as possible.
Slice tomatoes in half and place face down on cookie sheet. Add the peppers sliced longways and deveined and deseeded.
Broil about 3-5 minutes. You are looking for 2 things here - no burning and for the tomato skins to start splitting.
After you've removed the tray from the oven, pull the skin from the tomatoes and discard (the skin, not the tomatoes). Chop up the tomatoes and the peppers and add to the onion and garlic.
Add the spices and squeeze the lime over the top.
Refrigerate for at least an hour to allow the flavors to blend.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Salsa...again

Alrighty, this isn't a recipe because I've still not found one that works. I wanted to blog about the search, though. Its interesting.

When I got down here in July, I figured I'd have a salsa recipe instantly - like someone is standing on the roadside at the Corpus Christi city limits handing out recipes. Needless to say, that isn't the case.

A few months later, a friend gave me his recipe. It was 2 tomatoes to 1 onion and was overpowering. I figured I'd just work with this recipe to get one I liked. Then I saw one yesterday. I figured it was worth a try.

The unique thing about this one was it had me broiling some veggies. I thought that would add a nice smoky flavor. After I got the tomatoes, jalapeno, garlic and onion all cut up and on the sheet I reviewed the recipe. It wanted them to broil for...TWENTY MINUTES? That seemed a little crazy, but...I'm the one who doesn't know about these things. Still - I set the timer for 10 minutes and figured I'd just watch it.

The smoke alarm started going off after about 7 minutes. Sometimes, it pays to listen to yourself. So, the search continues. Its fun, but sometimes...dang.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Caesar dressing, low fat

Not much to picture here.

Caesar Dressing

2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
1/2 garlic clove
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon malt vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and black pepper

Mix them in the bowl you intend to add the salad to and serve. VERY easy and tasty. I'm wondering about a little anchovy oil to add that flavor.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Mahi Mahi (or other thick fish fillets)

Martha's here! She appreciates that fresh ocean fish, so here's what we made.


butter
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons dry white wine
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup (1/2 can) canned diced tomatoes
1/8 tsp dried oregano
1/8 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp freshly grated orange zest
8 ounces thick-cut mahi-mahi

Preheat oven to 450.
In a cast iron skillet, heat on stovetop to medium heat and add butter and onion. Saute until tender.
Add wine and garlic and stir for a couple of minutes.
Add tomatoes, spices, and zest and stir to combine.
Add fish and pop in oven for 30 minutes.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Beef Stroganoff

So, Max mentioned this to me. After that, I couldn't get it out of my head. Making it was therapy. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

(Forgot to take a picture. So sue me.)

1 1/2 pounds cubed round steak, sliced into bite sized chunks
salt
pepper
garlic powder
all-purpose flour
olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
onion, sliced
8 ounces fresh mushrooms, diced
can cream of mushroom soup
beef broth
salt and black pepper
1 cup sour cream
cooked egg noodles

Season steak with salt, pepper, and garlic powder and dust with flour. Brown in olive oil and butter.

Remove from pan.

Add onions and mushrooms to drippings and cook until onions are softened and mushrooms are shrunk.

Readd steak, mushroom soup and an equal amount of beef broth (use the can to measure).

Simmer 30ish minutes covered.

Add salt/pepper to taste and add sour cream for the last few minutes of cooking.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Veggie Chili

Well, I caved to mah honey. She has wanted a veggie chili for some time. Here's my first shot at it.



olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon salt
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 green bell peppers, chopped
2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 (4 ounce) cans chopped green chile peppers, drained
3 (28 ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes, crushed
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained
1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
1 (15 ounce) can black beans
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn
Salt and Pepper

Add the oil and onion to a pot on medium heat. As you cut up the veggies, add them to the pot until everything's in. After boiling, simmer for 45-60 minutes.

I cooked up some sausage and added cheese to this - cause I aint no vegetarian, but the chili was good.