Nini’s Peanut Noodles

These don't exactly qualify as authentic peanut noodles, but they are darn good. They are not spicy hot at ALL, but are very flavorful. So if you want Thai, but aren't fond of the heat, try this!

1 breast or 1 can chicken OR 1/2 lb prawns or scallops (optional)
1 package Asian noodles*
3-4 c chicken broth
a few Tbs oil (wok oil or veg oil)
2-3 eggs, scrambled into a blob then sliced into strips
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, cut julienne
4-6 cloves garlic
2/3-3/4 c peanut butter (chunky is best)
1/2- 2/3 c soy sauce
1/3-1/2 c brown sugar
2 tsp roasted sesame oil**
1/2 -1c peas (I use frozen)
1 can bamboo shoots or water chestnuts
3/4 c bean sprouts
other veggies as desired

Put the broth in a saucepan to heat. Add garlic
Scramble the eggs, then cut and set aside. Put a little oil in a frypan or wok, and gently sauté onions and chicken.
When it boils, add noodles to broth to cook (follow package instructions for cooking time and method).
Add peanut butter, soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, and a little broth (from noodles) to the wok, and stir until all is well blended. Add additional broth as needed to prevent sticking and achieve a smooth texture. Add eggs, carrots, peas, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, (other veggies), and cooked noodles. Add remaining broth slowly while stir frying. Add bean sprouts just a minute before serving.

* This recipe really doesn’t work unless you use real Asian noodles. Don’t bother trying if you’re not going to do it right. :-)

**roasted or ‘Asian’ sesame oil is not the same as plain sesame oil. It means the seeds were roasted before the oil was pressed out, and the flavor is much stronger. As with the noodles, if you’re not going to use the right thing, don’t bother doing it at all.

Orange Sesame Ginger Stir Fry

1-2 c Meat as desired (beef or chicken is best)
2-4 c Veggies as desired (onion, garlic, broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, water chestnuts, baby corn, bamboo shoots, etc)
One orange
1 Tbs grated Ginger (or 1/2 inch fresh and grated)
Toasted sesame oil (the ‘toasted’ part is important)

Stir fry meat with a little wok oil and/or sesame oil until cooked or nearly cooked. Add veggies. Squish an orange over the pan to get out all the juice and as much pulp as possible. Grate/sprinkle in ginger. Sprinkle in 1-2 tsp sesame oil. Stir well.
Serve over rice.

Glazed Salmon & Cranberry Risotto

GLAZED SALMON(on the left)
My dad's cousin showed me this. She does it on her grill, but since I don't have a grill I just do it in the oven and it works well enough.

salmon (I prefer fillets, but a steak would work too)
brown sugar
butter

Use about equal parts sugar and butter, and melt them together to make a glaze. Peiodically as the salmon cooks, paint it all over with the glaze. It works best with several thin coats rather than just one thick one. Let it cook until caramalized!



CRANBERRY RISOTTO
(on the right)
I invented this myself. I am calling it a risotto rather than fried rice because it is still soft--it's not fried in butter to get any crunchy parts, it's merely prepared in a little oil in a frying pan...I don't know if that's a true risotto, but it looks close enough to me!

about 3 c cooked rice
1 onion, chopped (I used a leftover half a red onion, as well as half a white--it added lovely color, but of course any onion would be fine)
1/2-3/4 c craisins
juice of one orange (around 1/3 c)
herbs
oil

Saute the onions and rice in a little oil until the onions begin to look glassy. Stir in herbs to taste (I used a costco seafood rub blend because I was serving it with fish, but any mild herbs will work). Squeeze in juice from the orange, using a fork to get some pulp in too. Throw in craisins, and stir well. Fry everything together for a few minutes to blend all the flavors.

Savory Pie

Last night we held our annual pie night. Since I didn't feel like veering off my pie-making binge for dinner, I made a savory pie for dinner.


uncooked pie shell
1 lb ground sausage
2c gravy (can use bullion or from a package if desired)
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
2+ cups assorted veggies (we used carrots and cauliflower, but anything's great)
salt and pepper
grated cheese (I used monteray jack)


Fry sausage until well crumbled. As the juices come out, add in onion and cook until soft and golden. Add garlic and other veggies, as well as salt and pepper to taste. Cook until everything starts to soften a little. Pour all into pie shell, pour in gravy, and sprinkle top with 1+ c cheese (depending how much you like!)
Bake at 350 for around 20 min--long enough to cook crust and get cheese melted and golden.

This one was really popular at pie night! I'll have to make it again!

Acorn Squash Soup

1 acorn squash, cut off rind and chop into medium chunks.
Over medium heat, bring one quart of milk to a gentle boil. Add acorn squash chunks as milk heats.
Add around 1Tbs salt, 1 tsp pepper, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp nutmeg.
Stir until spices are mixed in.
When squash is soft, scoop into a bowl or blender and pulvarize the squash into some of the milk. Remix all back together in the pan.

Oatmeal is Awesome

Beware, for this post contains several hidden recipes!

I love oatmeal. It is so versitile! It is also a lactagogue (meaning that it increases milk supply for nursing mothers) so that is just an extra bit of grooviness right there!

Here are some of my favorite things to do with oatmeal:
**standard cooked oatmeal for breakfast.
**coconut oatmeal one can of coconut milk, 2 c of rolled oats, soak overnight in the fridge. In the morning, heat on the stove, adding a little additional milk as needed for texture. Quicker and sweeter than regular oatmeal.
**in fruit crisps, cobblers, and dutch apple pie topping.
**in muffins and breads.

Leftover oatmeal is just as good! It makes a delicious and hearty addition to pancakes, waffles or muffins. My 7yo is also fond of 'oatmeal pancakes' wherein I add a little flour to the leftover, congealed oatmeal, and then make patties and fry them up in a little butter. Serve like pancakes, with syrup or jam. Yum!

Peli Cheesesteak

One leftover potroast, sliced thin
One large onion, thinly sliced
Spices
Mozzarella cheese
Homemade rolls

Saute the onion in a little oil and some spices (I cheated and used the 'steak rub' from costco) until it is soft. Grate the cheese. Fry the beef lightly with the onion until browned on both sides.
Slice a roll, lay in a piece of hot meat, sprinkle on a goodly pile of cheese, then a nice heap of onions. Close roll. Devour with gusto.

It's not quite a philly cheesesteak...but dang it was good!

Halibut Yumminess

1 chunk of halibut (enough for the family...I used about 3 lbs, but it's cheaper here since it's caught locally!)
butter
tarragon
garlic salt (or garlic and salt)

Over med-high heat, melt the butter in a fry pan. Use at least several tablespoons of butter. Lay in the thawed fish, and sprinkle generously with tarragon, garlic, and salt. Cover and sizzle for about 3 minutes. Turn fish over, and cook, uncovered, until fish gets golden and crusty in the butter. Add more butter as needed. Turn again to make sure it's golden on both sides and that the herbs spread all over.
Eat it while it's hot!
Revel in the yumminess.

I wish I had a picture of this. It was so pretty! We ate it with garlic and olive oil couscous and mixed steamed veggies on the side.

Monkey French Toast

OK, so we'll start with the up-front honesty and just admit that I mostly stole this from Rachel Ray.

This is a stuffed french toast--that means you make some goomp to put in the middle, then squish it between two pieces of bread, then dip the 'sandwich' in the eggy stuff and fry it up...

MONKEY GOOMP (the stuffing part)
2 bananas
1/3-1/2 c peanut butter
a large drizzle of honey (maybe 1/4 c?)

Mix it together--a food processor works well, or an electric mixer...don't put it in the blender like I did the first time. You will regret it. Trust me. And mashing by hand won't get it very smooth.

If you're feeling health conscious, put it on wheat bread. If you're me, remind yourself that it's french toast, and supposed to be light, and put it on sprouted wheat or even *gasp* white. :-)


I should mention that I do not like bananas, nor most things with peanut butter in them...but I like this.

Ultimate Fruit Smoothie

A smoothie needs four things:
Something liquid
Something frozen
Something sweet
Something flavorful

I combine by using fresh fruit (flavor), frozen fruit (flavor, frozen), frozen juice concentrate (sweet, frozen), and yogurt or whole milk (liquid). (Sometimes I use yogurt AND milk, depending on the other ingredients and the proportions.) I don't like to use ice cubes, as that waters-down the flavor.
It is worth mentioning that not all fruits are created equal in the world of smoothies. I have found that grapes and melons make pretty poor smoothies. Apples give a strange texture if they are fresh, but are a great addition when frozen. Apple and grape juice concentrates are the best sweeteners--white grape and apple will not affect the flavor much either.

I love throwing a banana into almost any mixture. They are heathy, cheap, and add nice texture to a smoothie. I use them fresh at first, then they start getting a little brown, I put them in the freezer and use them frozen.

I start with a half cup or so of plain yogurt in the bottom of the blender, then add fresh fruit, then frozen fruit, then sweetener, then pour enough milk to just barely cover everything. (Note, if you have a lot of soft or juicy fruit, use less milk!)

Some favorite combinations:

Fresh peaches, frozen strawberries

Fresh kiwi, frozen strawberries, (can add fresh or frozen banana)

Banana and strawberry--either one fresh or frozen

Fresh raspberries, frozen apple

Fresh cherries, frozen apple, optional banana

Any mixture of berries

If you want to feel inspired, go down and look at the yogurt in the grocery store--any fruit combination that they make there is bound to be even better in a smoothie!

Pina Colada Smoothie

OK, this one still needs some refinement...but based on the first couple of trials, here's my new improved recipe.

1 can coconut milk or coconut cream (chilled)
1 can crushed pineapple
1/4 c sugar
6-10 ice cubes

Put the crushed pineapple (with it's juice) into the blender and pulverize it into oblivion. Well, at least blend until it's not chunky anymore (otherwise you'll have chunky smoothie, which is not very smooth...)
Shake coconut milk/cream (before opening can), and then add to blender, along with sugar and ice cubes. You don't need the sugar really, but my husband likes his smoothies pretty sweet. An alternative would be a little plain pineapple juice.
Blend until smooth!

(You can also toss in a banana for texture.)

Summer Garden Pasta Primavera

I adapted this from a recipe I found online, and it was yummy!
Depending on whether you use the chicken broth or not, this can also be a vegetarian recipe.

I always do these things slightly different each time, based on what veggies I have in the house...but here's what I did this time:

2 carrots, chopped into matchsticks (about 1 c)
1 sweet onion (walla walla) chopped in strips about 2" long
1/4 c olive oil
3 Tbs chopped garlic (a couple of clusters)
2 Tbs basil
1 c broccoli--bite size pieces
1 c cherry tomatoes, halved (or chopped tomatoes, or stewed tomatoes)
1 medium zucchini, sliced
1-2Tbs cornstarch
(opt) 1/4 cup chicken broth (I used two frozen cubes--ice cube size)
mozzarella and/or Parmesan cheese
about 1/2 package of linguine or fettuccine noodles, cooked

Get the noodles cooking.
Put the olive oil in a cast iron skillet and get it warm, then add the onion, garlic, and carrots. Stir and saute for a few minutes until carrots begin to soften. Add basil and stir. Add tomatoes, zucchini, and broccoli, and broth (or a little other liquid--unless you used stewed tomatoes, then you won't need extra liquid) along with the cornstarch, and stir and cook for about 5 more minutes, or until everything is well mixed and seems to thicken a little. Sprinkle in about 2/3 c cheese (I used mozzarella), and stir until all melted together.
Serve over noodles, sprinkle Parmesan on top.

These proportions serve about 4 people.

Introduction

I have a number of friends who have recipe blogs, and I finally decided to start one of my own. This is where I'll share old favorites, new creations, and recipes I don't want to lose!

Enjoy!

Brightonwoman