Tag Archives: recipes

03/14/12

Easy Lunch Recipe

As I’ve said before ~ I do hate cooking with a passion ~ so when I find a recipe that tastes great and takes little time, I’m sold ~ and I want to share it!

In this post, I talked about Sam The Cooking Guy and his tip about buying a rotisserie chicken for using during the week to save time.  Well, that’s perfect to use with this easy recipe from Bethenny Frankel.

It’s a yummy lunch recipe with chicken, almonds, cranberries, salt, pepper and mayo.  It could be served on lettuce or on your bread of choice.

Cranberry-Almond Chicken Salad:

  • 1 cup(s) of shredded cooked chicken
  • 1 tbsp. of slivered almonds
  • 1 1/2 tbsp. of dried cranberries
  • 1 1/2 tbsp. of nondairy mayonnaise
  • pinch of cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. of Dijon mustard
  • 1/2 tsp. of salt
  • 1/2 tsp. of black pepper
Steps
  1. Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. ~ Serves 2

When I was younger, probably in my teens or early 20′s, I would ask my mom ~ who is an awesome chef ~ how to cook.  She would say ~ you take a little of this and taste, then you put in a little of that and taste ~ before you know it, you’ve got something that tastes good.

Well, I just didn’t get it.  I’m a bit more scientific than that and just didn’t understand the seeming wishy-washiness (yeah, it’s a word!) of this kind of instruction.  So, I stuck to the recipe like it was a legal document and there began my disdain for cooking.

Then I discovered Bethenny.  I bought her book, Skinnygirl Dish (still hate the word, skinny, by the way) and read it.

It was a great read because she broke everything down, Barney style (as my husband would say) and I guess that’s what I needed.  I still don’t love cooking, but I learned something from Bethenny that my mom was trying to tell me all along.

Use what you have and/or use what you like.

You mean a recipe isn’t printed in gold and if you deviate from it, you won’t be thrown in the pokey??  You don’t say…

Say, you don’t have cranberries ~ use raisins.  Don’t like cinnamon?  Use nutmeg.  Don’t have mayo ~ use yogurt.  Bethenny likes to use non-dairy mayo ~ I like Duke’s mayonnaise.  You get the idea!  You’ll get a slightly different flavor, but it makes it your own.  Sometimes the recipe will work out well, sometimes it won’t.

Now I get it! …only took decades…

What have you tried to learn that it took a ton of bricks to hit you before you finally got it?  Do you have a favorite celebrity chef?

10/26/11

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds in 5 Steps

Yesterday, my kids and I carved pumpkins, which gave me the opportunity to make one of my favorite Halloween snacks:  Roasted Pumpkin Seeds.

This snack is not only yummy and easy to make, it is packed with nutrition.  For every 1/2 cup of pumpkin seeds, you get: Omega 3 and 6, Protein, Magnesium, Zinc, Copper, and Potassium.

 

Here is how to roast your pumpkin seeds in 5 easy steps:

  1. After you rinse them to get all of the pumpkin guts off, place them on a pizza pan.
  2. Spray them with olive oil.
  3. Sprinkle them with old bay or seasoned salt.
  4. Place them in a 300 degree oven.
  5. Turn them every 10 minutes (sprinkling with seasoning, as needed) until they are a lightly toasted color and crisp.

There you have it.  Now you share your favorite pumpkin seed recipe!

04/13/11

Simple Food: Potato Recipe

In my mind, a simple food recipe is not a simple food recipe unless it has 5 ingredients or less ~ and I don’t count salt and pepper, they’re just a given.  My thing is that I’m running around raising my family and I just don’t have the time nor the inclination (channeling Jack Nicholson there…) to stand in the kitchen and cook a gourmet meal.  I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that most of you don’t either.

My biggest inspiration to even getting in the kitchen and cooking at all has been Sam Zien, The Cooking Guy.  In case you don’t know, he has a show called Just Cook This and a few books as well.  He’s just a regular dude, in his kitchen, putting simple things together ~ QUICK.  He also looks at food the same way that I do, all is fine in moderation.  Everything I’ve tasted of his is downright delicious.  This potato recipe is from Sam’s book, Awesome Recipes and Kitchen Shortcuts.

Garlic Roasted Potatoes:

2 lbs new potatoes washed and dried

1 head garlic, cloves separated and peeled

1/4C olive oil

Kosher salt (LOVE the large salt crystals in the kosher salt)

Freshly ground pepper

~Heat oven to 425 degrees F.  Cut the potatoes into quarters and put in a large bowl with the garlic and olive oil.  Season with salt and mix well to coat.

Spread on a baking sheet and bake for about an hour ~ give them a shake at the halfway point.

Transfer to a serving bowl and season with freshly ground pepper (he digs presentation..)~

Serves 4

Did you know that garlic is good for your heart?  Yeah, you may have some rockin’ breath, but your heart will thank you.  For your breath, by the way, chew on a sprig of parsley!

One serving is about 170-200 calories.  Let me know how you like it.