Salad dressing salad dressing salad dressing!!!

This is mostly just for Teresa. Hi Teresa!

White Balsamic Vinaigrette
*This is my favorite salad dressing on earth. It is great on salads that have goat cheese or bleu cheese in them, or fruits like pears, apples, or craisins. See "That One Salad" below.
3 parts White Balsamic Vinegar
1 part olive oil
Blend until emulsified.

Balsamic Vinaigrette
3 parts aged Balsamic Vinegar
1 part olive oil
Blend until emulsified

Dijon Balsamic Vinaigrette
3 parts aged Balsamic Vinegar
1 T dijon mustard
1 tsp. sugar OR honey
1 part olive oil
Blend until emulsified.

Fattoush Salad Dressing
2 parts red wine vinegar
2 T fresh lemon juice
2 parts olive oil
1 T sumac (available in Middle Eastern spice stores)
Salt/pepper
Whisk together until combined.

Bleu Cheese Dressing
1/2 cup milk or heavy cream
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
6-8 oz. bleu cheese, crumbled
salt/pepper to taste
Whisk together to combine fully.

Apple Cider Vinaigrette
1 part apple cider vinegar
1 part olive oil
3 T apple juice or apple cider
1 T honey
Blend until emulsified

Vegetarian Chili with Polenta

This week, I literally overdrafted my checking account. I have never done that before! I've taken on a lot recently in teaching several art classes in the area & I have to provide the supplies then get reimbursed later. I also got Jon a birthday present! So, I was strapped for cash. Big time.
I fixed my account right away, but I had to use what was in my cupboard instead of buying new ingredients. It isn't about what I want to eat this week -- it is about what I have.

That means chili.

1 package soy meat
1 can dark red kidney beans, rinsed
1 can canellini beans, rinsed
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 can vegetarian chili beans, not rinsed
1 can vegetable stock
1 can water
2 spoonfuls of jalapeno slices (the jarred kind)
1 T chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. oregano or italian seasonings
Dash cinnamon
1 small onion, diced
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup FRANKS RED HOT



____________________________________
If I had it, I might have added:
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 can sweet corn, drained
1 rib celery, finely chopped

But, I didn't.

So, I put all of the above in a big pot and brought it to a boil. I let it simmer/boil for about 10 minutes. Then, I reduced the heat to low, put a lid on it and let it cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
After an hour, I removed the lid and let simmer for another 30 minutes.

It only gets better as it sits.

I served it with fried polenta rounds and chopped cilantro.




But, if I had it to do over, I would not buy the pre-packaged polenta. I'd get the quick cooking polenta and have my chili with creamy polenta instead of fried polenta rounds.

BBQ Chicken Quesadillas with BBQ Ranch Dipping Sauce

2 chicken breasts, poached or grilled on the BBQ!
1/2 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce
Small bunch of chopped cilantro
1/4 of a red onion, finely diced
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
4 flour tortillas
Canola Oil
Non-stick frying pan

Dipping Sauce:
1/4 cup Hidden Valley Ranch
3 T BBQ Sauce
1 T chopped cilantro
Mix until combined.

Chop up or shredded cooked chicken breast. Toss in your favorite sauce.
Heat 1 T oil in a non-stick skillet and lay in 1 flour tortilla. Add a small handful of the shredded cheese. Top with 1/2 of your chicken and sauce mixture.
Add in 1/2 of your chopped cilantro and 1/2 of your choppped onion. Lay another flour tortilla on top.
Cook on medium heat until golden brown on one side.
Flip with a spatula. This part takes practice, but the cheese should help you to to hold it all together. Try to do this as quickly and precisely as possible.
Grill on the other side for 1-3 mins or until golden brown.
Repeat for another quesadilla.

Serve with extra BBQ sauce and BBQ Ranch dipping sauce.
Or, try with sour cream and guacamole.

ALSO GREAT WITH PULLED PORK!!!

Stuffed French Toast with Balsamic Strawberries and Chopped Basil

I literally dreamed up this recipe the other night! I had a dream where I made this french toast for Jon. I've never made it before, but I guess sometimes answers come to you when you are sleeping.

Serves 3.

6 pieces of thick cut crusty bread
1 package of cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1 cup cream or half and half
Dash cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Butter
Canola oil
Powdered Sugar
4-5 strawberries
Balsamic Vinegar
Granulated Sugar
FRESH chopped basil for garnish
Non-stick skillet

Balsamic Syrup:
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup sugar

Bring to a boil, stirring often.
Let simmer for 20-30 mins on medium heat until reduced to a syrup.
Chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

French Toast:

Preheat oven to 300.

Whisk together eggs, cream, vanilla and cinnamon in a large bowl. Whisk well.

In another bowl, combine softened cream cheese with 1 T of powdered sugar.

Slice 4-5 ripe strawberries and chop basil.

Put 1/3 of the cream cheese mixture onto the middle of 3 pieces of bread and assemble them into sandwiches with the rest of the bread.

Soak each sandwich in the egg/cream mixture for at least 2-3 mins each making sure it is fully saturated.

Move the sandwiches to a warm/hot oiled/buttered non-stick skillet and let brown on each side. Be careful not to burn; you want a nice golden brown.

Once the sandwiches are browned, move to a baking pan that has a rack in it (to lift the toasts off of the bottom of the pan).

Let bake an additional 10-12 mins.

Serve with balsamic syrup, fresh strawberries, and chopped basil.
Or, try maple syrup without the basil!

Grilled Chicken with Pesto

Can you tell I have a lot of fresh basil on hand?
I forgot to bring it to Christmas up north with Jon's parents, and with him away in Conneticut, I need to use it fast (before I go to join him!). So, pesto it is.

Pesto:
Basil, olive oil, garlic, parmesan, squeeze of lemon, garlic salt and some water to make it move all thrown into a blender and blended until smooth. I leave out the pine nuts not because I don't love them but I try to save $$$.

Grilled Chicken:
2 thick cut chicken breasts (I take the left overs for lunch!)
1/4 lb. asaragus
5-6 sundried tomatoes (Meijer has really inexpensive sundried tomatoes in the produce section)

Grill the chicken with a little oil, and throw the asparagus on the grill too.
You might want to steep the sundried tomatoes in a touch of hot water for 5 mins while the chicken is cooking -- or not. I say not.

Put the asparagus on the plate along with the chicken, top it all with sliced sundried tomatoes, lots of pesto sauce and some parmesan cheese.

A good low carb alternative to pesto with pasta!

Lemon and Caper Shrimp Pasta

I made this for lunch this afternoon.   :)

1/2 lb. peeled deveined shrimp (tails on or off)

1/4 lb. spaghetti or angel hair pasta

2 T butter

1 T olive oil

3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 T capers

Juice of 1 large lemon

Salt/pepper to taste

Dash of crushed red pepper flakes

2 T shaved parmesan

Boil pasta until al dente and strain.

Heat oil and butter over medium heat until melted and add in the shrimp and garlic.  Stir around the hot pan for 1-2 minutes (do not cook the shrimp completely) and remove from heat.  Add in the lemon juice, capers, red pepper flakes and strained pasta.  Return to medium/high heat and cook for 3-4 more minutes or until hot. Toss thoroughly and add in a handful of chopped flat leaf parsley.  Salt/pepper. Toss again.

Serve with shaved parmesan.

Shy's Mac and Cheese

The picture doesn't do it justice but I figured that because I have gotten such overwhelming response to my mac and cheese recipe lately, I'd write it out. I use government cheese in it, but you can use velveeta and cheddar if you want to try and mimick the consistency of the cheese.

2 cups milk
1/2 cup hot water mixed with 1/2 cup cremora or other non-dairy coffee creamer (gradually add the cremora/coffeemate/whathaveyou to the hot water)
1/2 package cream cheese
1 jar alfredo sauce (Ragu)
1 tsp. garlic powder
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp. salt and pepper
2 T butter
1 full block of government cheese or 1/2 block velveeta and 8 oz. shredded cheddar
Box of penne
1 cup seasoned croutons
3 graham crackers

Boil pasta to al dente.
Heat the milk, cremora mixture, cream cheese, alfredo sauce, garlic powder and garlic, salt pepper and butter. Whisk over low/medium heat until everything melts and is incorporated into each other.
Shred in the govenment cheese about 1 cup at a time, whisking.
When all of the cheese (ALL of the cheese) is melted into the milk mixture, pour over pasta into a baking dish. It might seem "soupy" to you, but I promise you that it will be great!
Preheat oven to 350.
In a food processor or blender, put 1 cup seasoned salad croutons and 3 graham crackers and pulse until it is turned to crumbs.
Don't put the crumbs on the mac and cheese yet!
Cover the mac and cheese with foil and bake in oven for 45 mins.
Remove foil, put crumbs all over the top, and return to oven for another 15 mins.
Let sit 10-15 mins before serving.

Lemon Pasta with Bay Scallops

Wow that was good!

1/2 box spaghetti or linguini or angel hair pasta, boiled until done & drained thoroughly
2 T butter
2 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 bag bay scallops, thawed and let drain fully on paper towel
Juice from one lemon
Chopped flat leaf parsley
Grated parmesan
Salt/pepper to taste

In a skillet, put a little non-stick spray or canola oil and on high heat, sear the scallops. Drain fully if water is produced from the scallops.
After a minute or two, add in butter, oil, garlic, lemon juice and cooked pasta. Toss thoroughly and let cook in the pan on high heat for 2-4 minutes.
Garnish with chopped flat leaf parsley and grated parmesan cheese.

Blueberry Muffin Stuffin' (Great stuffed in thick Pork Loin Chops)

4 large blueberry muffins (the kind from the grocer's bakery)
1 box chicken stuffing mix
1/2 cup celery and onion, sweated in 2 T butter & pinch of salt
1 egg
Dash dried sage
Dash cinnamon (optional)

Crumble the muffins into the croutons in the stuffing mix.
Follow directions on package for making the chicken stuffing but add 3/4 C more water. Pour in the celery onion and butter mixture, tiny dash cinnamon and sage, s&p to taste and stir.
Add in one egg and combine fully.

Use to stuff pork chops or chicken breasts.
Or, bake in the oven for 20 mins on 375 (Baking is optional. If the heat from the stuffing is hot enough, the egg will cook itself and you can eat it.)

Butternut Squash Lasagna with Sage Butter Sauce

1 package frozen winter squash, thawed
1 small butternut squash, cleaned, peeled, diced
1 stick butter
2 T brown sugar
Salt
Pepper
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Garlic powder
Ricotta cheese
Cream cheese, softened
Shredded Mozzarella
Fresh sage
No boil lasagna noodles or cooked lasagna noodles

Put chunks of butternut squash in a pot, tossed in canola oil, salt and pepper. Put a heavy lid on the pot and cook over medium heat for about 25-30 mins, tossing occasionally. Cook until fork tender.
Place the roasted squash and the frozen squash into a food processor or blender with brown sugar, 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. black pepper, dash cinnamon, dash nutmeg, dash garlic powder & 4-5 chopped fresh sage leaves. Blend until smooth.
Mix tub of ricotta with 1/2 package cream cheese and 1 tsp. salt.

In a lasagna baking dish, layer noodles, squash mixture, noodles, a thin layer of ricotta mixture, noodles, squash mixture, noodles, shredded mozzarella, noodles, squash mixture, noodles, ricotta mixture, noodles, squash, noodles and to the whole dish with some shredded mozzarella.

Melt 1/2 the stick of butter and chop up 10-12 fresh sage leaves & add that to the melting butter. Pour the melted butter and sage mixture over the top of the lasagna, cover with tin foil, and bake in the oven on 350 for about 40 minutes.
Uncover in the last 10-12 mins of cooking.

Sprinkle top of lasagna with cinnamon sugar & serve with more melted butter and chopped fresh sage sauce.

LET STAND 15 MINS BEFORE SERVING.

*Hint: Don't use too much cheese.

Plain Yogurt with Grape Nuts and fresh fruit

A great healthy breakfast! It is really good, and healthier than mixing yogurt with granola.

Mix 1 cup plain low fat yogurt with 1/2 tsp. splenda
Top with 1/2 cup grape nuts
Pile sliced strawberries on top (also try blue berries, raspberries, and more!)

***I like to drain plain yogurt for a few hours in the fridge. I do this by lining a mesh colander with a coffee filter and placing it in a large bowl, with something lifting it at least 1-2" off of the bottom of the large bowl. Flip the yogurt container over into the coffee filter, but don't remove the container. Just leave it in place, flipped over.
Leave for 3-8 hours.
This makes the yogurt thicker and more rich.

Mexicajun Fettucini Alfredo with Chicken and Bell Peppers

1 jar alfredo sauce
1 tsp. cajun seasoning
1 can diced tomatoes, drained (mexican flavored)
1 green pepper, sliced thin
1 red pepper, sliced thin
Cilantro, chopped for garnish
1/2 box fettucini
8 oz. chicken breast, grilled

Heat alfredo sauce and canned tomatoes with sliced peppers and 1 tsp. cajun seasoning.
Add sliced grilled chicken to the sauce.
Cover and simmer on low for about 8-10 mins or until the peppers are beginning to soften. Stir often.

Boil pasta and drain well.

Toss pasta with the sauce, veggies and chicken.

Garnish with chopped cilantro and a dash of Tabasco sauce.