Author Archives for popcorngirl12

Apple & Celery Slaw w/Blue Cheese Dressing

I am always looking for variations on the usual cole slaw recipes. This recipe is a light and refreshing one that is not your “usual” slaw. Using lighter versions of the ingredients lowers the calories and makes a great addition to the summer barbecue! The recipe calls for granny smith apples but feel free to change them to your favorite. Fuji apples are a great apple for this recipe as well. Not as tart as granny smith apples but just as tasty!

INGREDIENTS:

4 ounces regular or light blue cheese, crumbled

½ cup light or regular mayonnaise

½ cup light buttermilk

½ teaspoon sugar or sugar substitute (Splenda or even Agave nectar is good)

4 granny smith or fuji apples

2 stalks celery, thinly sliced

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a small bowl, using a fork, combine the blue cheese, mayonnaise and ¼ cup of the buttermilk until thick and lumpy. Stir in the remaining ¼ cup buttermilk and the sugar/sweetener. Refrigerate.

2. Quarter, core and coarsely grate the apples. In a medium bowl, combine the apples with the dressing. Stir in the celery; cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serves 6

Hurricane Cocktails

Yes I am doing a Hurricane cocktail today. In honor of all the crazy storms out there right now, especially “My Name Is Earl”. As of right now Earl is down to a Category 1 storm with winds only at 85mph. ONLY! Coming from NY we never really knew what hurricanes where for the most part. Sure I remember Gloria. But by the time it got to NY it was nothing like the ones I experienced living here in Florida. I was here 4 years before our first one in 2004. Hurricane Frances. Then 3 weeks later Hurricane Jeanne. Hurricane Wilma in 2005 was another one we got to know up close and personal. Let me just say I am glad I experienced it but don’t need to repeat again, ever. We got hit dead on for these, not just a brushing past us. It was not fun. So now when they talk about these storms and some people just don’t realize how severe they can be. Just ask Louisiana or any other Gulf state. So for all of you up north in the path, even though it’s a Cat.1 please take it seriously and prepare. You never know! If I had a dollar for all the times our weather people said, “Oh this has never happened before! Or This is highly unusual for a storm!” I would be rich. Honestly, you don’t know! So be safe everyone and have a cocktail. Stock up on ice and water! You don’t realize how much you need them both until you can’t get them!

So enjoy the cocktails. This recipe makes enough for 8! It is courtesy of  Rachael Ray. It will NOT be that bright red color that you usually have from a bar hurricane. That is pretty much all sugar and fruit punch. Yuck!! This will be a pretty orange/yellow color.

INGREDIENTS:

½ cup simple syrup

2 cups golden rum

2 cups passion fruit juice

2 cups orange juice (no pulp is better)

2 cups pineapple juice

½ cup orange liqueur, such as Grand Mariner

juice of 4 limes (about ½ cup)

Myers Rum

ice cubes

Bitters, such as Angostura (You can leave this out if you want)

8 fresh pineapple wedges for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

1. Fill a large pitcher or large punch bowl with ice cubes. Add the rum, passionfruit juice, orange juice, lime juice, pineapple juice and simple syrup and stir until chilled.

2. Strain the cocktail into glasses, top with a dash of bitters and garnish with a pineapple wedge. Put a little Myers Rum on top as a floater! Enjoy!

Tex Mex Calzone

Ok everyone, I am cheating again today. I got so far behind with doing other stuff today that the blog just got buried. I’m supposed to be making dinner right now and that will be late as well. Don’t even know for sure what it will be! Anyway, this is a recipe video on a Tex Mex Calzone. It’s ‘redone’ which means it’s made a little on the healthier side. Hope you enjoy it!

Collard Greens Gone Wild

Ok, I know, how can collard greens go wild? And I’m not talking fresh collard greens either. Frozen. Yes frozen. I never had collard greens growing up and of course just figured I didn’t like them. My husband suggested I try them so one day at the supermarket I went “wild” and bought a bag of frozen greens. Also since I had no idea how to serve them the Italian in me took over. I prepared them according to the package but when I served them I added butter and a parmesan/garlic seasoning. They came out really good. I was hooked. Then recently I tried them from a menu at a restaurant specializing in “southern/cowboy” type barbecue. I HATED them! They had no flavor, the color was so washed out they did not look very appetizing. Definitely not enough to even eat! Well I tried them. Yuck! I tried adding butter, salt, hot sauce…Still yuck! I was so disappointed! I knew I should have gotten the fried green tomatoes that night! So last night I kicked them up a notch so to say. They came out really good! The only thing is the bag of frozen greens is big that I now have lots left over. I will be using them tonight as my side for the Veal Scaloppini recipe I posted yesterday.  They actually look like escarole and beans a little bit. I originally served it with a Lemon Lime Marinated Chicken recipe from a great food blog called Dana’s Food For Thought. Check it out! (Thanks Dana!)

INGREDIENTS:

1 16-19 ounce bag frozen chopped collard greens

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic chopped

3 cloves garlic thinly sliced

2 teaspoons red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon basil

1 teaspoon oregano

2 cups chicken broth

1 -15 ounce can canellini beans, drained and rinsed

parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a dutch oven or large pot sauté olive oil and chopped garlic. Saute till garlic is lightly browned. Add the basil and oregano and stir for a minute or so.

2. Add the frozen collard greens and chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and add the beans, red pepper flakes and sliced garlic. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

3. Serve greens with parmesan cheese if you like.

Veal Scaloppine

The next time you see veal cutlets on sale buy some and try this recipe. You can also make this recipe using pork cutlets which are much cheaper or if you are weird about eating veal. My husband loves veal and is always upset when we eat at an Italian restaurant and they don’t offer it! The nerve! I guess you can also make this with chicken cutlets as well but veal or pork is best. This is a very simple recipe and isn’t loaded with fat. A taste treat for everyone! It is sort of like a veal Marsala really but you can call it whatever you want as long as you make it!

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound veal or pork cutlets

flour

6 tablespoons olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

pepper to taste

½ cup sherry or dry white wine

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

8-12 mushrooms, sliced

DIRECTIONS:

1. If veal or pork is thick slice in half, carefully and place pieces between two pieces of wax paper or plastic wrap. Pound thin with a mallet or meat pounder to about ¼ inch. If you can get the cutlets that thin to begin with even better! Cover lightly with the flour.

2. Add oil to a large skillet and sauté the veal and garlic for 3-4 minutes on each side. Sprinkle with pepper. Add the sherry or wine, parsley and mushrooms. Simmer for 10 minutes.

3. Serve with any side you want. Potatoes, rice, pasta, broccoli, or any vegetable.

Serves 4

Back of the Fridge Chicken Soup

Ever have one of those days when you just want to clean everything out of your fridge but you can’t throw it away because it’s still ok to eat? I did that last week. I had a bunch of little containers with leftover veggies, leftover rotisserie chicken from the supermarket and a freezer full of turkey stock I made from the my Thanksgiving in July dinner. You can use whatever you have left in your fridge or freezer and it will be delicious! I had some frozen mushrooms also that I threw in. It was very tasty! We actually had it two nights in a row.

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups chicken or turkey broth or stock

1 8oz. package Tofu Shirataki Noodles, prepared according to package

4 cups mixed veggies of your choice (I used a mix of frozen chopped spinach, broccoli rabe w/chicken sausage, mushrooms, peas, green beans, onion and garlic), chopped into bite sized pieces

1-2 cups chopped leftover chicken, whatever you have is good

1 15-16oz. can cannellini beans drained and rinsed.

½ cup chopped parsley

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Saute the chopped onion and garlic in the olive oil. When soft pour in broth and rest of the ingredients except for the beans, parsley and noodles.

2. Bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer for about 15-20 minutes until everything is heated through.

3. Add the beans and noodles and continue to cook for another 5 minutes or so until the beans are heated through. Add the parsley and serve.

4. Serve with parmesan cheese if you like!

Makes 4-6 servings.

Lemon Grotto

It’s 5 o’clock somewhere! I found this cocktail in the February 2010 issue of Coastal Living. (love that magazine!) We’ve made it a few times for us and friends. Needless to say it packs quite a punch. It looks so unassuming and innocent! The power in this cocktail is of course Limoncello, which if you remember has a whopping 26% alcohol in it. So along with the other ingredients it is over the top incredible! It does take some prep time so make sure you leave enough time to prepare it for yourselves or guests. You can serve this in tall glasses or champagne flutes or martini glasses. Whichever you have around. So before summer is gone, make a batch and sip and relax! We actually made these last on Valentine’s Day! Brought a batch over to our friends house and sipped them by the fire. Yes, in Florida! Lori and Mike have a beautiful house in Jensen Beach which has a great fireplace so we hung with them for a few hours and enjoyed the day. The drinks should have a slight frothy top if served immediately after blending. But since we had made these ‘to go’, they lost the head. (I hear you all laughing!) The 2nd picture is from the magazine.

INGREDIENTS:

6 ounces (¾ cup) limoncello

2 ounces (¼ cup) orange liqueur (Grand Mariner)

8 large strawberries, sliced

Prosecco or other sparkling wine

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine the limoncello and orange liqueur in a small bowl. Stir in the strawberries and soak at least one hour. (We did this overnight!)

2. After the berries have soaked, purée the mixture in a blender. Strain if desired. (We tried both ways. Strained is a little better, no seeds etc)

3. Pour into 4  glasses. Top with Prosecco or sparkling wine. Serve immediately!

Makes 4 drinks!

See what happens when you drink a couple in front of a cozy fire!

Blueberry Flax Seed Muffins

Today I am being lazy. Hey it happens to all of us. I was looking at some food videos on SparkPeople site today and found many of them really cool and helpful! And since I am trying to lose weight (like always) I always look for the healthier recipes for stuff that can be not so healthy. These muffins may sound weird with the flax-seed but they are really good. Flax seed is very high in fiber and protein, both things that are great for eating healthier! I think I’m going to be posting a few other videos like this in the future so keep an eye open for them. I found out about SparkPeople Recipes from a friend at Weight Watchers many years ago and it is usually pretty good. People send in recipes for all kinds of stuff and it’s free to join. So for now, just sit back with a cup of coffee or tea and watch the video! It’s less than 5 minutes long and the muffins look so good!

Smothered Chicken

I feel like today is a Monday! The job hunting takes up most of my mornings these days, leaving the rest of the day to do my endless list of “house” chores. Today I was supposed to clean up the office buried underneath the rubble. I started this finally at 6pm! And now I just remembered I forgot to post a blog recipe! So here I am, 7:23pm, starting my blog, and watching an episode of Roswell on Hulu.com (I love Hulu by the way!) I have an iMac and the screen is 21.5″ so watching a show and working is easy! So here goes.

Today’s recipe is another recipe from Dom DeLuise’s book “Eat This Too!” Normally when I see a recipe that has the word “smothered” in it I try and avoid it. Though this recipe is low-calorie and high in protein. It’s actually a very easy recipe to make and it won’t take up all your night cooking! Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

2 teaspoons olive oil

pepper to taste

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 onion, minced

¼ teaspoon paprika

2 tablespoons flour

1½ cups chicken broth

1 tablespoon soy sauce

18-20 mushrooms, sliced

4 cups cooked brown or white rice (I prefer jasmine brown rice)

2 teaspoons sesame seeds

DIRECTIONS:

1. Set chicken in deep broiling pan. Season with olive oil, pepper, garlic, onion and paprika.

2. Set broiler about 5 inches from heat. Broil chicken 3 minutes on one side, turn and broil one minute on the other side. Remove and set aside.

3. In a mixing bowl, stir flour into broth and soy sauce until flour dissolves. Add mushrooms. Pour the broth mixture into a saucepan and cook over medium heat while stirring constantly until sauce thickens.

4. Slice and arrange the chicken breasts on the rice and “smother” everything with the mushroom sauce. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Serves 4

Escarole and Beans

Such a delicious hearty peasant dish. Love it on a cold fall day or anytime for that matter. It’s a cross between a soup and a stew. You can even add some cooked ditalini macaroni to this if you want to stretch it. Any small pasta will do. If I wasn’t so lazy I’d run out to the store right now and buy some escarole and make this tonight. Maybe tomorrow night. This is such an easy dish to make and so good for you as well. Escarole is overlooked at times, people are afraid of it. It is actually part of the endive family but is less bitter. With the right spices and sauce it is just heavenly. Mangia!

INGREDIENTS:

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 small onion, chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 head escarole, washed very well and cut into pieces

1 carrot, sliced

1 cup chicken broth

1 15-16oz. can cannellini beans

grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1. Saute the garlic and onion in the olive oil in a saucepan until translucent. Add the escarole, carrot and broth, bring to a boil. Once it boils simmer for 20 minutes.

2. Add the beans but do not stir them in. Cook for another 5 minutes. Stir gently to mix, then serve with grated cheese and if you like, a nice hot loaf of crusty Italian bread.

Serves 4

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