Tag Archives: garlic

Mussels in Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce

Well I am back from the Wine and Food Festival at EPCOT in Walt Disney World. We ate, we drank, we walked and sweated! A great time was had by all! This recipe was actually posted on Disney’s blog before the festival because it was going to be a new dish from a new country at the festival. Belgium. But before I made it or wrote about it I at least wanted to taste it. It was delicious! I would have gotten it again but we were so full we were happy to have tasted it at least once. The recipe looks long and difficult but it’s pretty straight forward. They actually call for fresh mussels that you have to scrub and “de-beard”, which is fine, but I have lots of frozen cooked mussels in my freezer so I will just cook them according to the package. Which is really just heating them up. So either way you want to do this will be fine. I can’t wait to make them at home. Maybe this weekend! If you like garlic and mussels then you will love this recipe.

Mussels in Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce at Belgium in EPCOT

INGREDIENTS:

ROASTED GARLIC PUREE:

2 large heads garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

ROASTED GARLIC CREAM SAUCE:

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 shallots, minced

½ cup white wine

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 cups heavy cream

2 tablespoons Roasted Garlic Puree

½ teaspoon coarse salt

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

MUSSELS:

4 pounds fresh mussels, scrubbed and de-bearded

1 cup dry white wine

1 cup water

4 thick slices sourdough bread, toasted

2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley

2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill

2 teaspoons chopped fresh chives

DIRECTIONS:

ROASTED GARLIC PUREE:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Remove excess papery skin from garlic, keeping head intact. Cut about ¼ off of garlic head, exposing the cloves.

2. Place each head of garlic cut side up on an individual square of aluminum foil. Drizzle each with oil. Wrap in foil, sealing edges.

3. Place pouch in oven and roast for 45 minutes. Cool for 20 minutes or until cool enough to handle.

4. Squeeze garlic from skins into small bowl. Discard skins. Mash garlic with a fork until smooth.

ROASTED GARLIC CREAM SAUCE:

1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add shallot and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add wine and lemon juice, stirring to combine. Cook until reduced by half, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.

2. Add cream, roasted garlic purée, salt and pepper, whisking to combine. Simmer (DO NOT BOIL) until sauce is slightly thickened, about 4-5 minutes. Set aside.

MUSSELS:

1. Place mussels, wine and water into a large stockpot over high heat. Cover and bring to a boil. Cook until mussels open, about 4 minutes. Remove and discard any mussels that do not open. Strain cooking liquid from mussels and discard liquid.

2. Place mussels in a large serving bowl or individual shallow bowls. Pour roasted garlic cream sauce over mussels and garnish with parsley, dill and chives. Serve immediately.

Serves 4

Guacamole Kicked Up a Notch

Yes I know I’ve already done guacamole. But I had three very ripe avocados in the fridge that I thought were history. I figured I’d better check them out before I tossed them. I cut them open and surprise! They were still ok! A few little blemishes here and there but otherwise fine and dandy! So I made guacamole. But as I was making it I had the idea to make it a little different. I looked around in the fridge and came across two ingredients I would never have thought to put in guacamole. Fat-free plain Greek yogurt and gorgonzola cheese! Weird? Not so much! I had about ½ cup of yogurt so I put it in my little food chopper and added a large handful of crumbled gorgonzola cheese. It was about 1/3 cup or so. I processed it till it was pretty creamy and added it to the guacamole. The color of the guacamole got a little lighter but I tasted it and it was good! I let it sit for a few more hours and it was even better! Who would have thought! We will be eating it for the next few days on everything! There is quite a lot of it. The guacamole recipe is from my recipe that I posted back in June. Just click on the link to get the recipe and just add the yogurt and gorgonzola cheese and you are set! I am sure it would probably be good with blue cheese as well!

So as you can see today’s post does not have an exact recipe. Just click on over to my other one for the rest.

Devilish Oven Fried Chicken w/Green Beans

I swore I would do the blog in the morning, so that when 7pm rolled around I wasn’t scrambling to get dinner ready and writing my blog at the same time. But here I am at 7:15pm writing the blog. I get so swamped in the morning. Between getting up with my husband at 7am, make his lunch & breakfast for him to take to work, feed the cats, clean the litter boxes, take the garbage out for pickup, do two more loads of laundry, check my email, eBay and whatnot…Oh and I wanted to do my daily walk as well at around 10am. HA! It was noon by the time I did that. So once the morning was gone the thought of writing the blog was too. I spent the afternoon job hunting as usual. No luck. So here I am now writing about a yummy dish I made last night. The original version of this recipe is from Rachael Ray (my fave!) and I changed it to suit what I had in the house. It originally called for 4 chicken legs w/thighs. I had 5 chicken thighs. The recipe also called for removal of the skin! I know! I left it on. That is pretty much it on what I changed. Though next time I am adding more hot sauce. Recipe only called for 1 tablespoon, not enough. I would add about ¼ cup next time. I served it with a side of green beans. The beans were the frozen kind in a ‘steamer’ bag. I was steaming them for about 5 minutes in the microwave till I heard the bag pop! No, it’s not supposed to do that! So I took them out of the microwave. In the meantime I had sautéed a shallot and 3 cloves of garlic in a little olive oil. I drained and dumped the beans into a microwave container and added the shallots and garlic. Then I added about 4 ounces of crumbled light feta cheese. Then I put it all back in the microwave for another minute or so. By then the chicken was done! Whew! So without anymore babbling here is the chicken recipe!

Green beans with shallots, garlic and feta cheese!

Chicken thigh with the delish green beans!

INGREDIENTS:

¼ cup Dijon mustard

¼ cup reduced-fat plain greek yogurt

¼ cup hot sauce (I used Frank’s Buffalo Wing Sauce)

4 large whole chicken legs separated from thighs (I used 5 thighs)

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 1/3 cup panko bread crumbs

4 teaspoons italian seasoning (only if you don’t have seasoned bread crumbs)

salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the mustard, yogurt and hot sauce. Add the chicken, turning to coat and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. If you aren’t ready to cook right away cover and refrigerate for up to 12 hours.

2. Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 400º. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and grease with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil.

3. In another large bowl, toss together the panko bread crumbs and Italian seasoning. Skip this if you have seasoned panko. Add 1 teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper to crumbs. Working with 1 chicken piece at a time, coat in the panko mixture and place on the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and bake until golden brown and cooked through, about 40 minutes.

Chicken all dressed up for the oven!

Parisian Green Beans

Ok I have no clue why these are called “Parisian”. Maybe because they dress up plain old frozen green beans into something fancy? I’ve never been to Paris, maybe this is how they serve them there. It could be because the French were the first ones to put green beans on their menus! No matter what the reason, this recipe is great. It’s different from your normal ho-hum green beans. As you all know I normally double or triple the garlic amounts in recipes but this one already has 3 cloves in it so I think that’s enough. It’s also got bell pepper flakes, which is something you don’t see too often in recipes. (It should be in the spice aisle). Dill weed and walnuts round out this recipe giving it that something extra. It’s a very low-calorie recipe, low carbs, and good fiber! If you have nut allergies, leave out the walnuts. My husband would also insist on putting parmesan cheese on top of these as well. Making it Italian/French! Bon appetit!

INGREDIENTS:

32 ounces frozen green beans, cooked

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

¼ cup bell pepper flakes

1 tablespoon dill weed

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook beans as directed on the package. Drain any liquid off.

2. Heat a skillet on medium with the olive oil. Add beans to skillet. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook over medium heat for about 5-7 minutes.

Makes 6 cups


Escarole, Spicy Sausage & Cannellini Bean Stew

I’ve been trying to come up with a recipe today and my mind just keeps getting sidetracked. It’s Thursday, I have an hour left before I go to “Happy Hour” with the neighborhood ladies and I am still sitting here wondering what to use in today’s blog. First I thought about doing a “happy hour” recipe, then changed my mind. I am clueless today. Good thing I don’t have to drive anywhere! We have it at our homes, we take turns once a month. So I just have to walk a few houses away.  But I still want to make sure this is done BEFORE I go meet the ladies. So I was just looking everywhere for anything. It’s been one of those days today. Not much sun out and under 80 degrees for a change. It is fall after all! Then I came across an email I got from Fine Cooking. The recipe looked pretty simple and it’s pretty quick to make too. That is always a plus. If I had escarole in the house I’d make this tonight. But I don’t so I will make it next week. Hopefully I will get another cool “fall” day in Florida!

The recipe calls for regular hot Italian sausage. I have not used regular sausage in my cooking at home in a very long time. I have used pre-cooked or uncooked chicken sausages. They come in all kinds of flavors these days and are really tasty. They have Italian style also and spicy versions as well. So that’s what I will use. Whenever they are on sale or I have coupons I stock up. They freeze extremely well. Always good for a quick snack too if you get company. Just nuke em and slice em up. Stick a few toothpicks in and serve with mustard or whatever you have for dipping. Voila! If you don’t like spicy, use regular. No worries! I will also up the amount of garlic, hey, I’m Italian, I need my garlic! For now the photo is the one I got with the recipe, but as soon as I make this myself I will swap it for my own. Seems like I take pictures of every meal these days, just in case! If anybody makes it let me know!

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

¾ pound of spicy/hot uncooked Italian chicken sausages, casings removed

4 large cloves garlic, minced

2 (15 ounce) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1 small head escarole, chopped into 1-2″ pieces, washed and lightly dried (a salad spinner is great for this)

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth/stock

1½ teaspoons red-wine vinegar; more to taste if needed

¼ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (more if you want)

Kosher salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat the oil in a heavy 5-6 quart Dutch oven or large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 5-6 minutes.

2. Add the sausage, raise the heat to medium high and cook, stirring and breaking up the sausage with a wooden spoon or spatula until lightly browned and broken into small (1″) pieces, 5-6 minutes.

3. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, stir in the beans. Add the escarole to the pot in batches; using tongs, toss with the sausage mixture to wilt the escarole and make room for more.

4. When all the escarole is in, add the chicken broth, cover the pot and cook until the beans are heated through and the escarole is tender, about 8 minutes. Season to taste with the vinegar and salt. Transfer to bowls and sprinkle each portion with the parmesan cheese.

Serves 3-4

Red Radish Spread (updated)

It’s only been recently that I discovered I like radishes. Up until now I always thought I hated them. I really don’t know why. I don’t remember actually eating one when I was younger and deciding that it was gross. I don’t actually remember ever eating one before stating I didn’t like them. Then one day I decided to try one in my salad. Lo and behold I liked it! Go figure. So when I came across this recipe for a Red Radish Spread I thought it was a unique ingredient for a dip/spread. I am always looking for a different spread/dip to serve. We get tired of the same old onion dip, spinach dip, crab dip and so on. This recipe is also from The Queen Victoria Bed & Breakfast Inn that I mentioned in a post the other day.  There is nothing really weird in the recipe and though I haven’t actually made this yet I am going to get some radishes this weekend and give it a try.

INGREDIENTS:

8 ounces light cream cheese, softened

1 cup chopped red radish (a small bag should be good)

2 tablespoons horseradish

1 tablespoon lemon juice

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon dried dill

1 clove garlic, minced

DIRECTIONS:

Process all ingredients in a food processor. Cover and chill several hours.

Serve with crackers or veggies.

Makes 1½ cups

Ok, I made the spread. It came out delish! I know, this kind of looks like strawberries. It was very tasty though and I of course added more garlic than the recipe called for. Still great! So easy to make too. Try it!!

Red Quinoa with Feta & Sundried Tomatoes

Here it is again everyone! QUINOA!!! Woo Hoo!! While in Whole Foods last weekend I wanted to get some more quinoa. Looking in the bulk aisle for it I came across the regular white/beige quinoa. And sitting right next to it was this beautiful red quinoa! Didn’t even know it existed. Then again I didn’t know quinoa existed until a few months ago. I checked the nutritional information and it had almost double the fiber of the regular kind! Sold! I bought a half pound of the stuff,  just in case we didn’t like it. I should have bought more! It is so much tastier than the regular. It had a little crunch to it and a nutty taste as well. I then searched online for a different recipe than I made last time.  I found a great one on the Cooking Books blog. She had gotten it from a cookbook called The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook by Tosca Reno and adapted it to her taste. I again adapted it to my taste.  It called for cilantro and I left it out (My husband isn’t a fan unless it’s in salsa or guacamole) and vegetable broth. I had chicken broth and used that. The recipe called for 8 sun-dried tomatoes, cut up. I found it needed more. So next time I will add more. I think about ¼ cup will do it. I liked how much feta cheese she said to put in, “as much as you’d like”. Ok, sounds good to me! Sounds good to my husband! I think it was about ½ cup in total, could be more though. I didn’t measure. But one thing I should have done was cut the recipe in half. It made a lot of quinoa for two people. We do have leftovers!

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon olive oil

¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

2 minced shallots (you can use a small onion or even a few green onions if you don’t have shallots)

1 large clove garlic, minced

2 cups vegetable broth (or any broth you have), or water

1 cup dried red quinoa

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (you can adjust to your taste)

1 teaspoon salt

fresh ground black pepper

½ cup (or so) of crumbled low-fat feta cheese (adjust to your taste)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the tomatoes, shallots and garlic. Saute for 3-5 minutes until the shallots are soft.

2. Add the broth/stock and bring to a boil. Add the red quinoa and cayenne pepper. Stir and bring back to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Or until all the liquid is fully absorbed. (It took longer than 30 minutes on my stove, so keep an eye on it after 30 minutes)

3. Stir in salt and pepper and feta cheese. Serve hot or cold. Make sure you mix in the feta good so it melts a bit! Yum…

Makes 4-6 servings as a side dish.

Homemade “Boursin” Cheese

Years ago I discovered Boursin Cheese. But that little container (only 5.2 ounces!) can be very expensive. I haven’t bought it in years because of that. It would also be gone in minutes because there isn’t much to it. This recipe may not give you a huge amount either (8 ounces at least) but you can also double the recipe and use lighter ingredients as well to save some calories and fat. It’s a cream cheese base so use the light cream cheese. I will not use fat-free cream cheese because I feel that it really loses all it’s flavor when you take away ALL the fat. But that’s just me. It’s up to you and what you wish. If calories are no object then by all means use the full fat version of cream cheese in the recipe. Another great thing about this recipe is that all the herbs and spices in it are very common and I would think most of us have them all on hand in our pantries. This recipe actually comes from The Queen Victoria Bed & Breakfast Inn. I had stayed there many years ago. The Inn is in Cape May, New Jersey and was a wonderful place, not far from the water. So give this a try and remember to make it the night before. It’s better that way, trust me! The spread itself is mild and is accented nicely by the crushed peppercorns. It’s a great spread with crackers during cocktail hour!

INGREDIENTS:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon dried oregano

½ teaspoon dried basil

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

freshly ground black peppercorns

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor until smooth.

2. Shape into a ball or log and roll in crushed black peppercorns or place in a serving dish and sprinkle generously with coarsely crushed black peppercorns. Or just serve it in a decorative serving bowl! Your choice!

3. Best if refrigerated at least overnight before serving.

Makes 1 cup

Onion-Horseradish Dip

I am always looking for new and different dips. You get tired of the same old onion dip, same old guacamole, same old veggie dip and so on. I have a stack of magazines that I need to go through for recipes and tips etc. for the blog. One weekend I was going through the Better Homes and Gardens and came across some recipes that all used an immersion blender. You know, the little boat motor thing. This recipe can actually be made in a food processor as well but I followed the directions and used my immersion blender. After splattering myself as I always do, the dip was finished. It was delicious! I would also say it was better the next day. First day the flavors were a bit strong. So if you can wait a few hours or even overnight, it will be worth the wait. I also tweaked it as I always do. It calls for ¼ of a medium red onion. But as you will see in the pictures, I didn’t quite have it so I added a chopped shallot as well. (The pic shows 2 shallots, but I only added one) The garlic clove I used is pretty big, it probably equals 2 normal cloves but we like garlic! I also used heavy whipping cream, calories weren’t that much different from the light so I went for the extra flavor. You can serve with veggies which we did the second night but I had just found these incredible chips at BJ’s Wholesale Club. OMG! They are incredibly light and crisp, salty and just plain delicious! (110 calories in 33 chips!) This recipe also makes a great topping for a nice steak, chops or even chicken!

INGREDIENTS:

4 oz. wedge blue cheese (cheaper than buying crumbled)

4 oz. light sour cream (you can use regular if you want)

¼ cup whipping cream

¼ of a medium red onion, roughly chopped (or a large slice like I have above)

1 medium shallot, roughly chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

½ – 1 teaspoon prepared horseradish (I used 1 teaspoon- we love horseradish)

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a medium bowl crumble about ¾ of the blue cheese. Add the sour cream, whipping cream, red onion, shallot, garlic, and horseradish. Use an immersion blender* to blend cheese mixture until almost smooth.

2. Transfer to small bowl. Crumble remaining blue cheese and sprinkle over the top. Serve with veggies or chips!

* If you don’t have an immersion blender put ingredients in food processor and blend till smooth.

Makes 10 servings (2 TBSP): Each serving has about 85 calories, 8 grams of fat, 23 mg cholesterol, 170 mg sodium, 1 gram carbs, 3 grams protein

Greek Green Beans

Ok as promised here is the recipe for the green beans I made with the orange roughy yesterday. I used frozen green beans. I actually use frozen veggies quite a bit. This way I always have something in the freezer to go to when I’m out of fresh stuff. I usually have those ‘steamer’ bags of veggies but this time I had bought one of the larger bags, 16 ounces. For two of us that is too much to make at once so for this recipe I used half the bag or 2 cups. This is also a quick and easy side dish for any entrée. It is also a low-calorie side dish. While the beans were being nuked I sautéed the onions and garlic and it worked out great. So without any further ado here is the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups frozen green beans (any kind you like)

2 tablespoons water

1 small onion, chopped small

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tablespoons olive oil

¼ cup crumbled reduced fat feta cheese

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons butter substitute (you can use real butter if you want)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place green beans in a small microwave container with lid. Add the water. Cook on HIGH for 6 minutes.

2. Meantime in a small pan sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil. Cook until soft and just starting to brown a little. About 6 minutes. Add the basil, oregano and pepper flakes. Stir well.

3. The beans should be done now. Drain the excess water from container. Add the butter/butter substitute and onion mixture. Mix well.

4. Microwave on HIGH for 2 minutes.

5. Stir in feta cheese and serve.

Makes 2 servings (1 cup each)

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