Green Bean and Fennel Salad

We had a pretty delicious Christmas dinner last night: baked ham, sweet potatoes, and this delicate and crunchy green bean salad. With it's fresh ingredients and simple citrus dressing, this would be perfect for an outdoor summer lunch dish.

Green Bean and Fennel Salad
Serves 8-10

1/2 lb fresh green beans, cleaned and trimmed
2 cups thinly sliced fennel bulb (one large)
3/4 cup julienne-cut red bell pepper
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1.5 tablespoon light olive oil
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoon minced fennel leaves

Wash the beans. Trim the ends, remove the strings and cut the beans in half. Place the beans in a vegetable steamer and place over boiling water. Cover and steam for 5 minutes or until tender-crisp. Drain beans and plunge into cold water. Drain again.

Combine beans, fennel bulb, and bell pepper in a bowl; toss gently and set aside. Combine lemon juice and next 5 ingredients in a bowl; stir well. Pour over vegetables; toss gently to coat. Sprinkle with fennel leaves. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Tip: extra virgin olive oil is too heavy a flavor for this dish. When you julienne the red pepper try to keep them about the same size as the green beans. Use fresh lemon juice only! You may want to add a bit of grated lemon rind to taste.

copyright 2009 What's Cooking?

Bratwurst and Sweet & Sour Red Cabbage

This winter, Marble Man and I signed up for a fresh-meat-and-eggs co-op through Fickle Creek Farm, one of the vendors at our local Farmers Market. The meats have been incredibly delicious, and the eggs colorful - brown, blue, green... and also delicious. Every two weeks, we head to the market to pick up our assortment of sausages, roasts, chops, and chickens. This week's sausages were bratwursts, and I think they were the best I've ever had.

I cooked them in beer with lots of onions, and a side dish of sweet and sour red cabbage. *Slurp* So good!

Bratwurst
serves 6

6 large bratwurst
water
1 C sliced onions
1 C beer

Prick each sausage before adding to a large skillet. Pour in enough water to cover the sausages with 1/2 an inch of water. Partially cover the pan and simmer until the water has evaporated. Be sure not to let the water boil - this will cause the bratwursts to burst. Uncover and cook the sausages in the small amount of fat remaining in the pan to brown. Add onions and saute until translucent. Pour in the 1 C of beer and simmer another 5 minutes. Serve with spicy mustard on the side.

Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage
Serves 6

1 head red cabbage, shredded
2 Granny Smith apples, cut in small wedges
4 slices bacon, diced and fried
3 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. vinegar plus same amount sweet pickle juice
Salt and pepper

Fry bacon. Leave fat and bacon in skillet and add remaining ingredients. Cover tightly and get it hot, then turn down heat and cook slowly until tender. May be fixed ahead of time and reheated. This would make a wonderful Christmas Eve dish.

Enjoy!

And I want to thank everyone who weighed in on my new image signatures. I will see what I can do to make them less intrusive.

copyright 2009 Shibori Girl

Bourbon Glazed Pork and Easy Corn Casserole

For this week's post, I've got a twofer. Both recipes are easy, and the pork's savory flavor complements the slightly sweet aspect of the corn casserole. The corn casserole can be made a day ahead to make things even easier.

Bourbon-Glazed Pork Tenderloin
Serves 6
Preheat oven 425 degrees

1/4 cup Kentucky Bourbon (plus a little for the cook. ;) )
1/4 cup light soy sauce
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil
dash hot sauce
2 pork tenderloins, about 1 1/2 to 2 pounds

In blender or food processor, combine bourbon, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, mustard, ginger, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and oil. Pulse until smooth. Remove tenderloins from wrapper and tie together into a roast. Place tenderloin and marinade in a ziploc bag and refrigerator for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

Place tenderloin on a rack in baking pan and roast for 25-35 minutes per pound or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Allow to rest for 15 minutes before slicing.

If you want to grill the meat: cook 4 inches from a hot charcoal fire for 15 to 25 minutes or until the pork has reached 165° internally and is no longer pink in the center. Baste occasionally while cooking.

Slice in 1/2-inch thick slices to serve.

~

Easy Corn Casserole
Serves 8
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1/4 C egg substitute
1/4 C canola oil
1 small (8-3/4 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 small (8-3/4 oz) can creamed corn
1 8-1/2 oz package corn muffin mix
1 C plain non-fat yogurt

Combine all ingredients and stir well to combine. Pour into an 8" square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake 45 minutes until set.

Enjoy!

copyright 2009 What's Cooking?

Orange Chicken & Roasted Vidalia Onions

Life is getting back to normal which, for me, means: "Stop eating comfort foods and go back to your diet!!!" These two recipes are very light and packed with savory flavors.

Roasted Smokey Orange Chicken
Serves 4
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

4 (5 oz) skinless chicken breast halves
salt and ground black pepper
1/2 C orange marmalade (of the "all fruit" variety)
1-1/2 tsp reduced sodium soy sauce
1/2 tsp liquid smoke

Line a shallow baking pan with tin foil. arrange chicken in pan and lightly season all over with salt and pepper. Set aside.

In small bowl, combine marmalade, soy sauce, and liquid smoke. Mix well and pour over chicken.

Roast for 30 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

~

Roasted Vidalia Onions
Serves 4
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

4 medium vidalias (2 lbs) peeled and cut into 8 wedges
Olive oil-flavored cooking spray
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 T balsamic vinegar

Arrange onions, flat side down, on jellyroll pan coated with cooking spray. Lightly coat onions with spray. Sprinkle seasonings over onions. Bake 30 minutes. Turn onions over and bake an additional 25 minutes. Spoon into serving dish and drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

copyright 2009 What's Cooking?

Blue Cheese Coleslaw

Summer’s nearly here, and one of my favorite side dishes is coleslaw – it’s all about the coleslaw. I love it – so creamy, salty, and crunchy. But, I might as well just slather it all over my hips, ‘cuz that’s where it’s heading after I eat it! But, then I was watching Robin Miller’s cooking show on the Food Network one day, and she presented a version I couldn’t resist. It's much lighter, nutritionally, than the traditional recipe, and the flavors explode in your mouth.

Blue Cheese Coleslaw
Serves 6 (1 cup each)

3 T cider vinegar
2 T olive oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
½ C raisins
¼ C crumbled blue cheese
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 package coleslaw mix

In small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, oil, and mustard. Stir in the raisins and the blue cheese. Season with salt and pepper and toss with the packaged coleslaw mix in a large bowl.

Nutritional information:
Calories: 135
Fat: 8.35 grams
Cholesterol: 4.2 mgs
Sodium: 243.3 mgs
Carbohydrate: 14.5 grams
Fiber: 2.5 grams
Protein: 2.6 grams

This is fabulous with barbecue, pizza, burgers, or anything you can think of – even by itself.

Marble Man once told me he loves when I go on a diet because we eat so well when I do. :)

copyright 2009 What's Cooking?

Peach Salsa

Since starting to post recipes, I've mostly shared my favorite main dishes. We often have interesting sides with our meals, and this is a favorite. It's super easy and fast, and goes very well with meats. Heck, it's good all by itself!

Peach salsa
prep time: 5 minutes
serves 4

2 (15 oz) cans peaches in juice, drained and chopped
2 green onions with tops, thinly slices
2 tsp fresh cilantro, chopped
2 T lime juice
1/4 tsp Asian Five Spice Powder
2 tsp garlic chile paste
1/8 tsp white pepper

In medium bowl, combine the peaches, onion, cilantro and lime juice. Mix in the spice powder, chile paste, and pepper. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

** Just a note: 2 full tsp of the garlic chile paste is enough to blow the roof off. While I like a nice fiery dish, this recipe had Marble Man on his knees and crying for his Momma. So, you might want to start with a little less and see how you like it - you can always add more.

Enjoy!

In the summertime this is great with fresh peaches instead of canned.

copyright 2009 What's Cooking?

Birthday Wishes for Marble Man

Today is Marble Man's birthday. We generally don't do birthday gifts, just make a spectacular meal that will render us comatose by the end of the evening. 26 years-worth of tradition here - we're not letting a little thing like a diet get in the way!

Tonight's menu:

Fillet Mignon
roasted sweet potatoes
celery root and apple puree
velvet cupcakes

The cupcake recipe is actually for RED velvet cupcakes, which I've made in the past. Marble Man would snarf them up as fast as I could frost them. Then he saw the recipe and goggled. He got a bit freaked out by the tablespoon-and-a-half of red food coloring. In his mind, we're only supposed to use a few drops at a time, so this recipe is gonna kill us.

To appease him, I'm leaving out the food coloring. Since the recipe calls for cocoa powder, I thought I'd replace the food coloring with espresso, and make them mocha velvet cupcakes. They should come out ok, since I'm keeping the liquid proportions the same as the original recipe.

The celery root puree recipe is one I tried at Thanksgiving, but I cut waaaaay back on the butter and cream. I think there's a direct correlation between the size of Ina Garten (of the Food Network's Barefoot Contessa) and the amount of these two ingredients found throughout her recipes! So, I used just enough to create moisture, and some flavor. The results were phenomenal. Who could imagine a vegetable this ugly could make something that delicious?

These days, it seems like the only real creative time I've gotten has been in the kitchen. I don't mind. I love to cook, and I am paying closer attention to portions and substituting healthier ingredients for the old favorites of butter, cream, and sugar. Today is no different - I'll be spending the better part of the afternoon mixing up this feast for my guy.

Make a wish and take a deep breath, Sweetheart. Time to blow out all those candles.

Quinoa

Now that the cookie orgy is over, I've been going through old recipes I've collected over my (many) years of weight loss efforts. I thought it would be fun to post a different recipe each week: this'll make sure I keep things fresh in my mind, as well as on our plates. Marble Man always says "I love when you go on a diet! We get great stuff to eat." I'll be concentrating on foods rich in whole grains and nutrition. I hope you'll find it interesting, and maybe even helpful.

Today's recipe:

Quinoa pilaf

Prep time: 40 minutes

1 C quinoa
1 T vegetable oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 T pine nuts
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 small sweet potato, peeled and cubed
2 T golden raisins
2 C vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste

Rinse quinoa with cold water and drain well.

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onion, garlic, pine nuts and red pepper and cook over medium heat until lightly browned (about 5 minutes). Add sweet potato, raisins and quinoa and cook for 1 minute.

Stir in broth and black pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until liquid is absorbed and quinoa is tender, about 15-20 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve at once.

Serves 6 (recipe makes about 5.5 cups)

Note: this recipe is remarkably versatile:
*If you don't like sweet potato, try substituting acorn squash.
*If red peppers are too expensive, or you just don't have any, try chopped portobello mushrooms instead.
*Dark raisins work just as well as golden.

If you are unfamiliar with quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah), you can find more about it here.

I hope you try this wonderful recipe. It's delicious!

copyright 2009 What's Cooking?