Edamame Wraps

Edamame Wraps

Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Start to Finish Time: 15 minutes

¼ cup rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon sugar
10 to 12-ounces frozen shelled edamame
1 cup shredded carrot
½ cup cashew nuts, pieces
Washed fresh basil leaves (if desired)
4 (12-inch) spinach tortillas

1. In a large mixing bowl, add rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil, and sugar, stirring well to mix.

2. Add edamame, carrot, and cashews, tossing gently to coat with the dressing.

3. Place a few basil leaves (if using) onto center third of each tortilla. Divide the edamame and carrot mixture evenly between the 4 tortillas. Tuck in the ends and roll up the wraps. Serve immediately.

Note: You can substitute ½ cup of bottled low fat sesame ginger dressing, like “Newman's Own,” for the first 5 ingredients.

Safety Alert

I love flavored oils. I like to use extra virgin olive oil and assorted flavorants. However, fresh garlic as an oil flavoring can be hazardous. I was in the kitchen a few weeks ago, raring to go and make some fresh garlic oil. I prepared a whole bulb of garlic, and dropped it all into a 6oz recycled vinegar bottle, filled it with EVOO and stuck it in the cabinet. I enjoyed it over the next few days in various dishes, and got the idea of looking it up on the internet to see if there was some way to make it more flavorful.

DANGER! is what I found. Seems that botulism spores are present in fresh garlic, and these spores grow in the absence of oxygen. Immersion in oil leads to a wonderful growth medium for botulism.

BOTULISM WILL KILL YOU IN A HORRIBLE FASHION


I've read that freshly homemade garlic flavored oil is safe with a few rules:

DO keep it in the fridge.

DON'T keep it past a week.

Further info on garlic flavored oil: http://www.google.com/search?q=homemade+garlic+oil&ie=UTF8

Garlic flavored vinegar however, is safe. Must be the fact that vinegar kills dang near everything.

Green tea: A healthy way to lose weight

Green tea is a healthy way of keeping oneself lean. It increases metabolism and thereby helps reduce human weight. It has been used by the chinese for over 4000 years especially because of its ability to keep vital tissues healthy while killing the harmful cells. It is also known to reduce LDL cholesterol levels. For more info, please go here.

A fishy way to have lunch for two

Ever rummage through your cupboard's looking for some thing to eat, and walk away grumbling because very thing looks like it will take to much work? I do, all the time. So my answer today was a quicky tuna sandwitch! Here's what you need:

1 can of your favorite tuna
a single mini dill pickle
tablespoon of relish
1-2 tablespoons of mayo, take your pick to which kind
any spicy mustard
(optional) several slices of cheddar
your favorite sliced bread.

(serves two hungry people)


Turn the oven onto high broil and start to mix the tuna with the dill, relish, mustard and mayo (the mayo keeps the tuna from tasting too dry after its done cooking). Assuming the can of tuna is the same size as my own, you will need two slices of bread, and a cat. Spread the tuna liberally over the bread, making sure its even. Give the leftover to the cat and spread the cheese over the tuna.

This next step is optional, but enjoyable. Dust the sandwitches with paprika... mmm

finally, place the sandwitches on a pie tin, and heat in the oven until the cheese bubbles (or, if no cheese, till the tuna gets a nice light carmalized layer). Best served with a glass of light wine, or a sweet juice.

Eggplant: In Search of Recipes

I'm looking for some good eggplant recipes. Anyone have a good one I can try?

Sloppy Joes Remastered

There are certain foods from my childhood that I remember fondly, and hate the idea of having to give up. So it's nice to find ways to revamp the old recipes, making them healthier and still retaining the savory flavors I have held dear for so many years. Tonight, especially with Kirk out of town, I decided to do some experimenting. Armed with ground turkey, KC Masterpiece's Original Barbeque Sauce (fat free, I might add), onions, Worchester Sauce, garlic and pita bread, I was ready to try to remake the sloppy joes of my youth.

It is quite easy actually. No cooking oil necessary. I browned the ground turkey and the onions, mixing in the garlic. Once they were thoroughly browned, I added the BBQ and Worchester Sauces and mixed it in quite well. I then served the sloppy joe mixture in pita pockets. It was less sloppy than usual, and tasted exactly as I remembered. Served with a side salad, the meal was exactly what I had hoped for! Yay!

As a side note, for you Trader Joe's fans, apparently the Banana Crisps that have been out of stock for the last couple of weeks are being relabeled. The nutritional information on the package was incorrect. Since banana crisps are one of my favorite snacks, I am hoping the error was in the favor of health, but fear the opposite.

Stirfry (for Veg Chef)

Well, Veg Chef asked me to post this - I wasn't planning to originally. It's really just a compilation of things I found in my refrigerator. But just for you, VC -

Chicken and Veggie Stirfry

Ingredients
------------------------------------------------------------------
Chopped chicken breast
string green beans
zucchini
bell pepper
mushrooms
Serano chilis
sesame oil
soy sauce
szechuan seasoning

Stir fry it all together and server over the rice of your choice.

P.S. I didn't have them at the time, but next time, I'll toss some water chestnuts in there too. They would have been perfect.

Turkey Stroganoff

Tonight I made one of my sister-in-law's recipes. We still have a cabinet full of traditional pastas & noodles that I'd like to clear out eventually, so I used regular egg noodles. I also always double the spices, as I like things quite flavorful. I tried triple once, but that was a bit over the top, so I stick with double now.

Turkey Stroganoff
Serving Size : 4-6
Preparation Time :1:00

Ingredients
---------------------------------------------------
3 cups noodles
1 pound ground turkey -- extra lean
1 medium onion -- chopped
1 can Campbell's beef broth (or 1 cube beef bullion + 12 oz of water)
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 pound mushrooms -- sliced
1 cup non-fat plain yoghurt

Cook the noodles. Brown the turkey in a skillet. Drain and add onions. Simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, pepper and flour. Stir in beef bouillion and water, simmer 10 minutes. Stir in mushrooms, simmer 5 minutes. Stir in sour cream. Don't boil, but heat through - 5 to 10 minutes. Add garlic and pepper to taste. Stir yoghurt & sauce constantly. Serve over noodles.

Vegetable Enchiladas (an experiment)

First, let me say, Kirk and I are not vegetarians. However, I remember this recipe from years ago - a friend made it for me, I got the recipe and later made it for a friend of mine. I remember it being quite delicious. So after the recipe had gathered dust for about 12 years, I decided to give it another try.

First, I was unable to find the Hunts Stewed Tomatoes so I substituted S&W Mexican Style Stewed Tomatoes. This was a bit more labor intensive as they came sliced, rather than chunked, and needed to be cut down further. Also, I'm not a huge fan of tomatoes, especially if they "taste tomatoey" or are in large chunks. So, I used one can of the stewed tomatoes and 1 can of Rotelle style tomatoes (with chiles).

Secondly, in the interest of cutting down on cheese (and fat), I minimized the cheese - using only about 2-3 ounces, rather than the 6 that the recipe calls for. I used Pepper Jack, instead of Monterey Jack. I like the pepperjack, however, I noticed that the recipe lost a good bit of its flavor by cutting down on the cheese. I wonder if there's a good substitute (that would be more healthy than 9 grams of fat per 1 ounce serving)?

At any rate, the dinner was passable, but not oustanding. I think it would fare better if you stuck closer to the recipe than I did. Especially if you like cheese.

Vegetable Enchiladas
Serving Size : 6 Preparation Time :0:35

Ingredients
----------------------------------------------------
1 1/3 cups water
1/2 cup dried lentils
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 flour tortilla, white or wheat -- 6"
2 medium carrots -- sliced thin*
non-stick spray
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1 tablespoon cooking oil or olive oil
1 medium zucchini -- sliced in thin stick
2 cans chunky chili style stewed tomatoes -- Hunts, 14 ounces/can
6 ounces monterey jack cheese -- but can use more

*Long skinny sticks

In medium sauce pan, combine water, lentils and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 15-20 minutes. Rinse with cold water and set aside.

In large skillet, stir-fry carrots and chili powder in hot oil for 2-3 minutes, add zucchini & stir-fry another 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and add lentils. Add 1 can tomatoes and 1/2 the cheese.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Make the tortillas. Spray the bottom of the baking dish - bake for 8 minutes. Top with tomatoes and cheese and bake another 7-12 minutes.

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Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 177 Calories; 9g Fat (44.4% calories from fat); 12g Protein; 13g Carbohydrate; 6g Dietary Fiber; 25mg Cholesterol; 260mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1 1/2 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 1 Fat.