Buttered Nuts with Rosemary and Orange

Buttered Nuts with Rosemary and Orange

In the same Real Simple magazine article that I followed to make Chocolate-Drizzled Nuts with Sea Salt comes this recipe for another sweet/savory snack.

This version is cooked in a large skillet for a couple of minutes, then cooled on a baking sheet.

You start by melting butter, then adding the mixed nuts, sugar, rosemary, and orange zest.

Then allow the nuts to rest for a little while before serving.

A couple of notes:

**I didn't have an orange so used lemon zest instead.

**I think fresh rosemary is the way to go in this recipe.

**The nuts were a little greasy so I'm cutting the amount of butter in half in the recipe below.

So delicious!  I am storing them in an air-tight container in the fridge and pulling them out for snacks in the afternoon with the boys.

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Enjoy!

Tofu Bites Orange Dipping Sauce

Tofu Bites Orange Dipping Sauce

I shared Sandy's Tofu Bites on the blog awhile back. 

I really love this versatile little dish and make it every couple of weeks.

Awhile back I made it but didn't have any bbq or other sauce to go with it, other than soy sauce.  The family agreed they prefer it with a good dipping sauce!

Then I stumbled upon another recipe for this same dish, but with an orange-maple sauce, so we tried it.  The boys loved it.

You simply mix up 1/3 c maple syrup and 2/3 c orange juice to dip your tofu bites into.

I think it would be even better if the juice was reduced so it was a little thicker - which would also take the chill off!

But the flavors were great and it made for a fun change.

Hardly a need for a new recipe card, but I'll include one here, along with the original Tofu Bites recipe card. 

Enjoy!

Red Lentil Sauce

Red Lentil Sauce

Here is a recipe that is just crying out to be modified and used in a different way.

This dish comes from the book Eat to Live and the sauce is intended to be drizzled onto vegetables.

We made the dish according to the book, and liked the flavor, but really think it should be made in a different way.

Maybe thicker - more like hummus that you can eat with pita bread.

Maybe much, much thicker - more like a dip for veggies and crackers.

Maybe on top of fish or chicken instead of on vegetables.

Again - the flavor is great, but you might want to consider different ways to use the sauce.

This dish is simple to make.

You boil red lentils, chopped onion, garlic, and carrot juice, then cover and simmer the lentils for 20 minutes until they are tender.

Then you blend the lentils with a vegetable broth bouillon cube, cumin, and a little bit of Balsamic vinegar.

Transfer to a dish and serve!

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Enjoy!

Blanched Salad

Blanched Salad

It's always great for me to learn new ways of cooking up vegetables.

This technique of blanching a variety of vegetables to create a salad is probably not new to many people.

But I don't normally blanch my vegetables and then combine them into a salad.

My salads usually include raw vegetables, so this was intriguing.

The technique instructions come from The Great Life book.

You can use just about any kind of vegetable, but the author recommends using a leafy green, a round vegetable, and a root vegetable, or a combination of these types of vegetables.

I had to go back in the chapter to remember which was which!  (See below)

You fill a pot half-way with water and add a pinch of sea salt.  Then you bring it to a boil.

You blanch the vegetables by placing them into the boiling water just until their color brightens, about 2 minutes.  Then you remove them with a slotted spoon, placing them on a serving dish, covered until all the vegetables are done.

You start with the lightest in color and mildest in flavor.

We made our salad with cauliflower, Napa cabbage, and carrots, and blanched the veggies in that order.

And when we were done, we had a great salad that was tasty, but was better with a little lemon juice, a spritz of olive oil, and a little more Kosher salt. 

David and I both liked this cooking technique as a nice change to raw vegetable salad.

And it's so easy to use whatever you have in the fridge!

Green Leafy Veggies:  bok choy, carrot tops, Chinese cabbage, collard greens, Daikon greens, dandelion greens, kale, leeks, mustard greens, parsley, scallions, turnip greens, watercress

Round Veggies:  acorn squash, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, buttercup squash, butternut squash, cabbage, cauliflower, onion, pumpkin, rutabaga, turnips, Shiitake mushrooms

Root Veggies:  burdock, carrots, Daikon radish, dandelion roots, jinenjo, lotus root, parsnips, radishes

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Enjoy!

Blueberry and Mixed Berry Kanten

Blueberry & Mixed Berry Kanten

When I lived in Hawaii there were two desserts that I always sought out at any party where food was being served - Sweet Mochi and Kanten.

I made a version of sweet mochi awhile back, but it wasn't nearly as good as the mochi I've had in Hawaii, which usually looked like this:

source

I'll have to continue working on my mochi skills.

But, on to Kanten!  I had several recipes for fruit Kanten, a traditional Japanese dessert.

It was amazing to me that all of the recipes started with 4 c of fruit juice, but the measurements for the remaining ingredients all varied widely.

I sort of split the difference and tried my first Kanten, which we really liked.

Kanten has 3 main ingredients:  juice, cut fruit or berries, and Agar Agar flakes.

At Kroger I asked Brennan to pick out the juice and berries for our first Kanten.

He chose a mixed berry juice and blueberries.

The Agar Agar flakes area two types of sea vegetable.  It's important to get a good quality version.  I got this one from Sandy who is my ingredient expert.

Because the juice Brennan chose was a smoothie-kind, I used 3 c of the juice and 1 c of water.

With normal juice you'd use 4 c of juice.

You start by pouring your juice in a sauce pan and sprinkling on the agar agar flakes.

This can sit for a few minutes.

See below for additional ingredients that you could add in.  If you are using any other ingredients, you can add them in as well at this point.

Then you boil the juice and reduce the heat to simmer.  It boils up pretty quickly.

I saw on Pinterest that if you lay a wooden spoon over a pot it won't boil over.

Not sure if it always works, but it did this time!

Let it simmer for 20 minutes or so, then remove it from the heat so it can cool down a bit more.

I chose to put my berries in an 8x8 glass dish, but you could also make your Kanten in individual ramekins.  The amount of fruit to use in this dish varied from a couple of tablespoons to 2 cups.

I placed about a cup or more of blueberries in the bottom of my dish.

Then poured the juice on top and transferred the dish to the refrigerator.  It needs to chill for about 2 hours, uncovered.

Then it has the consistency of a fruit filled Jello.

Scoop some out for each person and enjoy!

I think next time I'd like to try a clear version so you can see all the fruit.

I'm thinking about apple juice and strawberries.

Some of the recipes had additional ingredients.

Some of the additions recommended were: 1 tsp ginger juice, 2 tsp vanilla extract, 2 Tbs orange juice, up to 1/4 c natural sweeteners like brown rice syrup, and lemon/lime/orange zest.

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どうぞめしあがれ (douzo meshiagare)

(Japanese for Bon Apetit!)