recipes Recipes Worth Trying

[Wayne Gray]

Tell us your favorite recipes!  Ones that have surprised you with their simplicity, or deliciousness, or even strange ones that turned out well.

I'll go first.  In true fashion, I'll start with a strange one.

Chocolate Balsamic Salad Dressing

• 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1-1/2 teaspoons honey
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper

 

In a microwave, melt chocolate; stir until smooth. Whisk in the vinegar, oil, honey, salt, and pepper. Drizzle over salads.

 

If you like spice, add 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne, or red pepper flake for a kick.  Nobody will ever accuse your salad of being boring!  I've done this one.  It's definitely good.  Probably not a good idea to use with a cheesy salad, but just about anything else would go.  Mine was used with strawberry, walnut, spinach salad, and it went perfectly.

Edited May 28, 2019 by Wayne Gray

[Thorn Wilde]

This is a very simple, very tasty recipe I like. And, as it turns out, I already wrote it down and posted it on my blog like four years ago, so, here:

 

[mollyhousemouse]

ok Wayne, i'll add one.
don't be scared of the green, a salsa verde isn't usually all that spicy.  it's green from using tomatillos (toe MA tee yoz) if you're not in the U.S.,  i'm not sure you'll be able to find a roasted salsa verde but here goes.
you can cook this three ways, in the oven, in a slow cooker or in an Instant Pot.

Salsa Verde Chicken
1 to 1 1/2 jars roasted salsa verde
1 large or 2 medium boneless chicken breasts per person
garlic powder, salt to taste
rice (we use plain old steamed white rice)

• pour a little of the salsa in the bottom of the cooking vessel, put the breasts in sprinkle with some garlic powder and salt. cover with more salsa verde. 
• if it's a slow cooker, put it on low for 6 hours or so. 
• in the Instant Pot use the poultry setting, or whatever the directions say to pressure cook that many breasts (it was 15 minutes with the POULTRY button on mine).
• serve a breast over the rice, sprinkled with cheddar, Monterrey jack or Colby/Jack cheese. 
• in the oven, cook at 350 F (177 C) until the chicken is cooked through, sprinkle with one of the cheeses and put it back in the oven just to melt the cheese.
• serve over rice.

alternately, shred the chicken in the salsa and serve as tacos, or burritos

 

[Former Member]

On 5/28/2019 at 7:45 PM, mollyhousemouse said:

 tomatillos (toe MA tee yoz)

I thought it was pronounced toe ma TEE yoz…
;–)

Any idea roughly how long it should be baked (for those of us who only have a range and a microwave)?

[mollyhousemouse]

2 minutes ago, droughtquake said:

I thought it was pronounced toe ma TEE yoz…
;–)

Any idea roughly how long it should be baked (for those of us who only have a range and a microwave)?

mmmm, we've always emphasized MA
uhhh, until the chicken is cooked through...depends on how thick the breasts are, 25-35 minutes, you don't want the chicken to dry out
let me know if you decide to try it 

[Former Member]

The Windsor Star, Ontario, April 4, 1929:

[Wayne Gray]

Here's another one.  This one is for you low carb/diabetic folks out there.  I am doing this one tonight.  🙂

Cauliflower "Fried Rice" with Cashews and Chicken

Ingredients

US Customary

• 1 medium head of cauliflower — cut into florets
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil — divided
• 3 eggs — beaten
• 1/4 cup cashews
• 1 lb chicken skinless/boneless thighs
• ½ cup white onions — diced
• 1 cup carrots — diced
• 2 cloves garlic — minced
• 1 cup frozen green peas
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• fresh black pepper to taste
• 6 green onions — minced, for garnishing
• sesame seeds — for garnishing

Instructions

1. Pulse the cauliflower florets in a food processor for about 25-30 seconds until it's a rice-like consistency.
    
2. Cut chicken into small chunks.  Saute in olive oil.  A minute into cooking add cashews.  Set aside once done.

3. Into your hot skillet, add 1 tablespoon of sesame oil over medium heat. Add the eggs, and stir them until they are cooked. Set aside.

4. In the same skillet, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of the sesame oil, onions, carrots, and garlic. Cook until the veggies are fully cooked.

5. Add the cauliflower rice, green peas, soy sauce, black pepper, and the cooked eggs. Mix everything well to combine. Do not overcook. Otherwise, the cauliflower will become soggy.

6. Before serving, top with green onions and sesame seeds. Enjoy!

[mollyhousemouse]

another one for the Instant Pot (i have the big 8 quart one)
we had this tonight, less than an hour from prep to dish in sink, belly full!
Instant Pot Cajun Chicken and Rice 
next time, we'll use chicken thighs not the breasts, and i'll have to try to double it, or make two batches since everyone liked it and there are NO leftovers

[Wayne Gray]

13 minutes ago, mollyhousemouse said:

another one for the Instant Pot (i have the big 8 quart one)
we had this tonight, less than an hour from prep to dish in sink, belly full!
Instant Pot Cajun Chicken and Rice 
next time, we'll use chicken thighs not the breasts, and i'll have to try to double it, or make two batches since everyone liked it and there are NO leftovers

Mmmm!  That sounds tasty!

[mollyhousemouse]

9 minutes ago, Wayne Gray said:

Mmmm!  That sounds tasty!

it was very good!
as evidenced by the lack of leftovers, lol!

[mollyhousemouse]

@Wayne Gray
so we gave this pork chop dish a shot tonight in the old Instant Pot
i did change it up a bit and used chicken broth, also 8 boneless chops so about a tablespoon more butter
no one but me would like this over spinach as suggested, so i did some cabbage and carrots in the cooking liquid (1 head cabbage & 2 pounds carrots both cut into chunks, a bit of pepper, 8 minutes on HIGH, less veg, less time)
so simple, so good
so who's got one for a pot roast?
 

[Wayne Gray]

7 minutes ago, mollyhousemouse said:

@Wayne Gray
so we gave this pork chop dish a shot tonight in the old Instant Pot
i did change it up a bit and used chicken broth, also 8 boneless chops so about a tablespoon more butter
no one but me would like this over spinach as suggested, so i did some cabbage and carrots in the cooking liquid (1 head cabbage & 2 pounds carrots both cut into chunks, a bit of pepper, 8 minutes on HIGH, less veg, less time)
so simple, so good
so who's got one for a pot roast?
 

Oh, that sounds goooood!  Thank you for sharing, molly!

[Former Member]

Sorry this isn’t a recipe, but I thought you all might appreciate it anyway:

Quote

Flip the bell peppers over to check their gender. The ones with four bumps are female and those with three bumps are male. The female peppers are full of seeds, but sweeter and better for eating raw and the males are better for cooking. 

;–)

[Reader1810]

8 hours ago, droughtquake said:

Sorry this isn’t a recipe, but I thought you all might appreciate it anyway:

;–)

That’s a great tip, because I had no clue there was a difference. I like to eat raw pepper as a snack or in a salad, so I’ll keep this in mind next time I buy them. 

[Wayne Gray]

I've got one for you.  My husband makes this one for us, and it's always amazing.  There's something fantastic about the things heat and acidity do to the solids in the milk.  It turns into these tiny, savory, lemony curds.  I thought it sounded so gross at first, but I was happy to be proven wrong.

https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-recipes/chicken-in-milk/

EDIT: It's idiotically easy to make.  For the amount of effort spent this dish really rewards you.

Edited June 18, 2019 by Wayne Gray

[Wayne Gray]

Okay.  There's no, ZERO reason for me to buy dressing for salad anymore.

Here's a recipe to build your own salad dressings using the flavors you enjoy the most.  You need one component of each of the below.  Pick stuff you like.  Dump this stuff into a mason jar with a tight fitting lid.

Oil: 1/4 cup Olive Oil OR Avocado Oil ( I VASTLY prefer olive oil because I like the flavor)
Acid: 2 tablespoons of lemon juice OR your favorite vinegar (apple cider vinegar is great)
Savory: 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard, stone-ground mustard, or regular yellow mustard OR 1 tablespoon of mashed capers OR 1 tablespoon of sun-dried tomatoes diced suuuuuper small
Sweet: 1 tablespoon of honey OR brown sugar OR an equivalent amount of non-calorie sweetener.  In addition to the more concentrated sweet stuff, I also add a few (2-4) tablespoons of fruit juice of some sort to add interest and volume to the dressing
A hint of heat: 1 teaspoon of black pepper OR 1 teaspoon of red pepper flake  (At LEAST put in the black pepper.  You'll be fine.  For real.)
Oddballs: Various seasonings you enjoy.  I put a teaspoon of lemon pepper in mine.  Minced garlic is good if you like the flavor of it.  Go wild.
Salt: If you didn't use capers, or something with a lot of salt in it then you need a 1/4 teaspoon of salt

There you go.  You add this stuff to your jar, close it up tight, and shake the hell out of it.  In seconds you've got a great dressing that you KNOW you'll like, because you're using ingredients you like.  Use one thing from each underlined category, or mix and match after you get confident with it.  It's pretty forgiving.  Give it a shot!  Oh, you can also use this for a marinade.  🙂

[mollyhousemouse]

19 minutes ago, Wayne Gray said:

Okay.  There's no, ZERO reason for me to buy dressing for salad anymore.

Here's a recipe to build your own salad dressings using the flavors you enjoy the most.  You need one component of each of the below.  Pick stuff you like.  Dump this stuff into a mason jar with a tight fitting lid.

thanks Wayne! i'll give some of this a try!
here's one for the Instant Pot, we really liked it

https://recipes.instantpot.com/recipe/low-carb-herb-and-garlic-chicken/

i served it over wide egg noodles, but everyone here agreed maybe rice would be better next time

[Wayne Gray]

2 minutes ago, mollyhousemouse said:

thanks Wayne! i'll give some of this a try!
here's one for the Instant Pot, we really liked it

https://recipes.instantpot.com/recipe/low-carb-herb-and-garlic-chicken/

i served it over wide egg noodles, but everyone here agreed maybe rice would be better next time

Ohhhh... that looks good!  Thanks for sharing, molly!

[mollyhousemouse]

1 minute ago, Wayne Gray said:

Ohhhh... that looks good!  Thanks for sharing, molly!

you bet Wayne!
here's what's on tap for Thursday:
https://hispanickitchen.com/recipes/skillet-carne-asada/

[Wayne Gray]

8 minutes ago, mollyhousemouse said:

you bet Wayne!
here's what's on tap for Thursday:
https://hispanickitchen.com/recipes/skillet-carne-asada/

Nice!  I love the spice blend used in this one.  mmmm....

[Reader1810]

1 hour ago, Wayne Gray said:

Okay.  There's no, ZERO reason for me to buy dressing for salad anymore.

 Here's a recipe to build your own salad dressings using the flavors you enjoy the most.  You need one component of each of the below.  Pick stuff you like.  Dump this stuff into a mason jar with a tight fitting lid.

Sounds easy and delicious, Wayne. Just one question. What is the “shelf-life” (I’m assuming this would be refrigerated) of one batch of this dressing? Or, do you need to make it fresh each time?

[Wayne Gray]

9 hours ago, Reader1810 said:

Sounds easy and delicious, Wayne. Just one question. What is the “shelf-life” (I’m assuming this would be refrigerated) of one batch of this dressing? Or, do you need to make it fresh each time?

Thanks, Reader!  I make them fresh every time.  That’s part of its appeal for me - because I can make a dressing based on whatever I'm craving at that moment.  But they’d easily last a few days in the fridge.

Edited July 17, 2019 by Wayne Gray

[Fae Briona]

This is my favorite simple sauce for pork -- especially pork tenderloin:

Maple-Balsamic Glaze - Combine equal parts of balsamic vinegar and maple syrup in a small saucier or saucepan (you can drop the amount of syrup to zero if you want to reduce the sweetness), and cook on a low boil until reduced by half.  Honey can be substituted for the syrup for a slightly different flavor.

Can also be used on Brussels sprouts [if you like those things], other meats, root veggies...  pretty much anything.

[mollyhousemouse]

so, hello....

tried a new one in the IP tonight.

was a big hit!

https://recipesfromapantry.com/instant-pot-chicken-and-potatoes/

[Wayne Gray]

3 minutes ago, mollyhousemouse said:

so, hello....

tried a new one in the IP tonight.

was a big hit!

https://recipesfromapantry.com/instant-pot-chicken-and-potatoes/

Oh man.  I bet that'd be great with sweet potato too for a little lower on the glycemic index.  Thanks, molly!