Archives for August 2012

Pan Fried Tilapia with Rosemary Lime Beurre Blanc.

August 10, 2012 by Knead to Cook Filed Under: Fish, Vegetarian 1 Comment

Let me begin by saying that Bia from Rich and Sweet is one of the sweetest, kindest and most beautiful friends. I’ve been surrounded by such incredibly supportive women and men through Facebook and I’m so blessed. Bia has agreed to guest blog for me today and brought one incredible dish to share.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rich-and-Sweet/206597032691479

Website: http://www.biasrichandsweetkitchen.com/2012/05/pan-fried-tilapia-with-rosemary-lime.html

Ingredients:
4-6 large tilapia fillets
1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2-4 tablespoons olive oil

Rosemary Lime Beurre Blanc:
1/8 cup white vinegar
1/8 cup dry vermouth
1 tablespoon chopped shallot
1 tablespoon chopped rosemary
1 teaspoon fresh pepper
6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 lime, zested and juiced
salt to taste

toasted sesame seeds for garnish
white rice for serving

Season fish with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Cover it and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
In a small saucepan heat the vinegar and vermouth. Over low heat, add shallots, rosemary, lime zest and pepper. Remove from heat and add 2 small pieces of butter and whisk it well. Return to stove top and whisk in the rest of the butter, 2 pieces at a time, waiting till completely melted until adding the next piece. When all butter added and combined, remove from heat and add lime juice. Whisk well and season to taste.

Run sauce thru a sieve and set aside.
Coat fish fillets with flour.
Heat olive oil in a frying pan, starting with 2 tablespoons. Add fish fillets, 2 at a time, and pan fry them for about 2 minutes a side, adding more olive oil as needed.
Serve hot over white rice with rosemary lime beurre blanc over it. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

— Knead to Cook

Red, White and Blue Potato Salad.

August 9, 2012 by Knead to Cook Filed Under: Potatoes, Side dish Leave a Comment

Brianne from Cupcakes & Kale Chips is my guest blogger for today. I love the recipe she is sharing with you guys and it’s perfect for any patriotic themed party, Olympic celebration or any summer picnic! Brianne is a good friend of mine who always makes me smile. She is whiz kid in the kitchen and you have to check her out.

Thanks girl for guest blogging for me! oxoxo Robin

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/cupcakesandkalechips

Blog:
http://cupcakesandkalechips.com/2012/06/22/red-white-blue-potato-salad/

Take it from here Brianne…

Potatoes get a bad rap. Perhaps that’s because most of the time we eat them fried, covered with cheese, or mashed with butter and cream. But really, the potato is not the bad actor here. In fact, one medium sized potato (about 5 oz.) with its skin has only 110 calories, zero fat, and no sodium. And it provides more potassium than a banana, 2 g of fiber, and half your daily value of vitamin C. So potatoes can definitely be part of a healthy diet.

Just not when they are drowned in mayonnaise. Like my mom’s potato salad. She makes it the pretty traditional way, with just mayo (and a lot of it), white vinegar, salt, pepper, and chopped hard-boiled eggs. Everyone in my family goes nuts over her potato salad. Anytime she makes it, she pretty much uses an entire 5 lb. bag of potatoes, and sometimes I think my sister could eat the whole bowl. I am an outcast and practically disowned because I don’t like it. But I am just not a mayo fan. And hard-boiled eggs – yuck! So it isn’t just her potato salad. Most other kinds I encounter are even worse because they have two of my least favorite things – raw onions and celery.

So when I saw US Potato Board Healthy Summer Potato Salad Recipe Contest for Recipe ReDux members that challenged us to create a healthier version of this summertime staple, I was totally on board. I wanted to come up with a potato salad that I would love, and would feel good about eating. I actually thought about my Greek Yogurt Blue Cheese Dressing recipe when I was trying to decide what to make. So I swapped out the mayo for fat free Greek yogurt to lower the calories and fat, and add lots of calcium and protein. Then I wanted to amp it up with bacon and blue cheese – two ingredients that have tons of flavor, so only a little is needed to have a big impact. I used three slices of a lean, center cut bacon, which I cooked until crispy, and drained well. So the bacon really just served as a seasoning. And you can even use a reduced fat blue cheese, like I did. The creaminess and tang from the yogurt, versus the sharp bite of the cheese and smokiness of the bacon really elevated the standard potato salad. I honestly have never had a potato salad that just hit your palate in so many ways in just one bite. This will be my go-to recipe from now on.

Unless mom is making the potato salad. (Love you, mom!)

And it went so well with this nice, lean filet, some collard greens, and a nice Cabernet. A perfect summertime meal.

Recipe type: Salad, Side

Author: Brianne @ Cupcakes & Kale Chips

Serves: 4-8

Ingredients

2 lbs. small red potatoes, quartered
3 slices center cut bacon
1/2 c Greek yogurt (fat free or low fat)
3 T cider vinegar
1/4 t dry mustard
pinch of cayenne pepper
1/2 t kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 T chopped scallion
1/2 c crumbled blue cheese (regular or reduced fat)

Directions

Place the potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water.
Bring to a boil and cook until fork tender, about 12-15 minutes.
Drain the potatoes, place in a bowl, and cool completely.
Cook the bacon in a pan until crispy, and drain well on a paper towel.
Crumble the bacon and set aside.
In a small bowl, combine the Greek yogurt, cider vinegar, dry mustard, cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper, and stir until well-mixed.
Gently fold in the reserved bacon, blue cheese, and scallions.
Pour the Greek yogurt mixture over the potatoes, and toss gently.

Notes

If you are preparing the potato salad in advance, you can add just 2 T of cider vinegar to the Greek yogurt mixture, then add the remaining 1 T just before serving to moisten it.

— Knead to Cook

Tropical Shrimp Salad.

August 8, 2012 by Knead to Cook Filed Under: Pasta 10 Comments

Sonali from The Foodie Physician is my featured guest blogger today. She brought you guys a fabulous, tropical dinner that will transport your senses & tastebuds to a warm, beachfront location surrounded by palm trees – even if it’s only in your imagination. Sonali is such an incredible friend of mine who constantly inspires me. Thank you dear friend for guest blogging.

You can find Sonali on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/TheFoodiePhysician

Or through her website: http://www.thefoodiephysician.com/ Tropical Shrimp Salad with Honey Chipotle Dressing

Hi everyone! My name is Sonali aka The Foodie Physician. I’m an ER doctor, chef, recipe developer and board-certified foodie. On my blog, I enjoy discussing the health benefits of foods and I love to create delicious, nutritious meals often with a gourmet twist. I want to thank Robin for giving me the opportunity to share a recipe on her wonderful blog. Since I know she doesn’t cook much seafood, I thought I would take the opportunity to share a healthy seafood dish with all of you. I hope you enjoy it.

This dish was inspired by a wonderful trip to Mexico that I took with my husband. The weather was perfect and we spent the sun-drenched days relaxing on the beach, drinking frozen cocktails and enjoying the delicious Caribbean cuisine comprised mostly of fresh seafood and vibrant salads.

My Tropical Shrimp Salad with Honey Chipotle Dressing is a light and refreshing dish with a tasty combination of sweet and spicy flavors. Cumin, garlic and chipotles in adobo add just the right amount of heat to the shrimp, which are grilled to perfection. The fiery shrimp are served over a fresh salad packed with tropical ingredients including mango, avocado and jicama, which provide several important vitamins and minerals as well as a good amount of fiber. Jicama is a crispy, sweet root vegetable that is common in Mexican cuisine. It can be eaten cooked or raw and adds nice texture when tossed into salads. If you can’t find it, you can substitute a firm pear or apple. To complete the dish, the salad is coated with a lime and cilantro dressing which has a hint of sweetness from honey and touch of smokiness from the adobo sauce.

This is a good dish if you’re counting your carbs. It’s also a great way to incorporate more seafood into your diet. It’s light and refreshing but hearty enough to be a main course. So treat yourself to this tasty salad and in no time at all you’ll feel like you’ve been transported to your own tropical paradise!

Tropical Shrimp Salad

Makes 6 servings

Marinade:

1 tablespoon canola oil

½ teaspoon ground cumin

1-2 teaspoons minced chipotles in adobo (depending on how spicy you like it)

2 teaspoons lime juice

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 lb. large shrimp, peeled and deveined

Kosher salt and black pepper

Dressing:

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon adobo sauce from the chipotle can

1 tablespoon honey

4 teaspoons lime juice

3 tablespoons canola oil

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

Kosher salt and black pepper

Salad:

1 head Romaine lettuce, chopped

1 mango, peeled and diced into cubes

1 medium jicama, peeled and julienned

1 avocado, peeled and sliced

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

— Knead to Cook

Raspberry Ricotta Grilled Cheese Sandwich.

August 7, 2012 by Knead to Cook Filed Under: Vegetarian 7 Comments

Day of my vacation and my sweet friend Justine from Full Belly Sisters. Justine I and I became friends through Facebook and once we virtually met… I’ve been in love ever since. She is incredibly talented in the kitchen (as you can tell by the pictures below). This recipe has knocked my socks off and it’s all I can think about!!

Full Belly Sisters’s blog can also be found by clicking here: http://fullbellysisters.blogspot.com/

Raspberry Ricotta Grilled Cheese Sandwich

From Full Belly Sisters

Fruit + cheese + bread. Is this the most perfect food combination in the world? It’s definitely up there, at least for me. I love the polar opposites at play: sweet and savory, creamy and juicy, chewy and tender. Throw it all together in a sandwich and you kick it up another notch.

This sandwich features ricotta, one of my favorite cheeses—but not one you usually associate with a grilled cheese. It’s not ooey and gooey, like the gouda in my Green Grilled Cheese [link: http://fullbellysisters.blogspot.com/2012/03/green-grilled-cheese-sandwich-spinach.html]. The warm ricotta is instead creamy and luscious. It is mild enough to pair as well with the bread and berries in this recipe as it does with pasta and marinara sauce in your favorite lasagna.
Ricotta is packed with both calcium and protein; raspberries, too, are no nutritional slouches. Just a cup of these gorgeous berries provides 8g of fiber; I’d rather eat this sandwich than a Fiber One bar any day!

Ingredients

Yield: one large sandwich, serves 1-2 people

2 slices peasant or Tuscan bread
1T 100% raspberry fruit spread
2+1 T shaved parmesan
1/3 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup raspberries, washed and dried
coconut oil, for grilling (can substitute butter or extra virgin olive oil)

Spread the jam on each slice of bread and top each with 1 tablespoon of the shaved parmesan (reserving the other tablespoon for later use).

Divide the ricotta, putting a couple of dollops on each slice.

Press the ricotta down slightly, until it’s evenly distributed on each slice. Then top one of the slices with the raspberries (if you put the raspberries on each side, they’d fall off when you put the bread together). Top with the additional tablespoon of parmesan and close up the sandwich.

Brush some oil on the outside and grill for a couple of minutes on each side, over medium-high heat. I used a small cast-iron pan to press the sandwich down while it cooked.

Much thanks sweet Justine for guest blogging for me!!! Love this recipe! oxoxo Robin

— Knead to Cook

Tri Color Quinoa Salad with Veggies, Avocado, Cranberries & Almonds.

August 6, 2012 by Knead to Cook Filed Under: Vegetarian 4 Comments

We eat with our eyes first. Boy, this recipe looks fabulous to me! As we begin our vacation & enjoy family time, today kicks off our first guest blogger. Lauren Kelly is a dear friend of mine that I met through Facebook. She always has the most nutritious, healthy and fabulous tasting food. Tonight she is sharing the quinessential Meatless Monday dish. Seriously, as I’m typing this, I’m wiping drool from my mouth! Even your most fierce carnivore will succumbed to this tasty dish.

2 Tbs. cranberries
1 cup tricolor quinoa, rinsed well
Kosher salt
1/2 lemon
2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp. basil
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. sweet paprika
1 medium firm-ripe avocado, pitted, peeled, and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 can (BPA FREE) artichokes, rinsed, drained well and sliced
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced
1 cup baby spinach
2 Tbs. coarsely chopped toasted almonds
1 medium scallion, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

In a 2-quart saucepan, bring 2 cups water, the quinoa, and 1/2 tsp. salt to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce the heat to medium low, and simmer until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is translucent and tender, 10 to 15 minutes. (The outer germ rings of the grain will remain chewy and white. Some germ rings may separate from the grain and will look like white squiggles.) Immediately fluff the quinoa with a fork and turn it out onto a baking sheet to cool to room temperature.
In a pan, place 1 Tbs. oil with carrots, artichokes, tomatoes and spinach. Saute’ until vegetables soften. Add sliced almonds for 1 minute and blend until well mixed. Remove from heat.
Finely grate the zest from the lemon and then squeeze 1 Tbs. juice. In a small bowl, whisk the lemon zest and juice with the olive oil, basil, cumin, paprika, and 1/4 tsp. salt. In a large bowl, toss the vinaigrette with the quinoa, cranberries, avocado, scallions, and almonds. Add the vegetable mixture and season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

Serves 4.

Click through to Lauren Kelly Nutritionist’s page:
http://laurenkellynutrition.com/2012/05/02/tri-color-quinoa-salad-with-veggies-avocado-cranberries-and-almonds/

You can also like her on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/LaurenKellyCertifiedNutritionist

Thanks Lauren for being my awesome guest blogger! oxoxo ~ Robin

— Knead to Cook

Carb free lettuce wraps.

August 1, 2012 by Knead to Cook Filed Under: Ground Turkey 2 Comments

Healthy, no carbs & I get to use up some of my veggies out of my bins… can’t go wrong! I love summer fresh veggies. Herbs and spices replace fats in this recipe. In the summer we gravitate to lighter dinners and this one flew off everyone’s plates.

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs of lean ground turkey (or beef)
Olive oil
1 tablespoon of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of chipotle chili spice
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup of vegetable or chicken broth
2 heads of butter lettuce or 1 head of iceberg
1 large carrot, shredded
1/2 red onion, diced
2 corn on the cobs, kernels removed
1 red pepper, sliced very thin
1 green pepper, sliced very thin

Directions:

Over a medium flame, drizzle some olive oil in your pan sauté the turkey breaking up the pieces. Add all of your spices cumin through pepper. Cook until no longer pink. While cooking, prepare your vegetables. If using iceberg, slice the head in half and gently remove the leaves (washing) and laying out on a platter to use as the shell. Arrange your vegetables on a platter so that people can make their own as they go. Feel free to add sprouts or other vegetables that you wish to use.

Once the turkey is cooked throughout, place in a bowl and serve separately. Buffet style works best keeping the lettuce as fresh as possible until ready to consume. Top with cheese, if you wish or fresh salsa.

— Knead to Cook