Before we get to today’s Tuesday Tip, please visit with me at My Not So Vacant Shelf Blogspot later today for a chance to win a copy of THE PRINCE’S GAMBLE e-book!

And now, on to roasted peppers. Today’s tips are really more about how to make them! I know you can buy them in the store, but nothing tastes better than a freshly roasted pepper. Plus, you mostly find red roasted pepper in the stores, but once you master how to make them, you can roast up all kinds of peppers. Cubanelles, anchos, jalapenos, you name it. You’ll be thankful for it since with this knowledge you’ll be able to make all kinds of recipes, like:

Red Pepper Pesto
Pimento Cheese
Pasta with Sausages, tomatoes and roasted red peppers
Red Pepper Remoulade

You can mix in any kind of pepper in the recipes above or a favorite recipe. For example, how about a Roasted Pepper Alfredo? In fact, use this recipe I’m about to give you, thin it out with a little milk, heat and pour over pasta. YUMMY!! Trust me.

But first: How do you roast a pepper?

I do mine on the gas grill, but you can also do them in the broiler or like my grandma used to do, on the electric range element. That takes asbestos hands and you’ll likely set off your smoke alarm, so better to stick to the grill or broiler.

Wash the peppers and either place them on the grill or on a lightly oiled baking pan. If using the broiler, get it cranking and use a small ball of aluminum foil to prop open the door to keep the broiler going.

Place the peppers on the top rack directly below the broiler. If you’re using the gas grill, put them right on the lightly oiled grill racks.

Now, wait until the skin on the one side is black and charred, then flip to the next side. Keep on doing this until all the sides are blackened, but don’t overdo. The peppers will keep on cooking even after you take them off the rack/broiler.

Place the charred peppers in a plastic storage container and seal it. Let the peppers cool to room temperature. They will steam and finish cooking in the container and the steam will make taking the charred skin off that much easier.

When cool enough to handle, remove the skin by hand and toss. DO NOT WASH the peppers. They will lose a lot of their taste. Also, don’t throw away that nice brown liquid that’s in the plastic container. Mix that in to whatever you are making for a blast of smokey taste!

That’s it. If you want to be a purist, a little salt, olive oil and finely minced garlic over the peppers and you’re ready to eat with a hearty bread to soak up the oil and juices.

Red Pepper and Scallion Cream Cheese

1 large roasted pepper
Juice from the steaming
1 bar cream cheese
Chopped scallions

You can either mash the peppers by hand or using a food processor. Once mashed, add the liquid and the cream cheese and mix. To finish, hand blend the chopped scallions. Spread on a nicely toasted bagel, muffin or toast or add milk to thin and heat. Mix in some cooked pasta and you’ve got an easy Alfredo!

This morning we’re doing a very versatile recipe for fish/seafood cakes that I hope you’ll enjoy and play with when you have time.  I’ve been eating a lot more fish and between that, diet and exercise, I was able to lower my cholesterol to the point that I avoided taking medications!  Very exciting.

But first, please take a moment to visit these blogs and earn some points toward the TO CATCH A PRINCESS blog tour and giveaway!

August 20, 2013

FLY HIGH! 

Just One More Chapter 

 

 

As I was saying, eating more fish is healthy for you and while you could just have it broiled or baked, sometimes you need a little variety. Plus, this is a recipe that will work well with salmon or tuna out of the can! Actually, we’ll use canned salmon today, but you can vary this recipe by substituting chopped cooked shrimp, lobster, cod or crab if you have it.

Fish/Seafood Cakes

1 6 oz can tuna/salmon
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs**
1/8 cup chopped scallions
1/8 cup diced carrots
1/8 cup diced red pepper
2 tablespoons diced celery
Couple of shots hot sauce (Cholula or Tabasco work well)
2 tablespoons light mayonnaise
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 large egg

**Make the fresh bread crumbs. Use potato rolls or a rich brioche and grind it up in your blender or food processor. Why fresh bread crumbs? The dry bread crumbs pull all the moisture out of the fish/seafood. Remember this when making meatloaf as well for a moister meatloaf.

With a little olive oil (or sweet butter if you’re not watching calories or cholesterol), sweat the celery, pepper and carrots until just cooked. Do not brown.

Beat the egg and add the salmon, 1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs, lemon juice, hot sauce, scallions, parsley and the veggies you just cooked.

Mix and form into balls. Try not to work them too much. Place the remaining bread crumbs in a plate and then press the balls into the bread crumbs to make a patty. Flip and coat the other side.

Place on a baking sheet and put in the fridge for 10 to 15 minutes to firm up. Then fry them in olive oil/butter until golden!

We’re all pressed for time so finding a recipe that almost cooks itself is always fabulous. Plus, you can use the shredded chicken that you make in an assortment of dishes or vary it a little to create something new.

This recipe slow cooks the chicken in either a slow cooker or rice cooker, but I’ve also made it with a pan on the stovetop using a slow simmer. It’s just easier in the slow/rice cooker since you don’t have to mind it as much.

Shredded Chicken

2 to 4 chicken breasts (one per person)
1 16 oz bottle salsa
1 can ROTEL tomatoes & chiles

Slice chicken breasts in half length-wise. Place 16oz bottle of salsa in slow/rice cooker or pot. Add chicken and mix. Simmer/cook for two hours.

Remove chicken from salsa and using two forks, shred the chicken. Reduce the sauce in the slow/rice cooker or pot in half. Drain the can of ROTEL tomatoes and chiles and add to sauce. Return chicken to salsa/Rotel mixture and cook a little more.

You can use the shredded chicken to fill your hard or soft tacos or flour tortillas. Use on top of salad for a taco salad variation.

Change up the recipe by substituting your favorite BBQ sauce (mine is Sweet Baby Ray’s) for the salsa. You can make a pulled chicken sandwich by making that change!

Hope you liked today’s Cook’s Treat!

Now today’s recipe comes with warnings! LOL! First, definitely use something non-stick, but even then, prepare for stickiness.

Second, watch out for the hot honey/sugar/caramel that will develop. There is nothing worse than a sugar burn because of how hot it gets.

So having limited my liability, here’s today’s Cook’s Treat! Cinnamon Honey Bananas.

I know we’ve talked about the benefits of both cinnamon and honey in other blogs. You can’t go wrong with having both in your diet on a regular basis since they are miracle foods. As for bananas, they are another great addition to your diet. They are low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium and a good source of various vitamins and dietary fiber.

They come with their own packaging for ease of transport (LOL!) and you can use them in various ways, including substituting them for butter in baking recipes.

Today’s recipe is about them all alone, whether as a side dish to a meal if you like the sweet on your plate or as a dessert.

Directions

Pre-heat a non-stick skillet and add a tablespoon of butter.
Slice two bananas in half and place in the skillet.
Drizzle honey over the bananas.
Sprinkle cinnamon over the honey.
Cook for about 3 or 4 minutes (depends on how hot the pan is) and then flip.
Repeat on the honey and cinnamon.

You should have a nice sugary glaze on the bananas from the honey and the caramelization as they cook. If not, flip again, but don’t add more honey or cinnamon. The sugars will caramelize from the heat of the pan.

Serve alone or over ice cream/yogurt.

Voila! Hope you enjoyed today’s recipe!

I love oatmeal and oats are great for you! They are high in fiber and protein, may help lower bad blood cholesterol, help regulate sugar levels, may reduce the risk of cancer, reduce high blood pressure . . .

I could go on, but enough said about the wonders of oats and oatmeal! But with the hot weather, it’s tough to think about a steaming bowl of HOT oatmeal.

So today, we’re talking about an Oatmeal Smoothie, but I cannot take credit for these recipes. Please take a moment to visit TheYummyLife.com for an assortment of Make-Ahead Oatmeal Smoothie recipes.

I used the Apricot Orange mix, but substituted strawberries and mango/orange juice. I think I needed to up the juice and/or strawberry factor, but even with that, I had a smooth, thick delicious smoothie. I doubled the recipe and had enough for two mornings worth of cool smoothies to take to work.

Take a moment to check out the recipes and play around and create your own for a healthy snack. FYI – If you’re wondering where to get the chia seeds, Costco had a big bag (when aren’t they big) and most health food stores should have them.

You can also just sprinkle the chia seeds in salads for extra fiber and omega 3 fatty acids!

Aioli is a sauce that’s usually made with garlic, lemon juice, oil and egg yolks, much like a homemade mayonnaise. Some people even put dry mustard in it.

The usual way to make aioli is to crush the garlic, add the lemon juice, mix in the egg yolks and then while whisking, add the olive oil until you get a rich paste. Lots of work, so today I’m giving a cheat method for a delicious garlic basil aioli.

We were making simple burgers the other day and I wanted to dress them up and played around with this recipe. The results were delicious. You can also use this aioli on grilled chicken sandwiches for a bit of flavor and richness.

Garlic Basil Aioli

In a small mortar, add about 1/8 teaspoon salt. It’s not really for flavoring, but to assist with crushing the garlic.

Two cloves of garlic, chopped. Add to mortar and crush with the salt until you have almost a paste.

Add 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil. Crush together with garlic to make a paste.

Mince two or three leaves of basil. You can also add a few sprigs of parsley leaves if you want.

Add minced basil leaves to the garlic/salt/oil mixture. Crush some more.

Add 3 tablespoons mayonnaise. You can use light mayo here to cut down on calories.

Mix some more and voila!

You’ve got a tasty spread for your burgers, chicken or any other kind of sandwich you’d like to make. Even use it over some broiled fish or with potatoes.

It’s summer and that means lots of peaches and nectarines ready to eat in all kinds of ways. Take a bite, cut them up into fruit salad, regular salad, sangria, pies, tarts and cakes.

I’ve never made a peach cake, but I was inspired by this week’s America’s Test Kitchen which had some tips on how to avoid a soggy peach cake. Apparently peaches have less pectin than other fruits which makes them release liquid that isn’t bound up with the pectin.

The solution: Roasting the peaches for 20 to 25 minutes and tossing them with crushed panko crumbs before you mix them in with the cake batter.

I wish I could say that I’d make the cake from scratch, but unfortunately, time does not allow that in my life, so I am substituting a pound cake mix for the batter and since I love nectarines more than peaches, I’ll be using those in my cake.

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds of peaches (or nectarines) cut into wedges.
4 teaspoons Lemon Juice
4 tablespoons amaretto (you can substitute peach schnapps or rum here also)
4 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup panko crumbs

For topping: 3 tablespoons sugar with 1 teaspoon of almond extract

For the Cake: Cake Mix of your choice, but choose a slightly denser cake mix, like pound cake or a mix for an upside down cake. 1 teaspoon of almost extract.

Directions

Place cut peaches into the lemon juice, rum and sugar. Let it macerate for at least 20 to 30 minutes.

Remove about 2 dozen of the peach wedges and set aside. Cut the remaining peach wedges into thirds and place on a greased foil-covered baking sheet Bake at 425 for about 20 to 25 minutes. Set aside to cool and reduce oven temperature to that recommended for your cake mix.

Grease a 9 inch springform pan. If you wanted to really boost the almond taste, you could finely grind almonds and use them to “flour” the inside of the springform pan.

Make your cake mix, adding 1 teaspoon of almond extract.

Once peach wedges are cooled, toss with crushed panko and gently fold into cake mix.

Pour cake mix into springform pan and place the reserved peach wedges on top as a nice design. Sprinkle the almond-sugar mixture over the top. Bake until center of the cake is set and a toothpick comes out clean. Probably around 40 to 50 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.