Do you crave food?

It's OK sure you do, we all do. Some better for ya than others.


I woke up thinking about this salad dressing my sister introduced me to awhile back.  She posted the recipe  here


I remember that I made a fruit salad a few years ago that we really liked. I have the same ingredients on hand plus a few other items. Perfect for the salad dressing I have been craving.

Well I made this added some napa cabbage, a few pieces of gorgonzola cheese, pecan pieces, a few dried cranberries then added this wonderful dressing.

Try this, I know it's out of the norm.  If bannanas are not your thing add manadrin oranges, navel oranges or even fresh pineapple.  Let me know!!

And no I do not know where the name of this dressing came from.

Kitchen of Love

Skinny Gourmet and Kaylyn
Please accept my apologies for not including the link for WHB...chalk it off to
senility, I think in all actuality I had too much on my plate.

Coriander (Cilantro seed)
The book of The Arabian nigh ts tells a tale of a merchant who had been childless for 40 years and but was cured by a concoction that included coriander. That book is over 1000 years old so the history of coriander as an aphrodisiac dates back far into history. Cilantro was also know to be used as an "appetite" stimulant.

Now did you know that???


.Pop on over to Mel Cotte who is holding a fun Valentine event.

My entry is this super easy and tasty salad, serve with a good grilled steak, some nice italian crunchy bread and a full bodied red wine and you are good to go.






Garbanzo, Tomato, and Cilantro Salad
with Lime and Chile Dressing ***

1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), rinsed well
4-5 tomatoes, diced in 1/2 inch pieces I use Roma's
1/2 cup green onion, sliced
1 cup (1 large bunch) cilantro, washed, dried, and chopped coarsely

Dressing:
2 T fresh lime juice
2 T extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp. ground Chipotle chile powder (you could substitute hot sauce if you don't have ground Chipotle)
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
zest from one lime
salt, fresh ground pepper to taste

Drain beans into colander and rinse until no foaming remains. Let drain well. Mix dressing ingredients, then put beans and dressing into a plastic container with a snap-on lid and shake a few times. Let beans marinate in dressing one hour or longer.

Dice tomatoes, place in colander with a small amount of salt and let tomatoes drain 10 minutes while you dice onions and chop cilantro. Combine marinated beans with dressing, tomatoes, green onion, and cilantro and stir gently until well combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.

***I must give credit to Kayln's Kitchen for this adapted version of her salad.

Food to keep you from rusting

Because she's concerned with her family's health, lil bird sent a list of ten items that would instantly upgrade your health. Her father has had a time with his cholesterol and this had some good ideas. He's also been watching his calorie intake so the Cabbage reference jumped out at me. Not that cabbage will reduce your cholesterol, no it's more of an antioxidant, but it can be combined with other helpful ingredients that will.

This article also had a great explanation of the term antioxidants. "Just as the name suggests antioxidants keep your cells from oxidation. Think of oxidation as rust."

I served this last night for some friends and it got rave reviews and hopefully none of my guest are rusting this morning.

Asian-style slaw
4 tablespoons peanut or canola oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon sriacha, an Asian chili sauce (I used BBQ sauce)
1 head Napa cabbage, shredded
1/4 cup toasted peanuts
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

I made the dressing and added some Tabasco chipotle hot sauce, about a teaspoon. Then marinated a can of rinsed garbanzo beans for about an hour in the dressing. I mixed this all together and chilled for 30 minutes before serving. I'd never tasted "sriacha" so I'm not sure how spicy it is but I tasted the dressing along the way to get the right "bite."

baby shower food

first off, my apologies for being m.i.a. on this blog for so long. june 12 - july 31 was a black hole in my life due to some crazy s&*% going on at work - thank you department of homeland security. then i took a week off to hibernate. then i tried my hand at a little party planning and small-time catering, which kept me busy cooking, but with no time to post.

anyway, the reason for the party planning is that my good friend sarah is having her first baby, so i was happy to co-host a baby shower with another friend. sarah's expecting a little boy and, as she and her husband are true bruins, the colors planned for the new addition to the family is blue and yellow. i went with a rubber ducky theme for the party...


rubber ducky centerpiece


more rubber duckies


the buffet

for the food, i planned a pan-asian theme, which was a good reason to make cool salads and hors d'oeuvres that would also complement the family specialty egg rolls and fried rice that sarah's sister planned to make. here's what the final menu looked like:


tofu satay with peanut dipping sauce


kitchen wench's sweet & spicy soy chicken wings


chinese chicken salad


asian beef noodle salad

the chicken salad didn't follow any particular recipe, just shredded iceberg lettuce and napa cabage, topped with shredded chicken (costco rotisserie chickens rule!), sliced almonds, toasted sesame seeds, scallions and fried wontons and served with feast from the east salad dressing - a westside favorite. the asian beef noodle salad was a combination of a few different recipes for the dressing for the bean thread noodles and the sliced beef and served on a bed of spinach and garnished with basil, mint, cilantro, carrots and scallions.

for dessert, we had cupcakes...


cupcakes


duckies up close

the cupcakes were yellow cake with buttercream frosting piped on with a pastry bag and topped with rubber duckies molded out of wilton's candy. mooncrazy found me a cool cupcake stand to make out of styrofoam disks, ribbon and wrapping paper. to be honest, i cheated with the buttercream and used frostin' pride, which comes in a milk carton in the frozen section at smart and final. you thaw it out and then whip it up with your mixer. it's very easy and the frosting is lite and not overly sweet.

anyway, a good time was had by all and there were tons of leftovers to eat all week!

A cool salad idea for your hot 4th of July

When the thermometer moves much past 85 I stop using my oven and move to the gas grill outside. My kitchen is small and I get claustrophobic when it's hot. Go figure, I can sleep in the tear drop. I also have trouble eating anything hot in the summer so salads are a big seller at the Cafe Moon.

Here is an quick and easy alternative to a green salad. It's quite yummy with grilled anything. There a many variations but the sweet of the dressing and the salty cheese makes it a hit.

• Enough chopped Napa Cabbage for two
• Crumbled blue cheese, Point Reyes,* if you have it
  
• Chopped pecans
• Dressing

Toss this all together and refrigerate about 20 or so minutes before eating. I like it nice and cold and the cheese and dressing to melding together.


Dressing

1 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon dried onion
3-4 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 teaspoon prepared mustard, I like Dijon
1 teaspoon salt

Mix all the ingredients in a covered jar and allow to stand at room temperature for a few hours. Refrigerate one hour before serving. Shake well just before using. Will keep one week in refrigerator.

This dressing is great drizzled over avocado and grapefruit, too.

* Point Reyes Blue Cheese is spectacular and when I get to Whole Paycheck, and feel I can afford it, I pick it up. Here's a trick to stretch an expensive cheese like this. Wrap the cheese in a plastic and then in a freezer bag and freeze. When you want to use it over a salad, grate the frozen cheese over the salad and then rewrap and return it to the freezer. It extends the life of your precious purchase. Mine never last more than a month or two so I'm not sure how long it can last.

Orzo Salad and Antipasta Tray

The Orzo salad was a Doodles creation and it was abundant with fresh items. We went to the Farmer's Market for some but finished at my local market for what was lacking. It had lots of good textures and flavors. This pix doesn't do justice to the bright colors. Here are the ingredients:

• orzo
• fresh asparagus, blanched
• roasted red pepper
• green onion
• garbanzo beans, marinated overnight in the dressing, Newman's Own Low-fat Sesame Ginger
  
• carrots
• cucumbers
• chopped cilantro

The antipasta was pretty easy, just assemble and serve. It did have my very favorite Mortadella with Pistachios and Garlic. It also included some beautiful Culver City Farmer's Market tomatoes and red peppers.

Fresh corn salad

Salad Stravaganza, another round-up request this time to share some salad recipes. So here is mine. If you want to share a favorite of yours slide on over to La Mia Cucina for the rules. The deadline is June 25 with the round-up coming July 1 just in time for those of you celebrating the Fourth of July.

Our fresh corn is just coming to local farmer's markets and all I can say, Yipee! Love the stuff. No recipe, our favorite is a quick boil and on to the table. I eat it without butter or anything else but on occasion a sprinkle or three of Tony Chachere's creole seasoning. Sacre Dieu!

Here is something I've tossed together this weekend; a fresh corn salad. Pretty easy and quite tasty. It is also one of those dishes you can fuddle around with to suit your tastes adding more or less of the hot stuff. There is something quite summerly about sweet corn and something spicy and now ya got it in one fork-full.

Spicy Fresh Corn Salad

Dressing, mix together:
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lime juice
2 tablespoons salsa, or 1 canned chipotle pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons peeled and chopped grilled red pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger (I used a microplane)
About tablespoons of finely chopped fresh mint
Salt and pepper to taste

Shuck and wash two ears of sweet corn
Brush on just a bit of olive oil and cook on a hot grill for 10 minutes, turning often; cool
Cut corn from cob into a medium bowl
Mix in dressing, chill one hour and serve. Don't serve too cold.

I forget, are they garbanzo or chickpeas

Ever so often you find a recipe that immediately becomes a standard, this one I found on Kaylyn's Kitchen; Garbanzo, Tomato, and Cilantro Salad. and, as usual, I did some modification. Not that it needed any I just had a ripe avocado and didn't want it to go to waste.

I had a very simple dinner for a visiting friend on Sunday night. BBQ'd Pulled Pork Sandwiches and this great summer salad. My only deviation from the original was to add chopped avocado to the mix which was great.

The dressing was the winner in this recipe so futzing around with some of the ingredients didn't really matter. Though quite simple the dressing had tons of flavor and it looks good with all the bright colors.

Let's talk about some of the benefits of Garbanzos. They contain high levels of folate which tests show are beneficial in:

• Support red blood cell production and help prevent anemia
• Help prevent homocysteine build-up in your blood
• Support cell production, especially in your skin
• Allow nerves to function properly
• Help prevent osteoporosis-related bone fractures
• Help prevent dementias including Alzheimer's disease

I like that last one, preventing Alzheimer's disease since my beloved is sure I'm a good candidate. I have a tendency to forget where my purse/keys are so he's looking for good homes to place me. Where ever it is I hope they serve this salad.