Random Picks: Chopped Cafe Salad (with recipe)

Salads are so refreshing, healthy, and versitile. They can be served hot or cold. There are hundreds of varieties of toppings: fresh or cooked vegetables, meat (cold cut, hamburger, bacon, beef, chicken, steak), fruit, fresh herbs, and the list is endless.

Salad is like an art. They can be served layered, the toppings can be placed in strips on top, or simply put in a bowl all mixed together. There really is no right or wrong way to make a salad.

I could eat a salad everyday. I enjoy tasting the fresh ingredients, and the satisfying crunch. One of my most recent creations of a salad is a bowl with a fresh, rinsed and dried, chopped head of romaine lettuce, a strip of feta cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, strips of bacon, bean sprouts, and a hard-boiled egg topped with my homemade bleu cheese dressing (recipe below). I call this salad my Chopped Cafe Salad. Happy chopping!


Blue Cheese Dressing
1/2 pound blue cheese (1 cup packed)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dry mustard

In a bowl, break blue cheese into 1/2 inch chunks.
Add buttermilk, mayonnaise, sour cream, red wine vinegar, and dry mustard; stir until blended.
If making up to 4 days ahead, cover and chill; stir before using.

NOTE: You can also use gorgonzola cheese instead of the blue cheese.

Recipe: Caramel Macchiato Coffee Shake

I love coffee! I enjoy my hot black drip coffee with cream and sugar every morning. If I go out for coffee I usually order an Americano (made with espresso and water). If I feel like treating myself I will order the caramel macchiato extra hot with whipped cream. Today I had a coupon for one pint of Starbucks ice cream and selected the Caramel Macchiato flavor. I got inspired and here is the recipe I came up with. This makes a creamy, smooth, refreshing drink with a coffee kick.

Caramel Macchiato Coffee Shake

3/4 cup strong brewed coffee, cooled to room temperature

1/4 cup dark chocolate covered espresso beans

1/2 cup half and half

one pint Starbucks Caramel Macchiato ice cream

Place all ingredients in a blender.

Blend until smooth and espresso beans are in small pieces.

Makes 2 shakes.

Random Picks: Meatballs (recipe included)

Lately I have been so hungry for meatballs and gravy, served with boiled potatoes. I have yet to master a meatball recipe or even find a delicious recipe I like- so tonight I went for the frozen meatballs. I am definately not one for many frozen foods, with a few exceptions. I like the satisfaction of chopping, the fresh taste, and enjoy taking the time to make something, instead of pulling out a plastic bag from the freezer and throwing it in the microwave for a few minutes.

One of my favorite grocery stores is Trader Joes. They have a variety of fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, cheeses, and so many unique kinds of food. They do have a frozen food isle. I have tried numerous kinds of their frozen foods, and dinners and they are actually quite good. I hadn't tried their meatballs yet and decided to give them a try.

My first thought when I put them in the shopping cart was to serve them with brown gravy, mashed potatoes, a vegetable, and green salad. Today I was shopping at Costco and all around the store they had the food sample tables set up. One of the samples was a big bottle of this Veri Veri Terriakyi Sauce and Marinade. They had served this sample with meat. It looked delicious! I couldn't resist the marinade and thought I would try it with the meatballs. After I returned home, I dumped a little bit over the meatballs and let it marinade for about an hour. For dinner, I served this recipe with diced boiled potatoes, and fresh corn kernals cut off the ear on the stove in butter with salt and pepper to taste.

Teriyaki Marinated Meatballs

1 (16 ounce) frozen package of Italian style meatballs

1 cup Veri Veri Teriyaki Sauce and Marinade

In a bowl, take meatballs and place teriyaki marinade on top; stir to blend.

Let sit for 1 hour.

In a heavy saucepan, put in meatballs and marinade.

On medium-high heat, bring sauce to a boil; stir occasionally.

Let cook for about 20 minutes or until meatballs are heated through.

Serve immediately.

Random Picks: Dessert Idea

For some reason, most of the ideas I think of come as I am lying in bed about ready to go to sleep. The other night I thought of this dessert idea and put my idea in action. It is rather quite simple and looks fun. I took tall stemmed champagne glasses. I made some vanilla pudding and set it aside in a separate bowl, then made some chocolate pudding in another bowl. I layered the vanilla and chocolate pudding and filled the glasses about 3/4 full. I added the rest with fresh whipped cream, and garnished with a strawberry. It is a very simple, quick, elegant looking dessert!

Random Picks: Sushi

I just tried sushi for the first time. Phew, I did! Really...!! For those of you that know me very well, you know I can't stand to eat anything from the sea. I have never had the pallete for seafood. Tonight Scott wanted to go out to eat and as we were discussing where to go I got out the phone book for more ideas. I turned to a Japanese restaurant ad and he said he could go for some sushi. I gave him a scrunched up face and said, "Eww". I knew they would have other choices of food to order so off we went to Osaka Japanese Restaurant located in Olympia, WA. On the way he was convincing me that sushi really was good and he had the same reaction as I did at first. Just the thought of raw fish doesn't sound to appetizing. I ordered the Beef Yakisoba (picture below), Scott ordered the plate of Sake (Salmon) sushimi (picture to the right). When we got our food, Scott poured the soy sauce into the little dish they bring you, and added just a little wasabi to make the flavor mild for me. He gave me a large piece of ginger to cleanse my pallete and cut off a small piece of fish, dipped it in the sauce, and in my mouth it went. First reaction was: it was okay- melt in your mouth though, soft but chewy- definately not fishy. Atleast I was proud of myself for trying it and so was Scott! He also ordered some Spicy Salmon sushi rolls (Salmon, some diced veggies, seaweed wrap and white rice). That was actually my favorite. I couldn't even taste the raw fish in it at all and was very spicy, rolled in rice with vegetables inside. Yum!

The Beef Yakisoba (the red is pickled ginger)

Random Picks: Southern Girl Sweet Tea (and Recipe)

I got introduced to sweet tea about a year ago when my boyfriend, Scott, and I were grocery shopping and he added a gallon of sweet tea to the shopping cart. After we got home, I took a sip and was instantly addicted.

Growing up, my mom would make an unsweetened black tea. I always added a bit of white sugar to my glass to make it a little sweeter and sometimes a slice of fresh lemon and mint leaves. As we know, when you add something like sugar to a cold glass of tea and stir almost all of it ends up at the bottom and doesn't dissolve. It may sweeten it a little, but by the time you get to the bottom of your drink the last gulp is nothing but a gritty mouth full of sugar.

I had remembered in one of my cookbooks there is a recipe for sweet tea. I modified this recipe a little but you can find the original recipe in the cookbook, "The Get 'Em Girls' Guide to the Power of Cuisine: Perfect Recipes for Spicing Up Your Love Life" by Shakara Bridgers, Heniece Isley, and Joan A Davis.

Southern Girl Sweet Tea

3 big tea bags of black tea

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups boiling water

1 cup white sugar

6 cups cold water

Combine tea bags and baking soda in a large glass container.

Add the hot water.

Let steep for 15 minutes.

Dispose of the tea bags-do not squeeze the tea out of them.

Pour tea mix into a 2-quart container.

Add the white sugar.

Stir until sugar is dissolved.

Add the cold water.

Put in refrigerator to cool.

Enjoy with ice, lemon slices, and fresh mint leaves.

Gyudon (beef bowl)

A beef bowl is called “gyudon” in Japanese. “Gyu” means beef and don is short for “donburi” which is food served on top of rice in a bowl. Many gyudon recipes are using hon-dash powder for the dash soup stock. But the Hon-Dash powder contains MSG. My recipe is much healthier.

Yield: 4 servings Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
1lb of thin sliced beef
1 medium onion (sliced)
4 bowls of steamed rice
Spices
1 cup dashi soup stock* (Check Kake udon recipe for soup stock)
4 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp Mirin
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp sake

Preparation
1.Add dashi stock and sliced onion in the saucepan, cook for 6 minutes on medium heat
2.Add mixed spices (soy sauce, sake, sugar) and beef in the saucepan and cook on high heat.
4.Reduce heat to medium and after it boils cover and simmer for 10 minutes
5.Serve it a bowl of steamed rice with soup in the saucepan