Hey, thanks, DailyBuzz Healthy Living for featuring my Jalapeno Butternut Squash Soup on their Top 9 today.
Today's my birthday, so what a nice thing to find in my inbox!
If you'd like to make this delicious soup yourself, click here.
They're Supposed to be Green (Beans)
Have you ever tried a green bean salad from a salad bar? The beans are usually somewhat grey, dressed with too much oil and not enough vinegar, and often times they are covered in some weird herbs.
I'm here to share with you a really good, quick and easy green bean salad recipe. The key is in how you prepare your beans. You can make any number of dressings for the beans, once they've been cooked properly. If you over cook them no matter how you dress them, they just won't taste right.
If you follow these very simple steps, the most important being to rinse the beans in cool running water for a bit to stop the cooking, you will be ever so pleased with the results.
I'm thinking that a version of this recipe will also end up as one of the Cooking for One series I've been working on. I figure you can cook all the beans at once, store them in air tight containers in portion sized servings. Then, when you're ready to eat the green beans, you can add any number of a variety of sauces. One is included here, just a basic lemon, olive oil and caper combination.
Green Bean Salad
serves 2
Ingredients:
- 1 pound Green Beans (or yellow), tips cut off
- 3 tbsps Salt
- 1/2 of a Lemon
- Olive Oil to sprinkle over the cooked beans
- 1/4 tsp capers, drained
- salt and pepper to taste
Method:
- Boil a large pot of water with the salt in it.
- Place the green beans in a steamer basket.
- Submerge the basket in the boiling water.
- Partially cover the pan, leaving enough space for the steam to escape.
- Cook the beans for 6 minutes.
- Take the steamer basket out of the pan, and rinse under cold water for one minute.
- Put the beans (about half the cooked amount will do for two) in a shallow bowl and squeeze the lemon over them. Sprinkle some olive oil on top and add the capers, salt and pepper.
- Mix it up and enjoy!
Featured: DailyBuzz Healthy Living
Hello friends.
My Gluten-free/Dairy-free Pumpkin Bread was featured in this week's Top 9 on the DailyBuzz Healthy Living site.
Pretty cool, right?
Nice to see that something I love to cook is out there getting some love.
Enjoy your second week of January, and expect some great recipes from me this week.
Cooking for One: Pork Chops
I mentioned here that I'd be working on a bunch of recipes for my friend Sara. She says it's cheaper for her to eat out more often than not, and I'm trying to convince her that with a few simple recipes she could make a bunch of stuff and recombine it all week to keep it interesting.
I'm not going to make her crazy or anything, just see if my theory is right: if you make (or buy) some good sauces and cook the basics for the dishes in advance, in bulk, you'll end up with enough variety in the end to not feel like you're eating the same leftovers again and again.
And, so, here is the first installment.
I started with a basic pork chop recipe. After I cooked it, I stored the chops in individual portions in the fridge in airtight containers. They should keep for a week this way, which means, Sara wouldn't have to eat
them several days in a row. I also made sure the herbs and flavors I used to season the chops would taste good with a variety of side-dishes. In reality, this recipe will work well with chicken, too (I don't eat lamb, but maybe it would taste good with that, too).
As we go through this experiment, it may turn out that cooking a quick piece of meat while putting together the rest of the meal might be the best way to go. My goal is for Sara to not have too much clean-up on her hands, and to keep it simple, she's a very busy lady. But, most of all I want her to enjoy what time she does have to spend in the kitchen to execute these meals.
I'll be posting the side dishes separately this week. If you'd like to see them posted with the main dish, drop me a line, I'd be happy to give that a go, too.
Pork Chops with Herbs de Provence and Honey
makes 2 chops
Ingredients:
- 2 Pork Chops
- 1 tsp Herbs de Provence
- Salt and ground pepper
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1/2 tbsp Honey
Method:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Place a grill pan or skillet on the stove and turn the heat to high.
- Place pork chops on waxed paper.
- Coat with olive oil.
- Sprinkle herbs de provence, salt and pepper over the chops.
- Roll the chops in the olive oil to coat on both sides, distributing the herb mixture over the whole chop.
- Put into the pan and sear for about 4 minutes.
- Turn chops over and sear on the other side for another 4 minutes
- Drizzle honey over the chops.
- Place the pan in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let the chops rest in the pan for 5 minutes.
Enjoy!