Recipe: Orange Fennel Salad

Did I mention I have a window garden?

It's mild here on the East Coast even now and I grew arugula from seed over the Summer (grows quite fast) and have a window box specifically for herbs (Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme).

Gardening is quite relaxing and tending to one in Manhattan can really take the stress out of you.

Fennel was on sale for 99¢ a piece at Shoprite and oranges also on sale so I thought to buy them to make a salad. What a surprise when I found out that arugula was needed for most of these recipes and I didn't buy any. Luckily all I had to do was turn to my window...

Made this today for lunch. Recipe courtesy of Whole Foods.

Serves 4

Colorful and crunchy, the sweetness of the oranges in this salad is a tasty contrast to the sharp clean flavor of fennel. Save any juice that accumulates when you slice the oranges and use it when making the dressing, if you like.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons orange juice

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

2 cups packed baby arugula

1 medium fennel bulb, trimmed, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced

3 large navel oranges, peeled and sliced into thin rounds

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Method

In a small bowl, whisk together orange juice, olive oil, salt and pepper to make a dressing. Divide arugula among 4 salad plates. Toss fennel with orange slices and red onions, then arrange on top of arugula. Drizzle with dressing and garnish with almonds.

Nutrition

Per serving (about 9oz/258g-wt.): 260 calories (160 from fat), 18g total fat, 2.5g saturated fat, 0mg cholesterol, 320mg sodium, 25g total carbohydrate (7g dietary fiber, 15g sugar), 4g protein

Thanksgiving is on sale now!

Perusing over the online versions of local supermarket circulars, I've noticed that Pathmark in particular has many items for 99¢ such as carrots, canned cranberry sauce, canned sweet yams, etc...

This is the time to buy and stock up now allocating a small amount each week for the groceries and saving the rest.

By the time the big holiday comes, you'll have many of the ingredients in your pantry ready and have bought them when they were on sale. Just look at the expiration dates on them items and buy the ones that will expire farther down the road.

If you have stocked up on more than one particular item, you'll have a full pantry to throw a wonderful Christmas or New Year dinner as well!

Recipe: Tricolore Pasta with Zucchini, Onion, Tomato Sauce

I grew a huge zucchini this summer and was trying to figure what to do with it. The reason it was so huge was because I plucked most of the flowers to fry leaving a few left to mature into fruit.

I have this fascination with different pastas and shapes and spied Barilla's Tri Color Fiori (flower) on sale for 99¢ at Pathmark recently. A box of pasta. A huge zucchini. A large bottle of tomato sauce in the pantry that I also bought on sale and a basket of onions. I decided to make a vegetarian dish for dinner tonight and interestingly enough, the color of the vegetables is echoed in the pasta.

Ingredients

• 4 cloves garlic crushed (I used a garlic press but if you don't have one, mince it fine)
• 1 large onion chopped
• 2 zucchini diced
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• few grinds of fresh cracked black pepper

• 12 oz box of tri colored pasta (any shape you like)

• Extra virgin olive oil
• Grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

1. Bring a large pot of water to the boil (this is for the pasta).

2. In a large skillet over medium flame, heat the olive oil for a few seconds and add the crushed garlic. Saute for a few seconds to perfume the oil and then add the chopped onion.

3. Saute until onion is soft (about 5 minutes) then add the diced zucchini. Saute for about another 5 minutes (I like my veggies to maintain their integrity and not be over cooked mush) and then add 1 cup tomato sauce.

4. Stir to incorporate everything together.

5. Finish with sprinkling of salt and pepper and set aside off heat covered. The vegetables will continue to cook slowly steaming under the cover.

This can be served by itself as a vegetable side dish.














By this time, the water has hopefully boiled and you can follow manufacturer's direction on cooking your pasta. When the pasta is done, drain and toss with the vegetable mixture.


Garnish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil on top and a handful of grated Parmesan cheese.

This dish serves 4.

Recipe: Sweet Simmered Kabocha

I stopped in at Whole Foods to see what they had on sale and saw that Winter Squash was selling for $1.29/lb (although it rang up as 79¢/lb). I bought a nice sized Kabocha Squash (Japanese Pumpkin) since I've had it before in Japanese restaurants and it's so tasty but never cooked it myself. The cooked texture is creamy and starchy almost like a sweet potato, not stringy like a common orange pumpkin. Nice thing about Kabocha is that you can also eat the skin after it's cooked so no need for peeling it..

Here is a recipe courtesy of About.com's Japanese Food Guide, Setsuko Yoshizuka.

Kabocha is commonly simmered in Japan. Kabocha amani (simmered sweet kabocha) is the most popular kabocha dish. It's often served in a Japanese-style meal as a side dish.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 kabocha (1 lb.), seeds removed
• 1 cup water
• 4 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. soy sauce

Preparation:

Cut kabocha into about 1 and 1/2 inch cubes. Peel kabocha skin around the edges. Put water, sugar, soy sauce, and kabocha in a medium pot. Heat on high heat and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to low. Put a drop-lid or a sheet of aluminium foil on kabocha and cover with lid. Simmer kabocha for about 15 minutes, or until the liquid is almost gone.
*Makes 4 servings

Recipe: Campbell's Kitchen: Autumn Cabbage Rolls

This hearty and filling dish is an easy to make recipe that I found courtesy of Campbell's Soup.
Cabbage tends to be inexpensive usually going to a few cents per pound. When ground turkey is on sale, I buy it to make this or keep it in the freezer until I have everything ready to make this dish.

10 large cabbage leaves

1 pound ground turkey

1 small onion, minced (about 1/4 cup)

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Tomato Soup

1 slice stale or toasted Pepperidge Farm® Whole Grain 100% Whole Wheat Bread, crumbled

1 1/4 cups water

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 small onion, sliced (about 1/4 cup)

1/2 cup shredded cabbage

1 medium carrot, sliced (about 1/2 cup)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

• Place the cabbage leaves into a 4-quart saucepan and add water to cover. Heat over medium-high heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 5 minutes or until the cabbage is tender. Drain the cabbage leaves on paper towels.
  
• Cook the turkey and minced onion in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until the turkey is well browned, stirring often to separate meat. Pour off any fat.
• Stir the turkey mixture, soup, bread crumbs, 1/4 cup water and black pepper in a large bowl.
• Spoon 1/4 cup turkey mixture in the center of each cabbage leaf. Fold the cabbage leaves around the filling. Place the cabbage rolls, seam-side down, into a 12-inch skillet.
  
• Add the sliced onion, shredded cabbage, carrot and remaining water in the skillet and heat over medium-high heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 1 hour or until the filling is cooked through, basting the cabbage rolls occasionally with the pan liquid.
  
• Remove the cabbage rolls from the skillet and keep warm.
  
• Stir the lemon juice, brown sugar, and cornstarch in a small bowl until the mixture is smooth. Stir the lemon juice mixture in the skillet. Cook and stir over medium heat until the mixture boils and thickens. Serve the sauce with the cabbage rolls.

How To Deseed & Dice A Tomato

How to Chop an Onion

What's for dinner?

I know, I know... It's been a while since I blogged... Please forgive me.

So hopefully you've been using your computer to peruse the supermarket circulars of ALL the supermarkets in your neighborhood, looking online for printable manufacturer's coupons and making a shopping list of items that are on sale. If you have a membership or know of a friend who belongs to Costco you've been buying bulk and splitting the cost. Your pantry, refrigerator, and freezer are well stocked with your sale purchases.

Now what?

If you are tired of your favorite recipes (sometimes it happens) just use the search engine on your computer or websites like Food Network, Gourmet, Epicurious, All Recipes, etc... and enter in a vegetable, protein, and/or starch that you have and a few recipes will show up. Pick one that interests you and your taste buds. If you have basic cooking skills this shouldn't be so daunting to take on a new recipe. Just make sure that you follow instructions or videos provided. Don't be afraid to experiment. You might find a new favorite.

Tip: I keep my flour and sugar in airtight zip lock bags to maintain freshness and keep little buggers from getting into them. Fresh vegetables and fruits should not be left sitting in the refrigerator in the plastic bags that you put them in when you bought them at the supermarket. Moisture gets trapped in there and they could spoil faster. Put them into the crisper or drawer marked for them or in an airy plastic basket lined with paper toweling.

How To Cut A Whole Chicken

Save money by buying a whole chicken and cutting it up yourself. The technique can also be used to cut a cooked chicken as well.

This video lesson courtesy of the Pampered Chef.

BJ's Wholesale Club

6626 Metropolitan Ave.
Middle Village, NY 11379
718-326-9080


I just visited the BJ's Wholesale in Middle Village, Queens for the first time and wanted to compare it to Costco. They are both about the same in price with Costco a little cheaper. BJ's on the other hand offers a lot more of big name food products. Their own brand doesn't seem to be in conjunction to these large manufacturers as Costco's Kirkland Signature line is.

One marked difference is that BJ's accepts all methods of payment from credit or debit cards to cash to EBT. Costco just accepts cash, debit cards, and their own AMEX credit card.

I went with a friend who became a member so I was able to use their membership card.
Good exchange as when we go to Costco we use my membership card.

Bought a 3 lb bag of bananas for $1.44 (Costco sells it for $1.32) and a double pack of whole Perdue chickens for 89¢ pound. Brookstone's Dark Chocolate covered Pomegranate and Dark Chocolate covered Acai Berry candies are available here whereas the pomegranate variety is only available at Costco.

Recipe: Avocado Shake

I've had this in many Filipino restaurants and discovered that it is quite popular in Vietnam as well!

Avocados are naturally buttery in texture and flavor and are good for you.

Ingredients

1 ripe Hass avocado
1 cup fat free milk
2 tablespoons honey (or to taste)
6 ice cubes

Directions

1. Halve the avocado and remove pit.
2. Scoop the avocado flesh into a blender using a tablespoon.
3. Add the milk and honey into the blender.
4. Add the ice cubes.
5. Cover the blender and blend until smooth and creamy.
   
6. Pour into glasses and serve with a straw.

Makes about 2 cups

*Note: You can use any milk and sweetener of your choice (I've used condensed milk and it works wonderfully)

Recipe: Crispy Fried Tofu

I bought a carton of House Brand firm tofu from Costco (3 packages in the carton for about $4) and decided to make this simple and tasty Chinese appetizer.







Ingredients

2 squares of firm tofu
1/4 cup cornstarch for dredging
6 oz. Oil for frying

Directions

1. Heat oil in a 10" saute pan.
   
2. Drain tofu from packaging. Lightly pat dry with paper towels.
3. Cut tofu into 1" lengths or in half.
4. Dredge tofu in a plate of cornstarch coating all sides.
5. Carefully place coated tofu into the hot oil and fry until golden on all sides (I used chopsticks to carefully turn the tofu but you can use two forks).
   
6. Drain on paper towel lined plate.
7. Serve with soy sauce, and/or black vinegar (you can use balsamic) on the side.

$10 Off Coupon from JC Penny

Never too late to save money on your purchases and JC Penny is giving you $10 off a purchase of $25 or more!
Just go here and print out the coupon for use in-store only. Expires Feb 27th.

http://f.chtah.com/i/2/95827765/main_20100214.html

Recipe: Salmon Head Soup or Fish Head Soup

When people buy fish, they tend to cut off and discard the fish head and tail not knowing what to do with them and not considering them edible. Fish connoisseurs know that the fish's cheek meat is like the "oyster meat" on a chicken/turkey/duck... succulent and delicious.

Fish heads are inexpensive and you can get them at your fish monger or in Chinatown.
In Asia, nothing is wasted especially food and thus fish head soup is so popular in that region of the world.
High in gelatin, vitamins, minerals, and omega 3... this soup is great to strengthen bones, nails, and hair (and that's what Mom says too)!

Ingredients

• 3-4 salmon heads
• water
• 3" piece of fresh ginger sliced into planks
• 3-4 cloves of garlic (smashed)
• 3 green onions/scallions (roots removed and cut into 3" lengths)
• salt

Directions

1. Rinse the fish heads with water to remove blood and remove the gills with scissors (the gills will make the soup cloudy and bitter).
2. Place heads into a large pot and cover with water.
3. Add the slices of ginger and garlic and bring to a simmer for 30 minutes. Do not allow the soup to boil or the heads will disintegrate into the soup!
4. After 30 minutes, carefully remove the fish heads with spoons and set aside on a plate to cool so that you can handle them. Strain the soup to remove any errant bones.
5. Remove and reserve fish meat from the cheeks and about the neck, collar, and head of the fish. I find that a fork makes this easy work.
6. Discard bones, skull, fins, and any other hard cartilage (or you can bury them in the garden to enrich the soil -perfect for roses).
7. Bring soup back to a simmer and add green onions and fish meat. Add salt to taste. Allow to simmer for about 3-5 minutes more or until onions have wilted.
8. Serve.

Recipe: Carrot Ginger Dressing

This recipe makes a salad dressing similar to those found in Japanese restaurants. I had this along with a salad recipe in an older posting but decided to post it again separately so that it can be found more easily.

• 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped finely
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

In a blender, combine all the ingredients except the oil. Pulse blender until the mixture is mostly smooth, then add the oil and puree for 15 seconds. (Blending oil for too long emulsifies it, giving it a mayonnaise flavor you don't want in this dressing.)

*Tip: Use a spoon to scrape the skin off the ginger. It makes peeling quickly without waste.
Use a neutral flavored oil like corn or canola, not extra virgin olive oil which will affect the taste.