August 2010 Cooking Light

Between Sister K and I, I think we are going to cook through the whole issue of Cooking Light for August.  On Sunday night, I made husband M the Spicy Corn and Crab Chowder.  He liked it so much that he requested this dish with lobsters over the requisite New England Clam Chowder I usually make.

If you are going on any weekend long vacations this summer, be sure to check out the magazine’s 1-Cooler, 1-Weekend Getaway feature.  Both sister K and I really want to do this some weekend.  We are going on a beach vacaction for a week together later this summer, but it will be for a whole week.  I think we’ll definitely be trying out at least a few of the recipes in this feature though!  And no, we do not work for Cooking Light- we are just obsessed!

-m

Easy Grilled Chicken Salad

I bet you can already guess what magazine I cooked out of tonight.  I cooked Easy Grilled Chicken Salad from my August Cooking Light, of course!   This recipe was super easy to make (hence the name) and really, really, really good (yes it gets three reallys).

I made a couple of exchanges in this recipe because I already owned some items and I wanted to save some money while I was grocery shopping. First, I replaced the celery with cucumber because I really don’t care for celery.  I didn’t know how it was going to taste, but it ended up being really good and sort of reminded me of taziki sauce a little.  I ate this right away.  I would say if you were going to make this for a meal ahead of time, the cucumbers may get soggy and ruin the salad.  The next replacement I made was that I switched the chopped pecans to chopped almonds.  Finally, I used a little bit of regular onion instead of green onion.  In the end, I think the changes I made were really good.   I ended making on 1/4th the recipe because I was making it for just myself.  You should try some variations of it yourself and tell me how it goes.  The chicken salad is placed on a bed of baby spinach and I also served it with a steamed summer squash.  MMMMmmmm!

Enjoy!

-K

Quinoa with Roasted Garlic, Tomatoes, and Spinach

Once again, I decided to try a recipe out from my new August Cooking Light.  Tonight, I made Quinoa with Roasted Garlic, Tomatoes, and Spinach.  This is a side dish but my roommate and I doubled the recipe and made it for 2 meals.   I have never cooked with quinoa and I didn’t even know where to find it in the grocery store (which is rare because I know everything in my grocery store).   I had to call my mom to ask her where she would find her quinoa.  Apparently I was pronouncing it wrong (pronounced KEEN-Wah.)  I eventually found it in the organic sections (where would we be without super moms!)

Roasting the garlic is pretty easy- just peel some of the papery skin off and then cut it half (so you are basically cutting every piece of garlic in half.)  Next, wrap it in aluminum foil and bake for an hour at 350 degrees.  The recipe it pretty simple and besides the hour it takes the roast the garlic, it is pretty quick.   It was so good that I ate my serving for tomorrows lunch!   Oops!

I used an onion instead of shallots because I already had one, and the garlic bunch in the picture is not a whole one because the whole one is in the oven during this picture.   I also used Pecorino Romano cheese instead of parm because I like it better.

Enjoy!

-K

Whole Wheat Pasta with Edamame, Arugula, and Herbs

Tonight, my roommate and I made a recipe from the new August Cooking Light.    While in a rush to the grocery store I looked at the Cooking Light and picked out the recipe Whole-Wheat Pasta with Edamame, Arugula, and Herbs.  It was pretty easy to make- just a lot of herb chopping (basil, parsley, and thyme.)

Start boiling the pasta water before doing anything else and cut up everything else in the meanwhile.   The edamame only takes about 3-4 minutes to heat up.  Make sure you read the whole recipe on the link before you start making it!   The recipe makes 4 pretty large portions so we got dinner and lunch for tomorrow out of it.

Enjoy!

-k

Summer Squash and Corn Chowder

I got my new Cooking Light on Friday and found a lot of recipes I wanted to cook.   I have been having problems with getting motivated about cooking lately, so I was happy I finally found something that interest me.   Tonight I am going to be making Summer Squash and Corn Chowder with tomato brushcetta on fresh toasted French bread for the side.

It was delicious!!  You should make it, but crank the A/C up because it can get hot in the kitchen especially in the summer.

I am turning 25 this coming weekend so stay tuned to hear about my birthday.

Enjoy

-k

-K

Potato Latkes

My boyfriend loves potato pancakes, so I decided I would attempt to make them for him on Friday.   I picked a recipe from my newest Cooking Light cookbook,  “Cooking Light Way to Cook”  because it was a little healthier than classic recipes.  They turned out really good, but I didn’t have a working camera this weekend, so no pictures :(.

Basic Potato Latkes

2 pounds baking potatoes, peeled

1 small onion (about 6 ounces), peeled

1/4 cup egg substitute

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon of kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

3 tablespoons canola oil, divided

1. Shred potato and onion using the shredding blade of a food processor (I don’t have this so I just used a box grater.) Combine shredded potato and onion in a colander over a large bowl, tossing well to combine.   Let mixture stand 15 minutes, pressing occasionally with the back of a spoon until most of the liquid drains off.  Remove colander from bowl. Carefully pour off the potato liquid, reserving thick white layer of potato starch in the bottom of the bowl.  Discard potato liquid.

2.  Combine egg substitute and next 3 ingredients in small bowl, stirring with a whisk.  Add egg mixture to potato starch in large bowl, stirring well with a whisk.  Add potato mixture and parsley to bowl,  tossing well to combine.

3. Heat a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add 1 1/2 tablespoons oil to pan, swirling to coat.   Add potato mixture in 1/4 cupfuls to pan to form 6 latkes; flatten slightly.  Cook 4 minutes on each side or until golden brown.  Remove latkes from pan; keep warm. Repeat procedure with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons oil and remaining potato mixture.  Yield: 6 servings  (serving size: 2 latkes)

Calories 208; fat 7.2g; protein 4.9g; carb 32.3g; fiver 2.6g; chol 0 mg.

Enjoy!

-K

Pork Vindaloo

Pork Vindaloo is one of my hands down favorite dishes to make.  I like it so much that I often double the recipe as it makes great leftovers.  This recipe is originally from Cooking Light May 2007 and the online recipe can be found here.  I have abridged the recipe slightly to how I like to make it.

Ingredients
Raita:
16 oz container plain, non-fat Greek Yogurt
3/4  cup  chopped seeded peeled cucumber (or if you don’t feel like taking the seeds, try an English cucumber)
3/4  cup  chopped seeded tomato
1/4  teaspoon  salt
1  teaspoon  garam masala

Vindaloo:
1 1/2  cups  thinly sliced sweet onion
2  teaspoons  grated peeled fresh ginger
1  teaspoon  dry mustard
1  teaspoon  ground cumin
3/4  teaspoon  salt
1/2  teaspoon  ground coriander
1/2  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
1/2  teaspoon  ground turmeric
1/2  teaspoon  black pepper
1/2  to 1 teaspoon ground red pepper (this dish is pretty spicy so adjust this based on your desired heat level)
1/4  teaspoon  ground cloves
2  tablespoons  cider vinegar
2  garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2  pounds  boneless pork loin, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
Cooking spray
1  cup  chopped seeded tomato (or to save time, use a 15 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained)

Sides (can cook one or both):
4 1/2  cups  hot cooked basmati rice
pre-packaged garlic naan

Directions

To prepare raita, pour yogurt into a medium sized bowl. Stir in cucumber, 3/4 cup tomato, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and garam masala; cover and refrigerate.

To prepare vindaloo, combine onion and next 13 ingredients (through pork) in a gallon-sized freezer bag; marinate in refrigerator 30 minutes (I sometimes make this a day ahead of time and let it marinate overnight).

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add pork mixture; sauté 7 minutes or until lightly browned. Stir in 1 cup tomato. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes or until pork is tender, stirring occasionally.  In the meanwhile, cook the rice and heat up the naan (I like to brush the naan with olive oil before heating it up).   Serve with raita, naan, and/or basmati rice.

-M

Lamb Sliders with Blue Cheese

Tonight I made a recipe from this month’s Cooking Light: Lamb Sliders.  It was very good and relatively easy to make after work.  The husband liked it so much that he asked for a full burger-sized version of it for next time!

To start, I sliced 2 medium-sized onions and threw it in a pan with 1 tsp brown sugar and a bit of olive oil:

After about 10 minutes, they started to carmelize.  As I learned during my French Cooking Class at the Cambridge Culinary Institute, don’t stir the onions too often or they will take even longer to cook.

Next, I mixed the ground lamb with a little s&p and mixed it with my hands.  (I started to mix it with a spoon and got nowhere fast- just get your hands dirty!)  I had a little less lamb than the recipe called for so I was able to make 9 patties out of the ground meat.  I cut 6 small rolls in half and put them on a baking sheet to toast them:

I broiled the patties for about 4 minutes on each side (a little longer than the recipe called for).  Then, I toasted the buns for about 1 minute a side (which was a little less than the recipe called for).  The lesson here: be sure to keep a watchful eye on anything you broil.  I can’t tell you how many times I have accidentally burned something I was broiling when I forgot I was cooking it (and once started a small fire in the oven- oops!)  Here is what the lamb patties and buns looked like after:

I pulled together the rest of the ingredients: blue cheese, arugula, and the carmelized onions:

And then we put together our lamb sliders!

-M