Asian Chopped Salad

My little food blog has officially reached over 1,000 views!  WOW!  Thank you for reading my blog!! And for all the blog spam creators (yes, there are weirdos who write code to spam blogs so you think you get more hits than you really do) I'm happy to get 1,000 views whether all those clicks are real or not!  ;-)

Now for the Asian Chopped Salad ...

I love to cook but sometimes I get lazy and just don't feel like doing anything too creative (maybe I'm wasting my food creativity time on blogging, oops!).  When a lazy day rolls around I rely on quick & easy recipes (or there's always frozen pizza).  The Asian Chopped Salad from Sam's Club is one of my go-to EASY recipes.  I hope you're not laughing at me right now because I'm thinking/hoping I'm not the only one that has lazy cooking days.  Also, my blog has no rules so I don't have to create a new recipe every time I write an entry or maybe I'm just adding to my laziness by making a loop-hole to blog about a bagged salad, lol.  Anyways, everything you need is in the package and I simply add two grilled chicken breasts to the mix.  The bag contains cabbage, carrots, ginger sesame dressing, celery, almonds and wonton noodles for less than $3 ($2.58 to be exact).  Its super simple, super easy & healthy too.  For those of you who don't belong to Sam's Club, no worries, Dole makes an Asian Salad Kit that can be found at the grocery store.  Oh and one more thing - Ken's Steak House Salad Dressings makes a great Asian dressing if you feel like the little dressing packet in the kit isn't enough for you.

INGREDIENTS
1 bag of Asian Chopped Salad
2 chicken breasts, grilled & chopped

Mix everything in a bowl and serve!  Serves 2 people.

 

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies

There's a little chill in the air this week as we get ready to begin the fall season.  I put my fall place mats on the kitchen table and exchanged a summer flower arrangement for one with fall colors.  I'm sad that summer has come to an end but also excited to begin a new season because fall brings with it all the birthdays of our family ... my husband, daughter and myself are all fall babies.  Burgundy is one of my favorite fall colors and it makes me think of the color of cranberries in an oatmeal cookie recipe that is perfect for fall.  The brown sugar and honey in these cookies make them chewy while the cranberries and white chocolate chips add great flavor and texture,  finally dust them with salt (if you dare) and you will keep people coming back for more.

INGREDIENTS
2 sticks of butter or margarine, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbs honey
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups oats
5 oz dried cranberries
2/3 cup white chocolate chips
coarse sea salt (optional)

Beat butter & sugar.  Add eggs, vanilla and honey mixing well.  Combine dry ingredients and add to the bowl.  Mix well.  Add cranberries and chocolate chips, stir until combined.  Refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350'F.  Drop cookie dough by 2 tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheet, dust with sea salt (optional) and bake for 10-12 minutes.  Let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.

Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Recipe adapted from Food.com

Crab Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

This is the entree I prepared last week for our anniversary dinner.  The original recipe came from a Pampered Chef " Celebrate" cookbook*.  I made a few changes including the addition of lump crab meat and they turned out to be DELICIOUS!!  Some recipes are considered "guest worthy"and this is one of them!

We had a nice evening celebrating our anniversary and continued the celebration Friday evening with a visit back to Hotel Hershey (the scene of the crime a.k.a. wedding venue).  They did some major renovations to the Circular Dining Room including the name which is now The Circular.  We were very impressed!  The dress code is more casual...men are no longer required to wear jackets (although most still did and I even saw one guy in a tuxedo). They built a bar in the middle of the room and have some very talented mixologists on staff.  If you're looking for a romantic night out or if you're a foodie, this is the place to go...the food and service is outstanding and the view is just as beautiful as it was 8 years ago.

Okay, back to cooking at home...these portobellos are as impressive as anything you'd find in a fine restaurant, they're simple to prepare and take less than 30 minutes to bake.  I served them with sauteed spinach and pinot grigio.  One piece of advice is to make sure you buy lump crab meat ... its okay to substitute less expensive crab for dips and other recipes but this is the star of the show and you don't want to mess with the taste, texture and look.  Hope you enjoy them!

INGREDIENTS
2 Portobello mushroom caps (about 4 inches in diameter), remove stems
2 teaspoons Italian salad dressing
1/2 cup chopped cherry tomatoes
1/3 pound lump crab meat (you can use the other 2/3 pound to make crab cakes another night)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves
1 garlic clove, pressed
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon panko bread crumbs

1.  Preheat oven to 425'F.  Brush mushroom caps with salad dressing and place them gill side up in a baking dish.

2.  Chop mushroom stems, cherry tomatoes and basil.  Place in a bowl and add the pressed garlic, cheese and bread crumbs.  Mix gently.  Fold in the crab meat ... do NOT over stir!

3.  Scoop the mixture evenly into the mushroom caps until its piled high on top.  Bake for 18-20 minutes.



*Recipe adapted from Pampered Chef

The Motivating Menu

A few months ago I purchased a white board for in the kitchen.  It immediately turned into a "Menu board" and it has been motivating me to cook ever since. This little board begs to be written on in the morning and is a cooking cheerleader as you pass by it throughout the day so I highly recommend this kitchen addition if you are looking for some culinary motivation.

Today my husband and I are celebrating our 8 year anniversary which is a BIG DEAL considering he almost filed for divorce when he read my OKRA Secret blog entry!!!  Just kidding!  Marriage can be hard work sometimes and so can menu planning ...not knowing what to make from day to day, pairing side dishes with entrees, pairing courses and wines, etc.   I don't always have a super creative menu with multiple courses, sometimes its just an entree and side dish and on lazy days it might even say "Hawk's Club" (ha, that's an inexpensive alternative when we don't feel like cooking...its a restaurant down the road from our house) but no matter what it says, it feels good to have a dinner "game plan" and on the days it does have multiple courses it makes me feel focused.

Tonight's menu starts with a champagne toast to celebrate our anniversary. Then we will have Caesar salads followed by crab stuffed portobellos paired with sauteed fresh spinach and for dessert warm chocolate pudding cake (if successful will be like the hot lava cakes at restaurants).  I'm excited to be cooking a special meal for my husband tonight and happy to be celebrating not just these past 8 years but our future together.  I can't thank him enough for allowing me to be a stay-at-home-mom which at the same time has allowed me to spend more time getting creative in the kitchen and sharing a food blog with you!  Slainte (cheers)!!

What's on YOUR menu tonight??