Rainbows!

I was pleasantly surprised by this slaw/salad thing. I wanted something super healthy in order to detox from this past weeks yummy and unhealthy food binging....and how many klondike bars can you eat at the lake? Um...a lot. Anyway, this salad was fresh and earthy tasting. It got a spicy zip from the curly parsley and dressing. The pears give it a weird soft crunch that compliments the crunchier crunches of the cabbage and beets. I liked it. Weird. The rainbow color doesn't last long because the beets do stain everything so if you're going for presentation don't stir it up until the last minute. It also makes a ton so be prepared.

Since it is so healthy and full of ruffage make sure you keep the scented candles out!

Some of the shredded things.

All mixed up!

 mmmm healthy lunch.

Shredded Rainbow Salad

(From Everyday Food by Jamie Oliver)

Ingredients:
2 raw beets, trimmed, scrubbed, and quartered
1/4 red cabbage, quartered
2 large carrots, scrubbed and trimmed
1/4 white cabbage, quartered
2 pears, stems removed and quartered
1 cup walnuts halves, roughly bashed (I omitted this)
2 handfuls fresh curly parsley
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
2 teaspoons mustard
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt and pepper, to taste
Worcestershire sauce, to taste
Hot sauce, to taste
Directions:
1. Put a coarse grater attachment into a food processor and push ingredients through in the following order (to stop the beets from staining everything): beets, red cabbage, carrots, white cabbage, and pears. If your food processor is small, do it in batches.
2. Turn vegetables out onto a platter so you get a pile of rainbow colors. Mix mayo, mustard, vinegar, oil, salt, pepper, worcestershire sauce and hot sauce.
3. Add walnuts and herbs and toss everything together until well mixed. Drizzle with dressing.

Holy Rack of Ribs!

Of course I would feel inspired to create meal in which all three dishes required the oven on the hottest day ever. What? It's a "hundred you're gonna die degrees"? Oh no biggie. Just let me make this cornbread, some baked beans, and these ribs that need to be bake for 2.5 hours. Sweet. But it was worth it (well, maybe not the cornbread...). The original recipe called for chipotle sauce which I find to be overpowering in large quantities. We had some Dinosaur BBQ Wango Tango in the cupboard so I used that instead. It's a fiery habanero sauce which oddly enough I don't find overpowering. It paired very well with the spicy rub (for which I used Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning, also deliciously fiery). The spiciness was off set by the sweetness of the baked beans. The meat was so soft and fell right off the bone. Very easy to make as long as you have the time to leave it in the oven for a couple of hours.

Smoky Baby Back Ribs

(Adapted from Everyday Food)

Ingredients:
**Makes a double batch of rub, I'd halve this**
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup coarse salt
1 teaspoon ground pepper
1/4 cup cajun seasoning (I used Tony Chachere's)
3 tablespoons smoked or sweet paprika
1.5 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1.5 teaspoons ground mustard
2 racks baby back pork ribs (2.5 pounds total)
Chipotle Sauce (I used Dinosaur BBQ)
Directions:
1. Depending on how the butcher has trimmed the ribs, there may be a tough, rubbery membrane on the underside. If so, score the meat between the bones and pull membrane away.
2. Combine brown sugar, salt, pepper, cajun seasoning, paprika, cayenne and mustard. Working with one rack at a time, lay a large piece of parchment-lined foil on a work surface, place rack on parchment and liberally coat both sides with rub.
3. Fold tin foil and parchment around ribs, crimping the edges together to form a packet (of the hobo variety!!)
4. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place rib packets on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until a knife can pierce meat with no resistance, 2 to 2.5 hours.
5. Remove ribs from oven. Heat broiler. Unwrap ribs, place on sheet, and brush with sauce.
6. Broil until sauce is bubbling and ribs are lightly charred, about 5 minutes, brushing with more sauce if desired.

Holy Rib Monstrosity!

Wonky Wok

Tonight my darling wok Wicket and I had a date. We also had a minor disagreement regarding how he *IS* well seasoned and my food should not be sticking to him. Blerg. I would really hate to have to scrub him down and re-season him from scratch.

Wicket in action

Pros: this recipe was quick, simple and required minimal ingredients. I only had to pick up the meat and green beans. Lots of green beans! Slicing the meat so thin makes it seem like there is a lot more than there is, love being cheap!
Cons: no sauce (personal preference) and minimal flavor level on the green beans. The meat picked up the fish sauce and ginger/garlic nicely but it slid right off the green beans.

Overall I'd give it a B, good but nothing to rave about. If I made it again I would definitely cut the green beans in half, they were a bit unwieldy. I also seem to have my beef stir-fry method down. The beef was tender and flavorful. The key is to pull it out when it's still a little pink (about 3 minutes this time) because it will continue to cook when you throw it back in with the veggies. Sidenote: WF was out of skirt steak so the nice butcher man recommended a flat iron steak. It was delicious and only five dollars for half a pound.

Thai Steak Stir-Fry

(from Everyday Food Magazine)

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 pound skirt steak, cut against the grain into think strips
1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed and sliced in half
4 tablespoons fresh minced ginger
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fish sauce (or soy)
1 cup fresh basil, torn
2 cups cooked rice, for serving
Directions:
1. Freeze the meat for 15 minutes before slicing. It will be easier to cut thinly.
2. In a wok or large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add steak and cook, stirring, until browned, about 3-4 minutes. Transfer steak to a plate.
3. Add green beans, ginger, and garlic, and cook, stirring, until green beans are crisp-tender, about 5 minutes.
4. Return beef to wok and add fish sauce and basil. Cook 1 more minute. Serve with rice

Easy Appetizer

Pita Chips

(Adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:

Pitas

Olive Oil

Desired Seasonings (such as pepper, garlic, and basil)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

2. Cut the pitas into quarters or eighths using a pizza cutter, then separate the triangles. Divide them up into two piles, thinner and thicker slices.

3. Mix olive oil and seasoning.

4. Place one group of slices on a baking sheet and brush with olive oil mixture

5. Bake for approximately 7 minutes.

6. Repeat with second batch.

It’s not necessary to divide the triangles before baking but I like too because the thinner ones bake more quickly. I would recommend keeping an eye on them the whole time as they can burn very quickly. I used ¼ cup olive oil with ¼ teaspoon black pepper, ¼ teaspoon dried basil, and ½ teaspoon garlic powder the first time I made these. The second time I used Pino’s Press Tuscan Herb Olive Oil and sprinkled some red pepper flakes on some of them for a little kick. Feder's Fresh has the most amazing pitas that I can't get enough of and have been using for this recipe, delicious!

Pico de Gallo (Salsa Fresca)

From Everyday Food Magazine

Ingredients:

2 medium Tomatoes

1 small Onion

1 Jalapeno

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tablespoon lime juice

Cilantro leaves for garnish

Directions:

1. Chop everything up and let it sit for at least 15 minutes, add the cilantro before serving.

I made this using the left over produce I had from the Turkey Chili so it wasn’t a full batch. I was lacking the jalapeno and cilantro and had to substitute lemon juice for lime but it still yummy! Just not spicy.