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Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal Cookies
Soon it will be my absolute FAVORITE time of year. Pumpkin spice everything, cooler weather and Autumn colors on the leaves. I really love the fall season in the northern United States. Its really beautiful and cozy. Football starts again and that means there are so many delicious tailgate foods to make and eat. I love when kids go back to school and you see moms and dads standing around at bus stops again. In Western Washington, we pull out our rain coats and prepare for the rainy winter ahead. It is usually pretty sunny around here until about November though. I have the perfect fall cookie that you can bake…
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Chicken, Bacon And Ranch Pasta Salad
Welcome to the wonderful world of cold pasta salads. Have you been chowing down on them all summer like I have? This is a recipe you must try tonight because I already know it will be a hit. I used to work as a waitress while I was in college and the chicken sandwich with bacon and ranch dressing was a very popular item on our menu. I decided to somewhat replicate this salad with the flavors of the sandwich for some guys I was cooking for. My boyfriends nephew just bought a new house last month. While the boys were busy working on the house last week, I whipped…
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Fried Green Tomatoes
I was meandering through a Farmers Market last weekend and I was seriously on the hunt for something different. Something I’ve not had in awhile or something truly new to me. I came across a few things but honestly one that caught my eye was just simply a basket of under ripe green tomatoes. In the south eastern part of the United States, fried green tomatoes are a very popular food. Now I don’t have a deep fryer at my boyfriends house which is where I was going to be cooking, but I thought I would really like to try a tomato like this. I am a fan of any…
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Herbed Watermelon Lemonade
This drink was created after I once made a watermelon vinaigrette. I liked the ingredients so much that I made a few adjustments and now I have both the vinaigrette and the lemonade. In this drink, with the natural water in the fruit, ice and with the lemon juice, I didn’t feel like I needed to add any water. I do sometimes however, add a little bit of white wine and it really tastes great. Sparkling wine would be great too. As the news reports keep telling me, its very hot outside around the country right now. Seattle could get into the 80’s this weekend which is pretty normal for…
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Spring Soba Noodle And Edamame Salad
One of the trickiest allergies that I, as a chef work with on a daily basis is an allergy to soy and products that contain soy lecithin. I would like to take a brief moment to speak on why soy is so widely used in The United States starting with the fact that it is inexpensive and plentiful here and in many countries globally. Because soy is so versatile, it is commonly grown. You can notice the versatility of soy just by understanding how many thousands of products use soy. Isolated soy proteins are used to bring together oil, fats and water creating a longer moistness and stability in products keeping…
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Coconut And Broccoli Salad
Oh Broccoli! You’re one of a kind. Broccoli is such a dramatic food. It’s versatile too. You can see broccoli as a main ingredient like the recipe today or broccoli can take a backseat to be just a component in your meal. Either way, it’s a very delicious choice because of all of its amazing properties. I love to introduce fresh broccoli to toddlers by steaming it to get them used to the flavor. It has so many good vitamins. I often like to serve broccoli almost raw because the texture and smell tends to be more favorable. However, I find roasted broccoli delicious. Not everyone does though. I think it’s great to try…
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Quinoa And Brown Rice Custard
Why is Quinoa so AWESOME? Pronounced keen-wah, this is a seed that is healthy and quick cooking. It has a great soft flavor that blends well with rice. Health Benefits of Quinoa 1. It’s protein balance is similar to milk and has more protein compared to rice, millet or wheat 2. A good source of riboflavin — riboflavin helps reduce the frequency attacks in migraine sufferers by improving the energy metabolism within the brain and muscle cells. 3. Quinoa is used to promote healing of skin injuries in South America, making it a good antiseptic. 4. It only has 172 calories per ¼ cup dry quinoa. 5. Since it is…
