Oven Corn on the Cob with Molasses Cilantro butter

  Nope... I have drifted off into the wild blue blog-o-sphere.  I'm still here!  I've had a few rough months and blogging is the last thing I've had on my mind.  I've got yet another surgery coming up this Tuesday and hopefully that will bring me some much needed relief from pain.
I'm still facing eating challenges but its slowly improving.  I've not done much cooking... lack of appetite, pain and eating issues just killed my desire.  Unfortunately, its also played havoc on our finances!  Time for me to get my but in gear and start making meals for the family again and staying on budget.
Yesterday was another hot and muggy day... perfect burger weather!  Homemade hamburgers are THE best.  I would rather have a burger cooked on the grill at home than any fast food or restaurant burger.  Maybe its the touch of my husband... man, does he cook a good burger!  I had some corn on the cob and tried a new technique; for me it was a new technique. It was pretty darn good corn!

Keep the corn in its husk and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  I just laid the corn straight on the oven racks; no sense getting more dishes dirty!  Let the corn cook for thirty minutes.  Remove from the oven and shuck.  Easy Peasy.

I was going to leave it like that but figured for my blogging friends I would go the extra mile... hey! You're worth it!  I found a recipe for a Molasses Cilantro Butter and while it looked icky (sorry, brown is just not the eye appealing color for food unless its chocolate!) the flavor was a nice touch to the sweet corn.

I found the original recipe here at delish.com    I had to substitute dried cilantro for the fresh since mine isn't growing too well yet and I really wanted that molasses flavor so I upped the amount.  
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon molasses (it originally calls for 1 teaspoon)
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons dried cilantro

Combine ingredients to blend completely.  The recipe says it makes enough for eight ears of corn.  We used about a teaspoon on the butter mix per ear of corn.  We really liked the extra molasses addition but I think starting off with the 1 teaspoon and adding more to taste would be ideal for most people.

garlic, sesame, mushroom green beans

I never thought I liked green beans, until I discovered there was more to them than just what comes out of a can.  Now, I love you dear husband... but really??? Those are just nasty!  In January I noticed that Costco was now carrying 2 pound packages of fresh green beans, thus my love affair began.  This is a recipe that I threw together putting some of my favorite ingredients,

Garlic Sesame Mushroom Green Beans

1 pound prepared fresh green beans

2 teaspoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed  (or less if desired)

1 tablespoon soy sauce 

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 can mushrooms stems and pieces (Hey, its all I had on hand!)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions 

Preheat a medium sized skillet with olive oil and let it get good and hot.  Add the green beans, stirring constantly, allowing the green beans to blister slightly.  I like my green beans semi-firm, but adjust to your own preference.  Add the remaining ingredients into the pan, with the green beans and allow to get warm.  Top with remaining sesame seeds, if desired

Dilled Carrot Puree

Another recipe from the 5 ingredient 15 minute WW magazine was the Dilled Carrot Puree.  My grand sweetie just gobbled this stuff down!  It got thumbs up on flavor, but we all agree that we would have preferred it, texture wise, with it being a "mash" rather than a puree.  At only 88 calories, this was something I could eat without guilt. It did make a lot and so we had leftovers that got used in rather clever ways.  My mom slathered some across a tortilla, added some turkey meat and cabbage mix.  She's pretty clever at times!

Dilled Carrot Puree
adapted from best of weight watchers; 5 ingredients 15 minutes

1 cup cubed peeled russet potato

1 cup fat free, chicken broth

1/2 onion, diced

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 pound baby carrots

1 1/2 teaspoons dried dill

Place everything but the dill into a 2 quart sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and let cook until carrots and potatoes are tender, about 12 minutes.  remove from heat.

Add half the mixture into a blender ( I love using my vitamix !!!) and process until smooth and pour into a bowl; repeat with remaining mixture. Stir in dill and serve.  Like I mentioned earlier....I won't puree mine again just because texture wise it wasn't favored.  A good mash would work just as well.

Note:  Putting hot foods into a blender takes some precaution.  Be sure not to fill too high and cover the lid with a paper towel to prevent splatters.  Never start off on the highest power.... trust me, this is info from the experienced!

SRC: Betsylife Pasta with Asparagus

The best part of SRC (secret recipe club) is getting to experience all the fabulous blogs out there.  The worst part.... deciding which of their fabulous dishes I want to try.  This month I had the privilege of getting Betsy's blog, Betsylife.  She also is working on food styling and her blog clearly shows her talent in that.  I'll patiently pause here so that you can view her blog and see for yourself how accurate of a description that is :-)   Gorgeous pictures and many healthy choices to choose from.

I needed to take a dish to a family gathering so decided on making her Pasta with Asperagus I made a few changes but nothing too drastic.  While this was delicious as it was, I had to add bacon (sorry, it was written in the marriage vows that all meals must include bacon)  it really didn't need it.  But while I'm thinking of it,some added chicken breast would make an meat lover happy in this dish.  Betsy used this as a meal in itself but I used it as a side pasta salad.  Either way works pretty darn good!

Pasta with Asparagus and Parmesan

8 ounces uncooked whole wheat penne pasta
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 1/2 cups (1-inch) slices asparagus (about 1 pound)
1 cup chicken broth (substitute vegetable stock for vegetarian option)
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
3 garlic clove, minced

1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup bacon crumbles

Directions
Cook Pasta according to package directions using the 1 tablespoon of kosher salt in the water.

Add oil to pan medium size skillet and heat over medium high heat. Add asparagus to pan and cook tender, (this took me about 4 minutes.) Don't overcook the asparagus as you still wants some crispness to them. lly. Remove asparagus from pan and set aside. Add broth, lemon rind, and garlic to the pan; allow the liquid to reduce by half (about 5-7 minutes). Return asparagus to pan, add pasta, salt,pepper, cayenne and bacon; toss well. Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Daring Cooks: create a recipe challenge

Blog-checking lines: Our April 2012 Daring Cooks hosts were David & Karen from Twenty-Fingered Cooking. They presented us with a very daring and unique challenge of forming our own recipes by using a set list of ingredients!
It was required that you use at least one ingredient from each of their three lists :
List 1: Parsnips, Eggplant (aubergine), Cauliflower
List 2: Balsamic Vinegar, Goat Cheese, Chipotle peppers
List 3: Maple Syrup, Instant Coffee, Bananas

Some of those just seemed wacky to me... but WOW! Have the Daring Cooks been creative!  I was a little bit more cautious.  I know, I know.  It wasn't very daring of me.  However, I did make sure not to follow any recipe.  I just relied on what I remembered about making a marinade... so that counts, doesn't it??

I ripped off the basics of the fajita and added roasted cauliflower and goat cheese.  But first I had to marinade my beef to get all the flavor I could out of it.  I was able to find chipotle peppers in adobe sauce but that wasn't what I wanted.  I couldn't find any dried chipotle peppers either.  That left me using a dried powder or trying to smoke my own jalapenos.  Sorry, I went with the dried powder.  Again, not very creative of me but Life has just been a bit chaotic lately and so I took the easiest route.

Beef Marinade
2 pounds round steak, sliced thin
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon dried chipotle powder
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder

combine ingredients and let set for at least two hours.
When ready to cook, drain off marinade and quickly fry in a pan with a bit of oil.  I did my meat in two batches so that the meat would sear and not steam. The meat will cook quickly.

Roasted Vegetables
1 head cauliflower cut into florets
2 onions, sliced thin
3 peppers (I used red and yellow) sliced into strips
2 tablespoons olive oil

Line two cookie sheets with tin-foil and lightly spray with cooking spray.  Spread out vegetables onto trays and drizzle with olive oil; sprinkle with kosher salt.
Roast in oven at 425 degrees F., for about 25 minutes (vegetables should become nicely golden.

To assemble I just added the meat to my flour tortilla, scooped on some roasted vegetables and topped with a bit of goat cheese.

I admit, it was on the cautious side.  I will also admit that it was pretty tasty too!

Oh So Yummy Green Beans!

As I am learning this whole blogging thing... (yes, I've been doing it for almost two years but I am a slow learner!) I'm learning about blog etiquette. Its frustrating to want to do the right thing when your computer isn't letting you.  I apologize for not responding to comments.  Honestly, I can't begin to express the joy I get when I have a comment to my post.  I'm working with blogger help to get this resolved (God Bless those marvelous patient people!) but not having much luck finding the problem. Keep writing though... please!

As my Fibromyalgia has been battling me and my knees are screaming, the doctor and I agree that its time for me to drop some weight.  Why is it that even though I went into the doctor with a firm conviction to speak with her about dieting, the minute the doctor tells me I should lose weight , I get the attitude of "YOU can't tell me what to do!"  After I had my short burst of rebellion (maybe it lasted a few days :-)) I spoke with my husband about a new plan.  I've struggled with an eating disorder and and having "Forbidden" foods is a trigger for me.  So we decided that we would just implement more fruits and veggies into our diet.  Mind you, I'm not a huge vegetable fan but I will tolerate some.  I found some fresh green beans down at our local Costco and wanted to jazz them up a bit.  On Allrecipes.com I found a recipe called Green beans with Almonds and Caramelized  Shallots.  I was totally game with it but had to do a bit of fussing with it. Part of the reason is because I had only one shallot on hand so had to substitute regular onion.  The other reason being I like to add Cayenne pepper to my vegetables.
Oh So Yummy Green Beans
adapted from this recipe this recipe
1/4 blanched slivered almonds or chopped almonds (see note to learn how to blanch your almonds!)
1 tablespoon butter
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 orange bell pepper, chopped (can substitute using red or yellow bell pepper)
2 teaspoons white sugar
1 teaspoon salt (more if desired)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper (more if desired)
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (omit if desired)
1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed and snapped

Directions
In a dry skillet, over low heat, place the almonds and cook and stir continuously until they are lightly toasted.  Almonds can quickly go from tasted to burnt so be sure to pay attention!  It took me only three minutes to get mine toasted. Remove from pan and set aside.

Insert a steamer into a saucepan and fill with water to just below the steamer.  Bring water to a boil.  Add the green beans, cover and steam until tender enough to pierce with a fork.  I like my beans a little less done... I want a bit of a crunch so I steamed for five minutes.  Drain the green beans and set aside.

While green beans are steaming; using a skillet, heat butter overmedium-low heat; add onions and bell pepper until softened.  This took me about eight minutes.  Reduce heat to low and add sugar, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper.  Cook until sugar is dissolved and onions have caramelized, about 5 to 8 minutes.
Add the green beans to the skillet, mix well and stir in the toasted almonds.

Serves 6

Note: how to blanch almonds
Place almonds in a bowl.
Pour boiling water to barely cover almonds.
Let the almonds sit for 1 minute and no longer.
Drain, rinse under cold water, and drain again.
Pat dry and slip the skins off.

Steamed Green Beans with Bacon on the Grill

I like to have variety in my vegetables... I mean, if you have to eat them then you better find ways to "user" friendly! Fresh green beans were on sale and hubby was planning on grilling steaks for dinner.  I tossed the green beans (a bit over a pound)in about 1 tablespoon olive oil, added three cloves crushed garlic and then placed three pieces of uncooked bacon over it.

raw bacon

I wrapped it all up in a sheet of tin foil and placed on the grill for twenty five minutes.  The bacon was cooked through (though not crunchy) and the beans were cooked with a bit of crunch left to them.

cooked bacon

I had used some bacon in another dish and had set aside some crisp pieces to top the green beans with before serving.  

Hope you enjoy!