Here’s a wonderful pasta salad, perfect as a side dish for summer gatherings or else as a meal on its own. The lemon aioli dressing is nice and refreshing and pairs perfectly with the smokiness of the salmon and mozzarella. You can replace the mayo in the dressing with nonfat Greek yogurt if desired – it won’t be quite as creamy but it will lighten it up some.
I like to garnish this salad with fresh tomato and/or avocado slices as well as a couple of sprigs of parsley.
Medium-sized shrimp was on sale the other day at Harris Teeter for $5.99 a pound, so I decided to grab some and prepare them with some buffalo sauce and my homemade bleu cheese dressing. It was a dark and stormy night (yeah, we’ll go with that), so I battered and fried the shrimp – yum!
You can grill the shrimp instead of frying, but I would recommend buying large shrimp instead of medium ones. Skewer the shrimp, cover them with the buffalo sauce of your choice with a few sprinkles of garlic salt. Marinate for at least half an hour. Shake off extra sauce and grill over medium heat until the shrimp have just cooked through, about 6 or 7 minutes total.
If you are a blue cheese fan, you will love, love this dressing. It is simple to make and can be used on salads as well. It will keep in the fridge for several days. I like to use some big crumbles of bleu cheese in this dressing. Yum, yum, yum!
I’ll never forget the first time I made eggplant parmesan. It was in the mid-80s, and I was preparing it for my Dad, who was mainly responsible for instilling my love of food and cooking. Dad loved to make Italian dishes and his red sauces were incredible. He would tinker for hours in the kitchen, perfecting old recipes and experimenting with new ones. He finally had to give up making dishes that took any amount of time because of his health, so one day I decided to make him eggplant parmesan, one of his favorites (mine, too!)
Well, it was horrible. I mean really, really bad. Throw-away and call-for-a-pizza bad. While my marinara sauce was excellent (I had that down pat, thanks to Dad), the eggplant itself sucked. First, I cut the slices too thick. Next, I didn’t salt the eggplant slices and let them drain to get rid of the excess moisture. What a mess! Dad insisted on trying it, but was happy when I told him that pizza had already been ordered.
I am thrilled to say that almost 30 years later, I have finally perfected my recipe for eggplant parmesan. I just wish my Dad was here to enjoy it, especially on this Father’s Day. This one is for you, Dad. Continue reading
This awesome dip takes traditional guacamole to another dimension, as the bleu cheese gives adds sharpness and extra creaminess. It is made with healthy Stonyfield yogurt, which the folks there were nice enough to send me a coupon for a free sample as well as the recipe for this dip. (Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Stonyfield in any way, but I do love its organic and GMO-free products.)
I changed the recipe a bit by adding some chili garlic hot sauce and seasoned salt. I also increased the amount of garlic as well as the bleu cheese. This is a great dip to make for your outdoor summer gatherings, such as Father’s Day, which is coming up soon.
Craving some comfort food? Look no further — these cheese and veggie lasagna roll-ups with spicy marinara sauce are just the ticket. With summer almost upon us, this is a great way to use zucchini or squash, which will be abundant and cheap in the next month. I added some spinach and sweet red bell pepper, but choose the veggies you like. Or, add some baby bella mushrooms — the possibilities are numerous.
I make my own marinara sauce with canned tomatoes, red wine, onions, celery, garlic and Italian spices, etc. However, feel free to use your favorite bottled brand, especially if you’re in a time crunch. And as far as the cheese, use part-skim ricotta and reduced-fat mozzarella — you will never miss the fat! I added parmesan because a small amount adds a ton of taste, and asiago since that’s what I had in the fridge. You can easily substitute the asiago for Gruyère or other favorite cheese. Just add lots —that’s what makes this so comforting and fabulous!
With summer quickly approaching, here is a great dip you can take to cookouts or picnics. Roasting the garlic makes it sweeter and mellower than not roasting it, bringing a great flavor to the hummus. The lemon juice adds just enough tartness and acidity, and the cayenne pepper gives it a great bite, which you get to control.
It takes about an hour to roast the garlic, but is well worth it. Not only is this hummus so tasty, but it’s low in calories and good for you!
Beets are now in season in North Carolina and plentiful at local farmers’ markets as well as in grocery stores. Here is a wonderful salad that is so simple to assemble. It does take about 1½ hours for the beets to roast and cool — you can do this the day before if you like. The beets give the salad an earthy, somewhat sweet taste and match well with the Vidalia onions, while the bleu cheese adds creaminess and the walnuts bring crunch. Sometimes I use goat cheese instead of the bleu, and that’s really good, too.
BTW, I recommend wearing disposable gloves when working with beets so your fingers don’t get stained. Trust me on this.
I love fresh corn on the cob, but off of the cob. That’s how Pampa always made it – once he boiled it, he would cut off the kernels and mix them with butter, salt and pepper. He hated getting corn stuck between his teeth, so this was his way to enjoy it without breaking out the dental floss. I really appreciated my grandfather’s method once I got braces and have been serving it this way (at least for me) ever since.
One would think that since I prefer corn off the cob that I would love creamed corn, but up until last month I despised it. I guess it was because the few times I tried it, it came from a can. The smell alone was disgusting, not to mention the mushy texture – ick! Luckily for me, I decided to try creamed corn again last month when it was part of my meal at Magnolias in Charleston, S.C. (more about this excellent restaurant in a separate post.) Of course, Magnolias’ creamed corn definitely is not canned and it is awesome! I’ve been craving it ever since I tried it, so of course I’ve been trying to recreate this dish at home. After a couple of tries (one that had cream cheese as an ingredient but unfortunately was too heavy for my taste) I finally have created a recipe that is easy to make and really quite tasty. It is creamy, not too sweet, and has a nice crunch since the corn kernels are not overcooked. Yum!
It’s right in the middle of strawberry season here in Raleigh, and I’m so happy there are a number of local farms where I can go to pick my own. There’s just something wonderful about picking your own fruits and vegetables — not only do you know they are fresh, but for some reason they just taste better.
This year I decided to make strawberry preserves. If you have never canned fresh fruits and vegetables, I totally recommend it. Not only is canning economical, especially if you have your own garden, but you can also appreciate the fruits of your labor year-round as well as control the ingredients that go into your jars. Plus they make great gifts – who doesn’t love to get a jar of freshly made jam or pickles? There are numerous websites that can guide you through the canning process — Ball’s® site (http://www.freshpreserving.com/getting-started.aspx) is a great place to start, since the company is famous for its canning products. Continue reading
What I love about this broccoli salad is that you can keep it vegetarian for those of you who don’t eat meat, or else add bacon, for those who would argue that bacon makes everything better! Either way, what you get, as my brother-in-law, David, so aptly described it, is a salad with many different layers of flavors and textures. You get crunch with the broccoli, almonds, onions and bacon (if used); sweetness with the raisins and sugar; tartness with the lemon and vinegar; and creaminess with the mayo.
I am so fortunate that Gabe, Lexi and Brad love broccoli, cooked or raw, but for those of you who are not so fond of this vegetable, give this salad a try — it may just change your mind. And for those of you who do like broccoli, here’s an easy-to-make salad that is an excellent side dish, quite adaptable for vegetarians or carnivores alike with the simple addition or omission of bacon.
Kel's Cafe of All Things Food 