Marvelous Ways to Make and Serve Macerated Oranges

Posted on February 4, 2014 by kelleychisholm

Kel's Marvelous Marcerated Oranges

The first time I made macerated oranges was years and years ago for a small dinner party I threw for some of my colleagues at Duke. I had made my yummy stuffed shells, which is a quite hearty pasta dish, and wanted something light to follow it. I followed Marcella Hazan’s macerated oranges recipe in her quintessential Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, adding the optional orange liqueur. Excellent! Now that orange season is in its prime, it’s time again to make some of this wonderful citrus sensation.

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Same Ingredients, Different Meals (Hint: Turkey, Arugula and Goat Cheese Star in Both)

Posted on January 31, 2014 by kelleychisholm

 Turkey, arugula, goat cheese, etc. ingredients

I recently went grocery shopping and lucked out on a number of items that were on sale: deli turkey, organic arugula, granny smith apples and sourdough bread. When I got home, I couldn’t decide whether to make a panini sandwich or a salad and then thought — why not make both, using the exact same ingredients in each dish. So I scrounged up a few more ingredients and wound up with two different but delicious meals, saving money on both!

All of these ingredients go together so well. The creamy goat cheese, peppery arugula, tart granny smiths, and the sweetness of the balsamic vinegar mixed with the sour cranberries in the dressing add many different dimensions to both the Panini and the salad.

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Tilapia for Two

Posted on January 28, 2014 by kelleychisholm

Tilapia ready to eat

Tilapia was on sale the other day, so I bought some knowing that I would not be able to grill it since it was too rainy and cold outside. Brad and I love oven-baked fish that has some sort of coating on it and I had seen this recipe for Tilapia Milanese courtesy of Food Network Magazine that I wanted to try. And I’m glad I did!

This is so easy to make and quite tasty. The fresh bread crumbs, parsley and lemon zest are an excellent coating for this mild, white fish.  Tilapia generally has low levels of mercury and is low in saturated fat, calories, carbs and sodium. There is some debate on which country to buy it from, but by most accounts U.S. tilapia is the best choice.

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Mom’s Marvelous Marinated Carrots, aka Copper Penny Salad

Posted on January 24, 2014 by kelleychisholm

Kel's Marinated Carrots

The first time I had these marvelous marinated carrots was several years ago at my Mom’s one Thanksgiving — she called them copper pennies. I’m not sure where she got her recipe, but after one bite I was hooked! The carrots are slightly cooked and mixed with green peppers, onions and celery to give this salad a nice crunch. Add a tangy marinade and chill overnight and you have a colorful, healthy and tasty salad that is good as a side dish or can stand alone as meal on its own.

There are a number of recipes for these great carrots on the Internet and I came up with this one based on how Mom makes them as well as my own personal tastes. I love celery and many of the recipes I saw did not include it, so leave it out if you want and increase the amount of green peppers instead.

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Lemony Chicken Soup With Spinach and Orzo

Posted on January 21, 2014 by kelleychisholm

Kel's Lemony chicken soup is almost ready!

If you’ve been following this blog, you know I love soup (check out my post, “Hey Raleigh, Soup’s On!”  about some of my area favorites, or just search under the heading “Soups and Such” under my recipe category.)

The other day chicken thighs, lemons and fresh baby spinach were all on sale, so I decided to make lemon chicken soup with spinach and orzo. You can certainly use chicken breasts instead of thighs — pick up a roasted chicken at the grocery store (Harris Teeter has them on sale on Sundays) to make things even easier. If you don’t have any orzo on hand, rice works just as well.

Kel's lemony chicken soup with spinach and orzo

This aromatic soup brightens up any cold and dreary winter day, but is also good year round. There’s just something about the combination of lemon and chicken (and lots of ground black pepper, too) that makes a great marriage of flavors. The lemons make this chicken soup so fresh, and if you’re like me, one bowl will not suffice!

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I Relish Relish (Café and Bar, That Is)

Posted on January 17, 2014 by kelleychisholm

Relish Cafe and Bar

If you have not been to Relish Café & Bar, then you’re seriously missing out. You really need to go. Now. I promise.  Relish opened in April 2011 and prides itself (rightfully so) by offering new Southern-style comfort food — classics with a modern update. There are a number of reasonably priced and quite tasty appetizers, sandwiches and entrees that I’m pretty sure you will not find in any other Triangle restaurant.

Relish Cafe & Bar, Raleigh NC

I’ve been meaning to write this review for almost a year now, especially since I’ve been to Relish Café at least 20 times since it opened. I really have no excuse for not doing so sooner, except most of my photos are not up to par, at least those taken inside. But after eating another excellent sandwich there the other day, I knew I needed to write about how owner Sharon May has done a phenomenal job in creating a place that brings a fresh and contemporary twist to traditional bar food, in addition to offering test kitchen menus, a small market with food and gift items, live music, wine tastings, book signings and recreational cooking classes (with some for children.) Sweet! Check out Relish’s website at http://www.relishraleigh.com/ for upcoming events, or, better, yet, sign up for email updates (unlike many places, you won’t get deluged with a ton of messages.)

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Kel’s Café Buffalo Chicken and Spinach Lasagna

Posted on January 14, 2014 by kelleychisholm

 Kel's Buffalo chicken lasagna out of the oven

It’s been a while since I made lasagna with chicken instead of ground beef, and when I was searching online for a recipe, I ran across several for buffalo chicken lasagna and knew I would have to give it a try. Brad and the kids love buffalo chicken wings, so I thought this would be a big hit with them. And it was! It’s hard to go wrong with lasagna to begin with, and adding the buffalo wing sauce and bleu cheese adds a great twist to this favorite classic. Plus the kids didn’t really notice the spinach since there are so many other goodies in this dish.

The only things I would do differently is to add more heat (either hotter wing sauce, more hot sauce or a combination of both) and more bleu cheese, just to get more buffalo chicken flavor. But other than that, this is a delicious alternative to your traditional lasagna.

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Slow Cooker Eastern N.C. Barbecue, Ninja Style

Posted on January 10, 2014 by kelleychisholm

The makings of Kel's BBQ sandwich

We North Carolinians take our barbecue (aka pulled pork for those of you not from these parts) seriously, and are quite divided on which kind is best: Eastern or Western. I’m not getting into any debates here, nor am I going to reinvent the wheel with a history lesson of this fabulous grub since BBQ guru Bob Garner already has done so in his seminal book, “Bob Garner’s Guide to North Carolina Barbecue,” which is available on Amazon.com, and a must read for all lovers of Q.

Bob Garner's Guide to North Carolina Barbecue

I’m also not going to claim that the recipe I’m about to share with you is better than what you will get at places that specialize in barbecue and cook it outside for hours and hours, because that would be a lie. What I am going to offer is a decent substitute that you can make in your own slow cooker, in case you don’t live near a decent BBQ joint and happen to find pork roast on sale. And yes, I am making this in my Ninja® Cooking System (hope you got one for Christmas!), with an Eastern N.C. vinegar-based sauce. The great thing about this recipe is that the Ninja or slow cooker does most of the work for you and you can adjust the sauce to your own specifications.

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A Different and Delicious Take on the Classic Reuben Sandwich

Posted on January 7, 2014 by kelleychisholm

Kel's classic Reuben with a twist

I love a good Reuben sandwich, piled high with tender corned beef, Swiss cheese, crispy sauerkraut and tangy mustard or Thousand Island dressing, served grilled on fresh rye bread. It’s usually one of my go-to sandwiches whenever I’m in a New York-style deli. Many delis have tried to lighten up this classic by replacing the corned beef with lean turkey and using reduced-fat dressing and cheese. And I’ve found many of these turkey Reubens to be quite good, especially the one at Zoës Kitchen.

Zoës Kitchen is a chain, mainly on the Eastern seaboard and in the South. According to its website, “Nothing is fried and there are no microwaves! What you’ll find at Zoës Kitchen is Mediterranean-inspired food, where grilling is the predominate method of cooking along with an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh herbs, olive oil and lean proteins …” So true – everything I’ve tried at Zoës Kitchen has been fresh and tasty.

I fell in love with the “Gruben” at Zoës Kitchen several months ago and finally decided to try to duplicate the recipe. Turkey replaces corned beef, but what really makes this sandwich stand out is the marinated slaw that is used instead of the sauerkraut. I’ve tried to duplicate Zoës’ slaw (the restaurant does not give out its recipe) and am quite pleased with my version, which is also great as a stand-alone side dish.

Awesome slaw!

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Kel’s Spicy Pickled Shrimp

Posted on December 29, 2013 by kelleychisholm

Kel's Spicy pickled shrimp, ready to serve!

I love serving shrimp at parties and this year for our Open House I wanted to spice up things, instead of having the same old boiled version with cocktail sauce (which, BTW, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, especially if you’re a shrimp lover like me!) Since I was making a variety of appetizers, plus some sweets and homemade chili, I decided to make pickled shrimp so I could prepare it the day before and leave it in the fridge, but not worry about keeping it iced down.

I looked online at a number of pickled shrimp recipes and combined several of them to come up with this version. It has just the right amount of spice and heat, and the lemons add a great citrusy freshness to the appetizer. It was a crowd pleaser for sure! The only thing I would do differently is to buy the shrimp already peeled and deveined — to me it is worth the extra money!

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Posted in Appetizers, Recipes, Seafood | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments