Sushi Salad

Oh how I love Sushi!!! I was craving sushi for dinner, but wasn’t in the mood to patchka and form it. So, I threw together a sushi salad instead. It’s soooo easy to make and takes only 30 minutes!!! What more can you ask for?

Ingredients:

All Cut Up:

Sushi Salad:

Ingredients:

1 cup sushi rice

2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar

1-2 Avocados

2 Cucumbers

1 package of mock crab, defrosted

Low sodium soy sauce (to taste)

Optional: toasted black sesame seeds (I put in regular sesame seeds b/c it was all I had)

Optional: cut up seaweed

Directions:

1)  Prepare the rice: Check rice for bugs. Rinse rice in water until it runs clear. Drain well.

2)  Pour rice into medium sized sauce pan and add 1¼ cups cold water and bring to a boil.

3)  Once rice is boiling, let simmer for 20 minutes (don’t remove the cover to check on rice during the 20 minutes). Then turn off stove.

4)  Add rice vinegar to rice, mix, cover pot and let sit for 10 min. Then remove cover and let it cool.

5)  While rice is cooking, cut up the avocados, cucumbers, and mock crab into small pieces.

6)  Mix everything together and pour soy sauce on top.

Everything Bagel Chicken

Whenever I cook big meals, I’m always so focused on the side dishes that I forget about the main dishes. It’s always a mad scramble, especially when it comes to chicken, so I had to come up with quick, easy chicken recipes. I happened to be eating an everything bagel while I was cooking and that is how this chicken was born. This recipe can be thrown together in minutes (literally) and you can have it cooking in the oven while you’re busy with more intricate recipes.

And the best part is- it tastes just like an everything bagel!!!

Ingredients:

Chicken thighs

Spices (salt, pepper, mrs. Dash, whatever else you want)

Dried MINCED garlic

Dried MINCED onions

Directions:

-  Spray tin with Pam and place chicken inside (wash and clean chicken first, obviously)

-  Sprinkle spices on both sides of chicken

-  Sprinkle a generous amount of minced garlic and minced onions on top of chicken

-  Sprinkle a little paprika on top for color

-  Cook at 350° for approximately one hour, covered, followed by a half hour uncovered

Mushroom Quiche

I have to apologize in advance because I forgot to take a picture of this quiche when it was completed. I had one of my favorite cooks over for a meal and was really stressing over what to make because I really wanted to impress her. I made a whole elaborate meal and the first thing she decided to taste was this quiche. After taking one bite she proceeded to put the entire quiche on her plate and literally ate the entire thing. I don't even think she tried anything else! Honestly, the quiche was probably the least impressive thing I made that day, but she loved it and now makes it all the time. Moral of the story- you don't have to make something fancy/elaborate to impress people; sometimes the easiest/simplest foods are the best.


Ingredients:
8 oz mushrooms, thinly sliced
1-2 large onions, thinly sliced
Oil for frying
1/2 cup non-dairy creamer
3 eggs
1 tablespoon flour
Salt and pepper
Pie crust


Directions:
- Fry onions and mushrooms until brown and place in pie crust
- Combine flour and milk, then add eggs, salt, and pepper
- Pour into pie crust
- Bake at 350 for 45 minutes

Sundried Tomato & Black Olive Pasta Salad

I was going to post a salad recipe, but I decided to go with a pasta dish instead. I hosted a BBQ for my older brother and his family and went a tad bit overboard (I’m sure none of you are the least bit surprised!). I made burgers, hotdogs, chicken kabobs, carrot fries, pasta salad, vegetable salad, and so much more…. Mind you it was only 3 adults and 2 toddlers eating, but hey, “Go big or go home!”

Kabobs:

Carrot Fries:

Pasta Salad:

My mishmash pasta salad actually turned out really good. I didn’t have many vegetables left over after making the kabobs, so I had to get creative. I remembered that I had sundried tomatoes in my pantry and I found a can of black olives, and I figured they would make an interesting combination. That’s how this recipe was born.

*I have to pre-apologize; I don’t remember the exact measurements of the spices I used

Ingredients:

1 box of pasta (I used spiral shape)

Sundried tomatoes packed in oil

1 can black olives

1 green pepper, chopped

¾ cup oil

Crushed red pepper

Cumin

Spicy Mrs. Dash

Garlic powder/onion powder

Basil/oregano

Salt and pepper

Pasta sauce

Directions:

-  Cook pasta according to directions on box

-  In a small jar, combine oil and spices

-  Add a little pasta sauce, to taste

(I added sauce because the dressing came out too spicy, so I needed to make it a little milder)

-  Add sundried tomatoes, olives, and green pepper, and mix all together

-  Serve cold

Fried Mock Shrimp

Hey guys! Sorry I haven’t been posting everyday… been really busy preparing for my new job and looking for an apartment.

Today I’m going to share with you a quick and easy recipe that I got from my cousins, Roach and Will. I took a road trip a few weeks ago to visit them and they introduced me to mock shrimp. I LOVE mock crab, so I was very excited to try mock shrimp. They fried it, something I never considered doing, and it tasted AMAZING!

I changed their recipe slightly to make it hotter/more spicy...

Ingredients:

Before Picture:

 After Picture:

Mock Shrimp Recipe:

-  Mix together spicy bread crumbs and spices (onion/garlic powder, oregano, basil, thyme)

*** I used Mexican bread crumbs and mixed it with onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, oregano, cumin, and extra spicy Mrs. Dash

-  Dip mock shrimp in egg, then coat with bread crumb mixture

-  Fry for 3-4 minutes each side



Broccoli Kugel

Hey guy! Sorry I've been MIA for a few days- just been really busy. Over the years I've made many different broccoli kugels, trying to perfect my recipe until I got it just right... Below is the recipe I developed, which is always a big hit. The picture of it is on my friend's camera, so hopefully I'll get it from her in the next couple days and post it. Enjoy!


Ingredients:
1 (16 ounce) bag frozen broccoli
¼ cup mayonnaise
2 eggs
1 tablespoon flour
2 ½ tablespoons onion soup mix
Salt and pepper
Cornflake crumbs
9” inch pie crust (can be deep dish)


Directions:

-  Cook broccoli according to directions on the package and drain.

-  Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl EXCEPT the cornflake crumbs.

-  Pour into pie crust and sprinkle cornflake crumbs on top

-  Bake at 350° for 30-45 minutes

Cranberry Chicken

Yesterday I was searching the internet for inspiration for a new dish and I came across coffee coated steak. It sounded interesting, so I decided to try it out, only instead of using plain coffee, I used hazelnut. It came out interesting to say the least. If I were to make it again I would come up with some sort of sauce to put on it because the coffee made it too grainy for my taste. My friend, Amanda, suggested a honey BBQ sauce to play on the flavor of the hazelnut. To find out more of her suggestions and thoughts, check out her blog, Amandalandish. I’ll share the coffee coated steak recipe at a later date, once I’ve perfected it.

Today, I chose to share a recipe which one of my friends gave me, which I only slightly modified. I am not a big fan of citrus chicken recipes but I did enjoy this one.

Ingredients:

2 oranges

Chicken on the bone, skin removed

1 can whole cranberries or cranberry sauce

1 cup French salad dressing

1 small packet of onion soup mix (about 2 ½ tablespoons)

Directions:

-  Zest one orange and reserve the zest

-  Slice the oranges into thin slices

-  Place the slices on the bottom of a tin and place chicken on top

-  Mix the rest of the ingredients and the orange zest together. Pour over the chicken

-  Cook at 375° for 1 ½ hours, uncovered

Have a great weekend everyone!

xoxo,
Carrie