Braised Cabbage Rolls

A classic :) Pigs in a blanket, stuffed cabbage, cabbage rolls... Whatever. Comfort food!

Ingredients:

• 1 hard headed cabbage
• 1 lb ground sausage
• 1 package stuffing, prepared (I used whole wheat "for chicken" stuffing)
• 1 onion, diced and sauteed
• 2 c red sauce

Directions:


1. Blanch a head of cabbage. Core the cabbage 2-3" deep. Bring a large pot of water to boil and add cabbage (cored side up) to boiling water. Gently loosen leaves one at a time with tongs or wooden spoons. I removed about 15 leaves before the leaves became too small to use for wraps.
2. Add blanched leaves to a cold water bath, then set aside in a strainer.

3. Make cabbage stuffing. Mix ground sausage, sauteed onion, and stuffing with hands.








4. Stuff cabbage. Add a heaping spoon of sausage mixture to a piece of cabbage. Set it right over the more rigid spine of the cabbage leaf. Then fold the softer end over the sausage (effectively folding the leaf in half) and roll the cabbage into a nice little blanket. Repeat with all leaves until sausage/stuffing mix is gone.






(If you run out of leaves before stuffing, make meatballs and let them simmer in the sauce.)

5. Cover with red sauce, bake at 300 for 1 hour. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Gnocchi in Tomato Basil Sauce

I'm not Italian, but that won't stop me from making a big Italian family dinner on Sundays!

Gnocchi

Ingredients

• 9 whole potatoes
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 c flour
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. In a large pot, cover potatoes with salted water. Bring to a boil and cook, covered, for 15-20 minutes.







2. Once tender, remove from water, peel, and mash quickly. While mash is still hot, add eggs and flour and mash again.

3. On a floured surface, with oiled hands, need the mixture for 2-3 minutes until you have a loosely formed dough. Grab a hunk, roll it into a 2 foot play dough snake, and cut it into 1/2" sections. Mark one edge with a fork (optional... and tedious) and set aside onto a cookie sheet.








4. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add gnocchis to boiling water and cook 8 minutes, gently stirring occasionally. Drain and finish in sauce for 2-3 minutes.







Tomato Basil Sauce- quick, easy, delicious!

Ingredients

• 1 can of tomato puree (23 oz)
• 1 onion, diced
• 1/2 c red wine
• 8-10 basil leaves
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Saute onion in olive oil over medium heat until clear and tender. Turn heat to high, add red wine and saute 1 minute.

2. Reduce heat to med-low, add tomato puree and torn/chopped basil leaves and let simmer 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Salt and pepper to taste.

3. Add gnocchi to sauce, let simmer 2-3 minutes more. Serve topped with freshly grated parmesan.

Creamy Mushroom Soup

This soup has such a strong mushroom flavor- it's unlike any mushroom soup I've ever had. Absolutely delicious!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lb crimini mushrooms, chopped
• 1 oz dried mushrooms
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 stick butter
• 1/3 c flour
• 3 c chicken stock
• 1/4 c port
• 1 1/2 c half & half
• 1 dollop olive oil

1. In a large sauce pan, over medium heat, melt butter and add olive oil. Saute onions 12-15 minutes, until clear tender. Add mushrooms and saute an additional 5 minutes. Stir in flour and cook another 1 minute.
2. In a separate small pan, heat 1 c chicken stock and simmer dried mushrooms until rehydrated.
3. Add rehydrated mushrooms and all chicken stock to the large pan. Simmer and let flavors combine for up to 15 minutes.
4. Remove approximately half of the soup and puree in a blender. Pour the puree back into the soup, and stir in port and half & half. Salt and pepper to taste.

I served it with quickly broiled french bread and swiss cheese.

Apple Crisp

We've had a chilly couple of days now, so I'm obviously getting geared up for fall favorites! We went to an orchard last week and I came away with two pecks of apples- Macintosh and Yellow Delicious. I briefly stewed the cored, peeled, and sliced apples with white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and lemon juice.

THEN I topped it with this oatmeal crumb topping :)

Ingredients:

• 1 c rolled oats
• 1 c brown sugar
• 1/2 c white sugar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 stick melted butter

Preheat oven to 400 F. Lightly oil an 8x8 glass baking dish.

Combine oats, sugars, cinnamon, and butter. Line the bottom of the baking dish with a thin layer of crumb topping.

 Layer 3 cups of stewed apples into the dish.


Top with remainder of crumb topping.





Bake at 400 for 25 minutes, until top is crisp and the sides are bubbling up.

Herbed Butter Fish and Corn Soup

 Herb-Butter Ingredients:

• Three 5 oz filets
• 1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 squeeze of lemon
• 1 spring of each: sage, rosemary, thyme; fresh and finely chopped. 
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• A dash of cayenne powder

Preheat the oven to 425. Finely chop those herbs and garlic while the oven preheats. For as haphazard as I am in the kitchen, I am a stickler for chopping!


Rub the salt into the chopped herbs and garlic.





Mash herb-rub into softened butter. Add a squeeze of lemon and a dash of cayenne and stir. (At this point, you may save the herbed butter and refrigerate for later use.









OR Slather it onto a few pieces of fish (you can see I've used salmon and tilapia) and bake at 425 for 7-10 minutes. Don't put the rack too close to the bottom of the oven or the butter will start to smoke something awful. (Learn your lessons well, folks).

Corn Soup Ingredients:

• 5 ears of corn, husked and kernels sliced off
• 1 finely chopped white onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 c half and half
• salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter and saute onion and garlic for about 15 minutes on med-low heat. Add the corn and turn the heat up for as long as it takes you to sweep the floor (after making a giant mess with the corn...), about 2-3 minutes. Cover the corn with water and let come to a boil for 5 minutes.




 Turn the heat off and let sit 10 minutes. Transfer half of the soup to the blender and puree for 15-20 seconds. Add the puree back to the pot, stir in half and half, and salt and pepper to taste.

Delish!

Seared Ahi Tuna Salad with Miso Ginger Dressing

What can I say but YUM! Ahi tuna is one of my favorite things and you can get it at Kroger in their frozen section for a very good price. I topped this delicious salad with a traditional miso ginger dressing, which I have been trying to make forever. Although it is not completely like the restaurants I think I am getting close. As a note, you can find miso in the international section of most grocery stores in a bottle on the shelf.

For the cocktail lover: If you would like to enjoy a cocktail when making this salad save the juice from the mandarin oranges and mix it with any liquor you have in your house! Gin or vodka works best, tequila probably would not be bad either! I just put the juice and a shot of vodka in a shaker with ice and poured a nice martini…mmmmm!

Ahi Tuna Salad

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 tbs peanut oil, olive oil will work fine

1 large ahi tuna steak

2 tbs toasted sesame seeds

2 cup mixed greens, or greens of your choice

½ cup frozen, shelled edamame, cooked to package directions

¾ cup shredded carrots

1 can mandarin oranges in juice, drained (save the juice and see above)

½ cup Chinese crunchy noodles

Directions

1. 1.     Heat the oil in a non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Coat the ahi tuna steak in sesame seeds. Once the oil is hot put the steak in the oil and sear on both sides, about 3 minutes a side.
2. 2.     Divide the greens among 2 plates and evenly top with edamame, carrots, and oranges. Top with the tuna, noodles, and dressing (recipe follows). 

Miso Ginger Dressing

Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients

1/4 cup peanut oil

1/4 cup rice vinegar

4 tablespoons miso, yellow or white

1 tablespoon sesame oil

2 carrots, roughly chopped

1 inch long piece fresh ginger, cut into coins

Salt and pepper

Directions

Put all ingredients except salt and pepper into a food processor and run for a minute or so, until mixture is chunky-smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Shrimp Salad Lettuce Wraps

These are one of my favorite summer dishes to make! The shrimp salad is so light and refreshing, especially paired with the lettuce cups. You can serve this on bread instead if you are not a fan of the lettuce cups. They are also super easy to take as a packed lunch and assemble anywhere.

Ingredients

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 pound shrimp - peeled, deveined and chopped

3/4 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed

1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup pesto

1/4 cup fresh cilantro or basil, chopped

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Salt and pepper

1 head of bib or iceberg lettuce

Directions

1. In a medium skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the shrimp and cook about 3 minutes, until cooked through. Remove from the heat, stir in the corn and bell pepper, let cool.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, pesto, basil, and lemon juice. Add the shrimp mixture and stir. Season with salt and pepper. Serve in the lettuce cups.