Recipes

Sriracha Slaw - Guest Post From It's a Keeper

June 11, 2013

Welcome to week two of my summer guest blogger series. This week we have Christina from It's a Keeper sharing a great summer salad, Sriracha Slaw. Enjoy!

Hi there! I’m Christina from It’s a Keeper ( www.itisakeeper.com), a food and cooking blog where I test recipes to see if they’re (you guessed it…) keepers. Bernadette has graciously let me take Rants from my Crazy Kitchen today and share one of my favorite recipes with you.

Like Bernadette, I’m also from northeastern PA and summer is right around the corner so I thought I would share one of my favorite summer salad recipes – Sriracha Coleslaw! It’s a fun twist on my traditional coleslaw recipe.

Have you ever tried Sriracha hot sauce? It’s the spicy red sauce with the rooster on the bottle that you find in the Asian section of the grocery store. It’s very tres-chic these days. People are using it on everything from pizza to eggs to wings.

I love the flavor combination of this sauce. It’s sweet and garlicky and spicy. But, it’s not hot-sauce spicy. The flavor is deeper than traditional hot sauce. It’s more of a warming heat than a burn-your-tongue-off heat.

For a while now, I’ve been experimenting with Sriracha. I thought it would be interesting to pair this zippy sauce with something cool and creamy. The results were amazing! I loved all of the textures and flavors together. The crunch of the cabbage. The tang from the vinegar. A slight sweetness and, of course, the zest of the Sriracha. It really kicked up my traditional coleslaw to a whole new level.

I love it paired with my Slow Cooker Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwiches. Give this recipe a try – you may have just found your new summer salad favorite! I did.

If you get a chance to try this, I would love to hear how you liked it. Be sure to drop me a line and let me know what you thought – you can find me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest.

Sriracha Slaw

Compliments of It’s a Keeper
www.itisakeeper.com

5 cups shredded green cabbage
5 cups shredded red cabbage
2 cups shredded carrots
¼ cup finely sliced green onions
2 tsp lemon juice
½ cup cider vinegar
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup mayonnaise
¼ cup sour cream
1 tbsp coarse-grained mustard
3 tbsp Sriracha

In a large bowl, combine the lemon juice, mayonnaise, sour cream, Sriracha, and mustard, vinegar, sugar and salt. Add cabbage, carrots and onion. Mix well. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

About Christina

Christina is the Cook and Bottle Washer at It’s a Keeper (www.itisakeeper.com), a blog that provides tried and true recipes that are easy to make and, most importantly, taste great! It’s a Keeper is also about sharing her passion for cooking, recipes, helpful hints and ideas on how to cook more despite busy life. You can find more delicious recipes like this one on It’s a Keeper.

You can also connect with Christina on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Crock Pot Salsa Chicken

June 7, 2013

This is such an easy recipe to put together. I've been making it for a while now, after first hearing of it from my friend Amy, then my friend Sara from My Imperfect Kitchen made almost the same thing. Check out her recipe here. You may have even made this yourself, but I wanted to share it with those that haven't. I normally make it for tacos, and it's great, but you could serve it over rice or even add some veggie's like corn to it and eat it as is. Best part of it is, it's great for busy days! Only three ingredients, just put it in the crock pot in the morning, go about your day, and finish it when you get home!

Crock Pot Salsa Chicken

3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 16 ounce jar salsa, any brand and as spicy or not as you like

1 1.25 ounce packet taco seasoning

Place chicken breasts in the bottom of the crock pot, pour in the salsa and the taco seasoning, stir the salsa and taco sauce to combine. Set crock pot to LOW for 6 hours, or HIGH for 4 hours, then shred the chicken. I find it easiest to do this by removing the chicken from the crock pot onto a cutting board and shredding with a fork and a steak knife. Put the chicken back in the crock pot, stir, and continue to cook on low for 1 more hour.

See my awesome looking tacos? Don't they look yummy?!

Shared with Hun, What's For Dinner Simple Supper Tuesday #20

Bruschetta - Guest Post From Cooking From A SAHM

June 4, 2013

Starting today, every Tuesday throughout the summer I will be featuring guest posts from some of my awesome foodie friends! Starting today with Lysska from Cooking From a SAHM. Lysska and I "met" before I even started this blog, and I consider her a great friend <3. Please check out her blog and her Facebook page.

Before we get to her great Bruschetta recipe, I just wanted to remind everybody that today is the LAST day to vote in Circle of Mom's Top 25 Foodie Mom's 2013, and I would LOVE it if you would take just one minute to click on the link ( highlighted contest name) and vote for Rants From My Crazy Kitchen by clicking on the little heart next to my name. Voting ends at 4 PM PDT. Thank you to all those that have voted all along! And now I'll turn it over to Lysska 🙂

Hello Everyone,

Bernadette asked for guest bloggers and I was happy to help 🙂 I've known her for quite awhile and she's become one of my best blogging friends 🙂 She's also really good at Words with Friends 😉 Anyhow, my name is Alyssa and I'm 28 years old and live in Massachussets. I'm a stay at home mom of two kids, blogger and owner of Cooking From A SAHM. I am also a food expert with ConnecTV. My blog is simply a place where I can encourage families to cook with their kids, eat at the table, and have fun as a family. My recipes are made with things that everyone can make or have on hand. I started it about a year and a half ago as a way to get my cooking ideas out there. Who knew it would of grown up so fast.

Today I'm bringing to you my Bruschetta. My oldest who is four years old really enjoys this, and I figure with the hot temperatures outside that this is a perfect warm weather recipe 🙂 You can add more of each ingredient if you want 🙂

Bruschetta

2 Diced and de-seeded tomatoes
10 Chopped Kalmata Olives
1 C. Feta Cheese
½ Chopped Purple Onions
3 leaves Chopped basil
1 Tsp of Olive Oil
3 Chopped Garlic Cloves
4 Leaves of basil chopped into strips for the top.

Ciabatta Bread

Slice, drizzle olive oil and slightly toast on a skillet.

In a bowl put your chopped tomatoes, olives, feta, onions,basil, garlic and basil in a bowl. Mix it up. Taste it to make sure it suits you. Take your Ciabotta Toast and top with Bruschetta. ENJOY

Spinach Salad with Cherries

May 26, 2013

I'm so lucky to count so many great people from the foodie community as my friend's! Among us, we come up with great ideas. One of these ideas was an ingredient swap, where we had to send the person we were matched with an ingredient that is only sold in our area. With friend's from all over the country, this was bound to be fun! I was matched with Abby from Manila Spoon. She lives in Michigan, originally from the Philippines , and she sent me a container of dried cherries along with a note saying that Michigan is the cherry capital of the US. The cherries are from Shoreline Fruit, from Traverse City, Michigan, dried Montmorency cherries. I forgot to get a picture of the container!

I had a couple of ideas of what to make with them, and kept going back and forth with the ideas. Did I want to make something sweet like cookies or fudge, or something healthy and Spring-like? The weather the day I wanted to make it decided it for me, although the past 3 days have been chilly and now we are under a freeze warning for tonight! The tomatoes and peppers have been covered, and I'll bring the herb pots in and hope for the best.

I made a small salad since it was just for me, my husband, and daughter, so if making for more people just double or triple the recipe. The cherries are sweet, but not too sweet, and pair nicely with the spinach and goat cheese. I love goat cheese, but if you don't, feta or blue cheese would work!

Spinach Salad with Cherries

4 cups torn spinach, washed, steams removed, and torn into bite size pieces

1 cup grape tomatoes

⅓ cup purple onion, sliced thin

¼ cup dried cherries, chopped

¼ cup crumbled goat cheese

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Wash and dry the spinach well, remove the steams and tear into bite size pieces. Combine all the veggies in a bowl and top with the crumbled goat cheese, extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper. Gently tossed to combine. This salad could be refrigerated for a few hours, covered, before serving. Delicious and nutritious!! Even my daughter loved it, but she was convinced the dried cherries were raisins 🙂

I hope everyone in the US has a great Memorial Day! Before you head out to your cookouts could you please take one minute to vote for Rants From My Crazy Kitchen on Circle of Mom's Top 25 Foodie Mom's 2013 < Just click on the name, scroll down on the voting page, and click on the heart by my name. That's it, and you can vote once every 24 hours until June 4th at 4 PM. Thanks so much!

Just Two Things

May 21, 2013

If you follow my Facebook page you probably already know these two things, but on the chance you missed it!

I don't have a new recipe for you here today, but I did make some yummy Shaved Steak Enchiladas a few weeks ago, and I shared them with My Imperfect Kitchen. They are really good, so check out the recipe here. There is even a picture of me on it, ACCCKKK!! Sorry, I don't photograph well!

I also wanted to let you know that I'm a contestant in Circle of Mom's Top 25 Foodie Mom's 2013! I made the list last year, and it's done great things for me. My Chicken Pot Pie was featured on their Pinterest page last Fall, and then this Spring my Chicken Enchiladas were featured on their Top Cinco de Mayo recipes for kids! I really enjoy being in such a great group of mom's. So, now I have to be a pain in the butt and tell you that I need your votes! Would you please vote once every 24 hours for Rants From My Crazy Kitchen? You can also vote for your other favorite foodie mom's, there is a great list there, and many of them are my friend's! You can vote by clicking on the button on the side of this blog OR right here: http://www.circleofmoms.com/top25/Top-25-Foodie-Moms-2013?trk=t25_Top-25-Foodie-Moms-2013#_ As of right now I'm at number 25, but there is 14 days left to vote, so I really do need your votes to stay in the running. Thank you to all those that have already voted and are continuing to do so!

I have at least two new recipes coming up soon, and then I'm going to be sharing some awesome guest posts throughout the summer, along with my own recipes and random thoughts 🙂

Related Posts:

Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken Enchiladas

Flatout Flatbread Pizzas and an Amazing Giveaway

May 2, 2013

I have a love/hate relationship with pizza. Some pizzas can be very, very good, but some can be very, very bad. I had never had a grilled pizza before, though, so when Flatout asked me to be a brand ambassador and try their new Thin Crust Flatbread as a grilled pizza, I thought it was a great idea! First a little about Flatout and yummy pizza recipes.

Flatout has put together a Facebook landing page full of great grilled pizza recipes! They are revealing a new recipe every day for 30 days, and some of the links include coupons, so be sure to check back!

The Thin Crust Flatbreads come in a variety of flavors, and can be found at a Walmart near you, just click on those highlighted words to find the closest store. I used to work at Walmart in the deli department, and was already familiar with Flatout products, so I can tell you they can be found in front of the deli department. They are so easy to make into a yummy pizza, just a few minutes on the grill!

One of my favorite kinds of pizza is chicken wing pizza, so I knew immediately I would make a Grilled Chicken Wing Pizza, but I wanted to try something more healthy also. At first I thought of a veggie pizza, but my husband ( who ironically never had a healthy recipe thought before in his life) suggested I make a Spinach and Feta Grilled Pizza. Sounds good, right? I though so!

Grilled Flatout Thin Crust Flatbread Chicken Wing Pizza's

For 2 Pizza's you will need:

2 Flatout Thin Crust Flatbreads, Rustic White or flavor of your choice

½ cup cooked and shredded chicken for each pizza, 1 cup total

⅛ cup wing sauce for each pizza

¼ cup Parmesan cheese for each pizza

¼ cup crumbled bleu cheese for each pizza

Preheat grill to 350*F. Grill flatbreads for 1-2 minutes, with the lid closed. Remove from grill, brush with wing sauce, and top evenly with chicken, Parmesan and bleu cheeses. Return to grill and close lid, grill for 4-5 minutes more. Cut into pieces and enjoy!

Grilled Flatout Thin Crust Flatbread Spinach and Feta Pizza's

For 2 Pizza's you will need

2 Flatout Thin Crust Flatbreads, Spicy Italian or flavor of your choice

1 cup washed and throughly dried spinach for each pizza

2 ounces crumbled feta cheese for each pizza

1 teaspoon minced garlic for each pizza

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil for each pizza, plus a little extra drizzled over the top

Preheat grill to 350*F. Grill flatbreads for 1-2 minutes with the lid closed. Remove from grill and brush with olive oil. Top evenly with spinach, crumbled feta and minced garlic. Drizzle a little more extra virgin olive oil over the top of each pizza. Return to grill, close lid and grill for 4-5 minutes more. Cut into pieces and enjoy!

Both of these pizza's came out very good, the Thin Crust Flatbreads were nice and crispy and they hold together remarkably well considering how thin they are. Now that you know you have to try these, head right to your local Walmart and pick up your ingredients!

Good For You Turkey Melt

April 26, 2013

Arnold/Brownberry/Oroweat Breads provided me with coupons for product for this review. All opinions are my own.

I don't think I've mentioned it before here, but when I was pregnant with my daughter I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I failed the first and second stupid test by one point each time. I was NOT thrilled! I had none of the normal indicators that I would have it, I'm underweight, no family history that I know of, etc. But, I did and I was to control it by diet alone. This made my carb-loving self very sad! At least I didn't have to do injections, I really don't think I could ever do that to myself, and I hope I never have to!! I really did mostly hate the diet, though. My husband used it to his advantage to make steak ALL THE TIME, and I couldn't eat potatoes like I used to. And I could forget pizza. Luckily, as soon as our daughter was born it was gone!

One of the few things I did enjoy eating during this time was Arnold^® Sandwich Thins^® Rolls. They come in several different varieties, and my favorites were always the Multi-Grain and the Whole Grain White. For this sandwich I used the Multi-Grain, which has 100 calories per roll, no high fructose corn syrup, 11 grams of whole grain, and only 2 grams of sugar and 23 grams total carbohydrate. The best thing about them, they are quite delicious!

When making this sandwich I wanted it to be healthy, yet tasty. I thought about baking the turkey breast cutlets, but I thought that would make it too dry, and I was looking for a moist turkey breast. Honestly, I was hoping to be able to shred it, but I ran out of time to be able to cook it long enough to get to that point. I think next time I'll put the turkey breast cutlets in the crock pot. This time I simmered them in water with a herb mixture to give it a Thanksgiving turkey kind of taste.

Good For You Turkey Melt

4 turkey breast cutlets ( 1 ¼ lb. I ended up using a little less than this, with each cutlet cut in half on the sandwiches, but I cooked all 4)

4 sprigs thyme

5 sprigs parsley

¼ teaspoon poultry seasoning

4 Arnold^® Sandwich Thins^® Rolls, Multi-Grain or whichever you like!

baby spinach

sliced tomato

sliced avocado

⅓ pound lacey swiss cheese

Put the turkey breast cutlets in a medium saucepan with the thyme, parsley, and poultry seasoning, and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until cutlets are cooked through, reaching 180*F with a meat thermometer. Remove from the pot, and cut the turkey to fit the rolls. Preheat oven to 350*F. Place pieces of turkey on bottom of rolls, placed on a baking sheet. Put the tops upside down on the baking sheet. Top the turkey with folded pieces of swiss, and bake in the preheated oven for 4 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Top with baby spinach, sliced tomato, and sliced avocado. Serve immediately.

These sandwiches take some time to make, so you could always cook the turkey the day before, then reheat before placing on the rolls.

Note: Arnold^® Sandwich Thins^® Rolls are sold in the East under the Arnold name, Brownberry in the Mid-West, and Oroweat in the West.

Asparagus Soup with Dill Oil

April 19, 2013

I've collected many cookbooks over the years, but one of my favorite's remains Eating Royally by Darren McGrady. Mr. McGrady was a private chef to Princess Diana after starting out as a junior chef at Buckingham Palace. I love his cookbook because it is much more than just recipes, it tells stories of life at the palaces of the royal family, including both the lives of the palace cooks and the royal family themselves. I can tell you the Queen's favorite foods, and what Prince William and Prince Harry liked to eat as children because of this cookbook. I have a love of history, but more so when it's on a personal story level.

One of my favorite Spring vegetables is asparagus. I've been making this soup ever since I found it in Eating Royally, and I love it! I never really do much with asparagus besides steam it, otherwise, so this immediately caught my attention. I have made it many times since, and think it's great for rainy Spring days.

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Asparagus Soup with Dill Oil

Delicious Spring soup with asparagus and a dill oil drizzle

Prep Time15

Cook Time25

Total Time40

Course: Soup

Servings:

Calories: 137kcal

Author: Bernadette

Ingredients

For the soup:
2 pounds asparagus
1 stick unsalted butter
1 yellow onion finely chopped
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 cups chicken broth
salt and freshly ground pepper
For the Dill Oil:
½ cups chopped fresh dill
¼ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice
salt and pepper

Instructions

Cut the flowered tops off of the asparagus, about an inch long and set aside. Chop the remaining asparagus into ½-to 1 inch pieces, discarding the bottom two inches.
Melt the butter over medium heat in a 4 quart pot. Add the onions and asparagus and saute until the onion is translucent and the asparagus begins to soften. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Pour in the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the asparagus is soft.
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan bring 3 cups of water to a boil. Blanch the asparagus tips for 1 minute, drain and run under cold water. The tips will be bright green and still crunchy, giving a great texture to the finished soup.
Once the asparagus is fully cooked, puree the soup well using a hand blender or traditional blender. Pass the soup through a mesh strainer into a clean saucepan, pressing down with a large spoon to achieve a perfectly smooth texture. At this point you can refrigerate the soup until the next day or continue.
For the dill oil, put the dill, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a blender and blend until smooth and bright green in color. Taste and adjust the seasonings if the flavor is too bland.
Reheat the soup over low heat, don’t allow it to come to a boil. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with the asparagus tips, drizzling the dill oil over the top. Enjoy while pretending you are royalty!

Notes

Adapted from Cooking Royally

Nutrition

Mozzarella and Prosciutto Salad

April 14, 2013

The Laughing Cow® provided me with product for this review

This week Spring finally sprung around here! I'm in NE Pennsylvania, were it is winter 9 months out of the year! Ok, I might be exaggerating just a little, but it feels like it for someone like me who loves it warm. 70 degrees is barely warm to me.

I was thinking of making prosciutto wrapped mozzarella with Mini Babybel© Mozzarella but when it reached almost 80 degrees on Tuesday I decided on hot dogs on the grill and a salad for dinner. Confession, I had never made a salad with meat in it before! So, I asked a few friends for some ideas on what to add besides the Mini Babybel© Mozzarella and prosciutto. You can find these great friends after this yummy recipe!

Before I get to the recipe first let me tell you a little about this yummy cheese. Great for a snack, in a salad like this, or in any recipe you like, Mini Babybel Mozzarella has only 50 calories per wheel and 20% of a days worth of calcium! I hardly ever drink milk, so I need all the calcium I can get from cheese. Being low in calories, this makes a great snack if your watching your weight.

Mozzarella and Prosciutto Salad

¼ pound thinly sliced prosciutto, chopped

1 tomato diced

1-2 ounces baby spinach

Olive Oil and Balsamic Dressing

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

fine sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

Combine salad ingredients in a bowl and toss lightly to mix. In a small bowl combine dressing and use a hand mixer to mix well. Pour the dressing over the salad, cover and refrigerate up to an hour. Enjoy!

One note: My husband plated the dish in the picture, which I then ate. He put a good amount of prosciutto on it and I feel it was too much, it made the salad too salty. Try to split the prosciutto evenly between plates.

Thanks to Lysska from Cooking from a SAHM and Monica from Sweet Heat Chefs for helping me come up with this recipe! I would thank Crumbs in my Mustachio also, but really all she did was argue the validity of croutons and tell us to eat more bread! <3<3<3

Ranch Red Skinned Mashed Potatoes

April 8, 2013

This is one of those recipes that I just came up with one night and had no clue it would be so good! I mean, I know how to make basic, extra creamy, garlic, whipped....so many different kinds of mashed potatoes, and they are good but this time I just rocked my mashed potatoes, if I do say so myself 🙂 Until recently my daughter wouldn't touch any kind of potatoes except French fries. Since she started preschool this past fall, she has eaten mashed potatoes at school, and maybe once or twice at home, but she still doesn't love them. She LOVES ranch dressing though, so I thought she might eat these. I was wrong. No matter how much I tried to convince her they tasted like ranch dressing, she wouldn't try them. Oh, well, maybe next time!

Since I just made these for my husband and myself basically, what I'm giving you here doesn't make a lot, but it's easy to change to how many people you want to serve. I figure about two potatoes per person, that way you MIGHT have some left over, but I have to warn you I liked these better than the main dish that day so between the three of us there wasn't any left!

Ranch Red Skinned Mashed Potatoes

6 medium red potatoes, scrubbed well and unpeeled with any bad spots cut off

½ cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons powdered ranch dressing mix

2 tablespoons butter

salted water

Put enough water to cover the potatoes into a pot large enough to hold them. Slice the scrubbed potatoes thin, add to the pot, add salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat slightly and cook for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are soft. Drain the potatoes and return to the turned off burner ( the heat helps absorb the extra cream, while the larger amount of cream makes the potatoes easy to mash) and pour in the cream, ranch dressing mix and butter. Mashed with a potato masher until desired consistency. I like mine pretty smooth, but not completely! Enjoy!!

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Recipes

Asparagus Soup with Dill Oil

Ingredients

Instructions

Notes

Nutrition