Easy/No-bake Whipped Peanut Butter Pie

Ingredients

½ C peanut butter

½ C cream cheese, softened/room temp

1 C powdered sugar

1 C heavy whipping cream*

1 tsp vanilla

pinch salt

1 9-inch pie crust: graham cracker or chocolate cookie crust

Optional toppings (or mix-ins): Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, mini chocolate chips, chopped peanuts, chocolate fudge sauce...

* You can substitute 8 oz frozen whipped topping to save time (sacrificing real cream), but since it is presweetened, reduce the powdered sugar to ½ cup.

Directions

Combine peanut butter, cream cheese and ½ cup powdered sugar, mixing until very smooth.

In a separate bowl, whip heavy cream to firm peaks with remaining powdered sugar, vanilla and salt. Fold in peanut butter mixture.

If desired, spread some chopped Reeses Peanut Butter Cups (or other mix-ins) on the bottom of the crust or gently stir into peanut butter filling. Pour peanut butter filling into crust, spreading gently to an even thickness. If desired, sprinkle with extra toppings and/or drizzle with chocolate fudge sauce.

Keep refrigerated.

Vadouvan Chicken Salad (Sandwich)

Vadouvan is a French spice mix similar to curry. Vadouvan is a bit milder and since I'm a wimp when it comes to hot spice I tend to prefer vadouvan. You could substitute curry in this recipe and be just fine; either spice is not overpowering with everything else in the mix. I like this in a sandwich, but it'd be fine on a bed of greens as a salad on its own.

Ingredients

1½ lb chicken breast, cooked, diced

1 apple, peeled, cored, diced

3 green onions, chopped

½ C peanuts* chopped

½ C dried cranberries (or golden raisins)

2/3 C grapes (green or red), quartered

¾ C mayonnaise (or Miracle Whip, etc.)

1 tsp vadouvan

¾ tsp salt

* I use peanuts because I have a tree nut allergy. Cashews or pecans would be more common here.

Directions

Season teh chicken breast with salt & pepper, cook, cool and dice. While it's cooling, do all the other dicing, chopping and quartering. TIP: Next time I make mine, I'll dice things smaller; I imagined if would be nice to bite into good chunks, but they just kept falling out of my sandwich! 

In a medium bowl, tossed chicken, apple, onion, peanuts, cranberries and grapes. 

In a small bowl, stir vadouvan and salt into mayonnaise; then, fold into chicken mixture. Season with extra salt if needed.  ...or more vadouvan if the flavor is milder than you'd like.

P.S. This picture isn't an original of mine. I'll try to remember to TAKE one next time I mix up a batch of this!

Monte Cristo Crepes

This is more of a reminder than an actual recipe. The inspiration came from Food Network Magazine (October 2015...I was recylcing old magazines at school). You can find their recipe here. I just made crêpes from my go-to crêpe recipe, and layered and folded in ham, turkey and swiss cheese. Swiss is traditional, though the Food Network recipe calls for muenster, and any melt-y cheese could work. I covered them, so they wouldn't dry out, and popped them in the oven (350°) just long enough to melt the cheese. The dipping sauce is a mix of raspberry jam and dijon mustard. I dusted mine with powdered sugar which is often included with a Monte Cristo. Serving it with a green salad kept it from being too overly indulgent.

Ingredients

crêpes

thin sliced ham

thin sliced turkey

thin sliced swiss

seedless raspberry jam

dijon mustard

powdered sugar

Brown Sugar & Soy Drumsticks

It definitely wouldn't have to be drumsticks; in fact, it wouldn't even have to be chicken. This is a super simple basting glaze that is the closest I could remember to what I saw in a magazine (allrecipes? FoodNetwork? Delish? Cooking Light? BHG? -- I honestly can't remember, but those are ones I subscribe to). It was just a handful of ingredients...

Ingredients
6 chicken legs
1/3 C brown sugar
2 t ketchup
1 T soy sauce (or tamari, or amino acids...)
½ t garlic powder
     I'd actually prefer fresh garlic, mashed into a paste, but the original recipe was intended to be super "quick & easy" and used powder
1-2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 t toasted sesame seeds

Directions

Preheat oven to 425°. Combine brown sugar, ketchup, soy and garlic powder in a small bowl. Place chicken pieces in a shallow baking dish and smear with brown sugar paste. Bake 20-30 minutes until interior of chicken legs (or thighs, breasts...) reaches 165°, basting with brown sugar drippings at least a couple times as it cooks. Top with sliced scallions and sesame seeds to serve.

Sweet Chili Sauce

I bought a Thai chili pepper plant at the Farmer's Market recently. No chilis are ready yet (but they're there!), but it's made me crave sweet chili sauce while I'm waiting for them to mature... There are lots of recipes for sweet chili sauce with similar but slightly varied ingredients, but here's a good basic recipe to use as a spring board for personalizing the flavor. Great as a dipping or finishing sauce for lots of Southeast Asian dishes.

Ingredients

1 red bell pepper

1-2 cloves garlic

½ C sugar (I like using brown sugar, but white is more traditional)

1/3 C vinegar -- distilled white or apple cider

2 t sriracha or sambal oelek (use more if you like more spice!)

½ t salt

1 t fish sauce or oyster sauce

Directions

Remove stem and seeds from bell pepper; coarsely chop. Pulse pepper and garlic in food processor or blender until finely chopped.

In small saucepan, combine pepper & garlic with ½ C water, sugar, vinegar, sriracha/sambal oelek, and salt. Bring to boil; reduce heat to simmer and continue cooking about 10 minutes until reduced and slightly thickened.

In small bowl, create a slurry with cornstarch and fish or oyster sauce.  Add to mixture in saucepan, stirring constantly for about a minute until sauce thickens.

Cauliflower 'Tots'

1  medium head cauliflower

2  eggs

1 C shredded cheddar

1 C shredded parmesan

2 T fresh chopped herbs*

2/3 C panko breadcrumbs

½ t salt

¼ t pepper

* To try out the recipe, I just used a pre-blended Italian herb mix (2 tsp, dried), but you could play around with any flavor combination here!

Core cauliflower and chop into 1 - 1½ " inch floret pieces. Steam until tender. Drain thoroughly and transfer to a large bowl. Mash cauliflower using a pastry blender or potato masher (or, use a food processor...) in to very fine pieces.

Add eggs, cheeses, panko, herbs, and salt & pepper (more or less to taste). Mix until well combined.

Shape 1-2 tablespoons of cauliflower mixture into balls or 'tot-like' shapes with your hands. Arrange tots in a single laer on a parchment lined baking sheet, or in the basket of an air fryer. Cook at 375° until golden -- for 10-12 minutes in an air fryer, or approximately 20-25 minutes in conventional oven,

Serve with your choice of dipping sauce(s).

Namasu - Pickled Carrot & Daikon Salad

Asian flavors (and pickles) are both foods I like. If you don't, this probably isn't for you. A little serving of this on the side of any Asian dish adds a bright, zingy bite to the meal.

Ingredients

1 lg daikon, julienned (1/8 x 1/8 x 2 inches)*

     -- about 3½ cups

1 lg (3 medium) carrots, julienned*

2 tsp kosher salt

3 T rice vinegar

1 T sugar

1 T lime juice

1-2 T orange juice

Optional garnish: toasted sesame seeds

* I bought carrots that were pre-cut, and used a mandolin to prep the daikon. If you don't have a mandolin or a food processor to slice the veggies, you could shred them on the largest section of a hand-held grater. The texture isn't going to be quite the same, but it could save you a LOT of prep time! (and knife work, if you're not that efficient with practice)

Directions

Toss together the daikon and carrots; sprinkle with salt and gently toss again. Let sit (room temp) about 20 minutes. Veggies will soften a bit and release some water.

While veggies are resting, whisk together vinegar, sugar, lime and orange juices* until sugar is dissolved. (Ideally the lime and orange juices should be replaced with yuzu juice; it's not that hard to find but I rarely have it on hand and I usually have lime and orange which are a pretty good substitution.)

Drain liquid from carrot & daikon mixture.  Drizzle vinegar dressing over vegetables and toss to coat; let stand at least 15 minutes.

Serve at room temp or chilled, garnished with toasted sesame seeds.

Shoyu-Miso Tare (ramen bowl flavor base)

I'll try to remember to take my OWN photo, but so far all I've done is mix up the Shoyu-Miso Tare itself, which is a concentrated flavor base for ramen bowls. Just add hot broth, ramen noodles and whatever veg or proteins you fancy! (...all pre-cooked, of course!)

Shoyu-Miso Tare

¼ C tamari/soy sauce

2 T mirin

2 T sake

2 T white miso

1 tsp Sriracha, or a pinch of red pepper flakes

Whisk it all together and get ready throw together a ramen bowl!

To add extra flavor, add a couple spoonfulls of this on top of your ramen bowl:

Scallion-Ginger Sauce

4 thinly sliced scallions

1-2 T minced fresh ginger*

1 tsp tamari/soy sauce

pinch of red pepper flakes

¼ C sesame oil

In a small bowl, combine scallions, ginger, soy sauce and red pepper flakes.

Heat sesame oil in a small sauce pan until is shimmers (about 1 minute, just before smoking). Pour hot oil over scallion-ginger mixture and let steep at least 10 minutes before serving.

* I buy this in pre-prepared squeeze tubes at the grocery store.

Egg 'Waffles' -- ("Chaffles"???)

Apparently calling them "chaffles" is a thing (something+waffle??? -- I truly have no idea! Egg is the main ingredient). But...whatever!  It's a fun alternative to scrambled eggs with 'add ins'.

The 2-egg recipe amounts below were perfect for one serving in my 8" waffle iron. Easy to double (or quadruple), but this is a great single serving size...my students would have fun mixing up their own individual creations!

Ingredients

2 eggs

2 T flour

¼ tsp baking powder

pinch each salt & pepper

Optional: 1/3 C shredded cheese, bacon crumbles, diced ham, crumbled breakfast sausage, chopped scallions, minced chives, minced garlic, small diced peppers or onions, minced herbs...   You get the idea!

Directions

Whisk eggs until fluffy. Whisk in flour, baking powder, salt & pepper.

Add in shredded cheese(s) and other add-ins if desired (they can also be used as toppers to garnish the finished egg-waffle).

Heat waffle iron; pour egg mixture onto waffle iron and cook about 3 minutes until set and beginning to brown. Serve immediately while still very fluffy...they do tend to deflate a little. 

I topped mine with sour cream with a little bacon jam mixed in, and some roasted cherry tomatoes and chopped scallions (both of which I also mixed into the egg batter).

Miso+Ginger(+Maple)...2 versions

While I don't typically want my whole meal to have the same flavor profile, if it's a combo I really like, it definitely makes the prep easier when you're utilizing a lot of the same ingredients. With only slight differences ingredients, both of these glazes deliver with something sweet, something sour/acidic, something salty, a little fermented funk, and a little kick of heat all balanced to brighten up a protein or veggie...

Miso-Glazed Salmon with Sushi Rice (original recipe from Epicurious)

I didn't have sushi rice, but brown rice was fine here. It's the glaze the really carries the flavor...

Combine the ingredients, heat and reduce slightly to thicken, use it to baste the salmon. It would also be good on pork, chicken, but salmon's a real treat.

3 T sugar

¼ C each: rice vinegar, miso paste, maple syrup, tamari/soy sauce

½ tsp red pepper flakes

Ginger-Miso Glazed Broccoli (original recipe from EatingWell)

Again, this would work with other veggies too -- asparagus, Brussels sprouts, bok choy, etc. It's the flavors in the glaze here, very similar to the recipe above. 

2 T white miso*

1 T grated fresh ginger

1 tsp maple syrup (or honey)

1 tsp sesame oil*

½ tsp tamari/soy sauce

½ tsp rice vinegar

pinch white pepper

* A darker miso would also work, but tends to have a stronger flavor (and usually saltier) and could overpower the other ingredients; but you could reduce the amount to taste. An easy swap with this recipe would be to use peanut oil, and chopped peanuts instead of the seasame seeds as a topper/garnish.

Chicken-Cabbage Salad with Pineapple & Apple

This recipe, from Better Homes & Gardens (along with the photo at right), was the inspiration for my lunch today. I used canned pineapple, and made my own sesame, ginger & peanut butter dressing, but all the flavors were basically the same. Just linking it here so it'll pop up when I search my own blog for ideas!

Bourbon Chicken

Yum! Largely inspired by Cook's Country's recipe published Aug/Sept 2021.

Ingredients

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken cut into bite-sized pieces

1-2 T cornstarch

¼ C soy (or tamari or amino acids)

¼ C brown sugar

2 T bourbon

1 t toasted sesame oil, plus more for cooking

      (or use vegetable oil for cooking)

½ t Sriracha or a pinch of red pepper flakes

1 lg clove garlic

1 t grated or fine minced fresh ginger

1-2 t apple cider vinegar

1 T butter

Optional for serving/garnishing: toasted sesame seeds, sliced scallions, rice...

Directions

Whisk together soy, brown sugar, bourbon, 1 t sesame oil and Sriracha/pepper flakes in a small bowl. Heat, as needed, to dissolve sugar.

Toss the chicken pieces with cornstarch. Preheat skillet over medium-high heat; add 1 T sesame (or vegetable) oil to coat; add chicken. Cook, stirring and turning as needed, until browned and cooked through. (10 minutes, more or less, depending on the size of your chicken pieces)

Add garlic, ginger and sauce. Bring to a boil; cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thickened to a syrupy consistency (6-8 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in cider vinegar and butter.

Serve ...over rice, garnished with sliced scallions and/or sesame seeds.