Thai Noodle Salad

(Told you it was pending)

Thai Noodle Salad
Originally found at Allrecipes.com

1 (12 ounce) package angel hair pasta
4 large carrots, shredded
1 small green bell pepper, sliced thinly
1 small red bell pepper, sliced thinly
1 small yellow bell pepper, sliced thinly
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup chopped peanuts, divided
1 Tbsp sesame seeds

1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup tahini (estimate)
2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
2 Tbsp chili garlic sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp brown sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Green onions, for garnish

Break pasta in half and cook as directed. Drain and rinse with cold water. In a large bowl, toss together the pasta, carrots, bell peppers and cilantro.

In a food processor, mix together 1/4 cup peanuts, peanut butter, tahini, vinegar, chile sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, and brown sugar until well combined. Add a small amount of oil if the mixture is too thick. Season with salt and pepper.

Ten minutes before serving, toss the pasta mixture with the peanut sauce. Garnish with cilantro, green onions, peanuts, and sesame seeds, if desired.

My Notes:

I definitely adapted this recipe. I didn't have rice wine vinegar, so I cut the amount in half and used white wine vinegar. It came out really sour, so I added more tahini to compensate. The recipe above reflects the change I made; if you actually use rice wine vinegar, you may want to use more, as it isn't quite as strong as white wine vinegar.

I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, but I brought the dish to a potluck we were having, and those who had it complemented me on it. And I tried it and was mostly pleased. It's definitely less harsh on the salad itself than it is straight out of the bowl. Guess I need to work on my taste discrimination a bit more.

All in all, it was a very good, and very colorful recipe. I enjoyed it, and it was nice and light for a summer's day (or night, as the case may be).

Almond Crusted Chicken

Almond Crusted Chicken
Originally found in Southern Living 2007 Annual Recipes (p 54)

1/4 cup almonds
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2 tsp jerk seasoning
1/4 tsp salt
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken cuts
olive oil, as needed

In a food processor, combine almonds, breadcrumbs, jerk seasoning and salt. Pulse until well combined and uniform. Place in a shallow dish. Brush olive oil on chicken and coat with almond mixture. Heat a small amount of oil in a nonstick skillet and cook chicken over medium-high heat, 4 minutes on each side. If you have thicker slices of chicken, cook until golden brown on each side, then place in a baking dish and bake in a 350 degree oven until center is no longer pink.

My Notes:

Another non-dairy recipe! I really liked this recipe. It has a nice crunch and a nice kick, but with flavors that I'm not really used to using. It's good. I served mine over rice, but it could just as easily be served with some corn (grilled corn, anyone?) or other vegetables. Enjoy!

Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles
Originally found at Joy of Baking

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cup + 1/3 cup granulated white sugar (divided)
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla
3 tsp ground cinnamon, divided

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and 1 tsp cinnamon. In a separate bowl, beat together the butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until smooth (works best with an electric mixer). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping the bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla extract. Add flour mixture and mix until smooth.

Shape the dough into 1 inch round balls. In a shallow bowl, mix together 1/3 cup sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon. Roll the balls of dough in the sugar mixture and place on a cookie sheet, spacing about 2 inches apart. Using the bottom of a glass, gently flatten each cookie to about 1/2 inch thick. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes, or until they are light golden brown and firm around the edges.

Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

My Notes:
My roommate was begging me to bake something, so I surfed the internet a little until I found this recipe. I like the result... nice and sweet with a little kick of cinnamon. I did add a little bit of cinnamon to the batter itself (reflected in the above recipe) because I felt it added a bigger depth of flavor, rather than just having cinnamon sugar on top of a sugar cookie. I also really like this batter, so I might use it instead of my former batter.

Sesame Chicken

Sesame Chicken
Originally found at Food.com

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 cup water
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp flour
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Cut chicken into 1 inch strips or cubes. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook chicken for about 6 minutes, or until no longer pink. In a medium bowl, mix together honey, soy sauce, water, ginger, red pepper flakes, and flour. Whisk until well combined. Pour over chicken and cook until sauce thickens slightly and chicken begins to soak up sauce.

Serve over rice and top with sesame seeds.

My Notes:

So, I used already cooked chicken for this recipe and had to cut down the proportions because I didn't want that much sauce with my less than 2 lbs chicken. It still produced a lot of sauce. I was skeptical about how it was going to taste while I was making it, because all I could really smell was the soy sauce, but it turned out very well. Nice kick of spiciness from the red pepper flakes and sweetness from the honey. I think it would've been even better had I breaded the chicken a little (just tossed it in some flour beforehand), but as I said, I used already cooked chicken and it wasn't practical. Next time I suppose.

Salmon-Asparagus Orzo Salad

Salmon-Asparagus Orzo Salad
Originally found at My Recipes.com

6 cups water
1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut into 3-inch pieces
1 cup uncooked orzo (rice-shaped pasta)
1 (1 1/4-pound) skinless salmon fillet
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp chopped fresh dill
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat broiler. Put water into a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Add asparagus; cook 3 minutes or until crisp-tender. Remove from water, reserving water in pan. Place in ice water; drain and set aside.

Bring reserved water to a boil; add orzo and cook until al dente. Combine dill, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour over salmon fillet and place on a foil-lined broiler pan. Broil 5 minutes* or until fish flakes easily with fork.

Using two forks, break fish into chunks. Combine fish, orzo, and asparagus in a large bowl and toss. Season again with lemon juice and olive oil, if desired.

My Notes:
*If you're using a frozen salmon fillet, use the low broiler setting and cook 10-15 minutes, until the center is a light pink. No, I don't really trust raw fish.

A few months ago, I went to a restaurant called Orzo. The menu wasn't fabulous for a kosher-style diet, as most of the dishes contained pork. But, I lucked out and found a broiled salmon fillet over a bed of asparagus orzo. I hadn't really ever had asparagus before, so I was hesitant to get it, but I went for it, thinking I could pick out the asparagus if it came down to it. I actually found that I really liked it. This recipe basically mimics it, except that you break the salmon into the salad.

I changed the original recipe a little by using the 'vinaigrette' to flavor the salmon instead of tossing the whole salad in it. As a result, there wasn't a ton of flavor on the orzo itself, but that was easily fixed by some more lemon juice and olive oil.

And notice! It's not a dairy recipe!