Simple Sea Scallops

Large sea scallops fresh from the Pacific Ocean. Pat them dry with a paper towel before cooking. Cook over medium heat in a non-stick skillet with salted butter and serve. Don't overcook them, just a few minutes on each side. Add lemon, capers, or white wine to the sauce if you'd like. Tonight was just a simple cook. The scallops taste sweet and the house smells great. Serve it up with a salad and homemade bread.
 

Garlic Parmesan Rolls

This recipe is part of my experimentation with baking different types of bread, aside from the rosemary bread I love to bake on a regular basis. I need to broaden my bread baking horizons so I found a few recipes online for breadsticks and changed them up a bit to come up with these rolls. They are garlicky and soft and hard to stop eating. They freeze well and thaw quickly.

1 cup + 2 tablespoons warm water    

2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

4 tablespoons salted butter, melted 

3 cups all-purpose flour

Topping:

4 tablespoons salted butter, melted

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated

In your stand mixer, add the dough hook and mix the first five ingredients on low. Slowly add in the flour. Once things are mixed well increase the speed to medium and let the dough knead for seven minutes. 

Put dough in a bowl lightly sprayed with oil and cover for 90 minutes. I set mine on top of my stove and heat the oven to 200 degrees while rising. 

Divide the dough into 16 pieces and roll into the shape of a ball. Place on a baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Cover and let rise another hour.

Preheat oven to 400. Uncover the rolls and bake at 400 for about 17 minutes. They should be dark golden brown on the bottom. Melt butter together with garlic powder and parsley and brush on the rolls as soon as you take them out of the oven. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese while the rolls are still hot. 

Cold Sesame Noodles with Veggies & Peanut Sauce

Have you ever tried cold sesame noodles at an Asian restaurant? Good, huh? This recipe takes it farther and results in something even better. A cold sesame noodle dish packed with flavor, crunchy veggies, and peanut sauce--and the ginger is so good--it almost makes the dish. This salad is filling, pretty good for you dang it, and includes a crowd favorite--peanut butter. It makes about 10 cups so enough for a crowd. You can easily cut the recipe in half. It makes a lot of peanut sauce and I didn't put it all in the with the noodles. Saved some for grilled chicken breasts later in the week. Here's what you'll need:

 
1 16 oz package whole grain thin spaghetti noodles

Peanut Sauce:
1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup water
1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons chili oil
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, peeled and minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Veggies:
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cucumber, unpeeled, cut lengthwise in half & thinly sliced crosswise
1 medium carrot, cut into thin strips

Get the noodles cooking according to package directions, rinse with cold water, and drain. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together peanut sauce ingredients.

Add the sauce to the noodles in a large bowl and mix together well. Chill, serve, and top with veggies. Or, throw the veggies in with the peanut sauce and mix it all together.

Simple Fruit Salad

I'm blogging this just for the pretty photo. The salad keeps well covered tightly with foil. Fresh pineapple, strawberries, and giant green grapes all sliced up in a big bowl. Delicious! Eat more fruit.

Pastor Ryan's Bolognese Sauce

From:

https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a8877/ryans-bolognese-sauce/

Baked Ziti with Hot Italian Sausage

This is one of my Dad's recipes from his foodie files...so delicious and perfect comfort food. Here's everything you'll need:

12 oz hot Italian sausage, casing removed

1 TBSP olive oil
1 medium onion, diced

1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried basil
½ tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 tsp crushed fennel seed (optional)
1 tsp salt

8 oz ricotta cheese
½ c Parmesan cheese, grated
¼ c fresh parsley, chopped

8 oz ziti (or similar tube pasta)

8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese (or fresh mozzarella)

Heat the oven to 425 degrees. In a large sauté pan, cook the sausage for 5 minutes, breaking the sausage up as it cooks. Drain and set aside.

Heat the oil in the pan and sauté the onions until softened. Return the sausage to the pan. Add the next 6 ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.

Mix the ricotta, Parmesan and parsley in a bowl. Cook the pasta according to package directions.

Drain the pasta and stir in the ricotta mixture. Add the sauce to the pot. Mix well and pour into a greased 4-5 qt baking dish. Sprinkle the mozzarella on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

No-Knead Jalapeno & Cheese Bread

This dutch oven baked bread is hearty and cheesy with a nice kick. No kneading required so there's that, and only six ingredients are needed. Monterey jack and cheddar cheese were used in this recipe but many other cheeses would work beautifully. This recipe makes a large loaf of bread and you can freeze it whole if needed, or by individual slice. It's delicious toasted. Here is my recipe for pickled jalapenos if you'd like to make your own for the bread recipe.

4 cups all purpose flour

2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast

1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt

2 cups warm water

25 slices pickled jalapenos, drained & chopped, plus a few slices for the top

2 1/4 cups shredded monterey jack & cheddar cheese (1/4 cup for the top)

In your favorite stand mixer on low, blend the flour, salt, and yeast with the paddle attachment. Add the water and mix until well blended. Add more flour if needed. Remove dough from the mixing bowl and transfer to a large bowl lightly sprayed with oil. Cover the dough with a light towel and let rise for 1.5 hours. The dough should at least double in size and will probably get bigger.

Put the dough on a piece of parchment paper and fold in the chopped jalapenos. Cover the dough and let it rise for another 1.5 hours.  

Turn the oven to 450 and put an uncovered dutch oven inside. 

Sprinkle a little flour on a piece of parchment paper. Gently punch the dough down and remove it from the bowl. Sprinkle a little flour on the dough and shape it into a ball. Fold in the cheese. Put 1/4 cup of cheese on the top of the dough along with a few jalapenos. Sit dough on the parchment paper, cover, and let rest for 30 minutes.

Remove dutch oven from the oven. Carefully transfer the dough (while on the parchment paper) into the dutch oven. Just drop it in quickly! Cover dutch oven and return to the oven. Bake covered for 45 minutes, and then bake for 15 minutes longer without the lid. The bread should be dark golden brown. Remove bread and move to a cooling rack for about an hour before slicing. 

Spicy Coconut Milk & Lime Soup with Jasmine Rice

Those are a couple of homegrown lemongrass stalks there in the bowl of soup, and a cilantro garnish. This soup is creamy and flavorful with a kick of spice and the jasmine rice really completes the dish. The rice is also reminescent the cream of chicken soup of Hi-View in Villa Park, IL. I made a big pot of this soup today and froze 6 small containers for later. Gotta get through the cold winter! This recipe is similar to my tom kha gai soup recipe on the blog, but I changed up a few things.

32 oz chicken broth, no salt added and fat free
3 (13.5 oz) cans coconut milk
2 (13.5 oz) cans light coconut milk

15 2" pieces of homegrown lemongrass, frozen

Juice of 2 limes

1 tablespoon asian fish sauce

1 tablespoon thai chili paste (sambal oelek), add more if you like it really spicy but be careful!

2 teaspoons sugar

Onion powder-couple of shakes

1 teaspoon ground ginger

2 cups jasmine rice

Cilantro & lemongrass stalks for garnish

In a large soup pot, add the chicken broth, coconut milk, and lemongrass, stirring often. Bring to a low boil then turn the heat down to simmer. Add the lime juice, fish sauce, chili paste, sugar, onion powder, and ginger. Stir the soup often. Add about 2 cups of jasmine rice and stir it into the soup. Cook the soup for about an hour.

Remove lemongrass with slotted spoon, bowl, and garnish with cilantro and lemongrass stalks. Serve it up with a cold beer.

Bechamel or White Sauce

Bechamel, or white sauce, is what some people use in their lasagna instead of the ricotta and mozzarella mixture in the middle. You can easily turn this recipe into a cheese sauce too. These ingredients make about 1 cup of bechamel, which is considered one of the 5 "mother" sauces of French cuisine.

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1¼ cups milk, heated*
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the paste cooks and bubbles a bit, but don't let it brown — about 2 minutes. Add the hot milk, continuing to stir as the sauce thickens. Bring it to a boil. Add salt and pepper to taste, lower the heat, and cook, stirring for 2 to 3 minutes more. Remove from the heat. To cool this sauce for later use, cover it with wax paper or pour a film of milk over it to prevent a skin from forming.

*Warm the milk on low heat just until little bubbles begin to form at the edges. Then remove from heat.

Cheese Sauce
To turn your white sauce into cheese sauce, stir in ½ cup grated Cheddar cheese during the last 2 minutes of cooking, along with a pinch of cayenne pepper.

Dad's Asian Noodle Salad

Here is my dad's take on an Asian noodle salad. It is jam-packed with flavor and very refreshing. Cheaper than the grocery store as well.

6-8 oz soba (buckwheat) noodles

2 carrots, julienned

1 red bell pepper, julienned

1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and sliced thin

1/3 c cilantro, chopped

1 c chopped greens (e.g., lettuce, Napa cabbage, Swiss chard)

1/3 c roasted peanuts, roughly chopped

2/3 c peanut sauce (recipe follows)

Cook noodles according to package directions.  Drain and set aside.

Mix the next 6 ingredients together in a large bowl.  Add the noodles and toss.

Add the peanut sauce and mix thoroughly.  Chill for at least one hour.

Peanut Sauce:

1/3 c peanut butter

1/3 c rice vinegar

3 TBSP agave syrup

2 TBSP sriracha chili sauce

3 TBSP soy sauce

1 TBSP sesame oil

2 cloves garlic

Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and mix until smooth.