Cooking for the Weekend

I work every other weekend and have been doing so for years. One of the best things about working on the weekend is the people I work with. We appreciate each other....our strengths, our weaknesses, our sense of humor.. We celebrate our getting to work with our peeps (as my good buddy Denise calls us) by cooking. 

This weekend I decided to make BLT Rollers, broccoli salad....and a strawberry-lime jello dessert (it's top secret).

BLT Rollers

The BLT Rollers are from a Kraft email I received. The hubby and I love to make burritos for supper but for some reason we always have 2 or 3 tortillas left over. Well, guess how many tortillas the recipe calls for? Yep, 2 big ones and I had 3 small. The recipe was made for me. 

BLT Rollers

The rollers don't look exactly like the ones from Kraft but they don't look too bad, either, and they taste pretty good.  They are easy to make.  Get the recipe HERE.

Broccoli Salad

The broccoli salad is my old standby. Very yummy, gluten free, and easy to make, too. Great for a summer get together. Making it ahead of time gives the flavors time to meld together. Recipe HERE. 

Curried Chicken Salad

The curried chicken salad is for supper. It was an inspiration from a friend's recipe and chicken salad I had at the Korbel Delicatessen in Napa, CA (at the champagne vineyard)....left over rotisserie chicken, celery, currants, Vidalia onion, almonds, mayonnaise, and curry powder. Tastes pretty good but I think I need a little more curry powder....Now all I need is a glass of champagne to go with it. As for the strawberry-lime gelatin thing.....We'll see how that goes. Jello, whipped cream, and pudding...what could go wrong? 
Oops, I think I just jinxed myself. 
Have a wonderful almost weekend Friday and a wonderful weekend. 

Post by Eileen Patterson.....who's GoofingOff

Cheers!

How to Make Broccoli Salad...A Gluten Free Recipe

I love broccoli....steamed, raw, chopped, in a soup...I love it. That being said, there are times fresh for dipping doesn't work and I want to do more than steam it. One of my favorite ways to fix broccoli is broccoli salad...and it wins raves from family and friends. 
This recipe makes about 1 1/2 - 2 pounds of salad. 

Ingredients: 
1-1 1/2 pounds fresh broccoli

1/2 cup of dried cranberries

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar (or 1 packet of stevia) 

bacon bits (about 4 slices worth), optional

I don't use broccoli slaw (I guess one could but I shop at a local flea market so I buy fresh. I see what's in it and chop it myself). 

Wash the broccoli and chop into small pieces (crowns and stems, as long as they are not woody). 

 Prepare the bacon. Add cooled bacon to the chopped broccoli. (Skip the bacon if the salad is to be kosher).

Add about dried cranberries.

Add the almonds.

Put mayonnaise in a separate bowl. Add the sugar or sweetener.

Add the apple cider vinegar to the mayonnaise mixture. 

Pour the mayonnaise dressing mixture over the broccoli salad and mix until everything is coated. Place in the refrigerator. It is best when made ahead and left in the fridge overnight.

This recipe is very forgiving. If you are out of bacon and are fortunate enough to have leftover Chinese Roast Pork, use it. Yummy! The bacon I use is bacon bits (real bacon but already made in a package). They last a long time in the refrigerator and handy. A big time saver and no pans to clean.
If almonds aren't in the pantry and walnuts or pecans are.....go for it.
As for the mayonnaise, whatever the preference. I use the mayo with olive oil but the recipe works well with low fat and fat free, too.

How many calories? No idea. I bring it to work and share so I can't eat too much of it.
It is gluten free for those gluten sensitive folks.
It's kosher, too, if it is made without bacon or the roast pork.

Anyway, it will be a welcome addition to the summer parties ahead.

Enjoy!

Post by Eileen Patterson...who is GoofingOff

Green Beans With a Taste of Bacon

Like many other people who cook for a family I try to make nutritious food that tastes good. Easy....but I also like economical. Take green beans for instance.... nutritious and taste wonderful fresh from the garden but the price starts to climb if you buy them at the grocer or frozen.....and they don't look near as pretty from a can.....however, canned is cheap and if the liquid is saved it can be added to a vegetable soup....but they do taste kind of yuck compared to fresh. Here is a fix I got from a friend that I think is worth sharing. 

Green Beans with a Taste of Bacon

1 pound of green beans, washed and cut into small pieces
1 small onion, diced
4 slices bacon, diced
Salt, 1/2 tp
Pepper, dash
Sugar, 1/2 tp

Heat a skillet over a medium heat. Fry the bacon. With a slotted spoon remove the bacon bits and save. Add the onions to the grease and saute until clear and glossy. Add the green beans and stir coating the beans with the grease. Add the salt, pepper, and sugar. Stir. Add the bacon bits. 
Serve.

Diced Bacon in the Skllet

diced onions

Saute onions with bacon bits

Add green beans and season.

I used a beautiful, fresh Florida onion (part of one, really) but a regular Spanish onion can be used. I just couldn't resist the Florida one at the flea market. 
The green beans in the pictures are fresh. Canned green beans can be substituted but make sure they are well drained before adding them to the skillet.

To make this recipe a little healthier:
Saute the onions in olive oil. Add the green beans. Season. Add bacon bits (an uncured brand is preferable). Stir and serve. 

P.S. That's a cast iron skillet in the pics...not burnt black. Treated well and seasoned appropriately they last a lifetime or two without things sticking. Hard to use anything else after using these babies.

Post by Eileen Patterson.....who should be sewing but is GoofingOff....again. Ha ha.