Doubled greened salad with roasted mushrooms

It isn’t getting the spinach and the kale to play nicely together that supplies this salad with the twist, but it is the extra step that makes it worth it.

You’ll need the following:

5oz of spinach

5oz of kale

2oz of rice vinegar

Thumbnail sized portion of fresh ginger

2oz of peanut or canola oil

1/2 cup of dried cranberries (sweetened)

1/4 of an red onion

1/2 of sliced almonds

4oz of black olives

1/2 of a red pepper

1/4 cup of feta or blue cheese

2 Quorn cutlets (for you novices this is veggie chicken) or use the real chicken if you prefer.

1 cup of roasted Portobello mushroom

This salad will take about 20 minutes to prepare.

Start with the mushrooms first. Toss them in a bowl with a light sprinkling of oil, just a light coating before you place them a skillet for 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove from the heat set aside, after cutting them into cubes.

I don’t do poultry hence my use of the Quorn cutlets. Light oil, skillet 3 minutes

then flip and set aside, giving these as well.

Here is the twist I alluded to.

You’ll need to fold the spinach and kale into rolls (see below) and cut them into strips.

Place them into a large mixing bowl and when you’re done cutting.

Add the rice vinegar to the peanut oil and mix.

Pour over your greens and mix well.

Cutting the greens gives you more  even distribution of the mixture. Place the bowl back into the refrigerator.

Start slicing your onion and red pepper. Not too thin, but keep them uniform.

Cut the pepper the long way and slice into thirds.

Chop the ginger into fine texture.

Remove the bowl from fridge (5 minutes, roughly) and mix the ginger throughout.

At this point, add all of your sliced ingredients except for the feta/blue cheese.

Once you’ve mixed and tossed (hopefully none got on the floor) add the cheese for the finishing touch.

This goes well with any dressing I’ve paired it with. If you find one that doesn’t mesh, let me know!

I prefer Caesar dressing myself.

Enjoy!

Red Pepper Brussels Sprouts and stir-fried shrimp

I always like to cook the the core ingredients in separate batches.

You’ll need:

1 1/4 pounds of Brussels Sprouts
1/2 pound peeled and deveined shrimp
1/4 cup of lemon juice
4 cloves of garlic
1 cup of basil
3/4 of peanut oil

Cut the stems off of sprouts and slice down the middle, this will cut down on the cooking time. Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees.

Add the sprouts to a shallow baking pan and add the sliced and peeled sprouts and the peanut oil. Stir the sprouts in 7 minute intervals. Cook for 35 minutes.

After cleaning the shrimp marinate in them in the lemon juice and add to a non-stick skillet, for 8 minutes, but don’t overcook.

Once the sprouts and shrimp are done, combine the ingredients. I added wild rice into the mix for this dish.

Viola!

Three Pepper Seitan and Kale Soup

It starts off simple enough and it is my recommendation that everything is prepped in batches, for this endeavor a large cutting board is a must.

The origins of the bite of the soup has its beginnings with:

1 half of red onion

3 hot peppers, mixed variety (I used a lemon drop, serrano & a habanero)

1 shallot

1/4 cup of green onions

3 medium sized cloves of garlic

Finely mince all the ingredients, until the you have the consistency below:

In a medium size skillet, add 2 tablespoons of olive and add the mixture and allow it to caramelize, stirring rapidly for roughly 3 to 4 minutes and set aside.

And for the sake of multi-tasking –

Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil and add 4 medium sized potatoes, boil for 15 minutes and set aside.

Don’t overdo it on the oil!

Here’s the twist (for some)… This is a vegetarian dish so the ingredients will be decidedly vegetarian.

Prior to going under the knife.

12 ounces of seitan, slice into bite sized pieces and use the same skillet used to caramelize the peppers. Stir-fried the seitan until it is lightly browned, remove from the heat and set aside.

Peel the potatoes, chop them into bite size pieces and set aside.

Add the seitan to the pepper mix and cover.

You’ll need 4 to 5 leaves of Kale.

Fold the Kale into a roll & slice across in thin strips.

Make sure to clean your kale … Thoroughly! 3 or 4 times is the charm.

Multitask – And boil 6 ounces of noodles, I prefer the yolkless variety (no cholesterol)

You’ll only want to slightly wilt the kale, cover tightly.

Add the cleaned kale to the skillet under medium heat and lightly coat the top of the kale with olive oil and cover. You’ll want to wilt the kale and stir so that you have an even wilt.

You should have a emerald green product below:

Remove the kale from the heat and add the kale to the drained noodles and set aside, covered.

Mix the kale with the noodles. We’re in the homestretch.

Lastly, bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, rough 8 cups worth and add 4 tablespoons of vegetable bullion.

Add the potatoes & stir for 5 minutes.

Mix well and add all the remaining ingredients to base.

Reduce to low heat for 2 minutes.

Take care to stir all of the ingredients under low heat so that nothing settles, you want a complete mix of all of the flavors.

The completed product… If have a stuffy nose, kiss it good bye!

Bon apetit!

Okra hash with seared green pepper

It’s a pretty clear cut recipe, I am kicking myself for not thinking of it before.

2 cups of diced potatoes, 1 1/2 cups of okra frozen will suffice, but fresh is better.

Half of a green pepper sliced into strips.
Mince 2 cloves of garlic, sear them for 2 minutes and set to the side. Add the okra and stir in regular intervals at high heat for about 15 minutes or until browned, set aside.

Pan fry the potatoes separately in olive oil for 10-15 minutes.

Finally…

Combine all of the okra with the potatoes and serve hot.

Serrano lemon infused shrimp with asparagus

It starts here… An uneventful 3/4 of a pound of freshwater shrimp, a medium sized lemon and 2 bunches of asparagus cut down to size.

After cutting and rinsing the asparagus, cut the lemon and mix the juice with the kosher salt evenly throughout the bowl and place it to the side.

After shelling and de-veining the shrimp use the juice from the other half of the lemon and couple it with the kosher salt and a whole Serrano pepper, cover and allow this to marinate for about 20 minutes.

I like to use a half a tablespoon of walnut oil, you don’t need a lot of oil especially if you are using a non-stick pan, additionally you have the lemon juice as well. It is best to cook the asparagus in batches so that you get an even mix and browning, roughly 5 minutes.

The asparagus should look like this upon removal, seared but crunchy still.

Add the shrimp with the marinade. Cook for 3 minutes each side.

The finished product served with jasmine rice and a pureed red pepper glaze.

Shrimp hash – 20 minute & done breakfast

In my opinion any time is the right time for shrimp. Starting with shelled de-veined shrimp generously seasoned with Old Bay fresh out the steamer is the best way to start the morning.

Chopping the shrimp with a vengeance after they’ve had a chance to cool is the ticket.

Here’s the shortcut… While the shrimp were steaming. I took a standard bag of hash browns; use a half or whole bag depending on your appetite and pan fry with walnut oil, 10-15 minutes (it has a higher burn rate) chop a quarter of a onion & 4 oz. of spinach, add into the hash browns at the tail end.

Add a tofu scramble for a little contrast or fusion and Viola!

Stuffed shrimp mushrooms

I finally found an ideal use for the Philadelphia cooking cream & paired them with my favorite fungi.

Start with the large caps, pull the stems out and finely chop them.

Start with 2 cups of Panko bread crumbs and a medium sized bowl.

Take 8-10 medium sized shrimp, cook 3 minutes each side, finely mince…

Add the minced shrimp, a half cup of basil, yellow and green onion to the breadcrumb mix and add 3/4 cup of the cooking creme.

Thoroughly mix until you have a semi thick texture and add it to each cap.

Add a slice of Munster cheese, enough to cover the caps… Add to a preheated oven at 400 degrees.

Remove after 15-20 minutes… Viola!

Habanero Shrimp with stir-fried kale and green beans.

Kale is probably one of the most under appreciated leafy vegetables, but it’s heartiness makes it very versatile. Start off with 2 bunches of Kale, wash them thoroughly. Use a half tablespoon of grapeseed oil, the benefit of this oils is that it has a high smoking point which is a must for stir- and finely mince a whole habanero pep frying frying per, frying hal frying f a shallot and 3 cloves of garlic.

Make sure that the consistency is fine, add some cilantro for good measure.

In a separate pan add some raw medium sized shrimp with the minced mixture, you’ll split it between the shrimp and kale. Make sure to turn the kale every 3-4 minutes while in the wok. You should have a orange sheen to the shrimp. See above. I’ve prepared some brown rice with a 1/4 cup of turbinado sugar (to offset the heat) to accompany the dish.

After removing the Kale after a 15 minutes tour of duty, remove it and set it aside and add some fresh cut green beans and season with basil.

The finished product in concert with a mushroom cream sauce on the kale.

Heat and Sweet Scallops with Brussels Sprouts

Brussels Sprouts are one of those vegetables that are never good frozen, so for this portion of the meal you’ll need fresh sprouts, preferably small to medium sized sprouts are best as they will cook quicker than the larger heads.

Cut them in half, removing the brown and yellowed leaves and rinse. Using a medium sized bowl coat the sprouts with 1/4 cup of olive oil, mix with a spoon or by hand. When finished place the sprouts in a medium or large baking pan. You’ll need room to evenly roast the sprouts.

Place the pan in the pre-heated 400 degree oven for 30 minutes, shaking the pan every 10 minutes for uniform cooking of the sprouts.

Here is the curveball in the recipe. While the sprouts are in the oven, use the same bowl you used to mix the sprouts and olive oil to make the sweet glaze. You’ll need 3/4 cup of blue agave nectar, 1/2 cup honey mustard and a either a half of a lemon or lime.

Combine all the ingredients stir until smooth, at the 30 minute mark remove the sprouts from the oven and put them in the bowl with the glaze.

Make sure they are coated evenly and put them back in the oven for another 20 minutes before removing them. I’ll pair the sprouts with brown rice for the purposes of this recipe.

While the sprouts are cooking, let’s say you had some scallops marinating in a sweet and sour marinade while you were prepping the sprouts. You could pan broil these for 4 minutes each side, setting them aside in batches.

A spicy curry simmer sauce is a perfect complement to the rice and the Brussels Sprouts. Using chopped spinach, a whole serrano pepper, garlic and diced shallots. Let this simmer for 5 minutes while the scallops are cooling off.

Stir the rice into the simmer sauce, with some grilled mushrooms and include the remainder of the ingredients and viola! The heat from the Serrano pepper will be offset by the tangy sweetness of the sprouts… Enjoy!

Pesto with a flash of somethin’

Marinated shrimp, green beans and egg noodles with sundried tomato pesto. Using a large bowl to toss the noodles is a must. Adding stir-fried kale and mushrooms for contrast brings it home!