How To Keep Your Avocados Green From Bon Appetit Magazine

What a beautiful cover of Gwyneth Paltrow on Bon Appetite magazine this month. Wow, this girl is multi talented and can cook? Amazing. I came across some really cool information in Bon Appetite Magazine this month on how to keep your avocados green, without pouring lemon juice on it. What to know how? Keep reading:

"It's always upsetting to watch a luscious (and expensive!) Hass avocado turn from vibrant green to icky brown after you've cut into it. i used to slice avocados just before serving, adding yet another time-sensitive step to getting dinner on the table. Then a visiting chef at my culinary school showed us that rinsing or submerging in cold water prevents the sliced (and exposed) fruit from browning for hours. So cool! So Simple! So...mysterious! Even food scientist Shirley Corriher isn't sure what's going on. Phenolic compounds cause the browning," she says. "Perhaps you're rinsing off enough of these compounds to slow the process." While we wait for a proven scientific explanation, we can just enjoy the phenomenon."

Fried Cauliflower

Nothing too exciting, but with my turkey bacon this morning, I buttered a pan (a non-stick one, isn't that funny!) and tossed in cooked cauliflower with pepper, salt, and a few pinches of asiago cheese.  I love it when it melds together.  It is so simple, but overwhelmingly satisfying, and cauliflower does get the seretonin going.  Additionally I have cauliflower soup with boursin cheese on my freezer - I just may have to bring it out for a healthy lunch time meal later on.  Hopefully life is good with you  - now go and eat your cauliflower and I promise I will return with some new recipes, I am looooong overdue.  XO

Low Fat Broccoli Cheese Casserole

Oh my goodness, whoever invented Laughing Cow cheese is a miracle maker.  This cheese is not only so damn delcious, it's low fat and the perfect cheese to melt over a broccoli casserole.  I was hankering for a cozy broccoli dish tonight to serve with shrimp stuffed salmon and mashed cauliflower...here's what I made:  Put cut up washed broccoli in a casserole dish (I added about four bunches and broke them up).  Then add a chopped up onion over the broccoli.  In a pot add 2/3 cup of low fat milk (I actually used 2%), then four wedges of laughing cow, 1/3 cup of low fat Philly Cream Cheese, and finally four tbsp. of low fat dried parmesan and simmer over a medium heat until all of the sauce is blended.  I then added a pinch of nutmeg, a pinch of herbed parmesan spice, 1 tsp. of powdered garlic, and some white pepper.  Taste and adjust spices to your liking.  Then pour over the broccoli/onion casserole and bake at 350 degrees for about 1/2 an hour or until the broccoli is cooked as you like it.  Bon Appetit!

Low Fat Tomato and Onion Casserole

Now this recipe is so simple and just too delcious.  The best part is that if you are on any diet, you can fill your boots with this one.  Cut up and layer at least three tomatoes into an ungreased casserole dish.  Slice up and add one large onion or two small ones to the casserole.  Toss to mix up the tomatoes and onions.  Then add a healthy drizzle of balsamic vinegar over veggies (about 1/8th of a cup), salt and pepper, and two small packets of Splenda as well as anything else you might like.  I added fresh basil leaves.  Then mix all together and top with 1 tbsp. of powdered Parmesan cheese and bake in a 300 degree oven for about 1/2 an hour or until the veggies are the consistency that you like.  Oh this is so delish!

Oregon Coast Potato Pancakes

I have no idea why I am posting this concoction, because there really are no measurements, but rather, whatever the hell you have in the refrigerator.  My family and I are staying at a beautiful little beach house on the Oregon Coast.  I love the beach house because I love having a kitchen and a front yard where we can bask in the sea breeze and sunshine.  Last night, after a filling lunch, we didn't bother stopping off at the store to pick up any more groceries - so I simply made due and felt quite damn proud of myself.  Left over in the fridge was a pile of cold mashed potatoes with corn mixed up in it (my kids like to eat it this way alright!)  Anyhoo, I had fun being creative and thought of how my Grandmother had to be equally if not way more creative feeding 7 children.  So I made the most gorgeous looking mashed potato pancakes and let me tell you the presentation was top notch with lemon slices and some left over pico de gallo (red onion, yellow onion, lemon juice, cilantro, garlic, jalapeno - I bought at the Thriftway). 

Add whatever you like, but go for it.  I added a can of tuna, shredded havarti, chopped red onion, fresh taragon leaves, garlic salt, lemon juice, lemon pepper, black olives, and one egg.  Mix up and make little cakes, the size you like, and pan fry until a crust forms on one side, flip over and repeat.  Serve with any kind of condiment, I perfer ketchup, but didn't have any.

Roasted Potato Salad with Bacon Vinaigrette

I found this unique and delicious potato salad online. Our family had a simple BBQ of hamburgers and hotdogs, grilled onions and red/yellow pepper, so I thought that instead of the regular french fries served with this stuff, an updated potato salad would be nicer.

Cut and quarter about 6 large red pototoes. Toss with 1/4 cup of olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. I also added sprigs of "fresh" rosemary. Add pepper and garlic too if you like. Put into a 400 degree oven until done, about 20-25 minutes. Just poke the potato to see that it's the perfect texture. Then take out of the oven and cool a little. Then you make your vinaigrette. I usually add the basic ratio of 1 cup of olive oil to 1/4 cup of (your choice) vinegar. This time I used a red wine vinegar, then added 4 cooked crumbled strips of bacon, two packages of splenda and a tbsp. of Dijon mustard to the oil and vinegar mixture. Stir or shake up well and pour half the mixture over the potatoes, toss, and serve!

Glazed Carrots with Grapes & Walnuts - a la Williams Sonoma

I served these carrots with Christmas dinner. I'm going to write a few of the recipes down that I made, because they were sooooooo good. I made Cristina Ferrara's Pumpkin Chiffon Pie which was absolutely amazing (I made with the never fail pie crust which was also amazing), my creamy corn casserole, which I've already posted here, New Fashioned Apple Pie, Sausage Stuffing with sun dried tomatoes and apple, 7 layer salad with authentic French mayonnaise and pancetta, and my Mardi Grais Salad which I've also posted here.

Glazed Carrots with Grapes & Walnuts: 1 large bunch of carrots, I used almost a bag, peel, and cut up into circles, about 1/4 inch, 1/4 cup of unsalted butter, 1 cup of chicken broth (I used broth in a carton), 3 tbsp. of sugar, 1 cup of red seedless red grapes cut in half, 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts, salt and freshly ground pepper.

In a wide saute pan over high heat, combine the carrots, butter, stock or water, and sugar. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer, uncovered, until the carrots are tender and the pan juices are reduced to a syrupy glaze, 8-10 minutes. Stir in the grapes and walnuts and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Baked Eggplant Tzatziki

There are simply some days in which I could truly toss confetti over my head for creating a delicious dish. Such was the case of the baked eggplant tzatziki that I made this snowy morning by accident, because I had no tomato sauce to make eggplant Parmesan. Here's what I did, and as it's baking this moment, it is so gorgeous - I hope I can wait the 20 minutes necessary before I tuck into this sensation.

Wash and slice length wise eggplant. Pour a little oil into a hot pan and add the eggplant. You'll definitely have to do this in batches depending on how big your pan is. Season one side with a little Parmesan, salt and pepper. Then turn over after approximately 1 minute, or until just brown. Cook the other side for just as long. Put into a greased up casserole dish and pour a mixture of 3 tbsp. of tzatziki with 1 cup of cottage or ricotta cheese over the eggplant. Then top each eggplant with 2 tbsp. of shredded mozzarella (add more if you like) and put into a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Voila!

Cheese and Onions

While waiting for my tea to steep tonight, I popped a slice of Farmer's Cheese (not Foremost), with a blanket of BBQ ed onion into my mouth. Wow! This is delicious. I need to make up an appie that consists of these two ingredients and assemble it in a pretty way. One would have to be brave, sensuous, and a libertine - like the late great French poet, Colette, to enjoy this simple though vibratingly delicious ensemble, as cheese combined with onions may require a sprig of mint or parsley post chew; but like I said, wow, what a superb combo - and BBQ ed is a must (it brings out the onion's sweetness).

Simple Green Beans with Yellow Pepper and Boursin

I think that I just wrote out the whole recipe in the title! Trim a pound of green beans and boil in a pot of salted water for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, saute some sliced yellow/orange peppers in a pot of olive oil and garlic. When the beans and the peppers are done, toss them all together, adding more jarred garlic and olive oil if you like to make it glisten. Then dot the top of the green beans and peppers with Boursin Cheese and put into an oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Very pretty and very delicious.

Creamy Corn Souffle/Casserole

It's hard to decide which to call this delicious mixture of baked corn and cheese so I will call it both a casserole and a souffle. It's a casserole because it's baked in a nice big casserole dish, and I will also deem it a souffle simply for it's gorgeousness and for it's luscious texture. Simply add four tins of cream of corn into a bowl and mix with two cups of strong cheddar cheese, 3 eggs, 1 cup of flour, 1 small onion, salt and pepper and pour it into a buttered casserole and bake at 350 degrees for at least one hour, or until the centre of the casserole is firm. Let cool a little and slice into squares. You will want to eat this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

Thai Carrots a la Paul Newman

O.K. this recipe was just too darn easy, but so damn delicious. When cooking for this dinner party, I wasn't keen on boiling the crap out of a pot of carrots and then dousing them, like I normally might, with some nice orange cheese medley. Simple boil some baby carrots in a pot until al dente - I cooked two pounds of carrots for just under 10 minutes. Then you cool them down and toss in Paul Newman's Thai dressing and top with some fresh chives. Voila! Too easy and too delicious. Everybody loved them. Healthy too!