Under The Sea

When it comes to seafood, I’m a big fan.  Growing up in New Orleans, different forms of seafood were a staple on the menu for many meals.  Now that I’m in Oklahoma, I’ve got to take whatever sort of seafood I can get my hands on.  Lately, I’ve been trying some different salmon recipes.  Here’s a good one I’ve come across, Sesame Salmon with Stir Fried Vegetable Medley

What You’ll Need For This Recipe:

1 lb. salmon filets

½ cup Asian Toasted Sesame dressing (Kraft makes this.)

2 tsp. olive oil

8 baby carrots cut into strips

1 cup green beans

1 orange pepper, cut into strips

1 green onion, shredded

1.)  Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.  Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray.  Place salmon on cookie sheet.  Brush fish with 2 tbsp. of dressing.

2.)  Bake 20 minutes, brushing fish periodically with additional 1 tsp. of dressing. 

Fish should flake easily with fork when finished.  Keep warm.

3.)  Heat oil in large skillet on medium heat. 

Add carrots, beans, and pepper. 

Stir fry for about 6 minutes, or until crisp-tender. 

Add remaining dressing. 

Stir fry for about 3 minutes.

4.)  Serve fish over vegetables.  Sprinkle with onions.

The sesame dressing gives the fish and the veggies a sweet, nutty flavor.  Yum!

Rolling With The Egg Rolls

Ask me where I want to go out to eat and at least 7 out of 10 times I will choose to eat at an Asian restaurant.  Some days, I find myself craving an eggroll for lunch and I'm too lazy to run to my local take-out establishment for just one and if I had the audacity to try to get one delivered the employee that answered the phone would probably laugh at me as they told me it was a $10 minimum order...even though they ALSO charge a $3 delivery charge.  Damn, gas prices!

After trying many different recipes and tweaking them to my taste buds, I came up with a yummy recipe that is fairly easy to make.  I have also found that once rolled, they can be frozen for months until the next time I whip out the deep fryer for a yummy snack.

Don't forget to read the whole recipe through before you make your shopping list.  There are also a few dipping ideas at the end.  Enjoy!

What You’ll Need For Savory Egg Rolls:

1 lb. ground pork

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 small head of cabbage, chopped

1 tbsp. garlic, minced

¾ cup carrots, minced

1 cup mushrooms, minced

3 tbsp. soy sauce

½ tsp. ground ginger

1 egg

1 tbsp. water

1/8 tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper

20 egg roll wrappers (I prefer spring roll wrappers because they are thinner but I have trouble finding them at most grocery stores.)

Vegetable oil for deep frying

1.)  Heat 1 tbsp. vegetable oil in skillet.  Once heated, stir fry pork, breaking up chunks. 

Drain meat and transfer to mixing bowl.  Set skillet aside for vegetables.  Preheat deep fryer to 150 degrees Fahrenheit. 

2.)  Add cabbage, garlic, carrots, mushrooms, and ginger to the same skillet that the meat was stir fried.  Stir fry until tender. 

Add salt and pepper.  Mix well.

 

3.)  Transfer vegetable mixture to mixing bowl.  Combine vegetables and meat well.  Stir in soy sauce.

4.)  In a separate bowl, beat the egg and water together.  Set aside.

5.)  Spoon roughly 2 hearty tbsp. of the mixture onto an egg roll wrapper set in front of you in a diamond shape. 

Fold bottom tip up just enough to cover mixture. 

Fold in both side corners. 

Roll wrapper up to top tip. 

Brush a little of the egg mixture onto the edge of the wrapper to seal.

6.)  Deep fry egg rolls in hot oil. 

Allow to drain and cool slightly before serving.

Suggested sauces:

Thai Sweet Chili Sauce (sold in the Asian section of most grocery stores)

Mae Ploy Thai Sweet Chili Sauce

Duck Sauce

Ty Ling Duck Sauce

Tangy Mustard Sauce

1 cup soy sauce

2 tbsp. Chinese mustard

Combine well until mixture is smooth.

Kame Hot Chinese Mustard

Sweet Pepper Sauce

1 cup soy sauce

¼ cup brown sugar

1 tbsp. Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce (It is a thick red sauce similar to ketchup and is also known in some areas as spicy chicken sauce because it has a rooster on the bottle.)

Sriracha HOT Chili Sauce (Tuong Ot Sriracha)

A Taste of The Big Easy

It's crawfish season down in New Orleans.  Time for crawfish boils out in the spring weather.  Unfortunately, I'm in Oklahoma and my friends and family from the Big Easy are torturing me with their mobile snapshots.  Luckily, one thing I can find around here is frozen crawfish tails that are perfect for making rich, creamy Crawfish Corn Soup.

What you'll need:

not pictured: bacon bits

1 lb. peeled crawfish tails
1 onion, chopped
1 pint half & half cream
2 cans creamed corn
2 cans cream potato soup
5 green onions, chopped
1 stick butter
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/4 cup bacon bits for garnish

1.)  Melt butter. 

Saute' onions. 

Add crawfish.  Cook for about 5 minutes.

2.)  Add cream, corn, and potato soup to crockpot. 

Tranfer onion/crawfish mixture and green onions to crockpot. 

Stir ingredients together.

Cook for 1 hour on medium heat, stirring occasionally.

3.)  Add salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, and cayenne. 

Stir.  Set crockpot on the "keep warm" or lowest setting.

4.)  Spoon soup into a bowl.  Garnish with 1/2 tsp bacon bits and 1/8 tsp of pepper.

Don't forget to donate any Campbell's soup labels to your local schools!

B~A~N~A~N~A~S

Bananas are a staple in our house.  Well, that and peanut butter...  MMMM...bananas and peanut butter...

Sorry.  Homer moment.

This yummy banana cake was a hit in our house and I'm sure it will be in yours as well given you and your family like bananas.

not pictured:  vanilla frosting

What you'll need for the cake:

1 ½ cups sugar

1/22 cup shortening

1 cup very ripe, browning bananas, mashed

2 eggs

1 ½ flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tbsp milk

½ apple cider

1 container of vanilla frosting

1.)  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Mix sugar, shortening, and bananas until well blended. 

In a separate small bowl, combine milk and apple cider.  Add eggs, flour, baking soda, and milk mixture to banana mixture.  Blend well.

2.)  Grease two 8 inch pie tins.  Pour mixture evenly into the tins. 

Bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool for about 10 minutes.

3.)  Place one cake onto a cake platter. 

Frost over top of the single cake.  Then place second cake on top. 

Frost evenly around top and sides of cake.

I know I said in the last post, this one would be broccoli cassarole but silly me forgot to take pictures when I made it.  Oops!  Brain fart!  It's on the list of things to make soon.

I haven't decided yet what the next post will be but I can prmise it will be something delicious and basically effortless.