The May 2012 issue of Food Network Magazine is one you’ll want to grab. You can’t miss it – there are three HEAVENLY looking tacos on the front cover that’ll catch your eye right away. Inside the magazine, in addition to gazillions of recipes, tips, and tools of the trade, there are 50 delicious and creative ways to make/serve a family favorite: Tacos!
The first recipe I tried from this issue was a Guacamole recipe from Bobby Flay. It was, as you’d expect, exceptional. Normally, this avocado fanatic just likes her guacamole with avocado and a little lime or lemon – maybe a little salt. Avocados are so amazing it’s really all I want to taste.
However… this recipe has won me over to adding different ingredients to compliment the avocado. This particular guacamole recipes is one of the best I’ve ever tried. It’s outstanding.
Bobby Flay’s Guacamole
4 ripe Haas avocados, peeled, pitted and chopped
1/2 small red onion, finely diced
1 jalapeno pepper, finely diced
Juice of 2 limes (about 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
Combine the avocados, red onion, jalapeno, lime juice and cilantro in a bowl and gently mix to a chunky consistency. Season with salt and pepper.
Along with this guacamole recipe, there’s a recipe for Bobby Flay’s Cumin Dusted Tortilla Chips. Be sure to grab the magazine and check that out!
Hungry Girl Tuna Taco’s Recipe: Just in time for Cinco de Mayo!
One 4.5-oz. pouch StarKist Sweet & Spicy Tuna Creations®
1/4 cup salsa
4 corn taco shells (flat-bottomed shells, if available)
1 cup shredded lettuce
1/4 cup diced onion
1/4 cup diced tomato
2 tbsp. chopped cilantro
Directions:
In a medium bowl, mix Tuna Creations® and salsa.
Evenly fill shells with lettuce, Tuna Creations® mixture, onion, tomato, and cilantro. Yum!!
YIELD: Makes 2 Servings PER SERVING (2 tacos): 224 calories, 6g fat, 577mg sodium, 28g carbs, 3g fiber, 6g sugars, 15g protein
The Hungry Girl Cookbooks:
If you’ve never watched Hungry Girl on television or tried her cookbooks and recipes, promise me you’ll do so. You’ll fall fast in love AND find yourself eating a lot healthier to boot? Win, Win.
Not only do I passionately collect cookbooks, the first section I head for at the library is the cookbook aisle. I’m obsessed with recipes, cooking, and everything remotely connected to food.
Could you tell?
The wonderful thing about checking cookbooks out at the library is you get to take them for a “test drive” and see if they warrant a trip to Amazon. With some cookbooks, I only find a couple of recipes that interest me, so I simply jot them down on a recipe card. However, other cookbooks, such as Ellie Krieger’s cookbooks (each and every one!), send me to Amazon.com faster than payday sends me to the store. With speed that breaks the sound barrier.
The most recent cookbook to pass the “test drive” was Ellie Krieger’s Comfort Food Fix: Feel-Good Favorites Made Healthy. I realized there wasn’t enough ink in the house to record all of the recipes I’d want to make in this particular cookbook, so I put my pen away and told Ellie’s lovely face I’d see her on Amazon.
Soon.
The first recipe I made from this cookbook was the Roasted Red Pepper Hummus. Like all results from an Ellie Krieger recipe, the hummus was phenomenal.
Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
1 larger roasted red pepper, drained and rinsed if jarred
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
One 15 oz can chickpeas, preferably low-sodium, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons tahini
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1 teaspoon for garnish
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons water
Finely chop 1 tablespoon of the roasted red pepper and reserve for a garnish. Coarsely chop the remaining roasted red pepper.
Using the broad side of a knife blade, mash together the garlic and the 1/2 teaspoon salt to form a paste. Place the garlic paste, chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of the oil, the cumin, the water, and the roasted red pepper into a food processor and process until smooth. Season with additional salt to taste.
Place the hummus into a serving bowl and garnish with the reserved red pepper. Drizzle the remaining 1 teaspoon oil over the top. Hummus will keep for about 1 week in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
As a Giada De Laurentiis fan, I’m excited to tell you that she has a new cookbook on the market, Weeknights with Giada (click the link for more information or to order your copy from Target.com today!). Below is a great recipe from the cookbook. Like ALL Giada De Laurentiis recipes, this one’s a winner.
Chicken with Tarragon and White Wine Recipe
Serves 4
1/4 cup vegetable oil 2 (8-ounce) boneless and skinless chicken breasts 4 (4-ounce) boneless and skinless chicken thighs Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 4 tablespoons flour 1 large yellow onion, chopped 4 garlic cloves, chopped 1 cup dry white wine, such as Riesling 2 1/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon leaves 1/2 cup Dijon mustard 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, heat the oil over high heat. Season the chicken with 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper and dust with 2 tablespoons of the flour. Cook the chicken, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Remove the chicken and set aside on a large plate.
Heat the same pan used for the chicken over medium-high heat. Add the onion and season with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, for 4 minutes, until softened. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, until aromatic.
Increase the heat to high. Add the wine and scrape up the browned bits that cling to the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Return the chicken pieces to the pan.
Add 2 cups of the chicken broth and 1/2 cup of the tarragon. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover the pan, and simmer for 30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken pieces to a platter and tent with foil to keep warm.
In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup chicken broth and the remaining 2 tablespoons flour until smooth. Whisk the flour mixture into the simmering cooking juices. Whisk in the mustard. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serve the sauce over the chicken and garnish with the remaining tarragon.
1 piece star anise
2 cinnamon sticks, broken into pieces
8 whole cloves
4 cardamom pods
1 small piece ginger, peeled (1 tablespoon of the piece grated)
1 orange (half of the orange slice, half grated for zest)
1/2 cup vodka
2 1/2 cups dry red wine
2 1/2 cups ruby port or Madeira
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup blanched whole almonds
1/2 cup dark raisins
Instructions:
1. Crush the cinnamon and cardamom using a mortar and pestle (or put them on a cutting board and crush them with the bottom of a heavy pot). Put them in a small glass jar and add the ginger, orange zest, cloves, and vodka. Let stand for 24 hours.
2. Strain the vodka through a fine sieve into a large saucepan; discard the spices. Add the red wine, port or Madeira, sugar, almonds, raisins, and star anise, and heat over medium heat just until bubbles start to form around the edges.
3. Serve the wine hot in mugs, with a few almonds and raisins in each glass; keep any remaining wine warm over very low heat until ready to serve – do not let boil!
The above recipe was graciously shared with our readers by the super cool people at A Bullseye View. Visit their wonderful site for more decorating tips, recipes, beauty, and shopping. Lots and lots of shopping fun!
I’ve got nothing but love for Ellie Krieger and nothing but love for USA Today. I’ve been a loyal reader for YEARS – remember when it was bigger? It took a while to get accustomed to the smaller version but now I can’t imagine it being larger. Now it’d probably feel like a giant’s newspaper!
The fact that USA Today and Ellie Krieger are teaming up to help readers cook and eat healthier meals has hands sweaty and my mouth watering. What a dynamic duo! Learn more about Ellie Krieger’s new column in USA Today here. I’ll be clipping and saving each recipe for my collection – I have the first one, of course: Garlic-Basic Shrimp and it sounds delicious. Click the link to see the recipe online.
Below is information that was sent to me about Ellie Krieger’s new cookbook, Comfort Food Fix. Can’t wait to get my hands on this one, it sounds as wonderful as the rest of her cookbooks.
Ellie Krieger, New York Times Bestselling Author and Host of “Healthy Appetite” Offers Healthy Versions of Classic American Comfort Food Dishes
You don’t often hear a Registered Dietitian say nothing is ever “off limits,” but Ellie Krieger believes just that. With a philosophy of “usually-sometimes-rarely”, Krieger is all about incorporating your favorite foods into a healthy lifestyle. To this end, Ellie has created Comfort Food Fix: Feel Good Favorites Made Healthy (Wiley Hardcover; $29.99), a collection of healthy versions of comfort food classics. Here Ellie provides 150 soul-satisfying recipes including hearty favorites like meatloaf, lasagna, chicken pot pie, crab cakes, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and more — all without the calories and saturated fat.
Ellie has every meal covered: There are recipes for breakfast, brunch and baked goods; snacks and starters; soups and sandwiches; meat, poultry, seafood, and vegetarian main dishes; sides and salads; and of course desserts. Each recipe contains complete nutrition information and calorie counts along with a side-by-side comparison of Ellie’s healthy version of the recipe versus a typical version of the recipe. You’ll be amazed at how simple substitutions can dramatically reduce both the caloric content of these recipes as well their saturated fat, sodium, and cholesterol counts, while increasing healthy nutrients and antioxidants – all without sacrificing flavor and the comfort food experience that we’ve all come to expect from these classic dishes.
Everyone loves fried chicken – Ellie’s version, “Honey-Crisp Oven-Fried Chicken”, is lower in calories, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium than a traditional version of fried chicken – but with the same crisp golden perfection that is sure to satisfy any fried chicken craving. Using skinless chicken thighs, low-fat buttermilk, corn flakes for crunch, honey, tons of spicy flavor, and baking the chicken rather than frying, Ellie reduces the calorie intake of this classic from 560 to 330 calories.
How does she do it? Ellie breaks down her “make healthy” strategy into “15 Fix Factors,” many of which she applies in her “Honey-Crisp Oven-Fried Chicken” recipe, including:
Get Creamy (Nearly) Creamlessly – Use low-fat milk thickened with flour or cornstarch, along with evaporated milk for cream sauces, soups, and puddings; reduced-fat sour cream also ups the cream factor with less fat and no artificial ingredients
Un-Fry – Lightly bread, toss or spray with oil, and then bake to achieve that craveable crispness
Oil Well – Use antioxidant-rich extra-virgin olive oil or a neutral tasting canola oil for stir fries and baking
Sweeten Smartly – Use unrefined sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, and molasses; these give your blood sugar a gentler rise, but use them sparingly
Repro-Portion – Measure out servings and keep an eye on portions; most of us have grown accustomed to much bigger servings of food than we need
With full nutrition information for every recipe and gorgeous full-color photos that are sure to whet any appetite, Comfort Food Fix: Feel-Good Favorites Made Healthy will have you eating healthier versions of your favorite comfort food dishes without any of the guilt.
More Ellie Krieger Cookbooks:
ABOUT ELLIE KRIEGER:
Host of the Food Network’s hit show “Healthy Appetite,” now on the Cooking Channel, Ellie’s warmth and charisma have made her the leading go-to nutritionist, with a lifestyle emphasis, in the media today. Krieger’s success can be attributed to her unique way of offering real life advice without any of the gimmicks and crash diets that permeate the media today. She reaches people with her message that it is possible for anyone, given the tools and knowledge, to live life to the maximum by keeping a healthy balance and nurturing a richly satisfying and sumptuous, attainable lifestyle. Ellie’s 2005 book Small Changes Big Results was a how-to on easy-to-live-with habit changes that yield optimal results. Ellie’s second book, The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life, was an immediate New York Times bestseller, peaking at #2 on that list. In addition to being named to Amazon’s Customer Bestseller List for 2008, The Food You Crave won the 2009 IACP Cookbook award and the esteemed 2009 James Beard Foundation Award for “Best Cookbook with a Healthy Focus.” Her last book, So Easy: Luscious Healthy Recipes for Every Meal of the Week, also became an instant New York Times bestseller.
Carrot and Zucchini Mini Muffins by Giada De Laurentiis Makes 24 mini muffins
For the muffins
1 cup almond flour
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup grape seed oil
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 large egg, room temperature
1/3 cup grated carrots (from 1 medium peeled carrot)
1/2 cup grated zucchini (from 1 medium unpeeled zucchini)
1/2 cup raisins
For the frosting (optional)
1 cup (about 8 ounces) whipped cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1. Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 24 mini muffin cups with paper liners. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, sieve together the flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Add any solids leftover in the sieve to the bowl and mix in.
3. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the oil, syrup and egg. Add the dry ingredients and mix well until combined. Mix in the carrot, zucchini and raisins.
4. Using 2 small spoons, fill the muffin cups 3/4 full with the batter and bake for 15 minutes until light golden. Cool for 5 minutes. Transfer the muffins to a wire rack to cool, about 30 minutes.
5. Frosting: In a small bowl, mix together the cream cheese and honey until smooth. Spread the cooled muffins with frosting and serve.
A few nights ago, I saw a really cool recipe on one of my favorite shows – Good Eats with Alton Brown. Alton made an amazing looking French Onion soup in an electric skillet. The soup looked so delicious I could practically smell it through the television. It made me anxious to try his recipe (all Alton Brown recipes are great) AND it reminded me that it’s time… way past time, that is.. to replace my electric skillet. I think it’s pretty safe to say that if anything in your kitchen looks like something Alice would use to whip up something for the Brady kids, it’s time to upgrade.
The Electric Skillet shown here is a great-looking alternative. It’s from Anna’s Linens and is available online only.
Features:
12 x 15 inch cooking surface
Sturdy, tempered glass lid with stainless steel rim and cool touch knob
Glass lid to easily monitor food as it is being cooked
Easy to read, detachable, adjustable temperature probe (Warm – 450°F)
Deep interior for roasting or frying
Warm setting is perfect for keeping food warm on a buffet
Non-stick surface, eliminates the need for oil or butter
I have to confess, every time I see a beautiful, colorful Rachael Ray dish, kitchen gadget or cooking tool, I automatically think two words, “Need that.” So when I saw the Rachael Ray 2-Piece Lil’ Huggers Tong Set Cookware Sets (in blue or orange) shown here, the words automatically popped into my head.
Except this time they were followed by exclamation marks because, this time, it isn’t just a strong want – it is a certifiable need.
My husband was cooking pork chops a few nights ago (and, boy, were they delicious!) and he asked me where my tongs were. Sheepishly, I drug them out of the kitchen tool drawer. They’ve become pretty homely over the years. I made a point, then, to shop for a new pair. My first move was to search for a pair on Amazon, along with the name Rachael Ray. I was certain she had some in her collection.
Success! I found that she didn’t just have one, but had a thongs set (the ones you see here).
I have never bought or received anything from the Rachael Ray collection that wasn’t’ absolute perfection. Anything she puts her name on is first class and anything she puts her name on will, eventually, wind up in my kitchen. I take a lot of pride and care in my cooking, so I only want the best of the best in my kitchen. Rachael Ray casserole dishes, pans, cooking tools, towels, cookbooks, and kitchen gadgets are the very essence of best of the best.
Her Oval Bubble & Brown Baker Set is just one of the things I wonder how I ever lived without. Product Description: The 2-Piece Lil’ Huggers Tong Set is a must-have when using nonstick cookware. 2-Piece set includes: 1 x 9 Lil’ Hugger 1 x 12 Lil’ Hugger ; Grippy spoon-shaped ends are great for stir frying, grabbing corn cobs, tossing salad and turning hot chicken wings. Locking hinge makes grasping varying sizes of food easy. Silicone heads and handles are heat safe to 500°F. Dishwasher safe.
I LOVE that the heads and handles are silicone! I just can’t make up my mind if I want blue or orange. Oh, decisions… decisions….
A holiday tradition in my kitchen (whether it’s Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, or the first day of baseball season… a holiday in our house) is based on a recipe I saw Emeril do years ago on Emeril Live. He made a Relish Tray Salad and I tried my own version the very next day.
The beautiful thing about making a relish tray salad is that you can pretty much add or take away anything your little heart desires. And easy? Trust me, nothing’s easier.
Basically, you buy jars of your favorite relish tray delicacies such as:
Baby Dill Pickles
Gherkins
Pickled cocktail onions
Blanched baby carrots
Blanched green beans
Cauliflower
Olives
Pickled Cherry Peppers
Pickled Okra
Place everything into a large glass bowl (or any bowl for that matter, glass simply looks spectacular). For extra flavor, add a little olive oil. The colors are beautiful, the flavors are Heavenly, and everyone has a lot of fun finding their favorites lovelies.
You could even add some red pepper flakes if you wanted to make it pop.
Love tea? You'll want to check out the Crazy Tea Chick. The Crazy Tea Chick happens to be my daughter - the crazy doesn't fall far from the tree. It also doesn't wander far from caffeine.
. I realized there wasn’t enough ink in the house to record all of the recipes I’d want to make in this particular cookbook, so I put my pen away and told Ellie’s lovely face I’d see her on Amazon.
shown here, the words automatically popped into my head.
