Hawaiian Style Macaroni Salad

If you’ve ever been to Hawaii (or a Hawaiian BBQ restaurant on the Mainland) you know that virtually everything is served with a side, or scoop of ‘mac salad’.  The Hawaiian plate lunch consists of the main entree, generally two scoops of rice and macaroni salad.  It might seem like a strange combo to some, but it’s just the way it is.  Everyone has their version of this picnic food and the folks in Hawaii are no different.  This might seem too soft (overcooked) and too mayonaisy (made that word up) to some but that is generally how it is served.  I have to say that I like macaroni salad in most forms, but Hawaiian style is my favorite.  This recipe was adapted to one I found a while back from Cook’s Country Magazine.  While writing this post, I am also imagining myself eating it in Hawaii so it is a little mental getaway for me!  Be warned this recipe makes a lot (serves 8-10) so it’s good for a potluck.  Didn’t want you to have it coming out of your ears!

HAWAIIAN STYLE MACARONI SALAD

Ingredients:

-2 Cups Whole Milk

-2 Cups Mayonaise

-1 TBS Brown Sugar

-1/2 Tsp  Plus 1 TBS Salt

-2 Tsp Black Pepper

-1 Lb. Large Elbow Macaroni

-1/4 Cup Cider Vinegar*

-1/3 Cup Shredded Carrot

*Original recipe called for 1/2 Cup Cider Vinegar but I feel that is too much.  Some don’t add it at all, so it is really up to you and your personal taste.

Directions:

1.  Make a dressing by whisking together, in a small bowl: 1 1/2 Cup Milk, 1 Cup Mayonaise, Brown Sugar, Salt and Pepper.

2.  Boil Macaroni, adding 1 TBS Salt to the water, and cook for 15 minutes.  The pasta will be very soft, this is okay.  Drain it and return to the pot.

3.  Add vinegar to the Macaroni and toss – let cool for about 10 minutes.

4.  Stir in prepared dressing and cool completely.

5.  Add the Carrot, remaining Milk and Mayonaise to the cooled Macaroni and mix well.  Season with Salt and Pepper to taste.

6.  Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving, can be chilled up to two days.

BLTA with Garlic Mayonaise

It gets plenty busy around here during the week and sometimes we just need a simple, quick dinner.  This one generally pleases our entire family and is not too overwhelmingly processed and unhealthy which can be a problem when you need fast, fast, fast!  This can be thrown together in an instant!  It’s sort of a non-recipe, really… but, hey, I was hungry…

BLTA WITH GARLIC MAYONAISE

Ingredients:

Sliced French Bread (or your favorite kind of bread)

1-2 Large Tomatoes, washed and sliced

1-2 Avocados, sliced

Romaine Lettuce, washed and torn

Your Favorite Bacon, cooked (we like the thick cut Applewood smoked stuff)

For the Mayo:

1/2-3/4 Cup Your Favorite Mayonaise

3 Tsp Garlic Paste

Juice of one large lemon

Salt and Black Pepper to taste (I used about 1/2 Tsp each)

Directions:

1.  Mix all the mayo ingredients together well and refrigerate at least 15-30 minutes ahead of time.

2.  Toast French Bread

3.  Assemble sandwiches per your taste.

Black Truffle Oven Crisp Fries

I’m baaaaaack!  I took a little hiatus from blogging (but not from cooking) as this new year has started off as quite a doozy!  I’m hoping that the Foodie Family has a nice, peaceful remainder of 2012 – and hope I didn’t just jinx us by putting that in print!

Now, onto the matter at hand…  I made this recipe on Baby Foodie’s first birthday as he is a BIG FAN of the French Fry.  I stumbled upon a spice store on one of our little adventures and among the wonderful booty I came away with was Black Truffle Salt.  Oh.  Em.  Gee.  (Can I actually write that on a food blog?)  Anyway, I just love this stuff.  The Salt.  The Truffle.  The Togetherness.  It was love at first taste (sniff, really.)  Perfecting a crunchy oven-baked french fry has been on my to do list for a while.  I’ve played with this a lot in the past and have come up just sort of shrugging my shoulders – just okay.  Crispy, but not crispy enough.  I knew I had to get it right to use some of my truffle salt goodness on them.  And, I finally did!

Mr. Foodie really liked these and requested them again.  And again.  Foodie, Jr. was not interested in them as they did not come in a little red paper container with golden arches on them.  Baby Foodie was all over them and was a very happy ONE YEAR OLD!

BLACK TRUFFLE OVEN CRISP FRIES

Ingredients:

1 Ib. Russet Potatoes, peeled

1-2 TBS Vegetable Oil

Cooking Spray, such as Pam

Black Truffle Infused Salt, to taste

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees (ovens may vary, so you may want to play with the temp.)

2.  Slice potatoes lengthwise, making thin strips.

3.  In a bowl, toss the potatoes with the oil, be sure to coat well

4.  Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and spread potatoes out in a single layer.

5. Bake the fries for 15 minutes, then toss.

6.  Bake for about 10 minutes more, until you reach your desired crispness.

7.  Remove fries from oven and immediately sprinkle with Black Truffle Salt to taste.

Baked Kale Chips with FAGE Garlic Basil Dip

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker’s Program, I have agreed to participate in the FAGE Total program and blog about good living in exchange for being entered to win an extraordinary eight day trip to Greece.

I have been using the FAGE products for quite a while and love them.  I’ve been on a quest lately to make some changes to our family diet.  One of Mr. Foodie’s biggest downfalls is potato chips.  It amazes me how many chips he can down in a sitting!  So, in an effort to make a change, I thought I would try some kale chips.  I am a big fan of kale generally, but I wasn’t sure exactly how Mr. Foodie would feel about them.  To my surprise, he really liked them and munched on them through the evening.  While the chips are a great snack on their own, I thought I’d try to create a little dip for them using some FAGE yogurt I had on hand in the event I ever wanted to use these ‘chips’ at a gathering.  It was a simple dip and I thought it complemented the chips very nicely.  If you haven’t tried these very popular morsels yet and are trying to work on a healthier lifestyle for yourself and family, I really recommend giving them a try.  They might not taste just like the junk food chips you are used to but they are definitely a tasty snack!

BAKED KALE CHIPS WITH FAGE GARLIC BASIL DIP

Ingredients:

1 Bunch of Kale, washed and dried (any variety is okay)

1 TBS Olive Oil (you can add more to your taste)

Sea Salt, to taste

Fresh Cracked Black Pepper, to taste

3 TBS Fage Total 0% Greek Yogurt

Fresh Garlic Paste, to taste

Fresh Basil Paste, to taste

Water

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 300 degrees and line cookie sheet with parchment paper or foil sprayed lightly with cooking spray.

2.  Remove all stems/ribs from kale then toss in olive oil.

3.  Place kale on cookies sheet in a single layer.  You want to minimize the overlap as to reach maximum crispness.  Season with salt and pepper as desired.

4.  Bake kale for 20-30 minutes.  Ovens will vary so continue to check until they reach your desired crispiness, be careful not to let them burn.

5.  While the chips are baking, combine yogurt, basil and garlic in a small dipping dish.  Mix together well, adding tiny amounts of water to thin the sauce out a bit.  The yogurt tends to be thick and sometimes the kale chips will break off into it.  Thinning it out makes dipping easier – it does not take much water to do this, maybe a few drops.

7.  When chips are done, remove from oven and sprinkle with additional salt and/or pepper if desired.  Let cool and serve immediately.

“As part of the Foodbuzz Featured Publisher program, I have been entered for the chance to win a trip to Greece courtesy of FAGE. You too can enter to win one of three trips to Greece by entering the FAGE Plain Extraordinary Greek Getaway here: http://www.fageusa.com/community/fage-greek-getaway“

Cranberry Jalapeno Sauce

Or ‘cranapeno’ sauce?  Whether you go with the long drawn out name in the title or the cutesy nickname I gave it, it tastes the same – good.  I’ve known a lot of people over the years who make a version of this and I generally put my feet up and let someone else make the cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving but this year, I thought I’d give it a try.  (Frankly, I did not even start eating any kind of cranberry sauce until maybe five years ago, it never did anything for me.)  And though I now love my beloved can-shaped, congealed, whatever that is that graces family tables every year (I know, I know) this kicks butt on that.  I love the sweet heat of this sauce and can’t wait to try it with my bird tomorrow.  Confession?  I can’t wait to try in on my leftover turkey sandwiches after Thanksgiving.  Even bigger confession?  I will probably dump this on cream cheese or ricotta and eat it with crackers before it even takes it’s place on the table next to that stinkin’ bird.  So, from my table to yours, I hope you have a really great Turkey day and relish is all the things you are most thankful for.  Oh, and if you need something to be thankful for – make this.

Okay, so once I threw the jalapeno in, I just loved the festive color of the dish.  It made me want to start playing Christmas carols, almost.  So, I wanted to share this photo because well, I thought it was pretty.

CRANBERRY JALAPENO SAUCE

1 12 oz Bag of Fresh Cranberries, washed

1 Cup Water

1 Cup White Sugar

1-3 Jalapeno Peppers, cleaned, seeded and chopped (This pepper amount is dependent on how big of a spicy kick you want your sauce to have.  I used one larger one and one medium one and liked it just fine.)

Juice from 1/2 a Lime

1/4 Cup of Cream Sherry

Directions:

1.  Add sugar and water to a sauce over medium-high heat and bring to a slow boil.

2.  Add cranberries and lower heat, simmer for 10-12 minutes.

3.  Add Jalepenos and lime juice and continue to simmer another 10-15 minutes, until you get the consistency you want.

4.  Add in Cream Sherry and simmer a few minutes longer.

5.  Remove from heat and serve either room temp or chilled.

Cali Roll Salad To Go

Foodie Jr. LOVES California Rolls.  He would eat them all day, every day, if I let him.  He isn’t too fond of salad though.  This was my attempt to compromise with him on a very busy night that had us on the go.  We keep a pretty busy schedule around here and being able to whip these up while he was at school for quick assembly  at dinner time was a big help.  I normally would make these with real crab but I had the surimi on hand the day I made these and no time to get to the store to buy lump crab meat.  (Shrimp would be just fine to use as well.)   Foodie Jr. will eat them either way, so I luck out there.  I do not think this is an earth shattering recipe or anything, but it might be a helpful idea to some, especially busy families.  You could easily replace the crab with tofu or simply load it with more avocado if you do not like seafood.  Mr. Foodie and I enjoy these as well and they make for a great, light meal or a quick appetizer for a gathering.  I generally make a platter of them at a time but it is fun to let your guests make their own as well.

CALIFORNIA ROLL SALAD TO GO

Ingredients:

-Lump Crab Meat (flaked) or Surimi (chopped), lightly tossed with Japanese or regular mayonaise.

-English Cucumbers, peeled, sliced thin and marinated in Mirin (or rice wine vinegar)  and black pepper for a few hours

-Avocado, chopped or slice per your preference

-Nori Komi Furikake (Japanese Rice Seasoning)

-Hearts of Romaine, broken in half to form a sort of lettuce cup to hold salad

Directions:

1. Layer ingredients onto romaine lettuce cup, I usually go crab, avocado, cucumber and top with furikake.

Grilled Grilled Cheese

Fall is here and grilling season is coming to an end.  So, I thought I’d squeeze in just one more grill recipe before we head toward all things pumpkin and soup!  A friend hit the tomato jackpot in her garden and I got to inherit a whole lotta tomatoes!  We were grilling so I decided to do a little open face grilled cheese appetizer for us to chomp on while the meat cooked.  They are kind of funny looking but, they were tasty!

GRILLED GRILLED CHEESE

Ingredients:

16 Cherry Tomatoes, halved

4 Ciabatta Rolls, halved

8 Slices Havarti Cheese

1-2 Fresh Garlic Cloves

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

Directions:

1.  Fire up the grill and get those coals ready to cook!

2.  Scrape each piece of bread with the garlic clove and sprinkle with salt and pepper for flavoring.

3.  Brush top side of bread with olive oil and place top side down on the grill for a few minutes to brown and get some nice grill marks going.

4.  Flip bread pieces over and top with tomato halves (about 4 on each piece depending on the size of your tomatoes.)

5.  Top tomatoes with a slice of cheese.

6.  Heat until cheese is melted to your liking.

Elote

Elote is a Mexican street food – basically corn on the cob.  You may see it frequently being sold in some neighborhoods by people pushing little metal carts.  I really liked having my grilled corn like this, it gave it a nice creamy flavor with a little punch.  (Mr. Foodie said it was a little too creamy for his taste.)    It would be a little bit rich to have your corn this way all the time, but it was a nice addition to our little weekend BBQ feast.

ELOTE

Ingredients:

4 Ears of corn, still in husks but silk removed

1/4 Cup Melted Butter

1/4 Cup Mayonaise

Juice of 1/2 Lime

Crumbled Cotija Cheese

Hot Mexican Chile Powder

Lime Wedges

Directions:

1.  Grill corn in husks about 15-20 minutes, turning at least once during cooking time.

2.  While corn is grilling, mix melted butter, mayonaise and lime juice until well blended.

3.  Remove corn from grill, remove or pull back husks and spread butter mixture onto corn.

4.  Sprinkle with desired amount of chile powder and cotija cheese before serving with lime wedges.

Ricotta Gnocchi with Avocado Cream Sauce

I was lucky enough to be chosen to participate in Foodbuzz’ Tastemaker program for California Avocados.  We love avocados here in the Foodie household.  Foodie Jr. has loved them since he was a baby and they still serve as a go-to food for him.  Baby Foodie’s very first ‘real’ meal was a fresh avocado, which he just devoured!  I was very excited when my box of beautiful California Avocados arrived.  They were absolutely perfect – beautiful and perfectly ripe!

Like many people, we use avocados primarily for guacamole, in salads and on sandwiches, or we simply just eat them plain.  I have never really ventured into cooking them as part of a hot dish before so I definitely wanted to take the challenge.  I came up with this recipe.  Both Mr. Foodie and I enjoyed it. It was really rich and filling but I do think that gnocchi was the perfect fit for this type of cream sauce.   (If you don’t want to go through the step of making gnocchi, a store bought version would be fine to use as well.)

If you have not tried an avocado, I definitely urge you to get some California Avocados!  Not only are they delicious but they are good for you too.  They pack a heavy punch of Vitamin E and are a good source of potassium.  Get yours today and enjoy!

RICOTTA GNOCCHI

Ingredients:

16 oz. container Ricotta cheese, well drained

3 eggs

¼ Tsp salt

1 TBS Butter

1-2 TBS Parmesan cheese, finely grated

Flour for coating

Directions:

1.  Beat all ingredients together in a medium bowl, I usually use a hand mixture to get it blended really well.

2.  Scoop dough by tablespoon and form into small dumpling, coat lightly in flour.

3.  Drop in boiling water, they should sink to the bottom and are done when they float to the top.

AVOCADO CREAM SAUCE

Ingredients:

1 California Avocado, seeded and skinned

1 cup heavy cream

1 anaheim pepper, minced

1 tbs garlic paste

1 tbs fresh basil

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp black pepper

1 TBS White wine vinegar

¼ tsp paprika

water

1/8 to 1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese, per your taste

Directions:

1.  Put  avocado meat, ¾ cup cream and all other ingredients except parmesan into a blend and blend until smooth.  This may be a bit thick so thin a bit with water to get a thinner consistency.

2.  Transfer mixture to a saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring in remaining heavy cream and parmesan cheese.  Heat through.  Serve over gnocchi.

Creamy Mashed Cauliflower

I recently made this as an accompaniment for fish.  I am not a big fan of mashed potatoes in general and certainly not served with fish but both Mr. Foodie and I agreed that the mashed cauliflower went pretty well with it.  I love cauliflower so I may be a little bit biased.  If you are looking for a mashed potato substitute, I do not think this will do – it is definitely mashed cauliflower!

CREAMY MASHED CAULFLOWER

Ingredients:

1 Large Head of Cauliflower, Chopped into Florets

1/2 Chicken or Vegetable Broth

1 TBS Cornstarch

1/3 Cup Heavy Cream

1 Tsp Sugar

1/4 Tsp Each White Pepper, Garlic Powder and Onion Powder

1 Tsp Salt

More Salt and Pepper, to taste

Directions:

1.  Steam cauliflower until it is soft enough to mash with a potato masher, about 15 minutes.

2.  Mash drained cauliflower with 1/4 Cup Chicken (or Vegetable) broth to your desired consistency, mine was fairly smooth.

3.  Add cauliflower to a saucepan over medium heat.

4.  Make a slurry with cornstarch and remaining broth then add to cauliflower mixture.

5.  Add the remaining ingredients and combine well.

6.  Keep mixture on medium heat, stirring frequently until thickened, about 10 minutes.

7.  Individuals should add salt and pepper to taste once served.