This Side of Sunny

Recipe Review :: Pineapple Boat Shrimp

I caught Guy Fieri's cooking show on Food Network. I loved this show because it was Asian inspired and it even included one of my favorite drinks in the Philippines, bubble tea (which is really almost any kind of drink with tapioca pearls, yum-o).

Here's Guy's video, making it look easy of course:

 

Here's my version:

Making the boats...

Boys checking it out...

The finished plate, Pineapple Boat Shrimp with Fruit Salsa and Coconut Cilantro Rice with Peas.

Tips

• Make sure you cook the shrimp according to directions! I got the first part right but forgot about the sauce when I sauteed them. I couldn't figure out how they were so bland if there was jalapeno in the recipe! Jake re-cooked them for a tiny bit in the sauce and they were so much better.

If I were to do this again...

• I wouldn't! It was way too time consuming and complicated. The only recipe I would make again is the Fruit Salsa but without the mint. I also thought the rice was too sweet.
• It would be just as easy to sautee the shrimp in the sauce and eat it that way. 

I did manage to go down to my Asian market to get the drink mix and black tapioca pearls to make my own version of my Zagu drinks in the Philippines. I have yet to make them but when I do, I'll have a review for this space.

Recipe Review :: Turnip Gratin

I ended up making Turnip Gratin. The recipe was simple enough- layer bread, onions, turnip slices and top the whole thing off with Gruyere cheese.

Into the oven...

Out of the oven...

Well the bad news is that the onions were still crunchy and the turnips were over blanched (fancy word for a short boil time). The good news was that the flavor was delicious, but anything topped with cheese usually is.

However, my kids didn't really eat it, even with the cheese on top. Only with my threat of denying dessert did they take a bite. The rule in our house is they at least have to try it before they can say no. And no they did! The turnips acted a lot like potatoes, but with a slightly sweeter taste.

If I were to make again:

• Make sure I don't over blanch the turnips
• Sautee the onions before putting them in the baking dish
• Leave out the bread- it was a little weird
• Keep the cheese topping, it added great flavor, and we all know everything is better with cheese

My favorite part of dinner...

the citrus pork chops! Yum!

 

Recipe Review :: Chicken Tortilla Soup

Looking for a good way to use up the rotisserie chicken you have in the fridge? Try some delicious, easy, healthy Chicken Tortilla Soup. This recipe was given to me by my dear friend Carrie, who introduced me to edamame beans and who at one time helped me devour a whole box of Ding Dongs in our dorm room. Ah, memories.

This is soooo easy-peasy and definitely gets a thumbs up for being a one handed meal- as in, you can have a baby on a hip and still get the soup simmering on the stove! Not to mention it's a hubby-friendly soup in our house.

Ingredients

• Favorite salsa (mine was 16 oz.)
• Chicken broth- either from liquid, cubes or paste- double the amount of ounces of salsa, for instance mine was 16 oz. so the liquid broth I had on hand was 32 oz.; you can also use water to make it vegetarian
• Leftover chicken- shredded, I recommend only half a rotisserie; or use three kind of beans for vegetarian version
• Corn tortillas- 6-8 cut into strips, these will dissolve when soup simmers
• Various garnishes- shredded cheese, limes, avocado, plain yogurt

{All ready to go}

Directions

• Dump in salsa in large soup pot
• Dump in broth double that of salsa amount
• Shred chicken, dump in
• Start simmering
• Cut tortillas into strips
• Dump tortilla strips in
• Check in 15-20 minutes
• Eat!

It's seriously so simple that I almost think I'm forgetting a step.  This was delicious and my two critics thought so too...

Tips

• Don't do what I did and shred the all the white meat rotisserie chicken- because we ate the soup quite a bit later than I made it, it simmered down quite a bit and was thick. Next time I'll do one half.
• For some reason, all my soups reduce down quite a bit, leaving them thicker than I would like. Probably has something to do with the fact that I'm cooking while juggling a three ring circus. So for myself, I would add more water right from the beginning, making the ratio 4:1 water to salsa.
• Most important- make a double or triple batch because it was awesome!  The salsa is great because you don't need to add any spices at all.  You can also customize it for a vegetarian dish or hide add more veggies in.

Nutritional Facts

This can vary based on your actual ingredients but mine was as follows:

Calories: 193

Carbs: 24

Fat: 3

Protein: 18

Thanks, Carrie!  This one is a keeper.

Recipe Review :: Fudge Brownies

Somewhere in bloggy land I read about brownies.  Yum, I thought, I needed to make some of those.  I was going to buy the Ghiradelli box but looked at the ingredients and decided to do it from scratch.  I'm not really sure if from scratch is cheaper- I bought the Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate chips and that alone was the price of the boxed version.

Next I was in search of the perfect fudgy brownie recipe.  I looked a few online and decided on this one, because it called for chocolate, rather than cocoa powder.

Look at all that butter!

Had to add in 1/4 cup of wheat flour because I ran out of flour!  Oh, I had just gone to the store too.  I hoped the chocolatey goodness would cover it up.

Smells delicious...

Cooked to perfection.

I don't think these will last long.

But they did last long enough for breakfast.  Who doesn't need a little brownie for breakfast every now and then?

These brownies were delicious but not fudgy enough for me.  Oh well, I guess I will have to try to make more brownies. 

 

 

Megadarra mega-don't

So I wanted to find a recipe that used lentils.  Lentils are great- cheap, easy, and healthy.  Cooking with them has not been so great.

I saw this recipe, an Indian dish, and loved the idea of eating lots of carmelized onions with rice, lentils and spices. 

There are variations to megadarra, the recipe I used also came with instructions on how to make a yogurt sauce- traditional in Indian food. 

Needless to say the onions were the best part.  I think that's the only thing three of us ate.  Carter was the only one that liked it, but that doesn't really count because he eats anything.  I didn't like the lentil/rice combo (I did overcook the lentils, I blame the kids :)), the hubby didn't like the yogurt sauce which the sweet/dill flavor did not sit well (I only had vanilla yogurt), and Coleman asked if he could eat something else.  Actually, he went to the pantry and got some crackers.

We ended up not at Micky D's but Chipotle instead (I needed some great food to make up for my meal).

I am an adventurous cook but I don't think this Indian food dish will be making it back on the table again- even if I cooked the lentils right.  Better stick with my curry chicken salad, which I have perfected.  The hubby suggested I turn the leftover lentil/rice mix and onions into a soup. 
Throwing together some things in a soup pot will hopefully redeem all the time I spent on this meal.  

Not that I've been the best cook either... reminds me of the time I blew up the lasagna.

That was in the Philippines... some of you may remember that post.  All I did was set the dish on the cutting board and pop, pop, pop!  Glass was everywhere.  You can even see my lemon bars and their foam issue...  Oh well, I guess I won't be on Master Chef anytime soon.

Recipe Review :: Addictive Sweet Potato Burritos

I was looking for cheap, easy, vegetarian meals to help stretch my budget.  I found the recipe on a blog, but then cooked it from this recipe.  They're called Addictive Sweet Potato Burritos and they live up to their name!

This was the second time I have made the recipe and these sweet potatoes were HUGE!  Over an hour at 400 degrees in the oven to cook them.

Once cooked, you mash them up in the bowl-

Think of them as your refried beans, smooth and creamy, a good base to start piling on the good stuff.

Now, the secret to this recipe lies in the seasoned beans.  The recipe calls for mashed kidney beans but I followed the advice of the reviews and used black beans.  They're so small I don't even bother mashing them. 

The seasoning can seem pretty heavy- 3 T of chili powder, plus cumin, mustard, soy sauce, and a pinch of cayenne.  You can probably cut this down to taste, but I used it as is and it was awesome.  Of course, if your chili powder comes out in huge chunks like mine did, that could change things a bit too.

My special touch to these burritos is I make them smaller so I can wrap them up and quickly brown them on a griddle or fry pan.  Makes the tortilla crisp on the outside, like the grilled stuffed burritos.  Talk about yummy!  I would've had a picture but I was too busy stuffing my face!

Price breakdown-

• 4-5 lbs. of sweet potatoes  $5/ 1.00 per lb.
• 2 cans of black beans  $2 (I didn't really need 6 cups of what the recipe calls for)
• 12 pk. tortillas  $2.50 (last for the two meals)
• 8 oz. cheese  $2.50 (lasts for the two meals)
• Onion/garlic  .50 cents
• Seasonings/oil  .50 cents

Recipe total: $13, could be more or less depending on sales. 

However, this amount made more than enough to feed a family of four twice- we had dinner and lunch.  Both the hubby and I didn't stop at one burrito either... hey, in my defense I did make them small!

The first time we had these, I loved them.  They were sweet and tangy at the same time.  The second time they weren't as sweet.  I thought it might have been the extra chunk of chili powder that fell into the pan, but we figured it was just the sweet potatoes weren't as sweet.  I still liked them but better the first time.  My theory is that the HUGE sweet potatoes weren't as sweet as the smaller ones I got the first time.  I guess I will just have to make them again to find out!