Dip Day Friday: Bacon Horseradish Dip

This week's edition of Dip Day Friday included a variety of store bought dips. We had salsa, and amazing dip from Robert Rothschild Farm's - Raspberry Honey Mustard Pretzel Dip (see below) and a bacon horseradish dip.

First, I want to touch on the raspberry honey mustard dip. If you haven't tried this before, you definitely should! What's great about this is that each dip is different. My first bite had a big raspberry taste, but my second dip, had much more mustard. It's a different taste with each bite! What could be better? This dip is great for any party.

I want to go into more detail on the bacon horseradish dip. Our dip team brought in pre-made dip, but after tasting this, I thought this dip would be so much better made from scratch. I found a great recipe on Kraft Foods website.

Recipe:

1 1container (16 oz.) of sour cream
1 pkg (2.8 oz.) Oscar Mayer Bacon Pieces
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp Prepared horseradish
1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce
1/8 tsp garlic powder
Your favorie cracker

Mix all ingredients except crackers until well blended. Chill until ready to serve.

Enjoy!

PC: Kraft Foods

Herb-Rubbed Chicken in Creamy Orzo

Yes! It's another chicken dish. (Surprise! Surprise!) Just to reiterate, chicken is a staple in my household, so much so that I only buy the huge family bags. Since I'm always cooking it, I'm working hard to find lots of new chicken recipes.

Recipe:
8 oz. orzo pasta, uncooked
2 chicken cutlets, butterflied into halves (4 pieces total)
Salt and pepper
2 tsp. Herbes de Provence (I couldn't find this so I substituted it with McCormick's All Purpose Seasoning.)
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil (evoo)
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, with juices
2 cups broccoli florets
½ cup heavy cream
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1) Bring a saucepan of salted water to boil. Add the orzo and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, about 10 minutes. Drain the pasta, and set aside.

2) Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper. Sprinkle evenly with the Herbes de Provence. Heat the olive oil in a 12- or 14-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken breast halves to the pan and cook about 3 minutes per side, until golden brown.

3) Reduce the heat to medium, add the shallot to the pan and sauté 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté an additional minute, until fragrant.

4) Add the diced tomatoes with juices and the broccoli florets to the pan, scraping the bottom of the pan to remove any browned bits. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to simmer over medium-low. Cover and let cook until the broccoli florets are crisp-tender, about 10 minutes.

5) Stir in the cooked orzo, heavy cream and Parmesan cheese. Mix until well blended and the cheese has melted.

6) Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Since my own photo skills are lacking, check out this image from the original poster. Her photo is a GREAT representation of the meal. It was SO delicious!

Enjoy!

Photo and recipe from Annie's Eats

A Little Taste of Thailand

Thai food is my F-A-V-E!!!!!! I love nothing more than picking up tofu pad Thai any day I am too lazy to cook. Green Curry Thai Cuisine, an Astoria goldmine, has become my kitchen away from home! The staff is very friendly, the decor is a unique blend of modern and serene, and the food is Ahh-mazing! (Although, if you search for Green Curry on Yelp, there are some negative reviews - these are just not true! I'm assuming these people have no taste.) ;)

Since we're still in somewhat of a recession, I can't give in to my Green Curry cravings all the time. I've never made Thai food before and was feeling adventurous so I whipped up a chicken peanut Thai noodle dish. (Actually, I didn't whip it up, I pretty much stirred up a mess!) There are a lot of ingredients in this dish, so I struggled putting everything together at once. It was pretty funny though.

Recipe:

1 lb whole wheat thin spaghetti noodles (I tried finding Asian rice noodles, but they were no where to be found in my grocery store.)

2 tbsp sesame oil

1 clove of garlic, peeled

1 (1 inch) piece of fresh ginger, peeled

½ cup smooth peanut butter

¼ cup soy sauce

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1 cup hot water

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (evoo)

½ cup finely chopped onion

½ cup finely chopped red or orange bell pepper (I'm not a fan of peppers so I left this out.)

3 or 4 chicken cutlets, cubed

¼ cup finely chopped cilantro

1/2 tsp salt, or to taste

¼ cup dry roasted peanuts, chopped (optional)

2 tbsp sesame seeds (optional)

1. Cook noodles according to package. Drain, rinse, place in large pasta bowl and toss with sesame oil. Set aside.

2. Place garlic and ginger in food processor until well chopped. Add peanut butter, soy sauce, brown sugar, vinegar and red pepper flakes. Pulse until well combined then set aside.

3. Place olive oil in hot skillet over medium heat. Saute onion and bell pepper for 5 minutes or until softened. Stir in chicken breast, cilantro and salt. Cook until heated through.

4. Add hot water to ingredients in step 2 and stir until mix is smooth and becomes sauce like.

5. Add sauce and chicken mixture to noodles. Toss to coat and garnish with peanuts and sesame seeds if desired.

To give you fair warning, this recipe turns out to be very big. I was able to get about 8 servings out of it! It would be a great dish for a dinner party.


Recipe adapted from Picky-Palate

Introducing: DIP DAY FRIDAY!!!

Back in April 2008, I started a fun little trend at work: Dip Day Friday. One day my team and I were having a discussion about different types of dip so I whipped one up and brought it in. It has been a weekly tradition ever since.

The rules: Each week two people pair up and bring in chips and dips (or veggies) for the entire dip day group. Gradually our group has grown from 9 people to about 20, but the more the merrier!

Since dip is a favorite for almost everyone, I've decided to pass on the dip day recipes each week.

This weeks dip: Amy's store bought Spinich dip, salsa and spicy greek yogurt and Anne's Bean Dip.

Recipe for Anne's Bean Dip :
1 15 oz can of cannellini beans
1 large clove garlic (chopped/pressed)
1/2 cup mayo
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp oregano
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp olive oil
(optional roasted red peppers)

Blend. Chill. Enjoy! (It was DELICIOUS!!!) :)

Thanks, Anne.

Sausage Overload

Recently, a friend and I took an eventful trip to Costco. Let me tell you, that place is a MADHOUSE on the weekends! After spending 10 minutes in a traffic jam in the parking lot, we spent another hour and a half fighting the crowds down packed aisles.

Despite the chaos, we had a pretty successful trip! We left with an overflowing cart and definitely filled every space in the car. I was sure to pick up my usual items: water, granola bars, oatmeal and paper towel. What I didn't expect to pick up was spicy sausage. Usually, I steer clear of the meat section since I don't cook enough to ever take advantage the mass quantity deals, before the meat expires. Due to over crowding and my friends curious nature, I ended up taking a look. The Costco package of sausage contained 24 links, so we decided to go halfsies on a pack... they looked so good!

Even after going halfsies, 12 links of sausage is a lot! I racked my brain to come up with an easy way to cook the sausage and this is what I came up with:

Sausage and Mozzarella Rigatoni!

Recipe:

1/2 a box of rigatoni or ziti (or both in my case)

3 spicy sausage links

1 clove of garlic

2 tbsps of extra virgin olive oil (evoo)

fresh mozzarella, cubed

1 tbsp maple syrup

your favorite pasta sauce (I like Ragu, it's pretty cheap at Costco)

1) Cook noodles as instructed on box

2) Place evoo in medium size frying pan and turn heat on high

3) Finely chop or mince garlic and add to oil in pan

4) Make a shallow cut down the center of each sausage link and peel off the casing. With your hands, separate the sausage to make it become similar to ground meat, then add to frying pan.

5) Once sausage has started to brown up a bit, add in maple syrup. I do this because the sausage is very spicy and my mouth can take it. If you like spice, you can skip this step.

6) Cook sausage until fully browned then toss in the mozzarella and your desired amount of sauce. (I usually use about 1/2 - 3/4 of a bottle, but adjust this depending on your preference.)

7) Once noodles are finished cooking, strain and place back into pot. Stir in meat sauce and serve.

This is great for busy weeknights. I've made it twice in the last three weeks. ;)

Enjoy!

New York, New York, New York...

Sunday was an eventful day for New York Sports fans. Manhattan was filled with runners taking on the ING New York City Marathon; The Giants were playing The Eagles and of course The Yankees were battling it out for the World Series.

Aside from recovering from a crazy Halloween night, I spent my day glued to the T.V. watching all the events. After snacking on chips all day, it was finally meal time!

The boys fired up the grill and threw on some burgers and hot dogs (Nathan's, of course!) Knowing that I couldn't handle a stomach full of just meat, I decided to whip up a little treat for everyone: CORN SALSA!!!

Recipe:

1 12oz bag of frozen corn

1/2 green pepper

1/4 cup of finely chopped red onion

8-10 grape tomatoes, chopped

2 tbsps finely chopped cilantro

1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil (evoo)

1 tbsp black pepper

1 tsp salt

dash of crushed red pepper

1 small lime

1) Boil corn as directed on package. Drain and rinse with cold water to bring corn down to room temperature. Once cooled and drained, place corn in a medium size bowl.

2) Dice green pepper, tomatoes, onion and cilantro and add to corn.

3) Pour olive oil over corn mixture and add salt, pepper and crushed red pepper.

4) Cut lime in half and squeeze juice over salsa.

5) Mix and serve with tortilla chips. (Scoops work best for this.)

Based on how quickly the salsa disappeared, I'd have to say I hit this one out of the park! ;)

PC: Anthony Charilas

Rainy Days Make for Lazy Days

The rain kept on coming this week and I quickly fell into the lazy rainy blues. I had no energy to cook after work so I improvised. Having just made my amazing "summer-in-the-fall-meal" of tomato/mozz sandwiches and chickpea salad, I decided to throw something together with the left overs.

I should begin by letting everyone know, I tend to over-buy items needed for recipes, hence the whole 15 bulbs of garlic thing. With that said, I obviously bought more arugula than necessary for my sandwiches. I was SO happy when I remembered this.

My meal went from reheating left-overs to creating two beautiful salads!

Salad #1: My Meal

Arugula
Chopped walnuts
Pine nuts
Raisins
Blue cheese
Extra virgin olive oil (evoo)
Balsamic Vinegar

1) Wash Arugula and place in bowl.
2) Toss in pine nuts, walnuts, raisins and blue cheese to taste. I kept adding ingredients until it was covered in cheese and looked pretty.
3) Pour balsamic vinegar over salad then olive oil. Personally, I like more oil than vinegar so again, this will vary based on preference.

Which ever way you decide to make this, I can promise it will taste delicious! The blend of blue cheese with the nuts and dressing is so tasty!

Salad #2: The boyfriend's meal

Romaine Lettuce
2 chicken cutlets
Summer chickpea salad (see previous post)
Extra virgin olive oil (evoo)
Balsamic Vinegar

1) Grill chicken cutlet then chop in to cubes
2) Since I had made the summer chickpea salad the night before, all I had to do was add romaine lettuce to the chickpea salad.
3) I poured on balsamic vinegar to taste and just a little olive oil since the chickpea salad already had oil.

You should definitely try both of these. Whether you're looking to add a quick side dish to a meal or cooking dinner for two, these salads are sure to be a hit!