Sour Cream is usually used as a behind-the-scene condiment. It plays a supporting role for mashed potatoes, guacamole or a dollop in a soup.Why not give sour cream the lead role?. The following recipe's will give sour cream a star on the Walk of Fame!.
Sour Cream and Radish Salad
Ingredients:
1 bunch Red Radish
1 bunch Green Onion
1 English Cucumber
Salt and Pepper (to taste)
1 container Sour Cream (I prefer full fat, for heart healthy go for 1%)
Directions:
Cut the green leaves off of the radish (put them in a zip-loc to use later as a substitute for spinach) and thoroughly wash the radish and slice into 1cm thick rounds and place in a bowl. With a potato peeler, peel the skin off of the English cucumber. Cut the cucumber in half and with a melon baller or spoon, spoon out the seeds and discard. Cut the cucumber into 1cm pieces and place into bowl with radish. Wash and dry the green onion. Cut the roots off, cut the remaining into 1cm pieces and add to the bowl. Add about 3-4 table spoons of sour cream and mix together. Salt and pepper to taste (a little more salt than pepper). Enjoy!
Strawberries and Sour Cream
Ingredients:
2 cups Fresh Strawberries
3 Table Spoons Sour Cream
Sugar to taste
Directions:
Wash and dry the strawberries. Slice the strawberries into thick rounds and add to a bowl. Add the sour cream and sprinkle with sugar. Toss together. Enjoy!
* The Radish Salad could be served along side meat or as an appetiser. The Strawberry salad, should be eaten right away otherwise the strawberries will start to soften and wilt.*
Thursday 26 April 2012
Monday 23 April 2012
Kasha? Buckwheat? Groats? Whatever you call it's goood!
Kasha or Buckwheat is such an underestimated grain. Kasha is an excellent source of fibre is low in saturated fat and sodium, so why has it been over looked? In European culture Kasha is eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner so again why has it been over looked? In this entry I'm going to introduce you to Kasha, 2 different recipes that will make you ask yourself, why has Kasha been over looked?
Chicken Stew with Kasha
Ingredients:
Chicken legs and thighs (skin on)
4 Large cloves of Garlic
1.5 Large Onion
4 Bay leaves
Water
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper
Directions:
In a large pot pour Olive oil in, just enough to cover the bottom. Set heat on Medium and dice your onions. Once oil is warm, add the chicken legs and thighs and brown on all sides. Once chicken is browned take it out of the pot and set aside. Add a little bit more oil and add onions and finely chop your garlic Let the onions cook until they are light brown, add the garlic and the chicken back to the pot. Salt and pepper. Add warm water just to cover the chicken and add your Bay leaves. The stew should cook until the chicken juices run clear. In a separate bowl cook your Kasha according to the package, omit the butter and salt. Once the Kasha is cooked set aside. Once your stew is cooked, grab a plate place the Kasha in the middle and the chicken and stew sauce right on top. Enjoy!
Breakfast Kasha
Ingredients:
Kasha
Sugar (to taste)
Milk
Directions:
Cook the Kasha according to the package, again omit the salt and butter. Once Kasha is cooked add it to a cereal bowl, top with sugar pour the milk, grab a spoon and enjoy!
* Stew can also be cooked with veal. You can add raw potatoes to the stew to thicken. Try Kasha for a filling lunch, just add butter. *
WHY HAS KASHA BEEN OVERLOOKED?
Chicken Stew with Kasha
Ingredients:
Chicken legs and thighs (skin on)
4 Large cloves of Garlic
1.5 Large Onion
4 Bay leaves
Water
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper
Directions:
In a large pot pour Olive oil in, just enough to cover the bottom. Set heat on Medium and dice your onions. Once oil is warm, add the chicken legs and thighs and brown on all sides. Once chicken is browned take it out of the pot and set aside. Add a little bit more oil and add onions and finely chop your garlic Let the onions cook until they are light brown, add the garlic and the chicken back to the pot. Salt and pepper. Add warm water just to cover the chicken and add your Bay leaves. The stew should cook until the chicken juices run clear. In a separate bowl cook your Kasha according to the package, omit the butter and salt. Once the Kasha is cooked set aside. Once your stew is cooked, grab a plate place the Kasha in the middle and the chicken and stew sauce right on top. Enjoy!
Breakfast Kasha
Ingredients:
Kasha
Sugar (to taste)
Milk
Directions:
Cook the Kasha according to the package, again omit the salt and butter. Once Kasha is cooked add it to a cereal bowl, top with sugar pour the milk, grab a spoon and enjoy!
* Stew can also be cooked with veal. You can add raw potatoes to the stew to thicken. Try Kasha for a filling lunch, just add butter. *
WHY HAS KASHA BEEN OVERLOOKED?
Thursday 19 April 2012
The Heat is ON! If Its Not, Check Your BBQ'S
So from the title you've probably guessed this blog is going to be about grilling. With the warm weather approaching its hard not to crave the smoked and charred flavours of the BBQ and cold and crunchy tastes of side dishes and toppings. These next two recipes will take you there, pool side. We'll start off with the "Slaw" because it needs time to sit in the sauce and marinate. Use the half cabbage saved from the above recipe.
Coleslaw
Ingredients:
Half Cabbage
2 Carrots
1 Stalk of Celery
Slaw Dressing
750 ml Mayonnaise
60 ml Vinegar
30 g Sugar (optional)
2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp White pepper ( Or black, the only difference is that you can see the pepper in the slaw)
Directions For Coleslaw:
Thinly slice cabbage, grate carrots and chop the celery. In a large bowl combine the Mayo, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper and mix until smooth. Add all the sliced veg and mix well. Taste for extra salt or pepper, cover and let stand in the fridge.
Ingredients For Orange Marinated Chicken:
2 Whole Oranges
Poultry seasoning
2 Cloves of Garlic
1 Pack of SKINLESS Chicken legs (The skin will burn on the BBQ, if preparing in the oven skin is OK)
Your favourite BBQ sauce
Directions For Chicken:
Wash and soak the chicken legs in cold salted water to drain all the blood. Rinse chicken and place into a Zip Lock bag. Slice the oranges and squeeze the juice in to the Zip Lock with the chicken. Finely chop the garlic and add it to the bag. Sprinkle the poultry seasoning over the chicken legs. Tightly close the bag and shake all the ingredients together, let marinade for about 2 hours in the fridge. Turn on the grill to Medium or about 250 degrees. Lightly coat the grill with Canola oil and place chicken on the grill. Once the juices run clear, brush on your BBQ sauce on both sides, let the chicken stay on the grill for about another minute (you don't want the sugars in the BBQ sauce to burn). Take the chicken off the grill and brush on some more sauce. Serve with coleslaw and enjoy!
* When making the chicken in the oven you can cook it with all the marinade juices and let the sauce sit a little longer in the oven. You can use any cut of chicken or even pork for this recipe.*
Coleslaw
Ingredients:
Half Cabbage
2 Carrots
1 Stalk of Celery
Slaw Dressing
750 ml Mayonnaise
60 ml Vinegar
30 g Sugar (optional)
2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp White pepper ( Or black, the only difference is that you can see the pepper in the slaw)
Directions For Coleslaw:
Thinly slice cabbage, grate carrots and chop the celery. In a large bowl combine the Mayo, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper and mix until smooth. Add all the sliced veg and mix well. Taste for extra salt or pepper, cover and let stand in the fridge.
Ingredients For Orange Marinated Chicken:
2 Whole Oranges
Poultry seasoning
2 Cloves of Garlic
1 Pack of SKINLESS Chicken legs (The skin will burn on the BBQ, if preparing in the oven skin is OK)
Your favourite BBQ sauce
Directions For Chicken:
Wash and soak the chicken legs in cold salted water to drain all the blood. Rinse chicken and place into a Zip Lock bag. Slice the oranges and squeeze the juice in to the Zip Lock with the chicken. Finely chop the garlic and add it to the bag. Sprinkle the poultry seasoning over the chicken legs. Tightly close the bag and shake all the ingredients together, let marinade for about 2 hours in the fridge. Turn on the grill to Medium or about 250 degrees. Lightly coat the grill with Canola oil and place chicken on the grill. Once the juices run clear, brush on your BBQ sauce on both sides, let the chicken stay on the grill for about another minute (you don't want the sugars in the BBQ sauce to burn). Take the chicken off the grill and brush on some more sauce. Serve with coleslaw and enjoy!
* When making the chicken in the oven you can cook it with all the marinade juices and let the sauce sit a little longer in the oven. You can use any cut of chicken or even pork for this recipe.*
Tuesday 17 April 2012
10 Cent Dinners? Really?
Obviously you can't buy anything these days for 10 cents, let alone a whole dinner. There are ways to enjoy a fancy shmancy meal not for a fancy shmancy price! Over the last 10 years I have fully immersed myself in to the food industry, either through my work or through school. Coming from a European back round food is a very important part of our family. We gather weekly around my grandmother's dinner table to unload about our lives. Having the experience of living on my own since I turned 18 and now being a mom, I had to find new and interesting ways to make cheap, healthy and of course delicious meals. Not all the meals on the blog will be healthy or cheap but they will be fun and an experience to remember. So to start us off with our first recipe I'm gonna take it back old school and give you the secret recipe to grandmother Cabbage Borscht.
Anna's Amazing Cabbage Borscht (Odessa style)
Ingredients:
1 Head of cabbage
2 Carrots
1 Large Onion
1 Beet
1 Bottle of crushed Tomato
2 Potatoes
1 Bunch of Dill
2 Cloves of Garlic
Water
Salt/Pepper to taste
Sugar to taste
Olive or Canola oil
Directions:
Slice the cabbage in half and reserve one half. Slice the remaining half in to thin long pieces and set aside. Clean and chop the carrots and potato in to 1inch. pieces and set aside in to 2 separate piles. Cube the onion. Peal the raw beat and cut into 4 pieces. On your stove set the burner to above medium and to your soup pot add the oil and let it heat up. Once the oil heats up add your onions and carrots and let them cook until the onions are soft and translucent. At this point you should add water to your pot, fill up your pot until the water reaches 3 fingers from the top. Add your beet, potatoes and cabbage. Stir everything and let it all come to a boil. Once it has come to a boil add the bottle of crushed tomato and lower heat. Now salt and pepper to taste. If you feel the soup taste to sour or to much like a tomato add 1 table spoon of sugar. Let cook until beets are soft. once the beets are soft remove them from the Borscht, and grate them into the Borscht. Once you beets have been grated finely chop your garlic and dill and add it in. Let this all cook together until and the vegetables are soft. Add more salt and pepper to taste and if needed a little bit more sugar, it shouldn't be sweet but you don't want it too taste too sour either. Serve hot or cold with a scoop of sour cream and a slice of bread. Enjoy!
* If you want to add meat, add chicken legs, brown the chicken legs in the pot before you add the onions and carrots. Once the meat is brown on both sides remove it and cook as per the directions adding your meat with the cabbage and the rest of the veg.*
Anna's Amazing Cabbage Borscht (Odessa style)
Ingredients:
1 Head of cabbage
2 Carrots
1 Large Onion
1 Beet
1 Bottle of crushed Tomato
2 Potatoes
1 Bunch of Dill
2 Cloves of Garlic
Water
Salt/Pepper to taste
Sugar to taste
Olive or Canola oil
Directions:
Slice the cabbage in half and reserve one half. Slice the remaining half in to thin long pieces and set aside. Clean and chop the carrots and potato in to 1inch. pieces and set aside in to 2 separate piles. Cube the onion. Peal the raw beat and cut into 4 pieces. On your stove set the burner to above medium and to your soup pot add the oil and let it heat up. Once the oil heats up add your onions and carrots and let them cook until the onions are soft and translucent. At this point you should add water to your pot, fill up your pot until the water reaches 3 fingers from the top. Add your beet, potatoes and cabbage. Stir everything and let it all come to a boil. Once it has come to a boil add the bottle of crushed tomato and lower heat. Now salt and pepper to taste. If you feel the soup taste to sour or to much like a tomato add 1 table spoon of sugar. Let cook until beets are soft. once the beets are soft remove them from the Borscht, and grate them into the Borscht. Once you beets have been grated finely chop your garlic and dill and add it in. Let this all cook together until and the vegetables are soft. Add more salt and pepper to taste and if needed a little bit more sugar, it shouldn't be sweet but you don't want it too taste too sour either. Serve hot or cold with a scoop of sour cream and a slice of bread. Enjoy!
* If you want to add meat, add chicken legs, brown the chicken legs in the pot before you add the onions and carrots. Once the meat is brown on both sides remove it and cook as per the directions adding your meat with the cabbage and the rest of the veg.*
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