Cold Greek Tuna Salad Sandwiches

The perfect antidote for a hot summer evening. And they are quick to put together ahead of dinner time. I had huge buns (no pun intended), so this only makes two sandwiches here, but if you have regular sandwich buns, this will make four. Note: this may be too strongly flavored for you and yours, so you might want to start with less vinegar and seasoning and adjust from there.

Ingredients:

¼ cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
1 Tablespoon greek seasoning (I like Cavender’s®)
2 (5 ounce) cans water packed tuna, drained
2 Tablespoons red onion, finely chopped
2 Tablespoons cucumber, peeled and finely chopped
2 teaspoons capers, drained
2 Tablespoons kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
¼ cup feta cheese, drained and chopped

2 large sandwich buns

2 lettuce leaves
2 slices tomato

Directions: In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the vinegar, oil and greek seasoning. Break the tuna into the bowl along with the onion, cucumber, capers, olives and feta cheese. Stir together, pile on sandwich buns and close. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to meld and seep into the buns, then add lettuce and tomato.

Chile Rellenos Casserole

I am not a chile head by any means, but I love the flavor of green chiles and will use them any way I can. This is a great casserole that goes together in no time and has really deep flavor.  

Ingredients:

1 (15 ounce) can Spanish rice with peppers and onions

1 cup milk
1 cup egg substitute
1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
3 cans whole green chiles
1 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce (mild or hot-your choice)

Toppings:
Sour cream
Chopped green onions

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 1.5 or 2 quart casserole with cooking spray. Spoon the Spanish rice in a mixing bowl. Whisk in the milk, egg substitute, flour and salt. Open the chiles up lengthwise and remove seeds, if any. Drain the chiles on a paper towel.

In a bowl, mix the cheeses together. Scoop out ½ cup and reserve to top the casserole. Layer rice mixture, green chiles and cheese in the casserole several times, ending with the last of the green chiles. Top with the enchilada sauce and then the reserved cheese and bake one hour (if you are using a shallow casserole- 1 hour and 20 minutes if you are using a deep casserole dish) or until the casserole is brown around the edges and the center doesn’t jiggle.

Top as you like and serve with corn and/or tortilla chips. Maybe some black beans or jicama slaw??

Get creative on me: Not hot enough for you? Switch out the plain jack cheese for pepper jack and add some hot sauce. Maybe you’d like to add some corn and/or sliced black olives.

Vegetarian Sausages

I saw a reference to Glamorgan Sausages from Wales that are vegetarian sausages and I was intrigued. Why not try my own hand at vegetarian sausages flavored like breakfast sausage? I love the crispiness of the coating and the flavor—oh, my! If I didn’t know for a fact that there was no meat in these, I would swear they were regular sausages.

I’m already thinking about different things I could do with this recipe. Maybe next time I’ll make patties and skip the coating. Maybe I’ll substitute onion for the leek, changing the spices up with cumin and chipotle and maybe using pepper jack cheese. Maybe Italian with more fennel, parsley, oregano and mozzarella……Stay tuned.

Ingredients (makes about 7 sausages):

2 teaspoons canola oil
1 leek, light green and white part only, coarsely chopped (about 1 ¼ cup chopped)
2 cups coarsely chopped mushrooms
½ teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon fresh sage, finely chopped (or ½ teaspoon dried)
½ teaspoon dried ground fennel or fennel seed, lightly crushed with a rolling pin
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, finely chopped (or ½ teaspoon dried)
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
Pinch of red pepper flake (optional)
1 ½ cups plain breadcrumbs, divided
2 whole eggs plus one egg white
1 cup shredded mild flavored cheese, like Monterey jack or mild cheddar
1 teaspoon salt
1 to 2 teaspoons brown sugar (optional)

2 Tablespoons butter, for cooking the sausages

Directions:
Heat oil in a large skillet on medium low heat. Add the leeks and mushrooms, pepper, sage, fennel, thyme, nutmeg and red pepper and cook about 7 minutes, stirring often, until the leeks are translucent and the mushrooms have given up their water and that water has evaporated, oh about 7 minutes or so. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the cooled leek and mushroom mixture with 1 cup of the breadcrumbs, the whole eggs, the cheese, the salt and the brown sugar and stir well. Grab a handful of the sausage mixture and lightly pack it into your hand. Form into sausage shapes about 3-4 inches long. Don’t make them too long or they will break in half on you-I know that from experience.

In one shallow bowl, whip the egg white with 1 Tablespoon water until frothy. In another bowl, spread out the remaining half cup of breadcrumbs. Carefully and gently (these are delicate at this stage) dip the sausage into the egg white mixture and roll to coat. Let excess drip off and then roll them in the breadcrumbs. Place on a plate and refrigerate for 30 minutes to firm up.

Melt the butter in a large skillet (just wipe out the skillet you cooked the leek mixture in) and add the sausages. Cook over medium low to medium heat until brown on all sides and firm when pressed lightly with the back of a spoon (about 10-12 minutes).

Easy Grilled Lemon Chicken

Five ingredients-how’s that for easy? The lemonade marinade just imparts a hint of lemon flavor and does not make the chicken sweet, just really juicy.

Ingredients:

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
2 cups lemonade (not diet, you want the sugar in there)
Salt and pepper to taste
2 Tablespoons olive oil

Lemon wedges to finish

Directions: Place the chicken in a zip top bag and pour the lemonade over. Marinade in the refrigerator for at least one hour---longer is better, though.  

Preheat your grill to medium low to medium heat (don’t go to high on the heat or the skin on the chicken will burn before the center is done). Drain and discard the marinade from the chicken and pat the thighs dry with paper towels. Season with salt and pepper and coat with olive oil to prevent sticking.

Place the chicken skin side down on the grill and cook for about 10 minutes. If you get flare ups, reduce the heat and/or move the chicken to an unheated part of the grill for a few minutes. Flip and continue cooking, flipping once or twice more until the skin is golden and crispy and a meat thermometer reads 165 degrees F. Serve the chicken up with a lemon wedge to squirt over the top.

Serious Stir Fried Greens

I know I need to eat more dark, leafy greens. I just want to make sure the greens are something I really want to eat. This does the trick-there is so much deep, rich flavor coming through. There is also a slight bitterness from the greens; umami from the mushrooms, soy and oyster sauce; spice from the green onions, garlic, and sriracha.

Please know that the picture that I took is the entire dish-the greens may seem like a lot at first, but they cook down quite a bit.

Ingredients:

Sauce:
¼ cup oyster sauce
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar
¼ teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon sriricha or sambal hot sauce (optional)

Stir Fry:
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 medium bok choy (I ended up with 7 cups total, once it was chopped)
1 medium bunch Swiss chard (again, I ended up with 7 cups total when it was chopped)
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
4 green onions, chopped
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced

2 cups cooked rice for serving

Directions: Sauce: Combine all sauce ingredients in a small mixing bowl and set aside.

For the stir fry, chop the bok choy and chard, keeping the stems in one bowl and the leaves in another. Heat a wok or large, deep skillet over medium high heat and add the vegetable oil. Add in the stems of the bok choy and chard and toss until fragrant and tender, about 4 minutes. Add in the garlic, green onions and mushrooms. Toss and stir quickly just until you can smell the garlic and green onions and the mushrooms are turning brown. Add in the bok choy and chard leaves and continue tossing and cooking for about 4 minutes until the leaves wilt down. Pour the sauce over and bring the heat up to high. Continue cooking for about 4 minutes until the sauce thickens just slightly and the stir fry is well coated and glossy. Serve over rice.

Loose meat sandwiches

I make no claims that this is like Maid Rite or even the loose meat sandwiches on Roseanne. I just wanted something that was like a sloppy joe, but not a sloppy joe, so I trolled many different recipes and picked ingredients and methods that I thought I would like.

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon solid vegetable shortening
2 teaspoons salt
1 ½  pounds ground beef (chuck works nicely)
½ cup onion, finely chopped
1 Tablespoon yellow mustard
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup regular cola (not diet)
3 cups beef broth

Squishy white buns (straight from the bag, steamed or toasted, whatever you like) and pickles for serving

Directions:

In a large skillet, melt the shortening with the salt over medium heat. Add in the beef, breaking it up as you go. Cook the beef, mashing very fine with a potato masher or wooden spoon until it starts to brown. Add in the onion and cook until the onions are soft and fragrant and the beef is well browned. Drain the fat off the beef and return it to the skillet, cooking and mashing for another 5 minutes.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the mustard, vinegar, cola and beef broth. Add the liquid to the beef and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low to medium heat and cook uncovered for 45 minutes, stirring and mashing along the way. Most of the liquid should be evaporated at this point. If it hasn’t, continue to cook until it has or there is just the amount of juice that you like (I like a little bit left in to soak into the bun, but that’s just me).

Scoop onto buns and top with pickles.

Veggie Mash

Veggie Mash

Even better than mashed potatoes. This is a flavor packed side dish that is super quick and easy.

Ingredients:

4 cups vegetable stock (or chicken stock)
1 cup water
1 clove of garlic, peeled but left whole
1 (12 ounce) bag frozen, chopped broccoli, thawed
1 (16 ounce) bag frozen cauliflower florets, thawed
1 teaspoon salt or more to taste
½ teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper or more to taste
1 teaspoon Greek seasoning blend or more to taste
1/3 cup instant mashed potato flakes
2 Tablespoons butter or margarine (light is fine)
¼ cup grated parmesan
Extra butter or margarine for serving (optional)

Directions:

Add the stock, water and garlic clove to a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Add in the broccoli and cauliflower. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, for 6-10 minutes or until you can poke a fork through the veggies but the broccoli is still green (Mine took 9 minutes). Remove from heat. Drain thoroughly in a colander, discarding the garlic clove (or leave it in if you want) and reserving about 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Place the drained veggies in a food processor along with the seasonings, ½ cup reserved cooking liquid and the potato flakes. Whir until thoroughly blended. Remove to a bowl and stir in the 2 Tablespoons of butter and the parmesan. If they are not creamy enough for you, add in some more of the reserved cooking liquid until you get a consistency you like. Top off with a few extra pats of butter, if using.

Buttermilk Tomato Pie

What a fantastic, hearty, vegetarian dish. I love the simplicity of this and how the flavors come together. The layers of flavor-crispy crust, tart veggies, creamy buttermilk layer and crunchy topping--work so well. This is great warm or even at room temperature—perfect for a brunch!

 Ingredients:

Crust:
1 unbaked pie crust

 Topping:

1/3 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
¼ cup grated parmesan
1 teaspoon melted butter

Filling:

2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons flour
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons seasoning blend or seasoning salt of your choice (I like Penzey’s Pork Chop seasoning here-it’s got a bit of smoke flavor to it)
More salt and pepper to taste, if you want it
3 large, ripe tomatoes, cut into thick slices
¼ cup onions, thinly sliced
¼ cup grated cheddar cheese

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Pat the pie crust into a 9 inch pie crust and place on a baking sheet (to prevent messy spillovers). In a small bowl, mix the topping ingredients together and set aside.

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the 2 Tablespoons of butter for the filling. Stir in the flour and cook for 3 minutes. Slowly pour in the buttermilk, stirring constantly. Bring the mix up to a low boil and cook about 5 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat and add in the seasonings.

Place slices of tomato and onion in your pie shell, 2 layers deep. Sprinkle the cheese over the top.  Pour over the filling ingredients and bake for 35 minutes. Sprinkle the topping over the pie and bake for another 25 minutes. Let cool and slice into wedges.

Note: If you want to really showcase the tomatoes, save a few slices to put on top of the pie after you’ve added the buttermilk mixture.

BLT Stacked Salad

I love fresh veggie time! Fresh, locally grown corn, tomatoes, zucchini, everything! Next time you are in the mood for salad for lunch or dinner, give this a shot (note: you make this vegetarian by leaving out the Worcestershire and bacon).  

Ingredients (Makes 2 salads):

Buttermilk blue cheese dressing:

2 Tablespoons mayonnaise (light is fine)
2 Tablespoons sour cream (again, light is fine)
1/3 to ½ cup crumbled blue cheese
½ cup buttermilk
½ teaspoon Worcestershire
¼ teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
Salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Salad:

8 thick slices of ripe tomatoes
2 handfuls lettuce
2 teaspoons seasoned salt (your choice; I like Penzey’s Fox Point seasoning. even Montreal steak seasoning is good here)
1 green onion, sliced thin
2 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Directions:

Make the blue cheese dressing by combining the mayo, sour cream and blue cheese in a small bowl. Really mash the blue cheese into the dressing so it flavors the whole dressing. Add in the rest of the dressing ingredients and chill until you are ready for the rest of the salad, at least 30 minutes.

On each of two plates, lay half of the lettuce and then stack 4 tomato slices, sprinkling seasoned salt on each slice. Spoon over some dressing and then sprinkle with green onion and crumbled bacon.

Indecision Cookies (Peanut butter, chocolate chip and oatmeal)

I want chocolate chip cookies. No, I want peanut butter cookies. No, scratch that---I want oatmeal cookies. Sometimes I just can’t decide and don’t want to make batch after batch of cookies. Try these out if you are ever in that place. I can’t really describe these well-they are crumbly like a sandie, but they have all the flavors of chocolate chip, oatmeal and peanut butter cookies.

Ingredients:

½ cup (1 stick) butter at room temperature

½ cup white granulated sugar

½ cup brown sugar, packed

½ cup creamy peanut butter

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cream the butter and sugars together with an electric mixer or in a stand mixer. Add in the peanut butter, egg and vanilla and beat on medium high speed until thoroughly combined. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda and salt. Beat this dry mixture into the butter mixture a bit at a time until completely combined. Stir in the oats and chocolate chips. Drop the cookie dough by teaspoons onto the lined baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-14 minutes, turning the sheets halfway through baking. Pass the milk.  

Grilled Steak and Creminis with Board Sauce

I’ve read so much about board sauce recently; I just had to try it. It is basically an olive oil and herb dressing for grilled meats that you make right on the cutting board where you are carving. Oh, my goodness, this is so delicious and so quick and easy. Also, what a showstopper—if you are having company or a special date, grilling the steak and mushrooms take maybe 10 minutes and then you get to show off while chopping the board sauce. Epic win!

Ingredients:

Steak and mushrooms:
Steak-what kind and how big are up to you. I used a beautiful 1.3 pound Porterhouse)
6 cremini mushrooms
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
2 teaspoons Montreal steak seasoning

Board Sauce:

1 clove garlic, peeled
2 teaspoons salt
1 clove of shallot (typically ½ of a whole shallot—or use the whole thing!)
2 Tablespoons flat leaf parsley
2 teaspoons rosemary
1 teaspoon sage
2 teaspoons thyme
¼ cup olive oil
Fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Directions: Season your steak and mushrooms with the olive oil and steak seasoning. Grill to your liking. Let it rest for 10 minutes.

While the steak is resting, mash the garlic clove and salt together with the flat blade of a knife to make a paste. Then chop onto that the shallot, parsley, rosemary, sage and thyme. Coat the herbs with olive oil and pepper and chop and toss until you pretty much have an herb sauce. Place the steak right on the sauce and slice, coating each slice in the sauce. Toss the mushrooms in the sauce and serve alongside.