I think a great snack involves just a bit of effort, a spreading of something, a building up of something, a blending… Sliced apples and peanut butter fit the bill !

A simple sliced apple and a spoonful of peanut butter make a great after-school snack and has become my 15 year old’s newest favorite.

My eldest is suddenly taken with eating a sliced apple at breakfast, along with her Raisin Bran.  She skips the peanut butter though.

I like this for a late night snack/dessert. It would also make a good lunchbox addition. If you spritz the sliced apples with a bit of lemon juice and water they won’t turn brown so quickly.

Oh, and my pediatrician said the apples that do NOT turn brown are generally lacking in iron, among other things. So you actually WANT to eat the ones that do turn brown, but use the lemon juice spritzer trick to keep them from turning brown!

Cheese Quesadillas

I like to pan fry my quesadillas rather than microwave so they get a bit crispy on the outside.

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Butter one side of a tortilla and lay it butter side down. Sprinkle grated cheese (Cheddar, Jack, Colby or a Mexican blend) to lightly cover.

Spread butter on one side of another tortilla and place it butter side UP. Cook a few minutes, till lightly browned on the bottom, then gently flip over with a spatula.

When the cheese is all melted, put it on a cutting board and cut into wedges.

Want less? Butter a single tortilla, start it cooking, spread the grated cheese over half the tortilla, then fold the tortilla in half. Flip when browned on one side, cook a few more minutes, slide out onto a cutting board and cut into wedges.

For a breakfast quesadilla, add applesauce and sprinkle with cinnamon, then add the cheese.

Candied Orange Peels

If you eat oranges, save a few peels to make this treat! I’m lucky enough to have an orange tree in the yard and this is their season so we’re enjoying fresh oranges, orange juice and this treat my daughter whipped up today: candied orange peels. I got this recipe from The Complete Tightwad Gazette back before there were books when I subscribed to the newsletter. This book is a great deal if you’re looking to pinch a few dollars out of your budget.

peels from 3 large oranges
3/4 cup water
2 Tbs. corn syrup
2 3/4 cup sugar  (divided)

Cut peels into 1/4″ strips. Boil in enough water to cover for 15 minutes and then drain. Boil the corn syrup, water, and 2 cups of the sugar and stir till sugar is dissolved. Add the orange peels and simmer for 40 minutes.

Put cookie racks on wax paper. Drain the orange peels. Put the peels onto the racks and drain 5 minutes.

Separate the peels and leave on the racks another hour.

Place the rest of the sugar in a paper or plastic bag, add the orange peels and shake to coat.

You can also make candied lemon peels and grapefruit peels.

peels from 3 large oranges
3/4 cup water
2 Tbs. corn syrup
2 3/4 cup sugar (divided)

Cut peels into 1/4″ strips. Boil in enough water to cover for 15 minutes and then drain. Boil the corn syrup, water, and 2 cups of the sugar and stir till sugar is dissolved. Add the orange peels and simmer for 40 minutes.

Put cookie

racks on wax paper. Drain the orange peels. Put the peels onto the racks and drain 5 minutes.

Separate the peels and leave on the racks another hour.

Place the rest of the sugar in a paper or plastic bag, add the orange peels and shake to coat.

Beans and Greens

I first got this recipe from the newspaper quite a few years ago. I’ve since lightened it a bit by using fewer breadcrumbs and less cheese. I also typically halve it so it serves 3-4 as a side dish, so feel free to double to serve 4-6. It goes great with many things. I’ve served it with hamburgers, roast chicken, barbecued pork tenderloin or chops, etc.  The spinach is there but very mild, so it’s a nice way to get a few more greens into a meal.

• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1 15-oz can white beans
• 1 tsp vinegar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 cups raw spinach, blanched, squeezed dry and chopped (or use a 10-oz package of frozen spinach if you’re doubling)
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan (or cheddar or Gruyere)
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 425.

Grease a small gratin dish with a small bit of olive oil. The dish should be smaller than 9×9.  I think I used about a 5×7″. A 9×9 works if you double the recipe.

In small bowl, put the can of beans (undrained, include the liquid), 1.5 tsp olive oil, vinegar and salt. Mash together with a bpotato ean masher or mix with a mixer to mush up some of the beans.

Add the chopped, squeezed dry spinach and the red pepper flakes and stir together.

Put the beans in the gratin dish. Sprinkle with the cheese and breadcrumbs and drizzle another small spoonful of olive oil over the top. Bake 20 minutes or so.

Pickled Radishes

I almost forgot about these fantastic pickled radishes I made the other night. They didn’t take more than 1/2 an hour to pickle, since I sliced the radishes in 1/4″ slices. I love pickled things and these were a nice addition to my Japanese dinner the other night. By this afternoon’s lunch, they were all totally pink and still delicious, albeit a bit more pickled!

• 1 bunch of radishes, trimmed
• 1 tsp kosher or other coarse salt

Wash the radishes and trim the ends. Slice into quarters and put in a ceramic or glass (non reactive) bowl. Sprinkle with the salt, rub it in a bit, and let sit for 5 minutes or so. You will see some moisture, “sweat”.  Toss, press and squeeze the radishes to get rid of excess moisture, then rinse under running water to remove the excess salt. Squeeze dry again and put back in the bowl.

• 1/2 cup rice vinegar
• 3 Tbs sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 slice of kombu, 1″ square (I had none so left this out)

Mix the sweet and sour sauce together and pour over the vegetables. In just half an hour, you’ll have a nice lightly pickled radish. If you let it sit overnight, in the frig, the whole sauce becomes bright pink, as do all the radish pieces. The flavor is more intense and the texture changed. They are delicious if you like pickled things!

Black Bean Burgers

I don’t watch cooking shows very often, but these black bean burgers on Sandra Lee’s Money Saving Recipes were intrigued me. My parents came down on Wednesday to stay with us so my mom and I could start on Thanksgiving preparations. I knew they are always willing to try new foods and enjoy low fat recipes so I decided to try them out on my parents!  We agreed the flavor was wonderful but the burgers definitely fell apart. I was using sliced sourdough toast rather than hamburger buns so perhaps I made the burgers a bit larger than could easily bind. I might try making smaller burgers next time or adding more binding (more breadcrumbs and maybe more egg).

• 1/2 an onion, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, chopped (about 1 Tbs)
• 2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed, drained and divided
• 2 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup  bread crumbs
• Salt and pepper to taste

Her recipe makes enough for about 6 burgers or you can set some of the mixture aside and make black bean echiladas or tacos later.

Put the onion in a food processor and pulse a few times until chopped. Add one can of the black beans (rinsed and drained), cilantro, parsley, egg and red pepper. Pulse a few times so the beans are mashed but not totally smooth. Move this mix into a bowl, add the bread crumbs and the other can of drained and rinsed black beans.  Mix together, adding the salt and pepper to taste as you combine everything.

Preheat your grill and form the mixture into roughly 6 patties (or set aside however much you’d like for enchiladas or tacos).  Cook 3-4 minutes on a George Foreman grill.  Serve on a tasted bun or bread with the condiments of your choice. We had lettuce, mustard, sliced tomato and pickles.

Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries

I served these with another batch of sweet potato fries, which came out awesome again. My parents loved both dishes.  Hardly a recipe but I peeled up some sweet potatoes and cut into thin strips by slicing the potato length-wise into about 1/4″ to 1/2″ slices, then stacking those slices and cutting length-wise again to form the fries.  Put these in a bowl and coat lightly with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt, cinnamon and paprika.

Bake on a jelly roll pan at 425 for about 30 minutes, checking periodically and stirring a bit.

Eggplant and Green Pepper in Miso

This is from Japanese Women Don’t Get Old or Fat: Secrets of My Mother’s Tokyo Kitchen which I’ve been enjoying.  I just used one small Japanese eggplant and half a green pepper because I was only feeding two people, and I cut back a bit on the sauce ingredients as well. It came out quite good. Well, I liked it. My youngest wasn’t so crazy about it but then she likes neither eggplant or green peppers, so I didn’t have high expectations!  I’ll post her quantities below since I winged and eyeballed my adjustments.

Oh, I just realized I forgot to garnish mine with the sesame seeds and oil!  Still tasted good.

• 1 pound Japanese eggplant
• 2 Tbs mirin
• 2 Tbs red miso
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp sake
• 1 cup canola oil
• 1 green pepper, cored and seeded, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 tsp toasted white sesame
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil

Soak the eggplant in some salted water while you prepare the sauce.

In a small bowl, mix together the mirin, miso, sake and sugar. Set this aside for the end of the recipe.

Start the oil heating in a wok if you have one. I used a medium saucepan so I could get by with using less oil and still having some depth. Drain the eggplant and blot dry with a paper towel. You want the oil about 350. If you drop a cube of bread in, it should sizzle.

Gently slide some of the eggplant pieces in and fry a few minutes until golden brown and cooked through. (A fork or skewer should easily go through.) Remove and drain on paper towels as small batches are done.

Now if you’re not frying anything else, drain the oil from the pan and reserve for another use. Since I was also going to fry some chicken, I just added a small bit of oil to a small frying pan.

Cook the pepper until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Add the eggplant back to the pan, then stir the miso sauce over it all and cook while stirring a few minutes to blend flavors and coat the vegetables.  Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with the sesame seeds and sesame oil.

You can see my whole menu here.

This is from Japanese Women Don’t Get Old or Fat: Secrets of My Mother’s Tokyo Kitchen. She says salads are not traditional Japanese food but “sometimes modern is good”.  I didn’t follow her directions for the salad ingredients, but did for the dressing and it was really nice. I’ve been tempted to buy the Asian salad dressings I see on the grocery shelves before because I almost always like the salads in Japanese restaurants even though I know they’re not traditional, but this is so simple and good, why get stuck with a whole bottle when you just want one salad with the flavor?

• 3 Tbs rice vinegar
• 2 Tbs red onion (I had none so left this out)
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbs sesame oil
• salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Mix it all together and pour over 6 cups of greens and diced veggies. I did add some chopped cilantro as she suggested to my red leaf lettuce and baby spinach, which I thought added a nice touch. I also included some diced red pepper, diced celery and 1 green onion (scallion) diced.

Really quite nice and a nice counterpoint to the recipe for teriyaki salmon I made.

Cauliflower and cucumber pickles

This is from a Japanese cookbook, Bento Boxes: Japanese Meals on the Go but it could easily accompany any meal where you wanted a small side dish. I love little side dishes like this. I had actually steamed cauliflower the other night to make this cauliflower with salsa verde. I had some plain steamed cauliflower left over so this little pickle dish went together very quickly.

• a few small pieces of steamed cauliflower florets
• a few inches of cucumber, thinly sliced
• 2 tsp rice vinegar
• 1/2 tsp sugar

The recipe also called for 1 tsp citron juice and 2 slices citron zest but I had neither of those.

Sprinkle the cucumber slices with salt and rub in, then squeeze to remove as much liquid as possible.  Toss the steamed cauliflower with the rest of the ingredients.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Apples

Okay, most of you are wrinkling your noses already aren’t you?  But for some reason I like Brussels Sprouts. I grew them one year in the garden as well and they were totally carefree and easy. Hmmm… probably about time to plant them again.

I found this recipe in the latest Cooking Light magazine. I’ve recently resubscribed and am enjoying it.  The combo of the apples and apple juice (I didn’t have cider like the recipe called for..is there really a difference?) and the roasting made this quite good. Even my 15 year old liked it!  I didn’t actually measure the sprouts, just used what I thought we would eat.

• 8 ounces (?) Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed and then quartered
• 1/2 cup diced apple
• a good splash of apple juice, 2 Tbs or so
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• a dash each of salt and ground pepper

Mix everything together in a bowl, then put in a shallow pan for roasting.  I used half a small jelly roll pan and filled the other half with some cut up red potatoes and roasted them at the same time.

Kielbasa, potatoes, apples and Brussels sprouts

Heat the oven to 375 and roast about 25 minutes, stirring now and then.   These were done slightly before the potatoes so I just pulled them out sooner, put them in a small bowl, and left it sitting on the oven to keep warm while everything else finished up.

This went great with the roasted red potatoes (cut into cubes and tossed with olive oil and Penzey’s Salad Seasonings), sliced and browned Kielbasa sausage, and some fried apples and onions.