Grapefruit, Avocado & Shrimp combo does dinner up right

No surprise that, at this time of year, a recent issue of Prevention magazine would feature citrus (which covered everything from limes to kumquats) as its monthly focus and tub-thumped consuming these rich sources of vitamin C and fiber.

While we were visiting my son’s home in the epicenter of citrus country, where lemons the size of dinner plates and other citrus grow by the thousands in the yard, we had been given some lovely grapefruit. One of Prevention’s featured recipes in the citrus promo caught my eye, so some sections of this gigantic grapefruit immediately went into creating this dinner entrée of Grapefruit, Avocado, & Citrus.

This made a lovely meal that couldn’t have been more simple, from start to finish, to get on the table. It became an attractive presentation on the plate also. Some peeled, deveined shrimp, tossed with spices, were sautéed in oil in a skillet until cooked through. Sections from a grapefruit and slices from an avocado, along with the shrimp, went on the plate.

The whole preparation/serving process took me the whole of 10 minutes from tossing the shrimp with the spices to setting the filled plates on the table. Who can argue with that kind of time frame—without skimping on health benefits?

Grapefruit, Avocado, & Shrimp

3/4 pound peeled, deveined shrimp

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 grapefruit

1 large avocado

In a medium bowl toss peeled, deveined shrimp with cumin and paprika. In skillet over medium-high heat sauté shrimp in oil. Stir until shrimp is cooked, about 4 minutes. Remove peel and pith from 1 grapefruit and slice into sections. Divide sections among 4 plates. Slice avocado. Top grapefruit sections with 1 chopped avocado and shrimp. Makes 4 servings.

(Courtesy Prevention, December 2011)

This Broccoli Salad's good down to the last sunflower kernel

I’ve blogged about several broccoli salad recipes before, but this one has been in my collection longest and is a favorite around our house. Recently it was good down to the last sunflower kernel. Hubby and I were scraping the sides of the serving bowl for the last morsel before we put the bowl into the dishwasher.

We had a family meal in which I offered to prepare each member’s favorite dish. Of the first several items requested, none was green. Then the suggestion of a salad was offered to balance things out. I knew exactly what I’d fix. This Broccoli Salad is featured in my first cookbook, Way Back in the Country. Our daughter-in-law brought it to a family event many years ago. I don’t think many guests had dined on a broccoli salad before, so it was a terrific hit. Ever since then, even though I’ve read of many variations on this theme and have tried several, to me this one always has been the most tasty version.

Little broccoli florets, separated from the main broccoli crowns, are tossed with chopped red onion, bacon bits (I used turkey bacon), and sunflower seeds in a dressing of mayo, cider vinegar, and sugar (or sugar substitute). You can toss the whole thing several hours earlier (I did it this way) or wait and add the dressing just before serving.

You know all the health benefits broccoli has going for it, so you can’t miss with a serving of this wonderful veggie, but the taste of this combination is unexcelled as well. This was a pretty good “green” addition to all the non-green at our family dinner, plus Hubby and I—always great leftover appreciators—were only too happy to polish off the remains.

Broccoli Salad

1/2 cup mayonnaise (I used lite mayo)

1/2 cup sugar (I used sugar substitute)

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1 bunch raw broccoli, diced

1/2 small onion, chopped (I used red onion)

12 slices of cooked, crumbled bacon (I used turkey bacon bits)

1 cup sunflower seeds, dry roasted

Make a dressing mixture by combining mayonnaise, sugar, and cider vinegar. Reserve and chill. Toss remaining ingredients. At serving time add dressing mixture to salad ingredients. Serves 4-6.

Fun to say, fun to serve, Ratatouille is great sauteéd veggie dish

The minute I saw photos of the slightly aged, typewritten recipe cards in the article, I knew I would adore the food suggestions associated with the January 2012 issue of Southern Living. The writer was honoring her mom, a longtime food editor of the Shreveport Times. She was featuring some of her mother’s prized recipes; the headline read, “Every Recipe Has a Story.” The subject of my two cookbooks exactly! Plus, a blessing of my own past was to share office space with Ann Criswell, revered former food editor of the Houston Chronicle. I remembered the pride in taking some of Ann’s recipe classics and making them my own.

I hope to be able to try out each of the recipes of editor Carolyn Flournoy, as discussed in the magazine by her daughter, Kate Nicholson, but the one I started with was Ratatouille. Who could argue with that great melting pot of fresh veggies—yellow squash, zucchini squash, red pepper, green pepper, yellow pepper, eggplant, and tomatoes? The author said that as much fun as consuming the dish was listening to her mother say its name—“Ra-tuh-TOO-ee”. I tried it out on my granddaughter, to whom I was serving the Ra-tuh-TOO-ee, with emphasis on the TOO-ee part. She giggled at the odd sound. (But she didn’t buy my tease that it was so named because it contained rat’s tails. Wonder why?)

The author states that all the chopping and dicing (which takes way longer than does the ultimate cooking time) is plenty worth it when the end-result is this fresh veggie dish. I might also add that the recipe fixes worlds! Four to six servings, the recipe tells us, but Hubby and I say this is a way-conservative estimate. Unless you’re preparing to feed a soccer team, you could halve what’s called for and still have an ample amount to serve.

You’ll find yourself stuck on this delightful dish as well as stuck on saying the enticing word Ra-tuh-TOO-ee—fun whether you’re a kid or a kid at heart.

Ratatouille

1 green bell pepper

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

1/2 pound zucchini

1/2 pound yellow squash

1 large onion, coarsely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes (I used the no-salt variety)

1 small eggplant (about 1 pound), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

1/4 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

2 tablespoons chopped basil

freshly ground pepper

Cut the first 5 ingredients into 1-inch pieces. In a large skillet over medium heat sauté onion and garlic 5 to 7 minutes or just until onion is tener. Stir in tomatoes and next 2 ingredients. Sauté 8 to 10 minutes or just until eggplant begins to soften. Stir in bell peppers, zucchini, and squash; cover and cook. Stir occasionally and cook 8 to 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender and liquid is slightly reduced. Stir in basil. Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste and sauté 3 minutes. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

How comforting is this? Chicken Pot Pie with Bacon-and-Cheddar Biscuits. Wow!

I could tell that the Chicken Pot Pie with Bacon-and-Cheddar Biscuits was labor-intensive (i.e, lots of chopping, mainly). Who but Hubby would be more interested in the outcome? After all, Chicken Pot Pie is his favorite dish. So I humored him a little and promised that I’d mention his name in my blog today if he’d be willing to help a little in the kitchen. He rose to the bait!

Boy, was he glad he did! Many minutes later (every vegetable in the produce department, practically, went into the mix) he was dining on this steamy, savory comfort-food dish with its tasty bacon-cheddar topping and tossing out enough superlatives to fill a dictionary. Wow!

Southern Living (January 2012 issue) really outdid itself with its section of shortcut chicken suppers, which included this recipe. The magazine recommends using grocery deli chicken to speed things along, but I boiled some chicken breasts so I’d have the homemade (and salt-free) broth to go along with them. The recipe called for Creole seasoning; I didn’t have this but did have Mrs. Dash chicken grilling seasoning that I subbed. It was excellent. Fresh parsley for the Chicken Pie Filling and fresh chives for the biscuits really livened things up.

Hands-on time: 50 minutes, the recipe says. Having a buddy in the kitchen really helped speed this up. Best of all, the recipe, baked in a 13-inch-by-9-inch dish, will last us the rest of the week (6-to-8 servings, says the list of instructions). I know that this little meal will only get better as the week progresses.

Chicken Pie Filling

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 1/2 cups milk (I used skim)

1 1/2 teaspoons Creole seasoning

2 tablespoons butter

1 large sweet onion, diced

1 (8-ounce) package sliced fresh mushrooms

4 cups shredded cooked chicken

2 cups frozen cubed hash browns

1 cup matchstick carrots

1 cup frozen small sweet peas

1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Melt 1/3 cup butter in a large saucepan over medium heat; add flour and cook, whisking constantly, for 1 minute. Gradually add chicken broth and milk and cook, whisking constantly, for 6 to 7 minutes or until thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat and stir in Creole seasoning. Set aside. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat; add onion and mushrooms and sauté 10 minutes or until tender. Stir in chicken, next 4 ingredients, and sauce. Then prepare topping as instructed below.

Bacon-and-Cheddar Biscuits (topping)

Spoon chicken filling into a lightly greased 13-by-9-inch baking dish. In separate bowl cut 1/2 cup cold butter into 1/2-inch cubes. Cut butter cubes into 2 cups self-rising flour with a pastry blender or fork until mixture is crumbly and resembles small peas. Add 3/4 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, 1/4 cup finely chopped cooked bacon (I used turkey bacon), 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives, and 1 cup whipping cream (I used skim milk). Stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly 3 or 4 times. Roll or pat dough to 3/4-inch thickness; cut with a 2 1/2-inch round cutter to form 15 biscuits. (I skipped this rolling step and simply spooned 15 big tablespoons of batter onto the top of the chicken mixture. When baked my topping looked just like the one in the magazine and saved me the trouble of the pastry-roll step—and the cleanup.) Bake Chicken Pie Filling at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and arrange biscuits on top of hot chicken mixture. Bake 25 to 30 more minutes or until biscuits are golden brown and chicken mixture is bubbly. Remove from oven; brush biscuits with 2 tablespoons melted butter. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Scones packed with blueberries—what treats!

I’ve always loved the whole idea of scones—you feel as though you are eating an indulgent pastry, but the sweetener in these small quick breads is minimal and the health benefits (such as this one replete with blueberries) are great.

“Boo Berry Scones”, a play on the name of the fruit that’s folded into the batter, are baked on a cookie sheet after the dough has been patted out to fill the pan throughout (no rolling is necessary). The recipe instructions call for cutting the dough into triangles before it’s baked, but the triangles are not separated until afterward. I used a pizza cutter to make the slices. After the scones bake for 30 t0 35 minutes, they separate easily when they’re removed from the baking pan.

Sprinkling sugar on top of the dough (I used sugar substitute) is the final touch before these bake to a golden brown. We enjoyed them plain or with sugar-free jam.

Boo Berry Scones

2 cups flour

1 3/4 cups whole-wheat flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup margarine, cold

1 3/4 cups buttermilk, reduced fat

1 1/2 cups blueberries

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 teaspoons lemon zest

cooking spray

1 tablespoon sugar (or sugar substitute)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In large bowl mix flours, brown sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Cut in margarine until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Stir in buttermilk until moist. Fold in blueberries and lemon juice and lemon zest. Turn onto a floured surface and knead 10 times. Place dough on a 10-inch-by-15-inch baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Pat into a large rectangle. Cut into 16 triangles, but do not separate. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 16 servings. (Recipe courtesy Chickasaw Nation Nutrition Services.)

Southwestern Turkey Soup delights even when the jonquils bloom

Easy to keep falling back into my winter-soup routine with tantalizing recipes such as this one for Southwestern Turkey Soup. Even though the jonquils are blooming and the peach trees are budding in this Texas non-winter event of ours, my insides still enjoy being warmed by this spicy soup that I load up with cheese and black olives and serve with tortilla chips.

Once again I threw in my supply of shredded chicken instead of turkey as the recipe specifies. Beans, tomatoes, and frozen corn load up the dish. The recipe calls for 2 to 3 tablespoons diced jalapeno pepper. I went ahead and used the entire 3 tablespoons to make it way-spicy, but the recipe notes that one should adjust for preference. Yes, the soup was so hot-tangy, it made my eyes water a little, so a smaller amount of the peppers would have less added punch and still give the jalapeno flavor.

I may have mentioned before that this is the first recipe book I’ve ever seen that (with each pertinent recipe) contains a warning to wear disposable gloves and to avoid touching the face when you are cutting hot peppers. So glad someone thought to be up-front about this. I’ve certainly learned about this the unfortunate way; just a tiny bit of hot-pepper residue on the hands can burn mightily, especially if you happen to touch an eye. Put on those disposable gloves!

Southwestern Turkey Soup

1 medium onion, chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 (14-1/2 ounce) can chicken broth

2 to 3 tablespoons diced jalapeno pepper

3 teaspoons ground cumin

1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder

1/4 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

3 cups cubed cooked turkey (I used shredded chicken)

1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 (10-ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chilies, undrained

1 1/2 cups frozen corn (or could use fresh)

optional toppings: sour cream, coarsely crushed tortilla chips, shredded Cheddar cheese, and/or sliced ripe olives

In a large saucepan sauté onion in oil until tender. Stir in the broth, jalapeno, cumin, chili powder, salt, and cayenne. Add the turkey, beans, tomatoes, and corn. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes to allow flavors to blend. Garnish with sour cream, chips, cheese, and/or olives if desired. Makes 7 servings. (Recipe courtesy tasteofhome.com)

Got a winner here: Italian Herb Zucchini skillet

Hubby and I liked this Italian Herb Zucchini skillet a whole lot. It was a real treat—cubed fresh zucchini, tomatoes, and green onions stirred into cooked rice and seasoned with lots of good herbs and laced together with Cheddar cheese.

Seems as though lately all our dishes have been highly colorful, but that’s always a sign of fresh, healthy ingredients. This skillet was a meal in itself. I cut up a large avocado and sprinkled a few grapes as extras on the plate, served up a big spoonful of the zucchini dish, and we were in business. This has been our dinner for the past two nights. I’m sure it will be on our favorites list for more meals.

Italian Herb Zucchini

2 cups cooked brown rice

2 tablespoons olive oil

5 cups zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/2 cup green onions, sliced

1 teaspoon garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon basil, dried (I used fresh basil)

1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika

1/2 teaspoon oregano, dried

1 (14.5-ounce) can tomatoes, diced, drained and rinsed (I used the no-salt-added variety)

1 cup reduced-fat Cheddar cheese

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the zucchini, green onions, and garlic for 5 minutes or until tender. Season with garlic powder, basil, paprika, and oregano. Mix in cooked rice, tomatoes, and 1 cup cheese. Continue to cook and stir until the mixture is heated through. Makes 15 1/2-cup servings. (Source: Chickasaw Nation Nutrition Services)

Italian Herb Zucchini

2 cups cooked brown rice

2 tablespoons olive oil

5 cups zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/2 cup green onions, sliced

1 teaspoon garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon basil, dried (I used fresh basil)

1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika

1/2 teaspoon oregano, dried

1 (14.5-ounce) can tomatoes, diced, drained and rinsed (I used the no-salt-added variety)

1 cup reduced-fat Cheddar cheese

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the zucchini, green onions, and garlic for 5 minutes or until tender. Season with garlic powder, basil, paprika, and oregano. Mix in cooked rice, tomatoes, and 1 cup cheese. Continue to cook and stir until the mixture is heated through. Makes 15 1/2-cup servings. (Source: Chickasaw Nation Nutrition Services)