Asian Cabbage Salad
I’ve had this recipe for a long time. Having found myself with a bunch of ramen noodles I decided to make it for a cook out. I forgot just how much I liked it. It is simple to make. You just crumble up ramen noodles and place in a strainer. Pour over boiling water, let them drain and mix with the rest of the ingredients. It also calls for shredded cabbage, but you could cole slaw mix. I admit I am not a big fan of the seasoning packet, which is called for in the dressing. You can just leave it out and add a little extra salt. That’s what I did.
Asian Cabbage Salad
1 (3 oz.) package ramen style noodles
4 c. shredded cabbage, you could use cole slaw mix 2 c. baby spinach
4 green onions, sliced
2 T. sesame seeds
3 T. vinegar
2 T. sugar
2 T. oil
1/2 t. ground white pepper
1/4 t. salt
1/2 c. slivered almonds
Crush noodles slightly, place in colander. Pour boiling water over the noodles to soften slightly. Drain well. In mixing bowl combine the noodles, cabbage, onions and sesame seeds. For dressing in screw top jar combine seasoning packet from noodles* with remaining ingredients, except almonds. Put on lid and shake well to combine. Toss dressing over noodle mixture and refrigerate, covered, several hours or overnight. Toss in almonds just before serving. Makes 6-8 side dishes.
* If you don’t want to use the seasoning packet, just add some extra salt to the dressing or even some soy sauce to taste.
Corn Salad with Lemonade Mustard Dressing
Continuing with my cooking with lemonade assignment I came up with a simple salad dressing. It’s only 4 ingredients and while I used it on this corn salad it would also be great tossed on a green salad or maybe a potato salad. I am always looking for new salad ideas. This is one I will be making again soon.
Corn Salad with Lemonade Mustard Dressing
6 c. cooked corn, off the cob
1 sweet pepper, seeded and chopped
1 small sweet onion, diced
½ c. chopped fresh parsley
1 recipe lemonade mustard dressing- recipe follows
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Cover and chill at least an hour before serving. Serves 8.
Lemonade Mustard Dressing
½ c. oil
1/3 c. lemonade concentrate, thawed
2 T. whole grain mustard
1 t. hot pepper sauce, or to taste
1 t. salt, or to taste
Place all ingredients in a jar and shake to combine. Serve as a salad dressing on mixed greens or with assorted veggies.
Lemonade Biscuits
I know it sounds odd but these are some of the lightest biscuits I ever made- and easy, too. They aren’t sweet, as you might imagine, but do have a slight lemon flavor. Great with almost any savory dish I could see using these as the base for strawberry shortcake, too.
Lemonade Biscuits
3 c. flour
4 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 c. heavy whipping cream
1 c. prepared lemonade
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Add cream and lemonade and stir gently until dough just holds together. Using flour on a board, gently knead the dough using gentle pressure until it just holds together. Dough will be sticky. Press or roll out about 1/2 inch thick and cut out with 2 inch biscuit cutter. Re-roll scraps. You should get 20-24 biscuits. Place on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom and light brown on the top. Cool on wire rack.
Swiss Chard Gnudi
I love Swiss Chard and have been enjoying a lot of it lately. It is abundant at local farm markets and in my yard. I decided to use some of my chard to make gnudi. What are gnudi? They are little dumplings. Gnudi are similar to gnocchi but you use ricotta cheese instead of the potatoes. When done right they are tender and light. These were like little pillows of flavor. I just served mine tossed in butter and topped with fresh grated Parmesan cheese. If you are trying to get your family to eat more greens- try making these.
Swiss Chard Gnudi
1 lb. Swiss chard, stem ends trimmed
1 c. whole milk ricotta
½ c. grated Parmesan cheese plus extra for sprinkling
¼ c. dried minced onion
1 egg
½ t. coarse salt
¼ t. fresh ground pepper
1/8 t. ground nutmeg
¾ c. flour, plus extra for rolling
Butter
Grated Parmesan cheese
Cut chard leaves from each side of center stem. Cook chard leaves in large pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain; cool. Squeeze chard leaves until very dry; place in processor. Using on/off turns, finely chop chard. Add ricotta, ½ cup Parmesan, onion, egg, coarse salt, pepper, and nutmeg; process to blend. Transfer mixture to medium bowl. Add ¾ cup flour; stir to blend. Cover and refrigerate dough overnight.
Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Spoon some flour onto large plate. Working in batches, drop heaping teaspoonfuls gnudi dough (size of small walnuts) onto plate with flour to form about 36 gnudi. Using floured hands, gently shape each into 1 1/2-inch-long, 1/2-inch-thick oval. Tap off excess flour; transfer gnudi to prepared baking sheet. They can be made 2 hours ahead. Cover and chill. Bring large wide pot of salted water to boil. Slide gnudi into pot; cook until they float to the top, about 4-5 minutes. They are very tender so remove from water gently. Toss cooked gnudi in butter and sprinkle with cheese. Serves 4.
Lemonade Cheesecake Squares
I always enjoy the combination of lemon and cheesecake. I wanted a new recipe and decided to jazz up the flavor with lemonade both in the filling and as a glaze on top. The end result is just what I had hoped for. Creamy, not too sweet and a pop of lemon flavor from the glaze. I also wanted to add more texture to the crust so I added some oats in addition to the graham crackers and baked this cheesecake in a 9×13-inch pan. You could serve it with a few berries on top, if you like. Here is the recipe.
Lemonade Cheesecake Squares
Crust:
¾ c. butter (1½ sticks)
1 ¼ c. graham cracker crumbs
1 c. oatmeal, old-fashioned or quick cooking
¼ t. salt
Filling:
2 (8oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
¾ c. frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed*
3 T. flour
2 eggs
2 t. grated lemon peel
Glaze:
¾ c. frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed*
2½ T. cornstarch
Heat oven to 350-degrees. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan. Beat together butter with the rest of crust ingredients. Press into bottom of prepared pan and bake 20 minutes. Beat cream cheese, lemonade and flour until fluffy. Stir in eggs and peel. Pour over crust and bake for 25 minutes, or until set. Cool then add the glaze. To make the glaze: in small saucepan combine the lemonade with the cornstarch. Heat together over medium heat until mixture becomes thickened and bubbly, stirring constantly. Pour over cheesecake. Store covered in fridge. Makes 24 squares.
*You can use store bought frozen lemonade concentrate or here is the recipe I use to make my own.
Homemade Lemonade Concentrate
1 1/3 c. lemon juice- fresh or bottled
1 c. sugar
lemon zest, optional
Combine ingredients and stir until sugar is dissolved. Freeze until ready to use. Makes a little over 1 1/2 cups. To use: combine three parts water to one part concentrate.
Mustard Potato Salad
For a recent dinner with friends I was doing a potato salad. I love potato salad and always try to do something different. This time I went with an old stand by. It was the way I remember my Mom making it when I was a kid. I didn’t like mustard back then, but I sure liked it in her potato salad. The plan was for me to make a home made Bavarian mustard with beer in it- but alas time got the better of me so I used a nice whole grain mustard. Just a few ingredients but the flavors worked well together. Mom knew what she was doing. Here is the version I made.
Mustard Potato Salad
4 lbs. potatoes- I used Klondike Rose and I did not peel them
4 hard cooked eggs, peeled and chopped
1 sweet pepper, seeded and chopped
1 c. mayo- maybe a little less
1/4 c. prepared mustard
salt and pepper to taste
dash of hot sauce
Bake whole potatoes until tender and allow to cool. Cube potatoes into large bowl and combine with remaining ingredients. Chill until ready to serve. Serves 8.
Raspberry Lemonade
Often the best things are the simple things. I will admit to making some pretty fancy dishes at times. I am not afraid of adding lots of ingredients for layers of flavor. But sometimes less is more. I had about 8 oz. of frozen raspberries. Well, they weren’t frozen anymore. I had thawed out a bag of raspberries for use in a cake. I had some extra and didn’t really want to freeze them again. I also had some fresh lemon juice so I decided to make a raspberry lemonade. I started with lemon juice, the berries and all the juices from the berries and a little sugar. Mixed it all together and added some water. At first I thought I’d strain out the berries but I decided to leave them in. Simple and delicious. Perfect refresher for a warm day.