Grilled Portabella Mushrooms: VeganMoFo #19

I'm a Veganwannabe : Post #19

Portabella mushrooms (or is it spelled with ‘o’ ….as in portobella? Or even Portobello?  I looked all over the trusty internet and couldn't get a straight answer as to how to spell this word.) At any rate, they are great. We are mushroom freaks around here as you can see from some of my previous posts here. (Vegans, you may peek also because there is an excellent Mushroom Barley Bake somewhere in there.)

Here’s what you need:

2 large portabella mushrooms, gills and stem removed

2 T olive oil

2 T balsamic vinegar

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

Salt and pepper

Here’s what you do:

Mix the marinade ingredients and soak the mushrooms for an hour. Grill. Eat. Enjoy. Many thanks to Livvy over at 86Lemons for the inspiration for this recipe.  

I served mine with black beans, sauteed red peppers and delicious whipped cauliflower. You only see one mushroom on my plate because Tim ate the other one. I was expecting him to eat the chicken breast I had baked for him instead of the mushroom, but he chose the mushroom....what's going on here? 

Click back tomorrow for my last VeganMoFo post. I can't believe that my vegan month is over. 

Chicken Satay

The first time I had this combination of flavors I was in the Netherlands of all places. I had never heard of the word ‘satay’ and I had never dreamed of creating a sauce with lime, peanut butter and coconut milk. I can tell you that this meal was the furthest thing from my mind when trying to imagine what would be on the Dutch menu. How wrong I was!

A major Social Studies lesson for my students is to understand the effects of cultural diffusion – you know, the sharing of ideas and customs between various peoples throughout the ages. Chicken Satay is a perfect example of cultural diffusion. I’ve come to learn that satay originated in Indonesia. You world history buffs probably remember that Indonesia was a Dutch colony back-in-the-day. The rest, as they say, is history…… meaning, the Dutch people took the awesome flavor combos they loved from the Indonesian diet and brought them back to Europe, where they are still being enjoyed today. (The Dutch people also got a hold of cocoa beans way, way back when they were being used by the ancient Aztec people. The ingenious Dutch people added sugar and milk to cocoa powder to create chocolate as we know it today…. another fine example of cultural diffusion. But enough with the history lessons! School’s out!)

What is satay you may be asking? A beautiful selection of meats skewered and grilled and served with a spicy peanut sauce. This one is easy enough to whip up after a day at work. It’s nice enough to serve to company. Just add some lime/cilantro rice and a bright vegetable and you have a complete meal.

Here’s what you need for the marinade:

¼ C soy sauce

¼ C lemon juice

2 T vegetable oil

1 T sugar

Lime zest

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch cubes

Here’s what you need for the peanut sauce:

2 heads garlic, minced very fine

1 shallot, minced very fine

2 T lime juice – use fresh!

1 T brown sugar

½ t coriander (or more….it’s citrusy, so we love it)

¼ t hot red pepper flakes (or more)

¾ C peanut butter

1 C coconut milk (lite is fine…. I sometimes use the entire can)

Here’s what you do:

Marinate the chicken in the soy, lemon juice, vegetable oil, sugar and lime zest for no more than 30 minutes. Arrange chicken on skewers, grill, baste with marinade.

Create the sauce by mincing the garlic and shallot. (You know what I’m going to suggest….. with the blade running on your processor, drop both the garlic and shallot down in there and you will get it perfectly minced every time!)

Add the remaining sauce ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy. Pour into a small sauce pan and heat slowly. Sometimes I strain out the bits of garlic and shallot, but that’s a personal preference.

Tonight I made regular rice and squeezed lots of lime juice over it. I also mixed in lots of fresh cilantro. This is a perfect side dish because you can drizzle (or pour) all that excellent sauce over the rice!


(printable recipe)

One Year Ago : Big Crumb Rhubarb Coffee Cake

Memorial Day 2012

Great Memorial Day Ideas Right Here!! 

Have a great holiday weekend everyone...

.(am I really dreaming of my 3 day weekend already??? )

You bet 'cha!  

Green Salsa - Wow your company and friends with this easy and outstanding salsa. One of my favorite flavors! 

Sunshine Chicken - This is one of my favorite dinners after a busy day - Perfect for the grill! Great on a sandwich! Slice thin and serve in a salad!  Earns 4 exclamation marks! 

Chicken Queso Burger - Melty Pepperjack cheese and loads of avocados! The marinade is full of citrus goodness! A+

Jamaican Kebabs - These are sweet and spicy. Just the tiniest step up from burgers and chicken - Great for company because of the nice presentation!  Serve on a wooden cutting board and call it good. :)

Lime Cilantro Cole Slaw - Looking for something different? If you like cilantro, you will LOVE this salad. Great as a side or on a sandwich. (I love a sloppy sammy!)

Couscous Chickpea Salad - I almost forgot about this one! It's light and healthy and fresh and lemony and clean-tasting! Perfect next to chicken or beef! 

Lemon-Lime Frozen Dessert - a very dull name for a very nice (and easy) dessert. I have always loved frozen desserts! 

Many heart-felt thanks to all those who have served in the US Military 

 and have paid the highest cost for freedom. I thank you. Happy Memorial Day to my fellow Americans and to those who honor freedom everywhere. 

spice rack challenge - turkey burger with feta and dill

When I learned of April’s Spice Rack Challenge, hosted by Mother’s Kitchen Blog, I was thrilled because it gave me the chance to make tzatziki sauce, which I have always wanted to make. Plus, when I think of dill I think of feta, which is a good, good thing. After some poking around through my many cookbooks and taking a look around the internet, I landed on this version of Greek Turkey Burgers with AWESOME Tzatziki Sauce. Credit for the burger idea goes to one of my favorite TV personalities, Ellie Krieger.  Sorry, no fresh dill here in Michigan yet. We are hopeful for spring, but it's slow in getting here this year. I'm sure this entire meal would be kicked up a notch with fresh dill. 


Be sure to go to Mother's Kitchen and see the other Spice Rack Challenge entries.  They will be posted the last week of April. There are about 25 of us participating and the variety of recipes will surprise you. Last month I made a Cardamom Coffee Cake for the cardamom challenge. Wonder what the spice challenge will be for May? Stay tuned right here! 

Here’s what you need for the burger:

½ onion, diced

2 C fresh spinach, chopped

¼ C crumbled feta cheese

1 t dried dill

1 ¼ lb ground turkey

Salt and pepper

Pita bread, stuff to garnish the burger like tomato, cucumbers, lettuce, spinach, etc.

Here’s what you need for the tzatziki sauce:

8 ounces low-fat Greek style yogurt

¼ t dried dill

2 t fresh lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

1 English cucumber

Here’s what you do:

Sautee the onions until tender. Add the spinach and dill. Cook until all wilted, about 2 minutes. Add the feta cheese and set aside.

You can see best what to do next from the pictures. Divide the meat in 6 equal thin patties and place a heaping spoon of the spinach goodness on three of them. Top each burger with another patty and carefully press it all together. Use your fingers to press the two halves together to keep the goodness from falling out. This was kinda messy, but surprisingly, the burgers did not fall apart.

My tip of the day: Do Not Overcook Turkey Burgers!!!

In the meantime, make the heavenly tzatziki sauce. Another tip for you: peel, seed, grate and wring the cucumber in a clean tea towel before you add it to the sauce. It’s amazing how much liquid you will squeeze out of a cucumber!

You might also like: 

Boursin Cheese

Salmon Chowder

Hungarian Mushroom Soup

Orzo with Shrimp, Feta and Dill (you must try this!)

(printable recipe)

sunshine chicken

I adapted this recipe from an old cookbook called “365 Ways to Cook Chicken-Simply the Best Chicken Recipes You’ll find Anywhere!” It’s a corny title, but every recipe I have used from this book has been very good. The original title for this chicken is ‘Honey-Garlic Chicken’ but I think ‘Sunshine Chicken’ captures the bright flavors better. Besides, it has the brightest golden orange color. The photo above reveals that we had a thoroughly ‘orange dinner’ this night. I served the chicken with buttered carrots and cheesy rice (yes, from a box…..)

I am always interested in great meals that you can whip up after working all day and this is one of them. You could always make the glaze the day before serving.

Here’s what you need:

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts – about 3 pounds. I slice mine in half horizontally.

White vinegar – enough to cover the chicken plus ¼ cup for the glaze

2 T butter

1 med onion – chopped

6 cloves garlic – minced

6 ounces frozen orange juice concentrate

2/3 C honey

Here’s what you do:

Marinate the chicken in vinegar at room temperature for about an hour.

Make the glaze by sautéing the onions and garlic in the butter until soft, about 5 minutes on low. Add the orange juice and honey and ¼ C vinegar and cook until thick and beautiful. I simmered mine for about 20 minutes.

I strained out the onions and garlic for a smoother glaze, but this step is not necessary – I have left the veggies in before and that’s equally as good. The glaze will be better if you refrigerate it and allow it to cool and thicken. You can see in the photo how beautiful the color is – Sunshine!

Remove the chicken from the vinegar and grill it on medium-high. Be very generous with the glaze – it is very nice!

The end result is sticky and tangy and very bright tasting. Leftovers are fantastic in a sandwich or salad.

(printable recipe)

pizza burger

Pizza Burger

The actual name of this burger is the 'Barack Obama Pizza Burger.' It was published in a Food Network magazine right next to the 'John McCain Chicken Queso Burger.' I posted the chicken queso burger yesterday, in case you missed it - have to give equal time to 'both sides of the aisle' as they say! Whatever your politics - try both recipes because they are equally good! We have been making both burgers in our house for about a year - depends on our mood - beef or chicken.... There is a bit of prep work to these burgers, so be sure to plan for that.

Here's what you need for these burgers:

great buns

1 stick butter

1 head garlic

fresh parsley

champagne vinegar

ground beef (enough for nice large patties. I like to use ground round, but of course ground chuck would be excellent too)

marinara sauce (jarred is fine)

lots of fresh mozzarella cheese (in the picture above we used regular mozzarella, but fresh is much better)

fresh basil leaves - a definitive taste to these burgers and one which must not be overlooked.

Here's what to do for the buns (the secret ingredient in this burger):

Roast a head of garlic by removing the outer paper, slicing off the top just a bit to expose the cloves, drizzling with a tiny bit of olive oil, placing the entire thing in foil and baking for 45 minutes at 350.

When it's done, you should be able to squeeze the garlic out into a bowl. Mix it with about 1 stick of butter, 2 T chopped parsley, 1 t champagne vinegar and salt.

Smear this garlic butter on both halves of the buns - these you will grill and toast to perfection.

Grill the meat to medium rare. After you have flipped them, add about 2 T marinara sauce on top of the burger and then place on slices of mozzarella.

Cover the grill, watch the buns, melt the cheese....

Serve with more marinara sauce and fresh basil.

These really taste like pizza! There's no need for mustard, ketchup, pickles or the other standard burger condiments. These stand on their own just as is.

I wonder which you will make first? The John McCain Chicken Queso Burger or the Barack Obama Pizza burger?

I also wonder which other politician will get a burger named for him or her?

chicken queso burger

Chicken Queso Burger

I found this recipe in the Food Network Magazine a few years ago - its real name is the 'John McCain Chicken Queso Burger.' On the facing page of the magazine was printed the 'Barack Obama Pizza Burger.' So of course, we had to try them both and have a burger cook off right here at home! I'll post the pizza burger later this week - it's really good too!

Here's what you need:

lemon

lime

orange

1 T olive oil

1/2 t chili powder

1/2 t adobo powder

(this is an all purpose Latin seasoning, probably not commonly found in the regular supermarkets. I buy mine in small, local Hispanic stores...... you could probably skip it, but do try to look for it - I also use it in my Ropa Vieja marinade....)

boneless, skinless chicken breasts

(I slice mine width-wise to make them thinner.... Don't like that thick meat in a single bite....)

pepper jack cheese, sliced

avocado

fresh tomato salsa

good rolls

Here's what you do:

marinate the chicken in the zest and juice of the citrus fruit, the spices and the oil for a couple hours

grill the chicken on a medium flame

when it's almost done on the 2nd side, put a tablespoon of salsa on the chicken and then put the pepper jack on top to melt...... this was a really nice method. I would never have thought of putting the salsa under the cheese, but it works!

I toasted the buns and served the 'burger' with avocado, tomato slices and lots more fresh salsa.

A little cilantro would be great too!

jamaican kebabs

Jamaican Kebabs

Kebabs are always fun! I recently bought a dozen nice metal skewers and I actually have used them quite a bit. I think if you use wooded skewers for grilling, you should soak them in water before putting them on the flames. You don't want your entire meal up in flames! It's hard enough to deal with the metal skewers! I used long tongs to turn my kebabs on the grill.

I recently read that you can soak wooden skewers in apple juice before using which will impart more flavor to your kebab - that might be interesting to try.

Here's the recipe for the glaze, which I adapted from an old Cuisine At Home magazine:

1/4 C extra-virgin olive oil

2 cloves minced garlic ( I always squeeze my garlic through a garlic press)

lime peel (I used 1 entire lime)

1/2 t dried oregano (original recipe calls for fresh, which I never have....)

1 T onion powder

1 T brown sugar

1/2 t allspice

1/4 t cinnamon

1/4 t cayenne pepper

It turns into a sweet and spicy, thick glaze which you brush on while grilling. I think next time I will double the recipe so there is more to use.....

As you can see, each skewer has cubes of boneless, skinless chicken breast, kielbasa- cut it on the diagonal for extra exposure to the flame. I think any type of kielbasa or polish sausage would be fine. I know there are now even turkey sausages and kielbasas. Of course the kebabs need lots of veggies too. I have used shrimp before, which is very good, but a bit tricky because of the shorter grilling time needed......

Can you imagine that at one point I was going to make 200 of these for my son's graduation open house? I was looking for something 'different' to serve! Instead of kebabs, I ended up serving brats, which was so much easier!