On Saturday, September 4th I will be doing a demonstration at Phoenix Cooks with Tram Mai. The segment will be filmed and shown on Channel 12 Valley Dish that Wednesday.  Tram and I will then cook a stuffed salmon to go along with this healthy side. The salmon recipe will follow tomorrow. In the meantime, if you want to come out to the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa and help support Phoenix Children’s Hospital, you can purchase tickets HERE. I’d love to see you there!

Of course you’ve heard of and most likely eaten couscous before, but what about Israeli couscous? If not, use this recipe and give it a go. You can find Israeli, or pearl, couscous at Trader Joe’s in an 8-ounce package.

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The title should be more like “forgot and found”…

Last weekend when Marissa’s friends came up from Tucson, she and I made a grocery run to Food City for inexpensive Mexican food items. I found such a great price on poblanos that I purchased ten of the delicious and versatile peppers. I used 2 last weekend and placed the rest in one of the refrigerator’s produce drawers… and promptly forgot about them. After discovering them yesterday, I quickly roasted, peeled, and seeded all eight. Two were used for these enchiladas and the remaining six will be put to go use in tomorrow’s post… stay tuned! [Read more →]

The inspiration for this dish? One big beautiful heirloom tomato… that’s all it took, well that and some good looking poblano chiles. Watch out – the onions, garlic, bell peppers, and jalapeno are used for both the renello stuffing and the pico de gallo;, so be sure not to toss it all in the skillet for the filling. Reserve the indicated amounts and set aside for the pico. Also, it is important to rinse and drain the black beans well, otherwise they will discolor the filling. You don’t want that to happen since the vibrant colors are a big part of this dish. OK, gotta run, that’s all I have to say about this yummy vegetarian meal, enjoy!

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Bulgur is one of the unsung heroes of the grain world. A staple of the traditional Mediterranean diet for thousands of years, bulgur wheat has recently become popular in modern health food and vegetarian diets. Rich in “B” vitamins, iron, phosphorous and manganese.

Bulgur is wheat in its whole form, which has been parboiled for quick cooking. Bulgur is sometimes confused with cracked wheat, which is crushed wheat grain that has not been parboiled. It comes in three types, coarse grind which has a consistency that is similar to that of rice and can be used in place of rice in any recipe. Medium grind is most commonly used for cereal and fillings, and fine grind which is usually used for tabbouleh and other salads – such as the one below.

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Maybe I should explain my title choice for today’s post. So, I live in the southwest portion of the United States.  Here, we have two popular convenience stores, 7-11 and Circle K.  As previous mentioned, and actually bragged about, I am posting and scheduling my posts about 10 days to 2 weeks ahead of time. As I typed in my “scheduled” date, I noticed that today is 7-11, so whenever we (south-westerners) say “7-11″, we (or at least, I) like to follow it up with “and equal time for Circle K!”  The last thing we want to be is biased – in Arizona, of all places! Yeah, right – tell that to our state legislatures! Sorry, no politics allowed here – just recipes and a bit of occasional humor or insights! Honestly – love to all!

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If you have a food processor, then this is one of the quickest and easiest dips possible. Serve it with the toasted pita wedges as I suggest or go an even easier route and serve with purchased pita chips, tortilla chips, or crudités. It’s fast, it’s yummy, and it’s pretty. What more can you ask from a dip?!

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One of my dad’s favorite salads is a 3-bean or 5-bean or… if possible, a dozen-bean salad. Personally, I find many of the multiple-bean salads out there to be bland. So I created this Three Bean and Corn Salad for my dad. Needless to say, he loves it. Of course, it’s hard for me to make anything that my dad doesn’t like. Whenever he’s finished his meal, here is what he says, “Honey, you done good!” I have to confess, just typing that now, made me smile. I love you, Dad!

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I am always amazed at how open and accepting kids can be. Even after teaching them to cook for 15 years, they continue to surprise me. This past four weeks of classes we’ve had Pizza Day, Bread & Sandwiches Day, Greek, Mexican, and Caribbean Days…. and for the last day of each week, Vegetarian Day. Do you know which “Day” a majority of the kids look forward to most? Yeah, veggie day! Parents, you should be proud – I know I’m mighty proud of them!

Soft lavash bread is a great vehicle to use for vegetarian dishes. You can find a six-pack of it at Trader Joe’s. And just as with yesterday’s recipe, you need to be sure to seed the tomatoes and then drain them to prevent this thin crust from becoming soggy.

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Before I begin telling you more than you may ever want to know about tomatoes, their seeds, “seeding” them and tomato water…. I have much more intriguing and interesting information to pass along. I added a new name to the Blogroll over there on the right. It is called “Linger” and is listed under the “Super Non-Cooking Stuff” category, directly below “Larry Fitzgerald”.  Which actually is appropriate. Since I met and began teaching Larry to cook, more than five years ago, I sometimes consider him to be just like a 3rd kid. And “Linger” is the new blog of one of my actual kids – Marissa, my gorgeous and talented daughter. (BTW, mom’s are totally permitted to brag and say things like that – especially when it is true!) Marissa recently graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in Journalism and a creative writing minor… so it is natural for her to have a blog – she’s a writer!  Please check her out when you have a second, she just got the site up about a week ago and it’s already looking great!

Now on to the task at hand… tomatoes….

You may think that the reason recipes call for tomatoes to be seeded is to… well, remove the seeds. While the seeds may bother some people, the real benefit of seeding tomatoes is to get rid of the water liquid/juice found along with the seeds in the tomato’s interior chambers. Excess liquid makes some dishes soggy, such as salsas and pizzas, and other dishes gummy, such as pasta salads, especially if they sit for awhile before being served.

You can choose to either discard the seeds and liquids after seeding the tomatoes, or you may want to save the juices and use them in a chilled soup or even a cocktail. Click here for an article from Bon Appetit about doing just that.

To seed a tomato; cut the tomato in half around its equator. If saving the juice, place a sieve or strainer over a bowl. If discarding the seeds and juice don’t bother to use the strainer. Grasp a tomato half in one hand and gently squeeze it over the strainer/bowl to remove the seeds and the juices. Then slice or dice as directed in the recipe.

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