Angela’s Foodie Blog

March 17, 2016September 6, 2018

Creamy Apple and Fennel Slaw

Creamy Apple and Fennel Slaw
Yield: about 4 cups
Servings: 6-8
Prep Time: 20 minutes

Dressing:
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbl cream (or half n half)
juice from one small lime plus zest (or half a large one)
1 tsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
fresh ground pepper, to taste

Salad:
1 fennel bulb (including tops), thinly sliced
1/2 Granny Smith apple, about 2/3 cup, thinly sliced and cut into 1/4″ strips
1 cup shredded Napa cabbage (or any cabbage), thinly sliced
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion

1. In large bowl, prepare dressing by combining all dressing ingredients. Set aside.
2. Prepare salad by thinly slicing the fennel bulbs, apples (skin on), green cabbage and red onion. A mandolin is helpful for this. Finely dice the fennel tops and add to salad bowl.
3. Mix well and allow to sit for a few minutes before serving.

March 12, 2016April 15, 2017

Baked Chicken with Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Sauce

This is a rather decadent sauce, but OH so yummy! It’s a bit high in fat, but low carb if you serve with veg rather than a starch. This is excellent with roasted broccoli.

Baked Chicken with Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Sauce

Ingredients
4-5 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons butter, divided
Olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup diced cremini mushrooms
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (Less if you’re heat sensitive)
1/2 cup julienned sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, drained (one small jar)
1 tsp dry mustard
1 teaspoon fresh thyme (1/2 tsp dried)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup white wine
1/3 cup grated Parmesan (not shredded, grated)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 Tbl cornstarch in broth
Garnish: 1/4 cup basil leaves, chiffonade

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper, to taste.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter and several turns of olive oil in a large oven-proof skillet (or dutch oven) over medium high heat. Add chicken, skin-side down, and sear both sides until golden brown, about 5 minutes per side; set aside.

Swab out excess fat from the pot with paper towels.
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in the pot. Add garlic, mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, thyme, oregano, basil, mustard and red pepper flakes, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Deglaze pan with wine, then stir in chicken broth, heavy cream and parmesan. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened, about 3-5 minutes. If the sauce is too loose, add 1 tsp cornstarch dissolved in stock. Return chicken to the pot. Sauce should come up about halfway on chicken, skin should be on top so it gets golden and crisp.

Place into oven uncovered and roast until completely cooked through, reaching an internal temperature of 175 degrees F, about 25-30 minutes.

Serve immediately, garnished with basil, on small pasta, rice or roasted broccoli.

Nutrition Facts (from original recipe, so this is approximate; pasta not included)
Serving Size 1 thigh
Calories 277.2
Calories from Fat 203.4
Total Fat 22.6g
Saturated Fat 9.9g
Trans Fat 0.2g
Cholesterol 94.6mg
Sodium 165.0mg
Total Carbohydrate 2.6g
Dietary Fiber 0.3g
Sugars 0.9g
Protein 15.9g

February 23, 2016

Curried Beef Stew

This is a super easy stew with tons of flavour! I made it in a dutch oven, but it would probably work in a slow cooker if you hold out the carrots and sweet potatoes until the last hour.

Curried Beef Stew

1-1.5# stew beef, cleaned of fat and cut into same size pieces, then seasoned with S/P
olive oil
1 can coconut milk
1 med onion, large dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbl curry powder
1 Tbl All Purpose red curry paste (OR just double the dry curry)
2 Tbl brown sugar
juice of one lime
3 carrots, large dice
1 med sweet potato, large dice
lime and cilantro garnish

Preheat oven to 350F. In a dutch oven, put a few turns of olive oil in and heat over med hi. When hot, add in stew beef and sauté. Do in batches to get good sear. When beef is done, turn down heat to med low and cook onion and garlic until soft and fragrant. Add beef back in, along with curry powder and paste and brown sugar. Stir until meat is well covered. Then add carrots and sweet potatoes and cook for a couple of minutes. Stir in coconut milk and juice of one lime, put lid on dutch oven and put in oven for about an hour or until meat is soft. Serve with lime wedges and cilantro. This is also good served with rice if you want it to be more hearty.

January 28, 2016

Warm Spinach Salad Dressing

Recipe for the dressing since, uh, there’s no prep to spinach in a bag! LOL I bought the pecans toasted/salted or a sweet candied pecan would be awesome, too.

Warm Spinach Salad Dressing
olive oil
2 Tbl diced pancetta
1 small shallot, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
5-6 medium creminis, halved then sliced (small pieces)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
juice of one orange
2 Tbl sherry vinegar
1 Tbl honey
1 tsp sugar
prewashed spinach
toasted/salted pecans (or candied would be good)

In a small skillet, put a couple of turns of olive oil and pancetta, then turn on med low heat. Render the pancetta for about 8-10 minutes until it starts to crisp. When it’s crisped, add in the shallot and garlic – keep an eye on the heat so as not to burn your aromatics. When the shallot and garlic have softened, add in the creminis and cook for 2-3 minutes. When mushrooms have given off their juice and have gotten soft, add S/P. Then add the juice of one orange, vinegar and honey. Stir and taste for sweetness. My orange wasn’t very sweet, so I added the extra sugar. Let this cook down for another 2-3 minutes then kill the heat and let it stand for 2-3 minutes.

I always cut up and removed the stems of my spinach before I plate it. I hate big pieces. Put the prepped spinach in bowls and top with a few pecans. Pour warm dressing over the salad. I also dressed the spinach with just a turn of olive oil.

This is enough for 3 small salads or two large ones.

January 28, 2016February 18, 2017

Angela’s Cabbage Rolls

This is my spin on the traditional cabbage roll. I suppose it’s more Mediterranean since I added lamb, but this is generally a standard recipe. Now with pix! These are low carb and low calorie with high flavor! Updated Feb 2017.

Lamb and Beef Cabbage Rolls

WRAP:
10-12 leaves of savoy (or regular) cabbage, blanched
FILLING:
1 lb ground beef, 90/10
1 lb ground lamb
olive oil
1 large or 2 small shallot, small dice
1/2 red onion, small dice
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dry thyme (or fresh if you’ve got it, minced)
1 Tbl fresh parsley, minced
1 Tbl fresh mint, minced (optional, I like it with lamb)
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp each salt & pepper
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 Tbl Sherry vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
2 eggs
SAUCE:
2 small cans tomato sauce
1 14.5oz can of diced tomatoes, drained (I like fire roasted)
1 Tbl Sherry vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp pepper
1 Tbl parsley, minced
1 Tbl white or brown sugar
1/4 cup beef or chicken stock

Preheat oven to 350F. Put a 4qt pot of water on to boil with 2 tsp salt.

Put some olive oil in a skillet and sweat the shallot, onion and garlic over med low until translucent, about 5 mins. Set aside in a bowl. In the same pan, put tomato sauce and tomatoes with sherry vinegar, paprika, pepper, red pepper flakes, sugar and 2 Tbl of reserved shallot and garlic over low heat for about 10 minutes then hold.

Pull off 10-12 leaves of cabbage and remove the thick part of the stem (savoy has thinner stems than plain cabbage, so if you’re using savoy, the thick parts are only on the biggest leaves). When water boils, turn to simmer and toss in the leaves for about 1-2 minutes, until they become very green and translucent. Pour into colander and rinse with cold water. Hold.

Mix together meats, herbs, spices, vinegar and egg. Add cooled aromatics. Mix until combined, but don’t overmix or the meat will be dense.

Spray 9×12 baking dish with nonstick spray. Put about 1/2 of the sauce on the bottom of the baking dish. Add stock to remaining sauce in skillet.

Roll each cabbage leaf with about 1/4 cup meat mixture (more if the leaf is large). Start at the stem end and roll like a burrito, folding sides in. Place in baking dish, seam side down. Don’t overfill these or they’ll pop – aim for about 1/3 of the leaf covered in meat. You should have enough filling for 10-12 rolls.

Pour remaining sauce over rolls. Cover tightly with foil and bake for an hour at 350F.

I served this with roasted baby potatoes. Cut potatoes to bite size, toss in olive oil, season with steak seasoning, roast at 425F for about 15 minutes. The potatoes are about 120 cals per cup with 3gr fat and 15gr carbs. Approximately.

According to Livestrong, the nutrition for 1 roll + sauce is:
Cals: 174
Fat: 9gr
Carbs: 9gr