Bombay Sliders with Garlic Curry Sauce

Tonight, I had a meal so scrumptious, it's going to be my first post in over a year! This recipe for sliders (taken from Bon Appetit, shamelessly) was fairly easy to make and definitely restaurant worthy.

First, I popped my frozen dinner rolls in the oven for a few minutes to use for my slider base.

I whipped up the mayo (mayo, curry powder, smidge of sour cream, smidge of ketchup, and garlic - which I am realizing now that I forgot!).

My husband prepared the ground turkey burgers (with cilantro, green onions, ginger, cumin, more curry powder, paprika and another smidge of mayo). He then pan-fried them to perfection in a cast-iron vessel.

Friends, when you stack those pieces together, they will become one unified front waging war for the best food you've ever tasted with your mouth.

What are you waiting for? Make this meal already!

Smoothie Winner

I've been experimenting with smoothies lately in order to up my calcium/protein intake. I finally found a winner this morning:

1/2 cup Dannon plain yogurt

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup fresh chopped mango

1/2 sliced banana

1 tsp honey

Pulverize that in a blender, and you're good to go!

Note: You can add some ground flax seed for extra fiber/protein.

Barley Vegetable Soup with Sausage

Here's a recipe I swiped off the back of the barley box (modified a bit):

1/2 pound hot Italian turkey sausage
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic

In a 4-qt saucepan or Dutch oven, brown meat. Add onion and garlic; cook until onion is tender.

5 cups water
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes (with juice)
3/4 cup Quaker quick barley
1/2 cup sliced fennel
1/2 cup sliced carrots
4 beef boullion cubes
1/2 tsp dried basil, crushed
1 bay leaf
Dash of crushed red pepper

Stir in ingredients. Cover; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

1/2 cup frozen corn

Add frozen corn; cook about 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Makes 8 (1 cup) servings.

Garden Fresh Tomato Soup

Best tomato soup I've tasted...blame it on the cloves :)

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Garden-Fresh-Tomato-Soup/Detail.aspx

Fresh Tomato Salsa

8-10 large tomatoes (pour boiling water over them to remove skins)
1 bunch of cilantro
2 medium onions
6 hot peppers (jalapenos, etc, seeds removed - wear gloves!)
garlic to taste (a lot in my case)
salt to taste
basil to taste
2 tbsp sugar

We chopped everything and then threw it in the blender until it was very fine. This amount of tomatoes will make a lot, so maybe you want to do half.

Here's where the musician part comes in...

For the first time in world history, I'm doing a show on Friday night, from 7-9pm at Vanilla's coffee shop on Plainfield. It's in the MC Sports plaza :)

Tomato Soup

Found a fabulous recipe for tomato soup:

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/garden-fresh-tomato-soup/Detail.aspx

My husband, who isn't usually a fan of tomato soup, requested that I make more of this one for him!

Watermelon Gazpacho

If the idea of cold soup weirds you out, you can use this as a salsa!

Ingredients:

5 cup watermelon, cubed (about half of a small watermelon)
1 large tomato, pureed
1/2 of a bell pepper, minced
1 small cucumber, seeded and minced
1 small jalapeno pepper, minced (remove seeds for less heat)
2 Tbsp red onion, minced
1 tsp red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp unsweetened lime juice
2 Tbsp mint leaves
1 Tbsp olive oil
Feta cheese, crumbled

Instructions:

1. Puree 4 cups watermelon in blender until smooth. Transfer puree to large bowl.

2. Add remaining 1 cup diced watermelon and the rest of the ingredients; stir to combine.

3. Cover gazpacho and refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours.

4. Divide gazpacho among bowls; top with 2 Tbsp crumbled feta cheese.


Note: This makes four servings, at 3 Points (Weight Watchers) a serving.

Italian Rigatoni Casserole

Forewarning: This makes a lot of pasta! My family is visiting this weekend, and the six of us were only able to eat half of the dish.

Ingredients:

24 oz rigatoni noodles, cooked and drained
2 cans (14 oz) tomato sauce
1 lemon, squeezed
3 links turkey sausage
1/2 small onion, diced
1 medium zucchini
3 mushrooms
3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
basil, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper to taste
1 (8 oz) bag mozzarella cheese (divided into two parts)

Instructions:

1. Saute sausage & onions; set aside.

2. Saute zucchini, mushrooms and garlic; set aside.

3. In a large bowl, combine noodles, sausage mixture, and vegetable mixture with tomato sauce and seasonings. Add 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese. At this point you can either refrigerate the mixture too bake later, or bake immediately.

4. Scoop mixture into a 9x13 baking dish. Top with remaining mozzarella cheese.

5. Bake at 350° for 45 min to an 1 hour (depending on if you have refrigerated).

Strawberry-Lime Creamy Cheese Pie

This recipe is a shout out to my friend Teri Miles, who made me my first creamy cheese pie. I have altered the recipe slightly...

Ingredients

1 9-in graham cracker crust
1 8oz block cream cheese (room temp.)
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 c lime juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 quart strawberries, sliced
2 tbsp sugar

Instructions

1. Beat cream cheese with hand mixer for 3-5 minutes, until smooth.

2. Add condensed milk slowly, while mixing.

3. Mix in lime juice and vanilla.

4. In a separate bowl, mix the strawberries and sugar together.

5. Pour the cream mixture into the graham cracker crust and refrigerate for at least two hours.

6. Top with strawberries and serve.