Cranberry & Goat Cheese Cucumbers with Ginger Dressing

Need some quick nosh food? This would not work for Super Bowl Sunday but any other time its good for a dinner party, a cinch to make and healthy to eat.

Whole Cashews
4 oz of Goat Cheese
2 Tablespoons of dried cranberries, chopped
1 Teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 Cucumber
Ginger Dressing

Procedure:

1. Rinse & peel cucumber.

2. Dice up the cranberries and mash into the goat cheese with a spoon. Ground in the pepper and mix.

3. Scoop up the goat cheese/cranberry mixture onto the cucumbers. Garnish with cashew and ginger dressing.

4. Wipe away all the sweat and tears it took to make this tasty app.

Beer N' Bacon Soup

4-5 Strips of thick cut Bacon
1 Leek, Top trimmed, White part reserved
2 ½ Cups of Beer (Guiness. Smithicks, Murphys or any Dark Malt Ale)
1 Can of Tomatoes and all the juice
Cheddar Cheese
Black Pepper, to taste
*Salt, if needed. Use sparingly

Yield: 1/2 Quart or 2 servings

1. Render the bacon until very crispy but not burned on medium to high heat.
2. Use bacon grease to sauté leeks for 8 minutes appx. Leave the bacon in the pan while sauteeing leeks. If there is any black burnt residue clean it all out and do not deglaze, instead just reduce the beer as in Step 3.
3. Deglaze the pan with beer. Reduce.
4. While the beer is reducing puree tomatoes and add to leek/beer mixture. Simmer for 20-25 minutes.
5. Pass through a fine mesh sieve/chinois.
6. Grate cheddar cheese and serve with a beer.

*If you want to tone down the bacon flavor, blanch it for a 1-2 minutes in boiling water and add to the tomato, leek mixture right before the 25 minute simmer.

Vegetable Napolean with a Tomato Rosemary Vinagrette

Napoloean 1 Butternut Squash, cut into 1” width rounds 1 Red Onion 2 Large Portabella Caps ¾ Cup Ricotta Cheese ½ Cup Walnuts, toasted and finely chopped Salt ½ Tbsp Rosemary 3 Tbsp Olive Oil 1 Tbsp Butter

Tomato & Rosemary Tomatoes, emonder, seeds removed, cubed 1/2 Clove Garlic, diced fine ½ Tbsp Rosemary, Chopped fine 1/s Tsp Ground Coriander seeds Extra Virgin Olive Oil 2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

Procedure:

Prep

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. Cut squash into 1” width rounds and bake until squash is softened but firm. Appx 30 minutes. Reserve and keep warm.
3. Toast the walnuts, sprinkle with salt. Chop and add to ricotta mix well with a dash of salt.
4. Bring water to a boil in a sauce pan. Core tomatoes and make an “X” on the opposite side. Boil for 1 minute. Drain, cool and peel off skin. Seed the tomatoes, discard the whites, cut tomato into cubes AND reserve the juice of the tomato that leaked onto the board.
   
5. Slice red onion into 1” rounds.
6. Heat butter in a skillet with rosemary and olive oil. Add reserved tomato juice. Cook for 2 minutes on med-low heat. Mix well. Spoon this over the onions & Mushroom. Roast the mushrooms at 350 F for 10-15 mins.
7. Dice garlic.
8. Add balsamic vinegar into a mixing bowl and in a slow steady stream pour in olive oil and whisk. Once emulisified add seasoning and garlic. Don’t dress the tomatoes yet.

To Serve

1. Flash the onion, mushroom and squash in the oven to reheat. No more than 5 minutes.
2. Dress the tomatoes with the herb & vinaigrette emulsion, toss and mix well. Season if needed.
3. Assemble. Top with ricotta/walnut quenelle.

Lamb Burger with Sauteed Portabellas & Curried Yogurt

Burger: 1 Lbs Ground Lamb ½ Tsp Cumin ½ Tsp Ground Coriander 1 Tbsp Adobo ½ Tbsp Curry ¼ Tsp Pepper 2 Tbsp Dijon Mustard 1 ½ Roasted Red Pepper, chopped	Mushrooms: Half Package of Baby Portabella’s, sliced thin ½ Tbsp Thyme, Chopped 1 Tbsp Salted Butter 2 Pinches of Salt
Yogurt: 4 Large Dollops of Plain Greek Yogurt Dash of Lemon Juice 1 Tsp Curry 1 Tsp Coriander ¼ Cup Scallions	Miscellaneous: Oil for Pan Searing Buns for the burgers

Procedure:

1. In a large mixing bowl combine spices, lamb and red peppers. Chill and set aside.
2. Melt butter in a pan. Add Mushrooms. Saute for 2 minutes. Add Salt. Let the juices release and add the thyme. Keep warm and reserve.
3. In a cereal bowl mix the yogurt and all the ingredients. Taste and adjust. Chill.
4. Heat oil in a sauté pan and heat until just smoking. Add patties and be cautious of hot oil splattering. Sear for 3 minutes on one side and 2-3 on the other. That should bring the patties to med-rare. Keep on the heat for longer to reach desired temp of the meat.
5. Toast the bun and spread yogurt on both sides. Add mushrooms and devour.

Ground lamb can be had at any butcher or the butcher at the supermarket could probably order it for you. It makes a delicious burger and it’s a good change-up from the usual ground chuck counterpart.

Greek yogurt is important here too, not only does it have a ton of protein and cultures but its flexible with a myriad of flavors because of its creaminess and tang.

Cranberry, Orange Ginger Granola

Ingredients:

8 Cups Rolled Oats, Quick Oats
Zest of One Medium-sized Orange
1 Small Knob of Ginger, sliced into thin rounds
2/3 Cup of Dried Cranberries, chopped
2/3 Cup of Cashews (or mixed nuts; pecans, almonds etc)
2/3 Cup Water
2/3 Cup Sugar
2 Tbsp Cinnamon
½ Tbsp Allspice
¼ Tsp Nutmeg
¼ Tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Dashes of Salt

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Zest the orange and slice the ginger, place in small skillet with the water and sugar. Cook until simmering and allow ginger and lemon zest to infuse. Heat on med-low after sugar is dissolved for about 8 minutes. Let cool. Once cool, strain out the ginger and orange. Add the vanilla extract. Finely chop the orange zest and ginger. Reserve.
3. In a large baking/sheet pan/pyrex spread out the oats evenly. Add spices. Drizzle the infused syrup over the oats evenly. With a spatula, mix all the ingredients so that everything is coated well.
4. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Mix the oats again and rotate the baking sheet. Bake for another 15 minutes. The browner the granola gets, without burning, the crunchier it will be.
5. Remove pan from oven and empty granola into a bowl and allow it to cool. Add cranberries, nuts and the diced orange ginger. Mix well. Transfer to a sealed container and store in the refrigerator. It will keep indefinitely.

I make my own granola constantly. Its cheaper, you can flavor it however you want and get it crunchier than the store bought stuff. Want to cut down on time? Just use maple syrup instead of making your own syrup. Its what I use most often and it tastes great toasted. Honey works too. Use about 1 cup of maple syrup or honey. Mostly just make sure the syrup coats the oats evenly. I stay away from the dried store bought coconut because it has chemicals in it that make the strands stay white. Store bought coconut is also loaded with sugar. Different extracts work too, for example if you wanted to make a hazelnut granola sub out the vanilla extract. I’ve mixed almond & vanilla extracts together and that’s worked well too. Ovens bake differently, I have an old oven that bakes unevenly, if you have a newer oven, 350 degrees is probably a better temperature to bake at.

Butternut Squash & Apple Soup

Ingredients:

1 2.5Lbs. Butternut Squash
1.5” Piece of Ginger (xtra used for broth reinforcement)
½ Macintosh or Cortlandt, peeled (Reserve skin and cores for stock reinforcement)
½ Onion
5 Tbls Salted Butter
½ Cup Maple Syrup
Apple Jack or Calvados
½ Cup of Cream (Can use water also)

Stock Reinforcement

3 Cups of Chicken Broth
1 Bay Leaf
Apple Cores & Skin
¼ Onion, Sliced
2 Small Cloves of Garlic
½ Stalk of Celery

Procedure:

1. Cut squash in half lengthwise. Roast squash at 400 degrees F for approximately 1 hour. At the 30 minute mark rotate the pan. At the 45 and 50 minute mark give it a check. When the squash is done it should be soft and easy to spoon out. Allow it to cool.
2. While the squash is roasting, dice up the ginger, core and cut the apples, slice the onion. Add butter to the pot you’ll be preparing the soup in. Melt the butter at a medium heat and add the onions. Let them soften and when they begin to brown add the apples and ginger. Reduce heat slightly continue to cook.
3. In a separate pan pour in the chicken stock. Add apple skins, cores, celery, onion scraps, garlic and bay leaf. Cook at medium to high heat for at least 15-20 minutes.*
4. Carmelized “sucs” will start to form at the bottom of the pan you are cooking the onion mixture in, deglaze with the Apple Jack (Pour the measured amount in off the flame) and scrape up all the sucs (scrape with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon so you don’t scratch up the bottom of the pan).
5. The squash should be cool at this point. Scoop it out and add to a food processor with the maple syrup and cream. Add a small amount of water if the mixture is too thick. Puree.
6. Add onion mixture to food processor. Puree. Pour pureed mixture back into the soup pot. Strain the reinforced broth into the squash/onion mixture. Stir and mix well. Taste and adjust. Keep warm until ready to serve.

*Storebought broth is just not that flavorful and its usually over salted. Reinforcing the broth in this recipe makes a big difference.

Dill Yogurt & Sundried Tomato Chicken Salad

Ingredients:
-1 Rotisserie Chicken
-6 Baby Carrots (or one whole carrot)
-3 Stalks Celery
-1 Macintosh Apple
-¼ Onion, diced
-8 Sundried Tomato Wedges
-¾ Cup of Plain Yogurt
-¼ Cup Dijon Mustard
-Lemon
-Salt
-2 Dill Branches





The picture is more fancy than chicken salad needs to be, especially when you will just be throwing all the ingredients together. This recipe is really easy and the time is absorbed only by the cutting/slicing of the vegetables and the breakdown of the chicken which shouldn’t take more than ten minutes. I substitute yogurt for mayonnaise in everything recently and its much healthier. Dice up the dill and mix it with yogurt, lemon and salt.. After the veggies, fruit and chicken are sliced and diced add everything else. Taste and adjust the seasoning.