Chinese Cabbage Salad

Another dump recipe.  You don't see me posting homemade bread on here, do you?   I call it a dump recipe because I use the bag of pre-chopped cabbage.  Recently, much to my chagrin, there was no bagged cabbage at the store and I surely wasn’t going to stop at another store on a100+ degree-day.  So I chopped a head of cabbage in my food processor.  My life is so hard!

Anyway, here is my dump Chinese Cabbage Salad recipe.  I had the recipe for a long time before I made it, because I just couldn’t imagine putting uncooked Ramien noodles in it, but, boy, was I wrong!  It’s great.  The crunchy noodles work like crunchy croutons.  If you want to make it ahead of time, keep the cabbage/sauce mixture and the noodle mixture separate until just before serving. 

Chinese Cabbage Salad

Mix:  1 bag chopped cabbage

         1 bunch green onions, chopped

Combine and brown:              1 T. canola oil (use more if needed)

                                                1 oz. sesame seeds

                                                2 pkgs. Ramen noodles with seasoning packets

For sauce, combine and cook 1 minute:                         ½ cup sugar

                                                                                    ¼ c. vinegar

                                                                                    ¾ c. canola oil (may use less)

                                                                                    1 Tablespoon soy sauce

Let the noodles and sauce cool.  Mix the cabbage, sauce and noodles, 20 minutes before serving.

Tip for the sesame seeds:  If you buy them in the spice section at a regular grocery store, they are much more expensive than if you buy them in bulk at a health food or specialty store.  I don’t know why.

Excuse me, I have some of this stuff to eat right now in my frig!  Buh-Bye!

Mexican Fiesta Dinner

This is not to be confused with my previous post.  It is just a coincidence that the word “fiesta” is in each recipe.  The previous recipe is expensive and, these days, expensive is not usually what you need.   It also takes much preparation time on the stove, which equals heat in the kitchen.   This recipe is great for hot days, because the only heat is from the microwave chili recipe I will include at the end.  Even though it is made in the microwave, it is one of the best I have tasted.  It is great for a potluck at your house where you make the chili and your guests each bring an item on the list following.  You’ll understand by the end of the post.  Just bear with me….

Oh, and yes, we really do not eat much meat at home.  I save it for company!  Does that make us flexitarians?  That really is a term being used these days – people who eat mostly vegetarian, but will eat meat on occasion.  If you are vegetarian, you can easily change to a veggie chili.

OK, here’s the Mexican Fiesta Dinner.  If you decide to do it potluck, people each bring one or two items on the list below.  Here’s a tip – don’t assign a critical item to a person who is always late!  I did that once.

 

Arrange this meal buffet style and let people pile up their plates as they wish.

Lay out food in this order on the buffet:

Fritos or Doritos chips

Rice

Chili

Grated cheese

Lettuce

Chopped tomatoes

Chopped onions

Green olives

Black olives

Pecans

Shredded coconut

Salsa

Sour cream

Microwave Chili

1 lb. very lean ground beef

1 chopped onion

1 chopped green pepper

1 or 2 cans kidney beans

1 14 oz. can tomatoes

1 6 oz. can tomato paste

Crushed garlic clove or powder

1 t. salt (I omit)

½ teaspoon cumin

2 tablespoons chili powder

Put all ingredients in one microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 5 minutes.  Stir.  Microwave for 10 minutes.  Stir.  Microwave for 10 minutes and it’s done!

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Quesadillas

This is what I think of an a “dump” recipe, my favorite kind.  You just dump the ingredients in a bowl, with no or very little measuring.   This quesadilla filling is a favorite with EM and me and there are several ways to vary it.   In this blog, I will always give credit when I know where the credit is due.  I used a stew recipe for inspiration when I made up this recipe, but have since seen a similar recipe posted on foodie blogs.   Isn’t it wonderful that recipes can’t be copyrighted?  Tomorrow, I'll post the stew recipe.  I had never had that combination of stew flavors and liked it.   The ingredients for the quesadilla filling are also things that you can keep on hand for a while. These things are basics for me. I hate having to make that extra run to the store.

(My apologies here for the lack of photos.  I haven’t learned how to load them yet at Blogspot AND I have lost my camera somewhere in this house!  Hope to have photographs someday!)

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Quesadillas

Microwave or bake 2 sweet potatoes

Rinse 1 can of black beans (I use reduced sodium beans, and also rinse to reduce sodium by another 1/3)

Cumin

½ c. to ¾ c. prepared salsa

Handful of shredded cheddar cheese

Tortilla shell

Roughly mash the sweet potato. Add the beans, salsa, and cumin, and mix.   Put one shell in a hot skillet, sprayed with Pam.  Put the sweet potato/bean mixture on the shell. Top with cheese.   Put second shell on top.  When the cheese begins to melt, flip the quesadilla until the shell is lightly browned.   Cut into 4 sections.  Save the leftovers for me!

Variation:

Put the filling in a casserole, minus the cheese. Put the cheese on top and bake in the oven.  This is a good potluck dish.

Tips to lower sodium:

• Corn tortilla shells are very low in sodium; flour shells are much higher.
• A fruit based recipe usually is lower in sodium.  I use a mango-peach salsa in his recipe.  For example, look for recipes for the peach salsa-topped chicken breasts, rather than the marinara-sauce topped chicken breasts.
• Almost all pre-prepared foods are high in sodium.
• Swiss cheese is lower in sodium that other cheeses.
• Rapunzel Vegetable Bouillon, no salt added, can be used instead of chicken broth, with is very high in sodium.
• Soy sauce is extremely high in sodium.  Substitute Kikkoman Ponzu Citrus Seasoned Dressing and Sauce (360 mg sodium/tablespoon) for soy sauce (950 mg sodium/tablespoon).  Then try to half the sauce that the recipe calls for.  You’ve now reduced the sodium of the recipe by 5/6ths!
• The down side – once you get used to lower sodium, it will ruin you for eating fast food.  The KFC will taste VERY salty!
• You can also reduce salt in baked recipes.  When I reduce the salt, it makes the baked goods taste much sweeter, so I’ve wondered if I could further reduce the sugar, but I have not seriously researched it.
• Vinegars!  If you like vinegars, they are a healthy way to add zip to your recipes.  I use roasted garlic rice vinegar, balsamic vinegars.  There is a whole world of amazing vinegars that I have not yet started exploring.

Tomorrow, I will post the Fiesta Stew, classy enough to serve company and yummy enough to hope some of your company doesn’t show so you’ll have more for yourself!

You cannot even imagine how much I struggled with spelling "quesadilla"!  I must have looked it up 5 times!