I’m on the road this week. I thought about testing and posting road kill recipes, but thought you might prefer a few recycled favorite summer favorites instead. Here are three of our faves that get frequently get pinned by Pinterest fans, too.
3. Fourth of July Grilled Shrimp with Greek Salad
So, are you salivating yet?
This week the skies cleared, and the weather served up conditions fit for outdoor grilling. I took advantage of summer’s arrival by trying out a new recipe that came in the Summer 2013 edition of Hy-Vee Season’s Magazine. For those of you not from Iowa, Hy-Vee is a grocery store chain based in our fair state.
The chain has been around for decades, while the magazine debuted about a year ago. So far, every issue has been filled with healthy recipes–many of them dairy-free or easy to convert. The ingredients for shrimp skewers (called kabobs at our house) were at hand–right down to fresh basil waiting to picked in our herb garden–so I gave them a whirl.
The kabobs met two of my three keeper recipe requirements. They were health and easy to make, served with brown rice. However, they did not wow the man of steel or me. We liked them, but not enough to make the recipe a keeper.
It may have been the tomato-shrimp combination that didn’t tickle our taste buds. If that’s the case, and you like tomato and shrimp together, you’ll want to give this recipe a try. Because it really was easy. And healthy enough to make me feel virtuous all evening long!
Spicy Tomato-Basil Shrimp Kabobs
1/4 cup plus 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
1/3 cup tomato sauce
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon chopped, fresh basil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
pinch of salt
1 pound large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 orange bell pepper, seeded and cut into 16 pieces*
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 16 pieces*
1 small white onion, cut into 16 pieces**
In medium bowl, combine 1/4 cup olive oil, tomato sauce, vinegar, basil, garlic, cayenne pepper, and salt. Add shrimp; stir to coat. Cover and marinate for 30–60 minutes. Meanwhile, soak 8 10-inch wooden skewers in water.
In a bowl, combine peppers and onions. Add remaining 2 teaspoons of oil, turning vegetables carefully to coat them.
Thread shrimp, pepper pieces, and onion pieces on skewers. Drizzle remaining marinade over skewers. Grill over medium heat for 4–5 minutes per side until shrimp are opaque. (It took closer to 10 minutes per side when I made them.)
*I used an assortment of miniature sweet peppers and did not count the pieces precisely.
**I used 1/2 of a large white onion and again did not count pieces precisely.
Our family enjoyed a birthday celebration over Memorial Weekend. A homemade German Chocolate cake played a major role in the jocularity, as has been noted in previous posts at this site. Perhaps more than once. Because our family loves this cake. Really, really loves it.
To the point of obsession.
Which explains my selfish determination to create a completely dairy-free version. No way did I want to a) tame a perfectly good dessert obsession, or b) snivel in the corner while everyone else enjoyed the stuff. And you know what? My experiment was a complete success, right down to the coconut-pecan frosting.
Score!
The original cake recipe used to be printed on the inside of the German Chocolate package. (The ingredient list doesn’t include any milk products. Yipee!) But due to the cupcake craze sweeping the country, the German Chocolate powers that be replaced the cake recipe with a cupcake version.
But never fear.
Thanks to the magic of the worldwide web,you can just click this link for the original German Chocolate cake recipe. To make it dairy-free, replace the cup of butter with 2 Earth Balance buttery vegan sticks. Then replace the buttermilk with soured rice milk. (Put 1 tablespoon vinegar in a measuring cup and add rice milk to the 1 cup line. Let sit 15 minutes.)
Now, onto the frosting.
To make the frosting, you can use the recipe printed inside the German Chocolate box or a simpler recipe my mom found years ago in a magazine. It is printed below. In either case, to make it dairy-free, substitute 1 Earth Balance buttery vegan stick for the 1/2 cup butter. Replace the evaporated milk with an equal amount of almond milk. (Next time I’m going to try coconut milk and see what happens.)
Easy Coconut-Pecan Filling and Frosting
3/4 cup evaporated milk 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 1/3 cups shredded coconut 1 cup chopped pecans
Combine milk, sugars, butter and vanilla in a sauce pan. Bring to a full boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. (Mixture may appear curdled.) Quickly stir a small amount of hot mixture into the egg yolks; then pour that mixture back into sauce pan. Return to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add coconut and pecans. Cool to spreading consistency, stirring occasionally.
*Cookbooks tell you to frost between the layers and on the top of a German chocolate cake, but not on its sides. Mom always frosted the sides (it’s a little tricky) to keep the cake moist.
Today’s recipe won the Des Moines Register’s Memories of Mom recipe contest and was announced in the Mother’s Day edition of the Register. I modified the recipe by cutting the sugar, using half whole wheat flour and half unbleached white flour, and substituting water for the milk to make it dairy-free. The rolls were light and fluffy and had just a hint of sweet. Delicious!
That said, here’s my version of Marjorie Peterson’s original orange roll recipe, along with many, many thanks to Marjorie and her family for sharing this delectable dish!
Marjorie Peterson’s Orange Rolls, Dairy-Free Version
1/2 cup warm water
2 packages dry yeast
2 cups boiling water
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) Earth Balance buttery vegan sticks
2 eggs, well-beaten
3–4 cups whole wheat flour
3–4 cups unbleached white flour
grated rind of 1 orange
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons softened Earth Balance buttery vegan stick
Directions for rolls:
Directions for frosting: Melt 2 tablespoons of vegan buttery stick in a saucepan. Add 1 cup of powdered sugar. Add the juice of an orange, teaspoon by teaspoon until it reaches a spreadable consistency. Spread frosting on rolls, dividing it equally between the two pans.
Yes, you read that right. Today’s post features an asparagus recipe, even though I do not like asparagus. Wait. That’s an understatement. I despise asparagus.
But last week a friend gave us a bag full of the despicable stuff. So the man of steel and Camp Dorothy namesake rustled up one of their favorite springtime meals. One of them had a wonderful time oohing and ahhing, smacking her lips and and saying, “Jo, you don’t know what you’re missing.” Then she bailed and left the other one on dishwasher duty while she watched Wheel of Fortune. Don’t ask me to name names because I’m not that kind of person.
This recipe is mostly guesswork (Translation: Mom didn’t use a recipe years ago when she taught us to make it.), but here’s my best guestimate at ingredient amounts and cooking times.
Creamed Asparagus on Toast
2 cups washed, fresh asparagus, cut into 1/2 inch lengths
2 tablespoons butter
2–3 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
1/2 cup ham, diced (optional)
Melt butter in sauce pan over medium heat. Add asparagus and ham. Saute for 2 minutes. Add flour and stir until the flour/butter mixture bubbles.
Add milk, a few tablespoons at a time, stirring well after each addition so the mixture doesn’t become lumpy. Stir constantly until mixture comes to slow boil. Turn down heat and boil for a minute or two. Serve over toast.
Isn’t that one of the prettiest main dishes you’ve ever seen? Baked Lemon Shrimp, a recipe passed along by my sister, is as easy to make as it is mouth-wateringly lovely. It’s also very healthy and low-cal. Almost too low-cal for the man of steel who polished off the shrimp, the scones, the roasted potato slices, and the roasted green beans that accompanied the meal. (Hey, when the oven’s on, I fill it!)
Here’s the sis’s recipe, which I cut by half. Considering the lack of left overs after supper, next time I’ll make the full recipe!
Baked Lemon Shrimp
2 pounds raw shrimp, with tails (I removed the tails before baking)
1 lemon, sliced thin*
1/4 cup olive oil
several garlic cloves, minced
Preheat oven to 350°. Arrange lemon slices on bottom of a cookie sheet. Spread the shrimp over the lemon. Pour oil over shrimp. Sprinkle minced garlic over all. Bake for 15 minutes. Serve immediately.
*We did not eat the lemon, but did scoop the juices onto the shrimp. Yum!
