ASIAN GRILLED GREEN BEANS

Boy! Where does the time go?! I need to start posting some new recipes on here that we've tried and enjoyed. In our quest to eat healthy, I'm scouring 'light' cooking books and magazines for new takes on veggies. Tonight we tried this yummy little dish called Asian grilled green beans. It was a real hit with hubby, who isn't a huge fan of veggies. It's spicy, so beware. If you tend to be whiner when it comes to spice, just use half the amount of crushed red pepper flakes. This one is a keeper, for sure.
* One thing I would like to try next time though, is stir frying this dish, rather than 'steaming' them in the foil packets. I like my beans a bit on the crisp side.
* You could also top this side dish with a sprinkle of heart healthy, toasted nuts to give it a nice crunch.

ASIAN GRILLED GREEN BEANS

1 Tblsp. Brown sugar (I omitted this because we are cutting down on sugar, and it still turned out fabulous)
1 Tblsp. Sesame oil
1 Tblsp. Soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (can reduce to 1/4 tsp if you don't like spicy dishes)
1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed
1 medium red onion, halved and thinly sliced
6 medium fresh mushrooms, quartered (I used baby bellas)

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients.Add the beans, onion and mushrooms. Toss to coat.
Place the veggies on a double thickness of heavy duty aluminum foil about 24" square. Fold foil around vegetables and seal tightly. Grill, covered, over medium heat for 18 to 20 minutes or until beans are tender, turning packets over once. Open foil carefully to allow steam to escape.

Serving size: 3/4 cup
55 calories
2 g fat
9 g carbohydrates (less if you omit the brown sugar)
3 g fiber

Diabetic exchange: 1 vegetable, 1/2 fat

STRAWBERRY LEMONADE SALAD w/ LEMON POPPY SEED DRESSING

Another light treat just in time for Summer! I like to call this one "Strawberry Lemonade Salad" because that is what it tastes like! It's so light and refreshing and all of the flavors just POP in your mouth. Even my grown son enjoyed this one! That REALLY made my day!
My daughter was invited to dinner at her voice teacher's house and this was one of the dishes she served. Sarah came home just raving about it and said I HAD to make it some time!
I have to admit, again, I was a bit skeptical about the combo of red onions, cucumbers and strawberries! But believe me when I say the cucumbers and onions take a definite 'back seat' in this salad! You simply must give it a try! YUM!
*this pic is shown without the poppy seed dressing*

STRAWBERRY LEMONADE SALAD

Salad:

1/2 plastic container organic spinach leaves
1/2 plastic container organic baby greens
Small red onion, cut in half lengthwise and sliced thin (eyeball the amount you would enjoy)
1/2 medium cucumber, sliced thin
1 (8 oz) container strawberries, quartered
1/4 cup sliced almonds

Combine all salad ingredients in salad bowl and toss gently to combine.

Dressing:

1 lemon zested and juiced (about 4 - 6 Tablespoons of juice)
2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon poppy seeds

Place dressing ingredients in medium size mason jar, screw on lid and give it a few shakes to combine. Set out with salad for people to drizzle their own dressing on.

*Couple of tips*

To get more juice out of your lemon for the dressing - roll it back and forth on your countertop for several seconds, pressing firmly with the palm of your hand.

To remove the 'bitterness' from the cucumber - slice the whole cucumber in half, lengthwise. Then take a teaspoon and run it down the length of the cucumber, removing the seeds. Now slice the cucumber in thin 'half moon' shapes. I am not a fan of cucumbers at all! But I don't mind them when the seeds are removed.

Also as far as the almonds go - feel free to use any crunchy nut you enjoy. Walnuts would be nice. I happened to grab a bag of those new salad toppers for mine - it was almonds, chinese noodles and something else (the Asian blend) and it was really yummy on it!

PERFECT LEMONADE

Just in time for Summer - Perfect Lemonade. Don't settle for the powdered kind that you mix with water! Is that stuff even real? The secret to perfect lemonade is to start by making a sugar syrup, called "simple syrup." Dissolving the sugar in hot water helps disperse it into the lemonade, rather than watching it sink to the bottom, and then try to get it stirred in. Always remember this ratio: 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water, 1 cup fresh lemon juice. Then go from there.

PERFECT LEMONADE

1 cup sugar
1 cup water - for the simple syrup
1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
3 to 4 cups cold water to dilute
ice

Make simple syrup by heating the sugar and water in a small saucepan, until the sugar is dissolved completely. While the sugar is dissolving, use a juicer to extract the juice from 4 to 6 lemons, enough for one cup of juice. *Hint* If you roll your lemons one at a time, on the counter back and forth, while applying gentle pressure with the palm of your hand, your lemons will produce more juice* Add the juice and the sugar water to the pitcher. Add 3 to 4 cups of cold water, more or less to the desired strength. Add ice and fresh slices of lemon and you're ready to go! Super easy!
Serves 6

*Tips about heating lemons to produce more juice*

Heating lemons in a microwave oven really does increase the amount of juice produced. I don't know what process is at work, but once heated, the lemon becomes very soft, and very juicy. So I suspect that heating bursts the cells of the lemon pulp, and releases the encapsulated juice. It seems the hotter the lemon, the more juice that can extracted.

But be careful: If you heat a lemon too much, it may burst and spew lemon juice all over your microwave oven. Or worse yet, an over-heated lemon might NOT burst, but rather just sit quietly, waiting for you to 'pop' it. Once your knife pierces its skin, it bursts and spews hot lemon juice all over YOU! (BTW: If this does happen, as with other mild burns you can lessen the damage by putting ice on the burn immediately.)

For best results use lemons at room temperature, or even slightly warmed up in the microwave. Lemons will be much easier to squeeze and will yield the most juice.You could even let them stand in a bowl of very hot water for about 10 minutes before squeezing them.

ZESTY PULLED PORK SANDWICHES W/ COLESLAW

Oh how I wish this was a better pic - and oh how I wish you could smell this pic! haha This is one delicious sandwich! My Honey makes a mean smoked pulled pork, but he is out of state this week! So I had to come up with an oven version of pulled pork. This one was a winner! As you read down through the recipe for the dry rub and the liquid portion, don't be skeptical like me! haha I read it, and thought WOW 2 Tablespoons of black pepper?! But.... I threw caution to the wind and just went with it. And am I ever glad I did! This was just sooooo good! IF you have leftovers, be sure to pour the leftover juice, that the meat cooked in, over the leftover meat, before you refrigerate it. It will be extra juicy when you warm it up!
Also - I have NEVER tried coleslaw on a pulled pork sandwich before (I tend to be a bit skeptical about new things) but my daughter in law and daughters all urged me to try it.... I'll never eat it without the coleslaw again! It was that good!

ZESTY PULLED PORK SANDWICHES W/ COLESLAW

2 Tablespoons salt
2 Tablespoons black pepper
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 Tablespoons paprika
1/2 Tablespoon cayenne pepper

4 pound shoulder pork roast (boston butt would work too)

2 cups apple juice
1 cup apple cider vinegar (trust me on this)
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire
1/2 Tablespoon liquid smoke
1/2 Tablespoon garlic powder

6 soft, deli style hamburger buns
Bbq sauce
Coleslaw (recipe follows)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Mix the dry ingredients in a small bowl. Use a spoon to sprinkle the dry rub over each side of the meat, using only your left hand, press the rub into the pork, then rub it in good. Sprinkle it on and rub it into all 4 sides of the pork. If you only use 1 hand to rub the pork, then whatever dry rub you have leftover won't be tainted from pork juice. Seal up the remainder of the dry rub ingredients in a zip top bag and store it in your pantry until you need it again. Cover the seasoned pork with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours. *NOTE* I was rather in a hurry this day and skipped the refrigeration step and it still turned out fine. I'll try this on another day when I'm not so hurried.

Combine liquid ingredients and the garlic powder in a large measuring pitcher, pour into a large dutch oven. (I used a porcelain coated, cast iron dutch oven and it worked wonderful!) Unwrap the pork and place it in the dutch oven with the liquid. Lightly cover the pork with a piece of aluminum foil, and then place the lid on the pot. Roast in oven for 4 hours or until fork tender and shreds easily. Brush the meat with the cooking liquid every hour.
Remove from oven and let stand until cool enough to handle. Shred the pork with a fork or tongs into bite size pieces. Serve on toasted hamburger buns and top with Bbq sauce and coleslaw.

COLESLAW

1 (12 oz) bag rainbow slaw (Green Giant)
1 (12 oz) bag broccoli slaw (Green Giant)
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
2 green onions (white and green parts) chopped
1 fresh red chile, sliced (I substituted 1/4 of a poblano)

1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon cider vinegar
1 lemon juiced
Pinch sugar
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
Several dashes hot sauce
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

*Special Note* If you are pressed for time, Marie's coleslaw dressing is the closest substitute for this dressing recipe. You just might want to add the few dashes of hot sauce to it before you mix it into the slaw.

DIRECTIONS:

Combine the rainbow slaw, broccoli slaw, red onion, green onions, and chile in a large bowl. In another bowl, stir together the mayo, mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, and sugar. Pour the dressing over the cabbage mixture and toss gently to mix. Season the coleslaw with the celery seeds, hot sauce, salt and black pepper. Chill for 2 hours in the refrigerator before serving.

KEY LIME CHEESECAKE

This recipe goes WAAAAAY back for me. My Mom used to make this when I was just a little girl. I don't know why I've always called it "key" lime cheesecake, because no key limes are used in it! Maybe it just sounds better than plain ol' lime cheesecake! LOL At any rate, this is an old family favorite. For those of you that have been following my blog, you will notice I've been MIA for a few weeks. My mother got very ill and passed away last week. I've been doing a lot of traveling back & forth to my old home town, for the past couple of weeks. I made 2 of these pies for the funeral luncheon afterward. I heard several people talking about the lime cheesecake earlier in the week and thought it would be a nice way to remember her.
This one is super easy, I actually do a shortcut on this one that my mother never would have done. I use Cool Whip in place of the dream whip. When I have the time to fuss over it, I'll use dream whip - it does make it heavenly creamy!

KEY LIME CHEESECAKE

2 Graham cracker crusts
1 lg box lime jello
2 cups boiling water
1 brick cream cheese, cut into chunks
8 oz Cool Whip

In large mixing bowl, pour boiling water over lime jello. Stir well until jello is completely disolved. Carefully drop cream cheese chunks into hot jello. Stir briskly with whisk until cream cheese is completely stirred in. You shouldn't see "chunks" of cream cheese anymore. Now add 4 or 5 ice cubes to it to cool your jello mixture down a bit. Stir until they are disolved. Carefully fold in the Cool Whip and stir until combined. Pour into prepared graham cracker crusts and refrigerate for 2 or 3 hours or until set. Garnish with more cool whip and fresh lime slices.
Yeild: 16 servings

CREAMY CHEESY PASTA

My daughter made this pasta dish a couple of weeks ago and it was so delicious, I asked her to snap a pic so I could add it to my blog. It was heavenly and creamy! So good! I couldn't stop eating it! The original recipe called for it to be made into Mac-n-Cheese, but we discovered that you can use any pasta you want and it will turn out equally delicious. She used egg noodles.

CREAMY CHEESEY PASTA

3 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (or any pasta you want - egg noodles, bow tie pasta, or rotini)
1/4 cup butter plus 1 Tblsp. (divided)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
1/4 cup 1/2 and 1/2
1 tsp. salt
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 brick cream cheese, cut into chunks
2/3 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs (can use any that you wish)
1/8 tsp. paprika

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and place in greased 2 1/1 qt. casserole baking dish. Set aside. In a small saucepan, melt 1 Tblsp. butter over med-high heat. Saute onion until tender about 5 minutes. Add chicken broth, reduce heat and simmer until mixture is reduced by half.
Meanwhile, melt remaining butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour until smooth. Gradually whisk in milk & 1/1 & 1/2. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in salt and 2 cups cheese. Continue to stir just until cheese melts. Remove from heat and stir in cream cheese chunks and sour cream. Pour over pasta and mix well.
Combine remaining cheese, bread crumbs and paprika. Sprinkle over pasta. Bake at 350 for 45 - 50 minutes or until bubbly.

Yeild: 8 servings

TABLESCAPE THURSDAY - Hubby's BD Dinner

Special thanks to Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for hosting Tablescape Thursday, each and every week. It's so much fun to visit all the blogs and see such creative tablescapes!

I'm coming in a bit late today. I had to wait until I got home from work to post. Last week we celebrated my Honey's 49th birthday. I made all his favorite things. Smothered Chicken, Mashed potatoes & gravy, Corn, Crescent rolls, and for dessert - Rice Krispie Ice Cream Dessert. He LOVED it! I figured since it was his special day, that I would set a "manly" table. I don't have a lot of "specialty" type dishes, plates, things like that. I don't really collect dishes. I tend to accent more with table linens, napkin rings, and other table decor or theme related items. I just do my best with what the Lord has given me.

I love anything in Adirondack style. That would be moose, pine trees, canoes, ducks, etc... We decorated our family room, master bedroom and master bath, all in that style. I find it a very peaceful, relaxing and cozy decor. Most of the items I used for the table, were taken from those 3 rooms. We have a local store called Northern Reflections, and it is dangerous for me to go in there! haha I am just a sucker for Adirondack decor. For Christmas one year, my Honey bought me a log bed - I LOVE it!

This pic turned out a bit blurry, but I think you get the idea. I just love this little canoe and set of oars.