cookingwithumbers

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“Can’t Sleep; Eating Onion Rings” Dipping Sauce

This is just a really simple recipe I threw together, that you can use when you just want a quick dipping sauce...or when it’s the middle of the night, and you don’t want to wake the neighbors by making something complicated. And, yes, you can use it for foods that aren’t onion rings. I might hate you forever, but that’s a chance you’ll just have to take if you want to enjoy this. Also...yes, it can be made veggie/vegan, especially if the Ranch dressing is homemade.

1) 1/4 cup Ranch Dressing 2) 2 Tbs. Ketchup 3) 1 tsp. Parmesan Cheese or Nutritional Yeast 4) Optional: Hot sauce or horseradish, to taste

Stir, and start dipping. Double, or triple, as needed.

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1) Get canned water chestnuts on sale, without knowing what to do with them. 2) Thinly slice half a can (about 6 or so), add to tuna salad, and discover that they give it a really nice crunch without a dramatic change in taste. 3) Forget to post it so others can try it. 4) Finally remember while eating a microwaved, gas station cheeseburger. 5) Stress that the water chestnuts in tuna salad is really good because you actually did try it, and pretend you're not eating a cheeseburger while you type up your post.

BTW...water chestnuts are really good in tuna salad.

2ble, BTW...If you don't mind the flavor, use ranch dressing instead of mayo. Half the calories. Might be more sugar, though, so watch the blood glucose levels. Also, bulk it up with a lot of veggies. Water chestnuts; spinach; corn. Whatever you like.

2ble, 2ble, BTW..."2ble" stands for the word "double", just FYI, and all that.

[cookingwithumbers]

Quick Kitchen Recipe

If you need a Yum Yum or Fry sauce recipe in a pinch, here’s one that hasn’t let me down yet.

Yum Yum and Fry Sauce substitute 1 cup Mayonnaise 1/2 cup Ketchup Anywhere from 2 Tbs to 1/4 cup Sriracha Salt and Pepper (optional)

Adjust the measurements if needed, and add salt and pepper to taste. Then, using a funnel (because it gets messy, otherwise), pour it into a clean squeeze bottle. An empty sriracha bottle works great. Keep it in the fridge, and it should be good for up to 5 days or so.

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Money Saving Kitchen Tip

If you like to make tuna salad sandwiches, you can stretch both your food, and your dollar, by adding canned mackerel!

Mackerel doesn't have the same taste as tuna, but it does come close. So close, that when mixed with canned tuna, it’s hard to tell there’s anything other than tuna at all!

And, when a 5 ounce can of tuna can cost almost two dollars (U.S.), while the same price (or less, in some instances) can buy a 15 ounce can of mackerel, it could save you a lot of money in the long run. Especially if you need enough tuna for an entire family’s worth of sandwiches.

It does come with a small amount of bone (vertebrae) that you’ll need to remove, in order to get a smooth, tuna-like texture. But they are edible, so if any bone is missed, they can be eaten without much worry. Some people don’t mind them, while others can’t stand them, so it’s really up to you whether you remove them or not. 

To supplement the tuna in your salad, simply flake (break up) a drained can mackerel with a fork, and add it in with the tuna. You may need to increase the amounts of your other ingredients, to bring the salad up to a texture that you’re used to. But, that’s really all there is to it!

Try making some mackerel-tuna salad for yourself sometime, and see if it’s a good match for you. If it is, it’ll be a good way to start saving some money from the kitchen!

[cookingwithumbers]

Italian Been-Married-A-While Soup

Italian Wedding Soup is delicious! But, I didn't feel up to making meatballs. And, I really just wanted to throw a bunch of things together, like spouses do after tying the knot. Also, Italian Wedding Soup usually calls for spinach (which I have to watch my consumption of like a hawk, as I'm on a blood thinner). What I came up with, instead, worked, and it was delicious! So, here's my variation of an Italian Wedding Soup.

Italian Been-Married-A-While Soup

Ingredients:

6 to 8 cups Water 1/2 pound Ground Turkey 3 cups mixed vegetables (or 1 cup each of Corn, Peas, diced Carrots) 4 Tbs Butter 3 Chicken or Beef Bullion Cubes (or 3 cups chicken broth, and reduce water to 4-5 cups) 1 cup Egg Noodles 1/2 cup Elbow Macaroni and/or Small Shell pasta (or other small pasta) 1 Tbs grated Parmesan Cheese 2 Bay Leaves 1 tsp dry Basil 1 1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning 1 tsp all purpose Seasoning Salt, plus 1/2 tsp 1/2 to 1 tsp Garlic Powder 1/2 to 1 tsp Onion Powder 1/2 to 1 tsp dry Parsley 1 tsp Worcester Sauce (optional) 1 Tbs Olive Oil, plus 1 tsp

Equipment:

One large soup pot One medium pot for pasta One frying pan Wooden or heat resistant spoon Food flipper (some know this as a spatula) One medium to large heat safe bowl

Add water and bullion cubes (or broth) to large soup pot, and bring to a low boil (on medium-high heat). Add all the herbs, plus the 1 Tbs Olive Oil, 1 tsp Seasoning Salt, Worcester sauce, Parmesan cheese, butter, and vegetables to the water, and return to a boil.

While waiting for that, break ground turkey into small pieces, and shape as you wish (my ground turkey was frozen, so I cut it into slices, then cut those slices into triangle pieces). Heat the 1 tsp Olive OIl with 1/2 tsp Seasoning Salt, in a frying pan. Add the ground turkey pieces, and cook until completely done. Once done, add the ground turkey pieces to the soup.

In a separate pot, boil egg noodles until done (according to package direction - about 8 minutes). Transfer these into the medium or large bowl. Then, cook elbows or shells according to package direction, straining 2 minutes before the full cooking time. Add this to the bowl, and stir into the egg noodles.

When everything is done, add the noodles and pasta into the soup, and serve. The al dente (not fully cooked) elbows and shells should absorb the hot soup enough to soften, while not absorbing so much that it becomes mushy.

If not using the entire amount, you may want to consider keeping the pasta separate from the soup, to make certain it doesn’t absorb too much liquid. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Notes:

1) As always, substitute vegan/vegetarian ingredients for dairy and meat ingredients, if desired. Vegetable stock instead of chicken, mushrooms or eggplant instead of ground turkey, and many vegan butters and cheeses would work very will in this.

2) If need be (or, just to have fewer pots and pans to wash), this can all be done in large one pot. Cook Pasta first, and set aside. Cook the ground turkey next according to this recipe. When the ground turkey is done, add the water, and all other ingredients. Bring to a boil. Add the pasta. Stir, and serve.

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Apple Veggie Medley Salad

Can’t sleep, so I threw this together (meaning, my mind is too active to relax, so I thought about doing this for somewhere around 3 hours…long enough to plan what I was going to do…then took half an hour or more washing everything, cutting everything, and preparing everything, before putting it all together). So fast and easy! :)

I don’t know if anyone’s made this before or not, so I named it in the title (and below the image, just before the recipe).

Apple Veggie Medley Salad

1 Macintosh Apple, and 2 Gala Apples 7 to 10 Radishes 1 medium Cucumber (with or without seeds…your choice - I left the seeds in) 1 to 2 tsp. Lime or Lemon Juice 2 to 4 Tbs. Grated Parmesan Cheese 1 to 2 tsp. Dried (or, 2 to 4 tsp. fresh) Basil ½ to 1 tsp. Dried (or, 1 to 2 tsp. fresh) Oregano and Parsley ½ to 1 level tsp. Sugar (optional) 2 Tbs Classic Caesar Dressing (optional)

Wash, dry, and thinly slice the apples and vegetables, and toss them together in a large mixing bowl. Add lime juice, and gently toss to coat everything to keep apples from browning. Add all other ingredients, and gently toss to mix.

You can use other varieties of apples if you’d like, or you can replace them with pears of various varieties.

I would have added 2 or 3 thinly sliced carrots, but I didn’t have any. Add these to your salad, if you wish. I also would have liked to add diced mozzarella cheese, if I’d had any at the time. Add this if you’d like to, as well.

Yes…you can peel the apples and the vegetables, if you want to. I didn’t, but it’s fine.

Serve cold. Store in the refrigerator in a closed container. I have no idea how long this would last if left alone. And I don’t intend to not finish it over the next few days (if it lasts that long), so I don’t think I’ll find out.

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Cooking With Umbers

Oh, gee...another cooking blog on the internet....

Woo!

:)