Cucumber Salad with Rice Vinegar Dressing

I made this salad yesterday to eat as a side to the Ham and Manchego Panini with Dipping Sauce. It was really tasty yesterday, but it tastes even better today after sitting overnight in the refrigerator. It's really easy to make, and the light dressing is very flavorful. (I used Boyajian Toasted Sesame Oil.) The green onions and peanuts add even more flavor along with a nice crunch. The Cooking Light description sums it up perfectly: "Peanuts boost the crunch in this cool, refreshing salad, while dark sesame oil deepens the taste."

Cucumber Salad with Rice Vinegar Dressing

Source: Cooking Light, June 2007

3 cups thinly sliced seeded peeled cucumber (about 2 medium)
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons chopped green onions
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts

Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl; toss to coat cucumber. Sprinkle with onions and peanuts before serving.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1/2 cup salad, 1 teaspoon green onions, and 3/4 teaspoon peanuts)

 

Chubby Hubby Cookies

I was contemplating what to do with the peanuts and pretzels I had leftover from last night's dinner. As I was looking though my electronic file of recipes, I came across these Chubby Hubby Cookies from last year's Christmas cookie contest in the St. Petersburg Times.

I admit pure skepticism about this recipe at first glance. I kept looking at it, more specifically at the last ingredient, and thinking, "This is too weird. Just how good can cookies with crushed pretzels in them taste?"

The answer? AWESOME!!! These cookies are fantastic. They are quite toothsome with a crunchy outside and a slightly chewy middle. When you first bite into them, the first thing you notice is the peanutty flavor. Then you notice a faint saltiness and crunch from both the peanuts and the crushed pretzels. The chocolate is noticeable but more as a background flavor to compliment the cookie instead of overpowering it.

For those of you who like Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby ice cream, I would be curious to know how these cookies taste in comparison. The thought of crunchy pretzels in frozen ice cream doesn't sound appealing to me, but since I now know not to judge a recipe by it's pretzels, maybe I should give it a try sometime.

Chubby Hubby Cookies

Source: Adapted from St. Petersburg Times

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 large egg, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup peanut butter chips
1/2 cup salted peanuts
1 cup crushed pretzels

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Blend into creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate and peanut butter chips, peanuts and pretzels.

(At this point, I wrapped the bowl of dough in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.)

Drop heaping tablespoons about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 13 minutes, or until edges are lightly brown and centers are still soft. Do not overbake. Cool one minute on cookie sheet, and cool completely on wire racks. Store in tightly covered container.

Makes 3 1/2 dozen.

Notes: I halved this recipe (halved all the ingredients except the egg and pinch of salt). I still used 1 whole egg and a small pinch of salt. I got exactly 21 cookies which is the correct yield for a halved batch of these cookies. I also mounded the cookie batter instead of dropping it by heaping tablespoons.

Pretzels, Peanuts and Chicken

Believe it or not, these ingredients combined make one fabulous chicken dish.

When I got this month's issue of Better Homes & Gardens and saw this recipe, I knew I had to make it. (Why do I get BH&G when I neither have a home nor a garden? Well, I'm not quite sure.)

Anyway...

The chicken is easy to make with only five ingredients. It is a bit messy with the egg and crumb mixture, though, but that's half the fun of cooking...making the mess that results in the yummy final product.

The original recipe called for unsalted peanuts, but I used salted Planters cocktail peanuts and would do so again. The original recipe also called for an optional 1/4 tsp. - 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper. If you want more flavor and a bit of heat, definitely use 1/2 tsp. like I did. If you want to make this family-friendly, though, you will probably want to omit the crushed red pepper altogether. I used refrigerated egg product because I just happened to have it on hand, but if you don't, you can substitute 2 whole eggs or 4 egg whites in its place. I did not make the couscous, but I included it in the post below since it was part of the original recipe.

The dipping sauce it fantastic, and it's non-fat, too. I made steamed broccoli florets to go alongside the chicken tenderloins and would do so again. The dipping sauce is good with both the chicken and the broccoli. Next time, I may add some oven-roasted potatoes and/or a fruit salad to round out the meal, but the chicken and broccoli was all I wanted to make and eat tonight.

Chicken with Pretzels and Couscous

Source: Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens, March 2007

1 cup pretzel sticks
2/3 cup salted peanuts
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
1/2 cup refrigerated or frozen egg product, thawed
1 lb. chicken breast tenderloins
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 (16 oz.) pkg. frozen sweet peppers and onion stir-fry vegetables
1/2 cup uncooked couscous
2 T. seasoned rice vinegar
1 T. canola oil
1 recipe Dipping Sauce (see recipe below)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a 15x10x1-inch pan with foil; coat with nonstick cooking spray; set pan aside. Place pretzels, 1/2 cup peanuts, and crushed red pepper in food processor. Cover; process until coarsely ground; transfer to resealable plastic bag.

Place egg product in shallow dish. Dip chicken tenderloins into egg product. Allowing excess egg product to drip off, transfer tenderloins, half at a time, to bag with crumb mixture. Seal bag; turn to coat chicken pieces. Arrange chicken in prepared pan. Bake chicken for 10 to 15 minutes or until no longer pink (170 degrees F).

Meanwhile, in a saucepan combine broth and stir-fry vegetables. Bring to boiling. Stir in couscous; remove from heat. Cover; let stand 5 minutes. Chop remaining peanuts. Stir peanuts, rice vinegar, and oil into couscous mixture. Serve couscous mixture with chicken and dipping sauce.

Makes 6 servings.

Dipping Sauce

In a small bowl, combine 1/3 cup non-fat plain yogurt, 2 T. yellow mustard, and 2 tsp. honey.

Notes: I needed the full 15 minutes cooking time for the chicken tenderloins.

Before:

















After:

Recipe request from my friend Kristen

I've made this recipe for my friend Kristen and her family twice, and they just love it. She asked me to post it here so if she ever stumbles upon the desire to learn how to bake (it's doubtful) she can make them on her own.

I recommend you bake these the night before and let them sit overnight before cutting and serving. These freeze well for up to one month. My favorite way to eat these is straight out of the freezer.

Peanut Butter Cranberry Bars

Source: Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens magazine

1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup boiling water
1/4 cup (4 T.) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter - do not use natural peanut butter (See Note 1 below)
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
6 ounces 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2/3 cup peanut butter - do not use natural peanut butter (See Note 1 below)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan; set aside. In a small bowl, combine cranberries and water. Cover and let stand 20 minutes. Drain well.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and 1/2 cup peanut butter with an electric mixer until well combined. Beat in brown sugar. Beat in flour on low speed (mixture will be crumbly). Stir in drained cranberries. (See Note 2 below.) Reserve 1 cup of the crumb mixture. Press remaining crumb mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, for filling, in a medium bowl beat the cream cheese and granulated sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Add egg, 2/3 cup peanut butter, and lemon juice; beat until well combined. (See Note 3 below.) Spread evenly over crust. Sprinkle reserved crumb mixture over top, pressing lightly into filling with the back of a spoon.

Bake about 25 minutes more or until top is lightly browned and edges are puffed. (Do not overbake these or they will not have the moist peanut butter creaminess in the middle that makes them so good. I usually take mine out of the oven at 22 minutes.) Cool completely on wire rack. Cut into bars.

Note 1: Natural peanut butter is peanut butter that has oil on the top that needs to be stirred into the peanut butter before using. See picture below.

Note 2: Original recipe called for 1/2 cup chopped peanuts to be stirred in with the drained cranberries. Since I wanted a soft bar (nothing with crunch), I omitted them. If you want to use peanuts in this recipe, stir 1/2 cup chopped peanuts and cranberries together and proceed with the recipe as written.

Note 3: You can use 1 T. milk and 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract in place of the fresh lemon juice.


Natural Peanut Butter and Regular Peanut Butter:
(As I mentioned above, use regular peanut butter for this recipe.)


Pictures of Peanut Butter Cranberry Bars: