Gourmet Food on a Budget — Ever Forward, Ever Flavorful
When you want something tasty, healthy, and filling on a hot summer night, this might be just the one for you. Black lentils are unique because they do not lose their shape or flavor as easily as red and green lentils do. They have a nutty flavor that we love.
California BLT Salad with Justice Dressing is a delightful salad for the summer. It’s bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado served with a delightful oniony dressing.
Grilled shrimp salad is easy to make, even in the winter, or in an apartment without a grill. You can add spices to make it just for you.
Asian Cucumber Salad is spicy and refreshing, perfect for your Asian feast, or just by itself. Experience a burst of freshness with a delightful fusion of flavors that showcases the vibrant essence of Asian cuisine.
That’s no misspelling when I made this dish the first time, I wanted to give it a catchy name, hence Seefood and Bows. It’s actually Seafood and Farfalle, an Italian bow-shaped pasta.
I use a light lemony dressing over this. What makes the dressing stand out is the
Sunny Paris seasoning blend from Penzey’s spices. You will find yourself using this wonderful spice in all kinds of foods. It stars shallots and chives, plus pepper and herbs.
You can use almost any shellfish, but I prefer shrimp and crab. No need to bust the bank, Krab works just fine in this, and you don’t need much. If you want to go fancy, you can add lobster or King crab.
This was intended to be a Toastada with a beautiful shell, but, you know, you come home from work, you’re hungry, and that high falutin fiesta shell goes out the window. No problem, this was actually better because you could eat some, then pick it up and eat it like a burrito. Of course, you could put anything you want in here, chicken, beef, tongue, fish, or completely meatless.
I really like what I call Whole Meal Salads in the summer. It means usually not having to turn your oven on at all. If you want meat, you can get meat already cooked, like rotisserie chicken that I used in my Curried Chicken Salad. Have you noticed, it’s been a real summer of salads. That’s good, salads are healthy, depending on what you put in them. I try to keep high-end salads that have blue cheese dressing for special occasions, and keep everyone else with a little oil and vinegar, if anything.
I have always loved curry, and to go with it, Major Grey’s Mango Chutney – I can eat that chutney right out of the jar. Curried chicken is often made in our house. My son loves the curry, but I have to be careful of the chutney, once he knows it’s in the fridge, I might not see it again. When I make curry at home, I put little bowls with garnishes, coconut, raisins, apple, and tomatoes.
Chutney is a condiment and comes in many varieties. I prefer Major Grey’s and it’s available in most stores. Find out more about chutney.
Sounds like a salad, doesn’t it? Yup, those ingredients make a very nice salad. Use a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket because if you don’t want to heat up your kitchen. Serve it on the bed of thinly sliced lettuce and you are good to go on a hot summer night. A tall, icy glass of beer, or iced tea for the younger set, is very good with this.
Hackfleisch Salat (Meat Salad) is was a salad I loved as a child when my family was stationed in Germany. It’s actually pretty simple, and very filling. It’s perfect for a hot day, or a nice picnic in the park.
My father was a Major in the U.S. Army. We were stationed in Kaiserslautern. My mother bought a lot of foods at the PX, but we didn’t go very often. The PX was similar to a Costco, where military members could get food and goods, shipped from America, in Germany. So, if you really wanted Cheez Whiz, you could get it at the PX, because your local corner store did not have it.
But, when we were living there in the 1960’s, we had a local department store called Seifenmeyer. Downstairs was the deli, upstairs was the perfume department, second floor was clothing, and the top had a fancy restaurant. In the deli, they had excellent bologna, and this is what my mother used to make her salad.
Orecchiette Pasta Salad with tuna and Caesar dressing is perfect for the hot summer months. Make it Vegan, and omit the tuna.
Recipes in this PostI have been a fan of Chinese Chicken Salad since the 1980’s when I first had it. Everyone once in a while, I have all the ingredients to make it. This afternoon, Spane and I went and had a very filling lunch at Everest Burgers, so we didn’t want a heavy or big dinner. I asked him if salad would be good, and he said yes. Then I went to my pantry and saw that I had Mandarin oranges, I knew what to make.
This salad has everything but the chicken, and if you happen to have cooked chicken, you are more than welcome to add it to this salad. Make sure you have a sharp knife because you will be chopping the greens and the onion into small pieces.
You could add other fruit to this salad as well, like lychee nuts, or even cherries. I had unsweetened coconut chips which had just enough sweetness, sweetened coconut would be too powerful, so I don’t recommend it. Please choose whichever Asian salad dressing you like, we like Girard’s Asian Dressing.