Mayonnaise

 I've been wanting to try to make my own mayonnaise for a while.  With BLT season in full swing, now was the time.  My first attempt was a complete and utter failure using the recommended large bowl or blender suggestion in the first recipe I found.  There was no way one yolk could have ever been beaten in either of those--the yolk sat far below the blades!  A bit of YouTubing showed me the way.  The trick is to use an immersion blender and a jar just barely larger than your immersion blender (or the vessel that the immersion blender came with--perfect!).  I also like the whole egg version over the yolk only one.  It literally takes less than 2 minutes to make this.

Should probably use pasteurized eggs if you can find them.  Or cross-your-fingers-and-hope-not-to-die, like I did.

Mayonnaise

1 whole egg, room temperature

1 T. lemon juice

1 t. dijon mustard

pinch of salt

1 c. avocado, safflower, or olive oil (not extra virgin) (I tried 3/4 c. regular avocado oil + 1/4 c. avocado oil infused with garlic and it was too garlicky-at first but REALLY mellowed over time, so I wouldn't cut back on it if you are not planning to use it all at once.)

Put the egg, lemon juice, dijon, and salt in the vessel.  Add the oil and let it sit for a minute so that the egg and stuff settle to the bottom while the oil rises to the top.

Submerge the immersion blender and don't turn it on until it is set on the bottom!  Start the immersion blender and keep it at the bottom.  This will whip up the egg part and slowly pull the oil down when it is ready.  It will turn white and turn into mayo as it blends.  Once it is all incorporated, you can lift the blender up a bit to make sure it is all blended well.

Spinach, Nectarine, and Halloumi Salad

 This salad screams late summer vibes.  So good, people! I found this one in the All Recipes magazine and have already added the ingredients to my next shopping list so we can have it again.  This said that it served 4.  Nope.  Not if it is a main meal.  We almost polished it off! Maybe we were just hungry?

Spinach, Nectarine, and Halloumi Salad

Dressing

2 T. white wine vinegar

2 T. olive oil

1 T. honey

1 t. dijon mustard

1/4 t. salt

1/4 t. black pepper

1/4 t. dried basil

Whisk all of this together in a small bowl or throw it in a little jar like I do and shake it until well combined.   

I only used 1/2 of this dressing--it's plenty.  Save the other half to make another batch of this--you will want to!

Salad

1 (5-oz) package of baby spinach

3 nectarines, pitted and sliced

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1/4 c. thinly sliced red onion

1/4 c. sliced almonds, toasted

1 (8-oz.) pkg. Halloumi cheese, sliced into strips (my package was 7 oz.  no biggie)

Toss 1/2 the dressing with the spinach, nectarines, bell pepper, onion, and almonds.

In a cast iron (or large skillet, but cast iron is great!) over med-high heat, add the cheese to grill it to golden brown on both sides.

Add to the top of the salad.  Enjoy.

---------------------

c = cup

T = tablespoon

t= teaspoon

oz = ounce

Flank Steak Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms with Parmesan Topping

 This is a total leftover hack, that I'm going to do again.  And again.  And again.  It uses parts of other recipes so they can do double duty.  

For this, I made this Flank Steak with 1/2 of the seasoning recipe since I wasn't using the veggies and then made a batch of this topping from the chicken breast recipe.  

I used less than half of the flank steak for the two of us and have 2/3's of the parm topping to use for something else later.  It would be a great veggie dip, too!

See these other ideas for the topping!

Flank Steak Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms with Parmesan Topping (2 options!)

Pull the stems and scrape out the gills out of 2 large portobello mushroom caps.  Spray them with a bit of cooking spray.

Fill each mushroom cap with some chopped flank steak.

Cover each with a good portion of the parm topping.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 10-15 minutes.

Option 2
I've also done some chopped flank steak mixed with ricotta cheese, parm cheese, salt, and pepper.  Good!

Zoodle Salad

 A nice summer salad and a healthier version when swapping out pasta noodles for zucchini!  I made the zoodles into a Mediterranean version, but use your imagination for other varieties.  Making one using ingredients similar to a pasta salad (bell peppers, mozz balls or another cubed cheese, onion, pepperoni, olives, maybe) would also be good.

There was plenty of dressing, so you could probably get away with using less if you wanted to cut back on it a bit.

2-3 zucchini made into zoodles (or buy them in zoodle form already)

1 bell pepper, diced

thinly sliced red onion

1/2 c. cucumber or so, diced

1-2 tomatoes, chopped

Greek olives (or use a small tub of antipasti mix that had marinated olives, button mushrooms, and cubed provolone all ready to go)

(I had some leftover shredded chicken, so I added that as well for protein since this was our dinner entree)

Dressing

3 T. apple cider vinegar or lemon juice

1/4 c. olive oil

1 t. dijon mustard

1 t. honey or maple syrup (optional)

1/2 t. each: onion powder, thyme, oregano, basil, pepper (instead of this, I just used a couple teaspoons of bread dipping herbs since is was similar and easy)

1/4 t. salt

Mix the dressing and set aside.

Put all of the salad ingredients in a bowl and toss it all in the dressing.  Let it sit for about 30 minutes in the fridge before serving.

Korean Grilled Chicken Breasts

 Skinnytaste.com has some good recipes.  Here is another one I found which I modified just a bit.  We need more garlic, people!

We had these in a lettuce wrap, which was delish.  We cut the chicken in thin strips with thinly sliced raw red pepper, radish, carrots, and zucchini with the green onion garnish.  Nice.

Korean Grilled Chicken Breast

1 pound of chicken breasts, cut lengthwise or pounded to 1/2 inch thick

1/4 c. soy sauce

1/4 c. unsweetened apple sauce (use this recipe if you want to make your own--I did!)

1/4 c. finely chopped yellow onion (I prefer a sweet Vidalia onion.  yellow onions don't work well for me)

1 t. sesame oil

1 t. grated ginger 

1 T. brown sugar

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

slightly less than 1 t. red pepper flakes (optional, but is it, really?)

1 t. sesame seeds, plus more for garnishing if you like

2 thinly sliced scallions for garnishing

In bowl, combine the soy sauce, apple sauce, onion, sesame oil, ginger, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, and sesame seeds.  Reserve 1/4 c. of the marinade.  Pour the rest in a ziploc bag with the chicken and marinate for at least a couple hours.

Over a medium-high heat, grill the chicken for 3-4 minutes or until it no longer sticks to the grill.  Flip the chicken and baste with the reserved marinade. Grill for another 3-4 minutes.

Garnish and enjoy.

Parmesan Topping for Steak, Mushrooms, Chicken or Fish

 Okay, seriously people.  This is good.  We had leftover topping from making these chicken breasts and I used it tonight with other leftovers--we also had leftover applewood bacon pork loin (smithfield, I think). 

Here's what I did:

• Wiped clean and scraped out the gills large portobello mushroom caps and sprayed them with cooking spray to they didn't burn.
• Filled each with chopped leftover pork loin.
• Spread with the parmesan topping.
• Bake at 350 for about 10-15 minutes.

This leftover topping would be a to-die-for topping for steak too.  You could saute some mushrooms, mix it in the topping, and then slather on a nice NY strip or beef tenderloin at the end of grilling.  

Honestly, I can't wait to try this.

See this idea, too--so good!

Watermelon Sorbet

 So, the basis for this recipe was actually a watermelon smoothie, but when I made it, it was so thick that it really is more of a refreshing frozen dessert.    Cool and bright.  Here is my version.

Watermelon Sorbet

3 c. cubed watermelon, frozen

7 large frozen strawberries

1/2 c. plain greek yogurt

1 1/2 T. honey

1/4 c. fresh mint leaves

1/2 c. or more milk of your choice (I've used almond milk and whole milk, both with good results)

Throw everything in the Vitamix and use the tamper to blend it.  Add more milk of it is too think, but don't add too much unless you want that smoothie!