Margaret Bruya's Cowboy Caviar

This recipe was shared with my by my friend Laura (Bruya) Wilson. It is her mom's famous recipe and has been a staple at their family gatherings for years. After you make it, you'll understand why! It's always a major hit!

Ingredients:

1 cup frozen or fresh corn

1 can of black eyed peas, drained

1 can of great northern beans, drained

3 avocados

3 chopped Roma toms

1 small white onion

1/2 jalapeno (optional)

1/2 bunch of cilantro

salt to taste

1 fresh squeezed lime

Serve with your choice of tortilla chips (I highly recommend Garden of Eatin's Red Hot Blues!)

This recipe does best if you make it a few hours before you plan on serving it. Put it in the fridge so that the flavors have a chance to meld. Delicious!

Spicy Thai Turkey Basil Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

• 4 t olive oil, divided
• 1/2 c minced shallots (you could use onions as well)
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper
• 4 t minced fresh garlic
• 1 1/2 lb ground turkey
• 2 t chili garlic paste (add more or less to taste)
• 2 T fish sauce
• 1 T brown sugar
• 1 T low sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 t fresh ground pepper
• 1 c fresh basil leaves (thai basil is the best!)
• 2 T fresh lime juice
• 4 lime wedges
• Large lettuce leaves
• Optional: cooked rice

Directions:

1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 teaspoons oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add shallots; sauté 2 minutes. Add bell pepper; sauté 1 minute. Add garlic; sauté 30 seconds. Remove shallot mixture from pan.
2. Add remaining 2 teaspoons oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add turkey; cook 5 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Drain well. Return chicken to pan over medium heat. Add chile paste; cook 1 minute. Add shallot mixture to pan. Stir in fish sauce and next 3 ingredients (through black pepper); cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Remove pan from heat; stir in basil and juice. Spoon turkey mixture into lettuce leaves.  You can also add rice to the lettuce leaves or leave out lettuce and serve over rice.  Also, good served in a tortilla as a wrap. Serve with lime wedges.

I quadrupled this recipe to serve to 3 families for dinner club.  My family, including kids, all loved this dish.  We will repeat for sure! The chile garlic paste and fish sauce are located in the asian section of the grocery store.  Fresh basil is a must and I highly recommend the Thai basil.  The 2 t of chili garlic paste makes this minimally spicy - kid friendly.  If it were just my husband and I eating it, we would definitely add more.  This recipe is inspired and adapted from Cooking Light, enjoy!

Fresh Rolls

Ingredients:

• Rice paper (found in the dry section for oriental foods) - 2 per roll
• Rice sticks/noodles (I used the thinnest available)
• Lettuce
• Carrots (julienned or shredded)
• Veggies of your choice (cucumber, sprouts, peppers, etc.)
• Thai basil (cilantro would be good too)
• Shrimp or thin slices of pork or chicken (I bought pre-cooked, deveined, no tails shrimp)

      Peanut Sauce:

• 1/2 c hoisin sauce (oriental section of grocery store)
• 1/2 c chunky peanut butter
• 1 T ground ginger (you can buy this pre-ground which is easy!)
• 1 t garlic chili paste (oriental section of grocery store)
• 1/3 c hot water

Directions:

I am not even going to attempt to type the fresh roll sequence out.  But I will say that it's easy... just a little time intensive.  Better to just watch this quick youtube video and see it yourself.  Start paying attention at about 2 minutes in to see how to assemble and handle the rice paper.  I cooked the rice sticks (thin noodles), drained them and added a bit to the inside of my fresh rolls along with the veggies and shrimp.

One tip I will give you is that you need to wrap each roll twice (the video shows this) and also be sure when serving them, NOT to stack them.  Single layer only.  The rice paper is sticky and can tear when you are trying to separate them.

For the peanut sauce, just mix all ingredients together with a whisk.  I also served them with store bought sweet chili sauce too.

Very fresh and delicious!

Baked Southwestern Eggrolls

The recipe idea for this meal came from Robyn Louis' FB page.  I adapted it to suit my style of cooking and my clubmates' tastes!  The recipe that follows fed eight people.

Ingredients:
4 skinless/boneless chicken breasts
48 oz. low-fat/low-sodium chicken broth
1/3 cup lime juice
3 teaspoons garlic, minced
3 teaspoons organic honey
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 large + 1 small can of green chilies, diced
3-10 oz. cans of organic black beans
1 cup of spinach, fresh, de-stemmed & chopped 
10 green onions, chopped
1/2 teaspoon Mexican chili powder
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne pepper, ground
4 cups of colby/jack cheese, shredded
40 egg roll wrappers
non-fat cooking spray

Directions:
Combine first seven (7) ingredients in a crock pot and cook for 4-6 hours at 250 degrees. 
After all of the prep-work has been done to the next four ingredients, combine all remaining ingredients from the green chilies through the shredded cheese in a large mixing bowl. 
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. 
When the chicken is fall-apart tender, remove it from the crock pot to cool about 15 minutes.  Once cooled enough, shred the chicken with a fork and add it to the mixing bowl, combining thoroughly. 
Rolling the egg rolls is a little tricky, but once you establish a routine...it'll go along quite smoothly.  Coat a baking sheet with non-fat cooking spray.  Then coat a dinner sized plate with non-fat cooking spray.  Lay out one egg roll wrapper so that one of the four corners is facing you.  Spoon about 1/4 cup of chicken/bean mixture onto the egg roll wrapper about 1/3 of the way from your corner to the adjacent corner.  Tightly roll the wrapper, ends tucked in or out (your preference), and make sure all corners are securely against the egg roll when finished rolling.  Repeat this procedure, including the spray on the dinner plate, 39 more times ;-)
Place egg rolls on your baking sheet just so they are not touching each other.  Bake a full pan for 16-20 minutes, turning over at the half-way time if you prefer.

Cook's note:  Greg and I loved this meal!  I also served saffron/cayenne flavored yellow rice and guacamole dip with the egg rolls.  Warning: this meal is very time-intensive.  From the time I started preparing the different vegetables, and then shredding the chicken...and eventually rolling the egg rolls, I had been working for 4 hours.  With cook time, this meal (for eight people) took almost 5 hours.  We thought it was well worth it though! 

Cowboy Salsa

Ingredients:

1 can (15 oz.) black eyed peas
1 can (15 oz.) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup whole kernel corn, fresh off the cob, or thawed from freezer
1/2 cup white onion, chopped
1/2 cup green bell pepper, chopped
1 can (4 oz.) diced green chiles
1 cup diced fresh tomatoes
1/2 cup Italian style salad dressing
1/2 tsp. garlic salt

Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine black eyed peas, black beans, corn, onion, green bell pepper, jalapeño peppers and tomatoes.

Season with Italian style salad dressing and garlic salt; mix well. Cover, and refrigerate at least an hour or overnight to blend flavors.  Enjoy with tortilla, pita, or corn chips.

Tomato, Red Onion, and Basil Bruschetta

Ingredients:

• 3 cups assorted cherry, grape, and teardrop tomatoes, halved (or quartered if large)
• 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped 
• 3 tablespoons olive oil plus additional for brushing 
• 3 heaping tablespoons chopped fresh basil 
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 
• 1 large loaf focaccia, halved horizontally 
• 1 garlic clove, peeled, halved  
• Optional: fresh parmesean, grated

Directions:

1. Combine tomatoes, finely chopped onion, 3 tablespoons olive oil, chopped fresh basil, and balsamic vinegar in medium bowl; season tomato topping with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD: Topping can be made 2 hours ahead. 
2. Cover and let stand at room temperature, tossing occasionally.  Preheat broiler. Place focaccia half, cut side up, on baking sheet; brush bread with olive oil. Toast bread in broiler until top is golden brown, watching closely to avoid burning, about 2 minutes.
3. Immediately rub cut side of bread all over with halved garlic, then cut focaccia into equal pieces.  Top toasted focaccia with tomato mixture, parmesean and serve.  NOTE: if you are not serving immediately, I would recommend letting people top their own bread, this will keep the bread from getting soggy.

***Note: I didn't have any large garlic cloves, so I used some minced garlic and mixed it with the olive oil to brush the focaccia with.  Also, I cashed out on the more expensive cherry tomatoes because there isn't much tomato variety in the middle of winter and it turned out great - I wouldn't skimp here.  Also made the two hours in advance and recommend that as well.  This recipe is one I adapted from Bon Appétit.

I made this as an appetizer for my book club and it was a big hit - not a drop left over!  I really loved the balsamic vinegar in it too.  Will definitely make this one again, and can't wait to use a variety of tomatoes when they are in season.  It was very easy to do and more "special" than something I could buy at a store.  For me, that's a perfect appetizer!

Lime Spiked Black Bean Dip

 Ingredients

• 2  (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1  cup  grated carrot
• 1/2  cup  fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
• 1/4  cup  finely chopped green onions
• 1/4  cup  chopped fresh cilantro
• 1  teaspoon  minced garlic
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/8  teaspoon  ground red pepper

Directions

Place beans in a food processor, and pulse until almost smooth. Combine the beans, carrot, and the remaining ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring until well blended. Let stand 30 minutes. Serve with baked tortilla chips. Makes 5 cups.

This recipe, from Cooking Light, is a great appetizer that is very easy to do and also shows that you put some additional time and energy into an appetizer beyond just purchasing it from a store.  We brought this along with different colored tortilla chips to one of the music festival evenings up at Arborcrest Winery as our contribution to an appetizer potluck.  Delicious and healthy... a hit with the group!

Citrus Herb Shrimp

Ingredients:

2 pounds peeled and deveined large shrimp, tails on
6 T chopped fresh mint
1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 c fresh lime juice
2 T peeled and grated fresh ginger
1 T olive oil
1 t salt
1 t crushed red pepper
1/2 t sugar
2 garlic cloves, minced

Instructions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add shrimp, cook 5 minutes until shrimp are done. Drain. Rinse under cold running water.
2. Place shrimp in a large bowl and chill.
3. Combine all remaining ingredients.  Add to shrimp, toss well to combine.
4. Chill 1 hour, serves 10.

 

   

We took this appetizer to one of the music nights up at the Arborcrest Winery this summer.  It was definitely a hit with the group, and when someone recently asked for the recipe, I thought it would be a great time to post it.  It wasn't difficult to make at all, but needs a bit of pre-planning for the chill time.  It is a recipe only slightly adapted from one I got from a Cooking Light cookbook.

Thai Cucumber Salad

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c sugar
• 1/2 c rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 c water
• 1 T Taste of Thai Garlic Chili Pepper Sauce
• 1 t salt
• 2-3 cucumbers peeled and sliced thin
• 1/4 c sliced red onion
• garnish: chopped cilantro and chopped peanuts

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, vinegar, water, chili pepper sauce and salt.  Stir, cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.
2. Add cucumbers to onion in an appropriately sized dish that will allow all the cucumber mixture to be covered with the marinade.
3. Pour vinegar mixture over the vegetables and let marinate for 30 minutes.
4. You can either serve with a slotted spoon to remove from marinade (what I do) or serve in small bowls with the marinade.
5. Just before serving, sprinkle with cilantro and peanuts.

We love this recipe, although it does has some kick.  You can either use less chili pepper sauce or strain out the chili peppers/seeds when you pour the vinegar on the cucumbers to lessen the spice.  I strain the marinade for Emma's cucumbers, but she absolutely loves this salad!  You can also put cucumbers and onions in a tupperware with a good-sealing lid and shake marinade around if you don't have a shallow dish.

Veggie Squares

Ingredients:

2 canisters Pillsbury crescent rolls
1 8oz package cream cheese (you can choose low fat, or non-fat)
1 8oz container sour cream (again, you choose the fat content)
1 package dry Hidden Valley Buttermilk Ranch dressing mix
Assorted veggies of your choice (Pictured, I had a red and green pepper, carrots, and broccoli. I've also used cauliflower.)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1. Pre heat oven according to crescent roll directions. Open the 2 canisters of dough and roll them out flat so that the entire cookie sheet is covered. Bake until golden.

2. Mix together cream cheese, sour cream, and dry ranch dressing mix. This works best if you melt the cream cheese a bit in the microwave.
3. Finely chop veggies. I did this by hand for the peppers, just because they are so juicy. However, if you have a food processor, it's definitely the way to go for the rest of the veggies. Since I don't have a food processor, I simply put them in my blender, choose the "chop" setting and pulse it until they're all cut up. Very easy.

4. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly onto the flat crescent rolls.
5. Sprinkle veggies on top of mixture and top with shredded cheddar cheese.
6. Use a pizza cutter to cut into squares. Refrigerate until serving.

These are always a major hit at parties. My husband's family requests that I bring them every time we get together. I usually choose the low or non fat cream cheese and sour cream, and they still taste great! The best part is, they're very simple to make!