Oven Roasted Corn on the Cob

Today’s post is pretty simple… with bbq season coming up, we’ll all be wanting lots of corn on the cob. Personally, my favorite way to cook it is to coat it in butter and good chili spices and throw it on the bbq, but a good quick way in the house is to rub it in olive oil, sprinkle some salt and chili powder on it, and bake it. Another good option is to use a lime cilantro butter, with a stick of softened butter mixed with a half of a zested and juiced lime, a quarter cup diced cilantro, a teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of cayenne.

 

Feta Cheese Spread

This is going to be a short post… first, I’m not entirely awake yet, and second, this is a pretty simple recipe. It’s also kind of a pre-post for a roasted vegetable panini that I’ll post in a few days, but I wanted separate recipes since this is a really tasty spread.

Anyway, start with feta cheese, sour cream, fresh dill, kosher salt (I’m using a roasted tomato salt, hence the red, but kosher is fine), a diced garlic clove, and a bit of lemon juice.

 

Sausage, Kale, and Navy Bean Soup

While it’s still cold and soup still sounds good, I wanted to get another soup recipe up here. This is one I adapted from a Food in Jars post, and canned to send to friends and family for Christmas. Even though it has sausage in it, there isn’t a lot, and it has a bunch of vegetables, so it’s pretty healthy.

Start by softening the beans by soaking them overnight or, if you have a pressure cooker, cook them for 30 minutes in that.

Then add some olive oil to a large pot and once it’s hot, cook the vegetables until softened and browned.

Next, add the sausage to the pot and brown it.

 

Spaghetti with Chicken and Thai Peanut Sauce

This is an old favorite recipe of mine, gotten from some quick pasta cookbook I got back when I was first learning how to cook. It’s pretty simple: boil noodles, marinate chicken, cook a peanut sauce, cook chicken, combine! I almost always pair this with garlic cheese bread, and usually a simple salad of some kind.

Start by marinating the chicken for 10 minutes (or, if you have time, a few hours refrigerated) in soy sauce, lime juice, your choice of cooking oil, garlic, and ginger. Then cook the chicken (no photos of that here, I forgot to take one), on a grill pan, the bbq, or something like a George Foreman grill, which is what I used. After cooking the chicken, let it cool and cut into 1/4 inch slices. While the chicken is cooking, boil the pasta water and cook the spaghetti noodles, and drain when they are done.

Meanwhile add soy sauce, lime juice, peanut butter, chicken broth, sugar, salt, and red pepper flakes in a small saucepan. Pour the marinade from the chicken into the saucepan as well.

 

Lemon Chili Shrimp

Today we’re starting the ramp up to Superbowl with a great grilled shrimp appetizer. I think I’ll definitely be making these, and suggest you do too.

First, you need to get a bunch of uncooked shrimp. I tend to get them unpeeled, and then peel, devein, and remove the tail myself, so they’re simpler to eat, but what you remove is up to you.

Marinate them for two hours (preferably, but a minimum of 30 minutes) in a mixture of lemon juice, soy sauce, chili sauce, ginger root, cilantro, garlic, and honey.

Thread them on skewers, reserving the sauce.

 

Mom’s Tacos

In honor of moving my blog to it’s own fully self-hosted domain (hooray!) I’m posting another family recipe: my mother’s tacos. Slightly spicy, well seasoned, they’re fantastic. Also, please, PLEASE, do not use premade taco seasoning. It’s way too salty, and making your own is incredibly easy. I recommend using Alton Brown’s recipe.

First, start by browning a pound of ground beef, then pour off all of the excess grease.

Add some salsa, taco seasoning, and a can of spicy (or not, as you prefer) V-8.

 

Chipotle Hummus

As a friend described this, the hummus is yummus. Now, this is actually a combination of a technique from Smitten Kitchen, where you peel the garbanzo beans for a smoother, lighter hummus, but the flavors are from Natalie’s Daily Crave, somewhat adapted for my own tastes.

Start by peeling two cans of garbanzo beans. The technique is pretty simple, just hold one between your index and middle fingers with the pointy end toward you, and use your thumb to ‘pop’ the bean into a bowl, then discard the skin.

Once you’ve peeled all the beans, place them in a food processor along with 4 chipotle peppers and some adobo sauce, some tahini, olive oil, lots of garlic, some lime juice, salt, paprika, and cumin.