Homemade Sweet and Spicy Chile Sauce and Shrimp Spring “Unrolls”

Sweet and Spicy Chile Sauce with Shrimp Spring Unrolls

I tried. I really really tried. I wanted to make shrimp spring rolls to go with this amazing chile sauce I came up with, but spring rolls were not to be. During the fourth attempt at rolling the same rice paper, it fought back and exploded in the middle, dumping the contents onto the plate below. I threw my hands in the air, added more lettuce to the mix, and used the dipping sauce as a salad dressing. Take that spring unroll!

It was quite delicious, if I don’t say so myself! I wish I made more of the chile sauce, as it really does make an amazing salad dressing and of course would go great with spring or egg rolls too. I let hubby roll his own, and he didn’t have much success either. I think we both tried to put too much in each one. But we both ended up with a lovely meal, mess and all.

Rather than bore you with all the details of what went in my “salad,” I basically used the same recipe that I used another time a made spring rolls, but used medium whole shrimp instead of diced deli shrimp and switched up a few of the veggies/herbs. Recipe here —> Shrimp and Vegetable Spring Rolls with a Spicy Peanut Sauce. OK let’s get to the chile sauce (and double this up if you want more to grace your fridge for future use):

Homemade Sweet and Spicy Chile Sauce
Adapted from picturetherecipe.com

4 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/8 cup water
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon Sambal Oelek
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch mixed with same amount of water
3/4 teaspoon fish sauce

Add the sugar to a small sauce pan, then whisk in the rice vinegar and water. Turn heat to medium high and bring to a boil, whisking until sugar is dissolved.

Whisking the Chile Sauce

Add the minced garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, and Sambal Oelek. (You can substitute Sriracha if you don’t have any.)

Adding the Sambal Oelek ~ Shhh! It’s the secret ingredient!

Turn heat down and let simmer for several minutes until it slightly thickens.

Whisk in the cornstarch slurry, then simmer at a high bubble until the sauce clears and thickens. Turn off heat, stir in the fish sauce, then set aside to cool down.

Cooling the Chile Sauce

Once cool, store in airtight bottle in the refrigerator until ready to use. Serve as a dipping sauce with spring rolls, or as a sweet/spicy dressing to any salad.

Sweet and Spicy Chile Sauce with Shrimp Spring Unrolls

Download and Print this Yummy Recipe!

 

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Southwest Taco Salad with Creamy Guacamole Dressing

Southwest Taco Salad with Creamy Guacamole Dressing

Ahhh, where oh where did the summer go? School starts this week in my neck of the woods and temperatures have gone from sizzling hot to almost frosty. But that shouldn’t stop anyone from enjoying this zesty and crunchy salad filled with summer bounty topped with a smooth avocado dressing.

We’ve just returned this weekend from nine glorious days camping and fishing at the beautiful Oregon coast. What a wonderful way to end the summer!

Southwest Taco Salad with Creamy Guacamole Dressing
Adapted from Southwest Salad with Creamy Avocado Salsa Dressing at Carlsbad Cravings

Creamy Guacamole Dressing

1 small avocado, peeled and roughly diced
1 small jalapeño, seeded, deveined, and roughly chopped
1/4 cup cilantro
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/4 salsa, homemade or store-bought (I used my Hatch chile salsa)
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons olive oil
Juice from 1 lime
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 teaspoon cumin

Southwest Taco Salad

Grilled chicken breast, sliced (or deli rotisserie)
Corn kernels from 1 ear of sweet white corn
Chopped/shredded lettuce of choice
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 large red onion, chopped
1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/3 cup roasted pepitas
1/2 cup grated pepper jack cheese
Creamy Guacamole Dressing
Tortilla chips, for serving

Creamy Guacamole Dressing

Add all of the Creamy Guacamole Dressing ingredients to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth and creamy. You will have to scrape down the sides a few times. Add additional milk, if needed, to thin to desired consistency. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Next, grill the chicken breast, if it isn’t already cooked.

Grilled Chicken

Remove the kernels from the ear of corn, using a Bundt-pan to catch the kernels, if you have one. (That’s a pretty cool tip I picked up from Pinterest.)

Cutting the Corn off the Cob

Add all the salad ingredients except dressing and chips to a large bowl. Toss to combine.

Southwest Taco Salad Ingredients

Add tossed salad to individual bowls, then top with guacamole dressing and serve with tortilla chips.

Download and Print this  Yummy Recipe!

 

 

Summertime Shrimp Rolls

Summertime Shrimp Roll

You know how those fancy-schmancy lobster rolls get all the attention? Well thanks to fellow foodie blogger Tom over at The Bonafide Farm Food Journal we can all now enjoy what he calls “the lobster roll’s better more lovable brother.” Hop on over to his blog and read about what he thinks! It’s a good read.

I adapted his recipe to make only two sandwiches since my daughter was away that night for dinner. I also lightened it up a bit and used half mayo, half lowfat Greek yogurt. This hoagie just came out INCREDIBLE! It’s not only pretty to look at, it is pretty danged delicious. And it’s super-easy to make, too. Try it, you’ll like it!

Summertime Shrimp Rolls (Makes 2 Sandwiches)
Adapted from The Bonafide Farm Food Journal/Tom Hirschfeld

1/2 pound large, raw deveined shrimp
1/4 cup English cucumber, diced
4 sugar snap peas, cut crosswise into thin rounds (about 2 tablespoons)
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 heaping tablespoon mayonnaise
1 heaping tablespoon 2% fat Greek yogurt
1/4 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
Sea salt, to taste
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
2 hoagie rolls of choice (I used sesame seed)
Red or green leaf lettuce

Shrimp Roll Ingredients

Bring a 2-quart pot of water with 1 tablespoon of salt up to a roiling boil. Add the shrimp and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Drain the shrimp in a colander and run cold water over them. Remove the shells and tails then chop the shrimp into 1/2-inch pieces and add to a mixing bowl.

Chopped Shrimp and Veggies

Add the rest of the ingredients except the rolls and lettuce to the shrimp. Mix until well-combined.

Split the buns from the top, line with leaves of lettuce and top with the shrimp salad. Serve with sliced dill pickles and potato chips.

Summertime Shrimp Roll

Download and Print this Yummy Recipe!

 

Shaved Asparagus Salad with Feta and Peas

Shaved Asparagus Salad with Feta and Peas

This is a beautiful spring salad inspired by my wonderful foodie blogging friend Seana over at Cottage Grove House. She inspires me to make a lot of wonderful and healthy dishes. I didn’t have great hopes that my somewhat picky family would enjoy this, but I enjoyed the flavors of this immensely! “I like my asparagus steamed with butter,” said hubby. “It was OK, but there wasn’t much dressing on it,” said daughter. My daughter was at some event when I made this and wrapped a bowl and left it in the fridge for her for later. The lemon juice and oil was in a separate container next to it. She didn’t add any dressing to it! Ahhh, such is the life when introducing new foods and flavors. Nonetheless, I am sharing this recipe for you in hopes that others might see the bright flavors you could enjoy with such a salad.

Shaved Asparagus Salad with Feta and Peas
Adapted from Cottage Grove House recipe

1 bunch asparagus, washed and well-dried (tough ends removed)
1/4 cup green peas, fresh or frozen and thawed
1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) pine nuts
2 ounces feta, crumbled
1 big handful Spring Mix lettuce
Juice from half a lemon
Extra virgin olive oil
Ground black pepper
Sea salt

Shave the asparagus into ribbons using a vegetable peeler by holding the base of the stalk with one hand and running the peeler down to the tip. Leave the tips whole to add to the salad. Rotate the asparagus 90 degrees each time you shave, until each stalk is shaved through. (Hint: buy the thicker asparagus, it’s much easier to shave.)

Bowl of Shaved Asparagus

Toss the asparagus ribbons with the peas, pine nuts, feta, and Spring Mix lettuce.

Asparagus Salad Ready for Spring Mix and Dressing

Drizzle the lemon juice and olive oil over all, and season with fresh ground pepper and salt, to taste. Serve immediately.

Download and Print this Yummy Recipe!

French Challenge #3 ~ Salads

French Classics Cookbook

This is not only a post about my French Challenge going on, but to also say it’s been a challenging week at home with some personal family issues, hence no cooking blog this week. No new recipes or much cooking going on in this household besides microwaving and such, but we are slowly getting back on track. I hope to get you some new recipes after we get over this bump in the road of life.

Now, I present to you three dishes from the third chapter of my French cookbook. I had challenged myself to make at least one dish from each chapter, and this chapter is Vegetables and Sides. I found all the vegetable recipes to be quite simple, and one of them only had two ingredients so I wasn’t much challenged by that! So I picked three of the salads that at least expanded my horizons. Which is a nice change of pace from the Cassoulet dish I made a few weeks ago, which stretched me for sure!

Please comment which dish you’d like me to make for my next challenge by the end of Sunday, May 18. I found the longer voting times really didn’t increase the votes, so let’s just get it over with, huh? Here are the choices:

Dill and Caper Potato Salad

Dill and Caper Potato Salad

Salade Nicoise

Salade Nicoise

Warm Lentil and Chorizo Salad

Warm Lentil and Chorizo Salad

You can comment on both Facebook or down below in the comments. Thank you so much for your help!

 

Greek Chicken Pocket Sandwiches with Tzatziki and Cole Slaw

Greek Chicken Pocket Sandwiches with Tzatziki and Cole Slaw

Oh my goodness, it’s been a week since my last post but this time you get a FOUR-FER! Yep, four recipes in this post. And, I think I may have found my new favorite sandwich! We had lunch two weekends ago at our annual downtown Summer Fest, where you get to peruse local artist’s crafts and maybe stop for a bite to at at local vendor’s food trucks. It was a really hot day so decided on a Mediterranean Chicken Wrap. It was quite delicious and figured I could make them myself.

And I did! Except I didn’t use regular flatbread, I used flatbread pocket bread, which is like a Pita Pocket except now it’s been renamed to the fancier Flatbread Pocket Bread and made with whole grain wheat, but really, who cares, right? Because it all holds the fillings the same and it’s all good! So light, so refreshing. And the fam gave it two thumbs up. In fact, we liked it so much I made it again last night. Now that’s telling you how good this is. My hubby made a fabulous cole slaw to go with it last night too with the other half of the English cucumber, which rounded this meal out perfectly. The list of ingredients below looks long with four recipes and such, but it’s not, since you use most of the same ingredients in them.

Greek Chicken

3 tablespoons Greek yogurt
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon garlic
1/2 teaspoon of crushed dried oregano
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound chicken breast, sliced in half length-wise or pounded thin

Tzatziki, Flatbread, and Condiments.

Tzatziki with Dill

1 cup Greek yogurt
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons finely minced fresh dill
1/2 English cucumber, peeled and finely diced (about 1/2 cup)
Small amount of ground sea salt
Ground black pepper, to taste

Homemade Cole Slaw (Sort of)

1/2 small cabbage, sliced thin and chopped in half
1/2 English cucumber, peeled and sliced thin
1/2 cup small chopped or shredded carrots
1/4 cup store-bought cole slaw dressing
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 good squeeze of a half of lemon
Lots of black pepper, to taste

Greek Chicken Pocket Sandwich

Greek Chicken Pocket Sandwiches with Tzatziki

1 pound grilled Greek Chicken, diced
Diced tomato
Diced red onion
Flatbread pocket bread
Tzatziki
Chopped romaine lettuce

Mix together the marinade, then marinate the chicken in it for at least an hour or more. Meanwhile prepare the Tzatziki by mixing all those ingredients in a bowl and chill in the refrigerator. Now make the cole slaw by combining all those ingredients in a big bowl and also refrigerate. When ready to cook, grill the chicken over medium-high heat until done through, about 5 to 8  minutes per side.  Chop up the chicken into bite size pieces, and lay out the sandwich condiments in bowls. Assemble the pocket sandwiches with the chicken and yummies, serve with the cole slaw and enjoy!