Honey-Soy Glazed Drumsticks

I had a spur of the moment dinner party the other night and I instantly thought of drumsticks as the main dish. They are quick and super easy, unless you have to marinade them overnight, but these don't need it. I made it the night before and just heated them up in the microwave (no need to heat up the oven again) and everyone licked their plates! I served the drumsticks on a bed of polenta alongside green beans with toasted cashews. Delicious!

Last time I made drumsticks, I used a cranberry-orange glaze but I wanted to do something different this time. I still wanted it to be sweet but not as fruity, so I chose a honey/soy glaze with sesame seeds. It came out moist, tender and sweet. Exactly what I wanted.

What's your last minute entertaining meal?

Honey-Soy glazed Drumsticks

adapted by Martha Stewart

12 drumsticks

1/2 cup honey

2 tablespoon soy sauce

1 garlic cloves, minced

Sesame seeds

salt 'n' peppa

1 Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Season drumsticks with salt and pepper, both sides.

2 Mix honey, soy sauce, garlic cloves, and some sesame seeds in a bowl.

3 Line a shallow roasting pan with aluminum foil and lay the drumsticks in alternating directions in a row. Pour honey mixture over all the chicken and bake about 30-40 minutes, basting every 10 minutes.

4 Once chicken is done, transfer the remaining sauce in the pan to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Then reduce to a simmer for about 10 minutes until thickened. Serve chicken with sauce.

Sweet Mascarpone Polenta

One of my favorite memories as a child is my grandmother making me mamaliga, a romanian dish. It is very similar to polenta but since I can't find the real mamaliga in the states, polenta will just have to suffice. I will definitely post a mamaliga dish just like my grandmother made it. She would pour the "polenta" on to a big plate and make a big pile. Then comes the butter. Then comes the cottage cheese. And, if I was lucky I would get a fried egg on top! It was hot and creamy but mixed with the cool cottage cheese, amazing. I would normally eat it for lunch or dinner... ah the joys of breakfast at any time of day...

With this polenta, I decided to make it a little different. I like polenta served as a bed for fish, meat or greens but then I thought, why can't it be for dessert? (I also really wanted to use these new blue dessert cups I bought at the thrift store! Aren't they pretty?) So, to sweeten up the deal I mixed in some creamy mascarpone cheese and topped it with a dollop of strawberry preserves. It came out so creamy and delicious. This is yet another way to pretend to bake for an easy dessert, just like my roasted plum dessert!! Sweet!

Sweet Mascarpone Polenta

2 cups polenta

1 tablespoon mascarpone

splash of milk

1 Cook polenta according to directions in a medium saucepan and stir in milk, then mascarpone until creamy.

2 Serve with jam or preserves for dessert.

Roasted Tomato, Artichoke & Goat Cheese Pasta

I love a good light pasta dish thats easy to heat up for lunch or snack on cold right out of the fridge. This is one of those dishes, which was inspired by Heidi's Red Pesto Ravioli at 101cookbooks. She used cheese ravioli for the pasta and made a pesto sauce out of sun dried tomatoes. I didn't want a sauce nor a heavy pasta, just the good stuff she used like oven roasted tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, goat cheese, plus I added some roasted canned artichokes. It turned out amazing and I'm sure it will taste just as good or maybe even better right out of the fridge tomorrow. Mmmm. Her oven roasted tomatoes came out so sweet and delicious and the sun-dried tomatoes offered a tangy flavor which I love. I used these cute little pasta shapes called orecchiette, meaning "ears." Aren't they adorable?

Roasted Tomato, Artichoke & Goat Cheese Pasta

1 8 oz package of pasta, any small shape will work

Olive oil, salt 'n' peppa

Sun-dried tomatoes, julienned

Cherry tomatoes, I used an 8 oz package

1 can artichoke hearts

Crumbled Goat cheese

1 Preheat toaster oven to 350. Slice cherry tomatoes lengthwise and toss with some olive oil, spoonful of brown sugar and a pinch of salt. Arrange cut side up in toaster oven and bake for 45-50 minutes until shriveled.

2 Boil water and cook pasta until al-dente, around 11 minutes for the short small pastas. Drain.

3 While pasta is boiling, drain can of artichoke hearts and season with salt and pepper. Toss with olive oil and broil in the oven for about 7 minutes or until beginning to brown.

4 Julienne the sun dried tomatoes.

5 Toss the pasta with the oven roasted tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, and artichokes. Crumble goat cheese on top.

This dish is being sent to Amy at Very Culinary for Presto Pasta Night.

Fried Capers

I don't normally fry food that often, but when I saw this floating around online I couldn't resist. Apparently, capers turn into delicate flowers bursting with lemon goodness when fried. Did you know that? Its looks so cool!  I usually use capers as a garnish for chicken, but this opens up a whole new caper-friendly world! Imagine the possibilities — a garnish on a salad, pasta, topped on bruschetta or goat cheese crostini's, or just on its own beside a chilled glass of wine. These bursting nuggets are a perfect crunchy addition to any dish, so lets get to fryin'!

Fried Capers

Canola oil

Capers, however many you want

1 Soak capers in water for 30 minutes.

2 Drain capers and pat very dry with paper towels.

3 Heat about 1/2 an inch of oil in a small saute pan until almost smoking.

4 Drop a handful of capers into the hot oil and fry until golden, about 30 seconds.

5 Remove crispy capers with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel.

Beef Enchiladas

Some of you may know how much I love Mexican food. But for those of you who don't, let me reiterate: I LOVE Mexican food! Ok now that we got that out of the way, let's chat. I grilled some burgers the other night alongside those yummy grown up fries. Apparently I made too many burgers. 3 too many to be exact. So instead of freezing them, I crumbled them up and used them in these enchiladas. They came out so cheesy and beefy, plus I threw some pinto beans in there which made all the difference. They were moist and a perfect way to use up leftover hamburger patties. Other ways to use up leftover patties: - Freeze them - Crumble and cover with cheese and guacamole and sour cream for some meaty nachos - Crumble and use in taco soup - Crumble and use in chili - Crumble on pasta or use in meat sauce

Beef Enchiladas

2 cans enchilada sauce

3 leftover ground beef patties, or about 1 lb ground beef

1 can pinto beans

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon oregano

6 flour tortillas

Shredded Cheddar

Shredded Mozzarella

1 Bunch green onions

1 Preheat oven or toaster oven to 400 degrees.

2 Crumble hamburger patties, or brown raw ground beef in medium saute pan if not using leftovers

3 Once beef is browned, pour one can of enchilada sauce with the beef, add oregano, garlic powder and pinto beans. Simmer for 10 minutes.

4 Prepare a bowl with the other can of enchilada sauce. Grease a baking pan and pour enough of the sauce to cover the entire bottom of the pan.

5 Using tongs, dip the tortillas in the bowl of sauce and cover entire surface. Place on a separate plate, and put beef mixture in the center in a line, then Cheddar cheese, then some green onions. Fold and place in the baking pan, seam facing down. Continue assembling the tortillas until the pan is full. I had to turn some of mine to make them fit.

6 Cover the rolled tortillas with the rest of the enchilada sauce and sprinkle with plenty of mozzarella cheese on top.

7 Bake in the oven/toaster oven for 10 minutes until hot and bubbly.

Grown up Fries

When Adam moved in, he moved his glorious George Foreman grill with him. I decided to bust it out and experiment since I don't have a real outdoor grill. I thought, why not grill some fries? The idea could have gone completely wrong and I would have wasted 2 good potatoes and fresh herbs, but it came out absolutely amazing and by far my new favorite way to eat potatoes. I called these "grown up" fries because of the herbs and the fact that they aren't deep fried, so if you're looking for a healthy way to satisfy you're french fry cravings, give these a try. Maybe you'll even let your kids have some ;)  "Grown up" Fries

2 potatoes, sliced into 1/2 inch strips with skin left on

2 sprigs of thyme, 1 reserved for garnish

1/4 tablespoon dried oregano. If you have fresh, use it.

Olive oil

Salt 'n' peppa

1 Put the sliced potatoes in a medium sized bowl and coat with olive oil, salt, fresh thyme and oregano.

2 Pre-grease grill so the potatoes won't stick. (If you don't have a george foreman grill, any hot plate or pan with grill marks will do.) Layer the potatoes flat without overlapping and cover for 10-15 minutes until you see grill marks, then flip them over. You can do this in batches if you are making a large quantity.

3 Remove fries when both sides have grill marks and are tender. Sprinkle with some more salt and fresh sprigs of thyme and serve.

Roasted Plum

This is the very first dessert that I've posted here! I don't do a lot of baking because I always manage to mess something up and it doesn't come out quite right. Baking is very exact and I'm......not. I like the flexibility of spices and flavors with cooking, so when I do some sort of dessert it is something simple like this. A fruit I have on hand, or a berry medley I have frozen in the freezer served with mascarpone or ice cream. Mascarpone is an Italian style cream cheese, but taste very different than American cream cheese. The smooth creamy texture and mild flavor really goes well with any type of fruit and melts in your mouth as soon as it hits it. This weeks BSI, hosted by healthy-delicious, is plum so I chose to prepare my go-to dessert with a plum in place of berries. I roasted a whole plum with a red wine-sugar reduction and topped it with mascarpone and crushed pistachios, just to be fancy. ;) Im sending this off to healthy-delicious for this weeks BSI: Plum. Roasted Plum 1 plum 1/4 cup red wine 1/4 tablespoon sugar 1-2 orange rinds mascarpone crushed pistachios (optional) 1 Preheat toaster oven to 400 degrees. Bring red wine, sugar, and orange rind to a boil in a small saucepan and then simmer for 10 minutes until reduced to a syrup-like consistency. 2 Cut plum in half and remove pit. When syrup is ready, pour half of it over the split plum in an oven safe dish and bake in toaster oven for 10-12 minutes until tender. Halfway through, turn the plums skin side up to roast the other side. 3 Serve open-faced plum with rest of the syrup with a scoop of mascarpone on top. Top with crushed pistachios.

Spring Rolls!

You know you love these papery thin mini-burritos stuffed with crunchy fresh veggies. You just feel so healthy and refreshed, right?! That's they way I feel when I am at a Japanese or Thai restaurant, because I have to order them. They are SO good! And after trying making these for the first time at home, I have to say that they taste exactly like they do in the restaurant! I'm serious, I'm not just saying that! I was hoping the wrappers I bought weren't too thick because I've had some at restaurants where the wrapper was all I could taste. Not these, uh uh. These were the perfect thickness. I found a big pack at the asian farmers market.

 All you do is soak them in warm water for a minute or two and they become clear and pliable. You have to be a little careful in handling them. I ripped the first one I did, but then I got the hang of it.

I stuffed them with avocado, cucumber, carrot lettuce, mint and some lime juice – but whatever you have in the fridge works. Let's roll!!                            

Spring Rolls serves 2

2 carrots, julienned

2 cucumbers, julienned

1 avocado, sliced

Some lettuce

3 spring roll wrappers or rice paper

lime juice

salt

Dipping sauce

Soy sauce mixed with some sesame oil.

1 Lay out your sliced veggies in small piles on a cutting board so it'll be easy to assemble each spring roll. Squeeze some lime juice over all the veggies and season with salt.

2 Soak first wrapper in warm water (I used a shallow quiche plate for this) for a minute and remove, letting the excess water drip.

3 Lay the wrapper flat on a smooth surface (I used another cutting board) and begin to assemble. First, you lay the lettuce down and then the rest of the veggies.

4 Once you are ready to roll, take the wrapper end closest to you over the veggies and tuck in tightly underneath then begin to roll away from you, holding on tightly. I just stuffed the two ends inside after I rolled and they stayed shut. If the roll doesn't stay shut for some reason, just add a tiny bit of water to seal. The more moisture the wrapper has, the more likely it will do what you want it to without ripping.

D.O.L.S. Salad Dressing

When it comes to salads, I quickly chop up whatever veggies I have in the fridge and throw in some greens whether its spinach, arugula, or butter lettuce. I don't want to spend hours on a salad, let alone the salad dressing! This simple 3-step dressing is super quick and super tasty! 

You would never guess how tasty this is from such simple ingredients:

D-dijon

O-olive oil

L-lemon juice

S-salt.

These ingredients are almost always on hand anyways which makes this dressing a cinch. Just whisk the 3 ingredients and you're done. 

D.O.L.S. Dressing 

(measurements depends on how much you are making and your taste)

1 tablespoon olive oil

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1/2 tablespoon dijon mustard

pinch of salt

1 Whisk all ingredients together and adjust according to your taste. If it is too lemony for your taste for example, add a bit more dijon and oil.

Mom's roasted potatoes

When you think of your mom's cooking, what is the first dish that comes to your mind?

Casseroles?

Turkey on thanksgiving?

Bologna sandwiches?

Well, the first that comes to my mind are these oven roasted potatoes. It is one of my favorite comfort foods. My mom has been making these ever since I can remember, and boy are they delicious. This side is so simple yet tastes amazing and always reminds me of home. The sauce is made up of 5 basic ingredients: Olive oil, paprika, garlic, salt and pepper. Thats it! This is a great make ahead side dish for a party or just the fam. Enjoy!

Mom's Oven Roasted Potatoes

3 potatoes, cut anyway you want

4 tablespoons olive oil

about 3 tablespoons of paprika

2 garlic cloves, minced

salt 'n' peppa

1 Prepare the sauce in a small mixing bowl: whisk the oil, salt, pepper, garlic, and paprika together.

2 Peel potatoes and cut into whatever size you want, I cubed mine.

3 Pour the sauce over the cut potatoes and coat thoroughly. Let sit for 30 minutes. (optional)

4 Preheat oven to 400 degrees (I used the toaster oven) and spread the potatoes with all the sauce in a baking pan and cover with foil. Bake until tender (about 40 minutes).

5 If you want crispy potatoes, after the potatoes are tender take the foil off and bake further for 20 minutes or until desired level of crispiness.

Thrifty note:

I got these cute bowls from the home section of an asian supermarket. Can you believe it? You never know where you are going to find stuff, but Im always on the lookout! The first thing that attracted me was the vibrant green color, Im trying to break out of the blues! :)

BSI: Fetalicious

It is time to present the feta dishes for BSI for all the feta lovers out there.There has been some great dishes served up this round so thanks for everyone who participated. These are in no particular order. Let's take a look:

Burpandslurp sent in a beautiful decadent Feta ravioli's in a feta-rosemary broth. How amazing!

Chaya from comfycook sent in a delicious feta and red bell pepper linguine.

Soma from ecurry, a first timer BSI participant, submitted a wonderful appetizer/side dish of marinated feta blocks. Healthy-Delicious sent a healthy zucchini boat stuffed with a feta-pepper sauce. My cooking hut sent in a beautiful tuna veggie couscous salad. This would be great for a picnic or grill out! Parita's Kitchen sent in a unique puff pastry appetizer with melon and feta! Runeatrepeat sent this orzo with artichoke and feta right before a 8-9 mile run! I wish I was as athletic as she is! Shiny cooking submitted this beautiful bounty of strawberries, feta and greens!

Thought4food thoughtfully sent in a spinach feta and sweet onion pie. The flaky crisp on top is so delicate! Ivy from Kopiaste sent in a beautiful cucumber stuffed fetatziki! It is a twist on tzatziki using feta instead of yogurt. Nutmeg Nanny sent in a scrumptious pasta with a feta tomato sauce and shrimp! How delicious does that sound?? That wraps up this weeks BSI. Thanks again everyone for participating in this weeks BSI challenge: Feta. I was really stuck on picking a winner so I used a random integer generator and the result was Thought4food's spinach feta and sweet onion pie! It truly looks delicious and has a great photo to boot! Congratulations to you! I will email you for your prize details. As for the next BSI host, it is Lauren over at healthy-delicious! She has a beautiful blog and am fully confident that she will be a great host.

Lemony Mint Couscous with Chickpea and Edamame

Side dishes are kind of an after thought around here...I tend to focus more on the main dish and then throw some greens on the side because Im just hungry and want to put food in my mouth asap! However, today I thought I would dedicate a bit more thought on a side dish that is extremely simple to put together and can easily be adapted. I used canned chickpeas, shelled edamame, (don't you love those crunchy little green gems?) mint and lemon juice. How easy is that? I actually liked this couscous better cold, right out of the fridge. Mmm, boy was it good. The mint and tiny lemony couscous balls are so light and fluffy they dance on your tongue. This one is definitely being added to the rotation. What's your go-to side dish?

Lemony Mint Couscous with Chickpea and Edamame

1 box of instant couscous prepared according to package directions, I used Near East brand

1/2 can chickpeas

2 lemon

Edamame, shelled

Couple leaves of mint

salt 'n' peppa

1 Prepare couscous according to package directions. Pour into large bowl.

2 In a separate bowl, combine juice of one lemon with the chickpeas and mix together.

Season with salt and pepper.

3 Mix the lemony chickpeas with couscous, then add the edamame.

4 Slice some mint leaves up and throw into couscous mixture and combine.

5 Juice second lemon on top of the whole salad and combine throughout.

Thrifty note:

I bought a set of these rich brown lacquer bowls yesterday seen in the picture above.

I love the cascading pattern on the edges of the bowls. What I also liked was that every

bowl was different and had a unique mark by the artist. This way, I know that it was not

manufactured, but rather handmade.

Here is a somewhat better shot of the colored edge of the bowls.

Also, a big shout out to peachkins for

giving me such a sweet award!

Thank you, peachkins!

Go and check out her lovely blog!

Oh, and don't forget to submit for BSI: Feta.

Deadline is Sunday, July 12.

The Best Egg Salad

Its getting real hot out here, so hot that I barely want to leave the apartment. So when I'm basking in my cool air conditioned igloo, I like to prepare my favorite summer lunch — a mountain of chunky chilled egg salad on top of sourdough toast. It's simple and satisfying. The secret to this salad is one special ingredient. Are you ready? You sure? Ok, ok. It's avocado! It provides kind of a duo of textures. The density from the egg yolk and the buttery soft avocado sing in this delicious salad. I also add finely chopped red onion, green onions, and a bit of dijon mustard and mayonnaise.

What's your favorite summer lunch/snack?

Best Egg Salad

5 hard boiled eggs

half avocado

1/4 of a red onion, finely chopped

2 green onions, finely chopped

tablespoon of dijon

1/2 tablespoon of mayonnaise

1 Peel hard boiled eggs and place in a medium bowl. With a back of a fork, smash the eggs so they break apart but are still chunky and have some whole parts. Be careful not to over smash the eggs.

2 Score the inside of the avocado half into cubes and scoop out with a spoon into the bowl.

3 In a separate bowl, prepare the dijon/mayo mixture.

4 Gently fold the avocado, chopped red onion, green onion, and the dijon/mayo into the eggs. Serve with toasted bread.

The blue plate in the above photo is a recent thrifty find from a local thrift store. I love the octagonal shape and dotted detail around the edges, and of course the color! I will try and point out my thrifty finds in my photos more often.

*Don't forget to submit your BSI: Feta recipe. Deadline is Sunday, July 12.

Blogger Secret Ingredient: Feta

Doggy Bloggy at Chez what has kindly asked me to host this weeks BSI: Blogger Secret Assignment. After racking my brain about what the ingredient should be, I finally came to a decision — my favorite cheese of course, feta! Did you know that feta means 'slice' in Greek? Neither did I! It is a very versatile cheese that can be used in a variety of ways, crumbled or melted. I chose to crumble mine on top of balsamic dressed caramelized onions served in a puff pastry shell. You get the best of both worlds from the sweetness of the caramelized onions and the salty tang from the cool feta cheese and of course the added flaky crunch of the pastry puff. It is a utopia of flavors!

Caramelized onion and feta stuffed puff

adapted by Half-assed kitchen

2 yellow onions, sliced thin

1-2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 box puff pastry shells, make sure it says shells on the box

crumbled feta

a couple of sprigs of mint

1 Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2 Heat some olive oil in a pan and caramelize the onion slices for about 30 minutes over low heat until golden brown, not charred.

3 While the onions are caramelizing, thaw the puff pastry and bake for 15-17 minutes.

4 Add 1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar to the onions and cook an additional 5-10 minutes.

5 When the pastries are puffed up and ready,layer the the shell with a bit of feta, then add a layer of onions, then top with more feta. Add a sprig of mint.

Here are the past BSI hosts with their chosen ingredient:

Week 38: Zoe - Feta

Week 37: ChezWhat- Potatoes

Week 36: Cinnamon, Spice & Everything Nice - Blueberries

Week 35: Girlichef - Greens

Week 34: The Ungourmet - Watermelon

Week 33: Bread + Butter - Bell Pepper

Week 32: Burp and Slurp - Corn

Week 31: Say Yes to Salad – Kabocha

Week 30: Thinspired – Bananas

Week 29: To Be The Whole Package – Almonds

Week 28: Kristas Kravings – Lemon

Week 27: From French Fries To Flax Seeds – Coconut

Week 26: Plentiful Plants – Avocado

Week 25: Training Fuel – Eggs

Week 24: Dinner at Christina’s – Cabbage

Week 23: Hey What’s for Dinner, Mom? – Strawberries

Week 22: One Bite at a Time – Basil

Week 21: Just Sweet Enough – Black Beans

Week 20: What I Ate Yesterday – Kale

Week 19: What’s for Dinner – Orange

Week 18: BranAppetit! – Spinach

Week 17: Tales of Expansion – Dates

Week 16: Biggest Diabetic Loser – Zucchini

Week 15: Sweet & Natural – Peppermint

Week 14: bella eats [and runs] – Ginger

Week 13: Coffee Talk – Walnuts

Week 12: For the Love of Oats – Pumpkin

Week 11: Trying to Heal – Sweet Potatoes

Week 10: The Inner Workings of a College Graduate – Eggplant

Week 9: Itzy’s Kitchen – Pears

Week 8: The Fitnessista – Cranberries

Week 7: Tri to Cook – Lentils

Week 6: Rhodey Girl Tests – Polenta

Week 5: Eating Bender – Butternut Squash

Week 4: Care to Eat – Apples

Week 3: On a Lobster Placemat – Mushrooms

Week 2: Hangry Pants – Tomatoes

Week 1: Sportsnutritionliving – Quinoa

I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!! All you have to do is create a recipe using feta, link back to this post, and either leave a comment here with a url of your feta post, or email me directly at znachman@gmail.com.

Deadline is Sunday, July 12. **Updated: There will be a prize!