Tempura

Shrimp and Green Bean Tempura

So many recipes to share, so little time!  Here is a quick one that is wonderful!  We had a "take-out Friday night" with the kids.  I served the tempura shrimp and green beans family style.  The kids were so excited!  They loved it!  Definitely fun to shake up the norm with something like this.

Tempura Base:

- 1 cup flour

- seasonings

- 1 cup club soda, cold

Heat a couple inches of oil to 350 degrees.   Dry what you are tempura-frying.  Mix seasonings into flour.  Mix club soda into flour.  Batter will be lumpy.  Coat items in batter.  Drop in oil.  Takes about 3-4 minutes to brown.  

For green beans:

Cook green beans in cold water for 3 minutes.  Rinse in cold water to stop cooking.  Dry off.  Then follow above instructions.

For Asian tempura:

Season flour with salt, pepper, ground ginger, garlic powder (1 tbsp of sesame oil, optional).  Just soy sauce for a dipping sauce or favorite spicy Asian dipping sauce for serving!

For pickles:  

Dry well.  Season flour with salt, pepper, garlic powder, pinch of cayenne pepper and a tablespoon of the pickling liquid.  Ranch dressing for serving

For all:  

After frying, place on paper towels to get rid of any excess oil.  Fry in batches.  Then, keep in a low degree (like 175-200 degrees) oven to keep warm while finishing the batches. 

Fried Pickles

a Porger or a Ribette

As you can tell, I was not sure what to name this one.  

About two weeks ago, we hosted my neighbor for his birthday.  The barbecue and jalapeno poppers are both recipes that make a ton!  I love that!  So, almost half the meat and about half the poppers went into the freezer.   Since then, my neighbor mentioned that he loves the McRib at McDonalds.  Uummm, no thanks.  I informed him that I would use his birthday leftovers to make him the Simmons version!  Last night was that night!

- left over pulled pork, diced (I probably used about a pound)

- 1 egg

- about 1/2 tbsp flour

- about 1 tbsp barbecue sauce

For the sandwich:

- rolls

- pickles

- onions, sliced or diced

- barbecue sauce

Combine the diced pulled pork, egg, flour, and barbecue sauce in a mixing bowl.  Mix until well combined.  Divide into eight equal portions.  Mold into a patty shape.  Heat a tbsp of vegetable oil over medium heat.  Add patties.  Brown one side, and then flip to the other side.  Brown and heat through.  (Remember, just like with hamburgers, put into saute pan and don't move or stir until it is time to flip.)

Eight equal patties makes slider size portions.  Put one patty on roll.  Garnish with sauce, pickles, and onions (for the same effect of the McRib garnishes.)

Little Porger sliders or Simmons Ribette, served with jalapeno poppers for the adults, apple slices for the kids, and roasted carrots for everyone.  Yum!!

One thing to note... the kids ate the pulled pork slider much better than they eat pulled pork.  I don't know if it is the fact that it is stringy or what, but they have never been great pulled pork eaters.  Both my 1 year old and my 4 year old at the slider really well!  Dipped in ketchup of course!  

Taquitos

This is such a great, simple idea!  I love Mexican flavors; I am always looking to add them to our weekly rotation.  Always!  So, here is a pinterest inspiration turned success!  

I made it dairy-free for my little guy.  My preference would always be too add cheese.  But, for little guy's sake, no cheese on these.  I think any taco meat or favorite taco, burrito, enchilada filling would be perfect for these.  I used shredded chicken that was flavored with Sofrito (a Mexican tomato, onions, peppers, and cilantro mixture), salt, pepper, and cumin.  Then I mashed a can of black beans and mixed those in with the chicken.  Yum!  (My preschool daughter is not a fan of beans, so mixing like this is my best bet to get her to eat them as well as stretch the chicken to make this quite a budget-friendly meal!)

Put about a 1/3 cup of the mixture onto a tortilla.  Roll them up.

Mix a tablespoon each of melted butter (non-dairy butter this time again for the little man) and vegetable oil.  Brush the taquitos with the mix.

Bake 15 minutes or until lightly golden (as you can see below, I should have pulled mine out about 2 minutes earlier).

Notice today's recipe is not really a recipe.  Just a great idea!  Use your favorite taco meat.  Or, go vegetarian with sweet potatoes and black beans.  Or, make it really kid friendly with just meat and cheese or beans and cheese.  Or...  so many ways to fill them!

We had a family dinner the night before. I had taken a cheese dip.  So perfect for dipping taquitos in!  I served with roasted vegetables, salsa and my left over cheese dip.  I will be making these again soon!

Make a lot.  Half could go in the freezer.  Or, make for Monday night supper then eat the leftovers for lunch the rest of week (or in lunch boxes)!

Eggplant Parmesan - for kids!

Most of the time my creativity comes by copying an idea I have seen someone else do.  But, every now and then, I get a pretty good idea.  I think this is one of those!  I wanted something special for Anna-Kate (now 3) in honor of her first dance class and her first full week of preschool.  Normally something special means ice cream with sprinkles or a cookie.  I am pretty proud of myself for coming up with something that was healthy and still translated to "special!"

Eggplant Parmesan 

To make it exciting for Anna-Kate, I created some stars out of the eggplant. Then gave her marinara for dipping rather than poured over it.  She thought the stars were really cool!

I used graffiti eggplant, a smaller variety.  AK had seen these in the store about a week ago and thought they were pretty.  

I first cut them in the traditional discs.  Then I used my knife to draw the outline of the star.

a closer view

Then, I cut the negative space away with my knife.  (The discarded portion would be great in a ratatouille or something the next day, especially if made at the same time.  You would have lunch the next day.)

I breaded and sauteed using a traditional breading station and method. (I'll add recipe at bottom.)

I served with steamed broccoli and angel hair with marinara.  So yummy and so fun!

Confession:  my girlie girl didn't like that her hands got dirty holding the eggplant to dip.  She ate it better after I cut it up for her to stab with her fork first and then dip.

I used this marinara and a traditional breading station for the eggplant:
- first bowl with flour
- second bowl with 2 eggs, beaten
- third bowl with bread crumbs mixed with Italian seasoning and parmesan cheese

Dredge the eggplant first in the flour, shaking off any excess.  Then in egg.  Then thoroughly in breadcrumb mixture.

Heat a few tbsp of olive oil in saute pan.  Place eggplant in pan until browned, about 3 minutes.  Then flip, allow that side to brown, another 3-4 minutes.  Don't crowd the pan.  It will take you a few batches (above took me 2 batches), depending on how much you are cooking.

Hope you enjoy this! and that it inspires you to do something creative for your family!