Party favrites?

I am planning a Ladies' Night for my Birthday! I plan on serving appetizers, drinks and desserts. I figure I'll make a few of my favorite appetizers (make ahead), others will bring stuff also. I'll probably make the Shrimp cocktail from the above post, or Regina's Crab meat Cheese Spread. I'll do my Brie with chutney and probably fresh mozzarella, basil and tomato. What suggestions do you have?

Getting dinner on the table, when you'd rather be at the beach, in the pool, in the garden, or playing with the kids, is a challenge on summer days. Not to mention the nights like tonight when it's much too hot to turn the oven on, slave over the stove, or even the grill.

While cooking for my Weight Watchers client today, I stumbled upon this easiest of yummy dinners ... Thai coconut curry shrimp over jasmine rice (for those of you counting, one serving of shrimp with one cup of rice is 7 Weight Watchers Points).

You may not have some of the ingredients on hand, Thai red curry paste and fish sauce, for example, but buy them and you will definitely continue to use them, in this recipe and other Asian specialties, even to marinate chicken, fish, and veggies for the grill.

Jasmine rice, like white rice, cooks in only 15 minutes, not like it's longer-cooking brown and Basmati cousins. Even in today's 93° (and rising) temps, I can stand cooking 15-minute rice and stir-frying for less than 10 minutes. Especially when the results taste this good.

Thai coconut curry shrimp over jasmine rice
serves 4

cooking spray
4 green onions, chopped, whites and greens separated
1 T Thai red curry paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
salt, to taste
6 oz light coconut milk
2 t fish sauce
¼ c fresh cilantro, chopped
4 c jasmine rice, cooked

Cook jasmine rice according to package directions. Meanwhile, heat a large nonstick skillet or wok to medium-high heat and spray with cooking spray. Add green onion whites and red curry paste and sauté 1 minute. Add garlic and shrimp, season with salt, and cook about 2-3 minutes. Add coconut milk, fish sauce, and mix well. Simmer about 2-3 minutes, until shrimp is cooked through. Remove from heat, mix in green onion greens and cilantro. Serve over rice. Enjoy!

To save even more time today, I bought the shrimp peeled & cleaned, and I used already-minced garlic from a jar in the produce section.

“I am not a glutton — I am an explorer of food.”

— Erma Bombeck

This sounds good, but the waists of my pants these days might differ in their opinion. So, one of our New Year’s resolutions around Chez Habib is to eat healthier and watch our portion sizes. As a culture, we are all guilty of super-sizing. Start reading serving sizes on labels, you’ll be surprised by how many servings you and your family might actually be consuming. (My older kids recently told me that one of the best lessons I’ve taught them is to be cognizant of what the serving size really is — they don’t always follow it, but they know where to find it if they choose to ;)

One of my new favorite recipes is Sweet Hot Tofu from myrecipes.com. What I love about it is that it’s so adaptable. The first time I make a recipe, I usually try to make it as directed so I can evaluate whether it’s a “keeper” or not. When I first made it for my daughter and I for lunch, I thought it would benefit from the addition of broccoli, so I added broccoli to the leftovers and had them for lunch the rest of the week.

One of my clients loves shrimp and Asian food, so Sweet Hot Shrimp with Broccoli often appears on her menu. Another client loves chicken, voil&agrav;! Sweet Hot Chicken and Snow Peas! What are your favorites? Give it a try yourself.

Sweet hot tofu
serves 4
(modified from myrecipes.com)

1 14-oz package firm, reduced-fat tofu
1 c rice
2 c water
2 t canola oil
2/3 c fat-free, low-sodium vegetable stock(use chicken or seafood stock if you desire modifying the recipe)
1/4 c hoisin sauce
1 T dry sherry
1 t cornstarch
2 t low-sodium soy sauce
1 t honey
1/2 t dark sesame oil
dash of crushed red pepper
2 t fresh ginger, minced or grated
2 t garlic, minced or grated
1 c broccoli, cut into bite-size florets
1/3 c green onions, thinly sliced

Drain tofu, wrap in several layers of paper towels or kitchen towel, and place under a heavy plate for about 30 minutes.

Bring rice and water to a boil in a medium saucepan, cover and reduce heat to low. Cook for 20 minutes. Once rice is done, add broccoli florets to saucepan and replace cover. Broccoli with steam.

In a small bowl, combine stock, hoisin, sherry, cornstarch, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, and crushed red pepper, stirring well. Set aside.

Cut tofu into 1-inch cubes. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add tofu and sauté for 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from skillet.

Add ginger and garlic to pan. Sauté 30 seconds. Stir in broth mixture, and cook 1 minute, or until thickened, stirring constantly. Add tofu and broccoli to pan; cook 30 seconds, stirring gently to coat. Remove from burner and add green onions. Serve immediately over rice.

Shrimp Cocktail

Check out this twist on Shrimp cocktail! I think I'll try it!
http://www.bhg.com/recipe/appetizers-snacks/mediterranean-shrimp/

Let me know if you try it!

Father’s day is Sunday, June 20th. Let’s think of and share about our fathers ... and, of course, food.

1. Does your father cook? If so, what’s his specialty? What’s your favorite thing that he makes?

2. What’s your father’s favorite meal? Is this what you’ll be making him on Sunday?

3. What’s your funniest food-and-father story?

4. What’s your most tender food-and-father story?

Anyone else out there have questions?

Pop corn cake

POP CORN CAKE

1 cup popcorn – popped 1 pkg. Large gum drops

Mix and put into greased pan.

8 oz. Peanuts 1 16 oz. Pkg. Marshmallows

melted with 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup oil

Erin's favorite treat. Grandma usually makes it for her at the cabin for her birthday.

Summer Salads

Katie posted on her former in home cooking blog (now moved here) about summer salads yesterday. I laughed, because I made two salads to go with dinner last night, and was looking for some more for this week.

First, I tossed blanched green beans with halved cherry tomatoes, basil and balsamic vinegar. Simple and delicious.

For my second salad, I made a thai cucumber salad. I also added shredded carrots. Delish. I have included the cucumber recipe below. Both of these salads are likely to be new go-tos for me this summer. So easy, and so great!

Ingredients

• 3 large cucumbers, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, and cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
• 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/2 cup chopped peanuts

Directions

1. Toss the cucumbers with the salt in a colander, and leave in the sink to drain for 30 minutes. Rinse with cold water, then drain and pat dry with paper towels.
2. Whisk together the sugar and vinegar in a mixing bowl until the sugar has dissolved. Add the cucumbers, jalapeno peppers, and cilantro; toss to combine. Sprinkle chopped peanuts on top before serving.

It’s June and none of my clothes fit, so I’m planning to serve a new salad every day. Today I marinated crispy “stir-fry veggies” in an Asian dressing and put them on top of field greens. I used cucumbers, sugar snap peas, snow peas, carrot shreds, celery, bean sprouts, and water chestnuts. Yum! We topped it with sliced grilled chicken that had been marinated in hoisin sauce. Double yum!

Asian ginger-sesame dressing

3 cloves garlic, minced
2 T minced fresh ginger root
½ c sesame oil
1/3 c rice vinegar
½ c low-sodium soy sauce
3 T honey
¼ c water

Combine all ingredients in a jar or bowl and mix well.