This week's Carnival of the Recipes is up at the home of fellow MuNuvian Jordana of Curmudgeonry. Lots of great recipes from all across the spectrum this week, and some I definitely want to try!

Go here for all the yummy-ness!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:07 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Alright, I suppose they should have been "sepratists" or "jedi" or "clones" but most normal people don't include those words in their recipe titles, so we're going OT.

Two recipes this week:

First, from Emporer Palpatine:

Imperial Pork Salad
Makes 4 servings.

1/4 cup vegetable oil, divided
1/2 pound lean pork, cut in
bite-size pieces
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup California raisins
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3 fresh ripe plums, divided
4 cups shredded lettuce
1/4 cup chopped cilantro or parsley
Sliced green onion; for garnish

Directions:
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in skillet. Add pork and garlic.
Saute over high heat 1 minute or until pork is no longer pink. Add raisins and stir in remaining oil, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch and ginger. Bring to boil. Remove from heat. Cube 1 plum and combine with lettuce and cilantro in shallow serving bowl. Spoon pork mixture on top.
Quarter remaining plums and arrange along side. Sprinkle onion slices overall.

And from the Alliance:

Rebel Angels
Makes 4 servings.

1 pound bacon
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons dried basil
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon ground white pepper
1 tablespoon ground cayenne pepper
5 tablespoons paprika
1 pound large shrimp - peeled
and deveined

Directions:

1 Cut bacon strips into thirds. In a large saucepan fry
bacon 5 minutes, they should remain somewhat limp (bacon is
not yet fully cooked).
2 Combine onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, basil,
thyme, black pepper, white pepper, cayenne pepper, and
paprika in a medium sized bowl. (To regulate the spiciness of
this dish use the white pepper and cayenne pepper to
taste). Coat shrimp with the spices.
3 Wrap bacon around shrimp, secure with toothpicks.
4 Fry shrimp in saucepan over medium heat until bacon is
crisp and shrimp are pink. Serve hot.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:42 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The lovely and talented Boudicca of Boudicca's Voice is the host of this week's Carnival of the Recipes. Lots of yummy things this week, and especially a number of really yummy looking recipes that won't break that swimsuit diet!

Drop by and check it out!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 07:56 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It's getting to be summer, and aside from my baby blueberry bush, the one thing I must have in the garden is basil. Our favorite thing to do with fresh basil is make a quick salad of tomatoes, Mozzarella cheese, and Basil.

It's pretty simple, not even a formal recipe and you can scale it up or down to feed as many or as few people as you like.

1. Equal parts tomatoes and mozzarella cheese.
- We like chopped roma tomatoes or whole cherry or grape tomatoes
- I usually use fresh mozzarella balls in brine (from costco!), chop to approx. the size of the tomato pieces. Cubed manchego or gouda is also a good treat if you're in the mood for a different cheese.

2. Several sprigs of fresh basil, chopped
-again, to your taste. We like a lot of basil

3. Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1.5 Tbsp/cup of tomatoes or so
-get a lightly flavored oil so it doesn't overpower the fresh ingredients

4. Balsamic Vinegar, 2 Tbsp/cup of tomatoes
-we use a Pomegranate flavored BV, but a good strong standard balsamic or another fruit flavor works well, too.

That's it.

Chop tomatoes and cheese to bite size pieces if necessary. Chop up basil leaves, removing stem pieces since they're not as nice to eat. Toss with oil and BV. Refrigerate before serving if desired or serve immediately.

If I have some on hand, I like to toss in a few small crostini just before serving for some crunch.

This is on the menu nearly every day in the summer, especially if the deer have avoided the tomato plants, and I have to fight my husband to even get any

Posted by: caltechgirl at 09:48 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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I wish....

According to this, today is Eat What You Want Day!

Yay! You can celebrate one of two ways:
1. Buy Steve-O's book
or (substantially cheaper a.k.a. free)...
2. Share what you would eat if you could eat everything you wanted.

Here's my list:
Tommy's Chili Double Cheeseburger and chili cheese fries
Double Double Animal Style, and a Strawberry shake
Waffle Cone double scoop Peppermint over Cookies-N-Cream from Fosselman's
Trader Joe's Taquitos
Aunt Mary's Boereg (Armenian cheese turnovers)
Beef Stroganoff (my grandmother's)
Amante's Shepherds Pie Pizza with Pepperoni
Fried Dill Pickles
Big Stick Popsicles (the red, orange, and yellow ones, you can't get them here)
Homemade tamales
Salami and ritz crackers
Caramel Apples
Garlic Bread
A&W Root Beer Float

There's more, I just felt sick looking at that much food. BTW, anyone notice a theme here?

(h/t Michele)

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