Grilled Corn Salad

Ingredients

  • 6 ears sweet corn, shucked
  • Nonstick spray
  • Oil (we used vegetable oil)
  • Salt and black pepper (we used kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper)
  • 2 tsp. minced lime zest
  • ¼ cup fresh lime juice
  • ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp. minced fresh garlic
  • 2 tsp. honey
  • ¼ tsp. ground cumin
  • 1 ½ cups sliced mini sweet pepper
  • ½ cup sliced jalapeño (we halved, seeded and then sliced 2 jalapeños)
  • ½ cup crumble Cotija
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

  1. Preheat your grill to medium-high, brushing the grill grate with oil afterwards.
  2. Coat the corn in nonstick spray, seasoning it with salt and pepper afterwards. Grill the corn, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes or until it looks charred on all sides. Take the charred corn and place it on a cutting board, letting it cool down a little before cutting the kernels off the cobs.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk the lime zest, lime juice, olive oil, garlic, honey and cumin together, seasoning it with salt and pepper afterwards.
  4. Add the corn, mini sweet pepper slices, jalapeño slices, Cotija cheese, cilantro and the vinaigrette to a large mixing bowl, tossing to combine. Season the salad with salt and pepper to taste.
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This dish just feels like the perfect summer side dish ! It’s so colorful and bright looking. You get a lot of different textures in this and despite how many slices of jalapeños are in the dish, it wasn’t overly spicy at all ! We really loved how much the flavor from the Cotija cheese came through but didn’t make the salad salty !

We got this recipe from Cuisine at Home.

We weren’t paid in any form to promote Cuisine at Home.

Take care everybody !

Thai Burger with peanut sauce

Ingredients

  • Peanut Sauce
    • 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
    • ¼ cup fresh lime juice
    • 2 Tbsp. hoisin sauce (we used the recipe for hoisin sauce from the Hoisin Sloppy Joes)
    • 1 Tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce
    • 1 Tbsp. honey
    • 1 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil
    • 1 Tbsp. chili garlic sauce
    • 2 tsp. minced fresh ginger
    • 2 tsp. minced garlic
  • Burgers
    • 1 ½ lb. ground pork
    • 3 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger
    • 4 scallions, chopped (we used this plus an extra ½ cup chopped scallions*)
    • 1 Tbsp. chili garlic sauce
  • 4 burger buns, split and toasted (we used sesame seed buns)
  • Chayote Slaw, for topping
    • Slaw dressing
      • 2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
      • 1 Tbsp. brown sugar (we used light brown sugar)
      • 1 Tbsp. fish sauce
    • Slaw
      • 2 cups julienned chayote
      • 1 cup fresh mung bean sprouts
      • ½ cup seeded and thinly sliced English cucumber
      • ½ cup chopped scallion greens (they suggest this will take about 5 scallions)
      • ¼ cup chopped fresh basil
      • ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
      • 1 jalapeño, seeded and thinly sliced (optional) (we used it and left the seeds in)

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, whisk the peanut sauce ingredients together, leaving it off to the side for now.
  2. Add the burger ingredients to a food processor**, pulsing until combined. Shape the meat mixture into 4 (½-inch thick) patties (we made a little indent in the middle of the patties).
  3. Preheat your grill*** to medium-high, brushing the grill grate with oil afterwards (we used vegetable oil). Grill the patties, covered***, for 4 minutes per side or until fully cooked (4 minutes per side did the job for us).
  4. While the burgers are cooking, make the slaw. In a small bowl, whisk together the slaw dressing ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, add the slaw ingredients to it, pouring the dressing over it afterwards, tossing to combine.
  5. Spread the peanut sauce on the buns, put the burger on and top with the Chayote Slaw.

*I tried to make all the components at the same time and accidentally added the ½ cup of chopped scallions meant for the slaw to the bowl with the burger ingredients. Turned out to be a happy accident though !

**We just mixed the burger ingredients together by hand in a large mixing bowl.

***We cooked our burgers on an indoor grill and didn’t cover them while they cooked.

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All the components together made a tasty burger ! We tried the slaw on its own and it was too spicy to eat as a side dish but on the burger, the heat gets tempered down to a nice level. The slaw also adds a nice crunchy texture to the burger.  The flavor of green onion comes through in the patty but you won’t need a breath mint because of it. Peanut sauce adds more flavor and a creaminess to the burger. Don’t know if this really counts as Thai but it does count as being delicious !

We got this recipe from Cuisine Tonight.

We weren’t paid in any form to promote Cuisine Tonight.

Take care everybody !

Slow Cooker Barbecue Ribs

Ingredients

  • 3 pounds bone-in country-style pork ribs
  • 1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
  • ½ cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 3 tablespoons stone-ground mustard
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce (we used reduced-sodium soy sauce)
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1 tablespoon liquid smoke (we used hickory smoke)
  • 1 teaspoons ground black pepper (we used freshly ground black pepper)
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¾ teaspoon ground red pepper
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced

Directions

  1. Take a 6-quart slow cooker out and spray the inside of it with cooking spray. Place the ribs down on the bottom of the slow cooker.
  2. Take a medium-sized mixing bowl out and add to it the remaining ingredients (tomato paste – minced garlic), stirring to combine. Pour the tomato mixture over the ribs, turning the ribs so they get thoroughly coated in the mixture.
  3. Place a layer of paper towels over the slow cooker, putting the lid on afterwards. Cook on LOW for 5 to 5 ½ hours or until the meat’s tender. Serve the ribs with the sauce and enjoy !
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The meat was practically falling off the bone, it was so tender ! You take a bite and you can taste a sweet and spicy flavor but you’ll get some smokiness at the end of the bite. A great recipe when you’re hankering some ribs but don’t feel like cooking outdoors.

We got this recipe from a Paula Deen magazine.

We weren’t paid in any form to promote the magazine.

Take care everybody !

Roasted Poblano and Black Bean Enchiladas

Ingredients

  • 1 pound tomatillos, husks and stems removed, rinsed well, dried, and halved
  • 4 poblano chiles, halved lengthwise, stemmed, and seeded
  • 1 teaspoon plus ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • 2 onions, chopped fine (we used yellow onion)
  • 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves
  • 1/3 cup vegetable broth
  • ¼ cup heavy cream
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tablespoon lime juice
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • ½ teaspoon ground coriander
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed, half of the beans mashed smooth (we used Bush’s reduced-sodium black beans)
  • 8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (2 cups) (we shredded 8 oz. of pepper jack cheese)
  • 12 (6-inch) corn tortillas

Directions

  1. Adjust your oven rack so that it’s 6 inches from the broiler element, preheating your broiler afterwards. Take a rimmed baking sheet and line it with aluminum foil. Place the poblanos and tomatillos on the lined baking sheet, pouring 1 teaspoon of oil over them afterwards. Toss the poblanos and tomatillos so they’re completely coated in the oil. Make sure the tomatillos are facing cut side and the poblano skins are facing up before sticking the sheet in the oven. Broil for 5 to 10 minutes or until the vegetables look blackened and have begun to soften (10 minutes seemed to do the job for the poblanos, we left the tomatillos in longer). Take the poblanos and place them in a large enough bowl, covering the top of the bowl with foil and letting it steam for 10 minutes or until the skin peels off easily. Use the back of a spoon to scrape the loosened skin off the poblanos (it was easy enough to peel the skin off just using our hands). Chop the tomatillos and poblanos into ½-inch pieces.
  2. Add the tomatillos, 1 tablespoon oil, 1 cup onion, ½ cup cilantro, broth, cream, half of the garlic, lime juice, sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt (we used table salt) to a food processor, processing the mixture for 2 minutes or until smooth. Season the tomatillo sauce with salt (we used kosher salt) and pepper to taste.
  3. Take a 12-inch skillet out and pour 1 tablespoon of the oil into it, setting the heat to medium. Once the oil’s shimmering, add in the remaining onion, stirring for 5 to 7 minutes or until the onion’s softened. Now add in the chili powder, coriander, cumin and the remaining garlic, stirring for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add in the mashed and whole beans as well as the poblanos, stirring for 2 minutes or until they’re warmed through. Take the skillet mixture and add it to a large mixing bowl, letting it cool slightly afterwards. Add 1 cup of the shredded cheese, ½ cup of the tomatillo sauce, and the remaining ½ cup cilantro to the large mixing bowl, stirring to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Move your oven rack to the middle position, preheating the oven to 400 degrees afterwards. Take a 13 x 9-inch baking dish out and spread ½ cup of the tomatillo sauce over the bottom of it. Brush both sides of the tortillas with the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil, stacking them afterwards. Wrap the tortillas in a damp dish towel, placing them on a plate afterwards. Microwave the tortillas for 1 minute or until they’re warm and pliable (we just heated the tortillas up one at a time in skillet (without any oil) over low heat).
  5. Working with just 1 warm tortilla at a time, spread ¼ cup of the bean-cheese mixture down the center of the tortilla. Roll the tortilla up tightly around the filling and place it seam-side down in the baking dish, repeating until you have two columns of enchiladas in the baking dish.
  6. Pour the remaining tomatillo sauce over the enchiladas, sprinkling the remaining cheese on afterwards. Grease a big enough sheet of aluminum foil to cover the top of the baking dish (we used nonstick cooking spray), laying it over the dish afterwards, wrapping it tightly around the edges. Put the dish in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the enchiladas are heated all the way through. Let the enchiladas cool for 5 minutes before eating.
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This is a great vegetarian enchilada with a citrus-y zing to it. You’ll enjoy this whether you’re a vegetarian or not !

We got this recipe from America’s Test Kitchen.

We weren’t paid in any form to promote Bush’s or America’s Test Kitchen.

Take care everybody !

Peaches ‘n Creamsicles

Ingredients

  • 3 cups sliced fresh or frozen peaches (we used 3 cups of chopped fresh peeled peaches)
  • 1 cup vanilla ice cream (we used Blue Bunny homemade vanilla ice cream)
  • ½ cup peach juice or nectar (we used peach juice)
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

  1. Add the peaches, ice cream, peach juice and vanilla extract into a blender, puréeing until smooth. Place a fine-mesh sieve over a bowl and pour the purée into the sieve, pressing on any solids to extract as much purée as possible. Throw away any leftover solids. Pour the purée into either 3-ounce paper cups or popsicle molds, freezing them for 3 hours or until they’re firm.
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This is a great summertime treat ! While you definitely get the peach flavor, the ice cream isn’t as obvious. You can taste some creaminess to the popsicle, but for our own preference, the next time we might try to add more ice cream to enhance the creamy aspect. This is a great way to enjoy peaches in the summertime.

Recipe source unknown.

We weren’t paid in any form to promote Blue Bunny.

Take care everybody !