This One Is For You Susie...
One recipe, three entirely different meals... that's what I'm talking about! This Monday, I was scouring the internet for a dinner recipe that would inspire/excite me to get to cooking after a long day working, to no avail I found nothing. I decided, maybe I'd get inspired at the store, so I headed to the Trader Joe's and found all the fresh summer veggies, I thought hmmm maybe stir-fry of some sort? The only problem with stir-fry is you need some sort of sauce to go with it, and I wasn't really feeling the usual soy sauce and sesame oil, I wanted something fresh and bright, so I grabbed some cilantro and basil. This was a good start, then I saw the ginger and garlic and thought, what the heck I'll use it somehow. At this point, I was still pretty uninspired, I was kind of just grabbing random things. Normally, I love coming home, getting out the pots and pans, and cooking up something great for dinner, but recently I just haven't really felt like it. I was kind of in a rut, until I came home, made an inventory of all the random stuff I bought, and came up with this delicious herb sauce.
I wasn't/still not very sure what to call it, it's thicker/chunkier than a typical sauce, but it's not quite the consistency of a pesto/it doesn't have cheese or nuts, so let's just call it Green Goodness. If I had an herb garden, this would be in my refrigerator constantly. It's a great way to use up herbs that are going bad and save them from the trash can, I hate throwing out herbs, don't you?
I ended up using it on three different dishes...
Summer Veggie Stir-Fry
summer stir fry: Sauté eggplant, green zucchini, yellow zucchini, and yellow squash with salt, pepper, and garlic in some olive oil, serve over rice, couscous, or 5 grain blend and top with Green Goodness.
Shrimp Tacos
shrimp tacos: Season shrimp with fajita seasoning (cumin, garlic powder, salt, pepper, etc.) and saute in olive oil with lime juice. Serve shrimp on fresh corn tortilla that have been slightly pan fried in a little olive oil until the sides are starting to get crispy. After you heat the tortillas, lay them on a cookie sheet and top with cheese, place in a 350 degree oven for 3-5 minutes. Top your cheese tortillas with quac, salsa (I recommend Trader Joe's Corn Salsa), broccoli slaw*, and Green Goodness.
*To make the broccoli slaw, take 1/4 cup greek yogurt, 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, 1 tsp horseradish (optional), 1 tsp crushed garlic, 1/2 tablespoon mayo, 2 teaspoon mustard, 2 tablespoons water and mix it together to create your creamy base. Mix in 2 cups slaw mix - Trader Joe's has a great broccoli slaw mix that I like to use, it's a combo of carrots and broccoli stalks, it's great an crunchy!
5-minute Brunch
5 minute brunch: Take Chibatta bread, butter it, toast it, top it with bacon, a fried egg, and some Green Goodness.
So, how do you make this delicious sweet and spicy herb sauce pesto stuff that you can use breakfast, lunch, and dinner? You're probably thinking, this stuff is too good to be true, it has to take hours to make or something, well it's so easy you'll be shocked!
Step-By-Step
peel the ginger using a spoon until you have about a 1/2 inch by 1/4 inch piece...
add the ginger and garlic...
add the jalepeno...
add all your saucy ingredients...
then grind, blend it, chop it up...
GREEN GOODNESS
An Asian-fusion dressing with herbs, ginger, soy, and honey.
INGREDIENTS
small handful of cilantro (try to use mainly leaves - the stems don't grind down very well)
small handful of basil
small pinch of chives about 5 inches long or so
1 jalepeno de-seeded
4 garlic cloves
1/2 x 1/4 inch piece of fresh ginger
2 tablespoons honey (add a little more if you're not that into spicy)
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons water (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
put all the ingredients into the food processor and grind it up until it's the consistency of a thin salsa, add a little water if you want to make it a little thinner.
notes:
Summer Veggie Stir-Fry
Saute eggplant, green zucchini, yellow zucchini, and yellow squash with salt, pepper, and garlic in some olive oil, serve over rice, couscous, or 5 grain blend and top with Green Goodness.
Shrimp Taco Dinner
Season shrimp with fajita seasoning (cumin, garlic powder, salt, pepper, etc.) and saute in olive oil with lime juice. Serve shrimp on fresh corn tortilla that have been slightly pan fried in a little olive oil until the sides are starting to get crispy. After you heat the tortillas, lay them on a cookie sheet and top with cheese, place in a 350 degree oven for 3-5 minutes. Top your cheese tortillas with quac, salsa (I recommend Trader Joe's Corn Salsa), broccoli slaw*, and Green Goodness.
*To make the broccoli slaw, take 1/4 cup greek yogurt, 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, 1 tsp horseradish (optional), 1 tsp crushed garlic, 1/2 tablespoon mayo, 2 teaspoon mustard, 2 tablespoons water and mix it together to create your creamy base. Mix in 2 cups slaw mix - Trader Joe's has a great broccoli slaw mix that I like to use, it's a combo of carrots and broccoli stalks, it's great an crunchy!
Easy Brunch
Take Chibatta bread, butter it, toast it, top it with bacon, a fried egg, and some Green Goodness.