I’m honored to share my birthday with the noodle. There’s nothing like a hearty noodle dish to lift your spirits, especially as the weather starts to turn cooler and the days become shorter. I spent a good chunk of my childhood in Korea and was spoiled with all kinds of amazing Korean noodle dishes — savory, spicy, loaded with seaweed, dumplings and even rice cakes. Mmmm mmmm.
I recently saw an episode of Giada at Home on the Food Network where she made sweet potato and kale chips. With the Super Bowl coming up this weekend, I decided to experiment with a healthy snack alternative myself (thanks for the inspiration, Giada!).
I decided to combine two of my favorite ingredients – beets and Greek yogurt – to make a figure-friendly version of chips and dip. Give these a try and I guarantee you won’t be grabbing any store-bought potato chips and dip anymore. Well, unless of course you screw up the recipe, in which case, that’s all your own fault 
. And if you have any guests who hesitate giving these a try, lie to them and say it’s purple potatoes — they won’t know the difference mwahahaha!
For the beet chips:
For the yogurt-chive dip:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a vegetable peeler, peel the beets. Note: these little suckers bleed and turn everything red — I recommend keeping the beets on paper towels to minimize clean up later.
Using the thinnest setting on a mandolin, slice the beets.
Toss sliced beets with extra-virgin olive oil and salt & pepper. Place a baking rack on top of a flat baking sheet. Working in batches, place sliced beets in a single layer on top of the baking rack.
Bake until crisp, about 15-20 minutes. Note: Keep a close eye on these! The high sugar content of beets make them very susceptible to burning, especially when sliced so thin.
While the beets are baking, start on the yogurt-chive dip. In a medium bowl, combine the yogurt and lemon juice.
Add the chives and parsley and mix until well incorporated.
Season with shallot salt and white pepper; mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to allow flavors to combine.
When beet chips are done, season with additional salt while hot (optional). Plate with yogurt-chive dip, sit back, and watch the Packers kick some Steeler butt! 
Oh, and another helpful tip: don’t turn your back for even a second while working with raw beets…or else a sneaky little kitty may get into some mischief (notice the red beet mustache on his face ).
Anyone else doing some figure-friendly Super Bowl nibbles? This Buffalo Chicken Rolls recipe from Can You Stay For Dinner is definitely on my list to try — YUM!
Try saying that 3 times fast! So anyway, I’ve been having mega cravings for salmon this week and finally decided to buckle down and whip something up tonight. The weather has been super hot here in Seattle, so I wanted to keep the kitchen labor to a minimum and the meal relatively light.
The result: pan-seared salmon served over sauteed leeks and topped with an orange-miso reduction sauce. Light. Refreshing. Flavorful. Beautiful. Oh, and super EASY! An Amateur Gourmand-approved meal, indeed!
I don’t have an exact recipe down quite yet — I just went free-style because my grumbling tummy was in no mood to calculate exact measurements tonight. When I do get a final recipe together, I’ll be sure to update this post with a Foodista widget. 10/6 update: Widget w/ exact recipe is below – enjoy! In the meantime, here’s a summary of how this all went down:
For the orange-miso reduction: sauteed minced garlic and grated ginger in olive oil. Added chicken stock, mirin, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce and fresh squeezed OJ – brought everything to a boil. Lowered heat and whisked in miso paste and honey until fully dissolved. Then I just let it simmer until the mixture reduced by half and had a syrup-like consistency. And, no, there isn’t a photo of the sauce-in-the-making — this would be because every one of the 20+ shots I took looked like crap…literally. Moving on…
Seasoned some salmon fillets with salt and pepper, and pan-seared them in some olive oil. Easy!
Cleaned and chopped some leeks, and sauteed them in some olive oil. Seasoned with salt and pepper. Easy!
When it came time to plate (and eat!), I created a layer of leeks on the bottom, topped with a piece of salmon and then drizzled the orange-miso reduction over the top. Holla!
Normally, I’m not one to turn down some help from the grocery store — semi-homemade is my middle name. But when it comes to sauces and dressings, I prefer to make them from scratch.
For one, it’s more cost-effective since I can easily whip up different variations using ingredients I already have in my pantry. And more importantly, I get to control the ingredients that go into my sauces/dressings, and therefore end up with a much healthier option (don’t even get me started on all the crap that’s in bottled salad dressings!).
Now that summer is here (and the Seattle weather is beginning to cooperate), I’ve been craving BBQ. So naturally, I decided to give homemade BBQ sauce a try. The first batch was atrocious, but I’m happy to report that attempt #2 was a success — a thick, sweet ‘n tangy BBQ sauce, just the way I like it! And since a BBQ meal isn’t complete without a tasty side dish, I also made a honey-dill vinaigrette, which can be used to dress virtually any salad.
OK, friends, that’s all I’ve got for now. BUT! Come back tomorrow for BBQ meal #1: Baked (and brined – yum!) BBQ Chicken Legs w/ Potato Salad.
yields approx. 2 cups
)Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let sauce simmer uncovered for at least 30 mins (longer if you want it to be thicker). Note: You’ll want to stir often to avoid having the sauce bubble all over the place (at least that was my experience ). If you aren’t using the sauce right away, let it fully cool down before storing it in the refrigerator/freezer.
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yields approx. 2 cups
In a medium bowl, combine the first 6 ingredients until well incorporated. Whisk in the extra-virgin olive oil. Taste for seasoning and adjust if needed. Serve over salad of your choice — works particularly well in coleslaw, potato salad and pasta salad.
