Friday, January 17, 2025

Soba Noodles with Bok Choy From Vicki Delany

For a night when you don’t want meat or you’re looking for a hearty side dish, this is a very quick and very easy way to prepare soba noodles. I had it on its own for dinner, but I think it would work very nicely as a side for a summer BBQ or something to bring to a pot luck.

SOBA NOODLES WITH BOK CHOY

Ingredients:

10 oz dried soba noodles

1 lb. baby bok choy, trimmed and sliced

½ cup toasted walnuts

3 tbsp red miso

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 medium garlic cloves, minced

Salt and pepper

Method:

Bring large pot of water to boil. Add soba noodles and cook until al dente. Reserve ¼ cup of the cooking water. Add bok choy to the pot and continue to cook until noodles are tender and the bok choy is slightly done. Drain and return to pot.

In a blender, combine 3 tbsp of the reserved cooking water, walnuts, miso, oil, garlic. Puree until smooth.

Add walnut mixture to the noodles and boy choy, toss. Add more cooking water if needed to create a smooth sauce.

Season with Salt and pepper.

Follow Vicki at www.vickidelany.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/evagatesauthor. You can sign up to receive Vicki’s quarterly newsletter at Vicki Delany – Canadian Author of Mystery Novels and Suspense Novels » Contact

Now Available: A Slay Ride Together With You, the 7th Year Round Christmas mystery from Crooked Lane.

Thursday, January 16, 2025

Viral Tuna Salad Sandwich @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: I first saw a video of a tuna sandwich like this on Facebook. It was made in a deli in Brooklyn and it had gone viral. I had to try making one of my own! The good thing, as long as you like to go rogue, is that you can add or delete ingredients as they suit you. We had a nice tomato and a red pepper and I chose those for both flavor and color. We use three kinds of peppers and pickles from the fridge and the last of the fresh dill from the garden. I added a bit of chili crunch because I love the stuff. This makes two very generous sandwiches or could easily makes three depending on the ingredients you add.

Ingredients

One can fair-catch tuna in water

Large spoonful mayonnaise

Pickles of your choosing—we used bread and butter, cornichons, and sweet pickled jalapenos

Several sprigs fresh dill

Cheese of your choice (mine was yellow cheddar)

Half a green or red pepper

Half a teaspoon (or more) chili crunch

Several grinds of fresh pepper

Half a tomato

Nice rolls

Drain the juice from the tuna and offer it to the cat or the dog. Scrape the seeds and the juicy bits out of the tomato, or the sandwich will be too wet. Cut everything else into long strips, the pepper, the tomato, the cheese, and load it on top of the tuna on a piece of parchment on a cutting board. Pile on the peppers, pickles, dill, and chili crunch. Add the mayonnaise and cover it all with a few rounds of ground pepper.

Now the fun begins! Chop everything all together, folding the ingredients on themselves so that they get well distributed.

When the condiments are the size that you like, pile the rolls with the tuna mixture. Serve and enjoy!

Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series including USA Today bestselling A POISONOUS PALATE and A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS.

You can order that wherever books are sold. If you’re all caught up, try Lucy’s first women’s fiction title, THE INGREDIENTS OF HAPPINESS.

Lucy Burdette's Kitchen is now out in large print hardcover!

Also follow Lucy on Facebook, and sign up for her mailing list right here.

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Healthy Breakfast Crisp #Recipe by @LibbyKlein #Healthy #Breakfast

Libby Klein New Year, New Detox. That's my life. I usually overdo it over the holidays. It's not hard to do with allergies and illness being my status quo. So every January I go on a little detox and cut out all the bad things. (Keep in mind that the bad things for me are normal things for most people.) My biggest nemesis right now is nightshades - peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, and eggplant. My legs are a mess of hives. Trust me, you don't want to know. Benadryl has been my best friend. There was an incident with a blackening spice rub that included paprika that set me back a few days. I have no one to blame but myself. I know better. Read labels even when you think you know the ingredients. As soon as I start a detox or elimination diet, I always look for recipes that will make me feel like I'm having a treat. A sugar free, gluten free, dairy free treat. This healthy breakfast crisp is just the thing for a cold winter morning. Apples and sour cherries give it a natural sweetness. The crunchy oat and pecan topping makes it feel more like a dessert than a detox breakfast. You could even serve it to company with a scoop of ice cream. They'd be thrilled.

Healthy Breakfast Crisp

6 servings

Ingredients:

6 Honeycrisp Apples
1 cup frozen sour cherries - no need to thaw them
1 tsp cinnamon
1 TBSP pure maple syrup

Topping:
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

Peel and cube apples. Place them right in your casserole dish. Add the cherries, cinnamon and maple syrup. Mix together.

In a separate bowl, combine the topping ingredients. Stir together until you have a crumbly mix. Pour over the top of the fruit.

Bake at 350° for forty minutes or until the apples are soft and the fruit is bubbly. Serve warm.

Keep leftovers in the refrigerator and warm gently in the microwave before serving. For a power breakfast, add the fruit crisp as a topping to protein oatmeal or pancakes.

Layla Virtue, a blue-haired, 30-something recovering alcoholic and former cop is trying to reinvent herself as a musician—between AA meetings, dodging eccentric neighbors at her trailer park, and reconnecting with her mysterious dad—in this unforgettable new mystery brimming with hilarity and heart.

Layla is taking her new life one day at a time from the Lake Pinecrest Trailer Park she now calls home. Being alone is how she likes it. Simple. Uncomplicated. Though try telling that to the group of local ladies who are in relentless pursuit of Layla as their new BFF, determined to make her join them for coffee and donuts.

After her first career ended in a literal explosion, Layla’s trying to eke out a living as a rock musician. It’s not easy competing against garage bands who work for tacos and create their music on a computer, while all she has is an electric guitar and leather-ish pants. But Layla isn’t in a position to turn down any gig. Which is why she’s at an 8-year-old’s birthday party, watching as Chuckles the Clown takes a bow under the balloon animals. No one expects it will be his last . . .

Who would want to kill a clown—and why? Layla and her unshakable posse are suddenly embroiled in the seedy underbelly of the upper-class world of second wives and trust fund kids, determined to uncover what magnetic hold a pudgy, balding clown had over women who seem to have everything they could ever want. Then again, Layla knows full well that people are rarely quite what they seem—herself included . . .

Libby Klein grew up in Cape May, NJ where she attended high school in the '80s. Her
classes revolved mostly around the Culinary sciences and Drama, with one brilliant semester in Poly-Sci that may have been an accident. She loves to drink coffee, bake gluten-free goodies, collect fluffy cats, and translate sarcasm for people who are too serious. She writes from her Northern Virginia office where she serves a very naughty black smoke Persian named Sir Figaro Newton. You can keep up with her shenanigans by signing up for her Mischief and Mayhem Newsletter on her website. www.LibbyKleinBooks.com/Newsletter/

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

How to Make CINNAMON STICK TEA for Your Sore Throat, Cough & Brain Functions by @CleoCoyle

From Cleo Coyle: My husband Marc and I contracted this season's flu over the holidays. It was a nasty one that my dear husband caught first, and we suffered together through the end of December and into January. That's why I'm sharing this recipe with you today.

This tea is a balm to us when we're feeling poorly, and we sincerely hope it will soothe you, too. The reasons why are ancient. Scroll down to find out what they are...

Boost Your Brain with

the Scent of Cinnamon

Find out why below...

Cleo Coyle writes two
bestselling mystery

series with her husband.
To learn more, click here.

A RECIPE NOTE FROM CLEO

Yes, I know you can brew cinnamon tea from store-bought bags, but the flavor is not as powerfully good as fresh-brewed from sticks. And there is an added benefit to brewing from sticks...

Fresh brewing cinnamon tea from sticks fills the house with the fragrance of cinnamon, a scent you can't get from brewing quickly in bags. And the scent of cinnamon has been linked to improving cognitive brain functions (attention span, recognition memory, response speed, and working memory).

In fact, studies have shown cinnamon to have many health benefits (source Healthline), including antibacterial properties (great for that sore throat) as well as anti-inflammatory properties, partly thanks to cinnamaldehyde (a substance found in the spice). One study showed that cinnamon may reduce inflammation and muscle soreness.

So now you know why cinnamon has been used in traditional Eastern medicines as a treatment for various ailments, and I can testify that this cinnamon stick tea helps to alleviate my cold and flu symptoms, specifically my phlegmy cough. Brewing up fresh cinnamon stick tea always makes me happy, and its spicy-sweet flavor is delicious, too.

CASSIA VS. CEYLON

The amount of cinnamon sticks you'll want to use for this recipe will vary, depending on the kind of cinnamon sticks you're using, as well as their freshness. Let's start with...

Cassia cinnamon sticks are the most common type found in grocery stores. These are hard sticks with a single layer of curl. Because of their hardness, I suggest using 3 Cassia cinnamon sticks to make this tea, rather than 2. Their time on store shelves also tends to make them less potent so that 3rd stick is usually needed to make a good cinnamon tea.

Ceylon cinnamon sticks are softer and also of higher quality and potency. You can recognize them by their many layers. Because they are primarily sold by spice merchants at a higher price point, they tend to be fresher and more powerful. AND they truly do have amazing flavor, well worth the price! I suggest using 2 Ceylon cinnamon sticks for this recipe.

To download this recipe in
a free PDF document that you
can print, save, or share, click here.

Click for Cleo's
Free Recipe PDF

☕ Cleo's
Cinnamon Stick Tea

As always, the quality of your results depends on the quality of your ingredients. Now I've made cinnamon tea from the less expensive Cassia cinnamon sticks (see them pictured above). You'll find these in your local grocery store. But if you want a better quality tea, try the better quality Ceylon cinnamon sticks.
Where to buy them? FYI - I buy mine from Nuts.com, click here to see the product page. They have good, fresh Ceylon cinnamon sticks as well as many other tasty products. Wherever you get your cinnamon sticks, I sincerely hope you will drink this tea with joy! ~ Cleo

Makes 2 six-ounce cups of tea

Ingredients:

2-1/2 cups water
2 Ceylon cinnamon sticks or 3 Cassia cinnamon sticks*

1 teaspoon honey (optional ~ use a local honey, if possible!)
1 small orange (optional)

*See my notes above on the differences between these types of cinnamon sticks.

Directions: Place 2-1/2 cups of water into a saucepan with 2 Ceylon cinnamon sticks (or 3 Cassia cinnamon sticks). Bring water to a boil and turn heat down to a low boil and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow the cinnamon sticks to continue steeping in the water for a final 10 minutes. Strain into a teacup and enjoy!

🍊 Cleo’s

Cinnamon-Orange

Tea with Honey

Follow the directions for cinnamon stick tea above. After straining the cinnamon stick tea into your teacup, stir in 1 teaspoon of honey until dissolved. (We love using raw, local honey.) Squeeze the juice of one orange wedge into the cup. Garnish by placing one cinnamon stick into the cup. If you like, slice a thin round of orange and slide it onto the tea cup's rim. Serve warm and drink with joy!