Tag: radishes

Quick and Easy Mexican Red Pozole

In January 2017, I posted a similar recipe for this popular Mexican dish made with hominy – essentially a specially dried corn. While we thoroughly enjoyed that recipe, I did find it time consuming. If you are fortunate to have a grocery store which carries Mexican products you can find this on the shelves in a can, as I was fortunate to locate.

La Costena Pozole Rojo

Sometimes one just wants to put a hot meal on the table with a minimum of preparation! Since we had a Costco leftover rotisserie chicken available, this was quick! Shred the chicken. Heat the pozole in a large saucepan over medium heat with the chicken added in.

While it is heating, slice up an avocado, set out some sour cream, slice two or three radishes, chop up a bit of cilantro, some shreds of cabbage if you have some?

When the pozole is thoroughly heated, pour into large soup bowls and garnish with the sour cream, radishes, cilantro and avocado. You can add a few tortilla strips if you have them for some added crunch.

Quick and Easy Mexican Red Pozole

Ingredients

  • 1 large can La Costena pozole rojo
  • 1 cup shredded cooked chicken or pork or turkey
  • 2 or three radishes sliced
  • Cilantro chopped
  • Sour cream
  • 1 avocado diced
  • Tortilla strips
  • Shredded cabbage (optional)
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Shrimp Stuffed Avocados

This used to be one of our favorite salads at a local restaurant. This recipe beats theirs! Yeah, there are two halves there!

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Shrimp stuffed avocado                        Author: Layla Pujol

Yield: 8-10 stuffed avocado halves

Ingredients

  • 4-5 firm ripe avocados
  • 1 lb medium sized cooked shrimp (OR 2 cans of tiny Shrimp uncut)
  • ½ medium red onion, diced finely
  • 2 radishes, diced finely
  • ½ red bell pepper, diced finely
  • 2 celery stalks, diced finely
  • 2 hard-boiled eggs, diced
  • 5 tbs. mayonnaise
  • Lime juice from 1 lime
  • Salt/pepper to taste (I like cracked peppercorns)
  • Cilantro chopped for garnish

Instructions

  1. Chop the cooked shrimp in half, if desired keep a few whole to garnish OR use whole if small)
  2. Combine diced onions, radishes, bell pepper, celery, eggs, shrimp, ½ of the lime juice and aioli or mayonnaise in a bowl, mix well. Can be kept refrigerated until ready to use.
  3. Taste and salt/pepper if necessary.
  4. Cut avocados in half, remove seed and peel carefully.
  5. Drizzle remaining lime juice over avocados, this help keep them from darkening too quickly.
  6. Use a spoon to stuff avocados with shrimp salad filling.
  7. Add any garnishes and serve immediately.

 

Green Mango Salad

Our neighbours introduced us to Green Papaya Salad, a favourite Thai salad with crisp vegetables. Alas, no green papayas to be found. Why not Green Mango Salad? The green refers to the unripeness, not the outside colour. Stefano Faita, one of my fav Canadian chefs and CBC personality had published this recipe…great colour! FYI…you could use firm nectarines in place of the mango.

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As always, my changes are shown in red.

Green Mango Salad

INGREDIENTS

2 large to 3 small green or under ripe mangoes, julienned

1 carrot, julienned (substitute 3 red radishes)

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

1 red pepper, thinly sliced

1 cup each mint leaves and Thai basil

1 tbsp. sweet spicy chili sauce

1/4 cup lime juice

2 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. fish sauce, or to taste

3 tbsp. vegetable oil

Mint or Thai Basil, for garnish (optional)

PREPARATION

Add green mangoes, carrot or radishes, red onion, red pepper, mint, Thai basil and chili sauce to bowl. Toss to combine.

Combine lime juice, sugar, and fish sauce and vegetable oil in small bowl. Stir to combine. Toss with salad. Taste and adjust seasoning to taste. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

 

Shrimp and Green Bean Stir Fry

Too many string beans from Costco AGAIN! What to do? Stir fry of course. Hope you enjoy this recipe with or without the rice…

 

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Shrimp and Green Bean Stir Fry

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/2 pound large shrimp-shelled, deveined and cut into 1-inch pieces (I cheated and used a dozen frozen, cooked shrimp – no need to thaw)
  • Salt
  • 1/2 pound green beans, thinly sliced 1/4 inch thick on an extreme diagonal
  • 1 or 2 sliced radishes (optional) seriously, I have started cooking radishes in my stir fries)
  • 1/4 cup chicken stock or low-sodium broth
  • 1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • OPTIONAL RICE

Heat a wok until very hot.

Add the vegetable oil and heat until shimmering.

Add the garlic and stir-fry for 10 seconds.

Add the shrimp and a pinch of salt and stir-fry until the shrimp are just beginning to turn pink, about 30 seconds.

Add the green beans and radishes and 2 tablespoons of the stock and stir-fry until the beans soften slightly, about 3 minutes.

Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of stock along with the fish sauce and a generous pinch of pepper and stir-fry until the shrimp are cooked through and the beans are crisp-tender, about 3 minutes longer.

 

Serve right away.

 

Chilled Strawberry Soup

I have always remembered this soup from my adolescent years for some reason. I was looking for something different for dinner with friends in place of a salad. Too warm for regular hot soup and we happened to have a box of strawberries in the fridge. Pinterest showed me this wonderful and simple recipe!

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TIP – Whether it’s a salad or cold soup, I always freeze my bowls before serving time!

Chilled Strawberry Soup

Author: This Mess Is Ours         Prep time:  2 hours 15 mins

Total time:  2 hours 15 mins     Serves: 4 cups

This soup only takes about 15 minutes of time to prepare but be sure to let it chill for 2 hours before serving so that the flavors intensify.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups sliced fresh strawberries, preferably organic
  • 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
  • ½ cup white grape juice (or white wine)
  • 3 tablespoons raw honey (one tablespoon was sufficient)

 

To garnish

  • freshly ground black pepper
  • sliced fresh strawberries
  • 1 or 2 radishes, cut into thin shreds with a grater or mandoline
  • fresh mint

Instructions

  1. In a food processor or high powered blender process the 3 cups of sliced strawberries, Greek yogurt, white grape juice, and honey until smooth. Stopping periodically to scrape the sides. Cover and chill for 1½- 2 hours. Garnish with freshly ground pepper, sliced strawberries, shredded radishes, and bits of mint. Serve immediately. NB…dont skip the radishes, they were awesome!

 

Creamy Curried Pumpkin Soup

If you have never visited the Kraft Foods site on the Internet, you are missing alot! They  have now created a new APP for those who know what this is – iFood Assistant. iFood is voice activated so that you say what you are looking for and then they give you a variety of recipes. It even allows you to create a shopping list for that recipe.

Anyways…it is Fall or Autumn whatever you wish to call it. We love all of the root vegetables found in Canada and the US, BUT we cannot find many of them here in Mexico. At one time we could get spaghetti squash,  acorn squash and butternut. Those days are over, as the locals don’t usually eat any of the above. They do get pumpkins (sometimes pumpkin pie filling) and zucchini, but NO parsnips, turnips, etc. Occasionally we get patty pans at Costco or a small version of buttercup…. This is pretty much what we see locally –

In my despair today I decided to use the last can of pumpkin and make soup! I was inspired by Larry buying a helmet squash (whatever that is in Spanish) which he baked and cut up to put in the freezer for WINTER! I thought if this recipe worked I could use his pumpkin/squash to make more… So here it is-

Creamy Curried Pumpkin Soup (Kraft Foods 2009)

1 Tbsp.  olive oil

1 small  onion, finely chopped

1 can  (29 oz.) pumpkin

1 can  (14 oz.) chicken broth

2 cups  water

3 Tbsp.  brown sugar

¾ tsp.  curry powder

½ tsp.  salt

4 oz.  (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, cubed

HEAT oil in large saucepan on medium heat. Add onion; cook and stir 3 min. or until crisp-tender.

STIR in remaining ingredients except cream cheese until well blended. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low.

ADD cream cheese; cook until cream cheese is completely melted and mixture is well blended, beating constantly with wire whisk.

Serve with freshly grated nutmeg.

*You know I can’t resist some suggestions, such as……maybe add a little corn OR saute some sliced carrots with the onions OR sauteed red pepper strips…you get the idea! Maybe slices of radishes sauteed with the onions….

By the way…it was great. We each had two bowls (the entire recipe)…

For more info on summer and winter squash, check out this site – http://whatscookingamerica.net/squash.htm