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  AS AN AMAZON ASSOCIATE I EARN FROM QUALIFYING PURCHASES Easy Side Dish: Asparagus Fries goes with seafood, beef, pork or poultry meals. Asparagus are baked with a crunchy coating of Parmesan-Reggiano and panko bread crumbs for a delicious side dish recipe. We are big asparagus fans in our house. I have steamed them, roasted them with olive oil and salt and pepper adding some parmesan or gruyere cheese at the end of the cooking time. My new love are these Asparagus Fries - they are so tasty and so easy to prepare. I love the slight crunch on the outside because of the panko and the flavor from the Parmesan-Reggiano cheese. Luckily Asparagus is readily available year round. You don't have to wait for Spring or early Summer to find them. It's a good thing that we now have the ability to make Asparagus Fries all year long. This easy side dish recipe will become one of your favorites as they bake in 10 minutes and the prep time isn't long either which makes it great for weekni...

  AS AN AMAZON ASSOCIATE I EARN FROM QUALIFYING PURCHASES Baked Ham with Orange Glaze is an easy recipe. The glaze is made with orange marmalade, mustard, sherry and orange juice. You are going to love the ease of preparation and mostly the results. This easy baked ham is going to be the standout on your holiday buffet. I absolutely love my collection of Williams Sonoma cookbooks. They give me great inspiration for dinners, side dishes, desserts - just about anything I want to cook. That's where the inspiration came from - their recipe with a spin of my own. This truly is the best method for baking ham. The glaze has a nice tang and zip from the mustard and a mellow sweetness from the marmalade and pineapple juice. Easter is just around the corner. I like to plan ahead and you probably do too. When I think about the protein I always come back to ham as my store generally starts them on sale a few weeks before the actual holiday. Since ham is cryovac it keeps in the refrigerator fo...

AS AN AMAZON ASSOCIATE I EARN FROM QUALIFYING PURCHASES Brown Rice Pilaf works well as a side dish, however it can also be a meal all by itself. It's healthy, it's delicious and it is so inexpensive! I've taken a simple box of store bought rice and elevated it into a wonderful side dish. Brown Rice Pilaf has carrots and peas and instead of the sodium laden flavor packet I've used chicken broth and my own dry spices. If you want a vegetarian side dish or meal, simply substitute vegetable broth in place of the chicken broth. A while back I wasn't feeling well and a good friend brought me a goodie basket and the Near East rice was included among the other sweet things she had in the basket. I've been wanting to try the rice but I didn't want all the sodium. The packet is loaded with sodium - so my advice is get rid of that packet and make this simple recipe! I found a nifty and handy product while shopping at my super Walmart grocery store. Delmonte has fully c...

  AS AN AMAZON ASSOCIATE I EARN FROM QUALIFYING PURCHASES If you've never cooked a corned beef or even if you have, this informative post is for you! It's taken me a number of years to master the art of cooking corned beef. The two cuts of corned beef come from the brisket which is located above the front leg on the cow. There are two cuts: point cut and flat cut. The point cut is a bit more round than the flat and has more marbling and fat. The flat cut which is also round is leaner and easier to slice.  I've cooked both and both are delicious but I tend to go for the point cut as it is generally less expensive than the flat cut. How much to buy? For the two of us I get a 3 pound or so corned beef. There is a lot of shrinkage when cooking so this is perfect for us - we have a bit left over for sandwiches. For a family of four I would go for 5 pounds when you consider how much they shrink.  Figure 3/4 pound per person as a rule of thumb - 1 pound per person if you want le...

AS AN AMAZON ASSOCIATE I EARN FROM QUALIFYING PURCHASES Blueberry Bundt Bread is scrumptious. Studded with fresh blueberries and nuts it's the perfect have your girlfriends over for coffee type of dessert bread. Blueberry Bundt Bread gets a crispy top and the inside is moist and tender. You get the flavor of the bananas, the berries and the crunch of the nuts all in one delicious bite after bite. I'm having my girlfriends over for cards so I decided that I would make this bread to have with a cup of coffee or tea prior to getting down to the card game. Trust me it will be a welcome addition to the table.  This recipe is easy to make and you probably have most all of the ingredients in your pantry. I love making this when I can get my berries or nuts on sale too. If you don't have access to fresh berries for some reason, use frozen. This bakes in a Bundt pan  (found via the link). If you don't have a Bundt pan, you can use a standard bread pan  or a tube pan works wel...

 AS AN AMAZON ASSOCIATE I EARN FROM QUALIFYING PURCHASES Homemade Vegetable Egg Rolls are super simple to make. Because the filling marinates and isn't pre-cooked, the vegetables maintain their crispness. These will be a huge hit as an appetizer at your next gathering with family or friends. With simple ingredients that aren't hard to find and not expensive to boot, you have to try this Vegetable Egg Roll recipe. I made these for a club I belong to and everybody thought they were absolutely delicious and said they were so much better than any local Chinese takeout place they had ever ordered from. Some of the things I have learned in making these is: make sure you wrap tightly, seal the edges properly, refrigerate them so they firm up before frying and keep your oil temperature a consistent 350°! To do that I highly recommend a fryolator . I've had mine for years now and just love it. We do French Fries, homemade Onion Rings, chicken tenders and shrimp to name some of the t...

  AS AN AMAZON AFFILIATE I EARN FROM QUALIFYING PURCHASES. Spicy Beef Teriyaki: a healthy, filling meal the whole family can enjoy! What's not to love about an Asian inspired stir-fry? It's a healthy way to eat, definitely feeds a number of people and if there are any left-overs it warms up nicely the next day. I tend to make them more when fresh vegetables are available at the local farm markets or from our garden, however any time of the year is a good time for stir-fry. I keep a few Asian condiments in my pantry which come in handy when making a good sauce. Those are soy sauce, mirin and rice wine vinegar. Also I always have garlic on hand and keep ginger in the freezer. Another ingredient on hand are dried chilies - they last forever! For more adventurous cooking there are other ingredients that are common to Asian cuisine: Sesame oil, fish sauce, oyster sauce and hoisin sauce to name a few. Last, but not least is a wok and kitchen tool they call a spider . A spider is a lo...