Indian Summer Fresh Corn Salad

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So we are switching gears around here once again.

We had about a week and a half of great fall weather and then BAM! here comes the heat again.  It's been in the mid nineties all week long.  I can't keep up.  I've been cooking some great fall comfy food and now it's too hot to cook inside.  What's a girl to do?  

Get out and grill again!  I would call this Indian Summer for sure.  This is typical of Southern California but mother nature was really sneaky this year, giving us that teaser of really cool weather.

So when I think of Indian Summer I think of corn.  We LOVE corn and use it some many ways.  Since we are grilling our main dish (Spicy Apricot Glazed Chicken - recipe to come) I wanted to please MGG with a salad.  One mixed with fresh corn kernels.  Yum!

INDIAN SUMMER FRESH CORN SALAD

MGG loves a good spinach salad so why not mix in some corn, along with the typical tomato and cucumber.  Dress it with a light citrus vinaigrette and you have one heck of a side dish.  Perfect for an Indian Summer, or anytime.

NOTE:  I often freeze summer corn so we can have fresh corn on the cob during the winter!

So go forth and make this perfectly delicious salad that highlights fresh summer corn.  It's easy and tastes oh so fresh!

Enjoy!

Indian Summer Fresh Corn Salad


Serves 4

Ingredients:

Dressing:
3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons fresh snipped cilantro
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Salad:
2 ears fresh sweet corn, cooked
1 cup fresh baby spinach
3//4 cup cucumber, diced
1 medium tomato, diced

Instructions:

In a mason jar combine dressing ingredients and shake vigorously to combine.

Cut the corn from the cob and add it to a large bowl. Add the spinach, cucumber, and tomato. Toss to combine. Drizzle dressing over until lightly dressed. (You will most likely have leftover dressing,) Serve at room temperature.

Sirloin Steak Tips with Black Pepper Mushroom Gravy

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Go figure!  I've had internet connection issues all week.

We recently moved and had our new internet/cable/phone service set up and everything was running dandy for about a week.  Then BAM!  my internet connection decided to go glafunky on me and it would go on an off about every 3 minutes.  UGH!  I couldn't get anything done.  Thank god for cell phones!  Using that as a failsafe was great but try to write a blog post on a phone.  Ummmm, nope!

So the nice techy guy came out and fixed us all up!   Who would have thought that it was wireless connection problems because the house was large and service in all the rooms just wasn't happening!

So now I'm back in business which brings me to my recipe today.  Moving is a pain.  I hate it!  If I never see another box I'd be in heaven.  Seriously.  So when you have to work during the day, come home and unpack some boxes, and then MGG comes home and looks at me like "What's for dinner?"  Ugh again!  I need some quick meals.  How about some comfort food that you can make in 30 minutes?  Yaaaaaaaaaaaassssss!

Sirloin Steak Tips with Black Pepper Mushroom Gravy

Let's do some sort of steak and gravy over mashed potatoes.  Sounds good and comforting to me!  Now, I've made several versions of steak tips before such as my Beef Stroganoff with Horseradish Sour Cream and my Beef Burgundy Stew, however I wanted something similar but fast!  How about a 30 minute meal?  Yes, you can have a delicious, succulent dish of steak tips smothered in a black pepper mushroom gravy in just 30 minutes.  Oh man!  Just give me the bowl already!

The trick is to buy a sirloin steak and cut it yourself into cubes.  Cook it until it is medium so that it remains juicy and tender, then make the black pepper mushroom gravy.  Simple as that.  Oh, and use leftover mashed potatoes, or buy some.  So much quicker.  You want nice hot potatoes on the bottom so they soak up all that meaty, juicy gravy.  The flavors are to die for.

So as promised this was done in 30 minutes.  MGG was a happy camper and all turned out right in the world.  Internet connection included!

Enjoy!





Sirloin Steak Tips with Black Pepper Mushroom Gravy

1 pound top sirloin steak, cut into 3/4-inch pieces

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots

1 (8 oz) package pre-sliced baby bella mushrooms

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

3 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cups low-sodium beef broth

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 fresh thyme sprigs

Hot cooked mashed potatoes

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add steak and sauté for 5 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove from pan to a plate and keep covered.

Melt butter in the skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots and mushrooms and cook for 4 minutes, stirring often.   Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in soy sauce. Sprinkle flour over mushroom mixture.  Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add broth, stirring constantly.

Add the pepper, salt, and thyme sprigs. Bring to a boil and cook 2 minutes or until thickened. Return beef and any juices back to the skillet.  Continue to cook another 1-2 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Discard thyme sprigs.

Serve over hot mashed potatoes.

Lemon Herb Grilled Shrimp and Scallops

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I've been remiss in posting this week and I'm sorry for that, but between 105 degree weather with 80% humidity (Hawaii anyone!) with sporadic thunderstorms, and then all of a sudden it's 80 (which is cool for this time of year) I had to go and get sick!

Yep...

I did it...I got a painful sore throat, which I NEVER get.  So I've been off my game a little.

So to make it up to you I'm going to share a GREAT recipe with you for some late summer grilling!  I don't post many seafood recipes here on Slice of Southern, but MGG loves seafood.  Me, not so much.  So every now and then we satisfy his cravings and cook up a wonderful fish dish for him.  I'll usually cook chicken for my self using the same flavorings so we have a nice, easy, and tasty dinner that's similar.  

So he requested shrimp and scallops this time around.  Grilled ones!  So I immediately thought of using a wonderful lemon and herb sauce as the basis for this dish that would compliment the fish well.

LEMON HERB GRILLED SHRIMP AND SCALLOPS

Light lemony flavor combined with bright herbs bring these grilled shrimp and scallops to a whole different level that just screams summer!  

This dish is easy enough to make for a party and can be scaled for an intimate dinner for 2 or 4.  I like easy, quick meals and you can't get much easier that making a basting sauce and grilling some fish.  Fish cooks in no time at all and you'll have dinner on the table in about 15 minutes start to finish!  I did use a specialty pan to help me along.  This Pro Ceramic Shrimp and Scallop Pan  is great to have because is made of ceramic, which retains heat well, and it has these wells that hold the shrimp and scallops and the basting sauce!  Perfect, but you can certainly use any pan you like.

The Lemon Herb basting sauce make this dish special!  Don't forget the sauce...you'll love every bite of this dish, I promise.  Serve it with Beth's Confetti Rice and a piece of grilled bread and you have one heck of a meal!

Enjoy!








Lemon Herb Grilled Shrimp and Scallops

serves 2

1/2 lb 10-12 shrimp
1/2 lb scallops - about 6
salt and pepper

Lemon Herb Basting Sauce:

¼ cup olive oil

juice of 1 lemon  ( 2-3 Tablespoons )
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

2 teaspoons minced garlic

2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

Fresh ground black pepper

Preheat your seafood pan for 15 minutes over medium-high heat.  Meanwhile in a medium bowl combine all your Lemon Herb basting ingredients.  Remove 2 Tablespoons to a small cup and set aside.

Add shrimp and scallops to the seafood pan. Cook scallops about 2-3 minutes to brown nicely on each side. Grill shrimp, turning once, cooking until the center is slightly opaque, about 1 to 2 minutes per side. After turning each type of fish, baste with the lemon herb sauce.  Turn one final time and baste again.  Place on a platter and drizzle with reserved lemon herb sauce.  Serve with rice.

This post contains affiliate links which should you buy from, provide me with a small compensation, at no additional cost to you.  

Beth's Confetti Rice

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Everyone needs a good side dish that will go with many types of meat and that's what we are going to talk about today.

It's still late summer here in Southern California and we are still grilling every chance we get.  Actually, we'll be grilling well into October as the weather tends to be warm.  So I wanted to make a rice dish to go with some shrimp and scallops we were grilling (recipe coming).  You know rice goes well with any type of meat.  But I wanted to jazz this up a bit.  Something sort of like a pilaf with veggies, or like a Caribbean confetti rice, but my style.  Thus,  Beth's Confetti Rice was born!

BETH'S CONFETTI RICE

Imagine a nice basmati rice cooked until fluffy and tender, then tossed with an array of veggies.  Spicy sweet bell pepper, tender peas, crisp sweet corn, and sweet onion are combined with the heavenly rice and sprinkled with cilantro for extra flavor.  Amazing!  This is the PERFECT rice to serve with any grilled meat.  

This side dish is perfect for late summer gatherings.  It goes well with pork, steak, fish, and chicken dishes whether they are grilled or baked or pan fried.  It's just a great compliment that you will want to eat over and over.

Enjoy!

Beth's Confetti Rice

serves 4-6

1 cup long grain basmati rice, rinsed well
1½ cups chicken broth, low sodium

2 Tablespoons butter

1/2 cup red bell peppers, diced

1/2 medium sweet onion, diced
1/2 cup frozen peas
½ cup frozen or fresh corn
2 cloves garlic, minced

salt and pepper
¼ cup cilantro, chopped 

Add the rice, and broth medium sauce pot. Set over medium heat and cover. Bring to a boil, then stir and lower the heat. Cover and allow the rice to cook until the liquid is absorbed about 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, add the butter to a large skillet over medium heat. Add the bell peppers and onions. Sauté for 2-3 minutes, to soften.  Add the peas, corn and garlic. Season with salt and pepper.   Stir and cook for another 2 minutes until heated through.  Add the cooked rice to the skillet and toss well to combine.  Sprinkle with the cilantro and toss.  Serve warm as a side dish.

You may also like:

Asian Style Fried Rice and Beans

Chicken and Mango Rice Salad

Easy Mexican Rice

Fried Rice

Seven-Grain Salad with Roasted Pepper, Feta, and a Mustard Dressing

Garlic Chicken Stir Fry

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Whenever I need a quick dinner I turn to stir frys. As you may know, this seems to be quite often as I have a lot of stir frys on the blog! A lot of which you all seems to love such as Spicy Beef, Snow Peas, Mushroom, and Carrot Stir Fry, Chicken, Green Bean & Mushroom Stir Fry, and Caribbean Pork Stir Fry.

We recently moved to a new home and in the midst of unpacking we needed to stop and have dinner. The nerve, having to eat during the middle of unpacking! LOL!  So I turned to the refrigerator and found some chicken breasts just begging to be turned into a fabulous meal.

Using vegetables that I already had, mushrooms and broccoli, made the ingredient list. Now for a sauce. A simple use of garlic sounded really good and easy to pull together with pantry items, so Garlic Chicken Stir Fry was born!

GARLIC CHICKEN STIR FRY

This dish is perfect for a weeknight meal when you want to make something quick.  20 minutes is all you need to have a great meal on the table that is 1000x better than take out!  If you make stir frys then you will most likely have all the ingredients on hand.  I love being able to pull together stir frys in a snap, changing up the vegetables and sauce.  Have a stocked pantry makes this really east to accomplish.

Juicy tender chicken breast chunks are browned and coupled with crisp vegetables, and cashews.  All of this is then bathed in a warm garlic sauce that flavors all the ingredients and brings this all together.

Enjoy!

Note: Shared on The Country Cook's Weekend Potluck

Garlic Chicken Stir Fry

serves 4

1 lb chicken breasts cut into bite size chunks
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 Tbls canola oil
8 oz baby bella mushrooms, sliced
small head of broccoli, stemmed and cut into florets
1/3 cup whole cashews
4 cloves of garlic, minced

¾ cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons cornstarch

hot cooked rice

On a plate toss the chicken with the cornstarch.

In a small bowl, add the chicken broth, soy sauce, sesame oil, and cornstarch.  Stir until well combined.  Set aside.

Heat the canola oil in a large skillet.  Add the chicken and cook on medium-high until browned on all sides, about 2-3 minutes on each side.  Remove chicken from the pan to a plate, and turn the heat up to high.

Add in the mushrooms and cook until they start to brown.  Add the broccoli and allow to cook 2-3 minutes more. Add the cashews and stir and cook until lightly toasted.  Add the garlic and cook/stir for 30 seconds.

Return the chicken and any juices back to the skillet.  Add the sauce and toss to coat.  Serve with hot cooked rice.

Strawberry Cinnamon Smoothie

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Happy Labor's Day!  I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday. Here's a quick and easy recipe I wanted to share with you today.  


You may not know that I love a good farmer's market and now I'm fortunate that we have one that sets up every Wednesday in our work complex.  It's heaven to be able to go to the farmer's market during the week!  There is one particular stand that sells the best organic fruit and vegetables.  I was in heaven looking at all the food, and walked away with much more items that I should have.

One treat was their strawberries!  Plump, juicy, deep red strawberries that promised to be sweet and luscious!  I couldn't wait to get these home and make a smoothie with them.  Smoothies fall in the "fast and fresh" category and are simple, quick and absolutely delishhh!

So a strawberry smoothie is very tasty but also quite ordinary.  So let's amp this baby up a bit and make a Strawberry Cinnamon Smoothie!  Have you every had cinnamon and strawberry?  Well, you are about to venture on a wonderful sweet and earthy journey with your taste buds.  This combination hits you with the sweet flavor of the berries and then on the way down you get that kick of heat and spice from the cinnamon.  HEAVEN!

What a great combination for a smoothie plus the health benefits that you get from both strawberries and cinnamon.  It's a win win in our house!  Let it be one in yours too by trying this right away.  There are still plenty of strawberries around so get them while they are still ripe and try this drink today!

Enjoy!





Strawberry Cinnamon Smoothie

serves 2

1 6 oz lite vanilla yogurt
1/2 pint of strawberries, hulled
1/2 frozen banana
1/4 cup lowfat milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup ice

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend on high until all incorporated and ice has crushed.

Pour into two glasses and serve immediately.

Cast Iron Summer Berry Cobbler

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I grew up with Mom making pies all the time.  She made so many cream pies and because my Dad loved them, and occasional blueberry pie.  Pies along with her favorite apple crisp were staples around our house.  

Cobbler not so much.  However, as we grew older I began to quiz her about cobblers.  She had mentioned that my grandmother made them often, and that she always used a cast iron skillet.  So in honor of my grandmother I decided to try my hand at a Cast Iron Summer Berry Cobbler.  

Other cobblers/crumbles I've made are this Pumpkin Cobbler (Heaven!) and this Blackberry Crumble (similar to a cobbler) and I just love desserts of this sort.  

CAST IRON SUMMER BERRY COBBLER

I chose to make servings two small 6" cast iron skillets that serve 1-2 people.  The recipe makes enough for 2 skillets.  I think individual servings like this are cute and perfect for sharing.  I used these skillets.  Of course, if you want, you can make this in one large 10" skillet.

Cast Iron Berry Cobbler is made with 3 different summer berries.  Plump raspberries and blueberries as well as the sweet tart blackberry.  This combination is a winner and when baked they come out juicy and sweet.  Topped with a sweet biscuit-like topping this dish is the perfect dessert during the summer.

Thanks to my grandmother for the inspiration.  The cobbler tasted divine.  A little scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of the hot, bubbly cobbler just made the perfect ending to the day!

Hey, Labor Day is around the corner and this would be perfect!!!  Of course, any time is the right time to make cobbler.  Try this soon before the abundance of summer berries goes away until next year!!!

Enjoy!

Cast Iron Berry Cobbler

serves 2-4

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt, 

1/4 cup sugar plus 2 Tablespoons, divided

2 cups fresh summer berries such as blueberries, blackberries and raspberries mixed

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 cup flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons butter

1/4 cup milk

Preheat an oven to 400°F. Grease 2 6-inch cast iron skillets with cooking spray.    

In a large bowl combine sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt, and cornstarch.   Add berries and toss to evenly coat. Stir in vanilla extract and lemon juice. Pour mixture into the 2 skillets.

In a medium bowl, add 2 tablespoons of sugar, flour, baking powder and remaining ½ teaspoon of salt. Using a pastry cutter, cut the remaining 3 tablespoons butter into the flour until pea-size lumps form. Stir in the milk to form a soft dough. Drop dough over the berry filling like drop biscuits.

Transfer the skillets to a baking sheet and place in the oven and bake 10 minutes, then cover with foil so the biscuit topping does not burn and continue to bake another 20 minutes until hot and bubbly.