I use recipes as a guide. I usually look at the ingredients, determine which ones I have and go from there. The other day, after the delicious accident substituting sun-dried tomatoes for roasted red peppers, I saw another recipe I thought I could do something with:  Potted Shrimp with Crackers from the April/May issue of Clean Eating magazine.

I, of course, substituted what I didn’t have for what I did and here is the recipe for the dip I ended up with:

• 2 tbsp unsalted butter (although, I never understand unsalted butter if the recipe calls for salt in the end. I happen to have unsalted butter in my refrigerator as that is the default here in Switzerland).
• 1/2 cup finely minced shallots. (I used small, white onions. Very edible raw.)
• 1 dried bay leaf
• 1 clove of garlic (medium to large clove)
• 1 package of crab or fake crab, sliced
• 1/2 cup low-fat cream cheese
• 1/4 cup blanc battu (“What is blanc battu?” you may ask. Well. I had the same question, so I googled it. I use it as a substitute for plain  or sour cream. I sometimes eat it just plain or mix it with a bit of maple syrup. But, now I digress.) Blanc battu it is.
• 1 tbsp lemon zest
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp horseradish powder
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• whole wheat crackers
• 1/4 chopped fresh chives

In a fry pan, heat the butter on medium heat until it froths. Add onions, garlic, an dried bay leaf. Sauté, stirring frequently until onions are golden brown (about 3 minutes). Add crab, still stirring frequently until it has absorbed the aromas of the butter, onions, garlic, and bay leaf.

Remove from heat and let cool.

In an food processor, blender, or whatever you have, combine cream cheese, blanc battu, lemon zest, lemon juice, and horseradish. Add cooled crab and onion mixture and blend.

Top with chopped chives and serve with crackers or pita bites.

Mmmmmm……

I am not really a traditional holiday person. In fact, I mainly try to avoid tradition all together. My mum, on the other hand, has a list a mile long of things she does at Christmas: Christmas letters, Christmas baking, decorating the house, decorating the tree, Christmas dinner (although, I am pretty sure my dad does most of that), buying gifts, making gifts, wrapping gifts, sending gifts… there is an awful lot of things to do at my parent’s house each December.

To get in the Christmas spirit, I tried posting my favourite Christmas carols on my blog. After the Pbbbttt story, I lagged.

A few days before Christmas, I tried baking. AND…it worked! Since I am not really a baker, I was excited when my Christmas cookies actually looked good enough to eat. (Thank you to my friend Karen who told me baking wasn’t an art, but a science and just to follow a recipe without making any adjustments.)

I found the recipe on Allrecipies.com, but here it is for my virtual recipe book:

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups shortening
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2 eggs
4 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon salt

Directions

Melt the shortening in a large pan on the stove, and cool.
Add sugar, eggs, and molasses, beat well.
In a separate bowl, sift dry ingredients together and add to the pan. Mix well and chill 3 hours or overnight.
Form into walnut-size balls. Roll in granulated sugar. Place on greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 8-10 minutes.
Store in an airtight container to keep from getting overly crisp. If they do lose their softness, an easy way to restore it is to place one slice of fresh bread in the container with the cookies for a couple of hours or overnight and they will be soft again!

There is this hamburger joint in Cotati, California called Mike’s at the Crossroads. They have the best burgers I have ever tasted.  They used to serve only burgers and salad, but now, apparently, they also serve fries.

Regardless, whenever I think about burgers, I think about Mike’s burgers, and I start to salivate. (Yes, this is coming from a former vegetarian). I don’t usually eat a lot of red meat. When I was in California, I ate even less. Whenever I had a craving for red meat, I would go have a burger at Mike’s and that would do me for six months or so.

Now, in Switzerland, I have this vision of Mike’s burger when I think of burgers. AND I CAN’T FIND THEM ANYWHERE.  (Note to the marketing person at  Mike’s at the Crossroads: where are the pictures your burgers? Personally, I would add a picture of each beside the menu items. ) I found this picture at the Bite Club’s website:

There are also a few more pictures of Mike’s burgers at the DishTip.com website. Basically, though, you get my drift. These burgers are memorable. Memorable enough that when I am thinking about trying a burger in Europe, I envision one of Mike’s burgers.

And I am always disappointed.

The Holy Cow here in Lausanne makes a pretty good burger. Everything is locally sourced and fresh. That all translates to the taste. However, I guess I was disappointed in the size of the hamburger itself.

So, last week, I made my own burgers. I wish I had taken a picture. It was fabulous! Absolutely fabulous! I used a recipe from Hamburger-Recipes.com: The basic burger.  I also used a whole grain nut bread instead of a wonderbread bun.

Here is the recipe:

• 1lb/500g ground beef
• 1 half onion grated or finely chopped
• 4 pinches ground coriander ( I used cumin)
• 4 pinches paprika powder
• a little pepper, fresh ground is better
• a little salt
• 1 hand fresh bread crumbs
• 1 egg lightly beaten
• 1 quarter beef bouillon/stock cube dissolved in 2 to 3 tablespoons water

I mixed all of the ingredients according to the recipe and I measured each patty to be 175 grams. We cooked them on the BBQ out on the terrace and ate outside.

They were so awesome. We had more the next night.

I have been trying to eat healthier this year. I think I am doing a pretty good job (except for the chocolates, but I won’t go there right now). Part of the fun of eating more healthy is researching new recipies based mainly on what I have in my refrigerator.

The other day, I had some peas in my freezer and some grape tomatoes and shrimp in my refridgerator. I found this recipe on foodandwine.com: Spinach-and-Shrimp Salad with Chilie Dressing. I happened to have cumin seeds in my spice cupboard from when I thought I could grind them myself into ground cumin (NOT!).

I went down to the Migros (the grocercy store in the bottom of my building) to get the remaining ingredients:

• 8 cups baby spinach
• 1 cup frozen baby peas, thawed and drained
• 1/2 cup grape tomatoes, halved
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (approx 90 ml).
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 Holland or serrano chile, minced
• 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 pound cooked large shrimp

In a large bowl, toss the spinach, peas and tomatoes. I like glass bowls for my salads. I think you can see all the goodness more clearly.

In a medium-sized frying pan, heat the oil. I only have olive oil in my cupboard. It did the job. Also, I don’t think I used the extra two tablespoons (as I am trying to cut down on fat). What is the difference between all of the oils anyway? When would I use sunflower oil over olive oil? Or even canola oil? Maybe I should research the use of different oils and blog about that?

Back to the recipe. Add the onion to the heated oil and cook over moderately-high heat until lightly golden, (about four minutes). Add the chile, ginger, cumin and turmeric and cook for 2 minutes. Finally, add the lemon juice and season the mixture with salt and pepper.

Add the shrimp to the salad. Pour the warm chile dressing over the salad, toss well and serve at once.

I am going on a picnic today with my friend Phenya and her twin boys. I will have to stop by the Migros on the way home to pick something up for dinner. Last week, I received the April/May issue of Clean Eating magazine. I found a crab cakes recipe that I think I might try. Crab cakes with honeydew and strawberry salsa. YUM! Doesn’t that sound delicious? I will have to let you know.

Here is something I tried today. It’s been raining all week and I wanted something comforting and warm. I also had a can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans) in my cupboard that I wanted to use. I looked through some recipes until I came up with one I could work with. Here is the result. It was relatively quick and delicious.

• Half an onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1-2 tablespoons (25-30 ml) of curry powder (mine was mild), I probably could have added more
• 1 chili pepper (if you like spicy, you might add two)
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) oil
• 4 medium to large tomatoes, diced into centimeter cubes
• 1 can (250 g) chickpeas, drained and rinced
• 1 cup (250 ml) stock
• fresh cilantro
• juice of one lemon

Use whatever appliance you have to grind up the onion, garlic, curry powder, and chili pepper. Add water a bit of water to make a paste.  I used my slap chop to chop them into tiny bits, then I added a bit of water and used the upright mixer.

Heat the oil in large pot or wok and cook the paste between seven and ten minutes, until it browns (how do you tell if a brown paste browns? I had the same question, but I soon found out.)

Add the tomatoes, chickpeas, and stock. Bring to a boil. Then simmer uncovered until you are ready to eat it. Minimum 20 minutes. I think the longer you cook it, the better it’s going to taste.

(If you had a slow cooker, you could probably add the cooked paste, the tomatoes, chickpeas, and stock into a slow cooker and turn it on low to cook for the day. I’m going to try that as soon as I get a slow cooker.)

Stir in the lemon juice and cilantro just before serving.

Serve over brown rice or couscous.

PS: I had some leftovers so I went out and bought some lean ground meat. I’m going to cook the meat and add it to the rest of the curry to make another meal.

My sister Skyped me this recipe today. She’d made it the other day and said it was easy and delicious.

• 2 fish fillets (red snapper, salmon, tilapia etc)
• 1 tbsp of red curry paste
• 1 cup of light coconut milk
• 1 cup of sliced mushrooms
• 1 small head of bok choy
• 1/2 tbsp brown sugar( i used stevia),
• juice of 1 lime and
• 1 tsp of olive oil ( I used flax seed oil).

In a small saucepan, combine the curry paste, milk and sugar, cook over low heat until the mixture thickens slightly, then add half the lime juice and set aside.

Chop the bok choy into bite size pieces and boil until they are tender but still firm. Drain.

In a saute pan, heat the oil on medium heat. Season the fillets and place them skin side down. Cook until the skin is cripsy and golden. Flip and cook until the fish flakes when proded gently w/ a fork.

Remove the fillets and immediatley add the mushrooms, bok choy, and remaining lime juice. Cook for 3 minutes. Divide the veggies onto two plates, place a fillet on top and drizzle the curry sauce around the fish.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had curry paste in the refridgerator–that Thai Kitchen kind you find in a jar in the ethnic section of the grocery store. I had some peppers (of all colours) I wanted to use up. And I had a box (like a juice box) of coconut milk I’d been meaning to use on something. Today was the day!

I bought fish and what I thought was bok choy at the Migros downstairs. I brought it back up to the apartment and started chopping. I chopped up my peppers into slices (about a half of each red, orange, yellow, and green). I also had fresh garlic and a large fresh onion. I sliced the bok choy into bite-sized pieces. (My bok choy turned out to be Swiss chard, but it was leafy and green, so it did the job).

Other than the substituted ingredients, I followed the above recipe (oh–one more thing, I used three tablespoons of curry sauce. I just added until I felt it was palatabley spicy enough. Three tablespoons did NOT make it an inferno, nor sweat-breaking. Three tablespoons made it just palatabley spicy–enough to make my tastebuds zing.)