Sriracha Salt

Yes, you read that right...Sriracha salt. 

I think I might put sriracha on just about everything. For all the sriracha fans out there, you know what I mean.. It really does go well with everything. I came across a picture of sriracha salt on instagram and immediately knew that I had to get my hands on some. After doing some googling, I found some online. I added it to my cart and hit check out. As I am pulling out my wallet I realize wait a second, I am about to pay $17.00 for salt. The frugal girl living inside me was smacking her head. I am so happy I didn't spend all that money because this super easy recipe costs about $1.00 to make. You can't really even compare that! Now go spend the $16.00 you saved on something special, like more sriracha. 

1/2 Cup Salt 

5 TBSP Sriracha

*I used coarse sea salt and it ended up being a little too coarse. Had to grind this down a bit more. I will be messing around more with different flavored salts so I will let you all know which kind works best! 

Option 1

Heat your oven to 200 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, mix the sriracha and salt until the salt is coated.

Spread out the salt on the baking sheet into a thin layer. It's okay if some overlaps but try and spread the  salt the best you can. 

Put the salt into the oven.

Turn off the oven. NOW! GO!

The salt can burn really easily.

Let the salt dry slowly in the oven but every few min take out and shake around so it doesn't stick or burn.

Store in an airtight container once dry.

Option 2

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, mix the sriracha and salt until the salt is coated.

Spread out the salt on the baking sheet into a thin layer.

Let the salt dry uncovered for 1-2 days.

*We have cats, so this wasn't really an option for us!

Ain't she a beauty? 

Spicy Glazed Mushrooms

I debated posting these mushrooms because they are SO easy to make but everyone is always looking for quick and easy side dishes! Literally, this takes less than five minutes to make especially if you are using pre-sliced mushrooms. Not only is this sauce great on mushrooms but could go on any vegetable to make a saucy, spicy, yet healthy side dish. 

1-2 Cups Mushrooms, Sliced

1 Clove Garlic, Minced

2 TSP Tamari (Gluten Free Soy Sauce)

1 TSP Chili Garlic Sauce

1/4 TSP Sesame Oil

1 TSP Grapeseed Oil 

Mix your sauce ingredients in a small bowl.

In a skillet, head the grapeseed oil over medium heat.

Add your mushrooms and sauté until cooked. 

*I personally don't like my mushrooms too cooked so I only sautéed them for about a minute. 

When the mushrooms are cooked to your liking, add the sauce. Heat sauce and mushrooms for about 20-30 seconds and you are good to go!

Sweet and Sour Turkey Meatballs

I am the meatball queen! Give me 20 minutes and I will have some tasty meatballs cooking.You can't really go wrong with meatballs. I love that you can mess around with sauces and ingredients and you always get a delicious outcome. Seriously though, think about it... Greek meatballs, Asian meatballs, Italian meatballs, Spanish meatballs... Talk about versatile! You can choose your meat too! I typically like to use ground turkey meat as it's lower in fat than beef. Here is the first of many meatball recipes to come. These have an asian flare to them, so pair it with some steamed veggies and rice and you have an easy weeknight meal. 

Meatball:

1 Pound Ground Turkey

2 Cloves Garlic, Minced

2 Green Onions, Chopped

1/4 TSP Sesame Oil

1/8 Cup Ancient Harvest Quinoa Flakes

Salt and Pepper

Sauce:

1 Cup Heinz Chili Sauce

1/4 Cup Tamari (Gluten Free Soy Sauce)

1/2 Cup Sugar Free Apricot Preserves or Jam

2 TBSP Sriracha

1/8 Cup Rice Vinegar

In a large bowl, mix your ingredients together for the meatballs. Form into nice little meatballs. Do not mess with the meatballs too much. Just roll and go. If you roll them too tight, they will be tough. It's okay if they aren't perfectly round, they still taste good!

In the crockpot, combine ingredients for your sauce.

In a large skillet, heat 1 TBSP of olive oil. Brown the meatballs. They don't have to be fully cooked on the inside but make sure the entire outside it browned and formed together. The crockpot will cook them fully. Cooking them first in the skillet helps hold them together since there is no egg or breadcrumbs.

Once your meatballs are browned, stick them in the crockpot. Cook on high for 1-2 hours until fully cooked and saucy! 

Chili Beef and Broccoli

Asian food is one of the biggest gluten traps out there. Sadly, the majority of dishes are off limits. The funny thing is most of the time, it's a simple switch from soy sauce to tamari. I am surprised that more asian restaurants haven't jumped on the gluten free train. There are some great chain restaurants like PF Changes and Pei Wei that have a dedicated Gluten Free menu but most authentic asian restaurants have yet to make the switch. Since eating out can be difficult and breaks my budget, creating delicious asian recipes is what I strive to do. Enjoy this sweet spicy beef dish with some sticky rice and don't forget your chopsticks and sake!

4 TBSP Olive Oil

1 Pound Beef, Your Choice of Cut

*I have made this recipe using different types of beef like skirt steak as well as a cheaper cut of beef. 

2 Cloves Garlic, Minced

2 TSP Ginger, Minced

1/2 Cup Tamari (Gluten Free Soy Sauce)

1/2 Cup Water

2 TBSP Brown Sugar

1 TBSP Heinz Chili Sauce

1/2 Onion, Sliced

1 Crown Broccoli, Cut into Florets

Rice Flour

*You can add other veggies too!

In a small skillet, heat 1 TBSP olive oil over medium heat. Add broccoli and onions. Sauté until onions are almost translucent. Set aside

Using the same skillet, Heat 2 TBSP olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger. *Keep an eye on your garlic so it doesn't burn. Quickly add tamari and water to cool it down slightly. 

Next, add your brown sugar and chili sauce until dissolved. Turn the heat a little lower and let simmer for 1-2 minutes while stirring. This will thicken your sauce a little.

Remove from heat and set aside.

Prepare the beef! Cut beef into 1/4 Inch strips against the grain. Toss with rice flour. 

In a large skillet or preferably a wok, heat 1-2 TBSP olive oil over medium heat. Add your beef and cook for 3 minutes until edges turn darker. 

*If there is a lot of excess oil, drain the oil.

Toss in your broccoli and onion and cook for 1 more minute. 

Then add your sauce and cook for 1 more minute.

Serve hot with rice and enjoy! xx

Sweet and Sour Cabbage

The worst part of the week is going through your fridge and seeing how much produce was wasted. My goals for the year was to save more money and waste less food. It has been a refreshing challenge trying to create new dishes before our fresh veggies and produce go bad. This dish all started with a bag of cabbage. The cabbage stared at me for a week saying "maaakeee something with me." I have never been a big cabbage fan, and seems like the only way I eat it is with fish tacos (I end up picking off most of the cabbage too) Well friends, here it is! An amazing, delicious way to eat cabbage. I made it two nights in a row because it was so satisfying, and because it was a huge bag of shredded cabbage. 

This quick and easy side dish is a great addition to any asian themed meal. 

1 TBSP Olive Oil

1/2 Onion, Sliced

3/4 Cup Cherry Tomatoes, Halved or Quartered

2 TBSP Rice Wine Vinegar

1 TBSP Sambal Oelek (Chili Garlic Sauce)

1 Zucchini, Cut in Chunks

8-10 Ounces, Shredded Cabbage

In a large skillet, heat 1 TBSP Olive Oil over medium heat. Add onions and sauté for 3 minutes until onions start to turn translucent. 

Add the cherry tomatoes, zucchini, rice wine vinegar, cabbage and sambal oelek and sauté for a few more minutes until cabbage is tender.

Serve hot and enjoy! xx 

Cauliflower Fried "Rice"

This delicious low carb dish will satisfy your asian food fix while keeping your belly and booty happy. Cauliflower replaces the rice so goodbye carbs and hello benefits! Cauliflower has great antioxidant powers with Vitamin C and manganese. Not only is cauliflower high in antioxidants, it contains fiber, folic acid, vitamin B and potassium. This is a delicious way to get more veggies into children as well. They won't even know it's cauliflower and will be begging for a second serving! Try adding this great side dish to any meal and enjoy the sneaky benefits of Cauliflower fried rice!

12 Ounces Cauliflower Florets

2 Cloves Garlic, Minced

2 Green Onions, Chopped

1/2 Cup Peas, Frozen or Fresh

1 Whole Carrot, Chopped

1 TBSP Tamari (Gluten Free Soy Sauce)

1 TBSP Olive Oil

1/2 TSP Sesame Oil

In a food processor, "rice" cauliflower florets. Pulse gently so that the cauliflower turns into little rice looking pieces. Do not puree cauliflower. 

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. 

Cook garlic, green onions, peas and carrots for about 5 minutes, making sure the garlic doesn't burn. 

When mixture is soft and aromatic, add cauliflower "rice"

Add Sesame Oil and Tamari.

Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Serve hot and enjoy! xx

Spicy Rice Cakes

Being on a budget doesn't mean you can't create easy delicious meals. This side dish was less than $1.00 to make and would go great with a saucy fish or chicken or sautéed veggies. They are super quick and easy to make. 

2 cups cooked Jasmine Rice

1/8 Cup Tamari (Gluten Free Soy Sauce)

1 Clove Garlic, Minced

1.5 TBSP Sriracha

2 Green Onions, Chopped, green parts only

1/4-1/2 Cup Shredded Carrots (about half carrot shredded)

1 Egg

1/4 TSP Sesame Oil

1/4 TSP Korean Crushed Red Pepper

3 TBSP Grapeseed Oil

Rice Flour for sprinkling

Heat grapeseed oil over medium heat in a large skillet

Combine all ingredients and mix. Form into little patties and sprinkle with rice flour.

When oil is heated, place gently into oil and cook until golden brown. Sprinkle more rice flour and flip.

Drain on paper towels, drizzle with sriracha and serve hot. Enjoy xx

*You can test to see if oil is hot enough by sticking the bottom of a wooden spoon into your oil. If little bubbles start forming around the wood, your oil is hot enough to crisp items. 

Chili Garlic Eggplant

Eggplant isn't everyone's favorite vegetable but this recipe will change your mind. It is so flavorful for being such an easy recipe. I prefer to use the small japanese eggplant that you can find at asian market's,  but the larger eggplants work too (pictured). You can use this sauce on any vegetable for a simple side dish to accompany your meal. Quick, easy and cheap? Best combination ever.

1 Large Eggplant or 3 Small Japanese Eggplants

1 TBSP Sambal Oelek (Chili Garlic Sauce)

1 TBSP Tamari (Gluten Free Soy Sauce)

1/2 TBSP Brown Sugar

1/4 TSP Sesame Oil

1 Green Onion, Green Parts, Chopped

Heat oven to 350 Degrees.

Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cut eggplant into round disks.

Mix Sambal Oelek, Tamari, Brown Sugar, Sesame oil in a bowl. 

Toss Eggplant in sauce and make sure both sides are coated.

Cook in oven for about 10 minutes until you can easily poke a fork through the eggplant.

Serve hot and enjoy! xx

Spicy Miso Halibut over Garlic Sesame Potatoes

                                 

Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a slight obsession with asian babies and asian food. The only problem is that I don't have an asian baby and asian food is a gluten trap. All of those delicious sauces and crispy dishes are gluten's best friend. So what's a gluten free girl to do? Well of course! Create my own. Here is my version of Asian Style Fish and Chips. I tried creating this with two different miso pastes, red miso and white miso. The red miso, while still delicious was a little more salty and the white miso is a bit more mellow of a flavor. Be careful though with miso paste, it can also be a sneaky gluten trap. Miso is typically brewed with barley which is off limits. Make sure and check your labels. Take a trip to your local asian market and see what a piece of heaven looks like.

Spicy Miso Halibut

• 2 Halibut filets
• 2 Cloves Garlic, minced
• 1 and 1/2 TBSP premium white miso
• 1/4 TSP Sesame Oil
• 1/4-1/2 TSP Korean Crushed Red Pepper (depending on how spicy you like it!)
• 2 and 1/2 TBSP Hot Water

Cucumber Green Onion Relish

• 2 Persian Cucumbers, peeled and diced
• 2 Green Onions, sliced, only the green part
• 1 TBSP rice vinegar

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, combine the miso paste, garlic, sesame oil, korean crushed red pepper, and hot water. Mix until it's a smooth paste.

Baste fish with your miso mixture and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes but the longer the better with miso! 

Combine all ingredients for your relish and let sit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. 

Bake fish in oven for 15-20 minutes until fish flakes easily. The amount of time depends on the thickness of your fish. The halibut filet I used was a little thicker than an inch and took about 17 minutes. 

Garlic Sesame Potatoes

• 1 TBSP Garlic Oil, If you don't have then Olive Oil works fine.
• 2 TSP Sesame Oil
• 2-3 Cloves Garlic, minced
• 3-4 White Potatoes or your favorite kind, thinly sliced
• Sprinkle of Rice Flour

First, thinly slice your potatoes and quickly boil the potatoes for 2 minutes. Dry your potatoes and then sprinkle them with rice flour. 

Heat both oils over medium heat in a large skillet and crisp up the potatoes for about 15 minutes.  When the potatoes are almost done, crispy and golden brown drain the oil from the pan and I usually pat some of the oil off of the potatoes as well. 

Add your garlic and cook for about 1 more minute. Be careful because garlic burns quickly and turns bitter so stay close. 

Enjoy! xx