Cleansing the Palate with Lemongrass Sorbet ~~ #FreshTastyValentines

When serving a several course meal I like offering a palate cleanser before the entree is served. Sorbet is commonly used and depending on the meal I often serve different flavors of sorbet.  I look for a flavor that is tart and prepares the palate for the richness of the plates to come.  Cranberry sorbet is one of my favorites to serve, especially if I am following it with a beef, pork or poultry entree. Lemon sorbet is also very popular and I have used it when serving fish or seafood entrees.

You can find Gourmet Garden in the produce section of you grocers.

Also on instagram at GourmetGarden and on twitter at GourmetGardenUS

This zester from KitchenIQ is the best I have ever used!!

Since the menu I am sharing this week contains an Asian entree, I wanted to use Asian flavors in my sorbet.  Gourmet Garden graciously sent us stir in pastes that included Lemongrass and Ginger.  knew that these flavors would be perfect in the sorbet for this meal.  I also included some lemon zest and lemon juice.  I used a new zester that I received for this event from Kitchen IQ.  This is a wonderful tool.  It has a container under the zesting blade that catches and measures the zest for you and a cover for over the blade while the zester is being stored.  This is going to get a lot of use in my household.  I love it!!

Wow!!!  This is the best Sorbet I have ever enjoyed!

Sorbet is very easy to make and can be made up to two weeks in advance and kept frozen until ready to serve.  A little goes a long way as you only offer a small scoop to each guest.  This sorbet was everything I knew it would be.  The brightness of the lemongrass with a little warmth from the ginger, cleansed the palate and left us ready to continue on with the rest of the meal.  This may be my favorite sorbet flavor profile yet.

Just one more little note:  While our sponsors are lovely and generous (see their reader giveaway here) all opinions are strictly my own and 100% accurate.

Lemongrass Sorbet

1 tube Lemongrass Paste (I used Garden Gourmet)
1 t. ginger paste (I used Garden Gourmet)
1 T. lemon zest
1 T. lemon juice
4 c. water
1 c. sugar

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over med high heat.  Cook and stir until it comes to a boil and the sugar is dissolved.  Let cool to room temperature and then place in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight.  When liquid is completely chilled, pour into the bowl of an ice cream maker and follow manufacturer's instructions. Or alternately, pour into a freezer safe container and freeze for one day and up to two weeks.  Print Recipe. 

Shrimp Balls with Tangerine Hatch Chile Dipping Sauce #FreshTastyValentines

Have you been enjoying our #FreshTastyValentines event?  I know that I have been enjoying sharing my menu with you.  We have made it to the last of the first courses.  Today we will enjoy our fish course with the last of our Woodbridge Sauvignon Blanc that we received as a sponsor gift for this event.  We will be switching to the Woodbridge Pinot Noir after the next course which is simply sorbet with which to cleanse our palates.

This is a light citrusy wine with floral notes.

It paired fabulously with the spicy citrus sauce that accompanied the shrimp balls.

In addition to the wine, I also used products from two additional sponsors for this course of Shrimp Balls with Tangerine Hatch Chile Sauce.  As always all opinions expressed in this blog are 100% honest and 100% mine.

The lightly dried cilantro from Gourmet Garden was perfect in the shrimp balls.

A sauce made with a base of  Not Ketchup had just the right amount of spice.

These little tender morsels would also make a perfect appetizer.  When having a meal with a lot of courses it is important that you keep each course to just a taste so that your guests don't explode before the entree arrives.

This recipe made 28 little shrimp balls.

Serve each guest 3 or 4 of these little darlings with a schmear of the sauce.

Shrimp Balls with Tangerine Hatch Chile Sauce

Shrimp Balls adapted from My Grandmother's Chinese Kitchen

For Shrimp Balls:

3/4 lb. cooked shrimp, cleaned and shelled

3 T. lightly dried cilantro

1 egg white, beaten

1 t. sugar

1/2 t. salt

pinch white pepper

1 t. soy sauce

2 t. oyster sauce

2 t. sesame oil

1 t. hemp oil

2 t. dry sherry

Place shrimp in the bowl of a food processor and pulse several times until it is a paste like consistency.  Remove to large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Add the remaining ingredients and mix on medium speed for 4-5 minutes until the mixture is firm.  With wet hands, to prevent sticking, roll into 28 small balls.  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the shrimp balls, return to a boil and cook for 3-4 minutes until cooked through.  Immediately rinse with cold water to stop cooking.  

For Sauce:

2/3 c. Not Ketchup Tangerine Hatch Chile 

2 T. honey

1 T. soy sauce

Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan over med high heat.  Bring to a light boil, stirring to blend.  Serve with Shrimp Balls  Print Recipe

Ham and Broccoli Quiche for Foodie Extravaganza

I am hosting our Foodie Extravaganza this month and I chose for everyone to share a pie recipe this month.

Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board! Looking for our previous parties? Check them out HERE.





This is the invitation that I sent to the others in our group:

February has so many food holidays...chocolate, of course. Heart healthy, Red foods, Fondues, Berries, Cherries, Grapefruit and Hot Breakfasts to name just a few. And American Pies....perfect...you can make them red, you can make them chocolate, you can use berries or cherries, you can make them savory and serve them as a hot breakfast, you can make them out of grapefruit....well, maybe not, but if you do you will be my hero!!!

I had great plans for the pie I was going to create for this event.  I signed up to host quite a while ago and didn't anticipate where my life would be at posting time.  Mom passed away on the 27th of January and we had the funeral this past weekend when I would have been creating and baking and scheduling my post.

This event, of course, got placed on the back burner and I apologize to any of the group that felt neglected this month.  I truly appreciate all of the great recipes that you are sharing today.

Frank's sister and brother in law, were kind enough to send a honey baked ham and all the trimmings to our house to serve during the breaks from the funeral home. Thanks Roz and Ron, that was very thoughtful and kind of you.  When things finally calmed down around here and I had time to think of this challenge, I looked in the fridge, found the ham bone with the remaining meat still on it and some broccoli and cheese I had bought for soup that had never gotten made.  I, of course, always have eggs so a Ham and Broccoli Quiche it is.

I love to make quiches.

Layer on any flavors that you love.

Make it ahead of time and reheat it when ready to serve.

1. Start with pastry for a one crust pie.
2.  Add in meat of your choice
3. Next is your layer of flavoring, I chose sweet onion, you can use garlic, scallions, leeks, etc.
4. Layer on one or more vegetables, you want about 1 1/2 c. total
5. Sprinkle on a cup of cheese.
6. Pour your custard mixture over all and bake to perfection.

Ham and Broccoli Quiche

Pastry for a one crust pie

1 cup diced ham

1/4 c. diced sweet onion

1 1/2 c. cooked broccoli, chopped

1 c. shredded Colby Jack cheese

4 eggs

1 c. heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste

Line a deep dish pie pan with the pastry. Sprinkle the ham along the bottom of the crust. Sprinkle with the onion, the broccoli and the cheese.  Whisk together the eggs, cream, salt and pepper.  Pour over the filled pie crust.  Bake in a preheated 400* oven for 40-45 minutes, until puffed, golden and a knife inserted into the center removes cleanly. Let cool for 15 minutes before slicing.  Print Recipe

Here are the rest of the pies being shared today

BLT Pie by Georgina of G'Gina's Flavors Palatte
Cheddar Leek Potato Pie by Lauren at Sew You Think You Can Cook
Cheeseburger Pie by Kathleen at Fearlessly Creative Mammas
Grapefruit Pie by Rebekah at Making Miracles
Ham and Broccoli Quiche by Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm
Homegrown Blackberry Pie by Carlee of Cooking with Carlee
No Bake Peanut Butter Pie by Lauren of From Gate to Plate
Peaches and Cream Pie by Elaine at Cookin and Craftin
Penne Pie by Terri at Our Good Life
Red Velvet Pudding Pie by Teri of The Freshman Cook
Tar Heel Pie by Tara of Tara's Multicultural Table
The Impossible Coconut Pie by Stacy of Food Lust People Love
Walnut Crumble-Topped Apple Tart by Caroline at Caroline's Cooking

Seaweed Apple Salad for #FreshTastyValentines

I had this post planned for a couple of weeks.  We are celebrating #FreshTastyValentines and I had decided to share a complete seven course meal with you.  This is day 3 and it is time for the 3rd course.  You can see my menu here.

We started with an appetizer on Monday.  I shared the soup course yesterday and today is the day I am sharing the salad course.  My salad is featuring some wonderful apples that I got from Envy Apples.  These apples are so good, however, that I had a hard time hiding them well enough to keep them for my salad!!

Luckily they saved me one so I was able to make this salad and share it with you.

The envy apple add delicious flavor and crunch to the seaweed salad.

The T Lish Asian Sesame Dressing was perfect!!

I had used T Lish dressings in the past so when I decided to celebrate with Asian foods I knew that this dressing was going to feature prominently in at least one of the courses.   Both the apples and the dressing were gifts to the bloggers from our sponsors but they not only provided product for us to use they are also sending out great gifts for you, our readers.  You can enter into the drawing by going to my Welcome Post.

I love getting sponsor gifts and I appreciate their generosity but they are never promised anything other than an honest opinion should I use their product in one of my blog posts.  I am proud to feature these two products in my salad today.

Are you familiar with seaweed salad?  Tingting and I love it but it is a developed taste. Not so much with the flavor which is delicious especially with the T Lish dressing but more with the texture which is on the slimy side.  The apples helped this very much as did the sesame seeds which also add some texture and crunch but Frank still couldn't get past the texture to enjoy the taste.

Seaweed Apple Salad

1 pkg (10 sheets) Wakame (seaweed)

1 apple, peeled, cored and diced

1/2 c. Asian Sesame Dressing

Toasted Sesame Seeds

Soak the Wakame in warm water for a few minutes to soften.  Drain and squeeze dry.  Cut into slices and place in bowl with the apple.  Pour dressing over the seaweed and apple and toss to mix. Sprinkle with sesame seeds before serving.  Print Recipe

Soup Course for #FreshTastyValentines

This is an easy and delicious soup. Light enough to be perfect for a 7 course meal.  Chock full of vegetables, including my favorite, snow peas, that were provided with a coupon from one of our sponsors, Mann's.

Mann's is also providing a gift to one of our lucky readers through our Rafflecopter Giveaway.

I had never used Mann's products prior to this challenge.  They are only sold in one store in my area but I do have to say that the snow peas I purchased were fresh and crisp and beautiful.  These opinions are solely my own and not influenced by the coupon provided.

Bok Choy, Carrots, Mushrooms, Snow Peas and Scallions are steamed together as the bottom layer of this delicious soup.

I was also happy to incorporate product given to the bloggers by Gourmet Garden.  I used their Ginger Paste to flavor the pork in the wontons.  You can, of course, mince up ginger yourself but I love having the Gourmet Garden products on hand.  I never have to worry that I am going to go into the produce drawer only to find my ginger has turned on me and is not usable right when I needed it for a recipe.  I have used Gourmet Garden for a few years now and can't imagine life without it.  I am very happy to have received it as a sponsor gift but I also purchase it on my own without hesitation and would recommend these products even without the sponsorship.  Gourmet Garden is also offering product to one of our lucky readers so don't forget to stop by the Rafflecopter Giveaway and enter.

Mix the ground pork with some dry sherry, soy sauce, sesame oil, scallions and ginger.

A little cornstarch is added to keep the juices together during steaming.

You should have enough filling for a 12 oz. packet of wonton wrappers.

Place about a teaspoon of meat on each wrapper, brush the edges with beaten egg, and make into little packets and set aside for a moment. 

Steam all your veggies together.

This only takes 3 or 4 minutes. 

You want to leave a little crunch.

Then steam the wontons or dumplings.

This makes a lot of wontons but they freeze well and they are delicious with dipping sauce.

Now it is time to layer your flavors.

You can have everything ready and waiting so serving only takes a moment.

First divide you vegetables among your bowls.

Any extra veggies can be frozen and used in a stir fry or as soup again with the frozen wontons.

Next add a few wontons to each bowl.

Finally, you will add 3/4 c. to 1 c. of hot chicken broth to each bowl before serving.

Vegetable Pork Wonton Soup

For the Wontons:

1 T. dry sherry

2 t. cornstarch

1 lb ground pork

2 scallions, white and light green, finely chopped

1 T. light soy sauce

1 t. ginger paste

1 t. dark sesame oil

1 t. sugar

1 (12 oz) pkg wonton wrappers

1 egg, beaten

Combine the sherry and cornstarch in a large bowl.  Add the remaining ingredients, except wonton wrappers and egg, stir until well combined.  Refrigerate while preparing the vegetables.

For the Veggies:

1 large head bok choy, cleaned and sliced

1 carrot, scraped and then shredded

1 (6 oz) package snow peas, slice in half on the diagonal

2 scallions, white and light green, thinly sliced

1 (8 oz) pkg mushrooms

Place veggies in a steamer pan over boiling water.  Cover and cook for 3-4 minutes.  Remove to a bowl and set aside.

To make Wontons:

Place one teaspoon of pork filling onto a wonton wrapper.  Brush the edges with beaten egg and pinch edges, sealing and making little purses.  Repeat until all filling and wrappers are gone.  Place a coffee filter onto the bottom of your steamer pan.  Place one layer of wontons, not touching, onto the filter and place pan over boiling water.  Cover and steam for about 10 minutes.  Remove to parchment paper and repeat in batches until all wontons are cooked.

For Soup:

1 c. of chicken broth, heated for each bowl of soup desired

Distribute vegetables evenly among bowls, reserving any remaining vegetables for another purpose. Add 2 or 3 wontons to each bowl.  Remaining wontons can be frozen.  Pour hot chicken broth over the vegetables and wontons and serve immediately.  Print Recipe

I'm excited to see what the others are sharing today!

Chicken Puffs for #FreshTastyValentines

I have decided that I will be sharing a complete 7 course meal with you on this Fresh Tasty Valentines Event.  I am posting my Menu today and sharing the recipe for the appetizer course.  Each day you will receive my recipe for the next course as well as linkups to the other bloggers selections for that day.  I hope you enjoy reading and joining us as I am having participating.

Menu Celebrating St. Valentine's Day

Chicken Puffs

Pork Wonton Soup

Seaweed Salad

Shrimp Balls with Tangerine Hatch Chili Dipping Sauce

Lemongrass Sorbet

Pan-Fried Noodles with Shredded Pork

Chinese Almond Cookies

Chocolate Raspberry Bubble Tea

When I think of Fresh and Healthy my mind goes to other cultures.  Mediterranean foods are high on the list and we love them but Asian foods are also easy to prepare with fresh, tasty, nutritious ingredients so that was the road I decided to take.

These Chicken Puffs featuring products supplied to me by Gourmet Garden are the perfect way to start the evening. Let me just say that I love the stir in pastes and lightly dried products from Gourmet Garden.  I use them all year long in my cooking.  They make my life easier.  I don't go into my produce drawer to pull out cilantro or parsley, only to find it is slimy and unusable.  I would not feature any product that I don't love and I would never recommend a product that I did not totally trust even if they gave me a truckload of the stuff.


Don't forget to enter the sponsor giveaways.  They are offering great products for some lucky readers. You can enter at my Welcome to #FreshTastyValentines post


These little puffs are a delicious start to a quiet, romantic evening. Enjoy them with cocktails in front of a roaring fire with music playing softly in the background.  Only one cocktail and a couple of chicken puffs though or you might just never make it back into the kitchen for the remainder of the meal.  You might just end up taking your second or third cocktail down to the hot tub and forego dinner all together.  Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything........

I started by mincing a chicken breast in my food processor.

You could use ground chicken from the grocer as well.

I gathered together the rest of the ingredients needed.

The Gourmet Garden products make life much easier but you could also mince fresh if you like.

Place all the ingredients, except the onions, into a skillet over med high heat until chicken is cooked through.

Stir in the onions and set aside to cool.

While this mixture is cooling pull out your frozen puff pastry sheet to defrost.

After 20 minutes roll out your puff pastry and cut into 25 squares measuring 2.5" each.

Brush each square with egg wash and then add a teaspoon of filling. 

Gather the ends into the middle and twist together.

Press the edges together to seal.

Bake for a few minutes in a hot oven, until puffed and browned.

Chicken Puffs

adapted from The Complete Start your Meal Cookbook

1/2 lb chicken breast, minced or 1/2 lb. ground chicken

3 T. dry sherry

3 T. soy sauce

2 T. oyster sauce

1/2 T. minced fresh ginger root or ginger paste

1 clove garlic minced or 1/2 T. garlic paste

1/2 c. finely chopped scallions including some greens

1 sheet of frozen puff pastry

1 egg white

1 T. water

Combine chicken, sherry, soy sauce, oyster sauce, ginger and garlic in a skillet over medium heat. Cook about 10 minutes for chicken to be cooked through.  Stir in the scallions and set aside to cool.

Thaw one sheet of frozen puff pastry (20 minutes or so) and unfold onto a lightly floured surface. Roll pastry sheet into a 12.5" square.  Cut this square into 25 (2.5") squares.

Beat together egg white and water with a fork.  Brush each small square with the egg wash.  Place 1 t. of chicken onto each small square.  Gather the 4 corners of each square into the middle and twist to seal. Pinch together any openings on the sides of the packet.

Bake on a parchment lined baking sheet in a 400* oven for 10-15 minutes, until puffed and golden brown.  Serve warm or at room temperature.  Print Recipe

Let's see what the others are sharing today

Welcome to #FreshTastyValentines

Saturday I shared with you that we were getting ready for this great event that we are calling Fresh Tasty Valentines.  I want to give a huge shout out and thank you to Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla for all of her hard work organizing this event.  She has worked very hard gathering together the participants, finding sponsors, organizing files and making this event run easily and smoothly for all involved. I am involved in many different clubs, groups and events.  I always know that if Cam is in charge it is going to be successful and fun.

Please join me and the others each day as we post our creations to help you enjoy a lovely, healthy, fresh and tasty Valentines Day dinner for your loved ones.  

#FreshTastyValentines is almost here. A group of 22 talented food bloggers who will be posting recipes for an entire week that, we hope, will inspire you to make some healthy Valentines treats for your loved ones. Here we are...

The Bloggers
(with links to their homepages, in alphabetical order)

A Day in the Life on theFarm

A Kitchen Hoor'sAdventures

CafeTerraBlog

Caroline's Cooking

Cheese Curd In Paradise

Cindy's Recipes andWritings

Colie's Kitchen

Cookaholic Wife

Culinary Adventures withCamilla

Curious Cuisiniere

Dancing Veggies

Eliot's Eats

Famished Fish, FinickyShark

Jane's Adventures inDinner

Making Miracles

Poet in the Pantry

Rhubarb and Honey

Sew You Think You CanCook

The Pajama Chef

The Spiffy Cookie

Things I Make (forDinner)

Tortillas and Honey

From February 1st through February 8th, not only will you find nearly a hundred recipe posts, but you can enter to win our awesome giveaway, courtesy of some amazingly generous donations from sponsoring companies. See rafflecopter below.

The Sponsors

(with links to their homepages, in alphabetical order)

BenBella Vegan
Bob's Red Mill

Casabella
Envy Apples

Gourmet Garden
KitchenIQ
Mann Packing

Not Ketchup
Pacari Chocolate
Sun Basket
T.Lish
UncommonGoods
Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi

The Giveaway

For FOURTEEN Different Prizes
begins February 1st and ends February 8th
If you are visiting before the rafflecopter opens, please check back!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you to #FreshTastyValentines sponsors for providing the prizes free of charge. These companies also provided the bloggers with samples and product to use for #FreshTastyValentines recipe development without additional compensation. All opinions stated are those of the bloggers.