Sauerkraut Sammies by Robin Krause

Sauerkraut! I never really had an interest in it until the ever talented Mrs. Robin showed me how it's really supposed to be done. We already knew she was a genius in the kitchen, but really Robin? Sauerkraut can be amazing too? This is just scrumptious and simply delectable. Try it and get back to your German roots or simply try something new.... either or, who cares what your reason is, it's just good.

What you need:

Sauerkraut:

1 - 2lb. bag of refrigerated sauerkraut rinsed

10.5 oz. of veggie stock

3 carrots peeled and sliced

1.5 cups chopped parsley

3 cloves of garlic minced

3 bay leaves

1 jalapeno sliced

1 fresno chili sliced

1tsp. juniper berries

1 tsp. mustard seeds

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp. coriander

Sandwich:

1 loaf of Rye bread from Wuollets

Slices of swiss cheese

red onion thinly sliced

Directions:

Mix all of your ingredients for the sauerkraut and place them in a dutch oven. Keep the cover off. Bake at 400 degrees for 1.5 hours. If you like your kraut wetter, keep the lid on. If you want it milder, bake it for longer. Once done, the rest is pretty self-explanatory. Take your bread, top with the sliced onion, kraut and cheese. Cook like a grill cheese or make a panini! Simple, delicious, fun!

Strata Bake by Robin Krause

Want a quick and easy yet delicious crowd pleasing breakfast? Try this amazing strata bake. They are just plain scrumptious!

What You Need:

5 eggs

1/2-2 cups half and half or milk (depending on how moist you want it)

1 loaf of ciabatta bread cubed into 1/2 inch pieces

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 pepper

1 handful of parsley chopped 1 cup shredded cheddar plus a little extra to sprinkle on top (add any other herbs as you see fit)

Directions:

Mix all of your ingredients in a large bowl and portion out the mixture into a large 9 cup muffin tin. Top with cheddar cheese and bake on 375 for 25 minutes. Enjoy!

Pickled Beets and Onions by Robin Krause

Don't wait to pickle your beets in the fall. They are good any time of year. Seriously, I LOVE beets! If you don't, please try them made this way. They are magnificent! I mean, MAGNIFICENT! Catch my drift?

What you need:

3 medium beets

1 cup white vinegar

1 cup water

1/4 cup sugar

1 jalapeno sliced

pinch of whole black peppercorns

pinch of cloves

1/2 vidalia onion thinly sliced

pinch of salt

Directions:

Wash and cut your beets into quarters. Boil in water for 45 minutes-1 hour until slightly tender. You can check it with a fork and it goes in a bit easily, not too easily, take them off of the heat and rinse with cold water. Peel your beets and slice them into a glass bowl. Then, add your vinegar, water, sugar, jalapeno, peppercorns and cloves to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once boiling, take it off the heat and add it to your beets along with the onions and a pinch of salt. Let sit overnight and eat them as they are, add them to a salad, or even use the pickled onions on some tacos!

Grapefruit Hot 'n' Sour Salad by Robin Krause

This salad if for those who demand robust flavors in their meals. It's sour from the grapefruit and hot from the fresno peppers. There's a lot going on here but once you get a taste of this, you will be completely as addicted as I was. No big whooop though, it's not heroin and it's good for you:)

What you need:
6 Grapefruit peeled and sliced into wedges
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
1/2 red onion thinly sliced
1-2 fresno pepper minced
Juice from 2 limes
2 avocados diced
Handful of parsley chopped
1 diced mango (optional)

Directions:

Mix everything together and enjoy!

Roasted Dijon Mustard Cauliflower by Robin Krause

This dish puts cauliflower on steroids! It's a perfect side dish that sings to the tastebuds. A big hit for the Holidays!

What you Need:
1 head of cabbage cut into florets
2 TBS Dijon Mustard
1 TBS butter (softened)
1 TBS Olive Oil
1/4 finely fresh (chopped) or dried Thyme
1 small handful of parsley finely chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a roasting pan and roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes until cauliflower is tender to the touch with a fork (be careful to not overcook).

Avocado Salad by Robin Krause

We just can't get enough greens in our diet. As we get ready to pull out the winter jackets and hibernate with our Minnesotan casserole dishes, don't forget to get those healthy food in. I am definitely guilty of nestling up to a plate of microwaved nachos on a Tuesday night so I am also needing to pass up bunk meals. Make this and you'll forget all about the yummy but crapy for you meals:)

What you need:

Dark greens (arugula, spinach and mixed greens)
1 small finely chopped red onion
optional: cut Grapefruit

Dressing:
3 limes squeezed for the juice
2 avocados mashed
1 thinly sliced jalapeno pepper
2 TBS of extra virgin olive oil
1 TBS grapefruit juice
1/4-1/2 teaspoon of mint
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Mix all of your dressing ingredients in a bowl, then mix in your greens, red onion and the optional cut grapefruit.

Goat Cheese Berry Croistinis by Robin Krause

This is a very easy recipe but uber delicious! Simply bake some croistinis, top with goat cheese and make a little cherry jam. Robin Krause thought this up (of course!). Dang she is SOOOO talented! For the jam, take some jam that is almost gone and add fresh cherries, strawberries, whatever! Then, add some fresh squeezed juice from the berry of your choice, stir gently and serve with the croistinis and goat cheese.

Grilled Corn by Robin Krause

Grillin' season IS in full swing so let's add a little kick to the ordinary grilled corn. Here is a grilled corn topping that will knock your socks off! Well, your probably not wearing socks so maybe it will just stop you from reaching for the ever boring butter to formally dress your grilled corn. Forget about those little tong things too to hold your corn: learn a little patience as it cools off a tad:)

What you need:

1 Cup Mayo
1/4 cup minced red onion
Juice from 1 lemon
Zest from 1 lemon
2 tbls chopped cilantro
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Directions:

Soak your corn (with it's husks) in water for at least a 1/2 hour. Grill for 20 minutes flipping on each of it's sides until black. Mix all of your ingredients above in a bowl, husk your corn and spread thinly on top. This topping can also be used to top a burger or mix into a summer vegetable or pasta salad. Experiment and enjoy.

Fruit Topping for Ice Cream by Robin Krause

Since spring is here and in full bloom, I thought I would celebrate and indulge in a little ice cream.

Now, this isn't your run of the mill ice cream dish, it includes a very fresh, healthy and delicious topping.

What you need:

Your favorite ice cream (I LOVE vanilla)

Orange, lemon, or lime zest

Orange, lemon, or lime juice (use the juice you used with the zest)

small drizzle of honey

any fruit that you adore diced up

Directions:

Put the diced fruit in a glass bowl, squeeze your desired fresh juice on top and drizzle the honey on top of that along with the sprinkle of zest and mix it together. MMMMMM!

No Mayo Coleslaw by Robin Krause

Cabbage salads are so underrated! Everyone thinks of coleslaw as cabbage with gobs of mayo... one could not be so far off base! Hello 2011, cabbage is a fabulous vegetable with tons of nutrients. There are several cabbage varieties to draw from to create satisfying salads that include almost everything but mayo (now, don't get me wrong, I do enjoy my mayo once and a while;) The cool thing about creating a cabbage salad, these days, is that you can topple it onto bed of greens and IT becomes the "dressing". Thank God for evolution!

What you need:

Red cabbage chopped

Red Onion chopped

Carrot grated

Radish thinly sliced

Jalapeno thinly sliced

Green onions thinly sliced

Mint chopped

Vinegar

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together and put on a bed of greens. Spinach is a good choice. Add as much of each ingredient as you see fit. Remember, this is "your salad" which includes the things YOU like.

Gorbanzo vegetable Salad by Robin Krause

This recipe was developed by a friend of mine, Robin Krause, who is one of the most inspiring and talented foodies I know. Seriously, her brilliance in the kitchen continuously blows me away and I am so blessed to have her live right across the street. What luck I have! I've often told her that I wish I could do a brain dump from hers to mine with all of her knowledge and I also wish that she allowed me to have her on speed dial whenever I needed an inspired recipe, because she can ALWAYS pull extraordinary out of the hiney... 

Well, now people, you are in luck to be the recipient of this recipe. If you are smart, like Robin, you will plan a dinner party right away with 6-8 of your friends just to make this salad because that is how many servings this batch makes. There are several steps to this salad, but your precious time WILL pay off. I promise. If you make this salad and it does not turn out, you didn't read the directions correctly;) 

What you need:

1. For the dressing, mix all of these ingredients together in a small bowl:

1/2 cup of Rice Wine Vinegar   

2tbs extra virgin olive oil

1/2 red onion thinly sliced

squeeze of a small whole lemon

2 garlic cloves

1/4 teaspoon of cumin

1 handful of parsley finely chopped

pinch of salt and pepper

Let sit while to make everything else

2. In a separate bowl, take a 4oz container of feta, chop and place in a bowl. Squeeze 1/2 lemon on the feta and sprinkle some crack pepper on it. Give it a toss and let sit.

3. Hard boil 5 eggs and chop. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.

4. Rinse and drain 1 -15oz can of garbanzo beans, pour into a bowl and sprinkle another 1/4 teaspoon of cumin on them. Toss.

5. In a large bowl add:

1 - 5oz box spinach 

1 - 5oz box arugula (the two greens are imperative for it's success - mixed greens do not cut it) 

1/2-1 small canister of baby red tomatoes cut in half

1/2 sliced english cucumber

1 chopped avocado

6. Once all of that is ready, toss all of the ingredients in the large bowl and voila. Best Salad ever. To top it off, make some delicious croutons by dicing up a fresh baguette and sauteing it in a tbsp or two of olive oil or butter for 10 minutes or until crispy and brown.

Pecan Pear Pasta by Robin Krause

Generally, I am not a fan of fruit in my food. I mean, I love fruit but I like to eat it on it's very own or perhaps in a morning smoothie. I know that many people will disagree with me on this so I decided to post this recipe because it is simply and fruitfully fantastic, unbelievably so, and my life goal is to please YOU;)

Here is what you need:

Angel Hair pasta

Heavy Cream (1 cup)

White wine (2 tbs)

Pears (ripe)

Green Peppercorn in the jar (1tbs)

Pecans (1 cup)

3 scallions chopped

Couple sprigs of Thyme

Butter (2 tbs)

Salt and Pepper to taste

While your cooking your pasta, caramelize your pears by cubing them and putting in a pan at medium/low heat with 2 tbs of butter and let caramelize (takes 10-15 minutes). While you are doing that, roast your pecans (I just like to put them in a saucepan for a couple minutes). After they are roasted, give them a nice chop.  Add your white wine to deglaze the pan that you cooked the pears in (keeping the pears still in there). Then, slowly add your heavy whipping cream at low heat. I like to leave my whipping cream carton on the oven while I caramelize the pears so that it warms up a bit to decrease the opportunity of curdling. Once stirred in, add your green peppercorn, pecans, scallions, thyme, salt and pepper to taste. Cook down on low for a couple minutes. Serve and enjoy the fruit!!

Asparagus and Egg Breakfast by Robin Krause

Here is my second recipe that involves both eggs and asparagus, making it quite obvious that I adore them both. This meal can be thoroughly enjoyed ANY time of day. What's really cool is that I have truly realized, while working my tushie out at the gym, the importance of protein in my meals. I know a lot of vegetarians do not eat eggs but may want to reconsider - not only do they pack in a lot of protein but they are also mandatory to create this stellar dish.

Look forward to some other protein eating tips for us veggie heads!

Here is what you need:

1 bunch asparagus (I like the skinnier ones over the woodier larger ones) take 1/4 inch of the bottoms

Eggs (as many as you like)

Red onion thinly sliced

Campari tomatoes (small wedges)

Handful of Parsley chopped

Garlic chopped

Salt and Pepper

Shaved parmesan

Butter Olive Oil

Toast of your liking

Paprika (as an option)

In a saucepan, add your tomatoes, garlic, red onion, parsley and asparagus along with a little olive oil, butter, salt and pepper. Sautee until the asparagus is firm but bendable. The test is to pick one up and it should flop down no more that 20 degrees. Remove your sautee and crack your eggs. Cook them to your liking and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and possibly even a little paprika if you feel so inclined. In the meantime, you can toast your toast or english muffins. When all complete, assemble your ingredients and sprinkle some shaved parmesan on top of your masterpiece to achieve that complimentative feeling inside!