You usually don’t think of cucumbers in a hot dish, but they make a perfect sautéed side, much like you would sauté zucchini.

Sauteed Cucs

4 servings
82 caloriess per serving

1 medium cucumber
1 T butter
1/4 t salt
Chopped parsley

Peel cucumber, cut in half, remove seeds and slice, sprinkle with salt. Melt butter in a skillet and sauté cucs 3 minutes. Remove and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

These make a great snack while watching TV – pick away without guilt! Put a few bowls out at parties and watch everyone try and figure out what the heck they are eating

Roasted Chickpeas

8 servings
29 calories per serving

2 c canned chick peas, drained and rinsed (I used a can of tri-color chick peas)
1 t oil
Coarse salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Toss peas and oil and spread on a baking sheet and bake 40 minutes or until brown. Remove from oven and sprinkle with salt. Cool before serving.

This is one of THE best veggie side dishes I have made in a long time. I bought a bunch of pepitas to make them for snacks and then came up with some other great ways to use them – this is one of the best ! The flavor and texture of the pepitas goes so well with the beans and the very simple seasoning. This is a special one !

Green Beans and Pepitas

6 servings
121 calories per serving

1 pound green beans
2 tablespoons oil
1/4 c pepitas (raw pumpkin seeds)
Kosher salt
Pepper to taste
1 t rosemary
1 garlic clove, minced

Boil water and add some regular salt and cook beans 5 minutes. Drain and rinse with cool water then cut them into 1 inch pieces. Heat 1 T oil in a skillet. Saute pepitas until they start to brown and pop, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and remove to a bowl. Heat the rest of the oil and cook garlic and rosemary 30 seconds. Add beans and pepitas and cook 2 minutes to heat through. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Brining makes things so very moist and flavorful – and this is no exception. Super easy method that turns out perfect results time and again !

Brined Pork Loin

8 servings
251 calories per serving

8 c cold water
1/2 c kosher salt
2 1 lb. pork tenderloins, trimmed
1 T olive oil
1/2 t black pepper

Combine water and salt in a 13×9 glass baking dish and add pork. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour, turning halfway through. Heat grill. Drain pork and pat it dry then brush with oil and sprinkle with pepper. Grill ½ hour or until desired doneness. Let stand 1 minutes before slicing.

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You can’t get a potato chip fresher than this. In just a couple of minutes you have a perfect snack size serving and they are sooooo good. I don’t even peel the potato first.

Microwave Chips

4 servings (1 serving = 12-14 chips)
141 calories per serving

1 1/3 lb Yukon gold unpeeled
2 t oil
½ t salt
Pam

Slice potatoes super thin (I use a mandolin to do this – just be sure to user the guard !). Mix slices with oil and salt. Spray a glass dish with Pam and spread a single layer of potatoes on the plate. Microwave on high 2-3 minutes or until they start to brown. Turn and microwave until they start to crisp around the edges (another 2 minutes or so). Work in batches. Cool completely.

The orange flavor in this dish is subtle and this is a perfectly easy way to make a great pork dish. The brine solution definitely tenderizes and flavors the pork so don’t skip that step !

Orange Glazed Pork

6 servings
263 calories per serving

½ c kosher salt
½ c sugar
2 1 lb. pork tenderloins, trimmed
½ c orange juice concentrate, thawed
3 large cloves garlic, minced
2 t Italian dressing

Dissolve the salt and sugar in a bowl with 4 cups of water and add the meat and let stand 45 minutes. Then rinse the meat and pat dry. Heat a grill. Place the orange juice concentrate in a pan and on low heat cook until it is reduced by half them mix in the dressing and garlic and brush over the pork. Cook the pork about 7 minutes per side or until well seared and done throughout.

It is amazing how creamy of a product this turns out considering there is no ice cream maker involved. I’ve made it many times, always with good results. It’s well worth the calories

Coffee Soft Serve Ice Cream

12 ½ c servings
299 calories per serving

½ c whole milk
1 T vanilla
2 T instant coffee powder
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/8 t salt
2 c heavy cream

Stir milk and coffee together so coffee dissolves than add vanilla, condensed milk and salt. Beat heavy cream to stiff peaks (but don’t over beat or the cream will begin to break down) and then fold into the milk mix. Folding is just a method to mix things a little gentler than stirring. You just keep inserting a spatula or spoon UNDER the ingredients and left or fold them up on top – keep repeating to fully incorporate the ingredients. Pour into a shallow 1 ½ quart METAL (because it conducts the cold better) bowl and freeze the mix 4 hours, stirring once halfway through.

If you keep this in the freezer for more than a day, it will get very hard and you need to let it sit a few minutes before scooping out servings.

Make your own fresh pickles quickly and easily. These are great to bring along to BBQ’s and a great thing to keep on hand at home – they make great sides to lunches and a great snack for midnight eaters

There are so many variations you can do just by swapping out different types of peppers, different herbs, etc.

Refrigerator Pickles

Only 30 calories for a whole cucumber’s worth

Kirby cucumbers cut lengthwise into quarters – depending on size, I can fit 4-5 cucumbers into a jar
3 T kosher salt
2 T sugar
1 1/4 c white vinegar
2 T peppercorns
5 large garlic cloves
16 dill springs
optional – green hot chilies, halved lengthwise

Jars – either mason jars you purchase in the canning section of Walmart. etc. Or just save up some jars from mayo, pickles, etc. and reuse them !

Pack veggies into 2 clean 1 quart glass jars. Mix salt, sugar, vinegar, peppercorns and garlic in another jar. Cover and shake until sugar is dissolved. Add 2 c water and pour over the vegetables. Tuck the chilies and dill in and add enough water to make sure the veggies are completely covered. Close jars and refrigerate over night or for as long as 3 weeks.

When you roast peppers, you make them ultimately sweet and bring out tons of natural flavor. When paired up with some simple oil, garlic, and seasoning, you get quite a treat !

If you only have one color pepper, don’t let that hold you back from roasting them up. In the line up of most sweet to least sweet, you have the red, orange, yellow and green bell pepper. All have a very distinct flavor and all are delicious ! I add a bunch more garlic to these than the recipe calls for – just because

Roasted Peppers and Garlic

4 servings
97 calories per serving

1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
2 T oil
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
½ t oregano flakes
Coarse salt
Ground pepper
Handful of basil leaves

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Halve the peppers and remove the seeds. Place cut side up on a cookie sheet and drizzle with oil. Add garlic slices to pepper halves along with oregano, salt and pepper. Roast 35 minutes or so (or until skin starts to blister) and then remove from oven and sprinkle with a handful of fresh torn basil leaves.

Roasted Peppers and Garlic in the Raw

As part of FoodBuzz Daily Specials, I’ll be making a some special posts over the next couple of weeks that relate to a specific topic. Today’s special is about Salt and Pepper Mills.

Salt and Pepper mills come in all shapes and sizes….they are made out of all sorts of materials, some are manual while some are electric, and prices really vary.

For years I used only ground black pepper and Morton’s salt out of the box – I never ventured beyond that. But a few years ago I got interested in using sea salt and I got a mill just for that. Then I decided to use different peppercorns and got some mills for those. And my collection has grown quite a bit.

For some recipes, there is nothing like the taste of sea salt. For some, nothing as great as Kosher salt – there truly is a difference.

And the same goes for peppers – different peppercorns definitely yield different flavors and it’s great to have a few on hand. I even have a mill to freshly grind red pepper flakes.

Grab one next time you’re out – I bet you get addicted like me