I asked my friend, Arlene, to write a post for me. She makes some of the yummiest food  and it’s healthy! (I don’t mean “healthy” like when it’s just labeled “healthy, but it’s really full of things you can’t pronounce. Her food has actual good for you ingredients that have been transformed into something delicious! What a feat!) In addition to being a wonderful cook, she’s so much fun to be around (she has one of the best laughs)! She’s also wise, honest, and trustworthy. I really look up to her. She lives in Texas, where I used to live… I haven’t seen her in almost 6 years… I miss her.

Here’s Arl 😉

Hi, my name is Arlene Doherty.  I am a wife of a wonderful man that I’ve been married to for almost 26 years now years and we have two grown daughters.  My husband, Kelly loves home cooked food and I love to cook it for one main reason – I want to know what I’m eating and feeding my family!  I’m so happy to contribute a little Rachel’s great blog.

Our family met Rachel about 10 years ago when she came to the Bible School we serve at as a student.  She loved us so much 🙂 that she stayed on staff for a number of years before getting married – my husband was honored when asked to officiate their wedding ceremony.  She’s been a wonderful friend to not only me but to our whole family.  Rachel’s wonderful, warm, crazy personality is infectious and we miss her but are so proud of all she’s doing where she is.

The recipe I want to share has been adapted from a recipe my mom had in her kitchen many years ago and it’s evolved into a salad that can be used many different ways.  This is our youngest daughter’s favorite.  It can be eaten as a wrap or (like in the photo) just over a bed of fresh greens.  Hope you enjoy it as much as we have.

Arlene’s Chicken or Turkey Salad

Last modified on 2012-12-01 02:18:30 GMT. 1 comment. Top.

Elizabeth is a good friend of mine. I really appreciate her friendship… and her culinary skills. Anytime I’ve eaten something Elizabeth has prepared it’s been delightful. At last year’s ThanksaChristmas dinner she made these amazing Crostini with Beef and Caper Mayo. I think I ate about 75% of them. Not kidding. She and I have a good time discussing and eating food. So it just made sense to ask her to be a guest on here. I haven’t tried this cake, but it looks amazing. (Side note: Carrot cake is special to Husband and I, as it was our wedding cake. Also because it’s delicious. Anything delicious deserves to be in the “special” category… like this cake.)

Here’s Liz…

I have known Rachel for something like a year and a half. It’s crazy that it’s been that amount of time because it feels like I’ve known her for much longer! We met through our husbands who were friends in college and while over a beer, Rachel and I bonded over our skiing abilities (or to be more accurate, my lack of skills!). Over the past year or so, I’ve had the opportunity to get to know her more and am so thankful for her friendship. She has a wonderful creative energy and I truly admire the how hard she works and how she promotes herself. It is quite a talent and one that I truly respect! So Rachel, thank you for the opportunity to do a guest post for you!

A little bit about me…I live in the LA area and I have been married for almost 2 years. I’m an alright-cook but I get very nervous at the thought of having someone over for dinner where I have to cook a meal. I’ve been known to ask my husband “is this ok to make if we have people over?” “would you be embarrassed if I made this for our friends?”Ask me to make small-bites or appetizers, I’m all yours but ask me to cook for guests…I’m sweating buckets!

Thankfully, one of the few things that I am confident to make is the carrot cake recipe below. For the past 4 years I have made my boyfriend/fiance/now husband’s birthday cake. He loves carrot cake and so each year, this is the one he wants. The first time I made the cake was both the first time I had made a layer cake and the first time I had made a carrot cake. With my nerves in hand, I reached out to my amazing Aunt who provided me with this recipe. Since then, it has been a yearly tradition that my husband anxiously waits for! I love that he likes his birthday cake being homemade. It allows me to get better from year to year and it also means a lot to me that he enjoys it so much. I hope you enjoy it as well!

Liz’s Carrot Cake

Last modified on 2012-06-18 17:26:23 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Liz’s Cream Cheese Frosting

Last modified on 2012-06-15 23:40:28 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

(Adapted by Liz’s Aunt from: Life’s Little Temptations cookbook by Beth Allen)

Cooking Notes: This recipe is great as cupcakes both regular size and mini’s. I would recommend altering the frosting amounts to accommodate the change.

My friend Jenn, of Babies, Recipes, and Financial Peace, and I connected quickly when we moved to this area. It seemed like we never ran out of things to talk about. Food is always a favorite conversation piece for me. It was and still is easy to talk food with Jenn. We’ve shared many meals and great times. I miss hanging out with her. I asked her to share a recipe that she made for us when Husband and I went over for dinner once. I’ve never made them, but I intend to. They’re awesome!! I’ll let Jenn tell you about them…

Here’s Jenn!

I’m mom to two adorable and hilarious kids: The Toddler is a year-and-a-half and The Baby is 3 months old. I’m also wife to the best man I know, and not only is he easy to cook for, but helps out with the kids or dinner prep when I don’t seem to have enough hands!

I have always loved to eat good food.  I don’t remember cooking much as a kid, but once I moved out in college, I learned pretty quickly that if I didn’t enjoy what I was eating, I’d just eat something else, and it would most likely not be healthy.  Now that I’m married and we have 2 kids on one income, my weekly goal is to make our pennies stretch, but not our pants.  Right now, our food budget is $400 a month.  We can’t always afford as much wine or chocolate as we’d like, but we generally eat filling, heathful, and tasty meals, most of which even The Toddler eats!

We used to get an Abundant Harvest box every other week, until we moved to Minnesota in the fall.  I do love my new state, but California’s year-round local produce is something I dearly miss!  The daikon radishes I used for this recipe last year were definitely more flavorful than the ones my husband picked up from the store the other day.  The end result was still yummy, and even The Toddler gobbled his serving!

I served the daikon radish cakes with hot & sour soup.  I used the recipe from one of my favorite online resources, Simply Recipes, but since I decided to make it last minute, I didn’t have all the ingredients.  I used only the chicken broth, soy sauce, cornstarch, red wine vinegar, white vinegar, scallions, chili oil, and an egg, and it still tasted great!  And swirling the beaten egg into the hot broth was fun.  Enjoy!

Daikon Radish Cakes

Last modified on 2012-07-18 21:55:07 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

(Credits: If you do a search for “Pan Fried Daikon Radish Cakes” you will find a few websites that have this recipe.  I would directly credit the page I found the recipe on a year ago, but I don’t know which page I used!  I’m hoping it’s enough to say that I didn’t invent this recipe, and would like to thank and credit the original creator.)

I have known Sarah for about a year. In that time, we’ve shared many meals and good times together. Often they take place at one of our homes, and the guests get to bring something to go along with the meal. I must say that between the two of us, we’ve come up with some really great dinners! I’m so thankful for my new(ish) friend!!

Here’s Sarah!

Growing up the only cooking I did was when I was babysitting which means I had a Masters in Mac ‘n Cheese and take & bake pizza.  After college I had an apartment with a roommate, but neither of us saw the point in cooking for one (since we cooked separately) so we unfortunately continued to stay proficient in “bachelor pad” type food.  I dabbled every once in awhile on dinner guests, but nothing beyond basic.  Then I met a boy who I vowed I would do anything to get him to keep him around.  I had no idea what that would require.  One Saturday afternoon I invited him over for dinner.  I then proceeded with the question, “What are you hungry for?”  Now – I have since been told Ishould have said, “Would you like OPTION A, OPTION B, or OPTION C for dinner?”  With a completely seriously straight face my handsome boyfriend said, “Chicken Cordon Bleu.”  Oh boy.  I swallowed and then began googling.  This was my official initiation into cooking.  It turned out tasty and my confidence came alive.  Now please do not go blog searching for me and my cooking site because you will be sorely disappointed.  I am no amazing cook.  I only know how to read a recipe and get creative here and there with spices…look out!

I enjoy cooking and have a great appreciation for those who have mastered it.  I may not be the next Julia Child, but I do give myself the occasional challenge such as buying a meat I have never cooked before and finding a recipe including it.  I’m hoping when my kids are grown they will not remember having the same 4 rotating dinner dishes, but a nice array of palate pleasers that cultured them and taught them to appreciate good food.

One of the favorite dinner requests at my house is HONEY SOY SALMON.  It’s quick and super tasty.  My husband loves soy sauce so anything that has a hint of it plus a mound of white rice on the side could cure any bad day in his book.  Give it a try – you will not be disappointed!

(For the hopeless romantic reader – that handsome boyfriend eventually asked me to marry him. :))

Sarah’s Honey Soy Salmon

Last modified on 2012-12-01 02:20:05 GMT. 2 comments. Top.