Jackie's Happy Plate: A food photography and healthy recipe blog from Jackie Alpers

Thai Green Papaya-less Salad Recipe

by Jackie Alpers on May 14, 2011

Som Tum (Green Papaya Salad) is my very favorite Thai dish. It’s crunchy, salty and spicy and I swear that it will cure whatever ails you – known or unknown. Here in Tucson it’s really hard to get fresh green papaya, so I use packaged coleslaw mix instead.

Green Papaya-less Salad (Spicy Thai Coleslaw)

One bag of pre-shredded coleslaw mix. Either with or without carrots.
5 Grape Tomatoes or other cherry sized tomatoes, halved
1 or 2 Thai Chilies – you can substitute with a Serrano chili if necessary
2 tsp. sugar
1 clove garlic
1 1/3 T. Thai Fish Sauce -available at most supermarkets or From Thai Kitchen online.
3 Mexican/Key Limes or 1 regular sized lime
2 T. Peanuts, chopped – optional if you are allergic.
1 T. Dried Shrimp, or 1/4 c. salad shrimp (optional)

In a large bowl, gently pound the garlic and tomatoes with a meat mallet or the back of a large spoon. Be careful not to hit the tomatoes too hard or they will splatter and hit you in the eye. The idea is to bruise the tomatoes so that you release their juices, not smash them to bits. Add all of the other ingredients and mix well.

Tagged as: blog, food photography, food photography blog, green papaya salad, Jackie Alpers, recipe

{ 2 comments }

Black & White Nachos

by Jackie Alpers on May 4, 2011

This recipe makes a white nacho cheese sauce instead of the traditional yellow. Black beans add contrast, fiber and a bit more protein. There are more colors here than just black and white. but you get the point.

White Cheese Nachos With Black Beans, Salsa and Jalapeños

1T light butter
1T flour
1/2 cup low-fat or nonfat milk
1 tsp onion flakes
1 tsp juice from jalapeño
Tortilla chips. I used Tostidos Natural which are giant sized chips.
1/2 cup finely shredded low-fat Mexican cheese, Jack, pepper-jack or Cacique Panela
1/2 cup black beans drained and rinsed
Your favorite salsa
jalapeño slices
1 oz Queso Anejo or other hard Mexican cheese for garnish

Melt butter in a nonstick skillet over low heat add milk. Slowly wish in flour to thicken. Mix in cheese, onion flakes and jalapeño juice, stirring constantly for 3 or 4 minutes until the cheese melts into the milk mixture and forms a smooth sauce.

Arrange chips on a large platter. Spoon a bit of sauce on each chip followed by the black beans, jalapeño slices and salsa. Crumble the queso Anejo on top. Serve immediately.

Tagged as: foof photography, Jackie Alpers, mexican food, nachos, white cheese nacho sauce

{ 2 comments }

Fast, Yet Fancy Looking; Hummus Snack With Baked Pita Chips

by Jackie Alpers on April 24, 2011

My husband arrived home from work and announced a friend of ours was on the way over. I started to make plans to buy beer and make nachos when I was also informed that he now only eats healthy, no longer drinks (!), and would be over in 10 minutes. So, I peered into the fridge, and came up with this snack which I invented on the spot. I then proclaimed my genius to anyone listening; (our friend who had by then arrived, my husband, the cat). The group all agreed, so here’s the recipe.

We went on to have a lovely evening talking about Alf and watching episodes of The Addam’s Family.

Hummus Snack With Baked Pita Chips

1 Container of pre-made hummus, any flavor. I used Kalamata olive flavor
4 Whole grain pitas or flat bread
1/3 c. Non-fat feta cheese
1/3 c. Pitted Greek olives – Look for them packed in water instead of oil like these from Martini’s.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Cut up the pitas into wedges like you’re cutting up a pie, so that there is 8 or 10 wedges from each pita.
Lightly spray a cooking sheet with olive oil or other cooking spray.
Put the pita wedges on the sheet, spray them lightly on both sides with olive oil, sprinkle with salt if desired, and bake for about 5 minutes on each side until they are golden brown and crisp.
Dump the entire container of hummus into a medium sized bowl. I use a bowl that I usually serve salsa in.
Cover the hummus entirely with the feta cheese.
Place the olives in a ring around the inside of the bowl as shown.
Place the bowl on a platter with the pita chips.
Enjoy!

Tagged as: baked pita chips, fast, food photography, healthy snack, hummus, Jackie Alpers, recipe, snack, vegetarian, vegetarian recipe

{ 0 comments }

Food at the County Fair

by Jackie Alpers on April 24, 2011

I documented some of the food that I saw people eating this year at the Pima County Fair. It was mesmerizing.

Girl With Nachos

spicy corn on the cob

Super Fries

Hot Pretzel

Banana Split

Tagged as: Arizona, county fair, documentary photography, eating, food, food photography, food+travel photography, Jackie Alpers, junk food, nachos, people, Pima County Fair, street food, Tucson

{ 0 comments }

The Chayote Challenge

by Jackie Alpers on April 22, 2011

Spicy Spanish Rice with Chayote and Black Beans

I got a note posted to my wall on Facebook from Kristen who works with my husband saying, “I’m sending this home with Jason tonight. Create something magical and take pics! =)” She also posted a link to this page on Wikipedia… A challenge! The strange looking vegetable I saw when I clicked on the link was a Chayote, and it was supposed to taste somewhere in between a squash and a potato. It sounded fairly benign. It looked like the kind of thing that might grow around here in the American Southwest. I’d never seen one before and I had no idea what I was going to do with it, so I started researching.

I found a recipe on the Food Network website that seemed the most appealing. It was spicy, vegetarian and I had most of the ingredients on hand. I skipped some of the chillies in the original recipe since my serranos are already super spicy right now, and I used brown basmati rice instead of white because I try and use whole grains whenever possible. I also used frozen roasted corn from Trader Joe’s becuase that’s what I had in the freezer. This recipe serves 4-6 as a side dish.
Ingredients

1 Serrano pepper, diced small
1 cup frozen yellow corn, defrosted
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced, about 1/2 cup
1/2 yellow bell pepper, seeded, ribs removed and diced
1 chayote squash, peeled, seed removed and diced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cups brown basmati rice
2.5 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/4 cup roughly chopped Spanish olives
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup diced tomatoes
1/4 cup freshly chopped cilantro leaves
Directions

In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, yellow bell pepper and chayote. Saute until just starting to caramelize. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne. Stir in the garlic and rice and saute for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the chicken or vegetable stock, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Stir in prepared peppers and corn, the olives, black beans and tomatoes. Cook until the rice is tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Turn off the heat, add the cilantro and adjust seasonings, if necessary. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve immediately.

This is what the chayotes looked like when I got them.

Tagged as: beans, chayote, exotic, Jackie Alpers, recipe, rice, spanish rice, spicy, vegetable

{ 1 comment }

Quick and Easy; Rotini Pasta with Caviar and Parmesan

by Jackie Alpers on April 18, 2011

I had a lot of left over caviar from my deviled eggs recipe so I boiled up some pasta and mixed it in with a hearty dose of Parmesan cheese. This recipe is super simple and really tasty. I love the way the caviar sinks in between the pasta’s nooks and crannies. Since I was using the caviar as an ingredient, I used a inexpensive variety that I picked up at World Market. It’s the same kind that I often receive in gift baskets. It only cost about $6.00 for the jar, but feel free to use a more expensive variety if you’d like. I’m sure it would just make the dish even better.

Serves 1 as a meal.

Rotini Pasta with Caviar and Parmesan

I cup whole grain rotini pasta, dry
2T. Caviar
3T. Grated Parmesan cheese. More for garnish
1 tsp. Light butter
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Turn off the heat, drain and return the pasta to the still warm pot. Stir in butter to coat. Add Parmesan cheese and caviar. Serve garnished with freshly ground pepper and more Parmesan cheese.

Tagged as: caviar, food photography, food photography blog, healthy, Jackie Alpers, pasta, recipe, recipe blog, simple

{ 0 comments }

Chipotle Deviled Eggs With or Without Caviar

by Jackie Alpers on April 17, 2011

Thanks to the lovely people working behind the scenes at the Food Network (whose tweets reveal that they are apparently having some kind of office-wide deviled egg challenge), I’ve been having an unyielding urge for deviled eggs. Since I like a salty-spicy combo I’ll use caviar for a garnish when I’m feeling fancy. Otherwise I’ll just use capers.

I feel that it’s important to buy organic eggs and I always try to buy eggs that come from chickens that are fed flax seed, giving their eggs a healthy dose of Omega3. They’re a great idea for vegetarians.

I learned how to make hard boiled eggs from Martha Stewart (not in person… on her website). Here’s the link if you want to check out her instructions.

This recipe serves one as a snack. For a crowd, multiply the recipe by the number of people expected to eat them.

Chipotle Deviled Eggs With Caviar

2 Eggs, Hard boiled and cooled

1 tsp. Light Miracle Whip or other light mayonnaise

1 tsp. Yellow Mustard, I like French’s

1 tsp. Sauce from a can of chipotle chilies- save the rest of the can for something else.

Garnish: Cayenne pepper, capers and/or caviar

Place eggs in a medium saucepan; add cold water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to a rolling boil. Remove pan from heat; cover, and let stand 13 minutes. Drain, and run eggs under cold water to cool them.

Peel eggs, wet a sharp non-serrated knife and slice each egg in half lengthwise. Scoop out the yolk, leaving the whites intact. Transfer yolks to a medium bowl mix together with mayonnaise, mustard and chipotle sauce. With a small spoon fill the hollowed out whites with the yolk mixture. Sprinkle with cayenne pepper and top with a dab of caviar and/or a caper.

Tagged as: deviled eggs, food blog, food photography, food photography blog, Jackie Alpers, Jackie's Happy Plate, recipe, recipe blog, spicy

{ 1 comment }

Homemade Thin Crust Pizza

by Jackie Alpers on April 13, 2011

More often than not, Sunday night is Pizza Night at my house.

It took me forever to figure out how to make a thin crust pizza at home. I practiced stretching the dough for months. First I tried to roll out the dough onto a pizza stone. That did not work. Then I purchased a non-stick 16″pizza tray with holes in it which was perfect, but it still took me awhile to get the process down. There were a lot of misshapen hole filled crusts that I would have to peel off of the pizza tray and wad up in a ball for another go around. Below is my step-by-step procedure for getting the dough almost paper thin. I also posted an IPhone video below my husband Jason made of me that illustrates the whole procedure.

How to Make the Crust Thin & Crispy

1. I’ve tried several recipes for pizza dough and purchased a bunch of different store-bought pre-made varieties. I’ve found that Trader Joe’s whole wheat pizza dough works best. Plus, heck, it’s pre-made, whole wheat and tastes great, so I don’t even bother with a dough recipe anymore.
2. Stretch the dough right out of the refrigerator. DO NOT let it sit out at room temperature and rise. If you want to let rise, do it after the stretching.
3. Spray a non-stick pizza pan with a bit of canola oil or olive oil spray.
4. Dust the pan lightly with corn meal. This helps prevent the dough from sticking.
5. Plop the dough onto the pan. The Trader Joe’s dough comes out flat and kind of square from the packaging which is perfect.
6. Pre-heat the oven to 485 degrees. The thin dough combined with higher heat is what makes the crust more like a cracker.
7. Wet a rolling pin with a little bit of water.
8. Roll out the dough. After each roll, turn the pan a quarter turn and roll again to even it out on the pan.
9. Slightly wet your hands. Pick up one corner of the dough and gently pull it to stretch it towards the side of the pan.
10. Rotate the pan to the opposite side and stretch again.
11. Rotate the pan one-quarter turn and repeat.
12. Keep repeating until the dough is evenly stretched over the sides of the pan. There will be a lot of extra dough over the sides. Don’t worry about that. You’ll cut it off at the end.
13. This may take a bit of practice, so don’t give up! It totally worth it to have a lovely thin crust pizza that you made yourself.

After you’ve got the dough stretched. top with sauce and your favorite toppings. Then cut off the extra dough with a scissors. I like to wrap a little back over the edges.

My Traditional Sunday Night Pizza Toppings

1 T. Onion Flakes

1. T. Garden Oregano

3 0r 4 T. Trader Joe’s Pizza Sauce

1tsp. Crushed Red Pepper Flakes or to taste

1. T. Whole Fennel Seed

4 Fake Sausage Patties – I like Morningstar Farms

1 tsp. Extra Spicy Mrs. Dash

Pizza Spice

Handful of Grated Parmesan

Handful of Shredded Parmesan

Sliced jalepeños and/or sliced peperoncini

Mushrooms

Serve with: Secret Aardvark Habanero Hot Sauce and lots of good red wine.

Once the dough is stretched sprinkle it with the onion flakes and Oregano. Spread the sauce evenly on top. Cook the patties in the microwave so that they are defrosted but not hot. Mine takes 44 seconds. Squish the fennel into the sausages (you can see how in the video) and spread evenly over pizza. Spread the other ingredients on top and cook for about 15 minutes or until golden brown and not mushy in the middle.

Wednesday Night Pizza Two Ways

Wednesday night pizza is a lot more free-form. I use the left over dough to experiment with different toppings. For this one I mixed 2T of non-fat ricotta cheese in with some extra sauce. I topped Jason’s half with three strips of Morningstar Farms veggie Bacon. My half has anchovies. Both sides were then topped with grated and then shredded Parmesan cheese.

Here’s The Video of the Whole Process.

Sunday Night Pizza from Jason Willis on Vimeo.

Tagged as: food photography, Jackie Alpers, pizza, recipe, thin crust, vegetarian

{ 2 comments }

Easy Pita Sandwich for Lunch

by Jackie Alpers on April 11, 2011

I’ll get on a kick where I’ll have this for lunch almost every day. It’s great when you’re super hungry because it only takes about 5 minutes to make. The hummus and nonfat feta add protein without a lot of calories, so feel comfortable adding as much as you see fit.

Serves One.

1 Whole wheat flatbread of pita
Nonfat feta cheese
Plain or flavored store bought hummus
Pitted greek olives
1 Small tomato sliced thin
Hot yellow pepper slices
Romaine lettuce leaves
1/2 tsp bottled light Italian dressing. I like Newman’s Own.
Hot sauce
Lemon wedge

Warm pita in oven until soft – about 3 minutes at 350 degrees
Spread with hummus
Top with cheese and veggies and Italian dressing.
Squeeze a splash of lemon and a squirt of hot sauce on top.

Tagged as: food photography, Jackie Alpers, pita, recipe, sandwich, vegetarian

{ 0 comments }

The Week of Gazpacho

by Jackie Alpers on April 8, 2011

My husband woke up, looked at me in from his side of the bed and declared this the “Week of Gazpacho”.
And so, it is.

I got a handy little device called Vegetable Chop and Measure at Williams-Sonoma a couple of years ago. Without it the Week of Gazpacho wouldn’t have been possible because I would have gotten exasperated with all of the chopping by batch #2. Also, the colors in the photo are a bit of an homage to Pedro Almodóvar’s wonderful film, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), which was the inspiration for me making gazpacho for the very first time, years ago.

Jackie’s Famous, and Previously Secret, Recipe for Gazpacho
One 16 oz. bottle of vegetable Juice. I like The R.W. Knudsen Family brand’s Very Veggie – Spicy or Spicy V8 in a pinch
One 14.5 oz. can can of organic tomatoes diced small
1 large english cucumber, diced.
1 yellow, red or green bell peppers, diced. F
1 small sweet onion, diced
1 serrano chili, diced super small
3T Organic unfiltered apple cider vinegar (for health!) I like Bragg’s because the tincture like packaging leads me to believe that it has magic powers.
1T Good olive oil
Juice of one lemon
1 T. Sriracha hot sauce or to taste
1 T. Frank’s hot Sauce or to taste.
Salt & Pepper to taste

To make this a meal add 1/2 cup of small cooked shrimp per bowl.

Mix everything together in a big bowl, serve, enjoy!

Tagged as: cold soup, food photography, gazpacho, Jackie Alpers, recipe, soup healthy recipe, vegetarian recipe

{ 0 comments }

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →

Jackie's Happy Plate: A food photography and healthy recipe blog from Jackie Alpers

Thai Green Papaya-less Salad Recipe

Green Papaya-less Salad (Spicy Thai Coleslaw)

Black & White Nachos

White Cheese Nachos With Black Beans, Salsa and Jalapeños