Your Best Recipes of June, June's YBR Roundup

Tweet Wow! June's YBR has brought the most participants yet. I hope the loading time is not too long for you. Perhaps I'll have to rethink the image sizes or break up the roundup into two post ...hmmm. I'll let you know. As always thank you everyone for being a part of it. Welcome to all our new participants, we are glad you are here. The winner of the Honest Cooking feauture will be announced in the coming week or so.

Here are Your Best Recipes of June 2011! Pick your favorites and pay them a visit, say hi and that you saw their mouthwatering recipe on June's YBR.

**Emily Malloy, Cleanliness is Next to Godliness, Strawberry Blueberry and Rhubarb Ice Cream

**Victoria, Mission: Food, Fresh Curry Fettuccine with Pureed Carrot Sauce, Asparagus, Peas, and Wild Mushrooms

**Alina, Explora Cuisine, Stuffed Peppers Soup

**Tiffany, Como Water, Empamosas

Claudia, Whats Cookin Italian Cuisine, Italian Cannoli Cake

**Erin, Dinners, Dishes and Desserts, Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Pie

**Katerina, Diethood, Snickurtle Pie: Snickers meet Turtles

Citraa, My Home Diary In Turkey, Stuffed Zucchini

Shirley, Enriching Your Kid!, Herbal Wine

**Manu, Manu's Menu, Samosas

Chef Dennis, More Than A Mount Full, Blueberry Fritters

**Asiya, Chocolate and Chillies, Achaar Ka Kheema (Ground Beef in a Spicy Tomato Sauce)

**Patty P., Patty's Food, Moroccan Mint Tea Shortbread Cookies

**Nancy L., Eating Spaghetti with Chopsticks, Cold Noodles in Peanut Soy Sauce

**Christine, Christine's Pantry, Mayo Chocolate Cake

**Maya, Foodiva's Kitchen, Instant Mango Donuts

**Sandra, Sandra's Easy Cooking, Melon Slurpee

**Maria D, Flavors of Mumbai, South Indian Sambar

**Lizzy, That Skinny Chick Can Bake!!!, Kahlua Brownies

**Mihaela, De prin lume adunate...!!!, Dulce de leche cheesecake bars

**Laura, Sprint 2 the Table, Rosemary-Lemon Shortbread Cookies

**Ann, Anncoo Journal, Muah Chee

**Elyse, The Cultural Dish, Broiled Salmon

**Dara, Generation Y Foodie, Sweet Corn Fritters

**Tanantha, I Just Love My Apron, My Mom's Tomato Soup

Priscilla, She's Cookin', Moroccan Chicken with Green Beans

Adam ~ Truffle Shuffle, The Ardent Epicure, Blue Grilled Cheese with Black Forest Bacon

**Julie, Gourmet Getaways, Heart Cake Pops

**R & R, Tadka Pasta , Watermelon Clone-sicles

**Adora, Adora's Box, Aromatic Chicken Curry

**Laura B., Family Spice, Persian Fingerling Potato Quiche with Chives (Kookoo-yea Sib-Zamini)

**Jill, Dulce Dough, Strawberry Rhubarb Cookie Crumble

**Emily, Life on Food, Blueberry Banana Yogurt Muffins

**Kimberly, Unrivaledkitch , Pozole... Happy Fathers Day Dad

**Jessica, Bacon and Soufflé , Sweet Italian Sausages and Roasted Grapes Salad

**Lynne, 365 Days of Baking, Baked Stuffed Tomatoes

**Byn,365 Days of Clean Eating, Chicken Wine & Mushroom Romantic Dish

Paaka Shaale,Paaka Shaale, Apricot Orange muffins

**Priya, Bon Appetit, Mango-Roasted Pepper-Cottage Cheese Salad

Nancy, Spicie Foodie, Tacos Al Pastor, The Best Tacos In The World!

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Pork with Green Chiles (Part Mexican Part Czech, CzechXican)

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Article previously published on Honest Cooking, The FOOD Magazine.

Pork with Mild Green Chiles

Those of you that follow my blog have heard me mention the lack of fresh spicy chiles in Prague. But what they lack in fresh spicy peppers they make up with a fantastic variety of mild and sweet peppers. Peppers like banana peppers, wax pepper, Kapia or pimento peppers, and a spicy green Slovak variety. As a Mexican I cannot live without my chiles, I need a little kick in my food. Over the past couple of years more and more exotic products are to be found here. On some rare occasions I have found fresh Jalapeños and fresh cayenne chiles. In the last month I was lucky enough to have found an online shop selling a variety of Mexican ingredients. It is called Viva La Vida, so if you live in Czech Republic look them up. Can't tell you how happy that has made both my husband and I. Even though more authentic ingredients are becoming available I have to admit that experimenting with local ingredients and coming up with CzechXican salsas has been quite fun.

Today I have a super simple recipe that incorporates a hint of flavors from Mexican cuisine with a bit of Czech. But what is so fantastic about this simple recipe is that it can be made with Pork, Chicken, Turkey, Beef or even chorizo. It can be served on top of white or Mexican rice, as a taco filling or used as any type of Mexican filling you may need. Wait there's more great reasons why you need to make this dish, it's healthy and low in fat. The chorizo would be the fattier choice but if you use a lean cut of meat it will stay low in fat. So you'll get a very flavorful dish lower in calories. Now that summer is here most of us are looking to cook and eat lighter meals that wont expand the waistline nor leave you feeling bloated afterwords. This is one of those dishes. Okay I think I've convinced you so now I'll give you the recipe. Buen Provecho!!

Ingredients:
400 g or 14 oz. pork medallions or pork tenderloin, sliced in thin strips
4 green mild chiles, stemmed and seeds removed and sliced into rounds*
1 green cayenne chile or any hot green chile, finely chopped **
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium white or yellow onion, finely chopped
1 small tomato, finely chopped
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1 tsp. ground cumin
2 tbsp. olive oil or vegetable oil

white rice to serve
corn tortillas, optional
cilantro to garnish

* You can use banana, wax or Cubanelle chiles, Do not use bell peppers.
** For a milder version remove the seeds and center vein.

1. Heat 1 tbsp. of the oil, once warm saute the onion until soft and translucent. Add the round green cubanelle chiles and hot green chiles to the pan, saute for 2 minutes. Next add the minced garlic, sprinkle some salt and ground black pepper to the vegetables and stir to combine. Saute another 2 minutes, then remove the vegetables from the pan and set aside.

2. In the same pan heat the remaining 1 tbsp. of oil, add the pork to the pan and sprinkle some salt and ground black pepper to taste. Cover the pan and fry until the pork strips are cooked all the way through, about 10 minutes. Drain any fat or liquid in the pan and add the previously cooked vegetables back to the pan. Next add the ground cumin seed and chopped tomato to the pan. Stir to combine all ingredients well. Cover and continue cooking until the cubanel chiles have soften.

Serve with or over white rice or Mexican rice and corn tortillas on the side, if desired.

I'm curious, what are your favorite peppers or chiles ?

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Mandarin Miso Salmon Medallions

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**Before I get to the recipe I would like to remind you that the signup post for June's YBR has been posted. If you'd like to participate sign up here, June's YBR signup. **

Do you ever get a craving only to be shot down by the fact that you either don't have the food in your kitchen nor available at your local grocery store? Then you have try to satisfy it with something else or change your craving altogether. Frankly, it just sucks!

The particular craving I'm talking about today is salmon. I wanted a big thick salmon fillet. I'm talking King/Chinook or Sockeye . Fresh, vibrant, fatty and just melt-in-your-mouth almost orgasmic kind of salmon. I was setting the bar very, maybe too high. Salmon is one fresh fish that is most available here in this landlocked country. As I walked down to the grocery store I began daydreaming about how I would prepare it. Maybe just grilled so the skin becomes yummily crispy. Perhaps I'll marinade it before grilling it or cook it under the broiler. Oh the anticipation has high and the taste buds were salivating.

I walked into the store and headed for the fresh fish case. *@$(%!#0/*+ ........... And now I want to cry, boohoo! The only fresh fish available was carp and rainbow trout. Normally I would be skipping to the rainbow trout but this time it just wasn't going to cut it. Like a big whiny baby I headed to the frozen foods section. That's how bad I wanted salmon, I was willing to take any type of salmon they had. I found some salmon medallions, interesting I've never tried them before. While the quality was not going to be comparable to my initial craving, I counted myself lucky that I could even be buying frozen salmon. Lucky not just because I was going to satisfy my craving but also because there are a lot of people in the world that would consider this an extravagant purchase. We all need to count our blessings and be thankful for them instead of whining about what we want or don't have. There are always people worst off than we are.

I tucked my (senseless) pouty lip in and headed home to experiment. Here's a tip if you need to defrost frozen food quickly, place the sealed food inside a container with cool water. Make sure most of the food is covered by the water and leave at room temperature. As I waited for the medallions to defrost I start going through ideas of how to cook and spice the medallions. I concluded that a marinade would be best incase the salmon had a frozen texture. Not to toot my own horn but the marinade tasted and paired perfectly with the medallions. In fact this is going to be a marinade I try again with fresh salmon fillets. Now that grilling season is here if you are lucky enough to have a grill these would taste great right off the grill. Enjoy and I hope you all have a lovely, warm and sunny weekend!

Mandarin Miso Salmon Medallions

serves 2
3 Salmon medallions
6 tbps. fresh squeezed mandarin juice from 4 small mandarin oranges*
reserved peel from one mandarin
1/2 tsp. granulated garlic
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. rice vinegar or lemon juice
1 tbsp. red miso paste
1 tbsp. honey

vegetable oil
chives and red pepper flakes to garnish
a slices of mandarin/orange to garnish

*If Mandarin/Tangerines are not available use fresh squeezed orange juice.

Marinade:
1. In a bowl combine the fresh mandarin juice, garlic, ginger, vinegar, miso paste and honey. Stir until the miso paste has broken apart and the ingredients become a thick liquid. Remove any pith left on mandarin skins and cut into even sized pieces, place in bowl with the marinade. Place the salmon medallions in a nonpourus container. Pour the marinade over the medallions, cover and refrigerate a minimun of 30 minutes or overnight if you like.

Cooking:
The next day or after 30 minutes drain any reamaining marinade and discard. The salmon medallions can be grilled, broiled, fried on a flat top grill or fried in a skillet. Add a little bit of vegetable oil to cooking surface and cook the medallions until cooked all the way through.

Serve:
Serve each medallion with a slice of fresh mandarin on top, fresh chopped chives and pepper flakes sprinkled over.

You could serve these with a green salad, or steamed vegetables. I served mine with steamed white rice and steamed brocolli.

**If you'd like to participate sign up here, June's YBR signup. **

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Signup To June's YBR

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**SUBMISSIONS NOW CLOSED. MAKE SURE YOU JOIN JULY'S EDITION.**

It's time to signup for another edition of our monthly event, YBR or Your Best Recipes. Most of you know how it works, but those that don't below are the rules. Thanks and welcome to another moth of YBR!

Very important and in order to participate: Please, Please submit/email your information in the following format:

-Your Name
- Your Blog Name
- Name and link to your chosen recipe
- A small image of your dish. You must own the photo, and it cannot be a creative commons or public domain photo.
- Say whether you'd like to be included in the draw for the Honest Cooking feature. (Participation is optional, and open to those not currently contributing to Honest Cooking.)

If you fail to submit all the required information you risk not being included in the roundup. As you can imagine having to chase after or figure out the proper names and links for your posts is very time consuming. So please adhere to my request. Thank you guys!

Now for all the newbies and those in need of a reminder these are the rules to participate in June's YBR round up :

Your Best Recipe, a monthly roundup of your best recipes hosted by Spicie Foodie. There are no limitations as to what you can submit, anything goes. No limits on your kitchen nor photography skill, everyone is invited to join. This is not a competition, it is just a showcase of great food being cooked all over the world. And here is how you can participate :

Requirements to participate:
1. It has to be a recipe that you published in JUNE, and it has to be a recipe that you feel was your favorite one posted that month. It can be anything your heart desires. Your submitted recipe can be your own creation or one that you adapted from another foodie, just give them credit on your post.

2. Sign up to June's roundup by leaving a comment saying you'd like to participate. I will add your name and your url to the list of participants below.

3. You must choose and display any of the following badges to invite your visitors to the roundup being hosted here.
Right click images to save or get code to embed on your site here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/spiciefoodie/YourBestRecipes#


The badge below, you can add a small thumb of your dish. If you need help or would like the PSD file just shoot me an email, or read the tutorial here YBR Badge Tutorial (how to insert your photo). Some participants like to use this badge below on a new blog post inviting their readers to see the roundup.

This small button can be added to a post and/or your blog's side bar, if you wish.


4. By the 29th of June please email me at spiciefoodie (@) gmail.com the following, in the exact format: (If you fail to submit all the required information you risk not being included in the roundup.)

- Your Name

- Your Blog Name

- Name of your best/chosen recipe

- Link to your best/chosen recipe

- A small image of your dish. You must own the photo, and it cannot be a creative commons or public domain photo.

- Say whether you'd like to be included in the draw for the Honest Cooking feature. (Participation is optional, and open to non-contributors for Honest Cooking.)

On June 30, the last day of the month, I will post the roundup photos with a link to each of your sites and recipes. It would also be good if you invite your readers to the roundup by also posting a new blog entry or mentioning your participation in a new post (the last day of the month or after) on your blogs with a YBR badge and a link to the roundup here on Spicie Foodie. This way we can all help spread the YBR submitted love around even more!

If you need any help or clarifications post a comment or send me an email. I'll make sure to post a reminder as we get closer to the deadline.

~ JUNE'S YBR PARTICIPANTS ~

~ Nancy, Spicie Foodie

~ Emily, Cleanliness is Next to Godliness
~ Victoria, Mission: Food

~ Paaka Shaale, Paaka Shaale

~ Claudia, What's Cookin' Italian Style Cuisine

~ Kristy, My Little Space
~ Asiya, Chocolate & Chillies - Easy and Healthy Cooking
~ Alina, Explora Cuisine
~ Jill, Dulce Dough
~ Mihaela, My Blogs Team Members De prin lume adunate...
~ Julie, Gourmet Getaway
~ Patty, Patty's Food
~ Erin, Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts
~ Kate, Diethood
~ Citra, My Home Diary in Turkey
~ Lizzy, That skinny chick can bake!!!
~ Laura, Family Spice
~ Manu, Manu's Menue
~ Tanantha, I Just Love My Apron
~ Chef Dennis, More Than A Mount Full
~ Nancy L., Eating Spaghetti with Chopsticks
~ Maya, Foodiva's Kitchen
~ Ann, Anncoo Journal
~ Christine, Christine's Pantry
~ Taka Pasta, Tadka Pasta
~ Sandra, Sandra's Easy Cooking
~ Jessica, Bacon and Souffle
~ Maria D, Flavors of Mumbai
~ Laura, Sprint 2 The Table
~ Dara, Generation Y Foodie
~ Magic of Spice, The Ardent Epicure
~ Priscilla, She's Cookin'
~ Kimberly, Unrivaled Kitch
~ Adora, Adora's Box
~ Lynne, 365 Days of Baking
~ Byn, 365 Days of Clean Eating
~Priya, Bon Appetit



**SUBMISSIONS NOW CLOSED. MAKE SURE YOU JOIN JULY'S EDITION.**

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