Kung Pao Chicken Tacos

I absolutely LOVE Chinese food. If given a choice of cuisine, it's usually one of my top picks. Maybe from growing up in Seattle? I don't know. I haven't played around with cooking too much of it on my own (even though a few years ago I did invest in a pretty heavy duty Chinese cookbook). I was excited when I saw this recipe in October's Cooking Light because Kung Pao Chicken is one of our favorite Chinese take-out dishes. Since it has a little kick to it I decided to make it for a date night dinner for the husband and me since my kiddos don't like spicy.

Kung Pao Chicken Tacos
Source: Cooking Light magazine, October 2012

6 skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
3 tablespoons lower-sodium soy sauce, divided
1/4 cup plus 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch, divided
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sambal oelek (ground fresh chile paste)
1 large garlic clove, minced
3 tablespoons coarsely chopped dry-roasted peanuts
3/4 cup diagonally sliced celery (about 2 stalks)
8 (6-inch) corn tortillas
1/3 cup sliced green onions
1/2 medium red bell pepper, thinly sliced
4 lime wedges

1. Place chicken in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add 1 tablespoon soy sauce to bag; seal. Marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes. Remove chicken from bag; discard marinade. Place 1/4 cup cornstarch in a shallow dish. Sprinkle the chicken evenly with salt. Add chicken to cornstarch in dish, and toss chicken to thoroughly coat. Shake off excess cornstarch.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon canola oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add half of coated chicken; sauté for 6 minutes or until done, turning to brown. Remove chicken from pan using a slotted spoon; drain on paper towels. Repeat the procedure with remaining 1 tablespoon canola oil and coated chicken.

3. Combine remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch, remaining 2 tablespoons soy sauce, honey, and next 3 ingredients (through sambal oelek) in a microwave-safe bowl, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Microwave at HIGH for 1 1/2 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring twice. Stir in garlic. Combine soy sauce mixture, chicken, peanuts, and celery; toss to coat chicken.

4. Toast tortillas under broiler or on a griddle until lightly blistered, turning frequently. Place 2 tortillas on each of 4 plates; divide chicken mixture evenly among tortillas. Top each taco with green onions and bell pepper strips; serve with lime wedges.

*****

I used chicken breasts instead of thighs because it's what I had on hand. That was my only change, though. We LOVED the taste of the chicken, but we did not like it in the tortillas. I had even bought fresh corn tortillas from a nearby Hispanic market, and we just didn't like it in the tortillas. The actual Kung Pao Chicken was FANTASTIC. There were no leftovers--we devoured every single bite, it was that good. This is definitely something I'll be making again, but I'll skip the tortillas in the future!

Hot Crossed Tuna Casserole

Recently on the parenting message board I belong to there was a discussion about tuna casseroles. It made me think of this one my mom used to make when I was little. It was our neighbor Julie's recipe. It's not your typical tuna, cream of mushroom, noodle casserole either. I was glad my mom knew where to find the recipe because once I started thinking about it, I couldn't stop. I also couldn't stop thinking about cheddar and sour cream potato chips because one of my friends said her mom topped tuna casserole with those. Damn...now I'm thinking about cheddar and sour cream chips again. Sigh. At least they come in a baked variety so I don't have to feel as guilty when I eat them.

Anyway, once my mom gave me the recipe I had to make it within days. Thankfully all I really needed for it were the crescent rolls. I'll admit I was a bit nervous about it since the last time I remembered having it I think my age was in single digits. I liked spam a lot, too, when my age was in single digits, but I doubt I could stomach it now.

Hot Crossed Tuna Casserole

3 cans tuna, drained
1 16 oz. package frozen peas, thawed
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 c. celery, sliced
1/2 c. bread crumbs
1/4 c. chopped onion
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tube crescent roll dough

Cucumber Sauce:
1/2 c. chopped cucumbers
1 T. chives, chopped
1 T. chopped parsley
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. dill weed
1/2 c. mayo
1/2 c. sour cream

Combine tuna, peas, cheese, celery, bread crumbs, onion, seasonings, and mayonnaise; mix well. Spoon into 106 baking dish. Separate crescent roll dough into 2 rectangles. Press perforations to seal. Cut dough into 4 long and 8 short strips. Place strips over casserole in lattice design. Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes or until crust is brown. Serve with cucumber sauce.

To make sauce, combine all ingredients and mix well. Chill. Pour over top of each serving.

*****

I modified the original recipe slightly; what's posted above is how I made it. I just added more tuna and peas. I like peas. I thought the sauce recipe was kind of funny--sounds like tzaziki (I have no idea how to spell that, by the way) to me, but perhaps in suburban Seattle in the late 70s and early 80s it was easier to just call it cucumber sauce. Who cares, it's tasty.

I'm happy to report that this dish was in fact as tasty as I remembered it. My bff Clementine (she's decided we're too codependent on each either so we've come up with new monikers for each other to make it appear that we have other friends. We really do have other friends, but I thought it would be fun to call her Clementine.) was over one day last week to make plum jam (aptly named Jamfest) and sampled some of the leftovers because she was skeptical when I told her about it. She approved and told me to post it so she could make it. I love me a good casserole, and this totally fits the bill. My kids loved it, too. Boy #2 actually had leftovers of it twice for lunch and cleaned his plate each time he ate it Winner winner, tuna dinner!

Turkey Tetrazzini

Many, many years ago I bought a special edition of Cooking Light. On the front of the magazine it says "Display until December 31, 2003." There's a recipe in it for Chicken Tetrazzini that always looked good to me, but for whatever reason I never made it. I remember at one point I was going to make it for a friend after she had a baby, but then I think she ended up having to be admitted to the hospital again, so I never took them dinner. A few weeks ago I cooked a whole turkey because it was taking up a lot of space in my freezer, and I remembered this recipe. I figured I'd switch the chicken to turkey and use up some of the meat I had left. Win win!

Chicken Tetrazzini
Source: Cooking Light

1 tablespoon butter
Cooking spray
1 cup finely chopped onion
2/3 cup finely chopped celery
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 (8-ounce) packages presliced mushrooms
1/2 cup dry sherry
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 (14.5-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 1/4 cups (9 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
1/2 cup (4 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
7 cups hot cooked vermicelli (about 1 pound uncooked pasta)
4 cups chopped cooked chicken breast (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1 (1-ounce) slice white bread

Preheat oven to 350°.

Melt butter in large stockpot coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery, pepper, salt, and mushrooms; sauté 4 minutes or until mushrooms are tender. Add sherry; cook 1 minute.

Lightly spoon flour into a measuring cup; level with a knife. Gradually add flour to pan; cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly (mixture will be thick) with a whisk. Gradually add broth, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat.

Add 1 3/4 cups Parmesan cheese and cream cheese, stirring with a whisk until cream cheese melts. Add the pasta and chicken, and stir until blended. Divide the pasta mixture between 2 (8-inch-square) baking dishes coated with cooking spray.

Place bread in food processor; pulse 10 times or until coarse crumbs form. Combine breadcrumbs and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese; sprinkle evenly over pasta mixture.

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove casserole from oven; let stand 15 minutes.

To freeze unbaked casserole: Prepare through Step 5. Cool completely in refrigerator. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing to remove as much air as possible. Wrap with heavy-duty foil. Store in freezer for up to 2 months.

To prepare frozen unbaked casserole: Thaw casserole completely in refrigerator (about 24 hours). Preheat oven to 350º. Remove foil; reserve foil. Remove plastic wrap; discard wrap. Cover casserole with reserved foil; bake at 350º for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 1 hour or until golden and bubbly. Let stand 15 minutes.

*****

I originally planned this on a night that I was taking dinner to someone from church, but then I found out she's diabetic, so I wasn't sure if this would be the best dish for her to have. i didn't want to come up with something new, so I figured I'd go ahead and still make it for us and take her something different. At first I was going to cut it in half instead of freezing a casserole, so I only got two packages of mushrooms, but then I figured I might as well make it as written and have one in the freezer. I stuck with the reduced amount of mushrooms. My kids aren't big mushroom fans anyway, so it kind of worked out okay. Oh, and instead of making bread crumbs for the top I used some panko I already had on hand.

I was worried it was going to be too bland when I tasted it once everything was mixed together, but I needed to be leaving to take dinner, so I didn't have time to play around with it. It was definitely on the bland side, so with the one I was putting in the freezer I took it out of the casserole dish and added some Lawry's Seasoned Salt to it. I think I've gotten lazy lately because that's my go to seasoning when I think a dish is lacking flavor. It's just easier to throw some of that in there than try and figure out what it really needs.

This is definitely something I'd make again, and it's extra nice that it makes two (or I suppose you could do it all in one bigger pan) because now I have a go to dinner in the freezer when I need something fast.

Chicken "Pot Pie" with Crunchy Brown Rice Crust

I know I've mentioned before that I heart the Whole Foods iPhone app. Often when I'm bored or just messing around on my phone I'll open it up and do various recipe searches to see what I find. I came across this one by searching for "low sugar" recipes to accomodate the South Beach Diet. This recipe would be Phase Two friendly because of the rice, but you'd want to avoid it during Phase One when you can't have carbs. This sounded like an interesting twist on pot pie, and I love pot pie, so I figured it was worth a go.

Chicken "Pot Pie" with Crunchy Brown Rice Crust
From the Whole Foods iPhone app, also available on the Whole Foods website

1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus more for greasing
1 tablespoon butter
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/4 pound sliced button mushrooms
2 teaspoons chopped thyme, divided
1 large carrot, chopped
1 rib celery, thinly sliced
1 small yellow onion, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1 1/2 cups low-sodium gluten-free chicken broth
1 cup whole milk
1 cup cooked brown rice or brown and wild rice blend
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/2 cup frozen peas

Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a 9-inch pie dish with oil; set aside.

Heat oil and butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until no longer pink, 4 to 5 minutes. Add mushrooms, 1 teaspoon of the thyme, carrots, celery, onions, salt and pepper and cook until just tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Add broth and milk, stir well and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer until very thick, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine rice, cheese, paprika, remaining 1 teaspoon thyme, salt and pepper in a medium bowl.

Stir peas into chicken mixture then season with salt and pepper and transfer to prepared dish. Scatter rice mixture evenly over the top then arrange dish on a baking sheet to catch any drips. Bake until bubbly and crust is crisp, about 30 minutes.

Nutrition
Per serving (about 9oz/256g-wt.): 240 calories (80 from fat), 9g total fat, 3.5g saturated fat, 55mg cholesterol, 370mg sodium, 20g total carbohydrate (2g dietary fiber, 4g sugar), 21g protein

*****

For some reason I kept putting off making this. I think it was on my meal plan for a couple weeks, but I'd continually bump it to the next week. I finally broke down and made it, and I was so glad I did. This was nothing like a tradtional pot pie, it reminded me more of a chicken, veggie, and rice casserole, which was great. I found a package of Uncle Ben's brown and wild rice blend at the store, and you just had to microwave it for 90 seconds. And surprisingly, the ingredients weren't a bunch of nasty, unpronounceable junk! I was very surprised.

We all really liked this. The husband is not a fan of pot pies, and he thought this was a good twist on it. I loved the casserole aspect of it; it reminded me a lot of a recipe I used to make often, Chicken Spectacular. This is definitely something I'd make again. There weren't a whole lot of leftovers either!

South Beach Stuffed Peppers

I love stuffed peppers. The husband used to not like green peppers (I don't know, he may still not like them, but I love them so he's forced into eating them), so I never had them. I'd buy the Stouffer's frozen peppers and take in my lunch to work or keep on hand at home for when I was on my own for dinner. I've made stuffed peppers a few times (my friend Jen has a really good stuffed peppers recipe), so I was excited to see a recipe for them that didn't have rice or pasta as part of the stuffing.

South Beach Stuffed peppers
From Food.com

4 bell peppers
olive oil
1 lb ground turkey
1 stalk celery, chopped with top
1 -2 garlic clove, minced
1 small onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon spike all purpose seasoning (for zest)
28 ounces ground peeled tomatoes
1/2 cup shredded cheese (or more)

Wash the peppers, cut the tops off, and place in oiled glass dish. Cover and microwave the peppers for 5 minutes.

Saute the veggies and ground turkey with a dollop of olive oil. (I chop up the usable remainders of the pepper tops as well). Add the tomatoes and cook for 3-4 minutes to evaporate some of the liquid.

Stuff the peppers and top with cheese. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until the peppers are soft and the cheese is toasted.

Add Ins: you could add cooked rice or stir in extra cheese to the mixture before baking.

*****

I didn't make any changes, other than using different colored peppers. I made five peppers and used yellow, orange, and red peppers. I used reduced fat sharp cheddar for my cheese.

These were some of the easiest peppers I've ever made. I love the idea of cooking the peppers slightly in the microwave first...10 minutes of cooking time at the end is fantastic! Our friend Steve was over for dinner, and we all really liked these. My kids shared one, the adults each had one, but I don't think any of us finished our entire peppers. I had enough filling for another pepper. It's actually still in my fridge because I figured it would be easy enough to just heat up a pepper, stuff it, and bake it in my toaster oven for a hearty lunch. Perhaps that will be my lunch for tomorrow!

I'll definitely make this one again, too...diet or no diet! (Don't you love finding diet food like that?!)

Surimi Rolls

Do you know one of the things I love about my meal planning spreadsheet? It's a super easy way for me to go back and see what things I've missed posting on my blog! Plus I love spreadsheets, but since I'm not out in the corporate world anymore I don't have many occassions for them, so really any chance I get to create one, I jump on it. Have I mentioned before that I planned probably 75% of my wedding using spreadsheets? I even had a way cool one for our seating chart at the reception using conditional formatting, SUMIF formuals, etc. It was pretty awesome if I do say so myself.

Anyway...I was figuring out my meal plan for the coming week (which isn't very exciting since I'm challenging myself to use stuff we already have on hand) and went back and looked at previous weeks' meal plans because I do a new tab for each week. I realized there are quite a few things I need to go back and post. The baby is napping, the boy is watching a show, and the husband is napping on the couch, so I'm having some computer time.

As a parent I feel I'm obligated to have a subscription to Parents magazine. Along with that I get weekly emails with meal ideas. Sometimes I take the time to read through them and see if there's anything interesting, other times I just delete it. This recipe was in one I actually read, and I loved how easy it sounded!

Surimi Rolls
From Parents.com

1 pound imitation crab meat (surimi), chopped
3/4 cup light mayonnaise
3/4 cup chopped celery (about 2 large ribs)
4 teaspoons fresh chopped tarragon
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 hot dog buns, top-sliced variety

1. In a large bowl, mix together the imitation crab, mayonnaise, celery, tarragon, mustard and olive oil until well combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

2. To serve, spoon a generous 1/3 cup of the crab mixture into each roll. Garnish with parsley, if desired.

*****

I didn't have any tarragon, so I sprinkled in some Old Bay seasoning to add a little something to it. This came together ridiculously fast which is always nice. I was honestly surprised at how my kids gobbled this up. The baby could not get enough of it, and the boy ate every bite on his plate. This was a great dish for summer when it's hot out and you don't feel like cooking or heating up the kitchen but want something filling. I'd definitely make it again!

(I forgot to take a picture of it, but the post on Parents.com has a picture on it. I included the link in the recipe title up above.)

Easy Chop Suey

How's this for back on track...new recipes, posting daily. I guess I shouldn't brag on it too much in case it doesn't last.

I was flipping through a Betty Crocker vegetarian cookbook I have to get ideas for dinners this week and saw this one for Easy Chop Suey. I had most of the ingredients and had just bought veggie sausage at Costco. I've made other recipes from this cookbook and really liked them, so hopefully this one is a success too.

Easy Chop Suey

Cooking spray
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium stalks celery, coarsely chopped
2 cups frozen sausage-style soy-protein crumbles
1/3 cup uncooked regular long-grain rice
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup reduces sodium soy sauce
2 cups water
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 bag (1 lb) frozen seven-vegetable stir-fry, tahwed
4 cups crisp chow mein noodles

Spray 4 to 5 quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Generously spray 12-inch skillet with cooking spray. Add onion and celery; generously spray with cooking spray. Cook about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until crisp-tender. Stir in remaining ingredients except stir-fry vegetables and noodles. Spoon into slow cooker.

Cover; cook on low 6-7 hours.

Stir in stir-fry vegetables. Increase heat setting to High. Cover; cook about 15 minutes longer or until vegetables are tender. Serve with noodles.

*****

Once I got this all together I really wasn't sure how it's going to turn out. I went and saw my friend Jen and her new babies today and was telling her about it. I said it's either going to be awesome or gross and we'll need to go get pizza for dinner, I don't think there's going to be any halfway on this one. Even know I'm still not sure how it's going to be, and it's been in the slow cooker for 5.5 hours. It actually looks pretty done, so I may go ahead and add in the veggies. I'm starving, so I really hope this isn't totally nasty.

Oh, and since I've sworn off canned soups (have you ever read the ingredients for cream of mushroom soup?! Gross!!), I made my own. What?!, you may be asking. She made her own cream of mushroom soup? I did. It was really easy. I was looking through the Make it Fast, Cook it Slow slow cooker cookbook and saw that she had a recipe in there for an alternative you make yourself. It's really more like a quick little cream sauce, but I chopped up some mushrooms, sauteed them and tossed them in the mix so it would be slightly more authentic. I'm so ridiculously excited to have found a substitute for the nasty canned stuff. I really don't like to eat foods that have ingredients I have to struggle to pronounce.

Interested in making your own cream of whatever soup? Check out the Crockpot Chicken Cordon Bleu recipe on the Year of Slow Cooking blog. She has the ingredients and instructions listed with that.

*****

Did you know that Domino's Pizza is having a two medium two topping pizza for $5.99 each special right now? Guess how I found out...that's what we had for dinner. I tasted this before putting the vegetables in, and all I could taste were the veggie grounds. The husband said the texture was weird--I think partly because the sausage broke down so much it was like mushy rice with veggie sausage particles. I decided to save the bag of stir-fry veggies for another use and went to my UDBP (universal dinner back-up plan): pizza.

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Awhile back (okay, it was September so it was quite awhile ago I guess) I made up the filling for qunioa stuffed peppers (the link will be below). The husband thought it looked gross, so instead we ended up having some vegetarian lasagna that had been in the freezer. I couldn't let it go to waste, so I put the filling in the freezer. Once it all came together it tasted good, but by that point the lasagna was already heating up. I'd kept it in the back of my head that the filling was still in the freezer, and when I saw red peppers at Costco last Friday I decided it was time to break this out and have it. Although honestly now knowing it's been in the freezer for almost six months I'm a little hesitant. I'll have to see how it's doing once I defrost it...I may need a last minute dinner back-up plan.

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Strangely enough there was a stuffed peppers recipe I came across in my Weight Watchers magazine I was reading at the gym yesterday, so maybe if this isn't going to work out I'll go with that instead.

My Grandma's Super Yummy Dressing

Dressing, stuffing...my family always called it dressing because we didn't stuff the turkey with it, but I always wonder if people will think I mean salad dressing if I say dressing instead of stuffing. I know, random things that go through my head. My grandma's dressing is one of my all-time absolute most favorite foods. I could eat an entire pan of it. Although it does make me a little sad now because my grandpa felt the same way about it as I do, so now eating it (and when I was making it) made me miss him a lot. Every year my grandpa would be in charge of toasting the bread for the dressing and he'd always want to do way more loaves of bread than my grandma thought was necessary. I always sided with my grandpa because more dressing is never a bad thing.

I had made this once before, I think for Thanksgiving at my parents' house one year when my grandparents weren't there for Thanksgiving. It was only okay--I think I forgot to add the salt because something was just off. I hadn't attempted to make it since then, just enjoyed it when I could get it. It used to be when we'd go to TX for Thanksgiving, my grandma would make up a plate for me from my family's Thanksgiving dinner and save it for me when we got back because they'd always keep our dog while we were gone. When I could I'd take leftovers home and eat it cold for breakfast the next day. This dish is probably the #1 thing I miss about not having Thanksgiving with my family.

Now that I've waxed poetic and gone on and on about the dressing I guess I should just get down to posting the recipe. I was really pretty surprised with how easy this was to do. Let me tell you--the next time I'm on my own for dinner (although I have no idea when or why that would ever happen) I may just make up a 9x13 pan of this to eat...and I won't even use a plate!

My Grandma's Super Yummy Dressing

1 loaf white sandwich bread, toasted and broken in small pieces (my grandpa usually did 1-1/2 loaves, so that's what I went with)
2 cups chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion

Saute celery and onion in 1/4 stick butter until it looks tender.

Add celery and onion to bread. Add about 1-1/2 Tbsp sage and a little salt. Mix with broth until it looks damp. You may need to use a can of chicken broth if there isn't enough turkey broth, but don't add it all at once--wait and see how much you need. Bake about 35 minutes at 350.

*****

Let me tell you...I was tempted to eat this straight out of the bowl once I had everything mixed together. Then I was tempted to eat it straight out of the pan before I put it in the oven. Then I was tempted to dump the entire pan out on my plate at dinner--but I thought that might be a little rude since my mom and brother love grandma's dressing, too. But it would have only been a little rude because Jen had made dressing too.

Anyway, this is super easy, super tasty, and I'm sad I finished off the leftovers for breakfast this morning. Let me tell you--I savored that last bite for a ridiculously long time!

Bread and veggies, just waiting on the broth...


Mmmm...pre-baked dressing...


The finished product (after dinner, we were all too hungry for me to take pictures before we ate)...

Tuna Cakes with Dill Tartar Sauce

Two cans of tuna were on my list of ingredients I had to work with this week without going to the grocery store, and I found this recipe on a Weight Watchers recipe website I turn to fairly often when I'm doing WW. I had everything on hand, so it sounded like a great addition to the meal plan.

Tuna Cakes with Dill Tartar Sauce

Tuna Cakes With Dill Tartar Sauce
4 Points per Serving

Vegetable cooking spray
3/4 cup finely chopped celery
3/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons light process cream cheese product, softened
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
dash ground red pepper
1/3 cup fine, dry breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon dried whole dillweed
1 9-1/4-ounce can 60%-less salt tuna in water, drained
1 egg white

Dill Tartar Sauce (see recipe)

Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; place over medium-high heat until hot. Add celery and onion; saute until tender. Remove from skillet, and place in a medium bowl. Add cream cheese and next 3 ingredients; stir well. Add breadcrumbs and next 3 ingredients; stir well. Divide mixture into 8 equal portions, shaping each into a 2-1/2-inch cake.

Coat skillet with cooking spray; place over medium-high heat until hot. Add 4 cakes, and cook 2 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove cakes from skillet; set aside, and keep warm. Repeat proceudre with remaining cakes. Serve with Dill Tartar Sauce.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 2 cakes and 1 tablespoon sauce).

Dill Tartar Sauce
1 Point per serving

2 tablespoons reduced-calorie mayonnaise
1 tablespoon plain nonfat yogurt
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon peeled, finely chopped cucumber
1 teaspoon dried whole dillweed
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Combine all ingredients; stir well.

*****

I was really intrigued with this and thought it might go over well with the boy because he really likes tuna salad. So how did it turn out? It didn't. We ended up going with my universal dinner back-up plan of Little Ceasar's pizza. Everything mixed up fine, but the darn cakes would not stay together when I went to flip them. I don't know if they needed more breadcrumbs or egg or what, but out of the eight patties, only three held together. I had one the next day for lunch on a sandwich roll, and as a sandwich it was decent, but I don't think this is one I'll be trying again.

Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice

I have some massive blog updating to do! I was really trying this week to get back into a normal groove and get my house back in order after all the traveling we've been doing, but in doing that my blog fell to the wayside.

As I said in my last post, my challenge this week was to make dinners using only ingredients I had on hand. I cheated only a little and had to buy some chicken broth and brown rice, but that was it. I was excited to realize I had everything on hand for this recipe because it's one we really like, but for some reason I don't make it very often. I definitely need to add it to the rotation more often!

Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice

I had some andouille sausage in the freezer that needed to be used up, so I cooked that in a skillet to render off some of the fat, then I sliced it and threw it in the slow cooker. The husband and I always enjoy this when we have it for dinner, the boy ate it okay, but I was SHOCKED that the baby shoveled it down! He ate about as much as I did! He's going to be my spicy food kid for sure, even though it wasn't that spicy, but I have to imagine for a baby it was.

Sloppy Joes

I'm really not very excited about tonight's dinner, but I couldn't come up with anything different to make that didn't involve a trip to the store. And I first had lentil tacos slated for tonight, and this does sound slightly better than that. I think my first week on WW I should have stuck with recipes I know and have made before instead of trying all new ones.

Sloppy Joes

4 tsp olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1/2 carrot, finely chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 pound lean ground beef
1 cup canned diced tomatoes
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
2 tsp red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp hot red pepper sauce
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
4 rolls or hamburger buns

In a medium nonstick saucepan, heat the oil. Saute the onions, celery, carrot, and bell pepper until the onions are translucent, 10-12 minutes. Stir in the oregano and thyme, then add the beef and cook, breaking it apart until no longer pink, 5-7 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine the tomatoes, tomato paste, and 2 Tbsp water; add to the beef mixture and cook 1 minute. Stir in the worcestershire sauce, vinegar, pepper sauce, salt and pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the mixture thickens, about 10 minutes. Serve on the rolls/buns.

*****

I usually really like sloppy joes, so I don't know why I'm so lukewarm about this. I think we'll have baked potatoes on the side and some kind of mixed vegetable blend.

*****

These were just okay. I like my usual Sloppy Joe recipe a lot better and will probably stick with that going forward. None of us were overly fond of this recipe.

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

The rental house we stayed at on our Seattle vacation had a few issues of Vegetarian Times magazine, so I figured I'd flip through them to get some ideas for new vegetarian dinners. Now that I'm down to just nursing the baby once a day I want to start kicking up my weight loss efforts, so I'm going to start making more vegetarian dinners (trying to get back to three or four a week) and bust out my Weight Watchers cookbooks for ideas, too.

I had some quinoa in my pantry and wasn't sure what to do with it. I saw this recipe in the VT magazine and figured I'd make it when red peppers were on sale next. Well, I didn't need to wait because Costco yesterday had a bag of six red peppers for $5.49! The cheapest I can get them at the grocery store is usually $1 each, so I snatched up a bag and put this on the meal plan for this week. I'm excited to try it!!

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

1 medium onion, finely chopped (1 cup)
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 ribs celery, finely chopped (1/2 cup)
1 Tbs. ground cumin
2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
1 10-oz. pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
2 15-oz. cans diced tomatoes, drained, liquid reserved
1 15-oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
3/4 cup quinoa
3 large carrots, grated (11/2 cups)
1-1/2 cups grated reduced-fat pepper Jack cheese, divided
4 large red bell peppers, halved lengthwise, ribs removed

1. Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and celery, and cook 5 minutes, or until soft. Add cumin and garlic, and sauté 1 minute. Stir in spinach and drained tomatoes. Cook 5 minutes, or until most of liquid has evaporated.

2. Stir in black beans, quinoa, carrots, and 2 cups water. Cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 20 minutes, or until quinoa is tender. Stir in 1 cup cheese. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

3. Preheat oven to 350°F. Pour liquid from tomatoes in bottom of baking dish.

4. Fill each bell pepper half with heaping 3/4-cup quinoa mixture, and place in baking dish. Cover with foil, and bake 1 hour. Uncover, and sprinkle each pepper with 1 Tbs. remaining cheese. Bake 15 minutes more, or until tops of stuffed peppers are browned. Let stand 5 minutes. Transfer stuffed peppers to serving plates, and drizzle each with pan juices before serving.

*****

I'm glad I'm posting this early in the morning...I didn't realize how long it needed to bake! I'm really excited to try this. This will be my first time making (and eating, I think) quinoa. It sounds like this will be pretty flavorful, and I'm hoping it ends up that way. Not sure what we'll have with it since there's a grain in the peppers and vegetables. We may just have a salad to go with it, I'm not sure.

Turkey Salad Wraps

Did you know that Whole Foods has an app for the iPhone? They do. I heart Whole Foods (although I can't afford to shop there on a routine basis), and I heart them even more after I found that cool app. I needed some dinner ideas for this week and decided to check that out and see what I found. Since it's blazing hot and I don't feel like heating up my kitchen, I searched their sandwich recipes. When I got the new fridge and was cleaning out the old one I came across a bag of diced turkey meat that needed to be used up. Safeway had cooked turkey breasts for $5 awhile back, so I bought one and diced it up and stuck it in the freezer for later use. Honestly I had kind of forgotten about it. When I saw this recipe I thought it would be perfect because it would be a light summer dinner and use up the turkey I have!

The husband, however, is not a fan of turkey, so if he asks (since I don't think he checks my blog anymore), I'm telling him it's chicken. Same goes for the boy so he doesn't blab that it's turkey!

Turkey Salad Wraps

Salt to taste
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless turkey breast fillets
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup lowfat yogurt
2 teaspoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Pepper to taste
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1 cup frozen yellow corn, thawed and drained
1 jalapeño pepper, finely chopped
4 tortillas, preferably red chile variety
1 pint alfalfa sprouts

Bring 2 quarts water and 1 teaspoon salt to a simmer in a medium pot over low heat. Add turkey and simmer 10 to 12 minutes, or until cooked through. Transfer to a plate and set aside to let cool for 15 minutes, then cut into 1/2-inch cubes.

Whisk together mayonnaise, yogurt, lime juice, and cumin in a small bowl; season with salt and pepper. Add cooked turkey, celery, onions, corn and jalapeños and toss to coat.

Spoon about 1 cup of the turkey salad onto each tortilla, then top with a generous handful of sprouts. Roll up and serve immediately.

*****

I'm only making a couple variations. In the past when the husband has gone grocery shopping for me, he's been unable to find plain yogurt, so instead of making him go through that rigmarole again I'm going to use sour cream instead. And I forgot to put red onion on my grocery list, so I'll have to make due with a regular yellow onion. And I don't like frozen corn, so I don't buy, which means I'm going to use canned corn instead. And I don't have alfalfa sprouts, so we'll deck out our wraps with lettuce and possibly tomato if I think it would work after tasting the final product. There's quite a bit of the pasta salad from yesterday leftover, so I think we'll just have that on the side and call it good.

*****

This was really yummy!!! We all really liked it, although the boy really just picked out the turkey. The husband had the leftovers a couple days later and said it was definitely a lot better the first time around. There wasn't a whole lot left anyway. I will definitely make this again, and I think chicken could easily be substituted for the turkey. Oh, the red onion. Flavor-wise I don't think it would add a whole lot, but it would be nice for the color. And we did have them with lettuce and tomato. Man, just typing this makes me want to have it again!

Shrimp Creole

One of the dinners I had planned for this week was a jambalaya recipe I haven't made in a long, long time. In thinking about it, I decided I'd rather make shrimp creole, which is something else I haven't made in a long, long time. I figured I could make jambalaya next week with just chicken and sausage, then this week I can use some of the shrimp I have for shrimp creole. It's really super yummy, and I can't even remember the last time we had it. I'm really excited!

Shrimp Creole
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup butter
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes, undrained
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp water
1 pound uncooked, medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
1/4 to 1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
Hot cooked rice

In a Dutch oven, saute onion, green pepper, and celery in butter until tender. Add the tomatoes, garlic, bay leaves, salt, and cayenne. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 35 minutes, stirring occasionally. Discard the bay leaves.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour and water until smooth; add to tomato mixture. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Stir in shrimp, worcestershire, and hot pepper sauce. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until shrimp turn pink. Serve over rice, garnish with parsley and green onions.

*****

This is one of the first cajun dishes I ever made, and the husband (although he was the boyfriend at the time) loved it. I think we'll just have some bread and a salad on the side. Mmmmm...I can't wait for dinner!

Barbecue Macaroni Salad

Another friend of mine had a baby recently, and I took them dinner Monday night. I wanted something easy because we were supposed to have our Bible Study group here at 6:30. I had bought a pork loin roast last week and hadn't run it through my Food Saver yet, so I figured I'd throw that in the crockpot for pulled pork sandwiches and kill two birds with one stone. Actually more than two birds since 1) I didn't have to Food Saver the pork, 2) it gave me dinner for my friend, and 3) it gave us a dinner that would be finished on time. I wanted something easy to go with it that I could make ahead of time and would make enough for us and to take to my friend. This macaroni salad recipe was in the Cook's Illustrated I bought on Saturday, and it sounded interesting and worth trying.


BBQ Macaroni Salad
From Cook's Illustrated Summer Grilling

1 lb elbow macaroni
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped fine
1 celery rib, chopped fine
4 scallions, sliced thin
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
salt & fresh ground pepper

Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot. Add 1 tablespoon salt and macaroni and cook until nearly tender, about 5 minutes. Drain in colander and rinse with cold water until cool, then drain once more, briefly, so that pasta is still moist; transfer to large bowl. Stir in bell pepper, celery, scallions, vinegar, hot sauce, chili powder, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper, and let sit until flavors are absorbed, about 2 minutes. Stir in mayonnaise and barbecue sauce and let sit until salad is no longer watery, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve. (The salad can be covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Check seasonings before serving.).

*****

I was a bit apprehensive about how this would turn out, but it was pretty tasty. I realized when posting this that I used a tablespoon of chili powder instead of a teaspoon, so mine had a bit more kick to it than it normally would have. I kind of liked it that way, though. I'd maybe cut back on it a little if I was taking it somewhere, but I think just a teaspoon might not be quite enough. I used organic whole wheat macaroni for the pasta and a yellow pepper instead of red. I would definitely make this again. It came together really fast and the taste was unique for a macaroni salad.

Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice

I really like cooking Sunday dinner in the crockpot. It's so nice to get the whole afternoon with my family instead of them getting to have fun while I'm in the kitchen. The husband always calls his parents on Sunday after church, so while he and the boy were talking to them this morning I got this in the crockpot. And now all I have to do is put on some rice to cook in an hour or so. Fantastic!! In fact, I'm sitting outside in our backyard enjoying this FABULOUS 80 degree day while the boy runs through the sprinkler. This is why I love living in AZ (and I'll try to remember that in a couple months when I'm complaining about how freakin' hot it is).

Anyway, we've had this before but not in a long time. I was looking for something in my freezer and saw some frozen sausage, and I knew I had kidney beans in the pantry, so I added it to the menu for this week. It kept getting pushed back for varoius reasons, but it's worked out great now that we're having it tonight.

Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice
3 cups water
1 cup dried red kidney beans
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
3/4 cup chopped celery
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 (14-ounce) package turkey, pork, and beef smoked sausage, thinly sliced (such as Healthy Choice)
1 bay leaf
5 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups hot cooked long-grain rice
1/4 cup chopped green onions

Combine first 12 ingredients in an electric slow cooker. Cover with lid; cook on high heat for 5 hours. Discard bay leaf; stir in salt. Serve over rice; sprinkle servings evenly with green onions.

*****

Instead of the red pepper and black pepper I added in some Cajun seasoning instead. And my sausage wasn't Healthy Choice, it was Hillshire Farm. I'm so excited for this dinner. I went grocery shopping this afternoon, and the house smelled amazing when I walked in from that. I think we'll probably just have a salad with this and call it good.

I had planned on making a really yummy dessert for tonight, too, because blackberries were on sale this week, but the store was all out of them. I'm so bummed! I did get a rain check at least, and I may stop in there tomorrow to see if they have some so I could still get them and have the rain check for later. On a bright note, I finally spent less than $80--I only spent $37! I feel like I must have forgotten some important things because that seems like way too little to have spent.

Get ready for some yummy dinners this coming week--I'm really excited for the menu line-up I have planned!!

BBQ Veggie Joes

We had this last night. I still need to figure out dinner for tonight because what I had planned just isn't sounding good, so I'm going to keep this short and sweet to figure out what to have in, oh, an hour.

I was looking at lentil recipes on RecipeZaar.com and thought this sounded good and easy.

BBQ Veggie Joes Recipe
#77364 by ratherbeswimmin'

1 cup dried lentils, sorted and rinsed
2 cups water
1 1/2 cups chopped celery
1 1/2 cups chopped carrots
1 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
salt and pepper
5 pita breads, cut in half to form pockets (6-inch diameter)
lettuce leaf

Add lentils and water to a saucepan; bring to a boil; lower heat, cover, and simmer 10 minutes.

Add celery, carrots, onion, ketchup, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, and lentils w/ water into a 4-quart slow-cooker.

Cover and cook on LOW for 8-10-12 hours or until vegetables are tender.

Just before serving, add vinegar and salt/pepper to taste.

Fill pita pocket with a lettuce leaf and 1/2 cup lentil mixture.

© 2009 Recipezaar. All Rights Reserved. http://www.recipezaar.com

*****

This was okay. I didn't have enough ketchup, so I used 1/4 cup ketchup and an 8 ounce can of tomato sauce, but I didn't take into account that tomato sauce tastes different than ketchup, so the flavor was a little too tomato, the husband said it smelled like tomato soup. I don't know if I'll bother trying it again. It made a ton, and since we weren't totally wild about it, I don't know if we'll want to have it again after we get through all the leftovers. Oh, and we had them on hamburger buns...I don't do well with pitas.

Slow Cooker Minestrone

This was actually our dinner last night, but I ran out of time to post. Jen B. and I both wanted to get out of our houses as we've been stuck at home with sick kids for longer than we'd like (really, isn't more than a day stuck at home with a toddler--regardless of their health--too much?!), so we went to the mall, lunch, and Trader Joe's. With all of that running around I just didn't have time to post my recipe. What about after the fun, you say? Or after the boy went to bed last night? Well, when we got home I was busy throwing stuff in the crockpot for dinner, then after dinner I spent 45 minutes on the phone with my friend Jess. Then there was stuff on the Tivo to watch...you know how it goes.

Anyway, this is another recipe from Meal Planning 101 blog via Jen B's blog. The husband is taking a bible study class on Wednesday nights for the next 12 weeks (well, I guess 11 weeks since last night's is done), so I'm going to be doing crockpot dinners on Wednesday nights to make sure he gets to eat before he leaves. Jen had really liked this, and I had all the vegetables on hand that needed to be used up, so I figured what the heck. It met my vegetarian criteria and furthers me along in my "embrace the bean" mentality I'm trying to adopt...even though minestrone has never been my favorite soup.

Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 Carrots, chopped
3 cloves chopped garlic
4-6 cups of Vegetable Broth or Chicken Stock
1 can diced Tomatoes
1 can of Red Kidney Beans
1 can of Great Northern Beans
2 tbsp tomato Paste
2 tsp Italian Seasoning (or 1tsp oregano, 1tsp basil)
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (or combo of cheese and Parm-Reg rinds--see notes)
1/2 cup basil pesto (premade or fresh)
1/2 jar leftover marinara sauce
1 cup macaroni (cooked)

Finely chop onion and slice carrots and onion and add them to your slow cooker. Chop garlic and add. Gradually add stock, tomatoes, mixed beans, tomato paste, spices, Parmesan cheese and pesto. Turn on low heat for 6-8 hours.

After cook time is complete:
Fill a large stove-top pot with water and season with salt and bring to a boil. When boiling add macaroni and simmer according to package directions. When macaroni is done, drain and set aside. Scoop macaroni into bowls and ladle soup over top. Serve immediately.

*****

I can almost guarantee that no one in the history of slow cookers has thrown the ingredients for minestrone soup into the crockpot faster than I did yesterday. We had just gotten home from our day out, the baby was screaming because he was hungry, and I realized I needed to get dinner in the crockpot ASAP so we'd be able to eat before the husband had to leave. If you've never breastfed a baby, you may not understand the urgency with which this task needed to be done, but if you HAVE breastfed a baby and know what it's like to hear them screaming and not be able to feed them right away, well...you know why I hurried. I didn't have any marinara sauce to throw in, nor did I have pesto. I used the whole can of tomato paste to try and make up for the lack of marinara sauce. I put in some basil to try and make up for the pesto.

The result? It was okay. Jen said she thinks my not using real pesto probably impacted it a lot. Since I'm not a big minestrone fan to begin with, I thought it was good considering. However, I have a TON left...almost a whole crockpot full of it. The boy didn't eat it, the husband didn't have a whole lot (he doesn't like soup which I totally don't understand). I made ham and cheese paninis along with the soup, and he liked the sandwich a lot better. I think I'm going to freeze most of what was left because it would take me at least two weeks to eat what's left on my own. I don't think this is one I'd make again, but that's only because it's not my favorite soup, and I already have a lot of it left.

Herbed Chicken and Dumplings

This was our dinner last night, but I was so busy nesting yesterday I didn't get a chance to post it. Seriously, my family room has never been cleaner than it is now. Well, there's toys that somehow migrated out of the toy room and some clutter on the coffee table, but the room itself almost sparkles. We had our carpets cleaned yesterday, and I was motivated to clean with all the furniture out of the way. I cleaned baseboards (insert mental image of a pregnant woman with nine days until her due date on hands and knees with a bottle of 409 scrubbing), vacuumed the blades of the ceiling fan, vacuumed up the corners of the room to get rid of dust and cobwebs. I still need to Magic Eraser some spots on the walls, but the room looks great. Our kitchen floor, however, was a casualty to the whole carpet cleaning process. Our couch and loveseat stuck to the linoleum or something and tore it up in a couple spots. Only one is REALLY noticeable and deep. We've always said we wanted to put tile in there, so I guess this is a sign that now is the time. Anyway, in my cleaning frenzy yesterday I also completely cleaned out my car, brought in the baby swing and washed the cover, washed the boy's laundry. I don't remember what else, but I have more on my list to get done today.

On to the whole point of my blog! I was looking through October's issue of Cooking Light over the weekend (somehow I had never gone through it!) and found a recipe for chicken and dumplings that looked really good, and I already had most of the ingredients on hand to make it. Of course at the grocery store yesterday I realized I had forgotten to check the recipe before we left to see what the ingredients were that I didn't have. Oops. Turned out it was only parsley, so that's not too bad. I heart chicken and dumplings, but this was my first time making it myself. My mom made some really good ones when I was little, but she hasn't made them in years. Or at least she hasn't made them for me.

Herbed Chicken and Dumplings
Cooking spray
8 ounces skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
3/4 cup (1/4-inch) diagonally cut celery
1/2 cup (1/4-inch) diagonally cut carrot
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
3 parsley sprigs
1 bay leaf
3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2.25 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1/2 cup)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup 1% low-fat milk

1. Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add chicken to pan; cook 4 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm. Add celery and next 5 ingredients (through bay leaf) to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until onion is tender. Return chicken to pan; cook 1 minute. Add broth to pan; bring mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes.

2. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, chopped parsley, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Add milk, stirring just until moist. Spoon by heaping teaspoonfuls into broth mixture; cover and simmer 10 minutes or until dumplings are done. Discard parsley sprigs and bay leaf.

*****

Like I said, I forgot to buy parsley, so I left that out of the soup mixture and used dried parsley in the dumplings. I also used chicken breasts instead of thighs, and I doubled the recipe since it only made two servings. I'm not sure if it's really a recipe that doubles well. I think next time I'd cut down on the amount of broth--six cups was a lot, I think four or five would have sufficed. It also needed a little something more for flavor. The broth/chicken/veggies was kind of bland. I think next time I might toss the chicken pieces in some seasoned flour before browning to give it a little extra oomph and help thicken the broth some. The dumplings, however, were FANTASTIC. The husband said he could have left the soup and just had the dumplings. The boy liked it well enough, although I don't know if he ever tried the dumplings. All in all, I'd try making this again to see if I could jazz it up a bit so there was a bit more flavor to it, but if I still couldn't get it right after that, I'd probably stop trying.