Alright, back to cooking!! Yesterday I just felt blah and tired and pregnant and lazy, so we had brinner (breakfast for dinner). Pancakes, scrambled eggs, and sausage. I heart brinner. I had a whole list of chores I wanted to do, and all I accomplished was planning dinners for the week and making up my grocery list. The husband wants to get back to more vegetarian dinners, so I looked at the recipes I'd saved on allrecipes.com and found this one. I thought, "Portobello mushrooms haven't been on sale in FOREVER!" Then I looked at the grocery ad, and lo and behold...portobellos were on sale!! I was tempted to eat them all week because we haven't had them in so long, but I settled on one dinner. I kind of wanted to make Portobello Parmesan because we haven't had it in forever, but this got good reviews.
By the way, it's much easier to prepare dinner if your husband is home to entertain your 2.5 year old that's been a total terror all day instead of trying to make dinner and deal with the boy at the same time. Kudos to single parents who have to do this all the time!! The husband had a meeting that ran late tonight, normally he's home to deal with the boy. Of course the boy wanted to sit on the potty while I was trying to get everything together. I hate to deny him potty time because I'd REALLY like him out of diapers, but what can you do. At least he went potty while he was sitting there. Small blessings I guess.
Portobello Penne Pasta Casserole
1 (8 ounce) package uncooked penne pasta
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 pound portobello mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/2 cup margarine
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
2 cups milk
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1/4 cup soy sauce
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Place pasta in the pot, cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until al dente, and drain.
3. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the mushrooms, cook 1 minute, and set aside. Melt margarine in the saucepan. Mix in flour, garlic, and basil. Gradually mix in milk until thickened. Stir in 1 cup cheese until melted. Remove saucepan from heat, and mix in cooked pasta, mushrooms, spinach, and soy sauce. Transfer to the prepared baking dish, and top with remaining cheese.
4. Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until bubbly and lightly brown.
*****
When I first read the recipe I went, "A quarter cup soy sauce?!" but several of the reviews said they thought the same thing but it turned out fine. We'll see. It seemed like there were a lot of calories that could be cut, so I used cooking spray instead of oil to saute the mushrooms, 1.5 cups skim milk and 0.5 cups 2% milk. Oh, and even though it didn't say to do so, I drained the spinach.
And can I just say I hate cooking with margarine? I've become a butter girl through and through I guess. Normally I have some in the freezer, but I used the last of it in my cake over the weekend (which I just remembered is out in our garage fridge...it's probably lonely, I should make sure I have some tonight), so all I had was reduced fat tub margarine. Ugh. It's so oily and there's so much water in it, which means it splatters everywhere when you're heating it up. I hate cooking with it, but I had no choice.
Dinner's in the oven as I type this, we'll see how it turns out! I can't decide if I have high hopes for it or low expectations. Generally I'm a low expectations kind of girl because if you don't expect much, you won't wind up disappointed. Trust me...I've been lectured on this philosophy MANY TIMES in my life.
*****
The results? Yummy. You couldn't really taste the soy sauce like reviewers had said on the website, but I think next time I might scale it back a little anyway. The husband and I both liked it and agreed it's one to keep. The boy didn't really eat it, but he hasn't been eating much lately anyway. I think next time I might add some parmesan in as well to give it a little extra flavor. Definitely one I'll add to my portobello recipe repertoire (sp?)!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Tiramisu Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
We are having a great weekend here at our house (aside from the boy getting up at 4:30 this morning)! Some of my amazing, awesome friends threw me a great baby shower this morning, and I was very spoiled. My mom took the boy home with her to spend the night, and the husband and I are having a date night. Woo hoo! We got to take an uninterrupted nap this afternoon, hang out and watch college football uninterrupted...it's been great! Tonight we're going to dinner at The Melting Pot to celebrate the husband's 30th birthday and our fifth anniversary next weekend. I heart the Melting Pot!! Last time we were there I was pregnant with the boy.
Tomorrow evening we're going to my aunt and uncle's house for a family birthday dinner. October is a big month for us--my mom, one of my grandmas, the husband, and my cousin (although she lives on the east coast, but I didn't want her to feel left out in case she reads this) all have birthdays in October. My grandma (the one not having a birthday this month) is making her lasagna which is super yummy. I'm excited. I volunteered to bring the cake. The last time I made this was I think Mother's Day 2004. Poor neglected cake recipe.
Back in my working girl days (does that sound too off color?), my boss' wife would often make cakes he'd bring in for birthdays. Or she did it for some people anyway, I don't think she did it for everyone. I'd always tell him he was the best boss ever, so maybe that's why his wife made me this awesome cake. Really he was quite a jerk (when I gave my notice, he stopped talking to me for my last three weeks there), but he did give me a 10% raise one year, so he must have bought it. Anyway. I emailed her after having a piece of cake and asked her for the recipe. I've only made it the one time and have been dying to make it ever since. It's ridiculously time consuming (especially since I'm used to making cakes that come in a box and only require the addition of eggs and oil) and sooooooooo incredibly unhealthy (I think it was something like 25 Weight Watcher points when I calculated it out before...that's like a daily point intake for those of you unfamiliar with WW), but it's fan-freakin'-tastic. So, without further ado or babbling from me, here's the recipe:
TIRAMISU CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
Cake
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
5 large eggs
1 1/3 cups whipping cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter and flour 2 9-inch round cake pans. Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in another large bowl to blend. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in cream and vanilla. Stir flour mixture into butter mixture. Divide batter equally among pans. Bake until tester inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool completely.
Frosting / Filling
3 1/2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
2 1/3 cups powdered sugar
1 cup chilled whipping cream
1 1/4 tablespoons vanilla extract
Using electric mixer beat cream cheese in large bowl until light. Gradually add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add cream and vanilla and beat until well blended. Cover refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Soaking Syrup
1 1/3 cups Kahlúa or other coffee liqueur
1/2 cups water
1/8 cup instant espresso powder or coffee powder
Combine.
Assembly
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 9-inch-diameter cardboard cake round
2 cups assorted berries (such as raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and strawberries)
Finely grind chopped chocolate in processor (do not over process or chocolate will clump together). After cakes have cooled completely, take about half a cup of frosting and spread it on a cardboard round or what ever you will be placing the cake on.
Cut the cakes in half horizontally. Place bottom of one cake on cardboard round, cut side up. Brush with 1/3 of syrup. Spread out about 1 cup of frosting and then sprinkle with 1/3 of the chocolate. Place top of cake on top - repeat syrup, frosting, chocolate. Place bottom of 2nd cake on top, cut side up - repeat with the remains of the syrup, 1 cup of frosting and remains of the chocolate.
Now, to tidy it up - take a serrated knife and cut around the cake to make it even all around, this made it very easy to frost the cake.
Frost the entire outside of cake. Decorate with berries, icing or chocolate.
This cake is best when allowed to sit for a day or so.
*****
See? Time consuming and unhealthy...but worth it and oh-so-tasty. I just realized I only used three packages of cream cheese, not 3.5, but hopefully a missing four ounces won't make a big difference. The batter and frosting were both so yummy...I had to sample, of course. My cakes are still in the oven, and in my oven they're taking closer to 45 minutes than 35. I think I'm going to wait and assemble the cake tomorrow because, frankly, I'm tired of being in the kitchen.
I'll make sure I take pictures so you can see this amazing dessert!
Tomorrow evening we're going to my aunt and uncle's house for a family birthday dinner. October is a big month for us--my mom, one of my grandmas, the husband, and my cousin (although she lives on the east coast, but I didn't want her to feel left out in case she reads this) all have birthdays in October. My grandma (the one not having a birthday this month) is making her lasagna which is super yummy. I'm excited. I volunteered to bring the cake. The last time I made this was I think Mother's Day 2004. Poor neglected cake recipe.
Back in my working girl days (does that sound too off color?), my boss' wife would often make cakes he'd bring in for birthdays. Or she did it for some people anyway, I don't think she did it for everyone. I'd always tell him he was the best boss ever, so maybe that's why his wife made me this awesome cake. Really he was quite a jerk (when I gave my notice, he stopped talking to me for my last three weeks there), but he did give me a 10% raise one year, so he must have bought it. Anyway. I emailed her after having a piece of cake and asked her for the recipe. I've only made it the one time and have been dying to make it ever since. It's ridiculously time consuming (especially since I'm used to making cakes that come in a box and only require the addition of eggs and oil) and sooooooooo incredibly unhealthy (I think it was something like 25 Weight Watcher points when I calculated it out before...that's like a daily point intake for those of you unfamiliar with WW), but it's fan-freakin'-tastic. So, without further ado or babbling from me, here's the recipe:
TIRAMISU CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
Cake
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
5 large eggs
1 1/3 cups whipping cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter and flour 2 9-inch round cake pans. Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in another large bowl to blend. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in cream and vanilla. Stir flour mixture into butter mixture. Divide batter equally among pans. Bake until tester inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool completely.
Frosting / Filling
3 1/2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
2 1/3 cups powdered sugar
1 cup chilled whipping cream
1 1/4 tablespoons vanilla extract
Using electric mixer beat cream cheese in large bowl until light. Gradually add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add cream and vanilla and beat until well blended. Cover refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Soaking Syrup
1 1/3 cups Kahlúa or other coffee liqueur
1/2 cups water
1/8 cup instant espresso powder or coffee powder
Combine.
Assembly
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 9-inch-diameter cardboard cake round
2 cups assorted berries (such as raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and strawberries)
Finely grind chopped chocolate in processor (do not over process or chocolate will clump together). After cakes have cooled completely, take about half a cup of frosting and spread it on a cardboard round or what ever you will be placing the cake on.
Cut the cakes in half horizontally. Place bottom of one cake on cardboard round, cut side up. Brush with 1/3 of syrup. Spread out about 1 cup of frosting and then sprinkle with 1/3 of the chocolate. Place top of cake on top - repeat syrup, frosting, chocolate. Place bottom of 2nd cake on top, cut side up - repeat with the remains of the syrup, 1 cup of frosting and remains of the chocolate.
Now, to tidy it up - take a serrated knife and cut around the cake to make it even all around, this made it very easy to frost the cake.
Frost the entire outside of cake. Decorate with berries, icing or chocolate.
This cake is best when allowed to sit for a day or so.
*****
See? Time consuming and unhealthy...but worth it and oh-so-tasty. I just realized I only used three packages of cream cheese, not 3.5, but hopefully a missing four ounces won't make a big difference. The batter and frosting were both so yummy...I had to sample, of course. My cakes are still in the oven, and in my oven they're taking closer to 45 minutes than 35. I think I'm going to wait and assemble the cake tomorrow because, frankly, I'm tired of being in the kitchen.
I'll make sure I take pictures so you can see this amazing dessert!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Jazzfest Crawfish Bread
I went back through my blog and didn't see this recipe, so that means you can hear the whole background story behind it. You're thrilled, aren't you? This is one of the husband's favorite dinner. Tomorrow is his big 3-0 birthday, and this is what he picked for dinner. Now, on to the story.
The husband and I met in February 2001. In April of that year, I got laid off. Oh, if I haven't mentioned it before, the husband grew up in New Orleans. Well, a suburb of New Orleans but close enough. I got laid off on a Monday, and while we were out that night drinking away my sorrows about being unemployed, I suggested we go to New Orleans for a few days. He had his own consulting business at the time and didn't have any real committments, so we figured what the heck. By the way, my parents were none too pleased I was setting off cross country with some guy I'd only known a few months. Not that it plays into the story at all, just a random side note.
We set off for New Orleans on Saturday morning, stopped in El Paso for lunch at my parents' house, and then drove on to San Antonio to spend the night at my in-laws'. I don't advise driving from Phoenix to San Antonio in one day if you can avoid it. It was horrible. Awful. One of the worst days of my life. There is absolutely nothing except one little town between El Paso and San Antonio. I take that back...there's lots of dirt.
I don't remember how many days we stayed in New Orleans, but while we were there the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (or Jazzfest) was going on, so we went. The husband was excited because it was one of the things he missed most about living there. It was awesome--we saw great music performances including BB King, but the food was amazing. We had some crawfish bread that was one of the best things I've ever eaten. Ever. Seriously. And I think I've eaten a lot. Here's what it looks like:
DOn't you want to dive right in to that bad boy? Mmmmm...looks tasty. To be perfectly honest, most of that trip is pretty hazy. Hey, we were in New Orleans with no responsibilities, so we were free to imbibe as we wanted. We did go to Mississippi and drink at a bar called Bubba's with John's best friend. We toured a plantation. I can't tell you a whole lot past that. I maybe could, but my mom reads this (just kidding Mom...it wasn't anything bad). The point is, it was an awesome trip, we survived a drive across Texas (880 miles on I-10 if you were wondering...and that was just across TX) which pretty much proved we'll be together forever, and I came back wanting to make all things Cajun.
So when we made it back to Phoenix, the husband (or I guess at the point "the boyfriend") and I were reminiscing about the awesome crawfish bread. I did some searching and found a recipe online. We were probably back less than a week before I made it. I switched it up some because the recipe called for making your own dough, and I didn't dig that back then. Actually, this may have been when I found out about the husband's love for cheese. The recipe listed is how I make it, not the one I found online. Emeril has a pretty good recipe for it, too, but it's a lot more time consuming. I don't like time consuming.
By the way, the picture above I found online when I was trying to see if I could find the actual official crawfish bread recipe. It was listed as one of the top five foods to eat at Jazzfest. Man, how I want to go back there!!
Jazzfest Crawfish Bread
1 container Pillsbury refrigerated pizza dough
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried sweet basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, to taste (or Cajun seasoning)
1 pound crawfish tail meat, coarsely chopped
1 4-ounce jar pimientos, drained and chopped
3/4 cup chopped green onions
3/4 cup grated monterey jack cheese (or jalapeno pepper jack cheese for a bigger kick)
1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
Roll out pizza dough until it's a nice rectangle shape, about 10"x14". In a large bowl, mix together the cheeses and spices (obviously I use way more cheese than is called for in this recipe). Scatter the crawfish lengthwise over the center third of the dough. Top with pimientos, green onions and shredded cheese. Fold sides of dough over and seal down the middle of the bread. Fold ends up so none of the cheesy crawfish awesomeness leaks out the ends. Brush loaf with egg wash. Bake in a preheated 400-degree oven until done and golden brown, 30-35 minutes.
*****
Mmmmm...doesn't it sound yummy? I stopped making it because all the cheese and crawfish wasn't good for the husband's cholesterol. Actually when I first started making it, I used shrimp instead of crawfish because I just couldn't find crawfish for a somewhat reasonable price in Phoenix. I've since discovered that Walmart sells it. It's not really cheap, but every once in awhile it's fine. I think it's $6 for 12 ounces of crawfish tail meat.
Tomorrow night we're going out for the husband's actual birthday, and Friday night is his boy's night celebration, so we're having his dinner request tonight. Actually Saturday we're going out just him and me as a combo birthday/anniversary dinner. Oh, and then Sunday we're going to dinner at my aunt's because there's an insane number of October birthdays in my family, so we're having a family dinner to celebrate. I gues I'm off the hook for dinner until Monday! Woo hoo!! Although I am making an amazing cake for the birthday dinner, so I'll post the recipe for that for sure.
The husband and I met in February 2001. In April of that year, I got laid off. Oh, if I haven't mentioned it before, the husband grew up in New Orleans. Well, a suburb of New Orleans but close enough. I got laid off on a Monday, and while we were out that night drinking away my sorrows about being unemployed, I suggested we go to New Orleans for a few days. He had his own consulting business at the time and didn't have any real committments, so we figured what the heck. By the way, my parents were none too pleased I was setting off cross country with some guy I'd only known a few months. Not that it plays into the story at all, just a random side note.
We set off for New Orleans on Saturday morning, stopped in El Paso for lunch at my parents' house, and then drove on to San Antonio to spend the night at my in-laws'. I don't advise driving from Phoenix to San Antonio in one day if you can avoid it. It was horrible. Awful. One of the worst days of my life. There is absolutely nothing except one little town between El Paso and San Antonio. I take that back...there's lots of dirt.
I don't remember how many days we stayed in New Orleans, but while we were there the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (or Jazzfest) was going on, so we went. The husband was excited because it was one of the things he missed most about living there. It was awesome--we saw great music performances including BB King, but the food was amazing. We had some crawfish bread that was one of the best things I've ever eaten. Ever. Seriously. And I think I've eaten a lot. Here's what it looks like:
DOn't you want to dive right in to that bad boy? Mmmmm...looks tasty. To be perfectly honest, most of that trip is pretty hazy. Hey, we were in New Orleans with no responsibilities, so we were free to imbibe as we wanted. We did go to Mississippi and drink at a bar called Bubba's with John's best friend. We toured a plantation. I can't tell you a whole lot past that. I maybe could, but my mom reads this (just kidding Mom...it wasn't anything bad). The point is, it was an awesome trip, we survived a drive across Texas (880 miles on I-10 if you were wondering...and that was just across TX) which pretty much proved we'll be together forever, and I came back wanting to make all things Cajun.
So when we made it back to Phoenix, the husband (or I guess at the point "the boyfriend") and I were reminiscing about the awesome crawfish bread. I did some searching and found a recipe online. We were probably back less than a week before I made it. I switched it up some because the recipe called for making your own dough, and I didn't dig that back then. Actually, this may have been when I found out about the husband's love for cheese. The recipe listed is how I make it, not the one I found online. Emeril has a pretty good recipe for it, too, but it's a lot more time consuming. I don't like time consuming.
By the way, the picture above I found online when I was trying to see if I could find the actual official crawfish bread recipe. It was listed as one of the top five foods to eat at Jazzfest. Man, how I want to go back there!!
Jazzfest Crawfish Bread
1 container Pillsbury refrigerated pizza dough
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried sweet basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, to taste (or Cajun seasoning)
1 pound crawfish tail meat, coarsely chopped
1 4-ounce jar pimientos, drained and chopped
3/4 cup chopped green onions
3/4 cup grated monterey jack cheese (or jalapeno pepper jack cheese for a bigger kick)
1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
Roll out pizza dough until it's a nice rectangle shape, about 10"x14". In a large bowl, mix together the cheeses and spices (obviously I use way more cheese than is called for in this recipe). Scatter the crawfish lengthwise over the center third of the dough. Top with pimientos, green onions and shredded cheese. Fold sides of dough over and seal down the middle of the bread. Fold ends up so none of the cheesy crawfish awesomeness leaks out the ends. Brush loaf with egg wash. Bake in a preheated 400-degree oven until done and golden brown, 30-35 minutes.
*****
Mmmmm...doesn't it sound yummy? I stopped making it because all the cheese and crawfish wasn't good for the husband's cholesterol. Actually when I first started making it, I used shrimp instead of crawfish because I just couldn't find crawfish for a somewhat reasonable price in Phoenix. I've since discovered that Walmart sells it. It's not really cheap, but every once in awhile it's fine. I think it's $6 for 12 ounces of crawfish tail meat.
Tomorrow night we're going out for the husband's actual birthday, and Friday night is his boy's night celebration, so we're having his dinner request tonight. Actually Saturday we're going out just him and me as a combo birthday/anniversary dinner. Oh, and then Sunday we're going to dinner at my aunt's because there's an insane number of October birthdays in my family, so we're having a family dinner to celebrate. I gues I'm off the hook for dinner until Monday! Woo hoo!! Although I am making an amazing cake for the birthday dinner, so I'll post the recipe for that for sure.
I won!! I won!!
Okay, it's not a super big thing I won, but my friend Benah gave me a Kreativ Blogger Award! How exciting!!
Benah's post when she won said she had to spread the love, so I assume I have to do the same. I have to list six things that make me happy and then pass along the award to six other bloggers.
My six happy things, in no particular order:
1. Eating. Is this a surprise given this is a cooking blog? I love to eat, and I'm really not super picky about what I eat, although I don't like zucchini. But now we're delving into things that don't make me happy. What are my favorite foods, you may be asking? Probably not, but I'll answer anyway. Brie...I heart brie so much, dips (I don't think I've ever passed up a dip), macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes (I could eat them every day), cookies.
2. Hearing the boy say, "I love you mommy."
3. Spending time alone with my husband. He's awesome, and spending time one on one with him is always such a pleasure. It also makes me happy seeing him play and interact with the boy. He's a great dad.
4. My friends. I have amazing friends, and they all have such diverse backgrounds and beliefs. They really enrich my life.
5. Seattle. It's where I grew up, and I love it. There's this one spot on I-5 when you're driving to the city from the airport, and you go around a turn and all of a sudden, there's the downtown Seattle skyline. I love that. It's a way cool city with a ton of eclectic neighborhoods, fun things to do, great places to eat. The longer I'm away, the more I miss it. Especially this time of year when it's still hot in AZ and I know it's fall there. BTW, when I come home from Seattle trips I'm usually depressed for a week or so.
6. The boy. Even though lately he drives me crazy A LOT (terrible two's...I think I can leave it at that), he brings me so much joy. He's a funny little kid, and the stuff he comes up with just cracks me up.
So, there's some insight into me! :) Now, six blogs I think should get the same award:
Jen A. at Nifty Thrifty & Thriving
Jen B. at Notes From the Table
Joanne at First There Were Two
Tara at Keator Photo
JoEllen at My 2 Great Kids and Our Great Life
Becca at The Pikula Family
Benah's post when she won said she had to spread the love, so I assume I have to do the same. I have to list six things that make me happy and then pass along the award to six other bloggers.
My six happy things, in no particular order:
1. Eating. Is this a surprise given this is a cooking blog? I love to eat, and I'm really not super picky about what I eat, although I don't like zucchini. But now we're delving into things that don't make me happy. What are my favorite foods, you may be asking? Probably not, but I'll answer anyway. Brie...I heart brie so much, dips (I don't think I've ever passed up a dip), macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes (I could eat them every day), cookies.
2. Hearing the boy say, "I love you mommy."
3. Spending time alone with my husband. He's awesome, and spending time one on one with him is always such a pleasure. It also makes me happy seeing him play and interact with the boy. He's a great dad.
4. My friends. I have amazing friends, and they all have such diverse backgrounds and beliefs. They really enrich my life.
5. Seattle. It's where I grew up, and I love it. There's this one spot on I-5 when you're driving to the city from the airport, and you go around a turn and all of a sudden, there's the downtown Seattle skyline. I love that. It's a way cool city with a ton of eclectic neighborhoods, fun things to do, great places to eat. The longer I'm away, the more I miss it. Especially this time of year when it's still hot in AZ and I know it's fall there. BTW, when I come home from Seattle trips I'm usually depressed for a week or so.
6. The boy. Even though lately he drives me crazy A LOT (terrible two's...I think I can leave it at that), he brings me so much joy. He's a funny little kid, and the stuff he comes up with just cracks me up.
So, there's some insight into me! :) Now, six blogs I think should get the same award:
Jen A. at Nifty Thrifty & Thriving
Jen B. at Notes From the Table
Joanne at First There Were Two
Tara at Keator Photo
JoEllen at My 2 Great Kids and Our Great Life
Becca at The Pikula Family
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Tacos
It was another dinner crisis tonight. I had gotten out some chicken drumsticks to make using a recipe from The Pioneer Woman, but I got the chicken out too late, and it was still frozen when I needed to start working on it. Oops. Maybe Friday night. I remembered seeing a box of Boca grounds in my garage freezer, and I just bought tortillas at the grocery store yesterday, so I think it's going to be taco night. We don't have much in the way of fixings, but I think that should be okay.
My taco recipe--if you can call it that--isn't even worth posting. Pound of ground beef (or Boca Grounds in our case tonight), packet of taco seasoning, tortillas, cheese, sour cream, salsa, etc. Pretty humdrum, but I'm actually excited about it. I heart taco night.
Get ready for an exciting dinner tomorrow night! The husband's big 3-0 birthday is on Thursday, so we're having his choice tomorrow night because we're going out on Thursday. It's something that I'm not sure I've posted before, or if I have it was quite awhile ago. I'm already excited for it!!
My taco recipe--if you can call it that--isn't even worth posting. Pound of ground beef (or Boca Grounds in our case tonight), packet of taco seasoning, tortillas, cheese, sour cream, salsa, etc. Pretty humdrum, but I'm actually excited about it. I heart taco night.
Get ready for an exciting dinner tomorrow night! The husband's big 3-0 birthday is on Thursday, so we're having his choice tomorrow night because we're going out on Thursday. It's something that I'm not sure I've posted before, or if I have it was quite awhile ago. I'm already excited for it!!
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Nothing New...
Wow. I seriously sat here for two minutes staring at the keyboard trying to come up with something witty to write. I got nothin'. Just a quick update to let everyone know that nothing exciting is going on in my kitchen. Last night we had leftover Baked Ziti that I had put in the freezer when I made it awhile back. It was nice to have something easy that just got thrown into the oven. The boy and I went to a birthday party yesterday morning then both took two hour naps when we got home. I could have easily slept another hour or two or seven, so I was glad I didn't have to think about dinner since it was already sitting out defrosting. I need more meals like that, but that would of course require effort on my part to make things to stick in the freezer. These days I'm all about minimal effort.
Now tonight, the husband is going to our friend Steve's house for a night of college football. GEAUX TIGERS!! He's leaving around 3:30 I think, so the boy and I are on our own for dinner. Fine by me, since I forgot to buy some of the main ingredients for two of the meals I had planned this week. I have yet to figure out what it is we're going to have. I have a bag of Trader Joe's gnocchi in the freezer, I may just heat up that because we both really like it, but there's not really enough in the package for three people. Wow, I'm glad I thought of that...I think that is what we'll have tonight! By the way, this is a great website for finding out info about Trader Joe's products. There's reviews of just about everything they sell. Since it's so rare I make it to a TJ's store these days, I like to look it over before I go so I can look for new things to try while I'm there.
Tomorrow night's dinner is up in the air. My parents are getting home today from two weeks at the beach in Florida (must be nice to be retired!). The husband is playing golf with my uncle tomorrow afternoon, so the boy and I may go to my parents' house while he's doing that. BUT, last night the boy wasn't asleep until 9:30 (two hours past his usual bedtime) and was awake at 5:30. Ugh. You get it now why I stared at the keyboard for two minutes and couldn't think of anything witty. Anyway, if tonight is a repeat of last night, we're not going to my mom's because that kid will desperately need a nap. In which case I'll be forced to come up with something to make for dinner. Guess I should start formulating an idea now so I don't wind up with another "It's 5:30, what the heck are we having for dinner" crisis like on Thursday.
Now tonight, the husband is going to our friend Steve's house for a night of college football. GEAUX TIGERS!! He's leaving around 3:30 I think, so the boy and I are on our own for dinner. Fine by me, since I forgot to buy some of the main ingredients for two of the meals I had planned this week. I have yet to figure out what it is we're going to have. I have a bag of Trader Joe's gnocchi in the freezer, I may just heat up that because we both really like it, but there's not really enough in the package for three people. Wow, I'm glad I thought of that...I think that is what we'll have tonight! By the way, this is a great website for finding out info about Trader Joe's products. There's reviews of just about everything they sell. Since it's so rare I make it to a TJ's store these days, I like to look it over before I go so I can look for new things to try while I'm there.
Tomorrow night's dinner is up in the air. My parents are getting home today from two weeks at the beach in Florida (must be nice to be retired!). The husband is playing golf with my uncle tomorrow afternoon, so the boy and I may go to my parents' house while he's doing that. BUT, last night the boy wasn't asleep until 9:30 (two hours past his usual bedtime) and was awake at 5:30. Ugh. You get it now why I stared at the keyboard for two minutes and couldn't think of anything witty. Anyway, if tonight is a repeat of last night, we're not going to my mom's because that kid will desperately need a nap. In which case I'll be forced to come up with something to make for dinner. Guess I should start formulating an idea now so I don't wind up with another "It's 5:30, what the heck are we having for dinner" crisis like on Thursday.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Texas Ranch Chicken
I had a bit of a dinner crisis tonight. I went to start making dinner at 5:30 and realized I didn't have the breadcrumbs that the recipe called for. I ALWAYS have seasoned breadcrumbs on hand, but I did remember I had used the last of them making hamburgers a couple weeks ago. No big deal, I thought I had some panko crumbs I could use. Nope. No idea what happened to those. I guess I could have made my own breadcrumbs, but instead I stressed myself out by finding a new recipe to make. We still had some cheesy potatoes in the fridge, so I figured that could be our side dish. I hate dinner panics so close to when we eat...I try to have dinner on the table at 6:00 every night.
So I turned to allrecipes.com to see what I could find. I had some packets of ranch dressing in the pantry, so I thought maybe I could do something with that. I put in chicken and ranch dressing as two ingredients and searched. This is one that came up and it sounded easy enough.
Texas Ranch Chicken
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken parts
1 1/2 cups Ranch-style salad dressing
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spread the olive oil in a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. Arrange chicken in the dish, and cover with the dressing. It's best to place chicken pieces close together so that the cheese and the dressing do not burn on the bottom of the pan.
3. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from heat, top with mozzarella cheese, and return to the oven. Continue cooking for about 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and lightly browned and the chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.
*****
Instead of doing the olive oil I just sprayed the dish with cooking spray. The cooking time was more like 45 minutes, and I even started it at 375 and then bumped it up to 400. The boy had chicken nuggets because the chicken was taking so long to cook. Overall it was okay...nothing spectacular.
So I turned to allrecipes.com to see what I could find. I had some packets of ranch dressing in the pantry, so I thought maybe I could do something with that. I put in chicken and ranch dressing as two ingredients and searched. This is one that came up and it sounded easy enough.
Texas Ranch Chicken
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken parts
1 1/2 cups Ranch-style salad dressing
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spread the olive oil in a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. Arrange chicken in the dish, and cover with the dressing. It's best to place chicken pieces close together so that the cheese and the dressing do not burn on the bottom of the pan.
3. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from heat, top with mozzarella cheese, and return to the oven. Continue cooking for about 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and lightly browned and the chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.
*****
Instead of doing the olive oil I just sprayed the dish with cooking spray. The cooking time was more like 45 minutes, and I even started it at 375 and then bumped it up to 400. The boy had chicken nuggets because the chicken was taking so long to cook. Overall it was okay...nothing spectacular.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Biscuits and Vegetarian Sausage Gravy
I just realized I never posted last night's dinner. I'll have to come back and do that later because it was really yummy, and I'd hate for you to miss out on it. But of course I forgot to take a picture of it...this picture thing is harder than I thought. Plus I'm lazy about uploading pictures and it forces me to be on the ball. I guess that's not a bad thing.
Anyway, I've made this before, and I bought more veggie sausage last week at Costco, so I figured we'd have it again. Plus the biscuits were free after a coupon, so this dinner was super cheap...and lately with the insane price of groceries, I'm all about cheap dinners. I'll save my rant about grocery prices for another post.
Biscuits and Vegetarian Sausage Gravy
1 (16.3-ounce) can reduced-fat refrigerated biscuit dough
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 (14-ounce) package meatless fat-free sausage (such as Lightlife Gimme Lean)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups 1% low-fat milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Prepare biscuits according to package directions.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage; cook 3 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Crumble sausage into 1/2-inch pieces; return to pan.
Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and 1% low-fat milk, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Add milk mixture, salt, and freshly ground black pepper to pan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 3 minutes or until thick. Split the biscuits in half. Top each serving with about 1/3 cup gravy. Serve immediately.
*****
I use Morningstar sausage patties instead of what's called for in the recipe, then I just cut them up. Super easy. This dinner was really tasty. I had meant to buy hashbrowns to have with it and forgot, then I meant to scramble some eggs to go with it but forgot. So this was all we had. I did take a picture though!
Anyway, I've made this before, and I bought more veggie sausage last week at Costco, so I figured we'd have it again. Plus the biscuits were free after a coupon, so this dinner was super cheap...and lately with the insane price of groceries, I'm all about cheap dinners. I'll save my rant about grocery prices for another post.
Biscuits and Vegetarian Sausage Gravy
1 (16.3-ounce) can reduced-fat refrigerated biscuit dough
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 (14-ounce) package meatless fat-free sausage (such as Lightlife Gimme Lean)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups 1% low-fat milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Prepare biscuits according to package directions.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage; cook 3 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Crumble sausage into 1/2-inch pieces; return to pan.
Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and 1% low-fat milk, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Add milk mixture, salt, and freshly ground black pepper to pan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 3 minutes or until thick. Split the biscuits in half. Top each serving with about 1/3 cup gravy. Serve immediately.
*****
I use Morningstar sausage patties instead of what's called for in the recipe, then I just cut them up. Super easy. This dinner was really tasty. I had meant to buy hashbrowns to have with it and forgot, then I meant to scramble some eggs to go with it but forgot. So this was all we had. I did take a picture though!
Monday, October 6, 2008
Jen B's Top Secret Cheesy Potatoes
I think it's clear by now that we have a love for cheese at our house. It runs pretty deep. One of the first times I cooked for the husband I was making something with cheese in it and asked him if I should add more. He retorted that, "There's no such thing as too much cheese." Obviously our relationship was meant to be. If nothing else, we'll always have cheese.
So, a few months ago Jen B. and I along with our friend Laura went on a crazy road trip to San Diego. Why crazy you ask? Because it was us and our three two-year-old boys and Laura's baby girl who was only two or three months old. All of us in a one bedroom condo. For four days I think it was. We were all pretty ready to come home by the end of the trip. We had a good time, but we were ready for the boys to have some daddy time.
Anyway, we each took a turn making dinner while we were there, and these potatoes were part of Jen's dinner. They were AWESOME. I was so excited when she posted them on her blog. Not that she wouldn't have given me the recipe if I asked (well, I assume she would have but who knows...), but this way I don't have to remember where it is, I can just find it on her blog. God Bless cooking blogs, huh. ;)
Jen's Top Secret Cheesy Potatoes
2 cans of Campbell’s cheddar cheese soup, undiluted
5-7 medium Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, sliced into thin disks
1 cup Shredded cheese (Colby, Mild Cheddar, or Monterrey jack), divided
1 Tablespoon Paprika
1 Tablespoon Onion Powder
1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste (don’t be shy)
Cooking spray
Preheat over to 400 degrees.
Coat glass 9x13 casserole dish with cooking spray and set aside.
Peel and slice potatoes into thin disks and place in mixing bowl. Season the potato disks with ½ cup of shredded cheese, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper. Mix to combine so each piece of potato is coated with spice/cheese mixture.
Combine seasoned potato mixture with both cans of undiluted Cheddar Cheese soup. Mix until potato mixture is well coated with spices and soup.
Dump cheesy potato mixture into greased casserole dish, spread in an even layer. Sprinkle top with remaining ½ cup of shredded cheese.
Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes has elapsed, remove foil and bake and additional 20-30 minutes uncovered (top should be golden brown in spots, cheese should be melty, and potatoes should be fork tender). Total cook time should be approx. 1 hour, but can be a little longer depending on if the potatoes are done.
Let sit for approx. 5-10 minutes until potatoes are set and they are cool enough to serve.
*****
Mmmmm...don't they sound so good? Are you jealous? Don't you wish you were here with us for dinner tonight? Mmmm...I can't wait. They were ridiculously easy to put together, too, which I love. I of course added more cheese, but only becauase the bag of cheddar I had on hand didn't have quite a full cup, so I put that in with the potatoes and then topped the potatoes with a Colby Jack blend. Mmmmm. Lots of cheese!!
*****
The potatoes were yummy, but they weren't as good as when Jen made them. She and I discussed it today, and I maybe should have put in more seasonings or more cheese. I don't measure out spices, so I just eyeballed what I thought was right for the garlic and onion powder. I also maybe should have left them in a few minutes longer, just so the cheese on top could brown up a bit. The potatoes were cooked enough, the cheese on top could have just been a little more brown. This was a really easy way to do potatoes, so I'll definitely make it again but just add more seasoning and/or more cheese next time.
So, a few months ago Jen B. and I along with our friend Laura went on a crazy road trip to San Diego. Why crazy you ask? Because it was us and our three two-year-old boys and Laura's baby girl who was only two or three months old. All of us in a one bedroom condo. For four days I think it was. We were all pretty ready to come home by the end of the trip. We had a good time, but we were ready for the boys to have some daddy time.
Anyway, we each took a turn making dinner while we were there, and these potatoes were part of Jen's dinner. They were AWESOME. I was so excited when she posted them on her blog. Not that she wouldn't have given me the recipe if I asked (well, I assume she would have but who knows...), but this way I don't have to remember where it is, I can just find it on her blog. God Bless cooking blogs, huh. ;)
Jen's Top Secret Cheesy Potatoes
2 cans of Campbell’s cheddar cheese soup, undiluted
5-7 medium Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, sliced into thin disks
1 cup Shredded cheese (Colby, Mild Cheddar, or Monterrey jack), divided
1 Tablespoon Paprika
1 Tablespoon Onion Powder
1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste (don’t be shy)
Cooking spray
Preheat over to 400 degrees.
Coat glass 9x13 casserole dish with cooking spray and set aside.
Peel and slice potatoes into thin disks and place in mixing bowl. Season the potato disks with ½ cup of shredded cheese, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper. Mix to combine so each piece of potato is coated with spice/cheese mixture.
Combine seasoned potato mixture with both cans of undiluted Cheddar Cheese soup. Mix until potato mixture is well coated with spices and soup.
Dump cheesy potato mixture into greased casserole dish, spread in an even layer. Sprinkle top with remaining ½ cup of shredded cheese.
Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes has elapsed, remove foil and bake and additional 20-30 minutes uncovered (top should be golden brown in spots, cheese should be melty, and potatoes should be fork tender). Total cook time should be approx. 1 hour, but can be a little longer depending on if the potatoes are done.
Let sit for approx. 5-10 minutes until potatoes are set and they are cool enough to serve.
*****
Mmmmm...don't they sound so good? Are you jealous? Don't you wish you were here with us for dinner tonight? Mmmm...I can't wait. They were ridiculously easy to put together, too, which I love. I of course added more cheese, but only becauase the bag of cheddar I had on hand didn't have quite a full cup, so I put that in with the potatoes and then topped the potatoes with a Colby Jack blend. Mmmmm. Lots of cheese!!
*****
The potatoes were yummy, but they weren't as good as when Jen made them. She and I discussed it today, and I maybe should have put in more seasonings or more cheese. I don't measure out spices, so I just eyeballed what I thought was right for the garlic and onion powder. I also maybe should have left them in a few minutes longer, just so the cheese on top could brown up a bit. The potatoes were cooked enough, the cheese on top could have just been a little more brown. This was a really easy way to do potatoes, so I'll definitely make it again but just add more seasoning and/or more cheese next time.
Jen A/B's Sloppy Joes
Yeah, yeah...I still haven't updated the last few posts with pictures and reviews like I keep saying I'm going to. Cut my some slack...I'm eight months pregnant and needed a nap today. As soon as the husband gets home, I'm hightailing it upstairs to upload pictures and get that done!
So tonight is Jen B Night at our house. She's been copying me so much, I figured I should copy her. I figured I'd try something new in the Sloppy Joe realm and give her "from scratch" recipe a try instead of my usual Sloppy Joe recipe. While I was making a Jen B. main dish (she got the recipe from our friend Jen A., by the way, hence the name of the recipe), I figured I should make a Jen B. side dish as well, so after I post this it's going to be Jen's Cheesy Potatoes. She made them when we went to San Diego together a few months ago, and they were AWESOME.
Jen A/B's Sloppy Joes
1 lb ground beef
1 T onion, chopped
1 tsp salt
1 T vinegar or Worcestershire
2 T prepared mustard
2 T sugar or brown sugar
1 C ketchup
Onion powder to taste
Garlic powder to taste
1 Green peppers, diced (optional)
2 T water (if needed)
1/4 cup Beef or chicken broth (for extra liquid)
1-2 T Heinz 57
1-2 T Dijon Mustard to taste
6-8 hamburger buns
Brown ground beef and onions; drain. Add remaining ingredients and simmer. Serve on buns.
*****
I hope I have beef broth, but if not I'll throw in some chicken broth and hope for the best. I also don't have Heinz 57 sauce, so I'll have to come up with something creative for that substitute. Honestly I have no idea what Heinz 57 tastes like, so not sure what I'll do there.
Now, for cheesy potatoes...
*****
The sloppy joes were really yummy. The husband and I agreed we like these better than the version I usually make. I didn't end up needing to add in any extra liquid, so my lack of beef broth wasn't a big deal. I was down to the end of a bottle of ketchup, so I did add some water into that after I squeezed out all I could to get some of the ketchup off the sides of the bottle, then poured that in, but that was it for extra liquid. I put in some BBQ sauce instead of the Heinz 57, and it was yummy. Thanks Jen A/B for a great recipe!
(Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures...sorry!)
So tonight is Jen B Night at our house. She's been copying me so much, I figured I should copy her. I figured I'd try something new in the Sloppy Joe realm and give her "from scratch" recipe a try instead of my usual Sloppy Joe recipe. While I was making a Jen B. main dish (she got the recipe from our friend Jen A., by the way, hence the name of the recipe), I figured I should make a Jen B. side dish as well, so after I post this it's going to be Jen's Cheesy Potatoes. She made them when we went to San Diego together a few months ago, and they were AWESOME.
Jen A/B's Sloppy Joes
1 lb ground beef
1 T onion, chopped
1 tsp salt
1 T vinegar or Worcestershire
2 T prepared mustard
2 T sugar or brown sugar
1 C ketchup
Onion powder to taste
Garlic powder to taste
1 Green peppers, diced (optional)
2 T water (if needed)
1/4 cup Beef or chicken broth (for extra liquid)
1-2 T Heinz 57
1-2 T Dijon Mustard to taste
6-8 hamburger buns
Brown ground beef and onions; drain. Add remaining ingredients and simmer. Serve on buns.
*****
I hope I have beef broth, but if not I'll throw in some chicken broth and hope for the best. I also don't have Heinz 57 sauce, so I'll have to come up with something creative for that substitute. Honestly I have no idea what Heinz 57 tastes like, so not sure what I'll do there.
Now, for cheesy potatoes...
*****
The sloppy joes were really yummy. The husband and I agreed we like these better than the version I usually make. I didn't end up needing to add in any extra liquid, so my lack of beef broth wasn't a big deal. I was down to the end of a bottle of ketchup, so I did add some water into that after I squeezed out all I could to get some of the ketchup off the sides of the bottle, then poured that in, but that was it for extra liquid. I put in some BBQ sauce instead of the Heinz 57, and it was yummy. Thanks Jen A/B for a great recipe!
(Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures...sorry!)
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Vegetable Calzones
Have you guys missed me? Wondered what happened to me? Did I drop off the face of the earth? Go into labor early? Nope...just haven't had to cook dinner for the past four nights. I have to say it's been awesome. I don't remember what happened Wednesday night that I didn't cook. The husband brought home some frozen pizzas from Whole Foods that were quite tasty. Thursday he had a big celebration at work and ate a bunch of food around 2:00 and wasn't hungry, so the boy and I had mac and cheese and hot dogs. Friday night we went to an Oktoberfest. One of our friends' companies was the main sponsor, so he hooked us up with wristbands for free food and drinks, so the boy and I took the husband and stayed to have free dinner, then we came home while the husband imbibed on free beer. Last night we went to my aunt and uncles, and my uncle grilled up some amazing steaks. Oh man, were they good.
So, now that you're all caught up on our goings-on for the past few nights, on to tonight's dinner. This was originally slated for Friday night. Since I had all the veggies for it, I figured I should make it tonight while they were still in good condition. This was from one of my many Weight Watchers cookbooks. Not that I'm doing WW right now, but it has good recipes in it, and I hadn't used it in awhile. There's no notes on it, so I don't think this is something I've ever made before.
Vegetable Calzones
3/4 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 packet active dry yeast
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 cup shredded mozzarella
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
2 plum tomatoes, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
3 scallions, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
1/4 tsp black pepper
Combine the water and sugar in a small bowl. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
Combine the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, and salt in a food processor. With the machine running, scrape the yeast mixture and the egg through the feed tube; pulse until the dough forms a smooth ball, about 1 minute.
Spray a large bowl with nonstick spray; put the dough in the bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free place until it doubles in size, about 1 hour.
Meanwhile, combine the mozzarella, ricotta, tomatoes, bell pepper, scallions, basil, and pepper in a medium bowl.
Preheat the oven to 400. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray; set aside.
Punch down the dough. Sprinkle a work surface lightly with flour. Turn the dough onto the surface and cut into 6 pieces. Knead each piece lightly, then with a lightly floured rolling pin, roll each into a 6-inch circle. Mound one-sixth of the cheese mixture on half of each circle, then brush the edges lightly with water. Fold the dough over the filling; crimp the edges to seal. Transfer the calzones to the baking sheet; make three 1-inch slashes on top of each with a sharp knife. Bake until golden 20-23 minutes.
*****
They're in the oven now and almost done. I'm excited to try them. I'll tell you everything I did when I write the review (I know, I know...I still haven't done those for the last two dinenrs I made).
*****
The calzones were good, but they could have used some more fillings. Maybe less ricotta and more mozzarella? I think next time I'd add more veggies, too. Mushrooms, black olives. Also the dough needed a little something, but I don't know what. I'm not much of a yeast user, so I really don't know how much tampering you can do with a yeast dough. I think maybe a little more salt or some Italian seasoning would have helped. Also, I only had enough filling for five calzones, not the six called for in the recipe. I don't know if I overstuffed or what, but it worked out. I had some of the leftovers for lunch today, and it reheated decently. Definitely better the first time, but not bad. I'd make these again, just tweak them a little so there was more flavor.
So, now that you're all caught up on our goings-on for the past few nights, on to tonight's dinner. This was originally slated for Friday night. Since I had all the veggies for it, I figured I should make it tonight while they were still in good condition. This was from one of my many Weight Watchers cookbooks. Not that I'm doing WW right now, but it has good recipes in it, and I hadn't used it in awhile. There's no notes on it, so I don't think this is something I've ever made before.
Vegetable Calzones
3/4 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 packet active dry yeast
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 cup shredded mozzarella
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
2 plum tomatoes, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
3 scallions, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
1/4 tsp black pepper
Combine the water and sugar in a small bowl. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
Combine the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, and salt in a food processor. With the machine running, scrape the yeast mixture and the egg through the feed tube; pulse until the dough forms a smooth ball, about 1 minute.
Spray a large bowl with nonstick spray; put the dough in the bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free place until it doubles in size, about 1 hour.
Meanwhile, combine the mozzarella, ricotta, tomatoes, bell pepper, scallions, basil, and pepper in a medium bowl.
Preheat the oven to 400. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray; set aside.
Punch down the dough. Sprinkle a work surface lightly with flour. Turn the dough onto the surface and cut into 6 pieces. Knead each piece lightly, then with a lightly floured rolling pin, roll each into a 6-inch circle. Mound one-sixth of the cheese mixture on half of each circle, then brush the edges lightly with water. Fold the dough over the filling; crimp the edges to seal. Transfer the calzones to the baking sheet; make three 1-inch slashes on top of each with a sharp knife. Bake until golden 20-23 minutes.
*****
They're in the oven now and almost done. I'm excited to try them. I'll tell you everything I did when I write the review (I know, I know...I still haven't done those for the last two dinenrs I made).
*****
The calzones were good, but they could have used some more fillings. Maybe less ricotta and more mozzarella? I think next time I'd add more veggies, too. Mushrooms, black olives. Also the dough needed a little something, but I don't know what. I'm not much of a yeast user, so I really don't know how much tampering you can do with a yeast dough. I think maybe a little more salt or some Italian seasoning would have helped. Also, I only had enough filling for five calzones, not the six called for in the recipe. I don't know if I overstuffed or what, but it worked out. I had some of the leftovers for lunch today, and it reheated decently. Definitely better the first time, but not bad. I'd make these again, just tweak them a little so there was more flavor.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Stuffed Shells
I need to go back and edit last night's post about the Shepherd's Pie so you can all stop waiting in suspense as to how it worked out and all that. I even took pictures!! I'm going to start being like Jen B. and combining the review post with the recipe post so it's all in one place. Then you don't have to scour everywhere to find out whether or not something was good. And when I remember (or more likely, when my camera is downstairs) I'll take a pic of the finished product. Don't worry, I already cleared it with her that I can copy her new format.
So tonight we're having Stuffed Shells. I heart them. Who doesn't heart a cheesy, saucy, pasta dish? According to the ol' blog here, the last time I made this was last October. Yikes. We used to have this pretty often, I'm surprised it had been that long. I got a hankering for it a few days ago and threw it on the menu plan for the week because when a pregnant lady gets a hankering, she goes with it. I was too lazy to find the actual recipe, so I looked it up on here and remembered I did some serious tweaking with it last time due to lack of an ingredient. My review said that I liked it better, so as to not be made a liar on my own blog, I went with the changes I made last time. If you want to see the original recipe, follow this link to see what it was.
Stuffed Shells
20 jumbo pasta shells, cooked and cooled
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
2/3 cup reduced fat sour cream
4-5 ounces reduced fat cream cheese
1 tsp salt
2 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Preheat oven to 375. Mix together ricotta, sour cream, cream cheese, salt, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning. Spread a few spoonfuls of tomato sauce on bottom of a 8x8 pan. Fill each shell with cheese mixture and place in baking dish. When all shells are in dish, pour remaining tomato sauce over shells. Top with mozzarella. Bake for approximately 20 minutes.
*****
Now, on both the original recipe and my last post about it, I noted that the cooking time wasn't long enough. It calls for the pan to be covered, but I left it uncovered this time to see if that helped. It's coming up on 20 minutes, so we'll see how it's doing. Oh, and the original recipe didn't call for mozzarella, but I just think a pasta dish like this NEEDS cheese on top!!
Oh, and stuffing shells is a messy business (or at least it is for me), so I keep a paper towel nearby to wipe off my hands as I'm going. Otherwise cheese mixture gets everywhere.
*****
Mmmm...stuffed shells. I honestly have no idea why we haven't had this in so long because we all love it. I think there were only three or four shells left when all was said and done. This is definitely something I'm going to bring back into rotation more often. It's fairly easy (although a bit messy) to put together, but it's so easy. Leaving the pan uncovered totally worked. I don't think I had to add on any extra time.
I forgot to take a picture before we dished up, but this just goes to show how much we liked it.
So tonight we're having Stuffed Shells. I heart them. Who doesn't heart a cheesy, saucy, pasta dish? According to the ol' blog here, the last time I made this was last October. Yikes. We used to have this pretty often, I'm surprised it had been that long. I got a hankering for it a few days ago and threw it on the menu plan for the week because when a pregnant lady gets a hankering, she goes with it. I was too lazy to find the actual recipe, so I looked it up on here and remembered I did some serious tweaking with it last time due to lack of an ingredient. My review said that I liked it better, so as to not be made a liar on my own blog, I went with the changes I made last time. If you want to see the original recipe, follow this link to see what it was.
Stuffed Shells
20 jumbo pasta shells, cooked and cooled
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
2/3 cup reduced fat sour cream
4-5 ounces reduced fat cream cheese
1 tsp salt
2 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Preheat oven to 375. Mix together ricotta, sour cream, cream cheese, salt, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning. Spread a few spoonfuls of tomato sauce on bottom of a 8x8 pan. Fill each shell with cheese mixture and place in baking dish. When all shells are in dish, pour remaining tomato sauce over shells. Top with mozzarella. Bake for approximately 20 minutes.
*****
Now, on both the original recipe and my last post about it, I noted that the cooking time wasn't long enough. It calls for the pan to be covered, but I left it uncovered this time to see if that helped. It's coming up on 20 minutes, so we'll see how it's doing. Oh, and the original recipe didn't call for mozzarella, but I just think a pasta dish like this NEEDS cheese on top!!
Oh, and stuffing shells is a messy business (or at least it is for me), so I keep a paper towel nearby to wipe off my hands as I'm going. Otherwise cheese mixture gets everywhere.
*****
Mmmm...stuffed shells. I honestly have no idea why we haven't had this in so long because we all love it. I think there were only three or four shells left when all was said and done. This is definitely something I'm going to bring back into rotation more often. It's fairly easy (although a bit messy) to put together, but it's so easy. Leaving the pan uncovered totally worked. I don't think I had to add on any extra time.
I forgot to take a picture before we dished up, but this just goes to show how much we liked it.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Shepherd's Pie
Finally...we have food in our house again!! I was waiting for the husband's pay day to get here to go grocery shopping (I'm sure you other SAHMs know how that goes...), so finally we can eat decently again. Last night the husband ended up bringing home two frozen pizzas because I'd had a horrible, horrible day dealing with an unruly toddler and didn't dare take him out in public to go buy cheddar cheese to make Shepherd's Pie last night. Did that sentence make any sense? I'm not sure. He said I could run out and get some once he got home, but I thought I might not ever return if I did that. Seriously...that was the day I'd had.
On a somewhat random side note, I was pretty pleased with my grocery shopping today. I spent $65 and saved $63--and that included buying two whole chickens and two packages of chicken drumsticks. My friend Jen A. has a great blog on saving money at the grocery store with coupons, niftythriftythriving.blogspot.com. She gets amazing savings grocery shopping and doing the whole CVS Extra Care Bucks deal. I'm in awe of how much she saves.
Back to my dinner...kind of. I'll be posting the recipe later because I'm kind of making it up as I go. I'm loosely basing this on a Paula Deen recipe for Shepherd's Pie I saw on her show one time. Loosely in the sense that I'm using leftover pot roast for the meat, and I think the similarities end there. Other than that I'm doing it pretty much how I normally do my Shepherd's Pie...meat, gravy, and vegetables mixed together, topped with mashed potatoes and then some cheese on top. Normally I do everything on the stove top and then put it together in some kind of casserole and stick that under the broiler to melt the cheese. There's still some gravy/sauce left from the pot roast, so I'll see how much of that there is and if necessary make some brown gravy to supplement if I need to.
*****
Okay, at long last, here's the recipe I ended up using for Shepherd's Pie.
Shepherd's Pie v2.0
1 to 1.5 lbs leftover cooked pot roast
1 bag frozen mixed vegetables
1 package brown gravy, prepared
Mashed potatoes (probably 3-4 russet potatoes, cooked and mashed)
1 cup cheddar cheese
Cut leftover pot roast into chunks. Place in skillet to heat up. Once meat is heated, add bag of vegetables to pan. Once vegetables are cooked, stir in prepared gravy mix. When this is all heated through, transfer to an 8x8 baking dish. Spread mashed potatoes on top of meat/veggie/gravy mixture. Top with cheddar cheese. Place under broiler until cheese is melted.
*****
Totally easy, huh. I made the equivalent of two packages of gravy when I made this, but one would have been plenty. I have to say, I like this version a lot better than when I make it with hamburger. They're both good, but this will definitely become my leftover pot roast go-to meal. I used instant potatoes (because I got them on sale for ridiculously cheap and needed to save the real potatoes I had for something else later in the week), and I remembered why I don't like instant potatoes. They just taste funny to me, and they're way too salty. Real mashed potatoes are so easy to make, I don't know why they even sell instant potatoes. This is definitely something I will make again!!
Wanna see what it looked like? I really need better lighting in my kitchen.
On a somewhat random side note, I was pretty pleased with my grocery shopping today. I spent $65 and saved $63--and that included buying two whole chickens and two packages of chicken drumsticks. My friend Jen A. has a great blog on saving money at the grocery store with coupons, niftythriftythriving.blogspot.com. She gets amazing savings grocery shopping and doing the whole CVS Extra Care Bucks deal. I'm in awe of how much she saves.
Back to my dinner...kind of. I'll be posting the recipe later because I'm kind of making it up as I go. I'm loosely basing this on a Paula Deen recipe for Shepherd's Pie I saw on her show one time. Loosely in the sense that I'm using leftover pot roast for the meat, and I think the similarities end there. Other than that I'm doing it pretty much how I normally do my Shepherd's Pie...meat, gravy, and vegetables mixed together, topped with mashed potatoes and then some cheese on top. Normally I do everything on the stove top and then put it together in some kind of casserole and stick that under the broiler to melt the cheese. There's still some gravy/sauce left from the pot roast, so I'll see how much of that there is and if necessary make some brown gravy to supplement if I need to.
*****
Okay, at long last, here's the recipe I ended up using for Shepherd's Pie.
Shepherd's Pie v2.0
1 to 1.5 lbs leftover cooked pot roast
1 bag frozen mixed vegetables
1 package brown gravy, prepared
Mashed potatoes (probably 3-4 russet potatoes, cooked and mashed)
1 cup cheddar cheese
Cut leftover pot roast into chunks. Place in skillet to heat up. Once meat is heated, add bag of vegetables to pan. Once vegetables are cooked, stir in prepared gravy mix. When this is all heated through, transfer to an 8x8 baking dish. Spread mashed potatoes on top of meat/veggie/gravy mixture. Top with cheddar cheese. Place under broiler until cheese is melted.
*****
Totally easy, huh. I made the equivalent of two packages of gravy when I made this, but one would have been plenty. I have to say, I like this version a lot better than when I make it with hamburger. They're both good, but this will definitely become my leftover pot roast go-to meal. I used instant potatoes (because I got them on sale for ridiculously cheap and needed to save the real potatoes I had for something else later in the week), and I remembered why I don't like instant potatoes. They just taste funny to me, and they're way too salty. Real mashed potatoes are so easy to make, I don't know why they even sell instant potatoes. This is definitely something I will make again!!
Wanna see what it looked like? I really need better lighting in my kitchen.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Dinner Struggles
I have no idea what to make for dinner tonight or over the course of the coming week for that matter. I was going to make shepherd's pie tonight with my leftover pot roast, but I don't have any cheese, and I'm the kind of girl that likes cheese on her shepherd's pie. I had sloppy joe's on my menu for one night or figured I could just make burgers, but both of those require hamburger buns, and I have none. Darn. I'm ridiculously low on groceries, but I'm trying to hold off going to the store until Tuesday (i.e. pay day).
So, if you have any ideas or something you'd like to see me make over the coming week, leave me a comment. I'm open to suggestions. If it sounds good and isn't ridiculously expensive to make, I just might give it a shot. I'm still a bit under the weather, too, which makes it difficult to come up with dinner ideas since few things sound all that good to me.
It's almost 4:00 so I'd better come up with something for tonight soon.
So, if you have any ideas or something you'd like to see me make over the coming week, leave me a comment. I'm open to suggestions. If it sounds good and isn't ridiculously expensive to make, I just might give it a shot. I'm still a bit under the weather, too, which makes it difficult to come up with dinner ideas since few things sound all that good to me.
It's almost 4:00 so I'd better come up with something for tonight soon.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Three Cheese Pasta Skillet
My goal this week had been to use up stuff we had on hand. I found a container of french fried onions in my pantry and remembered this recipe. I used to make it all the time, but I think it's been years since we've had it. I used to get recipes emailed to me from the Campbell's Soup website, and this was one of them. It sounds really yummy to me which is good since not much does. And it's easy to throw together.
Three-Cheese Pasta Skillet
3 cups uncooked corkscrew pasta
1 can Campbell's® Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 cup water
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1 cup shredded two-cheese blend
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 can (2.8 oz.) French's® French Fried Onions
Directions:
COOK pasta according to pkg. directions. Drain.
MIX soup, water, pepper, cheeses and 2/3 cup onions in skillet. Heat to a boil.
ADD pasta and top with remaining onions. Cover and cook over low heat 2 min. or until hot.
*****
I like to add some cooked, diced chicken to it as well. I usually cook the chicken first, then do the sauce once the chicken is done. I don't think I have quite enough corkscrew pasta, but I have some partial bags of other pastas I'm going to use. Mix things up a bit and all.
Three-Cheese Pasta Skillet
3 cups uncooked corkscrew pasta
1 can Campbell's® Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 cup water
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1 cup shredded two-cheese blend
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 can (2.8 oz.) French's® French Fried Onions
Directions:
COOK pasta according to pkg. directions. Drain.
MIX soup, water, pepper, cheeses and 2/3 cup onions in skillet. Heat to a boil.
ADD pasta and top with remaining onions. Cover and cook over low heat 2 min. or until hot.
*****
I like to add some cooked, diced chicken to it as well. I usually cook the chicken first, then do the sauce once the chicken is done. I don't think I have quite enough corkscrew pasta, but I have some partial bags of other pastas I'm going to use. Mix things up a bit and all.
Pot Roast
I've been MIA for a few days but with good reason--I've been laid up in bed with a nasty cold. I don't know if it's the same one the husband had last week, but it's no fun. I started feeling sick on Wednesday afternoon, yesterday my saint of a mom came and took the boy for the day and kept him overnight. It was so nice to spend the whole day and most of today just laying in bed. I heart my bed so much.
Anyway, before I started feeling under the weather I had put a pot roast in the crockpot on Wednesday morning, which worked out great since the cold had totally hit me by dinner time. I found a roast in the freezer that needed to be used, and I love a good pot roast.
Claire's Crockpot Pot Roast
2-3 lb. chuck roast (I think that's the cut I was using)
3-4 potatoes, peeled and in chunks
4-5 carrots, peeled and in chunks
1 envelope onion soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Place peeled and chunked potatoes and carrots in the bottom of crockpot. Place roast on top. Sprinkle onion soup over roast and vegetables. Pour can of soup over roast and vegetables. Cook on low 7-8 hours.
*****
My roast was still a little frozen when I put it in the crockpot, and I think I had it in there for 8-9 hours. I have to say I think it was one of the best pot roasts I've made. Not sure if it's because the meat was still a little frozen or what, but it was really tasty. To check doneness, I usually stick a meat thermometer in the roast to make sure it's done and check to make sure the potatoes are cooked all the way too. There are few things grosser than half-cooked potatoes. Okay, there are probably a lot of things grosser, but they're definitely not good.
Anyway, before I started feeling under the weather I had put a pot roast in the crockpot on Wednesday morning, which worked out great since the cold had totally hit me by dinner time. I found a roast in the freezer that needed to be used, and I love a good pot roast.
Claire's Crockpot Pot Roast
2-3 lb. chuck roast (I think that's the cut I was using)
3-4 potatoes, peeled and in chunks
4-5 carrots, peeled and in chunks
1 envelope onion soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Place peeled and chunked potatoes and carrots in the bottom of crockpot. Place roast on top. Sprinkle onion soup over roast and vegetables. Pour can of soup over roast and vegetables. Cook on low 7-8 hours.
*****
My roast was still a little frozen when I put it in the crockpot, and I think I had it in there for 8-9 hours. I have to say I think it was one of the best pot roasts I've made. Not sure if it's because the meat was still a little frozen or what, but it was really tasty. To check doneness, I usually stick a meat thermometer in the roast to make sure it's done and check to make sure the potatoes are cooked all the way too. There are few things grosser than half-cooked potatoes. Okay, there are probably a lot of things grosser, but they're definitely not good.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Pork Chops with Country Gravy and Mashed Potatoes
Don't you love when you come across or remember a cookbook or cooking magazine that you used to turn to all the time but it got lost in the shuffle of all your cookbooks and you haven't seen it in months, if not years? Holy run on sentence there Claire! Anyway, I have this Cooking Light "Simple Suppers" magazine that I used to use all the time and had kind of forgotten about it. It was my first foray (sp?) into Cooking Light. The date on it says "Display until December 31, 2003." Yup, 2003. I think I probably got it in October or November of that year. I flipped through it looking for a pork recipe to make tonight. I forgot how many awesome sounding recipes were in it--some of which I've made and totally forgotten about. I'm so excited to have come across this again!!
But, the dinner I'm making tonight isn't from said magazine. Sorry. It's my blog, I can tangent when I want. I don't know how it popped in my head this afternoon, but I wasn't overly excited about what I had planned for dinner and thought I'd look through that to find something. I didn't find anything that I already had everything for, so I'm sticking with my plan. But, I think next week there will be a few dinners from this magazine gracing our table!!
I went back through my blog entries to find the below recipe, and I haven't made it since January. JANUARY!!! I was shocked it had been that long. It's possible I've made it since then but not likely since I'm usually good about updating my blog, even when I miss a day or two or five. It's a super yummy and easy way to make pork chops. And I heart gravy so anything with some kind of "country gravy" is okay in my book. I accidentally typed grave instead of gravy...I hope that doesn't mean anything.
Man, I'm rambling a lot today. I even had a lot of adult interaction this morning! You'd think I'd be this verbose (Ha! Take that pregnancy brain...a big word!) on a day I'd been cooped up alone with my two year old son, even though he is an excellent conversationalist. Okay, on to the recipe. I'm feeling loopy.
Pork Chops with Country Gravy and Mashed Potatoes
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
4 (4-ounce) boneless center-cut loin pork chops (about 1 inch thick)
1 teaspoon butter
1 1/3 cups 1% low-fat milk
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 (20-ounce) package refrigerated mashed potatoes (such as Simply Potatoes)
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon salt evenly over both sides of pork. Add 1 teaspoon butter to pan, stirring until butter is melted. Add the pork to pan, and cook pork for 3 minutes on each side. Remove pork from pan, and keep warm.
Combine low-fat milk and flour, stirring with a whisk. Add the milk mixture to pan, stirring with a whisk. Stir in remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, poultry seasoning, and black pepper. Return pork to pan. Cover; reduce heat, and simmer for 7 minutes or until gravy is thick and pork is done.
While pork cooks, prepare potatoes according to package directions. Serve with pork.
*****
So I make real mashed potatoes instead of the refrigerated ones. I'm cheap, what can I say. A bag of potatoes is cheaper--or maybe the same price but it's five pounds of potatoes vs. slightly more than one pound. I don't know, I've never compared the prices, I just assume it's cheaper to make my own. Plus I like mashing potatoes. I heart them more than gravy, so this way I can make as many as I want.
Oh, and I'm usually bad when I make these. I trim all the fat off the pork chops, but then I throw the pieces of fat into the skillet to get all the yummy goodness from it for the gravy. But we don't eat it, so that makes it healthy, right? I think so.
Okay...I've got to wrap this up before I start typing out my life story or ramble on about some other nonsensical point.
But, the dinner I'm making tonight isn't from said magazine. Sorry. It's my blog, I can tangent when I want. I don't know how it popped in my head this afternoon, but I wasn't overly excited about what I had planned for dinner and thought I'd look through that to find something. I didn't find anything that I already had everything for, so I'm sticking with my plan. But, I think next week there will be a few dinners from this magazine gracing our table!!
I went back through my blog entries to find the below recipe, and I haven't made it since January. JANUARY!!! I was shocked it had been that long. It's possible I've made it since then but not likely since I'm usually good about updating my blog, even when I miss a day or two or five. It's a super yummy and easy way to make pork chops. And I heart gravy so anything with some kind of "country gravy" is okay in my book. I accidentally typed grave instead of gravy...I hope that doesn't mean anything.
Man, I'm rambling a lot today. I even had a lot of adult interaction this morning! You'd think I'd be this verbose (Ha! Take that pregnancy brain...a big word!) on a day I'd been cooped up alone with my two year old son, even though he is an excellent conversationalist. Okay, on to the recipe. I'm feeling loopy.
Pork Chops with Country Gravy and Mashed Potatoes
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
4 (4-ounce) boneless center-cut loin pork chops (about 1 inch thick)
1 teaspoon butter
1 1/3 cups 1% low-fat milk
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 (20-ounce) package refrigerated mashed potatoes (such as Simply Potatoes)
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon salt evenly over both sides of pork. Add 1 teaspoon butter to pan, stirring until butter is melted. Add the pork to pan, and cook pork for 3 minutes on each side. Remove pork from pan, and keep warm.
Combine low-fat milk and flour, stirring with a whisk. Add the milk mixture to pan, stirring with a whisk. Stir in remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, poultry seasoning, and black pepper. Return pork to pan. Cover; reduce heat, and simmer for 7 minutes or until gravy is thick and pork is done.
While pork cooks, prepare potatoes according to package directions. Serve with pork.
*****
So I make real mashed potatoes instead of the refrigerated ones. I'm cheap, what can I say. A bag of potatoes is cheaper--or maybe the same price but it's five pounds of potatoes vs. slightly more than one pound. I don't know, I've never compared the prices, I just assume it's cheaper to make my own. Plus I like mashing potatoes. I heart them more than gravy, so this way I can make as many as I want.
Oh, and I'm usually bad when I make these. I trim all the fat off the pork chops, but then I throw the pieces of fat into the skillet to get all the yummy goodness from it for the gravy. But we don't eat it, so that makes it healthy, right? I think so.
Okay...I've got to wrap this up before I start typing out my life story or ramble on about some other nonsensical point.
Review
Well, once it was FINALLY done cooking, the french toast casserole was yummy. But it took FOR-EV-ER. I called my mom to see if she had ever made it, and she didn't think she had. She did, however, notice on the next page (who knew the recipe went over on to the next page?!) it said something about total time being 12 hours. So I wonder if I didn't let it sit long enough. I told the husband I'll make it again but have it sit overnight for longer and see if that helps. I put it in for 20 minutes. The edges looked done, I poked a fork in the middle, and a bunch of egg oozed out. Not cooked whatsoever. So I put it in for another 10 minutes. Still the same way. I bumped up the temperature to 375, set the timer for 10 minutes, still wet eggy in the middle. I may have let it go longer at 375, I don't remember now, but I finally turned the oven temp up to 400 and did it for 10 minutes and then it was FINALLY done. It maybe could have gone a little longer, but it was fine, and the eggs weren't oozing anymore at that point. I think sum total it took probably close to 50 minutes to cook. I'm wondering if it had sat longer, letting the bread soak up all the custardy goodness, if the baking time in the recipe would have been right. Still didn't seem like a lot of time to me. There was a similar recipe in the same cookbook that called for a baking time of 45-50 minutes. Needless to say, we were STARVING by the time it was ready. The boy ended up eating dinner way before us because I had no idea how long it was going to take to cook.
So, all in all, I'd be willing to make it again but I'd have it sit overnight so there was more time to soak up all the custard. Then I'd see what I thought.
So, all in all, I'd be willing to make it again but I'd have it sit overnight so there was more time to soak up all the custard. Then I'd see what I thought.
Monday, September 22, 2008
French Toast Souffle
I figured I'd update my blog as I'm waiting for dinner to finish cooking. Sigh. More on that later. I spent pretty much all day cleaning my house because my awesome mom took the boy for the day. Of course, I didn't get nearly as much done as I had hoped since I kept getting out of breath. Darn pregnancy and being out of shape. Oh well, at least the upstairs of my house is something like 80% awesomely clean.
I've been wanting to have brinner (breakfast for dinner) for quite awhile now, and I found this recipe in a cookbook my mom gave me from a women's club she belonged to when they lived in El Paso. It sounded soooooo good. It's an overnight French toast recipe, but I figured making it in the morning and letting it sit all day would be comparable. I figured wrong. Again, more on that later.
French Toast Souffle
4 ounces butter (that's one stick)
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup maple syrup
12 eggs
3 cups half and half
2 tsp vanilla
1 (9x13) pan of bread/rolls/croissants/etc. torn into pieces
Cinnamon to taste
Melt butter, cream cheese, and syrup in microwave. Whip eggs, half and half, and vanilla together. Tear bread, rolls, croissants, etc. into a 9x13 buttered baking dish, fairly well packed. Pour egg mixture over bread. Pour butter/cream cheese/syrup mixture over. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake in 350-degree oven for 15-20 minutes uncovered. Makes 10 servings.
*****
Doesn't that sound yummy? I made a few modifications in an effort to make it more healthy. I did half eggs and half egg beaters. I also used two cups of half and half (fat free) and one cup of skim milk. Other than that, everything was as called for.
(Note: I'm no longer waiting for it to finish cooking...it's the next day and I was lazy last night and never finished posting this.)
I've been wanting to have brinner (breakfast for dinner) for quite awhile now, and I found this recipe in a cookbook my mom gave me from a women's club she belonged to when they lived in El Paso. It sounded soooooo good. It's an overnight French toast recipe, but I figured making it in the morning and letting it sit all day would be comparable. I figured wrong. Again, more on that later.
French Toast Souffle
4 ounces butter (that's one stick)
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup maple syrup
12 eggs
3 cups half and half
2 tsp vanilla
1 (9x13) pan of bread/rolls/croissants/etc. torn into pieces
Cinnamon to taste
Melt butter, cream cheese, and syrup in microwave. Whip eggs, half and half, and vanilla together. Tear bread, rolls, croissants, etc. into a 9x13 buttered baking dish, fairly well packed. Pour egg mixture over bread. Pour butter/cream cheese/syrup mixture over. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake in 350-degree oven for 15-20 minutes uncovered. Makes 10 servings.
*****
Doesn't that sound yummy? I made a few modifications in an effort to make it more healthy. I did half eggs and half egg beaters. I also used two cups of half and half (fat free) and one cup of skim milk. Other than that, everything was as called for.
(Note: I'm no longer waiting for it to finish cooking...it's the next day and I was lazy last night and never finished posting this.)
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Review
The crockpot ranch chicken was really good!! My chicken was fine after two hours on high instead of the four hours on low that was in the recipe. The sauce was REALLY tasty, too. My chicken breasts were, of course, on the dry side, but the sauce helped. Am I the only person that ALWAYS has chicken breasts come out dry when cooked in the crockpot? Please tell me I'm not...maybe there's a support group I could join.
I had wanted to have rice as a side dish, but I had three bags of different kinds of rice (white, brown, and brown basmati) which each had maybe 1/4 cup of rice in them, so I scrapped that idea since they'd all have different cooking times. Note to self, add rice to grocery list. I had half a box of bowtie pasta, so I made that instead. It worked, but I think the sauce would have been better on rice than the pasta.
This is definitely something I would--and will--make again. Thanks, Jen A., for a great recipe!!
I'll be back on Monday...I get the rest of the weekend off! Tonight we're heading to my aunt and uncle's for dinner, tomorrow night the husband and I have a wedding to attend.
I had wanted to have rice as a side dish, but I had three bags of different kinds of rice (white, brown, and brown basmati) which each had maybe 1/4 cup of rice in them, so I scrapped that idea since they'd all have different cooking times. Note to self, add rice to grocery list. I had half a box of bowtie pasta, so I made that instead. It worked, but I think the sauce would have been better on rice than the pasta.
This is definitely something I would--and will--make again. Thanks, Jen A., for a great recipe!!
I'll be back on Monday...I get the rest of the weekend off! Tonight we're heading to my aunt and uncle's for dinner, tomorrow night the husband and I have a wedding to attend.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Jen's Crockpot Creamy Ranch Chicken
Tonight's dinner is brought to you courtesy of my friend Jen A. I don't know if that's really the right way to word it...she sent me the recipe after they had it for dinner recently. I thought it sounded really good, and I didn't need to buy that many ingredients for it.
My dinner schedule got all wonky this week, and I almost missed out on making this because I got sucked in to Facebook this afternoon. I should back up. My friend Jen B. and I both got haircuts today. The boy and I went over to her house this morning, and I stayed with our crazy bobo boys while she went and got her hair cut, then she came and stayed with them while I went. Beautiful system really. By the time the boy and I got home it was after 1:00 (naptime), but he insisted he was still hungry, despite feasting on hot dog, mandarin oranges, and tortilla chips at Jen's. So I got him some more to eat, put him down for his nap, then played on Facebook. Really it wasn't that long--I swear!! I was also uploading pictures to the Walgreens website to get printed, so I needed something to do while I was waiting for that process. See? I can just about always justify my Facebook obsession. ;) Anyway, I remembered around 2:20 (done with Facebook at that point, getting ready to watch 90210 from this past Tuesday--while I worked on getting stuff ready to shred...see, I'm ALWAYS productive. Always.) that dinner was supposed to be via crockpot tonight and kind of panicked since I remembered reading it was an almost six hour recipe. Thankfully that was on low, so I just bumped the heat up to high. But now I'm getting ahead of myself.
Jen's Crockpot Creamy Ranch Chicken
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 Tbs butter, melted
1 can cream of chicken soup
8 oz cream cheese, cubed
1/2 c chicken broth
1 (1oz)packet ranch dressing mix
1/4 tsp minced garlic
1 dash paprika
1/8 tsp dry oregano
1/4 tsp dry parsley flakes
Wash and dry chicken breasts and place them evenly in crock pot. Sprinkle with paprika. Sprinkle ranch salad dressing mix over chicken. Drizzle chicken breasts with 1 tablespoons melted butter. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours.
Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter with minced garlic and saute slightly. Add cream of chicken soup,cream cheese cubes, 1/2 c chicken broth, dried oregano and dried Parsley flakes. Stir on med til smooth. Add mixture to crock pot, cover again and continue to cook on low for 1 1/2-2 hours.
*****
When I took the lid off to add in the sauce, the chicken smelled really yummy. I was wishing I had a whisk clean to mix up the sauce, but both of mine were in the dishwasher. I also eyeballed the chicken broth because both of my liquid measuring cups were in the dishwasher as well. Can you tell I need to run my dishwasher?
I hope it turns out. I have trouble with chicken in the crockpot...it always comes out dry. My fingers are crossed either it doesn't this time or the sauce helps it seem more moist. Jen said it was good with egg noodles, but I'm going to make rice instead. I also need to check what frozen veggies are in my freezer to have along with it.
Oh, and like I said, I did the first step for two hours on high instead of four on low. I bumped it down to low when I added the sauce, but I figured I'd check the chicken after an hour to see how cooked it was, in case I needed to move it back up to high.
My dinner schedule got all wonky this week, and I almost missed out on making this because I got sucked in to Facebook this afternoon. I should back up. My friend Jen B. and I both got haircuts today. The boy and I went over to her house this morning, and I stayed with our crazy bobo boys while she went and got her hair cut, then she came and stayed with them while I went. Beautiful system really. By the time the boy and I got home it was after 1:00 (naptime), but he insisted he was still hungry, despite feasting on hot dog, mandarin oranges, and tortilla chips at Jen's. So I got him some more to eat, put him down for his nap, then played on Facebook. Really it wasn't that long--I swear!! I was also uploading pictures to the Walgreens website to get printed, so I needed something to do while I was waiting for that process. See? I can just about always justify my Facebook obsession. ;) Anyway, I remembered around 2:20 (done with Facebook at that point, getting ready to watch 90210 from this past Tuesday--while I worked on getting stuff ready to shred...see, I'm ALWAYS productive. Always.) that dinner was supposed to be via crockpot tonight and kind of panicked since I remembered reading it was an almost six hour recipe. Thankfully that was on low, so I just bumped the heat up to high. But now I'm getting ahead of myself.
Jen's Crockpot Creamy Ranch Chicken
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 Tbs butter, melted
1 can cream of chicken soup
8 oz cream cheese, cubed
1/2 c chicken broth
1 (1oz)packet ranch dressing mix
1/4 tsp minced garlic
1 dash paprika
1/8 tsp dry oregano
1/4 tsp dry parsley flakes
Wash and dry chicken breasts and place them evenly in crock pot. Sprinkle with paprika. Sprinkle ranch salad dressing mix over chicken. Drizzle chicken breasts with 1 tablespoons melted butter. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours.
Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter with minced garlic and saute slightly. Add cream of chicken soup,cream cheese cubes, 1/2 c chicken broth, dried oregano and dried Parsley flakes. Stir on med til smooth. Add mixture to crock pot, cover again and continue to cook on low for 1 1/2-2 hours.
*****
When I took the lid off to add in the sauce, the chicken smelled really yummy. I was wishing I had a whisk clean to mix up the sauce, but both of mine were in the dishwasher. I also eyeballed the chicken broth because both of my liquid measuring cups were in the dishwasher as well. Can you tell I need to run my dishwasher?
I hope it turns out. I have trouble with chicken in the crockpot...it always comes out dry. My fingers are crossed either it doesn't this time or the sauce helps it seem more moist. Jen said it was good with egg noodles, but I'm going to make rice instead. I also need to check what frozen veggies are in my freezer to have along with it.
Oh, and like I said, I did the first step for two hours on high instead of four on low. I bumped it down to low when I added the sauce, but I figured I'd check the chicken after an hour to see how cooked it was, in case I needed to move it back up to high.
Review
The mac and cheese was really yummy--definitely better than the last time I'd made it. I think next time I might use small curd cottage cheese (I think such a thing exists anyway), but that was the only change. I liked the breadcrumbs on top, too. I didn't have quite enough cheese to do a layer on top...oh well. I actually added in some shredded mozzarella because I thought it was a bit shy on cheese. Oh, and I'd recommend mixing up everything BUT the macaroni, and then adding in the cooked macaroni and combining it that way.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Macaroni and Cheese
I know we just had mac and cheese the other night, but that was from the box and this is the real deal. Plus my other dinner choices were limited, so it was this or...this. I haven't made this recipe in a long time, so I'm excited to have it again. This is one of the cookbooks displayed in my kitchen that I rarely use. The husband actually pulled it down the other day, held it up to me, and said, "When are we having THIS?" (the recipe is on the cover.) Actually that was my main reason for buying the cookbook in the first place. Wanna see it?
Pretty enticing, huh? I'm super excited for it. I could eat mac and cheese every night of the week and twice on Sunday. I've never understood the "twice on Sunday" saying, but it fit. When I was little I HATED homemade mac and cheese, I only liked the stuff from the box. I don't know when it was that changed, but my age was definitely double digits, and I may have been a proud college graduate. Now I'll eat any kind. My mother-in-law makes fantastic mac and cheese, so that's the one I usually make, but since the husband specifically asked for this one, that's what we're having.
Macaroni and Cheese
4 cups hot cooked elbow macaroni (about 8 ounces uncooked), cooked without salt or fat
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup low fat cottage cheese
3/4 cup fat free sour cream
1/2 cup fat free milk
2 Tbsp grated onion
1-1/2 tsp reduced fat stick margarine, melted
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Cooking spray
1/4 cup fresh or dry breadcrumbs
1 Tbsp reduced calorie stick margarine, melted
1/4 tsp paprika
Preheat oven to 350. Combine first 10 ingredients (through egg); stir well. Spon into a shallow 2-quart casserole coated with cooking spray.
Combine breadcrumbs, 1 Tbsp margarine, and paprika; stir well. Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture over casserole. Cover and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Uncover casserole and bake an additional 5 minutes or until breadcrumbs are browned.
*****
Normally when I make it I put more cheese on top instead of the breadcrumbs, but I remember that the last time I made it, I didn't dig that. I may put some cheese on top and then the breadcrumbs on top of that.
I have Moms Night Out tonight with my MOMS Club, and we're having a potluck and game night, so I'm going to keep my mac and cheese indulging in check...or try to at least. I made Tres Leches Cake to take to it. Everytime there's been some kind of food event, whether it be Bunco or some MOMS Club function, my friend Kimberly pesters and pesters and pesters me about bringing this. Just kidding, Kimberly! :) But she does ask if this is what I'm taking every time. It's sounded really good to me for awhile, so I caved. Do you see how easily I give in to peer pressure? You can only imagine what my high school and college experience was like.
Pretty enticing, huh? I'm super excited for it. I could eat mac and cheese every night of the week and twice on Sunday. I've never understood the "twice on Sunday" saying, but it fit. When I was little I HATED homemade mac and cheese, I only liked the stuff from the box. I don't know when it was that changed, but my age was definitely double digits, and I may have been a proud college graduate. Now I'll eat any kind. My mother-in-law makes fantastic mac and cheese, so that's the one I usually make, but since the husband specifically asked for this one, that's what we're having.
Macaroni and Cheese
4 cups hot cooked elbow macaroni (about 8 ounces uncooked), cooked without salt or fat
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup low fat cottage cheese
3/4 cup fat free sour cream
1/2 cup fat free milk
2 Tbsp grated onion
1-1/2 tsp reduced fat stick margarine, melted
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Cooking spray
1/4 cup fresh or dry breadcrumbs
1 Tbsp reduced calorie stick margarine, melted
1/4 tsp paprika
Preheat oven to 350. Combine first 10 ingredients (through egg); stir well. Spon into a shallow 2-quart casserole coated with cooking spray.
Combine breadcrumbs, 1 Tbsp margarine, and paprika; stir well. Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture over casserole. Cover and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Uncover casserole and bake an additional 5 minutes or until breadcrumbs are browned.
*****
Normally when I make it I put more cheese on top instead of the breadcrumbs, but I remember that the last time I made it, I didn't dig that. I may put some cheese on top and then the breadcrumbs on top of that.
I have Moms Night Out tonight with my MOMS Club, and we're having a potluck and game night, so I'm going to keep my mac and cheese indulging in check...or try to at least. I made Tres Leches Cake to take to it. Everytime there's been some kind of food event, whether it be Bunco or some MOMS Club function, my friend Kimberly pesters and pesters and pesters me about bringing this. Just kidding, Kimberly! :) But she does ask if this is what I'm taking every time. It's sounded really good to me for awhile, so I caved. Do you see how easily I give in to peer pressure? You can only imagine what my high school and college experience was like.
Review
Our dinner ended up being different than the paninis I planned. I mixed up the blue cheese mixture, and it was too much for my pregnant nose, which is weird because whenever I have a salad, I have blue cheese dressing on it. I think there may have been two problems. In an effort to be health conscious for the husband (because who really tries to be health conscious when they're pregnant? The jar of M&Ms on my kitchen counter will tell you that I don't.), I bought reduced fat blue cheese. Strike one? I also bought the store brand of crumbled blue cheese. Strike two? I assume so. Thankfully my fast thinking scored my sandwiches a ground rule double. Or maybe a triple. I wouldn't go so far as to say a home run, but they were good. Enough baseball analogies...sorry about that.
So, what did I end up doing? I had already fixed up the barbecued chicken, so I went with that, but I sliced up some of the red onion leftover from PW's sandwiches and put that on top of the chicken, then cheddar cheese (real cheddar cheese, not Kraft Singles or something like that), and threw them on the panini press. They turned out really yummy! If I'd had green onions or cilantro I would have used some of that in place of the red onion, but my green onions had seen better days. My last minute creation ended up being really tasty. Definitely a panini I'd make again.
So, what did I end up doing? I had already fixed up the barbecued chicken, so I went with that, but I sliced up some of the red onion leftover from PW's sandwiches and put that on top of the chicken, then cheddar cheese (real cheddar cheese, not Kraft Singles or something like that), and threw them on the panini press. They turned out really yummy! If I'd had green onions or cilantro I would have used some of that in place of the red onion, but my green onions had seen better days. My last minute creation ended up being really tasty. Definitely a panini I'd make again.
Barbecued Chicken with Blue Cheese and Celery Paninis
My panini press has been neglected lately. I just felt like I was always making the same sandwiches with them, so I got the genius idea to look up panini cookbooks at the library instead of buying one. I heart the library...especially for cookbooks! Since I have an overwhelming cookbook collection already, it's a nice way to indulge in my guilty pleasure without dropping a small fortune.
So I flipped through the book and found several that sounded good. Unfortunately some have really obscure (or expensive...or both) ingredients, and some there is no way the husband would touch them with a ten foot pole. I'll still have to copy them down before the book is due back.
The husband is actually sick today, but when I asked if he'd want dinner he asked what the choices were and thought these sounded good. The other choice, by the way, was Shepherd's Pie, which we were supposed to have last night, but due to some issues at our vet's office (i.e. they're slow and incompetent and ALWAYS take forever to get simple things done), there wasn't going to be time to make it and pick up the dog before they closed. So it was a mac & cheese and hot dog night. Anyway...on to the recipe.
Barbecued Chicken with Blue Cheese and Celery Paninis
1-1/2 cups (about 8 ounces) shredded barbecue chicken
3 Tbsp barbecue sauce (optional)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp sour cream
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 scallion (white and light green parts), finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 ciabbata rolls or store-bought Italian rolls
1 celery stalk, trimmed, tough outer strings peeled away, and thinly sliced
Heat a panini or sandwich press. Combine the chicken and barbecue sauce, if using, in a small bowl and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
Slice the rolls in half and spread some blue cheese dressing on the inside of each roll. Arrange the celery on the bottom halves of the rolls. Pile the chicken on top of the celery. Top each sandwich with the top half of the roll.
Put the sandwiches on the press, pull the top down, and cook until they are brown and crisp, 4-7 minutes, depending on the machine. Carefully remove from the press and serve immediately.
*****
I don't think I'm really changing things up except that I have some foccacia rolls I'm using instead of ciabatta. I just realized I need to go hustle so we can eat at 6:00. Not sure what we'll have with it, I may throw some tater tots into the oven because I have them and they're easy.
Oh, and I didn't have any barbecue chicken laying around so I just cooked up some chicken breasts and shred them, then I'm going to mix them with some BBQ sauce. This would be a great use for leftover chicken meat from cooking a whole chicken!
So I flipped through the book and found several that sounded good. Unfortunately some have really obscure (or expensive...or both) ingredients, and some there is no way the husband would touch them with a ten foot pole. I'll still have to copy them down before the book is due back.
The husband is actually sick today, but when I asked if he'd want dinner he asked what the choices were and thought these sounded good. The other choice, by the way, was Shepherd's Pie, which we were supposed to have last night, but due to some issues at our vet's office (i.e. they're slow and incompetent and ALWAYS take forever to get simple things done), there wasn't going to be time to make it and pick up the dog before they closed. So it was a mac & cheese and hot dog night. Anyway...on to the recipe.
Barbecued Chicken with Blue Cheese and Celery Paninis
1-1/2 cups (about 8 ounces) shredded barbecue chicken
3 Tbsp barbecue sauce (optional)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp sour cream
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 scallion (white and light green parts), finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 ciabbata rolls or store-bought Italian rolls
1 celery stalk, trimmed, tough outer strings peeled away, and thinly sliced
Heat a panini or sandwich press. Combine the chicken and barbecue sauce, if using, in a small bowl and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
Slice the rolls in half and spread some blue cheese dressing on the inside of each roll. Arrange the celery on the bottom halves of the rolls. Pile the chicken on top of the celery. Top each sandwich with the top half of the roll.
Put the sandwiches on the press, pull the top down, and cook until they are brown and crisp, 4-7 minutes, depending on the machine. Carefully remove from the press and serve immediately.
*****
I don't think I'm really changing things up except that I have some foccacia rolls I'm using instead of ciabatta. I just realized I need to go hustle so we can eat at 6:00. Not sure what we'll have with it, I may throw some tater tots into the oven because I have them and they're easy.
Oh, and I didn't have any barbecue chicken laying around so I just cooked up some chicken breasts and shred them, then I'm going to mix them with some BBQ sauce. This would be a great use for leftover chicken meat from cooking a whole chicken!
Review
Wow. WOW!! PW's sandwich was amazing...awesome...fantastic...mind-blowing. Definitely the best grilled cheese I've ever had. The husband tried to steal the second half of my sandwich, so he really liked it too. He should know better than to try and take a pregnant woman's food. Sheesh.
I ended up cooking them in an electric skillet. It took a long time, but that was my fault because I didn't know what temperature (200, 250, 350, etc.) equated to Medium Low on my stove top. I think I had it too low at first, so then I kept turning it up slightly. They were definitely hard to flip when it was finally time, but I think it might have been easier in the electric skillet than in a regular skillet on the stove because there was more space. Who knows. Next time I'm going to try doing them on my panini press instead, see how they turn out that way...and I'd avoid the flipping issue. :)
Definitely try these. Go out and buy the stuff. Now! Go...hurry to the store and hurry home so you can eat this amazing sandwich.
I ended up cooking them in an electric skillet. It took a long time, but that was my fault because I didn't know what temperature (200, 250, 350, etc.) equated to Medium Low on my stove top. I think I had it too low at first, so then I kept turning it up slightly. They were definitely hard to flip when it was finally time, but I think it might have been easier in the electric skillet than in a regular skillet on the stove because there was more space. Who knows. Next time I'm going to try doing them on my panini press instead, see how they turn out that way...and I'd avoid the flipping issue. :)
Definitely try these. Go out and buy the stuff. Now! Go...hurry to the store and hurry home so you can eat this amazing sandwich.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Pioneer Woman's Favorite Sandwich
Unless this is the first time you've read my blog, you know that I heart Pioneer Woman. Pretty much everything I've tried making from her website has been super tasty. Jen B. made this a couple weeks ago and loved it. Our friend Kimberly (Hi, Kimberly!!) made it recently and raved about it, too. Our friend Jen A. made a modified version and really liked it as well. So I'm jumping on the bandwagon. Doesn't hurt that Jen B. gave me some of her leftover whole chiles to use! I'm totally excited for this dinner.
Pioneer Woman's Favorite Sandwich
whatever type of sandwich bread you like...PW likes rye
mild cheddar cheese slices
provolone cheese slices
sliced tomato
thinly sliced red onion
canned Hatch whole green chiles
1 Tablespoon of mayo
1 Tablespoon of Dijon mustard
Lots of softened butter or margarine
1) For spreadable sauce: Thoroughly combine 1 Tablespoon of mayo and 1 Tablespoon of Dijon mustard in a small bowl.
2) Spread a very thin layer of sauce mixture on the inside of both pieces of the bread that you will be using to construct your sandwich.
3) Place two slices of tomato and some thin red onion slices on one side of the bread. Then, top that bread piece with 2 slices of provolone cheese and one or two slices of whole green chiles. Don't be shy with the green chiles.
4) On the other piece of bread, place 2 slices of cheddar cheese, and very carefully close your sandwich. Be gentle.
5) Now, spread a generous amount of butter on each side of the tops of the bread, not missing anything. Really butter 'em good! Seriously, use the butter...it is okay.
6) Heat a non stick skillet over LOW heat, and cook on each side (flipping once)...5 minutes per side. You can turn the heat up to Medium-Low (but do not heat past Medium) to get your desired brown/toastiness accomplished.
Also, these babies are tricky to flip. Be careful.
7) Remove ooey-gooey delectable sandwich from skillet and cut into halves. Serve immediately. Say a prayer and go to confession quickly after consuming this masterful sandwich. They are so good you will feel dirty.
*****
I'm using wheat bread because I don't like rye. Plus it's what I have. I'm also going to bust out either my griddle or my electric skillet because my regular skillets just aren't big enough to accommodate three sandwiches. Actually the boy is just going to have regular grilled cheese. I can't wait for this sandwich. Have I mentioned that?
Not sure what we're having with it. There's broccoli salad left from last night (shoot...forgot to do the review from last night's dinner...I'll do that later), so the boy and I will probably have that, the husband can have regular green salad, and maybe we'll have a fancy accompaniement like pretzels. We go all out here at my house.
Pioneer Woman's Favorite Sandwich
whatever type of sandwich bread you like...PW likes rye
mild cheddar cheese slices
provolone cheese slices
sliced tomato
thinly sliced red onion
canned Hatch whole green chiles
1 Tablespoon of mayo
1 Tablespoon of Dijon mustard
Lots of softened butter or margarine
1) For spreadable sauce: Thoroughly combine 1 Tablespoon of mayo and 1 Tablespoon of Dijon mustard in a small bowl.
2) Spread a very thin layer of sauce mixture on the inside of both pieces of the bread that you will be using to construct your sandwich.
3) Place two slices of tomato and some thin red onion slices on one side of the bread. Then, top that bread piece with 2 slices of provolone cheese and one or two slices of whole green chiles. Don't be shy with the green chiles.
4) On the other piece of bread, place 2 slices of cheddar cheese, and very carefully close your sandwich. Be gentle.
5) Now, spread a generous amount of butter on each side of the tops of the bread, not missing anything. Really butter 'em good! Seriously, use the butter...it is okay.
6) Heat a non stick skillet over LOW heat, and cook on each side (flipping once)...5 minutes per side. You can turn the heat up to Medium-Low (but do not heat past Medium) to get your desired brown/toastiness accomplished.
Also, these babies are tricky to flip. Be careful.
7) Remove ooey-gooey delectable sandwich from skillet and cut into halves. Serve immediately. Say a prayer and go to confession quickly after consuming this masterful sandwich. They are so good you will feel dirty.
*****
I'm using wheat bread because I don't like rye. Plus it's what I have. I'm also going to bust out either my griddle or my electric skillet because my regular skillets just aren't big enough to accommodate three sandwiches. Actually the boy is just going to have regular grilled cheese. I can't wait for this sandwich. Have I mentioned that?
Not sure what we're having with it. There's broccoli salad left from last night (shoot...forgot to do the review from last night's dinner...I'll do that later), so the boy and I will probably have that, the husband can have regular green salad, and maybe we'll have a fancy accompaniement like pretzels. We go all out here at my house.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Hispanic Market
Jen B. and I went and braved our local Hispanic grocery store today. She wrote a hilarious account of it on her blog. The husband and I were both cracking up when I read it to him, and I'm still chuckling when I think about what she wrote.
Check out what she wrote:
http://notesfromthetable.blogspot.com/2008/09/green-chile-chicken-soft-tacos.html
Check out what she wrote:
http://notesfromthetable.blogspot.com/2008/09/green-chile-chicken-soft-tacos.html
Beth's Broccoli Slaw
My friend Beth from MOMS Club made this salad for my friend Jen B. when her father passed away recently. Jen LOVED it and got the recipe from Beth. I think she's made it a couple times since then and has rave reviews every time. I've been anxiously awaiting broccoli to be on sale so I could try it.
Beth's Broccoli Slaw
In large bowl mix:
2 heads broccoli, cut into florets and finely chop about 1/2 of the stalks, cut about 15 baby carrots. Approx 1/2 cup of raisins, Approx 1/4 cup of cashews.
In medium bowl mix:
1 cup mayo, 3 tablespoons of white wine vinegar, and 2 tablespoons of sugar.
Directions:
Pour Mayo mixture over broccoli mixture, toss, and chill for minimum of 1 hour before serving.
*****
I almost didn't make this because the husband doesn't like broccoli. The boy and I, however, do, so husband lost out. More for us I figure, although I'm going to make him try one bite of it. I was a bit shy on the mayo, but hopefully that doesn't affect it too much.
Beth's Broccoli Slaw
In large bowl mix:
2 heads broccoli, cut into florets and finely chop about 1/2 of the stalks, cut about 15 baby carrots. Approx 1/2 cup of raisins, Approx 1/4 cup of cashews.
In medium bowl mix:
1 cup mayo, 3 tablespoons of white wine vinegar, and 2 tablespoons of sugar.
Directions:
Pour Mayo mixture over broccoli mixture, toss, and chill for minimum of 1 hour before serving.
*****
I almost didn't make this because the husband doesn't like broccoli. The boy and I, however, do, so husband lost out. More for us I figure, although I'm going to make him try one bite of it. I was a bit shy on the mayo, but hopefully that doesn't affect it too much.
Pulled Pork
Originally I was going to make this yesterday since we needed to leave early for our fun night at Pump It Up, but our morning plans changed, and I was going to have time to get it in the crockpot. Normally it wouldn't be a problem to just toss a pork loin roast and a bottle of BBQ sauce in the crockpot, but I'm trying to cut out high fructose corn syrup from our diets, and every bottle of BBQ sauce I picked up at the grocery store had HFCS as either the first or second ingredient. Yuck. So I bought a bottle of organic ketchup instead and decided to make my own sauce. I looked up recipes on allrecipes.com and found one I kind of modified.
Pulled Pork
20 ounces ketchup
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp honey
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup worcestshire sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 pound pork loin roast
In a saucepan, combine first eight ingredients. Bring to low boil. Place pork roast in crockpot, pour sauce over. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Remove pork roast to a bowl and shred with two forks. Add sauce into bowl until desired consistency. Serve on hamburger buns.
*****
The sauce tasted really good when I sampled it from the saucepan, hopefully it will taste good after being in the crockpot so long. The original recipes had different quantities of some of the ingredients and some different spices, and it said to combine everything in a blender. I thought that was weird, so I opted to cook them all for a bit.
Pulled Pork
20 ounces ketchup
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp honey
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup worcestshire sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 pound pork loin roast
In a saucepan, combine first eight ingredients. Bring to low boil. Place pork roast in crockpot, pour sauce over. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Remove pork roast to a bowl and shred with two forks. Add sauce into bowl until desired consistency. Serve on hamburger buns.
*****
The sauce tasted really good when I sampled it from the saucepan, hopefully it will taste good after being in the crockpot so long. The original recipes had different quantities of some of the ingredients and some different spices, and it said to combine everything in a blender. I thought that was weird, so I opted to cook them all for a bit.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Tater Tot Casserole
It occurred to me a couple weeks ago that we haven't had this in FOREVER. Like, seriously forever. I don't even know if it's on the blog, it's been that long. This is one of the casseroles my mom would make when I was little and my folks weren't that well off. Kind of poor people food, but it's awfully good. She refused to make it for a long time, and I remembered it in college or shortly after I graduated, and I've been making it ever since. We were going to have it last night, but we ended up running to Walmart, and by the time we'd get home it was going to be too late to start it, so we just got one of their take and bake pizzas instead. Incidently, their pizzas aren't that bad, and they're pretty reasonably priced.
Tater Tot Casserole
1 lb ground beef
Salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder
Cheddar cheese--sliced or shredded
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Tater Tots
In an 11x7 pan, crumble or spread ground beef. Sprinkle salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder on top of beef. Cover with sliced or shredded Cheddar cheese (NOT American cheese...real cheddar). Spread can of cream of mushroom soup over the cheese layer (this can be tricky business if you've used shredded cheese). Top with tater tots. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 1-1/2 to 2 hours, uncovering for last 30 minutes. Or bake at 375 for one hour, uncovering for last 30 minutes.
*****
You can use regular onion instead of onion powder, I just hate chopping up onions and opt for the easy way out. My mom always slices up cheese when she makes this, but I usually have shredded on hand and go with that. Slices are definitely easier than the shredded.
Personally I like a little ketchup on my plate to dip it in, but not everyone goes for that.
Tater Tot Casserole
1 lb ground beef
Salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder
Cheddar cheese--sliced or shredded
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Tater Tots
In an 11x7 pan, crumble or spread ground beef. Sprinkle salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder on top of beef. Cover with sliced or shredded Cheddar cheese (NOT American cheese...real cheddar). Spread can of cream of mushroom soup over the cheese layer (this can be tricky business if you've used shredded cheese). Top with tater tots. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 1-1/2 to 2 hours, uncovering for last 30 minutes. Or bake at 375 for one hour, uncovering for last 30 minutes.
*****
You can use regular onion instead of onion powder, I just hate chopping up onions and opt for the easy way out. My mom always slices up cheese when she makes this, but I usually have shredded on hand and go with that. Slices are definitely easier than the shredded.
Personally I like a little ketchup on my plate to dip it in, but not everyone goes for that.
Review
Mixed reviews on the tacos. I liked them, the husband thought they were too spicy. I feared they might be and fed the boy a quesadilla instead. Roasting the chiles was kind of a pain. The actual roasting wasn't too hard, but peeling them was a pain in the...well, a pain. There must be an easier way I'm just not aware of since I've never done it. I think if there was sour cream, guacamole, or maybe some cotija cheese it would tone down the heat a bit. I'd make these again, but since the husband wasn't too keen on them, they will probably not grace our table again, sadly.
Oh, I'd maybe cut back on the onions a bit...there were a lot of onions. I first thought when they were cooking that the next time I'd make it I'd add more chiles and less onion, but the chiles added so much kick, I think I'd stick with two and just cut back on the onions.
Oh, I'd maybe cut back on the onions a bit...there were a lot of onions. I first thought when they were cooking that the next time I'd make it I'd add more chiles and less onion, but the chiles added so much kick, I think I'd stick with two and just cut back on the onions.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Green Chile Chicken Soft Tacos
I had to sit and suffer through a three hour glucose test today to see if I have gestational diabetes. I think making a pregnant woman fast for eight hours (actually it had been 11 hours when I got there this morning) is some form of torture. Then I had to sit there for another three hours, not eating or drinking. Ugh. So of course I've been hungry all day now. I'm excited for this dinner tonight!
This is from a Rick Bayless cookbook I got at the library, Mexican Everyday. My friend Jen B. liked the book so much she went and bought it. Good thing because there are other recipes I want to try, but I have to return it tomorrow. I've already renewed it twice, so I figure it's time to let it go.
Green Chile Chicken Soft Tacos
2 large fresh poblano chilies
2 Tbsp vegetable or olive oil (divided use)
1 large white onion, sliced 1/4 inch thick
Salt
1 pound boneless, skinless, chicken breast halves
Ground black pepper
3 Tbsp fresh lime juice
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped or crushed thru a garlic press
12 warm corn tortilla, store bought or homemade
3/4 cup roasted tomatillo salsa, guacamole, or bottled salsa or hot sauce, for serving
Roast the poblanos over an open flame or 4 inches below a broiler, turning regularly until blistered and blackened all over, about 5 minutes for an open flame, 10 minutes for the broiler. Place in a bowl, cover with a kitchen twoel, and let cool until handelable.
Turn on (or adjust) the oven to its lowest setting. Heat 1 Tbsp of the oil in a very large skillet over medium high. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until golden but still cruncy, 4-5 minutes. Scoot into a heatproof serving bowl, leaving as much oil as possible in the skillet, and slide it into the oven. Set the skillet aside.
Rub the blackened skin off the chiles and pull out the setms and seed pods. Rinse the chiles to remove bits of skin and seeds. Cut into 1/4-inch strips and stir into the onions. Taste and season with salt, usually a generous teaspoon. Return the bowl to the oven.
Sprinkle both sides of the chicken generously with salt and pepper.
Return the skillet to medium heat. Add the remaining 1 Tbsp oil. When the oil is hot, lay in the chicken breasts. Brown on one side, about 5 minutes, then flip and finish cooking on the other side, about 4 minutes more. When the meat is done, add the lime juice and garlic to the skillet. Turn the chicken in the lime mixture for a minute or so, until the juice has reduced to a glaze and coats the chicken.
Cut the chicken breasts into 1/4-inch strips and toss with the onion-poblano mixture. Taste and season with additional salt if you think necessary. Serve with the warm tortillas and salsa, guacamole, or hot sauce for making soft tacos.
*****
So this will be my first time roasting peppers. I'm kind of nervous about it, but we'll see what happens. I've wanted to try it, but I've always been kind of scared of doing it. But, tonight's the night! Everything else sounds pretty straight-forward. Oh, and I'm using flour tortillas instead of corn because we just like them better.
This is from a Rick Bayless cookbook I got at the library, Mexican Everyday. My friend Jen B. liked the book so much she went and bought it. Good thing because there are other recipes I want to try, but I have to return it tomorrow. I've already renewed it twice, so I figure it's time to let it go.
Green Chile Chicken Soft Tacos
2 large fresh poblano chilies
2 Tbsp vegetable or olive oil (divided use)
1 large white onion, sliced 1/4 inch thick
Salt
1 pound boneless, skinless, chicken breast halves
Ground black pepper
3 Tbsp fresh lime juice
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped or crushed thru a garlic press
12 warm corn tortilla, store bought or homemade
3/4 cup roasted tomatillo salsa, guacamole, or bottled salsa or hot sauce, for serving
Roast the poblanos over an open flame or 4 inches below a broiler, turning regularly until blistered and blackened all over, about 5 minutes for an open flame, 10 minutes for the broiler. Place in a bowl, cover with a kitchen twoel, and let cool until handelable.
Turn on (or adjust) the oven to its lowest setting. Heat 1 Tbsp of the oil in a very large skillet over medium high. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until golden but still cruncy, 4-5 minutes. Scoot into a heatproof serving bowl, leaving as much oil as possible in the skillet, and slide it into the oven. Set the skillet aside.
Rub the blackened skin off the chiles and pull out the setms and seed pods. Rinse the chiles to remove bits of skin and seeds. Cut into 1/4-inch strips and stir into the onions. Taste and season with salt, usually a generous teaspoon. Return the bowl to the oven.
Sprinkle both sides of the chicken generously with salt and pepper.
Return the skillet to medium heat. Add the remaining 1 Tbsp oil. When the oil is hot, lay in the chicken breasts. Brown on one side, about 5 minutes, then flip and finish cooking on the other side, about 4 minutes more. When the meat is done, add the lime juice and garlic to the skillet. Turn the chicken in the lime mixture for a minute or so, until the juice has reduced to a glaze and coats the chicken.
Cut the chicken breasts into 1/4-inch strips and toss with the onion-poblano mixture. Taste and season with additional salt if you think necessary. Serve with the warm tortillas and salsa, guacamole, or hot sauce for making soft tacos.
*****
So this will be my first time roasting peppers. I'm kind of nervous about it, but we'll see what happens. I've wanted to try it, but I've always been kind of scared of doing it. But, tonight's the night! Everything else sounds pretty straight-forward. Oh, and I'm using flour tortillas instead of corn because we just like them better.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Review
Well, the pasta bake was okay. As far as baked pasta casseroles go, I liked the Baked Ziti I made a few weeks ago a lot better or Mostaccioli. I used eight ounces of smoked cheese (I think it was a smoked white cheddar...I couldn't find smoked mozzarella at my grocery store) instead of the four in the recipe because, well, we like cheese. If I made it again, I think I'd reduce the amount of smoked cheese, reduce the sour cream to one cup or maybe less, and I'd add in some regular mozzarella. Or put mozzarella on top instead of parmesan. I don't know, something just wasn't right. It was okay...probably not something I'd make again.
Oh, and it made A TON! There's probably 2/3 of the pan left. I'm going to wrap it up and stick it in the freezer I think. I hate to waste it, even though we didn't think it was all that great. I figure it will be good to have on hand for when the baby comes and I don't want to make dinner.
Oh, and it made A TON! There's probably 2/3 of the pan left. I'm going to wrap it up and stick it in the freezer I think. I hate to waste it, even though we didn't think it was all that great. I figure it will be good to have on hand for when the baby comes and I don't want to make dinner.
Smoked Cheese Pasta Bake
Last night was super lame dinner. Or white trash dinner...call it what you will. We had Pigs in a Blanket and I made up a box of pasta salad. See? Not worth posting. Don't feel like you missed anything.
I was trying out another neglected cookbook when looking for recipes this week. This was the Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2008, which is actually all the recipes they published in the magazine in 2007. There were lots of yummy recipes, but I was trying to find recipes that used stuff I already had on hand. All I had to buy for this was the smoked cheese (you have no idea how many times it just took me to type 'smoked').
Smoked Cheese Pasta Bake
1 pound uncooked penne (tube-shaped pasta)
1 (26-ounce) jar fat-free marinara sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups reduced-fat sour cream
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded smoked farmer or mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Preheat oven to 350°.
Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain.
Heat marinara sauce in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add salt, pepper, and spinach, stirring until blended; cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in cooked pasta.
Spoon half of pasta mixture into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Combine sour cream, smoked cheese, and basil; spread over pasta mixture in dish. Spoon the remaining pasta mixture over sour cream mixture; sprinkle evenly with Parmigiano-Reggiano. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
*****
I'm so dumb, I went and looked up the recipe in the cookbook to type it up and then thought, "DUH! Copy it from the website." Pregnancy brain is hitting me hard. I'm also glad I read it and posted this when I did because I forgot about the spinach. Oh, and I'm not using a jarred sauce, I made up a basic tomato sauce using crushed tomatoes, garlic, onion, and Italian seasoning. It's the same one I made when I did the Eggplant Parmesan.
I can't decide if I should cut this recipe in half or leave it as is. I don't really feel like doing the math involved to cut it in half, but a 9x13 dish of pasta always makes so much. I guess I can freeze what's left if there's a lot.
I was trying out another neglected cookbook when looking for recipes this week. This was the Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2008, which is actually all the recipes they published in the magazine in 2007. There were lots of yummy recipes, but I was trying to find recipes that used stuff I already had on hand. All I had to buy for this was the smoked cheese (you have no idea how many times it just took me to type 'smoked').
Smoked Cheese Pasta Bake
1 pound uncooked penne (tube-shaped pasta)
1 (26-ounce) jar fat-free marinara sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups reduced-fat sour cream
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded smoked farmer or mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Preheat oven to 350°.
Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain.
Heat marinara sauce in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add salt, pepper, and spinach, stirring until blended; cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in cooked pasta.
Spoon half of pasta mixture into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Combine sour cream, smoked cheese, and basil; spread over pasta mixture in dish. Spoon the remaining pasta mixture over sour cream mixture; sprinkle evenly with Parmigiano-Reggiano. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
*****
I'm so dumb, I went and looked up the recipe in the cookbook to type it up and then thought, "DUH! Copy it from the website." Pregnancy brain is hitting me hard. I'm also glad I read it and posted this when I did because I forgot about the spinach. Oh, and I'm not using a jarred sauce, I made up a basic tomato sauce using crushed tomatoes, garlic, onion, and Italian seasoning. It's the same one I made when I did the Eggplant Parmesan.
I can't decide if I should cut this recipe in half or leave it as is. I don't really feel like doing the math involved to cut it in half, but a 9x13 dish of pasta always makes so much. I guess I can freeze what's left if there's a lot.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Lemon Chicken Pasta
It's still pretty hot here in AZ, so my mom invited us over yesterday for swimming and dinner. It was a great day for swimming, although her pool is starting to get a little chilly. And I will never (okay, rarely) pass up a dinner someone else makes for me.
I had originally planned on making this last night but then didn't need to make dinner. It's another recipe from one of my Southern Living cookbooks. I've made it before but not in a really, really, really, really, really long time. I'm excited to have it again.
Lemon Chicken Pasta
Cooking spray
1 tsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1/4-inch wide strips
1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed
1/3 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup condensed low-sodium chicken broth, undiluted
2 Tbsp tub-style light cream cheese
2 cups hot cooked farfalle (about 1-1/4 cups uncooked bow tie pasta), cooked without salt or fat
3 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp grated lemon rind
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; add oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add garlic, saute 15 seconds. Add chicken; saute 1 minute. Add peas and carrot; saute 1 minute. Remove chicken from skillet; set aside.
Add chicken broth and cream cheese to skillet and cook over medium-high heat 3 minutes or until cream cheese melts, stirring constantly with a whisk. Return chicken mixture to skillet. Stir in pasta, parmesan, lemon rind, salt, and pepper. Cook 1 minute. Yield: 2 servings.
*****
I got out two chicken breasts that were both kind of small. I forgot this was a two-serving recipe, but I think there should probably be enough for two adults and one toddler. I'll probably slightly increase the amounts of everything to make sure there's enough.
I remember that the first time I made this the husband had some right when it was ready and thought it was kind of bland. For whatever reason I had dinner after him and thought there was good flavor to it once it had sat for a bit and the flavors had a chance to meld together. Meld...is that a word? I don't know...how about "the flavors had a chance to combine with one another."
I'm not sure what we'll have along with this since there's pasta and vegetables mixed into it already. I'll see if I have some bread we can have along with it, but I may end up making Ghetto Garlic Bread (buttered hamburger buns stuck under the broiler for a few minutes), and we'll probably have salad with it.
I had originally planned on making this last night but then didn't need to make dinner. It's another recipe from one of my Southern Living cookbooks. I've made it before but not in a really, really, really, really, really long time. I'm excited to have it again.
Lemon Chicken Pasta
Cooking spray
1 tsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1/4-inch wide strips
1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed
1/3 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup condensed low-sodium chicken broth, undiluted
2 Tbsp tub-style light cream cheese
2 cups hot cooked farfalle (about 1-1/4 cups uncooked bow tie pasta), cooked without salt or fat
3 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp grated lemon rind
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; add oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add garlic, saute 15 seconds. Add chicken; saute 1 minute. Add peas and carrot; saute 1 minute. Remove chicken from skillet; set aside.
Add chicken broth and cream cheese to skillet and cook over medium-high heat 3 minutes or until cream cheese melts, stirring constantly with a whisk. Return chicken mixture to skillet. Stir in pasta, parmesan, lemon rind, salt, and pepper. Cook 1 minute. Yield: 2 servings.
*****
I got out two chicken breasts that were both kind of small. I forgot this was a two-serving recipe, but I think there should probably be enough for two adults and one toddler. I'll probably slightly increase the amounts of everything to make sure there's enough.
I remember that the first time I made this the husband had some right when it was ready and thought it was kind of bland. For whatever reason I had dinner after him and thought there was good flavor to it once it had sat for a bit and the flavors had a chance to meld together. Meld...is that a word? I don't know...how about "the flavors had a chance to combine with one another."
I'm not sure what we'll have along with this since there's pasta and vegetables mixed into it already. I'll see if I have some bread we can have along with it, but I may end up making Ghetto Garlic Bread (buttered hamburger buns stuck under the broiler for a few minutes), and we'll probably have salad with it.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Review
Mixed reviews tonight. The chicken turned out well, but it took FOREVER to cook! I'm having bad luck cooking chicken lately. I even flattened the breasts out some to help them cook faster, and they still took a long time. Once they were done, they were pretty tasty. The husband and Steve both liked them. I actually added some seasoning to the flour...salt, pepper, and some garlic seasoning I usually use to make my own garlic bread. Oh, and I used 2 Tbsp of butter and 2 Tbsp of olive oil sintead of the 4 Tbsp of butter.
The potatoes didn't happen. I had bought red potatoes instead of new potatoes, and they just didn't work. They squashed funny and just weren't working, so I ended up making mashed potatoes out of them instead. They were a little too olive-oily from trying to smoosh them on the cookie sheet. Oh well. I'm definitely going to try them again because they look and sound so yummy.
I think next time I'd flatten the chicken more so it cooked faster.
The potatoes didn't happen. I had bought red potatoes instead of new potatoes, and they just didn't work. They squashed funny and just weren't working, so I ended up making mashed potatoes out of them instead. They were a little too olive-oily from trying to smoosh them on the cookie sheet. Oh well. I'm definitely going to try them again because they look and sound so yummy.
I think next time I'd flatten the chicken more so it cooked faster.
Garlic Chicken
This is another recipe from a Southern Living cookbook I walk past multiple times in a day yet never think to look at for dinner ideas. And again everything I've tried in this one (this is a different one than I used for the pizza recipe) has been good. Actually as I was flipping through it I saw a chicken casserole recipe that I'd written, "Really good and really easy" next to, but I had absolutely no recollection of making it. So it's good I deface my cookbooks and make notes in them. :)
Garlic Chicken
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter or margarine
4 cloves garlic, minced (about 2 Tbsp)
1 cup apple juice
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp pepper
Dredge chicken in flour. Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat; add chicken and garlic. Cook 4-5 minutes on each side or until chicken is done. Remove chicken from skillet; keep warm.
Add apple juice, lemon juice, and pepper to skillet; bring mixture to a boil. Boil, uncovered, 4 minutes or until reduced to 1/2 cup. Pour sauce over chicken and serve immediately.
*****
I'm excited to try this, I'm always on the lookout for new ways to cook chicken. With it we're going to have one of Pioneer Woman'srecipes for Crash Hot Potatoes. She posted the recipe awhile ago, and I thought they looked good. Somehow they popped in my head when I was figuring out dinners. They sound super easy and really tasty.
The husband is going to play nine holes of golf with our friend Steve around 6:00, so I'm going to make this for us after they get back, the boy's getting chicken nuggets so I don't have to make dinner twice.
Garlic Chicken
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter or margarine
4 cloves garlic, minced (about 2 Tbsp)
1 cup apple juice
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp pepper
Dredge chicken in flour. Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat; add chicken and garlic. Cook 4-5 minutes on each side or until chicken is done. Remove chicken from skillet; keep warm.
Add apple juice, lemon juice, and pepper to skillet; bring mixture to a boil. Boil, uncovered, 4 minutes or until reduced to 1/2 cup. Pour sauce over chicken and serve immediately.
*****
I'm excited to try this, I'm always on the lookout for new ways to cook chicken. With it we're going to have one of Pioneer Woman'srecipes for Crash Hot Potatoes. She posted the recipe awhile ago, and I thought they looked good. Somehow they popped in my head when I was figuring out dinners. They sound super easy and really tasty.
The husband is going to play nine holes of golf with our friend Steve around 6:00, so I'm going to make this for us after they get back, the boy's getting chicken nuggets so I don't have to make dinner twice.
Review
The pizza was really yummy!! I'd made a similar one a long time ago when we grilled pizzas one night, so it was nice to try it again. I ended up having a smaller jar of artichoke hearts than called for, but I think more would have overpowered the pizza. The ones I had were marinated as well, so it gave them a little extra flavor. I believe the recipe called for only sauteeing the peppers and spices, but I put the artichoke hearts and mushrooms in there, too. Oh, and the amount of cheese called for was definitely not enough. I know we like our cheese here in this house, but I only sprinkled a little on the crust at first, then put the toppings on, and then I didn't have enough cheese left in the bag to cover the rest of the pizza. Thankfully I had some monterey jack cheese in the fridge, so I grated that up and added it to the pizza. I didn't even have the cheese very thick, so make sure you have plenty of cheese on hand.
This is definitely something I would make again. I bet it would be good with some feta added and some fresh oregano. Yum. Once I can eat feta again I think I'll try it that way. We have no leftovers of the pizza, and it was a pretty good size. The boy didn't really like it, he ate maybe half a piece and had to be coerced into eating that much of it. I had two pieces, so that means the husband must have had five. I've told you he likes pizza!
This is definitely something I would make again. I bet it would be good with some feta added and some fresh oregano. Yum. Once I can eat feta again I think I'll try it that way. We have no leftovers of the pizza, and it was a pretty good size. The boy didn't really like it, he ate maybe half a piece and had to be coerced into eating that much of it. I had two pieces, so that means the husband must have had five. I've told you he likes pizza!
Friday, September 5, 2008
Artichoke and Red Pepper Pizza
When I was coming up with dinners for this week I busted out some cookbooks I hadn't used in awhile. Seriously, I have a ridiculous amount of cookbooks...it's getting to be completely out of hand. Anyway, I'm trying to use some that I don't look at as often, so I got out a Southern Living cookbook. Everything I've tried from it has been good, I just don't think to use it that often. Which is somewhat ironic because it's a cookbook that's displayed on my kitchen wall.
I bought a refrigerated pizza crust awhile back and need to use it. This sounded really yummy, and I didn't need that much for it except the peppers and artichokes (okay, so I was missing the two main ingredients but still). I hope it's good.
Artichoke and Red Pepper Pizza
1 can refrigerated pizza crust dough
Cooking spray
i Tbsp olive oil
1 7-ounce bottle roasted red peppers, drained and julienne-cut
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 14-ounce can artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped
1 2.5-ounce jar sliced mushrooms, drained
1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) mozzarella cheese
Cracked pepper (optional)
Preheat oven to 425. Unroll pizza crust dough onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray and pat dough into a 14x10-inch rectangle. Bake at 425 for 5 minutes and set aside.
Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add bell peppers and next three ingredients, saute 3 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in artichokes and mushrooms.
Sprinkle half of cheese over pizza crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Spread vegetable mixture evenly over cheese; top with remaining cheese. SPrinkle with cracked pepper, if desired. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes or until crust is lighly browned.
*****
I'm opposed to canned or jarred mushrooms. They're a weird color, the texture is weird to me. I don't dig them. So I bought fresh. And chances are I'll use more cheese than what's called for because that's just how we roll. I'm excited to try it.
I bought a refrigerated pizza crust awhile back and need to use it. This sounded really yummy, and I didn't need that much for it except the peppers and artichokes (okay, so I was missing the two main ingredients but still). I hope it's good.
Artichoke and Red Pepper Pizza
1 can refrigerated pizza crust dough
Cooking spray
i Tbsp olive oil
1 7-ounce bottle roasted red peppers, drained and julienne-cut
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 14-ounce can artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped
1 2.5-ounce jar sliced mushrooms, drained
1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) mozzarella cheese
Cracked pepper (optional)
Preheat oven to 425. Unroll pizza crust dough onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray and pat dough into a 14x10-inch rectangle. Bake at 425 for 5 minutes and set aside.
Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add bell peppers and next three ingredients, saute 3 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in artichokes and mushrooms.
Sprinkle half of cheese over pizza crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Spread vegetable mixture evenly over cheese; top with remaining cheese. SPrinkle with cracked pepper, if desired. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes or until crust is lighly browned.
*****
I'm opposed to canned or jarred mushrooms. They're a weird color, the texture is weird to me. I don't dig them. So I bought fresh. And chances are I'll use more cheese than what's called for because that's just how we roll. I'm excited to try it.
Strawberry Pie
In a moment of weakness I bought four pounds of strawberries at Costco this week. Okay, it wasn't really a moment of weakness...the boy and I love strawberries, and the per pound price worked out to be way cheaper than buying them at the grocery store. In one of my many cookbooks, I had recently seen a recipe for a strawberry pie. And of course I couldn't find it for the life of me once I actually had strawberries to use. :(
(The first part of this may seem like a tangent but really it's not...stick with me here.) The husband is from Louisiana...don't know if I've shared that. Probably I have. Anyway, the first time we went to visit we drove from Phoenix to New Orleans (which we quickly vowed we would never, EVER do again...Texas is just too damn big to drive across). Somewhere in Louisiana, he pointed out that we were in the strawberry capital of the south, or something like that. So as I was wracking my brain to figure out where that freakin' pie recipe had been, I saw my "Best of the Best Louisiana" cookbook and checked it. This wasn't where I had seen the recipe as I hadn't looked at that cookbook in quite some time, but there was a strawberry pie recipe in there, so I jumped all over it.
Strawberry Pie
1 quart fresh strawberries
3/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp corn starch
1 cup whipped cream
1 9-inch pastry shell (baked)
Place all but one cup berries in the bottom of baked pastry shell. Spread out well and set aside. In a saucepan, simmer the other cup of berries in 3/4 cup water for 5 minutes. Add sugar and blend well. Add corn starch. After mixture thickens, add lemon juice. Cook until clear. Pour sauce over berries in shell. Chill in fridge and top with whipped cream.
*****
I think I used more strawberries than called for. I put one quart less one cup into the pie crust (oh, I halved the strawberries by the way) and it didn't look like enough, so I cut up a few more. I also don't think I had the stove hot enough for simmering. After I put in the sugar and corn starch, it wasn't getting thick at all so I turned up the heat a bit, and that did the trick. The strawberries started to fall apart a bit, too, which is what I had expected in the first place. And mine didn't turn clear like the recipe says, it was a nice reddish-pink color.
I of course had to sample a piece last night, and it was really yummy. I didn't have any whipped cream, but I thought it was fine without. This was pretty easy to make, too. Definitely something I'd make again.
(The first part of this may seem like a tangent but really it's not...stick with me here.) The husband is from Louisiana...don't know if I've shared that. Probably I have. Anyway, the first time we went to visit we drove from Phoenix to New Orleans (which we quickly vowed we would never, EVER do again...Texas is just too damn big to drive across). Somewhere in Louisiana, he pointed out that we were in the strawberry capital of the south, or something like that. So as I was wracking my brain to figure out where that freakin' pie recipe had been, I saw my "Best of the Best Louisiana" cookbook and checked it. This wasn't where I had seen the recipe as I hadn't looked at that cookbook in quite some time, but there was a strawberry pie recipe in there, so I jumped all over it.
Strawberry Pie
1 quart fresh strawberries
3/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp corn starch
1 cup whipped cream
1 9-inch pastry shell (baked)
Place all but one cup berries in the bottom of baked pastry shell. Spread out well and set aside. In a saucepan, simmer the other cup of berries in 3/4 cup water for 5 minutes. Add sugar and blend well. Add corn starch. After mixture thickens, add lemon juice. Cook until clear. Pour sauce over berries in shell. Chill in fridge and top with whipped cream.
*****
I think I used more strawberries than called for. I put one quart less one cup into the pie crust (oh, I halved the strawberries by the way) and it didn't look like enough, so I cut up a few more. I also don't think I had the stove hot enough for simmering. After I put in the sugar and corn starch, it wasn't getting thick at all so I turned up the heat a bit, and that did the trick. The strawberries started to fall apart a bit, too, which is what I had expected in the first place. And mine didn't turn clear like the recipe says, it was a nice reddish-pink color.
I of course had to sample a piece last night, and it was really yummy. I didn't have any whipped cream, but I thought it was fine without. This was pretty easy to make, too. Definitely something I'd make again.
Chili Cheese Tortilla Wraps
I feel so behind but only because I've been in the kitchen like a fiend lately. This week--along with making dinners--I've made Chex Mix, banana bread, and a strawberry pie. Maybe I'm nesting, who knows. Last night for dinner we had Chili Cheese Tortilla Wraps. I hadn't made them in awhile, and I had most of the stuff for it, plus the husband was supposed to have a church meeting at 6:30 last night, so I figured a crockpot dinner would be easiest.
Chili Cheese Tortilla Wraps
1 16-oz can nonfat refried beans
1 8-oz package nonfat cream cheese, cut into cubes and softened
1 4-oz can diced green chilies, drained
3/4 cup chopped green onions
1 cup nonfat shredded cheddar cheese
4 98% fat free flour tortillas
Spray inside of slow cooker with cooking spray. Combine refried beans, cream cheese, chilies, and green onions in slow cooker and mix well. Cover and cook on low heat for 4 hours or high heat for 2 hours, stirring once or twice during cooking. If cooking on low heat, increase to high. Stir in 3/4 cup of the cheesse and sprinkle 1/4 cup cheese over top. Warm tortillas. Spoon bean mixture into tortillas; roll and serve immediately. Can be served with tortilla chips instead of tortillas.
*****
I forgot to add in the can of green chilies, but I don't think any of us noticed. They were so yummy. I had about half a can of refried beans in the fridge, so I threw those in as well to use them up. I always skip the cheese on top and just add it on to the beans once they're on the tortilla.
I wish I had some tortilla chips to eat the rest as a dip!
Chili Cheese Tortilla Wraps
1 16-oz can nonfat refried beans
1 8-oz package nonfat cream cheese, cut into cubes and softened
1 4-oz can diced green chilies, drained
3/4 cup chopped green onions
1 cup nonfat shredded cheddar cheese
4 98% fat free flour tortillas
Spray inside of slow cooker with cooking spray. Combine refried beans, cream cheese, chilies, and green onions in slow cooker and mix well. Cover and cook on low heat for 4 hours or high heat for 2 hours, stirring once or twice during cooking. If cooking on low heat, increase to high. Stir in 3/4 cup of the cheesse and sprinkle 1/4 cup cheese over top. Warm tortillas. Spoon bean mixture into tortillas; roll and serve immediately. Can be served with tortilla chips instead of tortillas.
*****
I forgot to add in the can of green chilies, but I don't think any of us noticed. They were so yummy. I had about half a can of refried beans in the fridge, so I threw those in as well to use them up. I always skip the cheese on top and just add it on to the beans once they're on the tortilla.
I wish I had some tortilla chips to eat the rest as a dip!
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