Tomato, Basil, and Parmesan Gnocchi

I had something entirely different slated for dinner tonight, but I realized as I was awake at 2:30 AM feeding the baby that we're out of beer. That doesn't usually happen in our house, so I'm glad I thought of it with enough time left to figure out something else for dinner. I had bought a package of gnocchi at Target awhile back (who knew that Target carried gnocchi?!) and remembered reading a recipe on the back of the package that sounded good. It called for fresh basil, and I had a trip to Trader Joe's planned today (I love their price on organic basil!!), so I thought this would be a perfect fill-in dinner. I have to make some modifications because I don't have one of the main ingredients, but we'll get to that later.

Tomato, Basil, and Parmesan Gnocchi
1 package Archer Farms tri-color Gnocchi
2 Tbsp butter
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1-1/2 cups grape tomatoes, cut in half
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Cook gnocchi according to package directions; drain. Melt butter in 10-inch skillet over medium heat. Add garlic. Cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Add cooked gnocchi, tomatoes, and basil. Cook, stirring often, until gnocchi is lightly browned. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Makes 4 servings.

*****

I forgot to check the ingredients before we went to TJ's, and I was thinking it had marinara sauce in it, so I bought a jar of that. Oops. I have quite a few roma tomatoes on hand for HLT sandwiches (hummus, lettuce, tomato) I had planned on making this week for lunches, so I think I'll just chop those up in place of the grape tomatoes. I also thought the recipe called for mozzarella, so I bought a ball of fresh mozzarella. I think I'll dice that up as well and add it in to the mix, probably after everything else is cooked so it gets a little melty but mostly still holds together. I'm going to steam some broccoli to have on the side, make up a salad with some Romaine hearts I have, and I also bought some kalamata olive bread at TJ's today. Yum!

*****

Mmmmmm...this was so super yummy!! I had wanted it to have little chunks of cheese, but the cheese got all melty because I tossed it in when everything was still really hot. Oh well, it was still really good--gnocchi swimming in puddles of ooey-gooey-melted mozzarella. This is something I would definitely make again, although it was pretty decadent with all the cheese. I love how fast and easy gnocchi are to make.

No-Guilt Pumpkin Cookies

Jen B. was talking the other day about making some pumpkin bread, so I've had pumpkin on the brain ever since. I found a can of it in my pantry, so I've been trying to decide what to do with it. I looked on my new favorite recipe website, RecipeZaar.com for pumpkin recipes and came across this cookie recipe. I had everything on hand for it, so I told the boy if he took a good nap today we'd make them. Plus I was happy with the nutritional info (LOVE that about RecipeZaar!!), so I thought they'd be a good snack to have around.

No-Guilt Pumpkin Cookies
Recipe #169079

1/2 cup sugar or Splenda granular
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup margarine or butter, softened
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, beat sugars and margarine until light and fluffy. Add pumpkin, vanilla, and egg; blend well. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges.

*****

Wow. These are so yummy. I've had four five cookies from the first batch (this is why I don't normally bake cookies!!). The boy is having his second. I was a bit nervous because I've made other pumpkin cookies and was really disappointed with how they turned out, but these are super tasty. Very light and fluffy with a cake-like consistency. Yum. In fact, I may mix up another batch of dough tomorrow and freeze since I have half a can of pumpkin leftover.

Basil Pork Chops

This is going to be short and sweet because both my kids are napping, and I want to take full advantage of that!!! My friend Danielle told me recently she had tried a really good pork chop recipe. I'm always on the lookout for something new to do with pork chops, so I thought I'd give it a go. She found it on allrecipes.com.

Basil Pork Chops
SUBMITTED BY: Lisa Gilliland

1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
4 (4 ounce) boneless pork loin chops, 1/2 inch thick

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, basil, salt and chili powder. Gradually stir in 1 tablespoon oil until crumbly. Rub over both sides of pork chops.
In a large skillet, cook pork in remaining oil over medium heat for 7-8 minutes on each side or until juices run clear.

*****

Danielle emailed me last night that she had made them again and this time added some mushrooms into the pan and it turned out really good. I had to run to the store this morning for a couple things I forgot to buy on my regular shopping trip, so I picked up some to add in. I'm excited to try this. I'm going to make wild rice pilaf (recipe from Food Network website) to go with it and either some glazed carrots or steamed broccoli, not sure which yet.

*****

Wow. This was REALLY good. I couldn't find my chili powder, but I had some chipotle chili powder that I used instead. It has a lot more kick to it than regular chili powder, so I only used 1/8 tsp. The mushrooms added in were really good, too. I put them on top of the pork chops when I plated everything. I will definitely make these again, especially since all the ingredients are things I normally have on hand. We all really liked it--the boy ate every last bite of pork on his plate!

The rice was super tasty, too. Just don't let your three year old son get a juice box out of the pantry while the pine nuts and garlic are browning because he may knock over a stack of tuna cans in the process which may cause your pine nuts and garlic to almost get too dark. Just pay attention is all I'm saying. The recipe for the rice did not say to cover the pan after the water came to a boil, but I figured since it was rice I'd need to. The boy didn't eat any of it, the husband only had a few bites, but I loved it.

I remembered to take a picture of my plate, but of course the camera is downstairs, so I can't upload the picture. Once I do I'll come back and add it in here.

Peanutty Udon Noodles with Tofu

A couple weeks ago Jen B. and I found ourselves at Whole Foods. Neither of us make it there very often, so we decided to have a good coveting session while we walked around. Of course, it would have been much more enjoyable had the boy not been hitting her son all the time and if the baby hadn't been screaming. Sigh. It's probably for the best as I could easily blow my entire food budget in one trip there. It was getting to be lunch time while we were there, so we decided to get us lunch there and get Happy Meals for the boys. We each got a tray of sushi to share and then each got 3/4 pound of their spicy udon noodle salad. Lordy mama was it ever tasty!!

I liked the salad so much I thought I'd try to create something similar on my own. Did you know the Whole Foods website has recipes on it? It does. So, I searched on there and found this recipe, although I'm modifying it somewhat based on what I have on hand. This sounded like what I wanted, so we'll see how it goes.

Peanutty Udon Noodle and Tofu Salad
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
6 to 7 tablespoons tamari
1 teaspoon brown rice vinegar
1 teaspoon garlic chile sauce (optional)
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons sesame oil
20 ounces tofu, drained and cut into 1/2-thick slices
10 ounces dried udon noodles
3 cups chopped napa cabbage, green part only
3 carrots, sliced
1 bunch red radishes, quartered
1/3 cup dry roasted peanuts

In a food processor, mix together peanut butter, honey, 3 tablespoons of the tamari, vinegar, chile sauce, garlic, and 2 tablespoons warm water and puree to make a sauce. Set aside.

Heat oil in large skillet over medium high heat. When oil is hot, cook tofu on first side for approximately 7 minutes. Carefully sprinkle tofu with half of the remaining 3 or 4 tablespoons tamari and cook for about 4 more minutes or until the first side is golden brown. Flip tofu and sprinkle second side with the remaining tamari. Cook until golden brown, then transfer tofu to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside to let drain.

Cook udon noodles according to package directions, drain and transfer to a large bowl. In a large pot with a steamer basket, steam cabbage, carrots and radishes for 5 to 7 minutes or until crisp-tender. Combine noodles with vegetables and mix in reserved peanut sauce. Top with peanuts and serve.

Nutrition
Per serving (about 11oz/314g-wt.): 510 calories (200 from fat), 22g total fat, 3.5g saturated fat, 0mg cholesterol, 1390mg sodium, 59g total carbohydrate (6g dietary fiber, 19g sugar), 24g protein

*****

I bought some Thai peanut sauce at Costco, so instead of making my own sauce I'm just going to use that stuff. And I'm going to heat up a bag of stir fry veggies instead of the cabbage, carrots, and radishes. So really the only parts I'm keeping are the tofu and udon noodles.

I have my tofu draining right now, I like to give it at least 30 minutes to drain. I put some paper towels on a plate, then put the tofu block on that, then put another plate on top with something heavy resting on it to drain the excess liquid out of the tofu. You want to make sure it's drained really well, otherwise it won't brown up nicely when you cook it. I generally like to use extra firm tofu for something like this, but my store was out of it yesterday, so I had to settle for regular firm tofu. I hope it does okay.

*****

WOW. This was yummy!!! I wish my camera(s) had been downstairs so I could have taken a picture, but they were both up here in the office since I had recently uploaded pics from the boy's birthday weekend. This was super easy to put together, which I love. The firm tofu held up well, and I think I may have actually liked the cooked texture of it better than extra firm. I used about 3/4 cup of the bottled sauce (this is the website for the stuff I bought) which was plenty. This could easily be made using regular pasta, like spaghetti or linguine. This is definitely something I will make again. Yum!

Sweet and Sour Ribs

How did it get to be Sunday afternoon already?! The boy is down for his nap, the husband is sleeping on the couch (which kind of sucks since there are dishes to be done in the kitchen), and I'm trying to get the baby down for a nap. Once nap time is done, I'm going for a pedi and then grocery shopping. My feet can use some pampering, and I was virtually a single parent the past two days, so the husband said he'd treat me. Excellent (said in Monty-Burns-esque voice). I'm trying to get back in the habit of using coupons when I grocery shop, so we'll see how I do today. There's lots of stuff on sale that I have coupons for, so I'm hoping to save more than I spend...I love when that happens!

Anyway, dinner is already cooking away in the crockpot, which I love. Who doesn't love crockpots?! Did I ever mention how I stood coveting the All Clad Slow Cooker at Sur La Table a couple weeks ago? Man, would I ever love to have that grace the presence of my kitchen. I was pretty tempted to treat myself to it, but in the end I just couldn't justify it. Someday.

I still had some boneless pork ribs in the freezer, and I was trying to use up stuff I had on hand this past week because both of my freezers were ridiculously full. This is one of our favorite dinners, so the stars all seemed to align.

Sweet and Sour Ribs
1 can Contadina sweet and sour sauce
1 cup barbecue sauce
Dash of soy sauce
3 T. brown sugar
Boneless ribs

Cut fat from ribs and boil 10 minutes. Mix first four ingredients together. Place ribs in crockpot and pour sauce over to coat. Cook six hours on low. Or, place ribs in baking dish, pour sauce over ribs, and bake uncovered at 350 for 20 minutes, cover and bake for 40 more minutes.

*****

I can never find the Contadina sweet and sour sauce, so I make due with something else. usually I get the Kikkoman bottle, but I compared the ingredients of that to the ingredients in the La Choy bottle, and I liked the La Choy ingredients a lot better. I don't remember why exactly. I forgot to put the soy sauce in, so I'll throw some of that in when I go back downstairs. For side dishes I'm going to make macaroni and cheese, some kind of vegetable, and corn bread. Yum!

Blackened Fish Tacos

We're home from another birthday party. I don't know what exactly was going on in April/May/June 2005, but the boy sure does have a lot of friends with birthdays between December and March. I think we've had one birthday party every weekend for the last six weeks. Hopefully the boy takes a good nap after this party because the husband is off playing golf this afternoon, and I'd much rather have a well-rested three year old to deal with on my own instead of a tired, grumpy one.

So, at the grocery store a couple weeks ago I picked up some tilapia on Manager's Special. I'm always excited when I find meat/fish on special like that. Plus I hadn't bought fish in a long time. I'm excited it's Lent right now because that means the stores will be having fish on sale for the next few weeks. Woo hoo! In reviewing my fish/tilapia recipes there were a couple I had made and liked, so I'm excited to get to have them again. The husband said he'd like to have fish once a week, so now that it's going to be cheap for awhile I can build up a nice store of it in the freezer.

These tacos sounded good to me, and we haven't had them in a long time. Plus avocados were on sale this past week, so all the pieces seemed to come together for this.

Blackened Fish Tacos
Slaw:
1/4 cup sliced green onions with tops
2 Tbsp snipped fresh cilantro
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp Cajun or blackened fish seasoning
2 cups broccoli slaw mix

Fish:
1 pound tilapia or catfish fillets
1 Tbsp Cajun or blackened fish seasoning
1 avocado, seeded and sliced
8 (6-inch) corn tortillas, warmed
3 medium radishes
Additional snipped fresh cilantro (optional)

For slaw, combine green onions, cilantro, lime juice, oil, garlic, sugar, and Cajun seasoning. Whisk until blended. Add slaw mix; toss to coat. Cover; refrigerate until ready to serve.

Heat grill pan over medium heat 5 minutes. Moisten fish fillets with water and sprinkle with Cajun seasoning. Lightly spray pan with vegetable oil. Place fillets in pan; cook over medium heat 10-12 minutes or until fish flakes easily with fork, carefully turning once. Remove from heat. Flake fish into bite-size pieces.

Cut avocado in half lengthwise; remove seed and cut flesh away from skin. Cut one avocado half into slices. Reserve remaining half for another use. Warm tortillas in microwave or oven. Once heated, top tortillas evenly with slaw mixture and fish. Grate radisehs evenly over fish. Top with avocado slices and sprinkle with additional cilantro.

*****

I don't think I bought cilantro at the store, but maybe I already have some. I don't know off the top of my head. I also don't have corn tortillas, so we'll be using whole wheat. I found whole wheat tortillas that I really like--low in fat, high in fiber, and relatively inexpensive. I think the brand is something like Guerrero? I don't know, but they're my new tortilla of choice (my "old" tortillas were Mission reduced fat, which were good, but I like these a lot better). I think I'm going to make Jen B.'s pinto beans as a side dish. I just love 'em. Last time I made them the husband told me the only kind of beans he likes are refried. Apparently he was unaware that refried beans are pinto beans. So, I'll keep mine whole and just mash his up for him so he thinks they're official refried beans...because I'm just sneaky like that.

Hummus

I'm not sure what's on the menu for dinner tonight. I'm feeling better, but the husband is meeting a friend for happy hour, so it's just the boy and me. The boy wants pizza, but I'm still tired of pizza after our pizza-fest last weekend (Friday night for the boy's birthday, Saturday at his party, and Saturday night for dinner since there were leftovers). I need to be figuring it out since it's 4:30. Sigh.

Anyway, Jen B. reminded me this week of one of my favorite sandwiches that I had forgotten about, HLT--hummus, lettuce, tomato. They're so tasty, really healthy, and super easy to make. I hadn't made hummus in a long time, so I made some this afternoon. I used Jen's recipe for it since the last time I made my usual hummus recipe I was really disappointed with the results.

Jen's Hummus: Plain

Ingredients:
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (aka garbanzo
beans)
1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt or light sour cream
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1-2 garlic cloves (depending on how sharp and garlicy you like it)
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 cup of feta cheese
2 Tablespoons of tahini

Directions:
In food processor blender, puree all the ingredients with 1-2 tablespoon water. Add more olive oil and salt, if needed.

*****

Wow. This is awesome hummus. I called Jen after I had first tasted it to tell her how much I liked it. I can't stop eating it. i need to put it in the fridge so I don't eat the whole batch of it in one sitting. Yum!

Sick

I've come down with a nasty cold, so we're having pretty simple dinners at our house until I feel better. Last night we had some marinated mahi mahi filets I had bought at Trader Joe's and had in the freezer. I had planned on making a wild rice pilaf to go with it when I originally did my meal plan, but I didn't feel up to real cooking, so the husband picked up some Pasta Roni when he ran to Walmart to get more diapers for the baby. Tonight I think we're going to have a frozen teriyaki chicken entree I have in the freezer. I had bought it at Costco to have on hand when the baby was born, and there's still one pouch of chicken left. I'll just make some rice to go with it, heat up some stir fry veggies, and probably heat up the last two TJ's veggie egg rolls I have in the freezer as well. Hopefully I'm on the mend tomorrow and can make real dinner again!

Spaghetti

This is going to be short and sweet. The boy didn't nap, the baby's been crying pretty much all day, and i don't have a whole lot of patience or mental capacity. I'm not even going back to correct that i that should be capitalized. When my in-laws were here at Christmas time, my MIL--God bless her--froze a bunch of her spaghetti sauce and meatballs for us to have at a later date. I noticed them in the freezer yesterday when I was trying to do a quick inventory to see what all we had that I could use this week. I had originally slated spaghetti for tomorrow night, but as I'm in no mood to cook or deal with anything more difficult than boiling a pot of water and throwing in some pasta, this will work out great.

I'm not even bothering to copy and paste her recipe...here's a link to it:

MIL's Spaghetti and Meatballs

Nacho Chicken

I'm still reeling from the weekend of birthday festivities (and so is my house!), but life must go on which means making dinner tonight. The husband talks about this recipe a lot, but it's not something I make very often since it uses Doritos, and we rarely have Doritos in the house. We had them for the boy's party on saturday, so I figured this would be a perfect time to make it since I plan on throwing away the bag of chips after I'm done with dinner tonight. Normally I wouldn't waste food like that, but if I have chips around I'll eat them. And, as today starts my new diet (not so much a diet as back to eating healthy all the time), a Costco-size bag of Doritos will be a major detriment. As will the Costco bag of Ruffles, so I will be bidding those adieu as well.

Anyway, aside from dinner tonight all my meals going forward are going to be healthier than what I've been making over the past, oh, 11 months. I gotta start getting rid of this baby fat. the husband is pleased too...he said he tends to lose more weight when I'm trying to, so we can all be a little slimmer. Well, he and I can...the boy could probably use some fattening up.

Nacho Chicken
2 Tbsp mayonnaise
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp Italian seasoning
2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
3/4 cup crushed nacho cheese Doritos (about 30)
1 Tbsp butter or margarine, melted

Combine first three ingredients; spread on both sides of chicken. Dredge chicken in crushed chips. Place chicken on a lightly greased baking sheet or jellyroll pan. Drizzle with butter. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is done.

*****

Pretty trashy, I know, but aren't trashy foods some of the yummiest? Maybe not yummiest, but I like to think of them as guilty pleasures. i still haven't decided what to have with this. We're having glazed carrots because I bought way too many baby carrots for the party on Saturday (we'll probably have them a couple times this week actually), but I don't know what to do for a starch.

Cashew Chicken

I've fallen a bit behind on my blog posting, but I have good reason. The boy turned three on Friday, so I've been in a birthday frenzy. I have no idea where the past three years have gone--how has it been three years since this amazing little guy graced the world with his presence?! The birthday celebration continues today with our family party for him; yesterday was his birthday party with his friends--12 three year olds (or almost three year olds) in my backyard playing in a bounce house. Insanity...but it was fun.

We had this for dinner on Thursday night, but we'd had a pretty busy day going to check out a preschool with some friends and then taking our kids on a picnic afterwards (we had take out from Whole FOods while the kids had Happy Meals...nice huh?), then I had to get busy cleaning house for my brother coming into town and the party on Friday. I had been wanting to try this recipe for awhile, but for whatever reason it kept getting pushed back in my menu plan. Speaking of menu plan, the recipe is from the Meal Planning 101 blog that I like so much. I was glad I was finally going to try it because Jen A. and Jen B. had both made it and each really liked it. Plus I heart Cashew Chicken. It's hard to find good Chinese food in Phoenix, so I'm always on the lookout for a good recipe I can make myself.

Cashew Chicken
2-3 chicken breasts or 4-5 chicken thighs, chopped up
3-4 tbsp cornstarch
Salt and pepper
8 green onions, chopped
3 cloves of garlic
3 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
¼ cup water
1 cup raw cashews, toasted

Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces and season with salt and pepper. Toss the chicken in a bowl with the cornstarch until the chicken is nicely coated. Heat a wok or frying pan with a tablespoon or two of oil over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, add half of the chicken and fry until browned and crispy. Remove from the pan. Add another tablespoon or so of oil and stir-fry the rest of the chicken until crispy. Remove from the pan. Add the white part of the green onion as well as the garlic and stir-fry about a minute or so, then add the rice vinegar. Let the vinegar evaporate (about 30 seconds) then add the chicken back to the pan, along with the hoisin sauce and water. Cook for about a minute or so until the sauce is thick and the chicken is coated. Add the cashews and stir to incorporate. Remove to a plate and top with the green part of the onion. Serve over rice.

*****

This was super easy and sooooo yummy. Mine didn't come out looking as saucy and dark as the picture on the meal planning blog, but it sure did taste yummy. I even added in a little more Hoisin to try and darken it up and sauce it up a bit more. Not a big deal, it was still super yummy. We all really liked it, although the boy didn't eat his cashews. Don't worry, I didn't let them go to waste, I took care of them for him. This is definitely something I will make again. Easy and yummy are two of my favorite combinations!!

Crockpot Baked Ziti

I've had a long afternoon, so this will be pretty short and sweet as I don't have the mental capacity to do much more after having dealt with my unruly almost three year old son all day. To get a better appreciation of how may day has gone, I'll tell you that I spent a good chunk of my afternoon getting purple Sharpie marker out of the carpet on our stairs. Sigh.

I came across this recipe while looking at vegetarian recipes on the Year of Crockpotting blog. I had everything on hand for it, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Crockpot Baked Ziti
(link takes you to the post on the blog)

1 bag of your favorite pasta
1 jar of marinara sauce
Any vegetables you might want to throw in
Cheese odds and ends

Rinse pasta in a colander (just so there's some added moisture). Add a handful of pasta and a bit of sauce to your crockpot stoneware insert. Put in a bit of cheese and keep layering ingredients in until you run out. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours.

*****

I forgot to rinse the pasta, but after reading the reviews/comments I added in 1/4 cup of water because a lot of the comments stated that the pasta was crunchy because there wasn't enough liquid. Someone else suggested stirring it partway through cooking so the pasta on the sides wasn't crunchy, so I need to do that. I used a bag of penne pasta that somehow snuck into my most recent Trader Joe's purchase (the downside of letting your kid push one of their kid carts around the store. I almost came home with a papaya and three bags of pistachios, but luckily I caught those. Wonder why they all start with the letter P?) and a bag of mozzarella cheese. For the sauce I used what was leftover from my ravioli dinner last week because I was lazy and never put it in the freezer. Oh, I also diced up the portobellos that were left over from last night and stuck them in one of the sauce layers. I think we'll just have some bread and salad with this. i don't think I can manage much more than that.

Butternut Squash "Fries"

I finally got to use the Hungry Girl Cookbook that my brother got me for Christmas!! I had taken it upstairs awhile ago to read in bed one night and kept forgetting to bring it downstairs so I could use it for meal planning. I was flipping through it the other night and noticed this recipe and thought it would be good to try sometime. Fast forward to yesterday when I was grocery shopping, and I saw butternut squash. I had yet to come up with some kind of starch side dish for dinner, so I thought I'd get a squash and try these "fries" with it.

Hungry Girl's Butternut Squash "Fries"
1 medium butternut squash (about 2 pounds, large enough to yield 20 ounces uncooked flesh)
1/8 tsp kosher salt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Use a sharp knife to remove the ends of the squash. Cut squash in half widthwise and then peel squash halves using a vegetable peeler or knife. Cut squash in half lengthwise and then scoop out all seeds.

Next, cut squash into french fry shapes. Use a crinkle cutter to make authentic-looking crinkle fries. Using a paper towel, pat squash pieces firmly to absorb any extra moisture.

Place squash in a bowl, add a light mist of nonstick spray, and sprinkle with salt. Toss squash evenly to distribute salt and then transfer to a large baking pan sprayed with nonstick spray. Use two pans if needed. Squash pieces should lie flat in the pan.

Place pan(s) in the oven and bake for 40 minutes or so (longer for thick-cut fries, shorter for skinnier fries), flipping halfway through baking. Fries are done when they are starting to brown on the edges and get crispy.

Makes 2 servings.

*****

I forgot to pat the squash pieces dry before mixing them with the spray and salt. I didn't think it would make that big a difference, but after eating them I think it's a step that has to be done. The fries were really good, but I think they would have been a little crisper if I had patted out excess moisture. The boy didn't like them, but the husband, my mom, and I all really liked them. I'll definitely make these as a side dish again.

Portobello Burgers with Aioli

I never got around to posting yesterday because we had a crazy busy day. In the morning was my Bible study group, then we met my friend Gina for lunch at Z Tejas. I heart Z Tejas. I used to frequent their happy hour quite often because they make a darn good margarita and just a couple will knock you on your butt. I like a lot of bang for my buck when it comes to happy hour. Or liked I guess, since I really have no idea when the last time was I went to a happy hour. Anyway, I had the smoked chicken chile relleno. I'd never had it before and was feeling slightly adventurous. Per the menu on their website, it's a "Grilled poblano pepper stuffed with chicken, pecans, apricots, raisins, a blend of spices and Jack cheese, served over a green chile and picante cream sauce with green chile rice and black beans." Lordy mama, was it ever tasty. I ate every last bite and only left a couple black beans--and the stem of the pepper--on my plate. Yum. I've never been disappointed with anything there.

Anyway, we got home from lunch and I quickly fed the baby because my mom was coming over to watch the kids so I could try and get the boy in a preschool and then go grocery shopping. The boy didn't win the lottery for the preschool, so after I got home I spent the rest of the afternoon looking up preschools to check out for him. There are a few that look good, so I'm hoping I end up liking one of them. I was way too caught up in preschool searching to stop and post my recipe for last night, so I'm doing it this morning.

Truth be told, I was more disappointed that the grocery store I went to only had one pacakge of portobello mushrooms than I was that the boy didn't get in to the preschool. My two grocery choices are Fry's and Safeway, and I like Safeway so much better, but I went to Fry's because they had portobellos on sale--and then didn't even have enough! Grrrr. I made due, though, and bought a package of the baby portobello caps to make up the difference. It worked out okay. This is another recipe from RecipeZaar.com.

Portabella Burgers With Aioli
Recipe #19147
By: Kim Weimer

4 medium portabella mushrooms
1 cup gouda cheese, shredded
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves
4 hamburger buns (We prefer whole wheat)

Aioli:
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
1 teaspoon italian seasoning
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon dill weed

First make the aioli sauce. Just add all the Aioli ingredients and whisk together. Chill for approximately 20 minutes.

Lightly clean the Portobello mushrooms and remove the stems. Mix the Olive oil and Garlic and brush all over Mushrooms. Broil Mushrooms for 3-5 minutes with rib side down. Turn over and top with cheese. Broil an additional 3 minutes. Place on Hamburger bun and top with aioli or anything you would prefer.

*****

I used my grill pan instead of broiling them, and I used slices of provolone instead of gouda. I still had some of the whole wheat buns I had made leftover, so we had our sandwiches on those. They were super yummy!! The aioli was really tasty and a nice complement to the mushrooms. I love having portobello burgers because they're so easy to put together, and the mushrooms just have so much flavor. Yum!

For side dishes I made butternut squash fries (I'm posting that recipe after this one) and some roasted asparagus. It was quite a vegetarian feast. For the asparagus I just lay it out on a cookie sheet, pour some olive oil over the spears, sprinkle with salt, and throw in the oven. Easy and so tasty.

Lame Duck

Okay, we aren't really having duck for dinner, but I imagine you figured that out because y'all are smart cookies. The husband has a cold, and when I was asking him if he'd be hungry for dinner he hemmed and hawed enough that I figured it wasn't worth cooking a real dinner. I hate taking the time to cook something and then find out no one wants to eat it. PITA! So, I think we're just going to have grilled cheese sandwiches or hot dogs or something lame like that.

I'll be back tomorrow with a yummy dinner...I'm excited for what I have planned!

Pizza

The boy wasn't napping yesterday, so I had to cut my updating short so I could actually get some stuff done while he was contained in his room. It was nice to have a clean house for awhile--of course this morning when I got up it was a disaster already. I think elves or some other small mythical creatures must sneak into my house in the middle of the night after I've cleaned and make a mess again. Oh wait--or maybe it's the husband and my almost three year old son. That's probably a more likely scenario.

Anyway, we had pizza last night. it was yummy. I had bought proscuitto at Trader Joe's a couple weeks ago and remembered a pizza I'd made with proscuitto awhile ago, so I made one of those and a plain cheese. I think the baby is going through a growth spurt because he wanted to eat every hour yesterday evening, so the husband and I ended up eating dinner after the boy went to bed because there was no way the pizza was going to be ready in time for us to all eat together. Here are the recipes for the crust I made and the proscuitto pizza.

Quick Homemade Pizza Crust
1 package of active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 cup warm water
2 1/2 cups of flour
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon of Italian Seasoning (optional)
1 Tablespoon of garlic powder (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 450. In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy (about 10 minutes).
2. Stir in flour, salt, & olive oil. Beat until smooth. Let rest 5 minutes.
3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan dusted with corn meal. Spread evenly with sauce. Cover with toppings in an even layer.
5. Bake 15-20 min. Let cool 5 minutes. Cut and serve!


Mushroom-Prosciutto Pizza
Cooking spray
8 ounces sliced cremini mushrooms
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
1 (10-ounce) Italian cheese-flavored thin pizza crust (such as Boboli)
2 ounces prosciutto, cut into thin strips
1/3 cup (about 1 1/2 ounces) shredded fontina cheese

Preheat oven to 450°.
Heat a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add mushrooms and shallots to pan; sauté 7 minutes or until mushrooms are tender. Add garlic and thyme; sauté 1 minute. Stir in vinegar; remove from heat.

Place crust on the bottom rack of oven. Bake at 450° for 4 minutes.

Place the crust on a baking sheet. Spread mushroom mixture evenly over crust; sprinkle evenly with prosciutto and fontina cheese. Bake at 450° for 6 minutes or until cheese melts.

*****

Obviously I changed up the proscuitto one since I made my own crust. I also didn't have sherry vinegar, so I used red wine vinegar instead. I also couldn't find fontina cheese at the store I was at, so I got some smoked gouda instead. I don't like all smoked cheese on a pizza, so I did a layer of that and then regular old mozzarella (well, not old mozzarella because that would be gross, but you know what I meant). And I baked for the time in the dough recipe.

This pizza is FANTASTIC. I had kind of forgotten about it until I bought the proscuitto, and I was so glad I remembered it. The flavors in it are so good together. This is one I need to make more often because the husband and I both really like it. We had planned on grilling them, but we're low on propane, so we just did them in the oven instead. There are a few pieces left which I can't wait to have for lunch!!

Crockpot Applesauce

Awhile back I came across a really cool cooking blog, A Year of Crockpotting. Then a few weeks later, one of my friends sent me a link to it, which was nice because I had completely forgotten about it (the downside of having a favorites folder of Cooking Blogs since the folder isn't always open for me to see what's there). Once again, I forgot about it. Then I was reading posts on the Meal Planning 101 blog that I like so much, and she mentioned the crockpot blog in one of her posts. So I went to look at it again and saw this applesauce recipe. I'd been wanting to try making my own applesauce for awhile but never got around to looking up a recipe for it. I thought, "What could be better than throwing it all in the crockpot?!" I bought apples a couple weeks ago and had told the boy we were going to make applesauce. Then I forgot about it. Are you noticing a trend here? I have NOTHING in the way of a memory?! So this morning, as all mornings, the boy's first question was, "Where are we going today, mom?" I told him we were staying home because we've had a crazy week, but we'd do fun stuff around here. He asked if we could make applesauce, and I said, "You know what? That is a great idea!" so we did. I love letting him help in the kitchen. He wants to taste everything we put into a recipe which I think is way cool of him. I also try to use the experience to teach him things, like "How many eggs are we putting into the cookies?" Or with the applesauce, "Can you count how many pieces of apples are here?" yeah, I'm a dork, but at least I'm aware of it.

Crockpot Applesauce
(the title links to the post on the crockpot blog)
4 large apples, skinned ,cored, and cut in quarters
juice from 1 lemon
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 T brown sugar
1/4 cup H20

Skin, core, and cut your apples into quarters. Plop the pieces into your crockpot. Add the juice from the lemon, and the water. Pour in the vanilla, and add the cinnamon and brown sugar.

Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours. When the apples are super tender, mash with a potato masher or large fork.

*****

Mine is still cooking, but it's been in for 4.5 hours, so I imagine it will be done anytime now. This was super easy to throw together, and I have to imagine it is cheaper than buying applesauce at the store, especially if apples are on sale. I used Granny Smith apples because that's what they looked like in the picture on the crockpot blog. I also didn't have a lemon (well, I did, but it was definitely past its prime), so I just used a little less than a tablespoon of lemon juice. Desperate times and all. I really like homemade applesauce, so I'm really looking forward to trying this. My mom used to make her own applesauce, and I told her about this recipe and she said it sounds a lot easier than how she used to do it on the stove because you had to watch it really closely or the apples would burn.

Pot Roast

Originally I had planned on having this Wednesday, but I kept forgetting to take the roast out of the freezer. Turns out it didn't matter as I forgot to take it out for Thursday, too. But I figured if I put it in the crockpot early enough it wouldn't matter.

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.

*****

I heart pot roast. I heart it a lot, which is funny because I don't think I really liked eating it as a kid. Maybe part of it is that I appreciate the ease at which this comes together. I put a frozen, two-pound roast in the crockpot around 8:30 yesteday morning I think it was, and we ate dinner at 6:00. It was perfectly done. I love to just pour spoonfuls of the sauce/gravy over my whole plate. My only disappointment is that there wasn't enough meat leftover to make shepherd's pie. We'll be having this again in the near future because I came across two roasts in the freezer from August. This was one of them, and I want to get the other one used up quickly too. Actually I may try to do something else with it--branch out a little, expand my roast horizons and all that.

Italian Sausage, Peppers, and Onions

This was what I needed the buns for on Wednesday night. I had bought some chicken parmesan sausage at Sprouts when they had their big sausage sale. Jen B. made this recently, and I thought I'd copy her once again. Plus peppers were on sale, so all the stars seemed to align. We were originally going to have this on Tuesday night, but we got home later than I had planned, so there wasn't time to make the buns. I cut it close on Wednesday, too, but it all worked out okay.

Italian Sausage, Peppers, and Onions
6 (4 ounce) links sweet Italian sausage
2 tablespoons butter
1 yellow onion, sliced
1/2 red onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 large red bell pepper, sliced
1-2 green bell pepper, sliced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 cup white wine
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Place the sausage in a large skillet over medium heat, and brown on all sides. Remove from skillet, and slice.

2. Melt butter in the skillet. Stir in the yellow onion, red onion, and garlic, and cook 2 to 3 minutes. Mix in red bell pepper and green bell pepper. Season with basil, and oregano. Stir in white wine. Continue to cook and stir until peppers and onions are tender.

3. Return sausage slices to skillet with the vegetables. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 15 minutes, or until sausage is heated through.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2009 Allrecipes.com

*****

I only changed this up slightly. I used one each of yellow, orange, and green peppers. I skipped the yellow onion and used half a red onion. I also only had three links of sausage, so that was all I used. It was really good, I love, love, love the smell of peppers and onions cooking on the stove. My house smelled awesome. One sandwich was really filling, too. I don't often have sausage in the house, but this is one I'd make again if I had all the ingredients.

Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns

So, my friend Jen B. recently made her own hamburger buns and raved about them. I figured they were worth trying since 1) she loved them so much, 2) it's nearly impossible to find hamburger buns in the store that don't have high fructose corn syrup and a bunch of other junk in them, and 3) I had all the ingredients on hand for them. She found the recipe on RecipeZaar.com, which is my new favorite recipe website.

Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns
(Recipe #318534 by Sharon123)
2 cups warm water
1/4 cup corn oil or canola oil
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup cooked oatmeal
1/4 cup flax seed, ground
1/2 cup honey
6 cups whole wheat flour (you can replace 2 of the cups with white flour if you like)
2 tablespoons active dry yeast

In a large mixing bowl place all ingredients except flour and yeast.
Mix, adding 4 cups whole wheat flour(or 2 cups white flour, 2 cups whole wheat, if desired)and 2 tbls. yeast.

Whip with a wooden spoon 5 minutes. Slowly, add the rest of the flour. Turn out on a floured board and knead till smooth.

Spray a large bowl with cooking spray and place dough in it. Put in a warm place to rise, covered with a towel, about 1 hour.

When the dough has doubled in size, divide into 12 pieces. Roll into smooth balls. Flatten with the palm of your hand and place on a baking sheet.

Let rise till doubled, about 45 minutes to an hour. Bake at 350*F. 20-25 minutes.
Remove from oven. Cool on wire rack.

© 2009 Recipezaar. All Rights Reserved.

****

Wow, were these good. I don't think I'll ever buy hamburger buns again. Okay, that's not true because if we ever had a BBQ I wouldn't want to go to the trouble of it, and the husband a lot of times takes a Boca burger in his lunch, so I'd have to make these pretty often to accomodate that. But, when we need hamburger buns for dinner, I'll definitely make these. Even the dough looked good--so grainy (good grainy) and hearty. The husband said the buns were the best part of dinner. I think we only used three, so I'm excited to still have nine left in the freezer.

Catching Up

Man alive, this has been a crazy week for us. I need to go back and update from Wednesday and yesterday as well as what we're having tonight. We've had multiple things happening every day. My house is a total disaster because of it, and I feel like I've been completely out of it and frazzled since Monday. We've done a lot of fun stuff, but it's still been crazy. I was supposed to host a scrapbooking event this morning for my MOMS Club, but it got cancelled. We were invited to go to the zoo with some friends, but the husband is expecting a package, so we opted to stay home so he doesn't miss it. Plus as much as I wanted to go, I thought it would be nice to have a day at home to get things done. And we have had a nice day so far. The boy and I made applesauce in the crockpot (recipe to come shortly), cleaned up the toy room, made Valentines for family members, cleaned his room. Both kids are down for naps, so I figured I'd quickly update the blog and then get busy cleaning up downstairs. I love going into the weekend with a clean house, although sometimes I wonder why I even bother because it's usually chaotic again by Saturday morning. Who am I kidding...whenever I clean it's chaotic by the next morning!

Raviolis

I'm not having much luck with dinners this week. I had planned on making sausage and peppers tonight along with my own hamburger buns, but my plans went awry. We went to my new Bible study group this morning and then spent the rest of the day with my mom and aunt and saw my dad and grandmas. By the time we got home, it was too late to make my own buns, and we didn't have any others. So that idea got scrapped. I was missing an ingredient for my back-up dinner plan, so that got tossed out the window too. I remembered I had a bag of frozen raviolis in the freezer, so I quickly threw together a pasta sauce to go with those. I loosely based it on the tomato sauce recipe I usually use but changed it up just a bit.

Tomato Sauce
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 can tomato paste (the small can)
1/2 cup tomato juice
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning

Heat some olive oil in a saucepan and add onion and garlic. Cook for a few minutes being careful not to burn the garlic. Add in remaining ingredients, let simmer for an hour or more.

*****

I'm so not good at writing out my own recipes. The usual tomato sauce I make calls for water, but I had tomato juice in the pantry for a soup I want to make, so I thought I'd pour in some of that instead. It smells good, so we'll see how it turns out.

I think the sausage and peppers will be slated for tomorrow night. I try to do a crockpot dinner on Wednesday nights, but I had planned on doing a pot roast but have yet to get it out of the freezer, so I don't think that will work. We have a busy day Thursday, so I'll plan on the pot roast then. Plus tomorrow I know I'll have time to make the buns.

*****

The sauce was good. I don't think it was too different in taste than how I usually make it. I ended up adding some sugar because it tasted too acidic and tart and mixed in a bit of water because it seemed really thick. There was quite a bit left, so I'll probably end up freezing it to use some other time. I much prefer making my own sauce instead of buying a jar. It's really inexpensive and you know there aren't a bunch of additives or preservatives.

Leftovers

I was going to make something new for dinner tonight, but in getting out stuff for lunch today for the boy and me, I realized we have an insane amount of leftovers. Chicken fajitas from last week, roast beef and funeral potatoes from Saturday, gumbo from last night. So I thought why add to the clutter of my fridge, we'll just eat what's in there, and I'll cook tomorrow night. That means I'll have to cut something I had planned on making later in the week, but I have two ideas what that could be.

By the way, I made a fabulous panini for lunch yesterday, and I'm having one again today. I used a french roll leftover from the french dips, spread some BBQ sauce on both sides, then added roast beef, cheddar cheese, and sliced red onion. Lordy mama, was it good. In fact when I told the husband it was leftovers tonight, he said he wants a panini like I had yesterday and a side of gumbo. I told him that was exactly what I was having for lunch.

Aunt Holly's Gumbo

I love Aunt Holly. She's the husband's aunt, and I've only met her once, but I love her. She's awesome, and she makes some darn good gumbo. The husband and I went to New Orleans for our first anniversary and had dinner at Uncle Charles and Aunt Holly's house one night while we were there, and Holly made her gumbo for us. I was fortunate enough that she emailed me the recipe when we got home. It's not something I make very often because, well, it's just not gumbo weather in Phoenix very often. Who wants to stand over the stove making a roux when it's 110 degrees outside?! But, I bought some andouille sausage recently, and yesterday was cloudy and rainy, so I figured it was perfect. Actually I had already planned it for dinner last night, it was just a nice coincidence that it was cloudy and rainy. The recipe is exactly as Holly sent it to me, so you'll have to read through it for the ingredients and directions. But, to help in the process, I took pictures as I was going!! That's why I'm posting the day after, I didn't get the pictures uploaded last night. I'll paste in the recipe and pictures and their descriptions will be below.

Aunt Holly's Gumbo
First you make a roux. I don't use olive oil I use about 3 or 4 large cooking spoons of flour and about 1 large spoon of vegetable oil. Med. heat. The roux should be the consistency of a loose paste. Stir then let it sit a few seconds then stir. Keep repeating till the roux is a med dark brown. not as dark as chocolate. Then add 1 chopped onion, about 3 or 4 green onions chopped, 1/2 bell pepper, chopped, 1 or 2 sticks celery (optional) chopped, Parsley chopped. Keep stirring and cook about 10 min till onions start to cook then add about 4 cups of water this may not be enough. but let it come to a boil and let all your roux melt this takes about 20 min. You can always add more water. It may take about 6 or more cups. I don't know I never measure. I just know what constancy it should be. Remember Gumbo is watery not like stew. As soon as it comes to boil turn fire low or it will boil over. In separate pan on high heat brown chicken. I use either breast and thighs (boneless) or sometimes like my Grandma did I cut a whole chicken. Just brown the chicken don't cook it. Then put it in with Gumbo, add smoked sausage (Bryan) I also pre cook that in separate pot to get out oil. I also add andouille sausage. I also add 1 smoked turkey wing which is also hard to find. But the smokey flavor of the turkey wing just adds flavor it's not a necessity. Everything is in one pot now and boil on low fire till chicken is well cooked. Then you can add file' if you can buy that also. I think you can it's with the spices and called Gumbo file' Add about 2 tbs. of that sprinkle on top stir than cook about 5 more min. I add a little garlic powder. Oh don't forget plenty of salt thats your flavor and pepper and cayenne pepper to, it's Cajun remember. Serve over rice.

I broke out both of my Le Creuset pots for this endeavor:


Here are my vegetables, all chopped up and ready to go:


Here's my sausage browning away. I used Trader Joe's chicken andouille sausage and half a thing of Hillshire Farm smoked sausage. I like to put it cut side down to get some of the fat/oil out and to brown that side of it.


Check out all this sausage remnant yummy-ness. I cooked my chicken in it because I just live on the edge like that.


Here's my sausage and chicken ready to go for a swim in the gumbo.


Here's the start of my roux. I hate making a roux, but I think I did better this time than I ever have before.


Here's my roux part way through cooking. I was worried it was burning because I got busy taking pictures and dealing with an unruly toddler while the husband was napping on the couch. But it was okay...it didn't burn. See how it's starting to get darker?


Here's my roux when it was done. I thought this was a nice medium brown color.


This was my meat cooking pan after I had browned the sausage and chicken. I couldn't let all those glorious browned bits go to waste, so I deglazed the pan with a bit of chicken stock then poured it into the gumbo pot. Had I been thinking, I would have done everything in the same pot so my roux would have cooked in this yummy goodness.


Here's the vegetables mixed with the roux, before the water is added in to the mix.


Now, the gumbo simmering away. YUM! You can kind of see some chicken and sausage poking out.


And, the final product. This was actually my second helping because I was too excited to eat to stop and take a picture of my first bowl.


Yum. This was such a good dinner. The boy just ate the meat out of it and some rice, he doesn't really dig on soup. The andouille gave this great flavor and spice. There's some left in the fridge that I think I'll have for lunch. I can't wait!!

Funeral Potatoes

I've had a nice break from cooking dinner. I guess it was only one night, but somehow it seems longer. I had Bunco last night, so I got a pizza at Walmart for the husband and boy to eat since I prefer to overeat at Bunco and not having dinner before that helps me overindulge. ;) I had planned on making shrimp dip, but I couldn't find the cream of shrimp soup for it. I had already bought the potato chips for it, so I quickly tried to come up with another idea while at Walmart that would use the potato chips. Nothing came to me, so I called Jen B. because I'm completely dependent on her and can't make a decision on my own to save my life. She said save the potato chips and use them for Funeral Potatoes or Potato Chip Chicken (which I call White Trash Chicken). So, I did. I ended up getting spinach dip to take instead.

Now, I've been eating these potatoes for as long as I can remember because my grandma has always made them, only she calls it Hashbrown Casserole. Jen B. makes this and calls it Potluck Potatoes. She was talking to our friend Laura about the recipe, and it turns out Laura calls them Funeral Potatoes. While kind of morbid, I think it's funny, so that's what I'm dubbing them now.

We're having french dips as our main course which I don't think really warrants typing out a recipe since I just use deli roast beef, french rolls, and a packet of au just. I'm pretty excited for french dips, we haven't had them in a looooooooooooong time because I can never find roast beef on sale for a decent price. Sprouts, however, came through for me last week. I've been closely monitoring the roast beef every day to make sure it's still good. I think the sell by date on it was yesterday, so I'm pretty comfortable using it tonight. Funeral Potatoes is kind of a weird side dish I realize, but they sound good, and I don't really have occassion to make them later in the week with any of the dinners I've planned. Yeah, yeah, I could wait until next week and plan a dinner around them, but I'd rather just have them tonight. Which reminds me I need to get going on them since they have to bake for an hour.

Funeral Potatoes
2 lb. bag of diced, frozen, country-style potatoes
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1 can of Cream of Chicken soup
1/2 yellow onion, diced finely
1 Tablespoon of dried, minced onion
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 stick of melted butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Cooking Spray

For topping:
1/2 cup of crushed corn flakes
1/2 cup of crushed plain, potato chips
4 Tablespoons of melted butter

Directions:
1) Coat 9 x 13 glass casserole dish with cooking spray and set aside.
2) In a large bowl, combine diced potatoes, sour cream, 1/2 cup of shredded cheese, soup, yellow onion, dried minced onions, garlic powder, paprika, melted butter, and salt and pepper to taste.
3) Once thoroughly combined, spread in an even layer in the casserole dish. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup of shredded cheese on top.
4) For topping: In a separate bowl, combine crushed potato chips, crushed corn flakes, and melted butter. Sprinkle mixture evenly over top of potatoes and cheese.
5)Bake at 350 degrees, for 1 hour (uncovered).

Giada's Orzo Stuffed Peppers

When I first got the newest Giada cookbook, I flipped through and noticed this recipe immediately. I couldn't wait to make it but wanted to wait until red peppers were on sale. I was super excited when I saw them for cheap at Sprouts last week (are you asking when I'm going to stop talking about Sprouts? I don't blame you, but I'm almost out of all the goodness I bought there), and I had looked at the recipe shortly before that trip, so I knew the other major stuff I needed for it.

I'm not feeling super wordy today, so on to the recipe.

Giada's Orzo Stuffed Peppers
1 (28-ounce) can Italian tomatoes
2 zucchini, grated
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano, plus more for sprinkling
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups orzo (rice-shaped pasta)
6 sweet bell peppers (red or yellow)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Pour the tomatoes into a large bowl and break apart using a pair of kitchen shears or your finger tips. Add the zucchini, mint, cheese, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.

Meanwhile, bring the chicken broth to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Add the orzo and cook for 4 minutes. The orzo should be only partially cooked. Use a fine mesh sieve to transfer the orzo to the large bowl with the other vegetables. Stir the orzo into the vegetable mix to combine. Transfer the warm chicken broth to a 3-quart baking dish.

Slice the tops off the peppers and remove all ribs and seeds. Cut a very thin slice from the base to help the peppers stand up.

Place the peppers in the baking dish with the warm chicken broth. Spoon the orzo mixture into the peppers. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil, sprinkle the top of each pepper with cheese and continue baking until the cheese is golden, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, carefully transfer the orzo stuffed pepper to a serving plate.

*****

I didn't make many changes to this, except I had regular canned whole tomatoes, not Italian. I meant to add some Italian seasoning to the mixture, but I forgot when I was mixing it all up. I also browned some sweet Italian sausage and added in to the mixture, per Jen B.'s recommendation. And can I just say how much I love fresh mint?! It smells fantastic...I could stand in my kitchen inhaling that scent all freakin' day. I only used four peppers, and I have a ton of the filling left, so I put it in the freezer, then I'll have a super easy dinner at some point in the future. I tasted some of the filling before I froze it, and it was so good. Lots of yummy flavors--the olive oil, sausage, tomatoes, mint, parmesan (oh yeah, I used parmesan instead).

These were really good. The boy didn't eat it at all, but I think he was having an off night. All he ate for dinner was broccoli. Yes, my toddler loves broccoli. Anyway, the husband and I both really liked this, although he said the pepper itself was kind of bland but the filling was really good. Not sure what I can do about that, but if that's his only complaint, I'm not complaining. We will definitely have these again...regardless of the huge bag of leftover filling in the freezer. ;)

Beer Chicken Fajitas

Don't you love finding new cooking blogs? Okay, maybe not everyone does, but I sure do! Foodie Blogroll has changed my world. That may be an overstatement, but I sure have found some cool blogs through it. I haven't even explored the website a whole lot, but I just click on some of the blogs that show up on the widget every day (over on the right side of my blog). This is how I found this recipe, it was on Feasting Fun.

The husband is taking a class at church on Wednesday nights, so I'm trying to do a crockpot recipe on Wednesday nights so we're guaranteed to eat at a certain time. I hadn't been able to find any crockpot recipes that use stuff I got at Trader Joe's or Sprouts last week, so we were going to have french dip sandwiches because I figured that was easy to have ready for whenever. Then yesterday I came across this chicken fajita recipe and said, "Aha!" Okay, not really. Or I didn't verbalize it at least. I had slated chicken fajitas for Saturday night, so I just did some rearranging so we'll have them tonight. I'm excited to try this. My mom said she's done something similar with beef fajitas, and they turned out well. I used to have a really good recipe for chicken fajitas, but I got rid of the cookbook it was in without writing it down. All I remember is the chicken marinated in lime juice, garlic, and something else. Sigh. So hopefully we like this and it can be my new chicken fajita recipe.

Beer Chicken Fajitas
Ingredients:
1 onion
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
3-4 boneless chicken breasts (approx. 1 per person)
2 bags of fajita seasoning
½ bottle of beer
Tortillas

1. Slice up 1 onion, 1 red pepper, 1 green pepper, and 1 boneless/skinless chicken breast per person and put in a crock pot
2. toss with 2 bags fajita seasoning, and pour in half a bottle of beer
3. Simmer on low for 6-8 hours
4. Serve with tortillas and your favorite toppings.

*****

When I was at Trader Joe's last week I spotted a bag of frozen red, green, and yellow bell peppers (already sliced even!) and threw it in my cart. Jen B. and I took turns going in while the other stayed in the car with the kids, so it was literally a whirlwind TJ's trip, so I really did throw it in my cart. I think I'm going to just toss the whole bag into the crockpot, and I may scale back on the chicken a little since there will be a lot of peppers. I'll probably do two chicken breasts. And I guess I'll have to have beer with lunch because I'd hate to have half a bottle go to waste. ;) I bought some avocados at Sprouts, so I'm going to make guacamole to go with these. Not sure what we'll have on the side, I haven't planned that far ahead yet.

*****

Wow. This was REALLY yummy!! And for the first time in I think forever, I made chicken in the crockpot and it wasn't dried out!!! It was so super easy to throw everything together. I put the chicken breasts in the the crockpot still frozen, then after a few hours I took them out and sliced them up and put them back in. This is something I will definitely be making again. And I'll be honest...I didn't mind finishing off the remaining half a beer. Actually after the day I had, I went and got another out too. ;) Oh, I used High Life Light, so don't think you have to use some fancy beer for this. Even though High Life is the champagne of beers. ;)

Tater Tot Casserole

this is one of my most favorite meals ever!!! My mom went to a sewing expo not far from my house last week. I invited her for dinner one night, but she said she was just going to head home. The next day she asked what we were having. :) I had originally planned on making this that night, but I got those ahi tuna steaks at Trader Joe's and switched things up. So I told her I'd make it one night this week and she could come for dinner then. She comes over once a week and stays with the kids so I can go grocery shopping alone. Isn't she a saint?! My mom's awesome. So, she's going to come over this afternoon and then just stay for dinner. I love this casserole because it's easy to throw together and so super tasty. Seriously, it's been one of my favorites since I was little.

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.

*****

Mmmmm. Yum. I can't wait for dinner. I like to eat mine with ketchup. I usually use shredded cheese because that's what I always have on hand, but it's much easier with slices. Actually I have a big block of cheddar cheese in the fridge, so maybe I'll slice some of that up to use instead of the shredded. We'll have some kind of vegetable on the side--maybe green beans.

Pioneer Woman's Pasta and Eggplant

I had one of the worst days ever yesterday, so updating the blog wasn't super high on my list of priorities. Let's just say I spent most of the day reminiscing about the days before I had kids. And I didn't really decide what I was going to make until late afternoon. I wanted to use the eggplant I bought at Sprouts last week (they were 2 for $1...2 for $1!!!!!!), but I didn't want to make eggplant parmesan again since it's so time-consuming and really not that healthy. Jen mentioned this recipe she had made from Pioneer Woman's website, so I thought I'd give it a go as well. Jen made some modifications to it, so I went with her version.

PW's Pasta and Eggplant: A Variation
Olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 medium eggplants (the original recipe has 3 eggplant)
4 sliced, small Portobello mushrooms (optional, not in the original recipe)
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
Fresh basil
1 1-lb package fusilli
salt & pepper
Parmesan Cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions.
Slice eggplant into round slices. Sprinkle one side with salt and allow to stand or 15-20 minutes. Turn over and repeat for another 15-20 minutes. Rinse eggplant and pat dry. In a large skillet over medium heat, heat olive oil and cook onion and garlic until starting to turn color, about 5 minutes. Add eggplant and mushrooms, stirring gently. Cook for 8 minutes, or until somewhat tender and starting to brown. Dump in canned tomatoes and reduce heat to simmer. Add salt and pepper and simmer until eggplant is tender. Toss in cooked pasta and chopped basil. Stir in 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese. Garnish with shaved Parmesan.

*****

I only had one eggplant to use, but I think it was enough. I think the three in the original recipe would have been too much, but maybe without the mushrooms you'd want three. I used cremini mushrooms in mine--yum. I didn't have any cans of tomatoes, so I defrosted some homemade tomato sauce I had in the freezer and used that instead. It seemed a little shy to me, so I added in a few ladles of the pasta water to stretch it some.

We all really liked this. The husband and I both had seconds, and the boy ate all that was on his plate which is rare these days. It made a lot--after dinner there were still at least three large servings left, so at least we have lunch for a couple days. I'll definitely make this again--it was really easy and so tasty.

No dinner!

we were supposed to go to a birthday party tonight for one of the boy's friends, but the friend's dad is sick, so it got cancelled. Instead of having to come up with something last minute, we're going out. So far it's between a Cajun restaurant we haven't gone to in quite awhile or our favorite Chinese restaurant. Either way, I'm excited!! Tomorrow we're going to a Super Bowl party at a friend's house, so I'm off the hook then, too. I'll be back on Monday--using the bounty of goodness I bought at Sprouts yesterday!

Tomato Feta Salad

When I was at Trader Joe's the other day I was struck with the brilliant idea of the husband and me having a mini date night at home tonight, eating dinner after the boy goes to bed. I picked up some ahi tuna steaks and some brie, so that's what we're having. I thought we needed something to go with the tuna but wasn't sure what to have with it. Sprouts had beefsteak tomatoes on sale three pounds for $1 (!!!!!) today, so I got me some of those. My mom had mentioned that part of their sale when I talked to her earlier today and said we were going there. I remembered the Barefoot Contessa had a tomato salad with feta and red onions, so I picked up some red onions and hoped I had everything else. Turns out I do, except for fresh basil. I'm going to just use dried because it's not worth hauling two kids to the store to just get some basil. I've wanted to try this for awhile, so I'm really excited about it.

Tomato Feta Salad
4 pints grape tomatoes, red or mixed colors
1 1/2 cups small-diced red onion (2 onions)
1/4 cup good white wine vinegar
6 tablespoons good olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 1/2 pounds feta cheese

Cut the tomatoes in half and place them in a large bowl. Add the onion, vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, basil, and parsley and toss well. Dice the feta in 1/2 to 3/4-inch cubes, crumbling it as little as possible. Gently fold it into the salad and serve at room temperature.

*****

The recipes says this makes 12 servings, so I'll cut it in half at the very least. The reviews on the Food Network website said it wasn't as good refrigerated as it was room temperature, so I don't want to have a lot of it left over.

*****

This was really good! I will definitely be making it again, especially in the summer when tomatoes are better than they are now. It was super easy--I'd say I had it all mixed together in five minutes max. The recipe was in the Barefoot Contessa at Home cookbook, and in the book it was half of what is listed above, so that's what I made. Even that was quite a bit for just two people. I haven't had any today to see how it tastes after sitting in the fridge over night, but last night it was super tasty!

Grilled Red Pepper Relish and Goat Cheese Sandwiches

We've had a big day today, and I really need to be getting some stuff done around my house, but since I didn't post this yesterday I wanted to get to it today. Two of my friends and their husbands are opening a preschool, and this morning was the ground-breaking ceremony. Sounds impressive, doesn't it? "Yes, I spent my morning at a ground-breaking ceremony." I'm soooo upper-crust, don't you think? Yeah right. Anyway, it was fun and exciting to see where their school is going to be because it's been a long time in the works. Plus there was cake made by my friend Tina--she makes AWESOME cake. I had two pieces. Hey, I'm nursing...I need extra calories.

Near where the ground-breaking was is this way cool grocery store, Sprouts. They have a lot of natural foods and organics, and they usually have great deals on produce and meat. There aren't really any close to where I live, so when I remembered there was one out that way I planned on stopping on my way home. Turns out Jen B. had the same idea, so we went together. When we got there they were having a huge sausage sale (as in "huge sale on sausage" not selling overly large sausage). I almost had to throw down with an old woman in a penguin sweater (seriously, penguins?!) because she tried to cut in front of me in the sausage line. Don't mess with a woman standing in line for cheap meat!!! Or at least don't mess with me. I told her who's boss though, don't worry. She threw more of a tantrum than the boy usually does. Anyway, I stocked up on andouille, sweet Italian, and a chicken parmesan sausage because it was all $1.99 a pound. In hindsight I should have bought more andouille, but I did get some at Trader Joe's the other day, so I should be okay. I also got a ton of yummy vegetables, so I'm excited to plan meals for the week based on what I bought today.

Anyway, if you also read Jen B's blog you can easily tell I read through her blog to get meal ideas for this past week. I think three of the things I've made have been recipes she's done recently? It's only fair since she does the same thing with my blog. ;) Plus the whole co-dependency thing, I can't always come up with my own ideas. I figured since I still had 3/4 pound of goat cheese left these would be a great dinner idea--and easy. Red peppers were on sale, too, so everything came together perfectly.

Grilled Red Pepper Relish and Goat Cheese Sandwiches
sliced bread
1 package of soft goat cheese (4 oz.)
softened light cream cheese(2 oz.)
1-2 roasted red peppers (jarred or fresh)
1 onion, quartered
4 cloves of fresh garlic
Extra virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Place roasted red pepper, onion, garlic, some juice from the pepper (or pepper jar) to the bowl of a food processor and pulse to finely chop. Add the vinegar and salt and pepper. Pulse to combine. In a separate small bowl, combine goat cheese and cream cheese until well mixed. On an indoor grill pan, grill the bread until toasted (about 2 minutes per side). Drizzle a little olive oil onto warm bread slices. Spread softened goat cheese mixture onto grilled bread slice. Top with red pepper relish and cover with a second piece of grilled bread. Cut in half and serve immediately.

*****

Now, when I mixed up the relish part of this I was a bit nervous because it tasted really onion-y to me. Like REALLY onion-y, like all I could taste was onion. And I only used 3/4 of an onion (because the other 1/4 dropped on the floor and I didn't notice for awhile...it was way beyond the 5-second rule). But, after it sat awhile and the flavors had time to combine, it wasn't nearly as onion-y as it had been. Paired with the goat cheese, it was AWESOME. This will definitely become a vegetarian staple in our house, especially since Costco has goat cheese for so cheap. I ended up using both of the red peppers I roasted. The last time I roasted peppers I had a hard time peeling of the skins, so I looked up on the Food Network website how to do it and found a great tutorial on how it should be done. This was super easy. I roasted mine under the broiler, then tossed them in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap, and forgot about them for awhile. When I remembered them, they were perfectly cooled off, and the skin came off really easily.

I did mine slightly different than Jen did hers. I had bought par-baked ciabatta rolls at Trader Joe's the other day, so I used those. I baked them for three minutes to crisp them up, then cut in half and put face down on my panini maker to toast the inside a little. I didn't want them to get soggy from the relish. I brushed the inside with some olive oil, then spread the relish on one side and the goat cheese on the other side. I stuck them together and put the whole thing back into the panini maker. Super easy. The second batch I brushed the tops of the rolls with some olive oil before putting them in the panini maker; I didn't notice too much of a difference, but I think those ones were slightly better.

Like I said, these were fantastic and definitely something I will be making again. The recipe made quite a bit of relish, so what we didn't use I stuck in a bag and put in the freezer. Especially since that part is already done, these will be even easier to make the next time we want them. Thanks, Jen, for a great dinner!!

Slow Cooker Minestrone

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

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

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

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

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

*****

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

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

Vegetarian Tamale Casserole

I had a major "mommy brain" moment when I was grocery shopping the other day. One night last week when I was making dinner I noticed a recipe on the back of the bag of cheese I was using. It sounded good, so I threw it on the menu for this week. As I was writing out my grocery list I thought, "Oh I need to look on the bag of cheese to see what I need for that recipe." Did I do it? Nope. Did I realize that before I got to the grocery store? Nope. Did I realize it as I was walking around the store? Yup. I knew I needed a couple cans of beans for it, but that was it. Then, as I was walking out to my car, my mommy brain moment happened. I had shopped at Safeway, and the recipe had been on the back of a Safeway brand bag of cheese. I could have gone over to the cheese aisle (where I had been at one point anyway) and looked on the package to check the recipe. Sigh. So I ran to Walmart last night and got the missing ingredients, since I needed to go buy a second humidifier so both kids have one in their room. Yup, my kids are still sick. I'm pretty tired of hanging out at home.

Anyway, I'm kind of nervous to try another new recipe since last night's dinner was such a failure, but I have high hopes. I'm not a super huge bean fan, but I'm trying to embrace the bean since we're trying to eat more vegetarian dinners. I really like black beans, but the husband doesn't. I like pinto beans, too. So I guess I'm on my way to being a bean lover.

Vegetarian Tamale Casserole
1 can (8-3/4 oz) whole kernel corn, drained
1 can (15-1/4 oz) red kidney beans, drain half the liquid
1 can (8-3/4 oz) garbanzo, pinto, or black beans, drained
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup green onions with tops, sliced
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1 package (8-1/2 oz) cornbread mix

In a large bowl, stir together all ingredients but cornbread. Pour into a greased or sprayed 2-quart baking dish or casserole. Make cornbread according to pacakge directions. Pour over top and spread evenly. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until top is golden.

*****

I think I may mix in a little salsa to the bean mixture to give it a bit of sauce, I'm concerned otherwise it would be really dry. Jen B. made us a really good tamale pie when the baby was born. I looked up her recipe and saw that it calls for canned tomatoes and chipotle peppers. I think I may have a can of chipotle peppers in the pantry; if I do, I think I'll chop up one or two to add in. I have canned tomatoes, but they're all slated for other uses, so I figure a little salsa will make up for that. Not sure what we'll have with it...some kind of frozen vegetable or just salad.

*****

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. This was YUMMY!!! I will definitely be adding this in to our vegetarian dinner rotation. Easy, inexpensive, and tasty...what could be better?! I ended up adding in one chipotle pepper chopped up and some of the adobo sauce it was canned in, and I added 8 ounces of salsa. It was awesome. I was worried it was too liquidy when it came out of the oven, but after it sat awhile it was fine. I think I'd modify the recipe to sit 5-10 minutes before cutting into it. Oh, and I skipped the chili powder and cumin because I figured adding in the salsa and chipotle pepper would give it enough extra flavor. I saw that Jen uses two boxes of cornbread mix when she makes hers, but of course I didn't have a second box on hand. I think the next times I make this I'd use two boxes as well, as the topping on it was a bit sparse. The husband and I both had seconds, and the boy even ate all of his--without being prodded along!

Easy Chicken 'n Greens

In an effort to try and be more productive during the day (note that the key word in that sentence is TRY), I think I'll start updating the blog while the boy watches his morning shows. I'm on the computer then usually anyway, so it makes sense. Oh, and I still have two sick kids in case you were wondering. We're heading to the doctor's office this morning. Hopefully it's nothing serious.

Over the weekend when I was planning meals for the week I went through all the recipes I've posted on here to see if I could find a chicken dish we had liked but hadn't had in a long time. I was surprised to find that there weren't any, and it didn't even seem like we ate chicken that much. Which is weird because I think we have it once a week at least. So I broke out one of the new cookbooks I got for Christmas, the one my mother-in-law gave me that's from the school where she teaches. I had a lot of the stuff called for in this one, and I had seen that bok choy was on sale, so I figured it was meant to be.

Easy Chicken 'n Greens
8 skinless bonelss chicken thighs or 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 large garlic cloves
1 head bok choy or broccoli
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. white wine or chicken broth
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt
2 c. baby or sliced carrots or other vegetables
2 tsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Remove skin and fat from chicken and discard. Thinly slice garlic. Thickly slice bok choy or cut broccoli florets (about 4 cups). Heat oil in large frying pan over medium heat. Dip chicken into flour and shake off excess. Saute until lightly golden, about 5 minutes each side. Add garlic and continue to saute for about 3 minutes. Add wine or broth, red pepper flakes, and salt. Bring to a boil and add carrots. Partially cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer 10 minutes, turning chicken partway through. Add bok choy or broccoli and sesame oil. Continue simmering, uncovered and stirring often, until vegetables are done as you like, from 5-10 minutes. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

For a more concentrated sauce, remove chicken and vegetables to a heated serving plate. Boil broth until reduced to about 1/2 cup. Pour over chicken and serve.

*****

I think it sounds super yummy!! I'm going to cook up some rice to go with it and call it good since there are vegetables mixed in it. I think I may use the other half bag of stir fry vegetables I have in the freezer that was leftover the from Pork Katsu the other night instead of slicing up carrots.

*****

Eh. That's really all I have to say about this. I was concerned that it would be kind of bland, so I added some Chinese 5-Spice Powder to the flour to spice it up a bit. It helped a little but not much. I'm sure with proper tweaking this could be good, but I don't think I'll take the time to make it again to figure out what to do with it. I got a late start on dinner, too, so since we were already going to be eating late I didn't take the time to play around with anything tonight either. At least I didn't have to buy a lot of ingredients for it.

The husband just finished having a plate of the leftover pasta from last night, I had some blueberry coffee cake. That's how unimpressive this was. I had really high hopes since I assumed people would have submitted their best recipes for a cookbook like this, but I guess not. Or whoever submitted it likes bland food. Sigh. So disappointing.