Frosty Fruit Smoothie

We were in desperate need of a new blender. The one we had we had received as a wedding present, and it was one of those smoothie maker ones with the spout on it, but the spout would always get clogged up or it would leak. I was just tired of it. So the boy got me a really nice new blender for my birthday. Isn't he sweet? Then it happened that we were at my friend Jessica's for a breakfast party last week, and she has an orange tree in her backyard that is producing copious amounts of oranges this year. So she gave us a bag to take home. I told the boy we could make smoothies out of some of them, so I went about looking for a recipe. I found this one on RecipeZaar.com, and thought it would be a good one to try, but I changed it up a bit.

Frosty Fruit Smoothie

1 cup orange juice, chilled
1/2 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
1 medium banana, cut into chunks
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup small ice cube or crushed ice

In a blender, combine fruit juice and yogurt; add banana and vanilla. Add ice cubes, Cover and blend until nearly smooth.

*****

I ended up using two bananas and probably slightly more juice and yogurt so I could get two smoothies out of it. The boy and I both really liked these! The original recipe called for milk instead of yogurt, but I liked the idea of the yogurt better. Plus Greek yogurt is so yummy.

The downside of this? Now every day the boy asks if we can make smoothies! Not that it's a bad thing necessarily, just more work for a snack than I usually like to do. :) But we both really liked the smoothies, and I like controling what's in the snacks/treats/drinks we have.

My cool retro juicer. It was my grandma's.


Hello, fresh squeezed orange juice. Thanks Jessica and Dashel for sharing your oranges with us!


Mmmmm...smoothie!!


I don't know why it didn't occur to me to take a picture of everything in the blender. Oops!

Grilled Vegetable Paninis

Recently I somehow stumbled on a food blog dedicated solely to paninis, PaniniHappy.com. Actually I think I found out from a link on Aggie's Kitchen. We love paninis, and I'm always looking for new variations. After my cheese making class I had some goat cheese (which at some point will be its own post) I wanted to use, so I checked out the panini blog for some ideas. I found a recipe for a Grilled Vegetable Panini that was pretty similar to what I wanted to do, so I used it as a basis. We needed to go to Trader Joe's, so I planned on picking up a bag of their frozen grilled zucchini and eggplant mix, but wouldn't you know they were out of it. So I bought an eggplant and a package of zucchini (really reasonably priced, by the way) and figured I'd grill my own. I still had some TJ panini rolls left in the freezer, so I used those for the sandwiches.

Grilled Vegetable Paninis

1 eggplant, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
3 small to medium zucchini sliced lengthwise into 1/4-inch slices
4 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
4 cloves garlic, minced
Goat cheese (chevre)
Slices of mozzarella
Panini rolls

Combine eggplant and zucchini slices in a large bowl. In separate small bowl, combine oil, vinegar, basil, oregano, and garlic. Whisk to combine, then pour over vegetables in large bowl and toss to combine. Let marinate at least one hour.

Prepare grill or grill pan. Grill vegetables in batches, approximately 3-4 minutes per side or until grill marks appear. Remove to plate and finish grilling vegetables.

To assemble sandwiches, spread layer of chevre on bottom half of panini roll (or bread of your choosing). Top with layers of vegetables, then a slice of mozzarella. Place top half of sandwich roll on sandwich and place the whole thing in a panini press for 3-4 minutes or until grill lines appear and mozzarella is melted.

*****

Mmmmmmmmm...this was so good!! We had a bit of a grill mishap, so I ended up having to use my grill pan inside. Some of the crazy storms we had this winter kept knocking over our grill, so we need to do a little maintenance on it to get it ready for grilling before we can use it. It worked out okay on the grill pan, just took a lot longer since I had to do smaller batches.

The chevre I used was what I had made at my cheese class. It was really yummy, although it was slightly more work than the other cheeses because you have to let it sit for longer, and it requires a special packet of something. I'll probably have to post about the cheese class tomorrow because I still have two posts left to do today, and the boy is getting antsy being in his room for quiet time.

Anyway, these were super tasty!!! The husband and I loved them. They were really filling, too. I did two layers each of zucchini and eggplant. I would definitely make this again--filling, healthy, vegetarian--love it!! Although I much prefer the convenience of the frozen veggies from Trader Joe's over having to do it myself.

The panini rolls I like:


My vegetables marinating. I tossed them around every now and then during the course of the hour.


Grilling the veggies on my grill pan. God bless the inventor of the grill pan.


Mmmmm...big pile of grilled veggies!!


Even more mmmmmm...cheesy, yummy grilled vegetable panini!!

Santa Fe Burgers

I just want you to know that I stayed up late last night cleaning my house so that I could update my blog today during naptime without feeling guilty about the state of my house. It was bad. So after the kiddos and husband were in bed I cleaned. Now I can get all caught up here. I think I have four posts to do, and I think I have pictures for most of them, or at least some!

For most of my meal planning last week I used a Cooking Light cookbook I forget to use. It's Cooking Light Superfast Suppers. It has some really good stuff in it, and all the recipes are quick to put together. Since I wanted to have mostly new stuff on the menu AND be healthy, I figured it was a great place to start.

I always have Boca Burgers on hand because the husband takes them for lunch a lot, so when I saw this I figured it would be a great dinner since we already had the protien piece, we had hamburger buns, salsa, and I had gotten several avocados from my produce co-op last weekend. All I needed was the cheese!

Santa Fe Burgers

4 (2.8-ounce) frozen meatless soy protein burgers
4 (2.8-ounce) whole grain hamburger buns
4 (3/4-ounce) slices 2% Monterey Jack cheese with peppers
8 thin slices avocado
1/2 cup chunky salsa

Cook burgers in a nonstick skillet according to package directions. Place 1 burger on bottom half of each bun; top with 1 cheese slice, 2 avocado slices, and 2 tablespoons salsa. Cover with top half of bun. Serve immediately.

Nutritional Information
Calories:367 (23% from fat)
Fat:9.4g (sat 2.8g,mono 2.2g,poly 0.5g)
Protein:24.2g
Carbohydrate:52.5g
Fiber:9.6g
Cholesterol:11mg
Iron:4.4mg
Sodium:872mg
Calcium:314mg

*****

I happened to take dinner to my friend Jen on Monday night, and I took them Mexican Chicken Casserole. The husband was VERY disappointed that they got that while we were having Boca burgers. He didn't realize they were "fancy" Bocas, so I think he felt a little better once I told him that, but he was still jealous of their dinner.

These were really good burgers. I ended up mixing the salsa with a little mayonnaise for a creamier sauce. The combination of that with the pepper jack cheese was realy good, with the creamy mellowness of the avocado to balance it out. Yum!! I had planned on doing some kind of potatoes with these, but Jen's dinner ended up taking me longer to put together than I anticipated, so instead I made up some guacamole and we just had tortilla chips and guac on the side.

I'd probably make these again, especially since most of the ingredients are things I had on hand. It was a really good, really fast vegetarian dinner to add to my arsenal. The cookbook actually has a whole section on doctored up Boca burgers, so I may try out more of them. Surprisingly both my kids ate the Bocas as well. I wasn't sure what they'd think, but both kids ate their burgers just fine, although they just had regular ol' American slices on theirs.

Still here!!

Oh man, I was doing so well there for awhile at updating my blog in a timely manner. Then my birthday hit and I did nothing. Well, I did a lot of stuff, but none of it included updating the blog. I turned the big 33 last Wednesday, and pretty much feasted for five days straight. My actual birthday the husband took the day off work, and we had a great family day. I was served breakfast in bed (bacon and eggs, with the eggs cooked in the bacon grease...be still my beating heart...which may be the actual outcome if I ate that too often), we went to lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, Kona Grill and feasted on sushi and a huge piece of the tastiest red velvet cake I've ever had compliments of the restaurant for my birthday. Nice!! For dinner we went to another favorite restaurant of my mom, courtesy of my awesome mom, TexAZ Grill. I may have mentioned it before. My friend Benah and I used to go for lunch fairly often when we were pregnant and indulge in their amazing chicken fried steak. The husband questioned my restaurant choice, but he questioned no more once he tasted the prime rib he got. Lordy mama, it was some of the best prime rib I've ever had. I, of course, stuck with my usual chicken fried steak because it was my birthday and I could indulge all I wanted.

Moving along, Thursday night I cooked something but now I don't remember what it was. It was supposed to be a roasted chicken, but I forgot to take it out of the freezer in time. Friday night was my birthday present from my husband, we went to see "Avenue Q" which was freakin' hilarious!!!

Saturday I had my cheese class which was totally amazing--you have no idea how easy it is to make cheese! Well, some kinds of cheese anyway. I'll have to do a cheese post at some point. I don't remember what we had for dinner that night either because we were going to have something that used the leftover chicken from Thursday night, but since that didn't happen I had to come up with something else. Must not have been too overly exciting.

Sunday night was my birthday dinner with my family, and my almost 92 year old grandma made her amazing fried chicken and gravy for it. I swear I could eat my weight in that. Okay maybe not that...maybe my ideal weight. So of course I overindulged then, too. After all was said and done, I weighed myself on Monday morning and found I was up 10 pounds. YIKES. Thankfully, though, after a day of healthy eating and massive water consumption I was down seven pounds on Tuesday. Phew! I don't feel so bad about three pounds given the insane indulging I did.

So now I have this whole last week's worth of dinners to post, all of which were new recipes to me, so I definitely want to get them done. However I've felt all week like I'm going in a million different directions at any given moment and not getting anything accomplished. I hate when that happens. My blog hasn't been updated, my house is a disaster, I need to do laundry. Seriously, I don't know what's been going on with me. I'm going to be gone all day tomorrow, so I'm thinking Monday during naptime I'll devote to getting the blog updated. I had planned on doing it tonight, but a friend of ours is over and I got busy chatting with him and the husband, and now I'm exhausted and have to be out of the house by 7:15 tomorrow morning. I think the cards are stacked against me tonight, but hang tight because just about everything I'm going to post is worth reading!! We've had some tasty, tasty dinners this past week!

Cheese!!

I just signed up for a beginning cheesemaking class at Sur La Table this weekend!! I'm so excited, I just had to share. Here's the info on the class, in case you're curious:

Learn the foundational basics of cheesemaking and ways to use fresh cheeses from Chef Instructor Mary Karlin. Mary will share tips from her upcoming book, Making Artisan Home-crafted Cheeses, being published spring 2011. Students will taste sample cheeses that have been made ahead then discuss the styles and flavors. Students will work in teams to make all of the cheeses then share what they've made to take home. *Note: Price includes containers to take cheeses home.

MENU Panir from India: a dense, firm cow's milk cheese - Queso Fresco from Latino cuisines: a mild, crumbly cow's milk cheese - Chèvre from France: a soft, tangy goat's milk cheese - Ricotta from Italy: a creamy, mild cow's milk cheese

Now let's just hope enough people sign up for the class that we get to make all of them!! Last time I took a cooking class at Sur La Table there were only two of us signed up, so we had to pick and choose which of the menu items to make. Actually I've never had panir, so I could probably take or leave that, so let's just hope there are enough people to make the chevre (yum!!!), queso fresco (so I can make more Rick Bayless recipes!!), and ricotta (fresh ricotta is AWESOME!).

Pesto Pasta Surprise

One of the other women on the message board I belong to has a food-based blog I follow, FrostedFingers.com. Every Tuesday she posts a new recipe, and last week's looked super easy and good, Angel Hair Pasta. The only downside was that it used store bought pesto and alfredo sauce--both things I love but don't generally eat because of the high fat content in both. When I was doing my meal planning for the week I thought of that recipe and decided to make something similar but with ricotta instead of the alfredo. Then when I was thinking about it more, it sounded a lot like a recipe my mom made recently for my brother when she was visiting him. I called her today and got the recipe, so I think mine is going to be a combination of the two.

Pesto Pasta Surprise

1 package whole wheat penne
1 jar marinara sauce
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup mozzarella
1/4 cup pesto
Additional mozzarella for topping

Prepare penne (or pasta of your choice) per package directions; set aside. Combine cheeses and pesto in medium bowl; set aside. In 8x12 pan, layer as follows: half of the cooked pasta, half the marinara sauce, all the cheese/pesto mixture, remaining half of the pasta, remaining marinara, additional mozzarella.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

*****

I'm really excited to try this tonight. I have some pesto leftover from making Veggie Pesto Pizza last week, so however much of that I have in the freezer is what I'm going to use. I may use a bit more ricotta, too, because I like cheesy pasta.

Along with this I'm going to make Barefoot Contessa's Garlic Ciabbata Bread and a salad. Yum!!

Baked Orzo with Fragrant Lamb

Man alive, did we have a crazy weekend!! Our realtor called Saturday with some houses she wanted to show us, so my mom ended up coming over to stay with the kids while we went looking at houses. Some were okay, some were horrible. We're still holding out hope that the one we put the offer on will come back approved from the bank. The waiting game sucks!! We should have an answer in four weeks or so at least, so we just have to hang in there. Anyway, the boy and husband went to a hockey game Saturday night, so the baby and I didn't really do anything special for dinner.

Yesterday was just about as crazy. Church, taking lunch to and visiting my friend Jen and her new babies. The boys were both melting down when we left, so we came home for naps. The husband went grocery shopping for me while I took a much needed siesta, then the husband and boy went to get haircuts, the husband went shooting, I made dinner, we ate, kids went to bed, husband and I watched a movie. Man! Not much time in there for updating the blog here. But I'm just a day late so I don't feel that bad.

Awhile back I found some ground lamb on manager's special at the grocery store and scooped it up. I didn't know what I wanted to do with it, but it was a good deal and I thought it would be something new to try. I checked one of my Weight Watchers cookbooks and found this recipe that used ground lamb--perfect! I was really excited to try something new, and this sounded really easy.

Baked Orzo with Fragrant Lamb

1/2 pound orzo
6 ounces lean ground lamb
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fennel bulb
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp dried mint
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 14-ounce can crushed tomatoes
3 Tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3 ounces reduced fat feta, crumbled
2 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Spray an 8-inch square baking dish with nonstick spray; set aside.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the orzo and cook according to package directions. Drain and transfer to a large bowl.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add the lamb and cook, stirring to break up the meat until browned, 3-4 minutes. Remove lamb with a slotted spoon and transfer to the bowl with the orzo.

Add the onion, fennel, garlic, mint, and oregano to the same skillet. Cook, stirring until onion begins to soften, 3-4 minutes. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, and cinnamon; cook until mixture thickens, 6-8 minutes.

Combine the tomato mixture with the orzo and lamb. Stir in the feta and mix well. Pour mixture into the baking pan. Sprinkle top with the parmesan. Bake until hot, 25 minutes.

Points Value: 6 (makes 6 servings)

*****

So, I had a bit of a mishap. The baby was standing next to me while I opened the package of lamb, and I checked the baby's diaper because the air smelled pretty gross. It wasn't him, it was the lamb. I was a bit skeptical of using it but went ahead and defrosted it and started cooking it. Then I called my mom to see if she knew if ground lamb was supposed to smell like a baby's dirty diaper. She didn't know, but we both agreed it probably wasn't a good sign. At this point the smell of it was making me want to puke, so I decided to scrap it. Luckily I had some ground veal in the freezer--the only other ground meat I had on hand--and quickly defrosted it and browned it. So, that was substitution #1. I ended up using the whole pound of veal because I needed to be using it up and really had no other ideas for what I could do with it. To compensate for the additional meat I added in more crushed tomatoes (conveniently I bought a 28 ounce can of tomatoes instead of 14) so it was a bit saucier. I also used fresh mint instead of dried.

I took a bite of it all mixed together before I put it in the baking dish and LOVED IT. I wasn't really sure how the cinnamon would play in when I was adding it, but it really accented the flavor of the tomatoes and feta. Who knew! Honestly I took quite a few bites before putting it in the baking dish...I couldn't stop eating it. Even once it was all heated up and baked it was so good!!! We all really liked this. I think it could easily be made with ground beef or turkey, which I would probably do in the future since it's pretty rare for me to have ground veal on hand. This was really so easy and tasty!! I'm glad I tried it--and I'm glad I had the lamb mishap. :)

Rick Bayless' Chipotle Meatballs (Sandwich Style)

Oh man...words do not express how freakin' excited I am to try this dinner tonight!!! Months and months ago when I was holding the Rick Bayless Mexican Everyday cookbook hostage from the library I saw this chipotle meatball recipe in it. Sounded good and then I thought, "Hmmm...you could probably make a Mexican version of a meatball sandwich with those." And then the idea just had to sit in my brain for a long, long time. I don't know why I haven't made this sooner given my excitement for it!!

So, first I'll post the recipe from his cookbook and then how I'm doing my sandwich take on it after the recipe.

Rick Bayless' Chipotle Meatballs
Copyright 2005, Rick Bayless' Mexican Everyday

3 slices bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 garlic cloves, peeled (divided use)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup dried bread crumbs (3/4 cup if they're the coarse-textured panko)
Salt
1-1/4 pounds ground pork
1/2 cup (loosely packed) coarsely chopped mint leaves, plus extra leaves for garnish if you wish
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice (preferably fire-roasted)
1-2 canned chipotle chiles en adobo, stemmed and seeded
1-2 Tbsp chipotle canning sauce
1 tsp dried oregano, preferably Mexican
About 1-1/2 cups beef or chicken broth

Turn on the oven to 450 degrees. In a food processor, combine the bacon and 1 garlic clove. Process until finely chopped. Add the eggs, bread crumbs, and 1 teaspoon salt. Pulse several times to combine thoroughly, then add the pork and mint. Pulse the machine a ew more times until everything is well combined--but not at all processed into a paste. Remove the blade.

With wet hands, form the meat into 16 plum-size spheres, spacing them out in a 13x9 inch baking dish. Bake until lightly browned (they'll be browned more underneath than on top), about 15 minutes.

While the meatballs are baking, combine the tomatoes, with their juice, chipotles, canning sauce, oregano, the remaining 2 garlic cloves (cut in half) and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a blender or food processor. Process to a smooth puree.

When the meatballs are ready, spoon off any rendered fat from the baking dish, then pour on the tomato mixture, covering the meatballs evenly. Bake until the sauce looks like tomato paste, 15 to 20 minutes.

Microwave the broth for about a minute to heat it (or heat in a small saucepan). Divide the meatballs among four dinner plates, leaving most of the sauce behind. Stir enough broth into the sauce to give it an easily spoonable consistency. Taste and season with additional salt if you think the sauce needs it. Spoon the sauce over the meatballs, decorate with extra mint leaves, if you wish, and serve.

*****

My mouth started to water a bit there while I was typing out the recipe. Rick has yet to do me wrong, so I cannot wait to try this! The only substitution I'm making is to use ground beef instead of pork. I have 1.5 pounds of ground beef left in my freezer, and I gave the husband a couple options that I could do with it, and this is what he chose. We're trying to get back to no (or very little) red meat, so we won't be having anything like this for awhile.

So, now my sandwich take on them. These sounded really similar to meatballs in marinara my friend Laura makes and then uses for meatball sandwiches. So I thought why couldn't I do a Mexican version, using this sauce instead of marinara, and queso fresco instead of mozzarella. So that's what we're having for dinner tonight! I was telling my friend Jen about these last night when I talked to her, and she thought they sounded awesome, too. She suggested putting avocado or guacamole on them, too. I do have an avocado that needs to be used up, so I might try that and see how it is.

I can't wait to report back to you on how these turn out!!

*****

Oh man...oh MAN!!! I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Rick Bayless is a god among men, or at least when it comes to food. These meatballs were AMAZING. The sandwiches were so-so, but I think that's mostly because I forgot to toast or somehow heat up the sandwich rolls before assembling. Oops. They were so filling, too. Neither of us finished the sandwich.

I ended up using one chipotle pepper and a few spoonfuls of the canning sauce because I didn't want it to end up too spicy. I figured better to start with less and then go from there if I needed to, but I think that was just the right amount for our taste. Smokey with a little heat but not overpowering.

I loved the hint of bacon and mint in the meatballs. The flavor was fantastic and captivating. The smokey sauce really added to them as well. This is something I will definitely make again, although since we're giving up ground beef for awhile I may try them with ground turkey, or I'm hoping to get a food grinder attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer for my birthday, so if I do I could grind up a lean cut of pork and make them that way. As it was I used 93% lean ground beef, and they turned out fine. Oh, my food processor was not going to be big enough to add the meat with the bacon/bread crumbs/egg/garlic mixture, so I added the mint in with all that and then combined that mixture with the ground beef in a bowl and mixed it by hand.

Just thinking about them makes me want to go over to the fridge and have one cold!

(I took pictures, but they're on my phone, so I'll upload them later.)

Leftovers

The husband is meeting a friend of his after work this evening, so it's just me and the boys for dinner. We have a ton of stuff in the fridge that needs to be eaten, so I think we're just going to have a clean up night. Or I'll make them grilled cheese or chicken nuggets.

Check in tomorrow, though, because I'm SUPER excited for the dinner I'm making!! I had the idea months ago and am finally getting around to making it. I seriously cannot wait for dinner tomorrow night!!

Easy Chop Suey

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

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

Easy Chop Suey

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

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

Cover; cook on low 6-7 hours.

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

*****

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

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

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

*****

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

Chicken Ceasar Wraps

I've decided to scrap the whole stuffed pepper idea. The thought of the filling having been sitting in my freezer for six months kind of skeeved me out. I went to check my freezers for ideas and saw a bag of Naked Nuggets I bought at Costco last week. I knew I had tortillas, salad mix, and Ceasar dressing, so my dinner idea was born!! It will be super easy to put together which is nice because I'm taking dinner to a friend that just had a baby, so I can throw these together when I get home from that.



A quick note on the Naked Nuggets. I had tried them at Costco months ago and really liked them but didn't buy any at the time. Of course--like is so often the case at Costco--the next time I went they didn't carry them anymore. I was so freakin' excited to see them giving samples of them when we went this past Friday. I snatched up a bag and then after we left regretted not getting one for my friend Jen since she had sampled them originally too and also really liked them. Both my kids loved the samples, and I love how healthy they are! Seven nuggets have only 140 calories, 3 grams of fat, and 25 grams of protein. I really hope Costco continues to carry these!!

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

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

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

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

Veggie Pesto PIzza

I realized I forgot to mention a couple other recent happenings around here that have contributed to my lack of blog posting. I finally had Lasik done!!! I was beginning to wonder if I was not meant to ever get it because I had to change from my original date so we could go to a seminar at church (that totally wasn't worth it), then both my kids got pink eye and they wouldn't let me get it done in case I ended up getting it too (which I did). So Friday was the day, and I have to say my life has been changed!!! It was definitely creepy--reminded me entirely too much of this scene from "A Clockwork Orange"--but so worth it in the end!

The other exciting happening is that my friend Jen had her twin baby girls on Friday!!! I guess it really has nothing to do with my lack of blogging, but it's very exciting!! I got to spend a good chunk of the day at the hospital with them yesterday, and aside from my own kids, they are some of the cutest babies ever!! Warning: snuggling with two cute newborn baby girls that have red bows in their hair WILL induce baby fever. And if it doesn't, there might be something wrong with you.

Anyway, I figured Jen would come home from the hospital today or tomorrow, so I slated this dinner in case they wanted me to bring some to them, as I know it's one of their favorites as well. Jen's mom is coming to stay with them for awhile, and Jen thought she'd probably want to make them dinner, but I kept it on the menu for tonight just in case. I'm really excited to have it!! It's been awhile, and lately all we've had is pepperoni or cheese pizza, so a good, homemade, veggie pizza will be fantastic!!

Veggie Pesto Pizza

Ranch Chicken Panini

Man, it has been a crazy couple weeks here at my house. The boy turned four, so we had his birthday party, my brother came to visit for the weekend for that, and somewhere in the middle of all of that we decided to buy a new house, so we've been busy pouring over real estate listings online and going out to look at houses with our realtor. We put an offer on one, and the seller accepted it, now we're just waiting on the bank to approve it since it's a short sale. What a long, drawn out process!! Blogging hasn't been very high on my to do list lately, and when I've been menu planning I've been sticking with things I've made before and not really branching out at all. This week, though, I have mostly new things planned, and I'm hoping to get back to posting on a regular basis.

I think it was last Monday I was over at my mom's. Yeah, because my brother was still here visiting. She had recently come home from a trip to California, and on her way home bought 25 avocados for $5. She generously shared the wealth with me and sent me home with a huge bag of avocados. Want to know something interesting? I used to hate avocados. When I was pregnant with the boy there was one on a veggie sandwich I got for lunch one day and the texture of it almost made me puke. But after he was born, I loved them!! Who can explain it. Anyway, some of them were already pretty ripe, so I wanted to use them up quick. We had been saying recently that we hadn't had paninis for dinner in awhile, so I swung by the store on the way home from my mom's and picked up some ciabatta rolls. Other than that I had no ideas. I'm pretty pleased with the recipe I came up with--we really liked these sandwiches!!

Claire's Ranch Chicken Paninis

2 chicken breasts, pounded thin and cut in half
2 avocados, peeled and sliced
4 slices cheese of your choice (I used provolone)
2 tomatoes, sliced
Ranch dressing (I made The Pioneer Woman's Ranch Dressing because I cannot find any store bought ranch dressing that does not contain MSG)
4 ciabatta rolls (or panini bread of your choice)

Using grill or grill pan, cook chicken breasts until done. Slice rolls in half. Spread each half with ranch dressing (be pretty liberal with it). Place chicken breasts on bottom half of roll, top with avocado and tomato, finish with cheese (so it holds everything together). Place top half of roll on rest of sandwich. Throw them on your panini grill (or press, whatever) until cheese is melted.

*****

Mmmmmm...these were so good!! I was wishing I had some bacon to fry up and add to them. It all came together pretty fast, too, especially with having pounded the chicken out so it was thinner.

I have to say that PW's ranch dressing was AWESOME. FANTASTIC. MAGICAL. WONDERFUL. The boy likes ranch dressing on his salads, and we were almost out of the bottle we had on hand. I was reading ingredient lists on all the different brands at the grocery store--seriously, ALL the brands--and every single one had MSG as one of the ingredients. I couldn't believe it. I knew the packets of the dry mix had it as an ingredient, but I hadn't ever checked the bottled stuff before, which is weird in itself because I always read ingredients before buying something. Anyway, I remembered reading PW's recipe when she first posted it, so I quickly pulled it up on my phone when we got to the store so I could get the necessary ingredients. Turned out all I needed were chives, so that was easy. And I have to tell you that this was the best ranch dressing I have ever had!! It was super easy to put together, too, and I love knowing what goes into it and not having a bunch of crazy weird things in it that I can't even pronounce. I'm trying to do away with bottled salad dressings in general, and this is a great step in that direction as ranch was really the last dressing hold out.

Sorry the picture is lacking in quality, I had to resort to taking it with my phone.

Rick Bayless' Crusty Chorizo and Black Bean Subs

I had made these sandwiches awhile back, and the husband and I both loved them. I mean really, it's a Rick Bayless recipe, so how can you really go wrong?! When I was doing my menu plan for next week I was trying to think of things I had on hand for he and I to have for our Friday date night dinner. I remembered some chorizo I had bought that needed to be used up soon, and I had bought a bunch of avocados because they were on sale for really cheap. I immediately thought of these sandwiches and knew we had to have them. Here's the link to my original post:

Ricky Bayless' Crusty Chorizo and Black Bean Subs

I took a picture of our sandwiches, but it's on my phone, and I need to email it to myself, then I'll add it. The only variation I made was that I had some leftover guacamole in the fridge from a couple nights prior, so I slathered that on there instead of sliced avocados. I also used feta for the cheese because it's what I had. It's hard to say whether this is my most favorite sandwich or the muffuletta. I can't decide. I guess one can win for warm sandwich and one can win for cold. :)

Jen's Chicken Pot Pie

I thought it had been a really long time since I updated, but I see it was just last Thursday. That isn't too bad I guess. The boy has become obsessed with playing games on the PBS Kids website, so if I so much as turn on the laptop downstairs he is constantly begging to play games. I haven't gotten as much blog updating done as I would have liked. We have a family blog also, and I haven't updated that one in well over a month.

Anyway, I need a quick fix dinner one night last week because the whole chicken I had gotten out wasn't even close to being defrosted. I remembered I had some frozen cooked turkey left from Thanksgiving #2 back in December, and I had frozen pie crusts. Voila...how about a pot pie?! My friend Jen B. has a really good pot pie recipe (she made it for us when the baby was born), so I found it on her blog. It sounded super easy, and I had everything on hand for it.

Jen's Chicken Pot Pie

Pastry for 2 pie crusts (I use frozen)
1/2 cup of chopped onions
6 Tablespoons of butter
1/2 cup of flour
3 cups chicken stock
3 cups cooked cubed chicken
1 10 ounce package of frozen veggies (I use peas, corn, carrot, green bean mix)
1 clove of minced garlic
paprika to taste (1/2 teaspoon or more)
garlic powder to taste (1/2 teaspoon or more)
onion powder to taste (1/2 teaspoon or more)
dried parsley flakes to taste (1 teaspoon or more)
salt and pepper to taste (1 teaspoon each or more)

Directions:
Preheat oven at 450 degrees. Cook frozen veggies according to package directions and set aside.

In large saute pan, cook onion in butter until tender (but not brown). Add garlic and cook for another minute. Blend in flour, parsley, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Add chicken stock all at once. Cook and stir until thick and bubbly. Once thick and bubbly, add cooked chicken cubes and cooked veggies.

Thaw and prepare pastry crust according to package directions. Pour filling into one pie crust. Top with second pie crust, pinch edges together to seal two pie crusts together, and cut vent slits in top. Butter top of pie. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until pie crust is done.

*****

All notes and directions above are Jens'. I used turkey for mine because it's what I had. The only frozen vegetables I had were a peas and carrot mix and about half a bag of frozen broccoli, so that's what I used. Instead of cooking the vegetables separately I just added them in with the meat and let them heat up in the sauce. I thought mine tasted a little bland so I added in some poultry seasoning and Lawry's seasoned salt to kick it up a little. And can I also add that I wish I knew how to make a pretty pie crust edge? I just can't ever seem to get it. Sigh.

I love pot pies. They're so homey and comforting and tasty and good. The husband isn't a super big fan of them, but I really like them. I thought this was fantastic. Everyone ate it really well which for me is a sign of a winning dinner. The filling made enough for two pies, so I froze the other half and will have it at a later time when I need a quick fix dinner. Oh, I forgot...I cut down on the amount of butter to make it a little healthier. I used about 2 Tbsp of butter and 1 Tbsp olive oil. I was worried my roux wasn't going to turn out okay, but it was fine. Or at least I thought it was fine. The decrease in butter may have been part of the reason mine needed a little extra flavor, too. I loved how fast this came together and was ready to eat. this will definitely be my go-to pot pie recipe!!



Hmmm...I should have taken a picture of it sliced so you could see the yummy inside!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

There's a blog I follow called Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes. She makes all sorts of yummy, low WW points food. I'd read recipes for this dip before and thought it sounded good but never tried it. Then last Thursday I saw this light version and thought, "Hmmm...I should try that one." Then Friday night I was at a baby shower for my friend Kelly, and someone had made the regular (i.e. not light!) version of this dip. I could not stop eating it. Even on my way out the door I went back over to the table for another bite. I woke up Saturday morning craving it. It was THAT good. I decided then and there that I'd try the light version--with a few substitutions. For Gina's recipe, check out the posting on her blog. My version is below.

Skinny Buffalo Chicken Dip

2-3 cups shredded cooked chicken
8 oz reduced fat cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup light ranch dressing
3/4 cup Frank's hot sauce
3/4 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350. Combine first four ingredients and spread in 8x12 baking dish. Top with shredded cheese. Bake for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and dip is bubbly. Serve with tortilla chips and/or celery sticks.

*****

I don't know if the husband was excited to try this or not, but I could not wait for game time to have this. I had a huge chicken breast in the freezer that I thawed and baked. I'm not entirely sure how much chicken it was, but it was quite a bit. The husband declared this to be his new favorite dip that I make. We barely ate the muffuletta because we ate so much of the dip. It was gone by Monday night. And Tuesday morning, the husband said he wished there was some left he could have for breakfast. Somehow these ingredients morph into crack when combined. You should definitely try this. Soon. And invite me over for some while you're at it!

Dip prior to receiving its cheese topping:


Mmmm...baked and ready to be devoured:


Oozy, gooey, bubbly dish of dip goodness:

Giada's Orzo with Peas, Mushrooms, and Parmesan

The sickness that hit the rest of my family last week finally made its way to me at the start of this week. I think actually mine just took a hiatus until everyone else was mostly better. Ugh. I'm still not feeling 100%, but I've muddled my way through the week.

We haven't had a whole lot of new stuff, so you haven't missed anything. Friday and Saturday of last week I didn't have to make dinner (woo hoo!), Sunday in honor of the Saints playing in the Super Bowl (and then their victory!!) we had muffuletta sandwich, king cake, and a really yummy buffalo chicken dip that the husband and I could not stop eating. I guess I need to post that recipe as well. That will be next.

Monday night we had this recipe that I found on my friend Jen B's blog. I was looking for some kind of vegetarian meal and came across this. All I needed were the mushrooms.

Giada's Orzo with Peas, Mushrooms, and Parmesan

2 Tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil (plus more to drizzle on top for finishing)
1 small onion, finely diced
8 oz. crimini mushrooms, sliced in half or quarters (depending on size)
3 clove of garlic, minced
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, grated
2 tbsp fresh basil, chiffonade
2 cups of orzo
salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add the onion and mushrooms. Sauté until golden brown; add the garlic and stir frequently for 30 seconds. Remove from heat, season with salt to taste, and set aside.

Cook pasta per instructions then drain and place back in the pot. Add the peas, mushroom mixture, Parmesan, basil, salt and pepper to taste; mix thoroughly. Finish by drizzling a little more olive oil over the top. Serve and enjoy!

*****

I was pretty excited to try this because Jen and her family really liked it, but I have to say we were pretty disappointed. I don't know if I had too much orzo or too few vegetables, but the picture of hers looks a lot more full and flavorful than mine was. I think if I'd had more mushrooms it would have been better. I don't know if this is one I'd try again. It came together really fast which was a plus, but it just needed some more flavor.

Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter

Two posts in two days--are you shocked?! I tell you, sick kids give you more computer time. The boy seems to be on the mend--he was well enough to go on his preschool field trip today--but now I think the baby might have gotten pink eye. Ugh!! Not cool for a mommy that's supposed to get Lasik done on Saturday!

When I posted about my insanely huge onion asking what I should do with it, and someone named Stephanie--sorry, the Blogger profile was unavailable so I have nothing else to go on--suggested this pasta sauce that had recently been posted on SmittenKitchen.com. I went and checked it out and thought it looked quite tasty and simple. Although I had forgotten it was Smitten Kitchen and instead went to Steamy Kitchen and was so perplexed that I was all the way back in October in the archives and hadn't seen it. Then I checked back on the comment and realized I was on the wrong blog. Oops!

I didn't end up using the giant onion for this--I need to do my post about that still--but I liked the idea of the sauce and it sounded really good. I thought about doing it last night when I needed to come up with a dinenr plan, but I prefer to give my kids pasta sauce like this on bath nights. The baby tends to get quite into his food.

Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onions
From SmittenKitchen.com

28 ounces (800 grams) whole peeled tomatoes from a can (San Marzano, if you can find them)*
5 tablespoons (70 grams) unsalted butter
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
Salt to taste

Put the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan (it fit just right in a 3-quart) over medium heat. Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free of the tomatoes. Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat, discard the onion, add salt to taste (you might find, as I did, that your tomatoes came salted and that you didn’t need to add more) and keep warm while you prepare your pasta.

Serve with spaghetti, with or without grated parmesan cheese to pass.

*****

How easy is that?! Mine is simmering away on the stove. I love me a dinner that takes less than five minutes to throw together (not counting pasta cooking time). I had exactly five tablespoons of butter in the fridge which worked out perfect, so I just unwrapped that and tossed it in a pan, opened the tomatoes, peeled an onion and sliced it in half, and voila!!

It's especially nice since it looks like I may need to take the baby to urgent care about this eye issue. Ugh!!

*****

Okay, this was REALLY good and REALLY easy!! I made a little too much pasta, so when I dumped the pasta into the sauce it wasn't quite saucy enough but it was still good. I ended up taking the baby to a Cigna clinic down the street once the husband got home. Good thing I did--poor guy has pink eye AND double ear infections. :( The upside was walking back into our house when we got home, and it smelled amazing!! The smell reminded me of a vodka tomato sauce I used to make but haven't made in years. In hindsight I shouldn't have mixed the pasta in with the sauce so it would have been a little saucier, but that's the only thing I'd change. I ended up using a rotini pasta because my kids have a hard time with spaghetti noodles. This is something I will definitely make again--especially since the ingredients are all things I normally have on hand.

I took pictures, just need to upload them to the camera. Since it looks like we'll mostly be homebound again tomorrow, look for picture updates to be added then!

Thai Red Curry Chicken

I fell asleep on the couch this afternoon while everyone else in my house was napping. Did I mention everyone but me is sick? Actually I have the tail end of a cold but as the healthiest adult I've had to buck up and just deal with it. The husband has a sinus infection, the boy has pink eye, and the baby is teething. Or he has a cold--or both. Needless to say, our house is not a fun place to be right now.

Wednesday nights are normally slow cooker dinner nights because we have Bible study groups at 6:30. I had planned on making chicken fajitas, but I was sleeping during my "window" to get everything thrown in the crockpot. Oops. So not only did I need to scramble when the boy started calling for me at 3:40 when he woke up from his nap to shower and finish my reading for Bible study tonight, I also needed to come up with a new dinner plan. I went back through my blog looking at chicken recipes and found a couple that would be quick and easy to make. I gave the husband his choice of chicken stir fry or chicken and dumplings, and he chose the stir fry. I came across a bottle of Trader Joe's Thai Red Curry Sauce in my pantry recently, so I'm going to use that instead of my usual teriyaki for stir fry. I'm hoping it's not met with complaints. I'm excited to try it--I love Thai curries! The husband is not a fan of Indian curries, so I'm hoping the Thai one will go over with him okay. I first checked TraderJoesFan.com for ideas on what exactly I could do with my bottle of sauce. This is what I found, which is pretty much what I had in mind anyway.

Thai Red Curry Chicken

1 pkg. frozen Asian Vegetables
1 bottle Trader Joe's Thai Red Curry Sauce
2 chicken breasts - cubed
2 tsp olive oil
1 onion
1 tsp chopped garlic
salt and pepper to taste
Basmati Rice to serve

Heat oil in a stir fry pan on medium heat, add in onion and garlic and stir fry for 1 minute. Then add chicken cubes, salt and pepper and brown chicken for about 10 minutes. Then add in frozen pack of asian vegetables. Saute vegetables and chicken for another 3 minutes and add in the bottle of thai red curry sauce. Simmer for another 5 minutes and serve over basmati rice.

You can add water to the stir fry if you like saucier, but then you may need a little more salt and pepper.

*****

I feel kind of silly even posting a recipe for this since it's pretty simple. I'm excited to have this. Maybe the curry will help spice out my family's sicknesses.

*****

This sauce was really tasty!! The husband seemed a bit unsure about it, and the boy complained at first that he didn't like it, but then he ended up eating pretty much everything on his plate. I love the sweet-spiciness of a Thai curry. Really eating this made me want desperately to go to a Thai restaurant. This was a super easy dinner to throw together which was exactly what I needed last night.

I'll have to take a picture of the leftovers because I think I forgot to take one of my plate last night--I was too excited for Thai!

Last Week's Dinners

Figured I'd post links to my previous posts of the dinners I made recently. I don't think I have anything new slated for this week, but I can't remember all my dinners from my meal plan. I'm thinking of posting a weekly meal plan post that would link to previous posts of the same recipe and then just update with any new things I make. I don't know...I'm not sure why I'm being so blog indecisive lately!!

Pork Chops with Country Gravy and Mashed Potatoes

Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice

Niman Ranch Burgers

Vegetarian Frittata

Roasted Vegetable Pasta

Everyone in my house is sick with a nasty cold. I figure the boy can have a day of TV and movies in the name of "resting to get better" so while he's doing that I can get caught up on my blog posts.

Several years ago I went to a work dinner at TGI Friday's. I'm not a huge fan of chain restaurants, but it wasn't my choice for dinner, and it was paid for so I wasn't going to complain. I ended up having a vegetable pasta dish that was actually really good. It somehow popped into my head recently and I wanted to try and recreate it. I found what I thought was the recipe with a simple Google search, but I wanted to change it up a little because I wanted to roast vegetables, not grill them. In case you're interested, here's the comparable recipe I found.

Claire's Roasted Vegetable Pasta

1 eggplant, peeled and cubed
1 zucchini, sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, cubed
1 red onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. dried pasta
Balsamic vinegar
Shredded parmesan cheese

Combine eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper, and onion pieces on a cookie sheet and toss with some olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast at 400 for 25-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, saute mushrooms with garlic in small amount of olive oil.

Cook pasta according to package directions.

When all components are done, toss together in a big bowl. Drizzle tossed pasta and vegetables with balsamic vinegar and parmesan cheese. Serve.

*****

I hate writing out my own recipes, especially this late after I originally made it. This turned out really good. It wasn't exactly how I remembered the TGI Friday's dish tasting, but it was quite good. I used some penne and some farfalle because it's what I had in the pantry. We all ate this and really liked it. The balsamic vinegar gave it a nice little zip. I think this would also be good cold or room temperature as a pasta salad.

I have a picture of it, but I'm typing this on our laptop and the picture is on my computer.

Pappardelle with Quick Bolognese Meat Sauce

I think I have one dinner to post from last week still, but I figured I might as well be current and then go back to that when I have a chance. It was pretty tasty so I definitely want to share it.

I had to do a bit of dinner rearranging this week. The husband and I recently joined a gym, and he suggested we meet there tonight after he left work so I could show him around a bit and we could work out together. I already had a crockpot meal planned for tomorrow night and wasn't sure if I could come up with another with ingredients I had on hand. I remembered a package of Trader Joe's pappardelle pasta in the pantry with a recipe on the back of it that sounded easy, and I had everything on hand. So I decided we'd have that tonight, I'd make it up in the afternoon, then throw it in the crockpot on the warm setting so dinner would be waiting for us when we got home. I'll tell you below whether or not it worked!!

Trader Joe's Egg Pappardelle with Quick Bolognese Meat Sauce

8 oz. TJ's Egg Pappardelle pasta
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 lb. ground beef
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 Tbsp garlic, minced
1/2 cup red wine
2 cups marinara sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over moderate heat. Add beef and saute until lightly browned and crumbly. Add onions and garlic and saute until onions are transparent. Drain fat and return mixture to pan. Add red wine and marinara. Stir and simmer 10-15 minutes to blend flavors. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to cooking instructions. Drain well, add pasta to sauce. Heat pasta and sauce together on low heat 1-2 minutes. Sprinkle with parmesan.

*****

I kind of broke the Pantry Challenge because I had to go buy wine for this, but I figured that was easier than coming up with a different dinner. Plus we'd drink it anyway, so it's not like I was buying it just to use for this recipe!! I had a jar of TJ's marinara sauce in the pantry which worked out great.

I was kind of hesitant of how this would turn out. When I tasted it before putting it in my slow cooker I wasn't sure about it. The pasta tasted really egg-y to me. It ended up coming out okay. It sat in there on the warm setting for 2.5 hours. There could have been more sauce, but I don't think it was overly saucy to begin with, so it may not have been just from the crockpot drying it out. This worked pretty well for dinner to be ready when we got home, then all we did was heat up some bread, throw some salad mix in bowls, and heat up some frozen broccoli.

I don't think I'd go out of my way to make this again, but it's something I'd make again if I had everything on hand and needed a quick dinner fix, kind of like I needed tonight.

No picture, I was starving by the time we got home and couldn't be bothered with finding a camera. Oh, and can I just say I'm so fortunate that I get to stay home?! I don't know how I'd get dinner on the table at a decent time if the husband and I were both getting home late like we did tonight!

Muffuletta

So, I was lying awake in the middle of the night last night wondering how it is I always end up getting so behind on my blog. I really have no idea because it's not like I'm not on the computer during the day (in actuality I should probably step away from the computer more often, but that's a whole other can of worms) and it's not like it really takes a long time to do. So I'm hoping that starting this week I can stay more current on updating. I noticed I'm down one follower--maybe someone got annoyed that I keep forgetting to post. :(

Anyway, I'm going back a week for this recipe. I've made it before, so I'll just post the link, but I took pictures this time so I wanted to add those in. When we were in New Orleans a few weekends ago we had grand plans to swing by Central Grocery on our way to the airport and get a muffuletta sandwich to eat on the plane, only to find out the store is closed on Sunday. D'oh! We were pretty disappointed as that was one of the top places we were most excited about eating at while we were there. Strangely enough no where at the airport sold them, so the husband had a muffuletta hankering. Even though it broke my Pantry Challenge rule for the month, I told him I'd get everything to make it for our date night dinner that Friday. Let me just say that this is not a cheap sandwich to make. But, oh, is it ever so tasty!!!

Muffuletta Sandwich

The husband was kind of worried when he saw the pile of bread on the counter that I had pulled out from the loaf, but when I explained to him that we got more sandwich that way, he was all for it. Here's the olive salad in the bread:


All wrapped up and ready for the fridge!


I used one of my bigger cookbooks to weight it down. Then I didn't think that was enough so I tied twine around it to really press it down, but I didn't take a picture of my extreme measure.


Check out all the layers!!


In actuality, I think the amount of meat could be scaled back a bit, especially since I added ham onto it too. My olive salad only sat for about six hours, and I think I had the sandwich pressed for a little over two hours. It was tasty! The husband had the wedge that was left the next day for lunch, which I'm sure was even more fantastic as that would really give the juices from the olive salad time to soak into the bread. Just typing this out and looking at the pictures makes me want another one!!

I won!!

Wow, this is so exciting! I was on the phone with my mom while booking the boy's birthday party on the Chuck E Cheese website (not my choice for his party, by the way!), and I got an email that my blog had been selected as the winner for one of Foodie Blog Roll's contest winners! I had honestly forgotten I'd even entered which made it that much more exciting!! I will soon be receiving a copy of Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois and a box of Bob's Red Mill organic hard white wheat flour!



I'm so excited to get it!! I held the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day cookbook hostage from the library for awhile and really liked it (although I never actually used it), so I'm really looking forward to getting this! And I love Bob's Red Mill products, too. What an exciting Friday night this has turned out to be!!

Holy onion, Batman!

In my vegetable basket this week from Bountiful Baskets (actually I think it was in the Italian add-on pack I included) was what has to be the biggest onion I have ever seen. EVER! To me, this thing is state fair entry worthy, but maybe I just don't get around much. It's entirely possible.

So, I have a challenge for you--all 17 of my followers and whomever else reads this but doesn't follow it--what the heck do you do with an onion that's the size of your entire hand? Think I'm exaggerating? Here's a picture:



I honestly have no idea what to do with this, so I'm leaving it up to you guys. Leave me a comment with your suggestions. Just please don't suggest onion rings because I've already admitted I have a problem frying foods. Whoever has the best suggestion, that's what I'll do with the onion. So it's a contest of sorts, but the only real prize is bragging rights.

Oh, and I'm going to be really sad and just might spend an afternoon crying if no one has any ideas and I don't get any comments. Not to guilt you into it or anything, but you don't want that hanging over you, do you?

Barefoot Bloggers: Indonesian Ginger Chicken

Okay, I really want to go to bed now, but I was so excited to actually be posting my Barefoot Bloggers recipe on the right day that I'm staying up to do so! I'm so dedicated, I know. Okay, not really. I just checked this week to see what the January recipes are that we're going to be making. When I saw the title of this one I thought for sure I'd have to go buy a bunch of fancy ingredients which would totally defeat the Pantry Challenge, so I was pleasantly surprised when all the ingredients are things I have on hand. I even had a whole chicken I could use! Thanks to Todd of A Cooking Dad for choosing an easy and tasty sounding recipe to kick off the new year!

Indonesian Ginger Chicken

1 cup honey
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup minced garlic (8 to 12 cloves)
1/2 cup peeled and grated fresh ginger root
2 (3 1/2 pound) chickens, quartered, with backs removed

Cook the honey, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger root in a small saucepan over low heat until the honey is melted. Arrange the chicken in 1 layer in a shallow baking pan, skin side down, and pour on the sauce. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the baking pan in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover the pan, turn the chicken skin side up, and raise the temperature to 375 degrees F. Continue baking for 30 minutes or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh and the sauce is a rich, dark brown.

*****

I forgot to get a whole chicken out to defrost, so I decided to just use chicken breasts instead. And I didn't have any fresh ginger on hand, so I just threw in a couple teaspoons of the powder stuff to make up for it. And I missed the part initially about marinating overnight. Oops. I mixed up the marinade and then just poured it over the chicken breasts and let it sit all day. Oh, and I cut all the marinade ingredients in half since I was just using four pieces of chicken instead of two whole ones.

This was FANTASTIC!!! All four of us devoured what was on our plates. The butternut squash mash I made to go with it was not so good, however, so I'm not even going to bother typing it out. None of us ate that. Sad waste of a butternut squash. Anyway, make this chicken! It's easy, it's tasty, and if you have a well-stocked kitchen, you should have everything on hand for it!

Oh, and I also made another side dish from the Make it Fast, Cook it Slow cookbook--rice in the crockpot!! Instead of posting the recipe, here's the link to it on her blog. I don't remember if I've shared before that I'm not good at making rice. Brown rice and basmati I can make okay, but plain ol' white rice always comes out gummy. I was intrigued by making it this way, and honestly...it's the best rice I've ever had!!! Mine took about two hours to cook, maybe a few minutes longer. Then I just turned off the crockpot and kept tasting it every now and then to make sure it wasn't getting gummy--and it didn't!! And it sat for at least 30 minutes. This is definitely my new favorite way to make rice.



Check out my cool retro crockpot! It was my grandma's...I love it!

Crockpot Tamale Pie

One of the cookbooks I got for Christmas was Stephanie O'Dea's Make It Fast, Cook It Slow. If you don't recognize her name, you might recognize her blog--A Year of Slow Cooking. I've been to her blog several times, and I can't believe how many of her recipes I want to try.

I was flipping through it and saw this one and thought it sounded great--healthy, vegetarian, and I had everything on hand for it. The husband and I are both going to Bible study groups on Wednesday nights, and they both start at 6:30. So it's going to be crockpot dinners for awhile on Wednesday nights.

Crockpot Tamale Pie

1 can drained and rinsed black beans
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
1 can drained corn
1 T chili powder
1 t cumin
1/2 t paprika
1/4 cup diced onion
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 package corn bread mix (plus ingredients required for mix...milk and egg)

Spray your crockpot with cooking spray. Dump in the filling ingredients--cheese, too!-- and stir well to distribute the spices. You will not be able to stir this again, so please check to see that the spices aren't in a clump anywhere.

In a separate bowl, mix together the cornbread topping. When finished, pour evenly over the filling, spreading with a spatula if needed.

Cover and cook on low for 4-7 hours or on high for 2-4.

*****

Her actual recipe included making your own corn bread topping, but I had some mix in the pantry and figured there was no point reinventing the wheel, so to speak. And I skipped the onion and just used onion powder instead because I was feeling lazy.

So, she's not kidding when she says to spray the crockpot with cooking spray. I didn't really spray mine enough and some of the edges of the cornbread stuck to the sides. I think mine cooked for a little too long because it was a bit dry. It was still good, but had I checked on it sooner it would have been better. I think I like my normal Tamale Pie recipe better than this version, but this was still good and easy.

The golden top in the crockpot before we dug in:


(I really wish I had better lighting in my kitchen!!)

Mexican Chicken Casserole

So, part of my blog hiatus--other than being sick all last week--was due to a weekend trip the husband and I took to New Orleans for his cousin's wedding. We had a fantastic time eating and drinking...mostly drinking. ;) I had one of the best foods I have ever eaten in my life...Chargrilled Oysters at Acme Oyster House. Lordy mama, were they ever tasty. Grilled oysters on the half shell with a seasoned butter and romano cheese. Wow. I could have eaten just those the entire time we were there.

Anyway, now it's back to the daily grind since the vacation is over and my cold is gone. I'm still trying to stick to the Pantry Challenge, and so far so good. I had a different casserole planned for Tuesday night, but after putting all the ingredients into the Points calculator on the WW website, I realized it was going to be too many. So I checked out the Cooking Light website for some other chicken casserole ideas. I was excited to find this one as it also gave me a chance to make my own corn tortillas with the tortilla press I got for Christmas!

Mexican Chicken Casserole

1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 (4.5-ounce) cans chopped green chiles, divided
1 3/4 pounds skinned, boned chicken breasts
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup evaporated skim milk
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 cup (2 ounces) tub-style light cream cheese
1 (10-ounce) can enchilada sauce
12 (6-inch) corn tortillas
Cooking spray
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded reduced-fat extra-sharp cheddar cheese
1 ounce tortilla chips, crushed (about 6 chips)

Combine broth and 1 can of chiles in a large skillet; bring to a boil. Add chicken; reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until chicken is done, turning chicken once. Remove chicken from cooking liquid, reserving cooking liquid; cool chicken. Shred meat with two forks, and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 can of chiles and onion; sauté 3 minutes or until soft. Add reserved cooking liquid, milk, Monterey Jack, cream cheese, and enchilada sauce; stir well. Stir in shredded chicken; cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

Place 4 tortillas in the bottom of a 2-quart casserole coated with cooking spray. Spoon 2 cups chicken mixture over tortillas. Repeat layers twice, ending with chicken mixture. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese and chips. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Nutritional Information
Calories:369 (28% from fat)
Fat:11.4g (sat 5g,mono 3.8g,poly 1.4g)
Protein:35.6g
Carbohydrate:31.3g
Fiber:3g
Cholesterol:79mg
Iron:2.4mg
Sodium:479mg
Calcium:360mg

*****

I think all I changed was using less chicken. Then in turn I added in less of the liquids because I didn't want it to be too saucy. The finished product was FANTASTIC! I could have used more of the sauce. It wasn't dry, but it could have been more saucy. Especially when we've had the leftovers, it could have used a little more sauce. My tortillas came out pretty good for my first attempt at making my own. I don't normally like corn tortillas, but these were good.

This is definitely something I'd make again! The husband and I loved it. I had the boy taste the sauce and he thought it was too spicy, so he got to have a quesadilla instead. It wasn't nearly as spicy once it was all melded together in the casserole, so I think he would have been fine eating it.

Pioneer Woman's Chicken Fried Steak

I have a night home alone (well, kids are here but sleeping), and I'm spending it updating my blog and catching up on DVR shows. Exciting life I lead, isn't it? I know you're jealous!! I realized it had been a week since I'd updated, so I needed to get back on the blog bandwagon.

I put off posting this one because it required typing out a recipe instead of finding it online and just copying it. Then as I was getting ready to type it, I figured I'd check my good friend Google and see if he could help me out. Lo and behold, he did! I'll give credit below with the recipe.

Chicken fried steak reminds me of my grandpa. He loved a good chicken fried steak. One of my biggest regrets is that I never took him to a restaurant here in Phoenix, TexAZ Grill, that has by far the best CFS I have ever had. It's seriously the size of a platter, covered in awesome gravy, and served with mashed potatoes and a biscuit. Lordy mama, it's awesome. My friend Benah and I frequented the place quite often when we were both pregnant. But now she's a vegetarian, and I'm determined to get skinny, so it will be a long time before I eat there again. Sad.

Anyway, my friend Jen A. emailed me that she had tried PW's CFS and it was awesome. I figured the last week of the year before the husband and I started our diets was the perfect time to have it. And I even found cube steak on sale. Obviously the Good Lord wanted me to make this, right? That's what I thought too.

I found the recipe typed out on a blog called Framed - My Life One Picture At A Time. And now that I've copied the recipe she (I think she anyway) painstakingly typed out, I will check out her blog more thoroughly. It's the least I can do, right?

PW's Chicken Fried Steak

3 pounds sliced cube steak
2 large eggs
3 1/2 cups milk
3 1/3 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoons paprika
1/4 teaspoon red pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
3 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup canola oil

1. Beat the eggs with one cup of milk and place in shallow dish

2. Mix 3 cups flour with 2 teaspoons salt, paprika, cayenne and black pepper, place in shallow dish

3. Season the meat with salt and pepper. Dip in eggs, then flour, then back in eggs, coating thoroughly each time. Place on empty plate until ready to cook.

4. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Fry meat 3 pieces at a time until golden, about 2-3 minutes on each side. Remove to paper towel lined plate and keep warm.

5. After frying all the meat, pour out all grease except for 1/4 cup and heat up the grease. Sprinkle 1/3 cup flour over the grease and whisk it together.

6. After a couple of minutes the flour mixture will turn brown. Whisking constantly, pour in 2 cups of milk. Let gravy come to slow boil to thicken. Add more milk as needed if it gets too thick. This should take 5-10 minutes.

7. Generously season with salt and pepper.

8. Place meat on plate and spoon gravy over. Serve with mashed potatoes and whatever other veggie you like

*****

I think I have a frying deficiency. Honestly if there's any method of cooking that I have to suck at, I'm glad it's frying since I don't do it very often. I thought the CFS was just okay. I don't think it had anything to do with the recipe, I think it was all on my end. And to top it off, we'd just had my grandma's fried chicken and gravy a few days before. The husband said as we were eating, "I don't want this to come across the wrong way, but I think it was too soon for you to make gravy after we had your grandma's." I have to admit, he was right. She's almost 92 so has probably close to 80 years experience making gravy. I can probably count on both hands the number of times I've attempted to make gravy. This wasn't bad by any means, just not as good as some other CFS I've had over the years. If you don't have a problem frying foods, I suggest trying it as I'm sure it's fantastic if done correctly.

Recap of the past few days...or maybe week

Our house has been infected with some horrible sickness. Well, not really, just the baby and me got it. It started out as a cold then Monday night it turned into a stomach bug, now it's just back to a cold. Yuck. We didn't do a whole lot yesterday, but updating my blog about food just really didn't appeal to me at all. Thankfully I'm feeling much better today, although food still sounds questionable. I'm resting in bed while the baby naps and the boy has "quiet time" in his room (I put it in quotes because he's not really quiet nor does he stay in his room), so I figured I'd bring my laptop along and get some blog updating done.

I really don't think I made anything new over the past week, so I'm just going to link to previous recipes and add in pictures if I took them since I may not have in the past.

Pot Roast





Andrea's Lasagna (which, by the way, is DEFINITELY my favorite lasagna recipe!)



Rick Bayless' Chipotle Shrimp (This wasn't as good this time...I used three chipotle peppers, and I think it was too many because it was REALLY spicy! The husband didn't even finish eating his, so I'll definitely use just two from now on when I make it.)

Aunt Holly's Gumbo

Cashew Chicken (I thought I took a picture of this, but it's not on my hard drive...I'll have to see if it's on my phone.)

I think that about does it for my past week or so of cooking. We had the shrimp on New Year's Eve and the gumbo on New Year's Day, then over the weekend we went to my mom's for dinner on Saturday, and Sunday I had a girl's night out with my friend Jen and my mom. Cashew Chicken was Monday night and then I haven't cooked since. And honestly as much as I love that Cashew Chicken recipe, I'm not sure if I can ever eat it again, which is very disappointing.

I do have one new recipe to post, but it's from Pioneer Woman, so I'll probably just link to her website (assuming it's on there since I used her cookbook for the recipe) but put the picture of ours on it. if I have to type it out, it might be tomorrow or early next week before I do it.

Pantry Challenge

I know I need to go back and update some things (gosh, how often have I said that lately?!), but I wanted to share this. There's a money saving blog I follow, MoneySavingMom.com, that my cousin introduced me to recently. She (Money Saving Mom, I don't know about my cousin) is doing an Eat From the Pantry Challenge for the month of January. I've decided to play along and try to stick it out for as long as I can. I have a decent supply of meat in my freezers, lots of grains and pasta in the pantry, a decent amount of canned goods. I'm excited to challenge myself and see what I come up with. If you want to play along, too, follow the link above to get all the details. It's not a contest or anything, you don't have to do it, I just think it will be good to 1) save money on groceries for a month, and 2) challenge myself to see what I can come up with based on what I have. Should be an interesting couple weeks!