List Lust Lost

Sometimes when I am sad,

2012-01-24T08:29:00.000-08:00

I bake things; bread, cookies, cakes, brownies. I am not great at pie, or pie crusts really. There is something comforting about cracking eggs, measuring flour, mixing things together, kneading dough, stirring batters, and then the hit of aromatherapy you get as it warms in the oven. And now a list...

Things to bake when you are sad:

1. Banana bread, make it with 3/4 regular flour and 1/4 wheat germ for an awesome more nutty taste.
2. Chocolate chips cookies, try making it with a combination of semi-sweet and butterscotch chips sometime. Or add some applesauce in place of some of the butter for a moist chewy cookie.
3. Poundcake, I flavor mine with a combination of vanilla, almond and a HINT of key lime by adding some juice and zest to the batter.
4. Bread, try saving some older dough from another batch and mixing it with some fresh dough to give it a sourdough flavor without having to make a starter first.
5. Cornbread, make your normal recipe and then add a tablespoon or so of mayonnaise to the batter. TRUST me, makes all the difference.
6. Apple brown betty, add a dash of freshly grated nutmeg to the cinnamon.
7. Creme brulée, add a tablespoon of Gran Marnier to the custard for nice orangey flavor.

Try not to be sad today, take a walk, call a friend and if you need to, bake something nice.

Stop SOPA and PIPA!

2012-01-17T22:41:00.000-08:00

STOP INTERNET CENSORSHIP NOW!!

Potatoes au gratin, pork shoulder roast, steamed green beans and strawberries

2012-01-12T17:50:00.000-08:00

So, I had some potatoes that had reached the critical "use 'em or lose 'em" stage. A lot of potatoes. Okay, a 5 pound bag of potatoes... sometimes I just forget things, okay?! Anyhow, I made some potato soup the other night and last night I made spaghetti and meatballs. Since that is a very easy dinner to make I decided to use up the rest of my rapidly aging spuds by peeling and chopping some for mashed potatoes and peeling and slicing some for au gratin. By the by, for making quick uniform slices, I just adore my mandolin!

The mashed potatoes got boiled, drained and saved for tomorrow night's dinner, the au gratin potatoes were placed in a buttered dish and then, I realize, "Whoops. I can't remember how to make au gratin potatoes!" Off to the internet where I am immediately captivated by The Pioneer Woman's delectable looking Au Gratin Potato recipe. Of course I only have about HALF the ingredients, but there ya go. I am more of an improvisational cook anyhow. I just needed to know some technique.

My "recipe" such as it was called for about 1/3 cup each, whole milk, half and half and sour cream, really well blended. I seasoned it with salt and pepper, 2 smashed and chopped cloves of garlic and about 2 teaspoons of flour for thickening. I placed my potatoes in thin overlapping slices on the bottom of the baking dish and topped each layer with about 1/3 of the milk/cream mixture. I baked at 400 degrees for about 20-30 minutes, honestly I didn't keep track I just pulled it out to look at when I could smell the garlic cooking. Then I topped it with mozzarella cheese (3 handfuls or so?) and put some foil on it and set it in the fridge.

Tonight in the last 20 minutes of cooking time for my marinated pork shoulder, I set the au gratin in the oven to reheat and melt and brown the cheese. Meanwhile I snapped and strung about a pound of fresh green beans and placed them in a microwave safe bowl with butter and salt and nuked them for about 5 minutes. (If I can digress on the pork shoulder roast a bit, this was a pre-marinated boneless chunk of meat about the size of 2 softballs put together. As roasts go it is pretty fool-proof and easy enough to cook on a weeknight.)

We rounded out dinner with some fresh Florida strawberries from Plant City and called it a meal. The kids really, really, REALLY liked the strawberries, they actually asked for thirds on those. Of course that would be the one dish I didn't actually COOK, but that's baseball, I guess. We have plenty for lunches tomorrow and the tag ends of the roast may even end up flavoring a pot of beans or something.

Cheese Potato Soup recipe and Nacho Mama's Nachos

2012-01-10T15:56:00.000-08:00

So, Monday night was the BCS National Championship game, or the Superbowl of College Football, basically. I used to not care about that stuff, seriously, I went to High School football games to hang out with the band. Later I saw a college game and amused my section greatly by screaming out, "THAT'S NOT NICE!!" at two scholar-athletes who had tackled a third in a particularly ungentlemanly fashion. However I did enter into a mixed marriage, since I am Roman Catholic and my husband is a Football Fan, so I learned at least the fundamentals of the game and picked a team to root for and now I watch college ball, SEC in particular and the very rare pro-game. I'm not into fantasy football nor do I even particularly think about football when it isn't in season; sort of like strawberries. Anyhow since "my team" wasn't in the game last night, I basically still didn't care, but it was a big SEC rivalry game so I thought up a menu that was game-worthy.

Nacho Mama's Nachos -- I had two open bags of semi stale chips. These make a terrific bottom layer for nachos since they sort of re-crisp in the oven, but never get shatteringly crispy which can make nachos hard to eat. Cover a 9 x 13 cookie sheet (baking sheet) with the chips. Add a protein to the top, seasoned beans, refried beans, cooked shredded chicken, seasoned ground beef or turkey or TVP. Cover all with cheese and bake at 350, till cheese is melted and chips starting to brown.

Now let your imagination run wild, as we top it with shredded lettuce, homemade guacamole, salsa, and our old stand-by plain yogurt (in place of sour cream). My husband requested (and received) a small bowl of that velveeta and chili dip to off-set all of the wholesomeness. Your favorite toppings might include anything from salsa verde to chipotle BBQ sauce to ranch dressing here.

Tonight's dinner was actually meatless in lieu of having a meatless Monday.

Cheese Potato Soup

Saute in a stock pot with butter and olive oil (olive oil only for vegans) some onion and celery, let it sweat and hit it with a heavy pinch of kosher salt. To this add a quart of your favorite veggie broth and let that all simmer together. Meanwhile, skin and chop about 4cups of potatoes. Add those potatoes to the broth, bring up the heat and let them boil/simmer (your choice) until they are cooked. Take the pot off the heat and finely grate some cheese of your choice into the pot (I used some colby jack because I had it on hand), 1/4 cup at a time, hit it with an immersion blender after each addition of cheese and blend until smooth. Mix about 1 cup of milk with 2 teaspoons to 1 TB of cornstarch, add in several spoonfuls of the soup to the mixture before adding it to the pot. This dissolves and activates the corn starch as a thickener and binder as well as tempers the milk, mix in well with the immersion blender. Taste and adjust seasonings (salt and pepper) and then serve with or without soy bacon bits, salad and bread.

What a Long Strange Trip....

2012-01-10T12:29:00.001-08:00

Well, apparently working for a living is hell on my ability to blog. I was hired as a substitute preschool teacher a few months ago and the blog took a big hit. I have been faithfully making dinners, desserts, lunches, breakfasts, snacks, and even homemade punch, but I was incapable of typing about it all.

The experiment has been a great success for me though, I have made about 330 dinners this year all told, short of my goal, but danged impressive I think. I also realized that by using some recipe basics, letting go of my perfectionism, and using my two favorite appliances (the crock pot and the pressure cooker) I have been able to serve my family dinner very nearly every night for a year.

Why is making dinner for yourself or others important though? This is what I have learned from my 365 day experiment.

First of all it is not JUST about providing nutrition, it is about honoring the hearth of your home, the heart of your home. Cooking for one or cooking for a dozen is about nurturing the soul and feeding the heart. Trying new flavors or foods opens you up to a new experience or culture, you can travel around the world at your dinner table. Cooking is an enjoyable skill to learn or to improve upon, it is creative and intellectually stimulating. It is a huge savings to cook dinner at home. Dinner out for the 4 of us is never less than $40 around here, and that is without drinks! I can make dinner for 4 plus use the leftovers for lunches for 2 adults for less than $10 if I have to, and believe me, sometimes I have to do that. Cooking for yourself gives you the opportunity to share with your community, if you are already making a lasagna for yourself, why not make one for the lady who just had a baby, or the family with a relative in the hospital? If you are cooking at home regularly, that means you are shopping more regularly, you can take advantage of sales to stock up on items not just for yourself, but for your local food pantry. Making dinner is a way of saying, "You matter to me." so little else in this life is made for ourselves or others with our own two hands. Dinner is a time to say, "I love you!"

Feeling slightly inspired to cook more dinners? Here are some hints for YOUR long strange trip into cooking.

* KISS or Keep It Simple Sweetie, yes your meringue en flambe is impressive, but do you really want to make it every night? Or even once a week? You'll really burn yourself out (ha!) if you try to make very complex dishes all the time. I saved my labor intensive stuff for the occasional weekend meal.

* Have a plan! The months or weeks that I did basic menu planning, stuff like, "Monday, veggie fajitas with corn tortillas and beans, Tuesday, Meatloaf, Wednesday, Spaghetti etc" were the weeks I flew through dinner prep. The weeks where I had to stand incredulously in front of the refrigerator and the freezer for 15 minutes first and do inventory? Yeah, we had a lot of cheese quesadillas those weeks.

* Be flexible, my recipe is for chicken breasts, but all I have on hand is center loin cut pork chops or boneless chicken thighs... yeah, I can make that work. Try to limit extra trips to the grocery store by thinking outside the recipe box.

* Adjust your expectations. A can of soup and a grilled cheese sandwich, yeah, THAT IS TOTALLY A HOME-COOKED MEAL y'all! The important part is the sitting around the table and talking to one another. Also, teaching your kids to clear the table and put their dishes in the sink or dishwasher is way easier if you are all sitting there together.

* Have some "old reliables" always ready. If called upon I can make some sort of pasta and red sauce just from items in my pantry, (anchovy paste, canned spaghetti sauce, canned tomatoes, some smashed garlic, makes a pretty decent puttanesca sauce you know.) Even the tag ends of several kinds of cheese can be grated into a white sauce to make a decadent mac and cheese dinner, throw a side of green beans on the plate and you are home free.

There ya go. I will still regularly post recipes here, but I am planning a new challenge for myself this year, something I hope I can come to love as much as I have loved making dinner. Thank you to all of my readers and friends, I hope you check in with me in about a week to see my new plans. Thank you to everyone who ever left a comment. Thank you to everyone who e-mailed me recipes, comments or commiseration. I appreciate you all!

The Miracle of One Pound of Hamburger Meat

2011-12-17T06:33:00.000-08:00

I often think that for most people instead of going totally meatless it maybe easier to go "less meat". Let me give you and example. I made one pound of hamburger meat the other day and seasoned it for tacos (cumin, chili powder, adobo). I mixed the meat with a couple tablespoons of salsa and we made tacos with meat, cheese, salsa, fresh tomatoes, lettuce and plain yogurt (instead of sour cream). We had beans and rice as a side dish. We did not finish the meat. The next day my husband took two tacos to work for lunch. That night I took the remaining meat and beans and mixed it with some freshly prepared penne pasta and made soup, topped with a little sprinkle of cheese and served with freshly baked bread. If you sub in more vegetables in place of meat you will be eating lighter, cheaper, and more healthfully. The trick is to think of meat as a seasoning or a flavoring device. It is not uncommon for us to eat a pot of collard greens flavored with a couple ounces of pork belly or bacon, a pot of black eyed peas and rice and a pan of corn bread. Is that vegetarian? Clearly not, but is it healthy and delicious and cheap? Certainly!

Another meal we are found of here is to make large backed potatoes, stuffed with cheese and bacon and broccoli, served with a large salad and some steamed green beans (perhaps flavored with bacon grease?) and dinner is ready and decadent. What about stuffed cabbage or stuffed peppers, mixing the meat with cooked rice was a way of stretching the meat for economy but the result is truly delicious food. Many hamburger patty, meatball and meatloaf recipes can be combined with bread crumbs, cooked lentils and/or shredded vegetables to add nutrition and flavor and use less meat as well. We often make a chicken stir fry or fajitas with just one chicken breast in it. Just add more peppers or bok choy or beans as needed. A chicken/rice/broccoli casserole is equally delicious with more broccoli and less chicken in it. Make a French onion soup with leftover chicken broth and top with baguette slice and cheese! The possibilities are nearly endless.

If you wish to go vegetarian because you don't want to eat animals then obviously this won't work for you, but if you'd like to consume less meat for your health, for economic reasons, to ease into full vegetarianism, or for the ecological impact then this might be a good technique for you to explore.

By the way, we are a family of 4, one grade schooler, 1 preschooler and 2 adults. If you are a family with three rapidly growing teenagers or hearty eaters or more just a lot more people then obviously you must adjust your amounts accordingly. :)

Enchilada Casserole or How I learned to stop worrying about stale tortillas

2011-12-17T06:14:00.001-08:00

Here's the thing, to make proper enchiladas you need nice fresh corn tortillas. I check grocery store tortillas by bending them back and forth in the package and checking that they are pliable and not crumbly, but every once in awhile you still get home with a bad batch. This happened to me last week, as I prepared to briefly soak the tortillas in chili powder and water and then fry them in oil to make my normal enchiladas. These things were falling apart! So I did what any Mom pressed for time and trying to make dinner would do. I said some curse words under my breath and started throwing the tortillas into the 9 x 13 pan and scowling while I came up with a plan.

This is what I did. From left to right I placed a bowl of water mixed with a tablespoon (or so) of chili powder, for dipping the tortillas. Then on a hot burner I had some vegetable oil going over medium high heat, then on the counter next to that I had my 9 x 13 pan, one small bowl of chopped onions and a bag of Mexican shredded cheese. Dip tortillas into chili-water mixture and then let drip dry over bowl of water before adding to hot oil. Use tongs! Oil may splatter! Let it fry briefly and if you have nice fresh tortillas you can flip them over to cook on the other side before placing in pan and rolling up around filling of cheese and onions and placing the enchiladas seam side down and side by side in the pan. If you have crazily falling apart tortillas, press them down into the oil to cook all over and scoop them carefully out of the oil and into the pan, spreading them out to completely cover the bottom of the pan. When pan is covered with tortillas cover all with shredded cheese and chopped onions and add another layer of fried tortillas on top of that then add more cheese and onions and top all with a final layer of tortillas. Take one small can of your favorite chili and mix it with the leftover chili water, or use leftover chili, or use a can of hot dog chili. If you seem to have forgotten to get any chili even though you had specifically PLANNED to make enchiladas that night and had it written down and everything but apparently have LOST YOUR DAMN MIND, mix some cooked beans with what is left in a frozen seasoning packet that contained chopped onions, peppers and celery, saute that all together, open some tomato sauce and throw that in with the chili water and then some more chili powder and some salt for good measure. Pour that over top of the whole pan and then top with some more cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, then remove foil and let brown on top for 5 minutes. Pray for a miracle and serve with sauteed or steamed yellow squash and a small salad.

Eat! Be amazed this whole mess worked out well! Goggle as the kids actually ask for seconds, resolve to be more careful when purcahaing tortillas in the future.

Green bean casserole made right!

2011-12-17T06:07:00.000-08:00

Take 3 pounds of fresh green beans, snip and string them and break them in half, placing them in a colander. When all are snipped and strung, rinse them with cool water and set one third of your beans in the bottom of a crockpot, then layer on 1/2 -1 can of roasted garlic cream of mushroom soup, then top that with 1/2 C of shredded 4 Cheese blend, some chopped fine onion (or french fried onion if you prefer) add the next 1/3 of beans and repeat layers, ending with soup and cheese on top. This can be made a day ahead and stored in the crockpot insert in the refrigerator. If cooking the same day turn slow cooker up to low and cook 8 hours or on high for 4-6 hours. When you are ready to serve I garnish with french fried onions and freshly sauteed quartered Baby Bella mushrooms.

Delicious, and by making it in a slow cooker you save yourself valuable oven space during Holiday cooking.

Kinky Turkey Three Way

2011-11-29T17:16:00.000-08:00

For actual Thanksgiving day we made turkey 3 ways, injected with marinade and deep fried, brined and smoked and finally, roasted in the oven with 2 sticks of butter on it. Yes, TWO STICKS OF BUTTER, my mother-in-law could give Paula Deen a run for her money.

The fried turkey was probably the most fun to cook, honestly. My father-in-law had purchased a turkey fryer specifically to try it out for Thanksgiving and this was its maiden voyage. After getting the turkey completely defrosted and completely dry we got to play with syringes and marinade! We chose some cajun butter flavor and got to shooting that turkey up. It was completely ridiculously hilarious to jam the needle in and watch the saggy, cold turkey skin plump up as we pressed the plunger. There were copious jokes made about various Real Housewives of various places. Then we lowered the turkey into the preheated peanut oil and let it go.

The roasted turkeys were actually two boneless turkey breasts that my MIL cooked. She seasons her turkey parts the same way she seasons a whole bird, just salt and pepper and two very cold sticks of butter on top. She also cooks fat side up on the breast, just to add our voice to the debate of breast side up or down. As the turkey roasts the butter slowly melts on top and keeps things moist while adding delicious butter flavor to your pan drippings that will become turkey gravy.

The smoked turkey breast was our most labor intensive turkey variation. We brined the breast for 24 hours in a large, 2 gallon ziploc bag with a mixture of water, apple juice, salt and brown sugar and stored it all in the fridge. Thanksgiving morning we brought the turkey out to dry on the counter for an hour or so; covered it in poultry seasoning and then added it to the smoker. We smoked it over hickory pellets for about 3 1/2 hours or until the meat reached an internal temperature of 165.

I think the smoked turkey was everyone's favorite actually. I enjoyed my piece of fried turkey, because it was apparently immediately adjacent to the injection site. It was all juicy and flavorful and YUM! But the smoked turkey was deliciously seasoned and flavored all the way through. The roast turkey was fine, of course, tasted lovely especially with a bit of cranberry sauce.

Next post: SIDE DISHES: or My God, you really make Green Bean Casserole?!

Pork Shoulder Roast, Steamed Mixed Veggies, Sauteed Brussels Sprouts

2011-11-19T15:57:00.000-08:00

I got a seasoned pork shoulder roast on sale some time ago and put it in the freezer for an easy dinner. I had a crazy day/night ahead of me so I thawed the roast and put it in a small pan in the fridge. Then when I finally got us all home from school/work it was basically time to go right back out to gymnastics class. That worked out well because the roast needed to cook for an hour.

When I got back I turned the oven off but let the roast stay in to stay warm. I wasn't afraid that it would dry out because it had been packed in a marinade and was very moist to begin with, so I knew it could take the heat. I steamed a veggie mix in the microwave and the chopped the larger sprouts in half and steamed them on the stove top. I got some olive oil hot in a saute pan and then added the semi-steamed sprouts. When they were getting good color on them (golden brown and even darker in spots) I added about half a cup of chicken broth and slammed a lid on them and kept them on the heat for a few minutes to continue cooking. All done!

We had the kids in the bath by 7:30 on a night when they are usually up till 9! *Does happy dance* Maybe working has been good for me, I have been getting much more done lately!

Quick Sauteed Chicken Breasts and Green Beans

2011-11-19T15:38:00.000-08:00

You know how to cut your cooking time in half when making chicken breasts? Flatten those suckers! When it comes to chicken breasts, bigger is certainly not better. My preferred method for fast flattening is to cover the thawed breasts with plastic wrap and pound them with my hand held lemon juicer, the nice heft and round shape keep the meat from tearing (which is surprisingly easy to do with a traditional meat tenderizer.) Pound the thickest part of the breast till it is the same thickness as the thinnest part of the breast and you have a piece of meat that will cook quickly and evenly. I seasoned with meat with salt, pepper and just a sprinkle of BBQ rub and then heated some olive oil in a heavy bottomed skillet on medium high heat. I added the meat and let it sit undisturbed till it was nicely browned on one side. If the meat is sticking to the pan don't freak out! Go against your instincts and let it sit there till it comes away easily. Flip your chicken after 5 minutes or so and brown the other side. Meanwhile have some frozen green beans steaming in the microwave with a tablespoon or two of chicken broth and some salt and olive oil. When the other side of the meat is browned remove it from the pan and add about a tablespoon of butter, some minced onion, a teaspoon of dried Italian herbs and a bit of salt. When the onion is translucent add about a cup of chicken broth plus any juices that come from the resting breasts and cook all until reduced by half. Add the breasts back to the pan, turn down the heat and spoon the juices over the breasts repeatedly. I made a simple green salad to go with dinner and we were ready to eat in about 20 minutes all together.

The fish so nice they named it twice

2011-11-19T15:22:00.000-08:00

Mahi mahi is sometimes known as "dolphin" has nothing to do with the underwater mammal. It is a nice light, white fleshed fish and it does deliciously well fried, grilled or baked as we have here in this recipe.

Baked Mahi Mahi

3-4 mahi mahi fillets
Salt, pepper
Soy sauce
1/4 C key lime juice
Spritz of olive oil

Salt and pepper fillets on both sides, mix together key lime juice and several shakes of soy sauce, stir to blend. Take an olive oil mister and spray oil all over the fillets on both sides, pour marinade over fish and allow to sit for an hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and add fish when heated. Bake fish for about 25 minutes or until fish is opaque and flakes easily with a fork.

While the fish was baking I made a pot of risotto and steamed some broccoli, pretty tasty stuff I must say. I am sort of having a love affair with risotto right now. I want to make my friend Kayla's recipe where she uses about 3 cups of mushrooms, cut into various thicknesses to make 1 cup (dry) of risotto. She minces the first cup and sautés it with butter and minced onion, then she adds some chopped sauteed mushrooms with the first cup of broth and then adds some quartered mushrooms with the second cup of broth and then adds one cup of white wine as the last cup of liquid. Then she cooks it all till creamy. She finishes it up with a bit of parmesan.

Pantry Tomato Soup and Sandwiches

2011-11-09T16:44:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite quick dinners, to make the tomato soup simply open two cans of soup and dilute with 2 cans of water, add one package of french onion soup mix and one can of diced tomatoes with the juice. Heat the soup over medium high heat and when it is hot finish the soup with half a can of cream or half and half. YUMMY and so fast and easy.

Meanwhile I set out sandwich fixings, people had their choice of sliced ham or chicken with cheese.

Tonight was busy because the kids had gymnastics so we didn't get home until after 6. Also I am preparing for the Veterans Day celebration at my school tomorrow so I had extra shopping to do. Great easy, busy night dinner.

Tonight's Dinner: Invented by Me Edition

2011-11-08T16:35:00.001-08:00

So, I was having a less than inspired day today. My new afternoon class is full of kids who have a lot of very strong personalities and they require more finessing than your average bunch of preschoolers. So getting home and cleaning house and supervising homework and trying to do some research for an upcoming Veteran's Day celebration made dinner sort of a last minute affair here.

Cue the pressure cooker!

Actually cue the exact opposite of what I would normally do on a stressful night by making something new and sort of fussy. I decided to finally try and make risotto. I needed the zen calming of the constant stirring and besides the chicken was defrosting anyway, so what the heck, right? I had bought a jar of arborio rice a few months ago from a company called RiceSelect and I've been told by my BFF Kayla that risotto is pretty easy and I should just suck it up and try it. That's the kind of advice a best friend can give you, quit your whining and do your thing, girl.

So the instructions of the Arborio rice did not inspire confidence, I have to admit. Here they are in their entirety.

1 C uncooked Rice
2 Tb Olive Oil
2 TB butter
1/2 C chopped onion
3 C chicken stock or vegetable broth, salt and pepper optional

1. Saute onion in oil and butter for 3 minutes. (Out of butter, I used bacon grease and olive oil)
2. Add rice, stirring for about 2 minutes.
3. Stir in one cup of broth. Continue cooking and stirring until liquid is absorbed.
4. Gradually stir in remaining broth one cup at a time, cooking and stirring until liquid is absorbed before adding the next cup.

Yields approximately 3 cups of cooked rice.

Here's my problem. How long does the rice need to cook? To what temperature should I turn the dial of my stove-top?

I sauteed my onion and gave it a whirl, continually stirring except for momentary breaks to turn the microwave back on during the defrost cycle or to quickly chop a tomato for the chicken, and once to throw the chicken pieces (drumsticks) into the pressure cooker. Once the rice appeared done I grated in some fresh parmesan cheese and then put a lid on the pot, placed it off the heat on a back burner and concentrated on my chicken.

I took my defrosted chicken pieces and salted, peppered and rosemaried them. I sprinkled them with Italian seasoning blend and then browned them in the pressure cooker. When they had some good color on them I added a whole chopped tomato and half of a chopped green pepper plus 2 teaspoons (or so) of tomato paste. I then added a half cup of water and a teaspoon of chicken bullion as well. I popped the lid on and cooked under high pressure for 6 minutes and then allowing it to come to natural pressure release.

I served the chicken over the rice, reduced the sauce in the pressure cooker by turning it up to simmer, and served it with a side of (the last of) the turnip greens. The kids also had some applesauce with their meal.

In the future when I make this again (and I will make this again) I will add some baby carrots to the pot and place the chicken on top, straining out the carrots to serve as a side dish.

Yeah, I owe you.

2011-11-08T13:43:00.001-08:00

I owe you a whole bunch of recipes, but here's the thing. I started a new job Halloween week and I have been too busy and too darn exhausted to write. I have been making food though and I am proud of myself for at least keeping that up, plus making lunches and after school snacks as usual. I have also been making themed snacks for my new preschool class, goldfish and graham crackers and grapes for Letter G-Week for instance. :)

So instead of torturing myself trying to remember all of the meals I've made since I last posted I am starting fresh tonight.

Last night's dinner was sort of fun actually, something different. I made some a gorgeous city ham from Burger's Smokehouse (a gift from my in-laws) collard greens, black beans and cornbread over the weekend so I used the leftover greens to make one of my favorite vegetarian meals, grits and greens. I made some slow cooking old-fashioned grits, cooked them according to package directions with salt, pepper and minced onion. I cooked them in the microwave for about 10 minutes on maximum power. Then I mixed them with the chopped turnip greens and grated parmesan and shredded cheddar cheese and placed it in a lightly greased 8 x 8 baking pan. I poured a half cup of half and half over all and stirred it in along with 2 tablespoons of butter. I baked it at all at 350 degrees for another 15 minutes. Just dig in and serve with a side of black eyed peas, a glass of sweet tea and your dinner is done and divine!

I have no idea what I am making for dinner tonight. Any ideas?

Last Week's Recipe Wrap-up

2011-10-26T15:49:00.001-07:00

Last week was strange. We had 5 straight days of rain so severe that schools and government buildings were closed for two days due to dangerous flooding and concerns about wind going over the bridges. The rain came up pretty high and we had a little trouble with one of our cars that sits very close to the ground. My husband was alert enough to the rising water that he moved the car to higher ground before it got flooded. Anyway, I hadn't gone grocery shopping in awhile so dinner got to be sort of challenging since I couldn't get to the store.

Meatless Monday was a treat though, I still had cabbage to use so I decided to let the "Joy of Cooking" give me some ideas. I made the "Bean Soup with Vegetables or Garbure" recipe because it called for cabbage as well as navy beans, potatoes, carrots, and onion all of which I had on hand but it also called for turnips, leeks and a ham bone, which I lacked. I subbed in some extra potatoes and carrots for the turnips and chopped up some green onion to replace the leeks. I added a bit of "Liquid Smoke" seasoning and extra salt to take the place of the hambone. The recipe calls for water as the soup base, but if you are making the vegetarian version of this recipe I highly recommend you use your best veggie broth for added flavor. The soup was delicious and hearty and made excellent leftovers for lunch for the next couple of days. Add some fresh cornbread muffins and this is a pretty kick-ass dinner and a healthy serving of veggies to boot.

Tuesday I took advantage of the coolness the house due to the rain and I roasted a chicken and made some veggies. I love roasted chicken! When I was a broke and starving actress in Los Angeles I would sometimes splurge on an entire rotisserie chicken at the local bargain grocery store. They were three dollars a piece so sometimes I would have to dig change out of the couch to make the money, but I would walk home with my warm chicken and just smell it and try not to drool on my shoes. Anyhow, when I make chicken myself (roasted or rotisserie) I always try to make it as delicious and juicy as that 20 year old found her precious little grocery store chicken. I remove any giblets from the chicken cavity and sprinkle the inside with salt and pepper, I rub seasoned butter under the skin over the breasts and salt and pepper the chicken all over. I usually place some vegetables or a pierced lemon in the cavity of the chicken prior to roasting for additional flavor. I also like to thickly slice some onions into rings and cover the bottom of a roasting pan with them. I then put the chicken on top of the onion rings and roast the chicken at 375 degrees until the drumstick moves freely and the thigh juices run clear when pierced. You can pour off the pan juices into a sauce pan and cook over medium high heat till it reduces to make a delicious sauce as well.

Wednesday, still trapped inside our house I made some fresh bread and we had leftover soup and chicken. It was all very tasty.

Thursday, the rain had slowed enough that we could get to the store, so we bought some ground beef and taco shells and my husband made a delicious homemade salsa from the book, "Salsa Cooking" by Marjie Lambert. It was very tasty and went together in about 20 minutes.

Friday was beautiful, the kids played outside from the time they got home from school until it was well after dark. We had breakfast for dinner and the kids had fruit and yogurt. Exhausted from a week of intensive family time, housecleaning, flood worries and extra cooking (I got a lot of baking done) I fell asleep at 8:30 and slept until 7 the next morning.

Saturday night we had a friend of our elder daughter's over for a sleep over. I made the kid-friendliest meal I could short of driving them all to Mickey D's, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, roasted acorn squash, and steamed corn niblets. To make the meal more kid-friendly I sliced the acorn squash in half, removed the seeds and then cut the halves into slices which I drizzled with maple syrup, a pat of butter, salt, pepper and a dash of cinnamon. I let it bake at the same time and temperature as the meatloaf. I tinted the mashed potatoes green with food coloring and let the kids taste it and see if they could identify it. Some squealing and cautious licking of forks later they started laughing and said, "It's mashed potatoes!" I countered that in late October it was actually Monster Mash. The meatloaf was pronounced "delicious" by our guest who ate it uncomplainingly even though it was stuffed with spinach, onions and carrot. All in all a success.

Sunday night we ate a very simple meal of hotdogs, baked beans and macaroni because I had neglected to defrost the roast I had planned on making. Maybe next Sunday!

Julia and Irma

2011-10-16T15:30:00.000-07:00

I am a big fan of Julia Child, I admit it. I used to watch her cooking show on PBS as a child and I was fascinated by her height, her laugh and her inimitable voice. I remember thinking she must be English or maybe from France, since she could speak French so well. I watched her as a sort of performance artist with food, never even thinking about trying to cook her amazingly lyrical sounding food, crepe Suzette, Poulet Poele a l'Estragon, Salade Nicoise! In fact my first attempt at "cooking" I mixed together some ketchup with some leftover kidney beans to make "chili". I stood over the stove perched on a step stool and carefully heated my concoction and then fed it to my all too trusting babysitter. I couldn't have even been in kindergarten yet. Anyhow, I knew Julia was clearly way out of my league.

When I left home at 19 I had a few recipes in my repertoire, a meatloaf, nachos, orange chicken, baked fish. I could make rice and steam vegetables, I knew how many minutes to microwave a "baked" potato. I remember making dinner for a big group of college student friends one night, and I tried something "fancy": eggs cracked into and cooked in a cheese sauce and then served on toasted english muffins. I sweated over those eggs like a woman in labor. By the time everyone was ready to sit down and eat my hands were shaking from the tension of trying to keep the eggs from breaking into the sauce and getting the slippery things onto the damn muffins without falling apart. I can't even remember if I made a side dish. I do remember thinking cooking was just not my strong suit, but I maintained my fascination with cooking shows, and dear Julia, who by now was collaborating with special guest chefs; her voice still reedy and whimsical to me though her shoulders were stooped with age. I watched her like one watches an athlete or a dancer or anyone else who is doing something very well; with complete awe and reverence for her craft and no real hope of emulating it.

I started reading my roommate's cookbooks on the sly. She had been packed off to college with a pretty wide assortment, the Better Homes and Garden New Cookbook with its distinctive red-checkered cover, some thin books about Asian Food, and a huge plastic coil bound volume with a floppy cover called The Joy of Cooking. I read that book like a novel, learning new words like "barding a fowl" which meant to tie on pieces of fat or bacon onto the chicken or turkey to keep the breast meat from drying out. I had heard of turkey bacon, but BACON TURKEY? This was crazy! I wondered exactly who Irma Rombauer was and pictured some gray-haired little granny plucking her own chickens and making homemade fruit punches.

When I moved out of the apartment I stole my friend's Joy of Cooking cookbook. I flat-out stole it. I never had any intention of cooking anything out of it, I just loved reading it and looking at the nifty illustrations for how to dress a quail and such. It was a window into a world I never had any hope of entering; like Narnia, but with cleavers.

I grew up, met and married my husband and slowly expanded my list of acceptable dishes. I remember one disastrous early dinner party. I made an attempt at arroz con pollo with black beans, a dish I had seen my mother prepare a hundred times. I called my Mom to get all of the ingredients and check on cooking times. I decided to use canned black beans instead of making them fresh just because I wasn't sure how long you needed to cook dried beans. I had never cooked them before. I think I dirtied every pan in the house and I wrecked the kitchen and when we sat down to eat, the rice was crunchy and the beans were cold. Fortunately I had lots of sangria and witty conversation to distract from how crappy everything came out. I was so disappointed and flat-out mad at myself. I was raised by an amazing cook, my Mom could make dinner for 12 on a moment's notice with whatever she could find in the pantry and the freezer and here I couldn't make dinner with a roadmap and 4 hours to prep. My great-grandmother was a formidable Southern cook and once fixed my botched chocolate chip cookie dough by eyeballing the exact amount of flour it needed and beating it in with a spoon. My abuela (my dad's mother) had been an amazing cook as well, rarely using a complicated recipe, but always making the most of whatever she put on the table. I once wept at a Mexican restaurant because their rice tasted just like hers, rich and spicy and tomatoey. Since she had passed away it was the first time I had eaten rice and not felt bitterly disappointed. How could I have come from such a long line of food-lovers, chefs, cooks and hostesses and not FIGURED OUT HOW TO MAKE DINNER?! Was I destined to be the Salieri of the food world; a passionate appreciator but unable to make ethereal music of my own?

I decided then and there that someday I would be a good cook and someday I would make a Julia Child recipe.

Well, prompted by catching a re-run of her making it on "The French Chef" yesterday I made Julia Child's famous Boeuf Bourguignon Recipe and with it I made her Champignons Sauté au Beurre and the delectable Oignons Glacés á Brun. It took me most of the day, 3 cups of wine, 2 trips to the store and countless checking and re-checking of the laptop to make sure I didn't mess it up, but I did it. I served it with my Mom's recipe for parsley potatoes and some broccoli spears steamed in the microwave, just like Mom showed me back in 1990 or so. It was a triumph. It came out of the oven smelling better than a summer day in Heaven. It made my eyes tear up with how good it smelled. And then I tasted it and it was even BETTER. Ooof.

Today I decided I would round out the weekend with the other woman that persuaded me that someday maybe I could make dinner too; Miss Joy herself, Irma Rombauer. I made her pan fried (or sauteed) chicken dredged in seasoned cornmeal, a side of baked cabbage, and some simple seasoned rice. It was all good, all tasty, all done in 30 minutes. My butter softened copy of "Joy" lay next to the stove like an old friend telling me, "now add the olive oil" and "just a teaspoon of salt." I cleaned my plate, the kids wanted seconds, my husband was tucking into the cabbage (a veggie he is not overly fond of) with gusto. It was another triumphant meal from Irma, the Alpha to Julia's Omega, the Cervantes to Julia's Shakespeare. These amazing women have been the textbooks of my cooking education.

A Week's Worth of Menus

2011-10-15T16:09:00.000-07:00

Monday -- Boca burgers, roasted potatoes and steamed mixed veggies

We prepared the boca burgers according to package directions, personally I like to top the burgers with some salsa and shredded cheese, or vegetarian tomato sauce and cheese but they are just fine plain, or served on a bun with regular burger fixings. The kids really enjoyed them, a great quick serving of protein. I'd recommend them for any quick weeknight dinner. I also made the microwave roasted rosemary potatoes, just chop your potatoes into bite sized pieces, add 2 TB of butter, some salt and pepper and crushed rosemary and microwave them for 10-15 minutes.

Tuesday -- Whole Wheat Lasagna with Lots o' Meat Sauce, we used the Paula Deen lasagna recipe, and the sauce was lovely but the ricotta was sort of bland. My search for the perfect lasagna recipe continues. I want to try one that uses a bechamel sauce soon.

Wednesday -- Cabbage, Peppers and Onion with Kielbasa

My mom taught me to make this for dinner when I was about 12. Take some kielbasa and slice it into half inch rounds, put them in the bottom of a stock pot with a tablespoon of olive oil and let them cook over medium heat. Let them get good and brown on one side before stirring them. While kilebasa is cooking slice some cabbage into thick shreds, I also portioned out about a cup of frozen chopped mixed onion and peppers. When the kielbasa was nice and browned I tossed in the frozen veggies and stirred them about and let them cook for about 2 minutes. Then I add the cabbage and stir everything together, pop on a lid and let everything cook for about 10 minutes. Dinner can be ready in as little as 20 minutes. Taste the cabbage for flavor and see if it needs salt, but usually the kielbasa is usually salty enough. This can be served with roasted potatoes, but we did raw carrot strips and applesauce. I have made it with turkey kielbasa many times, but I'd like to try it with veggie sausage, there are some delicious ones out there.

Thursday -- Homemade penne and cheese sauce, turkey hotdogs, homemade coleslaw

My Mema (southern for Grandmother) makes the world's BEST macaroni and cheese, or as some of the family refers to it "gallbladder killer" because it has enough fat to, well, kill your gall bladder. I rarely make her version because it takes a lot of time, 4-5 different cheese and you have to cook it on the stove top and in the oven. Totally worth losing your gall bladder for though. I made a stove top version that was not as good, but easily twice as fast. First make a white sauce with 2 TB os butter, 2 TB of flour, some salt and about a cup of milk (or half and half). Melt the butter, add the salt and flour, let it cook for a minute or two and then thin it out with the milk, stirring constantly. To the white sauce add several handfuls of shredded cheese. I used a 4 cheese preshredded blend, about a cup to a cup and half. Stir in some squirts of mustard, a few dashes of worcestershire sauce and a shot or two of tabasco sauce. Stir until all smooth and then put on the back burner on warm until your pasta of choice is done cooking, then mix the pasta and the cheese sauce together, stir and serve. My homemade coleslaw is shredded cabbage and carrot mixed with my own coleslaw sauce. Use whatever sauce you like, but I like the one I invented. In a small bowl whisk together a tablespoon of honey and 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar until honey is dissolved. To this add 1/4 C of plain yogurt and 1/4 of mayonnaise and whisk until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste and then you can add poppy seeds or black sesame seeds if you like, though they are optional. Toss your cabbage and carrot mixture with the sauce and refrigerate till you are ready to serve. I find the dressing sweet and tart, creamy and acidic and it is a good compliment to the cabbage.

Friday -- Homemade Pizza using "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day" dough, with turkey pepperoni and cheese.
I have bragged before about how awesome this book is, the authors were kind enough to give anyone with an internet connection access to their Master Loaf recipe so you can try this ingenious bread baking method. I took the plain master loaf and stretched it into about a 12 inch flat round and pricked it all over with a fork. I placed the circle of dough onto a cornmeal covered baking sheet and then topped it with sauce and turkey pepperoni and cheese. It baked for about 20 minutes and we had pizza! You could even give people individual portions of dough to shape and top as they like in personal pizza sizes with this easy recipe. It is awesome because you just have refrigerated dough on hand when you need it so pizza can still be the impromptu dinner it is probably meant to be.

Happy cooking!

3 Days, 3 Menus

2011-10-05T17:03:00.000-07:00

Monday was as usual our Meatless menu, the kids were sick and my husband had been very ill all weekend, we actually ended up in the ER on Sunday morning. We just fed the kids yogurt, bagels, cream cheese and bananas. DH and I were so tired we just went to bed.

Tuesday we I made some baked chicken breasts, steamed green beans, and "dressing", which is identical to stuffing except not actually stuffed into anything but baked separately in it's own pan. My take on baked chicken breasts is to place the raw breast in between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound the breast until the fatter side of the breast is the same thickness as the thinner end. I seasoned the breasts on both sides with cajun spice mix and some kosher salt and then lightly seared the chicken on both sides in a hot iron skillet. You could continue to cook the chicken on the stove top, but I just wanted to get some color on them before finishing them in the oven (350 degrees). I put a little bit of butter on each piece of chicken as well. While I was doing this I was also steaming my green beans with a bit of butter in the microwave.

To make my dressing I cubed some stale bread I had in the freezer and placed it in a buttered casserole dish. I minced 1 small onion and 1 large carrot and quickly sauteed them with a bit of butter in the same pan in which I had cooked the chicken. I added some rosemary as well. When it was nice and fragrant I tossed the veggies with the bread crumbs, I opened up a quart of chicken broth (you could easily use veggie broth) and tossed everything together, when it was nice and moist I topped the dressing with some dots of butter. I threw it into the oven to bake at the same time as the chicken breasts.

I took my steamed green beans and added them into the same pan with another splash of olive oil. I seasoned the beans with salt and pepper and let them cook over medium high heat until they got come nice brown color. I deglazed the pan with a bit of soy sauce and stirred them all around. If you have some fresh ginger you can add a teaspoon or so at this point and it makes the green beans even better, but I didn't have any; another nice addition to these beans is a bit of caramelized onion or some chopped cooked bacon.

Wednesday's dinner came out really well too actually. I made a meatloaf, just make whatever meatloaf you like but I can give you some tips from my Great Gramma who taught me to make them when I was about 10 years old. First of all, use enough egg, if you have trouble with your meatloaf falling apart add another egg and see how it goes. Secondly, mix your ingredients thoroughly but gently, use your fingertips and make sure everything is mixed in well. Thirdly, when you prepare the loaf either shaping it free hand or pack it into a bread pan pick the meat up, pat it together firmly and then whack it up and down into the mixing bowl. That way you remove any air bubbles and get a loaf that does not fall apart when you slice it. I placed tonight's loaf in the center of a glass baking dish and surrounded it with cut up carrot and onion pieces which I seasoned with salt and pepper and a bit of rosemary. When the meatloaf was close to being done I snapped and steamed some asparagus. I steamed the asparagus in a bit of chicken broth and some butter. When they were done steaming I salt and peppered them and then added a bit of freshly grated parmesan and then a squeeze of key lime over all. The asparagus was wonderful I will definitely make it again.

Last Week's Recipe Wrap-Up

2011-10-04T16:24:00.000-07:00

Monday: Black bean burritos, lettuce, salsa, sour cream, and shredded cheese. I took freshly made black beans and "re-fried" them in olive oil and then seasoned them with adobo and cumin and mashed them with a potato masher.

Tuesday: Spinach egg strata, chilled pear halves. I diced two types of slightly stale bread, one a multi-grain artisan loaf and the other crusty french bread. I defrosted some spinach and layered it over the bread pieces. I put about 2 cups of cheese over the bread and spinach, I used a combination of grated mozzarella and parmesan cheese. I beat 8 eggs with 2 cups of milk, about 2 generous squirts of grainy mustard and a dash or two of tabasco sauce and poured that over all. I baked it at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes or until puffed and golden. You can make this the night before and leave it in the fridge and then bake it in the morning too.

Wednesday: Dirty Rice Mix with kielbasa sausage. I was at cheerleading camp with my daughters and hubby sauteed some onions and green peppers, added it to the dirty rice mix and then sauteed some kielbasa to go with it. Yum!

Thursday: Driving to my brother and sister-in-law's to see the world's cutest baby. We had to eat on the road. But we also received (just for showing up!) five fresh and delicious avocados from my amazing in-laws. My friend Kayla gave me a tip to try Avocado Chocolate Mousse, but only after you make guacamole, BLTA (bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado sandwich), shrimp salad with avocado, and using the avocado to garnish spicy bowls of tortilla soup. I also had an Eggs Benedict Florentine made with slices of fresh tomato (in place of english muffins) fresh leaves of spinach and slices of avocado. YUM!!!

Friday: Football game, the kids were cheering at half time and dinner with my Mother-in-Law and Father-in-Law. They took us out to dinner where I had a pretty tasty beer cheese soup. This one had pieces of sausage in it, but the kind I make at home is vegetarian. Use a beer that you like to drink and one that you would pair naturally with any nice selection of cheeses. I make a mirepoix in the bottom of a stock pot in some butter or olive oil, then I add some flour and let it cook a bit and add a quart of veggie stock, several shakes of worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, a bit of cayenne pepper and a 12 oz beer and let it come to a boil. I reduce the heat and then add in handfuls of shredded cheeses (usually mostly cheddar cheese, but blended with monterrey jack, mozzarella, maybe colby if I have some) stirring constantly, then I finish it off with a bit of cream, but that is optional. Between you and me, my soup is waaay better than the soup I got at the restaurant.

Thanks for putting up with the paltry posting, in addition to traveling with my family this week, my husband's asthma flared up really badly and my older girl got a 48 hour fever. So it was a little bit hectic.

Nacho Mama's Nachos and Anniversary Dinner

2011-09-26T16:41:00.000-07:00

BONUS VEGETARIAN MENU!

So last Thursday I made some nachos from my leftover vegetarian chili and my leftover black beans, I combined the two and seasoned them with some adobo and cumin, then I cooked them down till the liquid was well reduced and then I added a cup and a half of frozen corn niblets. I layered this mixture over some corn chips and then added some shredded cheese to the top. I broiled the nachos till the cheese was melted and nicely browned. When I pulled them out of the oven I topped them with some chopped romaine lettuce and salsa and served them. A very nice, light and fast dinner for a hungry family!

NOT A VEGETARIAN MENU

Friday was my 11th wedding anniversary and it was great to make dinner with my husband. He is a wonderful guy, a great Dad to our kids and quite simply the best partner anyone could have. I had frozen some steaks (buy one get one free at the store last week) for this occasion. I took them out to defrost in the morning and marinated them in a combination of soy sauce, worcestershire sauce and Paula Deen's House Blend (Salt, pepper and garlic powder). When my husband got home he fired up the grill and got started on the sides. They were nothing special really, just some frozen veggies, one a combo of green beans and roasted peppers from Green Giant (pretty and the other some frozen corn that I buttered and seasoned. I also made a Caesar salad. The reason we picked September to get married was to avoid any other big holidays or birthdays, but in hindsight we picked a very expensive month to have an anniversary because all of the kids' school stuff seems to happen in September, school supplies, dance class tuition and registration, sports fees, back to school clothes, new shoes, so... this month we found ourselves kind of strapped for cash. But we were eating by candlelight on our porch with our two healthy and happy kids, enjoying the night air and the scent of night blooming jasmine. So really, really truly no complaints from us!

I also made a Depression era classic cake called Wacky Cake. There are recipes for this eggless cake all over the internet, but definitely look it up because you probably already have all the ingredients in your pantry right now! You mix your dry ingredients together, pour them into a greased 8 x8 pan and then make three holes in the dry ingredients, one for oil, one for vanilla and one for a teaspoon of vinegar. Mix these all together rapidly with 1 cup of cold water and put it in a preheated 350 degree oven for 35 minutes. When it comes out allow it to cool for only a few minutes and then serve warm with ice cream or as we had it with a thick sprinkling of powdered sugar. This cake stores well at room temperature on the counter top, and is even moister and sweeter the next day. Try it some time because you will love it!

Wednesday Dinner

2011-09-21T13:34:00.000-07:00

Add up 2 chicken breasts, plus 1 bag of frozen "soup veggies" plus a frozen quart of homemade chicken broth and that equals dinner tonight. I love bags of mixed vegetables, some are stir-fry style, some are for fajitas, some are soup or gumbo mixes like the one I am using tonight. They are already washed and cut up so they are very convenient and since I got these store brand veggies for Buy One Get One free so they are also inexpensive.

If you are what you eat then I am cheap and easy.

Well, that sounds wrong. I am hot and satisfying? I'm quick and tasty? You know, I'm just moving on now.

I only partially defrosted the chicken breasts, because if they are still slightly frozen in they are very easy to cut up. I seasoned them all over with adobo seasoning and threw the pieces in a stock pot with some olive oil and a tiny bit of leftover bacon drippings. When they got browned on all sides I added my frozen veggies and my defrosted chicken broth, added a bay leaf and let it simmer.

I almost always have some frozen chicken broth on hand because whenever I make bone-in chicken I boil the bones with carrots, onion, celery and garlic. I always have carrots, onion, celery and garlic on hand because when I cut off the ends of carrots or onions or the tops of celery I store those pieces in a plastic bag in the freezer. Any tiny cloves of garlic, the kind that are really too small for cooking, also get thrown into the bag. When the bag is full I make my stocks, either chicken, beef or plain veggie stock and then freeze it in tupperware containers. Easy peasy and super thrifty.

How was your dinner tonight?

Monday and Tuesday

2011-09-20T18:31:00.000-07:00

Meatless Monday was a tasty veggie chili, I chopped an onion into a rather large dice, plus 3 carrots plus sauteed them in a little olive oil. I added 2 Tb of chili powder and some minced garlic and let that get fragrant and lovely. I opened a can of chopped tomatoes with green pepper added. Then I added 2 cups of freshly cooked red beans and 1 Cup of broth from the beans and and stirred it all together and let it simmer and reduce a bit. When it cooled off I had about a quart of chili to put in the fridge for Monday. When reheating it the next day you can add a cup or two of frozen corn niblets if you like.

Tasty Tuesday we made what I called Bacon and Egg Spaghetti for the kids, AKA Spaghetti Carbonara. You'll need fresh grated parmesan, raw eggs (one per person at least), some chopped and fried bacon, salt and pepper. I made some whole wheat angel hair and when it was done I drained it through a strainer I had positioned over a stainless steel mixing bowl. I let the boiling water heat up the bowl and then dumped it out. I tossed the pasta with fried bacon pieces, 2 TB of bacon fat, grated fresh parmesan cheese and 4 raw eggs. I stirred and tossed it all together till all the ingredients made a sort of sauce. Who knew carbonara was that easy? Anyhow take a taste of it and check and see if you need salt and pepper.

I have no idea what I am making for dinner tomorrow. Weird Wednesday... I am just not feeling very weird. Which is in itself sort of weird for me.

Weekly Wrap-Up

2011-09-18T11:37:00.000-07:00

Monday we had dance class, first day of carpooling with a new kid, Open House and Parent Night at the new school (plus volunteering for the event feeding the kids pizza, water and homemade cookies and then cleaning up) so we just had cheese pizza with the other families. It was a late night for us and we didn't get home until 7:15.

Tuesday we had chicken divan with broccoli and cauliflower instead of just broccoli. There are a million and one recipes for chicken divan out there, it is a classic southern dish. In fact I can't imagine a potluck or family reunion without a warm casserole dish topped with breadcrumbs or even potato chips and containing this strangely addictive dish. Most recipes for chicken divan call for a can of cream of chicken or broccoli cheese soup, I used some leftover chicken gravy I had made over the weekend,. Most recipes also call for a certain amount of cream and cheese as well, so I used some leftover alfredo sauce. I know, I KNOW, right? But here's the thing. I am super frugal by nature and super broke most of the time by circumstances so I often make these kind of strange substitutions or even plan meals around what ever bits and bobs of food I have leftover in the refrigerator. In any case the dish came out just fine, very tasty, and I loved the addition of cauliflower to the usual broccoli in the casserole, or as my kids call it, broccoli and white broccoli.

Wednesday we had red beans and rice with smoked sausage, this was another frugal feast. I found both buy one get one boxes of red beans and rice and buy one get one smoked sausage this week, I knew instantly it would make a very nice dinner for a busy night. The kids and I don't get home from gymnastics until 6:30 on Wednesdays so this was ideal. My husband got it ready for us and we were able to wash up and eat as soon as we came in the door.

Thursday we just made some simple vegetarian pasta for dinner. I chopped up some tomatoes, onions and garlic and sauteed them in olive oil and then threw in some 4 Cheese tomato sauce. I made some multi-colored veggie pasta and tossed the noodles with the sauce and some freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Friday my husband brought home rotisserie chicken and I made homemade mashed potatoes steamed mixed vegetables. I found an organic frozen mix with broccoli, cauliflower, carrot and squash in it and it's great simply steamed and tossed with butter or maybe even some grated parmesan cheese. The leftover chicken served to make us a nice lunch of chicken salad today and I boiled the carcass with some ends of carrots and onion and a bay leaf to make some lovely broth which I freeze and then use whenever I need chicken stock. Which is like all the time, I use stock to cook vegetables, be a base for soups, make gravy, flavored mashed potatoes, cook rice, or a host of other things.

I tried to get a jump on this week's cooking by making some vegetarian chili for Monday night, today. I think chili tastes better the second day and so it will have all night and all day tomorrow to get flavorful. Tomorrow I will bake some fresh cornbread to go with the very veggie chili; it has tomatoes, green peppers, onion, garlic carrot and some cooked from scratch red beans that I made in the pressure cooker. I flavored it all with 2 TB of chili powder, salt, pepper and 1 TB of BBQ rub. I am making some black beans and rice plus a cuban picadillo for dinner tonight and I have some plans for a roasted whole chicken later in the week.

Meatless Monday

2011-09-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

We had dance class, taking an extra kid to and from class, plus Open House and serving pizza at the Open House to get through. We ate cheese pizza with everyone else. In place of my usual dinner menu here are some meatless Monday afterschool snacks that we love here.

Warm cheese sticks: take a cheese stick, unwrap and place on a microwave safe plate, microwave for 6-8 seconds on high. Yummy, runny cheese like a friend mozzarella stick but no greasy breading. Yum.

Hummus and carrot sticks, delicious!

Boiled eggs with salt and pepper

Cottage cheese topped with canned pineapple chunks

Celery sticks stuffed with peanut butter and dotted with raisins or craisins or even chopped walnuts.

Apple smiles: Cut an apple into about 6 slices, put peanut butter in each slice (on one side only) top one side with mini marshmallows and then top it with the other apple slice, peanut butter side down to help hold the marshmallows. With red apples it looks like a smile with tiny teeth. :)

Tortilla roll ups: spread some cream cheese on a tortilla, top with some leftover cooked beans, corn and a dab of salsa and roll it up.

Hope you enjoy these as much as my family does!

INSPIRATION! and UPDATE 9/13/11

2011-09-08T09:08:00.000-07:00

I am going to adapt Julia Child's Chicken Bouillabaisse recipe for the slow cooker! I have all the ingredients, but I don't want to heat up the house by cooking in my dutch oven, so into the crock pot it must go! I will update later when we have it done! Also, how great is it to have all the ingredients for a fancy-schmancy French dinner already in stock. Not to brag or anything, but it just makes me feel good. I rarely have anything all together, so I am savoring the moment. It will surely not last long.

Also, I forgot to say that last night's ribs were very tasty and delicious and possibly the most tender pork ribs I have ever eaten. The slow cooker allowed all those tough connective tissues to break down and melt all over the meat and they were juicy and flavorful. Also, since most recipes have you boiling the ribs for up to 45 minutes before grilling them, I'd say my recipe is quitea bit easier, and far less likely to heat up your kitchen.

UPDATE on Julia's Bouillabaisse, first lightly brown your chicken pieces in a separate pan and then throw them in the slow cooker, and then, only add a cup or so of broth instead of pouring broth in until it comes up to the sides of the chicken as Julia did. My chicken cooked almost apart and I nearly had chicken soup. However, this recipe was wonderful, tasty, delicious and cool. My husband gave it his ultimate compliment, "You can make that AGAIN." So there ya go. :)

Playing Catch Up

2011-09-08T06:42:00.000-07:00

Monday's Menu was not meatless, but it was Labor Day and we all had the day off so I took the extra time to make fried chicken. I don't usually make it because it can be so time and labor intensive and basically I have never had fried chicken as good as my great grandmothers so it always seems pointless to me. But then I am thinking Gramma probably wasn't ALWAYS great at making chicken, it takes practice.

I soaked the chicken pieces (chicken thighs) in my own version of buttermilk, basically regular milk with some vinegar added to it, then I added a spoonful of dried Ranch dressing mix to it and thoroughly covered all the chicken pieces. I let them soak while I made a flour mixture in a plastic bag, basically 1 1/2 C of regular flour, salt, pepper and paprika about a teaspoon of each. I shook up each piece of chicken and laid them out while I got the oil heated. I usually shallow fry the chicken , but I had some leftover oil from making donuts last week so I decided to use my deep fryer. I have trouble making sure the chicken was cooked all the way to the bone on the first try so I thought maybe the deep fryer would help. I followed the cooking directions from Paula Deen's fried chicken recipe and cooked them for 13 minutes, but I guess my pieces were bigger or something because my first pieces were not completely cooked through. Maybe the oil needed longer to heat or something because the rest of the pieces came out fine.

We served the chicken with baked beans and coleslaw, it was a really nice way to end the day.

Tuesday my kid wanted some tacos, in fact my older daughter was singing in the car "It is ta-co Tues-day!" and my younger daughter started crying and said, "I don't want tacos on Tuesday, I want them TODAY!" So tacos for sure!

Brown your ground beef with some chopped onions and drain off any fat, season the beef with some cumin, salt, pepper and chili powder. We warmed up some crunchy corn shells in the oven and served the tacos with yellow rice, grated cheese, shredded romaine lettuce and some lovely salsa.

Wednesday was gymnastics, so I needed an easy dinner. I read some recipes online for slow cooker ribs so I decided to make my own recipe with what I had on hand. I rinsed the ribs and cut them into 2 and 3 rib chunks and placed them in the slow cooker, I sprinkled them all over with BBQ rub. Over the top I poured a can of tomatoes that had onions and garlic, I sprinkled 1/4 C of brown sugar over the top, and poured on about 1/3 of the tomato can filled with apple cider vinegar. I hit the whole thing with a few dashes of hot sauce, turned on the slow cooker on high and let it go till dinner time, took 1 rack of ribs about 3 1/2 hours to cook. We served it with applesauce, steamed mixed vegetables, and the leftover yellow rice from Taco Tuesday.

Tonight is Thirsty Thursday, because it is still hot here and I am alllll about the cold drinks right now, this is a simple one. We used to make these things called "Italian Sodas" when I worked at a coffee shop, we;d take flavored syrups, mix them with seltzer water and serve them over ice. My favorite UNSWEETENED version of that is simply adding your favorite juice to a glass with ice (I like a cranberry juice) and then topping it off with seltzer and a slice of lime. Super refreshing and lovely. You can do this with any juice, flavored syrup or even make fizzy lemonade. I have no idea what I am going to make for dinner but I think it will be pasta based.

Have you ever seen those microwave pasta cookers advertised on television? I have seen them but always eyed them with suspicion because WHY would you make pasta in the microwave? Then as I was standing over a pot of boiling water the other night to make penne for my family in my un-airconditioned kitchen I thought, I wish I had one of those dang pasta cookers! I picked one up at Beall's Outlet over the weekend and it had a pink dot on it, which apparently made it 95% off. So I get to try the pasta cooker and it only cost me .22¢!

Weird Wednesday and Thirsty Thursday

2011-09-01T12:48:00.000-07:00

Last night's (Weird Wednesday) chicken did not go as planned. What was weird was that I got all riled up over a truly regrettable t-shirt I saw on JC Penney's website. Okay, me getting riled is not weird, me deciding to take time out of my day and throw a RIGHTEOUS AND UNHOLY FIT ABOUT IT is pretty weird. I mean, I usually am good to just write a sternly worded e-mail and then let it go, but something got to me about that shirt and unlocked a part of me I thought I tossed out with my last pair of Doc Martens, basically the part that doesn't worry about speaking up and speaking loudly even if it was over an idiotic t-shirt. I plan on exercising that part of me a little but more from now on. It felt good.

But in typical suburban Mom fashion I also had to take the kids to two different gymnastics classes, supervise homework and try and get dinner started and I had basically made a complete and utter mess of things because there I was at 3 o'clock in the afternoon with a wrecked kitchen and a frozen solid whole chicken. I needed to leave in half an hour. So, I threw the chicken in the microwave to defrost, and started unloading and loading the dishwasher. Seriously, if you are ever faced with a kitchen where things are so chaotic you don't know where to start, just do the dishes, everything else will fall into place. Once the dishwasher was running again I looked at the chicken and it wasn't completely defrosted. I was basically out of time by this point, so I placed it on top of thick slices of onion layered in the bottom of my crockpot, seasoned it all over with adobo, splashed on quite a bit of mojo criollo sauce and set it on high and left. When my husband got home he called me and I told him where the rice, yellow squash, and artichokes were. We decided to split the artichoke down the middle, baste it with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast it under the broiler, when I got home we also roasted the now cooked chicken under the broiler to crisp the skin and give it another layer of flavor, otherwise that would have been a pretty bland looking bird. We ate only the chicken quarters last night, drumsticks for the girls and the rest for us, steamed yellow squash circles, roasted artichoke and rice. Tonight I will take the rest of the chicken meat off the bone for reheating and serve it with a zucchini casserole recipe I just got from my grandmother.

Zucchini Casserole:

zucchini
tomatoes (fresh or canned)
onion
butter
salt
pepper
mozzarella
cracker crumbs

Simply take zucchini, cut it into rounds and layer it into the bottom of a lightly greased loaf pan, add diced tomato, chopped onion, dots of butter, salt and pepper and then repeat layers, on the top add mozzarella shreds and cracker crumbs dotted with more butter, bake covered for 30 minutes at 375, remove foil and bake until mozzarella is browned and melted, another 10-15 minutes.

Today I traded 6 pounds of starfruit off of our tree for a bunch of red bell peppers, red onion, gorgeous beefsteak tomatoes, an acorn squash and I promised to come back tomorrow with some key limes for the guy so I can get more goodies. Here's where I live, we can barter for fruits and vegetables, by the side of a major highway where the tiny miniature Key deer are nibbling delicately at a cantaloupe rind. Its like Little House on the Prairie mixed with a Carl Hiassen novel over here just about all the time so in honor of the amazing place where I live I offer this Key Limeade recipe for Thirsty Thursday!

Key Limeade:

Key limes
simple syrup
water
ice

Squeeze your key limes into a small strainer set over a small bowl to catch the seeds. Add somewhere between an 1/8 of a cup to 1/4 C of key lime juice to an 8 ounce glass filled with ice. Add 2 oz. of simple syrup and then top off with water till glass is about 2/3 full. Mix and taste and adjust lime juice and syrup till you reach tart/sweetness you desire.

So this is a thing in the world... UPDATE

2011-08-31T07:17:00.000-07:00

JC Penney is selling a shirt that reads "I'm Too Pretty to do Homework So My Brother Does it For Me". JC Penney is a multimillion dollar corporation that depends on consumers, a fair number of who must be women and mothers, to buy their products. Well, they just lost me and I made sure to let them know about it at their e-mail address jcpcorpcomm@jcpenney.com and on their Facebook page.

JCPenney pulled the "Homework" t-shirt, but is still selling this little gem and it is just if not MORE offensive. Please let them know what you think of their condescending attitude towards our daughters.

Tuesday and Wednesday's Menus

2011-08-31T07:02:00.000-07:00

When I finished my pot roast on Sunday I saved the beef broth from the pressure cooker in a separate container and saved the leftover beef and veggies as well. Yesterday I made a quick roux with butter and flour and then thinned it out with the reserved beef broth. I added my veggies to simmer and then cubed some of the leftover meat. When the veggies were warmed through and ready I added the cubed beef, heated through this made a quick and easy beef stew. I still had some beef leftover, so I wrapped it well in foil and put it in the freezer. I may use it later for another beef stew, or even shred it down and make BBQ beef, or some other reason. It was a super economical meal because I got two dinners out of the one roast plus 2 lunches and now I can even use it round out a third meal. It was also economical because I bought the roasts on a buy one get one sale at Winn Dixie, so I have another untouched roast in the freezer. I wasn't intending on buying beef that day but when I see a sale like that I have to jump on it.

For tonight's dinner I will be setting up my rotisserie and roasting a whole chicken. I will flavor it with lemon, salt, white pepper, and butter rubbed generously under the breast skin to keep things moist and flavorful. I am making a side of rice, some artichokes (just steamed with butter) and some yellow squash.

Sunday and Monday

2011-08-28T12:49:00.000-07:00

This morning I decided to take advantage of the relatively cool temperatures in the kitchen and go ahead and make my cheese enchiladas for Meatless Monday. To make cheese enchiladas you will need the following ingredients:

Corn tortillas
1 can of preferred chili (seriously, we usually use hot dog chili but today I made chili with a can of tomatoes, chopped onion and bell pepper, chili powder and adobo, I let it all simmer on the stove until it reduced.)
Chili powder
Water
Cheese, grated colby jack, queso blanco, 4 cheese mexi blend, (Today I used colby jack and shredded mozzarella because that's what I had on hand.)
Chopped fine onion

Set up your stations like this, a wide shallow bowl with water and 2 tablespoons of chili powder in it next to that a heavy bottom pan with a half inch of oil over medium heat. A 9 x 12 baking pan. 2 small bowls, one with onion, one with shredded cheese near the baking pan. Dip a corn tortilla in the water and chili powder mixture, shake off the excess water and fry it briefly in the hot oil. Place the fried tortilla into the baking pan with tongs, add some cheese and onions to the tortilla roll it up and slide it up against the narrow edge of the baking pan. Keep adding tortillas this way till you have the pan filled. If using the hot dog chili method add some of the chili water mixture to it to thin it out, pour your chili over the top of your enchiladas and then top with cheese, you can place this in the freezer at this point or cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, remove foil and bake an additional 5 minutes. Serve with salad and black beans and rice.

I made a pot roast today as well, I chopped up 3 potatoes and 3 carrots plus a good-sized onion and place them in the bottom of a slow cooker. I seasoned the vegetables with salt, pepper and dried rosemary. Meanwhile I salted and peppered my roast and browned it on all sides in an iron skillet, when it was done I placed it on top of the veggies and then sprinkled flour over the top and then seasoned the meat further with soy sauce, liquid smoke, and worcestershire sauce. I placed the lid on top of the slow cooker and put it on AUTO which in my slow cooker means it cooks on high for 2 hours and then switches to low, it will cook for 5 hours at this rate.

My plans for the rest of the week include "rubber chicken" and maybe a slow cooker broccoli potato soup.

Hope everyone reading this is okay.

2011-08-27T16:19:00.001-07:00

I mean, I always hope that, but today I am particularly hoping you have shelter and power and you are safe and dry and warm. I am a hurricane veteran at this point, but I know if you are not they can be very scary and disconcerting. Heck, they are still scary and disconcerting to me, but in a familiar type of way by this point.

As far as the weather here; it was so hot today, the kind of numbing, "NO! I am not doing ANYTHING today!" heat that makes cooking kind of a bummer. However I picked myself up and marched myself into the kitchen to make one of my favorite foods in the world, migas! Migas is an egg based dish, usually served at breakfast where you sauté a variety of vegetables (any combo of onion, bell peppers and chopped tomatoes) in oil, add beaten eggs, strips of fried corn tortillas and top with soft Mexican cheese. YUM! So good. And it cooks very quickly so a good dinner for tonight.

I checked the fridge... two eggs. TWO EGGS? We just bought 2 1/2 dozen eggs like last week! Lord, we have been eating eggs a lot recently. But eggs are so perfect aren't they? Gorgeous little proteins, they can be prepared a variety of ways, they cook quickly with little effort and they can be everything from a hearty breakfast to a decadent dessert (meringue cookies anyone?) So it was time to back up and punt.

I had already chopped some onion and bell pepper for my migas so I sauteed them with a dash of salt in some olive oil and decided to make some pasta sauce. I scoured the freezer for some likely source of protein and found some frozen turkey sausage patties, I chopped them up with my big kitchen knife, still frozen and threw them into the pan with my veggies and stirred them till they were brown and sizzling, then I added a jar of fancy basil pasta sauce I got from my MIL (mother in law).

I made a big pot of boiling salted water, cooked some whole wheat penne pasta and dinner was ready in about 20 minutes.

Stay safe, stay dry and see you later!

Easiest Dinners in the World

2011-08-26T13:40:00.000-07:00

Some bonus posting today to make up for all the days I've missed due to moving, rats, kitchen appliance malfunction, electrical issues and family emergencies. YUP, it's been a month hasn't it?

Here are some of the fastest and easiest dinners I know how to make:

*Cheese quesadillas with a side of frozen or canned black beans and corn. If you have salsa or sofrito on hand you can toss some in with the black beans to give it some homemade flavor. A small Caesar salad would go great as well.

*Grilled cheese with tomato soup, salad and apple sauce.

*Macaroni and cheese with cut up all beef hotdogs, side of broccoli steamed in the microwave.

*Linguine and clam sauce, (a great pantry staples recipe!) Boil water for noodles, throw canned clams and canned tomatoes into a stock pot, hit it with some italian herbs, smashed clove of garlic and a slug of white wine. When the noodles are done, so is the sauce.

*Frozen cheese or meat raviolis with a side of sauteed green beans with garlic or onions.

*Frozen pot stickers prepared to package directions served with a bag of frozen stir-fry vegetables tossed with soy sauce or hoisin.

*Hamburger patty, done on the George Foreman grill or cooktop, side of cottage cheese and tossed salad.

*Chicken breast, pounded flat, cubed and cut up, season and sautee in a pan, toss with cooked hot rice or buttery noodles, serve with veggie of choice.

What are your go-to super fast suppers?

Fish Friday: Lobster Enchilado

2011-08-26T10:57:00.000-07:00

Time to make you jealous again with my sweet, sweet fisherman friend hook-up. Here in Florida we are in the middle of lobster season, the Florida lobster (sometimes called the spiny lobster or Caribbean spiny lobster) is a crustacean that lacks the large claws of the Maine lobster but has sweet and succulent tail flesh. Oh my gosh do we love our "bugs" down here and we will eat them any way we can get them. Some of the favorites are lobster Ruebens, lobster linguine, lobster alfredo, steamed tails served with drawn butter, or even spicy tempura battered and fried lobster bites!

Here is a wonderful lobster recipe that we make with Florida lobster and I add Key West Pinks (a type of shrimp) to it as well, delicious and flavorful! Just be careful not to overcook the tails or the shrimp as they can become unpleasantly chewy and tough. Also, just eat it all in one night, reheated lobster is not great. I think pairing this with a nice bottle of white wine, maybe a Pinot Gris, would be a perfect end of summer dinner.

BBQ Pork Sandwiches (Your Way)

2011-08-25T17:30:00.000-07:00

I took the leftover pork roast and shredded it with two forks, mixed it with some high-fructose corn syrup free BBQ sauce and heated it all up briefly on the stove, meanwhile I took some frozen corn niblets, frozen green beans and microwave steamed them. I also served some store-bought potato salad and some crispy, crunchy coleslaw.

The secret to really crisp coleslaw is to salt your shredded cabbage and let it sit in a colander to drain for at least 20 minutes, then rinse it well and spin it in a salad spinner or wrap it in dishcloths and wring it out. Add your shredded carrot and maybe some shredded onion and thinly sliced green pepper too, but those are optional. I then like to toss my cabbage with a bit of olive oil and apple cider vinegar, before blending in some mayo (not too much) and salt, pepper, celery seed and a dab of dijon mustard. Then just combine well and chill until you are ready for dinner, but at least 15 minutes. I am not giving amounts because it truly depends on how much cabbage you are using, a whole head of cabbage versus a small bag of premixed slaw necessarily require different amounts. Also, I like my coleslaw very dry, more like a tossed salad than absolutely swimming in dressing, some people require a lot of dressing, all a matter of taste; but always add less than you think you need, you can always add more. You MUST taste your food as you are cooking, it helps you learn what you like and in what amounts and combinations you like it.

Now, my husband has got me eating cole slaw ON my pulled pork sandwiches instead of on the side and I think it is delicious! You may top your sandwich with pickle chips or cheese or both, or maybe add lettuce and tomato and thinly sliced onion.

The kids had pork sandwiches with cheese, all the sides and decided they wanted to eat some pickled okra too. We washed it all down with some ice cold lemonade!

Stay cool friends!

Weird Wednesday: Pork with Apples

2011-08-24T10:25:00.000-07:00

Some people have not embraced cooking meats with fruit, so I have another awesome slow cooker recipe for you! Cut a good sized onion into quarters and place in the bottom of a slow cooker. Take an apple and cut it into quarters as well. Place a center cut pork roast and flip it fat side up and place it on top if the apples and onions. Season it all over with your favorite spice rub. I have a great BBQ style rub, but I am bound by law, blood oath and family commitment not to reveal the ingredients of it. You could make your own basic rub with the following:

Easy BBQ Rub
1/4 C paprika (or chili powder)
2 TB salt (or onion salt)
2 TB ground black pepper
2 TB crushed dried rosemary
1 TB dry mustard

Mix all together and store in a clean dry jar.

If you like you can cut small slits into the meat and fill that with slivers of garlic, though that's optional. Pour a cup of apple juice into the slow cooker and 2 TB of apple cider vinegar (lacking that you can substitute some white vinegar). Cover and cook on high for 2 hours and switch to low for 2-3 more hours or cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4 hours. Serve this with crunchy coleslaw or creamy potato salad, or my favorite turnip greens!

If you can't stand the heat, then get out of the kitchen!

2011-08-23T18:44:00.000-07:00

One of the few challenges I actually KNEW I was going to be facing in this house was the fact that only the bedrooms are air conditioned. The living areas are dependent on ocean breezes and ceiling fans to keep it cool. So obviously cooking dinner is bit of a challenge because I want to prepare food without heating up the house unduly. Today I tried two new experiments in meal preparation and I feel like I was *mostly* successful. I tried making meatloaf in the pressure cooker and I tried making "oven roasted" rosemary potatoes in the microwave.

For the meatloaf recipe I read a lot of "pressure cooker meatloaf" recipes and sort of distilled their wisdom down into my own take on it. I made a meat loaf recipe, adding to 1 pound of ground beef 1/2 C of slow cook oatmeal moistened with several tablespoons of milk (keeps things moist), I added salt and pepper to taste, 1/2 of a large onion finely diced, about 1/2 TB of dried Italian seasonings, 2 eggs lightly beaten, and some worcestershire sauce. I mixed this all up and placed it into a plastic container somewhat smaller in circumference than my pressure cooker and then I placed it all into the freezer uncovered for 15 minutes. Meanwhile I helped my 3rd grader with her math homework and prepped the potatoes by scrubbing them clean and cutting them into approximately 1" cubes. When the timer went off I popped the now firmed up meatloaf into my pressure cooker and set it on the "browning" level and crisped the bottom of the meatloaf. While it was browning I brushed the top of the meat loaf with a mixture of ketchup and worcestershire sauce. I added a 1/2 C or so of water to the bottom of the cooker, topped it with the lid and set it to high pressure for 15 minutes. Well, after a few minutes it clicked off and I realized I had not added enough water. I let the pan come back down to pressure naturally (the meat will keep cooking during this stage) and then I added another 1/2 C of water mixed with worcestershire sauce for seasoning, popped the lid back on and cooked it for another 6 minutes.

While waiting for the meatloaf to cook I made preparations for the microwave oven potatoes. I have to admit I don't really cook much in my microwave, I use it to reheat things of course or make water for tea or melt butter or defrost meat, but actual cooking? Not so much. I was intrigued by the idea of using it to as it does not heat up the kitchen and it actually uses a lot less energy than cooking on a stove or in an oven. I smashed a clove of garlic and placed it into a glass bowl that was about 8 inches across. I added a few teaspoons of Smart Balance spread (maybe a tablespoon) because that is what I had on hand, you can use butter or olive oil I am sure. Then I added some salt and microwaved it for about 45 seconds, next I tossed in and mixed up the chopped potatoes (about 3-4 medium sized potatoes) and crushed some dried rosemary and tossed that in as well. Then I covered the potatoes with a microwave safe splatter guard and let them cook on high for 15 minutes. Now microwave times and powers will vary, so keep a CLOSE eye on your food when you try this, but it was totally worth the little extra worry, the potatoes come out great. You could smell the rosemary and they spuds had very good texture, a few of them even got a little brown around the edges! I quickly used the microwave to steam some cut up broccoli (official vegetable of the Dinner 365 Family) and we were ready to eat. (The kids also had a side of applesauce, "Because Mom if you have a dinner plate with 4 sections all 4 sections need some food in them!")

Anyhow, I made dinner; I stayed cool and comfortable and everything was ready very quickly, so a total WIN for us tonight.

Scrambled.

2011-08-22T18:05:00.000-07:00

It was a hectic, emotional day. First day of school for my 3rd grader and her baby sister, a PreK 3 year old. We are at a new house, a new school, they need to make new friends, get used to a new routine, and frankly the enormity of what I am asking them to do and do cheerfully hit me today.

My PreK kid went straight into her classroom, ready to play and ready to greet the day. Her older sister was explaining things to her in a calm soothing voice like you might use with a skittish animal, but the baby seemed content and happy to play with the toy shopping cart and baby dolls in the "dramatic play center". Finally it was time to take my 3rd grader to her classroom so we hugged baby sister good bye and let ourselves out. She never even looked back at us.

Walking in silence towards the 3rd grade class room I looked at my 8 year old, remembering the tears and frantic grabbing after me when she was the little one being left at daycare for the first time. Now she has a sassy little bob of hair and her feet are nearly as big as mine. I could tell by the guarded look on her face she was nervous so I started chatting about the girls she had met at "Meet the Teacher" day, subtly reminding her of their names. We realized that the 3rd graders were supposed to meet in the cafeteria, so we headed down the hallway with me still blithely blabbering and she, my little chatterbox, giving me one word answers.

I left her in the cafeteria with her class and seated between the two girls she knew and hoped for the best. She looked at me a little tremulously as I waved good-bye. In her eyes I could see the little toddler who begged me not to leave her 6 years ago. It hurt.

I went home and cleaned furiously, unpacked, broke down boxes with insane energy. I washed dishes, I organized shelves, I swept the floor, I vacuumed the rug, I wiped down counters and put away toys. I had set the timer for 2 1/2 hours to make sure I was on time to get the baby and I was out the door like a shot when it rang out. I grabbed my camera on impulse as I dashed out so i could maybe get a few cute shots of baby at closing circle time or hugging a new friend goodbye. I parked my car in the driveway a few minutes later and started toward the classroom. I was just climbing the steps to her portable I heard the sound that makes your hair stand up, a wailing bloodcurdling YELL from my preschooler. I peeked in the window and while the teacher was valiantly trying to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider with the other kids, over the deafening roar. My baby was in the back with the assistant SCREAMING HER HEAD OFF and what she was screaming was plaintive, powerful and persistent, "I WANT MY MOMMY!" The assistant caught my eye in the window and motioned me in frantically. I walked in and baby launched herself into my arms sobbing and hiccuping and she said to me, "I never want to go to school AGAIN!" The assistant told me she had been fine till some boys started crying for their Moms and it seemed to spread from there. I noticed two small boys were also sniffling and teary but neither of them had the insane window rattling fury of my bellicose beauty. I grabbed her bag and scooped her up and mouthed, "I'm sorry!" at the lead teacher as we hustled out the door.

Later, over some mac and cheese we discussed the day, she said, "School is terrible Mama!" When pressed she admitted she had fun at playground and centers and playing with other kids, but she suggested next time I just come with her. She also shook her head sadly and said, "I never even got to see Sister."

Yup. I forgot to tell her that 3rd grade and PreK aren't in the same class, heck they are not even in the same building. She was devastated. This made my misapprehension for my 8 year old even bigger. I set the timer again to leave and to go to my older child at a moment's notice. I kept my cell phone on my hip in case of a frantic phone call from her teacher or principal or possibly the police. My sunny gregarious toddler had crashed and burned in class, surely my sensitive artist/poet/singer/dancer would come home permanently curled in the fetal position and suffering dehydration from the copious crying.

The baby and I entered the cafeteria 3 hours later with great trepidation, me looking for a sad eyed brunette and she looking for roving preschool teachers who might come and separate us. When I finally saw my little tween she beckoned me over with an assertive "come here" gesture so I hustled to her, prepared to whisk her to the car before the inevitable tears could start. Before I could say a word she told me brusquely, "Come on! I have a lot of homework to do and SO DO YOU!" As we trotted off she was waving at new friends and yelling goodbye to her teacher and telling me in rapid fire detail about her day before announcing as she buckled herself into the car, "Today was the best day EVER!"

For dinner we had bacon, star fruit off our tree and scrambled eggs. They match my brain at this point.

What I did Today: Museum Edition

2011-08-20T17:53:00.000-07:00

I walked all over Key West today hauling kids who were alternately happy and murderous... walk with me will you?

Our first stop, the fully air conditioned and utterly delightful Florida Keys Eco Discovery Center which since it is located in a sort of janky end of town made me worried it would also be janky. But it was very well done and a great example of as our guide said, "our tax dollars at work" should you be in Key West I'd recommend it!

Then we walked to the awesome and inspiring Key West Lighthouse and Keeper's Quarters Museum, where I learned the fascinating fact that the lighthouse was tended three times in it's history by female lighthouse keepers, all of whom inherited the job from their husbands. The lighthouse is located directly across from the Hemingway House, which I found out later was built and lived in by the Tift family, who made their fortune in ship wreck salvage.

Then we decided to get some lunch at a delightful little bistro called Six Toed Cat, after the famous polydactyl cats that inhabit the Hemingway garden. I had a turkey bacon panini to share with the baby, my oldest had a garden salad, Lee got a burger and we all shared the shoe string french fries which were hot, crispy and had just the right amount of salt. There was fresh squeezed limeade on the menu (delicious!!) so I got a glass of that, but then hit the ice water pretty hard because it was HOT out there today and we had been sweating buckets. The kids were sucking down waters as well. The tables are shaped like 6-toed paws and it was inside in the a/c so very pleasant.

Then we marched down to The Key West Shipwreck Museum and climbed the 65 foot tall tower overlooking Key West and the reef and my oldest got to hold a 65 pound bar of Spanish silver that was lost at sea hundreds of years ago before being recovered in the late 80's.

Then we were off to The Museum of Art and History at the Custom House and saw some really cool interactive pieces of sculpture where an artist had created life sized 3-D renderings of some famous paintings and you were encouraged to climb into them and interact with them and even take pictures of yourself posing in them. Meanwhile cameras are trained on you and the images are displayed on video screens that are placed in picture frames along the staircase. Pretty neat! The 2nd floor was devoted to Keys history with a neat exhibit about Flagler's trains down to here. I didn't realize that the project cost 700 lives, millions of dollars, opened in 1935 and then was blown away in the Labor Day hurricane of 1935! Some of our existing car bridges are built on the very bones of Flagler's lost dream.

The kids were pretty hot and tired at this point so we made a quick stop at Mattheessen's Ice Cream for a little pick me up. I had strawberry, the kids got something called "Papa Smurf" which was blue and had tiny marshmallows in it. I am not sure they got the implications of EATING PAPA SMURF and that it puts them squarely into Gargamel territory, but it was like 112 degrees out there and I guess he was a smurfing good way to bring down their core temperatures.

And then our last stop of the day was Truman's Little White House and it was so freaking cool. The house is done with original furnishings from Truman's days there, if you have Florida relatives of a certain age you will KNOW what type of furnishings they had. Rattan furniture in tropical print fabric, geometric pottery style ash trays, mahogany wet bar, jalousie windows, the whole business. It was everyone's Miami grandma's condo from 1954 in there, I loved it! The one drawback was keeping a very tired toddler from trying to climb into Bess Truman's bed to take a nap. The BEST PART was the tour guide talking about all the bills and laws that Truman signed at his small living room desk there, and she said, "He was working in health care back then. He was trying to create Medicare and it was very unpopular, people were calling him a socialist and all kinds of things, he left office with a 22% approval rating, worse than Nixon! And yet I know that is a program that a lot of us here depend on TO THIS DAY!" I wanted to go up and hug that woman, I really did. Apparently when Johnson signed Medicare into law he signed it at the Truman library to honor the work Truman had done.

Then we went home. I meant to make a key lime pie for dessert but all I had energy for was to get the kids to pick the limes off our tree and then make them some scrambled eggs for dinner. Key Lime Pie with recipe TOMORROW!

Dinner is ready! I

2011-08-16T06:50:00.000-07:00

I know, it's only 9:30 a.m. EST. But see I've been up since the wee hours of the morning being systematically tortured by thoughts of faulty wiring causing our house to burn to the ground and by the incessant kicking, headbutting and general bed- hogginess of our otherwise adorable 3 year old. Seriously, how can someone only 3 feet tall take up 90% of the space in a king-sized bed? Also my friend Mark brings up a great point with his theory that children actually grow extra arms and legs in the night because they flail around like beached octopi. But I was talking about dinner wasn't I? Yes, since I have literally been up since the crack of dawn it gave me a chance to start a crockpot meal.

Taco Crockpot Chicken

To the crockpot add 1 16 oz package of frozen corn
Over that place 1 can of rinsed and drained black beans
On top of that add boneless chicken(3 breasts, 4-5 thighs, tenders what have you)
Over that pour 1 16 oz container of salsa

Put the lid on and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. You can shred the chicken with two forks and serve it as taco filling, or you can add a can or two of chicken broth and make a tasty soup.

This recipe has been making the rounds on a parenting website I frequent and I have no idea who to credit for it, but my friend Lisa passed it on to me.

What makes this recipe a winner to me is 1) the chicken can be added frozen and 2)slow cooker recipes are perfect because they do not heat up the house and they are not labor intensive at all. Enjoy!

Back in the Saddle Again

2011-08-15T17:09:00.000-07:00

You know, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose and sometimes you move into a house that was apparently built on an Indian burial ground or something. Yes, the new house has been a bit of a challenge (rats, snakes, broken refrigerators) and now some wonky electrical issues. My breakers keep flipping. I don't have anything plugged in aside from the usual kitchen appliances and also sometimes when I plug things in I hear a little sizzle-pop sound and see some sparks.

This is a wooden house and I feel like just maybe it will catch fire. Normally I would not indulge in such catastrophic thinking, but my track record with this house has not been good. I am going to call the landlord tomorrow.

Anyhow, I DID make dinner tonight, simple Spaghetti and Meatballs. I know today was technically Meatless Monday, but you could make this a meatless meal just by omitting the meatballs or by adding any good vegetarian meatballs or even adding something like a can of rinsed cannelini beans for a bit of protein and heartiness.

My basic method is to start my lightly salted water to boil in a stock pot with a lid on it. Then I sautee my vegetables in a bit of olive oil in a sauce pan, tonight I used minced garlic, diced onion and diced green pepper, adding the garlic last to make sure it doesn't scorch or burn. Other nights I might wilt some spinach or sautee some mushrooms as well, basically use anything you like, sometimes I even add some grated carrot if I think the kids need another serving of veggies. Once your veggies have softened a bit I add 1 small can of diced tomatoes and 1 small can of tomato sauce, plus some Italian seasoning. I let all of this simmer until the pasta is ready. If using meatballs you can let them simmer in the sauce until cooked, or cook them in a seperate pan and then add to the sauce at the end. I was using frozen meatballs today so I let them simmer in the sauce for 25 minutes. Our pasta tonight was whole wheat thin spaghetti. Dessert was no sugar added applesauce with an optional sprinkling of cinnamon.

Everything Will Kill You

2011-08-10T10:40:00.000-07:00

So I grew up in the South making sun tea, we even had the special little glass jar with a spigot on the bottom just for making it. It was painted with little flowers and was super cheerful. Sun tea is so easy too, just add water, tea bags and let it sit in a sunny spot for a few hours. Then add sugar, lemon, or mint and you were done.

Now apparently, sun tea CAN KILL YOU!!! By not boiling the water you are allowing an environment where bacteria can grow and (it is implied) eat your face off, scare your dog and ruin your credit rating.

I live in a house without air conditioning, and boiling anything on my stove top add a certain humid heat that is unpleasant. I made some deviled eggs for the girls the other day and standing anywhere near the stove was what I imagine a wrinkled shirt feels like under the iron. I could make it in the microwave but I always forget it and then hours later I open the door to defrost something and BOOM there's a glass measuring cup full of cold tea staring at me.

What is a southern girl to do? Make some refrigerator tea, of course! Just add water and tea bags to a pitcher the night before and leave it in the fridge for 12 hours. The next day you will have fresh iced tea. To add sweetness to already cold tea, I simply make a cup or two of simple syrup and use it to sweeten individual glasses. Simple syrup is just 2 parts sugar to one part water, for instance if I boil up 2 cups of water, then I add in 4 C of sugar, stirring constantly. Once the sugar has dissolved I remove the water from the heat, let it sit and cool and thicken, then pour it into a clean mason jar and refrigerate it till I need it.

So there ya go. Of course you really need a refrigerator for this recipe and I won't have one until this weekend, but have a nice cold one for me!

...and now the refrigerator broke!

2011-08-09T14:06:00.001-07:00

Last night I made steak and chicken fajitas, watched my family eat peacefully at the dining room table. We were all watching the lizards running across the dining room windows eating bugs and I thought, "Yes, things are going to be alright here."

Today? Not so much. The refrigerator has not been acting right since we moved in, I called the repairman and he came out and said, basically, the whole fridge is shot to hell. Go get a new one. Well my landlord lives in another state from me, so coordinating a new fridge has fallen on my shoulders a bit. Then there are the vagaries of delivery when one lives on a small island. Saturday was my earliest delivery date. SATURDAY. Till then I am to what? Cool the milk in a sink filled with ice?

I remember there being a chest freezer in one of the backyard tool sheds. I haul it out, clean it up and plug it in to keep my freezer stuff, uh, frozen. Meanwhile I start a new load of laundry (one of the kids had an accident last night) so I am up to my ears in sheets and blankets. I come back half an hour later ready to put the clothes in the dryer and, lo, the washer is full of hot dirty water. What. the. hell????? I trudge to our outdoor breaker box, now conveniently located in ankle high weeds because the landlord's landscaping company did NOT come out and mow the yard. I saw a snake out there yesterday. A SNAKE. So I go to the breaker box and a fuse has blow. I flip the switch and go over and turn the washer back on.

Meanwhile I am trying to load all of my refrigerator stuff into some coolers with the last of the ice from the freezer. I decide after I get that packed up that I will go out and dry my laundry. HAHAHAHA! The washer has turned off again. Go back to the breaker box, flip the switch, go back and restart the clothes. Make more phone calls related to the refrigerator crisis. Wait for the exterminator to come and bring me a key to the landlord's cottage so I can load my fridge stuff into her tiny fridge. Try and unpack. Debate the wisdom of unpacking into a house already beset by rats, carpenter ants, a lousy fridge and now bad wiring. Cry a little. Hear tremendous thump where Preschool Child has flipped off of my raised bed and landed face first onto the floor. Her sister runs by sobbing, "I didn't push her!" The preschooler has a scrape on her head. Take to my bed with the baby and calm her down. Decide that I am definitely going out to dinner tonight and I may well have a drink or two with it.

Dinner in the New House

2011-08-04T18:10:00.000-07:00

Okay, despite the unpacking ordeal and the rat thing, I sucked it up and sanitized the dishes and made dinner for the last two nights. Night one involved everybody's favorite grocery store rotisserie chicken and some heat and eat side dishes, night two was hotdogs, mac and cheese and steamed broccoli spears. So yeah, no great culinary masterpieces, but we ate all together at the dining room table as a family. We couldn't find the table cloths so we put a giant sized beach towel over the table. I had the baby put the forks and paper towels by each plate that the 8 year old laid out, we all drank out of plastic cups gleaned from various casual dining restaurants and chatted; about the rat, about the kids new school, about my husband's new job, my hopes for putting in a late summer garden.

I know I haven't been too enthusiastic about this move but really the house (rat aside) is pretty awesome. It is an old style "conch cottage" and the woman who owns it is a horticulturalist, so it is all set up with raised garden beds, a compost tumbler and several mature fruit trees. I have carambolas (star fruit), key lime (of course!), and a freaking grove of banana trees. The banana trees are watered with the water that drains from the bathtubs! The washing machine waters another grove of banana trees. There is also an all-spice tree that grows tiny allspice berries. The leaves when crushed smell delightfully like pumpkin pie or egg nog or any number of spicy holiday treats. My landlord said she packs up her Christmas ornaments with fresh leaves so that when she opens them the following year they smell wonderful.

Going to finish putting the kitchen together tomorrow, I have been washing the cabinets out with ammonia and water and sanitizing dishes and trying to figure out where to put every thing. Also listening for the sudden snap of a rat trap, so you know... busy.

How was your week?

Until I get back on my feet blog wise...

2011-08-03T14:17:00.000-07:00

here are some super cool links for yummy lunches and snacks. I know with school starting back soon we are all thinking about these things. Today my kids ate Vienna sausages, cheese sticks and pickled okra for lunch (this was their choice). Man, moving-in meals cannot be over soon enough. We have been eating a lot of cold cereal and PB and J over here too.

Here is a yummy sounding vegan snack bar from Martha Stewart.
Here is a BUNCH of cool sounding sandwiches from Family Fun magazine.
Here are some cool healthy lunch ideas from Kaboose.
And finally, some seriously funny banana magic from The Bloggess!

That's all from me today, I have to go unpack 47 thousand more boxes now, but please keep in touch!

Where the heck have I been?

2011-08-02T08:52:00.000-07:00

Moved out of old house, discovered small snake living in a hole in the rotted door jamb of old house, scare snake away, fill hole with expanding crack filler.

Move stuff in various bins, boxes and bags to new house, discover large black snake living in the laundry room (outdoor separate building) watch snake slither from laundry room to under the house. Freak OUT. Keep moving in, making sure to keep door more firmly closed. Go on vacation for a week, eat like a horse (amazing southern home cooking food) and return home rested, relaxed and ready to put the kitchen together and get cooking when I realized... SOMETHING has chewed through a bag of coffee and a bag of chocolate chips. I have a mouse. Maybe a rat. In my kitchen. Eating things. Walking on my counters.

I want to know what the HELL the snake has been doing that it let a rodent into my house?!

Also, should I get a cat?

The exterminator gets here at 2.

3 Nights, 3 menus

2011-07-13T15:42:00.001-07:00

Meatless Monday: I made pressure cooker black beans with onions, sweet peppers, and garlic, just pressure cooked them all together (with water) for 20 minutes, meanwhile preparing yellow rice with tomatoes and carrots, then a side of steamed yellow squash seasoned with adobo. Served each plate with a simple green salad and a sprinkle of cheese over the beans and rice.

Tuesday: Hamburger patties (seasoned with salt, pepper, chopped onion and worcestershire sauce) cooked in my grill pan, microwaved baked potatoes and steamed cauliflower. It was a HUGE cauliflower and I only lightly steamed it so I have leftovers for tonight's dinner.

Wednesday: Chicken cordon bleu (sorta) made with pounded flat chicken breasts, slices of ham and provolone cheese (I lacked swiss), rolled them up, secured with toothpicks and brushed the tops with beaten egg and topped with bread crumbs, bake for 25-35 minutes at 400 degrees, (depends on size of breasts). Took the leftover cauliflower and broke it into smaller florets, sprayed them with olive oil and sprinkled with salt I put it into the oven with the chicken at the 10 minute mark. They should be done simultaneously. Warmed up yellow squash will be our other side dish.

Still in the midst of moving and various types of chaos (selling a car, buying a car, traveling to various children's birthday parties several miles and counties away). Sorry for the light posts, but hopefully the menus can be at least a little bit of inspiration in the nightly mantra of "What's for dinner?!"

Zucchini Fritters, Meatloaf, Green Bean Casserole

2011-07-09T12:38:00.000-07:00

Do you want your kids to eat more green vegetables? Try this recipe for a real treat, they call them Zucchini Patties, but to my mind they cook up more like a nice thick fritter. The recipe here includes 1 C of Bisquick, which is an ingredient I never seem to have on hand, to make up a nice substitute for Bisquick simply mix 1 C of flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/2 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of either lard or shortening. Any leftover mix must be stored in the fridge (unlike real Bisquick) but it will work just as well, alternatively you can mix up 1 C of self rising flour with the teaspoon of lard, that's basically what it is. I never have self rising flour on hand either!

So you mix up all the ingredients (flour, shredded cheese, egg and 3 whole cups of shredded zucchini!) I added a little water to get a very thick batter and then I shallow fried them in an iron skillet set on medium in about 1/2 an inch of vegetable oil. When I pulled them out of the oil I set them on a plate covered with paper towels to drain and topped them with a tiny sprinkle of coarse sea salt. YUM!!!!

Another place I put unsuspecting fruits and veggies is into meatloaf. I mixed 1 1/2 pounds of lean ground beef with 1 C of shredded zucchini, 1/2 C of mashed blue berries (I KNOW! but seriously, very good like this) and 1 small onion chopped small. I also added 3 egg yolks, plus 1 whole egg (I had some leftover egg yolks to use up normally I use 2 whole eggs) some Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and bread crumbs I made from 2 pieces of sugar-free whole wheat bread. I have also used oatmeal or seasoned bread crumbs in the recipe too.

My green bean casserole recipe is basically a layer of green beans topped with half a can of cream of mushroom soup, handful or two of shredded cheese, some onion rings, and repeat layers till you are out of beans. I bake it in the oven alongside the meatloaf, or throw the whole thing into a slow cooker for 4-6 hours on high.

Last night's dinner: Pressure Cooker to the Rescue

2011-07-08T12:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, I think I actually sort of invented a one dish meal for the pressure cooker, GO ME! Here is what I did.

I added 1 C of brown rice to the pressure cooker, 2 C of water, an onion cut in half, some salt and cooked it on high pressure for 10 minutes, when it was done I added 2 semi-frozen chicken breasts, cut into chunks and seasoned with adobo to the pan, put the lid on and cooked it all for another 10 minutes, while that was cooking I chopped some zucchini into nice thick rounds and when 10 minutes was up I stirred up the chicken and rice; added the zucchini, 1 TB of Italian herbs, another 1/4 C of water and cooked it all for 5 more minutes. Semi-frozen chicken (still very firm and cold in the middle) is much easier to chop up into cubes, plus you don't need to take the extra time to defrost it completely before cooking which saves time. The brown rice cooks (in about half the time!) into a creamy texture in my pressure cooker, almost a risotto type consistency without the bother of standing over a pot for 30 minutes stirring and adding ladles full of broth. I think another fun way of making this would be to add a can of chopped Italian style (herbs added) tomatoes in the last 5 minutes of cooking. To serve you could top it with a bit of freshly grated Parmesan cheese or some chopped fresh herbs. Prepared just as it was it was a flavorful, nutritious and very easy dinner. Another bonus of pressure cooking is because it is all one contained unit it does NOT heat up the house the way you do cooking on the stove top or in the oven.

Pressure cookers require some water in order to come up to pressure, which is why I added water every step of the way, your pressure cooker may require more or less liquid in order to cook, please consult your manual before attempting my recipe.

Last Night's Dinner: Fajitas over salad greens

2011-07-07T09:15:00.000-07:00

I sliced some beef into thin strips, seasoned them all over with adobo and cumin and placed them in a medium hot pan, lubed with a little olive oil. You must not have meat on top of any other meat, otherwise it will not brown correctly. Then as the beef cooked I quickly sliced up some sweet yellow, red and orange peppers and one onion; all into nice thin uniform strips. I seasoned the veggies and added them to the pan. Don't stir too much, but keep an eye, when some of the peppers get a good sear going, stir them so that others get to be on the bottom too. I turned the heat up to high for the last minute or so of cooking and added 1 cup of frozen corn stirred in well. Lastly I splashed some worcestershire sauce over the whole business and then turned the heat off. I served the fajitas over dressed salad greens (I used a honey balsamic dressing on torn up hearts of romaine) and topped everything with a sprinkle of cheese. If you have thawed beef ready to go this dinner can be on your table in 20 minutes! Fast and easy and pretty darn nutritious, check out all the veggies you're eating! In fact by subbing some cooked black beans for the meat, cooking the peppers and onions first, adding the beans and corn last, you could make some incredibly good vegetarian fajitas!

4th of July Dinner and Tonight's Menu

2011-07-05T16:46:00.000-07:00

The 4th was a day of extremes here, high heat, high humidity and high excitement. We went to our local parade and saw some of our friends in the parade and sat with other friends on the roadside waving and chatting. The weather looked iffy so we scrapped our plans for the beach and headed home for a quiet celebration. We cooked out ribs, basically my husband gets the coals ready while I coat the ribs (either short spare ribs or babybacks) all over with a patented super secret rib rub that my Father in Law created. For your purposes (since I'd be cashiered out of the family for telling) I'd use Alton Brown's rib rub recipe, it is excellent. The ribs get put on and cook for 15 minutes before being turned and basted with mojo crillado. Then he comes back inside out of the INCREDIBLY MOIST HEAT until his watch timer goes off and then he's back out turning and basting and this goes on for about 3 -4 hours. Needless to say the secret to great barbecue is LOW and SLOW, meaning low heat and takes a looong time. The meat will be so tender you won't believe you didn't boil them first (a common recipe component for ribs). These ribs will be juicy, flavorful, and tender, but only if you cook them low and slow.

Our side dishes were corn off the cob, green salad, ice cold watermelon, Bakerella's Cake Balls. Our dessert was supposed to be this amazing bundt cake from "Cooking with Sugar" but as I was turning the cake out of the pan and onto the cake plate it broke into many, many red, white and blue pieces. I literally cried and then googled "what can I do with broken cake". It all turned out. It always does, and if I hadn't been so needlessly upset with myself I would have remembered there are a MILLION things you can do with broken cake, not the least of which is just slap some ice cream on top and call it a sundae! Then you could make trifle (layers of cake, pudding, fruit and all topped with shipped cream). You can just saw off the broken top with a serrated bread knife and frost the remaining cake. If it isn't broken too badly you can "paste" the cake back together with extra frosting and then frost the outside. You can cut the broken cake with cookie cutters and frost them individually to make "baby cakes", I mean there is a whole world out there and it is useless (and let's face it a little petulant) to cry over spilt cake.

But I was under a lot of stress you see, because the day before I had found out that we are indeed MOVING HOUSE this month. This will be our 5th move in about 6 years and I am a little bit stressed out. We don't intend to be moving this much, but unfortunately my husband's job keeps placing him at other branches where it is juuuuuuust too far to drive, so then we move again. I'm glad they like him so much (I really am!) but this moving is stressful, expensive and worst of all dusty! My allergies have kicked into high gear!

Our new house is super cute though and has a much better kitchen than this one. I promise to keep cooking, but I have to tell you posting may be sort of light for a month. I may just post what I made for dinner and not explain much, but I promise to check in when I can. Wish me luck y'all!

Tonight's dinner: Pressure cooker beef stew, you can find the recipe on the blog; I make it all the time.

Last night's dinner and how to grill corn on the cob

2011-07-02T13:10:00.000-07:00

We have some more chicken and corn to make, but this time we are doing a different marinade on it (BBQ rub and olive oil) and instead of steaming the corn we are grilling the whole cobs. To make grilled corn on the cob, remove the husk and silk, rinse and remove any additional silk from the ears. Soak the corn in water for 15 minutes, making sure cobs are completely covered. Remove cobs from the pot and shake off any excess water, brush ears with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper, roll in aluminum foil. Place the wrapped cobs on the grill and turn frequently allowing the cobs to be over direct heat for about 5 minutes. Then remove cobs to an indirect heat source (or cooler edge of the grill, cover and allow to cook for another 10-15 minutes, when an individual kernel pierces easily the cobs are done. Serve with a light coating of butter and enjoy! We are also making s'mores over the grille for dessert, a s'more (for those who may not know) is a lightly toasted marshmallow, placed on a graham cracker with a piece of chocolate and then topped with another graham cracker. I remember having them for the first time as a Girl Scout (I had only ever had toasted marshmallows before) and it was a revelation to me. I literally thought it was the best dessert ever!

Last night's dinner was pizza, delicious veggie topped pizza. A tip on covering your pizza with veggies, pre-cook them in a separate pan. The veggies (especially mushrooms!) give off a ton of water as they cook and can make your pizza unappetizingly soggy. Also, chopping those veggies into small pieces makes them more easily eaten, larger pieces tend to slide off the slice. Broccoli can be lightly steamed and then chopped small to make a delicious pizza topping, especially on a white pizza. Another great pizza variation is to try a roasted bell pepper sauce instead of the usual tomato sauce on top of the pizza, yummy and fairly easy to do. Simply blacken a red bell pepper under the broiler of an oven, over the open flame of a gas burner, or on an outdoor grill, cover it with wax paper (loosely) after grilling and then remove the blackened outer skin, and seeds, Chop the pepper into rough pieces, throw it into the blender with salt, pepper, roasted garlic and sauteed onion and hit mix to combine, slowly drizzle in some olive oil (as if you were making an emulsion) and use in place of tomato sauce on pasta, on pizzas or even in lasagna!

Grilled Chicken with Key Lime and Greek Seasoning Marinade

2011-06-30T18:08:00.000-07:00

Tonight's dinner was super yummy if I do say so myself. I got a great deal on some chicken leg quarters (.99¢ a pound) and I marinated 2 of them in 1/4 cup of freshly squeezed key lime juice and generously sprinkled them all over with a Greek seasoning blend. My in-laws brought us a bottle of Greek Spices from the Old Towne Grille & Seafood restaurant in Charleston, S.C. You can order your own greek spice blend from them at www.oldtownegrill.com. I had the hubby cook the chicken (and a green bell pepper for tomorrow night's roasted pepper sauce) on our little charcoal grill while I made some beer bread, steamed the fresh corn on the cob, and made some sweet iced tea. I rounded out dinner with baby carrots for the kids and some green salad for me and the husband.

Want to try a new and fabulous iced tea idea? Make 3/4 of a gallon of iced tea (sweet or unsweet), add a bottle of peach nectar and a little lemon juice to taste, mix it up and serve it over lots of ice! Delicious and refreshing.

The kids split another of the individual key lime pies I made yesterday for dessert, but I was too full to have any.

We are planning on grilling some amazing ribs for 4th of July and attending the fireworks show they do out over the water here. Do you have any special plans for Independence Day? I think we might also make some strawberry ice cream this weekend. Stay safe and have fun!

Lunch and new plans for dinner

2011-06-29T11:35:00.000-07:00

Realized I have fresh sausage in the fridge that needs to be used up, going to make a red sauce with roasted bell pepper and sausage to go over pasta tonight. Also I just squeezed a cup and a quarter of fresh Key Lime juice from Key Limes from my MIL's tree. I have graham crackers in the cabinet. I am making a Key Lime pie!

Today for lunch I took last night's roast chicken and made chicken salad and placed it over chopped salad greens and served it with crackers.

Grilling Out

2011-06-29T07:45:00.000-07:00

Grilling out tonight, making some marinated chicken, and a green bean salad tonight. And if I am feeling REALLY motivated I will make some beer bread today. Check back later.

Tasty Tuesday: roasted chicken, steamed broccoli, baby carrots

2011-06-28T16:53:00.000-07:00

To roast a chicken: Rinse bird, remove innards if necessary, pat dry. Salt and pepper chicken all over including inside cavity. If you like rub some butter under the skin and over the breast meat. I usually insert a lemon, whole and pierced all over with a fork into the cavity before baking the chicken at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until the thigh when pierced runs clear juices, the drumstick moves freely in the socket, or internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. That is my simplest version of roast chicken. You can dress this as up or down as much as you like, by using compound butter, adding fresh or dried rosemary to the salt and pepper or by adding a carrot and onion to the cavity of the chicken. You can cook the chicken on a rotisserie, on a roasting pan with a rack in the oven, or by placing the chicken into a pan on top of thick slices of onion.

I made quick work of the broccoli by chopping it from the stalks, rinsing it and placing the florets into a glass dish in the microwave with some butter and a few table spoons of water. I microwaved it for about 5 minutes, still bright green and crispy but definitely cooked. Add salt and pepper and you're done. Our other side dish was raw baby cut carrots with a side of Ranch dressing dipping sauce.

Dinner -- done.

Where I've Been and What I've Done

2011-06-19T15:16:00.000-07:00

So no posts for a week, I bet you were getting worried. My children went with my parents on vacation and we don't retrieve them until Thursday of this week. If I ever wondered if I cook for hubby and me or if I cook for the children, man, I now know my answer.

You know what we ate this week? Well, remember college? Not really? I have heard it goes something like this, ramen noodles, cereal and milk, scrambled eggs, "experiments" made with rice and canned soups... (or was that just me?) Our Meatless Monday Menu this week would have been 4 bowls of Cap'n Crunch between the two of us. Warning: that much Cap'n Crunch has a mildly laxative effect. It was not pleasant. There was an attempt at making a chicken (a lame attempt) and we ate off the chicken carcass like starving hyenas hunched over a bowl on the stove. We ate toast and bacon one night, toast and bacon washed down with some root beer. Saturday morning I made a big pan of cinnamon rolls (from frozen bread dough) and we ate on that all day. A whole day we ate nothing but cinnamon rolls!

Anyhoozle, it's a new week and we are starting over, this morning (Father's Day in the US) my husband made a big pan of oven baked french toast. Basically take some stale bread (I recommend something chewy with a good crust like Cuban or French bread) and cut it into slices and layer them in a well-greased 9 x 13 inch pan. They should be laid over like toppled dominoes if you can picture that. Mix together a couple of cups of half and half and a cup of milk, 2 TB sugar, 1 tsp of cinnamon, 1 tsp of nutmeg, a capful of vanilla and 8 whole eggs. Pour that over the bread and let it soak up to 8 hours in the refrigerator (can be made the night ahead). We have let it soak as little as 20 minutes and it is still wonderful. Then we make a praline topping by creaming 2 sticks of butter with 1 packed cup of brown sugar, 1 capful of vanilla, 1 tsp each nutmeg and cinnamon and a 1 C chopped pecans (we used walnuts today, you can also skip nuts entirely). Spread that over the top as best you can, bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or so. Serve warm. Can be topped with warmed maple syrup or whipped cream, but I like mine plain.

For dinner I made meatball subs. I took some frozen meatballs (but of course homemade would be 1,000 times better) and put them on a cookie sheet to bake for 20 minutes. Meanwhile I sliced half an onion and one red bell pepper and cooked them in a pan with olive oil and sea salt. When they had some nice brown color on them I added a small can of tomato sauce, a few tsp of Italian seasoning and mixed them together. To this sauce I added the now cooked meatballs. As they simmered on the stove I hollowed out two pieces of French Bread. This should not be construed by anyone reading this as a carb-saving measure; it should be apparent by now the only definition of "diet" that I recognize is the NOUN: The kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats. I refuse to recognize the VERB: Restrict oneself to small amounts or special kinds of food in order to lose weight, because frankly there is nothing more boring to me than talking about all the food somebody ISN'T eating. Sheesh. Anyhow I hollow out the bread loaves to make the round meatballs nestle in snugly with slices of provolone cheese and not roll out and leave splashes of tomato sauce on your shirt or tablecloth. :) See? I am always thinking of you guys!

Tomorrow, and for the rest of the week I plan on using only what we have left in the house since we are leaving mid-week to go and get the kids and celebrate our youngest's 3rd birthday. Be on the lookout then for some cooking with my Mom and pictures of party food!

Meatless Monday: Black beans and yellow rice with veggies
Tuesday: Any leftovers with Roast beef
Weird: Wednesday: Leftover Choose Your Own Adventure
Thursday: In the air to go and get the kids (will try and post a lunch recipe)
Friday: Cabin cooking with my Mom
Saturday: Birthday Party Food
Sunday: Flying Home, or Snack-Tastic! at 30,000 Feet

Saturday Sweets

2011-06-12T06:48:00.000-07:00

It is Summer, Summer, Summer time... and what says Summer more than homemade ice cream? We pulled out the handy-dandy recipe booklet that came with our ice cream maker and decided to make Rocky Road ice cream. This necessitated some deviation from the recipe, we didn't have bars of semi-sweet chocolate, so we measured out an equal amount of semi-sweet chips. Lacking mini-marshmallows we instead chopped up a number of over-sized "camping" marshmallows (leftovers from the s'mores dessert of the previous night). We also lacked pecans and instead chopped up some walnuts.

Here's a few hints and tips for this recipe, a quick way to "chop" the nuts is to measure them into a plastic zip-top bag and bash them with a rolling pin; that's a fun way to get the kids involved too. Cutting up marshmallows proved to be much more difficult. Cutting them with scissors into small chunks only worked until the kitchen scissors gummed up, slicing them with a knife proved equally tricky and time consuming. Finally we hit upon pressing the marshmallows one by one through the largest grates on the Vidalia Onion chopper. We pressed them through by hand instead of using the chopper itself to keep it from getting gummed up. As the marshmallow was extruded through the grid it would stick together into a shredded lump, but once it hit the milk and chocolate mixture that formed the base it would break apart into discrete pieces again.

Another hint is to make sure you remove the ice cream from the ice cream churn (the metal tube it turns in) and pack it firmly into individual containers before freezing it in the freezer. We started making ice cream at 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon, but we didn't get to eat it until 8 o'clock that night, so it is certainly not a quick process! However it was totally worth the wait! Meltingly smooth and chocolatey with delicious chunks of walnut and marshmallow it went down a treat after a dinner of pulled pork, mashed potatoes, corn niblets, and green beans.

A brief note on the pulled pork, I read a recipe where you cover a pork tenderloin in A&W Root beer and cook it in the crockpot for several hours. I decided to try it but first I seasoned the meat with a spicy sugar-free BBQ pork rub and then used the root beer. There are a lot of recipes out there that call for cooking meat (especially pork) with various types of soda, ginger ale, Sprite, Coca-Cola even! The meat was very tender and very moist but I do have to say that it wasn't overly sweet nor did it have any discernible root beer flavor. We served it on buns and topped it with a vinegar based Carolina style BBQ sauce. Delish!

Friday: No Fish!

2011-06-12T06:33:00.000-07:00

No Fish Friday this week, but we did have a very nice night. Our daughter's softball team celebrated a very successful and fun season with a picnic, wiffle ball game (parents versus kids) and a projector showing of "A League of Their Own". It was an awesome party!

It was a potluck; I brought watermelon and s'more fixings.

Potluck Menu:

Fried Chicken
Hamburgers
Hotdogs
Grilled onions
Grilled mushrooms
Macaroni and Cheese
Baked beans with apple chunks (delicious)
Homemade hummus and carrot sticks
Spinach artichoke dip and crackers
Chips and onion dip

The grilled mushrooms and onions were delicious and made possible by a flat cast iron skillet on the grill, they basically sizzled in the run off of fat from the hamburgers. Everything everyone brought was absolutely delicious. After we all ate dinner and played wiffle ball for awhile we made s'more as the sun set, when it was dark we went up to watch the movie and have some popcorn. We didn't get home until midnight, but the kids (even the toddler) held up and were very happy.

A return to Fish Friday next week!

Weird Wednesday and Thirsty Thursday

2011-06-10T07:42:00.000-07:00

What made Wednesday so weird was the fact that someone else made me dinner. Our older daughter had to go to a softball award ceremony where dinner was provided. It was a kid-feast, big fat strips of white meat chicken fingers, tiny sliders topped with lettuce tomato and onion rings, salsa and cheese nachos and honey BBQ chicken wings. The kids loved it. Softball has been a ton of fun, but very difficult in terms of dinner scheduling. Practice and games went back to back from 5 to 7 twice a week! Here is the on the go, high energy snack I've been making the kids to get them through until we make it to dinner around 7:15.

Snack Mix:

3 parts whole grain cereal (I used Cheerios)
2 parts dried fruit (I used raisins and sometimes dried blueberries)
1 part chopped nuts (used walnuts)
1 part chocolate chips

I shake all of the mix up in a large bag and let the kids have a sandwich baggie full of them. If your kid is nut allergic I would use some sesame seeds. Or for a tasty different version you could use pine nuts, which are delicious!

Thirsty Thursday: It is H O T in Florida right now and to me, there is no better hot weather drink than Southern Sweet Tea. I suggest boiling briefly enough tea bags to make 1 gallon of tea in about 5 cups of water. Pour the hot tea concentrate over 1 C of sugar (more or less to taste) stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Next add enough water and ice to dilute the concentrate, making 1 gallon. You can garnish individual glasses with lemon slices or mint sprigs. If you make it this way you don't have to wait an hour or more for the tea to cool down and not instantly melt your ice cubes on a hot summer day.

Thursday's dinner was SUPPOSED to be Beef Stroganoff with Oven Roasted Brussels Sprouts. I freaking LOVE Brussels sprouts and so does my hubby. Our kids will eat maybe one or two, which I consider an unparalleled success. But I had forgotten we were having a one of my daughter's friends over for a slumber party. I ended up making a box of mac and cheese and some steamed green beans with butter. That's like the same thing, right?

Tonight I am going to make the stroganoff because the meat is defrosted, but I am going to make some AWESOME fish this weekend.

Tuesday: beef stew in the pressure cooker

2011-06-07T17:06:00.000-07:00

I have put the beef stew recipe up before, but there is a reason I go back again and again to making it. It is super fast and super easy, contains inexpensive ingredients and is very tasty. I recently got a new super tiny gas grill that just fits the front step so I am hoping to start grilling out more often. One of my Mom's most go-to Summer recipes was to simply make some hamburger patties, a side of cottage cheese and a big "dinner salad" with lots of greens, carrots, garbanzo beans, chopped boiled eggs, and tomatoes. I make that and also grilled chicken breasts and grilled veggies. The more I cook outside the less I heat up the house, the less air conditioning I need and the happier I am. :)

Another hot weather favorite of mine is to take some canned salmon (super healthy wild caught) and form it into patties with beaten egg, chopped celery, seasoned bread crumbs, and minced onion, salt and pepper. It bakes or grills (in a grill pan) in no time at all and pairs well with one of those bags of 90 second seasoned rice and a green salad.

Rice salad is another delicious hot weather favorite. You can make rice in a flash the night before in a pressure cooker and refrigerate it for the next day before mixing it up with other ingredients. I like it made with chopped broccoli, or peas, chopped bell pepper and corn, it pairs nicely with fresh fruit and some sweet dinner rolls.

What are your good recipes for hot weather?

Meatless Monday Menu: Vegetarian vegetable soup, quesadillas

2011-06-07T08:11:00.000-07:00

I prefer quesadillas to grilled cheese sandwiches, there I said it. They are just easier to make, faster, less clean up. You don't have to butter the tortillas, they toast just fine in a dry pan. Also, because you fold the tortilla in half it is less likely the cheese will fall out when you flip them. I make them ALL the time.

Anyhow last night the baby was very ill so I made 2 cans of Campbell's vegetarian vegetable soup and some quesadillas. I strained some of the soup and gave the baby some broth, a popsicle and some ginger ale. This morning she seems to be doing much better.

If you or a loved one comes down with a stomach bug there are some things you can have on hand to help settle the stomach.

Things that are always in my pantry:

Gatorade powdered mix (any flavor but no bright reds)
Saltine crackers
Peppermint tea
Peppermints or mini candy canes
white rice
jars of apple sauce

Things that I get from the store:
White bread
bananas
ginger ale
popsicles (not the good kind with fruit juice, the cheap sugar water pops, also no bright reds)

I grew up following the BRAT diet for upset stomachs, Bananas, rice, applesauce and toast. The reason I use white bread and white rice is that they are more easily digested and if your stomach upset also involves diarrhea then skipping the fiber seems like common sense. A cooled peppermint tea or a ginger ale can alleviate feelings of nausea and do not give the sick person anything dyed bright red to drink. If they do throw up again, red is the hardest stain to get out of clothes pr bedding or heaven forbid upholstery! I also avoid the high quality pops because the fruit juice could also aggravate the very delicate gastrointestinal tract. I only deploy the Gatorade if the sick person has been ill many times over several hours, otherwise ginger ale, water, very dilute apple juice, and tea are plenty to keep them hydrated. Once you've been up all night with a constantly sick kid then you can get the Gatorade out.

Be on the lookout for dehydration, signs can include:

Sunken eyes
crying without tears,
dry mouth
decreased urination (dry diapers in babies)
darker urination
lethargy

Keeping your sick kid drinking small amounts of fluid over long periods of time is easier on the stomach then having a big drink, encourage them to take many small sips.

Wednesday: All the single parents, put ya hands up!

2011-06-02T07:39:00.000-07:00

So I got a migraine. A nauseating, head splitting, bright light blinding migraine last night. When my husband came home from work he took one look at me and started making dinner. It was some sort of pot roast. I'd tell you more but I spent that time whimpering under the covers and chewing Tums. I didn't even eat later, just drank some more water and went to bed.

So this brings me to my real point. Do you know any single parents? Are you single parent? By nature of your partner's work schedule do you ever find yourself a part-time single parent?

If you know a single parent offer to make them dinner sometime. If you are making a meatloaf for yourself, it isn't that much trouble to double the recipe and make one for them too. Same with pasta sauce or casseroles, double it up and bring it over. Single parents never get a "night off" and lack the built in support that comes with another live-in parent.

If you are a single parent or part time single parent, I would LOVE to hear from you about your strategies for making dinner run smoothly! I rely on pawning my kids off on my husband while I finish dinner, what is your technique?

When I was a WAHM (work away from home) Mom I did have a few tricks. We ate a lot of stir-fry and fajitas, thinly sliced meats and vegetables cook very quickly. Plus I could find already washed and sliced veggies in the freezer section a lot of the time. A boil in bag side of 5 minute rice and we were good to go for dinner. When frozen pizzas went on sale, we loaded up our garage freezer; we called them Emergency Backup Pizza. We could cook one of those faster than you could call for delivery and with a bag of pre-washed salad on the side it was a fast and not nutritionally unsound dinner. Yesterday I spoke of the wonders of a grocery store rotisserie chicken, a great dinner starter for any busy parent, in fact you can even drive through KFC now and get a bucket of grilled chicken for an even faster dinner. Spaghetti and sauce, can of soup and sandwiches, eggs toast and bacon, can all be very fast meals on a busy night.

So if you have a loving partner and co-parent, give them a hug tonight, because as hard as it is being a parent it is at least twice as hard to do it on your own.

Tuesday: The Quick and the Fed

2011-06-01T06:13:00.000-07:00

Last night's dinner revolved around a store bought rotisserie chicken, heat and eat mashed potatoes and fresh corn on the cob. When you're home all day with two sick, lethargic kids making a big production out of dinner just won't cut it. In fact immediately after finishing her dinner (with 2 helpings of everything) the baby fell asleep on the floor of the living room and had to be transported fully clothed to her bed. The older child only lasted through a quick shower and into PJ's before she was also out like a light.

I love a rotisserie chicken! There are so many things you can do with the leftovers. Here's a list of my favorites.

*Chicken Salad (mix leftover meat with mayo, chopped celery, salt, white pepper, finely minced onion and a dash of dill.)
*Chicken Tacos (mix leftovers with seasoned black beans for a yummy taco filling.)
*Chicken and Rice Casserole (chicken meat, mixed with cooked rice, chopped spinach, cheese and mushroom soup, then bake.)
*Chicken Quesadillas (toasted tortillas filled with cheese and chicken)
*Chicken Soup (pull all the meat from the bones and use the carcass to make your soup base. Save the meat for the finished soup.)
*Chicken and Rice (make your favorite rice and load it with vegetables, carrots, tomato, onion what have you, in the last few minutes of rice cooking add your chicken meat, stir and serve as a hearty one dish meal.)
*Chicken Alfredo (add chicken to Alfredo sauce and pour over hot pasta, serve with a side of steamed veggies)
*Chicken Stir-Fry (Stir-fry all veggies, add chicken and mix, serve over cooked brown rice.)
*Chicken Fajitas (cook and season all veggies, onions, peppers, mushrooms, carrots strips, add chicken and serve in flour tortillas.)

If you are making a roast or rotisserie chicken at home here are some great flavoring ideas.

*Insert in the cavity of the chicken a quartered lemon and some rosemary sprigs.
*Rub chicken all over, especially under the skin and over the breast, with compound butter.
*Brush chicken liberally with mojo marinade before baking.
*Place chicken in roasting pan, resting on top of thick slices of onion, it will also flavor your pan drippings for an excellent gravy or reduction sauce.
*Brine chicken overnight before roasting in a large bowl or bucket filled with water, salt, sugar and bay leaves. Your chicken will be amazingly moist and flavorful.
*Cook and baste chicken in orange juice, the sugar in the juice will caramelize and make a gorgeous sort of glaze.

Baptism Brunch

2011-05-29T13:16:00.000-07:00

I was honored to be asked to be the Godmother to my new baby nephew this month. Today was his baptism and then afterwards we all came together at my Mom's house for a little get together. I made my pal G's awesome bacon potato salad and I made the simplest fruit salad in the world.

1 pt. Strawberries, hulled and sliced
1 green apple, sliced and chopped
1 bunch red grapes, rinsed
1/2 cantaloupe, peeled and chopped
1/4 pineapple, peeled and chopped
1 key lime, juiced

I mixed all of these fruits together and refrigerated them while we were at church. When we got back I poured them into a pretty serving bowl. Evertything, including the cut apples, stayed crisp and no browning or mushiness.

Good fruit salad simply uses the best available seasonal fruits and some lime or lemon juice to keep things bright and tasty. Enjoy it this summer!

Thursday's Dinner: stove top citrus chicken, stuffing muffins, green beans, roasted fingerling potatoes

2011-05-26T16:05:00.000-07:00

You know, I am tempted to create a Thirsty Thursday segment and feature a different drink every Thursday. Not necessarily an alcoholic drink mind you, but something different and refreshing. Can you tell it is fully Summer here already? My favorite summer drink is an Arnold Palmer, simply take 1/2 freshly brewed iced tea and mix it with 1/2 freshly squeezed lemonade and serve over lots and lots of ice, also delicious with mint garnish! YUM!!!

I bought these multi-colored fingerling potatoes a few weeks ago. God bless potatoes because they are A) super versatile and B) keep forever if you store them in a cool, dark, place away from apples. Anyhow, these were the last of the fingerlings, some bright red, some white and some a deep purple color. I cut them into thirds and drizzled them with olive oil and sea salt and put them on a rimmed baking dish and let them bake for 40 minutes or so while I cleaned the kitchen and got the rest of dinner ready.

To make the stuffing muffins I chopped up 1 carrot, 1 rib of celery, 1 small onion and 2 cloves of garlic and sauteed them in olive oil on the stove top. Then I added most of my leftover chicken broth from last night and let that simmer. Next I took some whole wheat bread and corn bread from the freezer and broke those up into chunks and put them in a medium sized mixing bowl. I then added the hot broth and vegetables to my bread mix and stirred to combine. I packed them into greased full-sized muffin cups and baked them with the potatoes for the last 15-20 minutes of cooking time.

Stove top chicken was simply chicken breasts seasoned with adobo seasoning, cooked 7 minutes on each side and deglazing the pan with apple and lemon juice. YUM! So easy.

I took some frozen green beans (I buy bulk organic frozen green beans from Costco) and put them in a covered glass dish with butter and adobo and microwaved them for 5 minutes as the chicken finished.

I also made an onion mushroom sauce for the chicken to use up some leftover mushrooms. I chopped the 'shrooms (about half of an 8 oz package), half of a small onion and sauteed them in olive oil and butter, then I added about a TB of flour to the veggies and stirred and let it all cook for a minute or two. I then added the last of my chicken broth, some salt and pepper, and let it all cook down at a slow boil for several minutes while I was setting the table and plating food. Very nice quick sauce, would have been better with some fresh parsley.

I changed my mind about making pot roast and carrots and onions because I forgot that we are leaving tomorrow for my hometown and I am trying to not create any leftovers since we will be gone until Monday night. I hope you have a wonderful Memorial Day. I plan on visiting the graves of all my relatives (not just the veterans) since I will be home. I am just Southern enough that visiting their graves feels a bit like just... visiting. I mean you go with your family, you talk, you reminisce and tell funny stories, you bring your loved ones flowers. All in all a nice thing. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and if I make something particularly awesome over the weekend I promise to blog about it.

Weird Wednesday: Peanut Butter and Jelly Soup, Grilled BBQ Chicken Breast, Corn on the Cob

2011-05-25T17:45:00.000-07:00

So my weird Wednesday offering this week is a "Peanut Butter and Jelly Soup" -- a savory concoction made with hot pepper jelly garnish, peanut butter, chicken broth, lemon juice, light cream, salt and sherry. I don't have any sherry so I omitted it, but in all other respects I stuck to the recipe. It was creamy (of course) and savory and smooth, but totally the wrong season for it. This soup would make a wonderful first course to any Fall meal, even Thanksgiving! But I am so glad I made it. It is going into the keeper file for me.

The chicken breasts I simply placed into a hot pan with olive oil and sprinkled them on both sides with BBQ rub. As they cooked I would occasionally deglaze the pan with some apple juice and then sort of baste them in the pan juices. I cooked them on medium heat until they were just done so they were juicy and yummy.

Easy-peasy corn on the cob recipe, simply shuck and rinse your corn, then wrap them in plastic wrap and microwave them for 5-7 minutes depending on the size of the cob. When you grab them with a hot mitt and they "give" a bit under pressure you know they are done.

I also made a simple tossed salad with shredded carrot and torn romaine leaves.

Southern Peanut Butter Soup with Pepper Jelly:

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons grated onion
1 celery branch, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons flour
3 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup light cream
2 tablespoons roasted peanuts, chopped
1/2 cup hot pepper jelly

Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat; add onion and celery. Saute for about 5 minutes. Add flour and mix until well blended. Stir in chicken broth and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes. Remove from heat, strain broth. Stir the peanut butter, salt and cream into the strained broth until well mixed. Serve hot. Garnish each serving with a teaspoon of chopped peanuts and a dollop of jelly.

Tasty Tuesday: meatloaf, rice, steamed asparagus

2011-05-24T16:32:00.000-07:00

I came to a realization tonight; we are no longer a 1 pound meatloaf family. In the past when it was just me and the hubby and then when the kids were small I used the same recipe for a meat loaf I always have, 1 pound of meat, plus enough eggs, oatmeal, peppers and onions to make it tasty. This was always a sufficient amount with enough for leftovers the next day, provided I served enough veggies on the side anyhow.

Tonight we wiped out that meatloaf. I guess to insure leftovers I need to make a 2 pound meatloaf. Which means rejiggering my recipe somewhat, but at least it will all still fit in my baking pan. When I make meatloaves I usually make 2-3 at a time and the portion them by weight into foil lined baking pans. I wrap them and freeze them and then pop them out of their baking pans like ice from an ice cube tray so I can use my pans in the mean time for baking bread. When I am ready to make the meatloaves I do one of two things, either pop them back in the pan to defrost in the refrigerator all day (preferred method) or I painstakingly peel every bit of foil from them and defrost them in the microwave and then put them in the pan and bake them.

I also made a package of broccoli cheese rice/pasta mix. It is sold in bags on the rice and pasta aisle and cooks in 7 minutes, the asparagus I simply snapped the ends, drizzled them with olive oil and salt and and steamed them with a scant amount of water for about 5 minutes. Let's just say my energy level took a big dip today and I wasn't quite ready to shuck and cut off the cob 4-5 ears of corn.

I have been thinking today about families who face the very real danger of food insecurity; people, our friends and neighbors who literally do not know where their next meal is coming from. Every time we say grace at the table I send a silent prayer to the God of my understanding to protect those people. I also donate regularly to the Food Bank in my town and I encourage you to do the same. It is so hard to concentrate in school when you're hungry, it is hard to seek work, it is hard to love one another when you can't remember the last time you had a full meal. Get involved! There are so many wonderful organizations out there.

Feeding America is a great one, I worked with them in High School when they were still known as America's Second Harvest. There are lots of good charities out there. And get your family involved. When you serve a simpler or even vegetarian meal, take the money you've saved from making a more complex meal and plop it in a bowl right in the middle of the table. Explain to the kdis where that money is going. My daughters' religious education classes make regular contributions to the church food pantry. Every week I let them select something THEY like to eat to contribute. It brings it home to them; "Maybe some other little kid will like this cereal!" If you had enough to feed your kids tonight, then please also feed your spirit by making a contribution! Thank you!

“Lord, to those who hunger, give bread. And to those who have bread, give the hunger for justice." -- a Latin American prayer

Meatless Monday: Pressure Cooker Potato Corn Chowder

2011-05-23T17:36:00.000-07:00

Dance class from 4:15 - 5:30, softball practice/game from 5:30 - 7:30; what's a busy Mama to do? Nights like these are why I love my pressure cooker.

This chowder was adapted from a stove top recipe I've made many times.

Pressure Cooker Potato Corn Chowder

Olive Oil
Chopped 1/2 Large onion
Chopped 2 cloves garlic
Chopped 4 large red skin potatoes
Tabasco (to taste)
2 C corn niblets (frozen)
1 qt. container of veggie broth (or chicken)
1 16 oz. container of sour cream
1 Tb of cornstarch dissolved in water
Salt/Pepper

Saute onions and garlic in the bottom of the pressure cooker in olive oil (if not meatless Monday, throw some bacon in there.) Stir and saute till fragrant and then add chopped potatoes (at least 4 cups of spuds). Season the potatoes with salt and pepper or favorite seasoning blend, add veggie broth. Put lid on pressure cooker and cook on high for 5 minutes and then release pressure. When potatoes are done mash some of them slightly with a potato masher to thicken broth, add cornstarch if necessary. Stir in sour cream and frozen corn niblets, allow to warm through but do not boil. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary, can be topped with shredded cheddar cheese and vegetarian Baco-Bits. I'd serve this soup with a nice salad and some whole wheat bread or biscuits for a complete meal.

Menu for the week of May 23rd

2011-05-23T08:06:00.000-07:00

Here's my menu:

Meatless Monday: Spaghetti, salad, garlic bread

Tuesday: Meatloaf, salad, fresh corn off the cob,

Weird Wednesday: Peanut Butter Soup with Hot Pepper Jelly, Grilled chicken breasts, sauteed green beans

Thursday: Pot roast with caramelized onions and roast carrots

Fish Friday: Grilled Citrus fish with Mango Coulis, rice with pine nuts, wilted spinach

Thursday's Dinner: Chili in the Pressure Cooker and Cornbread

2011-05-21T04:25:00.000-07:00

My daughter's softball practice/game take up the entirety of our evenings from 5-7, which means I give the kids a good snack before practice, they get a nice snack after the game and then they are ravening little wolves by the time we get home for dinner. I know I need to have food pretty much ready to go when they get back.

I almost made crockpot chili which is a really good busy night recipe, but due to unforseen circumstances with my toddler (total meltdown and nap refusal) I wasn't able to get dinner started until my older daughter got home at 4. Hence breaking out the old pressure cooker.

My particular pressure cooker is a Cuisinart brand, self contained pressure cooker. It does not go on the stove top but is an all in one gadget capable of cooking at high and low pressure, sauteeing, and has a "keep warm setting" that was going to be my salvation.

Pressure Cooker Chili:

1 lb lean ground beef

1/2 C (or more) of chopped onions

1 1/2 chopped bell peppers (any color)

1 C of frozen corn niblets

2 cans of black beans (or equivalent fresh beans)

1 small can of tomato sauce (and equivalent amount of water)

3 TB of chili powder

1 tsp of ground cumin

I coated the bottom of the pressure cooker in 1 Tb of olive oil and turned it on to sautee. I added my chopped onions and peppers and let them get fragrant, then I added my beef and got some quick color on it and broke it up with a wooden spoon, I added the spices and let them all cook for a minute or two. Then I added my tomato sauce, I had frozen some sauce last month so I added it in with an equal amount of water and put the lid on the pressure cooker and turned it all on for 5 minutes under high pressure. When I removed the lid I stirred in the beans and corn and put the lid back on under the "keep warm" setting and left.

When we got home the girls were filthy from the red clay infield so I sent them to the shower while I made a quick pan of corn bread. Some tips for making corn bread (whether from a mix or from scratch) is that you should preheat your oven and pan together. Put some fat in the pan (lard, olive oil, vegetable oil, bacon grease anything but butter really) and place it in the oven as it preheats. When you put your corn bread batter into the pan, having it preheated gives you that nice evenly browned bottom that is the hallmark of good corn bread. When the bread comes out of the oven, take a stick of butter and run it over the surface of the corn bread, then cut and serve! Awesomely delicious!

Weird Wednesday: English Muffin Egg Strata

2011-05-21T04:06:00.000-07:00

I love breakfast for dinner, which is weird because I will barely tolerate breakfast for breakfast. I am such a committed morning-phobe that I really can't eat until 10 a.m. or later because even if I am up, moving, feeding the kids, etc. my stomach cannot support the idea of eating until it is almost lunch time. So the only way I really get to enjoy breakfast foods is when we serve them at a normal wake-up time, like 5 p.m.

I miss being a night-owl.

Anyway, when I went to make my normal egg strata I had that sad, Florida realization. The bread had all gone moldy whilst still in the bag! It happens occasionally, you don't even get a chance to eat it because the humidity and heat are such that it makes normal shelf-lives laughable. So I pitched the bread and thought about what to do. My mother in-law makes a wonderful "oven omelet" by beating lots of eggs with milk, salt, pepper, a dash ground mustard and onion and cheese, but I had really set my mind on having a "strata" or layers of bread, veggies and cheese covered in beaten egg and baked.

I decided to use the English Muffins I had just purchased. Here's what I came up with for dinner.

English Muffin Egg Strata:

6 English Muffins
1-2 C shredded cheese
1 C of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/2 C of chopped onion
8 oz of sliced mushrooms
12 eggs beaten
1/3 C of milk
salt
pepper
dash of Tabasco
1 tsp of dried Italian herbs

I greased the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 inch pan with butter and set it aside. In a medium bowl I beat the eggs with the milk, salt, pepper, herbs and Tabasco. I cut up the english muffins into small cubes and took half of them and covered the bottom of the pan. I thawed the spinach in the microwave on low, just enough so I could wrap it in a towel and wrong out the excess water. I sauteed the onions and mushrooms in a skillet until the onions were fragrant and mushrooms had released their liquid (which I poured off). I put a good handful of grated mozzarella over the bread cubes and then put on all the vegetables. I topped that with the rest of the bread, then another good handful of shredded cheese, over all I poured the beaten eggs and let them sit for a few minutes and then right before putting them into the 350 degree oven I topped the whole thing with a bit more cheese. I set it in the oven for 20 minutes. Your oven might cook them faster or slower, check for doneness by seeing if the casserole has pulled away from the sides and if it is still slightly jiggly in the center; it will firm up once it is out of the oven and cooling. I served this with bacon strips I cooked in the microwave and wine glasses filled with orange juice.

It was delicious, I also think it would pair well with sliced Canadian bacon, or any of your favorite Omelet fillers.

Tuesday: Last minute substitution

2011-05-17T19:26:00.000-07:00

I made a big mistake last night (what's new?) and I made the entire box of pasta instead of HALF the pasta as I wanted to for the pasta salad. Since I wanted to use the pasta right away I scrapped my plans for a chicken dinner and took the leftover rotini and made a spaghetti sauce. I used 1/2 chopped tomato, 1/2 chopped yellow pepper, 1/2 a chopped onion, 8 oz of sliced baby bella mushrooms, 2 links of turkey Italian sausage, and 1 small can of tomato sauce. I poured it over the lightly reheated pasta and topped it with mozzarella cheese.

YUM!

To best reheat pasta, never store it with or in any sauce. You can sprinkle it with water and microwave until just steamy, or do what my old bosses at the Italian restaurant used to do, put the pasta in a large strainer or small colander and place the whole thing for just a minute into a pot of boiling water. When done, simply lift the strainer out and it is just like fresh!

Menu for the Week

2011-05-16T10:11:00.001-07:00

Here is my menu for the week:

Meatless Monday: Hummus pita sandwiches, pasta salad
Tuesday: Baked chicken breasts, mashed potatoes, seasoned corn, green beans and stuffing muffins
Wild Wednesday: Cheese and Egg Strata, crispy bacon, fresh fruit, orange juice
Thursday: Crockpot chili and cornbread
Fish Friday: Need to order something from my fish guy, maybe grouper!

I need to go start my garbanzo beans cooking and roast some garlic for my hummus tonight. I also need a good pasta salad recipe. I have some whole wheat rotini, carrots, celery, onion, red bell pepper. I just need a good dressing I think. Any ideas? I am going to make the hummus and fill the pitas with lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and feta cheese.

Hope you all have great meals tonight!

A note on the blog title...

2011-05-15T14:55:00.000-07:00

Some of you may be wondering why I named my blog, "List Lust Lost". Two reasons actually; 1) I am a huge nerd and I am always amused by words that are one letter off from each other that mean wildly different things. 2) I have list lust, constantly making lists of things to do, books to read, places to go, things to see, foods to try, recipes to make, restaurants to visit... and yet, I am not super organized. I am always playing catch-up and trying to do four things at once; in a word I am lost. So there ya go.

Alternative Titles I Could Have Used

*Sugar Honey, Iced Tea! (It's how I swear around the kids.)
*What We Had For Dinner
*Menu Madness
*Where Did I Put the Thing?
*Mommy Needs a Drink
*Dinner Dash
*My Food Has a Southern Accent
*As God is my witness, I shall never make a pie again!

Soup Tips and Broth Basics

2011-05-14T15:35:00.000-07:00

I love to make soup. It is always on my agenda and there are so many great ones out there. Some of my go-to soup meals are the following...

*French Onion Soup with toasted bread and cheese
*Creamy Tomato basil
*Irish Potato Soup
*Italian Wedding Soup
*Minestrone
*Chicken and Vegetable Soup
*Vegetarian Vegetable Soup
*Clean Out the Crisper Soup with Beef (recipe coming soon!)
*Beef Stew
*Chili
*Tortilla Soup
*Creamy Asparagus Soup
*Great Green Soup
*Spinach Soup
*Crab Corn Chowder

To make a really killer veggie broth or add a great base to a chicken, fish or beef broth, start saving the cut off tops and bottoms of carrots, tomatoes, celery, parsnips, asparagus, green onion, fresh herbs, or extra cloves of garlic in a freezer bag. When the 1 gallon size bag is full add it to water with a bay leaf and boil. To get truly amazing color you can add the yellow skins of an onion. For a "zestier" broth you can also add the cut-off tops of bell peppers.

To make the veggie broth into chicken or beef broth simply add a few bones to the proceedings and then you can use it right away or store it in the freezer until you need it. Another tip for flavorful beef or chicken broth is to add whatever dregs of red wine (for beef) or white wine (for chicken) to your pot and feel free to use sea salt, it really helps bring out the other flavors.

Tuesday and Wednesday's meals

2011-05-14T15:28:00.000-07:00

Tuesday I made my MIL's famous picadillo recipe. She learned it from her mother, her mother learned it from a recent emigre from Cuba who had settled in Tampa. If you are ever in Tampa, take the electric trolley car over to Ybor City and eat in a Cuban bakery. The bread! The pastries! The cafe con leche! You will love it. Anyhow, this is a unique picadillo to be sure. I have had many kinds over the years, but none like this. MIL always serves it over black beans and rice with a side of vinegar if you like and plenty of diced fresh onions to go on top.

Picadillo

1 pound hamburger beef
1 TB olive oil
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 green pepper, diced
1 (8) oz can tomato sauce
1/2 t of salt
Raisins (a good handful)
Capers (to taste)
Green salad olives (to taste)

Place olive oil in skillet, brown vegetables, starting with onions and ending with garlic. Brown the meat in the same skillet, pour off any grease. Add olives, raisins and capers and tomato sauce and salt. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, then remove lid and let simmer until liquid is much reduced and raisins are plump.

For the rice, prepare white or yellow rice according to package directions.

For the black bean soup, season canned or freshly cooked black beans with sauteed chopped garlic, onion and green pepper and 1 C of red wine. After beans are fully cooked taste and adjust seasoning, adding salt and pepper as necessary.

Scoop the rice into the bowl, then ladle over some black bean soup, then add a small scoop of picadillo over all, garnish as you see fit. Delish!

Wednesday we had a softball game that went from 5 until 7, so we got home and the kids were starving and extremely dirty. I sent them off to the showers while I reheated my meal from the night before but this time stuffed the rice, beans and picadillo into warmed taco shells and topped them with lettuce and fresh tomato salsa, cheese and a dollop of Greek yogurt. (Greek yogurt is my got-to sour cream stand in, try it, you'll like it!) It was wonderful, the beans in particular had gotten more flavorful over night.

Peeps Crispy Treats

2011-05-09T10:01:00.000-07:00

Yeah, Peeps, you know the marshmallow and sanding sugar shaped candies that come out at Easter time? My kids got peeped out this Easter, they must have received DOZENS of the things, so I decided to use them up before they all went stale. (Peeps get stale, true facts!)

I took some peeps and melted them in 3 TB of butter over medium heat on the stove, then added 6 cups of crispy rice cereal. I stirred them up and then pressed the molten hot peep-cereal mixture into a buttered 9 x 13 baking dish. Then, I decorated the tops with multi-colored sprinkles, just because, well you know MOAR SPRINKLES! It's a thing.

Enjoy!

Friday, finally.

2011-05-06T16:27:00.000-07:00

So, due to illness (kids and hubby's and mine) as well as various volunteering commitments, I did not get a lot of blogging done, but MAN did I cook a lot!

Monday's menu is already on here, Tuesday I made a pot roast with veggies in the pressure cooker, Wednesday I turned that into beef stew, and Thursday Cinco de Mayo I made a Mexican fiesta of epic proportion.

Cinco de Mayo Menu:
Shredded beef
Crockpot Mexican Chicken
Rice
Tortillas
Baby Spinach
Shredded cheese
Salsa
Guacamole
Sour Cream
Tres leches cake
Margaritas

We made all of that stuff, except the salsa and the tres leches cake. The recipe for shredded beef AKA Mexican Beef Brisket is already on this blog, but I did something a little different this time, I added some seeded and chopped jalapeño and some mojo marinade to the beef and the flavor was GREAT. Serve the brisket wrapped in warm tortillas, with favorite taco fillings. Baby spinach subbed in for lettuce is a tasty way of adding some wonderful flavor and nutrition.

Crockpot Mexican Chicken
Take 4 chicken breasts and season with Adobo, sautee them till they are brown on all sides, place browned breasts in crockpot. Over chicken pour favorite salsa or 1 can of diced Rotel style tomatoes and 1 chopped jalapeño pepper. Stir in 1 tsp cumin and cook all for 6-8 hours on low. When removing the chicken shred with forks and mix with sauce, serve in tortillas or spoon onto hot cooked rice.

Marvelous Margaritas
Tequila (Jose Cuervo, save the Patron for shots)
Triple Sec (or Gran Marnier)
Key lime juice
Simple syrup

Into a pitcher with ice mix 2 C simple syrup, 2 C triple sec, 1 1/2 C tequila, 2 cups fresh lime juice, stir and serve. Delish!

EASIEST Guacamole

Take and mash 2 Haas avocados, mix with a dash of cumin, salt, and several tablespoons of best quality tomato salsa, plus juice of half a lime. Stir and let flavors meld for 20 minutes, serve with chips.

Today was Friday, and after a long night with the baby who had spiked yet another fever and a trip to the doctor's office to discover she has an ear infection I realized I hadn't ordered any fish for today. Hubby came home from work and made a chicken pot pie from scratch with only minimal assistance from me.

Our recipe for chicken pot pie is adapted from Alton Brown's pot pie recipe.

2 chicken breasts
2 cups of frozen mixed veggies
1 small onion diced
2 cloves garlic diced
2 stalks celery
8 oz sliced mushrooms (optional)
3 tb flour
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 C milk (or half and half)
1 1/2 C chicken broth
olive oil
salt
pepper
1 tsp Italian seasoning
leftover biscuits

Place frozen veggies on a rimmed baking pan and put it in the oven to roast at 350 degrees. Chop onion, garlic, and celery small. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper all over. Cook chicken breasts in olive oil in a stock pot over medium high heat. Take chicken breasts out of pot and set aside. Add 1 tb more oil to the pan and saute aromatics and mushrooms together. Heat milk and chicken broth in a 2 C glass measuring cup in microwave. Add flour and curry powder to aromatics and cook together for 1 minute, then stir in the milk mixture, Italian seasoning, the browned veggies, and the chicken. Cook all till nice and thick. We line a deep dish 9" pie pan with heavy duty foil and add in the mixture and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes and then pop it out of the oven and top with leftover biscuits.

This is a great tasting dish, very easy and versatile. Tonight's frozen veggies were a blend of squashes, peppers, carrots. To that we added some frozen corn niblets and frozen green beans. You can use whatever you like, even a simple frozen peas and carrot blend. If you are making fresh biscuits you can top the pot pie with raw biscuits, dollops of Bisquick batter, sheets of phyllo dough (buttered well between sheets) or the puff pastry Alton Brown suggests. Leftover biscuits sliced in half go great over the top as it comes out of the oven. Let them sit there and get steamy soft as the pie cools a bit before serving.

Meatless Monday: Hoo Boy

2011-05-02T16:43:00.000-07:00

So, let's see. Since I last blogged I have been through my oldest's First Reconciliation and First Communion sacraments, stuffing and hiding hundreds of Easter Eggs, performing as Mary Magdalene's Sister (I decided her name was Barbara Magdalene), dressing 5 little girls as angels, hosting my parents and in-laws in my home for a few days, driving 10 hours round trip for a funeral service and taking care of my youngest who had stomach flu and fever and then thoughtfully gave those things to me. I was so sick yesterday I thought I might never eat again, certainly never cook again and of course abandon all food or food related activities.

Yeah.

Well, I am back today. After 48 hours of living on ginger ale and toast I can say all I was up to for myself was making some mashed potatoes. I boiled some chopped, washed and skin on potatoes in enough salted water to cover them by an inch. I put a lid on the pot to bring them to a boil faster and then uncovered them when they started boiling hard. After letting them boil at high temp for a few minutes I reduced the heat to a low boil until the potatoes were tender but not falling apart. I drained off most of the water and added some butter and Greek yogurt to the hot potatoes as well as about 2 TB of Ranch dressing mix and mashed all with a potato masher. Then I added some milk and blended further with an immersion blender. After tasting the spuds needed a bit more salt and some pepper. I served mine with a bit of crunchy vegetarian Bacos on top and called it a night for myself.

The kids had leftover mac and cheese with apple sauce, cut up carrots and celery sticks and some sliced pear. Hubby had all of that plus some sausage his parents had sent from Virginia.

My husband is unfortunately sick too, so my "menu" for the next few days is just to take it easy with the cooking and let everyone eat anything that appeals and/or will stay down. When you are sick I think it is perfectly permissible to make cans of soup, microwave popcorn, toast or order out even. Eat off paper plates, let the laundry pile up, take extra long showers, do what you can to take care and rest it really is the only way to get well.

Cheese Enchiladas

2011-04-26T06:41:00.000-07:00

This is how we make enchiladas in my family.

Corn Tortillas
Chili Powder
Water
Vegetable Oil
Shredded Cheese
Diced Onion
1 can of chili (your choice)

Take slightly stale corn tortillas and dip them briefly in a mixture of chili powder and water, the amounts are at your discretion but the water should have turned red from chili powder. Meanwhile pour an inch or two of oil into a small frying pan (just greater than the diameter of your corn tortillas. Set the oil on medium high heat. Make sure you "shake off" the tortillas a bit before you dip them in the oil and submerge them until the tortilla is fried and slightly crispy. Place the tortilla in a 9 x 13 pan and fill with cheese and onions, roll up and place seam side down in the pan. Keep adding tortillas until the pan is full. Take your canned chili (or an equal amount of homemade) and mix it with the leftover chili water and pour it over all of the enchiladas and then top that with cheese and bake at 350 degrees until it is all bubbly and hot. What works really well here (and I am not even kidding) is a small can of that cheap hot dog chili that is merely texturized vegetable protein and beef fat mixed together ("it's a beef process"). But you can ladle over some homemade chili or a can of vegetarian chili whatever you have on hand.

We generally serve this with some rice, a green salad, and some sauteed zucchini.

Meatless Monday: As meatless as you wanna be

2011-04-25T19:25:00.000-07:00

Tonight we all had various holiday meal leftovers, some colorful boiled eggs, macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, potato casserole and some honey baked ham slices and honey baked turkey breast. So some of us ate vegetarian and some of us had meat, but basically it was a fight to clean out our very, very full refrigerator.

I also had to put the leftover Easter candy on a very high shelf. Because I will eat it all. Seriously. I have to put it out of reach of myself. I had Cadbury Creme Eggs for breakfast. Oh, chocolate, my lover, my enemy.

Here is my Aunt Kathy's wonderful, wonderful potato casserole recipe. There are a jillion variations on this one, when I make the casserole for breakfast I add buttered corn flakes on the top, otherwise I leave it just cheesy on top.

Potato Casserole

(1) 2-pound bag frozen hash browns or frozen potatoes O’Brien
½ cup melted butter or margarine (1 stick)
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
½ cup chopped onion (omit if using potatoes O’Brien)
1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup (cream of anything works really)
1 Pint Sour Cream (have also used Greek yogurt here)
2 Cups Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese (Or save 1 cup cheese for top.)

Mix all ingredients (except potatoes). Add potatoes and mix well. Put into an ungreased oblong casserole. (I mix it all in the casserole pan actually.) Sprinkle top with 1 cup reserved cheese (if applicable)

Bake 350 F for 50-60 minutes.

Meatless Monday: Vegetarian Lasagna and Taco Tuesday

2011-04-19T16:59:00.000-07:00

Hey! My parents came in to town for my oldest's First Communion so I have been hanging out with them and neglecting to blog. But not neglecting to cook! I love to cook with my parents and since they were the ones that taught me to cook I hope they like cooking with me.

Monday was Meatless of course, so I made a decadent Veggie Lasagna. I used the oven-ready noodles so they needn't be boiled first and put the first layer in the pan with some sauce according to package directions. However I did not have my ricotta mixture ready to go so the pasta was curling up by the time I got ready to put in the next layer. So that's my tip, have everything ready to go before you start assembling the lasagna layers. I mixed my ricotta cheese with 1 beaten egg, 2 tsp of Italian spices (dried), some defrosted and drained and squeezed chopped spinach, 1 grated carrot, and half a grated onion. I put down noodles, ricotta, tiny sprinkle of mozzarella, sauce and repeat until you lay down the top layer of noodles which are only topped with sauce and mozzarella. I baked it for 30 minutes under foil, then removed the foil and baked for 15 more minutes. I served the lasagna with a crispy green salad, but it also goes well with sauteed green beans tossed with a bit of Italian vinaigrette. If you lack ricotta cheese you can sub in some cottage cheese, simply blend the cottage cheese by itself with an immersion blender and then mix with the other ingredients. I swear no one can tell the difference. You can also do a 50/50 mix of ricotta and cottage cheese if you need to.

Tonight (Tuesday) was taco night! My dad made the BEST homemade salsa, I made black beans and yellow rice. My dad actually made the seasoning blend for the beans for me, chopped onion, cilantro and peppered bacon. The results were deee-lish! We seasoned the taco meat with chopped onion and garlic, cumin, adobo, and a bit of chili powder and just a few tablespoons of plain tomato sauce. We toasted some crunchy taco shells, sliced some romaine lettuce, set out the shredded cheese and sour cream and of course Dad's amazing salsa. We also sliced and ate some deliciously decadent avocado, dressed in only salt and lime juice. Fantastic!

I will post Dad's salsa recipe when he gets back from taking some pictures of the sunset. Adios!

Friday Night Fights

2011-04-15T18:17:00.000-07:00

So today is my husband's birthday (hi Honey!) and I decided to try and make him his favorite dessert, apple pie. Now a sane person would have gone to the store and picked up a Mrs. Smith's frozen pie and called it a day, but NOOOOOO, I had to get all cocky and Suzy-Homemaker and try to make a FROM SCRATCH apple pie. This was a mistake.

Here's the thing. I am actually a pretty decent baker, I can make bread and cookies and cake and even pretzels and doughnuts, but pie crusts have always been my Achille's Heel. I just can't seem to get it right, too little water, too much water, the butter never seems to melt into the crust enough, or sometimes too much. It all gets very confusing and then I have to go lay down for awhile.

I decided to try and make a butter/lard pie crust because I don't use vegetable shortening (unless I am making something for a vegetarian) and my previous attempts at an all butter crust (pate brisee) have all been unmitigated disasters. The Hindenburgs of pastry making really, people standing around weeping, screaming, "Oh, the humanity!". My last pie looked like someone had dropped an apple cobbler from a very high place, and then maybe stepped on it. The others... I can no longer recall anything except the acrid smell of burnt crust and defeat.

Today was going to be different. I had a nice clean kitchen to work in. The kids were down for a nap. I had been studying pie techniques for months. I had all of my ingredients, bowl, pastry blender, even the glass holding the ice water for the crust in the freezer and refrigerator. I was told by a reliable source to keep everything, right down to the salt and sugar in the ice box for at least a half an hour.

I got out my chilled bowl and added the cold butter, flour, salt and sugar and began to work it in with my pastry blender when no more than 30 seconds into blending did I feel a "snap" and one of the tines broke right off into the flour. I pressed on now adding my lard. The butter had been really easy to cut into the flour, but the lard had FROZEN right into the stainless steel measuring cup I had placed it in. I managed to dig it out, but mostly in one large piece, it took a lot of arm muscle to get it broken down at all.

Then you are to add 3 TB of ice water to the proceedings. If the dough holds together when you squeeze it then you leave it alone, if not you need more water, 1 TB at a time. Sounds pretty easy right? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! See, some of the dough squeezed together, but some of it stayed crumbly. I tried to push the crumbs into the part that was holding together, but it was all slipping through my fingers. The I tried adding more water, but it made the dough gummy in spots and stuck to the bowl, my hands, everywhere but to the OTHER PIECES OF PIE CRUST. I managed to squish some of it into a ball like mass and wrap it into plastic wrap as the instructions indicated, and the other half as well. One ball/disc/blob as supposed to be larger than the other, but neither was to be larger than 6 inches. Yeah, a ruler would have been helpful in this situation since I have all the spatial relations God gave a duck. Actually, ducks fly and can take-off and land on water, so I bet they are pretty good at visual estimation after all. Whatever the case, I am not good at estimating.

I let the dough "chill" in the fridge for 30 minutes as instructed while I worked on the apple filling. I watched a handy little YouTube video but he doesn't give exact amounts so I just sort of improvised. The thing that REALLY bugged me was how beautifully and quickly he can skin an apple with a paring knife. I have all the knife skills God gave a... duck? We WILL go with duck this time.

My timer went off and I was ready to roll out the dough. Meanwhile the children had decided that even though they had not slept AT ALL they were ready to be up. There was much crying and tearful pleading and some screaming and red faces. The kids were pretty upset too. I tried to roll out my first (the smaller) crust. It exploded into a dust ball much like when Buffy stakes a vampire. POOF!

I added some more water and then it was sticking to the plastic wrap and I was sobbing and one or both of my children were attached to my ankles at various times, asking me if they could "help?" and I was like, "GRRR! Mommy is having a melt down, go watch TV if you know what's good for ya!" I put in the filling, which I must say looked and smelled pretty good, then I attempted to put the top crust on. This was an even worse experience if you can believe that. I tried rolling the crust out between two pieces of plastic wrap, but it kept crumbling around the edges and sort of was thicker and heavier than one would ideally prefer a pie dough to be. It was somewhat more like a piece of fraying wet felt, smeared with concrete and big hunks of butter. There was no crimping the edges, or fluting the edges. There were no edges. The top and the bottom simply, sullenly, fused together like some sort of grayish-beige (possibly deadly) mold. I carved some vents in the top and threw the whole thing dejectedly into the oven.

When my husband called home to tell me he was on his way, the kids were watching cartoons and wrecking my living room and I was reading celebrity gossip on the internet to calm my shattered nerves. He sweetly asked if I needed anything from the store. I answered in one poignant word, "dinner". He brought home some rotisserie chicken, a tub of already mashed potatoes, and amazingly a tub of Edy's Vanilla Ice Cream! I made a salad and some green beans. Afterwards we attempted the pie with generous scoops of ice cream with it (because, what can't ice cream fix?) and it was eh, the crust was flaky but not tender at all, too heavy by half and the apples were somewhat over done since my "air vents" that I had carved into the top crust had sealed themselves shut in the oven. To put a good spin on it... best pie I ever made!

Whoopsie Wednesday: Forgot to Post and Thursday's Dinner

2011-04-14T15:31:00.000-07:00

Wednesday's dinner was a great success, I made a spicy black bean soup and my husband made some corn bread waffles. You can find corn bread waffle recipes online, but our recipe came from the KitchenAid Belgian Waffle Maker cookbook that came with our super-studly, mack-daddy, dual belgian waffle maker, (with chrome exhaust and V-8 engine). Seriously, it's an awesome waffle maker.

Basically you use flour, corn meal, eggs, milk, cheese and cayenne pepper and make a nice thick waffle batter. You cook each waffle for 3 minutes and 45 seconds and they are light and crispy and cheesy and delicious. It made a sort of nice quick bread to serve with the bean soup.

I rinsed, sorted and soaked my beans and set them aside. In the bottom of my pressure cooker I sweated some roughly chopped onions, garlic, yellow bell pepper, and 2 tsp of Emeril's Southwest Seasoning and 1 tsp of chili powder and a single bay leaf. I added the drained beans and stirred them all together and then added a partial container beef broth I had in my fridge that needed using up. You could use chicken or vegetable broth or a mixture if you are so inclined. I cooked the beans with the veggies for 25 minutes on high pressure and then did quick release after 10 minutes. We served everything with a nice green salad. I was so tired though that I fell asleep without remembering to post. So sorry!

Tonight (Thursday's) dinner was sort of a chaotic adventure. My oldest daughter came home today with an earache, which necessitated some phone calls to local doctors to see if anyone could see her before 5 and dosing her with tylenol. Then trying to get her sister to get dressed and both kids to find their shoes to get them in the car to the doctors. No sooner had I texted my friend (and Sarah's softball coach) that we couldn't make it to practice, (my husband is the assistant coach) I get a call from Coach's Wife (and also my friend) that their beloved Golden Retriever had JUST passed away suddenly and could we please go coach the other kids?

Is it any surprise that I left the dinner in the oven? When I got home I was able to salvage the now somewhat sad and shriveled pork loins I had prepared by putting some barbecue sauce on them, but I still felt bad.

These are delicious when prepared correctly, but pretty good even if you leave them in about 30 minutes longer than you should have.

Take both pieces of a pork loin and lay them in a lidded dutch oven or large oven safe lidded pot; mine is an enamel over cast iron piece from the Martha Stewart collection. Sprinkle the loins all over with your favorite BBQ rub or rib rub. Drizzle the meat with a combination of liquid smoke, worcestershire sauce, apple juice and a splash of mojo marinade. (If you lack mojo you can sub in some citrus juices, lemon, lime, orange etc.) I put some large hunks of onion and a quartered apple around the meat to cook down and add moisture and flavor. They did help keep the meat somewhat moist as well.

After I pulled the meat out I took some pre-steamed green beans and put them in a pan with hot bacon fat and let them sit and sizzle till they were golden brown, then I peppered them and turned them and let them get brown on the other side. While those were cooking over medium heat I added some butter to a smaller pan and put that on low. Then I sliced an un-peeled apple into many nice thin slices and fried them in butter. When they were brown and soft on both sides I added the apples to a bowl with a goodly dash of cinnamon. Then I added some frozen corn to a microwave safe bowl and cooked the corn niblets with salt, pepper and butter. You could also add a bit of cream or sour cream after they are heated through to make a sort of "creamed corn" that is also very good.

Slow Cooker Tuesday: Crock Pot Chicken Cacciatore

2011-04-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

Apparently, cacciatore means "hunter" in Italian, (according to Wikipedia.) Who knew? Anyhow, it means prepared in the hunter style. If you have ever had marinara sauce, that means prepared in the sailor style, and if you want to know what style puttanesca is I suggest you look it up yourself. ;)

This is how I made my cacciatore this morning. I defrosted 2 chicken breasts and salt and peppered them. To the slow cooker I added 1 bay leaf, 2 tsp of Italian seasoning, 1/2 sauteed onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 1/2 sauteed bell pepper and 1/2 small bag of carrots. I put the chicken pieces on top of the veggies and poured a small can of tomato sauce over all. If you had fresh cooked mushrooms or a well-drained can of mushrooms I add those as well, I was in fact OUT of mushrooms so my cacciatore isn't going to be as awesome as it could be.

We had penne pasta last night, so instead of serving this over pasta this evening we are going to have it over washed and slightly torn spinach leaves. The heat from the chicken and sauce will lightly wilt the leaves and then we top it all off with some fresh parmesan cheese.

I may also need a glass red wine tonight after the school board meeting. Wish me luck!

Meatless Monday: Penne in Fresh Tomato Sauce

2011-04-11T16:23:00.000-07:00

Today I made some whole wheat penne pasta with a sauce made from 2 garden fresh tomatoes (thanks Gina), onions, garlic and yellow pepper. All the veggies were chopped into small bits and sauteed in olive oil, then I skinned and chopped the tomatoes and put them into the pot with a generous amount of salt, to flavor them and to help them break down. Then I added 2 heaping tsp of dried italian herbs. I let all of that simmer on low as the water came to a boil in my stock pot for the penne and added a small can of plain tomato sauce (I didn't have enough fresh tomatoes!). I tried the Barilla brand of whole wheat penne for the first time and it was pretty good, if a little starchy tasting. It takes some getting used to whole wheat pastas at first but we have been eating them for years now. When I first made the switch I only served whole wheat pasta under very hearty bolognese sauces because it hid the flavor a bit better, but now we are used to them and I can make a lighter, even primavera style sauce for it. I steamed some fresh green beans and dressed them with butter, salt, pepper and some fresh parmesan and called it a night.

Here's the menu for the week:

Monday: Penne Pasta with sauteed green beans
Tuesday: Slow cooker Chicken Cacciatore over spinach
Wednesday: Cheesy cornmeal waffles and chili
Thursday: Pork loin with mashed potatoes and cooked cinnamon apples
Friday: Fish! From the fish guy!
Saturday: Hamburgers on the grill
Sunday: Lemon roast chicken, salad, and fresh bread

Tuesday night's dinner has to be a slow cooker meal since I will be at a school board meeting and my husband will be coaching our older daughter at softball. I adore slow cookers for that convenience. You don't have to even be home to have a meal ready to go. Maybe I should make Tuesdays a regular slow cooker feature?

Fish Friday: Cobia Wrapped in Bacon

2011-04-08T15:53:00.000-07:00

This one goes out to my friend, Katie Collins, who believes deeply and spiritually in the healing power of bacon.

Dry the fillets with paper towels. Season the cobia fillets all over with pepper and lemon zest. Wrap the fillets in overlapping rashers of bacon. Heat a heavy bottomed skillet on the stove. Place the fillets in the pan and brown and crisp the bacon, then flip. Put the pan in the oven at 400 degrees for 8-12 minutes (depending on thickness of fillets). You can use toothpicks to keep the bacon on if you need to, but take care not to pierce the fish. Fish is done when it is opaque and flakes easily with a fork.

Served this with steamed broccoli, whichu made me realize I am the luckiest woman on earth, as my kids actually CHEERED at the thought of having more broccoli. If you still had say, some asparagus, leftover you could steam it, season it with sea salt and serve with a simple dressing of mayo thinned with lemon juice and a few capers stirred in it. Very good and easy recipe I got from my Mother in law.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Orange chicken, curry pineapple rice, steamed haricot vert

2011-04-07T16:37:00.001-07:00

So tonight I made sort of a citrusy-fruity themed dinner and it was pretty tasty! Here are the recipes.

Orange Chicken Breasts

Squeeze the juice of 2 clementine oranges and half a lemon and add a bit of orange zest to the juice mix. Salt and pepper the chicken breasts. Turn a heavy bottomed skillet onto medium high heat and coat the bottom of the pan in olive oil. When hot, place the chicken breasts dow in the pan and let get a lovely brown color, about 3 minutes per side. Pour in the juice mixture and let the breasts steam to finish cooking about 5 minutes. Remove the breasts from the pan and reduce juice mixture by half, then add the breasts back in and coat in thickened reduced juice.

Curry Pineapple Rice

Take (1) 20 oz. can of pineapple rings or bits (packed in juice, not syrup) and drain into a measuring cup. Fill measuring cup the rest of the way with water or broth according to package directions. For my brown rice I required 2 1/4 C of liquid and I got about 1 C of juice from the can. I used another 1 1/4 of chicken broth to make up the difference. Saute a bit of finely chopped onion (and garlic if desired) in a large pan with olive oil. Add the rice, the liquid, 1 tsp of curry powder and salt according to package directions and cook for appropriate amount of time. (On the stove top brown rice takes about 45 minutes.) When rice is done stir pineapple pieces into hot rice along with a handful of pine nuts or a small can of drained water chestnuts.

Hubby got some lovely tiny green beans (haricot vert) at Costco, super yummy and skinny they cook very quickly. I steamed them in a bit of butter and water and then simply seasoned them with sea salt. Took about 5 minutes in the microwave.

Some of those sweet delicious Hawaiian rolls would be good with this!

Weird Wednesday: Lasagna with Asparagus and White Beans

2011-04-06T17:33:00.001-07:00

Okay, my image of a lasagna is either a succulent, multi cheese and herb vegetarian lasagna or a rich tomatoey sauce and Italian sausage blend. This is neither... in fact at first glance bears only an academic resemblance to lasagna, but don't let this deter you. This is a tasty and luxurious entry into the ranks of the finest lasagnas.

My husband found the recipe on "Choosy Beggars" and I have to say at first I was resistant. Then he explained there would be a cream sauce and I edged carefully into hesitant. Then he showed me the gorgeous pictures of the lasagna and I was reticent, and then we actually pulled the hot, bubbly, aromatic lasagna from the oven and I was ardent!

Basically you make a roasted red pepper and garlic sauce in place of the tomato sauce. Then you make a bechamel and you use port salut cheese and asiago (we didn't have those and subbed in parmesan and mozzarella). The asparagus was on sale and the white beans already in the cupboard so this was an economical meal since we didn't have to make a special trip to go buy any complicated ingredients.

The prep time would have been easier had we made the roasted red pepper sauce the night before, but at least the beans were already cooked and waiting in the fridge. Using the same ingredients in different ways (as we used asparagus and white beans in Monday's soup) is also a time saver. Do yourselves a favor and go look at the website, the lasagna was super yummy, the kids even had seconds and we all had a small green salad and some sliced pears on the side. Different and delicious!

I'm baaaaaack!

2011-04-05T16:43:00.000-07:00

I needed to spend some more time with BFF. It was great to spend a lot of time with her, even if our kids were acting like crazed wildebeests most of the time. When someone suffers a great and sudden loss there isn't much you can do except be there and I was honored and pleased to be there for my friend and her family. Shout-out to my other BFF KC who spent the whole week with our mutual BFF in between my two weekend visits.

Menu for the Week:

Meatless Monday -- Asparagus and white bean puree soup
Tuesday-- Meatloaf cupcakes, pressure cooker garlic mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli
Wacky Wednesday -- White bean and asparagus lasagna
Thursday -- Baked chicken breasts in a orange demi-glaze, pineapple brown rice, sauteed bell peppers and onion
Fish Friday -- Got to put in an order with my fish guy (plus an interview with the Fish Guy coming soon!)

Got home late on Monday night and the Hubby had made an AMAZING white bean and asparagus soup that he found on the blog Lisa's Kitchen. It was super tasty and just the thing you wanted after a 5 hour car trip, light but hearty, filling but not heavy. My husband actually kind of hates asparagus but has recently come around on accepting them when they are mixed in with other things. It was great to see him buy and prepare the asparagus on his own. Moms of fussy eaters take note, sometimes they DO come around, even if it is 37 years later. You laid the ground work, their spouses will thank you.

Tonight's dinner was supposed to be a super fast meal due to softball practice, but softball practice was cancelled. But here is a really fast way to make meatloaf nonetheless. Mix up 1 pound of ground meat (your choice of turkey, beef, chicken, pork or any combo you like) with half a cup of oatmeal, chopped fresh tomato, chopped half of bell pepper (any color), chopped half an onion, 1 grated zucchini, 1 egg, 2 tsp of House Blend, and enough of any ketchup, BBQ sauce, A-1 sauce, worcestershire sauce you like (your choice) to get ingredients nice and flavorful. Mix well in a mixing bowl and then take individual 1/4 C scoops of the meat mixture and place them in a lightly greased muffin tin. This makes 1 dozen mini-meatloaves. REALLY pack the mixture into the measuring cup, leaving no air pockets, so that meat stays together when serving. Cook at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until cooked through.

Meanwhile, chop and steam broccoli in the microwave by placing florets in a glass bowl, adding 1 TB of butter, 2 TB of water, and some salt to the florets and steaming until softened but still bright green. I usually cook them for about 3-5 minutes depending on amount of broccoli.

I made the garlic mashed potatoes in my Cuisinart brand pressure cooker by slicing Yukon Gold potatoes into slices, plus peeling 6 cloves of garlic, adding 2 C of chicken broth (I had an open container of broth that needed using up) and 1 TB of salt and 1 tsp of white vinegar (to keep color bright). I cooked the potatoes and garlic on high pressure for 7 minutes and then immediately released the pressure. I drained the potatoes and added them to a pan on the stove with milk, half and half and butter and mashed them. I added salt, pepper and Italian spices to taste.

This is a really fast meal, if you have defrosted meat you can make everything in the time it takes the meatloaves to bake, so a true 30 minute meal! Everything tasted great too and the kids even had seconds on their broccoli.

Veggie Oven Omelet and Honey Biscuits

2011-03-30T16:41:00.000-07:00

Veggie Oven Omelet

Eggs
Cream
Cheese
Onions
Mushrooms
Zucchini
Garlic
Basil
Salt
Pepper

Beat 2 eggs per (adult) person in a bowl with a small amount of cream or half and half or milk (proportional to the eggs). Saute some sliced mushrooms, onions and garlic in olive oil. Grate zucchini and salt it, let it stand a few minutes and then wring it out in cheesecloth or several thicknesses of paper towels. Season the sauteed veggies with salt, pepper and basil. Add parmesan and mozzarella to the eggs,or whatever cheeses suit you. Then add all the veggies to the eggs. Place everything in a greased 8 inch round cake pan and bake it at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Homemade Honey Biscuits

2 c. white wheat flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. butter/shortening
1/2 c. honey
3/4 c. milk
1 egg

Mix flour, baking powder and salt. Mix in oil, honey, milk and egg. Mix enough to moisten dry ingredients completely. Drop by large spoonfuls onto a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees on a lightly greased baking sheet 10-12 minutes until golden brown.

Pinch-hitting and Penny Pinching

2011-03-29T12:04:00.000-07:00

We get paid once a month. And by "we" I mean my husband gets paid once a month. I am a stay at home Mom. I live in an area where with my background and education I would have to work more than full time to make enough to justify childcare expenses for my 2 kids. And that is only IF such a job were available, there isn't one. I also happen to live in one of the most expensive places in the U.S. This goes a lot toward explaining why I have taught myself to really cook and bake over the last few years. I did the math and a decent loaf of bread where I live is about $2.50 - $3. I can make a loaf of bread for less than a dollar. Pictured here is an Irish Soda bread that literally contains flour, baking soda, salt, and soured milk.

We have to budget everything, and consider every purchase. An unexpected trip out of town means canceling anything even slightly optional, from doctor's appointments to a once every three years hair cut. And of course if there is anything like a big expense in a month that means squeezing out every penny from every non-fixed expense. My food budget is one of the few areas where I have some discretion.

My tips for eating well when you have a lean month?

*Eat vegetarian, cheaper pound for pound and often food that has a long shelf life. If you see dry beans on sale 10/$10 you jump on that. Same thing with dried pastas, jarred sauces, canned tomatoes, all the staples.

*Stockpile some versatile frozen veggies for weeks you come up short.

* You can freeze milk, FYI, just pour some out first and put it in the freezer. It will thaw overnight in the fridge just fine, just shake and serve.

*Make your own pizza dough and make it in double batches, make one, freeze one. Makes a fast economical dinner.

*Breakfast for dinner, cheap and tasty! Scrambled eggs, pancakes, french toast (great way to use up stale bread), juice and milk.

*Buy in bulk when you can. Things like peanut butter, jelly, olive oil, vegetable oil, oatmeal, cornmeal. I actually could write a whole post about all the things you can make with cornmeal. Corn bread, corn bread muffins, polenta, grits, use it to bake pizza dough on, corn meal waffles, LOTS of uses.

*Use leftovers for lunch the next day. My husband works 5 days a week, the cheapest lunch near him would cost $6/day, that's $30 per week right there!

*Use your leftovers in interesting ways. Leftover spaghetti sauce makes a great pizza or calzone sauce. Leftover chili can be made into a chili casserole, become taco filling or turned into chii mac. A roast chicken one night can become chicken salad, chicken enchiladas, or chicken soup!

*Bake your own bread, google some no-knead bread recipes, you can make bread in 5 minutes per day (not including bake time).

*Share deals with your friends. If you know someone who has a warehouse club membership offer to split the cost of some larger quantities of vegetables, especially stuff that can last for awhile like onions, garlic, hard squashes, potatoes. Or buy stuff that can be easily made into other things, like berries into sauce or pie and tomatoes into sauce, salsas, or soups.

*Save everything. When you cut the tops off of carrots and onions and other veggies put them in a freezer bag and stash them in the freezer to make vegetable or chicken stocks. Stale bread can be made into bread pudding, bread crumbs, bruschetta, stuffing, dressing. Leftover bacon grease can be refrigerated in a clean jar and used to season vegetables, brown meats, fry eggs, or flavor beans.

Meatless Monday: Pasta Alfred-OH!

2011-03-28T16:48:00.000-07:00

So today is Meatless Monday and I thought, we have some nice rotini, some broccoli and cauliflower, let's make some Alfredo sauce and call it a night. And then I went to the refrigerator. We were out of butter.

I HATE going to the store for one ingredient, don't you? And I have no excuse; I was at the store yesterday, I should have gotten some butter then. I forgot. So here's what I did. I melted half a cup of Smart Balance spread over low heat in a pan, then I smashed and minced 2 cloves of garlic and added them to the spread with a generous sprinkle of salt. As that was getting warm and fragrant I added 1 1/2 C of half and half to the pan and then began to grate some fresh parmesan and added it slowly to the milk/faux butter mixture. I kept adding and whisking, and testing for thickening. Then I decided to add some grated mozzarella as well, a small handful at a time, pretty much continually whisking.

It just wasn't thickening up. I began to get desperate. I added a bit of cornstarch and water slurry to the mixture as well, then raised the heat slightly as the pasta was almost done and the broccoli and cauliflower florets finished steaming in the microwave. I think I added altogether about 2 C of cheese between the parmesan and the mozzarella and about 3 tsp of the cornstarch and water slurry. I turned the heat off the the sauce as I served the bowls. The additional time of just sitting there finished the thickening process. I put pasta and vegetables into each bowl and then topped them with the Alfredo. It was without a doubt the BEST homemade Alfredo sauce I have ever made. Clingy, thick, and cheesy, the sauce coated the rotini and the veggies beautifully. The kids asked for seconds AFTER they had already had a slice of vanilla cake. A success snatched from the jaws of certain defeat.

My menu for the week;

Meatless Monday: Alfredo rotini with cauliflower and broccoli
Tuesday: Beef Brisket with vegetables
Weird Wednesday: Veggie and Cheese Oven Omelet with salad and homemade honey biscuits
Thursday: Chicken and Rice Casserole
Fish Friday: Smoked Fish (and something else, not sure what yet)
Saturday: Homemade Pizza (I owe you a review of Upside Down Pizza)
Sunday: Roasted Chicken with dressing and mashed potatoes

Pot Roast ala Gina

2011-03-28T16:19:00.000-07:00

Sunday night my friends invited me over for dinner, I made cherry pie and we also prepared the Chocolate Fountain of Delight (™ Me) and dipped grapes, strawberries, pretzel sticks, marshmallows and graham crackers. Gina made the most delicious slow cooker pot roast.

Pot Roast ala Gina

1 onion, chopped
4 small red potatoes, quartered
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 turnip, peeled and chopped
1 rutabaga, peeled and chopped
1 sweet potato, cubed
1 parsnip, peeled and chopped
1 (3-pound) brisket
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
3 tablespoons flour
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 can (15 oz) of beef broth
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions:
Arrange onion, potatoes, carrots, turnip, parsnip, sweet potato and rutabaga in bottom of slow cooker. Season beef all over with salt and black pepper. Rub flour all over beef. Place roast on top of vegetables in slow cooker.

Whisk together tomato sauce, beef broth, chili powder, cumin, mustard powder, and garlic powder. Pour mixture over beef. Cover and cook on LOW for 12 hours or on HIGH for 8 hours.

This recipe uses a lot of wonderful root vegetables and the blend is fantastic! Great size for a party or if you have a large family.

I drove 10 out of the last 24 hours

2011-03-26T10:39:00.000-07:00

My best friend's father died. He was a good, kind man that loved his family, adored his wife and cherished his siblings. He had grandchildren and a dry sense of humor. When he went on business trips he always brought back lots of chocolate from Switzerland. He tolerated and even liked his daughter's crazy friends. He was at my wedding. He was at my best friend's wedding. He couldn't make it to his second daughter's wedding because he had been hit by a drunk driver while bicycling to work. He succumbed this week to his numerous injuries after fighting for five years to stay with the people he loved.

If you drive after drinking you are taking a foolish, insane chance of killing yourself or someone else. If you drive "buzzed" you are driving drunk. If you drive after "having a couple of drinks" you are playing fast and loose with your life and the lives of others. It doesn't matter if nothing has ever happened to you before; that's the kind of logic that would make playing Russian Roulette seem like a good idea. If you see someone who is going to drink and drive, offer to drive, take the keys, call them a cab, be a jerk about it. Save someone's life.

Yesterday was my birthday. As I was driving back from visiting my best pal I directed my husband in the preparation of Arroz con Pollo (chicken in rice) and sauteed and steamed zucchini and summer squash. Directed is too strong a word, he had some questions and I answered them. It was nice to come home to a delicious meal and see my older daughter and husband. They had cards for my birthday. It was the kind of normal, happy domestic scene that everyone takes for granted. It was the best meal I have ever eaten

Arroz con Pollo (my version)

Chicken pieces (best to use bone-in skin-on)
Rice
1 can of cut up tomato pieces
chopped carrots
onion (chopped)
garlic
salt
cumin

Season chicken pieces with adobo. Heat oil in a heavy skillet and brown chicken on all sides. Drain can of tomato pieces into a measuring cup and then add water to make up enough fluid for the rice. Heat the water in the microwave. Remove chicken from pan and pour in rice in a thin layer into the hot dry pan, allow to toast and then use a large spatula to *flip* the rice as best you can. Add the hot water and all the vegetables and then put the chicken pieces on top, cover with a lid and reduce heat to simmer according to rice directions. Serve with sauteed vegetables, black beans and salad.

Chicken Sausage in Red Sauce over Penne Pasta

2011-03-24T16:24:00.000-07:00

Tonight's recipe is from my friend K, a super easy week night meal full of flavor and vegetables.

Chicken sausage
1 TB olive oil
1 green bell pepper
1/2 large onion
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can of tomatoes (or tomato sauce)
Italian herbs
1 box of penne pasta

Saute the vegetables in the olive oil, add the chicken sausage (removed from casing). When those items are browned add the can of tomatoes or sauce and about 1 tsp of Italian herbs. Let the sauce simmer. Meanwhile, make the pasta according to package directions. When pasta is done you can add it to the sauce directly and mix together. Can be topped with a bit of grated parmesan cheese. K's tips are to only make 1/2 of a 1 pound box of pasta so that you have equal amounts of sauce and pasta, a little less carby that way and a nice balance of sauce to pasta, and to always add salt to your pasta boiling water.

This can be a one dish meal or you can make a green salad or a nice side of steamed and seasoned zucchini.

Whoopsie Wednesday

2011-03-23T16:23:00.000-07:00

Went to get the ground beef out of the oven today to make meatloaf cupcakes and lo and behold. No ground beef. Hmm.

I had some frozen meatballs, which I cooked in the microwave (according to package directions) meanwhile I sauteed onion, garlic and sliced mushrooms in a pan with some olive oil. I added the meatballs to the pan with the veggies, a can of tomato sauce, and a good sprinkle of oregano and some House Blend (tm Paula Deen). While this was all simmering I baked some frozen bread rolls and made a tossed salad. I served the meatballs on the rolls with a sprinkle of mozzarella and a big side of salad.

I will be out of town for the next two days as there has been a family emergency. I will post back when I can.

French Style Stove-top Chicken

2011-03-22T16:48:00.000-07:00

2 chicken breasts cut in half (vertically)
1 TB oil
1 head of garlic, broken into individual cloves
1/2 tsp of oregano
1 tsp of basil or marjoram
salt/pepper
1/2 C of broth or water
1/2 C of white wine
1 TB lemon juice

Pound chicken breast pieces into a uniform thickness so that they cook evenly. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium high heat, season chicken breast pieces with salt and pepper, place in pan with individual cloves of garlic. Cook chicken for 2-3 minutes on each side. Then pour over it liquid ingredients, herbs and lemon juice. Bring the liquid up to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and cook on low heat for6- 8 minutes more (or until chicken is no longer pink). While chicken is cooking place an oven proof plate or serving dish into the oven on warm. When chicken is cooked through remove the chicken and garlic and put it on warmed plate in the oven. Stir a slurry of a TB of cornstarch and 2-3 TB of water (or white wine or more broth) into the pan juices and bring up to a boil and cook for at least a minute as it thickens. Serve over rice (I made brown rice in the pressure cooker.) and spoon sauce over all. A nice side dish would be steamed green beans or broccoli.

New format!

2011-03-21T16:23:00.001-07:00

I am only going to do in-depth posts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I will have much shorter posts on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

Okay here is my menu for the week:

Meatless Monday: Black Bean nachos, made with refried black beans, shredded cheese, shredded romaine lettuce, and mild salsa fresco.

Tuesday: French farmhouse style baked chicken breasts, sauteed green beans, brown rice, glazed carrot coins.

Wild, weird or wacky Wednesday: Individual meatloaf "cupcakes", steamed broccoli and cauliflower, macaroni and cheese.

Thursday: chicken and sausage couscous with vegetables

Fish Friday: Probably yellow tail snapper (gotta call my fish guy), steamed snow pea pods and Asian peanut-sauce broccoli slaw.

Saturday: Homemade Pizza and salad

Sunday: Roast beast with potatoes, onions and carrots

Tonight's dinner was GREAT. I made some black beans a few weeks ago and had extra, so I froze them. Today I popped them out of the plastic container and reheated/defrosted them in a pan on the stove-top with a little olive oil. When I cook my beans they are very lightly seasoned so I can use them in a variety of dishes or ways. To these beans I added some cumin and adobo seasoning and when they were nice and bubbly I mashed them with a potato masher; making essentially refried black beans. I put some corn chips on a cookie sheet and spread the black beans over the top and then added a couple generous handfuls of grated cheese. I baked them in the oven at 425 degrees for maybe 5 minutes (long enough for the cheese to melt and everything else to crisp. I cut the nachos into small wedges with a large kitchen knife and put them on plates. I topped each serving with some lettuce, some defrosted corn kernels and some salsa fresca. A good serving of vegetables, lots of nice lean protein, and some whole grain chips made this a tasty and pretty nutritionally sound meal. If your family likes you could also add some cubed avocado or guacamole to the proceedings and get a pretty nice essential fatty acid serving as well.

Mondays are still a hard night for us because of our older daughter's dance class, so this would be a great quick meal for any busy evening. You can even "re-fry" canned black beans. Simply get some sort of fat sizzling in a pan, add your beans and a little of the water they came in, stir, season and mash. These are much better for you than canned refried beans which are very high in fat and sodium and they go together almost as quickly.