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.
Showing posts with label vegetarian food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vegetarian food. Show all posts
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Yeah, I owe you.
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?
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?
Monday, August 15, 2011
Back in the Saddle Again
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.
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.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Cheese Enchiladas
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.
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.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Veggie Oven Omelet and Honey Biscuits
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.
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.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Back Up Plans
So today I was supposed to make red beans and polenta, but we had a VERY long day and we were all starving, so we moved our Wednesday Breakfast For Dinner idea to tonight. We made some awesome homemade pancakes, from a recipe at Deep South Dish, a website I am coming to LOVE! The only change I have ever made to her pancake recipe (which is nearly as easy and foolproof as Bisquick pancakes) it to use curdled milk (milk with some white vinegar or lemon added to it) instead of buttermilk. I never have any buttermilk on hand so I just curdle some and it adds the necessary acidity and tang to the dish.
I am making the red beans tonight since we have already eaten and now I can just let them simmer until bedtime. If I can summon up the energy I might go get the polenta started as well and then just make fried polenta tomorrow with the cooled squares.
We rounded out our breakfast for dinner with milk and juice to drink and fresh fruit; we had our choices of strawberries, pears, apples or green grapes.
Today we went to the American History Museum, but we got a late start and then we needed to meet a friend at noon, so all we managed to see was Julia Child's kitchen, the dresses of the First Ladies and a children's exhibit about the nature of the inventing process called Spark Lab. We spent the rest of our time after lunch at the National Museum of Natural History. There we saw the famous dinosaur exhibit and their latest exhibit called Ocean Portal! It was very interesting and they had a neat part of the exhibit that blended art and science, called the Hyperbolic Crochet where using the traditional crochet form, hyperbolic geometry and some unconventional materials (crocheting plastic bags anyone?) they create a gorgeous model of an ocean reef. Today must have been our lucky day too, because the docent at the coral reef exhibit informed us that the Butterfly Pavilion was free today, you just had to get your free time stamped tickets to get inside. We saw dozens of varieties of strange and beautiful butterflies in the lovely display, all flying around and sampling the fruit and the flowers. I think the girl's favorite part of the day though was going to the Discovery Center. Definitely another full day of activity. Looking forward to going BACK to the American History museum tomorrow to see all the other exhibits we missed today.
I am making the red beans tonight since we have already eaten and now I can just let them simmer until bedtime. If I can summon up the energy I might go get the polenta started as well and then just make fried polenta tomorrow with the cooled squares.
We rounded out our breakfast for dinner with milk and juice to drink and fresh fruit; we had our choices of strawberries, pears, apples or green grapes.
Today we went to the American History Museum, but we got a late start and then we needed to meet a friend at noon, so all we managed to see was Julia Child's kitchen, the dresses of the First Ladies and a children's exhibit about the nature of the inventing process called Spark Lab. We spent the rest of our time after lunch at the National Museum of Natural History. There we saw the famous dinosaur exhibit and their latest exhibit called Ocean Portal! It was very interesting and they had a neat part of the exhibit that blended art and science, called the Hyperbolic Crochet where using the traditional crochet form, hyperbolic geometry and some unconventional materials (crocheting plastic bags anyone?) they create a gorgeous model of an ocean reef. Today must have been our lucky day too, because the docent at the coral reef exhibit informed us that the Butterfly Pavilion was free today, you just had to get your free time stamped tickets to get inside. We saw dozens of varieties of strange and beautiful butterflies in the lovely display, all flying around and sampling the fruit and the flowers. I think the girl's favorite part of the day though was going to the Discovery Center. Definitely another full day of activity. Looking forward to going BACK to the American History museum tomorrow to see all the other exhibits we missed today.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Meatless Monday: Vegetarian Sloppy Joes, oven baked onion rings and mac and cheese
Today was a long though lovely and sunny day here in D.C. We all had cereal for breakfast and headed out to the Metro to get to the National Zoo (which is part of the Smithsonian, who knew?) We had a wonderful day seeing all of the animals and visiting the exhibits. We saw a lot of animals considering the morning started out so cool and nippy, but they were front and center in many of the enclosures. We saw the most amazing otters, a fishercat, red pandas, giant pandas, elephants, birds of all kinds! By 12 noon we were all starving so we went to the Panda Cafe in the park to have some lunch. The kids meals could be purchased in a cute reusable, insulated lunch bag and came with an entree, french fries, apple sauce and an HonestKids apple juice for $8.95. When we considered the cost of buying the lunch a la carte and getting the kids a souvenir we could clearly see it was a deal. The rest of the day was spent looking at the big cats and the great apes. AMAZING time was had by all.
Got home tonight and made a box of Vegetarian Sloppy Joes by Fantastic Would Foods. I have only used their mix before to make falafel so I was taking a chance on their sloppy joes. I somehow misread the box and didn't realize it called for 3 oz. of tomato paste. Fortunately while we were out today I picked up some extra ketchup packets at lunch to sub in for it. I also used some melted butter instead of the oil the mix called for rather than try and skim some olive oil out the the salad dressing. The mix was very easy to make, the butter and ketchup didn't seem to affect the taste or the texture. We served the sloppy joe mix on the whole grain sandwich bread we bought. All in all very yummy.
I also made some oven baked onion rings, a very easy recipe. Just get two egg whites and season them with salt and pepper, dip your sliced rings of onion in the egg whites. Then roll and cover the rings in bread crumbs, put on a baking dish and bake for 10 minutes at 450 degrees. Here's where I made my mistake... I cut the onion rings too thin! Some of them burned to a crisp! If I had made the rings a standard 1/4 inch thick they would have been fine. The ones that didn't burn were great. :)
I also made a box of Annie's Macaroni and Cheese, something I knew the kids would eat regardless. They were lukewarm on the onion rings, okay with the sloppy joes and of course ecstatic over the mac and cheese.
Tomorrow we are hitting the American History Museum, and the Natural History Museum... we've already hit the National archive, the Old Post Office, the Mall and the Washington Monument. Any other places we should go while we are here?
Got home tonight and made a box of Vegetarian Sloppy Joes by Fantastic Would Foods. I have only used their mix before to make falafel so I was taking a chance on their sloppy joes. I somehow misread the box and didn't realize it called for 3 oz. of tomato paste. Fortunately while we were out today I picked up some extra ketchup packets at lunch to sub in for it. I also used some melted butter instead of the oil the mix called for rather than try and skim some olive oil out the the salad dressing. The mix was very easy to make, the butter and ketchup didn't seem to affect the taste or the texture. We served the sloppy joe mix on the whole grain sandwich bread we bought. All in all very yummy.
I also made some oven baked onion rings, a very easy recipe. Just get two egg whites and season them with salt and pepper, dip your sliced rings of onion in the egg whites. Then roll and cover the rings in bread crumbs, put on a baking dish and bake for 10 minutes at 450 degrees. Here's where I made my mistake... I cut the onion rings too thin! Some of them burned to a crisp! If I had made the rings a standard 1/4 inch thick they would have been fine. The ones that didn't burn were great. :)
I also made a box of Annie's Macaroni and Cheese, something I knew the kids would eat regardless. They were lukewarm on the onion rings, okay with the sloppy joes and of course ecstatic over the mac and cheese.
Tomorrow we are hitting the American History Museum, and the Natural History Museum... we've already hit the National archive, the Old Post Office, the Mall and the Washington Monument. Any other places we should go while we are here?
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Hotel Room Dinner
With very young kids, going out to a restaurant is sometimes NOT the easiest or cheapest option so when I get the chance to stay in a place with a full kitchen I looove to do that. My in-laws got us a week at the Wyndham resort (a vacation rental) and it comes with a full kitchen! THRILLED!
We got into Alexandria today at 1 p.m. and as soon as we got into the hotel we unpacked, made a bag of popcorn (complimentary, love it!) and then we went to the grocery store. The Whole Foods in Alexandria is an experience! I loved the free samples. There was a person making samples of corn beef, onions, potatoes and carrots all slow cooked together. My whole family fell on this like ravenous dogs. I think we scared the sample guy. They were also serving samples of Guinness with it! The hubs and I really took a shine to some artisanal cheese sample we tried. It was an Italian cheese sort of like a softer parmesan, lovely nutty flavor. They were cinnamon raisin bread samples to try in the bakery and a "bake your own bagels" sample to try near the registers. I have ever really had much of an opportunity to shop at WF before so it was neat seeing all the locally grown, organic and fair trade options. But since we are only going to be here for a week (with one dinner out at a relative's house) I had to do some serious menu planning.
Today is Saturday March 12th, Got a frozen pizza and a bag of 3 hearts of romaine lettuces, so tonight was pizza and salad with lettuce and baby carrots.
Tomorrow, Sunday March 13th is dinner at our cousin's house!
Monday the 14th (Meatless Monday), a box of vegetarian sloppy joe mix (just add water, tomato sauce, and oil). I plan on using a small can of muir glen organic tomato sauce and olive oil siphoned from the top of the salad dressing bottle and this goes with some homemade baked onion rings (egg whites, dry bread crumbs from the loaf of bread we bought, salt and pepper came with the hotel room) and a box of Annie's Organics Mac and Cheese (whole wheat variety).
Tuesday the 15th Red beans sauteed with onions and garlic in a tomato sauce over homemade polenta. (Bag of dried red beans, bag of onions, 1 small garlic, 1 small can of Muir Glen organic tomato sauce, butter, bag of cornmeal, all flavored with a squirt of Italian dressing, salt and pepper)
Wednesday the 16th (Weird Wednesday) Breakfast for dinner! Everything is backwards! Up is down, black is white, franks are beans! Yeah, I know, "brinner" as I like to call it has been out of the bag for awhile now, but some people are still missing out on the fabulousness. I will not stop until everyone tries pancakes for dinner at least once. We splurged on a small bottle of real maple syrup, which I plan to use to sweeten a batch of homemade oatmeal cookies as well.
Thursday the 17th Got the world's tiniest corned beef (For St. Patrick's Day of course) for $14.28, plus a couple dollars worth of potatoes, a tiny head of cabbage ($0.94) and I can use some more of the baby carrots.
Friday the 18th (Fish Friday) Husband got a small freezer pack containing 2 Swordfish fillets, going to have a box of rice pilaf with that and some steamed broccoli!
Saturday the 19th, we fly home!
We got a dozen eggs, a 1 pound bag of flour, a small bulk bag of oatmeal (for cookies and breakfasts) and a pound of butter. We also got 2 loaves of bread, a small jar of peanut butter, small jar of strawberry jelly, and a gallon of milk, some apple juice and 2 boxes of cereal. Hopefully we can keep "eating out" to a bare minimum.
I will of course have more detailed recipes, impressions of D.C. and Virginia and tips for cooking while traveling all along the way. Do you have any good ideas for me for keeping this an economical vacation? I already told the kids about "free souveniers" e.g. colorful paper maps, brochures, any hand outs. Already they've scored extra peanuts, some Twix bars from first class and some coloring books and crayons from the front desk just for being their awesome selves. Mommy's little freebie-grabbers, (tears up) I am so proud! (sniffle)
We got into Alexandria today at 1 p.m. and as soon as we got into the hotel we unpacked, made a bag of popcorn (complimentary, love it!) and then we went to the grocery store. The Whole Foods in Alexandria is an experience! I loved the free samples. There was a person making samples of corn beef, onions, potatoes and carrots all slow cooked together. My whole family fell on this like ravenous dogs. I think we scared the sample guy. They were also serving samples of Guinness with it! The hubs and I really took a shine to some artisanal cheese sample we tried. It was an Italian cheese sort of like a softer parmesan, lovely nutty flavor. They were cinnamon raisin bread samples to try in the bakery and a "bake your own bagels" sample to try near the registers. I have ever really had much of an opportunity to shop at WF before so it was neat seeing all the locally grown, organic and fair trade options. But since we are only going to be here for a week (with one dinner out at a relative's house) I had to do some serious menu planning.
Today is Saturday March 12th, Got a frozen pizza and a bag of 3 hearts of romaine lettuces, so tonight was pizza and salad with lettuce and baby carrots.
Tomorrow, Sunday March 13th is dinner at our cousin's house!
Monday the 14th (Meatless Monday), a box of vegetarian sloppy joe mix (just add water, tomato sauce, and oil). I plan on using a small can of muir glen organic tomato sauce and olive oil siphoned from the top of the salad dressing bottle and this goes with some homemade baked onion rings (egg whites, dry bread crumbs from the loaf of bread we bought, salt and pepper came with the hotel room) and a box of Annie's Organics Mac and Cheese (whole wheat variety).
Tuesday the 15th Red beans sauteed with onions and garlic in a tomato sauce over homemade polenta. (Bag of dried red beans, bag of onions, 1 small garlic, 1 small can of Muir Glen organic tomato sauce, butter, bag of cornmeal, all flavored with a squirt of Italian dressing, salt and pepper)
Wednesday the 16th (Weird Wednesday) Breakfast for dinner! Everything is backwards! Up is down, black is white, franks are beans! Yeah, I know, "brinner" as I like to call it has been out of the bag for awhile now, but some people are still missing out on the fabulousness. I will not stop until everyone tries pancakes for dinner at least once. We splurged on a small bottle of real maple syrup, which I plan to use to sweeten a batch of homemade oatmeal cookies as well.
Thursday the 17th Got the world's tiniest corned beef (For St. Patrick's Day of course) for $14.28, plus a couple dollars worth of potatoes, a tiny head of cabbage ($0.94) and I can use some more of the baby carrots.
Friday the 18th (Fish Friday) Husband got a small freezer pack containing 2 Swordfish fillets, going to have a box of rice pilaf with that and some steamed broccoli!
Saturday the 19th, we fly home!
We got a dozen eggs, a 1 pound bag of flour, a small bulk bag of oatmeal (for cookies and breakfasts) and a pound of butter. We also got 2 loaves of bread, a small jar of peanut butter, small jar of strawberry jelly, and a gallon of milk, some apple juice and 2 boxes of cereal. Hopefully we can keep "eating out" to a bare minimum.
I will of course have more detailed recipes, impressions of D.C. and Virginia and tips for cooking while traveling all along the way. Do you have any good ideas for me for keeping this an economical vacation? I already told the kids about "free souveniers" e.g. colorful paper maps, brochures, any hand outs. Already they've scored extra peanuts, some Twix bars from first class and some coloring books and crayons from the front desk just for being their awesome selves. Mommy's little freebie-grabbers, (tears up) I am so proud! (sniffle)
Monday, March 7, 2011
Lundi Gras! Fat Meatless Monday -- UPDATE
So it is Fat Monday which calls out for some sort of toothsome feast, but it is also Meatless Monday, so I wanted to make something delicious and delightful but still adhering to my Meatless Monday ethos. I mean we call it Fat Monday and Fat Tuesday of course, but the feeling that the end of the carnival season evokes shouldn't necessarily be literal fat (though, mmmmm FAT!) but a feeling of abundance and pleasure in food! This recipe is spicy and rich and even vegan! I am adapting it from the blog FatFree Vegan Kitchen by preparing it with my pressure cooker AKA the appliance I love more than even ruby-red nail polish. Which is to say, A LOT!
I am also making a roasted butternut squash soup, and right now I am caramelizing some onions to go on top of that.
I peeled and chopped up the butternut squash and then put it on a baking tray and sprayed the squash with olive oil and sprinkled it with salt. I let it roast at 350 degrees for half an hour, then flipped them with a spatula, then let the roast another 30 minutes. I will toss the cooked cubes with some fresh ground pepper, cinnamon and rosemary. Then I will toss them in a stock pot with some homemade vegetable stock and combine them with an immersion blender and then stir in some sour cream. I serve the soup topped with caramelized onions.
SO, things don't always turn out the way you hoped it seems. The soup came out fantastic! I made some "poppin fresh" breadsticks to go with that portion of the meal, by taking a package of breadsticks and brushing them with a combination of melted butter, oregano and grated parmesan cheese before baking. These were wonderful. My brown rice cooked perfectly and tasted great. My beans SMELLED wonderful! However after an hour of pressure cooking and simmering they were hard as a dang rock. It happened. I got some bad beans. I am so disappointed!! If your beans are too old they can be very tough and may never soften. I left the beans on simmer while I took the girls out for chicken nuggets because at this point it was nearing bed-time and they were still hungry despite squash soup and breadsticks, OH, also my lettuce had frozen (got put in the wrong drawer!) and so there was no salad. Anyway, check the dates on your beans before you buy them and choose the freshest ones. I forgot to do that and I paid the price today.
I am also making a roasted butternut squash soup, and right now I am caramelizing some onions to go on top of that.
I peeled and chopped up the butternut squash and then put it on a baking tray and sprayed the squash with olive oil and sprinkled it with salt. I let it roast at 350 degrees for half an hour, then flipped them with a spatula, then let the roast another 30 minutes. I will toss the cooked cubes with some fresh ground pepper, cinnamon and rosemary. Then I will toss them in a stock pot with some homemade vegetable stock and combine them with an immersion blender and then stir in some sour cream. I serve the soup topped with caramelized onions.
SO, things don't always turn out the way you hoped it seems. The soup came out fantastic! I made some "poppin fresh" breadsticks to go with that portion of the meal, by taking a package of breadsticks and brushing them with a combination of melted butter, oregano and grated parmesan cheese before baking. These were wonderful. My brown rice cooked perfectly and tasted great. My beans SMELLED wonderful! However after an hour of pressure cooking and simmering they were hard as a dang rock. It happened. I got some bad beans. I am so disappointed!! If your beans are too old they can be very tough and may never soften. I left the beans on simmer while I took the girls out for chicken nuggets because at this point it was nearing bed-time and they were still hungry despite squash soup and breadsticks, OH, also my lettuce had frozen (got put in the wrong drawer!) and so there was no salad. Anyway, check the dates on your beans before you buy them and choose the freshest ones. I forgot to do that and I paid the price today.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Sunday Fun Day!
8 a.m. block party
9:30 a.m. Church Ministry Fair and Sunday School
11 a.m. Children's Mass
12:30 Lunch
2:00 Final Basketball Game (a tie!)
3:00 Award Ceremony
3:45 Splash park
4:45 Shopping for dinner ingredients
5:30 HOME
I may collapse in a heap at any moment. It was all fun really, at the Ministry Fair I got to talk up two of my favorite events Stone Soup (check out this version of the familiar fairy tale) on Ash Wednesday and Las Posadas (illustrated with this lovely book). Anyhow, I meant to start a roast or something but time got away from us.
By the time we were finally headed home my husband was craving egg rolls. I have decided I am never NOT craving egg rolls at least a little, so this was fine with me. The only hitch in my giddy up was the fact that I have never made an egg roll before. After last month's very successful experiment with pot-stickers though, I was game for the challenge. I bought some egg roll wrappers in the produce section of the store and then went about figuring out the veggies I needed for the filling, the usual suspects bean sprouts, cabbage, carrots, green onion. I had the onion and cabbage at home, plus some squeezy ginger in a little tube so I got what I still needed and headed over to the fish counter. There I bought some vegetarian sushi (the kids' favorite) and some California rolls (the only other kind of sushi I'd buy at our local grocery store). I also bought a package of edamame.
I got home and defrosted some ground pork and mixed it with my veggies, ginger and some soy sauce and garlic powder. Then I wrapped it in the little wrappers and sealed all the edges with beaten egg (the only egg in an egg roll it seems). Then the Hubs and I dropped them one by one into the pan with hot vegetable oil. The first one we tried was sort of horrifyingly raw in the middle so we nuked it in the microwave oven and then let the next egg roll sit a bit longer in the oil. The next one was less raw, but not entirely cooked. I won't say HOW many I ruined up before I decided to just quickly stir fry the filling and use cooked pork, but I am sure YOU would have figured it out much sooner. The cooked filling egg rolls went together in a snap. Very easy to make and delicious. I recommend making them a bit on the thinner side regardless just because the thinner rolls seemed to be more firmly wrapped.
We cut some egg rolls in half to cool, plopped them on the plates with some veggie sushi and edamame (came with it's own microwave tray, super easy) and called it dinner. A lot of vegetables per serving really! No one was really in the mood for a heavy dinner so it was a great choice.
Tomorrow is Lundi Gras (Fat Monday) aka the day before Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) basically the last 2 days before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten season. I have a recipe to try to make homemade beignets. I love beignets and I have had them at the Cafe du Monde in New Orleans. My Mom used to send away for their beignet mix back before you could order stuff on the internet. Nowadays I can even find the beignet mix in the store sometimes, but I think making the whole kit and caboodle from scratch might be fun. Might also be a big sugary pain in the neck, but we shall see. I also plan on getting a LOT of chocolate in me before Ash Wednesday because I am giving up the stuff for the duration of Lent, 40 days, ending as I dive ravenously on a chocolate bunny on Easter Morning. :)
9:30 a.m. Church Ministry Fair and Sunday School
11 a.m. Children's Mass
12:30 Lunch
2:00 Final Basketball Game (a tie!)
3:00 Award Ceremony
3:45 Splash park
4:45 Shopping for dinner ingredients
5:30 HOME
I may collapse in a heap at any moment. It was all fun really, at the Ministry Fair I got to talk up two of my favorite events Stone Soup (check out this version of the familiar fairy tale) on Ash Wednesday and Las Posadas (illustrated with this lovely book). Anyhow, I meant to start a roast or something but time got away from us.
By the time we were finally headed home my husband was craving egg rolls. I have decided I am never NOT craving egg rolls at least a little, so this was fine with me. The only hitch in my giddy up was the fact that I have never made an egg roll before. After last month's very successful experiment with pot-stickers though, I was game for the challenge. I bought some egg roll wrappers in the produce section of the store and then went about figuring out the veggies I needed for the filling, the usual suspects bean sprouts, cabbage, carrots, green onion. I had the onion and cabbage at home, plus some squeezy ginger in a little tube so I got what I still needed and headed over to the fish counter. There I bought some vegetarian sushi (the kids' favorite) and some California rolls (the only other kind of sushi I'd buy at our local grocery store). I also bought a package of edamame.
I got home and defrosted some ground pork and mixed it with my veggies, ginger and some soy sauce and garlic powder. Then I wrapped it in the little wrappers and sealed all the edges with beaten egg (the only egg in an egg roll it seems). Then the Hubs and I dropped them one by one into the pan with hot vegetable oil. The first one we tried was sort of horrifyingly raw in the middle so we nuked it in the microwave oven and then let the next egg roll sit a bit longer in the oil. The next one was less raw, but not entirely cooked. I won't say HOW many I ruined up before I decided to just quickly stir fry the filling and use cooked pork, but I am sure YOU would have figured it out much sooner. The cooked filling egg rolls went together in a snap. Very easy to make and delicious. I recommend making them a bit on the thinner side regardless just because the thinner rolls seemed to be more firmly wrapped.
We cut some egg rolls in half to cool, plopped them on the plates with some veggie sushi and edamame (came with it's own microwave tray, super easy) and called it dinner. A lot of vegetables per serving really! No one was really in the mood for a heavy dinner so it was a great choice.
Tomorrow is Lundi Gras (Fat Monday) aka the day before Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) basically the last 2 days before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten season. I have a recipe to try to make homemade beignets. I love beignets and I have had them at the Cafe du Monde in New Orleans. My Mom used to send away for their beignet mix back before you could order stuff on the internet. Nowadays I can even find the beignet mix in the store sometimes, but I think making the whole kit and caboodle from scratch might be fun. Might also be a big sugary pain in the neck, but we shall see. I also plan on getting a LOT of chocolate in me before Ash Wednesday because I am giving up the stuff for the duration of Lent, 40 days, ending as I dive ravenously on a chocolate bunny on Easter Morning. :)
Monday, February 28, 2011
Meatless Monday: Black Bean Soup and Pita Chips
So tonight was my last crazy Monday for awhile. My darling girl has dance rehearsal from 5-6 and then basketball from 6-7. My husband helps coach the basketball team so we all go to the park together. Before I left the house I put a one pound bag (sorted and rinsed) of black beans into the pressure cooker. I added a half an onion (chopped) several baby carrots, and some chopped celery, 1 bay leaf and teaspoon of cumin and a 1 teaspoon of chili powder. I put it on high pressure for 30 minutes. My pressure cooker is a self contained unit which turns off after the allotted time and allows the pressure to come down naturally (best for beans) and then switches to a "keep warm" setting. So when we walked in the soup was almost ready to go.
I added about 1/4 C of tomato salsa to the soup, about 1 1/2 C of frozen corn niblets, and a few dashes of worcestershire sauce. I stirred and tasted and realized I had forgotten to add salt. I never cook beans with salt because they can make the beans tough and not cook properly. Once salted this soup can be served with a garnish of sour cream, cheese or scallions or any mixture of those three things. We also had some pita chips. Light and yummy, it was a good dinner for a busy night!
I added about 1/4 C of tomato salsa to the soup, about 1 1/2 C of frozen corn niblets, and a few dashes of worcestershire sauce. I stirred and tasted and realized I had forgotten to add salt. I never cook beans with salt because they can make the beans tough and not cook properly. Once salted this soup can be served with a garnish of sour cream, cheese or scallions or any mixture of those three things. We also had some pita chips. Light and yummy, it was a good dinner for a busy night!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
We have a winner!
Using the Random.Org number generator I selected comment #4, Lisa! She is the winner of "The Cleaner Plate Club" by Beth Bader and THAT'S NOT ALL, Ms. Bader herself stopped by the blog a few days ago to offer the winner a book herself! How incredibly kind!
I am so excited and I can't wait to get my own copy, which of course I intended to do this month before being derailed by various illnesses (mine and others) and being a generally flighty flibbertigibbet.
Here is a recipe that would be PERFECT for Meatless Mondays from Beth's blog Expatriate's Kitchen
No-Meat Loaf
2/3 cup brown rice
1-1/3 cups vegetable stock
8 oz. "beef" style tofu (tube)
1 tbs. olive oil
5 oz. spinach
6 oz. mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
2 oz. sundried tomatoes packed in oil
1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 tbs. chopped basil
1/2 cup grated parmesan
salt and pepper to taste
Topping
1 28 oz can of roasted tomatoes (I use Muir Glen)
1 small shallot, diced
1 tbs. olive oil
2 tsp. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. red chili flakes
salt and pepper to taste
Cook the rice in the vegetable stock. Cool rice to room temperature.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Heat the olive oil in a skillet. Saute the onion for a few minutes until just turning golden. Add the mushrooms and cook until mushrooms are soft. Add the garlic and saute for another minute. Add the spinach leaves, turning down the heat. Fold in the spinach, just until it wilts a bit. Remove from heat and place in bowl.
Add the "beef" soy, rice, bread crumbs, herbs, cheese, sundried tomatoes and salt and pepper. Mix with hands (hey, it's not raw beef). Press into a loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Heat oil for topping in sauce pan. Add shallot and saute for about three minutes. Add the tomatoes with juice and brown sugar. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes. Adjust with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the fresh basil just before serving.
Serve each slice of no-meat loaf topped with chunky tomato topping.
I am so excited and I can't wait to get my own copy, which of course I intended to do this month before being derailed by various illnesses (mine and others) and being a generally flighty flibbertigibbet.
Here is a recipe that would be PERFECT for Meatless Mondays from Beth's blog Expatriate's Kitchen
No-Meat Loaf
2/3 cup brown rice
1-1/3 cups vegetable stock
8 oz. "beef" style tofu (tube)
1 tbs. olive oil
5 oz. spinach
6 oz. mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
2 oz. sundried tomatoes packed in oil
1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 tbs. chopped basil
1/2 cup grated parmesan
salt and pepper to taste
Topping
1 28 oz can of roasted tomatoes (I use Muir Glen)
1 small shallot, diced
1 tbs. olive oil
2 tsp. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. red chili flakes
salt and pepper to taste
Cook the rice in the vegetable stock. Cool rice to room temperature.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Heat the olive oil in a skillet. Saute the onion for a few minutes until just turning golden. Add the mushrooms and cook until mushrooms are soft. Add the garlic and saute for another minute. Add the spinach leaves, turning down the heat. Fold in the spinach, just until it wilts a bit. Remove from heat and place in bowl.
Add the "beef" soy, rice, bread crumbs, herbs, cheese, sundried tomatoes and salt and pepper. Mix with hands (hey, it's not raw beef). Press into a loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Heat oil for topping in sauce pan. Add shallot and saute for about three minutes. Add the tomatoes with juice and brown sugar. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes. Adjust with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the fresh basil just before serving.
Serve each slice of no-meat loaf topped with chunky tomato topping.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Meatless Monday: Homemade Hummus
I have been wanting to make homemade hummus ever since I realized how much my addiction to Sabra brand hummus was costing me! Today I read a whole bunch of recipes (as is my wont) and gathered the info together and made my own hummus recipe.
I cooked a 1 pound bag of garbanzo beans in my pressure cooker (35 minutes on high pressure, then allowed to come to natural pressure release). I put the beans in the pot with 6 C of water, 1 large carrot (cut into chunks) and 2 large pieces of celery. I also added several very small cloves of garlic. Once the lid was on the cooker and gathering steam I put 5 heads of garlic inside some heavy duty foil and drizzled them with olive oil (regular, not extra virgin or anything) and put the foil packet on a heavy duty baking tray. Then I roasted the heads at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, as I walked out the door for basketball practice tonight I turned the heat down to 200 degrees. When we returned from basketball practice I pulled the garlic out and took the lid off the pressure cooker. My beans looked beeeeeee-yoo-ti-full! I could practically have made soup right then and there. I took 2 C of garbanzos from the pot and put them in my blender. I added 2/3 C of the water they were cooking in to the blender and turned it on. The beans got pretty mushy and then I added about 3 TBs of the tahini (sesame paste). A word on tahini, this was my first time working with it, it is sort of like all natural peanut butter, the oil separates from nut paste. It was very hard to mix the oil back into the ground sesame, so my measurement is not exact by any means. I also added about 2 teaspoons of kosher salt, the juice of half a lemon, 2 cloves of the roasted garlic and 1/4 teaspoon of ground cumin. I started the blender again (after scraping down the sides) and while it was running I added about 2-3 TB of olive oil (regular not extra virgin). I added it slowly, as one would add it to a vinaigrette or for mayonnaise. When the hummus was lovely and fluffy and light I tasted it, you could adjust seasonings at that point. I liked it, and so did my kids.
I served the hummus with warm pita bread, red globe grapes, olives, pickled okra, alouette herbed cheese (for the kids), carrot sticks, brie cheese (for the hubby), goat cheese (for me!) and roasted garlic. The kids dipped their carrot sticks in their herbed cheese. I ate my pita spread with goat cheese and then topped with roasted garlic and alternated it with bites of hummus. It was all delicious. I didn't serve the kids the roasted garlic at first, I kept it on my plate and my husband's plate. Sure enough the oldest child wandered over and inquired, "What's that?" and by the end of dinner was squeezing out her own roasted garlic from individual cloves. *SO PROUD* Of course now we are all going to fight over the roasted garlic, but small price to pay for having another good eater in the family. :)
I cooked a 1 pound bag of garbanzo beans in my pressure cooker (35 minutes on high pressure, then allowed to come to natural pressure release). I put the beans in the pot with 6 C of water, 1 large carrot (cut into chunks) and 2 large pieces of celery. I also added several very small cloves of garlic. Once the lid was on the cooker and gathering steam I put 5 heads of garlic inside some heavy duty foil and drizzled them with olive oil (regular, not extra virgin or anything) and put the foil packet on a heavy duty baking tray. Then I roasted the heads at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, as I walked out the door for basketball practice tonight I turned the heat down to 200 degrees. When we returned from basketball practice I pulled the garlic out and took the lid off the pressure cooker. My beans looked beeeeeee-yoo-ti-full! I could practically have made soup right then and there. I took 2 C of garbanzos from the pot and put them in my blender. I added 2/3 C of the water they were cooking in to the blender and turned it on. The beans got pretty mushy and then I added about 3 TBs of the tahini (sesame paste). A word on tahini, this was my first time working with it, it is sort of like all natural peanut butter, the oil separates from nut paste. It was very hard to mix the oil back into the ground sesame, so my measurement is not exact by any means. I also added about 2 teaspoons of kosher salt, the juice of half a lemon, 2 cloves of the roasted garlic and 1/4 teaspoon of ground cumin. I started the blender again (after scraping down the sides) and while it was running I added about 2-3 TB of olive oil (regular not extra virgin). I added it slowly, as one would add it to a vinaigrette or for mayonnaise. When the hummus was lovely and fluffy and light I tasted it, you could adjust seasonings at that point. I liked it, and so did my kids.
I served the hummus with warm pita bread, red globe grapes, olives, pickled okra, alouette herbed cheese (for the kids), carrot sticks, brie cheese (for the hubby), goat cheese (for me!) and roasted garlic. The kids dipped their carrot sticks in their herbed cheese. I ate my pita spread with goat cheese and then topped with roasted garlic and alternated it with bites of hummus. It was all delicious. I didn't serve the kids the roasted garlic at first, I kept it on my plate and my husband's plate. Sure enough the oldest child wandered over and inquired, "What's that?" and by the end of dinner was squeezing out her own roasted garlic from individual cloves. *SO PROUD* Of course now we are all going to fight over the roasted garlic, but small price to pay for having another good eater in the family. :)
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Happy Chinese New Year
So, I bought some wonton wrappers at the store today, plus some scallions and ginger and 1.85 pounds of ground pork. When I got home I realized the recipe only called for a pound of pork, whoops! I just cut the package in half, added a good handful of sliced purple cabbage, (that's what I had on hand). I also minced 2 scallions, added a half teaspoon of ground ginger, 1 TB of white wine and 1 tsp of corn starch. When you are making cabbage I find it always works better if you lightly salt it and put it in a colander to drain for awhile. At least 20 minutes or so will help it discharge some of the water and keep things crisp. I even wrung the cabbage out in some paper towels to really get it dry. I mixed all of the ingredients together and then took a tiny portion scoop and put about a teaspoon of filling in the middle of a wonton wrapper; to seal it simply wet your finger with water and push two sides together and really pinch them to seal. I made a little rectangle shape and then folded down the top two corner and sealed them. There are approximately a million videos on Youtube and Google that will show you a lot of ways to seal your wrappers, but the main thing is to make sure the edges are really sealed tightly. I steamed 2 dozen of them in a steamer basket over boiling water on the stove for about 6 minutes and then I fried them lightly in oil for about another 2 minutes.
The main discovery here was that I have found a way to get the kids to eat cabbage! They tore into these dumplings as soon as they were cool enough to eat.
As the dumplings were being eaten I boiled some spaghetti noodles to be my "long life noodles" and set them aside. The long unbroken noodles are meant to symbolize a long healthy life! So I took my cue from that and sliced a bunch of vegetables into long thin strips. I cut up bell pepper, carrots, purple cabbage, scallions, and some cauliflower. I sauteed them in oil and seasoned them with salt and pepper and a about a half teaspoon of ground ginger. I made a slurry of corn starch and soy sauce and sizzled it all together, When the veggies were done I added half the noodles to the to the pan and tossed the veggies and noodles together. A few more dashes of soy sauce and my long life noodles were done!
Happy Chinese New Year to you all!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Meatless Monday Mexican Menu
I am making black beans and yellow rice, a staple around here, the baby would literally eat nothing else if given the choice. I made a side of sauteed yellow squash and zucchini, something I jokingly call "Mexican Ratatouille" and I made fresh pico de gallo. I love pico de gallo! It is a chunky salsa made from tomatoes, onions, jalapeño pepper, and lime juice. You can zhush it up with some diced garlic if you like, or add some green peppers or cilantro to it too, but I like it very, very plain. The colors remind me of the Mexican flag, red, white, and green!
My sauteed squash dish is very versatile and it is a go-to side dish in my home. Simply slice or chop up some yellow (or summer or crook-neck) squash with or without some zucchini. Sautee it with some sliced thin onions, and some sliced tomatoes (or canned tomatoes) and season them all over with adobo until they are getting some brown spots and everything is quite soft. It pairs well with beans and rice or chicken.
I am also making a side salad, since I planned on making QUITE a bit of salad over the weekend and forgot to make it completely. We had so many vegetables for the cheese dip and on the veggie kebabs that I sort of just bungled it. On the plus side I was introduced to the most delicious variation on tzatziki dip with pistachios in it and a really awesome garlic dip that literally had me moaning in ecstasy over it while I dipped strips of bell pepper! I have to get the recipe from my friend Cami.
I was going to make some fresh tortillas, but we have some homemade biscuits leftover from Sunday, so I am going to use those instead. Hope you all have a good Meatless Monday too!
My sauteed squash dish is very versatile and it is a go-to side dish in my home. Simply slice or chop up some yellow (or summer or crook-neck) squash with or without some zucchini. Sautee it with some sliced thin onions, and some sliced tomatoes (or canned tomatoes) and season them all over with adobo until they are getting some brown spots and everything is quite soft. It pairs well with beans and rice or chicken.
I am also making a side salad, since I planned on making QUITE a bit of salad over the weekend and forgot to make it completely. We had so many vegetables for the cheese dip and on the veggie kebabs that I sort of just bungled it. On the plus side I was introduced to the most delicious variation on tzatziki dip with pistachios in it and a really awesome garlic dip that literally had me moaning in ecstasy over it while I dipped strips of bell pepper! I have to get the recipe from my friend Cami.
I was going to make some fresh tortillas, but we have some homemade biscuits leftover from Sunday, so I am going to use those instead. Hope you all have a good Meatless Monday too!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Meatless Monday Menu: Veggie Chili
So tonight I made vegetarian chili with 12 oz. of cooked black beans, yellow squash, carrot, onion, zucchini and garlic. I cooked the beans in my pressure cooker for 20 minutes, then I opened it up and added 1 small can of tomato sauce, 1 can of diced tomatoes, and the chopped vegetables. For spice I used 1 TB of chili powder, 1 TB of Emeril's Southwestern Seasoning Blend and 1 TB of my in-laws magical, mythical spice rub. I also added some sea salt. I put the lid back on the pressure cooker and brought it up to pressure and cooked it for another 5 minutes, then I let everything come back to pressure naturally. (As opposed to releasing the pressure manually.)
I served it with shredded cheese and sour cream toppings and that's it. Normally I'd make some corn bread or something, but this is so full of vegetable-y goodness and due to our busy schedule I just declared it a one-dish meal sort of night. If you like you could also serve this lovely chili over spaghetti noodles or rice or with a side of salad and tortillas. YUM! Other toppers could be saltine crackers, goldfish crackers (my kids love that) and onions or scallions or even cubes of avocado.
Ever notice that chili taste better the second day? My father (a native Texan) remedies that by cooling the chili off and then reheating it on the same day the better to let the spices fully blend! It is a good trick and when I have the chance I do it too. It never fails to impress.
I served it with shredded cheese and sour cream toppings and that's it. Normally I'd make some corn bread or something, but this is so full of vegetable-y goodness and due to our busy schedule I just declared it a one-dish meal sort of night. If you like you could also serve this lovely chili over spaghetti noodles or rice or with a side of salad and tortillas. YUM! Other toppers could be saltine crackers, goldfish crackers (my kids love that) and onions or scallions or even cubes of avocado.
Ever notice that chili taste better the second day? My father (a native Texan) remedies that by cooling the chili off and then reheating it on the same day the better to let the spices fully blend! It is a good trick and when I have the chance I do it too. It never fails to impress.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Picnic in the Park
Went to the municipal park to see my husband and some of his team-mates play a little softball to warm up for the tournament tomorrow. Between the all of the parents there we have 6 daughters. The girls were thrilled to be playing together on the playground. I made my MIL's "picnic sandwiches", which are really more of a technique than a recipe, but here ya go.
Chopped picnic sandwiches
Chop half pound of sliced deli ham
Chop half a pound of sliced deli turkey
Chop half a pound of provolone (or your favorite sliced cheese)
Chop up 2 hearts of romaine lettuces
Chopped dill pickles to taste (optional)
Pour over all your favorite Italian or vinaigrette dressing, and toss together, serve on your preferred bread.
You could make this a variety of ways, serving a single type of meat, adding sliced chicken to the mix, or go completely, deliciously veggie by using some sliced olives, chopped onion and chopped marinated artichoke hearts and serving it in a pita pocket. These are great for a picnic, because you carry the sandwich filing in a tupperware bowl or a ziploc bag and serve it there. No soggy sandwiches! Plus the dressing negates the necessity of any mayo or mustard, so you have less to carry.
I served tortilla chips and fresh salsa, red grapes and mozzarella cheese sticks as sides and brought bottled water for everyone. Super fun, super cheap and a great night out with friends. If you are shivering in the cold right now, please forgive me for this post, but the great weather is one of the reasons we live in Florida. On the downside, in the summer we have to deal with mosquitoes bigger than your average Volkswagen -- so there is always a trade-off.
Chopped picnic sandwiches
Chop half pound of sliced deli ham
Chop half a pound of sliced deli turkey
Chop half a pound of provolone (or your favorite sliced cheese)
Chop up 2 hearts of romaine lettuces
Chopped dill pickles to taste (optional)
Pour over all your favorite Italian or vinaigrette dressing, and toss together, serve on your preferred bread.
You could make this a variety of ways, serving a single type of meat, adding sliced chicken to the mix, or go completely, deliciously veggie by using some sliced olives, chopped onion and chopped marinated artichoke hearts and serving it in a pita pocket. These are great for a picnic, because you carry the sandwich filing in a tupperware bowl or a ziploc bag and serve it there. No soggy sandwiches! Plus the dressing negates the necessity of any mayo or mustard, so you have less to carry.
I served tortilla chips and fresh salsa, red grapes and mozzarella cheese sticks as sides and brought bottled water for everyone. Super fun, super cheap and a great night out with friends. If you are shivering in the cold right now, please forgive me for this post, but the great weather is one of the reasons we live in Florida. On the downside, in the summer we have to deal with mosquitoes bigger than your average Volkswagen -- so there is always a trade-off.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Belly up to the Bar
The salad bar that is! Today I put out a big bowl of green, hearts of romaine lettuce leaves, washed and torn. Smaller bowls containing baby carrots, shredded cheese, Bacos (soy bits), croutons, goldfish crackers, cherry tomatoes, onion slices, broccoli,chopped mixed nuts and thawed frozen kernel corn. I let the kids and the hubby graze according to their preference. We also had a small selection of salad dressings. Thus fortified with vegetables I let them have a slice of pizza and a juice box that was provided at our monthly library PTK night. PTK stands for "parent to kid" and is a chance for kids to read with and to their parents and then put their name into a drawing for free books. Every kids that attends receives a free book of the next day during lunch too. It is a great program!
What are your kids favorite salad fixings? Are they more fruit than veggie eaters? Are they currently living on Flintstones vitamins and air? If your kids won;t touch ANYTHING green; ask them to grate a bunch of carrots and have them help you make this recipe.
Carrot-Raisin Salad
2 c. grated raw carrot
1/2 c. raisins
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 c. diced celery (optional)
1/4 c. chopped nuts (optional)
Salad dressing to taste (recipe to follow)
lettuce leaves (optional)
pineapple pieces (optional)
sesame seeds (optional)
Dressing: Mix 1 C vanilla yogurt with 1 TB of honey (or less) and 1/4 C of either orange or pineapple juice, whisk together. YUM! Add more juice if you want to make it thinner. Also good with bottled honey-ginger dressing.
Grate or even better peel in long strips with a vegetable peeler about 2 C worth of carrots. Toss with raisins and lemon juice. If you want you can also add the optional ingredients. Serve on lettuce leaves if your kids will eat them.
What are your kids favorite salad fixings? Are they more fruit than veggie eaters? Are they currently living on Flintstones vitamins and air? If your kids won;t touch ANYTHING green; ask them to grate a bunch of carrots and have them help you make this recipe.
Carrot-Raisin Salad
2 c. grated raw carrot
1/2 c. raisins
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 c. diced celery (optional)
1/4 c. chopped nuts (optional)
Salad dressing to taste (recipe to follow)
lettuce leaves (optional)
pineapple pieces (optional)
sesame seeds (optional)
Dressing: Mix 1 C vanilla yogurt with 1 TB of honey (or less) and 1/4 C of either orange or pineapple juice, whisk together. YUM! Add more juice if you want to make it thinner. Also good with bottled honey-ginger dressing.
Grate or even better peel in long strips with a vegetable peeler about 2 C worth of carrots. Toss with raisins and lemon juice. If you want you can also add the optional ingredients. Serve on lettuce leaves if your kids will eat them.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
At my MIL's house, steak and asparagus
My in-law's are big on steak, and I love them for it. 1 rib-eye at their house can easily feed me, my husband and one of our kids. They also do an incredibly simple seasoning and marinade routine that I think everyone should know about.
Season steaks all over with Montreal Steak Seasoning Blend, then marinate the steaks in half Worcestershire sauce and half soy sauce. Turn the steaks half way through whatever marinating time you have as little as an hour even, though these are really great the longer you marinate them. I think I accidentally marinated them for 2 days once and they were delectable!
So the steaks were seared in a hot pan and cooked on the stove-top and were great, as usual. The real star of the show was this new asparagus recipe my MIL wanted me to try and make. She got it from Pier 1 and it called for some ingredients that come from the Pier 1 store. Well, we didn't have any of the ingredients, so here is the recipe with notes on what I subbed in for the missing stuff.
Grilled Asparagus
1 bag of Pier 1 Apple Cider (yield 2 cups) -- I used 2 C apple juice
1/3 C Pier 1 Apricots in White Vinegar (use a few pieces of apricot) -- I used my MIL's homemade pickled peaches
1/4 C fresh squeezed orange juice -- I used 2 rounded tablespoons of OJ concentrate
1 TB fresh thyme chopped -- I used 1 tsp of dried ground thyme
3 TB sugar
1 TB salt
1 tsp pepper
32 stalks of asparagus (are you KIDDING me? I used 2 packages that totaled about 2 pounds. Who has time to COUNT asparagus??)
Oil to coat
Garnish with organic baby greens, feta (we used bleu cheese) and orange segments (didn't have any, skipped it.)
Make apple cider with 2 C of water, let steep for 10 minutes. (I put the juice right in the blender.) In blender combine cider, vinegar with apricots (vinegar with peaches), OJ, thyme, salt, sugar, and pepper. Puree and reserve. Grill asparagus for desired amount of tenderness (4-5 minutes). (I cooked my asparagus on the stove top in olive oil and butter with a dash of coarse grained salt.) Place on serving tray and pour vinaigrette over them, garnish with greens cheese and orange.
These were possibly my favorite asparagus of all time and I LOVE asparagus. They are so tasty and awesome it is worth having funny smelling pee later. The lovely little mesclun salad on top with the creamy, dreamy bleu cheese was a wonderful combination of tastes, textures and temperatures. I literally could not get enough of the stuff. I did not pour the dressing over all as I like to let people add their dressing to taste, so I think you could safely halve this recipe and have plenty to put a few tablespoons over each portion. As it is we had lots of leftovers, but we are going to put it in the fridge for a salad tomorrow. What a treat! A great new side-dish for dinner and freshly made salad dressing for the next day! SCORE!
****If I were doing a vegetarian meal with this, I'd pair the asparagus salad with a nice warm rice pilaf and some crusty bread and call it a day!! ****
Season steaks all over with Montreal Steak Seasoning Blend, then marinate the steaks in half Worcestershire sauce and half soy sauce. Turn the steaks half way through whatever marinating time you have as little as an hour even, though these are really great the longer you marinate them. I think I accidentally marinated them for 2 days once and they were delectable!
So the steaks were seared in a hot pan and cooked on the stove-top and were great, as usual. The real star of the show was this new asparagus recipe my MIL wanted me to try and make. She got it from Pier 1 and it called for some ingredients that come from the Pier 1 store. Well, we didn't have any of the ingredients, so here is the recipe with notes on what I subbed in for the missing stuff.
Grilled Asparagus
1 bag of Pier 1 Apple Cider (yield 2 cups) -- I used 2 C apple juice
1/3 C Pier 1 Apricots in White Vinegar (use a few pieces of apricot) -- I used my MIL's homemade pickled peaches
1/4 C fresh squeezed orange juice -- I used 2 rounded tablespoons of OJ concentrate
1 TB fresh thyme chopped -- I used 1 tsp of dried ground thyme
3 TB sugar
1 TB salt
1 tsp pepper
32 stalks of asparagus (are you KIDDING me? I used 2 packages that totaled about 2 pounds. Who has time to COUNT asparagus??)
Oil to coat
Garnish with organic baby greens, feta (we used bleu cheese) and orange segments (didn't have any, skipped it.)
Make apple cider with 2 C of water, let steep for 10 minutes. (I put the juice right in the blender.) In blender combine cider, vinegar with apricots (vinegar with peaches), OJ, thyme, salt, sugar, and pepper. Puree and reserve. Grill asparagus for desired amount of tenderness (4-5 minutes). (I cooked my asparagus on the stove top in olive oil and butter with a dash of coarse grained salt.) Place on serving tray and pour vinaigrette over them, garnish with greens cheese and orange.
These were possibly my favorite asparagus of all time and I LOVE asparagus. They are so tasty and awesome it is worth having funny smelling pee later. The lovely little mesclun salad on top with the creamy, dreamy bleu cheese was a wonderful combination of tastes, textures and temperatures. I literally could not get enough of the stuff. I did not pour the dressing over all as I like to let people add their dressing to taste, so I think you could safely halve this recipe and have plenty to put a few tablespoons over each portion. As it is we had lots of leftovers, but we are going to put it in the fridge for a salad tomorrow. What a treat! A great new side-dish for dinner and freshly made salad dressing for the next day! SCORE!
****If I were doing a vegetarian meal with this, I'd pair the asparagus salad with a nice warm rice pilaf and some crusty bread and call it a day!! ****
Monday, January 3, 2011
The skinny on casseroles
Here's the thing, in the depths of winter (and winter in NC is pretty depthy to me) I want comfort food. Casseroles, stews, soups, roasts, baked goods, basically anything that warms the soul and the house makes me happy. Casseroles are not the most elegant or sophisticated of dishes but they are tasty and filling and just the very definition of home-cooking. I mean when is the last time you saw any type of casserole on a restaurant menu?
Today's casserole takes the very last bits of the New Year's day feast and transforms them into a bubbly, cheesey delicious main dish. Serve with a side of steamed veggies or salad depending on your climate and enjoy.
Ham and Rice Casserole
Chopped ham
3 cups of cooked white rice (can be leftovers from NY dinner)
1 cup (or more) of shredded cheese (I like a 4 cheese blend)
1 can of cream of something soup (or make a white sauce) (Or more than one can if you like a moister casserole.)
Panko, cracker or bread crumbs for the top
Melted butter
Mix cooked rice and chopped ham, cheese, and soup and place in a buttered 9 x 13 pan (or smaller if you aren't cooking for a crowd. You can cut this recipe in half and make it in an 8 x8 pan.) Cover with bread crumbs of choice and pour some melted butter over the top. Bake at 350 degrees (170 C?) covered with aluminum foil for 30 minutes. Take off foil and brown for 5 minutes. Serve immediately.
If you do not eat ham or meat simply replace the ham with broccoli florets or chopped spears and follow the recipe as indicated. You can also make this with cooked brown rice and it is even better. I can't tell you how many times I have intended to make my MIL's famous broccoli and chicken casserole and FORGOTTEN TO PUT IN THE CHICKEN. This has happened so often as a matter of fact that it is known in my house as "Chicken Surprise-- Surprise! There's no chicken in it!"
I will serve these tonight with a side of steamed broccoli and cauliflower which I am fortunate that my kids love. My sister-in-law's kids won't eat them plain, but they do like them with cheese sauce. Another friend's kids won't eat them cooked but will eat them raw with ranch dressing. My sister's kids won't eat them AT ALL but clamor for more of my Mom's spaghetti sauce which is packed with (you guessed it) broccoli, carrots, onion, and celery. My Mom was the Sneaky Chef way back in the 70's.
**UPDATE** The casserole dish I was using was SO BIG that I added the frozen vegetables right into the casserole. I did take the extra step of cutting them up a bit into smaller, uniform pieces and they cooked beautifully right in one dish. Even the strenuous anti-vegetable crowd at the table couldn't resist them. Score!
Hope your dinner is really good tonight and that you have one of those good parenting days that don't make you fantasize about a long restful stay at the local hospital!
Today's casserole takes the very last bits of the New Year's day feast and transforms them into a bubbly, cheesey delicious main dish. Serve with a side of steamed veggies or salad depending on your climate and enjoy.
Ham and Rice Casserole
Chopped ham
3 cups of cooked white rice (can be leftovers from NY dinner)
1 cup (or more) of shredded cheese (I like a 4 cheese blend)
1 can of cream of something soup (or make a white sauce) (Or more than one can if you like a moister casserole.)
Panko, cracker or bread crumbs for the top
Melted butter
Mix cooked rice and chopped ham, cheese, and soup and place in a buttered 9 x 13 pan (or smaller if you aren't cooking for a crowd. You can cut this recipe in half and make it in an 8 x8 pan.) Cover with bread crumbs of choice and pour some melted butter over the top. Bake at 350 degrees (170 C?) covered with aluminum foil for 30 minutes. Take off foil and brown for 5 minutes. Serve immediately.
If you do not eat ham or meat simply replace the ham with broccoli florets or chopped spears and follow the recipe as indicated. You can also make this with cooked brown rice and it is even better. I can't tell you how many times I have intended to make my MIL's famous broccoli and chicken casserole and FORGOTTEN TO PUT IN THE CHICKEN. This has happened so often as a matter of fact that it is known in my house as "Chicken Surprise-- Surprise! There's no chicken in it!"
I will serve these tonight with a side of steamed broccoli and cauliflower which I am fortunate that my kids love. My sister-in-law's kids won't eat them plain, but they do like them with cheese sauce. Another friend's kids won't eat them cooked but will eat them raw with ranch dressing. My sister's kids won't eat them AT ALL but clamor for more of my Mom's spaghetti sauce which is packed with (you guessed it) broccoli, carrots, onion, and celery. My Mom was the Sneaky Chef way back in the 70's.
**UPDATE** The casserole dish I was using was SO BIG that I added the frozen vegetables right into the casserole. I did take the extra step of cutting them up a bit into smaller, uniform pieces and they cooked beautifully right in one dish. Even the strenuous anti-vegetable crowd at the table couldn't resist them. Score!
Hope your dinner is really good tonight and that you have one of those good parenting days that don't make you fantasize about a long restful stay at the local hospital!
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