Shells & Cheese

Well, not quite. Last night's dinner was another choice from Josh. He found this Shells with Grilled Chicken and Mozzarella in the July/August issue of Everyday Food. This was a really good meal for us, and we both enjoyed the leftovers today. I'm not gonna elaborate much, as I will soon be on my way to Stephanie's house for some munchies and TV premieres. So, let's get down to the delicious details.

Shells with Grilled Chicken and Mozzarella
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4
Coarse salt and ground pepper
Vegetable oil, for grates
1 1/2 pounds chicken cutlets
8 ounces medium pasta shells
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
4 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
2 tablespoons butter

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil for pasta. Meanwhile, heat grill to medium; lightly oil grates. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Grill until cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove from grill, and cut into thin strips, halving if long.
• Cook pasta until al dente, according to package instructions. Reserve 1 cup pasta water; drain pasta, and return to pot. Add chicken, tomatoes, mozzarella, parsley, Parmesan, and butter. Toss to combine. Add reserved pasta water a little at a time to create a sauce that coats shells (you may not need all the water). Serve with more Parmesan.

My notes: I actually just realized typing the ingredients that I forgot the butter last night! And yet it was delicious. Oh well, guess I saved us some calories! I don't know if I'll bother with the butter next time, seeing as it was so good without it.

Choco-tastic

Monday night I made these cookies, which were once again delicious. They were a bit easier this time around with the use of the KitchenAid as well. This time I used semi-sweet chocolate chips because I'm lazy. How's that for honesty? I think you should give them a shot. And you know I mean it. After all, I didn't lie to you about the chocolate chips.

Under Pressure

Last night was another recipe chosen by Josh. I think I personally prefer hot sandwiches when really flavorful ingredients are involved, like with this one. I was going to make salad to go with it, but as I had salad at lunch yesterday, and the plan was to have more today I instead tossed together some brown rice, chopped broccoli and freshly grated Parmesan. It was really good. It's an Everyday Food recipe, in case you couldn't guess.

Pressed Mozzarella and Tomato Sandwiches
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 2
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained, reserving 1 tablespoon oil
1/2 loaf ciabatta bread (about 5 ounces), split horizontally and hollowed out
Romaine lettuce leaves
6 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
Coarse salt and ground pepper

• In a small bowl, whisk together mustard and oil until thick; spread on bread. Layer bottom half of bread with some of the lettuce, then cheese, tomatoes, and parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Top with remaining lettuce and bread.
• Wrap sandwich tightly in plastic; place on a baking sheet. Top with another sheet, and weight down with canned goods or a heavy skillet. Refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to overnight to meld flavors. Cut in half, and serve.

My notes: I should have prepared this sandwich Sunday night and left it to press overnight, but I didn't, so it only pressed for about an hour and a half. I think that my ciabatta could perhaps have been a little softer, because as it is it was pretty crusty, but after sitting in the fridge it was really hard to bite through the exterior. It tasted good, don't get me wrong, but it seems like it could have tasted better and could have been slightly easier to eat.

Changin' It Up

Last night's dinner was really good, and really pretty easy. Now, that doesn't mean it didn't take me forever to make it. Between more laundry and trying to keep my cat from attacking the cute kittens that appeared on our back porch, not to mention attempting to shred delicious smelling chicken with the cat under my feet, it wasn't as quick as I think it would normally be. Actually, if I think about the steps done between all the other chores, it is really a fast meal. This was another attempt to step outside my recipe box, as it were, and stretch my cooking boundaries. Or perhaps I should say food boundaries as there is no actual cooking required, just preparations. This salad was actually featured on the cover of the June issue of Everyday Food, but I more or less ignored it then. While making my menu plan this weekend I did a recipe search on Martha Stewart rotisserie chicken. They were on sale this week and I wanted to pick one up to make chicken pizza for Josh, so I was looking for something to use the rest of the chicken up. This is, I think, the first recipe to pop up. After giving it a once over I thought about a tiny adjustment I could make, and decided to go for it. I am so glad that I did, because I really loved it. I'm definitely going to make it again, and probably soon.

Asian Rotisserie Chicken Salad
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4
2 cups fresh cilantro leaves and soft stems
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (from 2 limes)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 rotisserie chicken (about 2 1/2 pounds), skin and bones removed, meat shredded (about 4 cups)
1/4 medium red cabbage (8 ounces), cored and thinly sliced crosswise
1 red bell pepper (ribs and seeds removed), thinly sliced
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 large head romaine lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces
1/2 cup cashews

• Make dressing: In a blender, combine cilantro, lime juice, and oil; season with salt and pepper. Blend until smooth.
• In a large bowl, combine chicken, cabbage, bell pepper, and scallions; season with salt and pepper. In another large bowl, toss lettuce with 1/2 cup dressing. Divide among four bowls, and top with chicken mixture. Drizzle all with remaining dressing, and sprinkle with cashews.

My notes: As you might notice from my picture, there is a suspicious lack of cashews and red cabbage. The red cabbage didn't look too great at the store, so I bought a bag of broccoli slaw, which has carrots and cabbage in it. That worked well, but next time I will probably give just the cabbage a shot. And I was personally apprehensive about the cashews. I love cashews, but I just have never been really keen on nuts in my salad. I mean, sesame seeds are good, maybe the occasional pecan, but I just didn't go for the cashews. But what I do love? Chow mein noodles. So that's what I sprinkled across the top. And I'd do it again! Obviously, probably not as nutritional as nuts, but delicious. I ended up making the dressing with bottled lime juice. My grocery store, for some inexplicable reason, had only key limes this week. I've never seen a key lime there before (it's a small local store), and yet this week they had hundreds and no regular limes whatsoever. This dressing was very limy as a result, but I loved it. Next time I'll definitely make it with fresh, granted I can get some. I just didn't have an interest in having to go somewhere else for 2 limes. Also, I cut this recipe in half, so that I would still have chicken for pizza later in the week. But I wish I hadn't cut it in half so I could have had seconds!

Pest-o

Man, really lame that I'm not posting near enough, but things have just seemed really harried around here. I was sick, and then I was a different kind of sick, and now I'm relatively better, but trying to play catch up from all the illness. Anyway, to try and expand my cooking horizons I gave Josh a stack of Everyday Food issues and told him to mark some recipes that he would like me to make. Last night I made the first of his selections- Fettuccine with Spinach Pesto. I had a heck of a time with this one. Things started out great, but when my food processor wouldn't work properly I had to switch to the blender, and when the blender didn't want to blend I had to reverse some steps in the recipe to get things moving. This resulted in a very messy kitchen and a meal that wasn't ready until the clothes in the dryer were ready to be folded. After 45 minutes of folding laundry I finally got to taste the results. Thankfully all that effort was not in vain, because this pasta was delicious. I had my reservations while making it, but I'm glad that Josh chose it. I will definitely make this again, and I might even make the pesto alone and freeze for easy dinners in the future. I'll just start out with the blender in the first place! Take that processor!

Fettuccine with Spinach Pesto
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4
12 oz. fettuccine
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving (optional)
2 tablespoons pine nuts, plus more for serving (optional)
1 garlic clove
1 teaspoon grated zest plus 2 tablespoons juice from 1 lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup cold water

• Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente, according to package instructions. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water; immediately drain pasta, and return to pot.
• While pasta is cooking, place spinach, Parmesan, nuts, garlic, and lemon zest and juice in a food processor. Process until a paste forms. With motor running, add oil and cup cold water; process until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper. Add to pasta; toss, adding reserved pasta water a little at a time until sauce is thinned slightly and coats fettuccine (you may not need all the water). Serve, sprinkled with additional Parmesan and nuts, if desired.

My notes: Using the blender, I needed to put the olive oil and water in first to help blend. Things tasted great, so I'm assuming that wasn't a big problem. Maybe it would taste better if I could make a paste and then add them, but I guess I'll never know *shakes fist at food processor*. The pesto smells very lemony, but surprisingly doesn't taste as much so. I am perfectly happy to devour my leftovers for lunch. In fact, I think I'll go do that right now!

Wrap It Up!

That is what I'm trying to convince the cold virus that is currently ravaging me, anyway. We had quite a busy weekend, which is why I'm just now getting around to posting. Oh jeez, a week since my last post. Anyway, now that this cold has slowed things down I realized that I needed to tell you about the delicious dinner I made last week. I know I've said that Josh's favorite meal is the Bolognese Pie, but this might be a close second. Not only is it a great treat, but it results in plenty of perfect leftovers. The recipe came from Everyday Food, but this is my tweaked version. We liked the original recipe, but we're spicy people. We require such spiciness of our food. And this is a halved version of their recipe too. Martha Stewart must know how to pack a heck of a burrito, because I had a ton of leftover filling when I prepared the full amount. The thing I think is great about this dinner is it works for us, a family of two, but it would be equally great for a family with kids. Oh, and that pic is from Martha Stewart, cause obviously my photography skills haven't grown in amazing ways in one week.

Bean Burritos
Recipe adapted from Everyday Food; Serves 8-10
1 package Mahatma Spanish Rice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 jalapeno chile, seeded and ribbed, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 1/2 15 oz. cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 10 oz. box frozen corn kernels
3 scallions, thinly sliced
Burrito size flour tortillas, 10 inches each
1 cup shredded Pepper Jack cheese

• Cook rice according to package instructions; set aside.
• Meanwhile, heat oil in a large saucepan over medium. Add onions, garlic, jalapeno, and cumin; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Add tomato paste, and cook, stirring, 1 minute.
• Add beans and 1 1/2 cups water; bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, 10 to 12 minutes. Add corn; cook to heat through, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in scallions.
• Heat tortillas according to package instructions; fill with rice, bean mixture, and cheese.
• Assemble: Mound 1/4 cup rice, 3/4 cup bean mixture, and 1/4 cup cheese on one side of tortilla. Fold, and hold in sides. Starting from filled end, holding sides in as you work, tightly roll into a bundle. Place on a baking sheet, seam side down, and prepare remaining burritos.
• Serve immediately, with salsa and sour cream, if using, or wrap individually in plastic and freeze up to 3 months.

My notes: This is a great beginning of the week recipe, to have leftovers for quick lunches. Or a great end of the week recipe to have something easy to grab through a busy weekend. I'm thinking about making these for my brother-in-law and his wife so they will have something to grab from the freezer when their little bundle of joy arrives in a few months.

Age Doesn't Always Bring Wisdom- 100th Post

Welcome to my 100th blog post! Wow, I can hardly believe I've already hit 100 posts. It's actually been about a year since I created this blog, but I didn't really settle into using it until January. And since then I've gotten a lot out of it. I love having a place to talk about what I'm doing in my kitchen. I've made some great blog friends, and found some great recipes. I wanted to make something special for my 100th post, so I figured it was about time I made the Orange-Cranberry Pound Cake. I read about this cake before I had even started really posting on my own blog. It looked absolutely divine. So divine in fact that I always put off making it, fearing that it would be so good that I wouldn't be able to stop eating it till it all disappeared. But I figured if there was ever a time to make a recipe I've been yearning to from one of the first blogs I read, now was it. And, ironically, this recipe proved that just because I've attained the mighty heights of my 100th post doesn't mean that thing are going to go my way 100 percent of the time. I don't know exactly what I did wrong, but my cake looks nowhere near as gorgeous as Peabody's. It tastes pretty good, and as I obviously didn't taste her's, I can only imagine that it tastes as it should. I either didn't grease and flour my pan evenly enough, or perhaps I should have adjusted the baking time due to my bundt pan being very dark. Whatever it was, my cake just isn't that pretty. Yummy, but not pretty. Anyway, I'm sure that most people could have more success than me, so I wanted to share the recipe. Really, just look at Peabody's pictures, that lone should convince you to mix one up yourself.

Orange-Cranberry Pound Cake
Recipe from Peabody
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3 cups sugar
5 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of one medium orange
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon fresh nutmeg
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried cranberries

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the milk, vanilla, and orange zest.
• Sift together the spices, flour, and salt; add them to the wet ingredients, stirring gently just until well combined. Fold in the dried cranberries. Pour the batter into a greased and floured 10 inch tube pan and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Let the cake cool in the pan, then turn out onto plate.

My notes: Thanks to everyone who stops by this little page. I really appreciate it!

If Music Be The Food Of Love, Play On Part 2

Last time I told you about my love of cooking (and dancing) to the tunes of Louis Prima. Lately I've been enjoying another compilation album while I'm cooking up a storm. Dean Martin has been my artist of choice over the past few weeks, whether I'm making a mean lasagna or just tossing together a salad. Dino: The Essential Dean Martin has all the hits you could ask for. Some of my favorites include Sway, Volare, and of course his signature song, That's Amore. There are 30 tracks on this album, with a lot of the better known hits being at the beginning, so it can be enjoyed while making a quick meal or preparing a big feast. The only problem? Sometimes I'll get distracted perfecting my mambo routine while I'm cooking. I can't help it! When Mambo Italiano comes on I just have to move!