Oooh, Tomato Orzo

This dish turned out so pretty! I loved the bright color of the tomatoes and parsley. It also tasted great, even the next day, which is when Josh got to eat his helping thanks to late night rehearsals. This was also a really fast dish, which made dinner that night a pleasure. I choose this recipe as a side to some Caprese Sandwiches. No secret recipe there- just layer basil, tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella on bread of your choice. I used a demi-baguette, a smaller loaf of french bread which turned out to be the perfect size. It would also be great on some ciabatta, I think. I made the sandwiches the night before and tucked them into the fridge, so dinner was a snap when I served this orzo dish on the side.

Tomato Orzo
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4












1 cup orzo
2 plum tomatoes, cored and chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

• Set a large saucepan of salted water to boil. Cook orzo in boiling water until al dente. Drain well; return to pot. Add tomatoes, parsley, butter, and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper, and toss to combine.

My notes: Nothing really, everything came out great. I mean, this recipe is so easy it was hard for even me to mess it up. And I mess up a lot of things. This will be a great recipe to use through the summer.

Chicken Sammiches

Recently I made one of Josh's favorite foods for dinner- a chicken sandwich. I know, is it weird that that is his favorite thing? That a chicken sandwich is what he will almost unfailingly order if it's on the menu? That it is his best and most ordered meal at our favorite seafood restaurant? Just give him some chicken on a bun and he's probably pretty happy. That said though, since he likes it so much I had always hesitated to make it. It's so simple, but I was sure that I could find a way to mess it up. But I went ahead and took a stab at it a week or two ago (don't even get me started on how little I've had to post lately). I used Kelly's Honey Mustard Chicken recipe to bake two chicken breasts. I spread a little bit of the extra sauce on the wheat buns (p.s. I found some awesome Orowheat buns with, like, 5 grams of fiber!), top with some tomato and greens, and there ya go! I made some more oven frites, cutting them a little thicker this time. They still came out great. Since I needed the oven at different temperatures for each recipe I cooked the chicken first, and covered it with foil while I cooked the fries and that worked great. Next time I will just split a chicken breast, or look a little harder for chicken cutlets, because it can be quite a mouthful with a whole breast.

Speedy Eggplant Rollatini

I was looking for a fast and easy vegetarian recipe for my menu plan a couple weeks ago when I came across the Zap It feature in the March issue of Everyday Food, meaning this meal is prepared entirely in the microwave. This simple recipe was great for a weeknight. I paired it with some steamed broccoli for our dinner, but there are a lot of great options to add on the side. Eggplant Rollatini is also just snazzy enough to be great for some stress-free entertaining. The microwave aspect can also free up your oven so you can have your dessert and dinner cooking at the same time- sounds like a time-saver to me.

Eggplant Rollatini
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4













1 large eggplant (appx. 2 lbs.), cut lengthwise into 1/2" thick slices (about 8)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 cup quality marinara sauce
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta
1/2 cup grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
1 large egg
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella

• Season eggplant with salt and pepper; arrange slices in a shallow 2-quart microwave safe dish with a lid. Microwave on high until tender and pliable, but not fully cooked, 6 to 8 minutes.
• With a spatula, transfer eggplant slices from dish to a paper-towel-lined baking sheet, and arrange in a single layer. blot dish dry, and spread bottom with 1/4 cup marinara sauce; set aside.
• In a small bowl, mix together ricotta, Parmesan, egg, garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon ground pepper. pat eggplant slices dry with paper towels. Dividing evenly, spoon ricotta mixture onto the wide end of eggplant slices, leaving a 1" border on the wide end and a 1/4" border on the sides. Starting at the wide end, roll up slices; arrange in prepared dish. top with remaining 3/4 cup marinara sauce.
• Cover dish, and microwave on high until eggplant is very tender, 15 to 17 minutes. Sprinkle with mozzarella; microwave until cheese is melted, 2 to 3 minutes. Cool 5 minutes. Serve rollatini garnished with more Parmesan, if desired.

My notes: My square baking dish was perfect, but doesn't have a lid. I just covered the top with wax paper and that worked great. Josh really liked this recipe too, and made for great leftovers for the next days lunch.

Apple Crumb Coffee Cake

Last week I was taking a stroll over at Everybody Likes Sandwiches when I saw a delicious looking coffee cake. Now, she made the coffee cake in a bout of insomnia induced baking, and forgot to add the baking powder. The cake looked so good I was certain that I just had to make it. I decided to give it a shot Saturday afternoon, as a nice treat for all the spring cleaning I was doing. When gathering the ingredients I decided I would go ahead and give it a shot with the baking powder. It came out wonderfully, but I think I'm going to try it without the BP too, because her cake looks so wonderfully dense with apple. This cake gave me one of the nicest moments of the weekend- windows open, sun and breeze streaming in, hands messily mixing crumb topping while Prairie Home Companion seeped out of the speakers from NPR. It made me feel like I was doing something that my grandmother had surely done before me. So pleasant! Second nice moment- eating a piece of this cake!

Apple Crumb Coffee Cake
Recipe from Everybody Likes Sandwiches












for the cake part:
1 1/2 cups of flour
2 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 Granny Smith apple, chopped

for the crumb part:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

• Preheat oven to 400. Butter and flour an 8" round cake pan, shaking off any excess flour. Prepare crumb topping in a medium-sized bowl, crumbling mixtures with your fingers until it looks like crumbs. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl, combine egg, milk and oil. Add the wet to the dry and mix. Add in apples and stir until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan and top with crumb mixture. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool.

My notes: I had one large Fuji apple in the crisper, so that's what I used. Fuji holds it's shape well when baked, so it's a nice texture with the cake. I used a 9" round pan, no problem there. I cooked it for 25 minutes and my crumb topping was a little dark, so maybe cut it a little earlier next time. This cake was so delicious, especially with a nice cup of coffee, of course.

Mexican Lasagna

If you haven't proclaimed your opinion in my little poll then please scroll down to the next entry and do so! Thanks!

Recently I made a little dish that I came up with when I first started getting interested in cooking. I like to call it Mexican Lasagna and we both really enjoy it. This is a really easy recipe to toss together, and would also freeze well if you're looking for something you can make ahead of time.

Mexican Lasagna
Recipe from me; Serves 6-8












12 corn tortillas
1 lb. ground beef
1 packet taco seasonings
1 bag frozen Mexican mixed veggies
1 jar prepared salsa
2 cups shredded cheese

• Brown the ground beef in a skillet; drain fat, return to skillet and cook with taco seasonings according to packet instructions. Drain liquid from the meat, stir in frozen veggies and let warm over low heat.
• While meat/veggie mixture warms layer bottom of a 9" x 13" pan with corn tortillas. Top with layer of meat/veggie mixture, then layer of salsa, and layer of cheese. Repeat finishing with a layer of tortillas and top with cheese.
• Bake at 300 degrees for 20-25 minutes, till warmed through and cheese is melted.

My notes: The frozen veggie mix I use has black beans, corn, tomatoes, onion, and bell pepper. You could easily toss some canned beans, frozen corn, and chopped onion together and use if you can't find a frozen mix. This time I made a half-batch of lasagna because I had a half pound of ground beef I needed to use, and so we wouldn't have as much leftover. The smaller pans makes for a lot more overlap with the tortillas, when you make a full pan the layers won't be as thick as pictured above. I needed to use up my tortillas though, so I didn't bother with trimming to cut back on the overlap. As for the cheese, I have used just cheddar, cheddar & jack, and a mixture of cheddar & jack and pepper jack. All are great. :)

What's Cooking?

I have indeed been cooking lately, but not much of it has been making it to the blog. I've been feeling a little less than inspired, despite the fact that Spring is more or less here, bringing with it lots of delicious goodies. I guess I've been feeling a little stale when it comes to what I'm posting here. So I turn to you, dear readers who occasionally pass through. What would you like to see when you stop by my little corner of the blogosphere? I would greatly appreciate the few seconds it takes to click the little buttons in the poll I made. Or, if you have suggestions that aren't in my poll, please do share them with me in the comments. I'm really thankful that even one person comes by here to share in my kitchen adventures with me, so if you can, help me make my corner an even nicer place to stop by.

Stuffed Poblanos- Chiles Por You, Chiles Por Me

Monday night I made one of the many recipes that caught my eye from the new April issue of Everyday Food. This recipe was actually easier for me than I thought it would be, and I definitely look forward to making it again. I can also see that this is a recipe that could be good a myriad of ways, depending on the variations you make. You could add corn, pinto beans, or rice to the filling to try more flavors, or even some chorizo or chicken if you don't want to stay in the veggie territory.

Stuffed Poblanos
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4












1 28 oz. can whole tomatoes in puree
1 jalapeño chile, ribs and seeds removed, minced
2 small onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves (2 whole, 1 minced)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 19 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup shredded pepper Jack cheese
1 teaspoon ground cumin
4 large poblano chiles, halved lengthwise (stems left intact), ribs and seeds removed

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a blender, combine tomatoes in puree, jalapeño, half the onions, and 2 whole garlic cloves; puree. Season with salt. Pour sauce into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish; set aside.
• In a medium bowl, combine beans, cornmeal, 1/2 cup cheese, remaining onions, minced garlic, cumin, and 3/4 cup water; season with salt and pepper.
• Dividing evenly, stuff poblano halves with bean mixture; place on top of sauce in baking dish. Sprinkle poblanos with remaining 1/2 cup cheese; cover baking dish tightly with aluminum foil.
• Bake until poblanos are tender, about 45 minutes. Uncover, and continue to cook until sauce is thickened slightly and cheese is browned, 10 to 15 minutes more. Let cool 10 minutes.

My notes: I was going to serve some of our favorite Spanish rice with this, but I couldn't find it at the stores I went to. Instead I made some brown rice, heated up some frozen corn, and mixed both with some of the tomato sauce from the dish. It tasted good and married well with the peppers. Again, I used a 15 oz. can of beans. These mysterious 19 oz. cans still elude me. My peppers could have been a bit bigger though, cause I had a little filling leftover.