Small Time Cooks

I'm Baklava!

2012-01-21T19:40:00.000-08:00

I mean, I'm back! I haven't had a much better excuse for not blogging than laziness. School and work keeps me busy. If you ever stop by my personal blog, you know that my boss died a few days after Thanksgiving. I'm still working at the office for now, while we try to wrap things up with his wife. I got a new part time job, blogging for a local furniture company (visit us over here). And, funnily enough, I've been cooking up a storm. I hosted my family for Thanksgiving this year. Pinterest has provided a plethora of recipes to try, too. So, rather than let this little space of cyberstuff that I've cobbled together over the years flitter away, I decided I better get back to sharing the bits and bobs that I've been making in the kitchen. Probably won't be all that often, but a little is better than nothing, right?

This morning I made these yummy Baklava Muffins. I found the recipe through Pinterest, but it's from one of my old blog reads, Culinary Concoctions by Peabody. I needed to use up some buttermilk I bought earlier in the week, and I had leftover chopped walnuts from a cheeseball I made for the holidays. This recipe was an ideal use for both of those ingredients. These turned out deliciously. Definitely be sure to not over mix the batter, because these come out so light with such a delicate crumb thanks to a gentle hand.

Baklava Muffins
Recipe from Nigella Lawson via Culinary Concoctions By Peabody, Makes 1 dozen

for the filling:
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons melted butter

for the muffins:
1 cup plus 7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk

for the topping:
1/2 cup honey

Preheat to 400F.
Mix all the filling ingredients together in a small bowl, and then start the muffins. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar. In a wide-mouthed measuring cup, whisk the egg, melted butter, and buttermilk. Make a well in the dry ingredients, pour in the liquid, and mix lightly and gently, remembering to keep it lumpy rather then going all-out for smooth: anything more than the gentlest handling makes for a heavy muffin.
Fill the muffin cups 1/3 full, add scant TBSP of filling, then cover with more muffin mixture until 2/3 full. Sprinkle any remaining filling on top of the muffin
Bake for 15 minutes. Put the muffins, still in their paper cups, onto a rack and drizzle with honey.

My notes: I made sure to keep whisking as I slowly added the melted butter to the buttermilk and egg, and even as I slowly poured it into dry ingredients I kept the whisk moving. It helped to make sure it actually got incorporated well, instead of just clumping up in the colder milk.

Spicy Roasted Broccoli & Shrimp

2011-08-25T14:41:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long blog hiatus, and I wish I could say that I'm ready to be back posting regularly, but I'm not. I will definitely try to post when I can, though. Things have been hectic this summer, and I'm sure they're about to get more busy as I start my Fall semester next week. Also, shortly after my last blog post our oven tried to burn the house down. So, I'm currently without an oven, AKA my favorite way of cooking. I can't begin to tell you how sad it is to not be able to just quickly toss some veggies in to roast. Sigh. The only upside is now I have a good excuse to get the double oven I've long desired. But it'll be awhile before I can afford the oven and before Josh's uncle, Gary, will be able to install it. Sadly, no oven also means it'll be awhile before I can make this recipe again. Josh and I both really, really liked this dish. It tasted fantastic and can we just discuss how quick it is? Especially since I used some of the ever present frozen pre-cooked shrimp I had in the freezer, and pre-cut broccoli. I just adjusted the cooking time slightly to account for not having raw shrimp. Man. I'm starting to get depressed just thinking about not being able to whip this up tonight, so I better just get to the recipe already. This is another dinner that I stumbled across on Pinterest, from Everybody Likes Sandwiches.

Spicy Roasted Broccoli & Shrimp
Recipe from Everybody Likes Sandwiches; Serves 2

2 large heads of broccoli
4 T olive oil
1/2 t ground cumin
1/2 t ground coriander
1/2 t chili flakes
1 t kosher salt
1 t black pepper
20 large raw shrimp, shelled and deveined
zest from 1 lemon + remaining lemon cut into quarters

Preheat oven to 425F.
In a large bowl combine the broccoli with 2 tablespoons of oil, cumin, coriander, 1/4 teaspoon of chili flakes, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. In another bowl, mix together the shrimp with the remaining chili flakes, salt and pepper, olive oil and all the lemon zest.
Add the broccoli onto a prepared cookie sheet, lined with either parchment paper, in one layer and roast for 10 minutes. Add the shrimp and cook for 10 minutes more – tossing once at the midway mark. When the broccoli is golden and crispy and the shrimp is opaque, remove from oven. Serve over rice and squeeze with lemon juice.

I used one bag of the pre-cut broccoli and 2 servings, per the bag's measurements, of pre-cooked shrimp. Instead of putting the shrimp in for 10 minutes I added them after the last tossing, so they cooked for 5. At 425 degrees, that was plenty to warm them through. So delicious and so quick!

Peanut-Banana Espresso Smoothie

2011-07-06T14:16:00.000-07:00

This week I'm back with another recipe I discovered via Pinterest. This is a smoothie from Martha Stewart that had somehow escaped my notice until we crossed paths on Pinterest. I gave it a shot one weekend morning when Josh was out of town. I didn't want to make coffee for one, but I definitely still needed to get a caffeine wake-up call. I thought this might be just the time to try this espresso laced sip. I whipped up a half-batch in my blender, as this recipe serves 2 and as I mentioned I was sipping solo that morning. This is certainly not low on calories, what with the peanut butter, but with the addition of the banana and milk it's full of protein that kept me full and gave me plenty of energy. I used soy milk for my version, since that's what we keep around the house. I figure after that substitution that this hits the mark around 280 calories, which is just under my typical breakfast count so not too shabby on the whole. The espresso definitely provided the perk I was looking for. And on top of everything I've gone on and on about- it tastes great! The combined smooth and creamy flavors of banana, peanut butter, and the rich, almost chocolatey espresso are delicious together. This is a great alternative to the typical fruity-sweet smoothies, and can step in for your coffee and your cereal all in one!

Peanut-Banana Espresso Smoothie
Adapted from Martha Stewart; Recipe serves 2

1 cup plain soy milk
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1/4 cup natural creamy peanut butter
1 ripe banana, cut into thirds
1 cup ice

Blend soy milk, espresso powder, peanut butter, banana, and ice. Enjoy!

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

2011-07-01T12:08:00.000-07:00

I've been shopping at a newer store in the area, Sprouts. They have great produce prices and since we started shopping there I've been trying to make the most of it. One of my favorite items were the bright, colorful bell peppers. I've gotten them for as little as 50 cents, so why wouldn't I go in search for more recipes to use this great, healthy resource? Of course, the first thing I thought of was Stuffed Peppers, but I wasn't interested in the typical sausage/meat filling. I turned to Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Suppers and found just what I was looking for. This recipe turned out.... pretty good. I actually ended up not enjoying the pepper part that much. The filling however, it was fabulous. I'm definitely going to make the filling again. It'd make for a great grain-salad dinner. I'm craving it now just thinking about it.

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
Recipe from Deborah Madison; Serves 4

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 cup quinoa, rinsed well several times
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 bunch of scallions, including 2 inches of the greens, thinly sliced into rounds
2 jalapeño chiles, finely diced, seeded if desired
1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 cups, more or less, fresh or frozen corn kernels (from 3 ears corn)
1 bunch of spinach, leaves only, or 1/2 pound spinach leaves
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 pound feta cheese, cut into small cubes
2 large red onions, peeled and thinly sliced into rounds
1/2 cup Riesling or other aromatic white wine
4 yellow and/or orange bell peppers

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, then the quinoa. Give it a stir, then cover and simmer over low heat until the grains are tender and reveal their spiraled germ, about 15 minutes.
Warm half the oil in a wide skillet. Add the scallions and chiles, cook over medium heat for about 2 minutes, then add the garlic, cumin, corn and spinach, along with 2 tablespoons water. When the spinach is wilted, add the cilantro, quinoa and feta. Toss everything together, taste for salt, and season with pepper.
Heat a tablespoon of oil over medium heat in a wide skillet. When hot, add the onions and sauté, stirring frequently, until they start to brown around the edges, after several minutes. Pour in the wine and deglaze the pan, giving the onions a stir as you do so. Season with salt and pepper and distribute in a baking dish (or two) large enough to hold the peppers.
Slice the peppers in half lengthwise without removing the tops or stems, then cut out the membranes and seeds. Simmer them in salted water until tender to the touch of a knife but not overly soft, 4 to 5 minutes, and remove. Fill them with the quinoa mixture and set them in the baking dish(es).
Preheat the oven to 400° F. Drizzle the rest of the oil over the peppers and bake the peppers until heated through, 20 to 30 minutes, then switch the heat to broil and brown the tops. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

My notes: I skipped the whole onion/wine part. Maybe I would have enjoyed the peppers themselves if they had been cooked on top of a bed of glazey, winey, onions. But whatevs, I was making this on a weeknight and something had to go to make this a viable dinner option. And I halved this recipe so it made just enough for the two of us. I highly recommend giving it a shot, especially the filling. Mmmmmm.

Favorite Things

2011-06-27T12:45:00.000-07:00

Totally forgot to share that Molly at A Few of My Favorite Things was kind enough to share a few of MY favorite things a couple Fridays back. Click here if you'd like to take a peek! Thanks Molly!

Baked Zucchini Fries

2011-06-21T14:14:00.000-07:00

Lately guys, I've been pinning. Do you guys pin? Pinterest has been such a great resource for gatherings ideas for all different areas of my life-- decor, fashion, and even cooking. I came across this image a while back and I knew it definitely needed to be put on the To-Cook list. So I pinned and eventually got around to making it. The photo I pinned took me to Our Best Bites's version of Baked Zucchini Fries, and I noticed that her recipe was an adaptation of one from Aggie's Kitchen. I feel like I'm playing six degrees of the food blogs, ha. Anyhow, I looked over both versions and went with something sort of in between. I served this alongside some grilled Italian sausage. We had some sweets to eat on hand, so I kept dinner short and to the point that night. These turned out really deliciously. Josh enjoyed them too, and I'm glad to have another way to prepare one of our favorite veggies.

Baked Zucchini Fries
Adapted from Aggie's Kitchen and Our Best Bites; Serves 2

1 medium-to-large zucchini
1 egg
1/4 cup plain panko breading
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried garlic powder

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat a foil-lined baking sheet with cooking spray. Set aside.
Trim the ends from your zucchini. Halve it crosswise, then halve each piece lengthwise. Again, halve each piece lengthwise, so that you have several "planks" of zucchini. Then slice your zucchini planks into sticks lengthwise.
Whisk your egg in a shallow bowl or deep plate. Mix the panko, Parmesan, oregano and garlic powder in another shallow bowl or plate.
Working with several zucchini sticks at a time, coat them completely in the egg mixture and then coat them in the breading. Place on your prepared baking sheet and continue until all the fries are dipped and breaded.
Bake zucchini fries for 10-12 minutes. Flip each fry over, and continue baking for another 10 minutes. Serve.

My notes: If the directions for slicing the zucchini seem confusing, jump over to Aggie's Kitchen or Our Best Bite through the links above. They both have excellent tutorial photos for preparing the recipe. Also, this is a halved version of the recipe, since there's just the two of us. I think next time I might try the plain breadcrumbs to see what the difference is.

Tuna and White Bean Lettuce Wraps

2011-06-16T14:02:00.000-07:00

I have long been enamored with the combo of white beans and tuna, but had yet to actually try it. I would stare at photos and recipes that I came across in magazines or other food blogs. I would tell myself, "You really gotta try that soon." Finally, one day, I listened to the thoughts in my head and I got in the kitchen. I followed Tracy's recipe over on Shutterbean, which is an adjusted Sunset magazine recipe. She served hers on some toasted bread. I had some lettuce, fresh from the pop-in-law's garden, so I decided to do some little wraps for our weekend lunch. This recipe was quick to put together and tasted crisp and bright. I love finding new ways to serve canned tuna, which is one of my favorite pantry staples. Makes you wonder why it took me so long to try, doesn't it?

Tuna & White Bean Lettuce Wraps
Recipe from Shutterbean

1 can tuna in olive oil, drained
2 ribs celery sliced thinly
1 14 oz. can white cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 big glug olive oil
1/4 of a red onion, chopped
Splash of red wine vinegar
Juice from half a lemon
Salt & pepper to taste

All you gotta do is put everything in a bowl and mix it up right good.

My notes: I think I could have been a little heavier handed with the vinegar and lemon juice, but overall it came out great!

Almond Joy Ice Cream

2011-06-07T19:24:00.000-07:00

Guys, I usually don't brag. Well, maybe I do about a few things- like my Beatles knowledge, or my encyclopedic TV theme song memory. But in the kitchen I am most definitely not a bragger. After years of blogging here and trying hundreds of recipes I'm just as slow with a knife as I was when I started. Recipes regularly take me longer than the estimated time. I regularly have recipes that just don't come out how I'm hoping. But, this time I'm gonna brag. And really, I don't have a right to because I didn't come up with this recipe myself, but every time I taste this dish I just can't believe it came out of my kitchen. Or, more aptly, my freezer. Sometime back I came across a recipe for Quick Coconut Ice Cream with Roasted Cherries and tweeted about wanting to make it. Now that warm weather is most definitely here in Texas it felt like the right time to pull out the ice cream maker and tick this one off the to-cook list. Cherries however are still rather costly right now. Instead I thought I'd go in the direction of one of my favorite candy bars, and I chose toasted almonds, toasted shredded coconut, and Ghiradelli 60% cacao chocolate chips. If you have an ice cream maker, and no aversion to the flavors of coconut, almonds, or chocolate then you need to make this ice cream NOW. In fact, I'm gonna have a bowl when I'm done with this post. It's the second batch I've made in as many weeks. I'm hard pressed to imagine ever making another flavor of ice cream again. But of course I will, because who doesn't want to eat lots of yummy ice cream? And I'll need lots of yummy ice cream to share on here!

Almond Joy Ice Cream
Adapted from The Kitchn; Makes 1.5 quarts

1 14 ounce can coconut milk
1 cup cream
1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
Pinch of salt
Sliced almonds
Shredded sweetened coconut
Ghiradelli 60% cacao chocolate chips, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toast sliced almonds and shredded coconut for 5 minutes, tossing once or twice during.
In a large bowl, whisk together the sweetened condensed milk and cream until very well blended. Add coconut milk and salt and mix until well blended again. Pour mixture into your ice cream maker and follow your machine's instructions to complete.
Add your mix-ins according to the instructions of your ice cream maker.

My notes: I use slightly less than 1/4 cup of each mix-in. Once the almonds and coconut are toasted I transfer them to a bowl to cool. Once they're cool I add the chocolate and pop it in the fridge so that they'll be a little cool when I add them to the soft ice cream. Before making the ice cream I also pop the coconut milk and sweetened condensed milk into the fridge for awhile so that the ingredients are already cold when they go into the machine. These steps aren't absolutely necessary, just helps things come together. My machine's instructions say to mix your ice cream for 25-30 minutes. I typically run mine 25, and I add the mix-ins at the 20 minute mark. Your newly made ice cream should spend at least 2 hours in the freezer to firm up, longer if possible. And remember that homemade ice cream melts quickly since there aren't any preservatives in it!

Ratatouille

2011-05-31T18:16:00.000-07:00

A Sprouts market recently opened nearby and I am loving their lower produce prices. I get their advert in the mail each Tuesday, which gives me plenty of time to incorporate some of their cheaper produce in my menu for the next week. Recently they had eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, and bell peppers on sale. Hot diggity! I knew just what I wanted to make with that veggie combo-- ratatouille. It'd been years since I made ratatouille, usually because one or another ingredient always seems too pricey to me. (I'm cheap, if you haven't gotten that from this post yet, ha.) I boiled up a little leftover penne I had in the pantry, just enough for one plate for Josh, and topped it with the vegetable stew. I ate mine plain, and we both had some toasted bread and a sprinkling of grated Parmesan on top. Such a tasty way to get some summer vegetables in your diet.

Ratatouille
Recipe from Martha Stewart; Serves 8

1/3 cup olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 large eggplants (2 pounds), peeled in strips and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
4 to 5 medium zucchini (2 pounds), cut into 1-inch cubes
Coarse salt and ground pepper
3 yellow or red bell peppers, ribs and seeds removed, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

In a Dutch oven (or other heavy 5-quart pot with a tight-fitting lid), heat oil over medium heat. Cook onions, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic; cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in eggplant and zucchini; season generously with salt and pepper.
Add 3/4 cup water; cover, and simmer until vegetables are beginning to soften, stirring once, about 5 minutes. Stir in bell peppers; simmer, covered, until softened, 5 minutes.
Stir in tomatoes and thyme; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Partially cover; simmer, stirring often, until vegetables are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat. If serving immediately, stir in basil. (If freezing, leave out basil.)

My notes: I halved this recipe since it was just the two of us, and that gave us each a dinner and lunch of leftovers. I used yellow squash for half the zucchini too.

Peaches & Cream Stuffed French Toast

2011-05-23T09:31:00.000-07:00

This past week has been a complete whirlwind. Well, to be honest the last month has been one, between finishing up school work, finals, housework, regular work, etc. But Josh had show, after show, after show booked this past week, and it culminated in a weekend of almost non-stop movement. Friday night he played in Austin, Saturday evening in Addison, then later that night in Texarkana. When he plays in Austin our friends Niki & Veronica are kind enough to let us stay with them. To say thanks I brought some french toast fixings with us this time. Veronica picked up some fresh berries, mimosa fixings, and the milk that I'd forgotten to bring with me (d'oh!), and it all made for a delicious meal. After a pretty rushed week, it was nice to sit and have a good breakfast with good friends before we hit the road again.

Peaches & Cream Stuffed French Toast
Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart; Serves 4

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup peach preserves
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon-sugar
8 slices challah, appx. 1" thick
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
Pinch of salt
Unsalted butter

In a small bowl, mix the cream cheese, preserves, and cinnamon-sugar until well blended.
Using a small knife, cut a slit in each slice of challah, lengthwise along the bottom to create a pocket.
Fill each pocket with the cream cheese mixture and press slightly to seal, scraping off any excess from the bottom of the bread.
Whisk together eggs, milk, and salt in a bowl.
Soak both sides of each slice of bread in the egg mixture very well.
Heat butter in skillet or griddle over medium heat. Fry bread until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Serve warm. You can keep prepared slices warm in the oven while you continue cooking the rest.

My notes: I use a stripped down version of a Martha Stewart recipe for the batter, and created the stuffing mixture on my own. I sliced and stuffed the challah Friday morning, so at Niki & Veronica's on Saturday I just had to whip up the batter and get to griddling. I kept the bread refrigerated until about an hour before I cooked it. This came out really yummy. I think I could have fit a bit more filling into some of the slices, so I'm going to try and get them a bit fuller next time. I had some filling leftover, which is excellent on a bagel, or leftover challah slices.

Chocolate Glazed Doughnuts

2011-05-04T06:06:00.000-07:00

Last week I knew I was going to have a long weekend ahead of me. I had an English paper due the following Monday that I hadn't even started, and I had a three page math review to complete. I knew I was going to have to take action if I didn't want the entire weekend to be a bummer. That action was making donuts. How could I not find at least one bright spot if there were donuts involved? I used my usual trick for the doughnut part. I decided I wanted to try a chocolate glaze this time. Some googling led me to a recipe that I had most of the ingredients on hand for, and it turned out pretty well. I didn't have any milk, but I did have some leftover cream in the fridge, so I used that. I used a little too much really. My glaze wasn't so thin that it just ran right off, but it never quite developed the thin top layer that most glazes do. I'll know to restrain myself a little when it comes to the dairy next time. I'll also cut the whole recipe in half. I had a lot leftover, especially since I only made 6 doughnuts this time, reserving some of the biscuits for bacon and eggs the next day.

Chocolate Glaze
Recipe from Emeril Lagasse; Makes 2-3 cups

1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup powdered sugar
5 tablespoons milk

In a small bowl, combine the cocoa powder and the powdered sugar. Add in the milk and whisk until smooth.
After letting the fresh doughnuts drain on a paper towel for a moment, dip the top of a doughnut into the glaze. Set on wire rack. I topped two small plates with sprinkles and coconut flakes and dipped some of my doughnuts and doughnut holes in them for a little extra fun.

10 Minute Fruit Tart

2011-04-26T10:24:00.000-07:00

This weekend was, well, far from what I expect of a weekend. Very little relaxing and yet very little accomplished. Most of our time was committed to other people, with very little left to ourselves, most of which went to sleep. Saturday was my father-in-law's birthday and we'd made plans to have dinner at their place Sunday night. They asked us on Saturday to bring the fruit tart that he wanted for dessert. I said sure thing, and then promptly didn't concern myself with it again until Sunday morning. We had a very late night Saturday, so we slept in quite a bit. When I arose I popped open my netbook to check the weekly ads for our grocery errands. And then I realized that most of the stores were closed for Easter. I'm a genius. Now, not only can I not buy my regular groceries, but I can't find the fruit tart that my father-in-law requested for his birthday. Luckily there was a Kroger in our neighborhood that was open, but they of course didn't have any fruit tarts in their bakery. Now I was faced with having to come up with something on my own. Let's be honest here, this tart isn't anything amazing. I more or less pulled a Sandra Lee on this one, which I'm not very excited about. But, it came together quickly, easily, and everyone really enjoyed it. So, I figured why not share it? It's getting warmer, and with warmer weather comes more picnics and cookouts. Maybe you'll need a quick dessert, and maybe this will be it. I'm going to give you the rundown of what I did and how I did it to get this thing together in 10 minutes, not so much a recipe as a process I guess.

10 Minute Fruit Tart

1 9 inch prepared graham cracker crust
1 large box instant vanilla pudding
3 cups milk
1 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pint strawberries, sliced
1 pint blueberries
1 pint raspberries

Put the bowl you'll use for making whipped cream in the fridge to chill. Put your milk in the freezer. Rinse and pick over your berries.
Take your milk out of the freezer; put your cream in the freezer. Combine your pudding mix and cold milk and follow the pudding's instructions; mine said to beat for 2 minutes, let set for at least 5. Once done beating put the bowl of pudding in the refrigerator. Remove your empty bowl and whipping cream from the fridge and freezer.
Beat the whipping cream on medium-high until soft peaks form. Sprinkle the sugar and vanilla over the cream, and beat again until soft peaks form, being careful not to over-whip.
Put your whipped cream in the refrigerator. Slice your strawberries to your desired size. By now the pudding should be set. Spread pudding evenly into the pie crust. Top with your fruit, in whatever design you'd like.
If you want to go the extra step, I used a piping bag to pipe some of my whipped cream on top. I had some fruit leftover, and obviously plenty of whipped cream, which we topped the plated slices with at dinner. You could also spread a layer of whipped cream on top of the pudding and then top with the fruit, or keep all the whipped cream for the side. Whatever tickles your fancy.

My notes: Popping my milk, cream, and bowls in the fridge and freezer just helped things come together a little more quickly. Especially since I started on this as soon as I returned from the store, so my dairy products had been out of the cooler for a little while by that point. Homemade whipped cream takes so little time to make and I think it adds at least a little something to a dessert that relies so much on shortcut goods.

Pineapple and Black Bean Salsa

2011-04-07T09:53:00.000-07:00

My taco kick continues, as last night I made fish tacos using this recipe and some trout we received from the father-in-law. Kept things pretty much the same as the shrimp tacos I shared last week- slaw, pico, sour cream, and feta topped things off again, but this time with a few dashes of hot sauce instead of leftover marinade. On the side I served up this Pineapple and Black Bean Salsa with some tortilla chips. I came across this recipe in the March 2011 issue of Everyday Food, in their feature on pineapple (which is also where I found the recipe for the Jerk Pineapple Pork Chops I recently shared). This made a really light and flavorful accompaniment to our fish tacos. I've got some leftovers in the fridge that I'll definitely be enjoying over the weekend.

Pineapple and Black Bean Salsa
Recipe from Everyday Food; Makes 4 cups

1 can (15.5 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 cups chopped pineapple
1 jalapeno, stemmed, seeded, and minced
3 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
Coarse salt

In a medium bowl, combine black beans, pineapple, jalapeno, red onion, cilantro, and lime juice. Season with salt.

My notes: I kind of eyeballed the red onion and cilantro and things worked out just fine. This could also be good served over rice on the side of some fish or chicken, I think.

Cilantro-Lime Shrimp Tacos

2011-03-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

During my "spring break" Josh got off work early one day, so we decided to go have lunch together. We sat on the patio at Yucatan Taco Stand and split a giant pile of veggie nachos. Josh also got a couple tacos, and I got one for myself as well. I chose the Spicy Tequila Shrimp, and I've been craving shrimp tacos ever since. I decided I just needed to go ahead and throw some together for dinner, and I did just that last night. I took the easy way out and used frozen, pre-cooked shrimp. They thaw so quickly, and now I've got more taco-fillers in the freezer for another dinner soon. I looked for a quick and easy marinade and found this one from, who else, Martha Stewart. I kept things super simple by buying ready-to-go taco toppings and heat-and-eat Goya brand Black Bean Soup. I thawed the shrimp while I made the marinade, and was able to do most of my math homework while they marinated in the fridge. Then it was just a matter of heating the shrimp and black beans, putting our topping choices out on the counter, and we were ready to chow down. I'm definitely going to be doing this again; so quick, easy, and delicious. I know you can barely even see shrimp poking out at the edges, but the taco fillings are so yummy, I piled them on high!

Cilantro-Lime Shrimp Tacos
Adapted from Martha Stewart; Serves 2

1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lime zest
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves
1 garlic cloves, crushed
1/4 jalapeno chile, coarsely chopped
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
Appx. 30 small shrimp, fresh or frozen, thawed
6 corn tortillas, warmed
Toppings: Shredded cabbage (I used bagged coleslaw mix), pico de gallo, crumbled feta, sour cream, reserved marinade

Puree oil, lime zest and juice, cilantro, garlic, jalapeno, and salt in a blender or food processor. Combine marinade and shrimp. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate 1 hour.
Head grill or grill pan over medium-high. Grill shrimp until opaque and slightly charred, 3 to 4 minutes per side. (I just heated ours on the grill pan, since they were pre-cooked.)
Divide shrimp among warmed tortillas, and add toppings of your choice.

My notes: I reserved around 2 tablespoons of the marinade before pouring it over the shrimp. We drizzled it on top of some of our tacos, and I mixed a little into some sour cream for two of mine.

Penne with Spinach and Roasted Veggies

2011-03-23T07:51:00.000-07:00

This blog is really starting to live up to it's name these days. Small time and simple is the name of my meal game most of the time. Last night I needed something for dinner, and I knew it needed to be veggie based. I'd had three servings of fruit that day, but not one bite of a vegetable. I usually make a salad each for Josh and I on weekdays to take to work for lunch. I stayed home yesterday though, so my share of the veggies I usually top our salads with was up for grabs. I also have several half-empty boxes pasta in the pantry. So, I grabbed some penne, my veggies, a little butter and parmesan, and got to work. This was really delicious. Next time I'll probably go without the butter and give everything a hearty squeeze of lemon juice instead. There isn't really a whole lot of instruction to give- I tossed broccoli florets, small red and yellow pepper strips, half-rings of red onion, and a clove of garlic with olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted them for about 12 minutes at 425 degrees. I boiled my penne, and after draining I tossed it with some butter and a handful of spinach, to get it just a teeny bit wilty. Add the veggies, smash and add the roasted garlic clove, then toss and top with some shredded parmesan. Delicious!

Penne with Spinach and Roasted Veggies

Stack of Stuff- Egg, Mushrooms, Spinach, and Onion Over Polenta

2011-03-15T09:38:00.000-07:00

I'm on spring break this week. Please imagine me saying "spring break" with quotey fingers, because it's a bit of a joke. I'm, of course, still at work. I've still got chores to get done. And worst of all, plenty of homework so I'll be ready for the two tests awaiting me next week. Oh, and my poetry analysis is due too. Blerg. Anyway, I knew I needed to do at least a little cooking this week, even if I'm still plenty busy. Mushrooms were on sale this week, I had a little extra spinach in the fridge, and I've been craving eggs lately. I decided polenta, onion, and parmesan would round things out nicely. This was a pretty simple and quick dinner to put together. I need to remember things like this more often. Simple is key for me, with so little time on my hands.

Egg, Mushrooms, Spinach, and Onion over Polenta
Serves 2

1/2 tube firm polenta, in 1/2" slices, about 6
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
10 oz. mushrooms- cleaned, trimmed, and quartered
3 cups fresh spinach
2 eggs
Olive oil
Shaved parmesan
Balsamic vinegar

Heat your polenta according to your taste- I pan fried in butter, then kept warm in a 250 degree oven while I prepared the rest of the ingredients.
Heat 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat; add onion, season with salt; as onions begin to soften add mushrooms. Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar and stir occasionally. Cook until onion and mushroom are softened and golden.
Cook eggs according to your taste- I fried ours sunny side up (except that I overcooked mine a little and broke the yolk of Josh's, oh well). Meanwhile, add your spinach to the onion and mushrooms and stir until wilted down.
Plate your polenta, top with mushroom mixture, egg, and add some shaved parmesan, if you wish.

Jerk Pineapple Pork Chops

2011-03-06T13:26:00.000-08:00

Hi! Long time, no blog- I know. Even my personal blog has fallen to the wayside as school has taken over everything. We've been sustaining ourselves with a lot of Amy's frozen burritos, sandwiches, and bad for us junk food. But you do what you can to get by, I guess, when everyone in a household is juggling multiple jobs and responsibilities. I still, despite my workload, get the urge to cook sometimes and last week I bowed to it's will and decided to try a recipe from the latest Everyday Food. Pre-cut pineapple were on sale, so I thought I'd give the recipe for Jerk Pineapple Pork Chops a shot. This came out pretty good. If anything it made me think about the possibility of marinating meat more often. Being able to prep it and stick it in the fridge for an hour while I did homework is an easy way to have something a little more interesting for dinner. And when you do something very simple like rice or couscous on the side it can definitely be low maintenance.

Jerk Pineapple Pork Chops
Everyday Food; Serves 4

2/3 of a whole (4 pound) pineapple, peeled
1 bunch scallions, sliced crosswise into 1" pieces
1/2 small habanero or 1 large jalapeno, stemmed and seeded
2 teaspoons dried thyme
4 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
4 bone-in pork chops (3/4" thick, appx. 6 oz. each)
coarse salt and ground pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Cut four 1/2" thick rounds from pineapple; set aside. Cut remaining pineapple into large chunks, discarding core. In a food processor, combine pineapple chunks, scallions, chile, thyme, garlic, and allspice and pulse until coarsely chopped. Reserve 3/4 cup pineapple marinade and refrigerate.
Season pork with salt and pepper and place in a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish along with pineapple rounds. Top pork and pineapple with remaining pineapple marinade and turn pork and pineapple to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerator 1 hour (or up to 4 hours).
In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. Working in tow batches, brush pineapple mixture off pork and cook chops until browned and cooked through, 10 minutes per batch, flipping once. (Reduce heat if pork begins to overbrown.) Add 1 tablespoon oil to skillet. Brush pineapple marinade off pineapple and cook rounds until golden brown in spots, 5 to 7 minutes, flipping once. Serve with pork and reserved pineapple marinade.

My notes: I served this with rice. I didn't have any more marinade on mine, and I enjoyed it. Josh did add more marinade and enjoyed it. So there ya go, either way it's delicious.

Laying all the Recipe Cards on the Table

2011-01-11T10:46:00.000-08:00

Sorry that I haven't been around for a while. There were school finals, then lots of holiday events, birthday parties, and just general busyness. I'm still going to be posting occasionally, but with an even heavier school load this coming semester (starts next week!) I know that it's going to be sporadic at best. I do however actually have a recipe to share- shocking, I know! I had a long list of to-do's for my winter break, half of which of course have not gotten done. Funny how when you still work full time your winter school break doesn't really seem like much of a break. But, I have managed to get some casseroles into the freezer, which was one item on that long list. I even managed to finally make this Everyday Food recipe for Chicken Tetrazzini. This was in the April 2007 issue. Yes, 2007. As in 3, almost 4, years ago now. And it had been on my to-cook list since then. So, I guess this dish did more than double duty- it made two meals, but it also let me cross something off two lists! This recipe was time consuming for me, but I knew it would be so I blocked off a whole evening to make it. It's not that it's terribly hard, but I'm a slow worker and the prep work of shredding a whole rotisserie chicken and cleaning mushrooms took me awhile. It did come out deliciously though, and considering I've got one in the freezer for later I would say the effort was well worth it. I only wish I hadn't waited so long!

Chicken Tetrazzini
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 8

Coarse salt and ground pepper
6 tablespoons butter
1 pound white mushrooms, trimmed and sliced inch thick
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups milk
1 14.5 ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth
3/4 cup dry white wine
3 cups grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1 pound linguine, broken in half
1 rotisserie chicken, skin removed, meat shredded (about 4 cups)
1 package (10 ounces) frozen peas, thawed and drained

Preheat oven to 400. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (for pasta). In a large saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons butter over high heat. Add mushrooms, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing frequently, until tender and browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, and set aside.
Make sauce: In same saucepan, melt remaining 4 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Add flour; cook, whisking, about 1 minute. Whisking constantly, gradually add milk, broth, and wine. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer, and add 2 cups Parmesan and thyme. Season with salt and pepper.
Cook pasta 2 minutes less than package instructions for al dente; drain and return to pot. Add sauce, chicken, peas, and mushrooms. Toss well to combine. Divide between two shallow 2-quart baking dishes; sprinkle with remaining Parmesan. Freeze (see below) or bake until browned, about 30 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
To freeze: After placing pasta mixture in baking dishes and sprinkling with Parmesan (step 3), cool to room temperature. Cover tightly with aluminum foil, and freeze up to 3 months.
To bake from frozen: Bake, covered with foil, at 400 degrees, until center is warm, about 2 hours. Uncover, and bake until top is browned, about 20 minutes more. Serve.
To bake from thawed: Thaw overnight in refrigerator. Bake, covered with foil, at 400 degrees, until center is warm, about 30 minutes. Uncover, and bake until top is browned, about 20 minutes.

My notes: I didn't thaw the peas. Instead I just tossed them in during the last minute on the pasta's cook time. That did the trick just fine. Also, I bought bags of pre-shredded Parmesan cheese; recipe says grated, but the shredded worked just as well with less prep work from me. Also, I'm sure I've mentioned before, when freezing my casseroles I always wrap it first with plastic wrap and then with aluminum foil. I have to remove the plastic before I can put it in the oven, but I feel like the casseroles keep better this way.

Small Time Cooks Giveaway WINNER!

2010-11-01T12:07:00.000-07:00

Thanks for entering my first little giveaway guys! I used random.org's random number generator and got the number 4, which means that Cheryl is the winner. Shoot me an e-mail at jlgweirlaw at yahoo dot com Cheryl, so I can get your mailing address. I probably should have asked people to leave their e-mail address in the comments, right? Oh well, chock it up to beginner giveaway mistakes. Anyway, give me a shout Cheryl and your new cookbook and pancake mix will be on their way to you soon! Thanks again everyone for stopping by the blog to enter!

Speedy Spaghetti, Of Sorts- Spaghetti Squash with Eggplant Bolognese

2010-10-29T13:32:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to try out spaghetti squash for awhile now, but just hadn't really figured out what I'd make it with. Recently though Tracy over at Shutterbean shared a Martha Stewart Living recipe with spaghetti squash that she had tried and loved, and it inspired me. She made Living's Spaghetti Squash with Turkey Meatballs. When I saw that spaghetti squash were on sale I picked one up on my last grocery trip. However, I didn't have a whole lot of free time on my hands this week with plenty of school work on my plate. I did however have a batch of Eggplant Bolognese in my freezer. I followed MS Living's recipe to cook my squash, heated my thawed sauce on the stove, and then topped the squash with it when everything was done. Some fresh Parmesan on top and I was ready to go.

Small Time Cooks GIVEAWAY!

2010-10-25T18:09:00.000-07:00

That's right food-friends, I'm hosting my first giveaway. I noticed the other day that I had over 100 subscribers in Google Reader, so I thought this somewhat random occasion was as good a reason as any to celebrate. Why not, right? So, here's the scoop- as you might have guessed by the pic above, I'm giving away one copy of Everyday Food's Great Food Fast. Everyday Food, as you might have noticed, is my favorite source for great recipes. A collection of their great ideas seemed like the perfect thing for my first giveaway. In addition I'm throwing in some pancakes. Well, not ready-to-eat pancakes, but a jar of my favorite pancake mix. All you need to do is leave a comment on this post and you could be making some pancakes or another great meal out of the great Everyday Food cookbook real soon. I'll accept comments from now until Sunday at midnight. A commenter will be chosen at random, via random.org. Feel free to spread the word and good luck!

A Peach of a Cheat- Rustic Peach Tart

2010-10-19T18:41:00.000-07:00

Sorry for that short break! I've been doing better at keeping up with posting, but I was working on two papers last week and studying for my History midterm. Then Friday I came home with a sore throat that I assumed was from all the dust I was kicking up moving equipment. The chills and fever that followed behind on Saturday proved me wrong. I'm still under the weather so, along with my cold, my kitchen's caught a bit of a cold too. But I happened to have this recipe in my back pocket, and figured now as good a time as any to share it.

I made this recipe awhile back, and it was a great, quick treat. I had a busy day, but Josh had an even busier one helping his dad chop up a tree that fell in their yard. I figured a hard day's labor earned him something special, even if I was busy. This, like the very popular donut recipe, is an idea from Real Simple magazine. I have to say, I'm becoming a big fan of their "Fake It, Don't Make It" features. I know that taking short cuts might not be seen as the classiest thing all the time, but we live in a busy world, right? I know I do! Wife, job, school, housekeeping- I have a lot of hats to wear. So, taking an easier route sure can help sometimes. Anyway, this particular easy-does-it recipe was for a Rustic Peach Tart. I just happened to have almost everything I needed on hand, so after a slight adjustment I got to quick work. Josh really liked his sweet reward, it was especially good with vanilla ice cream on the side.

Rustic Peach Tart
Recipe from Real Simple; Makes 6 servings

1 refrigerated pie crust, half of a 15 oz. package
16 ounce package frozen peaches, thawed for 30 minutes
1 teaspoon cornstarch (optional)
4 tablespoons sugar
Zest from 1/2 lemon
1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Lightly coat a baking sheet with vegetable cooking spray. Place the pie crust on the sheet. Place the peaches in the center of the crust. Sprinkle with the cornstarch (if using) and toss. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of the sugar and the zest. Fold the outer edge of the crust over the peach filling. Lightly brush the crust with egg and sprinkle with the remaining sugar.
Bake until the crust is golden and the peaches are bubbling, about 35 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

My notes: I didn't have a lemon to zest, so instead I added a scant teaspoon of cinnamon to the sugar. I mixed it in with all 4 tablespoons so that there would be cinnamon-sugar in both the peaches and on the crust.

A Bit of a Healthier Bite- Whole Wheat Brownies

2010-10-11T05:55:00.000-07:00

I noticed this recipe from the September 2010 issue of Everyday Food, tucked into the back of the magazine, and it also ended up tucked into the back of my mind. I don't know if it's been noticeable here, but I love to substitute whole wheat into recipes whenever I can. It's especially easy in pancakes or muffins, but can be a little more difficult with the sweeter baked treats. This time around the recipe did all the work for me, so no worrying about whether or not my substitution would turn out to be a big mistake. I have always been suspicious of baking recipes that include applesauce. I know a lot of people that swear by it as a healthy substitution, but every time I've eaten something baked with applesauce (other than an actual apple dessert) it has seemed noticeable and not all that pleasant. I took a chance anyway, and I'm glad that I did. These brownies are far from being health food, with the butter and of course all that chocolate. But if you're going to make a brownie, and would like to save a couple of calories or sneak in a smidge of fiber, then this is a good recipe to try out. These brownies came out pretty cake like for me, so if thick fudgy brownies are your thing I wouldn't recommend these. I however, am indiscriminate when it comes to brownies. Fudgy, cake, or anywhere in between- I like them all.

Whole Wheat Brownies
Recipe from Everyday Food; Makes 16

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan
1/2 cup all purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1/2 cup whole wheat flour, spooned and leveled
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 large egg
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8" square baking dish; line with parchment, leaving a 2" overhang on all sides. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, cocoa, baking powder, salt and baking soda.
In a large bowl, stir together sugar, applesauce, and egg. Place butter and 6 ounces chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over (not in) a pot of simmering water; stir until melted. Stir chocolate mixture into sugar mixture. Stir in flour mixture. Pour into pan and top with 2 ounces chocolate.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 40 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack. Use parchment to lift cake from pan and cut into 16 squares. (Store in an airtight container, up to 5 days.)

My notes: I skipped the whole butter/parchment step and just sprayed my glass pan w/ some nonstick canola cooking spray. I cut my brownies and just popped out one for each of us. I'm storing them in the pan until I pack them up for Josh to take to work. Whole wheat or not, I don't need to eat them all! Also, I used my favorite WW flour, white whole wheat. It's a finer grain that regular whole wheat, so I find it works better for most baking substitutions.

Take Two- Tuna Noodle-Casserole V2.0

2010-10-05T14:45:00.000-07:00

I've shared this recipe before, or rather a previous version. I decided I'd love to have it again, since I'm not sure I'd even made it since I posted it long ago. It's based on a Mediterranean Tuna-Noodle Casserole from Everyday Food. When I tried out that recipe the first time I discovered that I just couldn't stand artichoke hearts. That lesson learned, I had to make a quick substitution and went with frozen peas. This time around I knew that peas were my go-to ingredient, but I also had some green beans that needed to be put to use. Also, I was able to pick up some whole grain egg noodles, which tasted great in this recipe- no big difference at all. I still haven't followed through on my idea of subbing white whole wheat in for the all purpose yet though. Maybe next time, because I think this recipe came out much better than the last. I think I've gotten better at working with flour and making a slight bechamel sauce too. The original Everyday Food recipe was a "Freeze It" feature, so it served 8. This recipe serves 4, but feel free to double up and tuck one in the freezer for a rainy day.

Tuna-Noodle Casserole
Recipe adapted from Everyday Food; Serves 4

2.5 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for baking dish
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1/2 lb. whole grain egg noodles
1 red bell pepper, seeded and ribbed, thinly sliced
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2.5 cups 2% milk
2 6 ounce cans tuna, packed in olive oil, drained
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup chopped green beans
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly oil 8" square or shallow 2 quart baking dish. In a large pot of boiling slated water, cook the noodles until 2 minutes short of al dente; drain and return to pot.
Meanwhile in a large pot, heat oil over medium. Ad bell peppers; season with salt and pepper. Cook until crisp-tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Gradually add mi8lk, stirring until smooth. Cook, stirring occasionally, until it comes to a simmer.
Remove from heat; add mixture to noodles in the pot, along with tuna, peas, and green beans. Season with salt and pepper and toss. Transfer to baking dish and sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake until golden and bubbling, about 20 minutes.

My notes: My green beans were pretty crisp still, next time I might toss them in the pan with the noodles for a moment before draining just to soften them up a little. Other than that the crisp was a night extra texture. The original recipe called for whole milk, which might make a slight difference in the creaminess of your bechamel, but honestly I couldn't tell enough of a difference to make it worth it for me. I'm fine with saving a few calories instead, ha. Oh, and I just spray my baking dish with some cooking spray, works just as well and saves me a little of my more expensive olive oil.

If you want to freeze this recipe: Prepare through step 3; cool to room temperature. Cover tightly with aluminum foil, and freeze up to three months.
If you want to cook directly from the freezer bake it covered with foil, until center is warm, about 2 hours. Uncover, and bake until top is browned, about 20 minutes more. If you thaw it overnight in the refrigerator, the covered baking time is reduced to 30 minutes.

Fall Flavor- Lentil and Swiss Chard Soup

2010-09-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

The weather is finally cooling off here and it has been so lovely. It's making me want to do lots of fall cooking, which makes me think of pumpkin, apples, comfy casseroles, and hearty soups. When I'm in the mood for cooking I like to take a look back through my past issues of Everyday Food. This weekend I pulled out all my October issues and did some perusing. I saw this soup recipe and thought I'd give it a go. It came out pretty well, and I'm definitely looking forward to trying more new soups this season.

Lentil and Swiss Chard Soup
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4

1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for serving
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup lentils, picked over and rinsed
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
2 bunches Swiss chard, stalks cut crosswise into 1" pieces, leaves torn into 2" pieces, kept separate
Coarse salt and ground pepper
Juice of 1/2 lemon

In a large saucepan with a lid, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, until softened and browned, 3-5 minutes. Add tomato poaste, oregano, and thyme; stir to combine.
Add lentils, 5 cups of water, and tomatoes with their juice; bring to a coil. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, 20 minutes. Add chard, stalks and cook until beginning to soften, about 5 minutes. Add chard leaves; season with salt and pepper, and cook until lentils and chard are tender, 15 to 20 minutes.
Stir in lemon juice; ladle into bowls. Drizzle with olive oil and serve with bread, if desired.

My notes: I totally forgot about the lemon juice at the end. I was also prepping some veggies for the week and taking peeks at "Glee" while I was cooking, so it just slipped my mind. This soup tasted good without it, although it could use a little bit more kick. Not sure if the lemon juice would do it for me though. Made a batch of cornbread to go with it.

One Idea Leads to Another- Apple Cider Glazed Doughnuts

2010-09-27T07:18:00.000-07:00

Last week while clicking through my blog feed I saw Tracy's delicious looking post about the delicious sounding Baked Caramel Apple Donuts. When I had snapped out of my drooling state of desire I realized that it was just a little too much to order a donut pan for one recipe. Especially when I need essential things like spatulas and a muffin pan. But seeing her yummy treats reminded me of this Smitten Kitchen recipe for Apple Cider Doughnuts, which I have always wanted to make. I have that post bookmarked on my work and home computers. That dough for those seemed a bit time intensive to make, though. Especially when I can walk less than a mile to the donut shop. But then, hence the name of this post, I remembered this Easy Dougnuts recipe I had torn out of an old Real Simple magazine. I had always wanted to try it, but been a little nervous, as I'd never really fried anything before. However, I decided to take the plunge this past weekend, and I grabbed the supplies on the way home from work Friday. So, after three doughnut recipes I finally arrived at my destination, which turned out to be a bit of a combination of Deb's recipe and Real Simple's. The doughnut making process is Real Simple, and the glaze comes from Smitten Kitchen.

One of the best part's of making this recipe was the treat I discovered when I went to the store to collect my ingredients. In the refrigerated food section while perusing my biscuit options I found Pillsbury's simply Buttermilk Biscuits. No trans fat, no high fructose corn syrup, and no artificial flavors or colors. These are just biscuits with a completely comprehensible ingredient list. What a nice find!

Apple Cider Glazed Doughnuts & Cinnamon-Sugar Doughnut Holes
Makes 10 doughnuts and 10 doughnut holes

3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 10 count Pillsbury's Simply Biscuits (or your preferred refrigerated biscuits)
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Heat ½ cup of the oil in a medium skillet over medium-low heat.
Place the biscuits on a cutting board. Using a 1-inch round cookie cutter or shot glass, cut a hole in the center of each biscuit, reserving the extra dough for "holes."
Make the glaze by whisking together the confectioners sugar and the cider until the mixture is smooth. Make the cinnamon-sugar by mixing the two together. Set aside.
Test the heat of the oil by dipping the edge of a doughnut in the pan. When the oil is hot enough, the edge will bubble. Place 4 of the doughnuts and holes in the skillet and cook until golden brown, 1 to 1½ minutes per side. Drain on paper towels for a minute after the doughnuts are fried. Add the remaining oil to the skillet, reheat, and cook the remaining doughnuts and holes.
Dip the top of the warm doughnuts into the glaze and roll the doughnut holes in the cinnamon sugar mixture and serve immediately.

My notes: The original Real Simple recipe called for the large-style (i.e. Grands) biscuits. Since mine were a little smaller they just needed about a minute frying on each side instead of 1 1/2 . I think next time, if I'm using a similar glaze, then I'd dip both sides in it, instead of just the tops.

Reheating Leftovers- Revisiting Cinnamon Oat Pancakes

2010-09-23T13:15:00.000-07:00

I had something else on the agenda to share, but I can't seem to find the recipe now. Hardly seems right to share something with you when I can't quite tell you how to make it. But all day I've been thinking about how I should mention these pancakes again. These are my favorite pancakes. Now, I love a fluffy buttermilk flapjack. And I'd never turn my nose up at a blueberry version. But these guys really work hard for me. The cinnamon oat pancake has earned my love.

First, let's start with the fact that these things are pretty darn healthy as far as pancakes go. You've got oats for a nice dose of fiber, and substituting at least half whole wheat flour bumps up the nutritional bonus points. I regularly make these pancakes with soy milk, and using egg substitute would make these babies vegan in no time. The cinnamon and relatively low amount of sugar are just the right combo, no syrup required (though I'd never judge the use of it). And then, you throw in the freezer factor. These fellas freeze beautifully. I wrap them up in pairs in wax paper and pop them all in a big freezer bag. Reheating is a cinch. You could probably toss them in the oven, but I just pop them in the toaster. I usually toast twice, turning in between (that's just a personal tick/habit, probably not all that necessary). They come out warm with a slight crispness to the outside. It's like the best cinnamon toast you've ever had. Way healthier than that sugary cinnamon bread, less mess than sprinkling cinnamon-sugar over toast. Out of the toaster and into my hand for a super easy to eat breakfast. I made a batch prior to the start of the school year, and it's been such a breeze to make sure I eat something before heading off to class. I eat my banana or fruit smoothie while my pancake toasts, then munch on it while I head back to my room and pick out my clothes for the day. One hand for pancake, one hand for grabbing pants, socks, and shoes.

If you've got a big family you'd probably need to make a couple batches to have enough to stock the freezer, but I just don't see how it couldn't be worth it. A nice family breakfast on the weekend, and stock the freezer for weekday mornings? Seems like a no-brainer. If your kid can make a Pop Tart or a toaster streudel, then they can reheat these pancakes.

P.S.- In the original post I imagined that these pancakes would be great with preserves. I was right- they rocked when I recently had them with some homemade peach jam.

Spicing Up Snack Time- Stuffed Jalapenos

2010-09-20T10:05:00.000-07:00

A while back my father-in-law sounded the call and my husband came running. A tree had fallen in their backyard and my husband and his stepbrother went to help him get the big thing chopped up. After a long, hard day of labor my husband was finally able to come home. And he brought with him a few gifts of appreciation for his efforts- mainly produce from their garden and several jars of homemade jam. Among the produce were almost two dozen tiny jalapeno peppers. I wasn't really sure what I would do with so many little ones. Luckily for me I saw this post over on Made By Mike that pointed me in the right direction. I checked out the Stuffed Jalapeno recipe from Everyday Food and decided it would be a great use for them. Petite Pepper Poppers to the rescue! Since my peppers were much smaller than the recipe called for I just had to keep an eye on them while cooking. They came out pretty good though. I'm definitely going to give this recipe a try again, maybe with some different variations on the filling. These would be fun for all those football games that are ahead of us this fall. Also great for parties or an evening of board games. Even, dare I say, a night of television guilty pleasures. Hoarders, anyone?

Stuffed Jalapenos
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4 to 6

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar
6 large jalapenos, halved and seeded
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a small bowl, mix together cream cheese and grated sharp cheddar. Season with coarse salt and ground pepper. With a small spoon, fill each jalapeno half with about 1 tablespoon cheese mixture. Place peppers on a parchment-lined baking sheet and cook until cheese is browned and bubbling, about 10 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through.

My notes: I sprinkled a few of the peppers with bread crumbs to add a little crunch. Bacon and ranch mix are two variations that immediately come to mind for this recipe. Enjoy!

Last Spoonful of Summer- Fresh Corn Spoon Bread

2010-09-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

I've been really off the ball in taking advantage of summer produce. This summer seemed just so hot, and so endless. Sure there's a wonderful produce bounty, but just thinking about cooking seemed like hard work in 110 degree temperatures. So I decided I'd better take a stab at something summery before the heat has completely passed me by. When it came time to choose I went with this Fresh Corn Spoon Bread from the September issue of Everyday Food. I felt brave for choosing it, since it required several different steps. And let's face, lately the many steps I've been taking in the kitchen have been from the freezer to the microwave with another burrito. Sad, but true. I decided I'd serve this with some grilled fish and I had some fresh tomato, sliced into wedges with a sprinkling of salt and pepper on the side. Josh passed on the tomato, generally only likes them in a cooked form. However, he loved the spoon bread. He was shocked when I told him it didn't have any cheese in it. He kept referring to it as corn souffle. Eventually I stopped correcting him, and let him go ahead and think I'm a fancier cook than I am.

Fresh Corn Spoon Bread
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 6

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for baking dish
1/2 small yellow onion, diced small (1/2 cup)
1 jalapeno, diced small
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 cups whole milk
2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
4 large eggs, yolks and whites separated

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking dish. In a medium pot, melt butter over medium-high. Add onion and jalapeno and season with salt and pepper. Cook until onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Add milk and corn and cook until milk is very hot but not bubbling, about 3 minutes. Whisk in cornmeal and cook, whisking constantly, until mixture is thick, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool 10 minutes. Whisk in egg yolks.
In a large bowl, whisk egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold into corn mixture, then pour into baking dish. Bake spoon bread until browned on top and set in middle, 30 to 35 minutes, rotating dish halfway through. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

My notes: I used fresh corn, cut from three ears. I didn't really measure, I just figured if two ears usually gives me 1-1.5 cups that three should do the trick. It did taste really good, but I think I could have been a little heavier-handed with the salt & pepper, and my jalapeno seemed to be fairly mild. Would have been nicer with just a little more kick to it. And, I may have slightly over-beaten my egg whites, so keep a close eye. I had to do a little more mixing than folding to weaken them a bit and get things to meld a little better.

Clearing The Table, So To Speak

2010-09-11T16:59:00.000-07:00

I know I've been neglecting this little blog for a few weeks. And if you read back over the past year or so, you'll start to see a pattern. I wander off, then stumble back and say I'll do better. For quite a while I've been wanting to give this little place a face lift, but I had been hesitant to dive into the deep end of coding and whatnot. This week though I decided I needed to make it a priority and set today aside to get this task crossed off my to-do list. After several hours spent intimately with Photoshop and Blogger, this is the result. New color scheme, new font, and a new header. I've created handy buttons featured on the left to make it easier to find some of the most popular types of recipes. And a new page button, which I'm happy to share with everyone. Feel free to grab the code and spread the word. Hopefully the new Small Time Cooks is a little easier to read and a little more pleasant to look at. And hopefully I'll keep up with it much more often now.

P.S. If you're reading this through an RSS feed I hope you'll click through to see all the hard work I've done. And if you're not, well then I hope you'll consider subscribing. :)

Footloose and Fancy Free- Pasta with Tomatoes & Feta

2010-08-19T06:58:00.000-07:00

Why haven't I been eating tomatoes & basil all summer long? I realize that my previous post is also a tomato and basil recipe, so it might appear that my meals haven't been all that deficient. But they have been woefully lacking in this combo, one of the best pairings of summer flavors if you ask me. I'd been thinking about making this for a while, but kept putting it off because the original recipe included shredded chicken and I didn't want to buy any. Then I knocked myself upside the head and said, "Hey dummy, the chicken isn't best part of the meal- it's the awesome combo of tomatoes and basil with the salty feta!" So I chucked the chicken out the window and made some dinner. And honestly, it's made all the easier and slightly healthier for not having to mess with the shredded chicken. I diced my tomatoes and basil, and juiced my lemon, while the water boiled and pasta cooked. Then I was ready to go! Dinner in 15 minutes- that's truly delicious.

Pasta with Tomatoes and Basil
Variation on an Everyday Food recipe; Serves 2

Coarse salt and ground pepper
6 oz. ditalini, or other short tubular pasta
1 tablespoons olive oil
1.5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup (2 oz.) crumbled feta cheese
2 large plum tomatoes, cut into 1/4" chunks
1/2 cup torn fresh basil leaves

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente, according to package directions. Drain; rinse well under cold water.
Transfer to a large bowl; toss with oil, lemon juice, feta, tomatoes, and basil; season generously with salt and pepper. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

My notes: This is a halved recipe so there were two portions for our dinner. I love when recipes can be easily adjusted to fit our two-person household. I'm definitely going to be making this recipe more often, especially since I've started growing my own basil.

Cooking By The Seat of My Pants- Fast Ghetto Bruschetta

2010-08-03T06:35:00.000-07:00

Last night was going to be really easy. I had some laundry to do, a few other tasks on my agenda, but dinner was going to be a snap. I was going to make Caprese Sandwiches, and I had picked up some yummy baked chips at the store this weekend to go with them. Pick some basil, slice a baguette, slice some tomatoes, slice some mozzarella, assemble, done. And that's precisely what I went about doing when I got home. Basil picked, baguette and tomatoes sliced, it came time for the mozzarella. Well, that's when I realized that I guess I'd had that ball of fresh mozzarella in the refrigerator for longer than I had thought. The "Use By" date was more than a month in the past. But, it looked alright, and had been in the refrigerator the entire time. I opened the package and the smell did not offend. I cut a slice, and the texture seemed a little weird. I took a bite and first impression was fine, but the after taste bowled me over. Mozzarella ball into the trash, I was stuck with already sliced bread and tomatoes and some basil. Immediately I figured bruschetta would be a good option, but it couldn't be my only option. First off, I'd never made bruschetta before. Second off, I didn't have enough tomatoes to top 8 slices of baguette. I did some pantry and refrigerator searching and came up with some olive-oil packet tuna, Parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, and red onion. I went to work and this dinner actually turned out to be really yummy. This is one of those really simple dinners that gives me hope that we won't starve to death when I start school in a month.

Fast Ghetto Bruschetta
Recipe by, uh, me; Serves 2

1 baguette, quartered crosswise, sliced lengthwise
2 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
Olive oil
1 6 oz. can olive-oil packed tuna, drained
2 tablespoons red onion, minced
Mayonnaise
Dijon mustard
Parmesan cheese, grated
Cheddar cheese, shredded (optional)
Coarse salt
Fresh ground black pepper

Brush your sliced baguette with olive oil and place cut side down on a grill, griddle, or grill pan over medium heat to toast.
Meanwhile, in a bowl combine tomatoes and basil; drizzle lightly with olive oil and toss. Season with salt and pepper, add Parmesan to taste, toss again.
In another bowl combine tuna, red onion, and add mayonnaise and Dijon mustard to taste.
Once your bread is toasted top slices with tomato mixture and tuna mixture. Top tuna slices with cheddar cheese, if you are so inclined.

My notes: You could also pop your tuna toasts under the broiler to get your cheddar cheese melted, but I was in a hurry to eat because I had laundry ready for folding. Everything in this "recipe" is more or less to taste. Crazy about basil? Add more. My husband loves Parmesan, so I put plenty in. I also added a dash of garlic powder to my tuna mixture, that's one of those personal preference sort of things. Work with what you like and have on hand.

Pleasantly Surprised- Couscous with Black Beans, Corn, and Mushrooms

2010-07-30T05:47:00.000-07:00

I figured I had better make a new recipe this week so I'd actually have something put up here. And I am always looking to add some more vegetarian recipes to my repertoire. I went to my usual source, Everyday Food, and noticed this dinner suggestion. It seemed easy enough, and though a little apprehensive about it I figured I'd give it a shot. When I got home Monday night, honestly, the last thing I felt like doing was making a new recipe. I'd have much rather called in a pizza, or tossed a burrito in the microwave. But, I decided to be a big girl and get to work. Especially since I had so many fresh ingredients for the dinner that I didn't want to go to waste. It was my first time cutting corn off the cob- that was a little messy. But overall everything else came together pretty well. And as often turns out to be the case, the recipes I am hesitant about turn out to be the ones I like the most. This had a really great flavor and was really filling. The textures were really nice together. Josh liked it a lot too. He thought it tasted like veggie fried rice. Good to know I can get that flavor without having to twice cook some rice!

Couscous with Black Beans, Corn, and Mushrooms
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 cup Israeli couscous (you can substitute regular couscous or orzo pasta)
course salt and ground pepper
1/2 lb. sliced button or cremini mushrooms
1 small bunch scallions, white and green parts separated and thinly sliced
1 1/4 cups fresh corn kernels (from 2 ears of corn)
1 can (15.5 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 jalapeno, thinly sliced (optional)
1 avocado, halved, pitted, peeled, and sliced

In a medium saucepan, heat 1 tbsp oil over medium-high heat. Add couscous and cook, stirring constantly, until golden brown and fragrant, about 4 minutes.
Add 1 1/2 cups water, season with salt, and bring got a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until liquid is absorbed and couscous is tender, about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat 2 tsp oil over medium-high heat. Cook mushrooms, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and then transfer to a large bowl.
Add 1 tsp oil to the skillet and cook the scallion whites and corn, stirring occasionally, until scallions are soft and corn is browned, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and then add to the mushrooms.
Add couscous, black beans, lime juice, jalapeno (if using), and scallion greens to the mushroom mixture and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper and serve with avocado slices on top.

My notes: I did not use the optional jalapeno, but others who have shared this recipe online said that they used it and really liked it, so maybe next time I'll give it a shot. Although you can't see it in my photo we did have the avocado with it, and it really did add a lot of complimentary flavor to the dish. I'm tagging this recipe vegan, but is someone knows something about Israeli couscous that I don't, let me know and I'll remove the tag.

The Easy Out- What Do You Eat When You Don't Cook?

2010-07-26T14:25:00.000-07:00

I have to say that lately, mustering the strength to cook has been a gargantuan challenge. I have some minor chronic pain issues which can severely zap my energy. Sometimes when I get home it's hard enough to make myself take a shower, let alone get out my pots and pans and start stirring. I know I can't be alone in my occasional lack of energy. So, what crutches do you keep in your kitchen to lean on when these times strike? Lately we rely on a few key prepared items for occasions such as this:

Amy's Burritos- Super fast, reasonably inexpensive, organic, and vegetarian. Oh, and delicious too.
Frozen Spinach & Feta Pizza- We buy Archer Farms' brand (a Target label). It has a wheat crust, and again the nice combo of being organic and vegetarian. We picked one up on a whim a couple weeks ago and it was so yummy that I actually scheduled a pizza night this week.
Morningstar Spicy Black Bean Burgers- These are really good, and heat up in a flash. I don't really do the whole fake meat thing (especially since I'm still a meat eater, just less of one), but these aren't trying to be anything other than what they're called, a spicy black bean patty. We like to have them on toasted wheat bread with some Pepper Jack cheese. I usually add mustard, and a slice of red onion if I've got it. We've also done a mashed avocado spread, and when I'm really desperate for a protein fix I'll add a fried egg.
Chips & salsa- Seriously, I probably ate chips & salsa 5 out of 7 days last week. So fast, so yummy, and if you watch the type of chips you buy and just how many it is you're eating it can be a relatively healthy meal too.

So, that's what we've been turning to lately in a pinch. Is there anything you make sure to always keep in your pantry, freezer, or refrigerator for those evenings when your energy reserves are empty, but so is your stomach?

Escaping the Heat by Pretending It's Fall- Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes

2010-07-20T05:59:00.000-07:00

I had been craving pancakes for weeks. For me, pancakes always seem like such a hassle. Probably because my electric griddle just doesn't seem to have the staying power it once did, so I end up cooking pancakes in a skillet. Two at a time, which ends up taking me awhile. I'd also, for some reason, been craving pumpkin. I think at the time it had something to do with my desperate yearning for autumn. Not only was it hot, making it natural to look forward to the next, cooler season, but it was also rainy and gray for almost two weeks. This is not common during the summer months in Texas, and it made it look like fall every time I glanced out my window. You knew it wasn't as soon as you stepped outside, and unfortunately I decided to take a walk before I made these pancakes on the most humid day of my life, but I forged ahead with my breakfast of denial anyhow. I just googled up "whole wheat pumpkin pancakes" and went with the recipe that I seemed to have most of the ingredients for, which was Pinch My Salt's recipe from 2007. I made a couple of small adjustments for what I had on hand and went forward into my fake fall meal.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes
Recipe from Pinch My Salt; Makes appx. 16

1 C. whole wheat flour
1/2 C. cake flour
1 t. baking soda
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1 C. buttermilk
1 C. canned pumpkin puree
2 eggs
2 T. oil
1 t. vanilla
2 T. dark brown sugar

In a large bowl, whisk together the first eight ingredients (whole wheat flour through nutmeg). In a separate bowl, whisk together the last six ingredients (buttermilk through brown sugar).
Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and blend together with a wooden spoon until just combined. Lumps are ok, just make sure all the flour on the bottom of the bowl is mixed in. If batter seems too thick to pour, you can gently stir in a little more buttermilk.
Drop pancakes by ladleful onto a medium-hot griddle. Pancakes are ready to turn when the edges start to look a little dry and you can see small bubbles forming on the surface.

My notes: I used all white whole wheat flour, soy milk, and light brown sugar. I had to add some extra milk to thin the batter a little, just adding little by little until it seemed easier to work with. Since I used soy milk, a switch to an egg substitute would make this recipe vegan. I used a 1/4 cup to ladle the batter for each pancake.

Mad Hungry- Arrabiata Sauce

2010-07-16T11:03:00.000-07:00

I was looking for some yummy vegetarian recipes for this week's menu when I decided to check over my half-forgotten "To-Cook" list. Most of the recipes left to try are meaty, which I'm not opposed to, but haven't really been in search of lately. However, the entry "Arrabiata Sauce" remained unchecked and I decided that it was finally time to cross it off. I snatched this recipe from Poco-Cocoa long ago. And then proceeded to not make it until now. But now that I have I will definitely be making it again. I still have a little left in the fridge, which I can't wait to reheat because when I made this earlier in the week I was dealing with some sinus stuff and I don't think I was capable of taking in the full flavor. But, even with sinuses, I could tell that it was good stuff, spicy stuff. I followed Crystal's tips for making it and it came out great.

Arrabiata Sauce
Recipe from Poco-Cocoa; Makes 3 cups

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup dry red wine or 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon chopped fresh or 1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Heat oil in a saucepan or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; saute 5 minutes. Stir in wine and next 8 ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, and cook, uncovered, about 15 minutes. Stir in parsley.

My notes: Crystal used the balsamic vinegar, and used 1/2 teaspoon of oregano in place of the Italian seasoning, both of which I did because that's what I had on hand. She mentioned wishing the sauce was thicker, so I tossed one of my cans of tomatoes into the blender before adding it in. Sort of resulted in the really seedy appearance of my sauce, but it coated the pasta a little better. Think next time I'll try crushed tomatoes. I only used about a tablespoon of fresh parsley, and it was a bit overpowering to me. But again, my taste buds weren't 100%, so that might be part of it. I used just under a tablespoon of fresh basil, and tossed in about 1/4 teaspoon of dry, just for good measure. I really like basil. :)

Pure Imagination- Veggie Tacos

2010-07-13T07:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry about being gone for a bit there. I'm always doing that, huh? Saying I'm back and then wandering away, no doubt distracted by some shiny object. Well, you see, the deal with last week was there was a lot of schedule shifting going on, and so dinners didn't go exactly as planned. And when things don't go as planned, it usually means that we're falling back on stand-by meals I've already shared, frozen burritos, or grabbing a quick bite out. And I can't exactly snap a pic of my Chipotle burrito bol and be all, "Look y'all, I eated this". So, yeah, that was the deal with last week. Which is a shame, cause I was planning to try a new recipe out. That didn't happen, but I tried to turn that into a bonus last night, and it worked! I decided Sunday morning while doing my menu planning that I needed to get to work using up our corn tortillas. I thought I'd take a stab at making up some veggie tacos, especially since I had an onion and squash on hand for that recipe that I didn't get to make. These turned out really yummy! And, thanks to some early effort, pretty quick too. I normally have a couple heads of lettuce and some other veggies to clean and chop after our grocery shopping, so that I can make our lunch and dinner salads throughout the week. While I was doing just that this weekend I also chopped up some of the veggies for my taco filling, cutting down the pre-eating prep work last night. I also got a little imaginative when it came to putting the tacos together. Originally I was going to make some spicy black beans on the side, but I had the idea to instead mash the beans and spread them on my warmed tortillas. It was one less thing going on the stove, and it helped keep the taco fillings in the tortillas. So, let's see what my little mind cooked up.

Veggie Tacos
Recipe by moi; Makes 8 tacos

Olive oil
1 large russett potato, scrubbed and diced
1/4 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeno, seeded and ribbed, large mince
1 zucchini or yellow squash, quartered and sliced
1 cup sliced mushrooms, roughly chopped
8 corn tortillas
1 15 oz. can black beans, mostly drained
Garlic powder
Ground cumin
Pepper Jack cheese, shredded
Salsa

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a skillet. Add diced potatoes and allow to cook, stirring occasionally, until starting to brown and soften. Add salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, mash your black beans in a bowl, adding garlic powder and ground cumin to taste. You want to keep a little liquid with your beans to make a smooth mash.
Add your bell pepper, onion, jalapeno, and squash to the potatoes. Allow to cook for several minutes, stirring occasionally, and then add the mushrooms. Cook for a few minutes more, until mushrooms have started to soften.
While veggies finish cooking, wrap tortillas in damp paper towels and warm in microwave for 30 seconds - 1 minute. Spread your beans on each tortilla, warm in microwave for 15- 30 seconds if you wants your beans to be warmed.
Top your tortillas with veggie mixture, cheese, and salsa of your choice.

My notes: Just cook the vegetables until they are softened to your liking. My potatoes were a little undercooked, but it made for a nice texture. And definitely add your mushrooms last, you don't want them to get too soft. They add a nice meaty texture to the filling. We had three tacos each, and there was a little filling leftover. The only other thing we had with these were small side salads, so if you were serving any other side dish I would say two tacos per person is a good serving and just equally distribute your filling. I had two tacos with salsa verde, and one with picante. Both were delicious, so you go where your taste buds take you. I think this filling would also be great with some scrambled eggs. Breakfast tacos anyone?

Cleaning Out the Kitchen- Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-04T14:41:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July everyone! I didn't mean to take so long getting this post up, but I was a little busier than I thought I'd be the past few days. We got our patriotic partying done last night though, so today is a quiet day around the house for us.

We recently bought a new car, which is very exciting for us. We feel so grown up because we were able to pay cash for it. However, we are also feeling the need to do some belt tightening since we just laid out all that dough. So this weekend I went through and cleaned out our pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. I got rid of some stuff that had been hanging around way too long, and took inventory of what we have available to cook with. I discovered that I am very efficient at wasting food and money. A lot of stuff that should have been used, but wasn't, and is now beyond the point of consumption. So, I decided to share just what it is that was left behind once I did the big dump. This is what I'll be trying to use over the next few weeks, along with our weekly produce and other few groceries we might need. Luckily I recently placed a meat order, so we have a pretty good stockpile in the freezer. Any recipe suggestions based on our kitchen contents?

Pantry:
Rolled Oats
Cereal- 2 half full boxes, 1 nearly gone
Panko
Quinoa
Couscous
Bulgur
Brown rice
Arborio rice
Jambalaya Mix
Whole Wheat Spaghetti
Manicotti Shells
Small pasta shells
Mezze tubetti pasta
Rotini
Tomato soup- 2 cans
Lentil soup
Vegetable soup
Garbanzo beans- 2 cans
Dark kidney beans
Great Northern beans
Black beans- 2 cans
Diced tomatoes, 14.5 oz.
Stewed tomatoes, 14.5 oz.
Chicken broth, 15 oz.
Pumpkin puree
Tuna, 6 oz. packed in olive oil
Beef stew seasoning- 2 packets
Spices
Corn tortillas, 24 count
All purpose flour
White whole wheat flour
Cornmeal
Toasted wheat germ
Sugar
Salsa, large jar
Butter crackers, 1 sleeve
Wheat thins, 1/2 box
Whole wheat bread
Popcorn seed
Dried cranberries

Refrigerator:
Butter
Eggs- 6
Sharp Cheddar, 3/4 block
Pepper Jack, 3/4 block
Helluva Good XXX Sharp Cheddar, 3/4 lb.
Fresh Mozzarella, 8 oz. ball
Feta, 6 oz. crumbled
Pie crust, 2
Soy Milk
Orange Juice
Carrots
Condiments
Salad Dressing
Apples- 3
Peaches- 5

Freezer:
Amy's frozen burritos- 4
Beer-battered fish fillets- 5
Spicy Black Bean burgers- 3
Small cooked shrimp- half a bag
Chicken breasts- 2
Unsmoked bacon, 1 package
Chuck Roast, 2.5 lbs.
Beef stew meat, 3 lbs.
Ground beef, 6 lbs.
Ground pork, 2 lbs.
Mild pork sausage, 1 lb.
Pork shoulder, 2.5 lbs.
Pheasant, 2 lbs.?
Trout- 2 2-person portions, 1 4-5 person portion
Whiting- 2 2-person portions
Cat fish- 1 2-4 person portion
Pesto, 4 cups
Puff Pastry, 1/2 package
Peaches, 12 oz.
Blueberries, 12 oz.
Mixed berries, 12 oz.
Pineapple, 6 oz.
Mango, 6 oz.
Peas, 10 oz.
Corn, 4 oz.
Green beans, 6 oz.
Mixed veggies, 6 oz.
Spinach, chopped 10 oz.

Good Read

2010-07-01T09:02:00.000-07:00

We were out of town from last Friday until Tuesday, so things have been very quiet in our kitchen lately. I'll be back, hopefully later this evening, with a fully-fleshed blog post. But in the meantime I wanted to share a new-to-me blog read with you. I discovered Made By Mike through the wonderful world of Twitter, via @MarthasCircle and @everydayfood. You know how I love my Everyday Food recipes, right? Mike shares my EF passion and has recently embarked on an Everyday Food Challenge. Mike is making one recipe a week from his complete collection of Everyday Food magazine issues. He started with issue #1 at the beginning of June, so you don't have too much catching up to do if you'd like to cook along with him. I, sadly, woefully, do not have every issue of EF, but I'm enjoying reading along with Mike's challenge all the same. Maybe once he reaches some of the issues I have I will join along with him! Anyway, I recommend you check out Made By Mike for some fun cooking adventures.

Fast and Easy Summertime Food- Cornmeal Crusted Fish with Black Eyed Pea Salad

2010-06-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

One of the most common search phrases that leads people to this little blog here is either "Cornmeal crusted Tilapia" or "Cornmeal Tilapia". Which the other day reminded me that I had plenty of fish in the freezer and hadn't used this recipe in awhile. I thought I would make and share the recipe again, since it seems to be such a popular one. And on the side I decided to make a really great salad. This is one of the first recipes I tried when Josh and I decided to try eating better, and I still love it. It's really delicious, first off, but it's also really quick to toss together; the corn and bell pepper make it particularly great for the summer. Who wants to spend forever in a hot kitchen during the summer months anyway? Not me. So a quick fish fry up and a no-cook salad is a sure-fire combo for summer cooking success.

Cornmeal Crusted Fish
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4

1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoons paprika
Coarse salt and ground pepper
4 (6-8 oz. each) skinless tilapia fillets
3 tablespoons olive oil

In a shallow dish, combine cornmeal and paprika; season generously with salt and pepper. Separate fillets into thick and thin sides. Dredge each piece in cornmeal mixture, patting it on to coat completely.
In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. Cook as many pieces as will fit (without crowding) until golden brown and firm, about 2 minutes per side for thin pieces and 4 minutes per side for thick ones. Transfer to a plate; sprinkle with salt, if desired, and cover loosely to keep warm. Wipe skillet with a paper towel. Repeat with remaining oil and fish.

Black Eyed Pea Salad
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 can black eyed peas, drained and rinsed
1 10 oz. package frozen corn, thawed
1 red bell pepper, ribs and seeds removed, finely diced
2 scallions, thinly sliced
Coarse salt and ground pepper

In a medium bowl, whisk mustard, vinegar and oil. Add all vegetables. Season with salt and pepper, toss to combine. Serve room temperature or slightly chilled.

My notes: I used trout that we had in the freezer from my father-in-law, so don't feel like you have to limit yourself to tilapia. I also used this recipe to make some great fish tacos before. Summer puts me in a mood for Mexican, so I'll probably be making those again soon too.

Father's Day Food for Thought

2010-06-17T09:16:00.000-07:00

They always say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, so this year we decided to say Happy Father's Day with food. I just ordered a gift box containing two New York strip steaks and two pounds of ground beef to be delivered to my dad in south Texas. I ordered it from Burgundy Pasture Beef, which is where we order most of our household meat as well. They are a local ranch providing 100% grass-fed beef, raised sustainably and butchered on-site with USDA approval. They also offer grass-fed sustainable pork, lamb, chicken, and eggs provided through other local farms. I became interested in buying pastured meat after reading Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. I could go on a long rant about the way our country handles food production, but I won't beleaguer you with that. I'll just say after reading Pollan's book, along with various news articles, viewing the documentary Food, Inc., and later reading Mark Bittman's book Food Matters, that I was very interested in opting out of the commercial meat industry when possible. Pastured meat does cost us more, but since we were already eating meat much less frequently we can more easily absorb the increase in price into our grocery budget. I also feel better about our decision because it allows us to support local farmers. Not to mention that our meat just tastes so much better. Before we made the switch I hated handling ground beef. It smelled atrocious to me. From the very first use of the pastured beef I could tell a big difference. There was no off-putting odor, and in fact it actually smelled pleasant to me. We have ordered ground beef, ground pork, steaks, bacon, whole chicken, and pork shoulder before and been happy with everything but the bacon. I think that was mostly a personal preference with the way it was cut, but either way we purchase naturally raised bacon at the store now. I still have some pork sausage and a chuck roast in the freezer to be tried, but I have no doubt they will turn out just as delicious as all the previous products have. My mom loves the pork chops she gets. If you've considered trying pastured meat before, but have been put off at the thought of having to buy a large quantity at one time then an outfit like Burgundy could be a better option. I can buy by the cut, and don't have to have any additional freezer space for 1/4 of a cow or the like. They offer $5 delivery throughout most of the metroplex with a 10 pound order minimum. My mom and I place our orders together to take advantage of this delivery option without having to order quite as much at one time, and we split the delivery cost. They also offer nationwide shipping. It is only costing me $10 for overnight delivery of our gift box. So there you have it- we don't eat a lot of meat, but when we do we chose to order locally produced, grass-fed whenever possible. It's better for our local economy, better for our environment, better for our health, and (most importantly if you ask me) better for our tastebuds.

Simple Pleasures- Raspberry Sorbet

2010-06-15T06:27:00.000-07:00

The July issue of Martha Stewart Living arrived in my mail box last Thursday, and I finally worked my way to the back of the magazine by Sunday morning. Which is where I discovered this super simple recipe for Raspberry Sorbet. It is starting to get really hot here, it's definitely summer in Texas, so I thought this might be just the thing to make to help keep us cool. And this easy fruit based dessert seemed like just the right treat to try while I'm still trying to work off those few extra pounds I picked up while on bed-rest. So I gave it a shot Sunday evening and the results were delicious. Definitely going to be returning to this recipe again.

Raspberry Sorbet
Recipe from Martha Stewart Living; Serves 4

1/4 cup water
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 12 ounce bag frozen raspberries

Stir the water and sugar together until the sugar has dissolved.
In a food processor, pulse the frozen raspberries until coarsely chopped. With the processor running, slowly add the sugar water and pulse until mixture is smooth.
Transfer to an airtight container and freeze for at least 30 minutes. Serve.

My notes: My only complaint about how this came out was the seeds. There were so many seeds! This recipe was so easy though I'll definitely use it again. I am looking forward to trying it with other frozen fruits like peaches, mangoes, or pineapple. If I do raspberries again I may press some or all of the mixture through a sieve before placing in the freezer. But seeds aside, the taste was fabulous. A great treat for the summer heat.

Using What You Have (And Don't Have)- Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes

2010-06-07T13:09:00.000-07:00

I have been under the control of a vicious cold bug since last Tuesday. I'm partially to blame, because I have been eating far from healthy lately. In part due to a foot injury which has kept me on my butt as often as possible, and in part due to sheer laziness. Either way, I certainly haven't been helping my immune system along. So this weekend I figured I could use a health food boost. Sure, the boost came in syrup covered form, but are we really going to nit pick? I had to work with what I had because this was a pre-grocery shopping trip meal. So, what did I have? Several bananas nearly beyond the point of usability. What did I not have? Eggs. But I kept coming back to pancakes, which I had been craving for weeks. So, I turned to Google for an egg-less pancake recipe. I came across this recipe on Recipezaar. It had some good reviews so I decided to use it as a starting point and after a few adjustments I was ready to get to flipping some flap jacks!

Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes
Recipe adapted from Recipezaar; Makes 12-16

1 1/3 cups white whole wheat flour
1/3 cup toasted wheat germ
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 cups soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 mashed bananas

Whisk together the flour, wheat germ, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and sugar.
Add to dry ingredients the milk, vanilla and mashed bananas. Mix until just combined.
Cook by 1/4 cup full on well oiled skillet or griddle over medium/medium-high heat. Serve warm.

My notes: These pancakes didn't come out as sweet as I thought they might. I considered increasing the sugar, as one of the recipe reviewers suggested, but I thought that the very ripe bananas might lend enough sweetness on their own. Next time I'll definitely increase, and might even switch to brown sugar like the Cinnamon-Oat Pancakes that I love. Also, since we're soy milk drinkers around these parts and I was out of eggs this recipe is vegan friendly.

A Fresh Start with Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

2010-06-01T15:29:00.000-07:00

Wow, hold on just a moment. Let me dust away some of these cobwebs. There, that's a little better. It's been a while, huh? But I'm trying to get back in the cooking saddle around here and the best way to do that is to get back in the habit of sharing what I make again. I'm going to be a lot busier these days as we're gearing up for a trip at the end of June, and then I'll be starting school in the fall. My goal is to try and post twice a week. Sometimes it might just be a tip or trick for coming up with something fast and easy, since that's going to be key for me soon. And I'm using my handy-dandy iPhone for pics more often now, since I found having to upload from my camera seemed to be a point of procrastination for me. I'm debating making some other changes around the blog, so if things get a little wonky, it's just my inept html/css skills at work.

To start things off with a taste of summer I made some delicious cookies. I was planning on making them on Sunday to take with us to our Concert in the Garden picnic that evening. However we went to a lunchtime barbeque at Josh's dad's house that we didn't leave until late in the afternoon, which left me little time to do the baking. So I made them on my day off yesterday instead. The cookies were so good, and really easy to make. the most time consuming part was dicing the berries. I am admittedly very slow with knives though, so that might be specific to my kitchen. No creaming butter and sugar, no adding eggs. In fact, I'm happy to tell you that there are no eggs at all. Which makes it far less dangerous to eat the cookie batter. Which you will want to do, because it was so, so good. I recommend you bake most of the batter before you taste it though, because otherwise you might never find out what the baked cookies taste like.

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies
Recipe from Martha Stewart Living June 2009; Makes about 3 dozen

12 ounces strawberries, hulled and cut into 1/4-inch dice (2 cups)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
3 ounces (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup heavy cream
Sanding sugar, for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine strawberries, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining 7 tablespoons granulated sugar in a large bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter, or rub in with your fingers, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cream until dough starts to come together, then stir in strawberry mixture.
Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment, spacing evenly apart. Sprinkle with sanding sugar, and bake until golden brown, 24 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool. Cookies are best served immediately, but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day.

My notes: I used my 1 1/2 tablespoon cookie scoop to form my cookies, and I came about with roughly 28 cookies. I didn't have any sanding sugar, so I just gave them a little sprinkle with regular granulated. These cookies would be great for picnics, cookouts, even a brunch. If I was preparing them for more than just our own consumption I would have made some whipped cream to drop a dollop of on each cookie.

Fried Egg with Mushrooms and Spinach

2010-04-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

This blog has literally become on of my last priorities. I'm not proud of that, but I can't deny it's a fact. I'm still cooking, not as much new recipes as tried-and-true, but definitely still cooking. The time it seems to take to make sure I get a good photo and then get that photo uploaded and edited, and then the time to actually write the blog post- that is a lot of time that I just haven't been making room for. I'll try to do better, but things will only get busier from here on out. Sigh, such is life I suppose. Busy, slow, busy, slow- always things to juggle. Anyway, here is a dinner I made a few weeks ago. The recipe came from Tracy at Shutterbean. It was a nice dinner, good for Spring. I served it with some roasted asparagus.

Fried Egg with Mushrooms and Spinach
Recipe from Shutterbean; Serves 2

1 10 oz. container white mushrooms, sliced
6 oz. baby spinach
2 eggs
2 slices sourdough bread, toasted
Balsamic vinegar

Saute the mushrooms in a bit of butter until they're browned to your liking. If you like you can add a bit of balsamic vinegar for flavor.
When you feel the mushrooms are nearly done, add in the spinach and toss until it gets nice and wilty and the mushrooms are browned.
Fry your eggs to your liking; once done place the mushrooms and spinach on your toast and top with the egg.

My notes: Tracy had a divine thick, aged balsamic vinegar. I just had my boring, unfancy vinegar so I just used a little in with the mushrooms and spinach; she used some in the pan and drizzled some over her finished product as well. You could also add some cheese, if you were so inclined. Maybe a little Parmesan would be nice.

Lemony Swiss Chard

2010-03-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

I've got a lot on my plate lately, it's just not always something I've cooked. We've decided I'm going to, hopefully, be enrolling in school for the fall and I've got a lot of things to take care of to make that happen. I'm still cooking, just relying more on old standby recipes, which means not so much to share. I did try Rainbow Chard for the first time last week as a really simple side dish. I served it with some Mushroom Risotto and a salad. It was delicious, although I over-salted a little bit. Still trying to figure out how I'm going to keep feeding us healthy home-cooked meals when I'm going to be busier than ever with school work, house work, and work work. That's a lot of work!

Lemony Swiss Chard
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 2

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 bunch Swiss chard (about 3/4 pound), stalks cut into 1-inch pieces and leaves roughly torn (keep separate)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 to 3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium. Add chard stalks, and cook, tossing until crisp-tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Add as many chard leaves to skillet as will fit, adding more as room becomes available; season with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing occasionally, until stalks are tender, 4 to 6 minutes more.
Drain and discard any liquid from chard in skillet; stir in lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper.

My notes: I made this with a bunch of Rainbow Chard. Same great taste, but more colorful! It's so nice to find dishes meant to serve 2, too.

Warm Spinach Salad, Version 2

2010-03-01T05:56:00.000-08:00

So, as I said in the last post I had some filling/topping leftover from the Mushroom & Spinach Tart. I was making the Warm Spinach Salad later in the week and thought the extra mushrooms and onions I had would work well in it, so I popped the leftovers into the fridge with that purpose in mind. At the end of step three, I added the mushrooms and onions in with the browned potato and let it warm through before adding to the spinach and dressing. This was super delicious, and as I had forgotten to get the shallot for this recipe, the red onion helped make up for that. I think this is a great recipe for this "winter's ending, spring's beginning" time of year. It has a fresh taste with the greens and bright dressing, but it's got a cozy feeling too with the warm potato, Parmesan, and egg. I served it with some sourdough toast and it goes great with a glass of your favorite wine, if you are so inclined (which I was).

Warm Spinach Salad
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4

4 tablespoons olive oil
2 baking potatoes (about 1 lb. total), scrubbed and cut into 1/2" cubes
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 shallot, minced
2 bunches flat-leaf spinach (about 2 pounds total), thick stems removed, leaves washed well and roughly torn
2 ounces Parmesan cheese, shaved with vegetable peeler
4 large eggs

In a large non-stick skillet, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium heat. Add potatoes; season with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing occasionally, until potatoes are tender and browned, 12 to 14 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine remaining 2 tablespoons oil with vinegar, mustard, and shallot; season with salt and pepper, and whisk to combine. Add spinach and Parmesan (do not toss); set aside.
When potatoes are done cooking, immediately transfer to bowl with spinach and dressing (reserve skillet). Toss salad until spinach is slightly wilted, and divide among four plates.
Heat skillet over medium, and gently crack eggs into skillet without breaking yolks. season with slat and pepper. Cook until whites are almost set, about 1 minute. Cover, turn off heat, and let stand until whites are just set but yolks are still soft, about 2 minutes more. Top each salad with a fried egg and serve immediately.

My notes: I halve this recipe for the two of us, using one potato and a pre-washed bag of spinach to save time.

Mushroom & Spinach Tart

2010-02-22T07:55:00.000-08:00

Amazingly I have another recipe to share. So soon! I can almost see your looks of astonishment. Whose to know that I actually made this, like, a month ago? Well, I guess whoever reads this now that I spilled the beans. This recipe was somewhat a success. If you ignore the fact that I have terrible luck handling puff pastry (any kind of pastry dough really, I think it can sense fear) then it was indeed successful. It was edible, which is really the true test of a recipe, right? This is, of course once again an Everyday Food recipe, but I came across it when Tracy at Shutterbean shared it. I have a thing for mushrooms for some reason these days, so this recipe really appealed to me. I don't think I ever got the dough to really roll out properly, so I ended up with extra filling, topping, whatever you'd like to call it. But I put it to good use in a variation of an old recipe that I'll share with you soon, so no complaints about that. My only complaint is I have the other half of the puff pastry package in the freezer and I think it is well aware of my insecurities. I hate it when my groceries get the upper-hand.

Mushroom & Spinach Tart
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4

Flour, for rolling out puff pastry
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed according to package instructions
1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 10 oz. packages white mushrooms, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 10 oz. fresh baby spinach
2 oz. soft goat cheese, crumbled

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a floured surface, roll the puff pastry out to a 16" x 10" rectangle. Trim uneven edges. Place the pastry on a baking sheet. With a sharp knife, lightly score dough to form a 1" border. Using a fork, prick dough inside the border every 1/2". Bake until golden, rotating pan once, about 15 minutes or until tender.
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, toss onion with 1 tablespoon oil. Season with salt. Cover and cook over medium heat until onion begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir. Continue cooking with cover on for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. Set aside.
In a large saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, heat remaining oil. Add mushrooms; cover and cook until tender and all liquid has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Fold in spinach; season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes more. Drain any liquid.
Top dough with mushroom-spinach mixture. Scatter onion and goat cheese on top. Bake until cheese is lightly browned, about 15 minutes.

My notes: I used feta for the cheese, because I use feta every chance I get. Why wouldn't you? It's fetastic. You like that word I just made up? And I served some Balsamic-Roasted Pearl Onions on the side. Yes I realize that means we had two kinds of onions in this one meal. I love onions so, again, why not? Don't worry- I haven't created any words for onions. Yet.

Berry Muffins

2010-02-16T05:56:00.000-08:00

Look! I actually cooked something! Well, baked technically. I have been in a mega-funk lately and any effort into cooking is usually one of the first things that goes when I am. I just want to come home, eat chips & salsa, and sit in front of the telly. This past week though we had a bit of a blizzard, with over a foot of snow in some areas. Being stuck at home gave me a little more impetus to do something in the kitchen, so I looked around for a recipe that would work with what I had on hand and found this one from, where else, Everyday Food. This is a basic muffin recipe to which you can add mix-ins, such as berries like me, or chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit, etc. These came out great and not only made a yummy late breakfast snack, but were good warmed that evening with a little homemade ice cream too.

Better Than Basic Muffins
Recipe from Everyday Food; Makes 12

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan
2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus more for pan
2 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
mix-ins
2 tablespoons sanding sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 375, with rack in lower third. Butter and flour a standard 12-cup muffin pan, tapping out excess. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together butter, eggs, milk, and vanilla; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients; make a well in the center. Add egg mixture to well. With a rubber spatula, gently stir ingredients just until batter is moistened. Do not over-mix; a few lumps are fine). Add mix-ins, if desired.
Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each about two-thirds full, sprinkle with sanding sugar, if desired. Bake until a toothpick or fork inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean, 15-20 minutes. Loosen muffins, and tip them on their sides to cool in pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.

My notes: I used 1 cup AP flour and 1 cup white whole wheat, and I substituted soy milk since that's what we had. I added 1 cup of mixed frozen berries into the batter at the end of step two. And I topped each muffin off with a sprinkling of red decorators sugar for Valentine's Day. Also I baked these in muffin cups that I spritzed with cooking spray instead of buttering and flouring.

Sauteed Escarole

2010-01-25T06:55:00.001-08:00

It would seem that I've been working under another theme recently, although it wasn't quite as intentional as Harvest Month in November. You may have noticed that I'm on a bit of a greens kick. I guess the bug to try new things is still biting me, and the start to new year has had me thinking about trying to eat healthier and more seasonally. I am actually finding that to be a bit difficult, considering I've grown up in a world where tomatoes are always in the supermarket, be it spring, summer, winter or fall. But I am trying, and after reading about greens in one of my recent Everyday Food issues I decided I should put a little focus on them. So, this is the third recipe I've tried recently involving greens, the other two being posted below. I'd say this one was the simplest, although none of them have been terribly difficult, but it has also been the most delicious. I'd definitely make this recipe again, and it's nice to have more side ideas for the winter time to help balance that yearning for heartier foods in the cold weather. I served this with some grilled fish and rosemary roasted potatoes.

Sauteed Escarole
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
2 small heads escarole (about 1 pound total), trimmed, leaves torn and washed well
coarse salt

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium. Add garlic, and cook until fragrant and lightly golden, about 3 minutes. Stir in escarole; season with salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until tender, about 10 minutes.

My notes: Simple enough, right? I used one medium sized head to make two servings for our dinner. This would probably be quite good with a squeeze of lemon juice too, but I marinated my fish in lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and pepper for a nice complimentary flavor.

Fettuccine with Mustard Greens

2010-01-21T07:12:00.000-08:00

Again guys, sorry about the longer time between posts. I've been trying to make sure I get something up at the start of the week, but I seemed incapable of remembering to upload my recipe pics. Finally accomplished that last night so I can share something new! Here's another recipe that had been on my to-cook list for quite some time. I found the recipe on Everybody Likes Sandwiches, and she got it from the long gone and sorely missed Poco-Cocoa blog *EDIT*: I'm a super dummy and just found out that Crystal started blogging again, and not that long after she had actually stopped. At least I know now and can pillage through her recipes once again!* It seemed like a really nice simple recipe for a weeknight (which it was), and an opportunity to cook with a new-to-me ingredient, mustard greens. So, it made the jump from "to-cook" to "eaten" status. I served it with a salad and some roasted carrots.

Fettuccine with Mustard Greens
Recipe from Everybody Likes Sandwiches; Serves 4

250g fettuccine
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 lb mustard greens, washed & trimmed
3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated
pepper

Prepare pasta according to package directions. Make sure to salt the water because that's the only salt you'll find in this recipe.
In a large skillet, heat up olive oil and butter. Add garlic and saute until fragrant and slightly golden. Add mustard greens, tearing them into bite sized pieces. Saute until bright green. Add drained pasta to skillet along with the lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of Parmesan and a few grinds of fresh pepper. Toss and serve with remaining Parmesan cheese.

My notes: I wanted to use whole wheat pasta and there wasn't any whole wheat fettuccine at the store when doing my shopping, so I grabbed some linguine instead. And as you can tell, I may have added a little more cheese than was called for on top. ;) Fresh Parmesan, can you blame me?

Penne with Greens, Olives & Feta

2010-01-11T05:44:00.000-08:00

Apologies about being gone so long! We always have so much going on around the holidays that I can barely keep my head on straight, and am often too busy to cook much of anything besides the odd meal of soup and grilled cheese. But I'm back at it and have been making an renewed effort to expand my kitchen horizons. I've been trying to work even more vegetarian meals into our weekly menus, although truthfully I've got a meat stockpile that I really should finish working my way through. But for the first week in the new year I wanted to prepare all meatless dinners to try and give 2010 a fresh and healthy feel from the get-go. This recipe is one that I tore out of the April 2008 issue of Bon Appetit, and then promptly stuck in the big stack of recipes to try and forgot about. I decided it was finally time to give it a try. This recipe could have been better, but all the fault lies with me I think. I'd never cooked with kale before, so I chose it as the greens for this recipe. My first mistake was I didn't buy enough kale, so the penne to greens ratio was pretty off. My second mistake was I had no idea how long to cook the greens for. All I had read was that kale was a longer cooking green, so I used the maximum time estimate in the recipe for it, and I think I probably should have taken them out sooner. So, keeping those two mistakes in mind, this recipe was pretty good. In fact, I thought it was better when I had leftovers for lunch the next day. I don't know if my difficulties with the recipe flavored (no pun intended) my opinion of it when we had it for dinner, but it definitely improved in my estimation over lunch. I didn't have the photograph of the meal with the recipe I tore out, so I'm sharing Bon Appetit's photo below to help anyone who wants to try this recipe get a better idea for what the end result should hopefully be.

Penne with Greens, Olives and Feta
Recipe from Bon Appetit; Serves 4 to 6

1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
1 garlic clove, minced
1 large bunch greens (such as spinach, mustard greens, kale, or broccoli rabe; about 1 pound), thick stems removed, spinach left whole, other greens cut into 1-inch strips (about 10 cups packed)
12 ounces penne
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pitted Kalamata olives
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (about 3 ounces)

Mix parsley, lemon peel and garlic in small bowl; set aside.
Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Add greens and cook just until tender, 1 to 6 minutes, depending on type of greens. Using skimmer or slotted spoon, transfer greens to colander to drain. Return water to boil. Add pasta and cook just until tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain, reserving 3/4 cup pasta cooking liquid.
Return pasta to pot; add greens and 3 tablespoons oil and toss. Stir in olives, feta, and enough reserved pasta cooking liquid by 1/4 cupfuls to moisten. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl. Drizzle with remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Sprinkle with parsley mixture and serve.

My notes: I already laid out the issues I had with the recipe above, so all that needs mentioning is that I used whole wheat penne in this recipe.

Photo by Coral von Zumwalt for Bon Appetit

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T10:26:00.000-08:00

I'll be back in 2010 with some new recipes to share. Tonight, unless we get any exciting last minute invitations, we'll be having a nice evening at home. I plan on making a quick and easy broccoli au gratin rice, roasting some butternut squash and carrots, and making the Eve's Pudding that I wasn't able to get to on Christmas eve. I hope everyone has a great night and wish everyone a delicious new year to come!

Butternut Squash & Chipotle Soup

2009-12-22T11:21:00.000-08:00

EDIT: NOW WITH PHOTO! Well, I forgot once again to upload the photo for this recipe, but I thought I'd go ahead and get this post up and add the pic when I get home tonight. I've got a lot on my holiday plate this week, and if I wait until I get home to do the whole thing then it just won't get done! This recipe is an adaptation of the Sweet Potato & Chipotle Soup from the December issue of Everyday Food. Tracy at Shutterbean recently gave it try, and subsequently two thumbs up. I thought this might be a great recipe to adapt so I could use the other half of the butternut squash I'd bought. This was my first attempt at making a squash soup and gladly it came together quite easily. That also meant it was my first time to eat a squash soup, Josh's too. It was really good, I was impressed. That said, it's a cup kind of soup for me, not a bowl. I can't eat too much of it in a sitting before I'm longing for a bit more texture. But it was good, and I would definitely use it as a first course in the future.

Butternut Squash and Chipotle Soup
Adapted from Everyday Food; Serves 4

1 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium white onion, chopped
coarse salt & ground pepper
1 teaspoons ground cumin
1 lb. butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 whole chipotle chili in adobo, chopped
3.5 cups of low sodium chicken broth
Tortilla chips, for serving

In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium high heat. Add onion, season with salt and pepper, and cook until beginning to brown around the edges, about 5 mins. Add cumin & garlic and cook, stirring until fragrant, about 1 min. Stir in squash, chile, and broth. Bring to a boil; reduce to a rapid simmer, partially cover and cook until sweet potatoes can be mashed easily with a spoon, 20 to 25 mins.
Let soup cool slightly. Using an immersion blender, or a blender working in batches, puree the soup. Season with salt & pepper and serve.

My notes: This is a halved version of the original recipe, which served 8. I adjusted for our household size, and for the amount of squash I had on hand. I topped my soup with some broken tortilla chips, which added some texture and a little something to help with the spicyness. I love finding a use for those little chippies at the bottom of the bag!

Roasted Fall Vegetables

2009-12-15T09:01:00.000-08:00

While I seem to have a lot of irons in the fire lately- photography class, learning to Charleston, all those holiday activities- I've been feeling more and more like cooking new things. My cooking mojo, while laying dormant for some time, seems to have returned. Last week I decided I wanted to try cooking with another new-to-me food and I chose butternut squash. But since I am so busy lately I needed it to be a fairly easy recipe. We've got a freezer full of fish we received from Josh's dad, so I decided a side dish to go with some quickly grilled trout would be perfect. I went way back to an October 2006 issue of Everyday Food for this recipe. It was so, so good. Really, I don't know how you could expect some veggies you just stick in the oven and practically ignore to come out so good, but I guess that's the miracle of fresh produce. Along with the grilled trout I made some whole wheat couscous. This meal was so filling, but so good and I was more than glad to eat a lunch of leftovers the next day.

Roasted Fall Vegetables
Recipes from Everyday Food; Serves 8

2 pounds (about 1 medium) butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
2 pounds red new potatoes (12 to 14), well scrubbed and quartered
1 pound medium red onions (about 2 to 3), peeled and quartered
1 pound carrots (6 to 8 medium), halved lengthwise, if thick, and cut into 1 1/2-inch lengths
4 to 6 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
3 tablespoons olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Divide vegetables and garlic between two rimmed baking sheets (or line with parchment paper, if desired, for easy cleanup); dividing evenly, toss with oil, 2 teaspoons coarse salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
Roast until vegetables are tender and beginning to brown, 40 to 50 minutes, tossing them and rotating sheets from top to bottom halfway through. Serve hot or at room temperature.

My notes: I halved this recipe, so I didn't have to bother with rotating sheets. And I had some mushrooms leftover from a recipe earlier in the week so halfway through, when I tossed the vegetables, I added them in too. The butternut squash was a pain to peel with my crappy peeler, but all was (almost) forgotten when I tasted the roasty golden chunks. This recipe used only half of the small butternut squash I bought, and I used the rest in a recipe last night that I'll be sharing soon.

Brussels Sprout Bust

2009-12-07T14:31:00.000-08:00

I guess maybe I shouldn't call it a bust. I mean, they were edible, didn't really taste bad at all. And in fact, Josh loved them, although I think the major factor in his opinion is that he really likes brussels sprouts and I had never, ever made them before. Truthfully, I'd never even eaten them before. Harvest month though made me think I should keep stretching my food boundaries, and not just in the grain category. So, when looking for something new to try I decided brussels sprouts would be a great treat for my husband. And I went whole-hog too, buying a big stalk of them. I figured that would be best way to get to know my new cruciferous friend. Trimming and cleaning them off the stalk was a little time consuming, but also very pleasant task. Now if I hadn't failed at the actually cooking of them things would have been a total win. But, I burned them. To be fair, they were supposed to be carmelized. I just did it a little too well, ha. I'm sharing the recipe anyway, because I figure if they tasted good burned, they must taste excellent when you don't burn them. :)

Carmelized Brussels Sprouts with Lemon
Recipe from Everyday Food: Serves 4

12 ounces Brussels sprouts, halved lengthwise, or quartered if large
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, plus lemon wedges, for serving

In a skillet, combine sprouts and 1/2 cup water; season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer over medium. Cover; cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the water has evaporated and sprouts are crisp-tender, 5 to 8 minutes (add cup more water if skillet becomes dry before sprouts are done).
Increase heat to medium-high; add oil to skillet. Continue to cook, uncovered, without stirring, until sprouts are golden brown on underside, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in lemon juice; season with salt and pepper. Serve with lemon wedges.

My Notes: It's that tidbit about not stirring that got me my burned sprouts. I say a stir or two might be helpful, ha. I also should have known that with my tempermental burner I probably should have turned the heat down a little lower than what they recommended. Oh well! We didn't starve. That's the important part, right?

Harvest Month- Cumin Polenta Stuffed Poblanos

2009-11-30T06:09:00.000-08:00

Here it is, the last day of November and my final Harvest Month recipe to share. This has been a fun experiment! The idea for this meal was sparked by a recipe I spotted while perusing a Better Homes & Gardens issue I inherited on a visit to Josh's grandmother. I've obviously used corn meal before, and used pre-made polenta, but never made my own. The recipe for Cumin Polenta called out to me and I almost immediately thought about filling some poblanos with it. A quick click using the Food Blog Search in my sidebar brought me Cara's Pumpkin Polenta & Manchego Stuffed Poblanos which helped fill in the rest of the picture the Cumin Polenta had started to form in my mind. I stuffed my peppers with the BHG polenta recipe, topped with Pepper Jack cheese, and followed Cara's lead by serving them over a black bean/tomato/chile ragout. Making this polenta wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it might be, and I'll definitely be trying some different recipes for it in the future.

Cumin Polenta Stuffed Poblanos
Serves 4

4 large poblano peppers
1 14 oz. cans reduced sodium chicken broth
2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup diced yellow onion
1 clove minced garlic
1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 10 oz. can diced tomatoes with green chilies
1/2 cup grated Pepper Jack cheese

Roast whole poblanos by your preferred method- stove, oven, grill, etc. I used the oven, and roast just long enough to soften, but not long enough to have to peel them.
Meanwhile, in a large heavy saucepan combine broth and cumin; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; gradually whisk in cornmeal. Cook and stir until thick, about 6 to 8 minutes. Whisk in milk and butter. Season with salt and pepper.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray an oven-proof skillet with lid with nonstick cooking spray and heat over medium-low heat. Cook the onions until soft, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more. Add the diced peppers with green chilies and the black beans, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer.
Carefully cut a slit into each pepper and scoop out all the seeds. Fill each pepper with polenta and place on top of the black bean mixture. Top each pepper with shredded cheese and cover the skillet. Bake for about 15-20 minutes.

My notes: This polenta doesn't really firm up enough to not escape from the poblanos, so next time I might not roast the peppers beforehand and instead just cut them in half and fill. And I realize my pepper-roasting instructions are a little vague- for the life of me I can't actually remember what I did. I mean, I know I roasted them in the oven, but I can't remember what temp or for how long. I really shouldn't wait so long to share recipes- this is what happens!

Harvest Month- Mushroom Risotto

2009-11-25T05:32:00.000-08:00

Trying to chose my third recipe for Harvest Month proved a little harder than the two previous attempts. I was having trouble narrowing it down to a choice and finding something that would really appeal to me. After noticing that mushrooms were on sale that week I started thinking about what I could make with them, figuring I'd decide on a grain recipe later. And then I came across this recipe from the April 2009 issue of Everyday Food. I'd never made a risotto before, and never cooked with a rice other than your typical long grain white or brown. Seemed like a good opportunity to try out Arborio rice and use some yummy, and cheap, mushrooms. This recipe was super easy for me, especially since it's not the usual risotto. This dish is prepared in the microwave, making it a cinch for weeknight meals when time is short and you need to be able to do things other than stand at the stove and baby-sit your dinner. And it's a good thing I liked it because Arborio rice ain't cheap. I look forward to trying out a "real" risotto soon, but this will do in a pinch.

Mushroom Risotto
Recipe from Everyday Food: Serves 4

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
10 ounces button mushrooms, trimmed and quartered
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 cup Arborio or long-grain rice
1 can (14.5 ounces) reduced-sodium chicken broth
3 garlic cloves, sliced
1/4 cup grated Parmesan

In a deep, 9-inch microwave-safe dish with a tight-fitting lid, combine butter and thyme. Microwave until butter has melted and thyme is fragrant, about 1 minute. Add mushrooms, and season with salt and pepper. Microwave until mushrooms have released their liquid, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
In the same dish, combine rice, broth, and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cover, and microwave 9 minutes. Stir in 2 cups water, and microwave until rice is tender, 9 minutes more.
Stir in mushroom mixture; microwave until risotto is heated through, about 2 minutes. Stir in Parmesan. (If risotto is too thick, add water as needed.)

My notes: Based on online recipe reviews I only added one cup of water, as opposed to two, and it came out great. For a nice vegetarian dinner I served the risotto with a side salad and some roasted broccoli.

Venison Shepherd's Pie

2009-11-19T05:55:00.000-08:00

A little break for the moment in Harvest Month. I've got photos of one HM meal, but not the recipe, and I've got the recipe for the other, but the photos aren't ready yet. So, in the meantime here is a non-harvest meal that came of my kitchen recently. Our friend Carrie was incredibly kind enough to deliver to us 2 pounds of ground venison, that she shot herself, when she came to our housewarming party. I decided I would use each pound individually so I could try more than one meal. I've already decided to make a chili with one pound, but first I decided to use a pound to try out a shepherd's pie. I couldn't quite settle on a recipe, so I used ideas from several different Martha Stewart/EF ones to come up with something. This meal was pretty good, but I'm not convinced that thyme was the right choice for the venison. We'll see how the chili goes when I get a chance to make it.

Venison Shepherd's Pie
Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart/Everyday Food; Serves 4-6

2 baking potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 pound ground venison
1 medium onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 box (10 ounces) frozen mixed vegetables (no need to thaw)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1/2 cup shredded sharp white cheddar

Preheat oven to 425. Place potatoes in a large saucepan, and cover by 1 inch with salted water. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer. Cook until potatoes are easily pierced with the tip of a paring knife, 15 to 20 minutes.
Heat a large (5-quart) heavy pot or Dutch oven over high. Cook venison, breaking up meat with a spoon, until no longer pink, 4 to 5 minutes. Add onion and garlic; cook until softened, about 4 minutes.
Add thyme, ketchup, and flour; stir until combined. Add 1/2 cup water and vegetables. Cook until vegetables are warmed through and liquid has thickened, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Drain potatoes; return to pan. Cook over medium, stirring, until liquid has evaporated and a thin film covers bottom of pan, about 1 minute. Remove pan from heat; add milk and butter. Mash until smooth; season with salt and pepper.
Spoon beef mixture into a 2-quart baking dish. Spread potatoes evenly over beef; using a fork, decorate potatoes with lines and peaks; sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheese. Place dish on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake until potatoes are lightly browned, about 20 minutes. Serve.

My notes: I unfortunately didn't have an onion when I made this recipe. I don't know how I overlooked that when making my grocery list, but oh well. I would definitely recommend using one though. Next time I think I'll forget the idea of cheese on the top, it seemed to prevent my top from browning much. Also, I didn't peel my potatoes. Call me crazy, but I love potato peel and it good for you, so I just mash it in with the potatoes. Thanks for the venison Carrie!

Harvest Month- Bulgur Salad

2009-11-10T08:27:00.000-08:00

Here's the second recipe I tried out for Harvest Month here at Small Time Cooks. Bulgur was the next grain I was interested in trying out, but I wasn't sure what kind of recipe I should go with. Naturally, I turned to my stand-by source, Everyday Food. I found this recipe for Bulgur Salad and decided it would probably be a pleasant side for some grilled fish. And it was pleasant enough. It wasn't really standout, but it was good. I might make it again, but I think I'll probably find another recipe to try out for the rest of the bulgur in my pantry. I'll be having the leftover salad for lunch, sprinkled with some feta. Cause feta makes everything better, right? That's the other thing- even though I halved this recipe for 4, I still had a lot of salad. Not sure what their idea of a serving size is for this, I know I had at least a cup at dinner.

Bulgur Salad
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4

5 1/4 ounces dried bulgur (1 cup)
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
1 small red onion, finely diced
1 cup (packed) chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper

In a large bowl, pour 1 cup boiling water over the bulgur. Cover with plastic wrap; let stand until water is absorbed, about 30 minutes.
Add cucumber, onion, parsley, garlic, lemon juice, oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; toss to combine. Serve warm, cold, or at room temperature. (To chill, cool, then refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 1 day.)

My notes: I'm sure my cuke and onion weren't chopped/diced small enough, but I tend to be lazy when it comes to dishes where size won't affect a cooking time. And I didn't peel my cucumber, because I hate to turn down and opportunity for more fiber.

Harvest Month- Greek-Style Quinoa Burgers

2009-11-03T10:46:00.000-08:00

I have had very little experience in cooking with the great variety of grains available for your pantry shelves. So a few weeks ago, while thinking about the next challenge I might present to myself once my self-imposed grocery budget was lifted, I thought that the fall season would be the perfect time to try out some of these different grains. Fall, harvest, grains- you get it. So, my goal for the month of November is to try one recipe a week that utilizes a grain that I have never cooked with before. And with that in mind I went searching for my first recipe while meal planning this weekend. I rather quickly found this recipe, which is from Martha Stewart's wholeliving . I recently had a more or less failed attempt at making baked falafel, so this recipe seemed like a good challenge in a slightly similar vein. And I had a much more successful attempt with this one. These came out so deliciously! They were also very easy to make and despite my concern that the burgers would not stay together through cooking I had no problems once I chilled them as the recipe suggested. Highly recommend these as a very filling vegetarian meal option. Quinoa is the member of the grain group with the highest amount of protein, so combined with the beans and an egg you definitely don't feel like you've missed out on anything during your meatless meal.

Greek-Style Quinoa Burgers
Recipe from Martha Stewart's wholeliving; Serves 4

1/2 cup rinsed quinoa
1 medium carrot, cut in large chunks
6 scallions, thinly sliced
15 oz. great northern beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup plain dried breadcrumbs
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon ground cumin
Coarse salt
Ground pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
4 pitas (each 6 inches)
1/2 English cucumber, thinly sliced diagonally

In a small saucepan, bring 3/4 cup water to a boil; add quinoa, cover, and reduce heat to low. Cook until liquid is absorbed, 12 to 14 minutes; set aside.
In a food processor, pulse carrot until finely chopped. Add cooked quinoa, half the scallions, beans, breadcrumbs, egg, cumin, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; pulse until combined but still slightly chunky.
Form mixture into four 3/4-inch-thick paties (dip hands in water to prevent sticking). If too soft, refrigerate 10 minutes to firm. In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium; cook burgers until browned and cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes per side.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice, and the remaining scallions; season with salt and pepper. Serve burgers in pita topped with cucumber and yogurt sauce.

My notes: I served this with a hastily thrown together greek salad, using some of the cucumber, a 1/4 of a red onion I had in the fridge, two seeded tomatoes, juice of half a lemon, drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of feta. Oh boy, I love Greek salad- even a hasty one! The tart dressing and salad, and salty feta were good compliments to the slightly spicy burgers. Wetting your hands when forming the patties and refrigerating them are both key, in my opinion, to getting these burgers ready for the pan. I definitely look forward to making these again.

The Incredible Shrinking Grocery Budget- 3rd Week

2009-10-26T16:18:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is- the last grocery week of the month for us. And this week we managed to keep the bill under $50 fairly easily. Even after two stores we hit total at $40.84. Although I realized I'll probably need to pick up some cat food sometime this week, so that will inch up a bit. We still have a little food leftover from the baby shower I hosted this weekend and once again a recipe carry-over from the week before. But I'm realizing that that meal might be put on hold again due to a change in plans for our upcoming weekend. Hmmmm. Anyway, in making this week's menu I relied on the rest of the Rosemary bread in the freezer, as well as some frozen bolognese sauce. This week also has two meals that use eggs, as I've been letting the eggs I buy go to waste lately and want to make sure I use up what I had to buy for some baby shower recipes. Relying on using up what we had and meals that use cheaper ingredients, some of which were on sale, I was able to plan a meal that I had to buy practically every ingredient for- the stuffed peppers. The most expensive ingredient for this recipe was the corn meal, which was a 5 pound bag and will last long beyond this one dinner. The rest of our shopping was comprised of our usual produce purchases, cereal, and Josh's favorite fig cookies. So, what are we eating this week?

-Rosemary French Toast w/ mushrooms & onions and salad
-Polenta-stuffed Poblanos w/ spicy black beans & tomatoes and salad
-Baked Eggs w/ mushrooms, onion & croutons and salad
-Bolognese Pie and salad

Think I'll postpone the manicotti (again). Josh and I decided that we haven't had enough together time lately so we plan to order pizza Friday night and get crumbs in the bed while we watch movies. :)

The Incredible Shrinking Grocery Budget- 2nd Week

2009-10-19T05:50:00.000-07:00

This week, once you take into account the body wash, wrist brace, and salad & sushi we grabbed for lunch, we only spent $50.87. This week's menu is built around leftover ingredients from the previous week's meals. I will use up the rest of the tortillas and cheese from our Spinach Quesadillas by making Zucchini Quesadillas this time. And I'll be trying out a new recipe to use up the rest of the spaghetti sauce that I originally bought for the Meatballs & Spaghetti dinner. The rest of the week's meals were decided on what I had in the pantry. I also took advantage of a couple of sales this week to stock up on some things. I bought 3 cans of tomato soup for $1.80, a favorite of mine and also an ingredient in my beef stew which I will no doubt be making soon as the weather turns cooler. And we bought nearly 2 dozen BIG apples, which were on sale for .99 cents a pound. Now we won't have to buy any apples next week! Salad ingredients, fruit, and pantry staples fill out the rest of the grocery purchases. So, between what we already had and this week's purchases we'll be having the following this week:

-Hamburgers w/ chili-roasted sweet potato wedges and salad (carry-over from last week)
-Zucchini quesadillas w/ black bean soup and salad
-Broccoli & cheese stuffed manicotti and salad
-Minestrone and salad
-Frozen pizza (very busy day prepping for baby shower this weekend)

The Incredible Shrinking Grocery Budget

2009-10-12T11:52:00.001-07:00

Well, well, well..... here I am. Again, taking forever to get around to posting something. And not even a recipe post at that. We are tightening our belts lately due to lots of unexpected and, to be perfectly honest a couple of unnecessary (but fun), expenses. This month we have a goal of keeping our weekly grocery bill under $50 to help offset some of this spending. We both take our breakfast and lunch on workdays, so that makes it a bit more of a challenge. However, the freezer is well stocked so I don't have to buy meat, and it's not quite time yet for holiday baking, making it a perfect time to cut back on the grocery budget. With that in mind I made the following menu for the week:

-Baked Potatoes & Salad
-Spinach Quesadillas w/ Black Beans & Salad
-Rosemary Meatballs w/ Pasta & Salad
-Steamed Veggies w/ Brown Rice & Salad
-Grilled Cheese & Chicken Noodle Soup
-Hamburgers & Chili-Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges

I already had the meatballs, ground beef, pasta, rice, sourdough bread, and cheese so none of those things had to be purchased. Working with what we had helped a lot- we spent $40 and some change this week. How much do you typically spend on your groceries? Have you come up with any new ways for keeping your food bill down?

L'il Smoky the Cheese Ball

2009-09-28T07:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. Josh has been out of town, I was planning our housewarming, we're about to go on vacation, yada yada yada. You know how it goes. But speaking of our housewarming I wanted to share a recipe that I made for it. I was just looking to do a general snack smorgasborg, so the menu went something like- assorted cheeses, pepperoni, assorted crackers, baguette slices, pita wedges, two types of hummus, assorted crudites, ranch dip, Ruffles, tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole, cold pesto pasta salad, pretzel nibs, mixed nuts, flavored potato chips, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and some cupcakes from Stephanie. The one new recipe I decided to try out for the party was Amy Sedaris's cheese ball, L'il Smoky. I loved the kitsch factor of a cheese ball, and I loved the quirkiness of it being an Amy Sedaris recipe. I did have to encourage people at first to give it a try, our generation not really having a large exposure to cheese balls. But once people gave it a shot it turned out to be the hit of the party. There was just a tiny little nub of cheese and nuts left at the end of the night. I'll definitely make this recipe again for future entertaining.

Amy Sedaris's L'il Smoky Cheese Ball

2 8 oz. packages cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups shredded smoked Gouda, room temperature
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tbsp. milk, cream, or half-and-half
2 tsp. A-l steak sauce
2 cups crushed walnuts or pecans
crackers for serving

Place Gouda, cream cheese, butter, milk, and steak sauce in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment; mix until well combined. Transfer mixture to refrigerator; let chill overnight.
Roll cheese mixture into a ball. Place nuts in a shallow dish. Roll cheese ball in nuts to fully coat. Serve with crackers. If preparing in advance remove ball from refrigerator 30 minutes before serving.

My notes: I made a half-size ball and it worked out well for our party of about 25-30 people. I served it surrounded by Wheat Thins, but it was just as good with the other crackers options on the table. The smoked Gouda and steak sauce combine to give it a great flavor. One of our vegetarian friends remarked that it tasted almost meaty, and I assured her that it was due to the cheese/sauce combo. No meat involved!

P.S. If you click the recipe title link you can watch a hilarious video of Amy on Martha Stewart making this cheese ball!

Photo via Martha Stewart

Black Bean Confetti Salsa

2009-09-13T12:37:00.000-07:00

Things have been very busy around these parts lately. Josh has been doing a lot of traveling on weekends and in the next two weeks we'll be having friends over to see the house for the first time and then going on vacation. New recipes have been trumped by finishing up projects, cleaning, and eating some of the reserves in the freezer. Last weekend though we managed to get away from all the chores for a Labor Day potluck. I decided to make use of the still reasonably priced summer produce and take Deb's Black Bean Confetti Salad, although I always eat it scooped up on tortilla chips so I call it a salsa. It's easy, colorful, delicious and can please just about any party-goer, be they carnivores, veggies, or vegans.

Black Bean Confetti Salsa
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen

2 15 ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed
4 bell peppers, a mix of colors, small dice
1 medium white onion, small dice
Juice from one lime
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon honey
1/8 teaspoon cayenne

Mix beans, bell peppers and white onion in a large bowl. In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk remaining ingredients into a vinaigrette. Pour over the bean mixture, toss it well and adjust seasonings to taste. Serve with your favorite tortilla chips.

My notes: This makes quite a bit. In fact, I ate it for lunch the rest of the week. Next time I think I'll halve the recipe and use the extra bell pepper for our lunch salads. But it's really good, and a nice break from heavy dishes that typically turn up at a potluck.

Bell Pepper Saute

2009-09-01T07:10:00.000-07:00

Really it seems a bit of a cheek to post this recipe. I mean, it's hardly a recipe and hardly requires any effort. But then again, that's what makes it so great so I might as well share it, right? I was planning on making our favorite Baked Black Bean Flautas for dinner one night and needed a side dish to pair with it. However, I was tired of the same old rice that I usually serve with it. That's when I remembered this idea and it seemed like a good match. And it was, although you'll have to take just my word for it. Josh isn't a huge bell pepper fan, so I ate this all on my own. he had some chips & salsa with his flautas instead. Worked out great for me though because I took the leftover bell peppers the next day and made a couple of veggie tacos by putting them in corn tortillas and topping with Pepper Jack and salsa. Two meals with minimal effort!

Bell Pepper Saute
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4

2 bell peppers, red, yellow, or both
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 small red onion, diced
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Remove seeds and ribs from peppers; cut lengthwise into strips and halve crosswise.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add bell peppers and onion; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until peppers are just tender, about 10 minutes.

Portobello and Zucchini Tacos

2009-08-24T05:59:00.000-07:00

As I've mentioned before, I've been clearing out some long time residents of my to-cook list in an attempt to find more non-meat meals to work into our dinner rotation. This was one more of those recipes that I kept skipping over. I think my main reason in passing it by was probably my lack of Portobello experience. But when they were on sale at Central Market recently I decided to finally give this recipe a try. This recipe was pretty good. It wasn't fantastic, but I think Josh and I were both comparing these to the also recently tried Black Eyed Pea Tacos which we loved. I'd consider trying this recipe again, maybe with some alterations. It was by no means bad, just not as great as the other taco recipes I've made. But it has gotten me over any Portobello nerves I had!

Portobello and Zucchini Tacos
Recipe from Everyday Foodl Serves 4

5 medium portobello mushrooms, stems and gills removed, sliced 1/2 inch thick
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper
4 medium zucchini, cut into 2-by-1/2-inch sticks
1 medium red onion, halved and sliced 1/4-inch thick
12 (4 1/2-inch) corn tortillas
6 ounces (1 cup) Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
1/2 cup fresh salsa

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss mushrooms with 1 teaspoon oregano, 1 tablespoon oil, and 1/4 cup water; season with salt and pepper. On another rimmed baking sheet, toss zucchini and onion with remaining teaspoon oregano and tablespoon oil; season with salt and pepper.
Place both sheets in oven. Roast, tossing occasionally, until vegetables are browned and fork-tender, 25 to 30 minutes (zucchini may cook faster than mushrooms).
Meanwhile, in a small skillet over medium-high heat, warm tortillas according to package instructions (they should be lightly browned but still soft). Wrap loosely in a clean kitchen towel to keep warm.
To serve, fill each tortilla with mushrooms, vegetable mixture, shredded cheese, and salsa.

My notes: I halved this recipe to serve just the two of us, but we still had a bit of leftover filling. I also used Pepper Jack cheese, cause I almost always have it in the refrigerator. I found I needed to cook the zucchini longer than the mushrooms, but I may have cut them thicker than I should have. Overall good, I would definitely recommend trying them. They just weren't the top taco filling for us.

Balsamic-Roasted Pearl Onions

2009-08-17T05:53:00.000-07:00

Josh and I agree on a lot of things, but sometimes there are some foods that just don't fall into that category. And for quite some time onions were one of those things that I loved and he couldn't care less for. But his taste has slowly been growing, and he's been widening the range of foods he enjoys. A few weeks ago when he declared that he liked those tiny onions I knew I had to take advantage of this new revelation. I had been dying to roast some onions for a long time, but never getting around to making them if it was only going to be me eating them. Shortly after he gave pearl onions the seal of approval I was looking for a side dish to make with some savory french toast. I saw this recipe and knew that my chance had finally come. To the oven!

Balsamic-Roasted Pearl Onions
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4

2 packages (10 ounces each) frozen pearl onions, thawed and patted dry, or 1 1/4 pounds fresh
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. If using fresh onions, soak them in warm water for 5 minutes to loosen skins; using a paring knife, cut off ends, and peel onions.
Toss onions with vinegar and oil on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet; season with salt and pepper. Roast until onions are tender, 25 to 30 minutes, stirring 2 or 3 times and rotating baking sheet halfway through.

My notes: I used frozen onions to make this an easier week night option. I think this was a great, easy recipe and Josh definitely approved. Now to push the boundaries a little and try more versions of roasted onions!

Black-Eyed Pea Tacos

2009-08-10T12:22:00.000-07:00

Does that sound odd to you? I know that Josh was definitely apprehensive when I told him what we'd be having for dinner the day this recipe was on the agenda. And to be honest I had been a bit skeptical myself. This recipe had been on my to-cook list for about two years, in part because every time it caught my eye I just thought that I wasn't feeling that...experimental. Of course, I probably should have known better because it is after all an Everyday Food recipe. Considering I cook almost exclusively from that branch of Martha's tree, why I was concerned it wouldn't work out I just don't know. But lately I've been more and more furtive in my search for vegetarian recipes to try. My list of recipes to try is increasingly populated with chicken and beef meals, awaiting to be crossed off due to the cut back in our meat purchasing. So, with the vegetarian recipes on the list dwindling each week I finally decided to give this one a go. We are no longer apprehensive. These tacos were really, really good. I mean, Josh told me several times that they were good. That's a big accomplishment for a meal, as half the time I have to ask him if he liked dinner. He assumes that I just know he likes what I make for him, but I like to hear him say it. This time his approval was loud and clear. :)

Black-Eyed Pea Tacos
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno chile, seeded and ribbed, minced
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 15.5 oz. cans black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
1 10 oz. package frozen corn
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
12 (6-inch) corn tortillas, heated
4 ounces soft goat cheese, crumbled shredded lettuce, salsa, and sliced radishes, for garnish (optional)

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and jalapeno; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until softened, 5 to 7 minutes.
Add peas, corn, and 2 cups water. Simmer over medium-high heat until corn is tender and most liquid has evaporated, 12 to 15 minutes. Stir in cilantro; season again with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.
To serve, fill heated tortillas with black-eyed pea mixture, goat cheese, and garnishes, as desired.

My notes: I halved this recipe to just make enough for the two of us. I served them with fresh salsa and a little feta on top, and cilantro-lime rice on the side.

Zucchini Links

2009-08-06T08:50:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but it's still zucchini season in these parts. And zucchini just happens to be one of my most favorite vegetables to cook with. I noticed that over the past month or so that some of the most visited recipes on this blog have been zucchini recipes, so I thought I would do a little list of links for some of my favorite zucchini recipes.

Zucchini Quesadillas- I love quesadillas, filled with warm cheesy goodness. These are my favorite take on quesadillas, especially with whole wheat tortillas which lend a bit of a nutty flavor to them. I like to serve these with cilantro lime rice or spicy black beans.

Penne with Zucchini & Feta- One of my favorite pasta dishes, the combination of the bright lemon juice and salty feta really punch up the pasta and zucchini combo.

Roasted Chicken Thighs with Zucchini and Couscous- An easy 5 ingredient recipe with a budget friendly protein choice.

Bolognese Pie- This is one of Josh's all-time favorite dinners. It uses extra bolognese sauce which I usually just pop in the freezer to make the pie at a later date, which makes it a pretty quick and easy dinner.

Zucchini Cupcakes- I made changes to the original recipe which resulted in more of a muffin-like treat, but if you topped it with the recommended cream cheese icing I'm sure things would swing right back into the cupcake column.

Cumin Rice and Beans

2009-08-03T05:43:00.000-07:00

I have been on a bit of a Mexican food kick lately. Well, I'm pretty much always in the mood for Mexican food, but I find that I crave it even more in the summer. I was planning on making a quick and easy dinner of Huevos Rancheros one night to use up some extra tortillas and eggs we had and I needed something just as quick and easy to serve on the side. I spied this recipe on my to-cook list and figured it might just fit the bill. And boy did it. There isn't anything particularly amazing about this recipe. It's just fast, easy, and tastes good. But sometimes that more than enough, isn't it?

Cumin Rice & Beans
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 8

Coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup long-grain white rice
1 can (19 ounces) kidney beans, rinsed and drained

In a medium saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, bring 1 1/2 cups salted water and cumin to a boil. Add rice; cover, and reduce to a simmer. Cook 15 minutes; remove pan from heat, and add beans. Cover, and let stand 1 minute. Fluff rice with a fork.

My notes: Tada! The only way it could be easier is if it came in a container and was passed to you through a drive-thru window, I think. Although, I'm not totally clear on why they think this serves 8 people. The recipe is part of an entire meal plan, but it's still hard to imagine splitting 1 cup of rice and 1 can of beans between 8. I think that 4 or 6 servings might be a little more reasonable.

More Baked Eggs

2009-07-27T07:19:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been trying to make sure that we eat less meat and also that I don't waste the rather expensive organic eggs we pick up at the store. To that end I decided to try another take on the Baked Eggs with Mushrooms, Onion, and Croutons that I made a month or two back. I was planning on making some roasted asparagus to go with the shark fillets that I just wrote about, so I reserved 10 stalks to use in place of the mushrooms. I decided to forgo the croutons this time and instead tossed a bit of feta in. And droooooool. It was so, so good. I know this picture isn't much to look at, but this was sincerely delicious. Blissful even, if you ask my taste buds.

Baked Eggs with Asparagus, Onion and Feta
Adapted from Everyday Food; Serves 2

2 eggs
10 stalks asparagus, cut into 1"-2" pieces
1/2 small white onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons cream
2 tablespoons feta
1 tablespoons butter, plus more for ramekins

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter four 8 oz. ramekins or custard cups. Set a kettle of water to boil.
Melt butter in skillet on medium. Add onion; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 3 minutes. Add asparagus and cook until onions have softened, about 3 minutes.
Dividing evenly, spoon onion and asparagus into ramekins, and top with feta. Gently break 1 egg into each ramekin (keeping yolk intact). Top each egg with 1 tablespoon cream, and season with salt and pepper. Place ramekins in an 8-inch square baking dish, and pour enough boiling water to come halfway up side of ramekins. Bake until whites are set, 15-18 minutes.
Carefully remove ramekins from water bath, and serve immediately.

Marinated Shark Fillets

2009-07-23T07:27:00.000-07:00

To be honest I don't know anything about shark. I know people buy shark steaks, but how are sharks caught? Is it a terrible, unsustainable practice? Our friend Chris was telling me this weekend that people cut the dorsal fins off sharks and throw them back in the water to die, just for making shark fin soup. That hardly sounds like a decent way to do things. So, let's be clear, just in case there is something disturbing and/or improper about consuming shark. My father-in-law caught this shark while fishing on the coast. We didn't spend exorbitant amounts of money on a brutally caught ingredient. (Is shark expensive? It seems like it would be.) And it wasn't a big majestic predator of the sea, but some little sharky who was fool enough to bite on his line. I'm not one to look a gift fish in the gills, so to speak, so I decided it was time to cook it up. I have never made shark before, and my father-in-law suggested grilling it. To make things a bit more interesting I went looking for a marinade for the fillets and had something with soy sauce in mind when I started my perusing. I ended up choosing a marinade from Everyday Food. What else, right? I went with this marinade mainly because it offered the option of substituting ground ginger for fresh. I like fresh ginger, but I so rarely use it that it seems wasteful to buy it. I'm sure fresh would make it better, but this was a good marinade all the same.

Marinade for Shark Fillets
Recipe from Everyday Food; enough for 2 pounds

1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup rice-wine vinegar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger or 1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons sugar

In a small bowl, whisk together rice vinegar, canola oil, soy sauce, ginger and sugar.
Pour marinade over fish and let sit for at least 1 hour.

My notes: I quartered the measurements for the marinade, since I only had two fillets. I soaked the fish overnight in the fridge, turned it in the morning, and then cooked it for dinner when I got home. I grilled it for a few minutes on each side in a grill pan, and served it with roasted asparagus and brown rice. Very tasty. Father-in-law is going to the coast in a few weeks, maybe I'll get lucky and he'll catch another shark!

Five in the Freezer

2009-07-21T10:12:00.000-07:00

You'll have to forgive me for not having anything yummy to show you just yet, I still have to upload pics I shot over the weekend. In the meantime though I thought I would share what I've been doing lately, which is emptying/restocking the freezer. We have meat we purchased in a small bulk amount and fish we received from some of Josh's dad's many successful trips to the river and the coast. I've been slowly cooking my way through the fish and trying to use the meat as efficiently as possible. Here is what I've made recently to restock the freezer for a rainy day, be it due to busy schedule or tight budget.

Meatloaf- My meatloaf recipe makes a loaf that serves six. Since there are just the two of us to feed in our house I molded my ingredients into three smaller loaves meant to make a single dinner for the both of us. Now, this does break my heart a little bit because I love meatloaf and this leaves no leftovers for the next day. But, on the other hand I have two ready to go loaves in the freezer, meaning I can eat meatloaf again soon and I get three portion-controlled meals out of my meat supply.

Vegetable Enchiladas- I love making these enchiladas because not only are they slightly healthier than your typical pan of mexican food, but they are delicious and takes so little effort or cost to have two trays worth. I use aluminum pans for my freezer batches and I always wrap it first in plastic wrap and then in aluminum foil to protect it well from freezer burn. I made these enchiladas Friday for guests and stocked the freezer as the same time.

Red and Black Bean Pie- Another one of my favorite meatless meals, this recipe was a freezable feature in an issue of Everyday Food. This recipe could be especially great for families where a family member gets home late, or for a single guy or gal who doesn't have a lot of time to cook for themselves in the evening, as it can be made in ramekins for individual servings. I typically cook mine in a deep pie plate and put my freezer batch in a 8" square aluminum pan, wrapping as I described above.

False Alarm Vegetable Chili- This is a recipe I came across very early in our attempt to start eating a bit healthier. I normally halve this recipe when I cook it since it's actually meant to feed a firehouse! But since I've been stocking the freezer up lately I decided to pull out my big stock pot and make a full batch. In fact, I just made it last night. We both had a hearty dinner, with enough for lunch leftovers, and two approximately 4 cup containers in the freezer. Each one of those should feed us a dinner and lunch again.

Bread- One of these things is not like the others, you might be saying to yourself. And you're perfectly right. Bread is hardly a recipe, nor is it a meal in and of itself to be popped out of the freezer for a fast dinner. However freezing bread is one of my favorite tricks for making sure I get my monies worth, and being able to whip something up at home instead of running out to grab fast food. I like the fresh and yummy breads I can get at Central Market. But the idea of eating an entire loaf of sourdough before it turns into a science experiment or letting it go to waste and throwing dough (both literally and figuratively) into the trash definitely doesn't appeal to me. So I experimented with freezing the bread and had great results. I pair slices of bread and wrap them in plastic wrap, then foil and then place the little packages in large freezer bags. I like to keep challah for making french toast, sourdough for grilled cheese, toast, or croutons and this week I bought some yummy rosemary bread to do some fun stuff with. When I unwrap slices to use I keep the plastic wrap and foil paired together in a drawer. Then when I buy my next loaf I can reuse it, which helps cut down on waste and save money.

Banana Blueberry Muffins

2009-07-16T07:12:00.000-07:00

The same weekend I made the Cinnamon-Oat Pancakes I had some over-ripe bananas and a pint of blueberries that needed to be put to good use. On the weekend I usually hate making dinner, but am more than happy to make breakfast since I don't have the opportunity to all week long. So, breakfast was the obvious use for the surplus fruit. I did some searching online and came across a recipe from Everyday Food that I thought would fit the bill perfectly. These muffins were in the January 2008 issue, but I apparently overlooked them. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of banana-flavored baked goods. Banana bread and I were never fast friends. But I needed to use these bananas up so I thought I'd give this recipe a go. These muffins were just sweet enough, and not too detrimental to your health thanks to the whole wheat and wheat germ. If you've got some bananas waiting to be used then I recommend you give these muffins a shot.

Healthy Banana-Blueberry Muffins
Recipe from Everyday Food; Makes 12

1 cup whole-wheat flour (spooned and leveled)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 ripe bananas (about 1 pound)
1/3 cup reduced-fat (2 percent) milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. In a bowl, whisk together flours, wheat germ, baking soda, and salt.
In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In another bowl, mash bananas with a fork (you should have 3/4 cup); stir in milk and vanilla.
With mixer on low, alternately add flour mixture and banana mixture to butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix just until combined. Fold in frozen blueberries.
Divide batter among muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 28 minutes, rotating pan halfway through. Let cool in pan 10 minutes; transfer muffins to a rack to cool 10 minutes more.

My notes: I used soy milk instead of 2%, and I used fresh blueberries since I had them. This recipe was printed in January, which I assume is why they used frozen.

Cinnamon-Oat Pancakes

2009-07-13T10:25:00.000-07:00

I like pancakes. I mean, I love pancakes. I probably think about them at least once a week. But I rarely make them. Pancakes always seem such a chore to me. They are one of those foods that just when I think I've got the process down pat I have a disastrous go round with them. And that happened this time around too, but luckily I was able to work through my frustration and had a delightful breakfast when all was said and done. The biggest problem this time around was the electric griddle that I typically use for making pancakes. I have just about decided to give that thing the heave-ho after this last experience, and get one of those griddles that goes on the stove burners instead. Once I switched over to a frying pan things went much smoother, although slower since I could only fit 2 pancakes in the pan at a time. I was intrigued with this pancake recipe when I saw it in the May issue of Everyday Food, but my general pancake apprehension caused me to repeatedly put off making them. I finally got to it on July 4th, and I'm glad that I did. Cause as I've mentioned, I love pancakes and these were good pancakes. They cooked up fluffy with a great flavor and texture from the oats. If you, like me, like pancakes, give these a flip.

Cinnamon-Oat Pancakes
Recipe from Everyday Food; Makes 20

2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups milk
2 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil, plus more for skillet

In a food processor, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and 1 cup oats and pulse a few times to coarsely grind oats. In a large bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, and oil. Add dry ingredients and 1 cup oats and whisk just until moistened.
Heat a large skillet (nonstick or cast-iron) or griddle over medium. Lightly oil skillet. Using 2 to 3 tablespoons for each pancake, drop batter in skillet and cook until a few bubbles have burst, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip pancakes and cook until browned on undersides, 1 to 2 minutes more. Repeat with more oil and batter.

My notes: I substituted half the all-purpose flour with some white whole wheat for a little bit of a healthier version. I also used soy milk for these. I came out with several more than they claim the recipe yields, but that was no problem since I now have another weekend breakfast awaiting us in the freezer. We had our pancakes with syrup, and EF suggested powdered sugar and bananas, but I think the cinnamon lends itself to lots of fruit options. I think peaches or apples, fresh or preserves, would both be quite nice with these.

No Heat Week Part 4- The Groceries

2009-07-08T06:12:00.001-07:00

I actually didn't make the last meal I had on the weekly menu when the A/C was on the fritz. They installed our brand new compressor halfway through that week, and instead of spending an evening cooking I tried to catch up on some of the chores that had fallen to the wayside to be replaced with laying in front of a fan. But for reference, the last meal I had on the plan was Tuna Salad Sandwiches, Potato Chips and a Salad.

In lieu of having a recipe for the last dinner of the No Heat week I thought I would share just what it was I bought at the grocery store that week to help us have plenty to eat without plenty to "cook". So, here's what I put in the shopping cart that week.

Orange juice
Organic lemonade
Izze blackberry soda
Red leaf lettuce, 1 head
Romaine lettuce, 1 head
Red onion
Carrots
Celery
Bell Peppers- red, yellow and green
Cucumbers
Baby spinach
Roma tomatoes
Avocados
Basil
Lemons
Apples
Peaches
Blackberries
Red grapes
Small watermelon
Bananas
Whole wheat pitas, 2 packages
Roasted red pepper hummus
Marinated olives
Fresh mozzarella
Organic salsa
Organic tortilla chips
Sea salt & cracked black pepper potato chips
Jalapeno potato chips
Strawberry fruit bars
Coconut fruit bars

And there you go. Lots of fresh fruits, vegetables, and a few ready to eat items helped ensure that we had plenty to eat- without having to create any additional heat with the stove or oven, or relying on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I got up early the morning after grocery shopping to clean and cut all the veggies during the coolest part of the day. I prepped all the lettuce for salad, per usual, and chopped carrots, celery, cucumber, and the bell peppers for adding to salads or snacking as crudites.

Have a Happy July 4th- with Blueberry Crumb Bars

2009-07-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

I wanted to quickly share this treat with everyone for the holiday weekend. If you're like a lot of people, and okay maybe like myself, you might be having a last minute look around for something to take to that picnic/barbecue/cookout/fireworks extravaganza that you've been invited to this Independence Day. Look no further. In fact, you don't really even have to stick around here if you don't want to, because this recipe originally comes courtesy of Deb at Smitten Kitchen. If you read that blog, then you have probably already made these. How could you not? Her pictures nearly endangered my laptop due to the excessive drooling that occurred on sight. And truth be told these things live up to their photographic image. This is in fact the third time I've made these bars and I'm just now sharing them with you. Can I help it if any thoughts other than eating them went out the window, resulting in no photographs being taken? This time around I made these to take with us to Concert In The Garden last weekend. You may recall that last year I made these Fresh Peach Drop Cookies. I was tempted to make those again, but since we were doing a Friday concert this year I needed something I could make the night before and have no doubt of it holding up well till the next evening. These bars fit the bill perfectly. So, if you're even still here reading this and not already over at Deb's page drooling, here's the recipe. Make these. For reals.

P.S.- Since these are made with fruit they make a completely acceptable breakfast with a cup of coffee. No arguing, they do.

Blueberry Crumb Bars
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen; Makes a 9 x 13 pan

1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cold butter (2 sticks), cubed
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of one lemon
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 pan.
In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or a pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan.
In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the berries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berries.
Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until the top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

My notes: I have used both frozen and fresh blueberries for this recipe and both worked just fine. This time around I halved the recipe and used an 8 x 8 pan and fresh local berries. I think the fresh berries hold their shape a little bit better through the baking than the frozen, but that is completely unimportant as far as the flavor goes so feel free to use what you've got. Happy Fourth of July!

No Heat Week Part 3- Bean, Corn, and Tortilla Salad

2009-07-01T06:28:00.000-07:00

This isn't the first time I'm sharing this recipe, but it makes repeated appearances in our kitchen. Thanks to it's beloved status in our hearts and stomachs it was a natural choice for our week of cooking as little as possible. This recipe does involve some heating, but it's all via the microwave which results in minimal heat created in the house and makes for a speedy meal too. And this salad is easily adapted to what you have on hand, as I'll share post-recipe. I didn't take a snapshot of dinner, so this picture is via Martha Stewart.

Bean, Corn, and Tortilla Salad
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4

1 can (15.5 ounces) pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 package (10 ounces) frozen corn kernels (2 cups)
1/4 cup prepared medium tomato salsa, plus more for serving
1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced (1 cup)
1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted, and cubed
3 plum tomatoes, thickly sliced
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 (12 ounces) romaine hearts, cut into bite-size pieces
3 cups (3 ounces) broken baked tortilla chips
3/4 cup coarsely grated pepper Jack cheese

In a medium microwave-safe bowl, combine beans, corn, and salsa. Microwave just until warmed through, 1 minute. Stir in scallions, avocado, and tomatoes; season with salt and pepper. Set bean mixture aside.
In a large bowl, toss lettuce and chips together. Divide evenly among plates; top with bean mixture and cheese. Serve immediately, topped with additional salsa, if desired.

My notes: After the two previous salads I was out of tomatoes, so I used some red and yellow bell peppers to add more color and crunch to the salad. You could use black beans or kidney beans instead of pinto, or even a mixture of two or more. Substitute red onion for scallions, perhaps Monterrey or Cheddar for the Pepper Jack. Or even queso fresco or blanco, both traditional Mexican cheeses. What do you have on hand? Because it will probably work with this salad.

No Heat Week Part 2- Greek Salad

2009-06-25T10:36:00.001-07:00

Another thing I relied on during our week without air conditioning was healthy prepared or ready to eat items from the grocery store. One night I paired store-bought roasted red pepper hummus, marinated olives, and whole wheat pitas with some fresh, summery crudites and a Greek salad I threw together. Not a smidge of "cooking" involved in this meal, but plenty of flavor all the same.

Fast Greek Salad
Recipe adapted from Everyday Food

2 plum tomatoes, seeded and chunked
1 small cucumber, seeded and chunked
1/2 red onion, cut into chunks
1/4-1/2 cup coarsely chopped parsley
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
coarse salt and ground pepper

Combine tomatoes, cucumber, onion and parsley in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together lemon juice and olive oil. Toss vegetables with dressing and cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

No Heat Week Part 1- Cold Pesto Pasta w/ Tomatoes and Mozzarella

2009-06-22T06:30:00.000-07:00

Recently we had the displeasure of discovering our air conditioning wasn't working properly, and upon inspection by our home warranty servicer, that we in fact needed an entirely new condensor. That is unfortunately not the kind of repair with a speedy turn around time. This situation rather inconveniently coincided with the increase in temperatures- it is indeed summer here in Texas. We used the windows when the heat wasn't severe, lots of fans, and kept almost all the lights off to cut down on creating any unnecessary heat. Once we had our "cooling" plan in place, my mind naturally turned to our cooking plan, ha. What exactly could we eat all week? I knew that it wouldn't take much cooking in that hot house before I'd pass out from heat stroke. So I came up with a week of food that required very little cooking. I guess the one bonus of it being summer is all the great fresh produce I could take advantage of. We usually eat salad with dinner each night, but this week I made them a bit bigger and added even more veggies in. This is the one recipe that really required any cooking, and as I suspected the mere boiling of a pot of pasta was borderline torturous! But the meal was delicious, so I suppose it was worth it. I based this recipe off the Caprese combo of basil, tomatoes and mozzarella- using the pesto my step mom-in-law generously shared with us.

Cold Pesto Pasta with Tomatoes and Mozzarella
Recipe by me

3/4 lb. rotini pasta
1 cup prepared pesto
2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
4 oz. fresh mozzarella, cubed

Prepare pasta according to package instructions. Drain pasta and rinse with cold water till cool to touch.
Toss pasta with pesto, tomato and mozzarella. Season with coarse salt and ground pepper. Chill in refrigerator for at least 15 minutes. Serve.

Pot Sticker Dinner

2009-06-15T09:04:00.000-07:00

After getting a bag full of sugar snap peas from my pop-in-law's garden I was thinking about what I'd like to use them for when I remembered a recipe I had torn our of an issue of Real Simple. I decided this would be a good time to give it a shot, but ended up using the recipe as more of a jumping-off point for putting together something more my own. Real Simple's recipe called for several ingredients I didn't have on hand, so I just worked with what I had and really enjoyed the outcome.

Pot Sticker Dinner
Adapted from Real Simple; Serves 2

6 frozen pot stickers (I used chicken)
2 cups sugar snap peas, trimmed
2 cups fresh broccoli florets
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 red bell pepper, in strips
2 servings of brown rice
1 scallion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup soy sauce
Fresh ginger, peeled and grated

Prepare rice per package instructions.
Meanwhile fill a large saucepan with 1 inch of water and fit with a steamer basket (or fill a large skillet with 1/2 inch of water). Bring the water to a boil. Place the pot stickers in the basket (or skillet), cover, and steam for 4 minutes.
Add the snap peas, carrots, bell pepper, and broccoli cover, and steam until the pot stickers are cooked through and the vegetables are tender, 4 to 6 minutes.
In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce and fresh ginger to taste. Toss the pot stickers and vegetables with the sauce. Divide the brown rice among bowls/plates and top with the pot stickers and vegetables.

Stuffs

2009-06-11T08:23:00.000-07:00

I've been so busy editing pics from the DC trip, wedding and my sister's graduation that I haven't had any time to fix up some of the food pics I've got in my queue. But stuff is coming- I swear. And I'm really looking forward to more cooking this summer. Is there anything quite as wonderful as summer produce? It's still a bit early yet, but just this week I've had zucchini, yellow squash, peaches and cherries. Heaven! We've got plans for a nice dinner on our deck this weekend which I will most definitely document, and I've already got ideas swirling around in my head for our planned outing to the Concerts In The Garden for this year.

Also I am super excited about a new food-related blog on the block. I think it's pretty fair to say that I have a bit of a blog crush on Joslyn at Simple Lovely. I often find myself quite envious of her style. And she has just started a second blog, Raising Foodies, to document the task of opening up the food world to her two darling daughters. I'm definitely looking forward to keeping up with their new adventure.

Roasted Broccoli

2009-05-25T09:05:00.000-07:00

Happy Memorial Day. I wanted to make sure I got one more post up before we leave for our vacation tomorrow morning. This is a fantastic recipe I stumbled across while looking for a way to use up some leftover broccoli. It is an Ina Garten recipe, so you know that it is good, that I found by way of The Amateur Gourmet. He was practically shouting from the rooftops about this broccoli, so I figured it was definitely worth a shot. I made this as an accompaniment to some grilled trout, caught fresh by my father-in-law, along with some rosemary roasted potatoes. This was one heck of a weeknight meal- super simple, but really enjoyable. Josh went on and on about the broccoli, mentioning to people days later. We both liked it so much I made it again the following week. This is definitely a keeper.

Roasted Broccoli
Recipe from Ina Garten via Amateur Gourmet

4 to 5 pounds of broccoli, washed and thoroughly dried, cut into florets
5 tablespoons olive oil, plus 1.5 tablespoons more
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
3 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons julienned fresh basil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
On a baking sheet, toss broccoli with olive oil, salt and pepper. Add garlic and toss again.
Roast for 20-25 minutes, until tips of some florets are starting to brown.
Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, additional olive oil, pine nuts, parmesan cheese and basil. Toss and serve.

My notes: I've given Ina's measurements, ingredients and amounts here, but I followed Adam's version more closely; leaving out the pine nuts and basil. Also, I had far less broccoli than the original recipe calls for so I just eyeballed my olive oil, salt, pepper. I skipped the lemon zest and additional olive oil, and just gave a good squeeze over all the broccoli with half a lemon. I grated the Parmesan over the broccoli till it looked like enough. I can only imagine how good this must be if you go all out, since this half-finished version was so darn delicious.

Granola Bars: Fail

2009-05-19T10:27:00.000-07:00

When we were working on the house all the time, but hadn't moved in just yet, we made sure to keep a stock of quick and easy eats in the pantry. That included some granola bars that were no doubt not great for me, but very delicious all the same. I figured that I could surely recreate something similar and a quick Google search turned up a recipe for granola bars from Alton Brown. I decided to give it a go, with a couple of changes. The granola was delicious, but refused to remain in bar form. I don't know if I just didn't press it into the pan hard enough, or if I did something else to cause the poor results. It's not that big of a problem though, since this granola makes a great breakfast with a bit of soy milk. Yum! I'll definitely make it again, maybe give the bar thing another shot. If it doesn't work I won't be too upset. I'll just have a few great mornings ahead of me!

Granola Bars
Recipe from Alton Brown via Food Network; Makes 16 2" bars

2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 ounce unsalted butter, plus extra for pan
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 1/2 ounces chopped dried fruit, any combination of apricots, cherries or blueberries

Butter a 9 by 9-inch glass baking dish and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
Spread the oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, and wheat germ onto a half-sheet pan. Place in the oven and toast for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
In the meantime, combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, extract and salt in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook until the brown sugar has completely dissolved.
Once the oat mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce the heat to 300 degrees F. Immediately add the oat mixture to the liquid mixture, add the dried fruit, and stir to combine. Turn mixture out into the prepared baking dish and press down, evenly distributing the mixture in the dish and place in the oven to bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

My notes: I was doing some other stuff in the kitchen at the same time, so I wasn't quite "immediate" with mixing the oat and liquid mixtures. Perhaps therein lies my problem. I bought toasted wheat germ, so I added it to the mixture post-toasting of the other ingredients. And for dried fruit I used apples and cranberries to recreate some of the flavor of the bars that inspired me in the first place.

More Mushrooms

2009-05-13T07:12:00.001-07:00

Alright, this is the last mushroom recipe.....for now. Seriously, I'm kind of in love with them lately. And, there are mushrooms growing in my front yard now. Not the edible kind, in fact probably poisonous or something, but still. They seem to have really worked their way into my life, ha. Clearly I can't just write about mushrooms though- talk about a niche! But I do need to share this one last fungi recipe with you. This has been on my to-cook list for a seriously long time. This recipe was one of the reader submissions in the October 2007 issue of Everyday Food. If you don't have this issue you should look on eBay, or order a back issue, something. That is my favorite issue of EF (should a person have a favorite issue? Oh well, I do.) I've gotten a lot of great recipes out of that month's magazine, and there's still a lot in it that I haven't made yet. This recipe finally jumped from the to-cook to the gobbled up column last week though. With a nice salad, and maybe glass of wine and a little fruit for dessert you have such a lovely meal! The original recipe did not include mushrooms, so some alterations had to be made.

Baked Eggs with Mushrooms, Onions and Croutons
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for ramekins
3 slices white sandwhich bread, cut into small cubes
coarse salt & pepper
1 small onion, thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
4 large eggs
¼ cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter four 8 oz. ramekins or custard cups. Set a kettle of water to boil.
Meanwhile, in a medium skillet, heat 2 tablespoons butter over medium-low. Add bread; cook, tossing occasionally, until lightly browned, 6-8 minutes. Season with salt & pepper, and transfer to a bowl; reserve skillet.
Melt remaining tablespoons butter in skillet on medium. Add onion; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3-5 minutes.
Dividing evenly, spoon onion into ramekins, and top with croutons. Gently break 1 egg into each ramekin (keeping yolk intact). Top each egg with 1 tablespoon cream, and season with salt and pepper. Place ramekins in an 8-inch square baking dish, and pour enough boiling water to come halfway up side of ramekins. Bake until whites are set, 15-18 minutes.
Carefully remove ramekins from water bath, and serve immediately.

My notes: I added a cup of sliced mushrooms, which I just tossed into the skillet with the onions. Also I decreased the onion by 1/2, and used 2 small slices sourdough bread for my croutons. I was only making 2 servings in my 10 oz. ramekins, so I used 1 tablespoon of cream per cup.

Balsamic Mushrooms

2009-05-04T10:54:00.000-07:00

It may seem I have gone a bit mushroom crazy lately, but these recipes haven't been prepared as close together as they are being posted. That said, I have a meal with mushrooms on the menu this week, so perhaps I have gone a little mad cap. Get it? Cap, mushroom, mushrooms have caps. Alright, I'll reign in my attempts at humor and just tell you about this delicious recipe. Way back in January Josh had himself a birthday, and I wanted to make him a little something special. Can you believe that I had never made him a birthday meal before? We always have a lot of family dinners to celebrate, so I'd never really had the opportunity. This year though I really wanted to put something together. I wasn't looking for the hardest or fanciest recipe. Josh isn't a foodie frou-frou, he just likes stuff that tastes good. I roasted a pork loin that came pre-stuffed with mild Italian sausage (ohmygodsogood), and roasted up some asparagus along with it since we're both a big fan of that. I didn't really want to make a dessert for him (did I mention we closed on our house just two days after his birthday?), so I picked up some of our favorite Tiramisu from Central Market. Don't worry, we put a candle in it. So, now that you know about all the rest of the meal, here's the side that became the show-stopper. This recipe had been on the to-cook list for a while. It comes from the June 2007 issue of Living, but I stumbled across it online and had printed it out for future use. I thought it would be just the thing, especially since I could make it on the stove top since I already had so much else going into the oven. These mushrooms cook up really fast, and they are just as good at room temperature as they are fresh from the stove. I think that is a great trait for a good side dish to have; I am not always the best at planning my kitchen timeline. Well, I'll stop rattling on and just share the recipe already so you can give it a shot sometime soon.

Balsamic Mushrooms
Recipe from Martha Stewart Living; Serves 4

1/4 cup olive oil
12 ounces white mushrooms, halved (quartered if large)
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
Freshly ground pepper

Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in vinegar, salt, and red-pepper flakes, and season with pepper. Cook 1 minute more. Transfer to a bowl, and serve.

Herbed Mushroom Custards

2009-04-29T12:32:00.000-07:00

A quick perusal of my computer turned up a few recipes that I hadn't shared before my blog hiatus. As soon as I saw this recipe in the December issue of Everyday Food I knew I had to make it. It looked so good! I had larger ramekins than the recipe called for, so I made 4 instead of 8. And I was a little low on the mushroom count, but regardless the recipe was delicious and I'm sure will be even better when I have more mushrooms the next time I make it. This is one of those recipes that is so easily elegant. The individual serving size and creamy flavor make it seem like much more effort than it really is and would be wonderful for entertaining. I know I'll definitely use it for a future dinner with friends.

Herbed Mushroom Custards
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 8

4 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 pounds mixed mushrooms (such as button, crimini, and shiitake), trimmed and thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup heavy cream
1 large egg
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms begin to brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool slightly.
In a large bowl, whisk together cream, egg, parsley, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Stir in mushrooms, and divide among eight 6-ounce ramekins.
Line a roasting pan (just large enough to hold ramekins) with a dish towel; place ramekins on towel. Transfer to oven, and pour enough boiling water in pan to come halfway up sides of ramekins. Bake until custards are just set, about 30 minutes. Carefully remove ramekins from water.

My notes: As I mentioned, I was low on mushrooms, so next time they won't be quite as yellow. There'll be more delicious brown jewels in there. :) I can't remember what else I served this with off the top of my head, but if I can find it in my notebooks I'll add that here.

The New Pantry

2009-04-24T10:41:00.000-07:00

When we bought the house it had your average pantry, typical of most older houses. It was also pretty darn gross. Something, which went unidentified, had been spilled (exploded?) on the shelves and seeped into the wall. That stain even remains after three coats of Killz primer, so it's a real mystery to me what that substance was. But I digress- the point was it was gross and a general cleaning wasn't going to solve anything. This little project was done almost entirely by yours truly. I took the shelves out and removed the slats from the walls that were holding them up. Then I had to sand down some of the paint and muck that had surrounded the slats, clean all that mess up, and fill in the nail holes. Once that was done I painted two coats of primer (and a third over the mystery spot). After the primer I was planning on trying to paint it with some leftover color from the hallway- however I realized that painting a 36" x 36" square box was incredibly uncomfortable. And there was also some question as to how much paint I had versus how much I'd need. So the pantry remains a lovely shade of primer, ha. And I'm fine with that. At this point in the project I brought in my lovely husband to help install the Elfa shelving we bought for the new pantry. He screwed in the top bar for me, and then I put all the shelves up. While I did that Josh put together the cart. And then all that was left was to fill our pantry with all our food! The end result is a much more usable space. With the ventilated shelves the light can filter through, which means no more strange things lurking in the dark corners of your pantry. No mystery cans popping up here! And don't worry, I spared you a close up of the stain. I utilized an Elfa cart to store our snack foods and the microwave. I didn't want that big thing taking up any of my new counter space. An added bonus is that we haven't used the microwave yet since we've moved in!

As far as organizing the items in the pantry I've got a shelf for baking supplies, one for canned goods, and one for pastas and grains. We store our chips and bread in the cart's large basket and smaller things like granola bars in the shallow drawer. At the top you might just spy a couple of bottles of wine and liquor. Not sure if that will be it's final resting place, but it works well enough for now. Here is a closer look at the shelves. You can also spy some of the fresh ingredients that are best stored in a cool, dry place. This week it was sweet potatoes, an avocado and a tomato.

The New Kitchen

2009-04-21T07:51:00.000-07:00

Setting up my new kitchen was a pretty exciting adventure. Since we had plenty of time before we actually moved in I was able to mull over where I would like to put everything. I tried to be logical about my use of the space, placing things close to where I would most likely use them in the space. There are still some things to be done(I still need to create a solution for spice storage, actually hang my hanging baskets), and I'm sure as I begin to work more and more in here that some necessary adjustments will become obvious, but for now this is where we stand.

This is a general outline of how I've organized my kitchen cabinets.

To the right of the cooktop I set up my prep area. I have my cooking utensils, knives and cutting board set up for easy access while cooking. In the cabinet above I will store my spices and currently store my cooking oils, vinegars, the plastic cutting boards that I use for meats, and other prep work tools like my cheese graters and mandoline slicer. In the drawers beneath this area are my less frequently used knives, measuring spoons, vegetable peeler, zester, etc.

This is my mixing area and also where I keep our dishes. I originally planned on storing our dishes above the dishwasher, but the upper cabinets aren't deep enough for our large dinner plates. So instead I arranged our smaller salad plates and bowls in the upper left cabinets and the large dinner plates in the lower left cabinet. These cabinets are still definitely within easy reach of the dishwasher though. The rest of the upper cabinets contain the glass and Corningware serveware and my mixing bowls, measuring cups, etc. I keep my mixer on the counter top for easier access, much easier than it's apartment space- the top of the refrigerator! In the lower cabinets, beside the dinner plates, I store appliances like the slow cooker, blender, and toaster.

This slightly disheveled area is where we keep the coffee stuffs, on a tray to help prevent staining our white counter top & grout. The upper cabinets are filled with our glassware and cups and saucers. I split up our dinnerware this way because it made more sense to me to keep things where they would be used. The lower cabinets are mainly filled with Tupperware and food storage supplies. This area is next to the refrigerator, so it seemed like a logical space for the leftovers tools.

Cooking in this new space has so far been pretty easy. Every space has pluses and minuses- for instance my new oven is smaller than my old one. But this smaller oven also has a window and oven light. I don't have to open the door to check on stuff- which saves me cooking time and energy. It's a give and take with everything I guess, but so far I'm getting a lot more enjoyment out of this kitchen. Soon I'll share my new pantry with you!

Coconut-Pineapple Loaf Cake

2009-04-14T07:56:00.000-07:00

Well, things are still progressing slowly at the house but I had some good motivation to give my new kitchen a work out recently. I signed up to make a dinner for Josh's boss during her recovery from surgery and I of course wanted to go all out. You gotta impress the husband's boss, right? I wanted to make something that felt fresh and healthy to help cheer her up and help her on the road to wellness, and since I would be making the same meal for us I wanted to make sure it was something we love too. I know the family enjoys Mexican food, so I made a batch of my favorite guacamole, some cilantro-lime rice and a big pan of vegetable enchiladas. I decided I'd like to make something for dessert too and settled on this Everyday Food cake that I'd had on my to-bake list. We still don't have permanent internet at the house, so uploading pics is not something I can get around to yet. I was too busy cooking to take pics anyway. Photo via Martha Stewart.

Coconut-Pineapple Loaf Cake
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 10

1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 can (20 ounces) pineapple chunks in juice, drained well

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread coconut on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until lightly toasted, tossing occasionally, 6 to 10 minutes; set aside. Butter and flour a 9-by-5-inch (8-cup) loaf pan; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce speed to low, and alternately add flour mixture in three parts and sour cream in two, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix just until combined (do not overmix).
Using a rubber spatula, fold pineapple and 1 cup coconut into batter. Spoon into prepared pan, and smooth top; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup coconut. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 65 to 70 minutes (cover pan with foil halfway through). Let cake cool in pan 15 minutes. Remove from pan, and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

My notes: I added 1 teaspoon of vanilla and used a can of pineapple "tidbits", which are smaller than chunks but larger than crushed. I think the slightly smaller pieces of pineapple made the loaf easier to cut. Also, I cooked my cake about 75 minutes after reading several reviews on Martha's website about undercooked results. This cake was really delicious and the flavors worked well together without anything being too dominant. I think I'll definitely make this again.

Soon, I Hope

2009-03-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

If you'd be so kind to take a gander to the right, you'll see that I have once again listed a menu for the week. Things are far from being "normal" around here, but I'm starting back to cooking with some of the easiest recipes from my repertoire. Then it should be just a hop, skip and a jump to getting to all the stuff on my to-cook list, meaning I'll finally have some new things to share. Slowly, but surely, I'll get there. Also, we don't yet have interwebs at the house, so we gotta fix that too, ha.

Easy Entertaining with Proscuitto-Wrapped Chicken

2009-02-26T07:49:00.000-08:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah- I know. I'm still being lazy about posting. But it's not general laziness, I've just been far busier in other places than the kitchen. But I am very much looking forward to getting back to lots of cooking when I'm finally set up in my new kitchen at the house. In the meantime, here's a recipe I made back in January that I can share with you. Josh was a very busy guy during that month, and there were a lot of nights where I only had myself to cook for. Sometimes I wouldn't bother to go to the effort of making a meal, but I did take the opportunity to try out this "Cooking for One" recipe from Everyday Food one night. This recipe was so simple and fast, not to mention delicious, that I quickly realized how great it would be for entertaining. Just multiply your ingredients by the number of guests and you're ready to go.

Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken Breast
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 1

1 teaspoons olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast half
3 thin slices prosciutto
Lemon wedge, for serving

Heat broiler of toaster oven (or oven). Season chicken with salt and pepper; wrap with prosciutto. Place chicken, seam side down, on baking sheet; rub with remaining teaspoon oil.
Broil until chicken is opaque throughout, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve with a lemon wedge.

My notes: The side dish was included in this recipe, green beans that you broil along side the chicken. Mine came out inedibly burned to a crisp. Hence the cropped photo and edited recipe. If you'd like to give the green beans a shot, Everyday Food tells you to toss about 4 oz. green beans, ends trimmed, with 1 teaspoon olive oil, salt and pepper. Just pop on one half of your baking sheet, opposite the chicken breast. And good luck, cause my chicken was perfect, but my green beans had a trash can burial.

Still Behind

2009-02-03T07:20:00.000-08:00

Remember Christmas? You know, that big holiday that was over a month ago? Yeah, I still haven't posted what we did for Christmas breakfast. Better late than never. I guess. We were in such a hurry to get to the presents that we just tucked in to breakfast and I didn't even take a picture of the table set up. I did manage to shoot a quick pic before I put the goodies in the oven to warm though. I made my usual Sweet & Spicy Bacon- that's a requirement according to my brother and his wife. Additionally I made cheap, fast and easy sausage rolls- no real recipe there, refrigerated crescent rolls, shredded cheese and small smoked sausages. Voila! And then for the sweeter side of the menu I made Deb's Whole Wheat Apple Muffins. On half of them I added a topping, and the other half I left plain to avoid possible allergens for my niece.

Whole Wheat Apple Muffins
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen; Makes about 16

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup buttermilk or yogurt
2 large apples, peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Grease and flour a muffin tin and set aside.
Mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, and set aside. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and add the granulated sugar and 1/4 cup of the brown sugar. Beat until fluffy. Add the egg and mix well; stop once to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.Mix in the buttermilk gently. (If you over-mix, the buttermilk will cause the mixture to curdle.) Stir in the dry ingredients and fold in the apple chunks.
Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, sprinkling the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar on top. Bake for 10 minutes, turn the heat down to 400 degrees, and bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool the muffins for 5 minutes in the tin, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

My notes: I used buttermilk, and don't worry about the curdling. I mixed it in the first time like I was folding clouds into the batter and it still curdled. Everything comes back together when you add the dry ingredients, so it doesn't really make a difference how gentle you are. I skipped the brown sugar on the plain muffins because I didn't really want to coat my niece's muffins in sugar. The topping for the other muffins is comprised of butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and chopped pecans- basically a version of what I did for the Peach Muffins but with more oats and pecans. Since I wasn't doing the brown sugar topping I simple cooked the muffins at 400 degrees for 17-20 minutes. Much easier than me remembering to turn the temp down. Because I just wouldn't remember, ha.

Playing Catch Up

2009-01-14T05:30:00.001-08:00

So, it's not like I've been gone for a while. Oh wait, it is? Well, it's not like I completely overlooked all of the cooking I did during the holidays. What's that you say? That is exactly what I did? I see. Well, I have a feeling you'll forgive me. If you just make the recipe I'll be sharing with you now. I made this cookie, along with Espresso Double-Chocolate Chunk Cookies and Cheesecake Cookies, for my family's Thanksgiving gathering. I am most definitely not the first person to share this cookie recipe with you. It is the infamous chocolate chip cookie recipe that appeared in the New York Times. Molly has made it, Deb has made it, and the list could go on and on. The recipe, while not terribly hard, does require some effort and ingredients that I don't usually keep on hand. So, here's my somewhat dumbed-down version. Trust me when I tell you that these cookies, even in their remedial form, rock. And they aren't as overly fancy or fussy as the original recipe would suggest. My uncle gave me on of the best compliments I could probably receive- he said they tasted just like my grandmother had made them.

NYT Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe from David Leite in the NYT, Adapted by Moi

3 2/3 cups, minus 2 tablespoons, all purpose flour
1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons coarse salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1/2 stick salted butter, softened
1 ¼ cups light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ¼ pounds bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks, preferably about 60% cacao content, such as Ghiradelli

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Whisk well; then set aside.
Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butters and sugars until very light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Reduce the mixer speed to low; then add dry ingredients, and mix until just combined. Add the chocolate chips, and mix briefly to incorporate. Press plastic wrap against the dough, and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. The dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F. Remove the bowl of dough from the refrigerator, and allow it to soften slightly, about 30 minutes. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat.
Scoop about 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of dough onto the baking sheet, making sure to space them evenly. Bake until golden brown but still soft, 9 to 11 minutes. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then transfer the cookies onto the rack to cool a bit more.

My notes: You can view the original recipe through either of the links I posted in the paragraph above, but this recipe is my adapted version. My changes include using all-purpose flour, a mixture of salted and unsalted butter, Ghiradelli chocolate chips, and baking smaller cookies. The original recipe calls for baking 1/3 cup of dough and makes about 24 cookies. I made mine smaller and got somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 dozen. I baked 2 dozen for Thanksgiving, a few more the next day, and I froze a big ball of dough for later. I baked that a few weeks ago and it made a dozen more. To freeze I double-wrapped the dough in plastic wrap and then put it in a large freezer bag. I thawed it overnight in the fridge and let it sit out for about 30 minutes again.

Keeping Healthy and Warm

2008-12-22T12:56:00.000-08:00

I was planning on making Huevos Rancheros tonight, and I might still. But last night I dreamed I was sick. I've definitely been feeling run down, especially right now after the long, busy weekend. I'm starting to get paranoid about impending illness, so I might just make this soup instead. A few weeks ago I was planning on making this recipe. However it got shuffled to the end of the week and by then the collard greens I had were half wilted. Considering that I'd only bought half the greens the recipe called for in the beginning I was going to have to make some adjustments if I still wanted some soup for dinner. So, I looked over the Classic Minestrone recipe from my October 2008 issue of Everyday Food and made my own mish-mash of the two soups with what I had in my pantry and fridge. I thought it came out great and Josh liked it better than the original recipe so I think it's a keeper for us. And with all the good-for-me veggies in it I'm thinking it might be just the thing to fend off an (imaginary?) cold.

Minestrone Mine
Adapted from Everyday Food; Serves 4-6

Olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 pound collard greens, stalks removed, leaves coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 cans great northern beans
1 can diced tomatoes in juice
Frozen french cut green beans

In a large pot, heat oil over medium. Add onion, carrots, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion begins to turn golden, 5 to 8 minutes.
Add tomato paste, and cook, stirring, until onion is coated, about 30 seconds. Add collard greens, thyme, and red-pepper flakes. Cook, stirring, until collards start to wilt, 2 to 4 minutes.
Place 1/4 of beans in a bowl, and mash them with the back of a spoon (this will help thicken soup). Add all the beans to the pan, as well as tomatoes with juice and 4 cups water. Bring to a boil.
Stir in green beans. Reduce to a simmer, and cook until all the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper; serve with grated Parmesan, if desired.

My notes: I had a 16 oz. bag of frozen green beans and I just dumped some in. You could do the exact same or use a 10 oz. box. Can't really mess this yummy soup up. Everyday Food had a list of substitution and addition ideas as well.

Easy Entertaining with Beef Bourguignonne

2008-12-10T05:26:00.000-08:00

I realize that I took my little blog vacation, said I was back, posted two entries and then promptly disappeared again. We've been so busy with house-hunting, family holidays, and Josh's shows that I've either not been cooking at all or I've been making fast, familiar recipes. However, just because a recipe is fast doesn't mean it can't impress. I recently tried this recipe I'd pulled from my February 2008 Real Simple. You may be familiar with their "Fake It, Don't Make It" recipes usually in each issue, and this is one of them. This meal was so easy and so quick, and on top of that so delicious. This would be a great recipe for having friends over during the holidays, like we all so often do. Of course half our friends are vegetarian, so you'd need to make sure you've got the right crowd for this dinner. I served it over egg noodles and it was seriously fantastic. Since we were all on our lonesome the night I made it I froze the extra two servings and it was still just as good when we had that a month later. Serve it with a fresh salad and some good bread and you'll be ready to go.

Quick Beef Bourguignonne
Recipe from Real Simple; Serves 4

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/4 pounds sirloin steak, cut into 1-inch pieces
Kosher salt and pepper
1 10 ounce package sliced mushrooms
1 16 ounce package frozen pearl onions
2 cups red wine
1 10.75-ounce can Campbell's Golden Mushroom soup
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped (optional)

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
Season the steak with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer the steak to a bowl and set aside.
Add the mushrooms and onions to the pan and cook until the liquid has evaporated. Add the wine and simmer until reduced by half, 5 to 6 minutes. Stir in the soup and 1/4 cup water and bring to a boil. Add the steak and juices from the bowl and simmer, 2 minutes.
Divide into individual bowls and sprinkle with the parsley, if using.

My notes: I used a relatively cheap Cabernet Sauvignon for this recipe and it was really good. I don't know anything about wine, but I found the recipe had enough other flavors going on in it that I could drink the same wine with my meal without it being too much. I left out the parsley, since this dinner was just for us and I saw no use in buying a whole bunch of parsley just to sprinkle on this one meal. However, for entertaining I would definitely use it to help break up the brownness of the dish. Not the prettiest picture, I realize, but I was in a hurry. Afterall, I got to eat it when I was done!

Cuban Black Beans and Rice

2008-11-06T05:36:00.001-08:00

I made this recipe last week and I can't tell you how pleased I was with how it came out. Especially because I had some concerns as I sniffed the nearly-finished beans simmering on the stove. I think I must have an olfactory problem with vegetable broth, cause I always have my doubts about recipes that I use it in. But, like those other recipes, I loved the results in this case too! I am so pleased to have a really fast, really filling and really delicious vegetarian recipe to add to the repertoire. When Josh got home he said the kitchen smelled just like the burrito he had in NYC. He stuffed some of his dinner in a tortilla and was very, very happy. This recipe is supposed to serve four, but the protein-carb punch of beans and rice is really filling. We got two dinners and 4 lunches out of this one batch, which makes it pretty pocketbook friendly too!

Cuban Black-Bean Stew with Rice
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4

1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 red bell pepper (ribs and seeds removed), chopped
2 cans (19 ounces each) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (14.5 ounces) vegetable broth
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Coarse salt and ground pepper
Garnishes (optional): lime wedges, fresh cilantro, and sliced radishes

Prepare rice according to package instructions. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large saucepan over medium. Add onion, garlic, and bell pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, 8 to 10 minutes.
Add beans, broth, vinegar, and oregano. Cook, mashing some beans with the back of a spoon, until slightly thickened, 6 to 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Fluff rice with a fork. Serve beans over rice, with garnishes, if desired.

My notes: I had half a red onion leftover in the refrigerator, so that's all I used and am likely to keep it that way since we were both so pleased with the outcome. I didn't bother with any garnishes because I knew whatever we didn't use would just sit in the fridge and be a waste of money. Josh did however point to the radishes in the recipe's picture and say that they were a part of his NYC burrito, so I guess I might include them next time, just for him. :)

Hello and Chicken Enchiladas

2008-10-28T05:18:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm back. That vacation went a bit longer than I had intended it to. If only the part of it that was spent in Cozumel had gone longer too! I've been getting back into the habit of meal-planning and cooking more and more, but it has still been a rather sporadic thing. Josh has been practicing several nights a week, and along with shows, plans with friends and a good pinch of laziness cooking hasn't been a full-time thing again just yet. And just as some of this stuff will be slowing down after Friday, other things will be picking up. We'll be starting the house hunt this weekend, which I'm sure will only make me crazier, and then lazier. So things won't be quite back to normal for some time I would guess, but I am back to cooking and will be happy to share the new recipes I make when I get the chance. :)

So, we had a little Mexican/Caribbean vacation earlier this month and upon our return I wanted to keep us in the vacation spirit. To help I decided to make these Chicken Enchiladas with Creamy Green Sauce for dinner the week after we got back. This recipe had been sitting around on my To-Cook list for an embarrassingly long time. I figured like crossing it off would be a good way to jump back into the kitchen habit. I halved this recipe, just using the two chicken breasts I had in the freezer. That was apparently more chicken than I needed cause I ended up making two extra enchiladas and still had some chicken leftover. The extra enchiladas threw off my salsa ratio a bit, so these enchiladas were truthfully a little dry. But they were also truthfully delicious! And I can only imagine that they will be that much better when I get the math right.

Chicken Enchiladas with Creamy Green Sauce
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 6

3 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken breast halves
Coarse salt and ground pepper
5 garlic cloves, unpeeled
2 jars (16 ounces each) medium green salsa
3/4 cup heavy cream
12 corn tortillas (6-inch)
12 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, coarsely shredded (3 cups)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Season chicken with salt and pepper; place with garlic on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted in thickest part of breast (avoiding bone) registers 165 degrees, 25 to 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine salsa and cream.
Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. Once chicken is cool enough to handle, shred meat, discarding skin and bones. Peel and chop garlic. In a large bowl, combine chicken, garlic, and 1/2 cup salsa mixture.
Stack tortillas flat, and wrap in damp paper towels; microwave on high for 1 minute to soften. Working with one tortilla at a time, dip in salsa mixture, lay flat, and fill with 1/3 cup chicken mixture. Roll up and arrange, seam side down, 8 enchiladas lengthwise and 4 crosswise in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Top with remaining salsa mixture, then cheese.
Bake until cheese is browned and salsa is bubbling, 40 to 45 minutes; let rest 10 minutes. Serve, sprinkled with cilantro, if desired.

My notes: I will definitely be making this recipe again, and probably just make the full-size batch so I don't have to worry about any of that pesky dividing. The only other change I might make would be to add a bit of cheese to the filling. I served this with Cilantro-Lime Rice on the side and our usual pre-dinner salad.