Julie's Foodie

Cinnamon Buttermilk Muffins

2011-09-10T20:56:00.003-05:00

I've made this before but worth a repost....

Cinnamon Buttermilk Muffins
Williams-Sonoma
Ingredients:
For the muffins:
7 Tbs. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
For the topping:
2/3 cup sugar
1 Tbs. ground cinnamon
6 Tbs. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted
Directions:
Preheat an oven to 350°F. Grease 9 standard muffin cups with butter or butter-flavored nonstick cooking spray; fill the unused cups one-third full with water to prevent warping.

To make the muffins, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, combine the butter and sugar and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat well until pale and smooth.

In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Add to the butter mixture in 2 additions, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla. Stir just until evenly moistened. The batter will be slightly lumpy.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each three-fourths full. Bake until the muffins are golden, dry and springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Unmold the muffins and let stand until cool enough to handle.

To make the topping, in a small, shallow bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon. Put the melted butter in another small bowl. Holding the bottom of a muffin, dip the top into the melted butter, turning to coat it evenly. Immediately dip the top in the cinnamon-sugar mixture, coating it evenly, then tap it to remove excess sugar. Transfer the muffin, right side up, to the rack. Repeat with the remaining muffins. Let cool completely before serving. Makes 9 muffins.

Leftover BBQ Chicken?

2011-08-07T20:21:00.005-05:00

So maybe you've been grilling lately due to the hot temps or perhaps attending some BBQ competitions. Here's a great idea for leftover bbq chicken.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

1 boboli crust (or whaterver, to be honest I am too busy to even attempt to make my own)
some BBQ chicken
a mix of cheeses, mozzerella, parmesan, gouda
bbq sauce
red onion, diced
butter
cilantro

I dont like crunchy on my pizza. So I sauteed the red onions for about 20 minutes in 1 Tbsp of butter.
Preheat the oven to 450F.
Spread the BBQ sauce on the pizza crust
top w/chicken, then onions, then cheese & finally cilantro.

Bake at 450 for about 10-15 minutes. I like my pizza crispy so I did 15.

Done!

Chicken Rollatini

2011-06-23T14:24:00.003-05:00

Mass posting today. See I am alive!

Who knows when I actually made this meal, but it was good and I kept the recipe on my fridge for future use. It was very easy & you can substitute various ingredients.

I found this recipe a new foodie blogger I am following-I love her website because she has healthy recipes and doesnt tempt me with bad for me goodies!

Rollatini

This recipe I used pepperoni & mozzarella-so it was more of a chicken pizza rollatini but really you can use whatever meat, veggie or cheese. I see a chicken cordon blue rollatini in my future...

Summer Grilling Time

2011-06-23T14:21:00.004-05:00

We love kebabs in the summer! I love how healthy they are & how easy they are to pull together. Pair with some rice or a salad & you are set! You can marinate the chicken, steak or shrimp or just season it up on the skewers. I usually spray the veggies with my olive oil Misto & season with salt, pepper & whatever else I have on hand.

Since I am always short on time, I will attempt to post pictures & recipes, but I doubt you will get a nice long story.

Spring!

2011-04-19T16:27:00.006-05:00

Longer sun time equals waaayyy better pictures. I have been using all my christmas present cookbooks for my meals. This is great b/c all the recipes are new. This is not great b/c I do not have the cookbooks on me when I am blogging. So I have quite a few pictures, but I no recipes until I can get home and I dont want to tease you with my gorgeous pictures of delicious food & no way to recreate them.

But for now, I have a few I can share. We had some friends over for dinner on Saturday and I really wanted to grill. We had to run to Sam's Club to pick up some goodies for the neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. They had fresh salmon seasoned with maple chipotle spices. I grabbed a pack of those. They were delicious!

In addition to that, I made some roasted new potatoes. I make this all the time with various spices. Its so easy & looks very elegant. Half or quarter red potatoes, toss with olive oil. Place on a foil lined baking sheet. Season with whatever you want, for this one I did salt, pepper & parsley. Cook at 425 for about 40-50 minutes. Also, dont touch the potatoes while they cok-they will stick to the pan. Now I cooked them for about 40 minutes, then put them on the grill to get that flavoring as well.

And I made some green beans w/shallots & pancetta & mushrooms. So Good.

I grabbed a skillet & added some olive oil. I heated up the pan to pretty hot & then tossed in the mushrooms. This allows them to keep their firmness. Once cooked, remove & place in a bowl. Now add the pancetta & some sliced shallots. I used 3 shallots for this recipe. Once cooked (pancetta) & softened (shallots) add your green beans. Oh wait. I forgot. You need steam the green beans first. So steam the green beans for about 5-7 minutes, then douse with cold water & pat dry. Back to adding the green beans, toss those around with some tongs to mix up the pancetta & shallots. Then add the mushrooms & toss.

Forever and Day

2011-03-17T20:13:00.004-06:00

I have learned not to promise I will post. My job is insane & if i dont have dinner laid out (defrosted) and planned. We eat out. I say this happens once or twice a week. Mike is great at helping but we have a very picky & very hungry toddler. So maybe, I can ask, how do you handle that toddler? Do you make him something else? Because my mennus, espeically diet menus, are not conduscive to a toddler diet.

Toddler diet: Rice, Noodles, Chicken Nuggets
Adult/P90X diet: grilled pork, cous cous & grilled veggies

See the problem?

So Jayson does like cous cous-not that I can blame him-i think they are fun too!
But i had to heat up some noodles so he would eat.

Here is what Mike and I had: Grilled Pork Cutlets w/lemon garlic sauce
c/o America's Test Kitchen Cookbook

1/4 cup EVOO
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 TBSP lemon juice
Parsley
S&P
Pork Tenderloin

Combine oil through garlic and microwave 1 min. Whisk in the lemon juice. Reserve 2 tbsp of the garlic oil as marinade. Add parsely & S&P.

Using a pork tenderion, trim the tenderlion & cut slices. Pound into thin cutlets. Season w/ S&P and drizzle with the garlic oil. Grill until done.

Transfer to plate & drizzle with the sauce.

I amde this with grilled zucchini. Pretty easy recipe
2 zucchini, cut into slices
italian dressing/balsamic dressing etc...

Create a long section of foil,. place this on your grill. Toss zucchini w/dressing & dump onto foil. let it cook and flip often. oh and I added some fresh grated parmesan. Yum! I cannot wait until my garden has zucchini & squash ready for grilling!

Fruit Bars

2011-02-22T21:49:00.003-06:00

My son loves fruit. He loved those apple bars I made awhile back & we had some blueberries in the house so I decided to make blueberry bars.

This was a great little treat to whip up pretty quickly. I didn't have any actual lemons so I used just lemon juice and I wished I had used some zest. All in all, pretty tasty!

Blueberry Crumb Bars
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cold butter
1 egg
¼ tsp. salt
zest and juice of one lemon
4 cups fresh blueberries
½ cup sugar
4 tsp. cornstarch

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375°. Grease a 9×13” pan.

In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, flour and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. The dough will be crumbly. Pat half of the dough into the prepared pan.

In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Few and Far Between

2011-02-22T21:39:00.003-06:00

I start to get on a roll, then my life gets hectic. Oh well. I figure a few posts are better than none at all. So while I sit in Pine Grove, PA tonite for a little business travel (yeah google & see why I am having a hopping night) I thought I would update.

They are both Annie's Eats-shocker I know. I just default to her blog b/c I know the recipe will turn out great. I made some adjustments & have documented those below.

Salmon Pesto Pasta
Ingredients:
For the pesto:
1/4 cup pine nuts
5 medium cloves garlic, with peels
2 cups packed fresh basil leaves, rinsed thoroughly
2 tbsp. fresh parsley leaves (optional)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Pinch table salt
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

For the pasta:
12 oz. salmon
Slice portabella mushrooms (optional)
Salt and pepper
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
8 oz. pasta
5 oz. evaporated milk
1/2 cup pesto (above)
Grated Parmesan, for serving

Directions:
To make the pesto, toast the pine nuts in a small skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, just until golden and fragrant, about 4-5 minutes. Transfer to the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Saute the garlic in the skillet. Tear the basil leaves off and place in the processor. Blend it all up while slowly drizzingly in the olive oil. Transfer to a bowl & stir in the cheese, add salt if necessary.

--> This could also be bypassed by purchasing the premade pesto at the store <--

If your salmon is not filleted do so now. In a skillet, swirl with olive oil & bring to medium heat. Add sliced portabella mushrooms & begin to saute. Season the salmon w/salt & pepper and add to the pan. It will start to flake apart as it cooks.

While the salmon is cooking, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Transfer the cooked pasta to a colander to drain. In the empty pasta pot, heat the evaporated milk over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer and reduce to about 1/4 cup. Return the cooked pasta to the pot and stir to combine. Add the salmon to the pasta mixture and stir over medium heat until hot. Remove from the heat and stir in the pesto. Top with grated Parmesan, if desired.

This was so awesome. Not only is it delicious, but I was able to make this on a weeknight in probably 30 mins flat.

Delicious Molten Cake Christmas Eve

2011-01-06T13:59:00.003-06:00

Molten Cake
Courtesy of Food Network
Ingredients
Clarified butter
Cocoa powder
7 ounces Valrhona extra-bitter chocolate
7 tablespoons soft butter
6 eggs, separated
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup cake flour
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
10 to 12 ounces Valrhona semi-sweet chocolate
Bay leaf sauce (recipe follows
Directions
Gather together 10 to 12 2-inch-high cake rings. Cut strips of parchment paper 1 inch wider than the rings. Brush both sides of parchment strips with clarified butter. Fit inside of cake rings. Coat inside of rings with cocoa powder and set aside on a sheet pan.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Melt extra-bitter chocolate over double boiler. Whisk softened butter into melted chocolate. Remove chocolate mixture from heat and whisk in egg yolks, 1 at a time. Sift flours together and fold into chocolate mixture.

Beat egg whites to soft peaks and add confectioners' sugar. Whisk 1/3 of egg mixture into chocolate mixture. Fold in remaining whites in 2 additions.

Pipe a 1/2-inch layer of cake batter into the bottom of each cocoa-coated cake ring. Freeze until cake batter becomes stiff. Approximately 3 to 5 minutes. Put a 1-inch piece semi-sweet chocolate in each cake ring atop the stiffened cake batter. Pipe in enough cake batter to cover the chocolate piece. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Afterwards, allow cake to rest for one minute.

Delicious!

No Picture Post

2010-11-23T20:46:00.002-06:00

I wanted to post these recipes because they were so good. I had a Stella and Dot jewelry party last Friday. I did a wine & dessert theme, but I didn't get a chance to take any pictures.

Salted Fudge Brownies: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/salted-fudge-brownies
So good! Even better with a glass of red wine

Spiced Pumpkin Cake: http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/spiced-pumpkin-cake-00000000044847/index.htmlVery simple to make and pretty when it was all said and done. Great for the fall season.

Not served at the party but something I made for this week. Roasted Tomato Soup. What a great pairing for a panini or grilled cheese!

Sunday Dinner

2010-11-23T20:32:00.005-06:00

My work schedule is about to get very hectic with travel so I wanted to follow some advice & roast a chicken on Sunday, then use the leftovers for something else.

Roasting a chicken is so easy and hands off. I just took the chicken, doused it with Italian dressing, put in a dutch oven and let it bake. I want to say at 325 maybe? I have a digital thermometer so I wait until it tells me its done. In addition to the chicken I made roasted red potatoes. These happen to be a favorite of mine from college days. My roommate's mom used to make these for us when we were home for the weekend.

They are so easy. Just quarter some red potatoes & toss them with spices. I use garlic or roasted minced garlic, salt & pepper. Roast at 425 for about 45 minutes until they are crisp. I usually stir them up about half way through.

My leftover recipe. White Chicken Chili! It has gotten cold here and this sounded delicious.

White Chicken Chili (adapted from Paula Deen)
Ingredients
2 cans cannelinni beans
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3/4 cup diced onion
1 1/2 cups chopped green chiles (fresh or canned)
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, finely chopped
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 to 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
Pinch red pepper flakes
1/2 bunch cilantro leaves, chopped
Directions
In a saucepan, heat the butter over medium heat. Add the garlic, onion, and chiles and saute for 5 minutes. Add chile mixture to pot with beans. Add the chicken, cannelini beans, cumin, oregano, pepper, white pepper, red pepper flakes, and cilantro. Lower the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, for approximately 1 1/2 hours. Serve with cornbread, if desired

The only thing I would have done differently is saute the onions more. They were a little crunchy as were the peppers.

***on a side note, its dark when I get home now so my pictures are going to suck

Chicken Tetrazzini

2010-11-15T20:40:00.005-06:00

Here is a quick & easy meal! Since I started a new job, I wanted to try out some recipes that wouldnt take too long, store well, or could be made by the husband. This was one of them.

Chicken Tetrazzini
1/2 lb. spaghetti, uncooked
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 red pepper, chopped
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Neufchatel Cheese, cubed
1/4 cup flour
1 can (14 oz.) fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth
3 Tbsp. KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese, divided
1/2 cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

**I omitted the peppers, my family doesnt like them**

HEAT oven to 350°F.

COOK spaghetti in large saucepan as directed on package. Meanwhile, cook chicken and vegetables in large nonstick skillet 5 min. or until chicken is no longer pink. Remove from skillet; cover to keep warm.

BRING Neufchatel, flour and broth to boil in same skillet, stirring constantly with whisk; simmer on medium-low heat 5 min., stirring frequently.

DRAIN spaghetti; return to saucepan. Add Neufchatel sauce, chicken mixture and 2 Tbsp. Parmesan; mix well. Spoon into 2-qt. casserole; cover.

BAKE 25 min. Top with mozzarella and remaining Parmesan; bake, uncovered, 2 min. or until mozzarella is melted.

** I also topped this with panko to make it extra crsipy on top!

Apple Muffins!

2010-11-15T20:30:00.003-06:00

Yep. Still working on the apples. I finally peeled most of them & froze them. I can't do much more apple around here :) I got this recipe from blogchef. I love the website b/c not only do they have great pictures, they do some step by step on some of the recipes too.

I made this one early morning, when my son decided to wake everyone up at 4am. He fell back asleep. I did not. These were amazing right out of the oven. They had a crisp topping and a melt in your mouth middle. But...
I let them cool & placed them in a Tupperware container. The crisp top turned mushy. They were still delicious, but I was wanting that crisp, crumbly topping. Any suggestions on how to store them?

Apple Muffins
Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup butter
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 ¼ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ cups chopped apples (about 3 apples)
Cinnamon topping-
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan. In a medium bowl mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl beat together butter, sugar and eggs until smooth. Mix in vanilla extract. Stir in apples and then gradually blend in the flour mixture. Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin pan.

To make cinnamon topping- in a small bowl mix brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Cut in butter until the mixture is like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over the tops of the batter in the muffin pan.

Place into the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Apple Crumble Bars

2010-11-07T09:44:00.005-06:00

I am still working through my apples. I need a recipe that calls for about 20 apples in order to actually use them all.

I have made these twice already. They are so awesome!!! I would expect no less from an Annie's Eats recipe though.

Apple Crumble Bars

Apple Crumble Bars
Ingredients:
For the base:
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

For the filling:
4 medium-sized apples, peeled, cored and coarsely diced
5 tbsp. sugar
¼ tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. cornstarch
2 tbsp. lemon juice
¼ cup fruit jam (I used apricot)

For the topping:
½ cup all-purpose flour
3 tbsp. sugar
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

Directions:
To prepare the filling, in a large skillet combine the apples, sugar, and cinnamon. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 5-7 minutes, until apples are tender but still firm. In a small cup, whisk together cornstarch and lemon juice. Add to the apple mixture and continue cooking, stirring constantly for 3 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 350°. Line an 8×8” baking dish with foil, leaving overhang on both sides for easy removal later. Grease foil.

To make the base, in a medium bowl combine flour, sugar and salt. Mix well. Cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry blender, two forks or your hands, until it resembles breadcrumbs. Press the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned around the edges. Remove from the oven. Spread the fruit jam evenly on the base while it is still hot. Top with the cooked apple mixture.

In a medium bowl combine all ingredients for the topping. Mix well until combined and crumbly. Sprinkle over the apple layer. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Using the foil, lift out of pan. Cut into squares and serve. (If desired, refrigerate before cutting to firm up a bit for easier slicing.)

I wish I could post a voice note I took via my phone. Jayson LOVES the apple bars. So much he can say it. Its absolutely hilarious.

A return item

2010-10-31T18:54:00.004-06:00

I remembered the last time my mother in law brought us apples I made an amazing apple cake. I was so glad to see I had blogged about it & didn't have to try to recall whose recipe it was or where I had seen it. I reminded me why I blog. Because while I love to try new things, I like that I have history of my recipes to relate to. My husband is terrible at remembering things, so I get requests like "you know that one chicken thing that had ranch & potatoes".

Anyway, here the latest apple cake remake

Courtesy of Williams-Sonoma & moi!

I would say this is more of a cake than coffee cake. I associate coffee cake with the mornings, in that, that is the only time I drink coffee. The cake is amazing, moist, delicious. But, its also sweet and too sweet for the mornings for me.

Chicken and Rice

2010-10-31T13:12:00.002-06:00

This was an easy dinner to throw together. I recipes like this because they don't scream casserole, but they are just as simple.

Chicken and Rice Bake
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)

1 cup water

3/4 cup uncooked regular long-grain white rice

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (about 1 pound)

1.Stir the soup, water, rice, paprika and black pepper in a 2-quart shallow baking dish. Top with the chicken. Season with additional paprika and black pepper. Cover the baking dish.
2.Bake at 375°F. for 45 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the rice is tender.

I served it with some steamed broccoli. And this would have been pretty good except for 2 things.

1) I used the wrong side of the pepper shaker. Like the pour side, not the shake side. It had a little kick to it to say the least.

2) My rice was crunchy. If you havent been following my blog for the past few years, you won't understand that crunchy rice is pretty common with me. There only seems to be one recipe in which I can make normal rice. I dont know what the deal is. I am rice challenge.

Its Apple Time Again!

2010-10-31T09:57:00.001-06:00

Leave your favorite apple recipes for me in the comments section. My mother in law brought us a 5 gallon of bucket apples.

SnickerDoodle Scones

2010-10-24T22:00:00.004-05:00

You will see Annie's Eats referenced often on my blog. I simply love her. Every recipe I have ever made from her website has been phenomenal. So whenever I want to try out something new, I go to her website for the recipe.

I was trying to decide between biscotti or scones. I've never made either, and I can't recall ever eating either. So I asked a friend, and the answer was scone. This was such an easy recipe. But I don't think it turned out quite right. Then again, maybe I have never had a scone??? I was thinking it would be more biscuit-y less cake-like. You tell me!

Snickerdoodle Scones

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cream of tartar
¼ tsp. salt
6 tbsp. sugar
6 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
½ cup whole milk or heavy cream
1½ tsp. vanilla extract

For the topping:
¼ cup sugar
1½ tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt and sugar; stir together with a fork. Add the cold butter to the flour mixture and cut the butter into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter or two knives, until the mixture is crumbly and the largest butter pieces are the size of peas.

Combine the milk and vanilla in a measuring cup. Pour the liquid over the dry ingredients and stir together with a fork just until the mixture forms a cohesive dough. If necessary, knead the mixture just a few times by hand to bring the dough together. Transfer the dough to the prepared baking sheet and form a large round disc about 8-9 inches in diameter. In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar and cinnamon for the topping. Sprinkle generously over the top of the dough round (you will not need to use all of the topping.) Bake for about 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool on the pan, then slice into 6-8 wedges for serving.

Also, I suck at using my pastry cutter. I don't know what my deal is, but I just cant get it to work. Practice I suppose. These tasted great, like a dense cake. I think I should have used more cinnamon, but I didn't measure that part.

Williams-Sonoma

2010-10-20T15:31:00.004-05:00

As I get back into baking and cooking, I am revisiting the old sites I used to frequent. Williams-Sonoma has the best line of cookbooks around. Everything I have ever made from there is fabulous.

One of my favorite things about their recipes is that they give you background. Sure the recipes are by no means easy, especially the cooking ones, but you learn something, whether it be terminology or a technique.

So I wanted to bake some cookies and decided to hit up their website. I made buttery pecan cookies & chocolate crinkle cookies. I decided to do two different types because you cannot bring nuts into Jayson's daycare.

Buttery Pecan Cookies-- Talk about quick and easy! These reminded me a lot of the pecan sandies you buy in the store and taste great with coffee!

Ingredients:
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped pecans

In a large bowl, combine the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla. Using an electric mixer, beat the mixture on medium speed until it is smooth. Turn off the mixer a few times so you can scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the flour and nuts. Continue mixing until the dough looks like moist pebbles, then turn off the mixer.

Gently squeeze the dough together with your hands. When the dough comes together in a mass, place it on a large piece of plastic wrap. Using your hands, shape it into a log 10 inches long and about 2 inches in diameter. Wrap the log in the plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours.

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Line 3 baking sheets with aluminum foil.

Unwrap the dough and place it on a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, cut the log into slices 1/4 inch thick. Arrange the slices about 1 inch apart on the foil-lined baking sheets.

Place 1 baking sheet in the oven and bake the cookies until their edges are golden brown, 14 to 16 minutes. Using oven mitts, remove the baking sheet from the oven and set on a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the second and then the third baking sheets.

Lift the cooled cookies off the baking sheets with your fingers. Store the cookies in an airtight container. Makes about 40 cookies.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies -- Jayson's teachers said "these were like brownie cookies something just delicious!"

Ingredients:
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room
temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Grease 2 baking sheets with butter.

Put the confectioners' sugar into a bowl and set aside.

Mix the ingredients
In another bowl, using a wooden spoon, stir together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add 1 egg and beat on medium speed until blended. Add the other egg and vanilla and beat until blended.

Turn off the mixer and add the flour mixture. Beat on low speed just until blended.

Form the cookies
Using a tablespoon, scoop up a rounded spoonful of dough. Scrape the dough off the spoon into the palm of your other hand. Roll the dough into a ball. Roll the ball in the confectioners' sugar until covered. Place the balls on a prepared baking sheet. Repeat, spacing the balls about 2 inches apart.

Bake the cookies
When 1 baking sheet is full, put it in the oven and bake the cookies until they are crackled and puffed, 10 to 12 minutes. Using oven mitts, remove the baking sheet from the oven and set it on a wire rack for 15 minutes.

Using a metal spatula, move the cookies onto the rack and let cool completely. Repeat with the rest of the cookies. Makes about 24 cookies.

Hi My Name Is ...

2010-10-16T12:55:00.009-05:00

Julie and this is my blog about cooking and baking. Oh wait, I have been here before. A little deja vu anyone?

Well, I have had some extra time on my hands lately and decided to start the ole blog again. My husband is at a new company and they just love all the baked goodies I make for him to bring into work. So I have been baking more.

And cooking more. Now the the baby is no longer a baby, try 18 months. He is eats everything. I mean EVERYTHING. His favorite food so far is bacon wrapped filets. Yeah, as in steak. But he is STARVING by 5:30/6:00pm. This creates a bit of a challenge for dinner time.

So a few things have changed,not everything is from scratch. I do have store made spaghetti sauce now a days. No P90X, although I probably should. And I let my subscription to Cooking Light run out, so what you will see on this blog are a lot of recipes from other blogs. And maybe a few that will make re-appearances. I forgot how much easier it is to search my blog for a recipe instead of the printed out recipes that are mashed into a binder.

Here is one I made a few weeks ago. I found it on one of my absolute favorite blogs, Annie's Eats. They are called Chocolate Oatmeal Almost Candy Bars. Mine were a bit more gooey than hers. Not sure what I did though....

Chocolate Oatmeal Almost Candy Bars
Ingredients:
For the oatmeal layer:
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup salted honey roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

For the chocolate layer:
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
¾ cup salted honey roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with parchment paper. Grease the sides of the pan with butter.

To make the oatmeal cookie layer, combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Whisk to blend. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter on medium-high speed until it is soft and creamy, about 1 minute. Add the brown sugar and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Blend in the vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Mix in the oats and peanuts with a rubber spatula until evenly combined.

Reserve 1½ cups of the mixture. Place the remaining dough in the prepared pan and press over the bottom of the pan in an even layer.

To make the chocolate layer, combine the condensed milk, chocolate chips, butter and salt in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until the mixture is warm and the chocolate chips and butter are melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and peanuts.

Pour the warm chocolate mixture over the oatmeal cookie layer and spread evenly with an offset spatula. Crumble the remaining oatmeal cookie mixture and scatter evenly over the top of the chocolate.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the topping is golden brown and the chocolate layer is starting to pull away from the sides of the pan. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely. Cut into bars as desired and serve.

Recipes to share

2010-03-09T20:13:00.002-06:00

This is another no photo blog, but I wanted to get a few recipes out here so I can come back to them later. I was going through my google reader today & saw someone post a recipe (with a link back to my blog) that I made a long time ago (uh 2008!) and realized a) I really liked that recipe & will make it next week and b) thank god I can just dig up old posts for my recipes.

Just 2 to add here.
Orange Beef & Broccoli -> We realized that my son LOVES chinese food. Something with a little kick to it but also sweet and I think he just really likes rice. We went to a chinese buffet a few weekends ago & I believe he ate more than I did. So I knew this recipe would be a hit-and it was really quick to make.

Veggie Cold Pizza-> This has to be one of my favorite appetizers. Its the healthier option when at a party and really, I just love. I made this for my book club. I am sure there is a recipe out there but I'll just type up the one my friend Jen sent to me

2 cans crescent rolls
1 8 oz cream cheese (I used the 1/3 less fat)
1/2 cup sour cream (light is what I used)
2 Tbsp mayo
2 T green onions
1 pkg ranch mix
Any chopped veggies you like (cauliflower, broccoli, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots)

Line a cookie sheet w/ foil & spray it with Pam/Crisco whatever.
Preheat oven to 375F.
Press the uncooked crescent rolls into the pan so they form a nice base-make sure the seems all meet yup.
Bake for 12 minutes
Mix the rest of the ingredients, minus the chopped veggies, in a bowl.
After the crescent rolls have cooled, spread the cream cheese mix on them.
Top with your chopped veggies!

As a side note, we have joined Door to Door Organics through my work. I love it! The beef & broccoli recipe was made with organic oranges & broccoli & I used the broccoli on my veggie pizza too. There are 2 things I love about D2D. 1) It gets delivered to my office. 2) I get a variety of fruits & veggies I wouldn't normally try. Meyer lemons, mangoes, blood oranges, red pears. While I see these things at the grocery store, its not like i ever actively seek them out. So its fun to try new things with the produce I receive.

Chocolate & Caramel bars

2010-03-09T14:34:00.004-06:00

I was in charge of dessert this month for Ronald McDonald House dinner. I knew I wanted to make some type of bar b/c I wouldn't have time to make a bunch of cookies. I also knew I had a box of yellow cake mix in my pantry.

So off to bettyCrocker.com. (I love the Internet, could be why I work in that field). These little beauties were the first thing that caught my eye. Enough so much that I decided to make two batches-one for RMH & one for my co-workers birthday.

Chocolate & Caramel Oatmeal Bars

1 package Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® yellow cake mix
3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg
2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1 jar (12.25 ounces) caramel topping (1 cup)
1 tablespoon Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

1. Heat oven to 350°. Line bottom and sides of rectangular pan, 13x9x2 inches, with aluminum foil. Spray foil with cooking spray.
2. Beat cake mix, butter and egg in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed about 1 minute or just until crumbly. Stir in oats, using hands if necessary. Reserve 1 1/2 cups oat mixture. Press remaining oat mixture in bottom of pan. Bake 14 to 18 minutes or until light golden brown.
3. Sprinkle chocolate chips and walnuts over hot crust. Mix caramel topping and flour in small bowl; drizzle evenly over chocolate chips and walnuts. Sprinkle reserved oat mixture over top.
4. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely, about 2 hours. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows.

In all seriousness, I had everything in my pantry for these, even the caramel sauce. These would be great for a potluck or picnic.

vanishing oatmeal raisin cookies

2010-03-09T14:25:00.003-06:00

Awhile back I tried to make something, I think granola, with quick oats. That didn't turn out so well. So i was forced to try the old fashioned oats. And let me tell you, best thing to be forced to do!

On the top of my handy Quaker Oats Old Fashioned Oats can is a recipe for Vanishing Oatmeal Cookies. Its your standard oatmeal cookie recipe, but I have never made them using the old fashioned oats. Boy have I been missing out. This is probably the third time I have made these cookies. They disappear very quickly and you don't feel so bad eating them for breakfast.

Vanishing Oatmeal Cookies
1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 6 tablespoons butter, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
3 cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 cup raisins

Preparation
Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats and raisins; mix well.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. (I roll mine into a ball with greased hands)

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

Prep Time: 20 min

Also,I have gotten in the habit of putting my cookies/dough in the fridge while one set bakes. I like to think it helps keep their shape.

Its still winter

2010-02-24T21:29:00.003-06:00

and it sucks! Not only b/c I am over this cold & snow, but because its too dark at night to take pictures of my food.

Now that Jayson is eating everything we eat, meals have been a bit of a challenge. He is STARVING by 6:15, so I have to make some pretty quick meals for him. If I want to make anything that takes longer than 30 minutes, then I need a backup meal for him.

Anyway, here are somethings I have made recently. I need to get the papers off my cookbook holder and this blog is great for documentation!

Big Brother's Sunken Burritos--> I had every intention of making these per the recipe, but I didn't have time to cook the rice so I omitted that. However, I did roast a chicken earlier in the week & was able to use that chicken for my filling in these burritos.

Shrimp Fra Diavolo -> I am pretty sure my son was unhappy he couldn't have any of this stuff. He LOVES the spicy food. So before I mixed in the shrimp, I gave him some of the noodles w/the tomato sauce. The rest of dinner he was eyeing my plate.

Mushroom Marsala Pasta with Artichokes -> I made this so long ago! I don't think I was in love with it, but it wasn't bad. I may have been expecting something phenomenal-I mean, it has mushrooms & artichokes, my 2 favorite things!

Baked Ziti-> this was hit! I made it for the NCAA Championship football game (Roll Tide!). We had some friends over & this was the easiest thing to make. Everyone loved it-from the munchkin to the 15 yr old to the 40 yr old. But I would expect nothing less from Annie's Eats

Marshmallow Crunch Brownies -> Yes I still bake! I have made these 2 times since I found the recipe. One time I got in trouble b/c I brought them to the daycare teachers (No Peanut Facility) the second time I brought them into work. And now that I have stumbled upon the recipe again, I think I will be making them soon.

Sweet potato pecan pie -> I have been making sweet potato pie for an annual party we attend. This year, when I found a merge of sweet potato & pecan pie, I knew it would be perfect! It was, only we had to leave before we got a slice :(

Grilled Chicken w/creamy orzo -> Another Annie recipe. I wasn't in love with this one though, however I can't blame Annie. 1. I didn't have herbs de provence so I seasoned with a variety of herbs. 2. I didn't want to use heavy cream-it is the new year after all.

Sloppy Joes -> Ok so I have never in my life made sloppy joes from scratch. When I came across this recipe I knew I had to try it. Now I have to say it wasn't as good as the Manwhich can- I think it had too much thyme. But I do feel better knowing that it was the healthier option and even though I wasn't in love, my husband and munchkin were.

Easy Chicken Pot Pie -> At some point during the holiday season, cream soups were on sale for something cheap. I bought a bunch. I had about 5 cans of cream of chicken soup in my lazy susan. (No worries, I bought the 98% fat free) Anyway, this was a great & quick way to use one of them up.

Parmesan Ranch Chicken Packets -> This was something I came across in my Best of Pillsbury cookbook. I had everything on and and it was essentially hands off cooking. I had a little extra time on my hand the night I made this. Oh, I totally didn't grill this. It was like 5 degrees outside when I made this. It was baked in the oven, likely with me standing over it hoping to feel warm.

So you see-I have been cooking. My baking has been lacking but I hope to have something to post about tomorrow on that front. I suppose I should feel better about not baking, it means we haven't been eating sweets right? Wrong. We have Girl Scout Cookies in the house. Thank god they are gone now.

Yum!

2010-02-05T14:02:00.003-06:00

Doesn't this look good?

I have no idea how I made it. Sure its mac n cheese, but that's all I got.
I will use this as a learning experience. If I don't blog about my recipes/cooking, I will never remember how to make them again.

Too Many Recipes!

2010-02-02T14:04:00.005-06:00

I have so many recipes either starred in google reader, tagged in my cookbooks or linked in a word document/email. I needed some way to organize them & work them into my weekly menu. Those of you who don't know me personally will not understand this, but I am an extremely organized & planned person. If I didn't have a plan for each day, I am not sure I would get through them.

So my new menu plans will consist of something like this
Sunday- Slow Cooker/Soups/Salads/Sandwiches
Monday-Mexican
Tuesday: 3 piece dish (ie: grilled chicken, veggie, rice/potato)/casserole
Wednesday: Ethnic foods, so Chinese, Italian, Indian, Greek, etc...
Thursday: Another 3 piece dish/casserole
Friday:Fish Friday!
Saturday: Slow cooker/soups/salads/sandwiches

My first week at this menu I made a roast chicken on Thursday. The recipe came from a Cooking Light cookbook so I'll have to get it at home, but it basically consisted of Thyme & sliced lemons on a chicken & roasted for about 60 to 90 minutes. (PS whole chickens are cheap and so easy to make!!)

So I had all this chicken leftover. Well a few weeks ago I attended a baby shower for one of my closest friends. Our awesome host had made these mini paninis from french baguettes. HOLY DELICIOUS! So I had her email me the recipes & made some mini paninis of my own out of this chicken.

Frontega Chicken:

Smoked & pulled white meat chicken, mozzarella, tomatoes, red onions, chopped basil & chipotle mayonnaise, grilled hot on our Focaccia.
Basically got a rotissierie chicken and pulled that apart with some mozzarella, tomatoes, red onions, basil and then mixed adobe chili powder and cayenne powder into may to make the mayonnaise.

- Turkey Artichoke:
Smoked turkey, spinach artichoke spread, Asiago-Parmesan cheese, tomatoes & caramelized onions, grilled hot on our Focaccia.
Got sliced deli turkey, store bought spin dip, sprinkled asiago/parm cheese on it with some tomatoes and caramelized onions.

- Tomato & Mozzarella:
Fresh mozzarella, roasted & fresh tomatoes, fresh basil and all-natural sun-dried tomato pesto on Ciabatta.

- Hickory Smoked Turkey:
Hickory smoked turkey with cilantro lime cream cheese, smoked chipotle aioli, red onion and provolone cheese on a hoagie roll

- Mini Grilled cheese:
caramelized onions, swiss and honey mustard

Thanks so much Kari! We loved the frontega chicken & can't wait to try the other ones.

I also made some white chicken chili from the remainder of the chicken. Jayson loved it! He has a thing for spicy foods.

Chicken Tortilla Casserole

2010-01-08T17:12:00.005-06:00

Have you been to Annie's Eats? If not, make your way over there.
http://annies-eats.com/ Maybe start off with her best of 2009 posts-you will want to make everything on it.
I am apparently a blog stalker b/c as I was putting together my menu for the week I noticed I had 3 recipes from Annie's Eats. And I have at least 10 more tagged "to make".

First up, Chicken Tortilla Casserole.
I had been wanting to make this one b/c I had about 1/2 bag of tortilla chips and my son eats casserole type dishes better than anything.

We loved this. Putting it in the repeat pile-which is rare for me. What surprised me the most was that my 9 month old apparently like spices dishes. He was kicking the highchair every time he wanted more.

On tap, for this week Baked Ziti & Chicken Gyros!

Christmas Eve

2009-12-30T10:32:00.004-06:00

Ever since my husband and I were married, we let our family know that Christmas eve is reserved for us. With our latest addition to the family, I am so thankful that we have set aside this time for us. Christmas can be so full of hustle & bustle that being able to spend the night as a family is worth more than any presents Santa brings.

I like to make a nice dinner on Christmas Eve. This year we decided to have steak, baked potatoes & Caesar salad. These three things are super easy, so I picked a rather difficult dessert. I wish I had a picture of my husband grilling steaks on the patio with a foot of snow falling. But they sure did taste good!

I am a big fan of Annie's Eats, I have noticed lately that I am starring her recipes on my google reader. She makes some of the prettiest things I have ever seen. We picked the caramel apple cheesecake pie.
This was time consuming, I am not going to lie. Start to finish was about 2 hours, then you have to let it cool for 4 hours. So plan in advance (i did not,thus we had this for breakfast on Christmas Day-what??? it has fruit in it!)

Anyway, mine is not near as pretty but was quite tasty. I didn't make my own caramel sauce though. I just bought sauce at the store.

Cookies for Santa!

2009-12-30T10:23:00.004-06:00

This being the first year with our son, I wanted to start a cookies for santa tradition. I had been baking & cooking for 2 weeks & really didnt want to even make cookies on Christmas Eve. But the snow started falling, I was going to be stuck in the house & I really wanted to try royal icing.

I made these sugar cookies. They were delicious! Just plan ahead b.c they have to chill for 3 hours.

I used this recipe for the royal icing. Now I didnt have enough powedered sugar to make a lot of frosting, but I also didnt make very many cookies. I wish I had had more frosting though & better tools.

Annie has a great post on tips for using royal icing. I am looking forward to trying out royal icing on other cookies. I really like how it looks in the end and maybe I can convince the hubs that I need some new tools. After the mess that was our kitchen table post cookie decorating I think I have it in the bag :)

Festive Appetizer

2009-12-22T13:14:00.003-06:00

My cousin made this dip while we were visiting in Chicago. I was in love with it (as was my munchkin)

Its so easy and has the red, green & white colors you need for your Christmas Dinner, open house, etc...

You'll need
Sun dried tomatoes-jarred in oil, preferably diced or sliced
pesto- you can make our own or buy the premade kind, about 2 cups
cream cheese- 1-2 boxes, so I think 16 oz?

So, I let the cream cheese sit out until softened, then I whipped in it the kitchen aid. Once that was done, I spread it on a serving dish.
Next pour on the pesto, spread it all over the cream cheese.
Then layer with the sun dried tomatoes. You'll want to keep some of the oil, not all of it though.

And you are done. Serve with ritz or club crackers.

Help!!

2009-12-04T12:58:00.002-06:00

So last holiday season I made some kind of red pepper topped ritz crackers-does anyone know what this is???

In the meantime, here are few recipes I have made

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes- SO GOOD!!! If you haven't made some form of chocolate pb cupcakes, do so now. You will not be sad.

Beef Enchiladas --> I have always wanted to make my own red sauce, mostly b/c I felt like I always had the ingredients on hand, but i could never find an easy recipe to do this. Now I have one that I will use for every enchilada I want to make. To note, on this recipe, I omitted the rice.

And of course one big fat fail recipe. If anyone can explain how I messed this up, I would love to hear it. Pumpkin Pie Squares. The whole "top" stuck to the dish & it was all wiggly and looked like uncooked pumpkin.

Holiday baking is going to start this Sunday, if I have time. I have to go to the store first-any special requests?? Any favorite holiday recipes you like to make?

Oh the excuses...

2009-11-18T15:17:00.004-06:00

Daylight savings adjustment, a new baby, the holidays, I can't my pictures to upload. Oh I could go on & on, but we have heard them all before.

I am still cooking & baking. I don't take many pictures b/c while I have a light box, I don't have a light for said light box. And nothing is more unappetizing then seeing a nasty picture accompany a great recipe.

However, I wanted to share a few recipes I have made lately that I have been really impressed with.
Pizza Pasta--> Loved this recipe b/c it was quick & quite versatile, use whatever you have on hand, oh and it makes a lot!
Breakfast Casserole--> what a genius idea on how to use up leftover hot dog buns!
Pumpkin Cupcakes--> Great idea for yellow cake mix! And great for this holiday season!! The hubs said these were great-very dense & moist. (plus cake mix right now is like $.77 box-super cheap dessert for a potluck!)
Tiramisu Cupcakes--> My friend Nemmie, over at Cast Sugar, brought these beauties to our Halloween party. They are to die for & really not THAT hard to make. Just a little time consuming. A few notes on this recipe: use Kahlua over Marsala for the coffee syrup. Also, did you know cake flour is just AP Flour & Cornstarch? Genius!

And of course, a few pictures of why I never blog anymore!

So that is all I have for now. I hope to at least be able to put up some links to recipes I have tried recently, if not pictures.

I will try to be better

2009-09-29T08:24:00.004-05:00

I could come up with a million excuses on why I haven't updated my blog. Ones I am sure we have all heard before. But now that we are back from a nice trip to Hawaii, I will have some more time on my hands (at least I hope to!)

I cannot believe I have never posted this recipe before. When I first met my husband, this was my go-to impress everyone dinner. I think my favorite vegetable is artichoke, so I pretty much love any recipe that includes artichoke hearts in it. Each time I make this recipe I change it up a bit, but the basics behind it make for a great meal. I also changed quite a bit of it so its not so complicated.

Chicken Saute w/Artichoke Hearts
Williams-Sonoma
Fresh artichokes taste best in this dish. If they are unavailable, use about 1 1/2 cups thawed, frozen hearts or drained, marinated hearts and add them with the tomatoes.

Ingredients:
1 lemon, halved
1 lb. small artichokes
3 Tbs. all-purpose flour
4 skinless chicken breast halves
2 Tbs. pure olive oil
Salt and freshly ground white or black pepper, to
taste
4 garlic cloves, cut into slivers
1 shallot, cut into slivers
1 Tbs. minced fresh basil
1 Tbs. minced fresh tarragon
1 Tbs. minced fresh chervil
1 Tbs. Dijon mustard
1 cup Sauvignon Blanc or other dry white wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 or 3 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions:
Have ready a bowl three-fourths full of water to which you have added the juice from 1/2 lemon. Working with 1 artichoke at a time, cut off the stem even with the base. Cut off the top one-third of the artichoke. Starting at the base, break off 3 or 4 rows of the tough outer leaves, snapping them downward, until you reach the tender, pale green inner leaves. Trim away any dark green areas around the base. As you work, rub the cut surfaces with the remaining lemon half to prevent darkening. When the artichoke is fully trimmed, cut in half lengthwise and, using a sharp spoon or knife, scoop out and discard the prickly choke. Then cut each half in half again to create quarters and add to the lemon water. Set aside.

Spread the flour on a plate, then lightly coat both sides of each chicken piece with the flour, shaking off the excess. In a fry pan over high heat, warm the olive oil. Add the chicken pieces and sauté, turning once, until lightly browned, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a platter, season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Pour off all but 2 Tbs. of the fat from the pan. Reduce the heat to medium, add the garlic and shallot, and sauté until softened, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the basil, tarragon, chervil and mustard. Increase the heat to high, pour in the wine and broth, and deglaze the pan, stirring with a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the pan bottom. Return the chicken to the pan and add the tomatoes. Reduce the heat to medium-high and cook turning the pieces occasionally, until the chicken is opaque throughout and the juices run clear, about 20 minutes for the breasts and 30 minutes for the thighs and drumsticks.

About 10 minutes before the chicken is done, drain the artichokes and add to the pan. Transfer the chicken pieces to a plate as they are done, then just before the remaining chicken is done, return the cooked pieces to the pan to warm briefly.

Transfer the contents of the pan to a warmed serving platter and garnish with the parsley. Serve immediately. Serves 4 to 6.

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Library Series, Casual Entertaining, by Joyce Goldstein (Time-Life Books, 1998).

*** My Changes--> I used only chicken breasts, the original recipe calls for drumsticks & thighs. Since chicken breasts have less fat, you will need to add some more olive oil to the pan to saute the garlic & shallots.
If I don't have fresh herbs, I just used dried.
If I don't have wine, I just use more chicken broth. Sometimes I use marsala in place of the white wine.
Sometimes I add tomatoes, other times I don't. Other good additions are mushrooms, black olives & toasted pine nuts.
I usually serve this over whole-wheat pasta and top it off with some grated parmesan cheese.

--> Pictures are not working right now so I will add them later

Cashew Chicken

2009-08-25T11:09:00.004-05:00

We love love love Chinese food at our house. My husband actually really loves this china buffet out by us. I sometimes have issues with it b/c the chicken isn't always trimmed and it isn't all white meat. Plus its usually fried with tons of salt & sugar added in. Long story short, I like to attempt my own Chinese food at home.

I stumbled across Amber's post for cashew chicken & when I saw it was originally a Williams-Sonoma recipe I knew it was going to be a good one. Some of my all time favorite recipes have come from Williams-Sonoma. And this one did not disappoint. Like Amber said this came together pretty quickly which was nice b/c we didn't have a lot of time last night. While the recipe says to use chicken thighs, I just used cut up chicken breast.

Cashew Chicken

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma

~makes 4 servings ~

Ingredients
3 tablespoons. soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine or dry sherry
2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons corn or peanut oil
2 green onions, chopped
1 cup salted roasted cashews
Steamed rice for serving

Directions
Marinate the chicken - In a large bowl, stir together 2 Tbs. of the soy sauce, the wine and ginger. Stir in the chicken to coat evenly and set aside for 15 minutes.
Make the sauce - In a small bowl, combine 2 Tbs. water, the remaining 1 Tbs. soy sauce, the Worcestershire sauce, sesame oil, sugar and cornstarch, and stir to dissolve the sugar and cornstarch.
Stir-fry the chicken - Heat a wok or large fry pan over high heat until very hot and add 2 Tbs. of the corn oil. Remove the chicken from the marinade, draining it well, and discard the marinade. Add the chicken to the wok and stir-fry until opaque, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken to a bowl.
Return the wok to medium heat and add the remaining 1 Tbs. corn oil. Add the green onions and stir-fry until fragrant, about 10 seconds. Return the chicken to the wok and add the cashews. Give the sauce a quick stir, add to the pan and stir until the sauce thickens slightly, 1 to 2 minutes. Serve immediately with the steamed rice

In addition to this, I also made my "fried" rice.

Squash Casserole

2009-08-21T11:23:00.003-05:00

My dad & I love to cook-i have always been this way-but my dad started his cooking about 3-4 years ago. Well, he knows all about our garden & veggies, we usually bring some out to them when we visit. Anyway, the last time we were at their house, he had printed out a recipe for me. Squash Casserole. Yay! I can use up some of the squash at home!! Then I read who the recipe was by. Paula Deen. I was like, man this is going to be laden in butter, cream, etc...
My dad loves him some Paula. In his defense, he was treated for throat cancer years ago & lost a lot of weight. I mean, he wasnt big before but he is so skinny now, so we encourage him to eat full bodied meals.
I adjusted the recipe to better fit our dietary needs :)

Squash Casserole
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen
Prep Time: 25 min Inactive Prep Time: hr min Cook Time: 55 min
6 servings
6 cups large diced yellow squash and zucchini
Vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 tablespoons butter (I used 2 Tbps here & a little olive oil)
1/2 cup sour cream (I used lowfat sour cream)
1 teaspoon House seasoning, recipe follows
1 cup grated cheddar cheese (2% cheese)
1 cup crushed butter crackers (recommended: Ritz) (I used Club Crackers
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Saute the squash in a little vegetable oil over medium-low heat until it has completely broken down, about 15 to 20 minutes. Line a colander with a clean tea towel. Place the cooked squash in the lined colander. Squeeze excess moisture from the squash. Set aside.

In a medium size skillet, saute the onion in butter for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and mix all ingredients together except cracker crumbs. Pour mixture into a buttered casserole dish and top with cracker crumbs. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

House Seasoning:
1 cup salt

1/4 cup black pepper

1/4 cup garlic powder

Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Yield: 1 1/2 cups

I also added some grilled chicken so it could be a main dish, well I would have eaten it as a main dish without the chicken but my husband wouldnt. I really liked it, he said he wanted the squash cooked more so it was less crunchy more chewy.

Stuffed Peppers

2009-08-07T16:11:00.004-05:00

I was really really excited for stuffed peppers. The day started out raining and i thought what a perfect dinner! I should have known then that they would be so-so. I don't want to bag on anyone so I will post the recipe but not the link. I had 3 big peppers from the garden & 2 baby ones, so I went ahead & bought 3 more red peppers from the grocery store.

2 cups cooked brown or white rice
1lb ground turkey
7 bell peppers
1 onion
Olive oil for vegetables
2 tomatoes, diced
1 jar (25.5 ounce) marinara sauce
1 Tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Fresh cracked pepper
½ cup Parmesan Reggiano

1. Make the rice according to package directions. Set aside.
2. brown the ground turkey
3. Dice the onions & add to the turkey, if you need more oil add it here.

4. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Rub a 7x11 inch (2 quart) baking dish with 1 Tablespoon olive oil. Pour in the sauce and spread about the bottom of the dish. Line a jelly roll pan with foil and place the baking dish in the center to prevent spills.

5. In a large bowl mix together the rice, sausage, diced bell pepper, onion, asparagus, tomatoes, ½ teaspoon salt, red pepper flakes, and fresh cracked pepper.

8. Stuff the peppers with the mixture and gently pack down. Place in the sauce and sprinkle with Parmesan Reggiano Cheese. Top with a pepper ring.

9. Bake for 60 to 120 minutes or until golden brown and the sauce is bubbling. Wait 5 minutes before serving.

Here are the reasons maybe we didn't like it
1) not enough sauce
2) the peppers were still really crunchy even after an hour of cooking
3) the insides weren't, i don't know, cheesy enough maybe?

So since I have so many leftover, I decided to remake them. I cut the peppers in half & placed them in on a bed of tomato sauce in a roasting pan. I sprinkled them with mozzerella cheese & put them in the oven at 375F for probably 25-30 minutes. They were so much better.

More zucchini

2009-08-07T13:18:00.003-05:00

I found this gem over at ClosetCooking. He has some of the best pictures. I am extremely jealous of his farmers market b/c they always seem to have the most unique items.

Italian Sausage & Zucchini Pasta

A few changes--> I didnt even look for garlic scape. I just used some garlic cloves. I also used turkey sausage & whole wheat rotini to make it a bit more healthy. I have become a big fan of using leftover pasta water to create a sauce. I used to think it would be so bland but its not! Try it out!

Zucchini Harvest

2009-08-07T13:01:00.009-05:00

As many of my followers know, my husband has quite the green thumb. We have the biggest zucchini I have ever seen, so I decided to put one (yes one) to good use yesterday. I made 3 different kinds of zucchini bread.

The first was found on myrecipes.com/CookingLight:
Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup egg substitute
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 cups shredded zucchini (12 ounces)
1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted
Cooking spray
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through baking soda) in a large bowl.

Combine egg substitute and next 4 ingredients (through egg) in a large bowl; add sugar, stirring until combined. Add zucchini; stir until well combined. Add flour mixture; stir just until combined. Stir in walnuts.

Divide batter evenly between 2 (8 x 4-inch) loaf pans coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans on a wire rack; remove from pans. Cool completely on wire rack.

**So for one of these I just made it plain, no nuts.

And I made a smaller one with chocolate chips

The next recipe was a little different. I was sucked in by the color of the bread from the original poster. See how yellow it is???

Zucchini Bread

**This one only made one large loaf. I had wanted to make 2 loafs, one plain & one with pecans. So instead I did half with pecans and half without.

The showdown results
Its easy to say the chocolate chip one was the best, I mean it had chocolate chips in it. But the yellow one had a much lighter feel to it. The plain one you could really taste the cinnamon. So I think my winner is the yellow one!

Pasta no sauce

2009-07-29T13:05:00.003-05:00

Many of you fellow foodies watch Food Network and I know we all sit there and watch Giada make some delicious pasta dish by only using the water that the noodles were cooked in, but I have always been hesitant to do this. I mean, its just starchy water, how can that taste good? Well I still stand by that statement but I will say that adding some of the extra pasta water to this dish made it really good.

I marinated some chikcen in olive oil, lemon juice & pepper. I then grilled the chicken in a grill pan (only b/c there was a torrential downpour taking place outside) However, this worked in my favor b/c I had extra juices from the chicken to use in the sauce. I sauteed some mushrooms in a separate pan then dumped everything into a big pasta bowl to mix up. I added about 4-5 Tbsp of noodle water to the dish, then sprinkled it with parmesan cheese. I also had some toasted pine nuts to use, so I tossed those in as well.

This was really good (not colorful by any means) but nice & light which is something you dont normally find in a pasta dish.

Moroccan Chicken

2009-07-15T14:37:00.002-05:00

You know how we all find diet food bland? Well, I really want to stick to this diet, but still experiment with different foods. My South Beach Diet book had a recipe for Moroccan Chicken w/Summer Squash. The Moroccan part didn't stick out to me as much as the summer squash part, b/c I need to use up our squash!

This was a little different-so you picky eaters-be weary about trying it. Cinnamon + Chicken seems a little weird to me, but it was good. Not GREAT by any means, but good. The only difference in this recipe is that I used black olives instead of green. And I made some whole wheat cous cous to round out the meal.

Moroccan Lemon Chicken w/Summer Squash and Green Olives
South Beach Diet

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ginger
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp allspice
¼ tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne
1 lemon
4 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced
¾ lb summer squash
1/3 cup pitted green olives
2 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp chopped parsley

Pound chicken breasts between wax paper until ¼ “ thick
In a small bowl, mix cumin, ginger, cinnamon, pepper, allspice, salt & cayenne. Squeeze 1 Tbsp juice from the lemon and add to the spice mixture. Add 3 tsp oil to spice mixture. Spread over chicken, on both sides.
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken, in batches if necessary and cook, turning, until blackened on the outside & cooked through. 3-4 mins per side. Transfer to a plate & keep warm.
Add remaining 1 tsp oil to the skillet & return to med high heat. Add onions slices & cook, stirring w/a wooden spoon & scraping up any brown bits, about 3 minutes. Add squash, olives & water. Season lightly w/ S&P. Cover and cook until the squash is tender, 4 to 5 mins. Remove pan from heat, squeeze a little more lemon juice over chicken & veggies, sprinkle with parsley & serve.

No parsley for us- we have a bunny that is attacking our garden!

Got Lots of Summer Squash?

2009-07-14T12:03:00.003-05:00

Well its that time of year again. Our garden is producing more than we can handle, at least in the squash territory. Still waiting on some ripe tomatoes.
Anyway, if you have an adbunance of summer squash-Make this!

http://juliesfoodie.blogspot.com/2009/01/sqaush-bisque.html

Its good! Double the recipe b/c 4 cups of sliced squash is about 1 squash in my garden.

Vegetable Hash

2009-07-09T11:35:00.002-05:00

We eat a lot of egg beaters/egg whites on this diet. It truly is the easiest way to get a lot of protein in your morning meal. I like this "hash" because it is hearty, but it doesn't have any potatoes in it. I have been adding it to our morning eggs, but you could also serve it as a side dish to any meal. The best part is that I cooked this up on Sunday so I was able to just add it into my eggs without the added sauteing time.

Chunky Vegetable Hash
South Beach Diet Book

1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
pinch of dried thyme
pinch if paprika
1/8 tsp salt
1 small red pepper, diced
4 large button mushrooms, diced
2 small zucchini, chopped
1 small garlic clove

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion, thyme & paprika, reduce heat to medium low & cook, stirring occasionally, 7 minutes or until soft. Stir in remaining items. Cover & cook, stirring occasionally 4 more minutes.

Spicy Shrimp & Bok Choy Stir Fry

2009-07-09T11:30:00.003-05:00

This was so good, but I didn't make enough! I always forget that ingredients like bok choy, spinach, etc... They cook down. So I thought, oh one head of bok choy will surely be enough. Yeah, not so much.

Spicy Shrimp & Bok Choy Stir Fry
South Beach Diet Book

1 ½ lbs large shrimp
4 scallions, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves minced
2 tsp vegetable oil
2 lbs bok choy, sliced crosswise
2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
2 tsp chile garlic sauce

Combine shrimp, scallion whites & garlic
In a wok, heat oil. Add shrimp mixture & cook until shrimp are pink, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.
Return pan to heat, add bok choy, cover & cook until crisp & tender, 3 to 4 mins. Drain any liquid from the pan & add to the shrimp.
Return pan to heat, add soy sauce & garlic sauce. Stir to combine, bring to a boil. Add shrimp mixture & toss to coat. Cook just briefly. Stir in green scallions & serve.

** This was really good, the sauce had just the right amount of spice to it. I will use the sauce again, but probably add more stir fry veggies. It just seems really plain-not in taste-just in looks.

Turkey Meatloaf

2009-07-09T11:23:00.003-05:00

This recipe is packed with protein and fiber. It filled us up pretty quickly.

Home-style Turkey Meatloaf w/Mushrooms & White Beans
South Beach Diet

2 tsp olive oil
1 ½ cup chopped onion
½ tsp thyme
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp cayenne
½ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
¾ lb mushrooms chopped
4 large garlic cloves minced
1 15oz can great Northern beans, drained & rinsed
1 ¼ lb ground turkey
2 large eggs
½ cup chopped parsley
4 tsp Worcestershire
2 tsp Dijon mustard

Heat oven to 375F. Spray 8x4x2 ½ w/ olive oil.
In a large skillet heat oil over medium high heat. Add onions and seasonings. Reduce to medium low & cook for 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and garlic; cook until onion is softened & mushrooms are Incorporated, about 5 minutes. Add beans & stir to combine. Transfer mixture to a bowl & let cool.
In a large bowl, combine cool bean mixture, turkey, eggs, parsley & 2 tsp Worcestershire. Mix well with wet hands to combine, form into a loaf & place in a pan. Stir together mustard & remaining sauce. Set aside.
Bake for 50 minutes. Brush with reserved Worcestershire sauce & return to oven. Cook for an additional 10-15 minutes or until temp registers 170F.

** 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper is a lot. I only did 1/4 tsp
** I also used 93% lean ground beef for this since we had just had turkey burgers
** My husband doesn't care for Dijon mustard, so my glaze was just ketchup.

I served this with some baked sweet potatoes & grilled summer squash

Sun Dried Tomato & Feta Stuffed Chicken

2009-07-07T13:31:00.004-05:00

I grabbed a copy of South Beach Diet at the library a few weeks ago. A lot of the allowable food items on that diet are approved for P90X so I've snagged a few recipes from it & will be making them this week.

Last night was Sun Dried Tomato & Feta Stuffed Chicken. I found sun dried tomatoes in a bag in the produce section-kind like craisins- and I was so excited. See usually sun dried tomatoes are in a jar with lots of oil. This is a much healthier option.

Sun Dried Tomato & Feta Stuffed Chicken
SB Diet
Serves 2

2 chicken breasts, pounded thin
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
1/4 cup feta cheese
1/4 cup fresh chopped basil
1 Tbsp EVOO
S&P

Mix the tomatoes, cheese, basil & EVOO in a bowl.
Lay mixture in chicken & roll the chicken up. I use a toothpick to secure the chicken in place.
In an oven proof skillet, spray with Misto & heat over medium-high heat.
Heat oven to 425F.
Place chicken in pan & brown on one side. Season with S&P.
Place pan in oven & cook until chicken is no longer pink.

Grilling Garden Delicious

2009-07-06T13:51:00.002-05:00

Not only did the Hubs get a new smoker this year, but he also got a fab grill for Father's Day-man am I happy!!!

So we grilled some garden harvest. We just picked whatever was ready in the garden & grilled them up.

Some squash, zucchini & green onions.

And some store bought mushrooms (boo to the store bought food ;) )

Trifle

2009-07-06T13:42:00.003-05:00

We were invited to our friends house for BBQ on Friday night. A little early 4th of July celebration. The last time we went over to their house for dinner, I made this trifle. I mostly just made it b/c I wanted to use my trifle bowl, but wow did it make an impression on our friends! I heard about the trifle for weeks, if not months, afterwards.

So I thought it was only fitting to make it again. Happy 4th Justin & Shonna!

Brownie Trifle-4th of July Style

1 box of brownie mix
Strawberries
Blueberries
Cool Whip

1) Make brownies according to package. (Before I had a baby & my husband left for a week, I probably would have made these by scratch. Not so much now)
2) Let brownies cool completely
3) Meanwhile, slice up the strawberries
4) Once the brownies are cool, cut into squares and place in the bottom of the bowl. Layer with cool whip, then top with strawberries & blueberries.
5) Repeat

Its that time of year again!

2009-07-01T14:35:00.002-05:00

The garden is in full swing!!! Well it has been for awhile, I just haven't had time to do much with it.

We harvested our peas & snap peas awhile back. I cant wait to make some pea baby food for Jayson! And the past few days we harvest our green beans:

And our first squash! (We now have 3 more)

I know some of our stuff is blooming later than everyone else, but the hubs started everything from seed this year. EVERYTHING (herbs,carrots, green onions, shallots, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, peppers and tomatoes)

Warm Goat Cheese Salad

2009-07-01T13:55:00.005-05:00

On this diet, I almost always make salads to go with our dinners. Since typically do not get carbs, I like to fool myself into thinking I am not missing them. Ask yourself, if your meal choice was either a chicken breast, sauteed squash & steamed green beans OR chicken breast sauteed squash & a Greek salad-which would you pick?

So I look for ways to make salads a little more fun than just your basic side salad.

IE:
Greek Salad: mixed greens, tomatoes, black olives, cucumbers, feta cheese. Balsamic Vinaigrette
Apple Cheddar Salad: Mixed greens, apples, cheddar cheese, balsamic vinaigrette.
Spinach Mushroom Salad: Spinach, mushrooms, red onions, Italian dressing

You get the idea. Just something to give us a better variety of vegetables. Sometimes I will even top them w/almonds or pecans. (I am crazy like that)

Anyway, 1 oz of goat cheese is equivalent to one dairy serving in this diet plan. I bought some to stuff into chicken but had some leftover & was trying to figure out what to make with it. I found this recipe on myrecipes.com

Warm Goat Cheese Salad

1/3 cup olive oil --> OMIT
1/3 cup lemon juice --> OMIT
1 tablespoon thinly sliced green onions --> OMIT
1 tablespoon honey --> OMIT
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard --> OMIT
1/2 cup Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs --> whole wheat breadcrumbs that I seasoned w/Italian Seasoning
1 1/2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 tablespoons sesame seeds --> OMIT
3 (4-oz.) goat cheese logs
1 large egg, lightly beaten --> 1/4 cupegg beaters
3 tablespoons butter --> OLIVE OIL
1 1/2 (5-oz.) packages sweet baby greens, thoroughly washed
12 pitted ripe olives, sliced --> OMIT

1. Whisk together first 5 ingredients.

2. Combine breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, and sesame seeds.

3. Cut each goat cheese log into 4 slices. Dip in egg, and dredge in breadcrumb mixture. Cover and chill 2 hours.

4. Melt butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Fry goat cheese, in 2 batches, 1 to 2 minutes on each side or until browned; drain on paper towels.

5. Toss salad greens with olive oil mixture. Top with olives and warm goat cheese rounds.

As you can tell, this isn't very diet friendly. So I had to adjust. I didn't use their dressing-i just used a store bought low fat balsamic vinaigrette. I didn't chill the goat cheese (oops!) and i just drizzled a little olive oil in the pan to "fry" the logs.

This was really good & made my grilled chicken breast dinner a little fancier.

More Salmon

2009-06-29T13:03:00.003-05:00

We bought a huge salmon fillet at Sam's Club that I portioned out for our meals. This was salmon dinner #2.

I used my chicken with sherried mushrooms recipe & applied it here. Only I broiled the salmon & seasoned it with S&P.

Here is the recipe for just the sherried mushrooms & sauce
1 (14.5oz) can fat-free low sodium chicken broth
1 Tbsp butter
2 cups sliced mushrooms
2 Tbsp minced shallots
1/4 cup dry sherry
1 Tbsp chopped parsley

1. Place broth in a small saucepan & bring to a boil. Cook until reduced to 1 cup, about 7 minutes.
2. heat a medium skillet and add butter, mushrooms, and shallots to the pan. cook over medium high heat until mushrooms are light browned, stirring constantly. Add sherry; bring to a boil. Add 1 cup reduced broth, cook until reduced to 1 1/2 cups (about 7 minutes).

I just drizzled the sauce & mushroom mixture over the salmon when it was done cooking & served it with a little whole wheat couscous.

Italian Pork Tenderloin

2009-06-29T11:33:00.003-05:00

This is a really simple meal to make and whenever I run out of ideas I know I can just defrost a tenderloin, season it up, and bake it-then be good for a few days (it makes a lot).

This time I marinated the pork tenderloin in a light Italian dressing for about 6 hours. I baked it in the oven until the internal temperature reached 180. I believe I had the oven set to 350-so it took awhile. (That's about the only downside to this recipe, the hour or so it takes to cook this)

Served with some cauliflower & cheese and 1/2 cup of wild rice.

Updating fool!

2009-06-29T11:25:00.002-05:00

I hope I have time today to make some updates-finally! I really hope to keep this blog. It has been so helpful to me since starting P90X again because I have been able to go back to the recipes I posted when we did this diet the last time. Saving me TONS of time by not having to search the Internet for new recipes. Now I am sure my updates & posts will die down, sometimes I just don't have time for a picture and I do a lot of repeats for simplicity sake, but I will try my hardest to post a bit more often.

That being said, P90X is here. We haven't been completely committed to the workouts, as we are still trying to figure out routines & schedules these days, but we have started the diet. And by diet, I don't mean a lot of food restriction. There are so many foods you can eat on this diet, but its mostly high protein, low carbs, eat 5 times a day type of deal.

First up is an oven roasted salmon w/spinach & tomatoes.

I served this is 1/2 cup of cous cous.

I marinated the salmon in olive oil and minced garlic. I spread a layer of spinach in the bottom of a 9x9 pan, layered on tomatoes, then placed the salmon on top of the veggies. Seasoned it with S&P and some more garlic, then roasted it at 375 for about 20 minutes or until flaky. (I can't remember if I covered it. I think I did)

I'll be back soon!

2009-06-15T16:28:00.002-05:00

So this little guy has been taking up my time the past 2 months. :)

Jayson graced us with his presence on April 8th and I haven't had a chance to blog since then. I have done some cooking, so I will try to get the blog updated, but be ready for some serious diet food.

The hubs and I are starting P90X again. This time I'll be tagging the posts that are P90X friendly because as I was going through my blog, I couldn't remember which ones were. Some oldies will pop up, but its been awhile since you have seen them so it'll be a good refresher.

S'more Cookies

2009-04-08T10:43:00.003-05:00

One thing I love are graham crackers. I love them with some peanut butter on them. Some chocolate, whatever. They are just delicious. I have been eyeing my bag of mini marshmallows for the past few weeks and thought, well maybe I can make a s'more cookie.

I found this recipe on Hershey's but instead of making bar cookies I made individual ones.

S'More Cookie Bars
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 (1.55 oz. each) HERSHEY'S Milk Chocolate Bars
1 cup marshmallow creme
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 8-inch square baking pan.

2. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Press half of dough into prepared pan.

3. Arrange chocolate bars over dough, breaking as needed to fit. Spread with marshmallow creme. Scatter bits of remaining dough over marshmallow; carefully press to form a layer.

4. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. 16 bars.

So my adjustments are as follows:
I used mini chocolate chips in place of the bars
I used mini marshmallow's in place of the fluff
I made individual cookies instead of bars. Cooked for 12 mins at 350, cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes then remove.
I think the only thing I would change would be to add more graham crackers or more chunks.

2 things, but no pictures

2009-04-08T10:13:00.002-05:00

I thought I would slide these two in between some picture posts.

I needed to make something spicy-you know-kick labor into gear & all. It was snowing on Sunday-again. So a soup sounded good. I was going to go a tortilla soup, but then I came across this chiptole pepper soup on Cara's blog. This was really good. I added more chicken broth b/c it didn't seem to make as much as I wanted.

Secondly, in my bored state, I made some sugar cookies. I used this recipe from Ms Nemmie over at Cast Sugar. I omitted the zest & just used vanilla. They were pretty crispy, but they kept their shape and I never have a sugar cookie keep its shape, so this will go into the Christmas cookie rotation.

Beef & Noodle Bake

2009-04-08T09:59:00.003-05:00

I am still cooking and baking away. I need to occupy my time until Baby R decides to grace us with his presence. The good thing is that at least I am able to put some of this stuff in the freezer.

Beef, Cheese, and Noodle Bake
Cooking Light

Ingredients
1 (8-ounce) package small elbow macaroni
Cooking spray
1 cup prechopped onion
1 cup preshredded carrot
2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic
1 pound lean ground sirloin
1 cup tomato sauce
1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup fat-free milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) 2% reduced-fat shredded sharp cheddar cheese (such as Cracker Barrel), divided
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.

Cook pasta according to the package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain. Lightly coat pasta with cooking spray.

Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and carrot, and sauté 4 minutes. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add ground beef; cook 5 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Add tomato sauce, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes or until most of liquid evaporates.

Add pasta to beef mixture in pan, stirring to combine. Spoon pasta mixture into an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.

Place milk, flour, nutmeg, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt in a medium saucepan; stir with a whisk until blended. Cook over medium heat 2 minutes or until thickened, stirring constantly with a whisk. Add 1 cup cheese, stirring until smooth. Pour cheese mixture over pasta mixture; stir. Top evenly with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

This was ok. It lacked some flavor-I don't know exactly what though. I think maybe I wanted some tomato chunks, but then it would have been more like an Italian bake.

Homestyle Chicken & Biscuits

2009-04-03T10:23:00.002-06:00

I was looking for a nice casserole recipe for the hubs & I one night. I had all the meals planned for the week & wanted something easy. This was very easy. I have no clue where I got the recipe from, it was sitting in my recipe binder from 2004.

Homestyle chicken & biscuits

1 can cream of mushroom soup (i used healthy request)
1 can cream of broccoli soup
1 cup of milk
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp thyme
1 cups cooked cubed chicken
3 cups frozen cooked veggies (i used California mix)
1 cup cooked diced red potatoes
1 pkg biscuits (I used Grands 10 oz, quartered)

Mix soups, milk, thyme & pepper in a baking dish. Stir in veggies, chicken & potatoes.
Bake at 400F for about 15 minutes.
Stir the casserole, then top with biscuits. Bake for an additional 15 minutes or until the biscuits are brown.

Still here, counting down the days

2009-04-03T09:16:00.003-06:00

Baby R isn't due until April 11, but I keep hoping he will make an early appearance. In the meantime, I am still cooking away. I did make a ton of freezer meals over the weekend, when we were snowed in. (Its SPRING mother nature!) All were recipes I have made before (mexican lasagna, chicken stroganoff & jambayla) I also stored some extra spaghetti sauce & chicken cacciatore in the freezer too. But hey, we also have to eat now right?

So while I am bored, I usually bake or cook. I made a loaf of the pumpkin cream cheese bread, and since I had about 1 cup of pumpkin left, I needed to find something else to use it in. I came across these pumpkin muffins on Smitten Kitchen.

Pumpkin Muffins
Smitten Kitchen (from Gourmet)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 1/4 cups sugar, plus 1 tbsp
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F.

Whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, 1 1/4 cup of sugar, baking soda & salt in a large bowl. Then whisk in flour & baking powder until just combined.

In a small separate bowl, stir together the cinnamon & sugar.

Divide batter in the muffin pans, then sprinkle the tops with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Bake until puffed & golden brown-about 25-30 minutes.

Spiced Chicken with Oranges

2009-03-23T10:06:00.003-06:00

I found this recipe in a recipe binder I created years ago. In fact, I just checked the date on the print out and it says "07/23/2003". I have had some Chinese Five Spice powder in the cupboard, unopened, for probably 6 months. I couldn't tell you why I bought it, for whatever reason I never made whatever I intended to make.

I really like the PF Changs Orange Peel chicken, and this is what I had envisioned this recipe to be, so when I started cooking and smelled the licorice, I was a bit concerned. Chinese Five Spice has cinnamon, star anise, ground cloves, licorice & fennel. I did not know this until the hubs said "Smells like licorice". My expectations went way down. I am not really a fan of licorice unless it comes in the form of a Twizzler. But I kept on.

Spice Chicken With Oranges
Bone Appetit (Feb 2003)
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used tenderloins)
2 tsp chinese five spice
2 tsp sesame seeds
1 Tbsp butter
1 medium red onion (I used yellow)
1/2 cup orange juice
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp hot pepper oil (I used canola oil & cayenne pepper)
2 seedless oranges, peeled & sliced crosswise into 1/2 inch thick sections
**I also used some flour

Mix salt, pepper, five spice, sesame seeds & flour in a bowl. Toss chicken in the mixture.

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute chicken until golden brown & cooked through. Using tongs, transfer to a plate.

Add onion to drippings in the skillet (if you dont have enough add some more butter). Saute until tender. Add OJ, soy, and pepper oil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 2 minutes. Add oranges and stir until just heated through. Return chicken to skillet to reheat.

I served this with some asian rice & steam broccoli. It was better than I had anticipated, but not as good as I was hoping.

Shrimp & Sausage Hash

2009-03-20T12:07:00.004-06:00

I won't lie, I was little skeptical about this recipe. I read the ingredients to the hubs and he said "well that sounds freaking awesome!" so I put it on the menu. I mean, it didn't even call for ranch and he thought it sounded good. I think maybe my issue with the recipe is b/c I don't really like all my food to touch. I don't know why, but I just don't.
So hash is a mixture of meat, potatoes, onions & spices. I had some smoked sausage in the freezer and needed to figure out something to make with it. I went to the Armour-Eckrich website and found this recipe.

Smoked Sausage & Shrimp Hash
Ingredients

1 cup chopped red potatoes (1/2-inch pieces)
3 tablespoons olive oil
8 large shrimp, peeled, deveined and chopped
1 package (16 ounces) Eckrich® Smoked Sausage, halved lengthwise, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
1 large yellow onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 cup chopped peeled sweet potato (1/2-inch pieces)
1 large red bell pepper, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 large yellow bell pepper, chopped (about 1 cup)
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 green onions, sliced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

Directions

1. Place red potatoes in small saucepan. Add enough cold water to cover potatoes. Bring to a boil over medium heat; boil 2 minutes. Drain. Remove potatoes from saucepan; drain on paper towels.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add shrimp; cook and stir 30 seconds, or until shrimp just start to turn pink. (Shrimp will not be fully cooked.) Remove shrimp from skillet; set aside.

3. Add sausage and yellow onions to same skillet; stir. Reduce heat to medium-high. Cook and stir 6 minutes, or until sausage and onions are lightly browned. Add red potatoes, sweet potatoes, bell peppers and garlic; cook 6 minutes, or until vegetables are crisp-tender, stirring frequently. Add shrimp and green onions; cook and stir 1 minute, or until shrimp turn pink. Stir in salt and black pepper.

**Some of my changes--> I didn't have yellow or red peppers, but I still had a ton leftover from our garden in the freezer. So I just used those. I wish my potatoes had been more browned than mushy. I am not sure why they got mushy-maybe my pan wasn't big enough. I used normal sized shrimp, so I had about 10-12 of those.

I was surprised at how much I liked this. The hubs loved it (meat & potatoes kind of guy he is) and I think if you used turkey sausage it would be pretty healthy.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

2009-03-20T11:47:00.003-06:00

There has got to be shorter name for these bad boys! They are absolutely wonderful though. I found them over on Stacey's blog. As soon as I saw her post on them I knew I needed to make them ASAP! I have been wanting to make something with the oats I have in the pantry, but I didn't want oatmeal raisin or butterscotch oatmeal.

PB, CC, Oat cookies
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
2c rolled oats
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted & slightly cooled
1 c peanut butter
1 c brown sugar, packed
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 large egg plus
1 yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions. Mix flour, oats, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

2. Either by hand or with electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Mix in egg, yolk, vanilla, and peanut butter. Add dry ingredients; mix until just combined. Stir in chips. I didn't follow this next step. I just used my good old PC cookie scoop. Although I did use parchment paper and refrigerate my dough for a bit. For an illustration of step 3 click here

3. Form scant 1/4 cup dough into ball. Holding dough ball using fingertips of both hands, pull into two equal halves. Rotate halves ninety degrees and, with jagged surfaces exposed, join halves together at their base, again forming a single cookie, being careful not to smooth dough’s uneven surface. Place formed dough onto one of two parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. (Dough can be refrigerated up to 2 days or frozen up to 1 month—shaped or not.)

4. Bake, reversing cookie sheets’ positions halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes (start checking at 13 minutes). (Frozen dough requires an extra 1 to 2 minutes baking time.) Cool cookies on cookie sheets. Serve or store in airtight container.I found the trick to these cookies was taking them out of the oven before they looked like they were done. They stayed moist on the inside but slightly crunchy on the outside.

Chicken Cacciatore

2009-03-19T06:08:00.005-06:00

I was waiting to post this b/c I had left the recipe at home. However, when I got home I realized I threw the recipe away & its no longer available online. So I will have to write this one from memory.

I got this recipe from Williams-Sonoma years ago. When I found the cinnamon buttermilk recipe, I also stumbled upon this recipe too.

Chicken Cacciatore

4 slices of bacon, cut into 1/2 inch strips
2lbs chicken (either pieces or boneless skinless), cut into 1 inch pieces
1 onion, diced
12 white button mushrooms, halved
thyme
oregano
2 garlic cloves
2 cups diced tomatoes (I used 2 cans diced tomatoes drained)
1/2 cup red wine
1 cup chicken broth

1. Cook bacon, remove from pan with a slotted spoon and set aside
2. Season chicken with salt & pepper. Add chicken to the same pan with the bacon grease (if you have a lot of grease, drain some of it). Cook until browned. (not completely cooked). Remove from pan & set aside.
3. Add onions to the pan & cook until translucent. Add garlic & saute a little longer.
4. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover & simmer, about 30 minutes. This will bring more flavor to the sauce.

I served this over some Parmesan mashed potatoes. You could use pasta, we just had too many pasta dishes on the menu for the week. This made a lot. I had enough for 4 servings, plus I was able to freeze 2 additional servings of the sauce.

Busy Bee

2009-03-18T07:02:00.003-06:00

3 1/2 weeks until my due date and boy have we been busy. Between baby showers, getting the house put together & childbirth classes, we haven't had time for much else. I finally had time this weekend to do a little baking, although I sat there the entire time thinking about how I should be cleaning out the bathroom cabinet to make room for the baby stuff, but I knew a little baking would make me feel better. I even had time to make a menu plan for the week that didn't consist of sandwiches or eating out. So we may have some updates this week!

Whenever I go to the store and I buy buttermilk I almost ALWAYS buy too much. I just can't ever remember how much I need for my recipe. So I am trying to use up some that I have in the fridge. I came across these cinnamon buttermilk muffins & whipped them up Sunday morning.

Cinnamon-Buttermilk Muffins
Williams-Sonoma
Ingredients:
For the muffins:
7 Tbs. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg (I used dried)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the topping:
2/3 cup sugar
1 Tbs. ground cinnamon
6 Tbs. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Directions:
Preheat an oven to 350°F. Grease 9 standard muffin cups with butter or butter-flavored nonstick cooking spray; fill the unused cups one-third full with water to prevent warping.

To make the muffins, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, combine the butter and sugar and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat well until pale and smooth.

In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Add to the butter mixture in 2 additions, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla. Stir just until evenly moistened. The batter will be slightly lumpy.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each three-fourths full. Bake until the muffins are golden, dry and springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Unmold the muffins and let stand until cool enough to handle.

To make the topping, in a small, shallow bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon. Put the melted butter in another small bowl. Holding the bottom of a muffin, dip the top into the melted butter, turning to coat it evenly. Immediately dip the top in the cinnamon-sugar mixture, coating it evenly, then tap it to remove excess sugar. Transfer the muffin, right side up, to the rack. Repeat with the remaining muffins. Let cool completely before serving. Makes 9 muffins.

Note: These cakelike muffins are made from a batter similar to that used for preparing doughnuts, but they are baked instead of fried.

As the note says at the bottom, these are like donuts but much healthier. They were so light and not too sweet. Williams-Sonoma recipes have never done me wrong!

My Cousin Gina

2009-03-02T11:04:00.003-06:00

Some of the best recipes are the ones you acquire from a family member-especially the ones that don't have an actual recipe. My cousin Gina made Italian Sausage & Peppers one year at Christmas. They were to die for. She graciously told me how to make them and while mine are pretty darn good, they don't handle a candle to hers.

Her recipe:
First & foremost get some good Italian sausage. I prefer something that is a little spicy. Cut up the peppers like I did and toss them with some olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, a little crushed red pepper, and oregano. Then just mix them in with the sausage and put in the oven at about 400. I'd say it probably takes about an hour. Check them every 10-15 minutes and stir it up so the sausage cooks on all sides. When it starts to get fairly brown (about 40 minutes) put in some chicken broth. You can also use a little white wine if you'd like. You want that to get a little dark which will happen with the browning of the sausage. I sometimes add a little more oregano, pepper, etc...if it seems to need it. I like to have a good amount of juice (its great for dipping bread) so I often end up adding a little more broth close to it being done if there doesn't seem to be enough.

I follow this word for word. Sometimes I skimp on the sausage & I think that is why mine aren't as good as hers.

This time I wanted to make some homemade bread for dipping. I pulled out the recipe for the Garlic Swirl bread

Garlic Herb Swirl Bread
Ingredients:
3 ¼ cups bread flour, divided
1 tbsp. sugar
1 pkg. active dry or quick-rising yeast
½ tsp. salt
1 cup very warm water (115-125°)
2 tbsp. butter or margarine, softened or melted

For the filling:
4 tbsp. butter, softened
5-6 cloves roasted garlic
1 tsp. dried parsley
½ tsp. dried oregano
½ tsp. dried basil
¼ cup Parmesan cheese

Directions:
In a large bowl or in the bowl of a heavy duty mixer combine 2 cups bread flour, sugar, yeast and salt. Add in water and butter/margarine and mix by hand or on low speed for 1 minute. Add in remaining flour ¼ cup at a time until the dough is moist but not sticky.

Knead the dough for about 10 minutes by hand or with the dough hook on low to medium speed, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl and turn it over to coat with oil. Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 40-45 minutes.

Grease a 9×5” loaf pan. Punch down the dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a large rectangle no more than 9” wide. Combine butter, garlic, parsley, oregano, basil and Parmesan cheese in a small bowl and mix until well combined. Spread the butter mixture over the surface of the dough rectangle. Tightly roll up the dough into a cylinder shape, pinching and tucking ends to form a tight seal. Place seam side down in prepared loaf pan. Oil the surface of the loaf and cover loosely with a clean cloth. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 20-45 minutes. Sprinkle the top of the loaf with Parmesan cheese if desired.

Preheat the oven to 450°. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350° and bake for about 30 minutes more. To prevent over-browning, cover with foil toward the end of baking if necessary. Bake until crust is golden brown and loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Transfer from pan to a cooling rack and let cool completely before slicing.

Source: adapted from Amber’s Delectable Delights

I had a hair appt so the hubs filled in for me while I was out. I mixed it all up & left right as it needed to rise. He did the rest. Thanks Hubs!

Chipotle Tamale Pie

2009-02-23T12:25:00.003-06:00

I have had this recipe marked ever since I bought cornmeal at the grocery store. I honestly don't even remember why I bought it. I am still trying to clear out our deep freeze so I can start freezing meals. If this tells you anything, its that I have a LOT of food in the deep freeze. I won't have even made it through the summer garden harvest before this next garden season is upon us.

This casserole is a good way to eat up a lot of items in your house. I think you could adapt the ingredients to whatever you have on hand really. Change it up with some black beans & ground chicken. Anyway you slice it, it was easy, healthy & made a lot of food, for not a lot of $$$.

Chipotle Tamale Pie
myrecipes.com
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
3/4 pound ground round
1/2 cup bottled salsa
1 to 2 tablespoons bottled chipotle sauce (such as La Preferidia) or hot sauce
1 (15 1/2-ounce) can pinto beans in zesty sauce (such as S&W), undrained
1 (14.5-ounce) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes, drained
3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, divided
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup 1% low-fat milk
1 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Preparation
Preheat oven to 400°.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, bell pepper, and beef; cook 5 minutes or until meat is browned, stirring to crumble. Stir in the salsa, chipotle sauce, beans, and tomatoes; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in 1/2 cup cilantro. Spoon beef mixture into a 3-quart casserole.

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (flour through salt) in a large bowl. Add 1/4 cup cilantro, milk, butter, and egg; stir until well-blended. Spoon the batter over beef mixture; spread evenly. Bake at 400° for 35 minutes or until golden.

A few changes to the recipe: I used ground turkey & our homemade salsa. I couldn't find pinto beans in zesty sauce so I just used regular ones. I also couldn't find chipotle sauce, but I did have adobe peppers in chipotle sauce, so I used about 2 Tbsp from that. I added some 2% mexican mix shredded cheese. It looked like it would be a little dry (i am assuming b/c I drained the beans) so I kept part of the tomato juice.

Creamy Ranch Chicken Pasta

2009-02-19T11:03:00.004-06:00

I'll make this a quick post. When I received my daily email from BHG and saw "Ranch" in the title I knew I had to make it for my husband. There are two things my husband loves, anything with ranch dressing (it has to be Hidden Valley though) and anything wrapped in bacon.

So when I actually read the recipe and saw it had ranch & bacon, oh I knew he would just love it. I changed out the whole milk in the recipe, that is too much fat. I just used 2% and it was fine. And we have pretty much banned white pasta in our house. We only eat whole wheat.

Creamy Ranch Chicken
bhg.com
Ingredients
6 slices bacon
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into bite-size pieces
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. ranch dry salad dressing mix
1-1/4 cups whole milk
3 cups dried medium noodles
1 Tbsp. finely shredded Parmesan cheese
Directions
1. Cut bacon into narrow strips. In a large skillet cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Drain bacon on paper towels; discard all but 2 tablespoons drippings.

2. In the same skillet cook chicken in reserved drippings until tender and no longer pink, turning to brown evenly. Sprinkle flour and salad dressing mix over the chicken in the skillet; stir well. Stir in milk. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 1 minute more. Stir in bacon. Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions. Serve chicken mixture with noodles; sprinkle with Parmesan. Makes: 4 servings

I decided to do a salad with this too. I am not always in the mood for a fresh garden salad, so I like to change it up a bit. Greens, an apple, candied walnuts & a homemade dijon balsamic vinaigrette.

Thai Fish Sauce & Lime Chicken

2009-02-19T09:20:00.004-06:00

I am finally getting around to making some of the recipes I had tagged back in January. The two that I am posting about today have been on the menu rotation since probably mid January. After I finally made them, the hubs said "why have you been holding out!" I think I just had to be in the mood to make this stuff.

I think the biggest struggle I have when making my weekly menu is that I like to have a variety of dishes. I won't have a pasta dish two nights in a row. Or Mexican two nights in a row. So I try to be creative. This is good & bad; good b/c I am forced to make a variety of dishes, bad b/c it takes me forever to come up with my menu.

I like to throw some Thai or Chinese in throughout the week. I knew I had fish sauce & limes in the fridge so I searched myrecipes and came across this one.

Thai Fish Sauce and Lime Chicken
Cooking Light

Ingredients
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons sweetened chili sauce
2 teaspoons fish sauce
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons chopped roasted peanuts
Lime wedges (optional)
Preparation
Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound to 1/2-inch thickness using a meat mallet or rolling pin. Sprinkle chicken evenly with 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add chicken; cook 6 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.

Add broth, chili sauce, and fish sauce; bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cook until broth mixture is reduced to 2/3 cup (about 4 minutes). Remove from heat; add lime juice and peanut butter, stirring until smooth. Serve sauce over chicken; sprinkle with peanuts. Garnish with lime wedges, if desired.

I only made half of this recipe because I wasn't sure how well it would reheat. I served this with some store bought pot stickers & edamame. So an all around healthy meal. Don't be scared off by the ingredients-you can buy fish sauce in any grocery store & I used Thai sweet red chile sauce for the sweetened chile sauce.

Toasted Pecan, White Chocolate & a bunch of other stuff...

2009-02-17T08:48:00.004-06:00

Back in December, all the grocery stores had their baking items on sale. I am pretty sure I purchased enough chocolate bark, chips, frosting, cake mix, etc... to last me until the Spring. I mean really, who leaves the grocery store down close to $100 and all they bought was baking supplies??? Me. That's who.

I boycotted baking for awhile. The hubs was complaining about gaining sympathy weight, I wasn't in the mood to bake. I needed a little break. That didn't stop me from collecting recipes in my "to make" document that I keep handy. So when I was bored last week & on a baking/cooking spree, I knew these would be a hit. I had toffee chips leftover from said baking shopping spree but didn't want to make plain old cookies.

These were awesome! I really should have taken the advice of Baking Blonde & saved some of the dough in the freezer. Oh well, I will just have to make them again. In my attempt to make them not so bad for you, I made the cookies smaller. That didn't really work b/c I just felt the need to eat two at a time.

Toasted Pecan, White Chocolate & Toffee Chip Cookies

Toasted Pecan, White Chocolate and Toffee Chip Cookies
adapted from America’s Test Kitchen Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted & cooled until warm
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup Heath Toffee Pieces
3/4 cup Toasted Pecan Pieces
1 cup White Chocolate, chopped (I recommend using white baker’s chocolate, not white chips)

Toast the Nuts:
Adjust oven racks to upper & lower -middle positions & heat oven to 350.
Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Spread nuts on a baking sheet.
Bake in oven, stirring occasionally, for about 10 to 15 minutes until fragrant.
Remove from oven and allow to cool. Turn off oven.
*** I just toasted the nuts in a pan on the stove***

Whisk dry ingredients together; set aside.
With electric mixer, or by hand, mix butter & sugars until thoroughly combined.
Beat in egg, yolk and vanilla until combined. Add dry ingredients & beat at low speed just until combined.
Gently fold in toffee pieces, pecan pieces and white chocolate chunks.

Cover bowl tightly and place in refrigerator until ready to bake (at least 12 hours but up to 72 hours).
***I didn't have time to let them sit for 12 hours, I held out to 6 hours & started baking. ***

When ready to bake allow dough to come to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 350.
Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Using a spoon or medium cookie scooper, place dough balls on prepared sheets about 2 inches apart.
Bake for 9-12 minutes until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft & puffy. Do NOT overbake!

Cool cookies on sheets until able to lift without breaking and place on wire rack to cool.

*Instead of baking all of the dough at once you can drop dough balls onto a cookie sheet and chill until firm. Place in Freezer bag and freeze for later baking. Allow to come to room temp and bake as usual watching carefully not to overbake.

Next time I will probably double the recipe & freeze half for a later date. I'd better do this before the baby is born!

Figs

2009-02-17T08:40:00.003-06:00

One of the things I love about cooking club is that it makes me cook with ingredients I wouldn't normally buy. A few highlights from the last cooking club was the walnut oil (thanks to Miss Nemmie at Cast Sugar) & figs.

Figs are kind of like raisins, at least they were in this dish I made. I wasn't sure what to expect out of the figs, I mean, I like Fig Newtons so I figured I would like figs. I did not tell the Hubs that the topping for the chicken was made with figs until he tried it.

Chicken with Balsamic Fig Sauce
Cooking Light
Ingredients
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup finely chopped dried figs (such as Mission)
Preparation
Sprinkle both sides of chicken evenly with 1 1/2 teaspoons thyme, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 6 minutes on each side or until done. Remove from pan; keep warm.

Reduce heat to medium; add butter to pan. Add onion; sauté 3 minutes. Add broth, vinegar, soy sauce, and figs. Simmer until sauce is reduced to 1 cup (about 3 minutes). Add 1 tablespoon thyme and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cut chicken breast halves lengthwise on the diagonal into slices. Serve sauce over chicken.

This was good, healthy & a nice alternative to your standard grilled chicken with pan sauce. I still have some figs left & I think I am going to bake something with them instead of cook. Any recommendations?

Chicken & Sausage Gumbo

2009-02-13T08:57:00.003-06:00

I hope I have some New Orleans readers out there b/c I have a question. What is the difference between a Gumbo & a Jambalaya? We love both, but I was trying to find recipes for smoked sausage (it was on sale, I stocked up) & this gumbo came up and it made me wonder, what is the difference really?

Chicken & Sausage Gumbo
Yield
6 to 8 servings

Ingredients
1 (16-ounce) package Cajun-style smoked sausage, cut into 1/4-inch slices
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium-size green bell pepper, chopped
4 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 (32-ounce) container chicken broth
1 1/4 cups uncooked long-grain rice
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
Garnish: chopped fresh parsley
Preparation
Cook smoked sausage in a Dutch oven over medium heat, stirring constantly, 3 minutes or until browned. Add celery, onion, and bell pepper, and sauté 6 to 8 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Stir in chicken and next 3 ingredients; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 45 minutes or until rice is done and liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat, and let stand 10 to 15 minutes before serving. Garnish, if desired.

If you omit the rice from this or use a brown rice, this is a very healthy meal. I used turkey smoked sausage in mine. But I made it unhealthy by using a box of Zatarain's Garlic & Herb rice. But wow, it was so good! I had more gumbo than rice, so I froze half of the recipe for post-baby time.

Creamy Spinach, Mushroom & Chicken Enchiladas

2009-02-13T08:48:00.003-06:00

We love Mexican food. Problem with Mexican food is that its sooooo bad for you, especially if you eat out. I am sure I am only taking out about a quarter of the fat when I make it at home, but for some reason I just feel like its a ton better for us.

Creamy Spinach, Mushroom & Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients
Sauce:
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 (10-ounce) can condensed reduced-fat cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1 (8-ounce carton) fat-free sour cream (I used low fat)
1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles, undrained

Enchiladas:
Cooking spray
1 cup chopped onion
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and chopped
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 (10-ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided
10 (6-inch) corn tortillas
**diced cooked chicken**

Garnish:
1/2 cup chopped seeded plum tomato
1/4 cup chopped green onion tops

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare sauce, combine first 4 ingredients; stir well.

To prepare enchiladas, heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion and jalapeño; sauté 5 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Add mushrooms; sauté 3 minutes or until tender. Stir in garlic powder, cumin, salt, and spinach; cook 5 minutes or until heated. Combine spinach mixture and 1/4 cup cheese in a large bowl; stir to combine.

Spoon 1/2 cup sauce into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Warm tortillas according to package directions. Spoon about 1/3 cup spinach mixture down center of each tortilla; roll up. Place filled tortillas seam sides down in the baking dish. Spread remaining sauce evenly over tortillas; top with 3/4 cup cheese.

Bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Top with tomato and green onion.

While we liked the taste of this recipe, we didn't like the spinach part. Frozen/thawed spinach tends to stick together in clumps. So when you would get a "bite" of spinach, it was more like a big clump. I would recommend using fresh spinach leaves & just letting them cook with the mushrooms. And b/c my husband doesn't believe a meal is a meal without some form of meat in it, I sauted some chicken & added it to the enchiladas as well.

The best part of this meal, I pulled out some of our homemade salsa from the freezer for chips & salsa. It almost made it feel like summer.

Cake Cookies

2009-02-13T08:11:00.004-06:00

I have a few boxes of cake mix in my pantry from the holidays. They were on sale for something like $.99/piece so I picked up a few (ok 4) without any intention of using them. I don't make cakes all that often. So when I came across this recipe, I was thrilled! Cake cookies-what a brilliant idea.

The hubs & I were headed to my 7 yr old nephew's basketball game so I the perfect reason to make some cookies & not keep them in my house.

Chocolate Cake Cookie Sandwiches
Yield: 10 sandwich cookies (using a medium-sized dough scoop)

Ingredients:
For the cookies:
1 package chocolate cake mix (or other flavor of your choice)
1 egg, at room temperature
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

For the frosting:
3/4 cup butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2-3 tbsp. milk

For decorating:
multi-colored non-pareils, or other sprinkles or candy of your choice

Directions:
To make the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the cake mix, egg and butter. Beat on low speed until just combined and all dry ingredients have been incorporated. Roll the dough into 1- to 1 1/2-inch balls, place on the prepared baking sheets and press down to slightly flatten. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool completely on the cookie sheets.

To make the frosting, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the powdered sugar, and beat until incorporated. Add vanilla extract and beat on medium speed until fully incorporated. Add 2 tablespoons of milk and beat on medium-high speed until smooth. If the frosting too thick, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of milk and beat until incorporated.

To assemble, pair the cookies based on size on a work surface. Frost the flat side of one cookie from each pair. Place the other cookie of each pair on top of the frosting, flat side down. Lightly press down so that the frosting reaches the edges of the cookies. To decorate, place sprinkles in a small bowl. Dip the sides of each cookie in the sprinkles, pressing down gently and rotating to cover the sides completely

Now, I don't know why mine were thinner than the original recipes-maybe b/c I used premade frosting & not my own. These were super sweet but the kids loved the shapes. To do the shapes, I made the cookies in circles, after they were cooled, I used the cookie cutters to cut out the shapes. So much easier than trying to make the shapes beforehand.

Pumpkin Pound Cake

2009-02-11T14:55:00.004-06:00

I went on a baking/cookie extravaganza this past weekend. My house was clean, laundry was done, I didn't know what to do with my time. So I decided to bake. I had cleaned out the lazy susan and came across 4 cans of pumpkin. I went to my trusty word document that had my "to-bake" items on it & found Pumpkin Pound Cake w/buttermilk glaze.

Now this pumpkin bread/pound cake has a funny story. I'll tell you it at the end.

Ok I didn't want the cake part so I decided to make it in a loaf pan. For some reason this makes me think its ok to eat it for breakfast. Secondly I didn't want the glaze so I left that part of the recipe out. I had high hopes for this recipe. The banana bread I made a few weeks ago called for Buttermilk & it was FABULOUS!

Pumpkin Pound Cake with Buttermilk Glaze
www.myrecipes.com
Ingredients
Cake:
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour (about 13 1/2 ounces)
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup fat-free buttermilk

Glaze:
1/3 cup fat-free buttermilk
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare the cake, lightly coat a 10-inch tube pan with cooking spray; dust with 1 tablespoon flour. Spread pumpkin over 2 layers of paper towels; cover with 2 additional layers of paper towels. Let stand about 10 minutes. Scrape drained pumpkin into a bowl.

Place 3/4 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed 3 minutes or until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in pumpkin and vanilla. Lightly spoon 3 cups flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture and 3/4 cup buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350° for 55 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack. Remove from pan, and cool completely on wire rack.

To prepare glaze, combine 1/3 cup buttermilk and remaining ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute or until thick, stirring constantly; remove from heat. Drizzle cake with glaze.

I knew this would take longer to cook, it was more like 75-80 minutes. I think I should have turned the temp down to 325 after 60 minutes & let it cook for an additional 30 minutes. It was a little gooey but still super tasty.

Now the funny part. I was baking at about 7am on a Saturday. I cant sleep in anymore with this baby. I get too uncomfortable. Well I must have been half asleep because for whatever reason I used 2 sticks of butter. Only I didn't realize I had used 2 sticks until later in the afternoon when I made cookies. Said cookie recipe called for 1/2 cup of butter, when I set the stick on the counter, I saw the conversion thing on the side. You know, the one that says 8 Tbsp=1/2 cup=1 stick. I dug the recipe out of the trash & re-read it. I wasn't going to say anything to the hubs but I thought it was too funny to keep to myself. Needless to say, the center of the pumpkin bread is not really edible.

Chicken,, Pancetta & Bechamel Sauce

2009-02-11T14:16:00.004-06:00

Post cooking club, I had no desire to cook, nor was I even thinking about defrosting something to make for dinner the next evening. But I was refusing to eat out. So I was determined to make something at home.

We didn't use all the chicken in the chicken, fig & pancetta bites. So those small chunks had been marinating in the balsamic vinegar sauce over night. I figured I would saute those up & toss them in a pasta. But I didn't know what kind of sauce.

I was going to do an alfredo, but I didn't have parmesan cheese. I was trying to find some kind of white wine cream lemon sauce, but I couldn't find any in my cookbooks & I didn't want to turn on the computer. So I pulled out Giada & reviewed her bechamel sauce. Easy peasy.

Giada's Bechamel Sauce
1 stick unsalted butter (4 ounces)
1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 quart whole milk, at room temperature
Pinch fresh nutmeg
Sea salt and white pepper

In a 2 quart saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk until smooth, about 2 minutes. Always stirring, gradually add the milk and continue to whisk until the sauce is smooth and creamy. Simmer until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. This will take approximately 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in nutmeg, salt & pepper.

So I changed some things here. I had some heavy cream leftover. For whatever reason whenever I need 1 cup of heavy cream, I buy the giant container. If I need two cups I buy the little container & then have to go back to the store. This consistently happens. Anyway, I used about 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream & then 1/2 cup of 2% milk. I omitted the nutmeg & added some oregano.

I boiled whatever noodles I had in the house, I think they were extra wide egg noodles. Then I tossed the chicken, sauce & pasta together. It was delicious.

Cooking Club-Romantic Dinner for Two

2009-02-09T08:10:00.008-06:00

Our February Cooking Club theme was in honor of the upcoming holiday-Valentine's Day. My husband often says he likes my cooking better than going out to dinner. I don't know if he is just saying that to make me feel better or if it is actually true, but I appreciate the compliment.

Valentine's Day falls on a Saturday this year. I can only imagine what the restaurants are going to be like. We forgo dining out on Valentine's day, opting to go out the following weekend (which happens to be our dating anniversary). I have heard many people say the same thing, why spend a romantic dinner with 200 other people? Why not just cook at home?

I decided to host Cooking Club before I got too big & too tired. We had a great time & a great turnout (15 people!) On the menu for the night:

Feta & Mushroom Bread Tarts; Chicken Fig & Pancetta Bites
Asparagus Salad with Walnut Oil Vinaigrette; Cream of Asparagus Soup
Beef en Croute with Mustard Sauce
Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Marsala; Minty Mashed Potatoes and Peas
Molten Lava Cakes; Raspberries in Champagne Gelatin

Some of the recipes are at home, so I will have to update the post later. I also don't have pictures of everything, so those who attended-please post a link to your blog/pictures in my comments section.

I think this was the favorite dish of the night: asparagus salad

Minty Mashed Potatoes & Peas:

Marsala Mashed Sweet Potatoes:

I tried to use ingredients that were deemed aphrodisiacs: asparagus, almonds, avocado, chiles, chocolate, figs, ginger, honey, & oysters.

Thank you to all the members who helped clean up, wash dishes, etc... My house was completely picked up-and we had a lot of dishes!

Breakfast Casserole

2009-02-09T07:59:00.002-06:00

It has been a long time since I have made a breakfast casserole. The hubs & I were getting tired of eating cereal & oatmeal for breakfast so I decided to make this casserole.

The one thing with a breakfast casserole is that you need to make it on a weekend. Most of the them require an overnight (or at least 8 hour) soaking period. So I threw this together on a Friday night & popped it in the oven Saturday morning. This made enough for us to have breakfast for the week.

Breakfast Sausage Casserole
Cooking Light
Ingredients
Cooking spray
1 (16-ounce) package frozen turkey sausage, thawed (such as Louis Rich)
8 (1 1/2-ounce) slices sourdough bread, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 8 cups)
2/3 cup (about 2 1/2 ounces) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
3 cups 1% low-fat milk, divided
1 cup egg substitute
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 (10.75-ounce) can condensed 30% reduced-sodium, 98% fat-free cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
Preparation

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add sausage to pan; cook 5 minutes or until browned, stirring well to crumble.

Arrange bread in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Top evenly with cooked turkey sausage and cheddar cheese. Combine 2 1/2 cups milk, egg substitute, and Dijon mustard, stirring with a whisk. Pour over bread mixture in dish. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Uncover casserole. Combine remaining 1/2 cup milk and cream of mushroom soup, stirring with a whisk. Pour over bread mixture. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 5 minutes or until set and lightly browned. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

I had to make some adjustments so I could use what I had on hand.
Turkey Sausage became just regular pork & bacon sausage
Shredded Cheddar-I used 2% shredded cheddar
Egg Substitute- I use 4 eggs

This was good, but I was disappointed that the cheese didn't melt well. I mean, I know 2% doesn't melt as well as the good ole full fat stuff, but this didn't melt at all. I think maybe had I mixed it in as opposed to sprinkle, I would have liked it more.

So much to blog about!

2009-02-09T07:51:00.003-06:00

I have a lot of blog updates today. I got off track last week with cooking. The hubs & I ate out way too much. So we are back on track this week-expect a lot of updates.

First I wanted to start off with a thanks to Stephanie. She nominated me for a lemonade award-something about a blog being refreshing.

Now the rules are as follows:
- Add the logo in your blog.
- Add a link to the person who gave you the award.
- Nominate 10 other (refreshing…like lemonade) blogs of your choice.
- Don’t forget to add links to those blogs in yours.
- Also leave a message for your nominees in their blogs, informing them about the award.

Anywho, I am happy to see others read my blog & like it! So here are my favorite blogs, they may or may not be food related but are quite refreshing.

Cast Sugar
Simply Tasty
Jagged Diary
$5dinners.com
Bangheadhere
Runs with Spatulas
Tri-Chick

Ok wow, 10 is a lot. I am stopping here...

Onion Roasted Potatoes

2009-02-02T14:17:00.003-06:00

This is a nice quick side dish that I have been enjoying since college. My roommate introduced me to this and we would eat it as a full meal.

First you need some potatoes, either regular or red. if you are using regular, peel them. Dice those bad boys up into about 1" thick pieces.

Now put the potatoes in a plastic bag or tupperware container, drizzle with olive oil, probably a lot. Then dump in a package of Lipton Onion Soup mix. Toss it all up. You may need more olive oil if the powder is still present.

Dump this onto a foil lined cookie sheet (sprayed with cooking spray) & bake in the oven for about 25 minutes at 415F. They should look crispy but not burnt.

Buffalo Chicken Tenders

2009-02-02T14:01:00.004-06:00

I really like buffalo chicken. I like that spicy taste & soothing ranch. What I don't like is getting about 1 oz of chicken off of a wing, or having to mess up my hands/face/etc while I am trying to eat wings. I am usually that person at BWW who is trying to eat with a fork, or better yet, I just order the boneless wings.

Awhile back, chicken drumsticks were on sale at the P.Chop. (Something like .99/pound) So I bought some wing sauce & cooked these up in the oven. They were great! Well I stocked up on boneless chicken breasts & chicken tenders last week ($1.99/pound) and decided I was going to make buffalo chicken tenders. I have been feeling rather large as of late and did not want some deep fried tenders from BWW.

I use the recipe on the back of the Bisquick box for my tenders, this time I added the remainder of the panko I had in the pantry to make them a bit more crispy. I don't really follow the recipe for amounts, just wing it.

Ultimate Buffalo Chicken Tenders
ingredients
1 package chicken tenders
about 1 cup bisquick
1/2 cup panko
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
garlic powder
smoked paprika
S&P
(you could add cayenne pepper here if you want them extra spicy)
1-2 eggs, beaten
3 Tbsp butter, melted

In a ziploc bag, add bisquick through S&P. Shake up to mix thoroughly. Dip the chicken tenders into the egg mixture, then in the bisquick mixture. Shake to thoroughly coat. I did this in two batches so they didn't all stick together.

Preheat the oven to 450F. Line a cookie sheet with foil & spray with cooking spray. Place the tenders on the cookie sheet. Drizzle the butter over the tenders. Bake for 7-8 minutes, then turn over & bake for an additional 7-8 minutes. They should be pretty crispy at this point.

Remove tenders from the oven. In a tupperware bowl, place 4 tenders, douse with buffalo sauce, put the lid on it & toss it. Place those tenders back on the cookie sheet & repeat. You can either be done here or I put them back in the oven for 3 minutes.

These are so good & so much healthier than fried chicken tenders!

Sandra Lee

2009-01-29T08:50:00.003-06:00

I feel all Sandy Lee with this post. Now I realize my blog hasn't been updated as frequently as some would like. This isn't because I am not cooking, I am just making things I have made in the past, so they aren't really blog worthy.

I am using up some leftovers (one big batch of chili equates to chili for lunch, baked potatoes topped with chili for dinner, chili fries; you get the idea) We have been eating soup & sandwiches (chicken phillys; grilled sandwiches, etc...) So really, nothing all that exciting. January was a month of the grocery store boycott and I did really well on the spending. I look forward to February, but I must say, its a lot easier to eat semi-healthy & save money than to eat super healthy & save money.

(Ok focus now. This whole pregnancy thing has my mind wandering.)

The reason I say this dinner is Sandy Lee is that I barely made anything from scratch. I had some frozen Italian meatballs in the freezer & wanted to use them up. But I didn't want to make spaghetti & meatballs. While I searched for recipes that involved meatballs, Swedish meatballs seemed to make the the top of each list. A dinner that was easy enough to make & came together quite quickly.

Jule-Lee's Semi Homemade Swedish Meatballs
Ingredients
20 frozen meatballs
1 jar beef gravy
1/2 packet of onion soup mix
1/2 cup to 3/4 cup light sour cream
a little flour or cornstarch & water
extra wide egg noodles
parsley

1. Cook the meatballs according to the directions on the package. Mine said to cook in an oven at 375 for 15-20 minutes.
2. In skillet, add beef gravy & onion soup mix. Heat for about 5 minutes, then add the sour cream. Continue to stir until well incorporated.
3. Start a pot of water boiling for the noodles, cook according to package & preference.
3. Once the meatballs are done, add them to the beef gravy mixture. Sprinkle with parsley. Bring to simmer for about 5-10 minutes. Now if you'd like your sauce to be thicker, add a mixture of cornstarch & water & simmer for an additional 5 minutes.

(So there are ways to make this healthier, like making your own meatballs using ground turkey.) This made 4 meals, 5 meatballs per meal.

I served this with peas only b/c every recipe I found that had a picture of Swedish meatballs included peas on the side. Can someone explain to me why peas are THE side to go with Swedish Meatballs??

Help me Readers!

2009-01-23T13:35:00.003-06:00

As some of you know, the Hubs & I are expecting our first child in April. Since I know he will be taking up much of my cooking & baking time, I would like to get a headstart on some meals & baked goods that I can use during the first few months.

Now, I have this problem where I make things, freeze them, then never use them b/c for some reason their I think they won't taste as good as if I make them right away. So help me get over my fear and post some tried & true recipes. I have somewhat overcome the freezer/baking fear with the icebox cookies I made over the holidays, but I would love some more recipes.

Thanks-Jules!

Chicken Chow Mein

2009-01-23T13:18:00.004-06:00

I suppose this could be classified under "fake out take out", but then I would have to classify all Chinese food as fake out take out.

When I was making my menu for the week, I knew I would have some extra chicken breasts that would need to be used, not enough to just grill them individually, but enough to put in a pasta or casserole. I think this recipe came across my hotmail & when I saw that it called for snow peas, I was pumped. (This is because I still have snow peas in my freezer from the garden). So not only would I be utilizing the extra chicken I had on hand, I would also be using up some of the items in the deep freeze.

Chicken Peanut Chow Mein
Cooking Light
Ingredients
1 cup precut matchstick-cut carrot
1 cup snow peas, trimmed
2 (6-ounce) packages chow mein noodles
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil, divided
1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce, divided
3/4 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 cup presliced mushrooms
2 teaspoons bottled fresh ground ginger (such as Spice World)
1 cup (1-inch) sliced green onions
2 tablespoons dry-roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped
Preparation

Cook carrots, snow peas, and noodles in boiling water 3 minutes; drain.

Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cut chicken crosswise into thin strips. Add chicken and 1 tablespoon soy sauce to pan; stir-fry 3 minutes. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.

Combine remaining 2 tablespoons soy sauce, broth, oyster sauce, sugar, and pepper, stirring well. Heat remaining 1 teaspoon oil over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and ginger to pan; stir-fry for 3 minutes. Add broth mixture, and cook for 1 minute. Add noodle mixture and chicken to pan; cook 1 minute, tossing to combine. Sprinkle with onions and peanuts.

With a few modifications, the only thing I had to buy was mushrooms. I used fish sauce in place of oyster sauce; spaghetti noodles for chow mein noodles & I omitted the onions.

This tasted just like the chow mein I eat at the chinese buffet, but way healthier. I think it could have used a little more sauce or more red pepper, I would have liked more of a kick. Also to note, if you are using noodles other than chow mein, do not cook your veggies with the noodles. My poor peas were so overcooked.

Sqaush Bisque

2009-01-20T11:40:00.003-06:00

If you follow my blog, you know that every summer my husband & I have a garden. Well last summer we decided to plan one squash & one zucchini plant. And well, they did QUITE well. I have a deep freeze full of squash & zucchini that I couldn't use. The only problem with this is that I can't use them to saute or anything, they are too mushy. They work best in soups or baking, where they can be pureed or intended to be mushy. This creates a bit of a challenge, because when you search for a soup with squash or minestrone, the number one result is Minestrone. I enjoy minestrone, except I have about a gallon of minestrone in my freezer already.

I found this squash bisque on myrecipes.com. I haven't ever made a bisque, but I figured I had nothing to lose but one of the 8 gallon sized bags of squash in my freezer. I surely wouldn't be devastated if it didn't turn out well.

Squash Bisque
Yield
3 quarts

Ingredients
2 medium potatoes
1 large onion
3 carrots
1/2 cup butter or margarine
4 cups sliced yellow squash
1 quart chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 cup milk
Garnishes: sour cream, chopped fresh chives
Preparation

Peel and cube potatoes; chop onion and carrots.

Melt butter in a Dutch oven; add onion, and saute until tender. Add potato, carrot, squash, and next 3 ingredients; cover, reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 1 hour.

Process vegetable mixture in batches in a blender or food processor until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides; return mixture to Dutch oven. Stir in milk, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and cook, stirring often, just until soup is thoroughly heated. Garnish, if desired.

To my surprise, we both really enjoyed this and it was quite filling. I don't know that I would make it again, maybe for a dinner party as it seems quite elegant, but I was very happy with the outcome. It also didn't make 12 servings, which is a huge plus for me!

Baking Saturday

2009-01-20T11:33:00.004-06:00

In keeping up with my Saturday morning baking, this week I made apple spiced coffee cake. I have apples frozen from this summer that calling my name from the deep freeze. Since Williams-Sonoma was such a choice last week, I went right there to find a recipe for this week.

Apple Spiced Coffee Cake
Courtesy of Williams-Sonoma
Ingredients:
For the cake:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3 tart cooking apples, such as Granny Smith or
Braeburn, 1 lb. total, peeled, cored and
coarsely chopped
2 Tbs. strained fresh orange juice, lemon juice
or apple juice
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at
room temperature
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs

For the vanilla glaze:
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 Tbs. condensed skim milk, warmed, plus
more as needed
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat an oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9-inch round springform pan or square baking pan or baking dish (see Note).

To make the cake, in a bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.

In another bowl, toss the apples with the juice. In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, cardamom and cinnamon. Add to the apples and toss to coat. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, combine the butter, cream cheese, granulated sugar and vanilla and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the flour mixture in 2 or 3 additions and beat well until smooth. Using a large rubber spatula, gently fold in the apples just until evenly distributed, no more than a few strokes. Do not overmix. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.

Bake until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 60 to 70 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the glaze: In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners sugar, the 2 Tbs. milk and the vanilla until smooth and pourable. Adjust the consistency of the glaze by adding more milk, a few drops at a time, if needed.

Remove the sides of the springform pan, if using, and place the cake on a wire rack set over a piece of waxed paper to catch any drips. While the cake is warm, drizzle with the glaze. Let the cake cool to room temperature. Cut into wedges or squares to serve. Makes one 9-inch cake.

Note: If using a glass baking dish, reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.

I think either my glaze wasn't thick enough or the cake was still too warm when I put the glaze on. It doesn't look as thick as the picture on their website. This was really good & it made the house smell AWESOME!

Salmon Cakes

2009-01-16T08:57:00.004-06:00

I had some salmon fillets in the deep freeze that I needed to use up. I was tired of the same old grilled salmon and really wanted to make something a little different with them.

The original recipe I found was a Cooking Light recipe. I have linked it below, however, I altered it quite a bit. My only complaint is that my cakes didn't stay together all that well. I am chalking that up to the fact that I used fresh salmon as opposed to canned salmon.

Cajun Salmon Cakes with Lemon-Garlic Aioli
Ingredients
Aioli:
2 tablespoons fat-free mayonnaise
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon bottled minced garlic

Cakes:
3 salmon fillets
1/4 cup sliced green onions
1/4 cup fat-free mayonnaise
2 tablespoons panko
1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning blend
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 cup panko
1 tablespoon canola oil
Preparation

To prepare aioli, combine first 3 ingredients in a small bowl; set aside.

To prepare the salmon, spray a large skillet with olive oil (I use my Misto) and heat. Cook salmon until it flakes when you touch it with a fork. Remove from skillet. In a bowl, separate the salmon as best you can.

To prepare cakes, combine salmon and next 5 ingredients (through mustard) in a medium bowl. Divide salmon mixture into 8 equal portions, shaping each portion into a (1/2-inch-thick) patty. Dredge patties in 1/2 cup panko.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Place patties in pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until lightly browned and heated through. Serve aioli over salmon.
To compliment the meal, I steamed some broccoli & made a pasta creation from my pantry. I had whole wheat rotini, butter, garlic & onions. So I carmelized the onions & garlic, then tossed the cooked pasta with them. I added a little bit of the pasta water to give it a little sauce & I topped it with parmesan cheese. This was super easy & a good way to use up my ingredients in the house. I won't post a picture but really, whole wheat pasta is not very photogenic.

Best Banana Bread Yet!

2009-01-14T08:43:00.003-06:00

As this pregnancy progresses, I find I can no longer sleep in. I am lucky if I make it until 7am on a Saturday. So I find myself baking some kind of breakfast goodie while the hubs sleeps. This past weekend my friend came out to help paint the baby's room. With a 9am start time, I thought banana bread would be a good quick snack.

I had some frozen bananas to use and b/c I actually had the forethought to make banana bread, I pulled them out of the freezer the night before & put them in the fridge. Now, I have never used frozen bananas in my banana bread so I was a little bit skeptical.

I remembered, from years ago, that I had printed out a recipe for banana bread from Williams-Sonoma & that it contained buttermilk. So I went on a search & found this one. Now I didn't have any buttermilk in the house, but I knew there was some concoction you could use to make buttermilk at home. (Its 1 cup of milk & 1 Tbsp of white vinegar or lemon juice.

Banana Bread
Williams-Sonoma
Ingredients:
6 Tbs. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room
temperature
1 cup sugar
2 or 3 very ripe bananas, coarsely mashed
(about 1 1/2 cups)
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, pecans
or hazelnuts

Directions:
Preheat an oven to 350°F. Grease and lightly flour a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat together the butter and sugar on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add the bananas and eggs and beat until smooth. Add the buttermilk and beat just until combined.

In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, salt and nuts. Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and beat just until combined. The batter should be slightly lumpy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. It should be no more than two-thirds full. Bake until the loaf is dark golden brown and dry to the touch and the edges pull away from the sides of the pan, 55 to 60 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean. Let the bread rest in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn the loaf out onto a wire rack and let cool completely. Cut into thick slices to serve. Makes one 9-by-5-inch loaf.

This was awesome & by far the best banana bread I have made. I ended up using the 2 frozen bananas and another almost too ripe one I had on the counter. I omitted the nuts this time around b/c sometimes, nuts are just too much! This will definitely be my "go-to" banana bread recipe from here on out. It took longer than 60 minutes, more like 75 minutes.

Sun Dried Tomato Pesto & Chicken Pasta

2009-01-14T08:22:00.004-06:00

As I have mentioned in the past, my husband & I used to be members of the Tuscan Club with Viansa Winery. We ended that membership when Baby Rush came along, but I still had a ton of food/pantry items that remain. As I work through my pantry, I am trying to use up some of those. I came across a Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto.

I found a few recipes to use it in. First up, a pasta dish I found on Cooking Light, although I wouldn't categorize this as light. The pesto was very oily. I linked the original recipe below, however, the typed up version is what I did.

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto and Chicken Pasta Toss
Yield
6 servings (serving size: 2 cups)

Ingredients
Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto

Pasta:
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 packaged sliced mushrooms
1 (12-ounce) can evaporated fat-free milk
1/2 cup diced swiss cheese (you can use whatever you want)
4 cups whole wheat rotini pasta

Preparation

To prepare pasta, heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove chicken from pan. Add minced garlic; sauté 30 seconds. Add balsamic vinegar and mushrooms; cook for 2 minutes. Stir in pesto and evaporated fat-free milk. Bring to a boil, and cook for 2 minutes. Add diced cheese; cook until cheese melts, stirring constantly. Return chicken to pan; cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Combine chicken mixture and pasta, tossing well to coat.

Parmesan & Sage Crusted Chicken

2009-01-07T15:33:00.005-06:00

I came across this recipe on Stacey's Blog. I figured I could substitute chicken in pretty easily. Stacey is known for her killer baking skills & itty bitty body. We always ask how she stays so thin, well she actually gives away her baked goodies!

Parmesan & Sage Crusted Chicken
Ingredients
1 (1 1/4-ounce) slice white bread, torn into pieces (I also used Panko)
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
2 large egg whites (I used one reg egg)
4 (4-ounce) boneless thin-cut pork loin chops, trimmed
(I used 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts)
1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
Preparation

1. Place bread in a food processor; pulse bread 10 times or until coarse crumbs measure about 1 cup. Combine breadcrumbs, cheese, sage, salt, and pepper in a shallow dish. Place flour in another shallow dish. Combine mustard and egg whites in another shallow dish, stirring with a whisk.

2. Working with one pork chop at a time, dredge pork in flour, shaking off excess. Dip pork into egg white mixture, allowing excess to drip off. Coat pork completely with breadcrumb mixture. Set aside. Repeat procedure with remaining pork, flour, egg white mixture, and breadcrumb mixture.

3. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add oil to pan, swirling to coat. Add pork; cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned and done.

My Notes: I don't know if my chicken was extra thick or what but the outsides were nice & brown & the insides were super raw. So I placed the chicken in a small baking dish & placed in the oven on 400F for 5 minutes per side. This seems to do the trick & it didnt dry out the chicken.

For an all around healthy meal, I made baked sweet potatoes & steamed cauliflower.

Italian Sausage & Zucchini Soup

2009-01-06T08:33:00.003-06:00

In a effort to use up the zucchini & squash I have frozen from our summer harvest, I came across this soup at Kalyn's Kitchen.

This was super easy to throw together, I made mine in our slow cooker as opposed to the stove top mostly b/c we were in and out of the house all day & I didn't want to worry about the stove being on. I also made quite a bit less. The link above is the original recipe. Below is how I adjusted it to what I had in the house.

Italian Sausage and Zucchini Soup
2 links Italian Sausage, mild
olive oil
1/2 small onion, diced small
1 T finely chopped fresh garlic
2 cups sliced zucchini
3 cups beef broth
4 cups frozen diced tomatoes with juice
2 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. dried basil
1/2 -3/4 cup macaroni
3 T minced fresh basil (optional, or you can use frozen basil)
fresh grated parmesan cheese for topping soup

Brown sausage in olive oil in large nonstick frying pan until well browned and firm. Remove sausage to cutting board and cut in 3/8 inch slices. Mine only browned on the outside, so I ended up browning the outside, then slicing. Put sausage back in the pan and add the onions, garlic & olive oil. Cook until sausage is no longer pink.

In your crockpot, place frozen zucchini, tomatoes & juice, beef broth & spices. Add the sausage mixture to the crockpot. Cover & leave on high for about 3-4 hours. Once the mixture is at a gentle boil, add the pasta. Cover & set to low for about 1 hour. Check periodically to ensure there is enough liquid. If you need to add more beef broth, go ahead.

Serve soup with fresh grated parmesan cheese.

Cleaning out the house

2009-01-05T10:50:00.009-06:00

Someone told me that the average household has enough food in their house to live off of for a week or two. It may not be food that you want to eat, but its there. On New Year's Day, I decided to inventory our deep freeze, lazy susan, pantry, fridge & normal freezer.

Lord do we have a lot of stuff, like 3 excel pages worth of food items. One of the many goals of 2009 is to spend money more wisely. So for January, I am trying to avoid the devil that is the grocery store, only going for milk, bread, eggs & fruit. I am also avoiding the grocery store I love & going to Wal-Mart. I hate going to Wal-Mart. Its so big & I hate having to walk around the whole freakin store to find one thing that isn't in a logical place. But, this will deter me from falling into the "Deals". I spent $40 this Sunday on items that should make it through the next two weeks. It will be a miracle if i can make it to February spending less than $100 at the store.

Since I spent like $200 on a baking sale on my last trip to the grocery store, I looked up some recipes for baked goods for breakfast. Saturday morning I woke up and made these cinnamon raisin biscuits. I got the recipe from a friend who had gotten it from a Cooking Light cookbook.

Cinnamon-Raisin Biscuits
Courtesy of Cooking Light

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chilled stick margarine, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup raisins
3/4 cup 1% low-fat milk
1 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 tbsp 1% low-fat milk

Combine first 5 ingredients in a bowl; cut in margarine with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add raisins; toss well. Add 3/4 cup milk, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Sprinkle 1 tbsp flour evenly over work surface. Turn dough out onto floured surface; knead 4 or 5 times. Roll dough to 1/2 inch thickness; cut into rounds with a 2/12-inch biscuit cutter. Place on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray, with sides slightly touching. Bake at 400 degrees for 13 to 14 minutes or until golden.

Combine powdered sugar and 1 tbsp milk; stir well. Drizzle over hot biscuits. Serve immediately. Yield; 1 dozen

These totally reminded me of the Hardee's Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits, but with far less fat. I was super excited b/c I got to use my pastry blender as well! Mine made more like 16 biscuits and I used a square cookie cutter instead of a circle. I may have doubled the icing, but hey! I had 4 extra biscuits to top!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-02T12:16:00.003-06:00

First off, Happy 2009!! I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season. If you are like me though, you are happy its all over. Not b/c I don't enjoy the holidays, I just don't enjoy the disarray that life is around the holidays.

I am sure everyone is blogging about their new year's resolutions & I am so proud to say that this is one year that I don't have to say "lose weight & work out more". That will all come into play after Baby R is born, right now, I will just stay the course. And by "stay the course", I mean continue to cook healthy delicious meals at home.

I have had this recipe marked for awhile & finally got around to cooking it. It sounds all fancy, but is super easy.

Pollo con Mojo de Ajo
"Translated from Spanish is 'chicken with garlic sauce'"
Ingredients
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoon butter
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3/4 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro
4 lime wedges
Preparation

Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound to 1/2-inch thickness using a meat mallet or rolling pin. Sprinkle chicken evenly with salt and pepper.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add chicken; cook 6 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.

Melt butter in pan over medium-low heat. Add garlic; cook 1 minute (do not brown). Add broth; bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cook until broth mixture is reduced to 1/2 cup (about 4 minutes). Remove from heat; stir in lime juice. Serve sauce over chicken; sprinkle with cilantro. Serve with lime wedges.

I served this with black beans seasoned with cilantro & a few diced tomatoes. And the stand by Mexican rice recipe.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-29T15:06:00.003-06:00

I know this is late, however, I didnt realize that my friends daughter had taken this picture:

Its the cookies she left for Santa.

Our Christmas

2008-12-29T14:48:00.006-06:00

The hubs and I make an effort to set aside time to do our own Christmas. We started this last year, our first married year, in an effort to set some precedence for our families, so they know when to expect us for the holidays. This will come in handy next year when we have Baby Boy with us.

Each Christmas I make us some fancy dinner. I enjoy cooking and to be honest, we have a better experience at home than at restaurants. We started off with a chopped garden salad. The hubs grilled our marinated KC Strip Steaks while I made a peppercorn cream sauce and baked potatoes. I love that he grilled, outside, in December, in Kansas.

The peppercorn cream sauce was based off the pepper sauce we had while in Ireland. They use pepper sauce for everything there, any form of potato, steaks, chicken, bread, etc... Its basically a lot of crushed black pepper, some butter & some heavy whipping cream. We added a bit too much pepper, but it was still very good.

For dessert, I finally made molten chocolate cakes. Between the cover of December Cooking Light & a few Food Network shows, this did not look all that difficult, but definitely decadent. I had intended to make the CL version, but I couldn't find espresso powder at the grocery store. So I made the Chocolate Lava Cake from The Neelys. I cut the recipe in half, since it was just the Hubs and I. I also used 3 oz of semisweet chocolate and 3 oz of 71% cocoa.

Molten Lava Cakes
Ingredients
2 sticks butter, unsalted, plus more for ramekins
4 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch cayenne
Pinch nutmeg
12 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
6 large eggs
6 large egg yolks
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Butter 8 (6-ounce) ramekins and sprinkle each with about 1/2 teaspoon sugar.

In a saucepan combine butter, cinnamon, cayenne, nutmeg, and chocolate over low heat until melted and smooth; stir frequently. Cool slightly.

In a large bowl whisk together flour, confectioners' sugar, eggs and yolks, vanilla extract and almond extract until creamy. Add melted chocolate to the batter and whisk together.

Pour into prepared ramekins.

Bake cakes until the top is stiff and cracked and the edges are dark, about 12 to 14 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Loosen the edges of the cake with a small paring knife then invert onto plates while warm.

And I am 100% serious when I say this was the easiest dessert I have ever made. Its a great way to impress people too!

Three Cheese Chicken Florentine

2008-12-29T14:39:00.003-06:00

Chicken was on sale at the local grocery store so I stocked up. I mean when you can get boneless skinless chicken breasts for 60% off, its time to clear out the deep freeze and make room. This time around though, I searched through the chicken containers so I got packages of 4 breasts, instead of 3 ginormous breasts. I mean, when there are 2 people in the house, how is 4 chicken breasts gonna work out?

Anyway, I'll be making a lot of chicken dishes b/c I am now boycotting the grocery store. I go through this every once in awhile. This time, the grocery store not only got me on the chicken sale, but the baking sale. I could bake until the middle of 2009 and still not use all the chocolate chips/bark I purchased.

This dish was delicious! I know it says Cooking Light but I may have used some heavy whipping cream with my milk.

Three-Cheese Chicken Penne Florentine
Cooking Light
Ingredients
1 teaspoon olive oil
Cooking spray
3 cups thinly sliced mushrooms
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
3 cups chopped fresh spinach
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (16-ounce) carton 2% low-fat cottage cheese
4 cups hot cooked penne (about 8 ounces uncooked tube-shaped pasta)
2 cups shredded roasted skinless, boneless chicken breast
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese, divided
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
1/2 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed reduced-fat, reduced-sodium cream of chicken soup, undiluted
Preparation

Preheat oven to 425°.

Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, onion, and bell pepper; sauté 4 minutes or until tender. Add spinach, oregano, and black pepper; sauté 3 minutes or just until spinach wilts.

Place cottage cheese in a food processor; process until very smooth. Combine spinach mixture, cottage cheese, pasta, chicken, 3/4 cup cheddar cheese, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, milk, and soup in a large bowl. Spoon mixture into a 2-quart baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup cheddar cheese and remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Bake at 425° for 25 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly.

My changes: I omitted the red pepper. The Hubs and I don't really care for it. I used whole wheat penne pasta, 1/4 cup of milk, 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream & regular cream of chicken soup. The texture was wonderfully creamy, it tasted a lot like an alfredo sauce. I am sure it would have tasted just as good had I followed the healthy recipe options. Also, this made a ton of food. I would say about 8-9 servings so plan for leftovers.

Holiday Baking

2008-12-22T09:47:00.009-06:00

I spent this past Sunday staying inside (9 degrees outside- I wasn't leaving) and baking. I wanted to get a care package together to send to my grandma, so I gathered all my marked holiday baked goodies recipes & spent a few hours in the kitchen. At about hour three, I remembered I was 6 months pregnant & should probably take a break. So I only made it through about half of my recipes. I'll probably make some more tomorrow.

I actually made these beauties earlier in the week.
Chocolate Chip Tea Cookies & Minty Cocoa Cookies:

I have to agree that the tea cookies were excellent, but a little rich with the chocolate drizzle.

I made this dough last week & froze half of it b/c it made too many cookies! I just pulled them out of the freezer & let them defrost for about 15 minutes. Then followed the instructions on baking.
Pecan Snowballs

I decided that these were probably not the best for a goodie bag. I placed them inside plastic Zip-locs since the powdered sugar was getting all over everything else.

I started off making the Pecan Pie Cookies. These were a huge hit on the Internet last year, I was surprised they hadn't made an appearance this year.

I made a pecan pie/tart last year for my husband. Its his favorite pie, but this year, I promised to make him molten chocolate cake. So I satisfied his pecan pie craving with these cookies.

I felt I needed to add something other than cookies, so I made Irish Cream Brownies.

I cut them into smaller bites so people weren't on chocolate overload.

And lastly, peanut butter pretzel chews. When I saw this recipe, I immediately thought of my husband. He has this thing about sweet + salty. He loves Take 5 bars & when we have fondue, he usually requests fritos or tortilla chips to dip into the chocolate. A little odd, but quite delicious.

So when I saw this recipe called for pretzels, chocolate, peanut butter & salt. I knew it would be a winner. The only difference between the recipe & my cookies is that I mixed the chocolate chips in with the dough. This was really b/c I was so flipping tired.

Chicken and Rice w/Creamy Herb Sauce

2008-12-19T16:20:00.003-06:00

I hope you are sitting down b/c I have a surprise for you! I made ANOTHER recipe from the infamous Cooking Light cookbook. Yes, someday I will move on to my other cookbooks, but for now, I shall continue to use this one. Mostly b/c I am too lazy to put it away.

Now what I have found entertaining about this cookbook is that you can tell it's from 2000. I adapt things to meet today's "light" standards, but this recipe is a good example of something that is healthier than a cream based sauce, but has items that could be substituted.

Chicken and Rice with Creamy Herb Sauce
Ingredients
3/4 cup water (healthier version: omit this & the granules, 3/4 cup low sodium broth)
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon chicken-flavored bouillon granules
4 (4-ounce) skinned, boned chicken breast halves
1 tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 (6-ounce) tub light cream cheese with garlic and spices
4 cups hot cooked long-grain rice (healthier version: Brown Rice)
Chopped fresh parsley
Preparation

Bring first 3 ingredients to a boil in a large skillet; add chicken. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes, turning chicken after 8 minutes. Remove chicken from skillet. Set aside; keep warm.

Bring cooking liquid to a boil; cook 5 minutes or until reduced to 2/3 cup. Combine 1 tablespoon water and cornstarch; add to skillet. Bring to a boil; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add cream cheese; cook until well-blended, stirring constantly with a whisk. Serve chicken over rice; spoon sauce over chicken. Sprinkle with parsley.

Anyway you look at it, it was really good. The sauce had a great flavor to it and would be great as a casserole base.

Comfort food done almost light

2008-12-18T14:21:00.003-06:00

I surprised myself when I realized I hadn't made a meatloaf this year. The Hubs is one of those meat & potatoes or casserole type of guys. He isn't into my fancy schancy meals-not to say he doesn't like them-he would just prefer I make everything a casserole. I like casseroles, they are easy, usually effortless, but they just don't take pretty pictures!

We had meatloaf, mashed potato casserole & cheesy corn for dinner. Yeah not really healthy, but some of it was healthy!!! I only have one picture, and that is of the cheesy corn, b/c well mashed potato casserole looks like a lump of white mush & meatloaf, oh lets not go there.

Again, I turned to my Cooking Light Cookbook that I have been using the past month. If you decide to purchase it, you wont be sorry.

First up:
Mama's Meatloaf
Ingredients
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper (I omitted)
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley (I used about 1 1/2 Tbsp dried)
1 teaspoon pepper
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 (1-ounce) slice white bread, torn into small pieces (I used whole wheat bread)
1 1/2 pounds ground round (I use 93% lean ground beef)
Vegetable cooking spray
1/3 cup ketchup
Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine first 8 ingredients in a large bowl, tossing to moisten bread. Crumble meat over onion mixture, and stir just until blended. Pack mixture into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Spread ketchup over top of loaf. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until meat loaf registers 160°. Let loaf stand in pan 10 minutes.

Remove meat loaf from pan; cut loaf into 6 slices. (Mine actually made 8 slices)

Next, cheesy corn. This a favorite of a local restaurant in KC, Jack Stack. If you ever make it KC, you have to get out to the BBQ places. Although Jack Stack is not my favorite BBQ restaurant, they do have the best side dishes.

Cheesy Corn
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
4 teaspoons all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoons garlic powder
3/4 cup milk
6oz sharp cheddar cheese (I only had 2% shredded on hand)
1 (3oz) pkg cream cheese, cubed ( I used 1/3 less fat)
3 (10oz) pkgs frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
3oz ham, diced

In a large saucepan, melt margarine or butter
Stir in flour and garlic powder
Add milk all at once
Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat until thickened and bubbly
Stir in cheese
Cook, stirring constantly, over low heat until melted
Stir in corn and ham
Transfer mixture to a 2 quart casserole dish
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

And lastly, the mashed potato casserole. Another recipe snagged from Cooking Light cookbook, it is not listed online so I will have to post the recipe when I get home. I can tell you it had sour cream & cream cheese in it. No butter and no milk, which was a bit odd, however, it was so creamy good!

Blueberry Pound Cake

2008-12-16T12:57:00.004-06:00

Another great recipe from the Cooking Light cookbook. Fresh blueberries were on sale last week so I picked some up for the sheer purpose of making this cake. It is on the cover of the cookbook and I am always drawn to those recipes.

Blueberry Pound Cake
Cooking Light
Ingredients
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light butter
1/2 (8-ounce) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
3 large eggs
1 large egg white
3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (8-ounce) carton lemon low-fat yogurt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Cooking spray
1/2 cup powdered sugar
4 teaspoons lemon juice
Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Beat first 3 ingredients at medium speed of a mixer until well-blended (about 5 minutes). Add eggs and egg white, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine 2 tablespoons flour and blueberries in a small bowl, and toss well. Combine remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with yogurt, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Fold in blueberry mixture and vanilla; pour cake batter into a 10-inch tube pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool cake in pan 10 minutes; remove from pan. Combine powdered sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl; drizzle over warm cake. Cut with a serrated knife.

I made this on Saturday & just got around to eating it. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it, mail it, take it to work, etc... I caved & brought it into work. It was gone in 20 minutes. Which is saying a lot b/c it snowed buckets this morning so hardly anyone is in.

UPDATE: Joelen over at http://joelens.blogspot.com/ inspired me to enter this into her Chef's Spotlight contest. This round is focusing on healthier recipes. I use Cooking Light for about 85% of my recipes, so its going to be tough to decide what to enter, but I did really LOVE this cake. I am sure we are all gearing up for a healthier 2009, so submit your recipes!

Raspberry Pinwheels

2008-12-12T14:09:00.004-06:00

One should really read recipes before deciding when to make them. The other day, I had all day to bake & cook. On my menu, I had the cranberry muffins, these raspberry pinwheels & a dutch oven dinner. For whatever reason, I decided to make the muffins first, then I made dinner, then I did the pinwheels.

Um yeah, the pinwheels take about 3 hours. So at 9pm on Tuesday night, I was walking around the kitchen going-what the hell! Why didn't I make these earlier???

They are delicious cookies. I wanted them to put with my cranberry muffins to bring into the office the following day so I was determined to make them. However, 10:30 came rolling around & only half of them were cooked. So I still have dough for another half in the freezer.

Raspberry Pinwheels
Real Simple
Ingredients
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 8-ounce bar cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the work surface
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
1 large egg, beaten
2 tablespoons turbinado or some other coarse sugar
Preparation

With an electric mixer, beat the butter, cream cheese, and granulated sugar until fluffy. Mix in the vanilla. Gradually add the flour, mixing until just incorporated.

Turn the dough onto a floured work surface and gently knead it 2 to 3 times, just to bring it together. Form the dough into two 1-inch-thick squares. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

On a lightly floured piece of parchment, roll one of the dough squares into a 9-by-12-inch rectangle. Spread half the jam over the dough. Cut the dough crosswise into thirds, making three 9-by-4-inch rectangles. Starting from the long side of each rectangle, roll into logs. Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate until firm, 30 minutes. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Heat oven to 350° F. Slice the logs into 1-inch pieces and space 1 1/2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Brush with the egg and sprinkle with the turbinado sugar. Bake until golden, 20 to 25 minutes.

To Wrap: A 32-ounce glass canning jar will neatly hold 2 dozen pinwheels. You can play up the cookies' two-tone theme with a striped ribbon tied around the jar's mouth and a colorful adhesive bow.

To Freeze: Instead of refrigerating the logs, freeze them for up to 2 months. To bake, follow the recipe instructions, cutting and baking the dough from frozen, and use the upper end of the time range.

I saw this recipe in a Real Simple magazine, they caught my eye b/c they had them in a mason jar tied with ribbon. Very cute idea!

And here was a my pretty display I brought to work. Don't mind the yellow, this was at 7am when the sun was rising...

Cranberry Muffins

2008-12-12T14:02:00.004-06:00

Do you know there are not many baking recipes out there that use fresh cranberries? Everything is "Craisins". Well I don't have craisins, I have fresh cranberries. And I wanted to use them in baking.

Now I can't tell you how these tasted, b/c I didn't get a chance to have one, but they sure did look purty ;) These were probably the best looking muffins I have made, so I will probably stick with this recipe and just adapt according to the fruit/nuts/citrus I have on hand.

Fresh Cranberry Orange Muffins
Cooking Light
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped fresh cranberries
2/3 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
1/4 cup butter or stick margarine, melted
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Cooking spray
Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Stir in cranberries; make a well in center of mixture. Combine milk, butter, rind, vanilla, and egg; add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 18 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove muffins from pan immediately; place on a wire rack.

Note: These muffins freeze well. Bake them ahead, cool completely, and store in freezer bags. To serve, thaw at room temperature. Reheat in aluminum foil at 300º for 10 to 15 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

*I recently found a recipe for fresh cranberry scones that I will be making tomorrow in a attempt to use up the rest of my cranberries. Or I may remake these muffins but do them in a mini-muffin pan.