This last Thanksgiving, Shawn and I spent the evening with our friends, Shawna and DJ, DJ's family and Shawn's parents. I was in charge of appetizers, what follows are my favorite recipes for appetizers. I liked these so much that I'll be making them for my coworkers on Monday for December Food Month.
Greek Yogurt Ranch Dip
packet of Hidden Valley Ranch Dip dry mix
packet specified amount of plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream
Directions: Mix together, chill and serve with potato chips or veggies. (420 calories, 80 calories from fat, 30 mg cholesterol, 3990 mg sodium, 34 g total carbs, 18 g sugar, 46 g protein FOR THE WHOLE RECIPE)
Greek Yogurt Fruit Dip
1 cup plain Greek yogurt (or vanilla flavored)
Honey to taste
Directions: Mix together, chill and serve with fresh fruit.
Greek Yogurt Pumpkin Dip
1 cup plain Greek yogurt (or vanilla flavored)
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 T whipped cream cheese (optional)
Honey to taste (optional)
Directions: Mix together, chill and serve with apple slices, or maybe graham crackers. (210 calories, 45 calories from fat, 15 mg of cholesterol, 80 mg sodium, 18 g total carbs, 5 g dietary fiber, 13 g of sugar, 25 g protein FOR THE WHOLE RECIPE)
Cream Cheese with Razzpotle
1 brick of cream cheese
jar of Razzpotle sauce or other fruity chipotle sauce
Directions: pour razzpotle sauce over cream cheese and serve with wheat thins. (880 calories, 160 mg of cholesterol, 1440 mg sodium, 80 g total carbs,
8 g dietary fiber, 72 g sugar, 16 g of protein FOR THE WHOLE RECIPE)
Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
Friday, November 30, 2012
Thursday, January 06, 2011
The Tradition: Cinnamon Rolls
Growing up, my mom made cinnamon rolls every Christmas morning. We'd eat cinnamon rolls with an orange on appropriately festive paper plates and then we'd go look at all the goodies that Santa left us in our stockings. (Ah yes, I remember the year that Dad got a bag of coal. That was a fun year.) Mom originally started out making cinnamon rolls by scratch using a recipe from my great-aunt (dad's side). By the time we were older (in middle school), she found Rhode's Cinnamon Rolls in the freezer section of the grocery store and after we all agreed that they were just as good as the home made ones, she never went back.
For the past 5 years, I've dutifully made cinnamon rolls for Christmas day (and yes, I've made home made ones, pillsbury ones, and rhodes ones at various times - and mostly depending on when I went to the grocery store, if I had any yeast, and how quickly I wanted to make the rolls).
This year, for December Food Month (which is what I've affectionately named the tradition at work where someone brings in some food item to share for one day during December - the goal is to have at least one person signed up for every work day during December. Thus obviously turning us all into gluttons; who, on the first work day of the new year, walk down to the break room in a zombie-like fashion hoping and praying that someone was nice and brought in left over Christmas candy), one of the co-workers brought in home made cinnamon rolls. HOME MADE CINNAMON ROLLS, PEOPLE!! She used Ree Drummond's recipe which can be obtained through her website: The Pioneer Woman. The cinnamon rolls were Delicious and I single-handedly ate half a pan (so like 5 or something). I do not feel bad about this because she brought in 6 pans, and I waited until after lunch to have the 3rd, and until the day after to eat the other two. I was just being helpful and trying to make sure that we did not end up with an ant problem. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that cinnamon rolls are quite possibly my second favorite food in the world.
When I figured out that the recipe was easily available, I decided that I would make them instead of any of my other methods. Below is a pictorial process of the making of the cinnamon rolls.
Step 1: obtain all of the ingredients below. Including the foil throw away pans--the full recipe makes 6 of the square pans, 7 or so of the rounds.
Step 4: mix half the flour with the milk, yeast and sugar.
Step 5: Let rise.
Step 6: While dough is rising, make yourself useful and butter down those cinnamon roll pans.
Step 9: Turn out dough on well floured surface and form into a rough rectangular shape.
Step 10: Roll out into large rectangle. I rolled it too thin though, so you definitely want to go a little thicker than I did...maybe about 1/4" to 1/2" thick.
Step 13: Sprinkle well with cinnamon. Very well.
Step 15: Cut in 3/4" to 1" rounds and place in buttered pans.
Step 16: Find an appropriately festive towel, cover the rolls and let rise. I only did a half batch and managed to get 4 full pans out of the deal (as I said, I rolled the rolls too thin, and then I also cut them a bit on the skinny side)
Step 18: While the rolls are baking, break out your coffee maker and make the glaze. This is the third time it has been pulled out of the cupboard. Hot diggidy! The other times it has been pulled out are for French Onion Soup Night and during March when the Inlaws came to visit. We do not drink coffee, and Shawn told me I was a dum-dum for making frosting with coffee in it--I couldn't taste the coffee at all in Andrea's rolls, but apparently using a Dark French Roast with the setting on the coffee pot set to "Strong" is not the best option for those of us who do not like coffee flavored things.
Step 20: Glaze your finished cinnamon rolls making sure to get as much into the nooks and crannies as possible. Step 21 is to enjoy them, but step 22 is to listen to your husband complain about how the rolls taste like coffee.
For the past 5 years, I've dutifully made cinnamon rolls for Christmas day (and yes, I've made home made ones, pillsbury ones, and rhodes ones at various times - and mostly depending on when I went to the grocery store, if I had any yeast, and how quickly I wanted to make the rolls).
This year, for December Food Month (which is what I've affectionately named the tradition at work where someone brings in some food item to share for one day during December - the goal is to have at least one person signed up for every work day during December. Thus obviously turning us all into gluttons; who, on the first work day of the new year, walk down to the break room in a zombie-like fashion hoping and praying that someone was nice and brought in left over Christmas candy), one of the co-workers brought in home made cinnamon rolls. HOME MADE CINNAMON ROLLS, PEOPLE!! She used Ree Drummond's recipe which can be obtained through her website: The Pioneer Woman. The cinnamon rolls were Delicious and I single-handedly ate half a pan (so like 5 or something). I do not feel bad about this because she brought in 6 pans, and I waited until after lunch to have the 3rd, and until the day after to eat the other two. I was just being helpful and trying to make sure that we did not end up with an ant problem. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that cinnamon rolls are quite possibly my second favorite food in the world.
When I figured out that the recipe was easily available, I decided that I would make them instead of any of my other methods. Below is a pictorial process of the making of the cinnamon rolls.
Step 1: obtain all of the ingredients below. Including the foil throw away pans--the full recipe makes 6 of the square pans, 7 or so of the rounds.
Step 4: mix half the flour with the milk, yeast and sugar.
Step 5: Let rise.
Step 6: While dough is rising, make yourself useful and butter down those cinnamon roll pans.
Step 9: Turn out dough on well floured surface and form into a rough rectangular shape.
Step 10: Roll out into large rectangle. I rolled it too thin though, so you definitely want to go a little thicker than I did...maybe about 1/4" to 1/2" thick.
Step 13: Sprinkle well with cinnamon. Very well.
Step 15: Cut in 3/4" to 1" rounds and place in buttered pans.
Step 16: Find an appropriately festive towel, cover the rolls and let rise. I only did a half batch and managed to get 4 full pans out of the deal (as I said, I rolled the rolls too thin, and then I also cut them a bit on the skinny side)
Step 18: While the rolls are baking, break out your coffee maker and make the glaze. This is the third time it has been pulled out of the cupboard. Hot diggidy! The other times it has been pulled out are for French Onion Soup Night and during March when the Inlaws came to visit. We do not drink coffee, and Shawn told me I was a dum-dum for making frosting with coffee in it--I couldn't taste the coffee at all in Andrea's rolls, but apparently using a Dark French Roast with the setting on the coffee pot set to "Strong" is not the best option for those of us who do not like coffee flavored things.
Step 20: Glaze your finished cinnamon rolls making sure to get as much into the nooks and crannies as possible. Step 21 is to enjoy them, but step 22 is to listen to your husband complain about how the rolls taste like coffee.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Enchilada Chicken
OH RIGHT, The CHICKEN!
I boiled a whole chicken (sans gizzards) for about an hour (with some sea salt, ground pepper and garlic powder) and then picked it out deboned and deskined it, then put all the bones and skin back in the pot to boil for a little longer (hey man, delicious, delicious chicken water). The edible part of the chicken went in the crockpot along with one can of Mexican Style Tomato Sauce, some smoked salt, a minced clove of garlic, a seeded and minced habanero, 2 diced smoke-dried tomatoes, a quartered onion and more ground pepper. I added some of the chicken water to make it kinda soupy so it didn't get all dried out while slow cooking the next day.
I then had a fiasco with the chicken water. I strained the water into a zip-top bag which I had put in a smaller pot for stability purposes. After I strained it and cleaned out the chicken stock pot, I went to grab the zip-top bag and realized there was a hole in the bottom so it was all leaking out. Thankfully it was all leaking out into a pot...but still, now I was going to have to clean THAT pot too. I then got out a brand new zip-top bag--one that had never been used before (yes I reuse my zip-top bags), and then poured the chicken stock into that one. As far as I know it didn't have a hole in it...I guess I should really go check the freezer, eh?
I put the crockpot full of delicious enchilada chicken into the fridge for the night and got it out this morning. I thought about adding a little more water, but decided against it because I didn't want it to get too soupy.
I should have added some water.
And it totally isn't my fault it got burned.
See, I put the crockpot on the counter, plugged it in, turned it on low and went to work. Shawn got home about an hour and a half before I did. Normally when he comes home and we're doing crockpot stuff, he'll turn off the crockpot, or at least turn it to the 'warm' setting when he comes home because it's been cooking for 8-9 hours at that time. This time he didn't do that. He even went into the kitchen, looked at the chicken, thought it looked good and then went and played on the computer for about an hour before he thought that maybe he ought to turn off the pot. When he went back into the kitchen, the top of the chicken was all black and crusty. Sigh. Thankfully it didn't taste bad and we were able to avoid the largest blackened parts.
It was MUCH better than the last time we tried this recipe (I think the key is to use a whole chicken), but it still wasn't very spicy. Next time, we'll probably leave the habanero seeds in.
I boiled a whole chicken (sans gizzards) for about an hour (with some sea salt, ground pepper and garlic powder) and then picked it out deboned and deskined it, then put all the bones and skin back in the pot to boil for a little longer (hey man, delicious, delicious chicken water). The edible part of the chicken went in the crockpot along with one can of Mexican Style Tomato Sauce, some smoked salt, a minced clove of garlic, a seeded and minced habanero, 2 diced smoke-dried tomatoes, a quartered onion and more ground pepper. I added some of the chicken water to make it kinda soupy so it didn't get all dried out while slow cooking the next day.
I then had a fiasco with the chicken water. I strained the water into a zip-top bag which I had put in a smaller pot for stability purposes. After I strained it and cleaned out the chicken stock pot, I went to grab the zip-top bag and realized there was a hole in the bottom so it was all leaking out. Thankfully it was all leaking out into a pot...but still, now I was going to have to clean THAT pot too. I then got out a brand new zip-top bag--one that had never been used before (yes I reuse my zip-top bags), and then poured the chicken stock into that one. As far as I know it didn't have a hole in it...I guess I should really go check the freezer, eh?
I put the crockpot full of delicious enchilada chicken into the fridge for the night and got it out this morning. I thought about adding a little more water, but decided against it because I didn't want it to get too soupy.
I should have added some water.
And it totally isn't my fault it got burned.
See, I put the crockpot on the counter, plugged it in, turned it on low and went to work. Shawn got home about an hour and a half before I did. Normally when he comes home and we're doing crockpot stuff, he'll turn off the crockpot, or at least turn it to the 'warm' setting when he comes home because it's been cooking for 8-9 hours at that time. This time he didn't do that. He even went into the kitchen, looked at the chicken, thought it looked good and then went and played on the computer for about an hour before he thought that maybe he ought to turn off the pot. When he went back into the kitchen, the top of the chicken was all black and crusty. Sigh. Thankfully it didn't taste bad and we were able to avoid the largest blackened parts.
It was MUCH better than the last time we tried this recipe (I think the key is to use a whole chicken), but it still wasn't very spicy. Next time, we'll probably leave the habanero seeds in.
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Spaghetti Sauce Try Outs (part 2)
The sauce was a little soupy after 2 hours, so we followed protocol and took the lid off. An hour later we started boiling the noodles. Of course there was the boil-over fiasco. While I was talking on the phone with my mom. That was...Fun. Since Kristie says she'll kill anyone who overcooks the noodles, I decided to set the timer on the microwave (yes, the microwave will time things for 9 minutes).
While waiting for the noodles, I poured myself a glass from the left over Chianti and started the oven to make "poor man's garlic bread" Also known as Texas Toast with butter and some garlic powder. Shut up. It reminds me of being a kid when my mom used to make garlic bread that way (of course, if I had been on top of my game today, I would have oven roasted some of the garlic cloves and then spread that on the bread instead, but whatever, i forgot).
Anyhow, the review:
It was a very good sauce, and I would recommend that people try it at least once, and then change the amounts of spices to make it their own. My only disappointment was that I was expecting it to be stellar after having simmered for 3 hours. When I make it next time, I'll make sure that we use actual Italian sausage and I'd skip the chili powder. I would also use some more oregano (I think the stuff I've got right now is a little weak), and I'd use more basil (keep in mind that I used fresh basil so the amount was only an estimate). I might also throw in some fennel seeds.
Shawn thoroughly enjoyed the sauce and said it was the best meat sauce I've ever made (which is true except for this one time in high school, and that time I added too much wine and then had to add more of the other spices to even out the flavors...and it was the best spaghetti sauce evah). He thought the wine worked well, which is saying something because he normally will taste the wine and complain about it--the only other time I've made spaghetti sauce that he hasn't complained about the wine was when I used some leftover Shiraz from French Onion Soup night. His only lament about the sauce is that the recipe makes so much that theres a ton left over--2 full jars left over (normal size of the Classico).
While waiting for the noodles, I poured myself a glass from the left over Chianti and started the oven to make "poor man's garlic bread" Also known as Texas Toast with butter and some garlic powder. Shut up. It reminds me of being a kid when my mom used to make garlic bread that way (of course, if I had been on top of my game today, I would have oven roasted some of the garlic cloves and then spread that on the bread instead, but whatever, i forgot).
Anyhow, the review:
It was a very good sauce, and I would recommend that people try it at least once, and then change the amounts of spices to make it their own. My only disappointment was that I was expecting it to be stellar after having simmered for 3 hours. When I make it next time, I'll make sure that we use actual Italian sausage and I'd skip the chili powder. I would also use some more oregano (I think the stuff I've got right now is a little weak), and I'd use more basil (keep in mind that I used fresh basil so the amount was only an estimate). I might also throw in some fennel seeds.
Shawn thoroughly enjoyed the sauce and said it was the best meat sauce I've ever made (which is true except for this one time in high school, and that time I added too much wine and then had to add more of the other spices to even out the flavors...and it was the best spaghetti sauce evah). He thought the wine worked well, which is saying something because he normally will taste the wine and complain about it--the only other time I've made spaghetti sauce that he hasn't complained about the wine was when I used some leftover Shiraz from French Onion Soup night. His only lament about the sauce is that the recipe makes so much that theres a ton left over--2 full jars left over (normal size of the Classico).
Spaghetti Sauce Try Outs
For those of you who don't keep up with Kristie's blog, the Spiteful Chef:
I have agreed to make her Spaghetti Sauce and let her know how it turns out. So, here is my tale of attempting to make the sauce.
I agreed to this adventure on the evening of September 2. I had to wait until this weekend because it takes 3 hours of simmering. 3 HOURS! That doesn't even include the prepping. Just the SIMMERING!
Time restraint aside (hell, the Borscht I made in the spring took 4 hours, so this shouldn't be much worse), I looked at the recipe and thought it sounded good. And, as my dear husband is a picky eater (and yet he claims I'm the picky one), I had to let him read the recipe before we went shopping for all the ingredients. Immediately "1/2 Bell Pepper" was taken off the list. Some such nonsense of "intolerance and/or allergy". Though I will say that I will take this allergy to bell pepper over the allergy to basil and/or oregano that the rest of his family suffers from.
Anyhow, I write down the ingredients and it's off to the store. I went to the wine aisle to get some red wine (I got the Gabbiano Chianti Classico for like $11.50), and sent him to get the required meat. He comes back to tell me that they don't have hot Italian sausage so he grabbed some Jalapeno Sausage instead. Note who started deviating from the given recipe.
We get to the fresh vegetable section and then the hunt is on for mushrooms. I say 'hunt' because I have never, ever, not once bought mushrooms so I have no idea where they are even located. Because I am lazy, I got the pre-sliced Bellas.
I measure the butter (I used the non-salted variety) and oil and put them in our large stock pot (this is the ONLY time I have EVER measured olive oil). I then get out the garlic press and press the hell out of the garlic (which took me 20 minutes to peel by the way). It is at this point that Shawn starts telling me I'm deviating from the recipe. Yes, because I was the first one to deviate from the given directions. Anyhow, the garlic was pressed instead of minced because, as mentioned above, I am lazy.
I grab the onion next (one of the Farm to Work ones, incidentally) and I get out my Ulu knife and board. I start dicing the onion and my eyes start watering. I get half way through when I realize that my nose is running and my eyes are watering so much I can barely see. Shawn, who is washing dishes, ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE KITCHEN mentions that his eyes are watering because of the onions. That is some strong onion. I finally get it diced to my liking and dump it in the stock pot with the oil, butter and garlic. Then I run to the bathroom to blow my nose and dab at my eyes like I'm some sort of southern damsel in distress.
Now comes the meat cooking. I put the hamburger in our Calphalon One Everyday Pan, and pull out the meat cutting board to start de-casing the sausage. I'm halfway through my 2nd one when Shawn asks "What are you doing?" "I'm de-casing" "Why are you doing that? It's not in the directions." "Yes it is, at the top" "Oh, would you look at that? Well, you should just cut them into rounds. Too much work to de-case them all." But I will have you know that I continued to de-case the suckers and then I cut them into rounds, and those rounds into 4ths. It just took me until my last sausage until I realized I was making it much tougher on myself becase I was using a crappy steak knife instead of one of my nice knives. sigh.
The meat is in the pan, it's cooking away and I go to pull out the grease jar. If you think you want to switch from using hamburger to ground turkey; don't. The smell of the old grease is enough to make me throw up in my mouth a little. I mean hamburger grease smells bad, but turkey grease is about 10 times worse. disgusting. The meat is drained of its grease and then added to the cooking onion and garlic medley.
Other ingredients are added (petite diced tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, bay leaves). And then I go and try to open the wine bottle. I cannot open wine bottles. I am a failure at this seemingly simple task. Shawn, the one in this little family of two who does not drink, is the wine bottle opener. Odd, that. He approximates "a third" and that gets added to the sauce mix.
I added a half teaspoon of celery seed (we didn't have celery salt, and I wasn't about to buy a spice that I would never use), and then a teaspoon and a half of kosher salt. I figured "2 dashes = one splash" and that's how much worchestershire sauce was added. I added a heaping teaspoon of dried oregano (from the garden, it's also been in the cupboard for a while, so I figured it probably needed a little more). And I added a teaspoon of the "Red hot chili powder" I don't know what it is, it's something that Shawn's mom gave us a while ago--she had bought some chili powder of some sort in bulk, and that's what she wrote on the baggy. Though we did debate on if we should add Ancho Chili, Chipotle Chili, or regular chili powder. We used the aforementioned "red hot" because it smelled the least smokey.
Then we come to the 1T dried basil. Well, this is a problem. Because we don't have DRIED basil. We have fresh basil. The interwebs says to add 3x as much if you're using fresh. And so I approximate this to be "9 large leaves or 2 sprigs" and so that amount is picked, washed and added to the mix.
We go to set the timer on the microwave only to find out that the microwave timer maxes out at 99:99, so we moved onto the oven timer. Set it for 2 hours (so we can check the consistency) and that's what I'm waiting for right now.
In the meantime, laundry is getting done, and bathrooms are being cleaned. It's like I'm all being domestic and crap.
Stay tuned for the "eating" part.
I have agreed to make her Spaghetti Sauce and let her know how it turns out. So, here is my tale of attempting to make the sauce.
I agreed to this adventure on the evening of September 2. I had to wait until this weekend because it takes 3 hours of simmering. 3 HOURS! That doesn't even include the prepping. Just the SIMMERING!
Time restraint aside (hell, the Borscht I made in the spring took 4 hours, so this shouldn't be much worse), I looked at the recipe and thought it sounded good. And, as my dear husband is a picky eater (and yet he claims I'm the picky one), I had to let him read the recipe before we went shopping for all the ingredients. Immediately "1/2 Bell Pepper" was taken off the list. Some such nonsense of "intolerance and/or allergy". Though I will say that I will take this allergy to bell pepper over the allergy to basil and/or oregano that the rest of his family suffers from.
Anyhow, I write down the ingredients and it's off to the store. I went to the wine aisle to get some red wine (I got the Gabbiano Chianti Classico for like $11.50), and sent him to get the required meat. He comes back to tell me that they don't have hot Italian sausage so he grabbed some Jalapeno Sausage instead. Note who started deviating from the given recipe.
We get to the fresh vegetable section and then the hunt is on for mushrooms. I say 'hunt' because I have never, ever, not once bought mushrooms so I have no idea where they are even located. Because I am lazy, I got the pre-sliced Bellas.
I measure the butter (I used the non-salted variety) and oil and put them in our large stock pot (this is the ONLY time I have EVER measured olive oil). I then get out the garlic press and press the hell out of the garlic (which took me 20 minutes to peel by the way). It is at this point that Shawn starts telling me I'm deviating from the recipe. Yes, because I was the first one to deviate from the given directions. Anyhow, the garlic was pressed instead of minced because, as mentioned above, I am lazy.
I grab the onion next (one of the Farm to Work ones, incidentally) and I get out my Ulu knife and board. I start dicing the onion and my eyes start watering. I get half way through when I realize that my nose is running and my eyes are watering so much I can barely see. Shawn, who is washing dishes, ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE KITCHEN mentions that his eyes are watering because of the onions. That is some strong onion. I finally get it diced to my liking and dump it in the stock pot with the oil, butter and garlic. Then I run to the bathroom to blow my nose and dab at my eyes like I'm some sort of southern damsel in distress.
Now comes the meat cooking. I put the hamburger in our Calphalon One Everyday Pan, and pull out the meat cutting board to start de-casing the sausage. I'm halfway through my 2nd one when Shawn asks "What are you doing?" "I'm de-casing" "Why are you doing that? It's not in the directions." "Yes it is, at the top" "Oh, would you look at that? Well, you should just cut them into rounds. Too much work to de-case them all." But I will have you know that I continued to de-case the suckers and then I cut them into rounds, and those rounds into 4ths. It just took me until my last sausage until I realized I was making it much tougher on myself becase I was using a crappy steak knife instead of one of my nice knives. sigh.
The meat is in the pan, it's cooking away and I go to pull out the grease jar. If you think you want to switch from using hamburger to ground turkey; don't. The smell of the old grease is enough to make me throw up in my mouth a little. I mean hamburger grease smells bad, but turkey grease is about 10 times worse. disgusting. The meat is drained of its grease and then added to the cooking onion and garlic medley.
Other ingredients are added (petite diced tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, bay leaves). And then I go and try to open the wine bottle. I cannot open wine bottles. I am a failure at this seemingly simple task. Shawn, the one in this little family of two who does not drink, is the wine bottle opener. Odd, that. He approximates "a third" and that gets added to the sauce mix.
I added a half teaspoon of celery seed (we didn't have celery salt, and I wasn't about to buy a spice that I would never use), and then a teaspoon and a half of kosher salt. I figured "2 dashes = one splash" and that's how much worchestershire sauce was added. I added a heaping teaspoon of dried oregano (from the garden, it's also been in the cupboard for a while, so I figured it probably needed a little more). And I added a teaspoon of the "Red hot chili powder" I don't know what it is, it's something that Shawn's mom gave us a while ago--she had bought some chili powder of some sort in bulk, and that's what she wrote on the baggy. Though we did debate on if we should add Ancho Chili, Chipotle Chili, or regular chili powder. We used the aforementioned "red hot" because it smelled the least smokey.
Then we come to the 1T dried basil. Well, this is a problem. Because we don't have DRIED basil. We have fresh basil. The interwebs says to add 3x as much if you're using fresh. And so I approximate this to be "9 large leaves or 2 sprigs" and so that amount is picked, washed and added to the mix.
We go to set the timer on the microwave only to find out that the microwave timer maxes out at 99:99, so we moved onto the oven timer. Set it for 2 hours (so we can check the consistency) and that's what I'm waiting for right now.
In the meantime, laundry is getting done, and bathrooms are being cleaned. It's like I'm all being domestic and crap.
Stay tuned for the "eating" part.
Friday, August 01, 2008
Breakfast Potatoes
Ingredients:
A couple of diced Potatoes (I have been using 2-3 Red La Soda)
Salt and pepper and other spices to taste
diced onion (optional, though recommended)
minced spicy pepper (such as jalapeno or serrano) (absolutely optional)
oil
minced garlic
Directions:
heat oil in skillet. cook garlic and onions and spicy pepper for a minute or two. Add diced potato. add spices as you see fit. Cook until done stirring occasionally. Serve with a runny egg on top (optional).
A couple of diced Potatoes (I have been using 2-3 Red La Soda)
Salt and pepper and other spices to taste
diced onion (optional, though recommended)
minced spicy pepper (such as jalapeno or serrano) (absolutely optional)
oil
minced garlic
Directions:
heat oil in skillet. cook garlic and onions and spicy pepper for a minute or two. Add diced potato. add spices as you see fit. Cook until done stirring occasionally. Serve with a runny egg on top (optional).
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Eggplant Parmesan
We made eggplant parmesan with our Farm to Work Eggplant--This was the first time I've had said dish, and I quite enjoyed it.
Recipe from Elsie:
ingredients:
1 eggplant
a jar of spaghetti sauce (one of the normal sized ones should be fine)
shredded mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses
1 egg, scrambled
flour (for dredging)
salt and pepper to taste (mix in with flour)
directions:
peel the eggplant and slice into thin slices (about 1/4 inch thick or less). Place slices on a plate, sprinkle with salt, place another plate on top of the pieces and put something heavy on the top plate (you're trying to squeeze the water out of the eggplant slices). Set aside for 1-1.5 hours.
Pat eggplant slices dry with a paper towel. Dip slices in egg and then dredge through flour mixture. Fry floured eggplant pieces in oil on the stove. When browned, transfer to a paper toweled plate (to drain excess oil).
Get a baking dish (either 9x13 or 9x9), cover bottom of dish with spaghetti sauce. Place a layer of eggplant on sauce. Sprinkle with cheeses. Repeat layers until all eggplant slices are used. Top the last cheese layer with extra sauce and then more cheese.
Bake in a 350* oven for 15-20 minutes until cheese is bubbly.
Recipe from Elsie:
ingredients:
1 eggplant
a jar of spaghetti sauce (one of the normal sized ones should be fine)
shredded mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses
1 egg, scrambled
flour (for dredging)
salt and pepper to taste (mix in with flour)
directions:
peel the eggplant and slice into thin slices (about 1/4 inch thick or less). Place slices on a plate, sprinkle with salt, place another plate on top of the pieces and put something heavy on the top plate (you're trying to squeeze the water out of the eggplant slices). Set aside for 1-1.5 hours.
Pat eggplant slices dry with a paper towel. Dip slices in egg and then dredge through flour mixture. Fry floured eggplant pieces in oil on the stove. When browned, transfer to a paper toweled plate (to drain excess oil).
Get a baking dish (either 9x13 or 9x9), cover bottom of dish with spaghetti sauce. Place a layer of eggplant on sauce. Sprinkle with cheeses. Repeat layers until all eggplant slices are used. Top the last cheese layer with extra sauce and then more cheese.
Bake in a 350* oven for 15-20 minutes until cheese is bubbly.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
French Onion Soup
Based on the recipe from the Colorado Cache cook book. This is the best book ever, I've never had a bad recipe from it (the Creme de Colorado is also a very good book). I highly recommend that everyone get this book--I personally got it specifically for the French Onion Soup recipe, though the other soup recipes sound delicious--like the tomato bisque which I still haven't tried.
Actually found out last weekend that my friend that grew up in Oklahoma knows his mom made recipes from this book.
The books can be purchased through the Junior League of Denver.
This recipe generally has served up to 12 people. I just keep adding beef stock and wine to make more soup if it looks like it's simmering down too quickly.
4 large yellow onions, thinly sliced
4 T of butter
1.5 t sugar
1 T flour
1 c dry white wine
1 quart beef stock, if using bullion, I suggest adding more than the amount it says.
Slices of French Bread.
Slices of Swiss Cheese (buy the ones that are presliced)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (2 oz)--we use the stuff you buy in the Kraft can.
In a heavy-bottomed pan, slowly brown the onions in butter and sugar until the onions are a dark brown, about 30 minutes. (With a wooden spoon, occasionally scrape the brown off the bottom of the pan.) Add flour and cook, stirring for 2 or 3 minutes. Add the wine and cook for 2 or 3 minutes. Add stock and simmer partially covered for 1 hour. To serve, place a croûton on top of each bowl of soup, Cover generously with Swiss cheese and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake covered at 325* for 15 minutes, then uncover and bake another 10 minutes.
Actually found out last weekend that my friend that grew up in Oklahoma knows his mom made recipes from this book.
The books can be purchased through the Junior League of Denver.
This recipe generally has served up to 12 people. I just keep adding beef stock and wine to make more soup if it looks like it's simmering down too quickly.
4 large yellow onions, thinly sliced
4 T of butter
1.5 t sugar
1 T flour
1 c dry white wine
1 quart beef stock, if using bullion, I suggest adding more than the amount it says.
Slices of French Bread.
Slices of Swiss Cheese (buy the ones that are presliced)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (2 oz)--we use the stuff you buy in the Kraft can.
In a heavy-bottomed pan, slowly brown the onions in butter and sugar until the onions are a dark brown, about 30 minutes. (With a wooden spoon, occasionally scrape the brown off the bottom of the pan.) Add flour and cook, stirring for 2 or 3 minutes. Add the wine and cook for 2 or 3 minutes. Add stock and simmer partially covered for 1 hour. To serve, place a croûton on top of each bowl of soup, Cover generously with Swiss cheese and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake covered at 325* for 15 minutes, then uncover and bake another 10 minutes.
Beignets
1/2 package dry yeast
3/4 c warm water (about 110*)
1/4 c sugar
1 eggs
1/2 c milk
1/2 t salt
1/8 c shortening
veggie oil for frying
powdered sugar
In a bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water. Stir to dissolve.
Add sugar, eggs, milk --blend (with paddle attachment if using a stand mixer)
Add half the flour, salt and shortening. Mix well (may want to switch over to the hook attachment at this stage)
add remaining flour and continue to mix to form a dough. Form dough into a ball, place in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night.
Next day: punch down dough. cover with damp towl and let rest 15 min.
Roll dough in 1/4" thick rectangle. Use pizza cutter to cut into 2" squares.
Heat some oil for deep fat frying to 365* (to the 'donuts' marker if your candy thermometer has that written on it). drop in beignets, 3 or 4 at a time and fry on both sides til golden. Drain on a brown paper bag and dust generously with powdered sugar. Serve.
Please note that beignets only have a half life of about a day. That means don't make extra if you can help it.
3/4 c warm water (about 110*)
1/4 c sugar
1 eggs
1/2 c milk
1/2 t salt
1/8 c shortening
veggie oil for frying
powdered sugar
In a bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water. Stir to dissolve.
Add sugar, eggs, milk --blend (with paddle attachment if using a stand mixer)
Add half the flour, salt and shortening. Mix well (may want to switch over to the hook attachment at this stage)
add remaining flour and continue to mix to form a dough. Form dough into a ball, place in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night.
Next day: punch down dough. cover with damp towl and let rest 15 min.
Roll dough in 1/4" thick rectangle. Use pizza cutter to cut into 2" squares.
Heat some oil for deep fat frying to 365* (to the 'donuts' marker if your candy thermometer has that written on it). drop in beignets, 3 or 4 at a time and fry on both sides til golden. Drain on a brown paper bag and dust generously with powdered sugar. Serve.
Please note that beignets only have a half life of about a day. That means don't make extra if you can help it.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Rosemary Pork Kabobs
Rosemary Vinegar:
2 c white-wine vinegar
6 (6-inch) sprigs fresh rosemary
3 cloves garlic crushed
In saucepan, bring vinegar to a boil. Pour into glass bowl; add rosemary and garlic. Cover; let stand at room temperature overnight. Strain.
Kabobs:
1/2 c olive oil
1 T dijon mustard
2 t chopped fresh rosemary
1/8 t black pepper
1 pound pork tenderloin cut into 1-inch cubes
1 pound small red new potatoes
8 (6-inch) sprigs fresh rosemary (optional)
In bowl, whisk 1/2 cup vinegar (save the remainder), oil, mustard, rosemary and pepper for vinaigrette. In plastic bag, combine 1/2 c vinaigrette and pork. Chill 30 minutes.
Cook potatoes in simmering water, covered, until just tender, about 10 minutes. Drain; rinse with cold water. Halve potatoes and toss in bowl with remaining vinaigrette.
Heat broiler or grill. Thread pork alternating with potatoes on 4 skewers, or 8 rosemary sprigs, if desired.
Broil or grill 4 inches from heat about 10 minutes, turning and basting with vinaigrette from bowl.
(Alternately, if you're lazy, like me, then you use 1/2 c white-wine vinegar, a couple tablespoons of dried rosemary if you don't have fresh, and a teaspoon or so of garlic powder and a dash of black pepper. Do not boil the vinegar, hell, don't let it sit over-night--just put the ingredients into a ziploc bag with 1/2 c. oil and add either boneless pork pieces or pork chops, marinate for 30 minutes. Grill as directed--I have yet to make the potatoes with this thing...I think it's the boiling that always gets to me.)
2 c white-wine vinegar
6 (6-inch) sprigs fresh rosemary
3 cloves garlic crushed
In saucepan, bring vinegar to a boil. Pour into glass bowl; add rosemary and garlic. Cover; let stand at room temperature overnight. Strain.
Kabobs:
1/2 c olive oil
1 T dijon mustard
2 t chopped fresh rosemary
1/8 t black pepper
1 pound pork tenderloin cut into 1-inch cubes
1 pound small red new potatoes
8 (6-inch) sprigs fresh rosemary (optional)
In bowl, whisk 1/2 cup vinegar (save the remainder), oil, mustard, rosemary and pepper for vinaigrette. In plastic bag, combine 1/2 c vinaigrette and pork. Chill 30 minutes.
Cook potatoes in simmering water, covered, until just tender, about 10 minutes. Drain; rinse with cold water. Halve potatoes and toss in bowl with remaining vinaigrette.
Heat broiler or grill. Thread pork alternating with potatoes on 4 skewers, or 8 rosemary sprigs, if desired.
Broil or grill 4 inches from heat about 10 minutes, turning and basting with vinaigrette from bowl.
(Alternately, if you're lazy, like me, then you use 1/2 c white-wine vinegar, a couple tablespoons of dried rosemary if you don't have fresh, and a teaspoon or so of garlic powder and a dash of black pepper. Do not boil the vinegar, hell, don't let it sit over-night--just put the ingredients into a ziploc bag with 1/2 c. oil and add either boneless pork pieces or pork chops, marinate for 30 minutes. Grill as directed--I have yet to make the potatoes with this thing...I think it's the boiling that always gets to me.)
Friday, February 01, 2008
Peanutty Noodles
1 peeled carrot (you use the peels)
1/2 T vegetable oil, divided
2 t grated, peeled, fresh ginger (I still use ginger powder)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 c. chicken broth
1/2 c peanut butter
1/4 c soy sauce (I usually use less)
3 T rice or white wine vinegar (you can use normal vinegar, but half the dose)
1 t chili garlic sauce (or a pinch or two of chili powder)
1/8 t salt
Cooking spray
2 c red bell pepper strips
1 lb snow peas
1 lb cooked pasta (usually spaghetti noodles)
fresh cilantro for garnish
Shave carrot lengthwise into thin strips using a vegetable peeler, set aside.
Heat 1 t oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add ginger and garlic. Saute 30 sec. Add chicken broth and next 5 ingredients. Stir until well blended. Reduce heat and simmer 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat & keep warm
Heat 2 t oil in large non-stick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium high heat. Add bell peppers and peas. Saute 5 min or until tender. Remove from heat. Combine carrot, peanut butter mixture, bell pepper mix and pasta in large bowl; toss well. Sprinkle with Cilantro and serve warm.
Notes:
We normally don't add the veggies because we never have snow peas in the house, and Shawn is allergic to bell pepper.
We normally add chicken to this--cook chicken in step one in the sauce pan, then pick up at the 'add ginger and garlic' spot.
1/2 T vegetable oil, divided
2 t grated, peeled, fresh ginger (I still use ginger powder)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 c. chicken broth
1/2 c peanut butter
1/4 c soy sauce (I usually use less)
3 T rice or white wine vinegar (you can use normal vinegar, but half the dose)
1 t chili garlic sauce (or a pinch or two of chili powder)
1/8 t salt
Cooking spray
2 c red bell pepper strips
1 lb snow peas
1 lb cooked pasta (usually spaghetti noodles)
fresh cilantro for garnish
Shave carrot lengthwise into thin strips using a vegetable peeler, set aside.
Heat 1 t oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add ginger and garlic. Saute 30 sec. Add chicken broth and next 5 ingredients. Stir until well blended. Reduce heat and simmer 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat & keep warm
Heat 2 t oil in large non-stick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium high heat. Add bell peppers and peas. Saute 5 min or until tender. Remove from heat. Combine carrot, peanut butter mixture, bell pepper mix and pasta in large bowl; toss well. Sprinkle with Cilantro and serve warm.
Notes:
We normally don't add the veggies because we never have snow peas in the house, and Shawn is allergic to bell pepper.
We normally add chicken to this--cook chicken in step one in the sauce pan, then pick up at the 'add ginger and garlic' spot.
Apple Dumplings (and mini dumplings)
1.5 c sugar
1.5 c water
1/4 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
Bring to boil and add 3T butter and a couple drops of red food coloring (food coloring is optional). set aside
2 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
2/3 c. shortening
Cream together and then add
1/2 c. milk
mix until it forms a dough (it should be pliable, if it's too dry, add a little more milk)
Directions:
Roll dough into 18 x 12 rectangle and cut into 6" squares. Place whole cored and peeled apples in center of square. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over the apples and dot tops of apples with butter. Bring corners together and pinch to seal.
Place 1" apart in un-greased pan (I usually use a 9" square if I'm doing 4 dumplings, or an 11 x 9 if doing 6). Pour syrup over the dumplings and sprinkle with sugar (optional).
Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until apples are done.
For mini-dumplings:
same recipe, but peel, core and quarter the apples. follow the directions above (squares of dough will be smaller) replacing a whole apple with a quarter apple. place in pan. bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until apples are done.
Notes:
-usually it's difficult to get the dough to the 12 x 18 size. My mom and I both just started using 4 apples instead of the normal recipe of 6.
-I made the mini-dumplings for the first time and I managed to get the dough rolled out to the 12 x 18 size, and I cut up 4 apples. The minis took up my small oblong pan, and 2 tiny casseroles--they probably fit fine in a 9 x 11.
-My mom always added red food coloring because she found the normal brownish color of the syrup to be unappetizing. I normally don't add the coloring because I don't have it on hand
-You don't have to make as much syrup as the recipe calls for, the important part is to have equal amounts of sugar and water. In fact, I wouldn't recommend having the recipe amount of syrup. Unless you're looking to get diabetes.
1.5 c water
1/4 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
Bring to boil and add 3T butter and a couple drops of red food coloring (food coloring is optional). set aside
2 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
2/3 c. shortening
Cream together and then add
1/2 c. milk
mix until it forms a dough (it should be pliable, if it's too dry, add a little more milk)
Directions:
Roll dough into 18 x 12 rectangle and cut into 6" squares. Place whole cored and peeled apples in center of square. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over the apples and dot tops of apples with butter. Bring corners together and pinch to seal.
Place 1" apart in un-greased pan (I usually use a 9" square if I'm doing 4 dumplings, or an 11 x 9 if doing 6). Pour syrup over the dumplings and sprinkle with sugar (optional).
Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until apples are done.
For mini-dumplings:
same recipe, but peel, core and quarter the apples. follow the directions above (squares of dough will be smaller) replacing a whole apple with a quarter apple. place in pan. bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until apples are done.
Notes:
-usually it's difficult to get the dough to the 12 x 18 size. My mom and I both just started using 4 apples instead of the normal recipe of 6.
-I made the mini-dumplings for the first time and I managed to get the dough rolled out to the 12 x 18 size, and I cut up 4 apples. The minis took up my small oblong pan, and 2 tiny casseroles--they probably fit fine in a 9 x 11.
-My mom always added red food coloring because she found the normal brownish color of the syrup to be unappetizing. I normally don't add the coloring because I don't have it on hand
-You don't have to make as much syrup as the recipe calls for, the important part is to have equal amounts of sugar and water. In fact, I wouldn't recommend having the recipe amount of syrup. Unless you're looking to get diabetes.
Spaghetti
This recipe is very generic. Add as many spices as you want, don't add meat, whatever. Just taste the sauce until it tastes right to you. Note: if you have this with meat, you'll have to add more spices than if you don't use meat.
1 lb ground beef (or turkey)
onion
14 oz can of tomato sauce
a little sugar (about 1 t)
Worcestershire sauce (a couple dashes)
various spices (italian spices, or make your own: Oregano, fennel, basil, parsley, garlic, etc.)
cooked pasta
Brown beef and diced onion in sauce pan. Drain. Add other ingredients and simmer on low heat until noodles are cooked. Serve hot.
1 lb ground beef (or turkey)
onion
14 oz can of tomato sauce
a little sugar (about 1 t)
Worcestershire sauce (a couple dashes)
various spices (italian spices, or make your own: Oregano, fennel, basil, parsley, garlic, etc.)
cooked pasta
Brown beef and diced onion in sauce pan. Drain. Add other ingredients and simmer on low heat until noodles are cooked. Serve hot.
Apple Pancake
This can be served as Breakfast or Dinner (we eat it for Dinner though)
2 T butter
4 T sugar, divided
3/4 t ground cinnamon
1 large apple cored & sliced
4 eggs
2/3 c milk
1/3 c flour
1/2 t salt (I normally leave this out)
Melt butter in 10" frying pan with ovenproof handle. Combine 3 T sugar with cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over butter. Arrange apple slices over sugar mix in pan. Cook over medium heat 3-4 minutes. Cool slightly.
Meanwhile, beat together eggs, milk, flour, 1 T sugar, and salt until smooth. Poor gently over apple slices. Bake in preheated 400* oven until golden brown and sides are puffy (approx. 15 min). Serve immediately.
Notes:
The pancake will always get puffy--it will also always fall.
Also, you will never get the batter smooth. The best I've gotten is to put all the ingredients in a Nalgene bottle and shaken it up then poured over the apple slices.
2 T butter
4 T sugar, divided
3/4 t ground cinnamon
1 large apple cored & sliced
4 eggs
2/3 c milk
1/3 c flour
1/2 t salt (I normally leave this out)
Melt butter in 10" frying pan with ovenproof handle. Combine 3 T sugar with cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over butter. Arrange apple slices over sugar mix in pan. Cook over medium heat 3-4 minutes. Cool slightly.
Meanwhile, beat together eggs, milk, flour, 1 T sugar, and salt until smooth. Poor gently over apple slices. Bake in preheated 400* oven until golden brown and sides are puffy (approx. 15 min). Serve immediately.
Notes:
The pancake will always get puffy--it will also always fall.
Also, you will never get the batter smooth. The best I've gotten is to put all the ingredients in a Nalgene bottle and shaken it up then poured over the apple slices.
Blueberry Coffee Cakes
4 c. flour (slightly more for high altitude)
1.5 c. sugar (slightly less for low altitude)
4 t. baking powder
1.5 t salt
1/2 c melted margarine
1.5 c + 3 T milk
2 eggs
4 c fresh or frozen blueberries
Topping:
Mix 1/2 c sugar, 2/3 c flour, 1 t cinnamon & 1/2 c softened margarine
Heat oven to 375*. Grease two 9" layer cake pans. Mix all ingredients except topping & blueberries. Beat vigorously 1/2 minute. Carefully stir in blueberries. Spread half the batter in each pan; sprinkle topping on batter in each pan. Bake 45 min.
Serve warm or cool, wrap and freeze up to 3 months.
1.5 c. sugar (slightly less for low altitude)
4 t. baking powder
1.5 t salt
1/2 c melted margarine
1.5 c + 3 T milk
2 eggs
4 c fresh or frozen blueberries
Topping:
Mix 1/2 c sugar, 2/3 c flour, 1 t cinnamon & 1/2 c softened margarine
Heat oven to 375*. Grease two 9" layer cake pans. Mix all ingredients except topping & blueberries. Beat vigorously 1/2 minute. Carefully stir in blueberries. Spread half the batter in each pan; sprinkle topping on batter in each pan. Bake 45 min.
Serve warm or cool, wrap and freeze up to 3 months.
Glorified Muffins
1.5 c sifted flour (though I never sift it)
1.5 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
Sift together and set aside (though as stated, I never sift)
1/3 c. shortening
1/2 c sugar
1 egg
1 t grated orange rind
Cream together
1/2 c. milk
Add to creamed mix alternately with sifted flour mix. Beat until smooth. Spoon into paper baking cups or greased muffin pans. Bake at 350* for 20 min.
***Topping***
1 stick margarine, melted
1 c. sugar
1.5 t. cinnamon
Mix sugar and cinnamon together.
Dip tops of still warm muffins in melted margarine then into sugar & cinnamon mix.
1.5 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
Sift together and set aside (though as stated, I never sift)
1/3 c. shortening
1/2 c sugar
1 egg
1 t grated orange rind
Cream together
1/2 c. milk
Add to creamed mix alternately with sifted flour mix. Beat until smooth. Spoon into paper baking cups or greased muffin pans. Bake at 350* for 20 min.
***Topping***
1 stick margarine, melted
1 c. sugar
1.5 t. cinnamon
Mix sugar and cinnamon together.
Dip tops of still warm muffins in melted margarine then into sugar & cinnamon mix.
Beef Stroganoff
1/4 c butter
1/2 c minced onion
1 minced garlic clove
1 lb meat
1 lb mushrooms, sliced (optional)^
1 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/4 t paprika
1-10.5 oz condensed soup (chicken or mushroom)
1 c sour cream
choice of noodles (wide egg works well)
^ - if not using mushrooms, use condensed soup of mushroom.
In skillet over medium high heat, melt butter and cook onion & garlic about 3 min. Stir in meat, mushrooms, salt, pepper, paprika. cook, stirring often until meat is browned (about 7 min)
Stir in undiluted soup; heat to boiling. reduce heat to low & simmer 10 minutes to blend flavors. Stir in sour cream and heat (do not boil). sprinkle with parsley. Serve sauce over noodles.
1/2 c minced onion
1 minced garlic clove
1 lb meat
1 lb mushrooms, sliced (optional)^
1 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/4 t paprika
1-10.5 oz condensed soup (chicken or mushroom)
1 c sour cream
choice of noodles (wide egg works well)
^ - if not using mushrooms, use condensed soup of mushroom.
In skillet over medium high heat, melt butter and cook onion & garlic about 3 min. Stir in meat, mushrooms, salt, pepper, paprika. cook, stirring often until meat is browned (about 7 min)
Stir in undiluted soup; heat to boiling. reduce heat to low & simmer 10 minutes to blend flavors. Stir in sour cream and heat (do not boil). sprinkle with parsley. Serve sauce over noodles.
Goulash
1 lb ground meat
diced onions
can of diced tomatoes
1/2 c ketchup
cooked elbow macaroni
Brown meat and onions. Drain off grease. Add tomatoes and ketchup. let simmer until noodles are finished (drain and stir into sauce). Serve warm.
Note: I cheat and use the petite diced tomatoes with onion already in them. We also usually had 1 teaspoon of sugar and some spices (italian usually)
diced onions
can of diced tomatoes
1/2 c ketchup
cooked elbow macaroni
Brown meat and onions. Drain off grease. Add tomatoes and ketchup. let simmer until noodles are finished (drain and stir into sauce). Serve warm.
Note: I cheat and use the petite diced tomatoes with onion already in them. We also usually had 1 teaspoon of sugar and some spices (italian usually)
Chicken Scampi
1/2 c butter
1/4 c olive oil
1/4 c finely chopped green onions
1 T minced garlic
Juice of 1 lemon
2 lbs diced skinless chicken breast
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1/4 c parsley
cooked pasta or rice
In skillet heat together butter, oil, onins and garlic. Saute for a few minutes. Add lemon juice, chicken, salt, pepper and parsley. Cook until chicken is done. Serve over pasta or rice.
1/4 c olive oil
1/4 c finely chopped green onions
1 T minced garlic
Juice of 1 lemon
2 lbs diced skinless chicken breast
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1/4 c parsley
cooked pasta or rice
In skillet heat together butter, oil, onins and garlic. Saute for a few minutes. Add lemon juice, chicken, salt, pepper and parsley. Cook until chicken is done. Serve over pasta or rice.
4 ways with potatoes
Homestyle Potatoes:
Thinly slice 2 med red potatoes, cube 1 med green pepper and thinly slice 1 med onion. Combine all in a 2 qt microwavalbe casserole dish. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup water, 1/2 t seasoned salt, 1/2 t pepper and dot 1 T margarine. Cover with wax papper and microwave on high 9-10 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes.
Twice Baked Potatoes:
6 scrubbed baking potatoes
1.5 c nonfat sour cream
1/2 t salt
1 c grated low fat cheddar cheese
1/2 c finely chopped green onion
Paprika
Preheat oven to 400*. Prick Potatoes. Bake 1 hr or until done. Let cool. Scoop pulp into a medium bowl; leaving about 1/4 of potato in shell. Add sour cream to pulp; whip with electric mixer. Stir in cheese, onion. Stuff shells with mixture and sprinkle with paprika. place on baking sheet and bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes until heated through.
Note: We cheat with this recipe and cook the potatoes in the microwave--about 12 minutes on high for 4 potatoes (make sure you prick with a fork first)
Packet Potatoes:
1 small onion
potatoes sliced
2 T olive oil or vegetable oil (or butter/margarine)
1 t seasoned salt
1/4 t pepper
shredded cheese (optional)
Preheat oven to 450* or grill to med-high. Spray aluminum foil with cooking spray.
Center onion in foil and layer potatoes on top. Drizzle with oil (or dot with butter) & sprinkle with seasonings. Fold foil into a packet & bake or grill (30-35 min in oven, or 15-20 min on grill). If adding cheese, after the packets have cooked and are ready, open carefully, add shredded cheese, and close packet loosely to keep heat in.
Herb Medley Potatoes:
1/2 c. olive oil
1/2 c. balsamic vinaigrette
1/4 c. chopped shallots
5 t fresh or 2 t dried thyme
5 t fresh or 2 t dried rosemary
2 t chopped fennel seeds
3 lb med red skin potatoes each cut into 8 wedges
3 lb med yukon potatoes each cut into 8 wedges.
Preheat oven to 400*. Oil 2 large baking sheets. Whisk all ingredients (sans potatoes), add potatoes and toss to coat. Bake for 1 hour, stirring and turning occasionally. When done, recoat with oil mix and serve.
Thinly slice 2 med red potatoes, cube 1 med green pepper and thinly slice 1 med onion. Combine all in a 2 qt microwavalbe casserole dish. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup water, 1/2 t seasoned salt, 1/2 t pepper and dot 1 T margarine. Cover with wax papper and microwave on high 9-10 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes.
Twice Baked Potatoes:
6 scrubbed baking potatoes
1.5 c nonfat sour cream
1/2 t salt
1 c grated low fat cheddar cheese
1/2 c finely chopped green onion
Paprika
Preheat oven to 400*. Prick Potatoes. Bake 1 hr or until done. Let cool. Scoop pulp into a medium bowl; leaving about 1/4 of potato in shell. Add sour cream to pulp; whip with electric mixer. Stir in cheese, onion. Stuff shells with mixture and sprinkle with paprika. place on baking sheet and bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes until heated through.
Note: We cheat with this recipe and cook the potatoes in the microwave--about 12 minutes on high for 4 potatoes (make sure you prick with a fork first)
Packet Potatoes:
1 small onion
potatoes sliced
2 T olive oil or vegetable oil (or butter/margarine)
1 t seasoned salt
1/4 t pepper
shredded cheese (optional)
Preheat oven to 450* or grill to med-high. Spray aluminum foil with cooking spray.
Center onion in foil and layer potatoes on top. Drizzle with oil (or dot with butter) & sprinkle with seasonings. Fold foil into a packet & bake or grill (30-35 min in oven, or 15-20 min on grill). If adding cheese, after the packets have cooked and are ready, open carefully, add shredded cheese, and close packet loosely to keep heat in.
Herb Medley Potatoes:
1/2 c. olive oil
1/2 c. balsamic vinaigrette
1/4 c. chopped shallots
5 t fresh or 2 t dried thyme
5 t fresh or 2 t dried rosemary
2 t chopped fennel seeds
3 lb med red skin potatoes each cut into 8 wedges
3 lb med yukon potatoes each cut into 8 wedges.
Preheat oven to 400*. Oil 2 large baking sheets. Whisk all ingredients (sans potatoes), add potatoes and toss to coat. Bake for 1 hour, stirring and turning occasionally. When done, recoat with oil mix and serve.
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