Where have I been?

It's been too long since I've posted. 

I'm still cooking, still creating, still playing, but with 3 kids and their super busy schedules, I often forget about building the images and have time to blog anymore.  They're also still extremely picky so we don't go much past their "this is the only thing I will eat" menu, so it's rare I get all that creative lately.  That said, I have a second project I'm starting, but will continue to write here when I can.

Brie Will Have a Good Time

This holiday season has been one of "what's in my pantry" toss stuff together food. Because with three kids, a full time job, and the holidays, who has time for much else?  As it is, my 10 year old made the Christmas cookies this year. Two amazing batches of chocolate chip!  But every so often I get a craving for something particular.  A friend of mine recently brought Brie and pears on toothpicks to a party. I swear I ate half the tray. I love Brie... Love it.  So of course I've been craving more.  And as I wandered around the over crowded grocery store the other day, it dawned on me I should do a baked Brie for a Christmas meal we attended last night.

Now, baked Brie is pretty basic. It's Brie. Baked until gooey.  And after much searching of the Internet, I found recipes to be fairly basic. Bake the Brie, drizzle honey, maybe some nuts.  But I was looking for more. So I wandered around the jammed grocery store looking for inspiration. Besides, the more time I wasted maybe the lines would get shorter? (Did not happen)

Roaming from aisle to aisle, throwing more things into my cart than I came in for to begin with, I rounded he dried fruit section and saw dates.  I haven't had dates in many years. I love dates. Dates are sweet. Dates have a great reference to one of my favorite movies Indian Jones. Dates... Yes dates! And other dried fruit! And that's how this recipe came to be. All the dried fruit I could think, and of course that "drizzle" of honey. Oh this was gonna be great. Let's play!

Ingredients

• Small wheel Brie
• Dried sweet dates
• Dried apricots
• Craisins
• Dried pomegranates
• Golden raisins
• Honey (I chose a Brazilian raw honey, only because I did not have a local honey in stock)
• Green apples

Steps

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
2. Unwrap the Brie and place into oven safe bake wear or parchment lined baking sheet 
3. Cut four slices in top of Brie
4. Set aside until oven is warmed to temp 
5. Meanwhile...
6. Chop the dates, and apricots to be the same size as raisins, craisins, pomegranates.
7. How many of them Jenn?? - how much fruit do you want to serve over top? Little or lot? I had enough that when combined was about a cup and half
8. Put all chopped fruit into small sauce pan
9. Pour in honey, Enright to cover all fruit. I probably used 1/4 to 1/2 cup.
10. Bring to simmer and let the honey bubble around the fruit for 5-10 minutes so that fruit reconstituted a bit and absorbs the honey.

1. Once the oven is at 350, put the Brie in.
2. Let heat in the oven until soft and pliable. If you press down on top of cheese and it gives way easy, or starts to ooze out of the cuts you made.
3. Remove Brie from oven
4. If you baked in a bakeware dish, just pour the fruit and honey chutney right over the top, serve hot
5. If you baked on a cookie sheet, carefully remove Brie and place on plate, pour chutney over top, serve hot.

Slice green apples and serve as chips to dip. Don't bother serving this with actual crackers, the green apple tartness with the sweet fruit chutney and the bite of the Brie will be an explosion of flavor in your mouth.

Enjoy!!!

Ooey gooey amazingness going on right here.

Get Sauced for Turkey Day

It's Thanksgiving!  That means cooking!  And that means more blog entries!  Yay!!!

Also, I hadn't thought about blogging my dishes for Thanksgiving until a coworker mentioned it today, so lucky for all you out there reading this that he reminded me.  So thanks SZ!

So let's talk Cranberry sauce.  What's a sauce?  According to various sources around the internet, and my dictionary, sauce is defined as a thick liquid served with food.  When someone says sauce, what comes to your mind?  Mine, tomato sauce.  Oh how I love tomato sauce.  I never, ever get it, because my children have decided it's the food of the devil (not really) and won't eat it, ever.  My oldest gags and pretends she's dying even if I ask her to take the tiniest taste, and this includes pizza.

But, back to cranberries.  I couldn't find why it's called Cranberry sauce (in the short span of me writing this) as most cranberry "sauce" recipes are actually a jam, or jelly, or relish.  If I had to categorize today's recipe, I would say mine is a Cranberry Jam just based off it's consistency and ingredients, and the definition in the link I provided.

I never use to like homemade cranberry sauce.  Growing up, our Thanksgiving dinners had both the cranberry jelly out of a can, and my mom would make her own.  No one ever touched her homemade sauce except her.  It had bits and pieces in it, and no one wants to chew their cranberry sauce.  Back then, as a child, it's a texture thing.  So I don't get offended when my kids won't eat the homemade cranberry sauce on our table tomorrow.  We serve them side by side.  At our family Thanksgiving dinners you will find our perfectly popped out, unblemished jelly form from the can, right next to my homemade cranberry jam.  And for the record, my mom's recipe, straight from Joy of Cooking.  My kitchen Bible.  I can't stress enough if you do not have this book, you must buy it. And the older the version, the better.  Here's some history, and here's why the version is important.  I have the 7th edition and love it.  Would really like to get my hands on the 6th.

Ah yes, but cranberries is what we're talking today.  Now, most cranberry sauces are of the same base recipe.  Cranberries, sugar and water.  And when you search on the internet you get a couple variations and additions.  Most people add oranges and orange juice, a few add cinnamon sticks.  Last year, on a whim, I added an extra flavor, that I personally feel, made this cranberry sauce just POP.  I improved on it again this year, adding yet another layer of awesome.   So now, when you place a spoon of this cranberry sauce in your mouth, you get that initial zing of cranberry, and underlying tones of orange, cloves and almonds.  That's right, you read that correctly... cloves and almond.  You ready?  Let's play.

Ingredients:

• 1 bag cranberries
• 1 navel orange
• 1.5 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 cup fresh squeezed juice from an orange
• 2 teaspoons orange zest

 Prep Time:

Clean and sort the berries!

Remove any berries that are squished or turning into shrivels

Remove stems, search carefully, I have missed a few in the past

Get Sauced:
 

^^^My Young K2 sous chef!

Zest the Orange for 2 teaspoons
Juice the orange for 1/2 cup, strain pulp/seeds
Add to 6qt sauce pan

Add 1.5 cups sugar
Add 1/4 cup honey
Add 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
Add 1/4 teaspoon almost extract

Add the berries, stir well
Put on Med-High heat and bring to boil

Gellin' Time:
As the sauce boils, the berries will start to pop.  This is fun to do with kids, because they can hear and see the berries pop open.  The sauce goes from a light orange, to pink, to red, to maroon.  The science behind how cranberries have a natural pectin is explained real well in this recipe by Scientific American

Below are the three stages I have found when making cranberry sauce.

1. Once the cranberries start to really pop open the sauce is a deep purple you have more of a "mash."  And that's pretty much what I start doing with it.. I mash the cranberries into the side of the pan.  Crush them up using your spoon. 
2. Then, the sauce will really start to thicken.  And as you're stirring, it won't just slide off the spoon or down the side of the pot.  You'll start to see it leave a trail behind.
3. Then it will start to really clump and become heavy.  It's at this point it's ready.
4. Turn off the heat and move to another area to sit and cool.  And as it cools, you'll start to really begin to gel.

 And when this sauce is complete, you'll have a beautiful deep maroon sauce.  I like to this sauce the day before you want to serve it.  Gives it a real good chance to congeal and bring the flavors together.

Having a Ball for Thanksgiving

I've not been cooking much lately to be honest. With three kids constantly on the run between dance, piano and girl scouts, by the time we get home the most I can muster is dialing for take out or telling the kids there is cereal in the cabinet.

And when I do cook, it's pasta, or one of my staples from this blog like "Whatsa Matta..Chicken Picatta" or it's redo "Picatta more better dish" and other quick meals I should be blogging about... But it happened last week. I cooked.

It appears that blogs such as this are a thing of the past and going by the wayside.  Being replaced by short 30 second videos on Facebook or Twitter, or some other popular social media site of the minute.  They're videos by Tasty or a quick article by Buzzfeed regarding the latest Top 10 something or another.  Or maybe it was a Pinterest pin.  And thing is, it's catching on.  People are saving them.  People are trying them.  It's getting people cooking.  It's also to get people to click their stuff, and earn money.  And so I've tried a few Tasty recipes.  They've been complete and utter failures.  I've had to tweak, or change, or cook them often much longer than they say to.  So, when tonight's recipe showed up in my Facebook feed as a Tasty video, I knew I wasn't going by the books.  But do I ever?  And man I'm so glad I changed this recipe.  It's so much better to play.  I present to you, Thanksgiving dinner... meatball style.

Ingredients 

• 2lbs Ground Gurkey
• 1 box Turkey Stuffing Mix
• 1-2 Garlic Cloves
• Salt & Pepper
• Parsley
• Basil
• Thyme
• Chives
• 1 Egg
• Splash of Milk

And per usual, you're going to ask, so how much of everything?  And that's really up to you.  How much garlic do YOU like?  Or in my house, how much garlic can I get away with?  Picture to the right shows you how much of everything I dumped in for spices.

So, place all the spices into your bowl, drop in the ground turkey, crack open and put in one egg, then a splash of milk.  If I had to estimate, I would say I put in about 1/4 cup of milk.  The first time I ran this recipe, the meatballs were a tad dry, so I will be considering altering it next time with either more milk, or the original amount of milk plus a splash of chicken stock.  Thing is, turkey is a very wet ground meat, so making meatballs is sticky.
Next up, you have to crush your stuffing down a bit.  I liked having large pieces and crumbs.  So open your bag of stuffing and dump into a plastic bag.  Grab your rolling pin and crush away.




You'll need to add about 1.5 cups of stuffing to your meatball mix.  Go by look and feel as you start mixing your meat.  I prefer to mix by hand, you're able to incorporate all ingredients faster.  If you think you need more stuffing then add more.






Once it's all mixed, start making your meatballs.  I was able to make 20 balls out of the 2 pounds this mixture.  The meatballs were slightly larger than a golf ball.  I wanted something you had to cut into, but also not so large it took forever to bake, and couldn't be considered a meatloaf.








Any leftover stuffing I had, I sprinkled it on top and around the meatballs in the bottom.  Adding additional texture to the plate, not wasting food, and besides the fact that extra stuffing is always a plus.  Into your pre-heated oven they go.  They should bake for about 30-45 minutes on 375 degrees.  I like to turn mine about half way through so that you can an even cook throughout.  If you have any doubt they're not done, you can and should, always take their temperature with a meat thermometer.  Pull them out and let them rest a bit.




While the meatballs are in the oven, it's best to start cooking your sides.  This isn't a blog about how to cooks sides today.  Come back some other time.  So, I made mashed potatoes, peas and gravy.  And honestly, whatever the best looking rolls on sale were that day.  No one has time to bake their own bread anymore, and if you do, I'm all kinds of jealous.  I made real mashed potatoes, not box as these deserved better and I actually had time that day, but I did cheat on the gravy.  What? I never said it was going to be perfect.

I served my kids separate gravy from potatoes from peas from meatballs.  Cause we all know their foods can't touch.  But this was truly plated with the meatballs placed on a mound of potatoes, smothered in gravy.  Peas and roll on the side.

Not the most beautiful plating in the world, I blame the phone and the rush to the table because we were all hungry.  I'd be afraid to send this to Gordon Ramsay's Twitter feed for fear of what he might call it.  But regardless of what it looked like, it tasted AHHHMazing.

Results

• The almost 2 year old picked at it. What's she's two.. and had already snacked all afternoon.
• The 6 year old gobbled it down well enough.  
• The soon to be 10 year old gave me a 9.5/10 points.  When asked why the 1/2 deduction, I was told "just because" although I suspect it was because she doesn't like gravy.  Weirdo.  <3
•  The husband made it disappear pretty damn fast.
• Safe to say, this will be returning to our table.  Kids even had leftover meatballs for the lunches the following days.

Also, what kind of Thanksgiving meal would this had been had I not served cranberry sauce/jelly?  Served correctly, perfectly popped out of the can.


Enjoy!

It's the Chicken and Corn Chowder Bowl

Football. Food. People. Must be the Super Bowl
And the Patriots were playing.  There was no way we weren't having a party.
Cooking for a crowd.  Something I love to do.  No matter how tired, this was going to happen.  It didn't matter that the weekend was full of Girl Scout Cookie booth sales, Sunday School teaching, house cleaning and whatever else my kids threw at me.  I was catering for a crowd and I would rally.

For playoffs I went with Chili and loaded nachos.  Clearly I had to up my game this time.  The return of loaded nachos was a must and a given, they were requested, by a friendly 7 year old even, so how could I say no?  But what else could I make for the crowd?  It was pot luck so I knew the staples would show up; wings, cupcakes, sliders.  All good.

But I wanted another soup.  And then it hit me.  Corn Chowder.  But not just any corn chowder.  My great grandparents' chicken and corn chowder.  A chowder I didn't have a recipe for.  A chowder I hadn't tasted in over 25 years.  Could it be done?  Called my dad, he certainly didn't have it.  So I dialed up Nana, she longer had the recipe, never wrote it down. "Oh I never liked that" she said.  Remembering that Nana really only eats food smothered in pepper and hamburgers burnt to hockey pucks.    Searching the internet?  Forget it.  Results showed up like "Easy Corn Chowder" and "Quick Chowder" and "Crock Pot Chowder" all including ingredients I knew weren't in it, and in reality should not be in it.  There was no recipe that could even come close to the flavors I knew were in it.  Just a 25 year old memory of the best soup I have ever had.  Challenge accepted.  It was time to play.  It's chicken.  It's corn.  It's soup.  What could go wrong?

Ingredients Pre-Game

Remember, I'm cooking for a crowd of people here, this is going to make a LOT.

• Celery, 1 bunch/heart
• Carrots, 4-6 depending on thickness and length
• Vidalia Onion, medium (i only ever use Vidalia)
• Garlic cloves (i used 3, would probably consider 4 or 5 next time but i LOVE garlic so yeah)
• Olive Oil
• Salt/Pepper
• De-glazing liquid (pick one: water, stock, brandy, Marsala wine -> I used Marsala wine, my absolute new favorite cooking ingredient in the whole world)
• Chicken Stock (64oz)
• 8-10 small red potatoes (mine were little bigger than golf balls)
• 1 Rotisserie Chicken cooked (easy peasy from your local deli)
• 16oz can yellow corn
• 8oz can white corn
• 16oz creamed corn
• Whole Milk or Cream

First Quarter

Step 4, looks like a lot! It cooks down.

1. Dice celery, carrots and onion all the same size.
2. Peel, Smash and finely chop the garlic.
3. Set your stock pot on med-high to high heat and drizzle bottom with olive oil
4. Once heated, toss in your mirepoix (celery, carrots, onion)
5. Salt and pepper
6. Saute on medium heat, continuously stir.  Keep going until onions become translucent and then start to caramelize a bit.
7. While you're doing this, if you can multi-task, dice up your potatoes.

Second Quarter

If you notice the bottom of your pot turning brown.. THIS IS NOT A BAD THING.

• Black, black is bad, but brown is good!  Brown is called "fond" which means flavor!
• Get out your de-glazing liquid at this point and toss a splash or two in, stir around and scrape off the brown from the bottom of the pan.  You may need to do it twice depending on size of splash.



Through the steam, the bottom has "fond"

• If it happens again, de-glaze again.

Half Time

You're going to be tempted to go watch Gaga, don't. You need to stay on top of the mirepoix to make sure it's only browning and turning translucent and not blackening the bottom of your pan.  If it starts to get black and burn, you're going to just taste burning at the end.  Turn the heat down if you're worried about it.  Keep stirring.


Third Quarter

1. When the mirepoix is translucent, add just a touch more olive oil and toss in your garlic.
2. Saute until garlic is soft.
3. Pour in all 64oz of your chicken stock + an additional 32oz of water
4. Add the potatoes.  Cover, turn up heat, and bring to a boil.
5. ... take a breath, the hard part is over.

It's just vegetable soup at this point, with raw potatoes.

Fourth Quarter

1. Open your cans of corn.
2. Shred the chicken into pieces.
3. Once the potatoes have been boiling on high for 10 minutes, add the chicken, add the corn.
4. Return to boil.
5. Use an 8oz can of the creamed corn and fill with whole milk/cream and pour into pot.
6. if you want a creamier chowder, double this to 16oz milk/cream
7. Bring everything back up to a rolling boil, then back off to a simmer.

Overtime

 Ladle it out, grab a spoon, sit back, relax and enjoy.

So my sister asks me "So, how'd it come out, as good as you remember?
Oh yeah, that and better I would say!
Roger That.

Piccata More Better Dish

Since first making this recipe some time ago, I've served it now over rice, over egg noodles, over nothing, with breading and without.  It's become a staple in our dinner menu; something I can now whip out in 30 minutes or less and the family gobbles it down, capers and all. Tonight is just a revisit of this recipe simply because I killed it, it was amazing.

 

Here's a few adjustments I've made over the years:

• Chicken, not always breaded.  This cuts calories, and minutes.  Tastes the same. Been sautéing in olive oil instead of all that butter.
• Sauce, bouillon has been working great! Fresh chives out of my garden instead of scallions. Onion powder when I have neither. Garlic, 2-4 gloves, minced and sautéed first. Oregano, dried, sautéed with the garlic. Butter, not always stocked so margarine has worked just fine. Thickening agent, flour/water or cornstarch/water. Fresh lemon and the entire jar of capers since my kids love them so much!
• Sides, have been over rice, usually, but tonight I served over spaghetti, and it was awesome.

My kids have been watching a lot cooking competition shows lately so I was also being judged.  This has become a nightly routine.  Tonight, I was given a 4/5 stars, with the chicken losing points because I offered dark meat in addition to breast meat. The capers were of course a huge hit and my pasta was cooked "nicely." Overall the 5 and 8 year old voted to let me stay. Phew.

And here's the cool part.  I made extra chicken and doubled the sauce. Freezing it all for a second meal.  It's gonna be great.

Last Minute Easy Spicy Squash Soup

It's been a year since my last update.  So much going on.  New baby (ok not so new at this point, 10.5m old) and two older children taking up all my time.  Husband adding on to the house, me juggling trying to get the kids here, there, and everywhere.  I've had very little time to cook, let alone actually play with any recipes I've found.  There have been a few successes and a few failures.  None of which I have pictures for, but I'll attempt to get you caught up over the coming weeks.

It's my favorite time of year to cook.  It's crisp outside, so heating up the kitchen isn't quite as big a deal as it is in the summer.  I baked an apple pie yesterday.  Middle child is begging for a slice with every single meal.  Always a good thing, and I can validate pie for any meal with a variety of reasons.  Last week we went to the orchards; Russell's Orchards to be exact.  That's where the apples came from for aforementioned pie.

While there, I selected an acorn squash.  Just a small one, knowing full well I would be the only one consuming it.  However, middle child said she'd try it with me.  This is not my first time with an acorn squash, I ADORE acorn squash.  Roasted in the oven, then served with butter, maybe a smidge of maple syrup.  So much yum.  But, it sat all week.  One dinner went by, two, then three, then pizza take out, followed by Chinese take out.  Which got me where I am today.  Knowing I was going out tonight I wanted to make the squash, for myself, for lunch.  So I set the oven at 350 to pre-heat.  Sliced the squash in half, scooped out the guts, gave it a good spray of cooking oil (so it doesn't dry out), and placed them on a middle rack.  45m later out they came.  And that... is when I decided to do more with it.  Remembering back to a Spicy Pumpkin Soup recipe I received from a friend, I started to pull spices from my cabinet and decided to play.

Spicy Squash Soup

1 acorn squash, guts scooped, roasted to tender, cooled
1-2c chicken broth (I keep jars of Better than Bouillon in my cabinets should the need ever arise, I use it in everything)
Onion Powder
Ground Ginger
Curry Powder
Cumin
Coriander
Cinnamon
Salt/Pepper
Cream

1.) Scoop the squash into a blender, add to it 1c chicken broth
2.) Start adding spices, how much?  Come on, you know me better than that by now. If you don't like Curry, add less curry.  Don't want onion, don't add any.  Start with "less is more" and add some later.  But add a little bit of everything.
3.) Whirl it all together on puree setting.  If you like a thick soup, add less broth, if you like a thinner soup, add more broth.  I tend to go about 1.25 to 1.5c of broth.
4.) TASTE, adjust spices
5.) Whirl more, finish with a splash of cream, whirl again.
6.) Pour into pan to warm on stove, bring to simmer.  Let simmer for 15 minutes.  This is where the spices will really come into their own.

Serve.  Enjoy.

And then realize, that, you purchased this for your middle daughter try with you, and now that it's soup, she's not going to touch it.  Thankfully, this made just two servings.  Lunch today, and lunch tomorrow.  Win.

Sweet Tooth Dinner

This past grocery shopping trip I picked up a pork tenderloin, not exactly knowing what I wanted to do with it, but figured it would be a nice long roast I could start before my daughter's dance class and come home to dinner already cooked.  Or maybe turn it into a crock pot meal.  Well, a beautiful pork butt was put in the crock pot on Monday and the lazy mother than I am, it wasn't clean by today (Wednesday) so the tenderloin needed an alternative.  A quick search online for a new recipe produced quite the variety of options.  Decisions, decisions, what to do, how to play?  School bus was coming and I had very little time to get to dance once it did... so off to the pantry I went to find what I could to toss in, cover and drop in.  Results were real good and the kids gobbled it up, with dipping sauce and all!

Ingredients
2lb pork tenderloin
salt
pepper
spicey brown mustard
honey
brown sugar

Remember, I don't measure, just toss it all in until it tastes right to you.  Heavily salt and pepper the pork.  In a bowl, combine the dijon mustard, honey and brown sugar.  Equal parts mustard and honey, then add brown sugar to make a thick paste.  Once combined well, smother pork well and coat all sides.  Place into baking dish and cover with tin foil.

Now, since I was leaving the house early, I decided to use the timer function on my awesome ovens.  I set the oven to start at 4:30 and cook for an hour at 350 degrees.  Placed the pork in the oven and headed off to grab the kid and get to dance.  After which... I stopped at a friend's house to pick up the other kid and we gabbed for an additional hour before I made it home.  Of course by then, the oven had long turned itself off.  Take note here, the pork was already in the oven as the oven warmed up to 350 and stayed in the oven until it was almost completely cooled down.  I am attributing the juiciness and tenderness that resulted to the cool down extra hour.  Checked the pork once I got home and it was at a PERFECT 165 internal temperature.  The mustard/honey/sugar paste had cooked down to an awesome juice, so I basted it a few times and let it sit while making sides.

Sides, I chose a boxed shells and white cheddar and then made candied carrots.  Yep, more brown sugar.  There's where the sweet tooth came in!  I had also mentioned carrots in conversation earlier in the day, so they were on my mind.  So what are candied carrots?  Carrots with brown sugar and butter, in a saute pan, cooked until tender.  That easy.  And I use frozen carrots, just easier.

Not a single picture did I take, sadly.  Never even crossed my mind until we sat down to dinner and the kids gobbled up the pork.

Pulled Pork

I made the most amazing pulled pork last night.
 Too bad for you that I failed to get pictures of it.

Crock pot.  Pork Butt.  Various Spices (heavy handed).  Beef broth.
8 hours later, total yummy goodness.
NO SAUCE REQUIRED (shocker right?)

Even my picky eater 7 year old went back for 3rds.  Mom win.

Soup is Easy

I recently signed up for a weight loss challenge at work.  What my actual weight is, is none of your business, but I have to lose 5% in the next 8 weeks.  I had to pony up $20 and all those in the pot who reach the 5% goal get to split the pot.  It's at $460 right now.  I'll take those odds.  Losing weight is not a first for me.  After the birth of my oldest child I joined Weight Watchers (WW) and lost 75lbs on the program in one year and kept it off for 2 years after that until the birth of my second daughter came along.  And I haven't been able to lose the baby fat since.  So I know my limits, I know my pain points and I know what I'm up against.  I can do this.

I dug deep into my memory bank to try and remember how I did it 7 years ago and remember starting in the first month and going WW recipe crazy.  I pulled out all the stops and measured and counted and followed all the rules.  In WW land, today those have all changed.  But one thing I remember that helped me jump start was by making soup.  WW has this soup recipe that's all broth and vegetables and it's REALLY GOOD.  But you think I could find that again?  I remember what was in it so I planned to just wing it.   Although, the grocery store had other plans for me, they didn't have 1/2 the ingredients I needed in the vegetable aisle.  So.  Ok.  I'll change it up and use intuition and play.  And here's what happened.

Ingredients
All amounts are relative to how much soup you want to make!

• Carrot
• Onion (I use vidalia, i like 'em sweet)
• Celery
• Rutabaga/Turnip
• Chicken/Vegetable Stock (low sodium)
• 1-2 cloves Garlic
• 1 Bay Leaf
• Caraway
• Coriander
• Basil
• Salt/Pepper
• Ditalini Pasta (optional)
• Olive Oil

Seriously?  Rutabaga (aka Turnip)?  Yep.  I didn't want to use potato, all that starch.  I recently made boiled dinner which got the flavor of Turnip/Rutabaga in my brain, and I really like that root vegetable.  (See it used with Beef Brisket boiled dinner)  And I started to research it after I bought it.  Granted, you can only trust half of what you read on the Internet, but most of what I found seemed to all corroborate these results.  They are low carb.  And calories in a Rutabega are much less than calories in a Potato.

"Mise en Place" aka Preparation

I heard Chef Anne Burrell use this a lot on Worst Chefs in America on the latest episode and I like it.  Basically, it's "get your stuff ready before you start cooking"

• Carrots - peel, slice down middle lengthwise and chop
• Onion - peel, slice off ends, slice in half, chop into 3rds
• Celery - trim dirty ends, chop
• Rutabaga - peel, slice dice into 1/2" cubes
• Garlic - smashed and finely chopped or pressed in a garlic press

Play

1.  In a large stock pot, drizzle the bottom with olive oil, turn heat to medium, add onions
   
2. Salt and Pepper heavily
3. Keep onions moving and saute until they start to soften and become translucent
4. Add carrots and celery
   
5. Add bay leaf, basil, carraway and coriander
6. Continue to saute until carrots become soft
7. Add garlic and saute long enough for the garlic to soften
8. Add stock, you're going to want at least 4cups, I used 6 as I had more veggies
   
9. Add Rutabaga
   

At this point, you need to decide if you want to add the pasta or not.
And if so, are you going to eat it now, or store it for later?
If you're not going to use pasta, you're done, serve and enjoy!

       10. If you're going to add pasta and eat tonight
             - let stock boil until Rutabaga is almost soft
             - add pasta and serve once pasta is at desire texture.
       11. If you're going to add pasta and eat the soup next day
             - let stock boil until Rutabaga is completely soft
             - add pasta and get soup into your containers.
             - As the pasta sits in the soup as it cools down, it will cook.

And of course, if you find yourself home the next night, alone, after the kids went to bed having had their own dinner, you can always have soup.  With grapes (NOT olives.  Ew)

Gettin' Saucy

Lasagna night!  But not for me yet to consume.  Cooking to help cater a party tomorrow.  Mmmm love me some red sauce!

Biggest lasagna, ever.

3lbs mozzarella 

2 batches sauce

64oz ricotta, seriously could eat this stuff with a spoon 

Parmesan cheese

2 boxes noodles

Choose a pattern and layer it all the way to the top.  Love.

Turkey Pot Pie for a Crowd

There's a pot luck for work tomorrow.  I always overdue it and cook too much.  Decided to make turkey pot pie and cornbread.  But the challenge here is getting it warm at work with no oven and staying away from the microwave.  Oh, and I've never made pot pie before.

So the plan became to make the pot pie insides, warm them in a crock pot for the day and serve up some flakey buttery pastry on the side to pour the insides over.  And that's exactly what I prepped. It smells SO FREAKING AWESOME in here tonight.  I've had a taste and it's oh so good!

But I didn't play with my own recipe, perhaps another time.  But wanted to share it.  A quick google search tonight landed me at the Food Network.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/turkey-pot-pie-recipe.html

My 3yo helped me peel and slice tonight too.  Here's our hard work.

I'll update tomorrow with the final product.  Can't wait!

Stir Fry Fun

It was mentioned to me the other day that I hadn't updated my blog in a while, so of course I ran home and decided to do something interesting for dinner to blog.  And wouldn't you know, about half way through I realized I wasn't taking any pictures.  So, I have a picture of this final product, but no step by step instructions.  But really, you don't need visuals for this, it's super simple and very quick.  I made this meal in under 30 minutes and 1 out of 2 kids enjoyed it, and even the husband took a second helping.

Inspiration for this dish actually came from my three year old.  Walking through the grocery store she finds Chinese Bean Thread, or what some may call Cellophane Noodles.  Any time the kids pick up something in the store that is "out of the ordinary" I jump at the chance to bring it home and try something new, or introduce them to something they normally would not have considered.  So of course I grabbed the bag and tossed it in the cart and banked it for a future dish.  And that dish just happened to be the other night.

Bean thread cooks quickly in a pot of boiling water.  Not 5 minutes and they're done.  So plan the associated dish carefully enough and you have a dinner that can be cooked in 20 minutes.  And I didn't exactly know where I was going with this meal until I started tossing items in the pan and started to play.  It made itself along the way.

Ingredients

• Chicken, diced into small pieces (or Shrimp!)
• Carrots, I used diced frozen
• Peas, I used frozen
• Broccoli, I used frozen
• Mushrooms, fresh if you have them, canned if not
• Bean Thread noodles
• Sesame Oil
• Sesame seeds
• Soy sauce
• Sugar, brown if you have it preferred, White if you're out (like I was)
• Ginger, fresh is best grated 1/4t., I used powdered as I was out of fresh
• Garlic, fresh is best, minced 1t, I used garlic salt as I was out of fresh
• Scallions, 2 or 3 smalls one chopped, I used onion powder as I didn't want to go out in the rain and dark to find mine in the garden

Time to Play

1. Fill pot with water, bring to boil, toss in bean thread.  
2. Let boil for 5 minutes and drain.  
3. Let sit until ready to use.  

Meanwhile, waiting for the pot to boil...

1. Heat your frying pan (12" minimum, needs to be big), or wok to high.  
2. Generously drizzle sesame oil.  
3. Toss in your frozen veggies and saute until no longer frozen, but not yet cooked.  
4. Then toss in the diced chicken.  
5. Keep the food moving so it doesn't burn and all sides get cooked.

Meanwhile, waiting for the veggies to cook, and water to boil...

1. In a small bowl, pour in about 1.5c of soy sauce
2. Add to that 3T (roughly, I don't measure, ever, when making sauces, always TASTE) sesame oil
3. Add the ginger, the garlic, the scallions, the sesame seeds, the sugar
4. whisk together
5. TASTE it.  needs something more, add it

Going back to your frying pan...

1. When the veggies are cooked through and the chicken is done, grab the bean thread and dump into the pan
2. Pour your sauce over the bean thread and start tossing everything together for 2-3 minutes allowing the sauce to permeate the noodles and soak into the chicken.
3. Remove from heat
4. Serve.

Time to Tumble

Well, I put myself on Tumblr today.  Different blog, pulling visitors from a new location.
There's nothing there. This will remain the home base for all content.  Just expanding horizons.

http://csg1rl.tumblr.com/

It's Rare, but occasionally the kitchen gets clean!

Say what you want about a good meal, but there's nothing more comforting than a clean kitchen.

Kielbasa Risotto

My girls and I watched Ratatouille the other night.  If you have never seen it, stop what you're doing now, buy/rent it and go watch it.  And of course, since it's a movie that involves food, and cooking, it follows suit that I was in the mood to cook.  Add to that someone in my Facebook feed talking about recently having made risotto, and top it with being hungry for kielbasa, then we have a match made in heaven.  The following week, I just had to play.

Up until 1994 I had never had kielbasa a day in my life, let alone even knew what it was.  I grew up on German, and Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine.  This delightful sausage is Polish, and until I met my husband, didn't even know where Poland was on the map.  Not that he's strong in his heritage or anything, but with a last name with 10 letters, one must assume homeland food runs in the family somewhere right?  I mean, I grew up with sauerkraut (YICK).  Well, eventually I learned it's actually a pretty common food in this area, eaten by more than just Polish heritage.  And it's freaking AWESOME!  So of course, I cook with it as much as I can.  And this time around decided to put it into risotto.  I present to you, Kielbasa Risotto.

Ingredients

• Kielbasa, one link, sliced down the middle then diced so you have half moons
• Chives, 3 or 4 stalks.  I prefer to use chive over onion as it's not so strong a flavor
• Olive Oil
• Garlic Cloves, 3 or 4 small ones, smashed and minced
• Aborio Rice, 1 cup
• Chicken Stock, or boullion/water, 6 cups
• Sweet Vermouth, splash

Directions
 

1.  In an 8 cup pot, drizzle olive oil in the bottom and place in chives and garlic.  Saute on med heat until the garlic is brown and chives are softened.  Add to that your kielbasa and cook until browned, continuously stirring so as not to burn the bottom too much.  It's OK if some of it turns brown.  That's called "fond" and it's flavor.  Besides it goes away in this next step.

 2.)  Take meat out, retaining juices and oil in the pan.  Set aside in bowl for later.  Pour the rice into the pot.  Stir briefly then, then splash with the sweet vermouth.  If you HAVE to measure, it was probably 1/4 cup.  Keep stirring until the vermouth is absorbed into the rice.

 3.)  Pour 1 cup of chicken broth in and bring to simmer on low.  You don't ever want this to boil, just a soft simmer.  Continue to stir.  We don't want the water the boil away, we want the rice to absorb it.  Continue to add water at 1/2 to 3/4 cup at a time.  Wait until you have nothing but rice left before adding the next addition of water.  This WILL TAKE FOREVER.  Or approximately 30 minutes, of you standing there stirring rice and adding stock.  But it's SO worth it.  When you have just 1-1/2 c of stock left, dump the kielbasa back into the pot with 1/2 cup of water and continue to stir and let it absorb.

 4.)  With 1/2c of stock left, optional... dump in some frozen peas.  I'm a mom, gotta have that vegetable.  Oh hey, speaking of mom, this is also a ONE POT MEAL!  Score.  Let the last of the stock absorb into the rice and you'll notice that it has taken on a creamy consistency without actually having any cream in it.  Ta-da, you just made risotto.



AND... the kids and husband gobbled it up!

Serve and Enjoy!

Side Note:  This reheats well in the microwave.  Just be sure to re-heat after adding a splash of water for it to steam by.

Almost Like Green Bean Casserole but not...

School is back in session.  Dance classes have started up.  In another month or so, we will add swim class and Girl Scouts.  No mom has time for dinner after all that, let alone DISHES.  So finding something I can whip up in less than 30 minutes, ideally less than 20 minutes with as few dishes as possible is key.  Talk all you want about crock pot meals.  My family (not me) doesn't like them, they're a waste of food for us, they go uneaten... finding one they all love is rare.  So, if I can whip it up in one pot and make it look like it took all day, even better.

This particular meal is by no means gourmet, it's not "unhealthy" or "healthy" but it's grub, it's devoured, quick and less mess.  Once what took me 3 pots, is now 1.  It almost tastes like green bean casserole.  It almost tastes like tuna noodle casserole.  A good chicken substitute just might be tuna... but that could cause 2 pots since you'd want to toss that in LAST after just barely sauteing it.

Ingredients 

• Egg Noodles
• Frozen Green Beans
• Cream of Mushroom Soup (condensed)
• Milk
• Chicken, diced
• Olive Oil
• Salt/Pepper

Directions

• Bring a large (but not massive) pot of water to boil, toss in egg noodles and cook until tender.  Drain, let sit. 

• Return empty pot to stove, pour in ~2T olive oil and toss in your chicken.
• Heavily salt and pepper the chicken.  If you think it's enough, toss in a bit more, remember we're adding more to this pot later.
• Saute the chicken until all sides are browned.

• Toss in the green beans.

 

• Dump in the can of mushroom soup and one can of milk.

 

• Stir and bring to boil, don't let burn.
• Turn heat down and let simmer for about 5 minutes.
• Get your noodles.  Remove pot from heat, and dump in noodles and stir.
• Serve.

Optional components.. if your family really likes mushrooms, you can toss in some diced ones while you're sauteing the chicken.

The recipe isn't rocket science.  It's not that "original" but it gets the job done.  But who knows, maybe you've never seen it before and now I've added time back into your evening.  And with that, I have a crying child to attend to.

One Pot Trickery

I'm on fire tonight!  2 posts.  Wow.  Gotta make up for the last 8 months, so hopefully I can keep up some "steam" and get things "cooking" around here again.    This is by NO means a typical "Jenn Plays" meal, but this is a triumph for me.

I LOVE spaghetti and meatballs.  It's a meal I could devour until it came out my ears.  It just doesn't get any better than homemade sauce, savory meatballs, and al dente pasta smothered in fresh Parmesan cheese.  Growing up in my house, Sunday night was spaghetti night.  Mom would make a giant bowl and we'd dip in.  All you can eat.  Spoons and forks clanking, napkins folded into shirts, the sound of thin spaghetti noodles being slurped up, and honestly, the familiar chatter it brought about between kids and adult. 

--Excerpt from Today:
I've recently learned it was a maternal family thing.  My cousins and I recently reminisced about it, apparently, the tradition held true in their households as well.  That's cool.
--And now back to our story.

Fast forward to marrying my husband and Sunday Spaghetti came to a screeching halt.  He doesn't like "red sauce" dishes.  Almost grounds for divorce right there.  STOP THE TRUCK, BACK UP.  There has to be a way around this.  No way.  I can't go without it.  But I did.  Spaghetti Sunday was lost, an ancient ruin in the memory of comfort foods. I learned to eat it when I could find it.  Make it in small batches when he wasn't home.  Buy... gulp... canned sauce just to get my fix.  Then one day, I learn he like lasagna, and then it's baked ziti.  Oh the joys!  I can have something similar to spaghetti, at least.  It's a glimmer.  Small hope that maybe someday Spaghetti Sundays could be back in my life again.  But alas, these escapades with sauce are still few and far between.

Along comes baby #1.  Maybe I will have a partner in red sauce love.  Maybe I can raise this one as my own.  Perhaps she too, will share my love of this blessed meal.  Alas, no.  She's too smart for me.  She overhears the husband one night complain that I've made one to many baked zitis lately and he doesn't like red sauce. And I hear from the kitchen table... "Mommy, I don't like red sauce!" Nooooooooo... what have you done!? I didn't hear that! It's can't be true, it shan't be true!!!  But it is.  So begins my life with child #1 not liking "red sauce" and even pizza is ordered sans sauce.

Along comes baby #2.  Could it be this time?  I'm not getting my hopes up.  I can't come crashing down like that again.  No, I won't let it.  I introduce it slowly.  Making spaghetti one night as butter/garlic only, I toss a batch of red sauce to the side for me and offer it with no other option to child #2.  And?  No hesitation!  We have a winner!!!  Angels sing, the people rejoice.  I have a friend in red at last!

Being the stubborn mother than I am, do you have ANY idea how frustrating it is to have a 6 year old that doesn't eat pizza with sauce?  Go to a child's birthday party, what's served, pizza.  Sorry kid, too bad.  So my never ending attempt goes on.  "Try it" "Try it"  "Try it"  Which brings me to tonight's post. I'm forever looking for ways to ease child #1 into red sauce.  I KNOW she likes it.  She's just being stubborn.  WHO DOESN'T LIKE RED SAUCE!?  (Oh right, my husband, but I digress.)

So tonight.  Tonight's dish is semi-homemade and done in ONE pot.  That's the best part and reason I'm really blogging.  One pot dishes are the best, easier to clean up, quick meals.  Watch me play.

Ingredients
1 box pasta, pick your favorite shape
1 lb ground beef
Broccoli
1 pkt Knorr's Parma Rosa sauce mix
1 T butter/margarine
1.25c milk
Water

Boil pasta to almost desired tenderness, add broccoli finish boiling, drain, let sit

Return pot to stove and brown beef

Add Milk, Butter, and contents of Knorr packet.

Follow directions to boil for 4 minutes

 Dump pasta/broccoli into pot and stir.

 

So Jenn.  What does this have to do with red sauce and child #1?
Well... Parma Rosa... hello, red sauce!  She ate it.
Gobbled it right up, like it was going out of style and even had seconds!!
Tasted like tomato sauce but lighter in color
Genius.
Score one for mom.

Maybe Spaghetti Sundays aren't too far off in my future to return....