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.

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.

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.

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....

Quick Ribs

I failed to take a picture last night.  Busy busy and frankly just flat out forgot.  My parents were coming over to see the girls for a couple of hours before they run off on vacation for the next month, so I needed to put something in the oven that required very little work.  Something that could sit and bake in there for a while.  Something that if it overcooked, would be a good/OK thing.

At the local grocery store over the weekend I had happened upon a package of pre-sliced pork ribs.  8 of them.  I LOVE ribs.  We know this from past posts.  But the idea of keeping the oven on in this sweltering heat the past week has not been too appealing.  But what if I could cook fewer ribs, already cut, for less time?  Well then that would certainly work.  Oh, and I grabbed a bottle of my favorite BBQ sauce, knowing that this week I wasn't going to have time or patience to make my own, though I do have a great recipe for one.

I like my ribs tender and to be pullable off the bone without too much effort, but I also prefer that they not literally fall off the bone.  And this combination totally got them there.

So, into my 2.5qt CorningWare covered dish went my ribs to play.
Followed by 1/2 bottle of sauce, maybe a smidge less and.
Lid on and nto a 350 degree cold oven.  Meaning, I had JUST turned it on and put the ribs in as it was warming.
Let them get all happy until about 6:30.
I believe I turned them at least once so both sides could get wet.

Served them up with peas and buttered egg noodles.
Both girls PLOWED through them.
Success.  Will definitely be doing this again.