Recipe for Gift Giving

Every year we try to give some small gift to our girls' teachers. This is our only year with all three of them at one school, so I wanted to think of something fun and different to do. And I'll be honest, it had to be easy. A loves dancing in The Nutcracker, but it's a big time investment for our family and leaves us all tired by this time of the year. I beat the holiday rush by sending a Thanksgiving letter instead of a Christmas one, but didn't have the foresight to do the same with teacher gifts. So this year, we make a bath soak.

Ginger Orange Bath Soak
2 cups baking soda
2 cups epsom salts
2 TBSP ground ginger
1 TBSP dried orange peel

Mix all together (I doubled or tripled this recipe) and pour about 2/3 cup of the mixture into a paper or cellophane bag.

We opted for paper bags, folded over and held down with a Christmas sticker.

I mixed the bath soak, the girls affixed the stickers and labels and we all enjoyed distributing them to the teachers at our wonderful elementary school.

The original recipe for the soak didn't call for the orange peel, but I wanted some citrus scent to complement the ginger. I tried out the left-overs myself in the bath and found that orange peel gave the bath a bit of texture, but just the scent I had wanted. This was a super-easy, inexpensive and unique gift.

Veggie Soup

After a weekend of party food and party food left-overs on Sunday, I wanted veggies, veggies and more veggies for dinner tonight. Here's what we had:

Tomato Vegetable Soup
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper diced
3 stalks celery, diced
1 Tbsp olive oil
2/3 cup fresh bean dip
4 cups water
1 Tbsp fresh basil

Heat olive oil over medium heat.
Saute onion, pepper and celery.
Add tomatoes, water and bean dip mixture.
Bring to barely a boil and reduce heat to low until ready to eat.

We had this with crackers and it was a perfect meal for a rainy winter night. I had wondered if the peach salsa in the bean dip would make the soup taste odd, but it was a really good use of left-overs!

Party Food

For my birthday party, I tried to come up with a few dairy free, soy free items since my nephew is allergic to soy and dairy, thereby making my sister-in-law's diet more complicated. Two such offerings were:

Fresh Bean Dip
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can corn, rinsed and drained
1/2 of a red bell pepper, diced
2/3 cup peach salsa (medium heat)
1 Tbsp fresh cilantro

Mix all ingredients together and serve with tortilla chips (if you can find soy free) or Stacy's Pita Chips (which are soy free).

I love hummus for a party because it's one of the few dips that actually taste good with baby carrots, celery and cucumbers. Plus, it's full of fiber and pretty darn healthy for a party food. There's a brand that makes a lemon hummus and J and I like it so much that I created this to capture the same feeling:

Lemon Hummus
1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 Tbsp tahini
1 Tbsp olive oil
approx. 1/4 up lemon juice
1 tsp garlic salt (or fresh minced garlic, if you want a bolder garlic flavor)

Mix all in the food processor and serve with assorted veggies and pita chips.

At Thanksgiving, J's cousin made an apple cider drink spiked with PGA (that would be pure grain alcohol, in case you've forgotten that college terminology). I decided I'm a tad too old to have a PGA drink at my birthday party, so I did this instead.

Spiced Apple Cider
1 gallon apple cider
4 cinnamon sticks
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum

Heat apple cider, cinnamon sticks and lemon juice over medium heat until warmed through. Turn heat to low.
Serve in Christmas Mugs with Captain Morgan's nearby for those who want some additional spice in their cider.
(If I'd had an orange on hand, I would have sliced it into rounds and floated those in the cider as I heated it - do that if you can!)

My only other homemade offering was a tomato tart, along with Wickles pickles (the best pickles I've ever eaten), a sausage and cheese tray, cream cheese topped with red pepper jelly and desserts from Sweet 16th.

Turkey & Biscuits

While I am a big fan of using left-over turkey to make Turkey & Wild Rice Soup, J doesn't enjoy soups. So tonight I tried a variation on a recipe I've done before using chicken.

Turkey & Biscuits
2 cups cooked turkey
1 can cream of chicken soup (I used reduced fat)
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
12 frozen biscuits

Place turkey in a greased 9 x 13 pan.
Mix soup, yogurt and spices and spread over turkey.
Put biscuits on top, leaving space for expansion.
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

We had this with left-over cranberry salad and a green salad topped with almonds and craisins.

Thanksgiving with Friends

Last night, we had a pre-Thanksgiving dinner with friends. It was a large group (8 couples) and it was so much fun. I made Granny's Cranberry Salad and these two dishes to share:

Cran Apple Dressing
14 slices of bread, cubed
1 stick of butter, melted
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 onion, diced
2 apples, diced
1 cup cranberries
1 T fresh sage
salt
pepper

Melt butter in saucepan and saute celery and onion.
When onion is tender, add apples and cranberries until apples are soft and cranberries begin to burst.
Add broth to fruit and veggie mixture.
Gently fold in bread.
Pour into 9 x 13 pan.
Bake at 325 for 30 minutes covered, 15 minutes uncovered.

Honey Mustard Rosemary Turkey
12 lb. turkey (or whatever size you need)
1 orange, quartered
2 stalks celery
1 onion, quartered
2/3 cup honey
1/3 cup mustard
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, diced
salt
pepper

Rinse turkey well.
Fill cavity with oranges, onion and celery.
Mix honey, mustard and rosemary together.
Pour honey mustard over turkey.
Bake turkey, covered, at 325.
Baste after one hour.
After two hours, baste again.
Baste again in thirty minutes and remove cover.
Baste every thirty minutes until turkey is cooked according to meat thermometer.

I keep the honey mustard drippings and use a gravy packet to make gravy.

We use the left-over turkey to make sandwiches with a layer of cream cheese, a layer of cranberry salad and a layer of turkey. So yummy!

Veggie Tarts

While I'm a bit behind in blogging this week, we've had some good dinners.

On Monday, we were all in the mood for something light after a weekend of Halloween's sugar saturation. I made two vegetable tarts, one thin crust, one deep dish:

Vegetable Tarts
2 refrigerated pie crusts, rolled
2-3 cups mozzarella cheese
2-3 T feta cheese
2 small zucchini, sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
olive oil
fresh rosemary

For thin crust:
Unroll pie crust on a pizza pan.
Brush crust with olive oil.
Cover crust with thin layer of mozzarella cheese.
Top with one sliced zucchini and half of available red bell pepper.
(I added a bit of left-over cooked broccoli that I had in the fridge - this was a great addition, but I wouldn't use raw since I don't think it would cook enough in the oven.)
Brush again with olive oil.
Top with salt, pepper and fresh rosemary.
Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes.

For deep dish:
Unroll pie crust into a pie pan.
Brush crust with olive oil.
Cover crust with about 2 cups of mozzarella cheese.
Top with one sliced zucchini and half of available red bell pepper.
Brush again with olive oil.
Top with salt, pepper and fresh rosemary.
Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes.

Granny's Cranberry Salad

Growing up, my grandmother made this salad every Thanksgiving. She then went out of town for Thanksgiving, but not before dropping off a bowl of this for my mom, who loved it. Sadly, I didn't realize how good this stuff was as a kid. Happily, we found her recipe a few years ago and I now make it every year. But every year, I have to search for the recipe because I always put it in a different place. For my own sanity, here is the recipe for the next time I need it:

2 cups ground fresh cranberries
2 whole oranges
1 small can crushed pineapple
1 c sugar
1 package cherry jello (small package)
2 T plain gelatin (knox's)
1 c nuts, chopped (pecans)
1 1/2 c hot water

Grind cranberries and oranges (including peel) in blender or food processor.
Drain pineapple (reserving juice) and combine with berries, oranges and nuts.
Dissolve sugar, jello and gelatin in hot water and pineapple juice.
Add jello mixture to fruit and stir well.
Put in mold or your favorite bowl and refrigerate.

My grandmother always used the same bowl to bring this to my mom - a cut glass bowl with a silver rim. Unfortunately, I didn't think to ask for this bowl when my grandmother moved to a nursing home. But I still picture this salad in that bowl every time I make it.

Variation on the Lasagna Theme

When we created the fall menu, I tried to include items that I thought would allow me to vary the recipe while staying roughly within the bounds of trying to provide more consistent offerings to our family. So when I wrote lasagna, I thought "vegetarian lasagna, beef lasagna, chicken lasagna, black bean lasagna." I've never made a chicken lasagna, but I had left-over cooked chicken from the chicken and dumplings last week, so I thought I'd give it a try. I looked up a few recipes on allrecipes.com and decided to modify one that used a red sauce since several called for jars of alfredo sauce or cream of chicken soup, neither one of which sounded appealing to me.

Chicken Lasagna
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 8 oz. bag of spinach
2 cups cooked chicken (approximately)
8 oz. reduced fat cream cheese, softened
2 cups Italian blend cheese
1 jar spaghetti sauce
lasagna noodles

Sautee onions, peppers and spinach in olive oil.
Mix veggies together with chicken and cream cheese.
Spray 9 x 13 pan with non-stick spray.
Place a thin layer of spaghetti sauce on the bottom of the pan.
Put a layer of noodles atop the sauce.
Spread 1/2 of chicken and veggie mixture.
Another layer of sauce.
Sprinkle with cheese.
Repeat noodles, chicken, sauce, cheese.
For final layer, add more noodles, the remaining sauce and a sprinkling of cheese.
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes covered, 15 minutes uncovered.

We had this with a simple salad of mixed greens, craisins and feta cheese. K (who is 5 and weighs only 32 pounds) ate three servings of the lasagna. That girl is a carb-o-holic.

Pumpkin Soup

Sorry it's been a while since I included any actual recipes on here, but I've been short of time... here's a good soup recipe that we had tonight. Unlike my last pumpkin soup, this one has a bit of a kick to it.

Southwestern Pumpkin Soup
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
5 pickled jalapeno sliced, diced
1/2 chipotle chile in adobo sauced, finely diced
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
1 medium sweet potato, peeled & diced
2 medium white potatoes, peeled & diced
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 can pumpkin puree
1 can black beans, drained
sour cream
fresh cilantro

Sautee onions, jalapenos and chipotle in olive oil.
Add water, potatoes and spices.
Cook for 30 minutes or so until potatoes are soft.
Smooth out with hand blender.
Stir in pumpkin puree and black beans and cook until ready to serve.
Add a dollop of sour cream (and a pinch of fresh cilantro, if you have it) to serve.

We had this with cornbread and everyone (even J, who is no fan of soup) enjoyed it! If I were making it for someone other than my children, I would have made jalapeno cornbread. I decided not to kill them with the spiciness and left the bread mild.

Cooking, Just Not Blogging

Once again, I've spent more time during the last week cooking than blogging. My family would tell you they'd rather have it this way than the other. Here's what we've had lately:

Mango Pork Sandwiches & Roasted Veggies
Zucchini Soup
Shredded Beef & Harvest Grains with Broccoli
Broccoli & Cheese Soup with Quiche and Vegetable Tart
Traditional Chili with Ground Turkey, Ground Beef & Kidney Beans

One thing I've discovered after trying the menu for a few weeks is that I need more soup options. When it's chilly outside, a bowl of liquid warmth is what I crave. Plus, I love making soups and my girls love eating them. Soups are a sure-fire way to pump the veggies into my daughters.

Most of these weren't new recipes, but the Vegetable Tart was an experiment that I thought was pretty successful. Here's what I did, to the best of my recollection:

Vegetable Tart
1 refrigerated pie crust
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1 small zucchini, sliced in circles
1 red bell pepper, julienned
1 tbsp romano cheese
1/2 tbsp olive oil

Place pie crust flat on pizza pan and coat with 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil.
Spread mozzarella.
Top with zucchini and bell pepper.
Brush 1/2 tbsp olive oil on veggies, then top with romano.
Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted and veggies are crisp, but slightly cooked.

I tried this tart as a variation on the tomato tart for when fresh tomatoes aren't in season. Since J is not a big fan of soup, I thought that making a quiche or tart to accompany a soup might be a solution to satisfy the whole family. If I keep pie crusts on hand, this could easily be adapted for whatever fresh veggies are in the fridge.

The Week That Was

While I haven't blogged faithfully, I have been (mostly) faithful to our fall menu. Monday brought to a close our home renovations, so I spent that afternoon clearing out drywall dust and we ate frozen pizza. After that things went more smoothly:

Tuesday - Black Bean & Chorizo Chili
Wednesday - Sausage & Chicken Jambalaya with Broccoli
Thursday - Carrot Souffle and Roasted Veggies

I wrote down how I made the chili and then lost the note... so I'll let you know about that the next time I make it. Same with the other recipes.

Maybe next week will bring more detailed blogging... have a good weekend!

Company's Coming

Week One with the fall menu has gone incredibly well. While last night found us eating out as a family (something we almost never do, especially on a week night), it was prompted by the simultaneous demands on my time to help B with a science project and clean both my kitchen and living room of drywall dust (no easy tasks). I finished these things up at about 6:45, making it necessary to skip the planned Chicken & Biscuits and head to Las Maracas. So Thursday night was a wash. But Wednesday night went as planned. Two dear friends came over for dinner and I thought lasagna was just the thing. I rarely make lasagna the same way twice. Here's what I did this time around:

Veggie Lasagna
Uncooked Lasagna Noodles
2 jars spaghetti sauce
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
5-8 leaves fresh basil
16 oz. ricotta cheese
12 oz. cottage cheese
1/2 cup frozen spinach
2 yellow squash, grated
1 1/2 cups mozzarella, shredded
3/4 cup romano cheese, shredded

Heat olive oil over medium heat. Saute onions, celery and peppers until soft. (Next time, I will leave out the celery. While a soup softens the celery to the point of being a non-issue, I was unable to get the crunch completely out of them and I thought they took away from the overall lasagna.)
Add jars of spaghetti sauce to sauteed vegetables.
In separate bowl, mix together ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, grated squash and spinach.
Ladle one cup of sauce into a greased 9 x 13 and 1/2 cup of sauce into an 8 x 8.
Put a layer of uncooked noodles down.
Top noodles with ricotta mixture, then sauce, then mozzarella and romano.
Repeat.
For final layer, put more sauce on top of noodles and top with mozzarella and romano.
Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 45 minutes covered, 15 minutes uncovered.

We had this with a nice crusty bread and steamed broccoli that was topped with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

The entire meal was a big hit. K ate three helpings and both B, A and our guests all had seconds of everything (including the broccoli!).

Old Style Comfort Food

On Day 2 of this fall menu experiment, we had a meal that was almost something my mother would have made.

Coke & Red Wine Pork Chops
1+ lbs. boneless pork loin chops
1/4 cup coca cola
1/2 cup red wine (leave this out next time!)
salt & pepper

Marinate chops in coke and red wine. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes and broil on each side for 2 minutes at the end.

I wish I hadn't added the red wine and had just used the coke. The red wine is good with pork, but I think it tastes better with a fruity complement like a jam of some type mix in with it. I thought the wine overpowered the coke in a way I hadn't intended. This is what I get for not wanting to waste a drop of anything. I could have just poured the wine out...

Baked Apples
5 gala apples, washed & cored
In each apple:
1 pat of butter (about 1/2 Tbsp)
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Bake at 350 for an hour or more. (They can't really cook too long.)

The baked apples were an addition to the fall menu per the request of A, so she was excited to have these last night. I think apples and pork complement each other well, so we'll probably have a similar combo sometime in the near future.

We had the above dishes with English peas and mashed potatoes. (My mother liked to serve pork chops with sweet potatoes, which I would have done, if I hadn't used my two remaining sweet potatoes for yesterday's soup!)

Fall in a Bowl

This is our first week of using our fall menu. It coincided nicely with fall's actual arrival since Sunday's weather was crisp, cool and just what you want from an autumn day. First up, Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Soup.

Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Soup
1 T olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 cups water
1/2 cup white wine
3 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 can pumpkin
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup half & half
sour cream

Heat olive oil in a dutch oven and saute onions and celery.
When veggies are soft, add water, white wine and sweet potatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce to summer until potatoes are soft (about 15-30 minutes).
Blend with immersion blender until mostly smooth.
Add spices and pumpkin.
Bring back to a near boil.
Add half and half and stir until warmed through.
Serve with a dollop of sour cream and cornbread muffins.

This was a hit with the family. Even J, who is not a big fan of soup, thought this was a good one. I've made a southwestern pumpkin soup in the past, but this tasted more like pumpkin or sweet potato pie in a bowl. The 1/4 cup of brown sugar didn't make it too sweet, but it combined nicely with the cinnamon for a good fall flavor.

Fall Menu

My husband found an article that talked about a mom who created a menu for her family. While I can't quite bring myself to establish a year-round menu, I like the idea of a seasonal menu where key dishes repeat. I've decided to give this a try for three months and see how it goes. Last night, we brainstormed as a family about what foods should be on our fall menu. Here's what we came up with:

Entrees
Chili (B or P)
Pumpkin Soup (V)
Chicken Pot Pie (C)
Pork Chops (P)
Lasagna (V or C)
Chicken & Dumplings (C)
Jamblaya (S)
Taco Soup (B)
Pot Roast (B)
Pork Loin (P)

As indicated, we have a pretty good variety of beef, chicken, pork and vegetarian entrees. I think 10 entrees will give me enough variety that I'm not bored to tears. We also agreed that we will follow our normal procedures for left-overs, which is to turn them into a different meal before eating them. For example, taco soup leftovers are spooned out with a slotted spoon and served in enchiladas or quesadillas. Pork loin leftovers might end up in a stir fry, etc.

Side Dishes
Broccoli (Italian, steamed or marinated)
Roasted Veggies (zucchini, squash, potatoes, onions, peppers)
Baked Apples
Roasted Green Beans
English Peas
Carrot Souffle
Baked Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes (diced or baked)

I think all of these side dishes would complement at least three or four of the entrees, so they seem like good staples to have on hand. It was good to get feedback from the girls because A offered the idea of baked apples and B asked for green beans to be in the rotation. K can't eat enough broccoli, so she was glad to have that one make the cut.

Most of the entrees are strictly fall servings in our house. No one wants to eat chili when it's 90 outside and I'm not going to make a dense dish like lasagna when the humidity is already weighing us down. But the side dishes are fairly season neutral, with the exception of baked apples and carrot souffle. So I imagine the entree menu will change more with the seasons than the side dishes will. Time will tell.

So, if you were crafting a menu for your family's meals, what would be included? What have I left out that is a must-have in your family?

Disconnect

There's been a disconnect lately between what's been happening in my kitchen and what's been happening on this blog. I've woefully neglected to blog anything that I've cooked in a long time. I can't possible catch up on everything, so here's what we had for dinner tonight, along with an article that my husband suggested inform my cooking going forward. He sent this to me after one night last week when he and two of my daughters all turned their noses up at homemade tomato soup. I'm thinking about trying what the article suggests...

Chicken Casserole
1 cup rice
1 1/2 cups cooked chicken
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup lite sour cream
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dry mustard
3 tbsp. butter, melted
1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed (or crushed cornbread crackers from your pantry, as the case may be)

Cook rice and place in greased 9 x 13 casserole dish.
Top with cooked chicken.
Mix soup, yogurt, sour cream and spices together. Spread over chicken.
Mix melted butter and crushed crackers together. Top casserole.
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Served with roasted green beans.

Easy Doesn't Have to Mean Boring

Today was a busy day. While grocery shopping, I had planned to throw in the ingredients for a sweet potato burritos for dinner tonight. Sadly, I didn't remember this plan until after 1 pm, which wouldn't allow time for the crock pot to cook the ingredients!

Instead, we had...

Bruschetta Sandwiches
2 cups mixed roma and cherry tomatoes, chopped
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
dash garlic salt
dash salt
dash fresh ground pepper
1 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped
sliced provolone cheese
hoagie buns

Mix tomatoes, vinegar, oil, basil and spices.

Marinate for 30 minutes to an hour at room temperature.

Use a slotted spoon to place the tomato mixture on sliced hoagies.

Top with provolone.

Spoon some of the oil and vinegar mixture onto the other side of the hoagie.

Bake at 400 for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

We had friends over for Labor Day and I made Bruschetta as an appetizer, so it was on my mind as I searched my kitchen and my brain for dinner options. I also needed to use some of the left-over hoagie rolls from that gathering. This sandwich was similar to a caprese, but I actually liked it better because you could taste the tomatoes more. I will admit that my daughters would have been less than thrilled with these because the vinegar is a bit too much for them. So I served them left-over hot dogs from Monday's cookout instead.

We all had fruit salad and potato chips (hey, I said easy) to round things out.

Breakfast (Casserole) for Dinner

My mother hates to cook. She fed us only because we would die without food while growing up. But one of her staple meals was breakfast for supper (as we called it in Southern Alabama). My mom's usually consisted of fried eggs and cheese toast. My own variation of it for tonight was a tad more complicated, but not much:

Breakfast Casserole
1/2 lb. Conecuh (or other) sausage
1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1 zucchini, cut into small pieces
4 hot dog buns, torn into small squares (buns are left-over from Labor Day gathering)
8 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 slice provolone cheese
1 slice American cheese
1/3 cup spinach, shredded

Spray 9 x 13 pan with non-stick spray.

Place torn bread in pan.

Brown sausage, adding bell pepper, onion and zucchini and sauteing until soft.

Pour sausage and veggie mixture over bread.

Scramble eggs, milk and plain yogurt. Pour over other ingredients.

Tear cheese slices into squares and place over casserole. Top with shredded spinach.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour.

Peruvian Lomo Saltado

OK, it's been a while since I posted a recipe of any sort. Last week was crazy with Monday bringing dinner guests for B's birthday, Tuesday bringing dinner guests for Prince's Hot Chicken (carry-out) and Wednesday bringing the birth of a new nephew! I thought I would cut my losses and not blog about any of that, but start this week out right. Lomo Saltado is a recipe I found from a friend who was a missionary in Peru. This dish has a fabulous flavor!

For Monday Night:

Peruvian Lomo Saltado

2 lb. chuck roast, cubed
6 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, cut in strips
2-4 tomatoes, chopped

Combine vinegar and spices. Add the meat and mix well.

Let marinate for one hour (at room temp, if possible).

Brown the meat and onions in olive oil, then reduce heat and cook for 1-2 hours or until meat is tender. (The longer, the better in my opinion. Last night, I only had about an hour to spare before dinner was served.)

Add the tomatoes about 30 minutes before serving.

Serve over french fries (I know it sounds crazy, but it is good) or over rice.

We had this with English Peas to round it out.

New Situations Call for Old Favorites

This week has brought the first full week of school for my daughters. We've all been a bit tired as we adjust to the new schedule, with new teachers and new friends waiting to be made. Even though it's been my first week with all of my children in school, it's been very busy. Monday was a half-day for Kate, so she and I took the opportunity for one last fun outing to Bicentennial Mall. Tuesday and today I had appointments all day. So it's been a week full of activity, but with little invention in the kitchen:

Monday's Menu

Broccoli & Cheese Chicken Breasts
Salad with tomatoes & cucumbers from the garden

Tuesday's Menu

Whole Wheat Penne with Spaghetti Sauce (I added spinach and fresh tomatoes to boost the veggie intake)
Salad with tomatoes & cucumbers from the garden
Garlic bread (actually, hot dog buns dressed up as garlic bread...)

Wednesday's Menu

Scrambled Eggs
Cheese Toast
Fruit Smoothies

• 1/4 - 1/3 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 2-3 cups frozen fruit: mango, papaya, pineapple, blueberry
• 1 banana,
• 2 fresh peaches
• Blend all together in blender until smooth
  

We'll see what tomorrow brings... maybe next week I'll get back into the cooking groove.

Jason's Birthday Dinner

For the birthday boy this evening, we had pork loin, roasted green beans, marinated veggies and fruit salad. I have to say this was a wonderful meal. Had it not been a birthday dinner with dessert following, we all would have had seconds. As it was, A & B had seconds AFTER their cupcakes. Speaks pretty highly of it, wouldn't you say?

Unfortunately, with all of the birthday and pre-school busy-ness, I did not have time for pictures. So you'll just have to trust me that it was yummy!

Pork Loin

1 2-3 lb. pork loin
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup lingonberry jam
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp Old Bay seasoning

Mix wine, jam, water and seasonings and marinate pork overnight.
Bake at 350 for approximately two hours or until tests done with meat thermometer.

Roasted Green Beans

2-3 cups green beans
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup almonds, broken
Salt & pepper

Mix all ingredients together.
Bake at 350 for thirty minutes

Marinated Veggies

2 cucumbers, peeled and sliced
4 cherry tomatoes, quartered
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt & pepper

Mix all together and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Fruit Salad

Peaches
Honeydew melon
Apples
Grapes

Dessert was lemon bars for the adults and cupcakes for the kids, all from Sweet 16th.

Chicken with Cucumber Sauce

We have an abundance of cucumbers from our garden right now. Having tired of marinated ones, I decided to try creating a cucumber sauce similar to the one you have at a Mediterranean restaurant. This wasn't quite as thick and creamy as I was aiming for, but I have a feeling it will taste even better on day two when it's had more time to chill.

Simple Chicken

4 split chicken breasts
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 cup orange juice
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

Mix wine, OJ and mustard.

Pour over chicken and marinate overnight or for as long as you have (I had about an hour). With a shorter marinade time, bake the chicken in the sauce at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour.

Cucumber Sauce

2-4 cucumbers, peeled and seeded
2-4 Tbsp finely chopped onion
1 tsp dried dill
1/2 cup plain yogurt
salt
pepper

Place cucumber in food processor or chopper until finely chopped, leaving a small portion to be diced by hand for texture.

Drain chopped cucumber to get rid of excess liquid.

Mix all ingredients and chill.

Serve over baked or grilled chicken.

Spicy Shrimp Pasta

I've been struggling to be creative in the kitchen. I'm not sure whether it's the summer doldrums, creativity channeled elsewhere or just a slump.

Regardless, tonight I needed help to come up with a way to use shrimp, spinach and feta cheese. The trio sounded good to me and I had all three on hand. Allrecipes.com provided the following (modified by yours truly)...

1 pound uncooked spaghetti
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons olive
8 plum tomatoes, chopped (from the Truss garden!)
2 cups white wine
1/2- 3/4 cup chopped frozen spinach
1-1/2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Cook pasta.

While the pasta cooks, saute onion and garlic in olive oil until onions are soft.

Add tomatoes and white wine. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.

Add shrimp and cook until they begin to turn white. When the shrimp begin to turn, add spinach.

Cook until spinach is warmed through. Add vinegar, spices and feta.

Serve over pasta.

After I defrosted my shrimp, I drizzled some extra virgin olive oil over them and sprinkled them with 1/4 tsp or so of cayenne pepper and Old Bay seasoning. I thought this would seal in the flavors. While this dish had some kick to it, it was not too spicy. B is not a fan of shrimp, but liked the rest of the dish and A & K both ate their servings. However, it was clearly a bigger treat to J and I. This is a meal to share with friends in the future...

A Tale of Two Tarts

Tomato tart has been a family favorite for years. Last week, I decided to experiment a bit and try two variations.

Tortilla Tart

1 10" flour tortilla
olive oil
garlic salt
shredded mozzarella cheese
plum tomatoes, sliced
feta cheese
fresh basil

Brush tortilla with olive oil.

Sprinkle with garlic salt.

Put a layer of mozzarella on and top with sliced tomatoes.

Brush tomatoes with olive oil.

Sprinkle feta, basil and salt and pepper.

Bake at 400 for 10 minutes (give or take).

Flat Tart

1 10" pie crust
olive oil
garlic salt
shredded mozzarella cheese
plum tomatoes, sliced
feta cheese
fresh basil

Brush pie crust with olive oil.

Sprinkle with garlic salt.

Put a layer of mozzarella on and top with sliced tomatoes, leaving a small edge of the pie crust free.

Brush tomatoes with olive oil.

Sprinkle feta, basil and salt and pepper.

Bake at 400 for 10 minutes (give or take).

The Results? The tortilla tart was good, but suffered by comparison to the flat tart. I'll try it again with pepper jack instead of feta and cilantro instead of basil. The flat tart was a nice change from my traditional tomato tart and was easier to put together. I also like that it used less cheese than the traditional, for nights when supplies might be running low...

Breakfast for Supper

If anything is easier than last night's pasta dish, this is it.

Scrambled eggs with cheese
Conecuh sausage
Fruit smoothies

I never follow a real recipe for fruit smoothies, but tonight's batch was good. I used orange juice, plain yogurt, frozen blueberries, mango, papaya, strawberries & pineapple.

Ravioli with Tomatoes, Spinach & Feta

Anna has been asking for ravioli, so last night we had this easy dish for dinner:

2 lbs. frozen ravioli, cooked according to package directions

16 oz. grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup frozen spinach
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp red wine
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup feta cheese

Place olive oil, wine and tomatoes in pan. Let sit for 15-20 minutes to briefly marinate.

Saute tomatoes and garlic, adding spinach after about 3 minutes.

Add feta and serve over ravioli.

Grapes Supreme

2 lbs. grapes, washed and dried
1 8 0z. package cream cheese, softened (I used reduced fat)
1 cup sour cream (I used light)
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup pecans, chopped
1/2 cup brown sugar

Place grapes in a 9-10" round dish.

Beat cream cheese, sour cream, sugar and vanilla together until smooth and creamy.

Spread cheese mixture over the top of the grapes.

Just prior to serving, sprinkle with pecans & brown sugar.

Chicken with Veggies

I rarely buy marinades. Partly because I've always felt I can make one just as well from scratch and partly because I shop at Aldi a lot and they don't sell them. However, this week when I shopped, Aldi had a trio of packet marinades for less than a dollar each. I thought it might be worth trying, so I pulled some chicken breasts out of the freezer and tried it.

The herb marinade packet called for
3 tbsp of olive oil
3 tbsp of white vinegar
1/4 cup water.

I was marinating a larger amount of chicken than recommended, so I used 1/4 each of olive oil and apple cider vinegar and 1/3 cup water. I also let the chicken marinate for about 36 hours since J ended up having a work dinner one night this week. Since I had split chicken breasts instead of boneless, I baked them for about 75 minutes at 350.

With the chicken, we had:

Roasted Green Beans
Drizzle olive oil over frozen green beans.
Top with salt & pepper.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, then 400 for 10 additional minutes.

AND

Green Salad with Marinated Cucumbers.

Anna's Recipe

Fruit Milk

1 bowl of milk
10 strawberries
25 or more blueberries

Cut up strawberries and put them in the milk.

Drop in the blueberries.

Let it soak for a minutes and eat it!

Anna wrote out this recipe and left me a note that said, "Mommy - Put this on your blog! - Anna"

Friday Food

This is why you should eat foods in season. Our dinner tonight was very easy, but very yummy!

Corn on the Cob (fresh from the berry farm we went to today)
Soak in water in the husks
Grill for 10-12 minutes

Burgers
Pre-made, frozen and from Aldi (I had wondered if these would be good - they were!)
Grill

Fruit Salad
Blackberries & Blueberries (picked today by the Truss Girls)
Diced apple
Diced mango
Cantaloupe balls
Honeydew balls
Grape halves

I made the fruit salad this afternoon, so the entire meal came together super quickly after J got home. It was a great Friday summer meal.

Veggie & Pasta Salad

It's been a while since I've successfully cooked on two consecutive nights. For some reason, I've been having a tough time finding joy in cooking lately. I'm fairly certain this is part of a bigger lesson that God is teaching me about where to funnel my creativity, so I'm trying to push through and cook even when I don't feel like it. One thing I discovered today is that if I leave all meal prep until just before dinner, I'm exhausted and overwhelmed and want to quit. Today, A & B had friends over to play, so I made part of our dinner in the afternoon so that it would be chilled and ready. That worked much better than starting it at 5:00 when my girls are cranky and I am, too.

1 box Italian pasta salad
1 cup whole wheat pasta
1 bunch broccoli, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
1 cup marinated cucumbers (see below)
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup Parmesan Italian dressing
Italian dressing packet from salad box

Cook whole wheat pasta for 4 minutes, then add pasta from box for remaining 4 minutes.

Steam broccoli and zucchini for 2-5 minutes, to desired tenderness. Rinse immediately in cold water to stop the veggies from cooking more.

Mix all ingredients together.

To Marinate the Cucumbers:

1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar (I use a scant 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

Mix milk, sugar and vinegar together and pour over peeled, sliced cucumbers. I used 1/2 of each marinade ingredient for two cucumbers. You can vary the marinade amounts up or down depending on how many cucumbers you are using. My mother-in-law gave me this recipe and I love the way the cucumbers taste tangy and sweet when prepared this way.

I had planned for us to have fruit salad to go with this dish. Alas, by the time we returned home from Sam's at 6:30, the last thing I felt like doing was preparing more food. So the kids had cherries and blueberries alongside their pasta salad. Oh, well. At least we didn't eat out.

Taco Salad

After a week of no children and lots of eating out, I was actually ready to cook tonight! Here's what we had:

1 lb. ground beef
1/3 cup onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 squash, thinly sliced and quartered
1 package taco seasoning

Brown ground beef. When partly browned, add onion. Cook for 1-2 minutes.

Add bell pepper. Cook 1-2 additional minutes.

Drain fat from beef, onion and peppers.

Add squash and taco seasoning and cook until beef is completely brown.


Spinach Leaves
Red Oak Lettuce
Cucumber, thinly sliced and quartered
Fresh salsa
Shredded cheddar cheese (I used a taco mix)
Sour cream or plain yogurt
Guacamole

Place ingredients in bowls, adding or subtracting ingredients to your taste. Top with ground beef mixture and have tortilla chips on the side.

Grown-Up Dinner

My girls have been out of town this week at their grandparents' house, so that has meant a lot of eating out for Jason and I. In just one week, I've been to Batter'd & Fried, Allium, Chili's, Rosepepper, Jackson's, and Panera. That's more eating out than I normally do in a month! Last night was a night at home, so we had a grown-up dinner that our girls might eat, but wouldn't enjoy like we do.

It was basically a fruit and cheese plate. I stopped at Marche and picked up a four pepper goat cheese, crostini and a key lime tart to share for dessert. With that we had a rouma rosemary cheese, sliced granny smith apple and sliced mango. It was yummy!

I had the plate arranged beautifully for a picture to include with this post, only to find the battery was dead... you'll just have to close your eyes and imagine a quiet house, a white plate, green apples, yellow mango and cheese. Lovely.

Getting By

I go through seasons in my cooking when I am not enjoying the cooking. I am merely getting by. Just making sure that we have something to eat that is semi-nutritious and feeds our bodies, if not our souls.

Last night, we ate enchiladas made from left-overs. This time, they went something like this:

1/3 package Trader Joe's harvest grains blend, cooked
roasted zucchini, onions and yellow squash
1/3 lb. Conecuh sausage, cooked
mozzarella cheese, shredded
8 flour tortillas
1/3 cup fresh salsa
1/3 cup sour cream

Mix grains, squash and sausage together.

Scoop portion of it into tortilla, top with small amount of mozzarella, roll up and place in greased 9 x 13 pan.

Repeat until all tortillas are filled and/or filling is used up.

Mix sour cream and salsa together and spread on top. Put small amount of mozzarella on top.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 15 minutes more.

Serve with fresh fruit - we had honeydew, watermelon and peaches.

Roasted Chicken & Veggies

It a tribute to classic Sunday dinners, here's my take:

Roasted Chicken
1 whole chicken
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tsp dried rosemary
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp honey
1 onion, cut into chunks

Put half of onion chunks in chicken cavity.

Put chicken in large pot and scatter remaining onions on sides.

Mix together lemon juice, rosemary, mustard and honey. Pour over chicken.

Bake at 300-325 for 4 hours. (Longer cooking at lower temp will yield a more tender chicken, but you could cook it at 350 and finish in less time.)



Veggies
16 oz. thin green beans
1 squash, cut thinly
16 oz. mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp garlic salt
salt
pepper

Roast in oven pre-heated to 400 for 20-30 minutes.

Tilapia and Veggie Trio

J is on the South Beach diet, so we had this nearly carb free meal tonight:

4 Tilapia fillets
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 chicken bouillon cube
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced

Mix all ingredients together and pour over fillets. Marinate for 3o minutes.

Cook at 400 for 10 minutes. Broil for additional 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily.

2 Tbsp olive oil
6 oz. frozen spinach
1 zucchini, chopped and quartered
1/3 pint cherry tomatoes
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp parsley
salt pepper

Warm olive oil. Add spinach and zucchini and saute for about 4 minutes.

Add tomatoes and remaining ingredients and cook to your satisfaction.

These veggies nicely complemented the fish.

Meat & Two

I can't remember the last time I've eaten meat three nights in a row. J's South Beach diet is an education for all of us. Tonight we had:

The Meat
4 sirloin eye round steaks
1/2 cup diced peppers (red, yellow & green)
1/2 onion, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp red wine
2 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Brown steaks in olive oil, adding peppers and onions along with steaks.

Reduce heat to medium low, add wine, water and Worcestershire.

Simmer for about 1 1/2 hours.

The Two
Steamed Broccoli
Green salad with cherry tomatoes, cottage cheese and Italian Parmesan dressing

Salmon & Co.

J is planning to start the South Beach Diet soon, so I'm ramping up my repertoire of no carb meals. I'm not sure this is no carb, but it is pretty low carb:

Marinated Salmon
1 lb. salmon (4 fillets)
1/4 water
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 chicken bouillon cube
2 Tbsp olive oil

Place salmon fillets in glass dish. Mix remaining ingredients together and pour over salmon.

Marinate for 30 minutes to one hour.

Bake at 425 for 10 minutes, then broil for 10 additional minutes or until done.

Green Beans with Seeds
1 lb. extra thin green beans
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
2 Tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper

Mix all together. Roast at 425 for 25 minutes.

Green salad
Arugula
Spinach
Cherry tomatoes
Slivered almonds
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Light Italian Parmesan Dressing (only 2 carbs/serving)

Arugula is the best lettuce in the world, in my humble opinion - so much flavor for a leaf!

Funny story: I had put the fish in the fridge to defrost this morning, so this afternoon I grabbed a cookbook to find an easy recipe to use for salmon. In the index, I saw "fish marinade." When I went to the recipe, it was my own. I don't think I've used it since I submitted it to the cookbook years ago. As I ate my dinner, I thought, "Wow, this fish is so good. No wonder I put this recipe in the cookbook." I guess my tastes haven't changed...

Low Brow Meets High Brow

Tonight, a taco salad with traditional low brow favorite ground beef, served over arugula and spinach (the high brow portion of tonight's offering):

Salad
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 cup diced bell pepper
1 4 oz. can green chile peppers
1 packet taco seasoning
1/3 cup water
Arugula
Spinach
Shredded Cheese
Cherry tomatoes, halved

Brown ground beef, sauteing peppers with beef.

Drain fat, if necessary, then add taco seasoning, green chiles and water.

Serve beef mixture over arugula, spinach and tomatoes.

Top with cheese and dressing.

Dressing
2/3 cup salsa (use your favorite, I had a medium one on hand)
1/3 cup plain yogurt

Mix well and serve over salad.

Somewhat to my surprise, the girls, including K, loved this salad. Oh, and the entire thing took me less than 20 minutes start to finish. (I know this because the timer was on to limit computer time for A!)

Old School

A very traditional meal tonight:

Crock Pot Roast Beef
2 lb. pot roast
1 tbsp. spicy brown mustard
1/3 cup red wine (malbec/syrah blend)
2/3 cup water

Place roast in crock pot.

Stir mustard, wine and water together and pour over roast.

Cook on low for 7-10 hours.

Served with Uncle Ben's wild rice and steamed Green Giant veggies.

Not my most creative meal, but well received by the girls and easily prepared on a busy day.

Breakfast for Dinner

I have a mother who didn't like to cook. Actually, it might be more accurate to say that she hated to cook. So breakfast for supper (as we called it back then) was a pretty part of the repertoire. Today was jam-packed with work and volunteering in A's classroom, then swim lessons, so I had about 30 minutes to come up with and prepare dinner. Tomorrow's grocery day so there wasn't a lot to choose from. Here's my take on an old family classic:

Sausage
1 lb. beef polish sausage, cut up

Fry in pan, reserving grease for cooking eggs. Put on an oven safe plate and place in 250 degree oven until your husband is on his way home from from work.

Scrambled Cheese Eggs
8 eggs
1/2 cup milk
3 Tbsp shredded cheddar cheese

Mix eggs and milk together well.
Scramble in left-over grease.
When eggs are nearly cooked, put cheese on top and cover with lid until cheese is melted.

Fruit Smoothies (Smoot Moovies, as K calls them)
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup vanilla yogurt
2-3 cups frozen fruit (mango, papaya, strawberries, pineapple is what I used)

Pour OJ and yogurt in blender, top with frozen fruit.
Blend well.

There's nothing wrong with drinking your fruit, folks. My girls love it and it's faster than fruit salad.

Homemade Lemonade

J loves it when I make homemade lemonade from fresh lemons. I only do it a few times each year b/c I don't have a juicer. Juicing 2 lbs. of lemons by hand is not incredibly hard, but not incredibly fun either.

Here's what I did for this batch:

2 lbs. lemons, juiced
2/3 cup sugar (next time use 1 cup)
3 pts. water (next time use 2 pts.)
2-3 cups ice

Heat water in electric kettle or on stove. When boiling, stir in sugar until fully melted.

Allow sugar water to cool - adding ice to hasten the process.

Add fresh lemon juice and chill.

You can also use this basic recipe with a few additions to make lemon sorbet. I'll post that sometime this summer.

Spinach & Tomato Pasta

Sorry I've not posted any recipes recently. This mainly reflects my lack of creativity in the kitchen of late. Tonight was a breath of fresh air.

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup spinach leaves, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
16 oz. whole wheat pasta
2 1/2 tbsp feta cheese
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Cook pasta according to package directions.

Heat olive oil and saute garlic, adding tomatoes and spinach once garlic is softening.

Let the oil, tomatoes and spinach simmer on medium low while the pasta finishes.

Drain pasta and pour tomato/spinach mixture over it.

Add feta and balsamic vinegar and stir well.

There wasn't a bite of this left. J and the girls loved it!

The one thing I might change next time is to add more spinach - it just wilts to nothing, so adding a lot more wouldn't have been a bad thing.

Jalapeno Cheese

I was in the mood for some pimento cheese yesterday, but had no pimentos, so I made this instead. It was spicier than pimentos, but that only made me like it more.

1 cup finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
6 marinated jalapeno slices
1/2 to 2/3 cup plain yogurt

Chop the jalapenos into tiny pieces.

Mix all together and enjoy on toasted bread!

Bean Burgers and Sweet Potato Fries

Bean Burgers

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, diced
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 egg
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 cup corn

Saute bell pepper, onion and garlic in 1 Tbsp olive oil.

Mash beans with potato masher and mix all other ingredients in.

Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, turning halfway.

Top with lemon sour cream.

Lemon Sour Cream
1/2 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp lemon juice

Mix and let sit.

Sweet Potato Fries
3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into fries
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper

Mix all together and bake at 425 for 15 minutes on each side.

While I used olive oil, try canola oil next time since it has a higher burn temp.

Beef, Etc.

1/3 cup Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 garlic cloves
1 beef roast

Mix mustard and Worcestershire in crock pot.

Put garlic cloves in and beef on top.

Cook on high for 3 hours, then turn to low for 4-5 hours.

I'm going to serve this with harvest grains and peas or green beans (whichever I can find in my freezer!)

Barbecue Pork Sandwiches

Left-over spiced pork roast
1/4 cup grape jelly
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
Hoagie rolls
Shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Heat left-over pork, jelly and sauce in a saucepan on the stove top.

When warmed through, spread onto hoagie rolls and top with cheese.

Bake at 350 for 5-10 minutes.

My family loved these and the jelly/barbecue sauce muted the spiciness.

Roasted Chicken

A few weeks ago, J and I went to a new Greek restaurant in our neighborhood. The food was wonderful and J had a wonderfully tender roasted chicken dish. He said it was more tender than anything I've ever made, so this was my attempt to prove him wrong:

1 whole chicken, washed, skin on
3 small onions, cut into chunks
5-6 cloves garlic
2 lbs. potatoes, peeled and diced into large chunks
1 pear, skin on, cut up
1 apple, cored and cut up
1/4 cup honey
3 Tbsp dijon mustard
1 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
salt and pepper to taste

Stuff cavity of chicken with cut up pear pieces.

Place chicken in roasting pan.

Surround with onions, potatoes and garlic.

Mix together honey, mustard and rosemary.

Pour honey mustard mixture over all and cover tightly.

Place in preheated 325 oven.

Cook for 5-6 hours, basting occasionally.

For the last hour, add 2 zucchini, thinly sliced and cut into half-moons.

I'll admit this wasn't quite as good as what J had at the restaurant, which considerably dampened my enthusiasm. However, every member of the family other than me (even K!) had seconds, so it certainly wasn't a bad meal.... just not fully what I had hoped for.

Shrimp & Grits

A co-worker of J's is coming over for dinner tonight with his wife and before we hit the Wii to play Madden Football, we're having this to eat:

Shrimp
2 1/2 pounds shells-on shrimp, washed & peeled
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp Old Bay seasoning
1 Tbsp dried parsley
1 tsp minced garlic
1 onion, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil

Put washed & peeled shrimp in fridge, soaking in lemon juice & milk.

Heat olive oil and saute remaining ingredients. Once soft, turn to low and leave for about an hour.

Shortly before eating, add shrimp and cook until pink.

Cheese Grits
4 cups water
1 tsp salt
1 cup uncooked quick grits
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 Tbsp feta cheese
1 oz. reduced fat cream cheese
3 Tbsp butter
2/3 cup milk
1 dash Worcestershire sauce
2 dashes Tony Cachere's seasoning
4 eggs, lightly beaten
dash paprika

Bring water and salt to a boil. Add grits and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and add cheeses, butter, milk and Tony Cachere's, stirring until butter and cheese are melted.

Add eggs, stir well.

Pour into lightly greased 2 quart casserole dish and sprinkle with paprika.

Bake at 350 for one hour or until thoroughly heated and lightly browned.

Green Beans
16 oz. frozen thin green beans
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Mix all together and roast at 400 for 15 minutes or until desired tenderness.

Chicken, Broccoli & Rice

Split chicken breasts were on sale this week, so I bought three packages for a total of about 10 pounds of chicken. I cooked 8 of the chicken breasts in the crock pot, pulled the meat off the bone and froze 9 cups of cooked chicken. Here's what I did with the four remaining breasts:

4 split chicken breasts, bone in, no skin
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 "can" water
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 1/4 cup uncooked rice
2 broccoli bunches, chopped
1/4 - 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Place chicken breasts in 9 x 13 pan.

Mix rice, soup, mustard and water together.

Pour over chicken.

Put chopped broccoli on top.

Top with cheese.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Crock-Pot Spiced Pork Roast

Boston Butt pork was on sale yesterday, so I thought I'd try modifying the cinnamon maple pork chops that we had a while back to a different cut of meat. Here's what I did:

4 lbs. Boston butt pork
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 1/4 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp ground black pepper
1 Tbsp paprika
1/2 cup white wine (from freezer)
1/2 cup water

Mix spices together.

Roll pork in spices.

Cook in crock pot on low for 8-24 hours. I cycled it from low to warm and back several times, as I thought of it. If you've got enough water in the crockpot, it's difficult to overcook a Boston butt.

I poured this glaze over the roast:
1 tsp. butter
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1/4 cup maple syrup

We had this with instant mashed potatoes (yes, I am a true Philistine) and English peas.

There was plenty of pork left-over, which I'll freeze for us to have again in a few weeks when I'm in need of an easy meal.

J found the spices a bit too much, so I'll probably make this again, but I'll cut back on the amounts of the spices. I'll also pour the glaze directly over the pieces as I serve them, which will mute the spices more effectively.

Barbecue Chicken Pizzas

One of my recent goals is to attempt to cook meat early in the week that we can re-use in different ways throughout the week. I was inspired by Jaime & Andy's recipe to make these tonight with left-overs from Monday.

1 cup left-over white wine crockpot chicken
1 cup pizza sauce
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
mozzarella cheese
mild cheddar cheese
feta cheese
3 10" flour tortillas

Place tortillas on two cookie sheets.

Spread pizza sauce amongst tortillas.

Spread barbecue sauce on top of pizza sauce (or, more efficiently, mix your two sauces before spreading, which I didn't do because I was unsure of the ratio until I tried it once).

Top with chicken, pulling the diced chicken into even smaller pieces.

Sprinkle desired mozzarella cheese, then cheddar.

I topped with about 1 Tbsp feta cheese on each pizza.

Cook at 450 for 12-15 minutes.

We're having these with a mixed green salad, topped with sliced strawberries, diced appples and sliced almonds.

Chicken, Grains & Green Beans

I desperately need to grocery shop and am putting it off for one more day. In an effort to feed both my family and our out of town guest, here's what we're having tonight.

Chicken
2 lbs. chicken, partially defrosted
1/4 cup white wine
salt
pepper

Place all ingredients in crockpot on high for 1 hour, then low for 1 additional hour.
Remove chicken, cut up and return to crock pot for 2 additional hours or until done.

Grains
1 1/4 cup harvest grains (blend of couscous, orzo, quinoa)
1 3/4 chicken broth

Bring broth to a boil.
Add grains, bring back to a boil.
Reduce to simmer and cook for 10 minutes.

Green Beans
1 16 oz. package frozen string green beans
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup dry roasted almonds

Mix ingredients together.
Roast at 400 for 10-15 minutes until desired tenderness.

J brought home a rosemary peppercorn bread that was a great complement to the meal. And the multi grains blend (which we picked up at Trader Joe's) was wonderful. Every one of us loved it. I'll be stocking up the next time we go.

Mexican Fudge & Salsa

We had a Mexican night with some friends last night. Lots of yummy food. Here's what I brought to share:

8 oz. colby cheese, shredded
8 oz. shredded mozzarella
8 oz. green salsa (salsa verde)
3 eggs
3 Tbsp. jalapeno peppers, finely chopped

Grease a 9 x 13 pan.
Place 4 oz. of colby 4 oz. of mozzarella in bottom of pan.
Mix eggs and salsa and pour over cheese.
Put remaining cheese on top.
Sprinkle jalapenos on top.
Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.
Serve with tortilla chips.

This dip is a nice alternative to Ro-tel dip or queso dip because it's cheesy, but firmer. The original recipe calls for cheddar and monterey jack, so these could be used as well. If I had it on hand, I would have used a pepper jack and left out the jalapenos (which were my addition to make it feel a bit more Mexican).

Another great addition to our night was my friend's salsa. Here's her recipe as well:
1/4 onion
1 clove garlic
10-oz. can Rotel original, drained
14.5-oz can diced petite tomatoes, drained
1/2 cup (a good handful) of cilantro

Process the garlic and onion in food processor.
Then pour in the drained cans of tomato and Rotel. Process.
Then toss in cilantro. Process briefly.
All done.

For a salsa from canned tomatoes, this is marvelous. It tasted SO fresh. If you're looking for a taste of summer before those ripe red tomatoes grace our vines in July, try this!

SW Stew

My mother-in-law is in town visiting and requested a beef dish. I didn't grocery shop this week (I'm trying to go 10-14 days between visits instead of 7 to stretch things out), so here's what I made with what I had on hand.

12 oz. strip steak, cubed
1 lb. ground beef
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup dried pinto beans
1 packet ranch seasonsing
1 packet taco seasoning
Splash of red wine

Brown cubed steak and ground beef, drain and set aside.
Cover beans in water and bring to a boil. Leave covered and soaking for 1 hour.
Drain beans and add remaining ingredients, along with 3-4 "cans" of water.
Simmer until read to eat (I let it simmer for 2-3 hours).
Serve with cheese & corn chips.

I would normally add chopped onion and chopped colored peppers, but I forgot to add them when browning the beef and was honestly just too lazy to do it. While they would have boosted the nutritional content somewhat, it didn't make a huge difference in taste.

For the left-overs, we put this over left-over rice to make it a bit different for the girls and even more like a stew.

Sweet Potato Burritos

I took a meal to a friend with a new baby today. They are eating dairy free, so I thought this crock pot meal would be an easy solution.

3 medium or small sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 small onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 cup frozen corn
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp cumin
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp minced garlic
3 Tbsp lemon juice
2/3 cup water

Mix all ingredients together and cook on low in the crockpot for 4-6 hours. Serve on flour tortillas (with sour cream and cheese, if you are not dairy free!).

Farewell Winter

Today it really feels like spring is finally on its way, so I'm a farewell to winter dinner of lasagna, Italian broccoli and garlic breadsticks. Hopefully, it will another six months before we want a dinner this heavy. (As it will almost certainly be another six months before I make lasagna again!)

I made lasagna a few weeks ago that was more elaborate, but if you read my other blog you'll recall from last night's post that I'm letting myself off the hook on occasion in order to promote sanity. So here's an easy version.

Lasagna
1 bottle spaghetti sauce (whatever you have on hand)
9 lasagna noodles (uncooked)
15 oz. ricotta cheese
6 oz. frozen spinach
1 cup plain yogurt
2 cups shredded mozzarella

Mix ricotta, spinach and yogurt together.

Spread thin layer of sauce over bottom of 9 X 11 pan.

Top with three lasagna noodles to fill pan.

Spread half of ricotta mixture on noodles and top with thin layer of mozzarella, then sauce.

Repeat layers of noodles, ricotta mixture, mozzarella and sauce.

Place three more noodles on top and pour remaining sauce on top. Sprinkle remaining mozzarella.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 45 minutes covered, 10 uncovered.

Italian Broccoli
2 bunches broccoli, cut up
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
oil
balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Steam broccoli until bright green and still crisp.

Add tomatoes until just warm.

Mix oregano, basil, oil and vinegar and pour over veggies. Toss to coat. Top with mozzarella cheese.

Cinnamon Maple Pork Chops

I found a recipe for this in the back of a magazine and thought it sounded good. It was!

1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
3/4 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp pepper
4 boneless pork chops
2 Tbsp maple syrup
3 tsp butter, melted
3 tsp dijon mustard

Mix spices together and rub on pork chops.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
Mix maple syrup, butter and mustard and pour over pork chops.
Bake additional 5 minutes or until done.

I'll definitely use this spice rub and glaze combo again. I'd like to try it with a pork roast in the crock pot because it would have a similar principle as pulled barbecue pork, but with a sweet twist.

We had our pork chops with sweet potato casserole, a mixture of kidney beans, white beans and black eyed peas and fruit salad. Fruit salad is a regular fixture in our home. Tonight, the contents were:

1 cantaloupe, scooped out with melon baller
1 red delicious apple, diced
1 mango, peeled and diced
1 orange, sectioned and cut up
1 cluster of grapes, halved
1 pear, diced

A came downstairs, smelled the sweet potato casserole and exclaimed, "I smell cobbler." While she was disappointed to find sweet potato casserole instead, she did have three helpings of fruit salad, so I think that made up for it a little.

Chicken Enchiladas

One thing I've tried to do to stretch our grocery budget further is to shop every 10 days instead of every 7. It doesn't always work, but I'm trying to do it when I can. I find it forces me to be more resourceful with what I have on hand. Tonight I'm using the last of my cooked, cubed chicken from the freezer (chicken day coming soon....) to make easy enchiladas.

2 cups cooked chicken, defrosted
1 cup rice and tomato mixture (from Tuesday's soup)
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 heaping tablespoon sour cream
1 cup peach pineapple salsa
1/2 cup chopped bell peppers (from freezer stash)
1/2 onion, chopped
olive oil
Shredded cheddar cheese

Heat small amount of olive oil in pan, then saute peppers and onions. Add tomato/rice mixture and heat through.

Add chicken and 1/4 cup plain yogurt to veggie and rice mixture.

Mix 1/4 plain yogurt, sour cream and salsa together. Spread small amount on bottom on 9 X 13 pan.

Put chicken, rice and veggie mixture into flour tortillas, rolling tightly.

Pour remaining sauce over top and top with shredded cheese.

Bake, covered, at 350 for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 additional minutes.

Vegetable Soup

J is going to the Vandy / Kentucky basketball game tonight, so I threw together a quick soup for the three girls and I.

1/2 onion, chopped
1/3 cup chopped red, orange and green bell pepper (from my freezer stash)
1 1/2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp garlic
1 can diced tomatoes
1/3 can rotel tomatoes
2 cans water
1 beef bouillon cube
1/4 cup red wine
1 1/4 cup instant rice

After sauteing the onions and peppers, I added the remaining ingredients and let everything simmer in a soup pot while I headed upstairs to the treadmill. I'm going to cook the rice separately and serve the soup over it so the rice doesn't get overcooked. I'm sure the girls will want to top this with cheese - they love to top any soup with cheese!

NOTE: I ended up cooking the rice with the soup because I didn't want to mess up another pot. We had this soup with rosemary sourdough bread and parrano cheese (both left over from Valentine's Day). While K pretty much subsisted on the cheese and bread, A & B both had seconds of the soup... success, in my book!

Jalapeno Pimento Cheese

J just complained to me that I haven't been keeping this blog up to date. My reply was that it just shows how little I've been cooking interesting things lately. Here's one that did turn out fairly well.

2 cups finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
3/4 to 1 cup plain yogurt
6 oz. jar pimentos, chopped
5-10 sliced jalapenos, chopped
dash old bay seasoning

Mix all together well and serve on triscuits or sandwiches.

Grocery Day Tomorrow

It's been two weeks since I went to the grocery store, so we are running pretty low on choices for dinner. When I came home for lunch today, I scouted out what was left in the pantry (not much) and decided this was worth a try. (I had originally planned to use many of these same ingredients to make burritos, then discovered I was out of tortillas. An empty fridge stirs creativity...)

1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
1 can kidney beans, drained & rinsed
1 scant cup rotel tomatoes with some juice
1/2 onion, chopped
1/3 cup chopped bell peppers
1 cup rice, cooked in 1/3 cup white wine & 1 2/3 cup water
3 tsp. taco seasoning (from packet)

Saute onion & peppers in olive oil.

Add beans and tomatoes to onion & peppers and stir in 3 tsp taco seasoning.

Heat through, then stir rice in.

Top with pineapple or regular salsa and sour cream when serving.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

I am taking a meal to a friend with a new baby tomorrow and made enough of this casserole to share. I found this recipe in a Simple & Delicious magazine. I'm not normally a huge fan of their recipes since they use lots of prepared items, which makes your dishes quicker, but pricier. The only thing that's not from scratch here is the stovetop stuffing and while you could make that yourself instead of using a box, why would you? I personally love the taste of stovetop stuffing and if I made it from scratch, I'd be trying to duplicate their spices exactly. I'm sure that makes me a philistine, but there you go.

The recipe didn't call for the dijon mustard or the broccoli, but I thought the former would add a nice tang and the latter prevents the necessity of a veggie side dish while complementing the other tastes.

This recipe yielded two 9 X 13 casseroles.

• 4-6 cups cooked chicken
• 2 packages chicken flavored stuffing mix (next time I will make 3 packages to split between 2 casseroles)
• 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1 cup milk
• 2-3 Tbsp dijon mustard
• 14 thin slices deli ham
• 4 oz. swiss cheese, sliced thinly
• 2-3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Cook dressing according to package directions and set aside.

Mix soup, milk and mustard.

Divide chicken between 2 casserole dishes (I used a combination of cut up chicken breast and dark meat that I cooked in the crock pot with lemon juice for a light flavor).

Put ham on top of chicken, followed by sliced swiss cheese and a thin layer (less than 1 cup between the 2 casseroles) of shredded cheddar.

Add broccoli next, followed by soup mixture.

Top with dressing and remaining cheddar cheese.

Bake covered at 350 for 30 minutes.

Uncover and bake 10-15 minutes longer.

Lasagna

A friend from Bible Study came over for dinner tonight, so I made lasagna. It's cold outside (again!), so comfort food seemed like a good choice.

Sauce
1 jar favorite spaghetti sauce (I used a Ragu that was on sale)
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
basil
parsley
sliced peppers
1/3 cup white wine

Saute peppers in a bit of olive oil, then add remaining ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes or however long it takes to mix the filling.

Filling
30 oz. part skim ricotta
2 tbsp sour cream
1/4 - 1/3 cup plain yogurt
12 oz. frozen loose leaf spinach

Mix well.

Put 1 cup sauce into 9 X 13 pan.
Top with 3 noodles.
Put layer of filling, topped with handful of shredded mozzarella.
Repeat sauce, noodles and filling layers.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes covered, 15 additional minutes uncovered.

Using the sauce and filling above, I made one 9 X 13 pan for us and one 8 X 8 pan for someone else.

We had this with spinach and red lettuce salad topped with apples and feta (and bread).

Meat & Potatoes

Mondays are a bit busy. K has ballet at 3:30 and then A dances from 4:30 to 6:00. I got home a little before 5:00 today and wanted to work out while dinner cooked. I threw together this beef dish and headed upstairs to the treadmill while it simmered. Post-workout, I put the other two dishes (or should I call each of these things concoctions?). Everything was ready about 5 minutes after J & A walked in the door and each girl ate everything on her plate. Success!

The Meat
4 chopped beef patties
1/4 onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped colored peppers
dash worcestershire sauce
splash white wine
pepper
salt

Heat beef patties in pan.
Drain fat when patties are 1/2 way cooked.
Add onions and peppers above and below patties.
Dash each patty with worcestershire.
Splash white wine in pan.
Salt & pepper as you wish.
Simmer on medium low for 30 minutes or so.

The Potatoes
1/5 package shredded hash browns
2-4 Tbsp canola oil
salt

Pour oil into pan and spread evenly over bottom.
Put hash browns on in thin layer.
Sprinkle with salt.
Place in pre-heated oven at 425 for 15 minutes.
Stir and heat 10 minutes more.

The Veggie
1/3 package frozen green beans
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup pecans
dash garlic salt
salt
pepper

Put all ingredients together in pan and stir well to coat green beans.
Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes.

Christmas in January

Since we traveled to Disney World at Christmas, I missed out on what I see as a traditional Christmas Eve and Christmas Day experience. For me, this involves soup of some sort on Christmas Eve (preferably gumbo), followed by an assortment of cookies. Christmas Day favorites include ham and sweet potato casserole.

I mentioned to a group of friends that I thought I should have Christmas in January to capture the things I missed in December. This idea was greeted with great enthusiasm and we had a dinner party last night.

Offerings were:
Cheese ball
Cream cheese with pepper jelly
Bruschetta

Salad with homemade dijon viniagrette
Cran apple casserole
Green bean casserole
Mashed potatoes
Sweet potato casserole
Tomato Spinach Artichoke Soup
Ham
Rolls

Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls (with rice krispies inside, yum!)
Magic Bars
Pecan Tassies

It was a wonderful time of food, fun and friends. I contributed the following:

Tomato Spinach Artichoke Soup (from my friend Aimee's recipe blog!)
4 tbs olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 tbs minced garlic
1 tsp dried thyme
15 oz can artichoke hearts, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup frozen chopped spinach
28oz can chopped tomatoes, with juices
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/3 cup sour cream

Saute onion in olive oil.
Add garlic and thyme and saute a tad longer.
Add remaining ingredients, except sour cream, and let simmer 30 minutes.
Add sour cream and heat for 5 more minutes.

Pecan Tassies
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sifted flour
1 egg
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
dash of salt
2/3 cup chopped pecans

Blend cream cheese and butter.
Stir in flour.
Chill for at least 1 hour.
Shape into small balls and place in ungreased mini muffin pans.
Press dough against bottom and sides.
Place 1/2 of pecans into shells.
Beat together egg, brown sugar, 1 tbsp butter, vanilla and salt.
Put topping over pecans in shells.
Top with remaining pecans.
Bake at 325 for 25 minutes.

I forgot to read my own directions and greased the muffin pans. I think the crust would have been crispier had I not done this. Maybe I'll remember next time!

Sweet Potato Casserole
3 lbs. sweet potatoes
3 eggs
1/3-1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp or more vanilla

Boil sweet potatoes until soft.
Remove potato skins and mash with fork.
Beat remaining ingredients together until smooth.

Top with:
left over pecan tassie filling
1/3 cup flour
1 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1/3 - 1/2 cup butter, melted

(The recipe actually calls for 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup chopped pecans, 1/3 cup flour, 1/3 cup melted butter, so feel free to use this if you're not making pecan tassies on the same day.)

Mix all together and put on casserole. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes, uncovered.

Chicken Fajitas

1 lb. thin chicken strips (I used fajita style chicken strips purchased via Angel Food Ministries)
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
3/4 of an onion
1 tbsp olive oil
2 dashes chili powder
dash garlic powder
flour tortillas

Slice peppers and onion in food processor (or by hand, if you must)

Heat oil in skillet

Saute chicken until almost done

Add veggies and cook to desired softness

Serve in flour tortillas and top with sour cream, salsa, cheese as desired.

We had this with refried beans from a can, mixed with 1 heaping tablespoon of salsa and 2 heaping tablespoons of plain yogurt while heating over medium low heat.

EXTRA TIP: While I had the food processor out and was slicing peppers anyway, I went ahead and sliced another three peppers and put them in the freezer to use in soups, casseroles, etc. as needed. I also went ahead and chopped the entire onion and froze the 1/4 of it that I didn't need for tonight's dinner.

Spaghetti Pie

8-10 oz. spaghetti, cooked
2 medium eggs
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/3 cup milk
1 lb. ground turkey
1 jar spaghetti sauce
garlic powder
dried basil
dried parsley
brown sugar
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1 Tbsp crumbled feta
1 Tbsp fresh mozzarella, crumbled

Brown ground turkey. Drain fat.

Add spaghetti sauce of choice, doctored as you like it. I used the above spices and about 1 tbsp brown sugar.

Mix eggs, parmesan and milk. Add spaghetti noodles and stir to coat.

Place spaghetti mixture in 9 X 13 pan.

Cover with spaghetti sauce.

Top with cheeses.

Bake, covered, for 20 minutes at 350.

Uncover and bake 10 additional minutes.

I'll be serving this with texas toast and a spring mix salad with halved cherry tomatoes, pecans and feta cheese.

Fast Black Bean Soup

I have about 20 minutes to put together a dinner that the girls and I can eat when we return home from A's PTO performance this evening. Luckily, a friend had blogged about this recipe:

1/4 cup pineapple salsa
3/4 cup regular salsa
1 can chicken broth
2 cans black beans, drained and well-rinsed
plain yogurt

Heat the salsas in a pot over medium low heat for 3-5 minutes.

Add broth and black beans and heat for 15 minutes, or until returning from PTO meeting.

Blend partially with submersible blender.

Top with plain yogurt (or sour cream, if you happen to have that).

The original recipe calls for lime juice and fresh cilantro, which I'm sure would be lovely, but there is not time in my afternoon agenda for a stop at the store, so we'll go with this and see how we like it. I'll probably top with a few whole grain tortillas for a bit of crunch.

Curry Chicken Casserole

Sometimes you just want comfort food. Perhaps I should say sometimes I just want comfort food. I've had a cold all week that keeps getting worse and I really want some homemade chicken soup. However, I don't have any homemade chicken stock in the freezer and I just can't make chicken soup without real stock. I decided this was the next best thing - and easy, since I had the ingredients on hand.

1 cup dry rice, cooked (use 1 1/2 cups dry next time)
1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, defrosted :-)
1 can cream of chicken soup
2/3 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp dry mustard (use 1/4 tsp next time)
1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1 package frozen chopped broccoli pieces
1 sleeve ritz crackers
1/4 cup butter or margarine

Put cooked rice in greased 9 X 13 pan.

Layer chicken over rice, followed by broccoli.

Stir together cream of chicken soup, yogurt and spices.

Pour mixture over broccoli.

Crush sleeve of ritz crackers.

Melt butter and mix with crackers.

Sprinkle on top of casserole.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Meatball Soup

1 bag frozen turkey meatballs
28 oz. crushed tomatoes
14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes, with juice
28 oz. water
1 1/2 tsp basil
1 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp garlic powder

Pour all ingredients into crockpot and cook for several hours.

We took half of this recipe to friends with a new baby and ate the rest ourselves.

When serving, top with parmesan cheese or add chunks of fresh mozzarella, which we did last night.

The girls love this soup. Even K, who is not a fan of protein in any form gobbles up the soup and the meatballs!

Chicken Apple Tacos

1 1/2 cups cooked chicken
1 onion, chopped
1 red apple, sliced
1 green apple, sliced
1 TBSP butter
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 garlic clove, minced
salt
pepper
corn tortillas

Melt butter in pan. Saute onions until softening.

Add apples and saute until medium soft.

Stir in chicken and remaining ingredients and heat through.

Heat corn tortillas in pan over medium heat and serve.

Fresh Tomato Pasta

Cooked macaroni or other pasta
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp basil
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt & pepper to taste
3-4 oz. fresh mozzarella, diced

Heat olive oil, basil and garlic over medium heat. Add tomatoes and cook until beginning to soften.

Add pasta and diced mozzarella to bowls.

Ladle tomatoes over top and serve with garlic bread.

Pork Tacos

Left-over pork from crockpot
1 zucchini, chopped
sauted onion, red pepper, yellow pepper and green pepper (1/2 of each)
1/2 packet taco seasoning
corn tortillas
shredded cheddar cheese

Heat first four ingredients over medium low heat until warmed through and zucchini are desired crispness.

Heat corn tortillas, one at a time over medium heat.

Serve together with cheese on top.

My girls loved these tacos alongside a fruit salad of cantaloupe, strawberries and apples.

Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

1 box yellow cake mix
1 small box vanilla pudding
1 cup oil
1 cup milk
4 eggs, lightly beaten
8 oz. german chocolate bar, chopped

Mix first five ingredients.

Fold in chocolate chunks.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

This is A's birthday cake each year. It's moist without being overly rich, a requirement for a birthday that follows so closely on the overindulgent holidays.

Carrot Souffle and Apple Pecan Salad

2 cans carrots, drained
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
6 tbsp flour
6 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
dash of cinnamon

Heat butter and carrots in the microwave until butter is melted.

Puree in food processor until smooth.

Add remaining ingredients and puree until smooth.

Pour into well greased 9 x 13 casserole dish and bake at 350 for approximately 60 minutes.

I doubled the original recipe for this in order to feed 7 people. It was A's request for her birthday dinner and we had it along with:

1 bag mixed greens salad
1 apple, chopped
1 tsp butter
3/4 cup pecans, chopped
3 Tbsp feta cheese

Dry roast pecans in a pan over medium high heat.

Melt butter and lightly saute apples.

Toss all together with feta and salad greens.

We had these two side dishes with the sweet and sour pork from yesterday's post and chocolate chip pound cake. (Recipe to follow later.)

Sweet and Sour Pork

A's birthday is tomorrow and her requests for dinner were carrot souffle and salad. I decided pork was a nice accompaniment to the items she wanted, so I'm trying this:

1 cup red wine (I used shiraz)
2 T worcestershire sauce
2 T balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup grape or blackberry jelly (I wanted blackberry, but used grape, which was on hand)
1/3 cup peach pineapple salsa
5 lb. boston butt

Mix all liquid ingredients together and pour over pork.

I'll let this marinate for a few hours and then put it in the crockpot on low before I go to bed this evening to be ready for dinner tomorrow night.

Tomato Tart

My Bible Study is having a wrap-up potluck tonight for our last meeting on the book of Ruth, so I'm making two tomato tarts - one to bring and one for my family to eat. Since the pie shells come two to a box, I nearly always make two of these. I'll often share one with a family who just had a baby or otherwise could use a meal. The tart is good paired with a vegetable soup or hearty salad.

2 refrigerated pie crusts
4 cups shredded mozzarella
4 Tbsp feta cheese
6-8 roma tomatoes, sliced
olive oil
garlic salt
basil
salt
pepper

Place each pie crust in a pie dish.

Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with a dash of garlic salt.

Put two cups of mozzarella in each pie shell and top with 2 Tbsp feta.

Arrange sliced tomatoes on top of cheese.

Brush tomatoes with olive oil and sprinkle basil, salt and pepper on top.

Bake at 400 for 25-35 minutes or until bubbly.

Vegetable Enchilada Casserole

I've had a few cans of black beans in the pantry for a while and wanted to use them this week. When I was at the store, they were out of flour tortillas, so I nixed my original idea of doing bean burritos and decided to try this using the corn tortillas that were available.

1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1 tsp olive oil
1 medium zucchini, chopped
1 can Rotel tomatoes
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 pack taco seasoning
dash of chili powder
dash of garlic powder
1/2 cup salsa (I used medium red and mild green salsa combined)
sour cream
shredded cheese
corn tortillas

Saute onion and peppers in olive oil.

Mix together with remaining ingredients (except tortillas).

Place 1/3 of veggie mixture in bottom of crockpot.

Spread thin layer of sour cream on tortillas and place on top of veggie mixture.

Repeat with remaining ingredients, ending with tortillas on top.

Sprinkle shredded cheese on top of tortillas.

Cook on low for 5 hours. Serve with sour cream and cheese on the side.

Spinach Breakfast Casserole

We had brunch with some good friends this morning and I brought Spinach Breakfast Casserole to share. Here's what I did:

1 lb. sausage, browned
1/2 cup diced bell pepper
10 oz. frozen spinach
4 slices of bread, cubed (larger bread)
6 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
2/3 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1/2 tsp minced garlicf
3-4 slices gouda cheese
3-4 slices colby jack cheese

Place cubed bread in greased 9 X 13 casserole dish.

Brown sausage, adding peppers part way through and spinach just before everything is done.

Mix sausage, peppers and spinach with remaining ingredients and pour over bread cubes.

Refrigerate overnight.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Top with salsa when serving.