Sausage and Pumpkin Pasta

Continuing the pumpkin theme with fall cooking, I stumbled upon this Sausage and Pumpkin Pasta by Rachel Ray.  When I saw it pass the Pinterest feed, I said, hmmm, that sounds good.  Turns out I am getting a lot better at picking out winning recipes.  The bonus to this recipe is that it was from one of her 30 minute meal episodes.

I do want to comment on the set of instructions that were provided.  I consider myself a pretty decent cook.  Not much intimidates me from a recipe with the exception of how long it will take, but that's a recent development thanks to kids.  I do remember spending 3 hours in the kitchen one Saturday many many moons ago making the most delicious stew, but that's something I just can't do these days.  That aside, I still have things to learn.  I am gradually working my way to not necessarily always needing to measure things exactly.  If you have ever watched Rachel Ray cook, you know she's not big on using measuring devices most of the time.  In this recipe, I liked the side note for how much cream to use - 1/2 cup (about 3 turns around the pan).  So, instead of measuring, I just did 3 turns around the pan and I'll be darned if that didn't seem to be about half the container which I know is a cup.  Level up on cooking skills!

I think the only real edit I made to this recipe might have been the amount of sage they called for and what I used.  The recommended 2 tablespoons fresh and I had dried.  The bottle said 1 teaspoon dried = about 2 teaspoons fresh which would have meant using 3 teaspoons worth.  I used two rounded teaspoons worth and thought that was plenty.  Also, I couldn't find "sweet" Italian sausage, so I just went with a pound of turkey sausage.  In my head I was telling myself it was healthier.  Didn't adversely affect the taste at all (well what would we know? It was delicious the way we had it).  We have a great turkey burger recipe that calls for sage as the main spice, so the flavor combination was already a proven success.  If you wanted it to be even healthier, you could use whole wheat pasta and use half and half instead of heavy cream.  While we are health conscience, we let our taste buds have a little fun, so we did not make those substitutes.

I also made the salad that went with this and it was delicious!  I didn't have a golden delicious apple, but the Macintosh I had was scrumptious all the same.  I edited the prep/serving of this because I don't like pre-dressed salads and it was meant for 4 people which would have translated to soggy leftover salad with browning apples.  Yuck.  Instead I just made the salad again the next night.  The pasta was awesome on leftover night too.  Definitely going to be a staple rolling forward for our fall recipe rotation.

Sunday Morning Pancakes

Our Sunday morning tradition is to spend most of the morning in PJs and eat pancakes.  We have a homemade recipe for pancakes I make in bulk and then just make batches every weekend until it's empty and refill.  Being that it is fall and I am on a pumpkin/chocolate chip kick, it was totally a sign when I saw a recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes on Pinterest.

It took a bit more effort pre-coffee to make which is kind of a big deal when you have a toddler "helping" you.  It used all of my measuring cups and spoons and dirtied far more dishes than our typical Sunday morning treat, BUT I think it was worth it.  I am not one for saying pancakes don't really need syrup, but these really are good on their own.  To me, pancakes are the vehicle to eat syrup because taking shots from the bottle is kind of frowned upon by health experts.

Anywho, these turned out fluffy and delicious.  They took a bit longer to cook because the batter is so thick, so by the time I got around the eating my pancakes, the rest of the family had finished theirs.  (I eat mine from the last batch).  The recipe actually made about 16 pancakes by my 1/4 cup portions, so we have plenty in the freezer for any other fall weekend we want these but don't want to put the time in to achieve the desired results.

Thank you fall for inspiring wonderful flavors into regular meals.  We will be trying a Pumpkin and Sausage Penne Pasta later this week too.  :)  Could be delicious!

Grilled BBQ Chicken and Pineapple Quesadillas

We are always looking for something new to try at dinner. Bonus points if it's easy and possibly could be tailored to get a toddler to eat it. I saw this recipe on Pinterest and thought, huh, that does sound delicious!

The recipe!

I have never grilled pineapple before but thought it had potential. I started with a misfire getting to grill properly lit (I still have no idea what happened exactly), but once I got going, there was no stopping me!

This recipe come together fairly easily and is customizable to your taste preferences. We had Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce on hand (who doesn't?) so we used that for the chicken and as some added flavor in the quesadillas. We opted to skip the jalapeños but I am sure they would have been delicious too. I did devour at least half a "stalk" of the pineapple we grilled. We should have had more cheese on hand, but I was impressed we at least had the monetary jack the recipe suggested. Just not as much as we could have done.

Verdict: We absolutely need to do this one again. The toddler even looked the pieces of it (just not all together).

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have a birthday coming up this week and my office mate just celebrated hers Monday, so it seemed fitting to celebrate the two mid-week.  Plus it's an excuse to bake something.  In my world, birthdays are best celebrated over at least a week and more if you can milk it.  I embrace my aging self and try to find the happiness in any age.  Hating it won't change what's happening, so might as well make the most of it.

I hemmed an hawed over what I wanted to make.  Something that could easily be shared, didn't take 5 hours to make, and something I know I would like, after all, it's partly my birthday thing too. :)  I realized while trying to decide what to make I only had 1 egg left in the house (that's what you call poor planning), but to my surprise the recipes I was narrowing my choices down to required just 1 egg.  It was a sign.  It was a toss up between Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies and Pumpkin Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I decided to just go with plain pumpkin.  To be honest, the ingredients list was smaller and that won some points.  It's September, pumpkin is officially the flavor of the next 3 or more months.  Might as well get in on it early!

From my Cuckoo for Cookies board:
http://www.twotwentyone.net/2013/10/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-cookies/

Folks, let me tell you, these smelled like a little slice of fall in my kitchen this evening.  It was a fabulous aroma to enjoy while multi-tasking making lunches and prepping things to go to work tomorrow.

I did let the batter sit for the 15 minutes (ok, I lost track of time, but it was more than 5 minutes) as directed on the recipe, but I was a bit skeptical about how they were going to turn out since the batter was a bit gooier (ok, that's apparently a word), than other recipes I use.  They turned out fine and in fact a bit poofy (not a word).

As is tradition, I snagged a cookie hot off the cookie sheet.  It was amazing!  Sometimes simpler is better!  These were light and flavorful without being too much.  Perfect for a pumpkin sweet fix.  If you like pumpkin flavored things for the fall, put this on your to-bake list.  I am not sure how long they are going to last at work tomorrow!

Salisbury Steak Meatballs

Talk about comfort food.  I saw this recipe while browsing Pinterest and I literally could feel my mouth watering.  I love meatballs in pretty much all forms (ooo, new post idea - Meatball Menagerie) so didn't take much to convince me to look through this recipe.  After reading it through, it sounded simple enough, so I figured this could be one of the last experiments before going back to work.

From my Real Food Board:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2014/04/salisbury-steak-meatballs/

I did make the raw meatballs up earlier in the day because I was worried I wouldn't have enough time around dinner time with all that was going on that day.  Honestly, they came together fairly quickly compared to some other meatballs I make. I cooked them and finished the rest of the meal at dinner time so everything was nice and hot. Warning - this meal really does make close to 12 servings.  There was enough to feed 3 adults and 1 toddler for 3 meals really big meals.

I did use their suggested method of cooking the meatballs in two batches. Yum Yum Yum!

Making the sauce to go with these was pretty simple.

Also, it was really "pretty" at the end. And yes, fresh parsley from the garden to top it off!

It was super tasty and filling and a hit with the whole crowd.  I also love that this meal provides leftovers.  However, in the future, if it was just my husband and I with our kids, I would probably half this recipe rather than having so many leftovers.  BUT!  If you have company coming over or a larger family (grown kids), this is an amazing dish.  Add a vegetable for a side and some rolls and BAM.  Everyone will think you slaved and in reality, this maybe took 40 minutes start to finish (the time on the recipe is right on).  Easy peasy and totally delicious!

Teriyaki Salmon

We really enjoy salmon and I have found a few recipes that we just really love.  This is one of them.  This comes from my Real Food board:

http://damndelicious.net/2012/05/30/teriyaki-salmon-with-sriracha-cream-sauce/

I also started to realize in the last week or so, that I have a lot of pins from the Damn Delicious website and all the ones I have tried, I really enjoy.  They are simple and tasty!  My favorite combinations!  They also have published a handful of One Pot recipes which I consider to be the ultimate trifecta; simple, tasty, and one pot mess!  I have edited the side of my blog to include a link to the Damn Delicious blog so people can hop over and check them out.

The recipe for this salmon is pretty straight forward.  I think it makes almost too much marinade for two servings, so I could easily see doing up to 4 with the same marinade.  The only thing I don't like it waiting for the marinade to cool back down.  I usually have forgotten to make this until mid-afternoon and thus, my allotted marinade time is winding down.  To aid in cooling the sauce more quickly, I have frozen cold packs I just drop into the sauce and then wash them later.  I have made this recipe twice and both times I have gotten only about 30 minutes of marinating in.  Still tastes awesome though.  Hopefully, next time I can make the marinade the night before and not worry about it as much.

We made some oven roasted asparagus to go with this and used brown rice instead of white (trying to be healthy).  I didn't make the Sriracha cream sauce the same way because I can't for the life of me figure out what to do with the rest of a canned of sweetened condensed milk.  The good news?  The mayo and Sriracha make it delicious anyway.  It's that sweet with something spicy combination that's just amazing.

If you are looking for a new way to do salmon, I would definitely recommend giving this a shot.  It's now in our current recipe rotation.  Some of the comments on their blog have inquired about possibly doing this with chicken which seems to be a viable alternate if you aren't a big fan of seafood, although you may want to marinate it longer.

More Meatless Monday

Huh, I could abbreviate this post as MMM which would be kind of ironic since it's about food and good food that makes you say MMMMMM!!!!  Ok, enough about that.  I realized that I skipped over my use of a Pin from last week's Meatless Monday experience.  Truth be told, I used this recipe more as a guideline because I have used a similar approach to pasta toss meals, so this wasn't what I would call a "new" recipe.  Just a new variation of it.

From Meatless Mondays:
http://www.skinnymom.com/2013/04/23/skinny-mediterranean-pasta-toss/

Since I have made a version similar to this, I played around with the ingredients a little more than I normally would on a first go for a recipe.  First, I didn't have zucchini, so that didn't make the cut.  I did not have 10 small sweet bell peppers, but I did have one big one, so I compromised.  I also didn't have grape tomatoes, but had a fresh one from our garden, so I figured it was equivalent in other ways.  I substituted egg noodles for penne because I like it better for a pasta toss.  Turns out I was out of balsamic vinegar (*gasp*) because I had used the last of it to make Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing and hadn't remembered to get any at the store in a while (this has since been fixed).  I should do a post on that too - it was the best!  ANYWHO, back to the actual topic, given all those changes, the meal still turned out great.  I even added capers to the mix because, why not?

I think a pasta toss is a great way to blend a lot of fun flavors together.  Mine always include artichoke hearts and sun dried tomatoes with egg noodles.  The rest is whatever is on hand.  But that's my personal preference.  This is probably one of the few meals I really go off recipe for.  So far it has yielded some pretty tasty results.  I would encourage you to try it too!

Meatless Monday Inspiration

As part of our New Year's Resolution we have adopted the Meatless Monday here in our house.  We have been mostly successful at acknowledging it on Monday, but other days are ok too.  At least in my book.  The idea is to focus on not needing to eat meat at every meal.  They are usually healthier meals and they cost less too.  Pinterest has been really good to find meal ideas for this.  Generally I think of pasta, but they have plenty of beans, vegetable, tofu, and grain options.  It's been fun trying new foods.  Some were better than others, but at least we are trying.

Tonight's meal comes from my Meatless Monday board (duh):
http://www.howsweeteats.com/2012/06/grilled-corn-cheddar-quinoa/

Quinoa has become a staple grain in our house and a nice alternative to just plain rice.  According to what the internet tells me, it's also healthier for us.  Bonus.  Like most recipes I was drawn to this one for the ingredients list - I liked them all, and the ease factor of the recipe.  I will say I already pre-grilled the corn and it's been hanging out in the refrigerator waiting.  The meal itself came together really easy (when you have the corn all ready and waiting).

The taste factor/family taste bud test was a hit for both my husband and myself.  My toddler had other opinions, but it could just be the day of the week since he usually loves this kind of stuff.  It's a little weird having this as the main dish because it feels like it could easily be a side to salmon, chicken, or pork.  It was still pretty substantial to stand on it's own though, so either way, it was good and we will do it again.

Adventures in Cooking

Probably the most useful function of Pinterest for me has been recipes.  New ways to try food, find fast one pot friendly recipes, bake amazing tasty treats, and find healthy ways to incorporate the "good for you" food into all of this.  Tonight was not unlike most nights around here.  Hmm, what to make for dinner.  I have chicken thawing, what can I do with that?  Amazingly enough, you can search "chicken recipes" and get answers.  I love the internet.

Recently pinned to my Real Food board:
http://pinchofyum.com/creamy-chicken-quinoa-broccoli-casserole

I had actually been searching the internet for quinoa recipes for my Meatless Monday campaign, so this kind of worked out nice, although definitely not meatless.  I liked how this meal came together, although I am not sure the science behind heating half your liquid then adding half a cup of cold liquid and flour to make the "cream" sauce.  It seemed to work out, but I did need to sift the flour as I put it in so it wouldn't clump too much on me.

My rule of thumb for cooking a new recipe is to follow the instructions as they are written and the ingredients as measured out by the author the first time through.  If I like it as it stands, beautiful, if not, I make notes on what to change should I make this next time.  In this case, I might make the sauce differently than they said to.  I might learn that there is a reason why they explain to do it the way they have it, but that's the wonderful thing about cooking, all the learning as you go. :)

This cooked in the initial 30 minutes they said to cook it for.  Well, maybe it was 35 minutes by the time I actually got to the oven.  At first it didn't look like it was done, but I mixed it all together as they said to and as I did so, it looked like the right consistency.  I added the broccoli and topped with cheese.  I didn't have Gruyere, but they said any kind would work, so I added Jarlsberg instead.  Next time I am sure I'll use cheddar or mozzarella since that's usually what's on hand.  I also used Old World Seasoning for both my poultry seasoning (apparently I don't have this spice?) and the substitute for "seasoning".  That just seems a little random to me, clearly you have a taste in mind, could you be more specific?  I think those two things can definitely influence the flavor of the dish, so who knows if this tasted anything like what the blog author intended.  Bottom line though: I liked my version.  This will be done again.

Things to play with in future makings of this dish:
Change up the vegetables.  I could see doing carrots, mushrooms, peppers, zucchini, peas, corn, etc.  Pretty much anything would go.  Since you add the vegetables at the end, you can cook them to your level of doneness and just add at the end.
Change up the seasoning.  I am not sure what other generally seasonings are out there, but you could always build your meal around whatever one you pick.  For example, if you used Italian seasoning, maybe use mozzarella cheese and maybe Italian sausage for the meat instead of the chicken and maybe peppers and onions instead of broccoli.  If you did that, you probably need to cook the meat ahead of time.
Change up the cheese.  I would say just use whatever you have so long as you like it. :)  My general cooking sense - if you like the flavors individually, why not try them together? If it's terrible, make a note and don't do it again.

Definitely worth having in rotation and hey, it uses quinoa so it's got to be healthier than most things out there. Mark that as a plus!

Smores Bars

Do you like rice krispie treats?  Do you like smores?  Then this recipe is definitely for you!

From my Food Love board:
http://www.countrycleaver.com/2012/06/smores-graham-krispie-treats-and-tuesday-wedding-things.html
I stumbled upon these about a year ago and think they are the most scrumptious thing ever.  When I get a craving for something sweet, these have been able to provide that "fix".

These come together just like rice krispie treats with cereal, marshmallows and butter.  These also require chocolate chips and vanilla.  (Clearly we are a Wegmans brand family).

The hardest part of this recipe is waiting for the contents to cool before cutting into them.  They are delicious!

Pinterest Challenge

Ok so it's been a while.  A long while.  Ok, just over a year long while kind of.  I could fill in all the blanks on what happened in the last year, but honestly, I have better things to do with the limited free time I have.  Speaking of free time, I am on maternity leave, so it seems I have some more time available to me than I used to have.  Funny, first kid is a loss of personal time, and the second you get some back and don't know what to do with yourself.

Anywho, since it's the middle of summer and it's not always nice or easy to just get out and go for a walk or otherwise occupy my time anywhere other than home, I have come up with a game plan.  I have decided that I am going to set a challenge for myself.  I don't have anything better to do right?  So the challenge is this: Do something related to my Pinterest Pins 5 times a week.  This could be anything that has to do with the just over 1,000 pins I have on my board.  Preferably, it's some sort of "project" and not me just laughing at a hilarious eCard I pinned.  Although, on some days that might count.  This challenge is for the month of July (what's left of it).  I am hoping this yields at least roughly 20 project-ish things.

So to kick things off, here's what I did yesterday:
http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2014/06/01/chocolate-chip-scones/
That's right, make something from my Food Love board.  This is where I pin things I consider "treats" instead of Real Food (another board).  I have to say, baking things really isn't a huge time investment other than waiting for the oven to make your mush turn to magic deliciousness.  Also, I prefer recipes that don't care for completely off the wall ingredients.  So, this one fit the bill.

There may be one missing because I couldn't wait to taste it before taking a picture.  I regret nothing.  It was delicious and I would encourage you to try the recipe if you like to have "cookies" for breakfast because let's face it, scone is a nice way of saying breakfast cookie.

The second project is one that I adapted from this post from my Craft board:
http://www.ohreallybeckyforever.com/2011/08/15/im-not-crazy-youre-crazy/
Making envelopes from scrapbook paper!  We have decided after this past Mother's day that we are kind of done spending $45 on cards for people for one holiday.  Since when should it cost $5 to say Happy Mother's Day with a cute picture on the front?  My kids can do that!  Anywho, in her tutorial she was making the envelopes a different size.  I wanted to make mine so they would fit an 8.5" x 11" piece of paper/card stock folded in half.  For those that want to know, this is known as an A2 envelope size (4 3/8" x 5 3/4").  She also had a template to work from that fit the scrap book paper.  I did not. You would think I would have measured using the dimensions for the A2 size envelope, but that would have made sense right?  I just sort of eyeballed it with a piece of folded over paper.  I did however pick a scrapbook paper that was essentially a grid so I would have some guidelines.

Overall, it came out pretty good.  I also did not have double sided tape, so I raided the Elmer's glue stash and used that instead.  I would in the future make the tabs that fold in a bit wider so there's more surface area to glue to.  One of the questions that she was asked was how did you seal the envelope?  There are a few ways to do this; 1 - use double sided tape, 2 - use Elmer's glue, 3 - use a decorative sticker (you can splurge there since these are cheap to make - see breakout below).  I think I would go with double sided tape or a sticker.

Otherwise I think it turned out ok.  I just need to put something on the card stock and mail it to someone.  :)  Also, if you are tempted to do this at home yourself, the comments section recommended that you use a white sticker address label so the poor people at the post office don't have to decipher the mailing address a midst whatever pattern paper you decided to use.  And if you want a price comparison for store bought vs. homemade, here you go:
Store bought - cheapest I could find $1.99, but I'll admit, even those were sort of lame.  Typically $3.99 is more average for a card.
Homemade - 50 pack of card stock (regular price $9.99, I buy it only with 40% off coupons at a minimum - $6).  Price per sheet (assuming $6 for pack) - $0.12.  Price per sheet of scrapbook paper - Individually $0.49, rock bottom sales - 6 sheets for $1 ($0.16 each) for individual sheets.  Packs can come in 180 sheets for $20, can get them on sale for $10 - $0.06 a sheet. So card stock - $0.12 + $0.16 = $0.28

So that's $3.99 - $0.28 = $3.71 savings per card.  I know some people will say, "I don't have time to make a card."  I get that.  I don't have time to agonize over the 50+ card selection in the store (which can take me up to 30 minutes, plus driving to and from - I hate picking out cards) only to find cards I like which are $6 a piece which I won't spend.  SO!  To each their own, but for family at least, you are going to get homemade wonders.  Don't worry, we have markers, crayons, glue, glitter, and stamps to make them all one of a kind Picasso's.  :)

Freezer Meal Review

This is a review of one of the 4 freezer meals I used from the internet via Pinterest.  The original post can be found here.  The meal we made a few weeks ago was the Creamy Farmhouse Chicken and Garden Soup.  To be honest, I had high hopes for this meal, but it failed on multiple levels.  So bad in fact two nights of leftovers in, I just threw out the rest because I just couldn't bring myself to eat anymore and I NEVER do that.  So what went wrong?

First, I think the title is misleading.  This was not creamy in any way.  Maybe I have different standards or my crockpot just keeps things really moist, but it was more watery which was my first issue with it.  My second issue was I had completely forgotten that I had to put in 2 bone-in chicken thighs.  So there were surprise bones.  The time lapse between preparing the freezer meal and actually eating it was maybe 2 months tops, so it wasn't like it was ancient history.  So I had to pick through a very messy assortment of vegetables to find all the pieces which basically fall apart when cooked in the crockpot.  The third thing was this meal had an odd flavor to me and by odd flavor I mean in terms of spices.  This seems weird to me because I like all the ones it calls for, it just didn't hit my taste buds right.  The overall presentation of the meal left something to be desired too.  There were a lot of floating bits of chicken like when you boil a chicken breast so that was not too appealing.  It was more or less a glorified chicken noodle soup.  If I am going to put that much effort in, I would rather have something tastier.

So, this concludes my reviews from all the freezer meals from that blog post.  I think the ratings are as follows:
Pork and Veggies - Probably would be better with the modifications I made, but probably won't do that one again.
Chicken Tikka Masala - Delicious, just makes a ton.  Definitely redo.
Creamy Farmhouse Chicken and Garden Soup - Clearly a no.
Beef Burritos - Came out well, may redo.  We don't eat too much beef and have a recipe for chicken taco meat that's a bit easier. (6 boneless skinless chicken breasts, 1 jar of salsa, and a packet of taco seasoning mix, place in crockpot on low for 6-8 hours, shred chicken with fork)

If people wanted meals to try I would definitely suggest the Chicken Tikka Masala and the  Beef Burritos (or chicken tacos).  I am still waiting to see how my creations came out.  One should be in rotation this week, but with me feeling kind of under the weather, our meal plans went out the window last night.  Such a fine balance between having leftovers when you need them and time to make a meal when you have to.     

Happy cooking!     

Fettuccine Carbonara

I apparently am on a Foodie kick lately.  In a sort of panic on what to make for dinner Sunday, I asked my husband to pick something.  He came up with Fettuccine Carbonara which seemed to hit the mark for quickness to put together and the food mood we were in.  I am not from an Italian family, but there's something about a big pasta meal on Sunday that just seems right.

Fettuccine Carbonara
6 slice of bacon diced
1/4 cup of onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, pressed
3 eggs
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes (this makes it spicy which we like, but you can dial it back if it's too much for you)
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
1 pound Fettuccine (we actually had half a box of linguine and half a box of thin spaghetti, worked fine)

Put the water on the for the pasta.
Place bacon, onion and garlic in a medium frying pan over low heat for 12 minutes.
Boil pasta for 6-8 minutes.
Meanwhile, whisk the eggs in a small bowl.  Add the Parmesan cheese, red pepper and black pepper.

When pasta is done, drain and place in a large bowl.  Pour the bacon mixture over the pasta and toss quickly.  Then immediately add in the egg mixture and toss to coat.  Serve and enjoy!

It might not be the fanciest version of this meal, but it sure was delightful!  I was so thankful we actually had bacon in the house which made this meal possible.  Kind of makes it a case to always have bacon in the house.  Haha.

Parmesan Chicken

So as promised, here's the second meal I choose to freeze using the LDMM.  This recipe comes from my sister and I am sure it's going to be excellent.  So without further ado, here we go!  These are her exact notes:

One of the things that can be dispiriting about skinless, boneless chicken breasts is that they lack the luscious contrast between crisp golden skin and moist, tender meat.  Not here.  Use English muffin crumbs and Parmesan cheese to make a coating for the chicken.  This is classic comfort food without too much fat.  The chicken can marinate in the mustard mixture, covered and refrigerated, for up to 2 hours.

3 Tablspoons Dijon mustard (or any favorite mustard)
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar (or we use just white vinegar for some kick)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly, ground black pepper
6 small skinless, boneless chicken breasts, rinsed and patter dry (scant 2 pounds total - To get this, we just took 3 big chicken breasts and cut them in half, and when I say we, I mean my husband did this part while I was pulsing cumbs)

1 1/2 English Muffins
3/4 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (she recommends the fresh stuff, not the can, but I think either would work, just fresh is best))
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon melted butter
1-2 Tablespoons fresh herbs if desired - parsley, rosemary, thyme, sage, etc (I used a bit of fried mixed Italian herbs)

White together the marinade in a large bowl.  Add chicken, tossing well to coat. (This is where I put everything into a Gallon size Freezer bag and label it "Chicken Marinade" and set aside).

Pulse English muffins in a food processor until finely ground.  Add cheese, butter and black pepper.  Pulse until well combined.  Transfer to shallow dish or pie plate.  (This is where I put the crumb mixture into another Gallon size Freezer bag and label it "Breading" and set aside).

Put both of those Freezer bags into another Gallon size Freezer bag.  Also include a packet of potatoes (Betty Crocker) and a frozen vegetable of your choice for 4 servings.  On the outside of the bag write the instructions:
Preheat oven to 450*.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Dredge chicken one piece at a time in crumbs, coating completely and pressing gently so crumbs adhere then transfer to baking sheet.  Bake until golden brown, and cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes.

Ta da!  Another meal ready for the freezer which hopefully will make another easy night of dinners.  I would guess the time to make this meal from start to finish would be about 30 minutes (10 minute oven warm up used to prep chicken and then cook time can be used to prep side dishes).

Stocking The Freezer

So in my mission to not have to be in the kitchen as much during the coming months, I took it upon myself (with my husband as my sous chef - he did excellent!) to identify some meals for freezing now to cook later.  This time I broke away from the crock pot theme and tried to go for something more like the Let's Dish version of freezing meals.  For those who do not know Let's Dish is a place you make your own meals for freezing which you can cook either in the oven, on the stove, or sometimes the crock pot too.  They have all the food and recipes ready for you with cooking instructions, so you basically just assemble your meals.  I love the concept and I have been twice (thank you Groupon!), but I do find it a bit pricey.  It's not completely outrageous, but it does require you dropping about $25 a meal (serves 5-6). You get a lot of food and the convenience factor, but being me, I'll figure out how to recreate it at home.

So, I picked two easier meals which I think will come out just fine with the Let's Dish Meal Method.  Maybe I out to abbreviate that, LDMM.  Ok, I am going to go with that. The first batter up; Pork Tenderloins with Pan Sauce which I wrote about a while ago on the topic of Pinterest.  It was pretty fabulous and some of the recent meals I have used from Let's Dish (I am shortening that too - LD) have been pork in a marinade which you cook in the oven plus some kind of side dish with it.  So I figured this would be perfect to try it out.  I mean honestly, how often do we think, oh I have time to marinade that?  With a baby in the house, I can assure you that train of thought goes right out the window.  So here's the recipe from Chef Mommy  (My notes are in italics):

Ingredients (for marinade):
1⁄2 cups olive oil
1⁄3 cup soy sauce
1⁄4 cup red wine vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon (this is about 1 tablespoon if you just have juice like myself)
1-2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1-2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped (I used dried)
2 tsp dry mustard
Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 1-lb. pork tenderloin (silver skin removed) (In my opinion this is a lot of marinade for 1 tenderloin, I did 2 tenderloins somewhere between 2-3 pounds and it was still plenty)

Directions:
Combine all marinade ingredients and reserve 2-3 Tbsp (I reserved 4-6 Tbsp since I used two pork tenderloins instead of one). Place the pork tenderloin and marinade in a Gallon size Freezer Ziplock bag and let marinate for at least 3-4 hours. (It will marinate while thawing, so have no fear, it'll still be a happy pork tenderloin in the end).  I put the pork and marinade in the bag and write "Pork Marinade" on it.  
In another Quart size Freezer bag, I put enough frozen peas for 4-5 servings.
In another Quart size Freezer bag, I put the ingredients for the Pan Sauce (and label it as such):

Ingredients for Pan Sauce:
Pan scrapings from pork tenderloin (will come when you actually do the cooking)
1/2 cup (~1 cup, maybe less, I think you don't need as much, maybe go 3/4 - 1 cup) of chicken broth
2-3 tbsp (4-6 Tbsp) of pork marinade (thoroughly mixed)
1-2 tsp (1 Tbsp) butter

I also write the instructions (or an abbreviated version of them) for making the pan sauce on this bag (I realize it says to add chicken broth first to get up brown bits - I rarely have brown bits because I use non-stick pans, but you could freeze the chicken broth separately OR just add it in if you always have it in your pantry.  Just use your best judgement.  I think it's not going to overly affect the outcome so I just tossed it all together.  You may feel differently.):
Meanwhile, place the skillet back on the stove over medium heat. Add the chicken broth and scrape up all the browned pieces from the bottom of the pan. Add the marinade and let it boil down for 2-3 minutes. Add the butter and remove from heat stirring until butter has melted. Pour over the pork tenderloin.

I put all 3 of those bags plus a packet of Better Crocker Potato flakes (with the name and ingredients need listed on that bag in marker) into another Gallon size Freezer bag (yes it will fit :) ).  Then I wrote the following instructions on the outside of that bag:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a hot skillet over medium-high heat, sear each side of tenderloin for 2-3 minutes. Place in the oven and cook for 30-40 minutes or until the meat has reached 160 degrees. Let rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing.

***When defrosting, remove peas and keep frozen.  Remove the potatoes and set on counter, otherwise the bag will get damp from moisture from the thawing process. I think it would be protected since the bag is kind of foil lined, but if you can remove it first, that would probably be better.

So in the end you will have a bag that looks like this:

It's full, but it's a pre-packaged meal ready for action whenever you need it.  If you had thawed this bag out, I think it would probably take an hour start to finish to have your meal ready.  And yes, sure, we usually have peas and probably would have the potatoes on hand, but ya know what?  They are now sitting happy with this meal and there's no guessing or relying on the old memory bank (which seems to be spotty lately) for making sure you have the other food to go with your main dish.  And maybe you aren't like us with random pantry staples and it would be a really good idea to have everything together and ready.  Either way, I like this method, it allows you to just grab and go.  Maybe you'll like it too. :)

I'll share the next LDMM recipe in my next post.

Freezer Meals

Now that we have all survived the holidays and all the chaos that comes with them, I have been buckling down on those things I have put on the back burner for the past 3 months.  One of these projects is working out how to make some freezer meals.

For those of you who aren't up on this latest fad in food prep, basically, in theory you are spending a lot of time up front for prepping these meals which you freeze and then pull them out and cook later.  Specifically I have been looking for recipes to work with crock pots.  I mean if you are really looking for a hands off cook after all that prep, there's no better way than the crock pot.  Since I upgraded the crock pot I am excited to use it all the time.

I have been using pinterest for some inspiration in picking some of recipes to use.  So I decided to start small and go with 4 options from a couple of websites.  Three were designed to be freezer meals and I kind of sort of turned a regular crock pot meal into a freezer meal.  We will see how that works out. 

It took about 3 hours from start to finish (meaning from gathering ingredients to clean up) to do all of these.  I also using a food processor for the chopping which I think saved a load of time.  I wasn't in a race and was just enjoying my afternoon to myself so I am sure there's room for improvement.  I think if I did this more and became familiar with all the recipes and prep and it would get faster.  As it is, I still think it wasn't all that bad given how many meals and how many leftovers it will make for us.

In the short term, your kitchen does get quite messy, just keep yourself organized as best you can.

So here's what I chose to make (originally sources linked if you are interested in more recipes)

Beef Burritos - http://www.savingyoudinero.com/2012/06/12/1-hour-1-mess-5-crock-pot-meals/
(6+ servings)

• 1 London Broil or top round roast (about 2 lbs)
• 1 diced onion
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons whole peppercorns
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce
• 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce – Use just 1 pepper!! (It’s in a can.)* You can freeze the rest of these to save and use in the future.  Great in chili, process in a food processor and add to mayo for chipotle mayo, or use in other recipes which call for them.
• 1 ½ teaspoon chili powder (you can adjust this according to your taste)

1. Add all the above ingredients into a freezer bag.
2. When you are ready to cook the meal, dump the contents of the bag into the crock pot and cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 6-7 hours Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 6-7 hours.
3. When the meat is cooked, you will need to strain the juices and add the juice back to the slow cooker. (You want to remove the peppercorns and onions.) Shred the meat and add back to the juice in the slow cooker for about 30 minutes. This is one of our favorite recipes. My kids eat it as long as we have leftovers.

* Tip from what I did in addition to the above.  I put the above marinade into a 1-gal freezer bad and then also purchased Burrito Wraps, put 1 cup of Mexican cheese in 1-quart freezer bag, and 1 cup of rice in a regular sandwich bag.  Then I put all of this (well tried, the wraps wouldn't fit), into another 1-gal freezer bag to hold it all together.  It helps have everything together do you don't get to the meal and say, "aww crap, I am out of X."

The next two are both from this website: http://lovingmynest.com/learning-activities/cooking/freezer-crock-pot-recipes/

Pork and Veggies

1 lb Pork Roast, cut into 1/2 inch strips
1 Onion, chopped
1 Green Bell Pepper, sliced
4 Carrots, sliced
½ pound Fresh Mushrooms, sliced
1 8oz can Tomato Sauce
1.5 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

Combine ingredients in a large ziptop bag, freeze. Thaw contents of bag and place in a slow cooker. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Serve over hot rice. Serves approx. 5-6 people.

* Again I put all of these ingredients into a 1-gallon freezer bag, then 1 cup of rice into a sandwich bag and both of those into another 1-gallon freezer bag.

Creamy Farmhouse Chicken and Garden Soup

1/2 package (16 ounces) frozen pepper stir-fry vegetable mix * I just used a stir fry mix I liked, I think it was an Asian mix. 
1 cup frozen corn
1 medium zucchini, sliced
2 bone-in chicken thighs, skinned
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup half-and-half (or non-dairy milk for dairy allergies)
1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed *not sure why you could thaw them just to re-freeze them.  I politely ignored this step.
2 tablespoons chopped parsley *I used dried, conversion is on the bottle for fresh to dried ratio
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 can (14 ounces) fat-free chicken broth

Put all ingredients in a Ziploc bag except chicken broth. Freeze. Thaw and put in slow cooker and add chicken broth. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Stir in 3 cups prepared noodles. Serves 7-8 people.

The final one I made into a freezer meal from this site: http://www.tablefortwoblog.com/2012/10/19/chicken-tikka-masala-crockpot/

Chicken Tikka Masala {Crockpot}

Yield: 6-8 servings | Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 8 hours

Ingredients:

8 boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins, or about 5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 3 lbs.)

1 large onion, diced

4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tbsp. fresh ginger, minced

1 (29 oz.) can of tomato puree

1 1/2 cups plain yogurt

2 tbsp. olive oil

2 tbsp. Garam masala

1 tbsp. cumin

1/2 tbsp. paprika

2 tsp. salt, or to taste

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

1-3 tsp. cayenne pepper (depending on your heat preference)

2 bay leaves

1 cup heavy cream

3 tbsp. cornstarch

Chopped parsley or cilantro, for topping

Instructions Adapted for my Invented Freezer Meal Version:

1. Place everything up to the bay leaves in a 1-gallon freezer bag.  Seal bag and mix well to coat. Label it "marinade"
2. In a 1-quart freezer bag mix together heavy cream and corn starch.  Label it "cream".
3. In a sandwich bag (no need to waste a freezer bag on rice), put 1.5 cups of rice in the bag. Label it "1.5 cups of rice - add 3 cups water".
4. Place all 3 bags into 1 1-gallon freezer bag.  Write the cook instructions on the outside: "ADD TWO BAY LEAVES.  Cook for 8 hours on low (or 4 hours on high).  When done, add "cream" bag mixture into the crockpot and gently stir. Let cook an additional 20 minutes to thicken up. At the time you put the cream in, cook the rice."

Used Pins

No, not that kind of pin, a pinterest kind of pin!  I know, it wasn't too long ago when I posted my rant about peoples ridiculous tag lines when they pins things, but what can I say?  It's a current topic.  Since I mentioned my rant, I would like to make two additions to the over used tag line list:
"I NEED TO REMEMBER TO DO THIS!!"  Yes, this is why we pin things you idgit. 
"Pin(ning) now, read(ing) later"  Umm no you won't.  If you can't possibly take 1-2 minutes to validate the pin is worth re-pinning, you are NOT going to give it any thought later.

Anywho, I thought it might be a neat idea to share what I have actually used in the world of Pinterest.  I try to pin things I find cool, inspiring, or something I really want to try.  And ok, so I have a board full of things I find hilarious as well that only serve the purpose of making me laugh, but it does the job!

So here's what I have really used:

Pacifier clips: http://craftycupboard.blogspot.com/2011/10/pacifier-clip-tutorial.html  Very simple and straight forward pattern that has already been used for me and as a gift.

Yardage Chart: Incredibly handy because sometimes I don't want to do math.  Maybe you don't either so here it is:

New way to print photo books:  www.blurp.com It's better than snapfish and VERY customizable.  You can do a real book if you wanted to on this site.  I like that it allows for flexibility to do more than one line descriptions of a series of photos.  I have two projects in work using their software, which is another bonus.  I don't have to upload every single photo and be online to use their tool.  I can do it all on my desktop and then upload the finished product.

Photo Canvas Project: http://www.literallyinspired.com/2012/02/picture-perfect.html  I haven't done this one completely, but I have the canvas, black paint, and Mod Podge ready to go.  I am waiting for a sale on poster prints before I pull the trigger.  So far I have spent $2.50 for the canvas and $4 for Mod Podge (thank you craft coupon) and I would love it if I could do it all for less than $15.  :)  I will post results.

Pork Tenderloin with Pan Sauce: http://chefmommy-brandao.blogspot.ca/2012/03/pork-tenderloin-with-pan-sauce.html  Definitely worth doing again!  Delicious and pretty simple!

Spaghetti with Garlic, Olive Oil, and Crushed Red Pepper: http://www.yumsugar.com/Spaghetti-Garlic-Olive-Oil-Chili-Flakes-21398824  Tasty enough, but the recipe would need to be tweaked for me to do it again.

Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake: http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-search/side-dish-recipes/Janet-s-Chocolate-Chip-Coffee-Cake  Hands down fabulous coffee cake!

I have a few others in work, specifically for the fall and Christmas.  We will see if they get used this year or will be lying in wait for future years.  And let us not forget the 30+ pins I have for kid projects for when Colin is older.  :)   If you want to see the full collection, you'll have to follow me.

Sunday Morning Traditions

When I was growing up, every Sunday my dad would make us pancakes.  My brother and I would get 3 smaller ones each and then my dad would make one big pan sized one for himself.  In fact pancakes were the first food I ever tried to cook.  My dad started by letting me try to flip them on my own and then I gradually got to pouring them and mixing the batter too.  It obviously became a childhood memory for me.

I have kept that Sunday morning ritual going off and on over my lifetime.  If ever I had energy and the means I would try to make some kind of warm breakfast on Sundays.  Not always pancakes, but sometimes eggs, toast, and bacon, or French Toast or whatever else I was in the mood for. 

Since having Colin, we have had to become more morning people (see clock in photo) which I am still dragging my feet on, but on the upside, we get more time in the morning for things.  So I have decided to reinstate this Sunday morning tradition from my childhood to something we will carry on in our house.  We started with pancakes for a few weeks and then we moved on to French Toast and this morning we busted out the waffle maker for some seriously delicious waffles.


This recipe came with the waffle maker when we got it and it involves letting the batter sit out overnight, so you really have to plan these out, but my goodness they are light and fluffy and scrumptious.  The best part is the waffle batter keeps in the fridge for a couple of days, so you can have them multiple days if you want.  The recipe makes more than Rob and I can eat in one setting, so we usually make them all up and freeze them, but then we forget about them.  I think this time around, maybe we get crazy silly and have waffles for dinner one night this week.  :)

Colin isn't old enough to eat whatever comes out of the kitchen on Sundays yet, but he is certainly taking it all in in the meantime.

Shrimp and Pork Tarragon

Rob and I still try to be adventurous in out cooking endeavors, although not to the extent we were before.  Everything in moderation these days, but that's ok.  Rob was browsing through our Outer Banks Cookbook and found a recipe that sounded decent, Shrimp and Pork Tarragon.  It didn't seem overly complicated and sounded like something we might like, so in went into last week's recipe rotation.

Shrimp and Pork Tarragon
1- 12 ounce pork tenderloin
Flour for dredging
Salt and pepper to taste
1 Tablespoon each unsalted butter and oil, mixed
1/4 sweet onion
18 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup white wine, preferably a chardonay
1/4 cup heavy cream
1-2 Tablespoons coarse French mustard (or smooth if you prefer)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon

1. Cut pork tenderloin diagonally into 1 inch slices.  Lightly dredge in flour that has been seasoned with salt and pepper.  Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

2. Heat the butter/oil mix in a large saute pan over medium-high heat.  (Unsalted butter is best because it won't burn - who knew?)  Add the pork medallions and chopped onions and cook until pork is brown, 3 minutes on each side.  Transfer pork to an oven safe platter.
3. Add shrimp to the pan, and cook for 1 minute each side.  Add white wine and cook down to half, about 2-3 minutes.  Remove shrimp with a slotted spoon and fan over the top of the pork medallions on platter.  Place platter in oven.
4. Add cream, mustard, and tarragon to the reduced wine.  Cook for an additional 3-4 minutes, or until thick.  Add salt to taste.
5. Pour sauce on top of poke and shrimp, or arrange on individual plates and top with sauce.

I read the directions about 4 times, but somehow I missed when to add the onions.  Needless to say they were added after I cooked the shrimp (oops), but it came out ok in the end.  Not perfect but it was decent.

I also found a recipe for hush puppies, so I took a stab at making them as well.  They were a little on the dense side, but I think that's because I added all the liquid instead of following the directions where they say to mix until just moistened.  :P

Hush Puppies
2 cup cornmeal
1 Tablespoon flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
3 Tablespoons minced onion (optional)
Vegetable oil for frying

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the cornmeal, flour, baking soda and powder, and salt.
2. In a small bowl, beat the buttermilk and egg together. (Optional: Place the minced onions in the bowl before adding the buttermilk and egg)  Stiir into the dry ingredients just until the batter is moistened.  Set aside.
3. Pour oil into a deep skillet or pot until it is 2-3 inches deep.  Heat over medium-high heat until it reaches 350 degrees, or until a drop of batter begins to "dance" in the oil.
4. Drop the batter by a few spoonfuls (I used a cookie scoop) at a time into the hot oil without crowding the pot.  Fry until golden brown.  Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.

The whole meal was pretty good.  We probably won't make the shrimp and pork tarragon again with all the other recipes we like, but it was worth trying.  We will definitely be trying to make the hush puppies again though!  YUM!

Crock Pot Wisdom

When I first moved out on my own and got my "real" job, my parents had told me what the value of a crock pot was.  You can set it up in the morning and come back to a hot meal with very little prep time.  Sounds good to me!  I bought one at random back in 2004 (read cheap) and I have been using it every since loving the set it and forget it feature which cooks food for as long as you tell it to and then goes to warm to keep it happy while you get around to eating. 

I made a crock pot meal for my sister and brother-in-law when they were here helping paint the nursery in January.  I had never made the meal before, but the directions had mentioned that I would have liquid left over in the pot when I was done and this was not the case for me.  In fact everything looked like it had been overdone a bit.  My sister had liked the recipe enough she tried it when she got home and confirmed some suspicions I had been starting to have about my crock pot.  She told me hers turned out different and had liquid leftover and that she suspect my crock pot was running hot.  This wasn't the first time I had thought this, but I kind of figured crock pots never "went bad".  There were a few other meals I had made that had what looked like hot spots in the pot when the meal was done, but I just thought, "oh it's being quirky". 

I have finally conceded that my crock pot was broken and decided to replace it.  The beauty of crock pots is that they are relatively cheap for a kitchen appliance, so for me, it's a matter of admitting mine is junk and throwing it out.  I wouldn't want anyone else using this piece of junk which is really too bad.  But it doesn't cook things properly, so who on earth would want that?  Here, have my broken stuff! 

Being the spend thrift that I am, I started my search on Amazon, which in my experience usually has some of the better prices for almost everything.  Not to mention a healthy mix of reviews for whatever you are looking for.  So I plugged in "crock pot" and started to read.  What surprised me was reading about the crock pot I owned.

It was rated 2 stars and had 185 reviews.  Most of the ones I read mentioned cooking food too hot.  Amazing what other people had also found with this stupid crock pot. 

Anywho, I moved on in my research and ended up with a Hamilton Beach one that has a programmable feature and has generally been rated very well.  After finding it on Amazon, I checked good old Bed Bath and Beyond to see what they had for a price.  It was the same as Amazon, but I could use a 20% off coupon, so we made the trip on Monday to pick it up.  Saved myself $10 doing it that way and got it instantly.  Tonight, I made the same crock pot meal to test it out and see how it did.  I'll be damned if it didn't turn out like it was supposed to according to the recipe.  I am really happy with it and am glad we bought it!

Recipe from tonight's meal if you are interested.

Slow Cooker Chicken
6 bone-in chicken thighs skin removed (about 2 1/4 pounds)
1 large onion diced
2 medium carrots chopped
3/4 cup unsweetened apple huice
1 garlic glove
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup dried apricots chopped
Couscous

Spray the crock pot with non-stick cooking spray.  Place the onions and carrots in the bottom on the crock pot and then place the chicken on top of them.  In a small bowl, combine the apple juice, garlic, salt, pepper, and cinnamon.  Pour over the chicken and vegetables.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Remove chicken from crock pot, shred chicken with two forks and remove bones.  Add apricots and chicken back to the crock pot to warm.  Make couscous and serve over the couscous. 

It's tasty and easy to make!