Good Morning Muffins

Sorry it’s been so long since I posted… got a little busy and things had to take a back seat for a while.  Anyway, I made these muffins a couple weeks ago and man were they good!  This is a recipe I found while watching Pioneer Woman’s cooking show.  I really enjoy her show and the type of food she makes.  So much of it is just good, simple, comfort food!  While watching the episode I was a bit skeptic about her use of TWO jars of marmalade in one batch of muffins, but I did the same and I really liked the balance of flavor and texture.

On the recipe she suggests using less if you don’t like the bitter taste of marmalade, but I don’t really feel like it is bitter so don’t be afraid to use it all.  The recipe I followed was also slightly different than what I watched her make on the show (I imagine it got altered a bit) and only listed 2 cups of marmalade, but on the show she says she just goes ahead and uses the two jars as it’s close.  Another difference I found when searching was the use of either just butter, just shortening, or a mix.  On the show she states that she likes the mix best so I went with that.

The muffins are nice and moist, with a great orange flavor, and have a little bit of sweetness and crunch on the top.  She uses a good deal of nutmeg in the topping, so you might consider cutting back a little if you aren’t a big fan.  She also uses salt which I found to be a great addition that sort of cuts through the sweetness a bit, but if you don’t like that sort of thing you can leave it out.  This recipe makes a lot of muffins, perfect for sharing, or just portioning out through the week for breakfast or a quick snack.  I think you can freeze them too if you like.

 

Makes : 24 muffins

Ingredients :

• 4 C. flour
• 1/2 C. sugar
• 2 T. baking powder
• 4 T. unsalted butter (cold)
• 1/4 C. shortening
• 1 1/2 – 2 C. marmalade (or 2 jars)
• 1 C. orange juice
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 3 eggs, beaten

Topping :

• 1/2 C. sugar
• 1/4 C. brown sugar
• 2 T. melted butter
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• wheat germ

Directions :

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Spray muffin pans with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, sift together dry ingredients.  Using a pastry cutter or two knives cut in the butter and shortening until well combined.
3. In a separate bowl combine your wet ingredients, then gently stir into your dry ingredients.  Use very few turns of the spatula to combine it. 
4. Mix your toppings in another bowl and sprinkle a heaping tsp. over each muffin.  Also sprinkle about a 1/2 tsp. of wheat germ on each muffin.
5. Bake 20-22 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Recipe from The Pioneer Woman

Buffalo Chicken Salad with Greek Yogurt

You may or may not realize by now that I love buffalo chicken!  I have shared many recipes already featuring it, and will likely continue to search for others to share.  I haven’t tried many chicken salads in my day, but I think this is my favorite one!  A lot of chicken salad recipes will call for you to boil the chicken, which is fine, but for some reason the idea just doesn’t sit well with me or my husband.  When I come across a recipe that suggests boiling raw chicken I usually just pre-cook my chicken, or in this case (and it’s actually what the recipe called for) I love to use rotisserie chicken.  It’s always good, very versatile, and cuts back on the hassle of making my own.  It’s also the only way Jeff gets to enjoy a little dark meat since I generally only buy chicken breast meat.

Anyway, this chicken salad is the perfect mix of buffalo flavor, crunch from the celery, and creaminess from the yogurt, and freshness from the herbs.  I wasn’t sure about using greek yogurt at first, but it has that little bit of a tang that really goes well with this, and it’s much healthier than using something like ranch dressing.  I also have a bit of an aversion to blue cheese so I substituted out feta instead which worked well.  I did end up using about 3 stalks of celery because I wasn’t sure if my chicken produced quite 4 cups of meat and I didn’t want it to be too saucy, but I think with an ingredient like that it’s really fine to just use however much you want.  I actually don’t like celery on it’s own, but even I can’t deny it goes so well with buffalo sauce.  I served this on some asiago cheese rolls and it was simply fantastic, and it makes a good amount so I had it for lunch for days afterwards too.

 

Serves : I think I got about 7-8 sandwiches out of it

Ingredients :

• 1/2 cup non-fat plain greek yogurt (I used chiobani)
• 1/2 cup Franks Red Hot Wings Buffalo sauce
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
• 4 cups of cubed, cooked chicken (about 1 rotisserie chicken)
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 1/2 cup cilantro, minced
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
• rolls or wraps for serving

Directions :

1. Combine the first 5 ingredients in a large bowl and give them a whisk.  Then fold in the chicken, celery, cilantro, and blue cheese.  Serve on rolls, in wraps, or however you like.

Recipe from The Novice Chef

Greek Chickpea Salad

I had this one up on the menu for over a week.  Each time I planned to make it something came up and it got pushed back.  That entire time Jeff complained about how he would never eat something like that, and how gross it sounded.  I decided to compromise and allow him to order something the night I finally  made it to go along with it from a local Greek restaurant.  I instructed him to get some falafel or maybe a gyro or something.  He ended up getting gyros, falafel, pita and hummus, and buffalo calamari!  Obviously a full meal in itself and thus we didn’t eat much of the salad I made that night because we didn’t want to waste the other stuff.  I honestly think that was his plan all along.

However, we did both try it.  I thought it was great, and full of flavor.  He hesitantly admitted that he also thought it was pretty good.  I ended up eating it the next day for lunch and WOW!  It was even better, as the flavors had plenty of time to marry over night.  This could seriously become one of my new favorite things to make because you can make it ahead, and eat it for days.  I also think it would be the perfect thing for a potluck or dinner party, but I would suggest maybe making it the day before just so it can get better like mine did.

I really didn’t change anything in the recipe, but I may have used a little more garlic than was called for.  I also didn’t have fresh rosemary so used dried.  I eye balled most of the ingredients so I may have been a bit generous with some of them, but that’s what I like about dishes like these.  You really can’t go wrong.  I especially loved the dressing for this.  This is not one to pass up!

 

Makes 2 lunches or 6 smaller side dish servings.

Ingredients :

• 1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup cucumber, chopped
• 1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped (I used grape tomatoes and squeezed out the seeds)
• 1/4 cup red onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup kalamata olives, sliced
• 3 – 4 T. olive oil (I think I used 3)
• juice of 1 lemon (I threw in the zest as well)
• 1/2 tsp. garlic paste (I made a paste with about 3-4 cloves and a little coarse salt)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/4 – 1/2 tsp. rosemary, finely minced and to taste)
• feta cheese (optional)

Directions :

1. In a medium sized bowl, toss together the chickpeas, cucumber, tomato, red onion, parsley, and kalamata olives,  In a separate bowl whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic paste, salt, pepper and rosemary.  Taste the dressing and correct your seasonings.  Be aware that fresh rosemary can easily overpower a dish.  Add the dressing to the garbanzo mixture.  Mix lightly.  Top with optional feta cheese.

Recipe from Feral Kitchen

Mushroom – Spinach Stuffed Shells

Everyone loves stuffed shells.  What you might not know is that they are pretty easy to make… most of the time.  I say most of the time because I usually take a little help from the store and use jar sauce.  This recipe however, is all made from scratch and though it’s a bit labor intensive it’s definitely worth it.  It’s still easy to make, you just have to plan to have some time to do it.

I have always loved the combination of spinach and mushroom, and these are no exception.  I was intrigued by the use of cottage cheese, when most recipes would use ricotta, because it reminded me of my mom’s lasagna in which she also used cottage cheese.  The one thing I knew I wouldn’t be on board with was the use of fennel seed, which I just hate.  I decided just to omit that entirely and throw in some things like basil, parsley, and oregano which turned out nicely.

The filling makes quite a lot, more than enough for 8 oz of pasta.  I just went ahead and prepared the whole 12 oz box of shells and though I had some left over it wasn’t hard to find someone to gobble them up lol.  The recipe does call for white mushrooms, but I just love the more earthy flavor of the crimini so went with those.  This recipe also calls for frozen spinach out of convenience I imagine, but I am sure you could use fresh too if you wanted.

On a side note, I apologize for not posting as many recipes lately.  I have just been a bit busy at home, we’ve gone through a lot of illness this year, and we’ve been eating out or repeating meals more lately as well.  I have a few planned to make soon, so hopefully it won’t be as long before the next recipe is posted.  Thanks for your patience!

 

Ingredients :

• Kosher salt
• 8 oz. jumbo shells
• 2 T. olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 12 oz. mushrooms, sliced
• 1 (10 oz) package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1 1/2 C. low fat cottage cheese
• 1 C. mozzarella, shredded
• 1/3 C. parmesan, grated
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1/4 C. fresh basil, chopped

Tomato Sauce Ingredients :

• 2 T. olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp. fennel seeds (see note above)
• lg. pinch of red pepper flakes
• 1 (28 oz) can tomatoes, crushed by hand
• kosher salt

Cheese Sauce Ingredients :

• 1/4 C. low fat cottage cheese
• 1/4 C. mozzarella, shredded
• 2 T. parmesan, grated
• 1 egg, slightly beaten

 

Directions :

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta shells and cook until slightly softened but still firm, about 7 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water. Drizzle with olive oil and toss; set aside.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms and cook, undisturbed, until golden in spots, about 2 minutes. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are soft, about 5 more minutes. Add the spinach and stir until heated through, about 2 minutes. Let cool completely.
3. Finely chop the spinach-mushroom mixture and combine in a bowl with the cottage cheese, mozzarella, parmesan, egg, basil and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Stuff each shell with about 2 tablespoons of the filling; set aside.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
5. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, fennel seeds and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, until lightly golden, about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, then rinse out the can with 1 cup water and add to the skillet; add 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bring to a simmer and cook until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a blender and puree until smooth. Return to the skillet and rinse out the blender.
   
6. Combine the cottage cheese, mozzarella, parmesan and egg in the blender and puree until smooth.
7. Brush a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with olive oil and pour in half of the tomato sauce. Add the stuffed shells, then top with the remaining tomato sauce. Cover with aluminum foil and bake 25 minutes; uncover and continue baking until bubbly, 15 to 20 more minutes. Turn on the broiler; drizzle the shells with the cheese sauce and broil, about 2 minutes.

Recipe from Full Fork Ahead

Patty Melt

In all my years I have not once tried a Patty Melt, until today that is.  It was my mom’s favorite thing to order when we’d go out if it was on the menu and I never even really knew what it was.  I was thinking about her, and it came into my head, and I was suddenly very curious.  So I searched it out, and was surprised to see it was just a burger/grilled cheese.  I figured I could do that.

I decided to go with a pretty basic recipe, though I found others that seemed a little more complex and I am sure great.  I think my mom liked hers on a dark rye, but I couldn’t for the life of me find any at the store, so went with a Russian Rye instead.  I can see why my mom liked them, though I felt this particular version could have used a good deal more cheese.  It is a melt after all and I do love my cheese!  I liked the nice buttery golden bread though and the juicy burger and caramelized onions between.  I think I may try some of the variations out there because it was such a simple yet satisfying sandwich.

 

Serves : 2

Ingredients :

• 8 oz. ground beef
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 4 slices rye bread
• 4 slices swiss cheese
• 2 T. canola oil
• 2 T. butter, room temperature (or warmed slightly in the microwave if you forgot to take it out like me)
• salt and black pepper to taste

Directions :

1. Divide the meat into two balls. Form each one into a 1/4-inch patty that is just slightly larger than the slices of bread. Season each patty generously with salt and pepper.
2. Pour 1 tablespoon of the oil into a small skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook until browned, about 10 minutes or so. Set aside.
3. Heat a large cast iron skillet over high heat. Pour in the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil. When it’s hot, add the burger patties. Cook for about 2 minutes per side. They should be well browned, but still slightly medium or medium-rare inside. Set aside.
4. Top two of the slices of bread each with some onions, a slice of cheese, cooked patty, another slice of cheese and finally a slice of bread. Slather each sandwich on top and bottom with the butter.
5. Wipe out the skillet. Then turn the heat to medium. Add the sandwiches. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes a side, or until the bread is golden browned and the cheese has melted.Slice in half diagonally and serve.

Recipe from Dishing Up Delights

 

 

Roasted Garlic Chicken & Herb White Pizza

There is nothing better than the smell of roasting garlic!  Well maybe coffee, but as far as savory goes garlic is where it’s at!  It’s so simple to do, and roasted garlic makes so many dishes better.  I like it slathered on bread with butter and toasted, in sauces, or even as whole cloves in/on a dish.  There is a pizza from The Rock Wood Fired Pizza & Spirits called Satisfaction that uses whole roasted garlic cloves on top and I just LOVE it!  If you haven’t tried that one, do so next time you are there.

Ok, now to tonight’s pizza.  It was good, but both my husband and I kind of felt like it was lacking in flavor.  I wanted to stay true to the recipe and give it a shot, but I think if I made it again I would go with my gut and throw some whole cloves on it as well.  I also think something like some olives, or maybe kalamata olives would go a long way to kick up the flavor a bit.  I also think I would throw a little Provolone or maybe Asiago on it as well to just give it more complexity of flavor.  It is a good starting point though for sure.

For the pizza dough you could certainly use store bought, either already prepared or in dough form.  If you have the time though (and you could even make this ahead of time, freeze it, and pull it out the morning you want to use it) I strongly suggest making your own, and more specifically Emeril’s recipe which I shared here for the Stromboli recipe.  Seriously great dough, and awesome to work with.

Ingredients :

• 1 lb pizza dough
• 8 cloves roasted garlic, minced (make ahead)
• 2 T. butter
• 2 T. flour
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1/4 cup half and half
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, shredded (I used rotisserie)
• 1/4 cup red onion, diced
• 3/4 cups Mozzarella cheese
• 1 tsp. fresh thyme, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 T. fresh parsley, chopped

Directions :

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with a siplat liner, or grease and sprinkle with cornmeal.  (I use a pizza stone, and with the dough recipe I shared I have found no need for corn meal on the bottom).
2. Melt butter in a small saucepan. Saute roasted garlic for 1 minute.
3. Add flour, and mix until well blended. Cook for 1 minute.
4. Slowly whisk in the milk and half and half. Mix in the pepper.
5. Cook for about 3 minutes, or until it starts to thicken. Remove from heat, and stir in Parmesan cheese.
6. Spread dough into roughly a 12 inch circle on prepared baking sheet. Spread white cause over the dough. Top with chicken, red onions and cheese.
7. Bake for 17 minutes, or until the crust is golden, and the cheese is melted.
8. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with herbs. Cut and serve immediately.

Recipe from Dinners Dishes & Desserts

Chinese Orange Chicken

I love making my own Chinese food at home.  The first one I ever tried to make was sesame chicken, and I was hooked.  Though there is often a bit of prep work involved, the actual cooking process/time is quite simple and, in my opinion, homemade Chinese food is often WAY better than what you can get at most Chinese restaurants.  At least this is true when you live in remote northern Idaho…. which I did at the time.  Now that I am near Portland I am sure there are many great places to choose from, but you just can’t beat the simplicity of making it at home.  Because you are making it at home you can control things like the salt content, or portion sizes, which let’s face it are HUGE at most restaurants.  So you can have Chinese any day of the week and not feel guilty for the amount of oil and salt you just consumed.

I have had Orange Chicken numerous times over the years, and it’s always different wherever you go.  Years later I still remember the delicious chicken balls with orange sauce we had while staying in Toronto.  That is my idea of orange chicken…. but on the occasion when I am really in a hurry I’ll pick some up from somewhere like Panda Express and I am always left disappointed by their idea of orange chicken.  For starters it’s nothing like the image they have up, and comes out looking more like general tso than anything orange infused.  Then there is NO orange flavor whatsoever.  I honestly don’t know why they call it orange chicken.  It’s not terrible food, but it’s not orange chicken either.

This, however, does have a lot of orange flavor.  There is a great complexity from all the sauce ingredients, with a bit of heat, sweetness, salty, and citrus.  Though time consuming, making your own fried chicken results in a much tastier, less greasy, end result.  I liked that the chicken was so freshly tossed with the sauce that it retained a lot of the crunch from the breading and the amount of sauce left over was the perfect amount to mix in with the rice.  I made two packets of boil-in-a-bag brown rice which left us with a little more than we needed, but one would have been not enough.  When frying the chicken I used vegetable shortening (the Crisco one in a can) which was something I had never done before but wanted to try.  It worked really well and from what I hear gives it a better flavor.  I don’t have a thermometer that monitors temperatures that high, so I just kept a close eye on things to make sure it wasn’t too hot.  I suggest using a thermometer if you can though.  You don’t want to have your oil too low and end up with oily chicken, or too high and end up with burned outsides and raw insides or a house full of smoke or a fire lol.  I also used my dutch oven to fry in because I like having the taller sides to avoid the mess.

I admit my kitchen was in a state of utter disaster after dinner last night, but it was definitely worth it!

 

serves : 4

Ingredients :

• 1 1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
• 1 T. orange zest
• 1/3 cup white vinegar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 tsp. dried ginger (I used a bit of fresh ginger paste)
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. sriracha hot sauce
• 2 T. grated yellow onion
• fresh ground pepper to taste
• 1 1/4 cups + 2 T. cornstarch, divided
• 2 T. cold water
• 2 large eggs
• vegetable or peanut oil for frying
• green onions and sesame seeds for garnish

Directions :

1. Place chicken pieces in a gallon size resealable bag, set aside. In a medium saucepan combine chicken broth, orange zest, orange juice, vinegar, soy sauce, granulated sugar, ginger, yellow onion, garlic, Sriracha and pepper. Whisk mixture well, then measure out 2/3 cup of the mixture and pour it over the chicken in resealable bag. Seal bag while pressing excess air out, and press chicken into marinade. Place bag in a bowl or baking dish and refrigerate 30 minutes. Meanwhile, return remaining sauce mixture over medium heat and bring mixture just to a boil, stirring frequently. In a small bowl whisk together 2 Tbsp cornstarch with 2 Tbsp water then stir mixture into sauce. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook 1 – 2 minutes longer, stirring constantly, until thickened, remove from heat.
2. Pour vegetable oil into a large cast iron dutch oven, filling pot about 1 1/2 – 2-inches deep and heat oil to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, whisk eggs in a shallow dish until well blended. Pour remaining 1 1/4 cups cornstarch into a separate shallow dish. Remove chicken from refrigerator and drain and discard marinade from chicken.
3. Dip chicken pieces into egg followed by cornstarch and toss pieces to evenly coat in cornstarch, then carefully place 1/3 of the chicken pieces into preheated oil and cook for 5 – 7 minutes until golden, turning once during cooking. Using skimmer, remove fried chicken from oil and transfer to a paper towel lined cookie sheet to drain excess oil. Repeat process with remaining chicken working in two more batches.
4. Pour drained fried chicken into a bowl and toss with sauce. Serve warm over white or brown rice garnished with green onions and sesame seeds if desired.

Recipe from Cooking Classy

Orzo Chicken Asiago

There are times when the simplest of recipes to prepare end up being some of the best to eat, and this is one of those times.  I could see this becoming a regular in anybody’s household.  It’s far within most people’s comfort zones, simple to make, and has everything most people look for in a meal.  You have your starch, your protein, your dairy, and your veggies all in one colorful dish!

While trying to get my husband’s opinion on the dish for this blog, as I often try to do because I feel like he is a “meat and potatoes” kind of guy and therefore harder to please when it comes to trying new things, I was given a rating of 8 out of 10.  When I asked him to elaborate on that, he simply said “the tomatoes weren’t terrible”.  Not exactly helpful if you ask me… I mentioned such to him and that my readers are not going to want to try a dish that is described as being “not terrible”.  He said that if someone like himself, who hates tomatoes, would say the dish was an 8 and that he liked it in spite of the tomatoes that it must be good.  So there you have it… the tomatoes aren’t terrible.

I, on the other hand, and I might add I also don’t like large pieces of tomato, thought they were not only “not terrible” but that they were a key ingredient in the dish, and part of what makes it so fantastic.  All the freshness added by the tomatoes, onions, peas, and parsley give this a light feeling not typical of most pasta dishes. This is also true because of the orzo, which is a small pasta, but seems a lot like rice in shape and texture.  The orzo is perfect for this because it gives it a risotto feel and leave it so creamy in texture with the Asiago.  The only change I made to this recipe was to pre-cook my chicken.  I did this mostly because it had been in my fridge for a few too many days and I was nervous to leave it in there a couple more until I was ready to cook it.  As often happens, I took my meat out with specific dates in mind, but plans changed, and things got pushed back a couple days.  Rather than waste the meat I just cooked the chicken with a little salt and pepper in the skillet and put it back in the fridge.  I have to admit I was a little apprehensive about boiling the chicken for so little time in this recipe (and especially now because my orzo only took 9 minutes to cook) from a raw state, and it being done properly.  So even when I make this next… and there will be a next time…. I will pre-cook the chicken as I did this time.  For the wine I again used the Moscato I had opened the night before and it worked very well for this….. and was also quite enjoyed straight from the bottle as I was cooking… shhh!  Good thing I was only cooking for my husband and I lol.

Anyway, I highly recommend EVERYONE try this recipe.

 

Serves : 4

Ingredients :

• 1 lb chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces (see above, I pre-cooked mine)
• 1 1/4 cups uncooked Orzo
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1 tsp. basil
• 1/2 tsp. oregano
• 1 tsp. rosemary
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/4 cup green onions, chopped
• 1 cup fresh diced tomatoes (I used cherry tomatoes)
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 cup fresh grated Asiago cheese
• parsley

Directions :

1. Do your prep work ahead of time so you can keep your attention on the pasta, and stirring it.  You also don’t want to over cook your pasta into mush!
2. In a dutch oven combine broth and white wine.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken and orzo.  Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 9-12 minutes or until pasta is done, but still a bit al dente.  Mine took about 9 minutes.  Stir frequently the entire time.  About halfway through cook time add your dry herbs, salt and pepper.
3. In the last minute add the tomatoes and green onions. 
4. Remove from heat, add in the frozen peas and stir around to help cook the pasta.  Add in your cheese and parsley and serve.

Recipe from citronlimette

Eggs Baked In Bread

I picked this recipe because I was honestly  just curious how it would turn out.  It sounded good… bread, eggs, cheese and broccoli.  I was just curious as to how the egg would actually turn out, and also the broccoli.  As I was preparing it for the oven I had a lot of doubts.  I imagined the broccoli would dry out or burn, and the eggs would either become very hard or spill off the side.  During assembly one of the eggs actually did spill over the side because I hadn’t made the hole big enough or perhaps I just put too much cheese and broccoli in.  I wiped up the mess so it wouldn’t burn and managed to salvage that yolk and most of the whites so I just put it in as it was.  I was baking my bacon at the same time and checking on that often so every time I would peak in there and see the eggs were nowhere near set up I would panic and start thinking of a back-up plan in my head.  Really up to the last minute I was sure it wasn’t going to turn out…… but somehow magic happened and it not only worked, but surprised me in the textures of the egg and broccoli.

The bread did not burn as I feared it would at that temperature for that long, though the ends did get pretty crusty since it was already a crusty piece of bread.  The broccoli sort of steamed in the bread leaving it moist and keeping the bread soft inside which was a nice contrast to the crusty outsides.  The eggs on the ends did cook more fully and the yolks, while not unpleasant, were solid.  I chose to make one large roll rather than cutting them into individuals prior to cooking so the two inside eggs didn’t turn completely solid like the two outside ones.  They were fully cooked, but the yolks took on a thick creamy sauce-like texture that really took this to the next level.  I would suggest cutting your bread before hand to ensure even cooking, and also to dispose of the very ends of the bread as they get a bit too hard.

The recipe was kind of general on some things… such as using a “sourdough sandwich roll” and how to stuff the ingredients inside.  I bought one of those really large sourdough loaves, and rather than cut it in half like you would if you were making a sandwich roll I just took enough off the top of the roll to level it off and make the entire thing crust-less on the top.  I wanted to make sure it was deep enough for stuffing and that worked out well.  One tip I have would be to not only make your holes big enough to accommodate an egg and some cheese and broccoli, but when putting the eggs on top do it very slowly and sort of stretch the holes a little with your fingers to allow the egg to settle into the bread rather than sit on top, or in the case of one of mine spill off the side!  The recipe called for mozzarella but I found I was out when I went to grab some and so I just used some pepper jack instead.  I am sure you could use whatever cheese you like though.  Same thing with the seasonings… the recipe mentioned chili powder in the list of ingredients, but then it wasn’t mentioned in the steps so I left it off not really thinking I wanted any on and it was good with just salt and pepper.

There are probably many ways you can alter this to suit your tastes, or improve on it, but the basic idea is definitely simple and also a little bit fun.  Perhaps some fresh herbs on top, or bacon crumbles.  Throw some ham inside.  Kick it up with a little hot sauce.  The sky is the limit.  All you have to do is put those doubts aside and trust that it will work!  As I mentioned the recipe I followed was little unclear on a couple of things so I am going to just elaborate on the recipe below to include the steps I took.

 

serves : 2-4

Ingredients :

• 1 large sourdough loaf (unsliced)
• 1/2-3/4 cup broccoli florets (make them on the small side)
• 1/4-1/3 cup mozzarella, shredded
• 4 eggs
• salt and pepper to taste
• fresh Parmesan, grated

Directions :

1. Preheat oven to 350 F., and line a baking sheet with foil. 
2. Slice just enough off the top of the roll to leave a leveled crust-less top on your bread.  Make 4 holes across evenly spaced, digging out some of the bread.  There should be enough room for a little bit of broccoli, cheese and an egg in each hole. 
3. Start by putting some of your broccoli into the bottom of each of those 4 holes, then stud the bread all around the holes by poking the broccoli into it.  Next put cheese into the holes over the broccoli, but leave room for the eggs.
4. Carefully crack an egg over each of the 4 holes, going slowly, and taking time to stretch the holes a bit to settle the egg into the bread without breaking the yolks.  Season to top with salt and pepper, sprinkle with Parmesan, and bake about 20-25 minutes or until eggs are set and bread is toasted. 
5. **** Alternately, cut your roll into halves or fourths before stuffing them and arrange side by side to ensure more even cooking.  See notes above regarding the outer yolks cooking through more than the inside ones when left as one long roll.

Recipe from Divine Cusine Viva la Food!

Thai Coconut Lime Soup

It was grocery day and I was searching for a new dish to make that featured some sort of seafood.  Came across this and was immediately interested not only because of the lovely photos, but also because three of the four words in the name of this dish are some of the best foods in my opinion.  I figured three out of four wasn’t bad, and I would try to get past my distaste for soup and give it a shot.  I am glad I did.  This soup definitely has a LOT of flavor between the fresh ginger, green curry, coconut, lime, shrimp, serrano, garlic, and cilantro.  It also packs a LOT of heat!  I think next time I will wimp out and dispose of the seeds from the pepper.

One of the reasons I don’t particularly like soup is because of the broth… it just seems like too much to me I guess.  Figuring I had probably already done a number on my stomach from the heat in this dish I didn’t finish my broth, but did find that dipping some bread in it was a nice way to mellow out some of the heat and make me not feel like I was drinking my meal.  Both my husband and I though agreed this soup would be better with a little less broth, and more stuff in it.  So I would suggest increasing the ingredients in the soup to about 1.5x or maybe even 2x the amount listed, and sticking with the listed amount of broth ingredients.  I had doubled the recipe and we ended up tossing a lot of the left over broth after filled our bowls with the extra shrimp, mushrooms and onions.  Or you could throw a bit of rice in it to make it a little heartier and get rid of that excess broth issue if you are like me.

Anyway, this was still a winner in my book, and smelled amazing.  I loved the blend of flavors, and I just love trying new things.  In particular I don’t think I had ever had green curry paste before this dish.

Serves : 2                 

Ingredients :

• 1/2 lb raw shrimp
• 2 T. vegetable oil
• 2 T. fresh ginger, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 serrano, thinly sliced, seeds and all
• 1/2 onion, sliced into thin wedges
• 3 T. Thai green curry paste
• 1 T. brown sugar
• 4 oz. mushrooms, sliced
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 cup water
• juice of 2 limes
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• zest of 1 lime

Directions :

1. Heat the oil in a pot and saute the shrimp just until pink on both sides.  Set aside.
2. In the same pan saute the ginger, garlic, hot pepper and onion for a few minutes on low to medium heat, until the onion starts to soften.
3. Add in the curry paste, brown sugar, and mushrooms.  Saute for a few more minutes.
4. Add the coconut milk, lime juice, and water to the pan.  Bring up to a simmer and cook gently for a couple of minutes.
5. Add the cooked shrimp and cilantro to the pot.  Heat through.  Taste for seasoning adjustments.
6. Serve hot with cilantro and lime zest as garnish.

Recipe from The View From The Great Island

 

Spinach & Prosciutto Frittata

Frittatas are one of those magical things that look gorgeous, taste great, and are SO versatile.  You can seriously use just about anything you want in them making it the perfect dish to use up leftover produce, meat, cheese, etc.  They also take little effort, most come together quickly, and they serve a lot of people.  All you need is an oven safe skillet, but even that is just ideal.  You could get away with making these in cake pans, pie dishes, casserole dishes, or whatever you want.  It just looks more impressive in the skillet, and saves a few steps/dishes.  I actually have been meaning to try this for a long time …. kind of shocking that I haven’t actually other than a mini version in a muffin pan …. but I was waiting until I had a cast iron skillet.  And well… now I do!

I didn’t really follow any one recipe for mine.  I looked at a few for inspiration and to get an idea of the egg to cream ratio, as well as the cook times, but after that I just winged it so to speak and put whatever I wanted in it.  It turned out pretty dang good, but I think next time I would put even more of some of the ingredients in.  I just hadn’t wanted to over-do it and have it not turn out.  Now that I know it can hold more I won’t be shy.  Since I did wing it I am going to give pretty close estimations of what I used, but I encourage you to adjust to your tastes or if you want to play it safe like me for the first time use what I put down.

I said frittatas come together quickly most of the time, and that is true, but with these particular ingredients there are a couple more steps.  You might be tempted to take a shortcut and try cooking some of them together, but I think you might run into issues if you do, so I suggest just taking the time to do each separate and do them well.  I promise it sounds like more work than it really is.  As I mentioned I used a cast iron skillet and most of the recipes I read through suggested the same, as I think it does best with the sticking factor.  Also many suggested butter as a greasing agent to really be sure it won’t stick and who am I to argue.  If you want those perfect slices of frittata that look so impressive you can handle the little bit of extra fat/calories.

Anyway, I would call my first frittata a major success and you can be sure I will be trying other variations in the future and I imagine many of them will make it on here, so be on the look out!

Serves : 4-8 (4 for like a dinner, or 8 for like a brunch)

Ingredients :

• 8 eggs
• 1/3 cup cream (you can use milk, but the cream really makes it good!)
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• salt and pepper to taste (you won’t need much salt because of the prosciutto and cheese so go light to start and you can always season at the table)
• 3 oz. package prosciutto, roughly chopped
• 2 cups fresh baby spinach (basically two large handfuls, it really cooks down)
• 5-6 crimini mushrooms (I think I would use a couple more next time)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2/3 cups grated gruyere
• 1/3 cup fresh grated parmesan (a large grate as opposed to a fine grate)
• 1/4 cup kalamata olives, sliced (I would use a little more next time)
• 8-10 cherry tomatoes, halved and seeded (I would use a few more of these too)
• 5-6 leaves of fresh basil, cut into a chiffonade (basically roll them up cigar style, and slice them into thin strips)
• 2-3 T. butter, divided

Directions :

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. In a large cast iron skillet heat a small bit of olive oil over medium-high heat, and cook your chopped prosciutto until crispy.  Remove and place on a paper towel to drain the grease. 
3. Next put about 1 T. of the butter into the skillet and saute your mushrooms over a medium high heat.  To really get some nice color don’t overcrowd the skillet and let them sit for a minute before you try to move them around.  When they are just about perfectly golden throw in the garlic just to take the bitter edge off and let it get fragrant.  Remove to a bowl.
4. Wipe out any leftover bits, then place your skillet back on a medium heat and throw in your spinach.  Cook it just until it wilts down and then remove it and let cool for a few minutes.  Once cool wring all the moisture out that you can and roughly chop it.
5. While the spinach is cooling whisk together eggs, cream, baking powder, and salt and pepper.  Let sit for about 5-7 minutes as you finish preparations.
6. Once you have all your ingredients ready to go, heat the skillet back up over medium-low heat and run the rest of your butter around the sides, and bottom.  Pour in your eggs, and after a minute or so start sprinkling in your basil, prosciutto, mushrooms, and spinach.  Then spread the cheese evenly over and sort of press it down a little so it sinks into the eggs, which should be slowly starting to set up ever so slightly.  Spread around your olives, and tomatoes taking care to make it look pretty of course.  Once the eggs starts to firm up a bit around the edges place your skillet into the preheated oven and bake for about 5-10 minutes until fully set.  You will know this  has occurred when there is not wiggle left in the center when you lightly shake the skillet. 
7. Turn on the broiler and allow the top to ever so slightly start to brown before removing from oven.  Let it sit for a minute or two and loosen the edges before you try to cut it and carefully remove your slices to serve.

Baked Fish Fillets with Lemon & Red Capsicum

Do you know what a capsicum is?  I do…. now.  I admit I had to look it up.  It is red bell pepper.  The recipe gives directions for roasting your own, but unless you really want to and have the time, I would just cheat and buy them from the store, which is exactly what I did because I DON’T have the time to be roasting red peppers on a weeknight after grocery shopping.  As it was we already had to eat dinner after 7, which isn’t something I like to do if I can help it.  Luckily once I got home and got things put away this dish came together fairly quickly.

I made some roasted red potatoes to go with it, which was a nice pairing, but it did take a little longer to get dinner on the table since they had to be in the oven longer than the fish.  The blog I got this from suggested steamed baby potatoes as a good side, and I don’t know much about steaming potatoes, but perhaps that is quicker if you really want to get dinner on the table in a short amount of time.

The colors of this dish were just gorgeous.  The sauce was a vibrant red/orange color and then you throw in the green of the parsley and the white fish and it’s just a piece of art really.  I don’t know that I have had many (if any) fish dishes with a red sauce, so this was different for me, but it was a good different.  I really liked the sauce, and felt it was a good balance of flavor with the lemon, coriander, garlic and of course the red peppers.  I have had red pepper sauce in a few pasta dishes before as well, and I really like the change from the usual tomato based sauces.  If you haven’t tried it before I suggest you do!

The only change I made to this recipe was to throw a bit of lemon zest over the dish before baking it to really brighten the flavor and bring that subtle lemon flavor out more.  Not my best picture, but as I said, it was getting rather late and fish really isn’t good cold lol.  Red sauces can be quite tricky to photograph and something like this where you can’t even really see the protein makes it even  harder!

 

Serves : 6       Time to make : 40 minutes (plan ahead to roast your peppers which will add to the time)

Ingredients :

• 1 large red capsicum, or 1 cup chopped store bought capsicum (I actually found one smaller jar of roasted red peppers to equal about a cup when chopped so used the entire jar)
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 T. water
• 3 tsp. coriander seed (I only had ground coriander so used about 2-2.5 tsp.)
• 1/2 tsp. ground white pepper
• salt to taste
• 6 fillets of firm white fish such as cod or tilapia  (approx. 4oz each)
• salt and ground white pepper to taste
• 4 or 5 dried basil leaves
• lemon zest (optional)
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

Directions :

1. Heat oven to 200˚C (approx. 400˚F). Cut the capsicum into quarters, removing the membrane and seeds. Place onto a baking tray skin side up and roast until the skin has blackened. Immediately place the roast capsicum into a bowl and cover with a plate making sure it’s a tight fit.  Once cooled the skins will peel off the capsicum pieces.
2. Place the capsicum, garlic, olive oil, coriander seeds, lemon juice, water, salt and ground pepper into the bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth.
3. Season the fish fillets with salt and white pepper and place in an oiled baking dish. Pour the capsicum puree over the fish, scatter the bay leaves (also sprinkle on the lemon zest if you choose to use it) and place in the oven for approximately 20 minutes at 200˚C (approx 400˚F). Test fish is ready by inserting the point of a knife into the center of a fillet. If the fish is white and flaky it is ready. If not, place back in the oven for another few minutes.
4. Sprinkle the chopped parsley over the fish and serve at once.

Recipe from The Cook Who Knew Nothing

Croque Monsieur

First an admission… I chose this sandwich because of the name.  There is just something fun about making something that has a fancy foreign name.  Well it’s foreign to me at least.  I had heard the name before, but wasn’t sure exactly what it was.  Upon further inspection I realized it was a grilled ham and cheese sandwich, but then it is topped with a bechamel sauce and more cheese!  I was intrigued, but slightly doubtful about putting sauce on top and it turning the sandwich mushy/soggy.  I was very pleasantly surprised however when I took my first bite and was hit by SO much cheesy, salty, creamy flavor, and was glad the sandwich not only held up to the sauce, but still had a bit of crust to it.  The sauce does soften the tops a little, but you still have your bottom crust and the sides, and as long as you make sure to get a nice crisp golden crust when you are making the sandwiches you will be good to go.

This was another one of those recipes that needed a bit of converting, and I hadn’t realized how much cheese I would be using when I put it on my menu plan.  So I would definitely say this is not “diet” food, but for those days you want to reward yourself for your efforts and indulge a little this is the thing to try!  It’s very simple to make, with the only touchy part being the bechamel sauce.  My advice is just to have your ingredients measured out and sitting next to you so you can give full attention to  your sauce the entire time and not be running around your kitchen trying to keep up.  Furthermore I made my sandwiches first and set them aside and THEN tackled the sauce so I wouldn’t get distracted.  I am a good cook, but I am not the world’s best multitasker in the kitchen lol.  I get a little frazzled at times.  Anyway, when making the bechamel you really don’t want to turn the heat up too high…. the recipe says medium heat and I went with a medium-low on mine.  Melt your butter, add the garlic until it’s just fragrant, and then when you add your flour watch is closely, and keep it moving.  You don’t want the flour to burn and it will quickly if you aren’t careful.  Then when it’s time to add the milk you want to pour slowly (like a drizzle) and whisk the entire time you are pouring to avoid lumps and then keep whisking the entire cook time so it doesn’t clump or stick/burn.  It sounds  harder than it is, but as long as you go at it with this knowledge and stay focused it will turn out perfectly creamy and thick.

My gruyere didn’t want to slice very well, so I ended up grating it all.  I then put some on both sides of the bread and sandwiched the ham in between.  When I put it on top and broiled them at the end I ended up with a lot of grease (I may have put a little too much) so I just took a paper towel and dabbed the excess grease off and put them back under for a while to start to brown the cheese slightly.  Now for the conversion…. I don’t know why but I was having a heck of a time to figuring it out, so I just bought an 8oz block of gruyere and used most of it, and eyeballed everything.  I didn’t even bother measuring the ham and just used about 5-6 slices per sandwich.  For the bread I used a nice large sourdough loaf already cut into slices from the store and used the middle (largest) slices.  Finally the recipe called for shichimi togarashi at the end (listed as optional) and I assumed it was some sort of hot sauce or spice but had no idea so I left it off, so I can’t comment on that addition.

 

Serves : 2                

Ingredients :

• 2 T. butter
• 2 T. all purpose flour
• 1 C. skim milk
• pinch of nutmeg
• 1 bay leaf ( I only now realize I forgot this entirely, but I guess it wasn’t necessary for a good result)
• 1 garlic clove, grated
• 4 slices firm white sandwich bread
• 100 g. sliced gruyere (I used about 4oz. grated)
• 100 g. thinly sliced ham of your choice (I used about 10-12 slices)
• 1 T. melted butter
• 1/4 cup grated gruyere cheese
• 2 tsp. chopped fresh chives
• Dash of shichimi togarashi (optional)

Directions :

1. Assemble sandwiches with half the sliced gruyere (or in my case grated) and ham each and brush with melted butter (I actually used spray butter).  Heat a non-stick large skillet over medium-high heat and cook sandwiches until deep golden on both sides.  Set on a baking sheet and start your sauce.
2. In a small saucepan melt butter over medium heat (see notes above).  Add in your garlic and stir around until fragrant.  Add flour and stir to work out any clumps, watching closely so it doesn’t burn for about a minute.  Slowly pour in milk whisking the entire time to avoid clumping.  Once all the milk is in stir in nutmeg and add your bay leaf.  Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil.  Continue whisking the entire time, and allow sauce to thicken; about 2 minutes.  Remove from heat, remove bay leaf and season with salt and pepper.
3. Heat broiler.  Spoon sauce over tops of sandwiches and top with remaining 1/4 cup of cheese.  Place under broiler and allow cheese to melt and start to brown a little.  Serve with chopped chives and shichimi togarashi on top.

Recipe from sushi bytes

 

 

Healthy Sweet & Sour Fish

I don’t know about you, but when I am browsing for new recipes and I see the word HEALTHY in the title I automatically pay attention.  Of course, sometimes upon further investigation of the recipe I decide it’s either just not for me, or not nearly as healthy as it claims, but lucky for me I decided to give this one a try.  I honestly don’t even care if it’s healthy or not because it was just so good!

It has all the elements of a nice Hawaiian type sweet and sour with the vinegar, peppers, pineapple, etc, but then you get the kick from the chili sauce and this just takes on a whole new level of goodness.  I really liked the use of fish in this rather than something like chicken, which I would typically do.  It was so soft and flaky and the flavor was perfect.  You just have to be a little more careful in the cooking process so as not to break up the fish too much.  Besides being full of flavor, this dish has a lot of color and would be sure to impress at your next dinner party.

This dish does take a little longer to prepare, but it’s worth the extra effort, and having everything prepped and ready to go from the start really makes things go smoothly.  The recipe says to serve over rice, but you’ll probably notice I just mixed it all together in the picture.  I was just saving myself the hassle and mess of trying to do it later on my plate lol.

Serves : 8          Time to make : 40 minutes

Ingredients :

• 2 lbs. tilapia
• 2 T. olive oil, divided
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne
• salt and pepper
• 2 yellow onions
• 2 each,  red/yellow/green bell peppers
• 2-3 cups fresh pineapple
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup pineapple juice
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup sweet chili garlic sauce, or more to taste
• 2 T. + 1 tsp. cornstarch
• cooked brown rice
• sesame seeds

Directions :

1. Fish: Cut the fish into bite-sized pieces and mince 1 onion. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the onion and saute for 1 minute. Add the fish and sprinkle with cumin, cayenne, salt and pepper to taste. Cook, flipping occasionally and draining any excess liquid, for 5-10 minutes or until the pieces are golden brown on the outside and white all the way through. Set aside.  (Be careful with the fish to avoid breaking it up too much)
2. Vegetables: Chop the bell peppers and 1 onion into bite-sized pieces. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet and saute the peppers and onions for 5-10 minutes, until golden brown on the outside and tender-crisp. Chop the pineapple into bite-sized pieces and add to the pan, cooking for another few minutes. Set aside.
3. Sauce: Combine the vinegar, ketchup, sugar, salt, pineapple juice, orange juice, and sweet chili garlic sauce in a large skillet over medium low heat. Simmer for 10 minutes. Whisk the cornstarch into a few tablespoons of water until smooth. Add to the sauce in the skillet and bring to a low boil. Cook for a few more minutes until the sauce is thickened.
4. Combine the fish, vegetables, and sauce (you might not want all of it – just eyeball whatever looks good) in a large pan or bowl. Serve over brown rice and sprinkle with sesame seeds. I liked mine with extra sweet chili garlic sauce.

Recipe from pinch of yum

Slow Cooker Beef & Mushroom Stroganoff

Everyone has their own idea of comfort food, but this is definitely one of them for me.  It reminds me so much of something my mom used to make, though her’s was done with venison, and a thicker gravy.  I don’t have her recipes unfortunately, so this is a good substitute for now.  As with most crock pot dishes, this is very quick to put together and once that is done you don’t have to do much.  Just give it a stir once in a while to keep things mixed and heated evenly, but also just so you can sneak a good smell and taste once in a while lol.  Then at the end, you just stir in some cream cheese and serve it over whatever pasta you like.  I used orecchiette because I knew it would hold the sauce well and pick up easily with a fork.

Beef and mushrooms have that classic earthy taste that is so good, and in this they are only made better by the addition of the onions, Worcestershire and golden mushroom soup.  Then at the end the addition of the cream cheese really just brings it all together leaving you with a nice thick creamy sauce.

 

Serves : 4             Time to make : 6.5 hours

Ingredients :

• 1 lb. cubed beef stew meat
• 1 (10.75 oz) can Condensed Golden Mushroom Soup
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 8 oz mushrooms, sliced (I used crimini)
• 2 T. Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 C. water
• 4 oz. cream cheese (I used fat free)
• Pasta of choice (I made about 12oz Orecchiette)

Directions :

1. Combine the first six ingredients into your crock pot and cook on low heat for 6 hours.
2. Make your when time is just about up, and just before serving stir in the cream cheese until melted.  Serve over pasta.

Recipe from Dreaming All Day