Moving…Again

Well, as it turns out, I did not like blogging at Today.com.  I much prefer the WordPress dashboard and find, in general, that I like the atmosphere here better.  So I’m returning to wordpress–but at a different blog since, of course, I’m never happy unless I’m tinkering with something new.  I liked the name I came up with for the Today.com cooking blog, and I still ultimately hope to write a weekly serial featuring my food loving heroine Lorelei McIllhenney.  So come visit me over at the new Pots and Plots at http://potsandplots.wordpress.com.  Thanks for visiting.

Crock Pot Tomato Soup

I’ve been getting into the crock pot lately. That whole fix it and forget it quality is a wonderful thing. As fall is finally arriving, I’m starting to get in the mood for soup, so I devised this simple tomato soup.

Ingredients:

• 2 28 oz cans of whole tomatoes in juice
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 Tbsps granulated white sugar
• 4 Tbsp beef stock (or in my case, leftover drippings from the pot roast I made last night, also in the crock pot)
• 4 oz. fat free cream cheese, cut into 1/2 ” chunks

Directions:

1. Add both cans of tomatoes, the onion, stock, and sugar to crock pot. Cook on low for 6 hours.
2. Using an immersion blender, carefully break up whatever is left of the tomatoes and blend until smooth.
3. Add the cream cheese and repeat blending process until creamy.
4. Garnish with fresh basil or thyme and a sprinkle of fresh grated parmesean cheese.
5. Fabulous with grilled cheese sandwiches or on it’s own.

The entire pot (which makes about 6 cups of soup, I think) is 705 calories and half a gram of fat. I think it works out to around 117.5 calories per 1 cup serving.

Chicken Loaf

It’s kind of an uninspiring title isn’t it?  This dish is an adaptation of my college friend Lauren’s mom’s casserole (yes, called Chicken Loaf), which was always a huge favorite when we went home on weekends.  I suppose it’s supposed to be a chicken version of meat loaf?  It’s a fantastic dish for all those “well what can I do with that?” ingredients.  For example, my mother gave me 4 cans of chicken.  Canned chicken is not a staple in our house, and other than a quick chicken salad, there’s not much else I’ve ever done with it.  But we needed a quick prep dinner that could cook unattended tonight while we raced the sun to finish mowing the lawn (didn’t make it) before dark.  As I also had leftover brown rice, homemade chicken stock,  and a huge bag of homemade breadcrumbs in the pantry, this was a perfect fit. It can also be made ahead of time and frozen.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked, diced chicken (I used 2 cans of chicken for this recipe, though this is fantastic with leftover rotisserie or roast chicken)
• 2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
• 1 cup cooked brown rice
• 3 cups broth (reserve 1 for gravy)
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup (1/2 is intended for gravy, but I missed the small print on the post it note where I had the recipe written and used the whole thing–it didn’t hurt a thing, except that I added another half cup of breadcrumbs)
• 3 eggs well-beaten

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Beat eggs and mix with all wet ingredients.
3. Add chicken and rice.  Mix well
4. Add breadcrumbs.  Mix well.  It will be kind of soupy.
5. Pour into a 2 quart casserole dish or 9×13 pan for 45-50 minutes.

Variations:

In the past I have added some other veggies to this casserole, primarily diced crimini mushrooms, but you could take a sort of tuna casserole approach and add diced celery, peas, carrots, and/or scallions if you wanted to get your veggies in one dish.  I tend to prefer this as is, with a side veggie like green beans.  You might also add 1/2 cup of low fat sour cream for a richer flavor.

Whole Grain Banana Bread

We always have good intentions in our house of actually eating the bananas as…well bananas.  But more often than not, we wind up letting them get brown and mushy–absolutely perfect for banana bread.  This is an adaptation of the classic Better Homes and Gardens recipe for Banana Bread.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup milled flax
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 3 tsps baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 eggs beaten
• 2 cups mashed bananas (about 6 medium)
• 1 1/2 cup Splenda
• 1/2 cup applesauce

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray the bottom and sides of a large loaf pan (I think mine is like 9×6x3 or so)
3. In a large bowl combine flour, flax, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  Make a well in the center and set aside.
4. In another bowl, combine the egg, ananas, Splenda, and applesauce.
5. Add wet mixture all at once to the dry.
6. Stir until just moistened (batter will be lumpy)
7. Spoon batter into prepared pan.   Bake at 350 for 55 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.
8. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Remove loaf from pan and col on rack.  The cookbook says to wrap and store overnight before slicing but that absolutely never happens in this house.

Philly Cheese Steak Calzones

Still on the “what to do with leftover pizza dough” kick.  As Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes a la Rachael Ray are a huge favorite in our house, but we were out of rolls, I decided to try the filling as calzones.  This was a supurb inspiration–all the tasty of the philly cheese steak sloppy joes, with none (or less) of the mess (the original recipe has a habit of falling off the bun).  There’s no pic because, hey, calzones all pretty much look like calzones regardless of what’s in them.

Ingredients:

• Pizza dough

Filling:

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 1 pound extra-lean ground sirloin or ground all-white-meat chicken
• 1 softball-size onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup steak sauce
• 1 cup beef stock
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup provolone cheese, shredded

Directions:

In large skillet over medium-high heat with one turn of the pan of EVOO, brown the ground meat, about 5-6 minutes. Add the onion and cook for another 3-4 minutes, until the onion starts to get tender. Stir in the steak sauce and beef stock, season with salt and pepper, bring up to a bubble and cook for about 2 minutes.

Split open the rolls and toast them under the broiler, keeping an eye on them so that they don’t burn!

While the meat is cooking, melt the butter in a medium size skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the flour and cook for about 1 minute. Whisk in the milk, then bring up to a bubble and let thicken, about 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the cheese in a figure-eight motion until it is all incorporated.

Roll your dough out as large as desired (for these I made them about 8 inches square-ish).  Scoop meat mixture onto one side, top with cheese sauce.  Fold the dough over and pinch closed.  Bake at 425 for 18 minutes.  Enjoy!

7 Layer Dip

One of our good friends has his 30th birthday coming up (well actually, it was yesterday, but the party is tomorrow), and his wife has requested my 7 layer dip.  I took this to the New Year’s party, where it disappeared in about fifteen minutes.  I can’t claim it as my original recipe.  My boss’s partner Cindy passed this recipe on to me after I begged for it following one of their parties (where it also disappeared with great rapidity).

Ingredients:

• 1 pt sour cream (I use light)
• 1/2 pack taco seasoning
• 1 can black beans
• black olives
• green onions
• shredded cheddar cheese
• 3 haas avocados
• your favorite salsa
• lemon juice
• cumin
• cilantro
• lettuce

Instructions:

1. Puree the black beans (drained) with cilantro and cumin to taste (1/2 tsp each?).  Layer on bottom of dish.
2. For fresh guacamole pit and dice three avocados, add 1/3 to 1/2 cup of your favorite salsa, a splash of lemon juice, a pinch of salt and cilantro.  Mash well.  Layer over bean puree.
3. Mix 1/2 pack of taco seasoning with the pint of sour cream.  Layer over guacamole.
4. Layer shredded lettuce, then green onions, then 1 small can of drained, sliced black olives, and top off with a healthy layer of shredded cheddar (I find medium works best).

Serve with tortilla chips.

Cinnamon Nuggets

We made calzones the other night and I’ve got an enormous amount of pizza dough left over.  I wasn’t planning on making more pizza, and I haven’t really been in the mood to make homemade hot pockets, so today I decided to try making homemade cinna-stix.  Or nuggets rather.

Ingredients

• pizza dough
• splenda
• cinnamon
• buttery spray (I like Parkay)

Directions

1. Take your pizza dough (however much you’ve got left) and roll out into a log shape.
2. Cut your nuggets (should be about 1″ around)
3. Spray each nugget with buttery spray, flip, repeat.
4. Mix Splenda and cinnamon (however strong you like) in a ziplock baggie.
5. Toss nuggets in the baggie about two at a time and shake until coated.
6. Lay them out on a baking sheet or pizza stone and bake at 400 degrees for 13 minutes.
7. Enjoy!

Pita Pizzas Revisited

A few months ago, I tried an experiment with pita pizzas.  They weren’t bad, but they didn’t come anywhere near to satisfying a craving for REAL pizza.  So I’ve been exploring some methods of making them a little more like the real deal.  One method that was frequently mentioned on various food blogs I frequent is doing them on the grill.  So we tried this one last night.  The first batch came out hideously charred and practically inedible–but that’s largely because I had a total brain fart and got them all topped before I realized I’d forgotten to put on the sauce.  Duh.  So I tried this method again today for lunch (tres rapide!) and it turned out better.

1. Preheat grill on high, then turn down to low.  [The website I read said turn to medium low, but that's part of how mine got charred, so I say go with low].
2. Brush both sides of pita with olive oil and sprinkle with Italian seasoning.
3. Some recipes I read recommend grilling one side of the pita for a couple minutes first, then flipping over to build the pizza, but  I found it best to build your pizza before it goes on the grill (so you don’t forget important things like sauce). It’s possible that they meant grill it a couple minutes and then take it OFF the grill to build (which is another reason my first batch got charred), but for those of us without much of a brain at the end of the workday, these things should be spelled out!
4. Top with anything you like–some form of sauce or spread (might be an excellent use of leftover bruschetta topping–hmmm, must remember to try that), any meats or veggies you want (meat toppings should be precooked, as these won’t be on the grill long enough to cook raw meat all the way through), then add cheese.
5. Slide pizzas on the grill (again, to avoid charring, I turn the burner underneath the pizza off–hence I normally cook over the center and use the two side burners of my 3 burner gas grill).
6. Check after 5 minutes.  Depending on how many you’re making, they should be done in 5-6 minutes.

The first time you do this, you probably want to check it sooner than 5 minutes since all grills cook a little differently.  Adjust your cooking time accordingly.

These make great quick lunches, appetizers, or personal pan pizzas for all the picky eaters in the family.

Shepherd’s Pie

This is another one of those dishes that’s great to make ahead and freeze. I’m doing a bunch of cooking this weekend to try to make next week easier on me (as work is going to be insane).
Ingredients:

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 ribs of celery, diced
• 1 medium zucchini, grated or diced
• 1-2 carrots, peeled and diced (or 1/2 to 3/4 cup of frozen crinkle cut carrots)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 can of 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup
• 3 wedges of Laughing Cow garlic and herb cheese
• 1/2 cup petite English peas
• 1 cup chopped portobello mushrooms
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp dried parsley
• ground pepper and salt to taste
• the kitchen sink (not really but any other veggies you like really)

Directions:

1. Brown and drain ground beef.
2. Using either the leftover drippings from the beef or olive oil, sautee the vegetables (except the peas and mushrooms) along with all spices until onion is slightly translucent.
3. In a large bowl, add mushroom soup, mushrooms, peas, and 3 wedges of Laughing Cow or other garlic and herb cheese spread. Mix well.
4. Add ground beef and sauteed veggies. Mix well.
5. Pour into large casserole dish.
6. Add mashed potato topping (see below).
7. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Cook’s note: If freezing, allow to thaw before baking (pull it out of the freezer and throw it in the fridge over night). You can freeze it with the mashed potato topping, but I find it works better to make the potatoes fresh and add them when you get ready to cook.

Mashed Potato Topping:*

• 4-5 small russet or other potatoes
• 2 wedges laughing cow garlic and herb cheese
• half and half (Fat Free by Land O’Lakes is what I prefer)
• 1 Tbsp margarine
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Scrub potatoes clean and add to pot. DO NOT DICE! I know, it takes a lot longer (like an hour), but it’s part of my secret to making creamy potatoes.
2. Boil for an hour.
3. Drain. Peel if you wish, but I prefer to eat the peels.
4. Add salt, pepper, garlic and herb cheese, and margarine, and mash well.
5. Add half an half in small splashes, mixing well until you reach the desired consistency.

* Can also be used as a recipe for plain old mashed potatoes.

Homemade Tortilla Chips

I know, I know…it’s been ages since I updated.  It’s not that I haven’t been cooking–I just haven’t made anything new or interesting enough that I felt it merited posting about it!

But I made a happy discovery recently.  Sometime last year, I got into the notion of buying corn tortillas (one of those packs of 100 for like $4) and making my own chips–because  I could both control the level of fat and it’s a WHOLE LOT cheaper!  I tried several methods and recipes with varying levels of success and then just stopped trying.  I kept having chips come out either too hard, or a little chewy, or overdone.  And I really just got annoyed at having to flip them halfway through so that they cooked evenly.

Then it occurred to me that if I applied the same method I use for my oven fries (and I should post those here too, as they are a family favorite), I probably wouldn’t have to turn them.  So I took out my big baking sheet and layered the whole thing with my wire cooling racks, baking the chips so they were suspended.  And voila! Perfect chips!  They come out crispy and firm (think Tostitos Gold) and GREAT for dips.

Ingredients:

• 8″ corn tortillas
• cooking spray
• kosher salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Spray one side of each tortilla and stack up (I usually do 5 at a time, as that’s all that will fit on my baking sheet).
3. Take a knife or pizza cutter and slice the stack into quarters or sixths.
4. Lay out the chips, sprayed side down on the cooling racks on your baking sheet.
5. Spray the top with cooking spray.
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes (will vary from oven to oven, but they should come out golden brown around the edges).
7. Layout on a kitchen towel or paper towels to cool and sprinkle with salt or other spices as preferred.