So I haven’t had a chance to post, basically since I went back to work 3 months ago!! Full time (or more usually) job outside of the home, a 3 year old and 6 month old twins keep my too busy 🙂
Over the holidays I will find some time to post a longer blog (I have 2 weeks off!), but for now, I’ll just tell you about the amazing chicken recipe I found tonight. I used the allrecipes.com spinner app on my iPhone for the first time and found this recipe for Garlic Chicken.
It was amazing! No overpowering garlic taste at all. Just delicious! I used panko instead of regular bread crumbs and that was my only substitution! Very rare. I usually change it up more 🙂 I served it with mashed potatoes ( about 2 lbs of diced yukon golds, boil in water until soft. Mix in KitchenAid mixer with about 3 tablespoons of butter, 4 tablespoons of cream cheese, 1/4 cup of milk, salt and pepper to taste) and frozen peas (microwaved with a little water for 2 minutes). Easy dinner.
I have had so many other blogs go through my head, that when I have a chance to quiet my brain, I will hopefully find time to type them out!
I made my own pastry dough the other day. It was so much easier than I thought it would be. Here is the recipe I used from Gourmet. I made a chicken pot pie with it. I used leftover chicken from a roast chicken I had made a couple days earlier and added it to a mixture of cream of chicken soup (I buy the low sodium, low fat), 1 cup of chicken broth, a handful of frozen petite onions (you could use 1/2 of a medium size white onion) and about 2 handfuls of frozen mixed vegetables (you can use whatever you have on hand, frozen or not). To flavor the mixture I added a dash of balsamic vinegar, dash of Worcestershire sauce, pepper, and a couple of sprigs of thyme and let it cook down.
Then I rolled out 1/2 of the pastry dough and placed it in the bottom of the pie plate. Then filled the pie plate with the chicken mixture and cover with the rest of the dough, pressing the edges to seal. Then I brushed it with a beaten egg (actually egg substitute because that is what I had in the fridge) and then made a couple of holes for the steam to escape. I baked it for about 45 minutes at 400 degrees (adjust based on your oven) until the crust was a golden brown. What a treat on a cold day. Karina liked it too.
Mac-n-cheese update and recipe:
I unfortunately didn’t even get a call from the Tillamook people about my mac-n-cheese recipe. I’m not too surprised though, I’ve made some much better ones since then (I sent them only my 3rd try). Here is the basic recipe I’ve tweaked and then I’ll write some additions at the bottom:
16 oz – dried campanelle pasta (you can use any time of noodles that you like)
¼ cup – unsalted butter
¼ cup – all purpose flour
2 ½ cups– fat free half and half (or any kind of milk you like)
¼ tsp – onion powder
½ tsp – ground coriander
1 1/2 – tsp – chili powder
1/4 tsp – cumin
1 Tbsp – yellow mustard powder
1 pinch – nutmeg
1 tsp – minced fresh garlic
¼ cup – minced shallots (you can use onions as well or just add more onion powder)
1/8 tsp– ground black pepper
1/2 tsp – kosher salt (separated)
zest of 1/2 a lime
3/4 cup – canned pureed pumpkin (or 1 large sweet potato that has been baked and then mashed without the skin)
8 oz – cream cheese (room temperature + cut into cubes) (I use neufchatel cream cheese that is lower in fat but still tastes good)
2 1/2 cups – cheddar cheese shredded (you could also use colby jack or any mixture of cheeses you like)1/2 cups – mozzarellacheese shredded
3 Tbsp – plain bread crumbs
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large pot bring water for pasta to a boil. Add pasta to boiling water and cook according to directions on package. Cook to the minimum time given on the package so that the noodles are al dente. Pour the noodles into a colander and drain. Set aside.
In a large deep sauce pan melt the butter over medium high heat. Once melted add the flour and whisk together. Keep whisking for about 3 minutes. Slowly add in the fat free half and half (or milk), about a ¼ cup at a time. Keep whisking and add in onion powder, coriander, chili powder, cumin, mustard powder, nutmeg, garlic, shallots, pepper, lime zest and 1/4 tsp of salt. Whisk continually for about 5 minutes.Then mix in the pumpkin.Once the pumpkin is mixed in, turn burner down to simmer. Add cream cheese and whisk until incorporated and sauce is smooth. Take the pan off of the heat and stir in the shredded cheeses. Whisk until cheeses are melted and sauce is smooth (only lumps should be the shallots).
Once sauce is smooth, taste for more salt and add the remaining ¼ tsp if needed.Pour in cooked pasta and stir.If your saucepan can go into the oven, smooth out top of casserole and sprinkle the breadcrumbs on top. If it cannot, pour into casserole dish and then sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes. Let stand 5-10 minutes before serving.
50 minutes to prep
20-25 minutes to cook in oven
Serves 8 people.
For some additional toppings you could caramelize onions and sprinkle them over the top before baking and then put the breadcrumbs over the onions. If you like bacon, you can cook about 4 slices of bacon (I used turkey, you can use any kind you want) in a saute pan until crispy. After you remove the bacon from the pan, add about 1 Tbsp of butter and then caramelize the onions in the butter and bacon with some thyme. Add the onions to the top of the mac-n-cheese and then crumble bacon over as well. This was amazing!
I know it seems like a long list of dry spices to include, but this is just the best mixture I’ve found. It still tastes great without the lime or if you don’t have coriander or nutmeg, it’s ok to leave them out or use your own favorite mixture of spices.
Limiting myself trips to the grocery store is really helping our budget and my creativity 🙂 Life still happens when you’re on a budget however and I love to play hostess, so when we had a couple of evenings in one week where I was hosting a group of people for dinner, it was a challenge to stay in budget and still make good food, but I think I pulled it off! I based my menu around what was on sale.
One night I had the girls from my book club over and we wanted to enjoy the backyard, so I made grilled pizzas. I bought a veggie tray from Trader Joe’s as the appetizer so the girls could nibble while I grilled the pizzas. Here is the link to my blog about how to grill a pizza. First pizza was a caesar salad pizza, with chicken (marinated in caesar dressing and cooked in advance). Dough is topped with a thin layer of caesar dressing, light covering of mozzarella + chicken while on the grill. When you take it off of the grill, add the caesar salad and some shredded parmesan. Second pizza was a traditional magherita with fresh mozzarella tomatoes and basil. Third pizza was a caramelized onion and goat cheese pizza. Dough was topped with caramelized onions (made in advance) and goat cheese. This was the favorite!
Dessert was simple. 1 package sugar free white chocolate pudding, 1 package sugar free chocolate fudge pudding, chocolate chips, and sliced strawberries. Just layer ingredients and you have a trifle!
Another night we had a friends from PEPS over. I made a quinoa salad (thanks Jodi for the idea!!)and baked lemon chicken. I also was feeling very domestic and made oatmeal white chocolate chip craisin cookies. Cook the quinoa like you would rice. I used chicken stock in stead of water (you could also use veggie stock or water). Let the quinoa cool and prepare a vinagrette or use a salad dressing you like and have on hand and pour over quinoa (once cool). I used Paul Newman’s olive oil vinagrette and mixed in some pepper and lemon juice. Then add whatever you usually add to pasta salad. I used cubed colby jack, roasted zucchini and diced tomatoes. Chill and serve. [Another twist on pasta salad can be found at Family friendly food, a blog I follow.]
Baked Lemon chicken is something I have made for years and varies depending on what I have on hand. I cut the boneless chicken breasts into smaller pieces so they would cook faster and marinated them in lemon juice, white balsamic vinegar, thyme, salt, pepper, lemon zest and honey. Put the chicken into a baking pan, drizzle with honey, cover with foil and bake for 10 minutes in a 400 degree oven. Then take the foil off and bake for another 30-45 minutes (depending on size of chicken pieces).
Some weekend mornings I actually have the urge to make a big breakfast. I really wanted eggs benedict but have never made hollandaise sauce and didn’t have the time or energy to look it up at 8:30 in the morning (it was my morning to sleep in. Tim and I switch off each weekend day). I decided to make a cheese sauce (which I just learned from all of my mac n cheese experiments). I made a lighter cheese sauce (2 Tbsp butter, 2 Tbsp flour, 1 ½ – 2 cups of milk, 3-4 sprigs thyme, salt, pepper, yellow mustard powder, garlic powder, onion powder and 1 ½ cups skim mozzarella) and put that over the poached egg and tomatoes (diced and mixed with garlic, basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar) on wheat toast. It was soooo good. I had enough cheese sauce leftover that I boiled some water while we were eating our breakfast and made pasta, mixed pureed pumpkin in with the cheese sauce, poured the cheese sauce over the pasta and baked it for 20 minutes. We spent the morning at home and then after Karina’s nap were able to go out for the rest of the afternoon and enjoy ourselves. We came home just before dinner. I reheated the mac-n-cheese and dinner was served in 10 minutes!
Luckily these meals provided leftovers again for lunch and dinners on the nights in between when I didn’t cook. Making cooking easier by giving yourself nights off is important. Those nights off don’t have to be about takeout (unless you want them to be). If you are trying to save money, make enough of one dish to have leftovers. If you don’t want to eat the same thing all week, freeze the food and then you can take different items out of the freezer and reheat on nights you don’t want to cook. But, like I have said from the beginning with this blog, everything in moderation. Not everyone is organized to cook every night and have freezer foods on hand, etc all the time. I know I’m not. Don’t beat yourself up about ordering pizza or going through the drivethru every once in a while. Taking the time to read this blog and other cooking sites shows you care about what you and your kids eat, even if you just think about trying the recipes. It’s the thought that counts J On that rogue day that you have some time and are in the mood to cook, you have an arsenal of recipes and methods in this blog, cookbooks (and more cookbooks)I mentioned and just by Googling. (Yes I think that is a verb now).
Happy cooking! Coming up…hopefully some recipes with food from my garden. My zucchini is not looking happy…
Sorry there are no pictures this week. The hard drive of our laptop died and our photos are on it! Luckily the Geeksquad was able to retrieve the info, but the computer I am working on now doesn’t have a dvd drive to read the info. Couple more weeks and the computer will be back and pictures of my garden will be up!
So I decided to try something new recently. Goat. I had seen it a couple of times at the Ballard Sunday Farmer’s Market and finally convinced my husband that we should buy some. So I bought a pound of stew meat. I looked online for some recipes. Most of the ones that sounded really interesting involved peanut butter or something else that I figured was probably not a good idea to give Karina (yet! only one more month and she’ll be a year old!) and I really wanted her to try the goat 🙂
I ended up cooking it in the crock pot when I worked from home one day last week. I just put some salt, pepper and coriander on the goat meat, cut up some potatoes and yellow zucchini squash (from Tim’s boss’ garden), and added about a cup and a half of liquid (beef stock, balsamic vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce) to the pot. After 3 and a 1/2 hours on high, it was done! Karina loved it! She usually goes for the squash first, but this time ate all the goat meat, then the squash and then the potatoes. I guess I’ll have to make it again 🙂
Tonight she really enjoyed some roasted cherry tomatoes from Pike’s Market. I just roasted them in the oven with a little olive oil, salt and pepper (about 8-10 min for a pint of tomatoes). She ate those before the chicken and potatoes. (Chicken: olive oil, salt, lemon pepper, rosemary and thyme – seared in the pan and then cooked in the oven for 8-10 min + leftover mashed potatoes from when I made shepard’s pie earlier this week).
Last week I made homemade mac-n-cheese for the first time. It is intensive, but was worth it. I also roasted a spaghetti squash. I had a friend over with her two kids (6 and 2 years old). Her new mealtime habit is to put her hands in her hair 🙂 We taught her to put her hands in the air when you ask her how big she is…since she gets such a great response from that, she likes to do it when her hands are covered in food and really work the food into the back of her hair 🙂 Needless to say she has been getting many more baths this week.
Recipes:
My Shepards Pie: For the mashed potatoes: I usually use yukon gold potatoes. Stick them with a fork and cook in the microwave on top of a papertowel. When they are cooked, I thrown them into my Kitchen Aid Mixer, with salt, pepper, milk, butter, neufchatel cream cheese and then turn it on.
For the meat, I tend to use ground turkey. I don’t tend to plan ahead enough to have defrosted turkey ready when I want to cook, so I cook it straight the freezer. First, I saute some onions, garlic and herbs (coriander, sage and pepper) in a skillet (with a cover). Second, I put the frozen turkey straight into the skillet and put the cover on. A few minutes later, I use a wooden spatula to scrape some of the defrosted turkey off the top, turn the turkey over, scrape the cooked turkey off the bottom and repeat until all the turkey is cooked. Then add some salt and other herbs to taste. Third, I put a little sour cream (or cottage cheese and a little milk, if no sour cream). If I don’t have any dairy or don’t want it, just leave this step out. You can also add a can of peas or other veggies if you have them on hand. Fourth, layer the baking pan (I use a pampered chef stoneware deep dish pie plate or lasagne pan), turkey and then potatoes, and repeat. On the top layer of potatoes sprinkle a little paprika and then cook at about 375 for 30-45 min.
Classic Macaroni and Cheese
***Bread Crumb Topping*** [Instead of making this, I used plain store bought breadcrumbs]
6 slices white sandwich bread (good-quality), torn into rough pieces
3 tablespoons unsalted butter (cold) — cut into 6 pieces
***Pasta and Cheese***
1 pound elbow macaroni [I used whole wheat rotini]
1 tablespoon table salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon powdered mustard
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional) [I left out the cayenne]
5 cups milk (see note)
8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese — shredded [I used havarti instead]
8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese — shredded
1 teaspoon table salt
Directions:
For the bread crumbs: Pulse bread and butter in food processor until crumbs are no larger than 1/8 inch, ten to fifteen 1-second pulses. Set aside.
For the pasta and cheese: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat broiler. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in Dutch oven over high heat. Add macaroni and 1 tablespoon salt; cook until pasta is tender. Drain pasta and set aside in colander.
In now-empty Dutch oven, heat butter over medium-high heat until foaming. Add flour, mustard, and cayenne (if using) and whisk well to combine. Continue whisking until mixture becomes fragrant and deepens in color, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk; bring mixture to boil, whisking constantly (mixture must reach full boil to fully thicken). Reduce heat to medium and simmer, whisking occasionally, until thickened to consistency of heavy cream, about 5 minutes. Off heat, whisk in cheeses and 1 teaspoon salt until cheeses are fully melted. Add pasta and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is steaming and heated through, about 6 minutes.
Transfer mixture to broiler-safe 9-by 13-inch baking dish and sprinkle evenly with bread crumbs. Broil until crumbs are deep golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes, rotating pan if necessary for even browning. Cool about 5 minutes, then serve.
Recipe Notes It’s crucial to cook the pasta until tender–just past the “al dente” stage. In fact, overcooking is better than undercooking the pasta. Whole, low-fat, and skim milk all work well in this recipe. The recipe can be halved and baked in an 8-inch-square, broilersafe baking dish. If desired, offer celery salt or hot sauce (such as Tabasco) for sprinkling at the table.
This recipe from CDKitchen for Classic Macaroni And Cheese serves/makes 8
Cut the squash in half + removed seeds. Place cut side down in dish. (I used a lasagna dish). Cover the bottom of the dish with water. Bake at 400 for 45 minutes (time depends on size of squash). Once soft, use a fork to take the squash out of the rind in spaghetti strands. Mix in a tablespoon or two of butter (to your taste). Add salt, pepper, a sprinkling of fresh herbs [I used sage] and serve.
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