Chicken Tortilla Soup

I made chicken tortilla soup in the crockpot (from A Year of Crockpotting) yesterday. YUM! This was fantastic! Definitely one of the better (if not the best) chicken tortilla soups I've had. Kevin and I both loved it. I made a huge batch - enough for leftovers, lunch, and some for the freezer. I'll definitely make this again.

I'll update later with a picture.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

3 cups of chicken broth, homemade or packaged (I used my homemade stock and probably about 4 cups)
1 1/2 cups cooked chicken (I used leftover roasted chicken that I had in the freezer and used about 3 cups)
1/2 onion (I used a whole medium onion)
1 cup frozen roasted corn (I threw in a whole bag)
2 green onions (left these out since I didn't have them)
28 oz can of tomatoes and juice (I used petite diced)
1 cup chopped up vegetables that you have on hand (I used celery, green pepper, carrots)
4 cloves of garlic
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (I left this out)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I used about 3/4 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon cumin (I added more than this... probably about 2 1/2 teaspoons)
salt to taste (I left this out)
(I also added 12 ounces vegetable juice (like V-8) and 1 can drained and rinsed black beans)

Chop all veggies into fine chunks. Dump everything into the crockpot. It's okay if you have frozen stuff. Totally okay to assemble the night before.

Cook on low for 8-10 hours, or high for 6 or so. (Mine cooked for about 11 hours on low)

Before serving, add whatever garnish you choose. We used some broken up tortilla chips, reduced fat sour cream, and 2% milk mexican blend shredded cheese.

Meal Plans

I'm doing my meal plans post a little early this week. It'll be a busy day tomorrow, so I figured I'd get it out of the way. Tomorrow is my sister's 18th birthday and we're having her family party at my parents' house tomorrow afternoon. Plus, we'll be preparing for a full week at work next week... its going to be rough for me... it'll be my first full week at work in 6 weeks now. :Sigh: I haven't really made definite decisions about what we'll eat this week, but here's an idea of what I'm thinking right now.

Sunday ~ family party, I believe we're having tacos and nachos
Monday ~ leftover pigs, baked potatoes, corn
Tuesday ~ ultimate ham 'n cheese sammies as long as my bread is still ok and since we didn't do them last week (ended up eating leftovers to clear out the fridge before Thanksgiving) chicken spinach cheese ravioli with tomato basil ricotta sauce, green beans
Wednesday ~ some kind of soup... minestrone or chicken tortilla or chicken and black bean leftovers
Thursday ~ it'll be a long day (I'll be in Windsor, Ontario all day for meetings) so probably just leftover soup chicken tortilla soup in the crockpot
Friday ~ lobster ravioli and green beans
Saturday ~ not quite sure yet, depends on what our plans entail... but possibly crockpot chicken cordon bleu

As far as extras this week, I'll be working on finishing up using all of the sweet potatoes (yes, I still have a ton of them left... ok probably more like 15-18 very big sweet potatoes). Probably just par-boiling them and freezing them in chunks and fries. I do want to try freezing some thin slices, too, so that I can do home-baked sweet potato chips sometime. I also have a few more apples to use... I'm not sure what I'll do with them yet, but I've got to figure something out this week. I didn't get any of the baking done this weekend like I'd hoped, so depending on what we end up doing next weekend, maybe I'll make some vanilla wafers or crackers then. I guess I should start thinking about the Christmas cookie baking and maybe plan out what and when I'm going to make cookies (and freeze them till Christmas). Anyone want to come over for a cookie bake in the next couple of weeks???? P.S. I'm excited that I can now easily say I can freeze this or that... Kevin and I bought ourselves an early Christmas gift yesterday... a stand-up freezer. We haven't plugged it in yet since I don't absolutely need it yet, but I'm excited to have the possibility of yet another freezer to fill! I'll be getting a hormone-free, grass-fed lamb in January and hopefully we'll be able to go in on a quarter of a hormone-free, grass-fed cow with my SIL and BIL sometime next summer.

Shepherd's Pie

I decided to make a shepherd's pie with some of our Thanksgiving leftovers for lunch today. I had planned to do it for dinner tonight, but we're now going down to Rochester Hills to have dinner at Bravo! with our friends Ben and Kati. I used an Emeril recipe with just a few modifications. I generally shy away from Emeril recipes because they just seem too complicated with a super long list of ingredients. This one has a long list of ingredients, but its not complicated at all and came together very quickly. Best of all, it tastes awesome! Kevin, Carson, and I all enjoyed this for lunch today. I'll definitely be using this as a basis for future shepherd's pies.

Shepherd's Pie with Thanksgiving Leftovers

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
4 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onions (I just used one small white onion, about 1/2 cup)
2 carrots, peeled and chopped, about 1 cup (I used three carrots)
1/4 teaspoon Essence or Creole Seasoning
1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon salt (I just did a couple shakes from the shaker)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (I just did a few turns of the pepper grinder)
1 teaspoon minced garlic
4 ounces mushrooms, stemmed, wiped clean, and sliced (I just threw in a can of mushrooms)
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves (I used dried and only one shake)
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons tomato paste
2 to 2 1/2 cups chopped or shredded roast turkey, white and/or dark meat (I used about 3 cups so that I could just use it up)
1 1/4 cups chicken stock or canned chicken broth
1/2 cup green peas (I used about a cup)
4 cups leftover mashed potatoes (I only used about 2 cups since that's what I had left)
3/4 cup grated sharp or medium Cheddar (I only used about 1/4 cup)
chopped parsley leaves, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9-inch square or 2.2 quart baking dish with the butter and set aside.

In a large saute pan or skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions, carrots, Essence, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring, until the onions are soft, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 20 seconds. Add the mushrooms, thyme, and bay leaf and cook, stirring, until the mushrooms are soft, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the flour and cook, stirring, until thick, about 1 minute. Stir in the tomato paste and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the meat and stir well to combine. Gradually add the stock and then the peas, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the mixture is thickened, 6 to 8 minutes.

Remove from the heat and discard the bay leaf. Carefully transfer to the prepared dish and spoon the potatoes over the meat mixture, spreading to the edges. Sprinkle with the cheese and bake until the cheese is bubbly and the potatoes are crisp around the edges, 22 to 25 minutes.

Let sit for 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve.

Corn Souffle

This year I actually was able to make something to contribute to my family's Thanksgiving feast. I decided to make a corn souffle recipe that my SIL Julie had made for a family gathering back in October - its from one of those Kraft Food and Family magazines. Its very easy to make and very good, too. Its a corn bread, not a souffle, but that's what the recipe is called. I was able to throw it together on Thursday morning before we left for my Aunt Jeri's house.

Corn Souffle

2 Tablespoons butter
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, cubed (I used the 1/3 less fat stuff)
1 can (15-1/4 oz.) whole kernel corn, drained
1 can (14.75 oz.) cream-style corn
1 pkg. (8.5 oz.) corn muffin mix (I used Jiffy brand)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Microwave butter in medium microwaveable bowl on high for 30 seconds or until melted. Add cream cheese; continue microwaving 15 seconds or until cream cheese is softened; stir until well blended. Add both cans of corns, muffin mix, and eggs; mix well.

Pour the mixture into a greased 13x9-inch baking pan; sprinkle with cheese.

Bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly

Variations:
~ This dish is versatile enough to pair with your favorite barbecued meat, beef stew, chicken soup or even chili.
~ Add 1/4 cup sliced green onions along with the corn, muffin mix and eggs.
~ Prepare as directed, using 1 can (11 oz.) whole kernel corn with chopped red and green peppers.

Golabki a.k.a. Pigs in a Blanket

Yesterday we went over to my Aunt Jeri's house to participate in the annual tradition of making pigs/golabki (which is actually pronounced more like gwumpkees). Every year a bunch of my family get together the week of Thanksgiving and make up an enormous batch of these. My mom's dad is 100% Polish and this recipe is an old family recipe of his parents' families. We've always had pigs at Thanksgiving and sometimes at Christmas, too. Golabki are basically just stuffed cabbage rolls that are cooked for a long time - the longer the better... the more black the cabbage becomes (it doesn't taste burnt) the better they are. There are so many different variations in cabbage rolls and they're called different things depending on the culture. They're generally from the Slavic cultures. We generally just call these pigs in a blanket - and up until the time that I met Kevin I never knew the "american" version of pigs in a blanket (the hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls). To this day, I can't refer to those as pigs in a blanket... golabki will always be pigs in a blanket to me.

Golabki a.k.a. Pigs in a Blanket

6 pounds hamburger
2 1/2 pounds sausage
2 large onions, chopped
4 large cabbage
5 teaspoons sage
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cup uncooked rice
bacon
ketchup

Begin by steaming the cabbage in large pots on the stovetop (core out the center and then plop the entire head into the pots to steam). Cook the rice as directed on the package - you can use minute rice or the long-cook stuff as long as you cook it first. In a very large pan (we use a huge roaster), mix together the hamburger, sausage, onion, sage, salt, pepper, and cooked rice (use your hands).

Once the cabbage has steamed, use tongs to peel each piece away from the head. We lay the cabbage leaves on cookie sheets.

Roll some of the meat mixture into each cabbage leaf, folding in the ends and place them seam side down into a large roaster coated with cooking spray. Make one layer across the bottom then top with bacon strips. Then layer more cabbage rolls, then more bacon, etc. Until your roaster is full. Squirt a lot of ketchup on top of the last layer of bacon and cabbage rolls. Put the lid on the roaster and bake them at 350 for at least 3 hours. The longer they cook, the better they get. These freeze well.

Uptown Pork and Apples

Tonight I tried another recipe from Rachael Ray's Big Orange book. It was so good and so easy, too! Love these kind of recipes. This will be a great one for us to have on hand for work nights as its so easy to throw together. Both Kevin and I both really liked this one. We had it with leftover garlic spinach mashed potatoes. This serves 4-6 people, so we had a lot of leftovers. I've saved some for lunches this week and cubed up a bunch and have it freezing for use later on in other dishes. I'll update later with a picture.

Roasted Pork Tenderloins with Escalloped Apples

1 Tablespoon grill seasoning
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
2 Tablespoons EVOO
2 pork tenderloins (1 package), about 1.5-2 pounds total, trimmed of silver skin and sinew
3 Tablespoons butter
5 Gala, Honey Crisp, or Golden Delicious apples, quartered, cored and sliced
salt (I used Golden Delicious and had plenty just using 4 of them, but they were on the large side)
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 Tablespoons flour
2 Tablespoons sugar

Preheat the oven to 425.

Combine the grill seasoning, lemon zest, and thyme in a small bowl, then coat the tenderloins with the mixture. Drizzle with EVOO and rub into both sides of the chops. Place the pork on a rimmed baking sheet and roast for 25 minutes. Let the pork rest for 10 minutes to redistribute the juices, then slice at an angle.

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the apples and saute for 12-15 minutes until very tender. Season with a pinch of salt, then sprinkle the flour over the apples and toss to combine. Squeeze the lemon juice over the apples and sweeten with the sugar.

Arrange the apples over the pork to serve.

Recap and Meal Plans

This past week I've just been enjoying our time together as a family. For those that don't already know, Kevin is kind of out of a job at the moment again... its a long, complicated story, but hopefully he'll get some news tomorrow as to when he can get back to work (at TRW). So its been extra nice to be home this weekend (I was in Toronto last week) and to have the time together with Kevin and Carson. On Friday, during Carson's nap, I chopped, par-boiled, and froze a ton of sweet potato chunks (2 gallon size ziploc bags full!). Other than that, I haven't done much else other than our meals and the apple clafoutis.

We'll be spending Thanksgiving with my mom's family this year (Kevin's family will be in Grand Rapids). We're looking forward to seeing everyone and spending some time together. I'm working Monday through Wednesday at this point, so it'll be typical easy weeknight meals.

Sunday ~ uptown pork with apples (since we didn't have it yesterday)
Monday ~ golabki, baked potatoes, peas
Tuesday ~ ultimate ham and cheese sammies, sweet potato fries
Wednesday ~ possibly minestrone soup
Thursday ~ Happy Thanksgiving! turkey and stuffing, pigs/golabki, mashed potatoes and gravy, baked sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, corn souffle, rolls, apple pie (dutch and regular), pumpkin pie, lemon merengue pie
Friday ~ Thanksgiving leftovers! possibly a shepherd's pie or just plain ol' leftovers
Saturday ~ more leftovers! plain ol' leftovers if we didn't have them Friday... otherwise a shepherd's pie made with the leftovers

I'm looking forward to another long weekend together as a family next weekend. I'm practically done with my Christmas shopping - I think I just have one person left now, so I'm not sure if I'll end up going out on Black Friday or not this year... it'll be very strange if I don't, so we'll see what happens. I'm hoping to do some baking over the long weekend. I'd like to try making homemade vanilla wafers for Carson and maybe some homemade crackers, too. Also would like to use up the rest of my apples somehow - applesauce or apple butter. I need to use up my sweet potatoes, too. I'll probably do another canner load and freeze some fries then see where I'm at... though I'm afraid I'll still probably end up having lots of sweet potatoes left. So maybe I'll end up doing two canner loads. We'll see.

Apple Clafoutis

Today we went over to my Aunt Jeri's for the annual tradition of making golabki (pigs in a blanket - post to come later). So this morning I decided to make up an apple clafoutis to take over there. This was the first time I've made a clafoutis and just because its french, I kind of expected it to be labor-intensive or difficult... but it wasn't at all. It was so easy! And it tasted very good - everyone really enjoyed it. Its not super sweet, but its very light and airy and just tastes good. In retrospect, I guess I should have looked for a polish dessert rather than french, but oh well! :)

Apple Clafoutis

1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (plus more butter to use on pan)
2 lbs apples or pears, peeled seeded, and chopped

Sift flour, sugar and baking powder into a bowl. Make a well in the center of mixture and add the eggs, milk and vanilla extract. Mix in well to form a smooth batter. Add 4 TBS of the melted butter. Let batter stand for 30 minutes while preparing the fruit.

Pre-heat the oven to 450°F.

Butter an 8 inch round cake tin. Stir the fruit into the batter and pour into the tin. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Gorgonzola Filled Meatballs and Garlic Spinach Mashed Potatoes

On Friday night, I tried out a couple Rachael Ray recipes for Gorgonzola Filled Meatballs and Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Spinach. I thought everything was awesome! Kevin really liked everything except the gorgonzola cheese. He'd never had gorgonzola and didn't know if he liked it or not... well he doesn't. I love it, though I bought some very good, expensive stuff rather than the cheaper stuff, so it did seem a bit stronger than the cheaper stuff. I'll make these again for sure, just will probably fill them with a different cheese that Kevin likes - havarti or mozzarella most likely. Anyway, these were so easy to make and tasted so yummy! I'll update later with pictures.

Gorgonzola Filled Meatballs with Bay and Onion Creamy Tomato Gravy

1 1/2 pounds ground veal
1 pound ground beef (I just used 1 pound total of ground meat - and used Laura's Lean)
Salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic, grated or minced
1 large egg, plus 1 egg yolk
2 handfuls grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
2 handfuls plain bread crumbs
3 tablespoons sliced or finely chopped sage leaves
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
8 ounces Gorgonzola
1 tablespoon butter
2 fresh bay leaves
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup chicken stock
1 (15-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Place meat in a mixing bowl and season with salt, pepper, add in garlic, eggs, cheese, bread crumbs and sage. Mix meat, roll into 8 large balls and arrange in a baking dish. Coat balls with 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil. Using the end of a wooden spoon, make an indentation half way into each ball and fill the cavity with some Gorgonzola. Bake until golden and cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes.

Heat 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil and butter in a sauce pot over medium heat, add bay and onions and season with salt and pepper. Add chicken stock and tomatoes and heat through, stir in cream, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer to thicken slightly 8 to 10 minutes.

Ladle sauce into shallow bowls and top with big stuffed meatballs and potatoes alongside, if desired.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Spinach

4 large Idaho potatoes, peeled and diced
2 boxes chopped spinach, defrosted
4 tablespoons butter
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup cream
Salt and pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Place potatoes in a pot and cover with water. Salt water and boil potatoes until tender 12 to 15 minutes.

Squeeze the water from spinach in a clean dish towel.

Drain potatoes and melt butter in the hot pot, then add the garlic and cook 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in cream, add the spinach, separating the greens as you do. Season greens with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add potatoes to the pot and mash to desired consistency.

Goulash

I made goulash yesterday so that Kevin would have lots of leftovers to eat during the week. I don't really follow a recipe when I make goulash, but I'll try to jot down the process that I use. I used the crockpot yesterday, but this can be baked in the oven or just made on the stovetop, too.

Goulash

1 pound ground meat (yesterday I used Laura's Lean Ground Beef, but I generally will use half beef and half ground turkey)
1 or 2 cans of diced tomatoes, to your taste
1 or 2 cans of tomato sauce, to your taste
chopped green pepper
chopped onion
sliced mushrooms
2-4 cloves finely chopped garlic
spices of your choice (I used Mrs. Dash Italian Medley this time)
1/2 - 1 pound whole wheat elbow macaroni

Brown the meat. Cook the pasta to al dente. Dump all ingredients into the crockpot, stir together, cover and cook on low for 2-4 hours.

Recap and Meal Plans

A little late with this post this week. Its been a busy weekend, though, and now that I'm in Toronto, I finally have a few minutes to catch up on blogging. (I updated posts with pictures back to the Salsa Chicken post) I was able to do some canning this past weekend... 18 pints and 1 half-pint of applesauce and 6 pints and 1 half-pint of pearsauce. I still have more pears to use, but only took out some of them to use over the weekend. The others will stay fresh till I have time to deal with them again. I'm hoping to do some baking with a few of them. I also have lots of apples left still. About half of the box of Cortlands that I got from my brother-in-law's parents, about 12 McIntosh, and about 10 Galas. They'll keep till I can deal with them after my trip, too. I'm also hoping to do some baking with some of them.

As far as meals go this week, Kevin is on his own most of the week. He has a fridge full of leftovers to either take for lunch or eat for dinner, as well as lots of options in the pantry or freezer. So I really only have to think about meals for three days this week...

Sunday ~ goulash, leftover cornbread for Sara, leftover rolls for Kevin
Friday ~ not totally sure yet, but I'm thinking maybe gorgonzola filled meatballs with garlic mashed potatoes
Saturday ~ again not totally sure, but maybe uptown pork chops with apples

I don't think I'll do any canning this weekend. I'm just looking forward to seeing Carson and Kevin again and spending time together as a family. I would like to do some baking, though... maybe an apple or pear clafoutis.

For now, I'm off to explore the underground part of Toronto. And to find some dinner.

Apple Pie Filling

I canned a batch of apple pie filling today. It was pretty easy and tastes pretty good, too. This will be nice to have on hand to make danishes or apple turnovers. I followed the recipe in my Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving and ended up with 7 pints.

Apple Pie Filling

12 cups sliced, peeled, cored apples, treated to prevent browning and drained
2 3/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup ClearJel
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/4 cups cold water
2 1/2 cups unsweetened apple juice
1/2 cup lemon juice

In a large pot of boiling water, working with 6 cups at a time, blanch the apple slices for 1 minute. Remove with a slotted spoon and keep warm in a covered bowl.

In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine sugar, ClearJel, cinnamon, nutmeg, water, and apple juice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Cook until mixture thickens and begins to bubble. Add lemon juice, return to a boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Fold apple slices into hot mixture. Before processing, heat, stirring, until apples are heated through.

Ladle hot pie filling into hot jars, leaving 1-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles, wipe rim, place cap on, screw band down to fingertip tight.

Process jars for 25 minutes in a boiling water bath. Remove canner lid, wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool for 24 hours, and store.

Makes about 7 pints

Turkey and Cornbread

Tonight I roasted my first turkey. I couldn't believe how easy it was to cook a turkey. I don't know why I always thought it was some difficult, time consuming thing to do... because it wasn't at all. I bought one of those Rival roaster ovens this week, so I wanted to try it out with the turkey. It turned out awesome! I made a 12-pound turkey and we invited my parents over for dinner. We still have tons of leftovers, which I'm happy about. I put the leftovers in different containers to freeze - some shredded for BBQ turkey sandwiches, and most of it is chopped for use in casseroles, soups, etc.

I tried out a new recipe for cornbread today, too. My ambition was to make cornbread stuffing, but when it came time for it, I just didn't feel like doing it. So we just had cornbread with our turkey... and some StoveTop stuffing that needed to be used up (not buying that stuff anymore). Back to the cornbread. I got this recipe off of the cornmeal package (Bob's Red Mill Organic Medium Grind Cornmeal). I think I will make it again, just with some modifications (more sugar and maybe throw in some creamed corn, too). I thought it was really good as is, but Kevin thought it was too crumbly and needed to be sweeter. My dad thought it was good as is, too, but would like a little more sugar.

I'll update with pictures later on.

Golden Cornbread

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened

Sift together the dry ingredients into a bowl. Add egg, milk and butter. Beat until smooth, about 1 minute. Do not overbeat. Bake in a greased 8-inch square pan for 20-25 minutes at 425 degrees.

Steak Pizzaiola Burgers

Last night I tried out another recipe from Rachael Ray's Big Orange Book for steak pizzaiola burgers. According to the cookbook, RR came up with this recipe for Donald Trump and she characterizes the burger as big, bold, and badass. I have to say she is right on. These were excellent, Kevin and I both thought they were awesome, and we'll definitely have them again. The recipe in the book is supposed to be 4 servings, but I cut it in half (using only one pound of meat) and still got 4 large servings out of it. I can't imagine only having 4 servings with two pounds of meat... that's a half-pound burger each... I don't think I could eat that.

I'll update later on with a picture.

Steak Pizzaiola Burgers
(pg. 125 of Rachael Ray's Big Orange Book)

3 Tablespoons EVOO
2 large onions, thinly sliced
salt and pepper
3 Tablespoons tomato paste
3/4 cup dry red wine
2 pounds ground sirloin
1/2 cup pepperoni, finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
4 Tablespoons butter
3-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
4 slices sesame semolina bread, about 1 inch thick (I just used some sliced french bread b/c that's what I had on hand)
1/2 - 3/4 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano
8 deli slices provolone

Heat 2 tablespoons of the EVOO in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and season with salt and pepper. Cover the onions with a piece of aluminum foil and cook, stirring occasionally, until they start to soften, 2-3 minutes. Remove the foil and continue cooking until fully softened, about 5-6 minutes.

Add the tomato paste to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until it smells sweet and has carmelized, about 2-3 minutes. Add the wine and scrape the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits that may be stuck to the bottom. Cook until the wine has almost completely evaporated, about 1 minute. Turn off the heat and reserve.

While the onions cook, place a large skillet over medium-high heat with the remaining tablespoon of EVOO. In a large mixing bowl, use your hands to combine the ground sirloin, pepperoni, parsley, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Season with salt and pepper, then score the meat into 4 parts using the side of your hand. Form 4 large patties thinner in the center than the edges for even cooking and to prevent the burgers from bulging. Cook 4-5 minutes per side for medium doneness.

Preheat the broiler.

While the burgers are cooking, heat the butter and garlic together in a small pot over medium heat. When the butter melts, remove the pot from heat to infuse the butter with the garlic flavor. While the butter is melting, place the bread slices on a baking sheet and toast them under the broiler until golden brown on each side. Brush the toasts with the garlic butter and sprinkle with the grated cheese. Place the toasts back on the baking sheet and top each with a burger. Divide the onion mixture among the four burgers and top each with 2 slices of cheese. Slide the burgers under the broiler to melt the cheese, about 2-3 minutes.

Serve the burgers with a knife and fork, and with your favorite salad on the side.

Creamy Parsley & Pistachio Fettuccine

Tonight I tried out a new recipe from my new Rachael Ray cookbook - The Big Orange Book - for creamy parsley and pistachio fettuccine. It was very tasty and I'll definitely make this one again. It'll be a quick work-night meal since I have lots of the parsley-pistachio pesto in the freezer... though I did make it fresh tonight since I am still trying to use up tons of parsley that continues to thrive in the garden. Kevin enjoyed this, too... and didn't even complain about spinach noodles! :) According to the cookbook, this is supposed to make you want to make out... we weren't really affected by it in that way, though. I'll update with a pic later.


Creamy Parsley and Pistachio Fettuccine

salt
1 pound fettuccine pasta (I used spinach fettuccine)
1 lemon
3/4 cup heavy cream (I just used 2% milk)
1 packed cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup shelled natural pistachios, lightly toasted
1/3 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 large garlic clove, grated or minced
3 Tablespoons EVOO
black pepper
(I added about 2 cups of chopped grilled chicken that I had in the freezer)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt it, add the pasta, and cook to al dente.

Zest the lemon and combine it with the cream in a small sauce pan. Heat over medium-low until hot but not boiling.

Place the parsley, nuts, cheese, and garlic into a food processor. Squeeze the zested lemon into the bowl. Turn the processor on and stream in the EVOO with the motor running to make a pesto.

Drain the pasta.

Place the pesto in the bottom of a large pasta bowl and season with salt and pepper. Stir the hot cream into the pesto, then add the hot pasta and toss to combine (I also added my grilled chicken). Adjust the salt and pepper.

Sweet Potatoes

This afternoon I canned 8 pints of sweet potato chunks for Carson. Canning them will save me lots of freezer space and some prep time in the future. I followed the method in my Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. First I steamed the whole sweet potatoes for 20 minutes, then peeled them and chopped them into chunks. I then filled the pint jars with the sweet potatoes and covered them with fresh boiling water. Into the canner they went to be processed at 10 pounds of pressure for 65 minutes. I'll update later with a picture.

Recap and Meal Plans

We had some changes in our plans this weekend. We'd originally planned to just stick around the ranch and get some things done around the place. Instead, yesterday morning, we took a trip down to Ikea in hopes of picking up a dining room table they had on a great sale. We ended up getting it and were able to get some more Christmas shopping done while we were there. After we got home, we went over to my grandparents' house to visit and to pick up a trailer they were giving to us. We had dinner over there and had a good visit with my parents and grandparents.

Today I canned a load of sweet potatoes. I also froze some sweet potato chunks. I'll be doing more of them throughout the week. I never did get the apple pie filling done since we were gone all day yesterday.

This week I'm off on Tuesday for Veteran's day and Friday is my flex day. And we're taking it kind of easy this week and next weekend since I'll be gone Monday-Thursday next week to Toronto.

I picked up the new Rachael Ray cookbook that was released last week - The Big Orange Book. There are so many recipes that I've already flagged to make in the book - I think this will probably end up being my favorite RR cookbook so far. Many of the recipes in this book, I've seen her make on her 30-Minute Meals show, or have seen in her magazine, but there are tons of additional recipes that I've never seen. So I figured I'd give a few new ones a try from her new cookbook this week.

Sunday ~ creamy parsley and pistachio fettuccine
Monday ~ leftover salsa chicken in the form of tacos
Tuesday ~ steak pizzaiola burgers
Wednesday ~ sweet and sour stir-fry
Thursday ~ chili in the crockpot Kevin brought pizza home
Friday ~ chicken with brown rice in the crockpot leftovers
Saturday ~ maybe applesauce chicken in the crockpot with baked potatoes and peas roasted turkey, stuffing, and cornbread

I'm going to make some more applesauce this week and I'd really like to do a second batch of apple butter, but we'll see how much applesauce I get done first. And since I didn't get the apple pie filling done, that's on the list again this week. More sweet potatoes, as well.

Crockpot Salsa Chicken

Last week I made Salsa Chicken in the CrockPot from A Year of Crockpotting. This was very good, definitely will be a keeper. So easy, too. And I had the chance to use some of my home-canned black beans and home-canned salsa! We're having the leftovers this week, but I'll shred up the chicken and use them in whole wheat tortillas with some guacamole, sour cream, and cheese for a different kind of taco.


CrockPot Salsa Chicken

6-9 chicken thighs, or equivalent body parts (I used boneless skinless chicken thighs and they were quite large, so I only did 4 of them)
1 can rinsed black beans
1 cup chunky salsa
1 cup frozen white corn (I used a 1-pound bag of golden corn)

Put your chicken in the crockpot; mine was still frozen. Top with the rinsed black beans, salsa, and corn.

Cover and cook on low for 6-9 hours, or on high for 4-5. Cooking time will vary depending on whether or not your chicken is frozen, and how big the pieces are.

If you decide to use breasts, increase your salsa by 1/2 cup. Breasts are drier than thighs.

Peas & Cheese Tortellini

Last night I tried another Rachael Ray recipe that I'd seen in one of my RR magazines a few months back. But what tempted me to try it was a post I saw on Busy Mamas. This was very good - even Kevin liked it, which I was really surprised by since he always complains when I make anything with tortellini. I'll be keeping this recipe, but will probably add some meat next time and probably some carrots, too.


Peas and Cheese Tortellini

1 pound frozen tortellini
1 cup frozen peas, thawed (I used an entire 1 pound bag of frozen peas)
2 tablespoons butter
5 scallions, white and green parts thinly slice separately (I just used one small white onion)
2 tablespoons flour
1 2/3 cups milk
Salt and pepper
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling

In a large saucepan of boiling, salted water, cook the tortellini until al dente; drain.

Meanwhile, add the peas, butter and scallion whites to another large saucepan and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes. (I held off on the peas) Whisk in the flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Stir in the scallion greens and season with salt and pepper. (This is when I added my peas since we like them a little crispy and not over-cooked)

Stir the tortellini and 1/3 cup cheese into the sauce. Divide the pasta among 4 serving bowls and sprinkle with more cheese. (I did not sprinkle with more cheese)

Apple Cake

We are having a belated Bosses Day celebration at work today, so yesterday afternoon I decided to bake an
apple cake to bring in. Its a new recipe I found on RecipeZaar which sounded good and easy. We haven't cut into the goodies yet, so I'm not sure how it tastes yet... I'll update later with the verdict. UPDATE: It is very, very good! Very moist and flavorful, definitely a keeper!

Also, just a note... I updated all the posts with pictures... all the way back to the peanut butter brownies on 10/19!

Apple Cake

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, beaten
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups finely chopped apples
1/2 cup apple juice
1 cup chopped walnuts (I left these out)

Glaze topping for cake:
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter (only used about 2 1/2 T)
1/3 cup whipping cream (I used 1% milk)

In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, soda and salt. Make a well in the center and set aside.

In a medium bowl combine eggs, oil, apple juice and vanilla. Stir in apples and nuts. Add the egg mixture to dry ingredients, just until moistened.

Spread batter in a greased and floured 9 x 13-inch pan. Bake at 350°F for 45-50 minutes. (I wanted to use a bundt pan b/c I think they look nicer for presentation. I had to increase the baking time by about 12 minutes.)

In a small saucepan combine the brown sugar, butter and cream. Cook and stir till bubbly and all of the sugar is dissolved. Cool slightly. Drizzle warm sauce over cake, when it has cooled for 5 minutes, so it can seep into the cake, keeping it moist.

Black Beans

On Monday, I canned two batches of black beans for a total of 20 pints (about a year's supply). I had bought about five and a half pounds of dry organic black turtle beans at the Whole Foods Market a couple of weeks ago (did not use them all canning these 20 pints... about 5 pounds probably). Canning beans is a very long process, but its really not that time consuming, if that makes sense. First I soaked the beans in water overnight (about 12-18 hours). Then drained them, rinsed them, and put the first batch into my largest stockpot (a 12-quart) and covered them with water by about an inch. You then bring them up to a boil for 30 minutes and remove from heat. Using a slotted spoon, I filled the jars with the beans, then used a ladle to add the cooking liquid, leaving a 1-inch headspace. Then I processed the beans for 75 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure. And voila! Home-canned black beans! Not only does this save some money (using the organic beans, it ended up being about 30 cents per pint), but it will limit our exposure to BPA tremendously since the beans only touched the metal lid during the processing time.

Mac & Cheese

Last Thursday, I tried a new recipe for homemade macaroni and cheese. My mouth was still quite tender and I had some trouble chewing things, so I figured mac and cheese would work well. I found this recipe on RecipeZaar and figured I'd give it a try. When I make homemade mac and cheese (which is pretty rare), I usually use a Giada DeLaurentis recipe, but this one was much easier and I think probably a little less fattening, too. It was good, I'll keep the recipe in my files to make again sometime.

Baked Macaroni & Cheese

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (I used whole wheat cavatappi noodles)
1/4 cup butter or margarine (I used light margarine and only about 3 T)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground mustard
1/4 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
2 cups milk
8 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese, cubed (I used shredded 2% sharp cheddar)
1/8 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs (next time I'll leave these off, I think)
1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook elbow macaroni as directed on package.

While macaroni is cooking, melt butter in a 3 quart saucepan over low heat. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and bubbly.

Remove from heat. Stir in milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir for 1 minute. Stir in cheese. Cook, stirring occasionally, until cheese is melted.

Drain macaroni when done. Gently stir macaroni into cheese sauce and pour into ungreased 2 quart baking dish.

Mix together bread crumbs and parmesan cheese; sprinkle over macaroni and cheese.
14Bake, uncovered, for 25 minutes or until bubbly.

Recap and Meal Plans

I'm running a little behind with my blogging lately. I still haven't uploaded pictures and still need to update several posts with them once I finally do get them uploaded. And I'm late on this post. Just have a lot going on lately, plus I've been home from work since Wednesday afternoon (and not returning to work till Wednesday (tomorrow) morning this week) so I haven't wanted to be on the computer too much. I've done some canning - carrots and black beans (post to come later), some baby food making - carrots, and some baking - apple pie and apple cake (post to come later) during my time at home. I had hoped to do a lot more than that, but Carson keeps me very busy now getting into EVERYthing and traversing throughout the house. Carson and I have had some time to shop while I've been home, too. We went to the mall today with my mom and had lunch in the food court (and found myself really disgusted with the nasty, completely unhealthy choices in our mall's food court) - Carson thought he was a big shot having lunch on the road today. He's so funny. We've got a good start on our Christmas shopping and I picked up my sister's birthday gift today.

Anyway, this blog is supposed to be about food and cooking... so on with the weekly menu...

Sunday ~ Buffalo Wild Wings with my parents
Monday ~ leftover B-dubs
Tuesday ~ tortellini with peas and cheese
Wednesday ~ salsa chicken in the crockpot
Thursday ~ totally undecided here still... I need to look through my recipes and see what I have all the ingredients for already
Friday ~ I'm thinking maybe goulash in the crockpot
Saturday ~ totally undecided here, too... maybe applesauce chicken with baked potatoes since we didn't have it last week or else chicken with brown rice in the crockpot

I know I've said this for weeks now, but I WILL can a batch of apple pie filling at some point this week! :) I'm planning to make a trip out to Porter's orchard to pick up some more utility (the half-price apples that are perfect for canning) on Friday so I can do up yet more applesauce for Carson. I've still got the 26 pounds of pears in the fridge in the basement waiting until I can get to them - maybe this weekend, but if not they'll be good for quite a while longer in the cold storage. I've also got about 40 pounds of sweet potatoes to deal with - baby food purees, canning them in chunks, and freezing some fries and maybe some thin slices to make sweet potato chips. I'll deal with the sweet potatoes before I hit the pears. I'd also like to do some more baking this week. We'll see what time allows... considering we're already almost half-way through the week I'm doubting I'll get any more baking in till the weekend, if even then.

Canned Carrots

I decided to use up more carrots (about 12 pounds) to can some using the method in my Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. I'm running low on freezer space and figure Carson will be eating more and more solid forms of foods, so why not can them up. I first washed, peeled, and rinsed all the carrots. Then sliced them up and put them into a large stainless steel pot. Once I got all the carrots into the pot, I covered them with water and brought to a boil. I simmered them for about five minutes, till they were tender-crisp. I then used a slotted spoon to fill 9 pint jars with carrots, then covered them with the cooking water, leaving 1-inch of headspace. Into the pressure canner they went to be processed at 10 pounds of pressure for 25 minutes. They are currently finishing up their processing and returning down to no pressure.

Carrots for Carson

I used about three pounds of Michigan carrots to do up some carrot baby food for Carson this morning. I first washed, peeled, and rinsed the carrots. Then chopped them into large pieces and threw them onto a baking sheet. I decided to try baking them rather than steaming as I've done with the sweet potatoes and squash. This was on recommendation from some other moms on a homemade baby food message board. I guess baking them retains more nutrients than steaming them does, which I didn't know. I knew that steaming retained more nutrients than boiling, but didn't know about the baking. Plus, I guess it makes them even sweeter tasting, which Carson will love. I baked them at 300 for about a half hour, till they were tender. Then I ran them through the food processor with a small amount of water to puree them up and now have them freezing in ice cube trays. I have enough for probably 32 meals for Carson.

Pork Sirloin Roast

Horrocks had pork sirloin roasts on sale this week, so I changed my meal plans and picked one up to have for dinner on Tuesday. I got this recipe a while back from my SIL, Mary. I've made it a couple of times, but not since I've had this blog up and running. Its a very good roast recipe. I used a 5-pound roast, so we had lots of leftovers, which I shredded up and froze for BBQ pork sandwiches later on. (will update later with a picture)

Slow Cooker Pork Roast with Fruit

1 medium onion, sliced
1 pork boneless loin roast
1 pkg. (8 oz.) dried fruit, chopped (I forgot to chop mine this time)
1/2 cup apple juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Put onion in crock pot. Place pork on top. Top with fruit. Mix remaining ingredients and pour over top. Cover and cook on low 7-9 hours.

I also added some sliced carrots with the onion. We had this with some homemade rolls from Kevin's mom.

Recap and Meal Plans

Last week I canned another huge batch of unsweetened applesauce. I still have some apples in the breezeway that I have to use to can a batch of apple pie filling - I'd planned to do that over the weekend, but just haven't found the time to. I dried some herbs from the garden (parsley, sage, thyme, rosemary), and froze some chopped parsley with a little water in cubes (great to just drop into soups in the winter for added freshness).

This week will be a little off since I'm having oral surgery to have my last wisdom tooth removed. So I'm having to think of some softer things to eat in the days after the surgery. Mostly new recipes this week - on Monday, Tuesday, possibly Thursday depending on the recipe I end up using, and Friday.

Sunday ~ football party at my Aunt Jeri's... we're doing a taco bar
Monday ~ meatballs with parsley and parmesan... haven't decided what will go with them yet leftovers from Sunday
Tuesday ~ applesauce chicken in the crockpot with baked potatoes and green beans pork sirloin roast with fruit in the crockpot with carrots and homemade rolls from Kevin's mom
Wednesday ~ oral surgery for me in the morning... so it'll depend how I'm feeling... either soup or jello for me most likely and leftovers for Kevin
Thursday ~ most likely homemade macaroni and cheese since I'll still have to be eating softer foods
Friday ~ tortellini with peas and cheese
Saturday ~ making a trip to Grand Rapids, having dinner with Mary, Justin, and Rebecca

I'll be taking Thursday off to recover from my surgery, and Friday is my flex day, so hopefully I'll be feeling well enough to do some baking or canning while I'm home. I'd like to make some carrot-squash muffins and maybe some cookies - freezing the majority of both. I bought some dry beans (pintos and black turtles) last week at the Whole Foods Market that I'd like to try soaking, cooking, and canning... maybe Thursday while Carson goes to my mom's if I'm feeling up to it. I'll first need to use up the 26 pounds of pears I bought last week to can some more pear sauce for Carson. Also need to get some more parsley-pistachio pesto made and frozen.

Baked Costa Rican Tilapia

Last night I tried one of Ingrid Hoffmann's recipes for baked costa rican tilapia with rice, black beans, and pineapple. It was pretty good. I'll probably make it again sometime, but with a few small changes. Kevin thought it was good and "edible" as he put it, but didn't care for so much lime. So next time, I'll use less lime. I think I'd sprinkle the tilapia with some paprika and freshly ground pepper before baking it next time, too. I used long-grain brown rice... and I'm still trying to figure out how to properly cook the longer cooking rice (I'm used to the instant/minute rice), so the rice had a little crunch to it. :) Other than too much lime, the flavors were great together. It was a fairly easy recipe to throw together, too. If I was to make this on a week night, I'd prep the rice/beans/salsa/pineapple mixture the night before to save a little time and a few steps.

Baked Costa Rican-Style Tilapia with Pineapples, Black Beans, and Rice

1 cup long-grain white rice (I used long-grain brown rice)
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (I just used OJ from the carton)
1 lime, juiced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish (I substituted flat-leaf parsley)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon sugar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 (5 to 7-ounce) tilapia fillets, rinsed and patted dry (I used six smaller fillets)
2 cups jarred or homemade tomato salsa (used store-bought this time since I'm still trying to use up stuff I'd stock-piled in my pantry before I started canning)
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed (Eden Organic, the only canned beans with no BPA in the cans... plus they're local (Ann Arbor))
2 cups diced fresh pineapple (I used canned)
2 limes, thinly sliced

Combine the rice and chicken broth in a pot over medium heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until the rice is tender and has absorbed all of the liquid, about 20 minutes. (brown rice takes MUCH longer to cook)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the orange juice, lime juice, oil, 2 tablespoons of the cilantro, the garlic, and sugar; season with salt and pepper. Add the tilapia fillets to the marinade, turning to coat. Marinate in the refrigerator for 20 minutes, turning occasionally. (Don't let it marinate too much longer than 20 minutes, else you'll end up with ceviche)

Stir together the cooked rice, salsa, beans, pineapple, and remaining 2 tablespoons of the cilantro in a 2 or 3-quart baking dish. Remove the tilapia from the marinade, reserve the marinade, and lay the fish fillets over the rice mixture, overlapping if necessary. Pour the reserved marinade over the fish. Shingle the lime slices over the fish. (next time I'll leave the lime slices off) Bake until the fish flakes easily, is opaque, and cooked through, 25 to 30 minutes. Garnish with chopped cilantro before serving.

Homemade Granola

I decided to make a batch of homemade granola this morning. I used my SIL Mary's recipe as a base and made a couple mods. I'm looking for ways to avoid buying cereal at the grocery store. I've recently read that Kelloggs is now using genetically modified ingredients in all of their cereals - I don't like that at all. And I'm just assuming that if Kelloggs has started, then the other large cereal companies aren't too far behind. There are some that I'm sure I'll still buy, like Kashi and some organic cereals, but I'd really like to limit the others. Not to mention, making our own granola will save us some money - which is always a good thing in these difficult economic times the entire country is experiencing.

This made our house smell so good as it was baking... well until I burned the second pan... and set off the smoke alarms - oops! :) I don't know how I burned it, really. I pulled it out to stir it and thought it could use just a couple more minutes to bake... so in the oven it goes for about two more minutes when I started smelling burning granola. Yeah, not good. But at least I got one awesome pan out of it! :) I tasted a little bit of it and it tastes so good! I'm excited to have this on hand. Here is Mary's recipe that I used and my modifications in parentheses. I'll update with a picture later on.

Granola

6 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups dried fruit (I used my home-dried raisins and cherries)
1 cup ground flax seed (I used golden flax seeds since I couldn't find the ground seeds)
3/4 cup wheat bran or wheat germ (I used 1 cup wheat germ)
3/4 chopped nuts (I used about a cup total of pecans and walnuts)
1/2 cup seeds (I used sunflower kernels)
1-2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
(2 Tablespoons vanilla)

Heat oven to 300. Mix all dry ingredients, except fruit. Microwave honey for 30 seconds. Stir (honey and vanilla) into dry ingredients. Mix well. Spray large baking sheets with cooking spray. Spread granola onto pans. Spray top with cooking spray. (I sprinkled the top with a cinnamon-sugar mixture). Bake for 30 minutes, stirring 2 or 3 times throughout. Add fruit half-way through. Let cool. Store in sealed container. Freezes well.

Weekend Recap & Meal Plans

We had a busy weekend filled with family fun. We met up with Kevin's entire immediate family on Saturday afternoon for a trip to a local orchard where we picked up some pumpkins and a half-bushel of McIntosh apples to do more applesauce. Today we've been busy catching up on household chores and preparing for Kevin's trip to Lafayette (he didn't go last week and is now leaving in the morning).

Meals this week may end up looking something like this... only one new recipe on the list (Saturday)...

Sunday ~ we went out to eat to Ruby Tuesday with some of Kevin's family
Monday ~ leftover chili chicken soup since Kevin will be out of town
Tuesday ~ grilled cheese or something easy since Kevin will still be gone
Wednesday ~ chili in the crockpot
Thursday ~ italian wedding soup from the freezer
Friday ~ leftover chili
Saturday ~ baked Costa Rican style tilapia

I'm hoping to can more applesauce and still need to do some apple pie filling this week. Pears are on sale at Horrocks again this week, so I'll be picking up a bunch to do another couple batches of pear sauce, too. I feel like we won't be able to have too much pear sauce and applesauce on hand the way Carson loves the stuff. I don't think I'll end up being able to can enough, really. Right now we're going through about two pints a week! I also need to get my dehydrator back out and dry some more herbs from the garden before they're killed by frost. I think I'll do up some more parsley-pistachio pesto to freeze as well. My parsley is completely out of control still - I can't believe how abundant it has been this year! This should keep me plenty busy this week... and most likely probably won't all get done, but hey I can hope, right? :)

Peanut Butter Brownies

I tried a new recipe tonight from RecipeZaar for Reese's Peanut Butter Brownies. We're having a Brownie Bake-Off tomorrow at work to benefit the annual Harvest Gathering (a.k.a. for the Lansing Food Bank) and I decided I'd try a new recipe. I have a picture, but haven't uploaded, so I'll update at some point. I cut a corner out to try them (had to make sure they have a chance tomorrow - haha!) and they're pretty good. Some melted chocolate chips would be great drizzled across the top... but unfortunately, I used the last bit I had in the brownies.

Peanut Butter Brownies

3/4 cup butter, melted (1 1/2 Sticks)
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup hershey cocoa
(I also added about a half cup of milk chocolate chips to the chocolate batter)

Heat oven to 350³F.

Grease 13x9x2 inch baking pan.

Add peanut butter to melted butter in large bowl; stir until peanut butter melts. Stir in sugar and vanilla. Beat in eggs. Add flour, baking powder and salt; beat well. Remove 1 3/4 cup batter; stir cocoa into this part. Spread cocoa batter into prepared pan; spread remaining peanut butter batter over top.

Bake 30 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan; cool completely in pan. Cut into bars.

Chili Chicken and Veggie Soup

Tonight I tried out a new Rachael Ray recipe that I had seen in my latest issue of her magazine for Chili Chicken and Veggie Soup. Definitely a keeper! And will probably become a staple recipe for the day after I make crockpot roasted chicken, too. Both Kevin and I really liked this a lot. I added a few things - some finely chopped garlic while I was cooking the onion, and some frozen green peas. Its a very quick recipe - I was thinking of throwing it in the crockpot, but ended up cooking it in my dutch oven on the stovetop. It came together so fast. I did let it simmer on low for about an hour before we ate since Kevin was late getting home from work. I think that made the flavors meld together even more and it tasted even better after cooking for a longer period of time.

Chili Chicken and Veggie Soup

2 tablespoons butter (I omitted this and just sprayed my pan with olive oil spray)
1 onion, chopped (I used two)
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon chili powder (I used more than this b/c we love the flavor of chili powder)
1 baking potato, peeled and chopped
One 32-ounce container (4 cups) chicken broth (I added about 6 cups since I was making extra soup)
One 16-ounce bag frozen corn kernels
2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken meat (I had about 3 cups)
One 10-ounce bag frozen green beans (just used some frozen beans from the garden)
Sour cream, for serving (we just ate it plain)

In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat (or spray pan with cooking spray). Add the onion (this is where I added the garlic), season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chili powder and cook for 2 minutes. Add the potato and chicken broth and bring to a boil; lower the heat and simmer until the potato is tender, about 10 minutes.

Stir in the corn, chicken and green beans (and peas for us) and cook until heated through. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with the sour cream.

Apple Butter

I canned my first batch of apple butter this afternoon. I used the recipe for Sweet Apple Cider Butter in my Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving - I'll have to update later with the recipe when I have the book with me. I tasted it as I was filling the jars and it was so good! I'm excited to have this on hand!

Weekend Recap & Meal Plans

It was a productive weekend in the kitchen as the harvest season is slowly coming to an end. As you can see from my previous posts this weekend, I canned a batch of pear sauce for Carson, steamed/pureed/froze some sweet potatoes (now have enough for about 20 meals in the freezer), steamed/pureed/froze some kabocha squash (enough for 12 meals in the freezer), and have a batch of apple butter processing in the canner right now. I also canned another batch of smooth unsweetened applesauce for Carson. I think I will try to can one more batch of applesauce for Carson this week and I'll be doing up a batch of apple pie filling to can as well. We'll be making another orchard trip next Saturday with the Holleboom family, so I'm sure I'll pick up more apples and end up doing more sauce, butter, and pie filling.

Kevin will be going down to Lafayette, Indiana for a few days this week, so there will be a couple of nights of meals on my own. I'm only trying out one new recipe this week (Friday). But otherwise, here's what I'm thinking for the week.

Sunday ~ grilled chicken marinated in italian dressing, grilled baked potatoes, green beans
Monday ~ grilled burgers from the freezer, corn, baked beans for Kevin
Tuesday ~ spinach-chive fettucine with meat sauce, garlic bread, peas
Wednesday ~ leftovers and piecing things together since Kevin will be in Lafayette
Thursday ~ leftovers and piecing things together since Kevin will be in Lafayette
Friday ~ Chili Chicken and Vegetable Soup with homemade bread (might try beer bread)
Saturday ~ we'll be eating with Kevin's family having crockpot roasted chicken, squash, corn souffle, peas, baked potatoes, cake, and ice cream

As far as the extra projects go, I probably will just use up the apples we have left to do more sauce and some apple pie filling. If I even get that done, I guess. I think I'll have my hands full being on my own for 3 days/2 nights, so probably won't have time for much else this week.

On a side note, I finally got my pics up of the curry, sweet potatoes, pear sauce, and squash.

Kabocha Squash

Tonight I made up a batch of kabocha squash baby food for Carson. I just cut the squash into quarters and put it in the steamer for about 20-25 minutes. The squash scooped out of the rind very easily - probably the easiest time I've ever had scooping the squash out. I ran it through my food mill with the medium blades, added some water to get the right consistency, and voila! Baby food! I kept out a small container for using this week, then froze the rest. I ended up with 24 cubes to freeze... so veggies for about 12 different meals for Carson. Not bad considering the squash itself cost me 50 cents! Which equates to about 4 cents per serving (which I think is about half of a store-bought container of the 2nd foods). So I paid roughly 16 cents for the same amount that I'd normally pay $1.29 for on sale... saving $1.13 per package! Actually, even more savings than that since I didn't figure in the portion I kept out to eat fresh this week... probably about 3 more servings there. What a steal!

Pearsauce

Yesterday, I did up a small batch of pear sauce for Carson. I made it just like applesauce. I used eight large Bartlett pears, peeled them, cored them, chopped them, and dipped them in a lemon juice-water mixture to prevent browning. Then I dumped them all into a stockpot and put about a quarter inch of water in the bottom. The pears released a lot more liquid than the apples did, so I ended up having a lot of juice (and dumped some out in the end). I cooked the pears for about 15 minutes till they were softened. Then ran them through my food mill on the medium blade. Then back into the pot, added about three tablespoons of lemon juice and heated up to boiling. I filled five half-pints and had about a quarter half-pint leftover for Carson to eat fresh. He tried it today at lunch and LOVED it - moreso than he loves the store-bought pears, I think. I was happy about that. I processed the jars for 20 minutes in a boiling water bath. Again, this will be a huge savings. I think that about 3 containers of the 2nd foods will fit into these jars. Two containers cost me $1.29 on sale - so lets say about $1.94 equivalent. Well, I got the pears for $4.45 , with five jars, that equates to $0.89 per jar. That's a savings of $1.05 per jar - I think that's quite good!

Sweet Potatoes for Carson

So I finally am going to cut back on buying commercially produced baby food. I've been buying Gerber Organic foods for Carson since he's started eating solids and have just been too lazy to try my hand at making some homemade baby food for him. Well last night I finally decided to give it a try. I peeled a sweet potato, cut it into cubes (about 1-inch size), and threw it in the steamer for 15-20 minutes or so. I didn't keep track of time, just kept an eye on the look and then tested it with a fork. Once it was cooked, I ran it through the food mill with my finest blades and added a little water to the pureed potatoes. We'll see how it goes over with Carson today. I kept it a little thicker than he's used to since he's old enough now to try out some thicker foods. So he may not like it too much at first, but he'll get used to it pretty quickly, I think.

Making a good portion of Carson's food will be a huge money-saver! One sweet potato produced quite a bit of puree. I'm going to do up another two sweet potatoes tonight and freeze them in cubes. Then I'll do up some butternut squash from our garden and some kabocha squash from the farmer's market. I'm also going to use some of the blueberries I froze this summer to make him some blueberry puree. Tonight or tomorrow I'll be doing up some pear sauce for him and canning it, too. So we should be on a good roll here with food for Carson. And soon enough, he'll be able to eat more and more of what we're eating, so that will be even easier.

Again, I have a picture, but its not on the computer yet, so I'll update later on in the week.

Crockpot Chicken-Veggie Curry

Last night I made another recipe from A Year of Crockpotting for Vegetarian Curry, only I added chicken to mine so I'm calling it chicken-veggie curry. It was so good, both Kevin and I really enjoyed it. I'll definitely make this one again sometime. It was different than a lot of the curry dishes I've had before, not as creamy, but it was still very tasty. I programmed mine to cook for 11 hours on low and then switch to Keep Warm, which it was on for about an hour and a half. I served it over orzo, but had planned to serve it over brown rice, but didn't realize it was going to take my rice an hour to cook until it was too late (I normally buy the minute rice stuff).

I took a picture, but haven't uploaded it yet, so I'll update later in the week with a picture.

Crockpot Chicken-Veggie Curry

2 cans drained and rinsed garbanzo beans (I used Eden Organic)
1 diced red pepper
4 tiny potatoes, or 1 regular-sized (I used about five small potatoes)
1/2 cup diced carrots (I added more - I used five stalks)
1/2 cup diced celery (I added more - I used three large carrots)
3 cloves smashed and chopped garlic (I used five since I had two small cloves)
2 Tablespoons curry
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon red cayenne pepper
1 large can tomatoes and juice (next time I might keep some of the juice out)
2 cups vegetable broth
3/4 cup plain yogurt
1 cup frozen peas, to add later

Add drained and rinsed garbanzo beans to your crockpot. Cover with diced vegetables. (I added six boneless skinless frozen chicken tenderloins here.) Add spices. Dump in tomatoes, yogurt and broth. Stir to mix flavors.

Cook on low for 8-10 hours, or longer.

20 minutes before serving, stir in the frozen peas. Turn to high.

Serve over hot basmati rice and use brown rice tortillas or corn tortillas to scoop up. If you are not gluten-free, you can use naan, pita bread, or whole-wheat tortillas.

Weekend Recap & Meal Plans

On Friday, I canned a second batch of tomato sauce and I'll be doing a third batch this afternoon/evening. That will use up the tomatoes from our garden. I'm pretty happy with the yields we had this year - I was able to use our own tomatoes in quite a lot of canned goods and to eat in meals. I do want to pick up maybe a half-bushel of tomatoes from the local farmer down the street to do up some more chopped tomatoes and tomato sauce. We'll see if I make it down there this afternoon, otherwise I'll stop by their place tomorrow after work.

Yesterday, we went to the Flushing Harvest Festival with my parents, grandparents, Aunt Jeri and Uncle Mike. It wasn't that entertaining, but it was still nice to get out and do something different. We had dinner and spent some time back at my grandparents' house afterwards. Today, I'll be finishing up the cleaning and laundry, prepping and canning another batch of tomato sauce, and hope to get out to the garden to clean things up a bit, while Kevin will be changing the oil in the Vibe, working on the Craftsman tractor a bit more, and helping Danny with his brakes.

As far as meals go this week, I'm going to try out a couple more new recipes (Monday and Thursday), so we'll see how they go. I love all sorts of different ethnic foods and I'm excited to try these out. Even Kevin thought they sounded ok, so I hope they taste as good as they sound.

Sunday ~ grilled texas broil steak, grilled baked potatoes, and corn on the cob change of plans, we just pieced things together. Kevin had Arby's and I just had a toasted english muffin with homemade raspberry jam, a string cheese, some steamed broccoli and cauliflower, and some applesauce.
Monday ~ crockpot chicken veggie curry grilled texas broil steak, grilled baked potatoes, and corn on the cob
Tuesday ~ grilled cheese sandwiches and italian wedding soup from the freezer crockpot chicken veggie curry
Wednesday ~ probably will eat at my parents since my Mom is watching Carson
Thursday ~ crockpot morrocan lentil stew/soup with homemade bread leftover chicken veggie curry
Friday ~ pork chops in the crockpot with smashed potatoes and steamed veggies We had pork chops on Wednesday, so I think I'll just throw together a quick pasta for dinner tonight instead
Saturday ~ TBD... depends on what the weekend plans evolve into

I'm working on cleaning out my pantry and using up a lot of the stuff in the freezers that have been in there awhile. I might try to do some baking this week to use up a few things - I think I might make some cupcakes to take into the Davison office and I'd like to make some bread. I'm also going to have Kevin stop at the orchard in Fenton on his way home one night this week to pick up some more apples so I can try making some apple butter. I still want to do more applesauce, some apple pie filling, and lots of apple butter... so I figure I should get on it before I miss the apple season.

Crockpot Coq au Vin

Last night I made coq au vin in the crockpot. I used the recipe from A Year of Crockpotting. I thought it was very good. Kevin didn't get home until almost 9:00 from work and had stopped to get fast food on the way home, so he didn't try it yet. He'll have it for lunch tomorrow, so we'll see what he thinks. I've had better coq au vin (made by an old friend in college who was from France), but I thought this was pretty good, too... especially since this could be done in the crockpot while I was off at work!

Crockpot Coq au Vin

6 to 8 frozen chicken thighs (I used boneless skinless chicken breasts)
6 slices cooked and crumbled bacon (I omitted this since I can't eat bacon)
8 oz sliced baby portabella mushrooms (I had white button mushrooms, so I used those)
1 cup baby carrots (I used extra, about four large carrots)
1 chopped yellow onion
3 cloves chopped or minced garlic
1/2 t black pepper
1/2 t kosher salt
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 cup cheap red wine (I used cabernet sauvignon b/c that's what I had, but think it'd be even better with a pinot noir which is traditionally used in coq au vin)
2 large fresh thyme sprigs

Cook your bacon. Dump the frozen chicken into your crockpot and start layering in the rest of the ingredients. This is really a no-fuss preparation. Just throw it all in.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours (mine cooked for 12.5 hours and was very good still). You could cook it on high for 4, but it won't taste as good. The flavors meld so nicely when cooked low and slow.

Serve with mashed potatoes or your favorite pasta. (Since it was just me eating last night, I didn't serve with anything, just ate a small piece of chicken and some veggies.)