A Little Break

I know I just started this blog, but this week is a big festival at the school, and I am one of the people in charge of it, so I don't think I'll be posting much this week. I don't know if I'll even be cooking much this week. So, hopefully I'll get some new recipes up at the end of the week. Until then, try some of the things I've already posted, and let me know if you like them!

Chicken, White Bean and Leek Soup

I forgot to get a picture of this dish, but it was really good. It's a very light tasting, but very flavorful soup, and very healthy.

Chicken, White Bean and Leek Soup

1 pound chicken

2 cans cannelini beans

3 leeks, chopped

1 pound red potatoes, diced

1 cup carrots, diced

3 stalks celery, diced

4-6 cups chicken broth

Bake the chicken at 350 degrees about 1 hour, or until juices run clear. While chicken is baking, diced the vegetables. Once chicken is baked, chop or shred it into bite size pieces and then set aside. Stir fry* vegetables in a big soup spot until they are just getting tender. Add the broth, and heat to boiling, then add the chicken and the beans. Salt and pepper to taste (this had a very nice, mellow flavor, and I didn't add any salt or pepper to it, I preferred the taste of the vegetables.) Serve and enjoy!

*Stir frying the vegetables instead of boiling them helps to maintain their fresh flavor, and makes the soup more flavorful. This was a tip from my sister, and I thought it made the soup taste better.

Roasted Vegetables

Side dishes are hard for me, I don't feel like I have very many, and it's hard for me to think of different, creative ways to make vegetables. But this is really yummy.

Roasted Vegetables

1 head broccoli, cauliflower or broccoflower, chopped into bite size pieces

2 red bell peppers, cut in chunks

2 cups baby carrots

olive oil

salt

Put chopped vegetables on large baking sheet. Lightly brush with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt (I like to use coarse salt). Cover with tin foil and bake at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until vegetables start to get tender. Remove tin foil and bake until they start to turn golden brown. Be careful, the broccoli can dry out if you're not careful. Cook until desired tenderness (I like them crisp tender). When you roast them, they taste fresher than when they are boiled or steamed, and it's easier to keep them from getting soggy. I've sprinkled them with Parmesan cheese before, and they're really good that way too.

Fancy Nachos

Some nights, I just don't feel like making anything, so we eat tortillas. Some weeks, we eat a lot of tortillas. One night, I wanted something different, but I didn't feel like making anything, and I had some shredded fajita meat in the freezer, so I came up with "fancy nachos." Pretty much just whatever you have or feel like putting on your nachos. Very, very simple, but very good. The kids love it.

1 bag of tortilla chips (I used blue chips last time, but use whatever you like)

1 can of black olives, sliced

1 can of beans (kidney or pinto)

Shredded meat

3 chopped tomatoes

Shredded cheese

Put the chips in a 9x13 pan, then put as many or as little of the toppings on as you like. This adds up really fast, so start with a little, and add more if you want it. Cover with cheese, and bake in oven at 350 for about 15 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly and melty.

I served them with a dip that the girls like, sour cream and salsa mixed together. The leftovers get soggy, so try to not make too much.

Macaroni and Cheese

This year, Megan requested macaroni and cheese for her birthday dinner. I always make my macaroni and cheese from scratch. My kids won't even eat the boxed macaroni and cheese. It's really pretty simple, and it's always yummy and cheesy.

1 pound noodles (I usually use penne, but sometimes macaroni noodles)

2 TBSP flour

2 TBSP butter

1 1/4 cups milk

3 cups shredded cheese (fresh shredded, NEVER preshredded cheese)*

salt, pepper and mustard powder to taste

Bring a pot of salted water to boiling, then add noodles and cook until tender. Drain noodles in colander and set aside.

Melt butter in the pot, then add the flour and stir until smooth, using a whisk (again, this is a roux.) Add about 1/2 the milk to the butter and flour mixture, stirring constantly, until milk is smooth and then add the rest of the milk. Stir constantly until mixture starts to bubble and thicken. Turn heat to low, and add the cheese. Stir continuously until mixture is smooth. Add salt, pepper and mustard powder to taste. Add noodles, and stir until all noodles are coated in cheese. Serve with broccoli or roasted vegetables. This makes a really big pot of noodles, but we eat it all in one meal, with just enough leftover for lunches the next day.

*Preshredded cheese is coated with flour to keep it from becoming a big clump in the bag, but that means that it doesn't melt well. I always buy a 5-pound block of sharp cheddar from Costco, shred it in my food processor, and then freeze it in gallon ziploc bag. It freezes well, is the cheapest way to buy sharp cheddar, and I always have cheese on hand.

Tortellini Leek Soup

I made up a little recipe for dinner tonight. It came out really well! So well, that there's no leftovers for my lunch! The girls even asked to take it to school for lunch, which means it was good!

Here's my recipe. Very simple, but tasty.

1/2 a large butternut squash, peeled and chopped into bite size pieces
3 leeks
1 small bag of tortellini
3 cans of chicken stock

Slice leeks into thin circles. Chop squash into bite size pieces. Stir fry leeks for a couple minutes, then add the chicken broth and the squash. Boil for about 10 minutes, then add the tortellini. Boil until tortellini is soft. Serve with biscuits.

It was tasty yet very simple. I LOVE squash this time of year, but Liz doesn't like it, so I have to think of ways to put it into dishes. She liked it in this soup, not a single complaint, and she downed her bowl faster than anyone else. You could change it up by adding different spices, a can of tomatoes, or some sausage.

Awhile ago, I made Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake. I got it here. It was really, really good. Our girls don't like Pumpkin Pie, but they loved it and declared it "delicious." I don't have a picture, but it's definitely worth trying.


2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground cloves
1 pinch ground nutmeg
1/2 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed



Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Blend in eggs one at a time. Remove 1 cup of batter and spread into bottom of crust; set aside.

Add pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to the remaining batter and stir gently until well blended. Carefully spread over the batter in the crust.

Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until center is almost set. Allow to cool, then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Cover with whipped topping before serving.

Pizza

Growing up, we were allowed to pick what we wanted for dinner on our birthday. I don't remember having a lot of friend parties, and I don't feel deprived, I remember loving being able to pick what we had for dinner that night. Over the years, it became tradition to request homemade pizza, and to me, that has become THE birthday dinner. (The only time I ever remember requesting something else was when I was 8 or 9, and I requested spaghetti with little fish (maybe fresh sardines?) and some kind of greens, like beet greens. (Mom, help me out with the details if you remember!) I've tried to continue this tradition with our kids, but imagine my dismay when their favorite birthday dinner has turned out to be..............RAMEN NOODLES! Oh, where did I go wrong?!? Just kidding. I still get to pick my and Rusty's and Katie's birthday dinners, and we all choose pizza! :)

The way I make pizza is my classic way of cooking. I don't use a recipe. My pizza dough is very, very basic. It's not soft and bready, it's just water, salt, yeast and water. I start by making the dough. I let it sit for about 20 minutes, just to rest, it doesn't really need to rise. In the above picture, I had tried prebaking my crust. I don't really like that method. I prefer to spread the dough in the pan, then put the sauce and cheese on it, and then our favorite toppings. Some of our favorite toppings include:

Barbecue chicken

Mushrooms

Pineapple

Olives

Turkey

Broccoli

Liz has decided that she prefers just plain cheese. No one really likes pepperoni, so I never make it anymore. I prefer veggie, so I always makes a small part veggie for me, with tomatoes, broccoli, onions, feta, artichoke hearts, and kalamata olives.

When my mom was here in the summer, we made a really good white cheese pizza by putting some garlic on the dough (no tomato sauce), then feta cheese, parmesan, blue cheese, queso fresco, and chevre. Seriously, so yummy.

Lemon Meringue Pie

I had a friend request that I post my recipe for Lemon Meringue Pie, so I decided to make it for myself for my birthday since I don't really like cake, and this is my favorite pie. When Rusty and I were dating, I learned that his favorite pie was Lemon Meringue Pie, so I decided to make him one. It didn't turn out so well, the lemon part didn't firm up. So I made another one. The lemon part of the second one was like rubber (I may have overdone the cornstarch just a little)! So I made another one, and the lemon part was soup again. The fourth time (I think), I followed the directions EXACTLY (I have a little problem with following the directions :)), and this time it came out well. The recipe I used last weekend was from my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook. It has a failproof recipe for meringue (yet another time, I was making pies for Thanksgiving, and I went through 2 dozen eggs and finally ended up buying a new bowl and measuring cups because I could get the meringue to firm up)! The inside is a little soup because the pie was a little warm still. By the next morning the lemon part was the perfect consistency, so I would suggest making this at least 6 hours before you need to serve it so it has plenty of time to chill. If you want to serve it warm, just know that the lemon part will be a little runny but still very, very good.

Pie Crust

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup plus 1 TBSP shortening
2-3 TBSP cold water

Mix flour and salt in medium bowl. Cut in shortening with shortening cutter or 2 knives, until particles are size of small peas. Sprinkle with cold water, 1 TBSP at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened.

Gather pastry into ball and refrigerate about 30 minutes. On floured surface, flatten pie crust into circle 2 inches bigger than pie plate. Fold pastry into fourths, and place in pie plate. Unfold pastry, and press firmly against side and bottom of pie plate. Heat oven to 425 and bake for 10 minutes, then remove from oven.

Pie filling

3 large egg yolks (reserve whites for meringue)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup plus 1 TBSP cornstarch
1 1/2 cups water
3 TBSP butter
2 tsp grated lemon peel
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 drops yellow food color, if desired

Beat egg yolks with fork in small bowl, set aside. Mix sugar and cornstarch in 2-quart saucepan. Stir in water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute

Immediately stir at least half of the hot mixture into egg yolks, then stir back into hot mixture in saucepan. Boil and stir 1 minute, remove from heat. Stir in butter, lemon peel, lemon juice and food color (I never add the food color). Press plastic wrap on filling to prevent a tough layer from forming on top (I've never done this and never had a problem with a tough layer on top).

Finish making meringue.

Meringue

1/2 cup sugar
4 tsp cornstarch
1/2 cup cold water
4 large egg whites
1/8 tsp salt

Mix sugar and cornstarch in saucepan. Stir in water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil 1 minute, remove from heat. Cool completely while making pie filling.

Beat egg whites and salt in large bowl with electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks just start to form. Very gradually beat in sugar mixture until stiff peaks form.

Pour hot pie filling into pie crust. Spoon meringue on top of pie filling, and smooth to the edges of the pie crust. This will prevent the meringue from shrinking as it bakes. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, or until meringue is light brown. Cool away from draft for 2 hours, then cover and refrigerate until serving.



A couple notes:
*When making the meringue, make sure all beaters, spoons, spatulas, bowl, anything that touches the meringue are clean and have not touched oil. Any oil at all will cause the meringue to never become firm.
*As always, refrigerate all leftovers. Any dessert with fruit should be refrigerated after serving.
*The sugar/cornstarch mixture helps make the meringue foolproof, and keeps it from shrinking and weeping.

Whole Wheat Bread

This is my mom's bread recipe. It actually comes from my Dad's mother, I believe, and my Dad taught my Mom how to make it when they got married. It's my all time favorite wheat bread recipe, and I have finally gotten to where I feel like it's perfect home made bread. It has phenomenal taste, it's soft but somewhat chewy, and it holds together really well so I can slice it really thin and make sandwiches out of it (I always hated sandwiches on homemade bread because the bread was sooooo thick). The trick is to use fresh ground wheat flour. You'll get a much better gluten mixture, and the bread will stick together and be a better texture.



Whole Wheat Bread

5 cups hot water
6 cups whole wheat flour

Beat the hot water and flour together until mixture becomes shiny, sticky and clumpy. I use my electric beaters, because my arm gets really tired, but my Mom always beat it by hand (maybe because she had 6 girls!) This helps to release the gluten in the wheat and will make the bread stick together better.

1/2 cup warm water
1 TBSP sugar
2 1/2 TBSP yeast

Put yeast and sugar in warm water while beating the hot water and flour together. The yeast will dissolve in the water and will become bubbly. Make sure to use a 2-cup measuring cup as the yeast mixture will grow.

2/3 cup honey
2/3 cup oil
2 tsp salt
1 cup flour

Add to the water and flour mixture, and stir well. Then add the yeast mixture and another cup of flour and mix together. At this point, you will have a sticky dough. Continue to add dough until dough is just a little sticky, about 6 more cups. Oil your counter or bread board, and turn dough onto oiled surface. Oil your hands, and start kneading the dough. I knead it for about 5 minutes, my mom would say you should do 10 minutes. Dough should be shiny and satiny feeling. Oiling the surface instead of flouring it keeps your dough from getting too dry, and will help the bread to be moist and not crumbly.

Put dough back in bowl, cover with a towel, and let rise for about 1 hour, until indentation remains in dough when poked.

Divide dough into four equal loaves, shape, and place in greased bread pans. Let rise about 45 minutes, then place in oven at 350 degrees. Bake for about 30 minutes, until loaves are golden brown, sound hollow when tapped, and move in the pan when you shake the pan. Remove loaves from pans a couple minutes after taking out of the oven. If you leave them in the pans, the bottoms will get soggy. Slice and enjoy!

Squash Black Bean Soup

This is another really good soup. The kids really liked it, except for the ham. (Funny story, last night we had taco soup, and I had put hamburger in it, which I usually don't. Liz said, "It's weird, I've never had taco soup with meat in it before!" I put the meat versions of my recipes on here, but normally I don't put the meat in when I make them for us.) As you can tell, I really like soup, especially in the winter. The recipe said to puree 2 of the cans of black beans, but I wouldn't do it again, it made the soup gray. It was still yummy, but not so pretty,

Squash Black Bean Soup

2 15 ounce cans black beans, drained

1 (16 ounce) can diced tomatoes

1/4 cup butter

1 1/4 cups chopped onion

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

4 cups broth

1 squash

1/2 pound cubed cooked ham

1-3 tablespoons sherry vinegar(I used cider vinegar)

Directions

Bake the squash until tender. Puree the squash with the can of tomatoes and set aside.

Melt butter in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, season with salt and pepper. Cook and stir until the onion is softened. Stir in the squash puree, the black beans, broth, and sherry vinegar to taste (I only used 1 TBSP, and it was too much for us, so be careful!) Mix until well blended, then simmer for about 25 minutes, adding water if too thick. Stir in the ham, and heat through before serving.

I would add a can of corn also, but I've been accuse of overusing corn lately, so use your own judgment!

Cream of Broccoli Soup

My cooking seems to be suffering from the mid-winter blues. I don't know what to cook, and I don't want to cook lately, and I especially don't want to blog. So, I am going to cook to force myself out of it. Really, it's just February, and gray and cold, and I'll be fine. This soup is a great one to help you feel a little better. It's from my Betty Crocker cookbook, my trusty, faithful cookbook that I bought when I was in college, so she's really old, and showing her age, but I love her. Truly, I've owned tons of cookbooks, and this is one of the few that has survived multiple purges over the years.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

1 1/2 pounds broccoli
2 cups water
1 large stalk celery, chopped (3/4 cup)
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
2 TBSP butter
2 TBSP flour
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
dash of nutmeg
1/2 cup whipping cream
shredded cheese, if wanted

Remove flowerets from broccoli, set aside. Cut stalks into 1-inch pieces (peel them first), discarding any leaves. (I buy my broccoli at Costco, in the big 3-pound bag, so it's only flowerets, no stalks.)

Heat water to boiling in large pot. Add broccoli, celery and onion. Cover and heat to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer about 10 minutes or until broccoli is tender (do not drain).



Carefully place broccoli mixture in blender. Blend until smooth. (This is where I decided I LOVE my Bosch. It took about 20 seconds to make the picture above into smooth broccolie puree.) Set aside.

Melt butter in the pot you cooked the broccoli in. Stir in flour. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and bubbly, remove from heat. (This is called a roux, it is your secret to making a good sauce, gravy or creamy soup.) Stir in broth. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute.

Stir in broccoli mixture, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Heat just to boiling, stir in whipping cream. Heat just until hot (do not boil or soup may curdle.) Serve with shredded cheese.

Rainbow Cake

I made this cake for Liz and Katie's birthday. I'm not usually a fan of boxed cakes, but this was actually pretty good, and it was impressive looking, and really very easy. I first saw it here.

Rainbow Cake

(for the cake)
2 boxes of white cake mix
food coloring (try Ateco)

(for the frosting)
4 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese
1 cup butter
5-6 cups powdered sugar
1 T vanilla

To make the cake:

Mix up one box of the cake mix, following the directions on the box. Separate the prepared mix into three bowls with roughly 1 cup of cake mix per bowl. Add food coloring (red in one bowl, orange in another, and yellow in the third).

Bake the three cakes in round pans according to the box instructions. Make sure to check the cakes about 10 minutes before they are supposed to be done. With less mix in the pans, they can cook faster.

Repeat with the second box of cake mix and the remaining three colors (green, blue, purple).


To make the frosting:

Mix together softened (room temperature) butter and softened (room temperature) cream cheese until well combined. Add vanilla. Combine. Slowly add in powdered sugar. After the 5th cup, taste the frosting. If you'd like it sweeter, add the 6th cup. If not, leave the 6th cup out.


To assemble cake:

Level the tops of each layer of cooled cake with a large bread knife. Slice into the cakes horizontally so that the centers of the cakes are no longer higher than the edges (something that usually happens to them when they are baked). This is important so that the colors will display evenly when the completed cake is cut. Your rainbow will appear warped and not even unless you level the tops of each cake first.

Begin assembly with the purple layer. Set the purple layer on your cake stand or plate. Add enough frosting to cover the layer with enough to spill over the edges (about 1/2 to 1 cup of frosting). Run the flat, smooth side of a large knife around the cake to smooth out the frosting.

Add the blue layer of cake on top of the frosted purple one. Put more frosting in the middle and spread again with the flat, smooth side of a large knife so that the frosting covers the layer and falls out over the edges. Run your knife around the outside edge of the cake as well, to smooth out the sides.

Put the cake into the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or the freezer for 1 hour.

Repeat with green layer and then yellow layer.

Put the cake into the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or the freezer for 1 hour.

Repeat with orange layer and finally with red layer.

Freezing between each two rounds of layers is recommended. The cake can get really heavy by the time you are adding the 4th, 5th and 6th layers. If it is somewhat frozen at this point, the cake will not get smooshed or crushed. Additionally, it is much easier to frost the cake when it is relatively solid, not wobbling all over the place.

It really is quite easy to make. I was intimidated by the instructions, and worried that the cake was going to collapse or crush itself, but I followed the directions exactly, and it was perfect. It came out beautiful, and it tasted good.

White Chili Soup

Every time I make this dish, Rusty calls it soup, and I call it Chili. The kids are now calling it soup, so I am surrendering! So I give you my white flag, White Chili Soup!


White Chili Soup

1 pound sausage, cooked and drained or cooked, cubed chicken*
3 bell peppers
2 onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 14 1/2 ounce cans chicken broth
2 15 ounce can butter beans
15 ounce can black eyed peas
15 ounce can garbanzo beans
2 15 ounce can navy beans
4 ounce can chopped green chilies
2 TBSP chili powder
3 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Combine all ingredients in slow cook. Cook on Low 6 hours

Serve with chips, shredded cheese and sour cream. Even Liz, the super picky child loves this meal and takes it to school for lunch (that, my friends, is the ultimate seal of approval!)

*I also sometimes make this dish without any meat at all, and it's very good.

Chickpea Curry

I came across this recipe here. I know it looks weird, but it's actually very good.

2 cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans)

1 white onion, diced

1 Tbsp. grape seed oil

2 cans of diced tomatoes

1/2 tsp. turmeric

1/2 tsp. cardamom

1/2 tsp. coriander

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

squirt of lemon juice
Salt to taste

..super easy directions..

Saute the onion and grape seed oil.

Add rinsed and drained chickpeas.

Add diced tomatoes.

Add spices.

Bring to boil... lower heat and cover.

Simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Serve over brown rice. I thought the Curry was really dry, so I added about a cup of broth to it.

Spinach Salad

This isn't a fancy salad, but it's very yummy, and very simple.

Spinach Salad

1 bag spinach
1 can mandarin oranges
1 package ramen noodles
Craisins
Slivered honey roasted almonds

Put spinach into salad bowl. Add drained mandarin oranges, crushed ramen noodles (without the seasoning packet), a handful or two of Craisins, and the slivered almost. Serve with poppy seed dressing.

Baked Chicken Sandwich

This sandwich is truly delightful. It's crunchy and chewy and savory and full of flavor, yet so simple and easy. I've made it several times and it's always a crowd pleaser.

Ingredients

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 loaf of bread (I like Smith's specialty breads, especially the country loaves)
1 can artichoke hearts, chopped into small pieces
Sun dried tomato pesto (found in the produce refrigerated section)
Provolone cheese
Kraft Sun dried tomato vinaigrette

Slice the chicken into 1/4 inch slabs. Put on a big baking sheet, cover with salad dressing and bake at 400 degrees until chicken is cooked through.

Slice bread in half length wise, and place on a baking sheet. Put chicken on bottom half of the bread, then artichoke hearts, and top with provolone cheese (I only used to slices, broken in half, and it was plenty). Smear sun dried tomato pesto onto other half of bread, then drizzle some of the dressing on top of the pesto. Put in oven at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, until bread is toasty and cheese is melted.

Take the sandwich out of the oven, and put the top on. Slice and enjoy.

So very tasty.