Feeling a bit better today, so I'm back to cooking. My appetite isn't completely back (hey, that's a good thing) and things are still a little off, but otherwise okay.
My boys both adore New England Clam Chowder and have been after me to make it for a long time. I don't have a tried and true recipe yet, so I decided to go with a recipe from Never Trust a Culinary Student. The recipe, from her studies at culinary school, was vague, but it gave me the basic building blocks I needed.
I think that New England Clam Chowder may be one of those recipes where less is more. Like homefried potatoes. My DH and I had a competition many years ago to see who could make the best homefried potatoes. The only constant was that it had to be Lyonnaise - with onions. We went nuts - putting in all kinds of herbs, spices, even hot sauce. In the end, we realized that all you really needed was onion, salt, pepper and butter (although technique was extremely important, but that's another story). Sometimes less is more. The same may hold true for clam chowder. There are ways to fancy it up that are perfectly delicious - for example, Cooking Light has a wonderful Southwestern version - but sometimes you just want the basics.
The trail version came out very well. It had that classic NE chowder flavor, but it also had a bit more color than some chowders. For one thing, I used baby red potatoes since that's what was on hand, and I left the skins on. Certainly not traditional. It worked pretty well, but I think a russett potato would hold up better in soup.
I didn't make a roux - instead I used a slurry of equal parts flour and water, whisked together. Not only did this make the soup simpler to prepare, it also lowered the fat content. I ended up adding a 1/4 cup of flour and it still wasn't thick enough for our tastes, though by no means thin. I'd like to figure out how to thicken it a bit more next time.
I have decided that using real cream in simple, creamy soups is a must. You can do a lower fat version, but more than likely, you're going to have to compensate by adding other ingredients to help boost the flavor. While that can be fine, sometimes you want the main ingredient to shine through - fat, though maybe not the healthiest choice, is still one of the best ways to boost the flavor of your main ingredients without competing with those flavors. And at a 1/2 cup of cream for 6 servings, this recipe is not exactly swimming in fat. In fact, according to Mastercook (a great way to organize your recipes on the computer), this recipe would qualify as low-fat, or pretty close, with 33% of the calories coming from fat.
I'll most likely be experimenting with other recipes before deciding on a keeper, but this was a great start.
Stay tuned for more to come from the kitchen this weekend......like apple butter, muffins and other tasty treats.
Tags: soup, chowder, clams, low-fat, recipe, food
Friday, September 29, 2006
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Living Vicariously
Something has had me doubled over off and on since last evening. Nothing terrible, fortunately, mostly just unexplainable intestinal pain.
I have begun to suspect that high fiber foods, wheat bran in particular, might be causing me a little intestinal distress. This afternoon, however, I started running a low-grade fever, so I'm not sure what's going on. All I do know is that when this happens, I think about how much it would suck to be intolerant or allergic to certain foods and have to eat a very limited diet. Especially if what's making you sick is healthy food to begin with. Seems cruel.
One thing I know it wasn't, however, is spinach. The last time I had spinach was almost 2 weeks ago.
Since I'm afraid to eat much of anything until the pain subsides, I've been spending the evening living vicariously through other bloggers.
Now, I'm not usually too excited about the idea of having sandwiches for dinner, but that's because I'm setting the bar far too low. Check out these creations over at Slashfood. It seems a shame to even call them a sandwich..........
Hopefully tomorrow I'll be cooking again, not just reading about cooking. Although reading about cooking IS a lot of fun. Not to mention inspiring.....
I have begun to suspect that high fiber foods, wheat bran in particular, might be causing me a little intestinal distress. This afternoon, however, I started running a low-grade fever, so I'm not sure what's going on. All I do know is that when this happens, I think about how much it would suck to be intolerant or allergic to certain foods and have to eat a very limited diet. Especially if what's making you sick is healthy food to begin with. Seems cruel.
One thing I know it wasn't, however, is spinach. The last time I had spinach was almost 2 weeks ago.
Since I'm afraid to eat much of anything until the pain subsides, I've been spending the evening living vicariously through other bloggers.
Like Linda at Kayaksoup who brought home some delectable little risotto cakes, serving them with some equally delicious-looking halibut and asparagus. Risotto and asparagus, two of my favorite foods.
If fiber really is my problem, I might have to say to heck with my whole grain baking endeavours and try these awesome-looking muffins, posted by Kitchen Wench.
Now, I'm not usually too excited about the idea of having sandwiches for dinner, but that's because I'm setting the bar far too low. Check out these creations over at Slashfood. It seems a shame to even call them a sandwich..........
Hopefully tomorrow I'll be cooking again, not just reading about cooking. Although reading about cooking IS a lot of fun. Not to mention inspiring.....
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Fall with a little summer thrown in
The cooler weather may have turned thoughts to baking, soups and other comfort foods, but today's sunshine and warm temperatures begged me to throw something on the grill. I didn't want to abandon my original plans to make a barley risotto, however, so I improvised.
The recipe called for me to dice the chicken and then cook it along with the barely for 40 minutes. Unless you're cooking with thigh meat, that will only result in very dry chicken. Normally I'd cook the chicken breast halves whole (about 4-6 minutes on each side) and then dice, adding the chicken toward the end just to heat through. The sunshine beckoned me outside, so I decided to grill the chicken instead. By no means a necessary part of making this recipe good, just a whim on a nice day.
As I searched through the refrigerator for the ingredients I needed, I found that I was out of carrots and nearly out of celery. In place of the carrots, I used a small bit of red bell pepper that was sitting in the vegetable bin which I thought would do very nicely, and it did.
I didn't have 40 minutes to cook the barley, so I used the quick-cooking barley to speed up the process. Not before I had already opened three cans of chicken stock, I realized that the quick-cooking barley probably need less liquid, so I went with just two of the cans and cooked the barley with the lid off, more like one would cook a proper risotto. I served this with one of our favorites, zucchini-pecan sauté.
We all the enjoyed this dish quite well. Not a spectacular meal by any means, but just the sort of thing that's easy to throw together, nutritious and very adaptable to different items you might already have on hand.
The recipe called for me to dice the chicken and then cook it along with the barely for 40 minutes. Unless you're cooking with thigh meat, that will only result in very dry chicken. Normally I'd cook the chicken breast halves whole (about 4-6 minutes on each side) and then dice, adding the chicken toward the end just to heat through. The sunshine beckoned me outside, so I decided to grill the chicken instead. By no means a necessary part of making this recipe good, just a whim on a nice day.
As I searched through the refrigerator for the ingredients I needed, I found that I was out of carrots and nearly out of celery. In place of the carrots, I used a small bit of red bell pepper that was sitting in the vegetable bin which I thought would do very nicely, and it did.
I didn't have 40 minutes to cook the barley, so I used the quick-cooking barley to speed up the process. Not before I had already opened three cans of chicken stock, I realized that the quick-cooking barley probably need less liquid, so I went with just two of the cans and cooked the barley with the lid off, more like one would cook a proper risotto. I served this with one of our favorites, zucchini-pecan sauté.
We all the enjoyed this dish quite well. Not a spectacular meal by any means, but just the sort of thing that's easy to throw together, nutritious and very adaptable to different items you might already have on hand.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
My house smells wonderful!
Mmmmm...wouldn't it be fun if we could upload smells to go along with our recipes and photos? It smells delicious in here and I wish I could share.
Now that the weather has cooled off nicely, I'm beginning to revel in baking again. I'm continuing to explore more whole grain recipes like I was doing last winter, especially muffins for breakfasts and snacks. For those who are interested in baking with more whole grains, I've marked which recipes are low-fat and which contain whole grains to make finding the healthier recipes a little easier.
These muffins were recommended to me by a CLBB member on this thread. The only change I made was to make these with white whole wheat flour instead of whole wheat flour. Wegmans carries King Arthur's White Whole Wheat Flour and I've been anxious to try it out. While I love to include as many whole grains as possible, I'm not always crazy about the taste of whole wheat flour. I'm hoping that this flour will be a nice compromise and so far, so good.
These muffins contain both whole wheat flour and wheat bran, but they are still light and airy, not dense and hearty like some whole grain muffins. I happen to like both textures, but for those who are less-than-thrilled with whole grain muffins, this muffin is a good place to start.
I do miss the buttery taste that a really good, full-fat banana muffin has - I wonder if replacing half of the canola oil with 2 tablespoons of butter would help? Of course, that would up the saturated fat in this recipe, but it might be an acceptable trade-off. Something to try out next time.....
This was one of those times when the photo was coming out even worse than usual, but here's one just to prove I tried. I've have GOT to figure out how to take a nice photo! But I'm afraid it could mean investing in a nicer camera, and I just can't do that right now. Someday!
Tags: banana, muffins, whole grain, Eating Well, recipe, food, low-fat
Now that the weather has cooled off nicely, I'm beginning to revel in baking again. I'm continuing to explore more whole grain recipes like I was doing last winter, especially muffins for breakfasts and snacks. For those who are interested in baking with more whole grains, I've marked which recipes are low-fat and which contain whole grains to make finding the healthier recipes a little easier.
These muffins were recommended to me by a CLBB member on this thread. The only change I made was to make these with white whole wheat flour instead of whole wheat flour. Wegmans carries King Arthur's White Whole Wheat Flour and I've been anxious to try it out. While I love to include as many whole grains as possible, I'm not always crazy about the taste of whole wheat flour. I'm hoping that this flour will be a nice compromise and so far, so good.
These muffins contain both whole wheat flour and wheat bran, but they are still light and airy, not dense and hearty like some whole grain muffins. I happen to like both textures, but for those who are less-than-thrilled with whole grain muffins, this muffin is a good place to start.
I do miss the buttery taste that a really good, full-fat banana muffin has - I wonder if replacing half of the canola oil with 2 tablespoons of butter would help? Of course, that would up the saturated fat in this recipe, but it might be an acceptable trade-off. Something to try out next time.....
This was one of those times when the photo was coming out even worse than usual, but here's one just to prove I tried. I've have GOT to figure out how to take a nice photo! But I'm afraid it could mean investing in a nicer camera, and I just can't do that right now. Someday!
Tags: banana, muffins, whole grain, Eating Well, recipe, food, low-fat
Monday, September 25, 2006
A Foodie Funny
Well, nothing interesting is going on in the kitchen today, so I'm bringing you this tidbit from Jon Stewart's book, America (The Book) :
(Click on photo or use magnifying glass to make it legible.)I love Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and that whole gang. Too bad it took me...
...to catch on.Sunday, September 24, 2006
WDB #53 & Raviolis
We're back from spending the night with the in-laws to celebrate several fall birthdays, so just a quick post to join in Sweetnicks 53rd WDB.While we were gone, be boarded Bailey overnight, treating him to a day at the spa. He got a shampoo, a cut, his teeth brushed and even his nails done. If only he found it as relaxing as humans do, but I'm thinking he doesn't much care for the pampering.
We didn't get hom until a little after 5 today, so dinner had to be easy. I boiled up some Wegmans Ravioli and threw them in a pot with Newman's Own Marinara. The ravioli's are tasty and we have them for dinner once or twice a month.
This was the first time we tried this particular jarred sauce. I'm generally not a big fan of jarred sauce, but I keep a jar or two around for times like this when we don't have any homemade marinara in the freezer. Newman's sauce was a bit bland, but I liked it overall. I generally don't like the background flavors of jarred sauces, but this one had mostly a tomato flavor and would be a great sauce to doctor up with a little fresh garlic, wine and maybe some crushed red pepper flakes. If only I had remembered to do that before I dumped the sauce on the ravioli. Oh well.
We served it with a salad and some crusty bread to mop up the sauce. Sure beats giving into the temptation to pick up something at the drive-thru on the way back into town!
Friday, September 22, 2006
Soup!
As I mentioned earlier, we've had something going on every single night this week, including tonight, so it's been hard to get a real meal on the table. Now that I'm not working, it's certainly much easier to get a meal prepared, but even so, it can be very hectic between the time the kids get home and need help getting homework done and the time that we have to leave for the next activity. With some meals, you can only do so much in advance.
Although I've mentioned that we sometimes rely on convenience foods such as frozen pierogies for this rush meals, soup is another great way to get in a good, nutritious meal on a crazy night. Soup can be prepared in advance (in my case, while the kids are at school) and can be dished out whenever you're ready. It's particularly nice for those nights when it's impossible for everyone to sit down at the same time - they can just ladle out some soup whenever they're ready.
Last night I tried a new white chicken chili recipe because I had most of the necessary ingredients on hand. I ended up using pepper jack cheese and leaving out the hot sauce instead of using Monterey jack and it worked quite well - just a little spiciness. It was very easy to throw together and was quite good, especially considering the ease of preparation. )I'll admit that I tend to judge things that are quick and easy a litte more leniently, but I don't waste my time with truly tasteless recipes no matter how easy they are to throw together.) I left out the scallions (didn't have any) and the cilantro (don't like).
Tags: Cooking Light, chili, soup, chicken, recipe, food
Although I've mentioned that we sometimes rely on convenience foods such as frozen pierogies for this rush meals, soup is another great way to get in a good, nutritious meal on a crazy night. Soup can be prepared in advance (in my case, while the kids are at school) and can be dished out whenever you're ready. It's particularly nice for those nights when it's impossible for everyone to sit down at the same time - they can just ladle out some soup whenever they're ready.
Last night I tried a new white chicken chili recipe because I had most of the necessary ingredients on hand. I ended up using pepper jack cheese and leaving out the hot sauce instead of using Monterey jack and it worked quite well - just a little spiciness. It was very easy to throw together and was quite good, especially considering the ease of preparation. )I'll admit that I tend to judge things that are quick and easy a litte more leniently, but I don't waste my time with truly tasteless recipes no matter how easy they are to throw together.) I left out the scallions (didn't have any) and the cilantro (don't like).
Tags: Cooking Light, chili, soup, chicken, recipe, food
Thursday, September 21, 2006
More Spinach...
Meh. After reading what I posted earlier, I wasn't happy with the results, so I pulled it. I'll leave the writing and research to Kate at Accidental Hedonist, who is doing a great job.
Like Kate, I'm frustrated that ALL spinach has been pulled, even those distributors and companies that have no reason to think that they are the source. Just doesn't seem like a logical or effective system for anyone involved.
So while perhaps a journalist I am not, I do know a good recipe when I see one, so I'll still leave you with the e. coli-safe spinach recipe:
Like Kate, I'm frustrated that ALL spinach has been pulled, even those distributors and companies that have no reason to think that they are the source. Just doesn't seem like a logical or effective system for anyone involved.
So while perhaps a journalist I am not, I do know a good recipe when I see one, so I'll still leave you with the e. coli-safe spinach recipe:
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Spinach Update
Looks like Natural Selection Foods may have had their hands slapped for jumping the gun and making it appear they had been cleared in the e. coli outbreak. Earthbound Farms has removed the announcement on the link that I provided yesterday.
You can keep up with the latest information on the FDA website. Kate at the Accidental Hedonist is also doing a nice job of keeping everyone up to date.
The investigation continues...............
Tags: spinach, E. coli, FDA
Pierogies
With school-age children involved in various activities, sometimes meals need to be quick and easy to prepare. We have several easy meals that we rotate on a regular basis that get us through these busy nights without a lot of fuss. This week, between Tae Kwon Do, a PTO meeting and an open house at school, we have something going on every single night!
One of our favorite quick meals is pierogies. I like the store-bought kind so well, I haven't even tried to make my own, though I'm sure they are fabulous. Until we moved, we always bought Mrs. T's pierogies, but now that we have a Wegmans, we decided to give their own store brand a try. The Wegmans brand is every bit as tasty as Mrs. T's and slightly cheaper (about 20 cents per box), but they don't have all that extra pasta around the edges like Mrs. T's. Without all the extra pasta - and who needs the extra pasta anyway - all 12 (sometimes 13) fit in the pan at one time, making them even easier to get to the table quickly.
My "recipe" for pierogies is to simply boil the pierogies until they begin to float to the top. While the pierogies are boiling, I sauté about a 1/2 cup of chopped onion in a little butter. Once the pierogies are finished boiling, I add them to pan along with a bit of salt and pepper, and sauté until they begin to turn a golden brown.
That's it! We like to serve pierogies with either tomato soup or a salad which makes for a quick, easy, and fairly nutritious meal. I say "fairly nutritious" because it is, after all, a store-bought product which brings with it certain additives and things I'd rather avoid, but pairing it with a nutritous soup or salad ups the nutrition factor quite a bit. In any case, it certainly beats out a run through the drive-thru!
The drawback for Wegmans pierogies? I did not study the nutrition labels in the store, but according to the Wegmans package and the info on the Mrs. T's website, Wegmans cheddar cheese pierogies appear to have 10g of fat per 4 pierogies, compared to 2.5 per 3 pierogies for Mrs. T's. On the other hand, Mrs. T's pierogies are made with dehydrated potatoes and cheese, whereas Wegmans are made with fresh potato and real cheddar (although further down, they also list "cheddar paste" - not sure what that is). I think we'll stick with Wegmans for the fresher ingredients, slightly lower price and less extraneous pasta.
Tags: Wegmans, pierogies, food
One of our favorite quick meals is pierogies. I like the store-bought kind so well, I haven't even tried to make my own, though I'm sure they are fabulous. Until we moved, we always bought Mrs. T's pierogies, but now that we have a Wegmans, we decided to give their own store brand a try. The Wegmans brand is every bit as tasty as Mrs. T's and slightly cheaper (about 20 cents per box), but they don't have all that extra pasta around the edges like Mrs. T's. Without all the extra pasta - and who needs the extra pasta anyway - all 12 (sometimes 13) fit in the pan at one time, making them even easier to get to the table quickly.
My "recipe" for pierogies is to simply boil the pierogies until they begin to float to the top. While the pierogies are boiling, I sauté about a 1/2 cup of chopped onion in a little butter. Once the pierogies are finished boiling, I add them to pan along with a bit of salt and pepper, and sauté until they begin to turn a golden brown.
That's it! We like to serve pierogies with either tomato soup or a salad which makes for a quick, easy, and fairly nutritious meal. I say "fairly nutritious" because it is, after all, a store-bought product which brings with it certain additives and things I'd rather avoid, but pairing it with a nutritous soup or salad ups the nutrition factor quite a bit. In any case, it certainly beats out a run through the drive-thru!The drawback for Wegmans pierogies? I did not study the nutrition labels in the store, but according to the Wegmans package and the info on the Mrs. T's website, Wegmans cheddar cheese pierogies appear to have 10g of fat per 4 pierogies, compared to 2.5 per 3 pierogies for Mrs. T's. On the other hand, Mrs. T's pierogies are made with dehydrated potatoes and cheese, whereas Wegmans are made with fresh potato and real cheddar (although further down, they also list "cheddar paste" - not sure what that is). I think we'll stick with Wegmans for the fresher ingredients, slightly lower price and less extraneous pasta.
Tags: Wegmans, pierogies, food
Monday, September 18, 2006
Bring back the Spinach!
I just heard on ABC News that organic spinach, including Earthbound Farms, has been cleared in the spinach recall. Well, I suppose "cleared" is not exactly correct, but so far, none of those who fell ill consumed organic spinach.
Natural Selection Foods really didn't have a choice but to recall - if they didn't and more people became ill or died, they'd face all kinds of nasty litigation. Still, it's hard not to think about all those perfectly good bags of spinach that ended up in a Dumpster somewhere...........
Hopefully they will bring back the spinach soon, but until then, check out this handy Greens Identification Chart at the Earthbound Farms website.
Tags: Earthbound Farms, spinach, recall
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Happy Birthday...
to The Savory Notebook!
I almost missed it, but here's the proof - The Savory Notebook's first post was on Saturday September 17th, 2005!
Hmmmph, so much for starting up any kind of food business. Moving around sort of makes that impossible, not to mention not having any capital whatsoever..................
But, except for a few lulls here and there, I actually stuck with something on a pretty regular basis for a whole year!
Now if only I can get myself to dedicate myself to counting calories and exercise in a similar manner..................
I almost missed it, but here's the proof - The Savory Notebook's first post was on Saturday September 17th, 2005!
Hmmmph, so much for starting up any kind of food business. Moving around sort of makes that impossible, not to mention not having any capital whatsoever..................
But, except for a few lulls here and there, I actually stuck with something on a pretty regular basis for a whole year!
Now if only I can get myself to dedicate myself to counting calories and exercise in a similar manner..................
Spinach. What, me worry?
So, after planning my spinach lasagna, I found out Thursday that spinach had been linked to an E. Coli outbreak, but details were sketchy, no specific products had been named, and I decided that I'm not going to be scared into not making my lasagna. Friday, I assembled the lasagna and stuck it in the fridge while folks over at Cooking Light continued to discuss the lastest news on what we should or should not be eating. I casually joked that my spinach was not bagged, but in clamshell form and came from Earthbound Farms, an organic producer. Perhaps I'd be safe? Nah. Turns out Earthbound Farms is part of Natural Selection Foods, the source for the outbreak and has voluntarily recalled all of their pre-cut spinach products.
Notice the "not available" addition to this photo
on the Earthbound Farms website.
As everyone frantically tossed or returned their spinach for a refund, I decided there was no way I was throwing out my lasagna. After all, the spinach had been dunked in boiling water and then baked, so any bacteria present should have been killed off. That's why we are supposed to cook hamburgers to 160º, right? Well, boiling water is hotter than that! And what the heck, life is full of risks and 100 outbreaks is pretty small when you consider the huge numbers of bags of spinach that have been consumed in the last few weeks all over the U.S. and Canada. Getting into your car and driving to the store to BUY the spinach is a lot more dangerous......
Anyway, if you can stomach hearing about spinach, here are the details of the lasagna........
I found this recipe on a lasagna thread over at, where else, the Cooking Light Bulletin Boards (otherwise known as the CLBB, kind of like EVOO). After I drooled over the looks of this recipe, I realized my New Best Recipes cookbook from Cook's Illustrated has this very recipe within its pages which then made me realize that I really need to crack this cookbook open more often!
I kind of sort of mostly followed the recipe as written. I decided to add mushrooms and was pleased to see that they listed this as an option in the recipe. However, I decided not to use button mushrooms. Why settle for plain old button mushrooms when you can easily find shiitake and cremini mushrooms? I didn't look at the weights, but I think it probably came to 8-10 ounces of mushrooms altogether. I sauteéd the mushrooms in a bit of butter, adding a touch of salt, pepper and thyme for seasoning.
One modification I made was to use 10 ounces of the fresh, hopefully e. coli-free spinach along with a 10-ounce box of much less likey to be contaminated frozen spinach. I had originally thought that 10 ounces might be enough, but panicked at the last minute and decided to go with the full 20 ounces as called for in the recipe, so I hauled out a box of frozen spinach to add to the fresh. I used skim milk in place of whole milk and 1% cottage cheese instead of full-fat.
I wasn't so sure about using the no-boil lasagna noodles but I'm glad I tried them. Not only were they easier, but I preferred the texture of these over regular noodles. They had a more delicate texture, more like fresh pasta. I also found the smaller size easier to work with - you layer these crosswise in the pan, not lengthwise. Not at all what I thought they would be - a very pleasant surprise and I plan to use these noodles from now on.
The lasagna was flavorful and delicious without being overly heavy and cheesy. It could have, perhaps, used a little more bechamel sauce, but it was by no means dry. The frozen spinach was definitely not as pleasant tasting as the fresh spinach, so it may well be worth the extra time and effort to start from fresh. Hmph - if and when we can find the fresh stuff again, that is. Until then, frozen spinach is an acceptable enough substitute.
I love the Earthbound clamshell packages of spinach and hope they show up on store shelves again very soon. When they do, I will not hesitate to buy one and will happily serve it to my family. It's been two days since we served the lasagna and so far no signs of illness. Of course if I go several days without posting, it's possible that we weren't so lucky with my little gamble after all, and then those who were more cautious than I can say, "I told you so!".
Tags: Cook's Illustrated, spinach, lasagna, e.coli, Barilla, recipe, food
Notice the "not available" addition to this photoon the Earthbound Farms website.
As everyone frantically tossed or returned their spinach for a refund, I decided there was no way I was throwing out my lasagna. After all, the spinach had been dunked in boiling water and then baked, so any bacteria present should have been killed off. That's why we are supposed to cook hamburgers to 160º, right? Well, boiling water is hotter than that! And what the heck, life is full of risks and 100 outbreaks is pretty small when you consider the huge numbers of bags of spinach that have been consumed in the last few weeks all over the U.S. and Canada. Getting into your car and driving to the store to BUY the spinach is a lot more dangerous......
Anyway, if you can stomach hearing about spinach, here are the details of the lasagna........
I found this recipe on a lasagna thread over at, where else, the Cooking Light Bulletin Boards (otherwise known as the CLBB, kind of like EVOO). After I drooled over the looks of this recipe, I realized my New Best Recipes cookbook from Cook's Illustrated has this very recipe within its pages which then made me realize that I really need to crack this cookbook open more often!
I kind of sort of mostly followed the recipe as written. I decided to add mushrooms and was pleased to see that they listed this as an option in the recipe. However, I decided not to use button mushrooms. Why settle for plain old button mushrooms when you can easily find shiitake and cremini mushrooms? I didn't look at the weights, but I think it probably came to 8-10 ounces of mushrooms altogether. I sauteéd the mushrooms in a bit of butter, adding a touch of salt, pepper and thyme for seasoning.
One modification I made was to use 10 ounces of the fresh, hopefully e. coli-free spinach along with a 10-ounce box of much less likey to be contaminated frozen spinach. I had originally thought that 10 ounces might be enough, but panicked at the last minute and decided to go with the full 20 ounces as called for in the recipe, so I hauled out a box of frozen spinach to add to the fresh. I used skim milk in place of whole milk and 1% cottage cheese instead of full-fat.
I wasn't so sure about using the no-boil lasagna noodles but I'm glad I tried them. Not only were they easier, but I preferred the texture of these over regular noodles. They had a more delicate texture, more like fresh pasta. I also found the smaller size easier to work with - you layer these crosswise in the pan, not lengthwise. Not at all what I thought they would be - a very pleasant surprise and I plan to use these noodles from now on.The lasagna was flavorful and delicious without being overly heavy and cheesy. It could have, perhaps, used a little more bechamel sauce, but it was by no means dry. The frozen spinach was definitely not as pleasant tasting as the fresh spinach, so it may well be worth the extra time and effort to start from fresh. Hmph - if and when we can find the fresh stuff again, that is. Until then, frozen spinach is an acceptable enough substitute.
I love the Earthbound clamshell packages of spinach and hope they show up on store shelves again very soon. When they do, I will not hesitate to buy one and will happily serve it to my family. It's been two days since we served the lasagna and so far no signs of illness. Of course if I go several days without posting, it's possible that we weren't so lucky with my little gamble after all, and then those who were more cautious than I can say, "I told you so!".
Tags: Cook's Illustrated, spinach, lasagna, e.coli, Barilla, recipe, food
Friday, September 15, 2006
Subscribe! And Peanut Butter Ice Cream....
The Savory Notebook is finally getting with it by enabling its readers to subscribe to this blog. Over at the right under "Subscribe", you'll see a spot where you can enter your email. Some of you may subscribe to a RSS aggregator, but for those of you who don't want to venture into that part of internet technology - heck, I'm not even sure I really know what it all means - you can simply enter your email in the the right sidebar, click on "Subscribe Me" and receive email updates every time I publish a new post!
Of course now that I've finally made use of that neat feature, something even cooler will come along.........
So yesterday I managed to get the lasagna fully assembled, the muffins baked and the ice cream custard made and refrigerated. Oh whoops. Did I say I got the custard in the refrigerated? Uh, not quite. I came down this morning to a nice, warm bowl of peanut butter custard still sitting on my kitchen counter. It killed me to pour it down the drain, but I couldn't risk poisoning my family - after all, I'm the one who'd have to clean up after them.
Oh well, I'll include a photo (from a previous batch that did make it through all of the necessary steps) and recipe for it anyway. Too bad the in-laws don't get any......
Anyway, this ice cream comes from a frequent poster over at the Cooking Light Bulletin Boards. She came up with this recipe all on her own and the rest of us are forever indebted to her for her fabulous creation. The only fat in this ice cream comes from the peanut butter and eggs - and it's natural peanut butter to boot. This ice cream could be declared a health food!
For those skeptical of a low-fat ice cream, let's be clear, I am NOT a fan of light ice creams, but I will give them a try, always hoping that maybe somewhere, there will be a good one. Most come up disappointing, usually because they lack that wonderfully creamy texture of the real thing. Not this one. It's not lacking in any way except for a few hundred fat calories. It's flavorful and pleasingly creamy. Since it's low in fat, it does not freeze up really well in the ice cream maker and will stay at soft-serve consistency, but after a few hours, or even better, overnight in the freezer, it's ready to scoop.
I love the texture of this ice cream so much that I am working on creating a chocolate version. So far I have something with a good texture, but the flavor isn't quite there yet. I will be sure to write here as soon as I feel it's there. I can't wait to try it again........only I hope I remember to put the custard in the fridge.............
Hopefully I'll remember to take pictures of the lasagna! And yes, that creation DID make it to the fridge. Now I just have to take it out in advance so that the dish doesn't crack when I go to heat it up - wouldn't that be pretty?
If I don't get a chance beforehand, I'll be back on Sunday with the recipe and a recap...........
Tags: peanut butter, ice cream, recipe, feedblitz, email subscription, recipe, food
Of course now that I've finally made use of that neat feature, something even cooler will come along.........
So yesterday I managed to get the lasagna fully assembled, the muffins baked and the ice cream custard made and refrigerated. Oh whoops. Did I say I got the custard in the refrigerated? Uh, not quite. I came down this morning to a nice, warm bowl of peanut butter custard still sitting on my kitchen counter. It killed me to pour it down the drain, but I couldn't risk poisoning my family - after all, I'm the one who'd have to clean up after them.
Oh well, I'll include a photo (from a previous batch that did make it through all of the necessary steps) and recipe for it anyway. Too bad the in-laws don't get any......
Anyway, this ice cream comes from a frequent poster over at the Cooking Light Bulletin Boards. She came up with this recipe all on her own and the rest of us are forever indebted to her for her fabulous creation. The only fat in this ice cream comes from the peanut butter and eggs - and it's natural peanut butter to boot. This ice cream could be declared a health food!
For those skeptical of a low-fat ice cream, let's be clear, I am NOT a fan of light ice creams, but I will give them a try, always hoping that maybe somewhere, there will be a good one. Most come up disappointing, usually because they lack that wonderfully creamy texture of the real thing. Not this one. It's not lacking in any way except for a few hundred fat calories. It's flavorful and pleasingly creamy. Since it's low in fat, it does not freeze up really well in the ice cream maker and will stay at soft-serve consistency, but after a few hours, or even better, overnight in the freezer, it's ready to scoop.
I love the texture of this ice cream so much that I am working on creating a chocolate version. So far I have something with a good texture, but the flavor isn't quite there yet. I will be sure to write here as soon as I feel it's there. I can't wait to try it again........only I hope I remember to put the custard in the fridge.............
Hopefully I'll remember to take pictures of the lasagna! And yes, that creation DID make it to the fridge. Now I just have to take it out in advance so that the dish doesn't crack when I go to heat it up - wouldn't that be pretty?
If I don't get a chance beforehand, I'll be back on Sunday with the recipe and a recap...........
Tags: peanut butter, ice cream, recipe, feedblitz, email subscription, recipe, food
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Quick post.........
.....'cause the in-laws are coming tomorrow and I still have to do my grocery shopping, clean, get my car inspected, make muffins, make ice cream (not really ice cream weather, but MIL loves this ice cream), prepare the lasagna for tomorrow night's dinner, make Saturday's dinner tomorrow......well, you get the idea.
The in-laws are coming in tomorrow afternoon to watch my DS play in the school band. Tomorrow night is the start of a big balloon festival at the local aiport and DS's school band will be performing the Star Spangled Banner and a couple of other tunes. The performance only lasts a few minutes, but we hope to be able to watch the balloons lift off right after that. Since we'll be out and about, I want to make the lasagna today so we can just pop it in the oven when we get home.
I need to make the lasagna today because I need to make Saturday's meal tomorrow! How's that for confusing? Saturday, DH's company is sponsoring a trip to a local amusement park. The in-laws will be coming with us and we'll be gone most of the day, so I'll be preparing the Very Creamy Vegetable Chowder tomorrow it have on hand for Saturday night. We could take the easy route and eat out, but I want to treat them to good home cooking!
I'll likely be too busy to find time to post while they are visiting, but hopefully I'll be back to post recipes for the peanut butter ice cream - it's a low-fat recipe that is impossibly rich and creamy - and the spinach lasagna. Perhaps I'll find a few moments before they arrive tomorrow..........
In the meantime, here's a recipe that we tried the other night for grilled shrimp. It was easy and very flavorful. Just a caution - the lime juice in the marinade will "cook" the shrimp, so you may want to cut the marinating time to 30 minutes. We marinated for the full hour and I could tell the shrimp had cooked quite a bit, so we just quickly flashed them on the grill which seemed to work pretty well. The only changes I made to the recipe were to skip the tequila because we didn't have any. I had several ideas for veggie side dishes, but decided to simply grill the veggies (in this case, red bell pepper and asparagus) and then toss them, along with the shrimp, in the boiled reserved marinade and serve over brown basmati rice.
Tags: lime, shrimp, grill, recipe, food
The in-laws are coming in tomorrow afternoon to watch my DS play in the school band. Tomorrow night is the start of a big balloon festival at the local aiport and DS's school band will be performing the Star Spangled Banner and a couple of other tunes. The performance only lasts a few minutes, but we hope to be able to watch the balloons lift off right after that. Since we'll be out and about, I want to make the lasagna today so we can just pop it in the oven when we get home.
I need to make the lasagna today because I need to make Saturday's meal tomorrow! How's that for confusing? Saturday, DH's company is sponsoring a trip to a local amusement park. The in-laws will be coming with us and we'll be gone most of the day, so I'll be preparing the Very Creamy Vegetable Chowder tomorrow it have on hand for Saturday night. We could take the easy route and eat out, but I want to treat them to good home cooking!
I'll likely be too busy to find time to post while they are visiting, but hopefully I'll be back to post recipes for the peanut butter ice cream - it's a low-fat recipe that is impossibly rich and creamy - and the spinach lasagna. Perhaps I'll find a few moments before they arrive tomorrow..........
In the meantime, here's a recipe that we tried the other night for grilled shrimp. It was easy and very flavorful. Just a caution - the lime juice in the marinade will "cook" the shrimp, so you may want to cut the marinating time to 30 minutes. We marinated for the full hour and I could tell the shrimp had cooked quite a bit, so we just quickly flashed them on the grill which seemed to work pretty well. The only changes I made to the recipe were to skip the tequila because we didn't have any. I had several ideas for veggie side dishes, but decided to simply grill the veggies (in this case, red bell pepper and asparagus) and then toss them, along with the shrimp, in the boiled reserved marinade and serve over brown basmati rice.
Tags: lime, shrimp, grill, recipe, food
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Mmmm...Minestrone...
I like summer, but one thing I love about Autumn is having just enough nip in the air to give me an excuse to put on a big pot of soup.
Over at the Cooking Light Bulletin Boards, there is often a monthly soup thread running where we gather to exchange our favorite soup recipes or to review recipes we've tried recently. That's where I found one of our new favorites, the Very Creamy Vegetable Chowder.
I've been keeping an eye on the September soup thread to see if anything tasty comes up and my "to try" list is growing already with at least 3 or 4 that I would like to try.
First up, though was a minestrone recipe from Food Network's Giada. Now that I can readily find prociutto and pancetta, I have been attracted to just about any recipe that mentions either one. I also love any reason to try a green that is unfamiliar to us. I have cooked with Swiss chard before, but have not yet used it in a soup and soup is the perfect place to hide greens when your family regards them with doubt and suspicion.
This soup had a lot of chopping to do which slows me down in the kitchen - I'm not exactly a whirlwind when it comes to wielding a knife, more like slow and plodding - but it was otherwise easy to put together.
The simple act of throwing in one sprig of rosemary really gave the soup a lot of flavor and no extra chopping either! This soup is very tasty and chock-full of colorful, delicious little tibits, but there are a few things I would change. First of all, I didn't think it had enough beans, so I added an extra can. However, it turned out that there wasn't quite enough liquid after this addition, so I'd definitely add a bit more stock or water next time. And even though it only calls for one potato, I found the potato was a bit too plentiful so, in keeping with what I imagine minestrone to be, I'd use pasta in place of the potato next time. Adding pasta in place of the potato would also make this soup a good candidate for freezing.
I can't say as I noticed what the Parmesan rind added to the soup, but I like the idea of it and will try it in other soup recipes to see what it might add. The chard got a little too wilted for my tastes, so I would consider adding it later in the recipe next time. I also felt that adding the pancetta in with all the vegetables in the beginning caused everything to just steam and sweat, so I wonder if sauteeing the pancetta alone first, then adding the onion and garlic, followed by the celery and carrot would help render the fat a little more. Something to consider.
Now for the hard part.....which soup to make next? I think one of the cheddar beer soups is calling out my name and I know the guys in the family would certainly be up for it. Soup is a great thing to begin preparing early in the day and have ready on the stove for those evenings when we're rushing out the door for one activity or another, and with two older kids, that may well be just about EVERY night pretty soon.
With all the vegetables and beans in this one, it makes a great entry for Sweetnick's weekly blogging event ARF/5-A-Day which will be posted later on tonight.
Tags: Giada, Food Network, minestrone, soup, recipe
Over at the Cooking Light Bulletin Boards, there is often a monthly soup thread running where we gather to exchange our favorite soup recipes or to review recipes we've tried recently. That's where I found one of our new favorites, the Very Creamy Vegetable Chowder.
I've been keeping an eye on the September soup thread to see if anything tasty comes up and my "to try" list is growing already with at least 3 or 4 that I would like to try.
First up, though was a minestrone recipe from Food Network's Giada. Now that I can readily find prociutto and pancetta, I have been attracted to just about any recipe that mentions either one. I also love any reason to try a green that is unfamiliar to us. I have cooked with Swiss chard before, but have not yet used it in a soup and soup is the perfect place to hide greens when your family regards them with doubt and suspicion.
This soup had a lot of chopping to do which slows me down in the kitchen - I'm not exactly a whirlwind when it comes to wielding a knife, more like slow and plodding - but it was otherwise easy to put together.
The simple act of throwing in one sprig of rosemary really gave the soup a lot of flavor and no extra chopping either! This soup is very tasty and chock-full of colorful, delicious little tibits, but there are a few things I would change. First of all, I didn't think it had enough beans, so I added an extra can. However, it turned out that there wasn't quite enough liquid after this addition, so I'd definitely add a bit more stock or water next time. And even though it only calls for one potato, I found the potato was a bit too plentiful so, in keeping with what I imagine minestrone to be, I'd use pasta in place of the potato next time. Adding pasta in place of the potato would also make this soup a good candidate for freezing.
I can't say as I noticed what the Parmesan rind added to the soup, but I like the idea of it and will try it in other soup recipes to see what it might add. The chard got a little too wilted for my tastes, so I would consider adding it later in the recipe next time. I also felt that adding the pancetta in with all the vegetables in the beginning caused everything to just steam and sweat, so I wonder if sauteeing the pancetta alone first, then adding the onion and garlic, followed by the celery and carrot would help render the fat a little more. Something to consider.
Now for the hard part.....which soup to make next? I think one of the cheddar beer soups is calling out my name and I know the guys in the family would certainly be up for it. Soup is a great thing to begin preparing early in the day and have ready on the stove for those evenings when we're rushing out the door for one activity or another, and with two older kids, that may well be just about EVERY night pretty soon.
With all the vegetables and beans in this one, it makes a great entry for Sweetnick's weekly blogging event ARF/5-A-Day which will be posted later on tonight.
Tags: Giada, Food Network, minestrone, soup, recipe
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Getting up and running.
Well, the good news is we got our computer up and running again with most of the data intact. WHEW! The bad news is that we have a lot of programs to reinstall and tweaking to do before it's back to its former state. Still, we got pretty lucky on that one and will be taking steps to ensure that we have everything backed up nicely in case this ever happens again.
I still have some catching up do with recipes we've been making like Margarita Shrimp, blueberry pie from earlier this month, and a couple of ice cream/sorbet recipes. So stay tuned as I try to get us caught up.
In the meantime, here's a shot of Bailey that I got earlier this week and will be submitting to Sweetnick's WDB #51. Rough life, huh?
I still have some catching up do with recipes we've been making like Margarita Shrimp, blueberry pie from earlier this month, and a couple of ice cream/sorbet recipes. So stay tuned as I try to get us caught up.
In the meantime, here's a shot of Bailey that I got earlier this week and will be submitting to Sweetnick's WDB #51. Rough life, huh?
Thursday, September 07, 2006
*&$^% Computer Problems!
No foodie post tonight, I'm afraid, all of my computer energy is being sapped by our main computer upstairs which decided to suddenly crash today. So, instead of having fun writing, I'm having a day-long chat with Allan over at TweakXP. It's definitely nice having a second computer when this sort of thing happens!
So far nothing has worked - I have a feeling we are headed to a fresh intallation of Windows XP along with attempts to recover as many files as possible. I do back up my Quicken and my Mastercook, but there are quite a few files we have not been good about backing up. You can be sure that we will be creating system backups on a regular basis after this. But why does it always take something like this to get us to do it????
Anyway, if you ever have a computer problem, especially virus or software problems, the folks are Tweak XP are awesome. I usually donate to these forums when they help me out, but I can't find a place to do that. Maybe Allan would accept a homemade batch of brownies instead?
So far nothing has worked - I have a feeling we are headed to a fresh intallation of Windows XP along with attempts to recover as many files as possible. I do back up my Quicken and my Mastercook, but there are quite a few files we have not been good about backing up. You can be sure that we will be creating system backups on a regular basis after this. But why does it always take something like this to get us to do it????Anyway, if you ever have a computer problem, especially virus or software problems, the folks are Tweak XP are awesome. I usually donate to these forums when they help me out, but I can't find a place to do that. Maybe Allan would accept a homemade batch of brownies instead?
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
What's for Dinner? (9/5/06)
I started out planning last night's meal with only one ojective - to use the zucchini I bought at the store Friday night before it went bad. The rest was a big, fat unknown.
After browsing through recipes and thinking about what we had on hand, I decided that maybe polenta would be part of it. Last week I bought 2 tubes of Melissa's Organic Polenta. I didn't buy it for a specific recipe, but just to keep on hand. Turns out it was a good thing to have on hand for tonight.
Now I had to come up with a tasty sauce, using zucchini, to go over the polenta. My family is not all that crazy about zucchini, so I decided that the sauce had to be very flavorful and full of other things they did like. That's how the Italian sausage came in - everything tastes better with a little pork fat, right?
I thought about using diced tomatoes as the base of the sauce, but I found 1/3-1/2 a jar of Muir Glen Cabernet Marinara Pasta Sauce. Marinara pasta sauce? Isn't that a bit redundant? It didn't look like that was going to be enough sauce, so I added a small can of tomato sauce. Turns out that was a little too much sauce - it's hard to keep a polenta dish layered if it's too soupy - but it was better than it being too dry. To add more flavor to the sauce, I added some crushed garlic, chopped kalamata olives, crushed red pepper, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.
I sliced the polenta and put it in a single layer in a shallow baking dish - or as close to a single layer as I could get - my slices could have been a little thicker, I guess. I topped the polenta with the sauce, some fresh mozzarella (another leftover getting used - hurray) and some Parmigiana Reggiano.
I baked the dish at 350º for about 20 minutes.
It was very good! Not bad for an off-the-cuff meal and I was very excited to once again be using up things around the house that were in danger of being wasted. I'd do it pretty much the same way again, just cutting down a bit on the sauce.
Supplies are getting low and I won't get to the store until after dinner tonight, so tonight's dinner may be tricker and it's an activity night for us, so probably just tomato soup and grilled cheese............
Tags: polenta, zucchini, sausage, main dish, recipe
After browsing through recipes and thinking about what we had on hand, I decided that maybe polenta would be part of it. Last week I bought 2 tubes of Melissa's Organic Polenta. I didn't buy it for a specific recipe, but just to keep on hand. Turns out it was a good thing to have on hand for tonight.
Now I had to come up with a tasty sauce, using zucchini, to go over the polenta. My family is not all that crazy about zucchini, so I decided that the sauce had to be very flavorful and full of other things they did like. That's how the Italian sausage came in - everything tastes better with a little pork fat, right?
I thought about using diced tomatoes as the base of the sauce, but I found 1/3-1/2 a jar of Muir Glen Cabernet Marinara Pasta Sauce. Marinara pasta sauce? Isn't that a bit redundant? It didn't look like that was going to be enough sauce, so I added a small can of tomato sauce. Turns out that was a little too much sauce - it's hard to keep a polenta dish layered if it's too soupy - but it was better than it being too dry. To add more flavor to the sauce, I added some crushed garlic, chopped kalamata olives, crushed red pepper, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.
I sliced the polenta and put it in a single layer in a shallow baking dish - or as close to a single layer as I could get - my slices could have been a little thicker, I guess. I topped the polenta with the sauce, some fresh mozzarella (another leftover getting used - hurray) and some Parmigiana Reggiano.
I baked the dish at 350º for about 20 minutes.It was very good! Not bad for an off-the-cuff meal and I was very excited to once again be using up things around the house that were in danger of being wasted. I'd do it pretty much the same way again, just cutting down a bit on the sauce.
Supplies are getting low and I won't get to the store until after dinner tonight, so tonight's dinner may be tricker and it's an activity night for us, so probably just tomato soup and grilled cheese............
Tags: polenta, zucchini, sausage, main dish, recipe
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Fall may be just around the corner....
....but we're not done with summer yet!
Although we made good use of the chilly weather on Saturday with some chili, we are not ready to give ourselves completely over to fall. Our Labor day menu revolved much more around summer, with berries and barbecued ribs to remind us that it is still technically summer.
The morning began with our favorite buckwheat pancakes from Wade's Mill, complete with blueberries which are hard to find now, save for Sam's Club's giant container. The berries were in pretty good condition, but definitely on the tart side, perfect for pancakes. We served these with real maple syrup and some leftover berry syrup from Rachael Ray's Pain Perdu. See, still using up those odds and ends in the freezer.
DH was in charge of the ribs. He doesn't cook often, but when he does, he really gets into it. He can spend hours doing research and hours making sure everything is just so. I mostly try to stay out of it, unless he asks for my opinion - or I see something that I REALLY think won't work.
Since cooking the ribs was mostly his thing, I don't have a detailed account of how he cooks them, but I do know that he brined them overnight. Then he used a rub on them and put them on the grill to bake in an aluminum pan for a short period of time. He then put them directly on the grill, finishing them off with a Smoked Chile Barbecue Sauce.
How did they taste? Now that's something I can relate to you. Although not falling off the bone as he always hopes they will be, they were nicely tender and the sauce is awesome. With cloves and allspice in the sauce, it definitely stands out from most other BBQ sauces we've tried and I think it's one of the best. The sauce is not overly spicy, but the spice does start to sneak up on you and for us, it was just right - not enough to detract from the lucious flavors of the sauce, but just enough to give it a nice kick.
We served the ribs with coleslaw - a tangy vinegar version - and roasted sweet potatoes. The weather was nice enough to cooperate (it hasn't been doing that much lately), allowing us to enjoy our summery meal al fresco.
Tags: coleslaw, ribs, barbecue sauce, buckwheat, recipe
Although we made good use of the chilly weather on Saturday with some chili, we are not ready to give ourselves completely over to fall. Our Labor day menu revolved much more around summer, with berries and barbecued ribs to remind us that it is still technically summer.
The morning began with our favorite buckwheat pancakes from Wade's Mill, complete with blueberries which are hard to find now, save for Sam's Club's giant container. The berries were in pretty good condition, but definitely on the tart side, perfect for pancakes. We served these with real maple syrup and some leftover berry syrup from Rachael Ray's Pain Perdu. See, still using up those odds and ends in the freezer.
DH was in charge of the ribs. He doesn't cook often, but when he does, he really gets into it. He can spend hours doing research and hours making sure everything is just so. I mostly try to stay out of it, unless he asks for my opinion - or I see something that I REALLY think won't work.
Since cooking the ribs was mostly his thing, I don't have a detailed account of how he cooks them, but I do know that he brined them overnight. Then he used a rub on them and put them on the grill to bake in an aluminum pan for a short period of time. He then put them directly on the grill, finishing them off with a Smoked Chile Barbecue Sauce.
How did they taste? Now that's something I can relate to you. Although not falling off the bone as he always hopes they will be, they were nicely tender and the sauce is awesome. With cloves and allspice in the sauce, it definitely stands out from most other BBQ sauces we've tried and I think it's one of the best. The sauce is not overly spicy, but the spice does start to sneak up on you and for us, it was just right - not enough to detract from the lucious flavors of the sauce, but just enough to give it a nice kick.
Amish ColeslawWe served the ribs with coleslaw - a tangy vinegar version - and roasted sweet potatoes. The weather was nice enough to cooperate (it hasn't been doing that much lately), allowing us to enjoy our summery meal al fresco.
Tags: coleslaw, ribs, barbecue sauce, buckwheat, recipe
Monday, September 04, 2006
What do you do with 10 sheets of phyllo?
Back earlier in the year when DH had lost his job and we were preparing to move, I did a lot of cooking from the freezer and pantry. I won't pretend that having very little income wasn't stressful, but trying to cook with what we had on hand and trying to keep to a strict budget ended up being a somewhat enjoyable challenge. A challenge that would be even more enjoyable now, when it's not actually quite as necessary.
I don't like to let things go to waste, but with 2 refrigerators, an upright freezer and a pantry, things are bound to get lost and forgotten. To avoid discovering unrecognizable, ice-crystal-covered mystery meats, I'd like to regularly take a look at what's in the freezer, refrigerators and pantry and try to make sure that things get used up before they become inedible. It seems that when I challenge myself to use up something specific, I inevitably come upon something I might never have tried before, or the creative juices start to flow and I have the joy of creating something from my own imagination.
Last night, I had the pleasure of trying something I might never have found if I didn't have half a package of phyllo sitting in the freezer (leftover from making the Salmon Packets), waiting to be used. While searching the Cooking Light site for phyllo recipes, I happened upon a recipe for mozzarella sticks using phyllo. Sounded interesting and definitely something the whole family would enjoy. Not only did it make use of the phyllo, but it also called for pesto - I happened to have a container of store-bought pesto wasting away in the refrigerator. Perfect!
Store-bought pesto. I'm not a big fan. Normally I have tons of basil planted in the garden and make my own, freezing quite a few containers to keep us in homemade pesto all winter long. No garden this year. So, I found this brand at Wegman's and was curious.
First of all, it uses fresh basil. Many store-bought brands obviously use dried basil and don't even really taste like pesto to me. Yuck. This brand also uses ingredients you don't need to be afraid of and it tastes pretty good too. It has a slightly tangy taste that I wasn't particularly fond of, but it was quite acceptable. I believe the tangy taste may have come from the vinegar listed in the ingredients - perhaps this is needed to raise the acidity and give it a longer shelf-life?I used mozzarella string cheese - it's what we had on hand and seemed perfect for this use. I cut them in half and dipped them in the pesto, probably using more than the recipe indicated.
On to the phyllo. First, you take your stacked phyllo sheets and cut them crosswise. Starting with one sheet, you spray it with cooking spray, and then place another sheet on top. At this point, I also sprayed the second sheet with cooking spray. You then fold these sheets in half, crosswise and then place the mozzarella stick in the center, toward the end of one of the short sides :
Next, fold the two longer sides in toward the center, and then spray with cooking spray:
Starting with the edge closest to you, roll it up and place seam side down on a baking sheet and spray again with cooking spray:
Bake for about 12 mintues in the oven until golden brown and serve with marinara sauce......yummy!
These were quite easy to prepare and were a big hit. I had extra phyllo, so I ended up with 10 mozzarella sticks which were devoured in minutes.I'd love to try making these ahead of time to see if they would freeze well. I love make-ahead appetizers that you can pull out of the freezer and throw in the oven. I'll post if I try it.
So, now I have a fun new recipe and my phyllo did not go to waste. I still have some pesto left which I may use, along with some leftover fresh mozzarella, to make pizza later in the week.
Next up...........ribs. This one is DH's thing, but I'll try to put together what he's doing and put up a recipe. The sauce he uses is very unusual, but oh-so-good................
Tags: Cooking Light, mozzarella, phyllo, pesto, appetizer, recipe
Tags: Cooking Light, mozzarella, phyllo, pesto, appetizer, recipe
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Chilly = Chili
The remnants of Ernesto blew and poured on us all day long with temperatures reaching a high 61º. With no temptation to set foot outside, I spent much of the day hunting down different recipes on the internet - looking at more brownie recipes and looking for something to do with a newly easy-for-me-to-find product, chorizo. I've never been able to find it before - at least not the fully cooked version. I have to say - I'm having so much fun just knowing that I can actually find most things I need now! What a concept.
Back to the chorizo. While searching around the Cooking Light recipe finder, I found a recipe for chili that used chorizo, and what's better on a chilly day than chili? This recipe called for cinnamon and chocolate. Sounded intriguing. I had most of the ingredients on hand, so I gave it a try. Not having ever used cinnamon or chocolate in a spicy dish before, I wasn't sure what to expect and I even considered leaving them out, but where's the adventure in that?
As for the inevitable alterations, as usual I used what I already had on hand which meant red and orange bell peppers, leaving out the green. Sadly, I had to skip the corn because I was out - too bad, I love corn! We like some heat, but not too much, so I reduced the chipotle chili to one pepper instead of two. Two minor adjustments involved using one can of pinto beans in place of one of the cans of black beans and using diced tomatoes in place of whole tomatoes.
The result was a nicely spicy, flavorful chili that had a depth of flavor that I can only contribute to the chocolate and cinnamon. The chocolate leant a deep, brown color to the chili and added just a touch of sweet. I can't say I could actually taste the chocolate or the cinnamon, but there was definitely something going on the in background that pleased my taste buds. The heat was just right - it did catch up with us the more we ate, but it was never too hot. Corn would have been a welcome addition, but it was great without it. Still, I hate missing the opporunity to squeeze in another vegetable, so I'll be sure to stock up on some corn at the store next week.
Tags: Cooking Light, chili, black beans, chorizo, sausage, recipe
Saturday, September 02, 2006
3 Brownies
So, I'm having a bad day with trying to get my car registered here in PA. I feel like I'm on a hamster wheel - running, running, running and getting no where. I won't bore you with all the details, but suffice it to say that I've been working on this since July, my IN plates are now expired and I will have to wait another week or more to get them. Here's to hoping that any police office that might notice is very forgiving.
Which brings me to brownies. Because we all know a brownies can make a bad day better, right? Actually, I've been on a bit of a brownie kick ever since the weather turned a little cooler. I'm still on a search for that perfect brownie. It has to be out there somewhere!
I alternate between trying new recipes and tweaking old ones. Sometimes I take a new recipe and tweak it without trying it as written. This week I tried 2 new recipes with a few tweaks and tweaked an old recipe.
First I tried this recipe from Sharffen Berger. How can you go wrong with Sharffen Berger, right? Wrong. We didn't like this one at all. I could tell they weren't going to be chocolatey enough right when I was pulling them out of the oven - the were too light in color. Sure enough, they were dry, crumbly and seriously lacking in chocolate. Admittedly they were overdone (though I followed the directions), but I could tell from the flavor - or the lack of - that these were not worth trying again, even with less cooking time. I even used the 70% Cacao Scharffen Berger chocolate which seemed like a big waste considering how little chocolate flavor these had. I definitely won't be making these again.
Next up, I tried a brownie recipe that my niece made in her cooking camp classes. She made these brownies during one of our visits and they had that chewy texture I like, so I decided to try them. They were much better than the recipe above, but still not great.
As I try all of these different recipes, it's so hard to evaluate them. Sometimes a recipe tastes great, but only relative to a previous not-so-great recipe. When I get a good one, it's much easier to see how truly lacking the other recipes are.
That's what I realized when I went back and re-tried the Cook's Illustrated recipe that I keep going back to. This recipe is definitely the closest I've come so far to the perfect brownie. This time I altered the recipe by adding 1 ounce of bittersweet chocolate and using a full 1/2 cup of cocoa. The result was delicious - a moist, intensely chocolate brownie that holds together. It's dense and moist without being gooey - it's even a little chewy. There's something about it, however, that seems a bit off in texture, but I can't put my finger on it. Have you ever had something that looked and seemed moist, but also had a somewhat dry texture too? Like I said, hard to explain. I wonder if it's because I got a little carried away with the cocoa? The chocolate flavor actually has hints of coffee or espresso - perhaps not enough sugar to balance out the cocoa? Maybe a tad bit overdone? Hard to tell, but something's definitely a little off.
I think I want to try another recipe or two, especially one recipe that calls for all cocoa from Alton Brown. I've heard many positive things about these brownies and am curious to try them since I have yet to make an all-cocoa brownie that really appealed to me. To help make evaulation a little easier, I will freeze a few of the Cook's Illustrated brownies to taste alongside any other recipes I try.
It's a very windy, very rainy, very chilly day here in PA. We have some black bean and chorizo chili on the menu and perhaps some baking as well. And I still have a few catch-up recipes to post from earlier in August to post too! I will tune in tomorrow with more recipes...........
Tags: brownies, recipe
Which brings me to brownies. Because we all know a brownies can make a bad day better, right? Actually, I've been on a bit of a brownie kick ever since the weather turned a little cooler. I'm still on a search for that perfect brownie. It has to be out there somewhere!
I alternate between trying new recipes and tweaking old ones. Sometimes I take a new recipe and tweak it without trying it as written. This week I tried 2 new recipes with a few tweaks and tweaked an old recipe.
First I tried this recipe from Sharffen Berger. How can you go wrong with Sharffen Berger, right? Wrong. We didn't like this one at all. I could tell they weren't going to be chocolatey enough right when I was pulling them out of the oven - the were too light in color. Sure enough, they were dry, crumbly and seriously lacking in chocolate. Admittedly they were overdone (though I followed the directions), but I could tell from the flavor - or the lack of - that these were not worth trying again, even with less cooking time. I even used the 70% Cacao Scharffen Berger chocolate which seemed like a big waste considering how little chocolate flavor these had. I definitely won't be making these again.
Next up, I tried a brownie recipe that my niece made in her cooking camp classes. She made these brownies during one of our visits and they had that chewy texture I like, so I decided to try them. They were much better than the recipe above, but still not great.
As I try all of these different recipes, it's so hard to evaluate them. Sometimes a recipe tastes great, but only relative to a previous not-so-great recipe. When I get a good one, it's much easier to see how truly lacking the other recipes are.
That's what I realized when I went back and re-tried the Cook's Illustrated recipe that I keep going back to. This recipe is definitely the closest I've come so far to the perfect brownie. This time I altered the recipe by adding 1 ounce of bittersweet chocolate and using a full 1/2 cup of cocoa. The result was delicious - a moist, intensely chocolate brownie that holds together. It's dense and moist without being gooey - it's even a little chewy. There's something about it, however, that seems a bit off in texture, but I can't put my finger on it. Have you ever had something that looked and seemed moist, but also had a somewhat dry texture too? Like I said, hard to explain. I wonder if it's because I got a little carried away with the cocoa? The chocolate flavor actually has hints of coffee or espresso - perhaps not enough sugar to balance out the cocoa? Maybe a tad bit overdone? Hard to tell, but something's definitely a little off.
I think I want to try another recipe or two, especially one recipe that calls for all cocoa from Alton Brown. I've heard many positive things about these brownies and am curious to try them since I have yet to make an all-cocoa brownie that really appealed to me. To help make evaulation a little easier, I will freeze a few of the Cook's Illustrated brownies to taste alongside any other recipes I try.
It's a very windy, very rainy, very chilly day here in PA. We have some black bean and chorizo chili on the menu and perhaps some baking as well. And I still have a few catch-up recipes to post from earlier in August to post too! I will tune in tomorrow with more recipes...........
Tags: brownies, recipe
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