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Sunday, December 6, 2009

Garden Pizza


My internet friend, Liz, sent me a recipe for Three-Cheese Garden Pizza that she got at a Pampered Chef Party. Frankly, I was a little skeptical because my family likes very few vegetables, and the thought of giving them a pizza with zucchini on it is pretty darn ridiculous. I made a barbecue cheddar pizza with ground turkey as a backup...just in case. This pizza was fantastic, though! Zoe loved it, and Ben said it was all right. Yay! This pizza is good enough that even if my family didn't like it, I would make it again just for myself.

I used my own pizza dough recipe that I always use, instead of refrigerated pizza dough that the recipe calls for. I also did not prebake the crust, and I do not own anything Pampered Chef, so I made the recipe work for me. I used regular Italian seasoning and I sliced the onion and zucchini really thin with my mandoline. I love my mandoline! If you do not own one, I highly recommend it!

Recipe can be found here: Three-Cheese Garden Pizza

Friday, December 4, 2009

Chicken Cordon Bleu


When asking for requests, my friend Tina suggested Chicken Cordon Bleu, then changed her mind and asked for Thai Sticky Sweet Rice. I thought they both sounded good, so be expecting sticky sweet rice as soon as my mangoes are ripe!
This meal was amazingly good, but I didn't enjoy fumbling with rolling and toothpicking the chicken breasts. To make good chicken cordon bleu, you have to really encase the cheese and ham inside the chicken, otherwise the cheese just melts right out into the pan. This is easier to do if the chicken is hammered out pretty thin and even. Worst case though, if the cheese oozes out (several of mine did) then it just becomes part of the yummy sauce.
Next time I will try Chicken Cordon Bleu Balls (thanks Kimberly) made with ground turkey or chicken with cheese encased inside.
I served this meal with roasted garlic brussel sprouts, honeyed carrots, and some free bread that I received from the MHTeen meeting (!!).

Recipe can be found here:
Chicken Cordon Bleu II

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Sweet Potato Pancakes with Honey Pecan Butter



My friend Kelly told me about these sweet potato pancakes months ago, so I asked her for the recipe and promptly forgot about it. Several days ago I asked for meal suggestions on Facebook, and she reminded me of these. This recipe is from Boatwright's restaurant at Port Orleans-Riverside resort in Disney World. First off, these pancakes take FOREVER to cook! I had a hard time trying to find the right heat to cook these at so they didn't burn and fall apart when I tried to flip them (Kelly, you will have to tell me your secret, or make these with me someday). That said, these pancakes are SO INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS!!! I thought we would have a ton of leftovers since the recipe made so many...eh, there weren't. Hehe.
I served these with sausages I had on hand, and some apples I cooked in a little apple juice and cinnamon.
Recipe can be found here:
Sweet Potato Pancakes with Honey Pecan Butter
*I did make one alteration by cooking my own sweet potato instead of using canned sweet potato that the recipe calls for, since the canned sweet potato I found had corn syrup in it. Ick.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Kabobs...Kinda


I had a pineapple in my house that needed to be consumed, so I thought I would grill some kabobs with turkey meatballs, pineapple, onions, and bell peppers. Turns out that turkey meatballs don't like to stay on skewers, so I ended up putting the meatballs on a baking sheet alongside the fruit and veggies, and broiled them. I made some rice and sauce to accompany the broiled food. Nothing turned out as great as I hoped, but it was edible, so I'll call that a win. :)

I didn't use a recipe for the meatballs, I just threw a bunch of stuff into a bowl and hoped for the best. I wish I had added a bit more seasoning because they were a little bland. They consisted of ground turkey, egg, soy sauce, oats, and grill seasoning.

I got the recipe for the sauce off of Apartment Therapy. Check out the link for other stir-fry sauces. I probably won't make this sauce again, but I plan on trying out the others on the site.

Orange Pepper Sauce - spicy!

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 teaspoon of sichuan peppercorns
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2/3 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons cornstarch
4 tablespoons water

Preparation:
Stir fry the ginger, peppercorns, and garlic in 1 tablespoon of hot oil for a minute to release the flavors. Add the soy sauce and orange juice and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes. Combine the cornstarch and water and add to the sauce, stirring until the sauce is thick and bubbly.

Friday, October 23, 2009

French Bread Pizza


This is what I came up tonight when I really, really didn't feel like cooking, but also didn't want to spend money on eating out. I had a half a loaf of french bread in my freezer, so I cut it in half, hallowed out much of the bread, and toasted it. I sauteed up a bunch of onions, peppers, mushrooms, garlic, a few jarred sliced jalapenos, and some sausage. I seasoned it with fennel, italian seasoning and salt and pepper. I added in some leftover crushed tomatoes, spread it into the french bread "boats", topped with mozzarella, then broiled in my toaster oven until cheese was browned. I thought there would be plenty of leftovers, but it's all gone now. Very good for such a last minute idea.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Eggs En Cocotte

I'm unhappy with the quality of my most of my pictures this week. Many nights I have had to take pictures with my flash on because it's been too dark or rainy out. But...the purpose of me posting so much this week is to just have the guts to put it out there, regardless of it it's perfect. I managed to take this picture outside yesterday morning, when it was drizzly out. Not bad. Drizzly reminds me of Seattle. Seattle makes me smile. :)
Anyways, this was a lovely, lovely breakfast. I had never cooked eggs this way nor created a bain marie in the oven! It was surprisingly simple, and the eggs came out soft and lovely for spreading on toast.
Recipe can be found here: Eggs En Cocotte

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Creamy Rosemary Penne with Chicken & Beets with Brussels Sprouts

I thought this was going to be a disaster. I was looking for a fast and cozy meal for a dark and rainy day, and it just seemed to take FOREVER to cook everything. The veggie recipe called for golden beets, and our grocery store didn't have any, so I subbed some red ones, not taking into account that pinky red was going to get everywhere. Really though, it didn't turn out that bad, and you can't really see the pink dots on the pasta, nor the weird color the onions and brussels sprouts turned. The pasta was yummy, and Ben said that the brussels sprouts weren't bad (translate: he ate two whole halves! LOL). Overall, this meal was ok, but I wasn't overly impressed.
Recipes can be found here:
Creamy Rosemary Penne with Chicken
Golden Beets and Brussels Sprouts

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Au Jus and The Pioneer Woman's Green Beans

I needed a quick meal tonight, so I made some Aus Jus sandwiches and green beans. The sandwiches were made with french bread and leftover beef roast from last night. I made some au jus dipping sauce by heating beef broth with a little garlic powder, onion powder, soy sauce and worcestershire sauce. The green beans are from a recipe off of The Pioneer Woman's website, and while it calls for 2 tablespoons of bacon grease and a simmer time of 30 minutes, I wasn't feeling that unhealthy nor patient. I used 1 tablespoon of bacon grease and 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. I simmered the beans for several minutes, until I couldn't wait any longer and poured off most of the chicken broth. The sandwiches and the beans were delicious! Everyone cleared their plates!
Recipe can be found here:
The Pioneer Woman's Fresh Green Beans, One Way


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Monday, October 19, 2009

Crockpot Hickory Smoked Roast

There's nothing really pretty about a crockpot hickory smoked roast, but it tastes really, really good. The recipe calls for brisket, but I substituted a beef roast, since it was 2 for 1 at the grocery store! The recipe calls for 1/2 cup liquid smoke, then corrects itself saying to use much less. I used 2 tablespoons.
Served with salad and mashed potatoes.
Recipe can be found here: Crockpot Hickory Smoked Brisket

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Curried Sweet Potato and Lentil Soup & Rustic Pan Bread

I'm going to try to keep this food blog simple so I can post more often. I loved this meal and went back for seconds on soup, while my family basically tolerated eating it, and went back for seconds on bread. That just means more leftovers for myself, which I am more than ok with!
Recipes can be found here:
Curried Sweet Potato and Lentil Soup
Rustic Pan Bread

Friday, August 7, 2009

Cream Cheese Muffins

Wow, these are good. Like "getting a muffin at a bakery" good. I made these in a regular sized muffin tin, and they overflowed onto the oven floor just a bit, but not enough to make a gross smoky smell in the house. Anyways, I highly recommend these if you want something that is full of sugar and cream cheese.

Quinn's Cream Cheese Muffins
via Bake or Break

Ingredients

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2/3 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 large eggs
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
Directions
  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease/spray a 12-cup muffin tin and set aside.
  • Combine flour, 1 cup of sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center.
  • Stir together milk, oil, and eggs. Pour into well in the dry ingredients. Stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.
  • Combine cream cheese and 1 cup of sugar. Fold about half of this mixture into the muffin batter.
  • Spoon batter into greased muffin pans, about 1/2 to 2/3 full. Spoon the remaining cream cheese mixture onto the muffins, pressing the mix into each muffin with a spoon handle.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

I <3 Grilled Pizza


I have grilled so many pizzas this summer. It's fast and doesn't heat up the house. I use my regular pizza dough recipe, and then I olive oil both sides of the dough and put it straight on the grill, no foil necessary. Once the bottom is cooked, I flip it, top it, and close the lid for a few more minutes, and it's done! The picture above is a CARAMELIZED-ONION AND GORGONZOLA GRILLED PIZZA that I got from The Bitten Word. I added bacon like they recommended and it was amazingly good! If you plan on grilling pizza, I recommend having all your toppings prepared and cooked ahead of time, because the pizza cooks fast, and the toppings only have time to warm on the grill.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Baking with Julia

Apple Upside-down Chiffon Cake

Bagels

I checked out the book Baking with Julia from my library, and I'm having so much fun trying out all the recipes! Many of the recipes are fairly complicated, with multiple rising times, some even taking 2 days to make. I'm experimenting with breads and cakes that I've never attempted to try and some I've never even heard of before.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Greek Souzoukaklia


This meal was interesting...it had raisins in the meat. It turned out suprisingly good! I served it with brown basmati rice and mixed veggies that I grilled on a small baking sheet with olive oil, salt and a little Italian seasoning. I made a quick sauce by mixing together yogurt, salt, garlic and onion powder, and dill.

Greek Sousoukaklia
(adapted from Allrecipes)

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 3/8 cup raisins, chopped
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped flat leaf parsley
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1 pinch ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions
  1. Preheat grill for medium-high heat.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together ground beef, onion, raisins, and parsley. Season with cayenne pepper, cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg, sugar, salt, and pepper, and mix well. Form into small patties.
  3. Arrange patties on grill and cook to your prefered doneness.
  4. Serve with rice, veggies and yogurt sauce

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Gold Rush Potato Salad

It's been almost a year since I've posted here! Since the weather has been warm and gorgeous, I have been attempting to grill every chance I get. I bought the book Weber's BIG Book of Grilling for my brother years ago, and I should have just bought it for myself. :) He loaned it to me over a year ago, and I finally pulled it out for the season to try as many recipes as I could, while the weather is nice.

I just made the most amazing warm potato salad. It's dangerously good, and the sauce is reminiscent to Benihana's Shrimp Sauce (for those of you who are familiar with Benihana's). I have no picture because the salad is that good, and taking a picture of a dirty, empty plate isn't very appetizing...

Gold Rush Potato Salad (adapted Weber's BIG Book of Grilling)

Ingredients:

For the dressing:

  • 1/3 cup mayonnaise
  • 3 Tbs finely chopped Italian parsley/or less than a Tbs of dried parsley)
  • 2 Tbs red wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp granulated garlic
  • 1 tsp dijon mustard
For the Salad:
  • 2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks
  • 1 large red onion cut into chunks
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • 2 - 4 celery stalks, diced
Directions:

  1. Place potato chunks into a bowl. Add enough olive oil to lightly coat, and season with salt and pepper. Toss.
  2. Put potatoes on a fairly large piece of aluminum foil. Fold foil over to make a pouch that can be easily turned.
  3. Place potatoes on the grill over direct medium heat.
  4. Take onions and toss in bowl that the potatoes were in, to lightly coat in oil. Put onions on a piece of foil and fold to make a pouch, like the potatoes.
  5. Place the onions on the grill over direct medium heat.
  6. The potatoes will take 15-20 minutes, and the onions will take 10-12 minutes. Turn the potatoes and onions half-way through cooking time.
  7. Mix the dressing ingredients in a large bowl. Add celery.
  8. When potatoes are cooked, add potatoes and onion to the bowl with the dressing and celery. Toss to coat everything.
  9. Best when served hot or warm.