Meatballs with Cream Sauce

I made this recipe a couple months ago and it was a hit! It had good flavor and was a fun change from the normal meatball recipe I use. And the sauce was flavorful and creamy, but light. I will definitely make it again. I found this recipe at my kitchen cafe. I really do like basically everything I try from this website.

Ingredients:

Meatballs:
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup milk
2 T. ketchup
1 t. Worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup quick oats
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
1 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 1/2 lb. lean ground beef
3 T. flour

Cream Sauce:
2 T. butter
3 1/2 T. flour
1/4 t. dried thyme
1/4 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
14 oz. can chicken broth (If you want your sauce thicker, cut down the chicken broth to 1 cup)
2/3 cup milk
2 T. minced fresh parsley

In a bowl, combine all of the meatball ingredients except the beef and flour. Add beef and mix well. Shape into balls. Roll in flour, shaking off excess (I actually forgot to do this step and mine turned out great). Place 1 inch apart on cookie sheet and bake, uncovered, at 400 for 10 minutes. Turn meatballs, bake 8-10 minutes longer or until no longer pink. Meanwhile, for the sauce, melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour, thyme, salt and pepper until smooth. Gradually add broth and milk; bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes, until slightly thickened. If using the full can of chicken broth, the sauce doesn’t thicken overly much, but it is delicious that way. If you want it slightly thicker, cut down the chicken broth to 1 cup. Drain meatballs on paper towels; transfer to a serving dish. Top with sauce and parsley. Serve over rice or egg noodles.

So good!

Pioneer Woman's Perfect Pot Roast

This weekend I made my first ever pot roast. I wanted to make something special for Sunday dinner, and this recipe from my brand new Pioneer Woman cookbook (yay!) seemed just right. It was delicious! :) Everything turned out, and we had a nice Sunday dinner with some good friends.

After I we had sat down to eat, and I had all but polished off everything on my plate, I turned to Paul and said, "Oh no! I forgot to take a picture!" It was pretty sad. I probably wouldn't have been able to get a very good picture of it anyway, so instead here's a bright and beautiful one from thepioneerwoman.com:

I have now tried a few recipes from her cookbook, and I'm just loving it! The recipes are down to earth and very, VERY tasty (although not necessarily low in fat ;) ).

I served the pot roast and carrots with mashed potatoes. I decided to use some tips from Pioneer Woman's recipe for the potatoes as well. I added some cream cheese and used Lawry's seasoning salt to season them instead of garlic salt like I usually use. They were very creamy and decadent. I think I would have polished off four or five servings of them if they hadn't been so filling!

Here's the recipe for the pot roast. You can find a similar recipe (though she seems to have made a few changes, mostly simplification, for the cookbook version) on Pioneer Woman's site here: Perfect Pot Roast.

Perfect Pot Roast

Ingredients:

3-5 lb. chuck roast

2-3 T. olive oil

kosher salt

pepper*

2 onions

6-8 carrots (I used all 8 and they were YUMMY)

about 2 1/2 c. beef stock

3-4 fresh rosemary sprigs**

2-3 fresh thyme sprigs

*I noticed that the recipe calls for pepper in the ingredients but never tells you to add any in the directions. You can use it to season the pot roast if you want. I actually didn't use any, and it was still delicious.

**I had three rather large sprigs of rosemary, and the flavor ended up being a little strong. I think I'll use smaller sprigs next time.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.

Heat a large pot or Dutch oven (if only I had a Dutch oven! ;) ) over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and allow it to become very hot***. Meanwhile, prepare other ingredients. Generously salt both sides of the roast. Cut two onions in half from root to tip and then cut off the tops and bottoms and peel off the papery skin. Place onions in the pot and brown on both sides (about a minute per side), and then remove to a place.

Next, wash but don't peel the carrots and cut them into big chunks (about 2 inches). Add them to the pot and toss for a minute or two until they are slightly brown around the edges and have turned bright orange. Remove them to a plate or bowl.

Add another tablespoon of oil and allow pot to get very hot again. Sear the roast in the pot for about a minute on each side, and remove to a plate.

Then, deglaze the pot by pouring in 1 cup of beef stock, whisking constantly to remove all the brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Once everything is loosened, return the roast to the pot. Place carrots and onions on top. Then, pour beef broth into the pot to cover the meat halfway (I added a little more than that). Add the herb sprigs. Make sure to push them down into the liquid with a spoon so that they are fully immersed (to help spread the flavor).

Cover the pot and place in the oven for 3-5 hours (depending on the size of your roast--I actually had a 3 pound roast and I cooked it for just about 4 hours). Resist the temptation to peek in the pot while it's cooking. ;) When cooking time is over, check roast by sticking a fork in it. It should go in easily and the meat should be very tender.

Serve pot roast and carrots with mashed potatoes! :)

***So...if you're not very quick at preparing ingredients like me, I would cut the onions and carrots before turning on the heat for the pot. I turned mine on right at the start, and as I was getting the onions ready, the oil started smoking like crazy! It completely filled our apartment. If it wasn't for Paul's quick thinking (opening the door, the windows, and turning on the fan), our smoke detector would have gone off and woken up my sleeping toddler. THAT would have been a tragedy! ;)

"Cafe Rio" Sweet Pork Salads (Complete Recipe)

I finally did it! I've been wanting to try and recreate Cafe Rio salads at home for quite some time. Then, I got a huge craving (really huge, pregnancy style) for them a few weeks ago which was only partially satisfied by going to Chipotle. At that point I knew it was only a matter of time before I decided to be brave and give it a try.

There are a lot of recipes out there that claim to replicate various aspects of the Cafe Rio salad (a quick google search for Cafe Rio recipes will give you a glimpse of what is out there), so after looking at a bunch of them, I decided to try the recipes at Favorite Family Recipes because she had collected all the recipes in one place (the pork, rice, beans, and dressing). Also, I've made things from FFR before, and they've always turned out well!

These recipes absolutely did not disappoint! It was amazing. I took my first bite, and it was like I was back in Provo. Maybe it was a little bit enhanced for me because I'm pregnant, but it was seriously good stuff!

Here's the complete recipe! (Click on the individual components for recipes.)

Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Salads

Ingredients:

large tortillas (I hear the uncooked ones at Costco are really good, but I've never tried them)

grated cheddar cheese (a small handful for each tortilla)

Cilantro Lime Rice

Black Beans

Shredded Sweet Pork

lettuce (not iceberg, I just bought a bag of romaine)

Pico de Gallo

parmesan cheese

tortilla strips (you can buy these at a grocery store next to the croutons in the produce section)

Creamy Tomatillo Sauce

Optional:

cilantro for garnish

lime sections for garnish

guacamole

sour cream

Directions:

Place one tortilla in the bottom of each serving dish (oven safe). You can buy foil dishes like Cafe Rio uses at the grocery store, but we just went with metal pie tins that I had on hand. Sprinkle a small handful of cheese on each one and bake at 375 degrees for about five minutes, or until cheese is melted. Scoop a generous amount of Cilantro Lime Rice and Black Beans on top of the tortilla.

Next, add the shredded pork. If you're silly like me (or if you just really miss Cafe Rio) yell "Extra Meat!" when making your husband's salad. ;)

On top of that add a generous amount of lettuce. And then top it all off with a scoop of pico de gallo, some tortilla strips, a sprinkling of parmesan cheese, and a sprig of cilantro for garnish. Serve with tomatillo sauce on the side so that (if you're me) you can keep adding it to your salad as you go because you can never get enough. ;)

I was in a big hurry to eat, so please ignore the sauce splatters and other messes in my pictures. I usually try to avoid showing off the messy-after-cooking kitchen in my pictures. My excuse this time is that Paul was the photographer, and he just doesn't notice these things. ;) Hopefully you will all forgive me once you give these amazing recipes a try!

Oh, and big thanks to Erica over at Favorite Family Recipes! She has provided all of us non-Utah residents a great service by mastering these recipes for us.

Note: I gave this recipe a 1-2 hour time length because I decided not to count the slow cooker time. It was a rather big production, but in the end, I put most of it together in two hours. And I know I'll be a bit faster next time (not looking up recipes at the last second and all that). Enjoy!

Shredded Sweet Pork (Cafe Rio)

The sweet pork at Cafe Rio was Paul's favorite. As far as meats at Cafe Rio go, the sweet pork was more at the bottom of my personal list. But again, when you search for Cafe Rio recipes, it's the sweet pork that shows up pretty exclusively. Oh well! I will keep looking, of course, and I hope to someday find a good steak or chicken recipe.

Until then, enjoy this recipe for shredded sweet pork, Cafe Rio style!

Shredded Sweet Pork (Cafe Rio)

Ingredients:

2 lbs. pork*

Marinade:

about 2 1/4 c. (or 1 1/2 cans) Pepsi (not diet, but we were good since I'm pregnant and bought caffeine free and it works just as well)

1/4 c. brown sugar

To cook the pork:

2/3 c. (or 1/2 can) Pepsi

garlic salt

1/4 c. water

Sauce:

2/3 c. (or 1/2 can) Pepsi

1 can diced green chiles

3/4 can enchilada sauce

3/4 c. brown sugar

*I read that you should NOT use a pork roast for this recipe. The pork should be a more fatty cut. We used boneless pork shoulder ribs, but I also heard that pork butt works well.

Directions:

Place pork in a heavy duty ziploc bag and add 2 1/4 c. Pepsi and 1/4 c. brown sugar. Marinate in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight (I chose overnight). Remove pork from the bag and place in slow cooker. Discard the marinade. Pour water and 2/3 c. Pepsi over the pork. Sprinkle with garlic salt to taste. Cook on high for 3-4 hours (or on low for 8 hours) until pork can be easily shredded. Remove pork and shred (I find this easiest to do in a pie tin with two forks). Empty excess liquid from the slow cooker and place shredded pork back in it. Prepare sauce by mixing 2/3 c. Pepsi, enchilada sauce, green chiles, and 3/4 c. brown sugar in a blender until sauce is smooth. If it seems too thick, add more Pepsi (mine was not too thick). Pour sauce over shredded pork and cook on low for 2 more hours. (Although now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I left mine on high...oops!)

Wondering what Paul's verdict was? He said the flavor was spot on, but the texture was slightly different. I can only assume this is because Cafe Rio uses a different cut of meat. All in all, though, Paul absolutely loved it. I thought it was yummy, too. :)

Here's the original recipe on Favorite Family Recipes: Shredded Sweet Pork.

Manicotti

I love this dish! I make it the night before so when I come home from school I can just put it in the oven. I usually have a salad and garlic bread on the sid

e. Hope you enjoy it!

1/2 (8oz) pkg manicotti pasta (7 tubes)

1 cup cottage cheese

1 cup grated Mozzarella cheese

1/8 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 tsp parsely flakes

1/8 tsp black pepper

1 1/2 cups tomato sacue

Additional 3/4 cup Mozzarella cheese for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cook manicotti pasta according to pkg directions. Drain. Place on foil or wax paper to cool.

In large bowl, stir together cheeses, parsely and pepper. For easier handling, refregerate at leaste 15 min.) Fill cooled pasta tubes with mixture using a small spoon or use large decorator cylinder or disposable pastry bag without a tip to fill the tubes.

Spread 1/2 cup tomato sacue in 7"x11" oblong baking dish. Arrange filled pasta in a single layer over sauce. Pour 1 cup tomato sauce over pasta and cover with foil. Bake 30 min.

Remove foil. Top with grated Mozzarella cheese. Bake additional 10 min or until cheese is melted.

Serves 4

Make ahead directions:

After assembling manicoti, do not bake.

Cover dish tightly with foil, then plastic wrap. Freeze up to two months.

Remove plastic wrap; leave tightly covered foil. Bake 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.

Remove foil. Add mozzarella cheese. Bake additional 10 min or until cheese is melted.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Wow, it has been way too long since I posted a recipe! I'm going to try and do a bit of catch-up over the next week. Maybe we can revive this blog!

A couple months ago I decided to be brave and try making something I've never made before: Chicken Tikka Masala. I had eaten it at an Indian restaurant once before, and I knew I liked it, but I never would have thought to make it myself until I read Pastor Ryan's recipe for it over at The Pioneer Woman. It didn't seem too hard! So I went out and got the ingredients and gave it a try.

Despite the bad lighting in my picture, it turned out a lot like it looked in the pictures on PW. I was secretly very impressed with myself. ;) A couple words of warning, though:

First, this is a PUNGEANT dish. It smelled up our little apartment and sort of leaked out all over the place. You could smell it walking up to our front door. And the smell lingered. And lingered. I did all the dishes, sent the leftovers with Paul to work, lit candles, and sprayed Febreze. And I could STILL smell it! It took about two days for the smell to be completely gone.

Second, turmeric is the spice that makes the rice turn bright yellow. It is strong stuff! If you use it in a rice cooker, be sure to wash it immediately afterwards to keep it from staining. Also, you shouldn't use your cute little white rice scooper to serve it up. Ours is still slightly yellow. Stick with something that won't stain quite so easily.

Third, it is a spicy dish. I think I must be a bit of a wimp when it comes to spicy foods, but I didn't even add in the optional chili peppers and it was almost too spicy for me!

Overall though, it had a great flavor, and I was glad I tried it. I'll probably even make it again sometime as long as no one is coming over for a little while afterwards. ;)

It's a long recipe, so I'm not going to type it all out this time. Here's the link again, though: Pastor Ryan's Chicken Tikka Masala.

Oh, and incidentally, I use this blog basically every week when I plan my menus. I really do! It sure is handy! I don't want it to fall into inactivity. :)

YUMMY Cinnamon Rolls

I actually remembered this time to take pictures and not only the final product of these wonderful cinnamon rolls but a step by step process of how to make these cinnamon rolls. I honestly have to say I have been on top of it lately and I am quite proud of myself! :) Not only on this blog but on my own blog!

Melt in your mouth Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients: (3 different bowls, 4 if you count your mixer bowl, such as the kitchen aid)

First bowl: medium

3 cups of milk

2 cubes of butter

Microwave for 4 minutes or until butter is melted - let it cool down for a little bit before mixing the yeast and flour mixture to it.

Second bowl: small

3 Tbls of yeast

1 tsp of sugar

1/4 cup luke warm water (make sure it's not too thick, add a tiny bit more water if it's clumpy)

Let it rise until it literally doubles in size (it will foam up)

Third bowl: large

1 cup sugar

2 tsp salt

6 cups flour (my mom and I both use all-purpose- the blue bag?)

Mix together thoroughly

plus 5-6 cups of more flour later - you will add this after mixing all the bowls together*- I am just making you aware that there is 12 cups of flour total not just 6 cups like I initially thought

If you are mixing it using a wooden spoon use the third bowl as your main mixing bowl.

If you are using a mixing machine (kitchen aid) use that bowl and start my pouring in the Milk/butter bowl (first bowl) then the flour mixture (third bowl) then the yeast.

* My kitchen aid is small so if you have a larger kitchen aid you should be fine, but in my experience I started in the kitchen aid and I eventually had to dump the dough back into the third bowl and finish mixing it by hand.

Having mixing all of the bowls together the dough will be very sticky. But you are not done yet.

Add 6 eggs to the mixture- mix well.......*then slowly add one cup at a time of flour (5-6 cups)- I usually put five cups of flour into the kitchen aid then put the dough back into the large bowl then add the last cup. If you haven't already, place the dough back into the third bowl to let it rise. Once you add the 6th cup try not to handle the dough to much.

Before:

So try and mix the dough as gently as you can. The dough should be really soft. Not firm like homemade pizza dough. Soak a kitchen towel with very hot wa

ter (as hot as you can stand) and place on top of bowl, over the dough. Let it rise for at least 2 hours. It will double in size

After:

This is my third bowl or large bowl - Can you see the difference? - it doubled in size

Pull a third of the dough out of the bowl and place on a generously floured counter or table top. Gently roll out the dough using your hands not a rolling pin. You don't want to flatten the raised dough too much. Like I said earlier, try not to handle to much. It will look like a long oval.

Pour melted/soft butter on top, I like to use my hands, it's faster. Sprinkle Brown sugar (with my hands) and cinnamon on top of oval dough. You can also add nuts or raisins at this time if you like.

Roll up dough into a circle. Cut dough with dentalfloss. Just place under rolled dough, cross and slice. Do not cut with a knife, all that you will manage to do is flatten the dough. You want the dough to be soft and fluffy. I would make the slices smaller then I did. You will see how big I made them.

Before:

Place sliced cinnamon rolls on a greased cookie sheet. Let it rise another hour. I just let it rise over night. I did everything up to the point of letting it rise some more. That way you can wake up and all you have to do its put them in the oven.

After:

There's not a huge difference here but you can see that they grew a little bit. I made the cinnamon rolls to the right a little too big. Unless you like them big. I was able to make 2 dozen rolls but if you were to make them smaller I am sure you could make 3 dozen.

Bake in pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until the rolls look slightly brown.

Take out of the oven and brush melted butter on top. Drizzle glaze on top

Glaze:

2 Tbl butter

1 Tbl milk

A little bit of vanilla extract

Powder sugar (just keep adding powder sugar until you get a thick consistency. You don't want it too runny, but you want it runny enough to allow it to drizzle.

The FINAL Product! YUMMY!

Big Noodle Soup

This is a chicken noodle soup that Brian had growing up and they called it big noodle soup, referring to the homemade noodles. As you can tell from the picture, Brian likes more stuff in his soup than broth. I always have more broth.

This recipe is more for the noodles than for the actual soup. I don't have an amazing soup recipe. It always tastes good, but it's just basic. You boil a chicken breast until cooked and then shred it. Meanwhile boil some water and add the veggies/onion and how ever many bouillon cubes for the amount of water. Once you give the veggies a few minutes add the chicken and cook the noodles.

Noodles:

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
3 eggs
2 tsp salt
1/4 to 1/2 cup water

Directions:
Measure flour into bowl; make a well in center and add eggs and salt. With hands, thoroughly mix egg into flour. Add water and mix. If you need more water, add it a little at a time. Knead until smooth and elastic...about 10 minutes. Roll dough paper thin (make sure to coat surface with flour). Cut noodles to desired thickness (a good way to do this is with a pizza cutter). Put into boiling soup and cook for 12-15 minutes.

*I've never made these noodles, Brian always does it. So, hopefully I got the directions right and it's not too hard.

Easy Breadsticks

We served it with breadsticks and they were delicious. You just let some rhodes rolls (one per breadstick) sit out until they are defrosted but still cold (you can microwave them a little if you're in a hurry). Then you roll them into skinny strips and line them up on a cookie sheet. Let them rise until doubled in size (just like you would with rolls). When they're ready to go in the oven you coat them with melted butter. Bake them for 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven or until golden brown. When you pull them out put another coat of melted butter on them. There is a very similar recipe on the bag of rolls as well.

Vegetable Quiche

Yes, I finally made my quiche! It's about time, right? Anyway, it turned out well. It was FULL of vegetables, which was surprising. The vegetables nearly filled up the crust! There was barely enough room for the eggs on top. Paul especially liked the fact that it had so many vegetables in it (he doesn't like eggs all by themselves).


Vegetable Quiche
Ingredients:
1 (9 inch) unbaked pastry shell*
1 1/2 c. chopped onion (I just used one medium onion)
1 medium green pepper, chopped (I used half of a really big one)
1 c. chopped tomatoes (I didn't measure, I just chopped up three relatively small roma tomatoes)
1/2 c. chopped zucchini (again, I didn't measure, I just used one small-ish zucchini)
1/2 c. sliced fresh mushrooms (same as above, I used half a package)
2 T butter or margarine (I just used olive oil)
1/4 t. curry powder (Funny story, I was just going to leave this out when I originally planned to make this recipe because I didn't have any...but since it took me so long to make it, I actually bought some to use in a completely different recipe. I figured I'd use it! According to reviews on allrecipes.com, you can leave it out if you want to, but it tastes good!)
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
pinch ground cinnamon
5 eggs
1/4 c. milk
1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese

*I highly recommend buying a pre-made pie shell. I think that the fact that I had to make a crust was one of my main hang-ups with making this. However, if you want to make your own crust, I very much recommend Paul's mom's recipe. It's the easiest crust recipe I have come across. I'll write up that recipe at the end of this post.

Directions:
Line unpricked and unbaked shell with foil and bake at 450 degrees for five minutes. Remove foil and bake for five more minutes. (I have no idea why the crust didn't bubble because it wasn't pricked, but it didn't!) Reduce heat to 350 degrees.

In a large skillet, sautee onions and bell pepper in butter (or, in my case, olive oil). Once they begin to soften, add mushrooms and zucchini. Finally, add tomatoes. (Okay, let's be honest, I just added the vegetables as I chopped them up. I just started with the ones I thought would need the most time to cook. I knew tomatoes break down quickly, so I did them last. It worked well, so there you go. The original recipe doesn't give an order (it just says sautee the vegetables), so I figure this is an improvement.) Stir and cook until zucchini is starting to get soft (with the order I added my vegetables, the zucchini was the last to finish cooking). Add curry powder, salt, pepper, and cinnamon. Mix well. Spoon into crust.


In a separate bowl, beat eggs. Add milk and cheese, mix well. Pour egg mixture over the vegetables in the shell. This completely filled up my quiche pan. If you don't have a quiche pan, you can use a pie pan, but be careful you don't overflow the pan. Bake 40-45 minutes, or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Mine was done right at 40 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting.


Here's a link to the recipe on allrecipes.com: Vegetarian Quiche.

And for the encore! Here's the easiest crust recipe you'll ever find!

Grace's Pie Crust
Ingredients:
3/4 c. butter flavored Crisco
1/4 c. water
1/4 t. salt (Grace's recipe calls for two generous dashes, so this is an estimate)
2 T. milk
2 c. flour

Directions:
Put Crisco and water in a bowl. Melt in the microwave (it takes about 90 seconds). In a bowl, mix together melted Crisco/water, salt, milk, and flour. It's easiest to mix with your hands. Add a little extra flour if the dough is too wet to handle. Divide into two even balls (the recipe makes enough for a top and bottom crust, or two shells). Roll out one ball for one crust.

Helpful hint from my mom: When rolling out a pie crust place a piece of wax paper underneath the dough and another piece of wax paper on top. This makes it much easier to transport the crust once you've finished rolling it out, and you can make a much thinner crust successfully. When you finish rolling out the crust, peel off the top layer of wax paper and flip crust over on top of your pie pan (or quiche pan! :) ). Peel of the other layer of wax paper and press crust into pan.

Like I said, this is the easiest crust recipe I've come across. It's on the greasy side, but it turns out nice and flaky!

Oh, and by the way, I'm putting a dessert label on this post just so that the crust recipe will show up under that label as well. If I ever post the recipe for Paul's mom's Apple Pie, then I'll post the crust recipe there again and remove the dessert label from this one.

BBQ Chicken with Tomato, Corn, and Avocado Salad

We have another winner! This chicken was delicious, and so was the salad! Thanks once again to Chef Britta and to Mandy for introducing us to her.

Also, Paul and I finally got around to spending our last gift card from our wedding($100 to Crate and Barrel), yes two years later, on Wednesday night. One of the things we purchased was this grill pan which made it possible for me to try this recipe in the first place (we don't have a grill). I highly recommend it even after only one use! I'm looking forward to lots of new grilling endeavors in the upcoming weeks and months (and years). :)

BBQ Chicken with Homemade Rub and Sauce
Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts (Really, you can use whatever chicken pieces you want. I used three large chicken breasts cut in half because I like smaller pieces.)

Spice rub:
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Barbecue Sauce:
1 and 1/2 cups ketchup
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup unsulfured molasses (Don't be scared by the "unsulfured". It says that on all the types of molasses we saw at Safeway.)
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup water
1 and 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1 and 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
1 and 1/2 teaspoons mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions:
First make the barbecue sauce. (Note: You should make this a bit earlier in the afternoon because it simmers for a half hour and then you have to let it cool to room temperature.) Mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium low and let simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

Heat your grill (or grill pan ;) ) to medium and lightly oil the grates. Mix all the ingredients for the spice rub together. Cover both sides of your chicken pieces with the spice rub (be generous! it's tasty!) and place on the grill. Cook the chicken, flipping it over frequently until done, about 15-20 minutes. In the last five minutes of grilling, baste both sides (I used a brush) with the barbecue sauce. While the chicken is grilling, prepare the salad. Serve chicken with extra barbecue sauce on the side, for dipping.

Tomato, Corn, and Avocado Salad
Ingredients:
1 ear corn (husk and silk removed, tip cut off)
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved (I don't think we had a whole pint. We just bought a bag of them.)
1 avocado, halved, pitted, peeled, and diced
2 scallions (green onions), thinly sliced - green parts only
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice (from half of a lime) (My lime wasn't very juicy, so I used both halves.)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions:
Cut the kernels of the ear of corn off into a medium size bowl. Add the halved tomatoes, sliced avocado, scallions, lime juice, and oil. Season with salt and pepper. Toss lightly and serve.


It was a great dinner! :) We will definitely make it again. There was a lot of barbecue sauce leftover, so we put it in the fridge. The chicken was so juicy and tender! The spice rub sealed in the juices as it was grilled. VERY good recipe!

Here's a link to Chef Britta's recipe in her own words: BBQ Chicken and Tomato, Corn, and Avocado Salad.

Eggplant Parmesano

This ended up being SO delicious! It's my favorite of all the new recipes I've tried lately. :) Paul was also a big fan. I got the recipe from a friend's blog (it can be found here); it's a family recipe of hers.

Eggplant Parmesano
Ingredients:
2 medium eggplants, sliced (about ½ inch thick)
2 beaten eggs w/milk (I just prepared these as if I was making scrambled eggs)
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
olive oil (a few tablespoons)
1 jar spaghetti sauce (I picked a tomato and basil one, but any kind will work)
1 pound Italian sausage
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 bunch Italian parsley, chopped (Ok, I don't know anything about using fresh parsley, so I just chopped up the leaves and threw away the stems of half a bunch of parsley)
1/2 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced (This is funny--I could have sworn it said 1 lb., so I accidentally used a whole pound. It was very cheesy, but it was delicious. Then again, I love cheese! If you ask me, 1/2 lb wouldn't be quite enough. ;) Grated mozzarella would probably work just fine, too.)
1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (Yeah so, I didn't buy fresh parmesan cheese. I just sprinkled the powder stuff on top because that's what I had. Works for me!)

Directions: (I'm writing the directions in my own words. I changed the order that she did things to try and save time and failed miserably. However, I still think some things should be switched around to make the best use of your time, so this is how I would do it in the future.)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice the eggplant and place in a large bowl of salt water. (I didn't really know how much salt to put, but the four teaspoons I used was definitely not too much. Then again, I used a LOT of water.) Soak for about 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, sautee the onions in a little bit of olive oil until they start to get tender. Add the garlic and sautee for a minute or two more. Add the sausage and cook and stir until the sausage is done. Drain the grease. Add the spaghetti sauce and parsley. Reduce heat to medium low and let simmer, stirring occasionally.


3. Drain and rinse the eggplant slices. Dip each slice in the egg mixture and then the bread crumbs, making sure the whole piece is coated evenly. Place the eggplant slices on a cookie sheet greased with olive oil. Sprinkle olive oil on top of each slice. Bake (at 400 degrees) for 15 minutes, turn them over, and then bake for 15 more minutes. They should be lightly browned on both sides. Once you remove the eggplant slices from the oven, reduce the temperature to 350 degrees. (While the eggplant slices are baking, slice your cheese and keep watch on the marinara sauce. Lower the heat or turn it off completely at your own discretion. I would let it simmer for at least 15 minutes, if not the whole time.)


4. Arrange half of the eggplant slices in one layer on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Add one layer of mozzarella slices (1/2 of what you are using). Top with half of the marinara sauce. Repeat this process with the other half of the ingredients: first eggplant, then cheese, then marinara. Top with parmesan cheese. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.


(I took this picture before I baked it. I forgot to take a picture when it came out.)

I'm giving this recipe a medium difficulty level just because it's more involved than our easy ones. It's still straightforward and easy to make. I highly recommend it!

Also, the sausage adds a really nice flavor, but you can leave it out for a nice vegetarian meal or substitute hamburger if you want. I recommend the sausage, though.

As far as the length of time needed, I'm going to say 90 minutes. It took me longer, but that's because I sat and did nothing for 30 minutes while the eggplant was soaking.

Pisto Manchego with Eggs

So, this week's dinners have gotten all switched around. I'm no longer even paying attention to what day I had planned on making something. I'm still on track for cooking them all, though! Last night I took a deep breath and decided to give this recipe a whirl. My vegetarian friend, Lisa (how do you like that title, Lisa? ;) ), linked to this recipe in a comment on my last menu when I asked for vegetarian suggestions. It's a recipe from the NY Times, and it can be found here.

I'm going to post it here as well with my own words tossed in for clarification and insights into my experience last night.

Pisto Manchego with Eggs
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 pounds zucchini, or a combination of green and yellow summer squash, diced
2 pounds tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped, or 1 (28-ounce) can, drained and chopped (see note below)
1/4 teaspoon sugar
Salt to taste (a generous amount, at least 1 teaspoon)
Lots of freshly ground black pepper
6 eggs

Note: When you seed the tomatoes, set a strainer over a bowl. Squeeze the seeds into the strainer, then press the pulp and juice through the strainer into the bowl. Discard the seeds and use the juice as described below.

Jennie's additional Note: This whole tomato process seemed too complicated for me, so I just bought a 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes and drained the juice. ;)

Directions:
Heat the oil in a large, heavy, nonstick skillet over medium heat, then add the onion. Stir often, until just about tender — about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for another minute or two until fragrant. Stir in the squash and 1/2 teaspoon salt, and toss together for five minutes, until the squash is coated with oil and beginning to soften.

Add the tomatoes and sugar, then salt to taste (3/4 to 1 teaspoon) and turn the heat to medium-high. Stir often for five to 10 minutes, until the tomatoes have slightly cooked down.

Add the juice from the tomatoes plus 1/4 cup water, stir together, and turn the heat back down to medium-low. Cook uncovered for 30 to 35 minutes, until the vegetables are soft and easy to mash. Stir often, and add water as necessary, every 10 minutes or so, until the mixture cooks down and begins to stick to the pan. (Note from Jennie: I didn't add water the entire time other than the first 1/4 cup. I think canned tomatoes have plenty of liquid. It probably would have even been fine without that first 1/4 cup as mine ended up a tad runny.) From time to time, press on the squash with the back of your spoon so that it breaks down. (My squash did break down a bit, but I think it would have been better if I had been patient and chopped my squash into smaller pieces.) Taste, adjust the salt, and add lots of pepper.

Using the back of your spoon, make six wells in the vegetable mixture and break an egg into each well. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover the pan, and cook until the eggs have set, about six to eight minutes (the whites should be set, but the yolks should still be runny). Serve, using a spatula to dish out portions of pisto topped with an egg (we ate ours in bowls).

Ok, my experience with the eggs was a little different. My vegetable mixture wasn't thick enough to form wells and have them stay that way. Instead, I made a well with my spoon and had Paul crack an egg into it, one at a time. Also, I was paranoid about the eggs being cooked all the way, so my yolks ended up being cooked through. I let it cook for the whole eight minutes and I had the heat between medium and medium-low. I think they would have been perfect after six minutes.

Despite not being much to look at, this dinner was very flavorful and delicious! I enjoyed it a lot. I must admit that I didn't expect to like it as much as I did (I usually don't like squash that much). I highly recommend it, and it's not as hard as it looks.

*I'm giving this one a medium difficulty level. However, if you ask me, it would move into the hard category if you seeded and juiced your own tomatoes. But maybe that's just me. ;)

**Also, the website says you can use this recipe as a side dish without the eggs. I don't know if I'd want to put that much effort into a side dish, but if I got it to the simmering point and then cooked a main dish, it might work out just fine.

Orange Chicken Stir-Fry

This is another recipe straight from Chef Britta. It was more involved than the other recipes I've tried of hers. It turned out pretty good, and we'll probably make it again with a few adjustments.

Orange Chicken Stir-Fry
Ingredients:
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 cups orange juice
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup honey
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 to 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 to 3 boneless chicken breasts, cut crosswise into 1/2 inch wide strips
1 head broccoli, cut into florets
1 pound carrots (about 5), peeled and thinly sliced on the diagonal
cooked rice

Directions:
Place cornstarch in a medium bowl. Gradually whisk in orange juice until smooth. Whisk soy sauce, vinegar, honey, garlic, and red-pepper flakes; season with salt.

In a 5-quart nonstick pot, heat oil over medium-high. Working in batches, cook chicken on one side until slightly browned, 2 to 4 minutes; transfer to a plate, and set aside (chicken will cook more later).

Add broccoli, carrots, and 1/2 cup water to pot. Cook partially covered, until water evaporates and broccoli is bright green, 3 minutes. Add reserved chicken and cornstarch mixture (it may need to be whisked again to reincorporate); bring to a boil. Cook until chicken is done and sauce has thickened, 2 to 3 minutes. Serve over rice.


Here's a link directly to this recipe on Chef Britta's site: Orange Chicken Stir-Fry.

Things got a little crazy as Paul and I were making this meal. He chopped up the chicken and carrots for me and did the first part of cooking the chicken. I was taking a shower while he did this part, so I didn't get to mix the sauce part until the vegetables were already cooking. I think it would have been less stressful if we had stuck to the order of the directions Chef Britta gave. ;)

Anyway, it was quite yummy. It was on the spicy side (Paul and I are a bit wimpy when it comes to that), so we'll put in fewer red pepper flakes next time (I put in a heaping teaspoonful this time). Also, I'm not a fan of rice vinegar, so I'll probably leave it out or find some kind of substitute ingredient next time. The recipe is quite saucy as well. I might even halve the ingredients in the sauce next time.

Hearty Beef Stew

I'm back! A couple Sundays ago I made a yummy beef stew. I have been looking for ways to use our beef. Every Christmas we get fresh beef from Brian's grandparents (they kill one of their cows and distribute the meat to all their children and grandchildren). We love it because it means we get lots of fresh meat! We haven't used our steaks at all because we don't have a grill and I don't know how to cook it without a grill. So if any of you have ideas on how to use my steak feel free to share!

So yeah, I was excited to use this stewing meat that has been sitting in the freezer and I didn't have a stew recipe so I just used the one on my Swanson broth can. It had great flavor and could use a couple changes that I will include.

Hearty Beef Stew

Ingredients:
1 lb. beef for stew, cut into 1" pieces
1 can (14 oz.) Beef broth (I ended up using more like 1 and 1/2 cans)
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves, crushed
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
3 medium carrots, cut into 1" pieces (I used baby carrot cut in half)
2 medium potatoes
2 tbsp. flour
1/4 cup water

Directions:
Spray 6-qt. saucepot with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat for 1 min. Add beef and cook until well browned, stirring often.
Stir broth, bay leaf, thyme and black pepper into saucepot. Heat to boil. Reduce heat to low. Cook covered for 1 hr. 30 min.
Add carrots and potatoes. Cover and cook 30 min. more or until veggies are tender. Stir flour and water in cup and stir into saucepot. Cook and stir until mixture boils and thickens. Discard bay leaf.

* When I went to add the veggies a ton of the liquid had boiled away and so I added a little more broth (I didn't think one can was going to be enough to start with). Also, the carrots took longer to cook than the potatoes so the potatoes ended up being slightly mushy and when I went to stir it, it kind of turned into more of a potato soup. So, I recommend putting the carrots in for a little bit before adding the potatoes and then watch until the potatoes are just cooked.

It was overall a very easy stew and was quite tasty.

Pineapple Stuffed Chicken

So instead of the spaghetti, I made pineapple stuffed chicken (Chef Britta). I felt ambitous. We loved it! I think I might shorten the cooking time next time we try this and definitely use dried thyme, not ground thyme. Other than that, it was perfect! Oh, obviously we just had a white rice as a side. I usually cook my white rice in chicken broth (bouillon) insted of water. It adds a nice flavor! Be careful when cutting pockets into the meat!

Pineapple Stuffed Chicken

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon ground allspice

3 tablespoons sugar

1 can (20 oz.) pineapple chunks in juice, drained

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

4 scallions, thinly sliced

2 to 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

2 to 4 tablespoons vegetable oil

cooked rice, for serving

Directions:

In a small bowl, combine thyme, allspice, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper; set spice mixture aside.

In a medium bowl, combine pineapple chunks, lime juice, scallions, and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar.

Lay chicken flat on a work surface. With a paring knife, cut a 2-inch-long slit in the thick side of each breast; insert knife, and pivot inside chicken without enlarging openening, carefully form a deep pocket. It helps to slide your finger in and see what your limits are. Be careful not to puncture through the opposite side (if you do, you can fold it over and pin with a toothpick).

Dividing evenly, tightly pack each breast with stuffing; Rub exterior of each breast with 1 tablespoon of oil, and sprinkle with spice mixture.

Heat broiler, with racks set 4 inches from heat. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil; arrange chicken on sheet.

Broil until chicken is opaque throughout, 20 minutes. Serve over cooked rice.

Paul's Fried Rice

Here's another recipe most of you probably have already. You probably don't have it written down, though, so here you go! We often have fried rice on Saturday mornings. :) Paul likes to spoil me.

(Paul's fried rice is intended to be a breakfast meal, but it can work just as well for lunch or even dinner. If you want a more dinner-like variation, you could change the meat from bacon to something else like chicken or thinly sliced beef.)

Paul's Fried Rice
Ingredients:
2 c. rice, uncooked (Again, use Japanese short grain rice. Not instant. We like Calrose.)
1/2 package of bacon (about 8 strips), chopped into pieces
2 eggs, scrambled
1 c. frozen mixed vegetables (very approximate, I always estimate)
garlic salt (we use Lawry's)
sweet and sour sauce to taste (Ishimoto Family recipe to follow)

Directions:
Start the rice cooking. You can be ready with all the other stuff and waiting for the rice to be done, so don't forget to get it started. If you're having this for breakfast, start the rice first thing when you get up. In a big, deep frying pan (like a wok), start cooking the bacon. While it is cooking, season with garlic salt. Stir occasionally. Meanwhile, prepare sweet and sour sauce, scramble your eggs (How ever you prefer your scrambled eggs...I prefer mine with a little milk, salt, and pepper. Paul always adds a little garlic salt.), and cook and drain your frozen vegetables. When the bacon is done (but not overdone), drain most of the grease and reduce the heat to medium/medium low. The little grease you leave behind is what you fry the rice in. Add the cooked rice to the pan, and sprinkle with garlic salt. Add the eggs and vegetables and toss everything together. Sprinkle sweet and sour sauce over the rice and toss. Paul really only uses a tablespoon or two. Taste it as you go and add sweet and sour sauce or garlic salt until it tastes the way you want it to. Let it cook for about 5 minutes on low heat (just to add a little crispness), tossing occasionally.

Ishimoto Family Sweet and Sour Sauce (Paul's mom's recipe)
Ingredients:
1/4 c. white vinegar
1 T. soy sauce
3 T. ketchup
5 T. brown sugar

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Simmer for a minute or two (be careful, the pot can boil over easily). Refrigerate any unused portion.

I categorized this recipe as Japanese only because Paul is Japanese after all, and they do eat fried rice there. However, this recipe is pretty Americanized, and also the sweet and sour sauce is more Hawaiian than Japanese. :)

Vegetable Lasagna

Last night I attempted to make my dad's vegetable lasagna. Unfortunately, my dad doesn't really have a recipe written down for it, so once again I will attempt to create one based on what he told me and what I did last night.

Vegetable Lasagna
Ingredients:
Lasagna Noodles (I used the no-boil kind, and it was SO easy!)
2 jars Alfredo sauce (whatever variety you prefer)
2 zucchinis, diced
1 c. (approximately) carrots, diced
fresh spinach
2 large tomatoes, sliced
dash of olive oil
1/2 large white onion (or 1 small one), diced
1 c. (approximately) sliced mushrooms (fresh)
1 container of ricotta cheese (the small one, I think it's 8 oz)
1 lb grated mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Steam the zucchini and carrots. I steamed them together, but then my carrots weren't all completely done. You may want to steam them separately or else chop the carrots smaller than I did (I just chopped baby carrots in half). Meanwhile, sautee the mushrooms and onions with a dash of olive oil. Set aside. Once carrots and zucchini are done, spread them out on a layer of paper towels and pat them dry. You want to dry off the vegetables so that they don't make your lasagna runny. Move them to a medium size bowl. Steam the spinach. This goes very quickly, and you need way more than you think because it shrinks down a ton. Remove spinach to a layer of paper towels and pat dry. Set aside. Add mushrooms and onions to the bowl with the carrots and zucchini. Mix in the alfredo sauce, reserving 2 cups of the sauce for the top and bottom of the lasagna.

Assembly:
Spread half of the reserved alfredo sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Place a layer of noodles over that. Then, spread half the vegetable mix over the noodles. On top of that, layer with tomatoes, spinach, ricotta cheese (by the spoonfuls, dotted over the top), and half of the mozzarella cheese. Add another layer of noodles, and then add the other half of the vegetable mixture followed by the rest of the tomatoes, spinach, ricotta cheese, and mozzarella cheese. Top with one more layer of noodles and the other half of the reserved alfredo sauce. Cook at 375 degrees for 45-60 minutes. Cooking time and temperature may vary according to the lasagna noodles you use. I just followed the directions on the box of lasagna.


I probably could have taken mine out sooner. The top layer of noodles was a bit crunchy, but it still tasted good!

The thing about this recipe is that you can pretty much use whatever vegetables you choose. The onions and mushrooms provide a lot of the flavor, so you should keep those. Also, in my opinion, the tomatoes are pretty crucial (they were my favorite part as I was eating). Other than that you can do whatever. You can use squash, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, or anything you can think of. You can even make your own white sauce if you don't want to use the store bought variety, but if you ask me (and my dad) this makes it unnecessarily difficult.

General Tips: Slice the tomatoes as thinly as you can and layer them so that they almost cover the whole lasagna. Also, I plan on using a whole lot more spinach next time. Since it was my first time steaming spinach, I didn't know how much it would shrink. Be generous with the cheese. :) Another thing I plan on doing next time is chopping my vegetables just a little bit smaller. But you should do whatever you prefer! Don't be scared by how long this takes. Most of the time is just cooking time.

Paul's One-Pot Curry

Paul wimped out on Tuesday when he was supposed to make curry (we went out to eat...bad bad Paul ;) ), so our dinners all got pushed back a day. He ended up making it on Wednesday. He's had people ask him how he makes his curry, but he's never written it down, so I'm going to attempt to write down the recipe from what I've seen him do and what he's told me.

First, you need to buy a curry mix such as this one:


We use this brand a lot. It's available at pretty much any grocery store in the Asian foods aisle. For this recipe (which can serve about four people, or if you're like us, two people with enough for lunch the next day), you'll need either a small box ("5 servings") or half of a bigger box ("8 servings").

Paul's One-Pot Curry (note: This is Japanese style curry. It's similar in consistency to a thick stew.)
Ingredients:
Curry Sauce Mix (see above)
Water (measured according to box of curry sauce mix)
dash of oil
1 lb of meat (chicken works well, but Paul's favorite is to buy thinly sliced beef at the Japanese grocery store)
1 large potato (or 2 small ones), diced
1/2 large white onion (or 1 small one), coarsely diced
2 c. carrots, diced

Directions:
Before you start making the curry you should start cooking your rice. No instant rice allowed. ;) If you're going for authenticity, you should use short grain Japanese rice. We like Calrose. Then, take a large pot and pour a dash of oil in the bottom. Add the diced onions and the meat and cook until meat is done and onions are tender. Next, add the water. Use the amount indicated on the package of curry mix. Paul said it always seems like not enough to him at first, but it always ends up right in the end. Add the carrots and potatoes. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and cover. Cook for about 15 minutes or until potatoes are soft. Remove from heat and add the curry mix. You'll want to break up the curry into small pieces when you add it. Stir until the mix has completely dissolved. The curry is ready at this point, but if you're still waiting on your rice, you might have to keep it warm by putting it back on low heat.


This time, Paul mixed half white and half brown rice, which gives the rice a slightly different flavor and texture. I like it, but I think with curry I prefer just white.