Mom’s Mac and Cheese July 9, 2009

This one was in the Herald yesterday, but with a mistake by me.  It’s 16 oz of cheese, not 8.  Sorry!

It’s no secret that food is one of my favorite things in life.  When I plan my meals, I have to make sure it is going to be something really tasty.  One of the biggest disappointments to me is eating a meal that just isn’t that good.  It feels like such a waste to me, a missed opportunity for something I love. 

The thing is, for me it isn’t just about the taste.  Sure, I want it to taste good – but it also has to feel good.  I’m a texture person.  It took me well into my teenage years to be able to stomach peas – not because of how they taste, but how they felt in my mouth.  The pop of the outside followed by the mush on the inside was just more than I could handle.  I’m not sure what made me finally get over it, but I’m fine with peas now. 

Often times when planning meals, I plan more around the texture I am craving than the taste of the food.  One of my favorite textures is smooth and creamy.  Whether it is a dessert made of cool whip and pudding or a pasta dish with a rich creamy sauce, these foods are just as satisfying to the soul as they are to the palate. 

Like most children, mac and cheese was one of my favorites growing up, and it still is.  The good ol’ box will work in a pinch, but Mom’s homemade mac and cheese is better than anything else.  My favorite part has always been the fresh sliced tomatoes layered on top with the crunchy breadcrumb mixture finishing it off.  A bite of warm, creamy pasta with the slight tang of tomato and just a tiny crunch is the perfect texture recipe for me.  And just to top it off, it tastes incredible as well.  This is one that you just can’t go wrong with.

Mom’s Mac and Cheese

1 box macaroni (elbows or shells are best), cooked al dente or a tiny bit less

1 tomato, sliced

16 ounce box Velveeta, chopped

¼ stick butter

¼ cup flour

2 to 2 ½ cups milk

1 tablespoon minced onion

Parsley to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

½ cup breadcrumbs

¼ cup parmesan cheese

 

Over low heat, melt butter.  Whisk flour into it, and then add milk slowly.  Before boiling, add cheese, bring to a slow boil.  Add minced onion, salt, pepper and parsley.  Stir in macaroni.  Place in a 13×9 inch baking dish.  Top with parmesan cheese, breadcrumbs and sliced tomatoes.  Bake for 30-45 minutes.

French Onion Tomato Soup July 6, 2009

We just finished the bulk of our kitchen floors!  It was a project that took the entire long weekend, but is well worth it.  We love them!  Now we just have to re-build the energy to do the living room and hallway.  Then we’ll really  be done!

 

I needed to make a dinner that would be quick and easy since I knew we’d be finishing in the evening.  The stove has been in the hallway all weekend, so we haven’t had a real home cooked meal in days.  By the time we’d get the stove back in the kitchen, there wouldn’t be time for a big meal.  We decided grilled cheese and tomato soup would be quick and easy, as well as tasty.

 

Well, since I haven’t cooked in a few days, I was kind of in withdrawal.  I hopped on allrecipes.com to see if I could find a recipe for a homemade tomato soup that was still quick and easy… and tasty.   I found this one and I am so glad I did.  It was delicious!  The base is tomato juice, but the beef bouillon gives it a hint of a French onion-y flavor, along of course with all of the onions.  A touch of brown sugar adds the perfect sweetness, and the dash of red wine that I added brought a nice flavor.  Broiled with a piece of toasted French bread and some melted mozzarella and provolone, this was the perfect side dish for our grilled cheese sandwiches.

 

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/French-Onion-Tomato-Soup/Detail.aspx?prop31=1

Swiss Steak – or so it’s called July 3, 2009

This tasted nothing like Swiss Steak to me.  It was delicious – but not Swiss Steak.  But, that’s what they call it in the cookbook, so who am I to change it?  This recipe is from the cookbook Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker Cookbook.  I don’t really get the title, because I like my mother’s slow cooker recipes, but this has good ones, too! 

The Dr. told me at my last appointment that I need to eat more red meat.  I don’t hate red meat, but I usually make mostly chicken, turkey and pork - and maybe only 1 red meat meal per week.  The past week or so I’ve been trying to eat a lot more.  I found this recipe, and it was also very convenient to have a slow cooker recipe.  Ross is putting new floors in the kitchen this weekend and that limits me to what I can get to.  Having this cook all day and not needing to be in his way in the evening worked out well!

Here’s the recipe.  The chili sauce is what intrigued me – it added a great flavor, with just a hint of sweetness.  We’ll definitely have this again!

Swiss Steak

One 3 pound top round steak, 1 inch thick, edges trimmed, cut into 4 to 5 inch pieces, and blotted dry (OK, that is too much work.  I just got a huge roast and cooked it that way – whole).

1 clove garlic, pressed

2-3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, to your taste

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2-4 tablespoons light olive oil

1 medium sized yellow onion, chopped

1/2 cup chopped carrots (I just used about 3 large carrots, peeled them and cut them into chunks)

1/2 cup thinly sliced celery (again, about 2 stalks just cut into some smaller chunks)

8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced

1 cup prepared chili sauce

1 cup vegetable broth ( I used chicken because that is what I had)

Rub each piece of meat with the garlic and Worcestershire.  In a zippered-top plastic bag or bowl, combine the flour, thyme, paprika, salt and black pepper.  Toss the meat in the mixture until evenly coated.  With a mallet, pound into both sides of the steak as much of the seasoned flour as the steak will hold (Since I used the whole roast, I coated it with the flour mixture and skipped this part).

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, warm 1 tablespoon of the oil until very hot.  Add half the meat and brown on all sides, 4-5 minutes (or just brown whole roast for a few minutes on each side).  Transfer to the slow cooker.  Repeat with the remaining meat, adding oil as needed.  Add the onion to the skillet and cook, scraping up any browned bits stuck to the pan, until slightly softened, about 3 minutes.  Transfer to the cooker.  Toss the carrots adn celery together in a small bowl adn add them to the slow cooker along with the mushrooms, chili sauce, and broth, making sure the meat is nestled into the sauce mixture.  Cover and cook on low until the meat is tender enough to cut with a fork, 9-10 hours.

At the end of cooking, taste for salt and pepper.  Serve hot with the pan juices.

Feta Chicken July 2, 2009

This is really called Broiled Feta Chicken, but I didn’t broil it.  So… it’s just Feta Chicken now.

I pulled out a group made cookbook (some of the best cookbooks ever) from a camp that I used to volunteer at.  The camp is called Camp Good Days and Special Times and is truly one of the most special things I’ve been a part of.  It is a camp for children whose lives have been touched by cancer and other life challenges.  I volunteered there for a week two summers in a row, the first summer during a camp for children with cancer and the second summer during a camp for kids with HIV/AIDS.  It was amazing to me to see the courage that these children had, and so special to see them have a week where they were just like the other kids around them – many bald, sick, etc – but no different from their friends at camp.  I remember actually feeling so guilty that I was healthy.

So, as for the recipe, it was delicious.  Here goes:

1 cup plain low-fat yogurt

1 clove garlic, minced (I used 2)

1 teaspoon rosemary

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

1/2 cup crumbled feta

Combine yogurt, garlic and rosemary in a shallow dish.  Add chicken, turning to coat.  Refrigerate at least 3 hours ( I poked holes in the chicken first with a fork and marinated it during the day while I was at work).  Let come to room temperature for no longer than 30 minutes.  Remove from marinade, reserving extra.  Preheat broiler.  Line pan with foil.  Arrange chicken, smooth side down, on foil.  Broil 4-7 minutes.  Turn, spooning reserved marinade over chicken.  Crumble feta on top.  Broil just until cooked through and lightly browned, 4-6 minutes.

Ok, so I didn’t broil it. Just didn’t want to do it that way.  So, I just left it in the 8×8 dish that I marinated it in and baked it at 350 for about 45 minutes, spooning marinade over every now and then.  It was so tasty, very flavorful and extremely tender.  I also want to try this on the grill!

Along with this we had some roasted broccoli and Cheesy Polenta.  It was sooooo good.  Only things I changed were to use skim milk instead of whole, to use chicken broth instead of water as some of the reviews suggested, and omit the butter (only because I was out, but it really didn’t need any). 

I’m excited for leftovers tomorrow!

Creamy Balsamic Chicken June 25, 2009

I had planned on making a different balsamic chicken meal tonight – one that called for sun dried tomatoes.  Well, the only ones in stock at the grocery store cost over $7 and I thought that was absurd.  I like them, but I don’t love them, and they are definitely not worth $7 to me.  So, I just figured I’d compromise when it came time to cook the meal.  When I got home and told Ross, he informed me that he doesn’t really like sun dried tomatoes anyway… news to me, but it worked out well!

So, tonight I had to come up with something for our chicken.  I kind of had the balsamic idea in my head, so I searched for some recipes.  I found one on all recipes.com that I modified a bit.  Here’s what I did:

I sprinkled the chicken breasts with salt pepper, and a tiny bit of garlic powder.  In about a tablespoon of olive oil, I sauteed a sliced onion until they were golden brown.  I placed the onion in an 8×8 baking dish and added a bit more olive oil to the skillet.  I browned the chicken on both sides (3-4 minutes on each side) and then put them on top of the onions.

Meanwhile, I made the sauce.  In a saucepan I melted 2 tablespoons of butter with 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  I added 2 cloves of minced garlic and cooked for a few minutes until golden brown.  I added 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and cooked for another minute.  I then added 2 teaspoons of chicken boullion and about a tablespoon of flour and whisked it all together.  I slowly added about a cup of milk and cooked it until it was just at a simmer.  Once I removed it from the heat, I added somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 (maybe 1/3?) cup of parmesan cheese and whisked the sauce until the cheese was incorporated.  I poured this over the chicken and baked it for about 40 minutes at 350.

It turned out so good!  We had this over some whole wheat egg noodles.  I like most healthy things, but I do not like whole wheat pasta at all.  It has a gummy texture to me which just doesn’t seem right for pasta.  Ross loves it and buys it when he is in charge of shopping.  I decided to be nice and cooked the whole wheat egg noodles with the meal tonight, and with the creamy sauce over it, they weren’t all that bad.  I still prefer regular or spinach pasta, but I can handle the whole wheat now and then. 

We had some peas on the side, and for a girl whose food isn’t typically allowed to touch, they even tasted pretty good with some sauce touching them!

Pork Chops and Polenta June 24, 2009

We tried a new pork chop recipe tonight which ended up being pretty good.  We also had polenta for the first time, which we both loved!

The pork chops were pretty simple – brown them for a few minutes on each side and place in a baking dish.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, squirt some lemon juice on top, and sprinkle with brown sugar.  Mix together a small can of tomato sauce and about a tablespoon of dijon mustard and pour over the top of the chops.  Add about 1/4 cup water to the bottom of the baking dish and bake for about 30 minutes.  They weren’t the best things in the whole world, but they were good and I would make them again.  They were quick and easy to prepare, that is for sure.  Here’s the link to the recipe.  I didn’t do exactly everything it said, but it was close…  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baked-Pork-Chops-II/Detail.aspx?prop31=5

 

We bought polenta on a whim at the grocery store awhile back, but I haven’t made it yet.  I decided to try it tonight.  It was simple to make – I just followed the directions on the back of the bag.  It was very tasty with the sauce from the pork chops over it. 

We had this along with some fresh broccoli that I baked with a little garlic and  a little lemon.

Tomato Pie – Version 2 June 21, 2009

Last week when I was searching for the recipe to make this side dish, I found the recipe for this Ham-and-Tomato-Pie.  It wasn’t the one that I was looking for, but it sounded so good to me.  While the first one is mostly tomatoes and zucchini, the one that I made tonight has ham as well, making it more hearty and filling for a main dish, yet perfect for a hot summer night like tonight. 

Here’s the basic idea:  Take a pie crust and spread some dijon mustard on the bottom.  Sprinkle some mozzarella cheese on top of that.  Saute some green onions and diced ham (just to get the water out of the ham pretty much) and put that mixture on top of the cheese.  Top with sliced tomatoes and more mozzarella.  Whisk an egg and some half and half (I used skim milk, and though it needed to cook a little longer, tasted just fine to both of us) and pour on top.  Sprinkle with basil and pepper and bake for about 20-25 minutes.

 

It was so delicious.  We were thinking of different versions we could make while we were eating it and the opportunities are endless!  We had this with a tossed salad and some sauteed asparagus.  It was a fresh, healthy meal that was just right on this crazy hot 100 degree day.

Sirloin Marinara with Garlic Mashed Potatoes June 19, 2009

I put this in my online recipe box months ago but never made it.  This week when I was searching for recipes, I needed a red meat meal in the mix, so I decided we’d try it out.  I read through the reviews and one of them mentioned serving it over garlic mashed potatoes, which I thought sounded really good.  Plus, it seemed like a nice alternative to pasta.

The basic idea is to saute some onions in olive oil, add some strips of steak and cook thoroughly.  Drain.  Add 2 cups (it was close enough to a whole jar, so I just added the whole thing) of spaghetti sauce, 1/2 cup of red wine and 2 cloves of garlic.  Let it simmer for about 15 minutes. 

For the mashed potatoes, I peeled and boiled 3 large potatoes.  I added about 1/4 of an onion and 2 cloves of garlic to the pot while it boiled.  When tender, I whipped them up with a few tablespoons of butter, some milk, about 1/2 cup of sour cream and maybe 1/4 cup of cream cheese – whatever I had left in the fridge!  Threw in some salt and papper and mashed the onions and garlic right in with them.  Super tasty, and they tasted great with the sirloin marinara on top!  We had some roasted broccoli on the side and it turned out to be a great meal.

 

Here’s the link to the recipe if you want the official one: 

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sirloin-Marinara/Detail.aspx?prop31=1

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork June 17, 2009

OK, I know I’ve said a lot of meals that I’ve made were easy, but I really think this one takes the cake. 

• Toss a pork tenderloin in the crock pot
• Pour a bottle of root beer over it
• Cook for 6-7 hours
• Remove pork, pour in a bottle of BBQ sauce
• Pull pork apart, put back in crock pot and cook for another 20-30 minutes.

Seriously, that is all.  All I did this morning before I left was toss meat in the pot and pour root beer over it.  And dinner was pretty much ready when I got home!  And it tasted soooooooo good.  Ross can’t stand root beer, so I thought about lying to him about it, but I was nice and told him.  He still loved it.  It was the perfect combination of sweet and tangy, and a nice mix between a thin, vinegar sauce and a thick BBQ sauce.  I am sure you could use any cut of pork and not just a tenderloin, but they were on sale so that is what I bought.  The recipe, shockingly, is from allrecipes.com.

We had this with some cole slaw that I wanted to love but I didn’t.  It was a Sandra Lee recipe, a combination of slaw mix, mayo, sour cream, lime juice and hot sauce.  It was way too lime-y and didn’t taste really like slaw to me.  I think I’ll search for a new recipe for next time.  We had some fries and baked beans, too.  A great meal all in all!

We both had thirds. June 16, 2009

This was super, super good.  And oh so easy.  I am glad it tasted as good as it did, because I looked forward to it all day.  When I was planning meals for the week, I checked my online recipe box on allrecipes.com.  I saw a pasta primavera recipe, and that made me crave that dish.  However, this recipe was a brothy sauce and had Italian turkey sausage.  Neither of those reall appealed to me, so I went back to allrecipes to look for another recipe.  I found this one, added to the website by Philadelphia cream cheese.  It sounded delish, so I added it to my list.

 

All that you have to do is boil some penne.  While doing that, heat some Italian dressing in a skillet and saute some chicken with chunked zucchini, asparagus and red bell peppers.  Mix in 4 oz cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat and it tasted great), a cup of chicken broth and some Parmesan cheese.  Toss it all together.  I had no Parm, but a bunch of mozzarella, so I added some of that.  We both loved this.  I can’t wait to make it again, and it is great for a night when you need something quick!