Monday, January 26, 2009
Menu for January 26th- February 1st
Tuesday: Honey Nut Chicken Strips on a salad
Wednesday: Swistle's soup
Thursday: crab and salad
Friday: baked acorn squash
Saturday: leftovers
Sunday: Crockpot Chili
Roasted Cauliflower Soup
I do think I like it more when I make it from scratch though... YUM!
Here's another good one. I originally had low hopes for this one. I am not a fan of cauliflower. I only made it because my neighbor recommended the recipe and we had two heads of cauliflower from our produce co-op. I wasn't planning on eating those two heads of cauliflower myself, so why not give it a whirl.
Well, it shocked me, but it turns out I like cauliflower soup! This version anyway. It's really got great flavor and it was super simple to make:
Roasted Cauliflower Soup
(from Epicurious)
2 heads cauliflower
3 garlic cloves
2 shallots
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 bay leaf
2 cups heavy cream
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Cut cauliflower into 1-inch flowerets (about 10 cups). In a large baking pan toss cauliflower, garlic, and shallots with oil to coat and roast in middle of oven about 30 minutes, or until golden.
In a 4-quart kettle simmer broth, water, roasted cauliflower mixture, and herbs 30 minutes, or until cauliflower is very tender. Discard bay leaf and in a blender puree soup in batches until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids), transferring to a bowl. Return soup to kettle and stir in cream and salt and pepper to taste. Heat soup over moderate heat until just heated through.
*****
I didn't have shallots, so I used some red onion instead. I wasn't entirely sure from the recipe how to roast the veggies, so after cutting the cauliflower, I just chunked up the onion real big and left the garlic cloves whole and tossed it all on the pan. Also, I roasted them longer than 30 minutes, as per reviews on the recipe... I think I did 45min+... they were quite blackened. I also skipped adding the water and used Half&Half instead of the heavy cream, and only just over 1 cup instead of 2. It was plenty creamy even that way.
Ryan and I were both really impressed with this soup. Savannah tried a decent amount too. She actually said it was too sweet. (?!)
We served it with cornbread and veggies and dip. We're thinking next time (and I do foresee making this again... Not sure if I'd buy cauliflower just for it, but next time we get a head or two from our co-op, I'm looking forward to this soup!) we'd try adding some sausage or cubed ham or something meatier to the soup to make it more of a filling main course.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Menu for January 19th- January 25th
Tuesday: chicken dinner with small group
Wednesday: Pork Loin
Thursday: Cauliflower soup
Friday: Broccoli Egg bake
Saturday: fish of some sort...
Sunday: Garlic Chicken pasta
Roasted Tomato Soup
I made this one ahead of time and then just threw the soup back on the stove to warm up along with grilled cheese for a quick, but homecooked lunch.
Roasted Tomato Soup
6 cups (3 pints) cherry tomatoes
3 tbsps olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tbsp butter
2 garlic cloves
1 cup chopped onion
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp thyme
1 cup whipping cream (I used half&half)
1- heat the oven to 400*. On a baking sheet combine the cherry tomatoes,
2 tbsps of the olive oil and the salt and pepper. Toss to coat evenly and spread in a single layer.
Roast the tomatoes until they are shriveled with brown spots, about 35 to 45 minutes.
2- In a large pot heat the butter and the remaining tbsp of oil over med. heat. Add the garlic and the onion and saute' until softened, about 6 minutes. Add the canned tomatoes with their juice, the broth, the thyme, and the roasted tomatoes, including any liquid on the baking sheet. Bring the mixture to a boil and reduce heat to simmer, partially covered for about 40 minutes.
3- Using a food processor or blender, puree the soup until it's smooth. Return to the pot and stir in the cream. Without letting the soup boil, warm it over medium heat, stirring often, until steaming. Add salt and pepper (and I added a little Italian seasoning), if necessary.
I really liked this soup, and I'm not a fan of tomato soups. It had a really good rich flavor, and even though I thought it was a tad bland in the seasonings, as soon as we added the italian seasoning, it was great. Once again, my kids wouldn't touch it, but the two other little boys we shared lunch with sucked it down.
Breakfast Casserole
Sausage and Cheese Breakfast Casserole
12 oz turkey breakfast sausage
2 cups low-fat milk
2 cups egg substitute
1 tsp dry mustard
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
3 large eggs
16 slices white bread
1 cup (4 oz) finely shredded extrasharp cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp paprika
1- Brown sausage in a skillet over med-high heat, breaking up to crumble. Remove from heat and cool.
2- Combine milk and next 6 ingredients (thru eggs) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk.
3-Trim crusts from bread and cut break into 1" cubes.
4- Add bread cubes, sausage and cheddar cheese to milk misture, stirring to combine. Pour into a 13x9" baking or 3 qt casserole dish coated with cooking spray. Spread evenly in baking dish. Cover and refrigerate 8 hrs or overnight.
5- Remove casserole from refrigerator, let stand 30 minutes. Sprinkle casserole evenly with paprika.
6- Bake at 350* for 45 minutes or until set and lightly browned. Let stand 10 minutes.
(12 servings)
This was one of Cooking Light's feature recipes where they work with a real family, take an old family favorite that really not so healthy or diet friendly and give it a revamp. I've never used egg substitute before, but by combining it with a few whole eggs, actually makes a big difference in the fat and cholesterol in this recipe. And I was game to try the turkey breakfast sausage, but the grocery store I was at didn't carry it, so I got regular pork sausage. This amount of sausage is still half (!!) the amount in this family's original recipe though. Using the finely shredded cheese helps more evenly distribute the flavor without having to use so much. I mean, this is a large casserole, and I used only a cup of cheese... it was plenty flavorful!We all loved it. I couldn't get my kids to try it (they had had pancakes earlier), but our friends' toddler gobbled down two helpings!
This is definitely a recipe I'll be making again and again; it's a great recipe to have on hand for overnight guests, weekends at the lake, or to take to a brunch!!
Pulled Pork
I originally found this super easy tasty method on this food blog.
Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
Here's all you need to get started:
a packet of chili seasoning mix
and a pork butt (or shoulder, but pork butt is more fun to talk about!)
Then all you have to do is rub your butt (see? told you it was more fun to talk about). Just take the seasoning packet and rub it all over, around and into your butt. The pork butt that is.
Then just stick the pork into your crockpot, turn it on low and leave it for 6-8 hours or all day long.
About 2 hours before you want to eat the pork, pull it out of the slow cooker and pull it all apart with two forks. Or your hands... once it cools a little, I find it easier with my hands. Once it's all pulled and shredded, throw it all back in the slow cooker (drain all the fatty juice) and pour a big bottle of your favorite bbq sauce all over it. Stir it up, put the lid back on and leave it for another hour or two. The longer the better, but I never can wait it smells so good!
Then just serve it up on some buns and a nice big salad... we love it with corn on the cob in the summer, or maybe some fresh seasoned green beans. Any of those summery bbq feeling foods!
overflowing
So. I have lots of recipes to get up on here and get caught up.
First I have to get these granola bars out of the way:
I've made these up quite a few times this winter, twice in the past week actually! The kids (usually) like them and since we no longer buy granola bars from the store (the peanut allergy) they've been happy to have granola bars again! These are a great filling snack or breakfast and you can doctor them up however you like. Thanks to Kim for the recipe!
Homemade Granola Bars
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar (I usually use a bit less)
1/2 cup wheat germ
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup raisins (optional)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup honey
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 350*. Generously grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, raisins and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in the honey, egg, oil and vanilla. Mix well using your hands (this is why Sawyer LOVES to make this recipe!).
Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake for 25-30 minutes in the preheated oven, until the bars begin to turn golden at the edges.
Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars while still warm. Do not allow the bars to cool completely before cutting, or they will be too hard to cut.
I always use a smaller pan... 7x11 or even 7x9x2... it makes for softer, chewier bars.
You can add whatever you like... I was out of raisins earlier this week so I just made them plain. I've also done plain with chocolate chips for a treat. This past weekend I did raisins and dried apples. Yum!
These were tried by four different people in and out of our house this past week and all gave rave reviews... they really are about the yummiest granola bars I ever expect to have!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Menu for January 12th- January 18th
Monday: Pizza Hut (make up from last week)
Tuesday: Pulled Pork
Wednesday:Lemon chicken
Thursday: Cauliflower Soup
Friday: Pork Loin
Saturday:
Sunday:
Mmmm... fried food
First I thawed the steak, cubed it up and coated them to make steak "bites".
Here's how:
I mixed up 1 egg and a quarter cup of milk in a small bowl and let the steak bites soak for a mintue while I combined 1 cup of flour, 1 tsp of steak seasoning, some extra garlic powder and a little bit of cayenne in a gallon ziplock bag. I took the steak from the egg dip and put the pieces in the bag, sealed it up and shook to coat them all. Ryan fried them in the deep fryer. You can of course, just fry these in oil on the stove. The FryDaddy is sooo easy though! I think they fried for about 5 minutes in two batches.
Meanwhile, I went to work on the onion rings. I used this recipe and here's my low fuss process...
Put the 1 1/4 cup flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp salt into a ziplock bag. I made nice big thick slices from our giant onion and threw them in the bag to coat. Then you fished them out and put them aside on a plate while you add 1 egg and 1 cup of milk to the ziplock bag. Seal it up and mash it all around good, mixing the milk/egg and flour mixture till it's a smooth batter. Then put the onions back in and work around with your hands to coat. Remove the onion rings and place on a rack over the sink or a baking pan and let the excess batter drip off of the rings. Put about a cup of breadcrumbs (I only had italian seasoned breadcrumbs handy) in a shallow dish and when the onion rings have stopped dripping, place them one at a time in the bread crumbs to coat. Then fry 'em up, just about a minute and a half on each side.
These are sooo good. Very simple flavor, but they are really so good! I might play around with it a bit next time because I have a Garlic Parmesan seasoning I thought may be really good with these, but honestly they are perfectly good on their own. I'm excited for this summer, because I'm predicting these will be a huge hit at our barbeques this summer.
I'm thinking I can make up a good batch somewhat ahead of time, have them battered and coated and ready to just have Ryan man the fryer when we're ready to eat!
Anyway, we enjoyed these steak bites, fabulous onion rings and a great big salad last night for dinner. Sawyer scarfed down the onion rings; I think he probably had close to a dozen rings! He loved 'em! I did too. I had to make myself stop. Luckily I only made one onion. Mind you, it was a HUGE onion, but at least the pile didn't go on and on like it could have, had I sliced up another. Try them!
Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup
I got this from a crockpot cookbook I have, from the section of five ingredient dinners. I've tweaked it quite a bit to make it feel more "homemade"...
original ingredient list:
2 cups cooked, cubed chicken
2 cans condensed creamy chicken mushroom soup
1 10 oz package frozen mixed vegetables
1 tsp seasoned pepper or garlic pepper seasoning
1 1/2 cups dry egg noodles
my recipe:
2 cups cooked, cubed chicken
2 cans cream of chicken soup
I skip the frozen veggies and slice/chop up onion, carrots and celery
I also add way more than 1 tsp of seasonings.... usually salt, pepper and garlic powder. Plenty of it.
Stir 5 cups of water into the cans of soup in your slow cooker. Whisk until smooth.
Stir in chicken, vegetables and seasoned pepper.
Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hrs or high for 3-4 (lower for longer is preferred for soup!).
Stir in noodles for last 20-30 minutes of cooking (if using low setting, turn to high-heat setting). Cook until noodles are tender.
Like most soups, this is much much better days after preparing!
The kids like this too!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Menu for January 5th - January 11th
Tuesday: Spaghetti with our small group
Wednesday: (Ryan out of town) pillsbury biscuit homemade pizzas
Thursday: Maple Jack Pork Chops
Friday: Broccoli Egg Bake
Saturday: out to Pizza Hut for Savannah's reading program reward
Sunday: fish of some sort, dish tbd