How happy am I that fall seems to have finally arrived, and with it weather conducive to all the soups and stews I love to make? After the weekend’s excesses (can we say Halloween candy, roasted marshmallows, and more hot dogs than I care to admit that I ate?), I was in the mood for something healthy with loads of flavor. So of course I hit the freezer and immediately thought of some kind of crock pot soup, which of course I must pass on to Souper Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen. I had 3 New York strips in the freezer, so I decided to turn them into a soup. Adding a jar of this and a handful of just about every other vegetable in my freezer, and I came up with this tasty and flavorful dish that goes great with a grilled cheese. Mmmm. This makes 4-5 servings in a 4 quart crock pot.
Ingredients:
- 3 steaks (your choice…I used New York strips and trimmed all the fat) cut into 1″ cubes
- cooking spray
- 1 jar favorite salsa (I actually used some homemade canned salsa from my husband’s aunt)
- 1/3 cup green beans
- 1/3 cup sweet peas
- 1/3 cup lima beans
- 1/3 cup corn
- 1/2 cup diced sweet potatoes
- 1/2 cup carrots
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup whole wheat macaroni
- 1 1/2 cups beef broth
Directions:
- Spray a skillet with cooking spray and saute your steak until you get a nice caramelization.
- Add to crock pot.
- Add the salsa, vegetables, and beef broth, topping off the liquid with water (or more beef broth if you happen to have it).
- Cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-5.
- Throw the macaroni in at the tail end and cook until soft (about 15-20 minutes depending).
- Serve with your favorite grilled cheese.
A couple of months ago–maybe longer now–The Pioneer Woman posted a recipe for sesame noodles over at her blog. The moment I laid eyes on the recipe I knew I absolutely HAD to try it. So I bookmarked it and it sat for a while. Then one night last week when I was on my own (courtsey of band practice for hubby), I decided to give it a whirl. I figured if it tanked, it’s much easier to fix a second dinner for just me than it would be for both of us. But it definitely didn’t tank. These noodles were AWESOME. I really want to tinker some with the recipe to see if I can lighten it up a bit (with all that oil, I didn’t dare calculate the fat and calories), and when I do, I’ll report the results here, of course. But for now, I followed her recipe almost to the letter. So for this week’s Presto Pasta Nights, hosted by Ruth herself, I give you Sesame Noodles. Mmmm.
Ingredients:
- 12 ounces thin noodles, cooked and drained (I wound up using whole wheat spaghetti, which wasn’t a thin noodle but had a lovely flavor)
- 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 3 tablespoons pure sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon chili sauce (original recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon hot chile oil, but I didn’t have any)
- 4 tablespoons canola oil
- 2 tablespoons hot water
- 3 to 4 green onions, thinly sliced
Directions:
- Put your noodles on to boil.
- Meanwhile, whisk all the other ingredients (except the green onions) in a large bowl.
- You’ll want to taste and adjust the sauce.
- Drain the noodles and add to the bowl.
- Toss to coat the noodles in the sauce. You’ll want to do this several times over a period of minutes to allow the noodles to absorb the sauce as they cool.
- Add the green onions and toss.
- Serve alone or as a side to dumplings or stir fry. Actually I’d like to try some stir fried veggies in this dish…
Okay so my last several attempts for a Thoughtless Thursday post have just not turned out. I seem to be without a brain lately. Well this is my third day home sick, so I’m determined to monitor things to make sure everything is either COOKED or not burned. Since hubby finally had lasagna and liked it (many thanks Jackie!), I’ve been itching to make some more (did I mention I LOVE lasagna?). Someone, somewhere in the last two weeks mentioned making them in mini-loaves and I thought that was a fabulous idea. I actually decided to try making mini-loaves in the crock pot and making a more traditional lasagna for the freezer, so this is a Now and Later dish. Hmm, maybe I should start a thing with Now and Later here at P and P. Anyway, this will result in two (no actually four–the mini loaves made more than I realized) individual servings of lasagna for now and a 9×9 lasagna for your freezer. It’s a multi-step prep, (something good to do on a weekend) but well worth the end result. Definitely a fitting return to Presto Pasta Nights, hosted this week by Haalo my favorite Cook (Almost) Anything.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
- 1 pound hot Italian sausage
- 1 15-16 oz. container of part-skim ricotta cheese
- 1 cup shredded Parmesan, Feta or a combination of both
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 16 oz. package of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess liquid
- 3 medium zucchini, diced
- baby bella mushrooms (if you like)
- 1 jar of your favorite tomato based pasta sauce (I used Classico Spicy Tomato and Basil with this one)–I recommend springing for something a bit nicer than Prego or Ragu
- 1 15 oz. can of diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 box oven-ready lasagna noodles
- 8 oz. shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
You will also need:
- 1 6 quart crock pot
- 2 mini loaf pans (mine are something like 3″x8″ or so)
- 1 9×9 pyrex baking dish
- aluminum foil
Directions:
- Plug in your crock pot and go ahead and turn it to high to preheat.
- Meanwhile, remove the sausage from its casing and brown it over medium high heat in a large skillet.
- In a separate bowl, mix the parmesan, feta, ricotta, and egg.
- Add the spinach to the cheese mixture and mix thoroughly.
- Once the sausage is browned, drain and rinse it in a colandar.
- Toss the zucchini in the skillet and saute in the remaining drippings from the sausage. If you need to, drizzle a little olive oil in.
- Add the sausage back to the skillet.
- Add the tomatoes and spaghetti sauce and mix well.
- Spray each of your mini loaf pans with cooking spray.
- Carefully break your noodles to fit and layer them on the bottom.
- Add a layer of meat sauce.
- If you’re adding mushrooms, now is the time to add them. Don’t put them in the one you’ll be putting in the freezer, as they don’t freeze well.
- Add a layer of the cheese/spinach mixture.
- Repeat with noodles, meat sauce, cheese mixture.
- Top with a handful of mozzarella cheese. If you’re like me then it’s probably above the lip of the loaf pan by now.
- Place the first loaf pan in the bottom of the crock.
- Take two long sheets of aluminum foil and wad them up so that they’re a bit taller than the loaf pan. Stuff on either side of the loaf pan.
- Stack the second loaf pan on top of the aluminum foil. It shouldn’t be touching the bottom loaf pan.
- Cover and cook on high for 4 hours.
- Now, moving on to the Later portion of the dish. Make a double layer of foil and carefully press into the 9×9 pan. Spray with cooking spray.
- Repeat the noodles, meat sauce, cheese mixture layering until you’re out of meat sauce. Top with mozzarella cheese.
- Carefully close up the aluminum foil.
- Pop the lasagna in the freezer inside the dish.
- Once it’s frozen, remove from the dish.
- Whenever you’re ready to eat this, you’ll want to take it out of the freezer, put it back in the dish you used as a mold and thaw in the fridge for a couple of days. Then bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes (you’ll need to use the finger in the middle test to make sure it’s done), opening the foil for the last 15 minutes or so to make sure the cheese on top gets all nice and melty, and slightly golden.
I’ve been sick. I tried making up a batch of split pea soup for hubby (his favorite sick food) but managed to forget about it in the crock pot and overcook it. So today I was determined to make GOOD food. When I woke up at 10 I put on a chicken to roast because I’ve been out of chicken stock for a while. I originally intended to make chicken noodle soup and some of Smitten Kitchen’s 44-clove Garlic Soup. But I just had chicken noodle soup a couple of weeks ago, so I decided to adapt the garlic soup. I’ve been intrigued by this recipe since my Twitter pal Lilith Saintcrow mentioned using it to knock out her cold earlier this season. Garlic is a natural antibiotic (not to mention damn tasty) and there have been scientific studies proving that there’s something in chicken noodle soup that’s good for colds, so I thought I’d combine the best of both worlds to create a soup that would open up one giant can of whoopass on this cold or crud or whatever else it is I’ve got. The results were…garlicky. 
I love garlic so I was okay with that. Hubby was less than thrilled. But I thought this was a lovely way to try to defeat a cold. A definite recipe to share for Kahakai Kitchen’s Souper Sundays.
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 bulbs (yes bulbs) of garlic, separated into cloves but unpeeled
- 1 bulb of garlic, separated into cloves and peeled
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 2 tablespoons Smart Balance spread
- 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped, fresh thyme
- 1/2 cup fat free half and half
- 3 1/2 cups homemade chicken stock
- 2 cups diced, cooked chicken
- salt and pepper to taste
- grated parmesean, to taste
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Take the 2 bulbs’ worth of unpeeled garlic and toss with the olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Place the garlic in a small glass dish and cover with foil.
- Bake for 45 minutes.
- Allow to cool, then squeeze each clove to release the roasted flesh. Discard the papery part.
- Meanwhile, heat the Smart Balance over medium-high heat.
- Sautee the onions with the thyme until transluscent–about five minutes.
- Add the peeled garlic and sautee for another three minutes or so.
- Add the roasted garlic and chicken stock. Simmer until the garlic is soft–about twenty minutes.
- Using an immersion blender, carefully remove the pan from the heat and puree the contents.
- Return to heat and add the chicken and half and half. Bring to a simmer for another five minutes or until the chicken is warmed through.
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper and a tablespoon or so of freshly grated parmesan.
I was making chili. After the lapsang souchong chili last week, hubby requested the regular kind. So I had that going in one crock pot. And I was experimenting with a pork vegetable soup in the other crock pot.
When I got home I find that I had turned the smaller crock pot with the chili to KEEP WARM rather than low, so of course it wasn’t actually cooked. Fine. Okay. I put it into a pot on the stove to cook.
So then I check on the soup. Which I stupidly left ON HIGH all afternoon, cooking out all the liquid and essentially melting the vegetables into an unappetizing glop. Okay, fine. At least we’d still have the chili for dinner.
No.
No. Because I managed to scald the chili in the pot, thereby ruining the half that was BURNED TO THE BOTTOM (obviously you cannot stir the burned stuff into the rest).
I have no brain today.
Feeding hubby the remaining bowl of chili and making pasta for myself.
Since the lemon poppyseed buttermilk scones disappeared post haste, I decided to make some more scones. This time I went with a classic jam filled scone. They’re not cool enough to eat yet, but I’m absolutely DROOLING over how good they smell. This is another recipe from the Good Housekeeping Baking cookbook.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons Splenda
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick of butter, cut up
- 2/3 cup milk
- 1 large egg, separated
- 1/4 cup strawberry jam
- 2 teasoons Splenda
Directions:
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
- In a big bowl mix the flour, 2 tablespoons of Splenda, baking powder,and salt.
- With a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the mixture turns into coarse crumbles.
- In a separate cup mix your egg yolk and milk.
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and add the milk.
- Stir until just combined. If you’re me, this might take some work and light kneading.
- Split the dough in half.
- Transfer the first half of dough to an ungreased cookie sheet and shape into a 7 1/2 inch round (you’ll want to flour your hands).
- Spread about 1/4 cup strawberry jam (I prefer Polaner All Fruit).
- With a floured knife, carefully cut the round into 8 wedges but be careful NOT to cut all the way down to the jam.
- Brush the top with egg white and sprinkle the last of the sugar/Splenda over the top.
- Bake for 22-25 minutes, until golden brown.
- Then serve warm or if you have more self control than I do, separate the wedges to cool on a wire rack.
Some chilis are very straight forward with beef or turkey, beans, chili powder, cumin, sometimes tomatoes, sometimes not. Some chilis have ingredients that make you go hmmm. Coffee. Cocoa powder. Beer. Well this chili has tea.
What am I nuts?
Bear with me. This is not made with your grocery store variety Liptons (I mean EW). Those who know me are aware that I am a tea snob. I don’t drink bagged tea. The loose stuff is infinitely better. And there is so much variety out there beyond the boring Earl Gray or Celeyon. One of those is a fascinating tea called lapsang souchong. From Wikipedia:
Lapsang souchong (拉普山小種/正山小种) is a black tea originally from the Wuyi region of the Chinese province of Fujian. It is sometimes referred to as smoked tea (熏茶). Lapsang is distinctive from all other types of tea because lapsang leaves are traditionally smoke-dried over pinewood fires, taking on a distinctive smoky flavour.
The name in Fukienese means “smoky variety” or more correctly “smoky sub-variety.” Lapsang souchong is a member of the Wuyi Bohea family of teas. The story goes that the tea was created during the Qing era when the passage of armies delayed the annual drying of the tea leaves in the Wuyi hills. Eager to satisfy demand, the tea producers sped up the drying process by having their workers dry the tea leaves over fires made from local pines.
The woman who sold me the tea actually told a story relating to camel sweat, but I won’t scare you away. There is no camel sweat in the modern lapsang souchong tea. She also said that she more often cooks with the tea than drinks it, and I was intrigued enough to buy a sample. What you will notice the moment you open the bag is the lovely and very obviously smoky scent of the tea. I’ve been dying to try it in chili. Well the end result was very interesting. I loved it. I’m really intrigued by all the layers of smokey flavor. My husband prefers more traditional chili. Eh, win some, lose some. If you’re looking for something different to try, this is it. And while you’re at it, go check out the other entries at this week’s Souper Sundays over at Kahakai Kitchen.
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds lean ground turkey
- 3 chipotle chili peppers in adobo, minced (devein and deseed them first if you’re not into spicy)
- 1 onion, finely minced
- 2 cups of black beans
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 1/4 teaspoon mexican oregano
- 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 can fire roasted tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon adobo sauce
- 12 oz. lapsang souchong tea (about 1 teaspoon of leaves steeped for 4-5 minutes)
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon masa flour
- 1/3 cup water
Directions:
- Brown your turkey.
- Add the onions and saute until translucent.
- Add the chipotle peppers and adobo.
- Add the cumin, chili powder, oregano, salt, paprika, and garlic.
- Sautee for another minute or so.
- Add the tea, using it to deglaze the pan.
- Pour this mixture into a larger stock pot.
- Add the 1 cup of water, the black beans, the tomatoes, and the tomato paste. Mix well.
- Simmer, covered, on medium for approximately 20 minutes.
- Mix the masa flour in about a 1/3 cup of water and stir until smooth.
- Add this mixture to the chili, stirring well.
- Simmer uncovered for approximately 10 minutes.
- Serve with cheddar or monterey jack cheeses and sour cream.
I promised I’d be back this week with something awesome and if the fact that my husband and I just both had seconds and polished off a meal intended for four is anything to judge by, this recipe delivers. We absolutely destroyed this dish. It’s full of classic comfort and totally blows the Hamburger Helper the average joe eats out of the water.
Ingredients:
- 1.5 pounds of beef (I used ribeye, though I believe sirloin is more common for this dish)
- 8 oz. baby bella mushrooms, sliced
- 1 can 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup
- 3/4 cup beef broth
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
- 1.5 tablespoons flour
- 1 cup light sour cream
- 2 cups egg noodles (I prefer No Yolks)
Directions:
- Cut your beef into 1.5″ cubes.
- Mix the flour, salt, pepper, and paprika.
- Add the beef to this mixture and stir to coat.
- Add to your crock.
- Add the mushrooms.
- Add the mushroom soup and the beef broth and stir well.
- Cook on low for 4 hours.
- When you get home, add the sour cream and noodles and crank the crock up to high for 20 minutes. You’ll want to give it a good stir after 5-10 minutes once the noodles have softened enough to fully incorporate into the sauce.
- Serve!
I’ve been craving scones for over a week, but I had to wait until I hit the grocery store to buy butter. We’ve talked about how I can’t actually keep it in the house due to my status as a recovering Cookie Dough Addict. And then I meant to make them yesterday, but I was busy being a slug/couch jockey and taking a Mental Health Day (yet still making chicken noodle soup, brownies, and batch cooking some black beans). It was fabulous, thanks for asking.
But tonight I realized I forgot to buy bananas to make muffins for hubby’s breakfast this week, and seeing that I’m a kind wife who is not going to doom him to another week of hard boiled eggs for breakfast, I decided to go ahead and make scones. He just has to share. As I am not a huge baker, I scoped out my nice basic baking resource the Good Housekeeping Baking cookbook. I used their base recipe for a buttermilk scone and added in my own lemon and poppyseeds.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar (I used Splenda)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick of butter, cut up
- 2/3 cup + 1 tablespoon buttermilk (my own addition as 2/3rds was not quite enough)
- 1 large egg, separated
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons sugar (or Splenda) for sprinkling
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon poppyseeds
- 1 tablespoon dehydrated lemon peel (yes I know you usually use lemon zest, but who forgot to buy fresh lemons this weekend? That’s right, this chick. We’re working with what we have.)
Directions:
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
- In a big bowl mix the flour, 2 tablespoons of Splenda, baking powder, baking soda, salt, lemon peel, and poppyseeds.
- With a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the mixture turns into coarse crumbles.
- In a separate cup mix your egg yolk, lemon juice, and buttermilk.
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and add the milk.
- Stir until just combined. If you’re me, this might take some work and light kneading.
- Transfer the dough to a (well the book says ungreased cookie sheet but I didn’t read, so I used Pam for baking) cookie sheet. and shape into a 7 1/2 inch round (you’ll want to flour your hands).
- With a floured knife, cut the round into 8 wedges but don’t separate.
- Brush the top with egg white and sprinkle the last of the sugar/Splenda over the top.
- Bake for 22-25 minutes, until golden brown.
- Then serve warm or if you have more self control than I do, separate the wedges to cool on a wire rack.
I was on my own for the night, so of course I indulged in pasta (it is my favorite go to meal when I”m not feeding hubby). This recipe is for one really hungry person or two not so hungry people. It was thrown together with some staples from our pantry and fridge and it was fabulous.
Ingredients:
- 2 oz. whole wheat penne
- 1/2 a large zucchini, diced
- 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes (not in oil), diced
- 1/4 cup sweet red peppers, diced
- 1/3 cup fresh asparagus, diced
- 1 link roasted garlic and mozzarella chicken sausage
- 1.5 tablespoons goat cheese
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Directions:
- Set your pasta water to boil.
- Heat the olive oil over medium heat while you chop everything.
- Salt the boiling water and add your pasta.
- Add the zucchini and sausage and saute for about five minutes.
- Add the peppers, tomatoes, and asparagus. Saute for another 4-5 minutes.
- When the pasta is just shy of al dente, scoop it into the skillet with the sausage and veggies.
- Add about a quarter cup of the pasta water.
- Add the goat cheese and stir until it melts and coats the pasta and veggies.
