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Posts Tagged ‘Cooking’

Minestrone

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , , , on September 28, 2013| 11 Comments »

This recipe has a funny story behind it.  My mother-in-law, J,  had successful open heart surgery in July and was unfortunately subjected to hospital food for a couple of weeks. The one meal she actually enjoyed was a vegetable soup and she asked the dietary worker what it was.  I then asked J what it was so I could try to duplicate it for her and she said the worker told her it was “minstrun”.  What?  I wracked my brain for hours trying to figure out what it was and it finally hit me that it was MINESTRONE and we just had a little communication/pronunciation problem.  We all had a good laugh out of it and I went on the hunt for a recipe to try.

I found this Elie Krieger recipe on the Food Network’s website and used that as my starting point.  This is a fairly simple and really healthy dinner idea and the taste was great!

minestrone

2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1 cup diced onion

2 stalks celery, diced

1 large carrot, diced

1 1/2 cups cut green beans

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tsp. Italian season

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 28-ounce can no-salt-added diced tomatoes (I used some home frozen diced tomatoes.) 
1 14-ounce can tomato sauce
6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
1 15-ounce can low-sodium kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup rotini pasta 

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Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 4 minutes. 

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Add the celery and carrot and cook until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in the green beans, Italian seasoning, minced garlic and black pepper; cook 3 more minutes.

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Add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and the vegetable broth to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in the kidney beans and pasta and cook until the pasta and vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.

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Honey Butter Pork Loin

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , , , , on September 21, 2013| 21 Comments »

Do you have recipes pinned from quite a while ago that you just haven’t tried yet?  I know I do and I really need to do a little purging on my board, but it’s hard.  This honey butter pork loin from Momma Hen’s Kitchen is one I pinned quite a while ago and finally tried it.  Why did I wait so long?  This is an easy and tasty main dish that can be made in the oven like the original or in the slow cooker like I did. 

honeybutterporkloin

4 tbsp.  butter

2 tbsp. honey

1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin, trimmed

1/2 tsp. seasoning of your choice (I used Penzey’s Salt Free Mural of Flavor)

1/2 tsp. black pepper

3/4 cup water

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In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter with the honey.   Season the meat with the Mural of Flavor and black pepper. Brown the loin on all sides to form a nice crust.

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Place the pork in a slow cooker and pour the honey/butter mixture over the meat along with 3/4 cup water.  Cook on low for 4 to 5 hours until the meat is tender and registers at least 160 degrees.

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Italian Sloppy Joes

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , , , on August 24, 2013| 8 Comments »

Today’s post is another wonderful recipe from a wonderful blog called Plain Chicken.  I have tried several of their recipes in the last few months and they have all turned out great!  I can’t recommend their site enough. Go check it out now!  Well, maybe not RIGHT now…you can finish my post first.

This is close to the perfect weeknight meal since it is tasty, simple, quick, and did I mention tasty?  Try it and see if you like it as much as we did.

italiansloppyjoes

1 lb. ground beef

1 lb. Italian sausage

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup chopped bell pepper

1 tsp. garlic powder

26 oz. jar spaghetti sauce

sliced cheese of your choice

buns

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In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the beef, sausage, onion and pepper until there is no pink left in the meat and the veggies have softened.  Drain the fat and put the meat back in the pan.

Stir in the garlic powder and sauce.  Simmer on low-medium for 5 to 10 minutes while you prepare the buns.  Put the cheese on the buns and put them in a low oven for a few minutes, just until the cheese starts to melt really well.  I would have loved to use provolone on these, but I was out so American had to do.

Scoop a little of the meat mixture on the bun and enjoy!

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Black & White Cookies

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , , , on August 17, 2013| 14 Comments »

While browsing on Pinterest one day, I came upon a pin for these iconic New York deli cookies called, simply enough, Black & White Cookies.  The recipe was posted from Brown Eyed Baker and the cookies looked so yummy!  I pinned the recipe for later and decided to try it one Sunday afternoon.

These are somewhat of a classic cookie so I am glad I tried them, but I am not sure if I will ever make them again.  The cookie is just your basic butter/sugar cookie with black and white frosting on them.  The white portion of the frosting turned out great but as soon as I added some of the white in with the melted chocolate to make the black frosting, disaster struck. 

My chocolate seized and there was nothing I could do to make it smooth again.  I put the bowl over another bowl of simmering water to loosen it and that didn’t work.  I even tried microwaving it for a few seconds and NOTHING!  So, the “black” part of my cookies is just melted semi-sweet chocolate chips.  Don’t get me wrong…the melted chips worked find, but it just wasn’t the same.  Oh, well, you win some and you lose some.

I am listing the original recipe, but there won’t be any photos of the chocolate frosting.

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For the cookies:
4 cups cake flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup milk

For the frosting:

2 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate, finely chopped

1/3 cup water

1/4 cup light corn syrup

5 cups powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

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Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a cookie sheet with a baking mat or parchment paper. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

Beat the butter at medium speed for 30 seconds then gradually add the granulated sugar.  Slow increase the mixer speed to medium-high and beat for about 3 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the eggs and vanilla extract.  Beat at medium speed for about 30 seconds.  Scrape the sides of the bowl again.  On low speed, add the flour mixture and milk alternatively, starting and ending with the flour.  Mix just until combined. 

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Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet.  Gently press each cookie dough mound until it is about 2 1/2 inches wide.  Bake for about 20 minutes or until the edges are set and light golden brown.  Cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet and then put on a wire rack to cool completely.

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Now let’s make the icing: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring the water and corn syrup to boil.  Remove from the heat and whisk in the powdered sugar and vanilla.  Transfer 3/4 of a cup to another bowl.  Melt the chocolate and add it to the 3/4 cups of frosting.  Combine and that makes the chocolate frosting.  (That is also where mine seized and wouldn’t do a thing so I just used melted semi-sweet chips instead.)

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Ice half the cookie with the white frosting and half with the melted chocolate.  Allow the cookies to dry completely before eating or storing.  They will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days.

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Southern Plate’s Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , , , , on June 29, 2013| 12 Comments »

I have a confession to make…as much of a chocoholic as I am, pineapple upside down may be my favorite cake.  I know, I know…the sacrilege of it is obvious.  How can this little semi-homemade cake be a chocolate lover’s favorite?  I am afraid I can’t answer that question except to say that it just is. 

This is also a dessert that my Nanny has made and still makes a lot so maybe that is why it is so special to me.  In fact, I had never made one myself until just a few weeks ago.  I guess I just always left it up to her.  Hopefully now it won’t be her sole responsibility to be the upside down cake maker all the time even though I don’t think she minds it too much.

I used Southern Plate’s recipe for this one and it is a good one just like all of Christy’s recipes.

PineappleUpsideDownCake

1 box yellow cake mix

1 large can pineapple slices

1 stick butter

1 cup brown sugar

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In a 9×13 inch baking dish, melt the butter while the oven preheats to 350 degrees.  Once the butter is melted, remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle the brown sugar over the entire pan.  Place the pineapple slices on top of the brown sugar, reserving the juice.

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Prepare the cake mix according to package directions, substituting the pineapple juice for the water.  If you don’t have enough juice just finish up the amount you need with water.  Slowly pour the cake batter over the pineapple slices.  Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let it cool in the pan for about 10 minutes and then turn it out onto a cake plate or platter.  Oh, this is so so good!  I could eat some right now.

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Strawberry Freezer Jam

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , , , on June 1, 2013| 15 Comments »

C & I have a small strawberry patch that, in a good year, produces plenty for us to eat on and a few to freeze.  Last year was a terrible strawberry year so we had none left over in the freezer.  Thankfully, the same can’t be said for this season.  Our little plants are loaded down with berries and I am picking a good sized bowl every day.  Still, that wasn’t quite enough to please us so, in the last week, I have worked up 5 GALLONS of berries bought from a family friend.

I also have a new toy in my food arsenal that has been on my wish list for a while…a chest freezer! I am so happy with it.  I bought it on Lowes.com and they delivered it for free from my local store.  How easy is that?  Now I can freeze all sorts of things.

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Anyway, back to today’s recipe.  I made peach freezer jam last year so I had to make some strawberry this year.  The recipe is from Our Best Bites, but it seems to be just the basic freezer jam recipe that is very popular.  Here goes…

strawberryfreezerjam

2 cups crushed strawberries

4 cups granulated sugar

1 box Surejell

3/4 cup water

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Mash the strawberries and measure out two cups.  Mix the sugar in the berries and let them sit for about 10 minutes.

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During this time, mix the water and Surejell together in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Bring to a boil and let cook for 1 minute.  Pour the Surejell into the berries and stir for 3 minutes.

Ladle the strawberries into sanitized jars leaving about 1/2 inch headspace and put on the tops.  Let these stand at room temperature for 24 hours and then refrigerate.  These will keep in the fridge for about a month or in the freezer for a whole year.  I have been loving this on a buttered bagel in the mornings.  It is so much better than anything you can buy at the store.

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Menu Plan Monday

Posted in Menu Planning, tagged , , , on May 13, 2013|

Please join me and other menu planners at I’m An Organizing Junkie for today’s edition of Menu Plan Monday.  Welcome to the start of another week and I hope my work schedule is a little calmer than last week.  We had court three days and played catch-up the other two from those court days.  All of us at the office were beat on Friday afternoon and were ready for a weekend of R and R.

C & I made it to the grocery Friday night and to Lowe’s, where we purchased 3 more Compacta holly shrubs and a dwarf Alberta spruce tree to finish up the front retaining wall landscaping.  They were planted Saturday and we also installed 4 new landscape lights in the back garage flowerbed.  Now all of we have to do is get a load of landscape rock to finish up then we can start on some new project.  I don’t think we will ever call our house done because there is always something we want to do.

I am keeping this week’s menu pretty simple because I hope we get to get outside and enjoy our evenings.  Hope everyone has a great and blessed week!  See you next time!

Bubble up pizza

Grilled pork chops with oven fries

Sausage bake with salad

Slow cooker saucilious pork chops (new)

Take out pizza night

Honey bee cake (new)

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Butter Dips

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , , , on May 4, 2013| 6 Comments »

Ever since I found the blog, Plain Chicken, I have pinned their recipes like crazy.  This is one of those recipes and I made them to go with the Simple Pasta Soup I posted a few weeks ago.  Butter Dips are just a simple homemade buttermilk biscuit recipe, but the taste magic happens when you bake them in a pan with melted butter instead of just on a baking sheet.  I could have eaten the whole pan by myself.

ButterDips

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup flour
2 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
2/3 – 1 cup buttermilk or milk (I used 4 tbsp. dried buttermilk and 1 cup water.)

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Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.  Cut the butter into pieces and melt it in a 8×8 inch baking dish using the microwave.

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Combine all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl then add the water (or buttermilk).  Stir until combined.  The dough will be a little sticky.  Put the dough into the pan with the melted butter and press it out to cover the pan. You may want to flour your fingers to keep the dough from sticking to them. Using a sharp knife, slice through the dough to form 12 biscuits.

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Bake for 15-18 minutes until the tops are browned just a little.  My oven cooks a little slow, so check them at 15 minutes so they don’t burn.

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Beef Stew With Noodles

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , , , , on April 20, 2013| 10 Comments »

A couple of weeks ago, I was searching for something new to cook for Sunday dinner.  Where did I go? Straight to my “recipes to make” Pinterest board, of course.  I had pinned this a while back, but had not had the chance to make it so this was my choice of the day.

The original version is from Martha Stewart, but I tweaked this just a little to suit our tastes.

BeefStewWithNoodles

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 pounds boneless beef chuck, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Kosher salt and ground pepper

1 medium onion, sliced lengthwise

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

45 oz. beef broth

1/2 pound carrots, cut into 1-inch chunks

2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch dice

1 bay leaf

2 cups egg noodles

Please ignore the red wine vinegar in the photo…I didn’t use it.

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In a large pot, heat oil over high. Season the beef cubes with salt & pepper. Cook until seared and brown on all sides, about 6 minutes. 

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Reduce the heat to medium. Add onion and season with salt and pepper. Cook until onion begins to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in flour until beef and onion are coated and cook 1 to 2 minutes.  Watch it closely so the flour doesn’t burn.  Add broth and 3 cups water, stirring and scraping up browned bits. Add the bay leaf.  Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer and cook until beef is tender, about 25 minutes.

Now it is time to add the carrots and potatoes and cook until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Add noodles and cook until tender, about 8 minutes.

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Simple Pasta Soup

Posted in Cooking, tagged , , , , , on April 6, 2013| 19 Comments »

I know, I know…another soup recipe, but I have been on a soup kick lately and when one had the words “easy” and “pasta” in it, I just had to try it.  This didn’t disappoint either, but most of Real Mom’s Kitchen’s recipes are great.  I did make a couple of little tweaks to it by using only a half pound of Italian sausage that I had previously cooked and frozen and I used Italian seasoning and a little more pasta than it called for.

SimplePastaSoup

3 cups pasta, cooked & drained

1/2 lb. mild Italian sausage, cooked & drained

½ cup onion, diced

1/4 cup green bell pepper, diced

3 cups beef or vegetable broth

1 cup water

1 cup frozen corn

1 (24 oz.) marinara sauce

1 tbsp. Italian seasoning

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In a large pot over medium heat, cook the onion and green pepper until soft.

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Add the remaining ingredients except the cooked pasta and simmer for 15 minutes.  Add the pasta and let it cook for another 5 to 10 minutes. 

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