Girl asked for these apples recently, saying that she hadn't had them in "a million years." They are easy and very nutritious. They're PERFECT with pork, but would also be great with chicken or even with breakfast.
Recently in Side Dishes - Starch Category
Although being able to make a good roast chicken is supposed to be the sign of a great cook (or maybe BECAUSE of this), I have been intimidated by roasting a whole chicken. The kids are usually a little frightened of meat that actually LOOKS like meat and prefer, boneless, skinless little portions of protein. In spite of all this, I decided to give roast chicken a try. I made this chicken by fusing together two roast chicken recipes:
the first one was included on the back of Colorado Spice Company's Tarragon Chicken Rub and the second one is Ruth Reichl's Roast Chicken recipe from her book Garlic and Sapphires (all three of her books are fabulous and you should read them NOW, if you haven't already).
Basically, I followed the rub directions, but doubled the olive oil, because I was roasting two chickens, instead of one (as specified in the recipe), and then added the lemon and followed the time and temperature instructions in the Ruth Reichl recipe. My oven has a thermometer (as most ovens now do) that can be inserted into meat and then plugged into the side of the oven that will alert you when the interior of the meat has reached a certain, programmable temperature. I LOOOOVE this feature because I'm lazy and forgetful because it's very helpful and convenient. The chicken turned out beautiful and juicy (although my camera flash makes it looks bland and pale). I will definitely be roasting chicken this way again.
For the potato pancakes, I used this recipe from epicurious. They were delicious, but when they tell you to press the moisture out of the potatoes, they aren't kidding. Don't try to save time on that step; you'll regret it. We served them with sour cream on the side.
The hollandaise was left over from Boy's special birthday breakfast and was delicious over some simple steamed asparagus.
We ate this dinner last night with my little brother and his wife, who announced to Boy and Girl (Hubby and I already knew) that they were going to have a new baby cousin in May! Little Brother has started a "New Dad" blog that you can check out here:
Little Brother's "The New Dad" blog
It will be VERY exciting to have another little sprout around next year and Little Bro and his wife (who is a teacher) will make wonderful parents. We are VERY excited and plan to spoil this child rotten.
Mmmmm...
Yet another pair of great Cooking Light recipes...
Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Mustard BBQ Sauce
and Fresh Lemon Rice.
These were both delicious and a big hit with everyone.
If there's anything that makes your kitchen smell better than bacon and onions cooking together, I don't know what it is...
...unless, maybe it's Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin. This was really delicious and VERY easy.
Israeli Couscous Salad with Summer Vegetables and Lime Vinaigrette
This recipe is from Family Fun magazine. I tore it out a looooooong time ago and have been meaning to try it. We usually do Israeli couscous a little simpler, like this, but this recipe came together really quickly and is pretty tasty. I did make a few modifications:
I toasted the couscous in a pan with a miniscule amount of olive oil before boiling it. Also, I sauteed the squash and zucchini (in the same pan, with a bit of olive oil, just after toasting the couscous), instead of boiling it, because, boiling? Ewww.
Tasty, easy and a hit with all four of us, but it needs something. I will be making it again and I think I'll again some lightly sauteed (with the squashes) garlic and/or onion and maybe some frozen (thawed) baby peas and grated carrot. It would make a really nice main dish (great for a potluck!) with some grilled and chilled, chopped chicken. Maybe a little chopped cucumber and/or tomato (halved grape tomatoes?), too?
Yum....
Wicked good....
Baked Macaroni and Cheese
3/4 lb of your favorite pasta, cooked according to package directions and drained
1 stick butter plus 3 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup flour
2 cups milk
3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
a dash of Worcestershire sauce
1 cup dry bread crumbs (I use half regular and half panko)
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
seasoning options:
dash of dry mustard
dash of Worcestershire sauce
dash of paprika
dash of Baby Bam
dash of my new favorite seasoning (Simply Organic all-purpose seasoning - salt free!)
salt and pepper (white pepper is great, if you have it on hand)
finely chopped fresh herbs (parsley? oregano?)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large saucepan, melt 1 stick of butter over medium-low heat. Once butter is melted, whisk in the flour and cook until fully incorporated and thickened (2 - 3 minutes?). Stir in milk and continue cooking and whisking until smooth, thick and warmed through. Stir in 2 3/4 cups of the cheddar cheese to blend. Add seasonings as desired. Pour over pasta and stir to thoroughly coat. Pour into lightly greased baking pan. Melt remaining butter and blend with breadcrumbs, remaining 1/4 cup cheedar and the Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle over pasta/cheese in the pan. Bake, uncovered, for 25 to 30 minutes, or until bread crumbs are toasted and cheese is golden and bubbling.
Kids will ask for seconds, guaranteed.
This is one of those great, old-fashioned "back of the box" kind of comfort food recipes. This is just the perfect yummy, creamy thing to accompany almost any kind of roasted meat or something like BBQ chicken. There are a million different versions of this dish available online, but I like this one the best. It would be pretty yummy (and very kid-friendly) at the holiday table, too. It ain't upscale, but it's goooooooood.
Corn Pudding
1 (8.5 ounce) box corn muffin mix (I use "Jiffy")
1 egg
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 cup sour cream
1 can (regular size, about 15 oz, I think?) whole kernel corn
1 can creamed corn
a sprinkle of Baby Bam seasoning (1/4 tsp?)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together and pour into a lightly greased 2 quart casserole. Bake for about 45 minutes (or until pudding is solid and lightly browned).
Boy doesn't care for tomato sauce, so when I was making stuffed shells for dinner tonight, I thought I'd try to come up with an alternate sauce for him. Hubby, Girl and I loved the tomato sauce version and Boy really loved the Parmesan-Pesto version. The two sauces might even be really good if you combined them, or baked a batch of shells that are drizzled with a little of each sauce, in the same pan.
Stuffed Pasta Shells with Two Sauces
For shells:
1 12-oz package jumbo pasta shells
1 15-oz tub ricotta cheese
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
8 oz frozen spinach, cooked according to package directions
1/2 tsp. Baby Bam seasoning
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, divided
1 and 1/2 cups of your favorite spaghetti sauce
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cook pasta shells in salted water according to package directions. Drain and discard any broken or torn shells.
Squeeze all excess water out of the spinach and place it in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add the Baby Bam, mozzarella, eggs, ricotta and 1/4 cup of the parmesan cheese. Stir until well combined. Stuff each of the shells with 2 - 3 Tbsp. of the ricotta mixture and place all of them, except 8, in a large baking dish. Place the remaining 8 shells in a smaller baking dish and set aside.
Top the large dish of shells with the pasta sauce and sprinkle with half of the remaining parmesan cheese. Bake for about 30 minutes or until sauce is bubbly and cheese is lightly browned. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and serve.
For Pesto-Parmesan Cream sauce:
4 Tbsp. butter
4 Tbsp. flour
1 and 1/2 cup liquid, either chicken stock or milk
(or a combination of both - I used 1 cup milk and 1/2 cup chicken stock)
1/4 tsp. Baby Bam seasoning
2 to 3 Tbsp. prepared pesto sauce
5 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese, divided
Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. When butter is melted, whisk in the flour until well blended. Cook, whisking continuously, for 1 to 2 minutes or until very thick. Slowly pour in 1 cup of the liquid, continuously whisking, until well combined. Turn heat down to low and whisk in Baby Bam, pesto and 4 Tbsp. of the cheese. Continue to simmer until sauce reaches the desired consistency (somewhere between yogurt and melted ice cream), adding the remaining 1/2 cup liquid, if necessary. You want the sauce to be thick, but still pourable, because it will thicken a little as it bakes. Pour about 1/3 to 1/2 of the sauce over the reserved 8 stuffed shells and sprinkle with the remaining 1 Tbsp. of cheese.
Bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until sauce is bubbly and cheese is lightly browned. Reserve remaining sauce for another use (pour over cooked pasta and add some grilled chicken?).
Today was Hubby's birthday. It also happened to be the craziest night we have this week (doctor's appt for Boy, piano lesson for Girl), so I needed something that I could get on the table quickly, since I knew I wouldn't even be home until 6:30. When we were at Costco this weekend, Hubby saw these pre-made Chicken Cordon Bleu and wanted to get them, so I decided to make them for his birthday. Not something that I would ordinarily buy, but he loved them.
To go with, I just steamed some frozen (organic, from Costco) green beans and this multigrain pilaf recipe from this month's Cooking Light magazine. One of Hubby's co-workers gave us some special, imported buckwheat groats (kasha) recently and I've been wanting to try it. The pilaf was surprisingly good. I expected it to taste more "healthy", if you know what I mean, but it was actually pretty good. Of course, I was famished at dinner tonight, so that could have had something to do with it.
Getting ready to make the pilaf. From left to right: buckwheat, barley, bulghur.
Hubby's not a big fan of conventional cakes and detests icing, but he LOVES these cookies, especially straight out of the oven. So....we decided this would be the perfect birthday dessert.
I used store-bought polenta for this (Frieda's brand, with herbs), but I'm looking for a good recipe to try to make my own sometime soon. Cut it out of the tube and cut into half-inch slices. Fry the slices in a drizzle of olive oil until they're lightly browned on both sides. Top with good quality (I like Rao's) jarred sauce (or make your own, if you're so inclined). Serve over sauteed spinach. This was popular with both Boy and Girl.
This is another epicurious recipe. It can be found here. We love beets, anyway, but I was trying to find a different way to cook them. I usually just boil them in chicken stock and serve them over the top of the cooked beet greens. The kids really like them that way - simple, easy, yummy, but it gets old after a while. This ravioli recipe got great reviews on epicurious. I did as one reviewer suggested and added about 1/2 tsp. freshly grated lemon zest to the filling before stuffing the ravioli. We really like the beet greens, too, so I decided to serve them with the cooked ravioli. The color of these is a little alarming: one reviewer said that she served them at a Halloween party, for a spooky effect. They would be beautiful if made with golden beets, too.
The verdict: they were good, but not appreciably better than just plain (roasted or boiled) fresh beets. Girl liked them OK, but Boy said that he would rather just have beets next time, which would be considerably less work. Hubby wasn't wild about the poppy seeds. I think they would have been better with a tangy, vinegar-ish sauce of some sort to balance the sweetness of the beets. So, I guess, these would be good for adults or company, but I guess if you have kids that are already happily eating their veggies.....if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
