Eggplant Parm

Did you know that eggplant is a fruit, not a vegetable?

I was completely planning to make my typical baked Eggplant Parm, and also planned to double and freeze it for lunch club. None of these plans happened.

Instead, I found this recipe on Start Cooking and decided to give it a whirl. I made a few minor modifications, and it turned out really well! At his first bite, M said, "This is REALLY good," and commented that this is a keeper and better than the baked. Even The Boy ate it, and asked for seconds...and finished those too!!

Here's the recipe, with my modifications:

• 1 eggplant (8 ounces)
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 cups of dry bread crumbs (Italian flavor) I used panko, as suggested
  
• 1 1/2 cups of flour
• 1 egg
• 6 tablespoons of oil I used olive
  
• 1 1/2 cups of spaghetti sauce
• 8 ounces of mozzarella cheese - shredded
• 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese - grated

Slice the eggplant into slightly larger than 1/4 inch thick slices. Sprinkle with salt and set in colander for 30-40 minutes. Press a paper towel into each slice to absorb all the liquid drawn from the eggplant.

Put the flour, egg, and crumbs into three separate flat, rimmed dishes. Add 1 teaspoon of water to the egg and with a fork, beat the egg.

Dredge each slice of eggplant into the flour, then dip into the egg, and finally press the bread crumbs into each slice of eggplant.

Preheat your frying pan on medium high heat. Add 3 Tablespoons of vegetable or olive oil to the pan and let it get hot. Add some garlic and let it "speak," as Rachael Ray says. Fry the eggplant until golden brown on each side – flip them only once.

Place the eggplant on a plate that has been lined with a paper towel.

Before frying the second batch, clean the pan out with a paper towel and a pair of tongs.

Add the remaining 3 Tablespoons of oil to the pan and fry the remaining eggplant.

Spread the sauce in a baking dish large enough to hold the eggplant in a single layer. (A little bit of overlapping is fine.)

Sprinkle on the mozzarella cheese and the parmesan cheese.

Bake the Eggplant Parmesan in a preheated 425º F ( = 220º C = gas mark 7- hot) oven for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden and the sauce is bubbly.

I felt that this was way too much mozzarella before baking, and not enough sauce, but it turned out to be just right on both accounts. Very yummy dish! This wasn't what I would call easy, simply because there were many steps and many dishes... there were no steps that were difficult or unlike anything I'd done before.

Chicken Stew

One of the many things on M's "do not like" list is beef. As a result, we don't eat a whole lot around here, but there are lots of beef based foods I really really miss. Beef stew is one of them. I mentioned the troubles with planning meals for a "picky" eater to a coworker, who suggested I try chicken stew. Well, I'd never even thought about that!

I found this one on the food tv website, and it looked really promising. It's Giada, it's highly rated on the website, and it looked really yum! It also has beans, which are also on the "do not like" list. He complained about having to pick so many beans out of his bowl, but nonetheless said he really liked this! YAY! I really liked this one too; it has all the things I love about beef stew (errr, except the beef) and great flavor.

It was really easy too, with the hardest part being the vegetable chopping and the chicken shredding.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 stalks celery, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 carrot, peeled, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 small onion, chopped
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can chopped tomatoes
• 1 (14-ounce) can low-salt chicken broth
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, torn into pieces
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 2 chicken breast with ribs (about 1 1/2 pounds total)
• 1 (15-ounce) can organic kidney beans, drained (rinsed if not organic)
• Serving suggestion: crusty bread

Directions

Heat the oil in a heavy 5 1/2-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add the celery, carrot, and onion I added a heap of garlic here too. Saute the vegetables until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in the tomatoes with their juices, chicken broth, basil, tomato paste, bay leaf, and thyme. Add the chicken breasts; press to submerge.

Bring the cooking liquid to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer gently uncovered until the chicken is almost cooked through, turning the chicken breasts over and stirring the mixture occasionally, about 25 minutes. Using tongs, transfer the chicken breasts to a work surface and cool for 5 minutes. Discard the bay leaf. Add the kidney beans to the pot and simmer until the liquid has reduced into a stew consistency, about 10 minutes.

Discard the skin and bones from the chicken breasts. Shred or cut the chicken into bite- size pieces. Return the chicken meat to the stew. Bring the stew just to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Ladle the stew into serving bowls and serve with the bread.

Pretzel Chicken with Honey Mustard

This one showed up in my Reader via Cooking with LT. She grabbed it from What's Cookin' Chicago? It looked yummy, so I made it.

BAJ commented that this was really good; score! The Boy wouldn't even put it in his mouth, but he may have just been being stubborn.

I love pretzels, but don't usually keep them in the house. I especially love those little Snyder's niblets with the mustard and honey and what have you. I should have used those in this; that would've been awesome!

I made this recipe with extras in hopes of bringing it in successfully for lunch club. I'm never sure how fried stuff will reheat, but I have high hopes for this one.

I especially liked how the honey mustard turned it; pretty tasty and HOMEMADE! SCORE!

You will need:
*1 egg
*1/4 cup all purpose flour
*1 cup crushed or processed pretzels of any variety
*olive oil for sauteing
*4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves I pounded these thin and even
*salt and ground pepper to taste
*garlic powder to taste

1. You will need 3 shallow dishes. In one, whisk the egg with 1 tablespoon of water. In the second, place the flour. And in the final dish, place the crushed/processed pretzels.

2. Heat a skillet over medium low heat with 1/4c olive oil. While the oil is heating, season both sides of the chicken breasts with salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. Dredge the seasoned chicken breast in flour and shake off excess. Dip the chicken breast in the egg wash and then press it into the crushed pretzels to cover both sides.

3. When oil is hot, carefully place the crusted chicken breasts in the hot oil and fry until browned on both sides. This should take about 5 -7 minutes, but will vary depending on the thickness of your chicken.

4. Serve warm with the honey mustard sauce below.

Honey Mustard Sauce
recipe taken from Joelen who adapted it from Alton Brown

You will need:
*5 tablespoons honey
*3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
*2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Serve over the pretzel chicken or on the side.

This reheated very well, and the ladies in my lunch club were raving about it!

Brown Sugar Blueberry Blondies

We had a really bad Nor'easter yesterday, which really put me in the mood for cooking and baking. As far as cooking, though, I wasn't able to get to the grocery store yesterday, so dinner ended up being homemade pizza. But, I could still bake.

I went back and forth between cupcakes (A had just been to a birthday party where he had them... problem was, I DIDN'T and I WANTED one). When I asked him if he wanted to make cupcakes, he said he wanted to make muffins. Then he didn't. Oh, two year olds. Then I found this recipe on Anne Strawberry's blog for Brown Sugar Raspberry Blondies. And I knew I had frozen raspberries!!

Alas, those raspberries were terribly freezer burned, so into the trash with them. I also had some beautiful frozen blueberries, so with those I went.

As happens so often in this house, BAJ or A started talking to me as I was measuring. So, I wasn't sure if I had put in 1c of brown sugar or 1-1/3c, so went ahead and added another 1/3 c. Maybe I shouldn't have.

It's a fact that our oven doesn't like to bake brownies. They always take way longer than the suggested time, and when the center is done, the edges are hard. After about 45 minutes of baking, a toothpick test proved them to look done (although it came out a little moist, the moisture was blue, so I took that to be blueberry juices). It wasn't done. When I took the pan out, and flipped it over, the bottom stuck to the pan and the center was very moist. Ew.

So, whatever caused all these problems, I do not know. I really need to start using the convection setting when I bake brownies; maybe that will help get a more even temperature.

I did eat the edges, and they were very tasty, so I will post this recipe in hopes of trying it again. I won't bother taking any reference pictures because, well, the pan looks gross.

Original recipe from Anne Strawberry
1 1/3 Cups Flour
1 1/3 Cups Brown Sugar
1 tsp baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup frozen raspberries I used blueberries
½ cup chopped pecans Omitted

Pre-heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour small rectangular baking dish (line the pan with foil for easy removal and cutting later. If you want these gooier use a small square pan, but next time I'll keep them a little thinner for even baking).

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, oil, eggs and vanilla; mix on low speed of electric mixer until blended. Mix 1 minute on medium speed. Batter will be thick. Spread half of batter in pan. Toss raspberries in small amount of flour. Scatter berries over batter; spread remaining batter on top (gently!). Sprinkle with pecans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Cool on rack and cut into 16 pieces. Chocolate Chip Variation: Sprinkle ½ cup chocolate chips over batter with pecans.

Chicken and Wild Mushroom Quesadilla

I am enamored with Robin Miller. Her recipes are easy, but more importantly, she always encourages you to make extra of the main meal and gives you ideas for the leftovers. I've already used the base recipe of Roasted Chicken with Smokey Apricot Sauce as well as one of the leftovers with success, so the other night, decided to make her Quesadilla. You can find all of these recipes online here, as well as in her cookbook, Quick Fix Meals.

For this recipe, I used sliced white mushrooms. We also had a package of shredded cheddar, so BAJ suggested we use that instead of shredding our block of Monterey Jack.

The cheddar really didn't add too much in the flavor department, so next time we will be sure to use the MJ. Otherwise, these were delicious and SO. STINKING. EASY. The hardest part was shredding the chicken, but at least I was able to sit down for that part.

On the website I linked, Robin suggests making your quesadillas in half moon shape, but we made them whole and topped them with another tortilla. Doesn't make much difference, I suppose, other than the prettiness of your presentation.

TOTAL TIME: 16 minutes
Prep time: 10 minutes
Active cooking time: 6 minutes
Cooking spray
2 roasted chicken breast halves
4 (8-inch) flour tortillas
2 cups sliced wild mushrooms (any combination of shiitake, cremini, oyster, porcini, Portobello, etc.)
1 cup thinly sliced oil-packed sundried tomatoes
1 1/3 cups shredded reduced-fat Monterey Jack cheese
Coat a large skillet or griddle with cooking spray and set pan over medium heat to preheat.
Using a fork, pull chicken meat from bone in shreds.
Arrange tortillas on a flat surface. Top one side of each tortilla with an equal amount of chicken, mushrooms and tomatoes. Top filling with shredded cheese (1/3 cup per tortilla). Fold over tortillas to cover filling, making half-moon shapes. Place quesadillas in (or on) prepared pan and cook 3 minutes per side, until tortillas are golden brown and cheese melts.

Maple Glazed Ham Steak

I've made and blogged about this one before.

This time, I made my own Dijon mustard, which I found on the Taste of Home community board. I've done this a few times, with good success:
Dijon Mustard

1 tablespoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon water
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar -- (or 1/2 white wine, 1/2 white vinegar
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
pinch sugar

Mix all ingredients.
Yield: "2 tablespoons"

This time, however, I goofed and used 1T of water. Oops. I didn't want to just throw it away, so I went ahead with it. I then used the entire product in my ham steak glaze. Otherwise, I made it the same way:

1/4c brown sugar
1/4c maple syrup
1T Dijon mustard

Heat to boiling in a medium saucepan. Simmer for a few minutes to reduce. Brush this over one side of a ham steak. Broil ham steak four minutes, turn over, brush again, and place pineapple slices over the ham. Broil four more minutes.

Instead of pineapple slices, though, I used crushed pineapple because that's what I had. It worked great, although maybe the presentation wasn't as pretty. Again, A ate it, which is a relief since I'm really getting sick and tired of making him his own meals.

I never know what to do when a recipe says to "preheat the broiler," because my oven has a hi and lo setting for this. This time, I used it on low, but put the ham on the middle rack. This was not enough, so I turned it up to hi AND raised the ham closer... too much. Probably in this case, low and 4" from the broiler would have been good.

I served with twice baked potatoes and corn.

Cranberry Mini Muffins

I've had a silicone mini muffin pan for a long time, and just never got around to using it. First, I was afraid that it wasn't exactly...safe. Ye ole internet turned up no real answers. Recently, I've been thinking about making some muffins up, but had a tough time finding a mini specific recipe. So, I again googled how to modify to mini muffins... and had some trouble. However I changed my search terms, I had success this time around. So, I made a recipe I found on allrecipes.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil Substituted 1/4c applesauce
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). I baked at 350 for minis
   
2. Stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Make a well in the center. In a small bowl or 2 cup measuring cup, beat egg with a fork. Stir in milk and oil. Pour all at once into the well in the flour mixture. Mix quickly and lightly with a fork until moistened, but do not beat. The batter will be lumpy. Pour the batter into paper lined muffin pan cups.
3. Variations: Blueberry Muffins: Add 1 cup fresh blueberries. Raisin Muffins: Add 1 cup finely chopped raisins. Date Muffins: Add 1 cup finely chopped dates. Cheese Muffins: Fold in 1 cup grated sharp yellow cheese. Bacon Muffins: Fold 1/4 cup crisp cooked bacon, broken into bits.
4. Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden. I checked first at 10 minutes, but they took about 15 in all.

I had some raisins, and I had some Craisins. I went with the Craisins. I put them in the food processor, but that didn't get them super fine, but it was just fine here.

This was not a bad recipe per se, and I (and The Boy) can't stop snacking on them, but there's something missing from them. I wonder what whole wheat flour would do, or maybe substituting brown sugar for some of the white. In reading some of the reviews on allrecipes, others suggested using a diced apple with some vanilla and cinnamon; that sounds delicious!!

Turkey and Artichoke Stuffed Shells with Arrabbiata Sauce

I found this in my Google Reader from Made with Love.... You can see her post here. You can also find the recipe on foodtv.com.

I made my sauce a little differently than the recipe suggests. I sort of blended the sauce recipe given with the shells and Giada's Arrabbiata sauce from Everyday Italian. In addition, the sauce in the book only makes 1 quart, which I figured wouldn't be enough. So, I made the sauce in the book (minus black olives). I'm pretty sure I added an extra can of crushed tomatoes as well, to make a bit more sauce. So while I had that going, I then proceeded with this recipe's instructions of browning pancetta in olive oil, adding more garlic, etc. Does that make any sense? This of course made a lot more than the 5 cups I needed, so I just put it in the freezer for another time.

I made two trays of shells. I made a 9x9 pan for that night and a 9x13 pan for the freezer. The pan we had that night came out great, with one exception. The recipe suggests that we drizzle the sauce over the shells, but this resulted in the pasta not covered not really cooking all the way. It wasn't bad, but the softer parts were way better.

This is definitely a keeper!! No pictures just yet... maybe when I make the freezer pan, I'll take some! I enjoyed it, as did BAJ. It also makes great leftovers, which I just had for lunch. Wahoo for stocking the freezer!! Wahoo for my first stuffed shells!

Ingredients

• 1 (12-ounce) box jumbo pasta shells (recommended: Barilla) I used store brand
  
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 large yellow onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus 1/2 teaspoon I used regular iodized
  
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus 1/4 teaspoon
• 1 (8 to 10-ounce) package frozen artichokes, thawed and coarsely chopped I used a can, which I drainied first
  
• 1 (15-ounce) container ricotta cheese
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves I used a combo of sweet basil and purple basil
  
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 5 cups Arrabbiata Sauce, recipe follows
• 1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella (about 5 ounces)
  

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and partially cook until tender but still very firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 4 to 5 minutes. Drain pasta.

Meanwhile, in a large heavy skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and the garlic and cook until the onions are soft and starting to brown, about 3 minutes. Add the ground turkey, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is slightly golden and cooked through. Add the artichoke hearts and stir to combine. Remove from heat and let cool.

In a large bowl combine the cooled turkey mixture with the ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, eggs, basil, parsley, and the remaining salt and pepper. Stir to combine.

To stuff the shells, cover the bottom of a 9 by 13 by 2-inch baking dish with 1 cup of Arrabbiata sauce. Take a shell in the palm of your hand and stuff it with a large spoonful of turkey mixture, about 2 tablespoons. Place the stuffed shell in the baking dish. Continue filling the shells until the baking dish is full, about 24 shells. Drizzle the remaining Arrabbiata Sauce over the shells, top with the grated mozzarella. If freezing, cover tightly with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 1 day and up to 1 month.

To bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bake until the shells are warmed through and the cheese is beginning to brown, about 60 minutes (20 minutes if shells are unfrozen.)

Arrabbiata Sauce:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

6 ounces sliced pancetta, coarsely chopped

2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes

2 garlic cloves, minced

5 cups jarred or fresh marinara sauce

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the pancetta and saute until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute until tender, about 1 minute. Add the marinara sauce and red pepper flakes and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and let cool until ready to use.

Yield: approximately 6 cups

A Grilled Cheese twist

I found this idea forever and a half ago in Kraft's Food and Family magazine. It is a favorite in our house, and I doubt I've ever blogged about it. Have I mentioned that mozzarella, tomato, and basil is my all time favorite combination? Despite disliking roasted red peppers, if they're serving it with the above, I'm sold.

Anyway, so you just make your grilled cheese like you normally would, except you use mozzarella, add a slice of a tomato, a leaf of fresh basil, and make it on sourdough bread. (I have to say, the sourdough is really key--it doesn't work well on regular old sandwich bread, but imagine it would also be very tasty on Semolina!).

There you have it---the twist on Grilled Cheese!

Italian Mac n Cheese

I found this in my Google Reader on Living Insanity's Loving Food on Friday and marked it with the intent of making it that night for dinner. Plans changed and I pushed it instead to tonight.

When BAJ asked what dinner tonight was, I suspect he rolled his eyes to hear that I was making mac n cheese, which is certainly not typically a meal he enjoys. He came in as I was cooking and said, "there's mushrooms in this mac n cheese? and sausage?" Clearly, his interest was piqued, and he realized this was not the typical mac n cheese recipe.

I didn't know what bulk sausage was (until I was already cooking and looked it up). It apparently is those Jimmy Dean sausages that are in the frozen section, and not the typical Italian sausage that I used. It would be interesting to try it that way too.

I also bought 8 oz of Italian cheese. I just went and sprinkled shredded mozzarella on top.

Finally, I went to Acme for what I needed. Acme is not known for having fancy stuff. The only mushrooms in their case were white and portobello, so I went for the on sale sliced white mushrooms.

• 1 pound ziti rigate, penne rigate or cavatappi (ribbed, hollow corkscrews)
• 1 pound Italian bulk sweet sausage I used Italian sweet sausage
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3 or 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 12 crimini mushrooms, sliced pkg of sliced white mushrooms
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 (10-ounce) sack, 2 1/2 cups, shredded Italian 4 cheese blend, available on dairy aisle
• 1 can diced tomatoes, drained well
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce (recommended: Tabasco), optional
• 1/2 cup Parmesan, a couple of handfuls

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt water and cook pasta to a chewy al dente, about 8 minutes.

In a nonstick skillet, brown and crumble the sausage. Drain cooked crumbles on paper towel lined plate. Return pan to heat and add extra-virgin olive oil, butter, garlic and mushrooms. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Saute 3 to 5 minutes, until mushrooms are lightly golden.

Preheat broiler to high.

To mushrooms, add flour and stir, cooking 2 minutes. Whisk in stock, then stir in cream. Bring cream to a bubble, then stir in 2 cups of 4 cheese blend. When cheese has melted into sauce, add tomatoes. When sauce comes to a bubble, remove from heat and adjust seasonings, adding hot sauce if desired.

Combine cheese sauce with sausage and pasta, transfer to baking dish, casserole or oven safe serving platter. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup of 4 cheese blend and the grated Parmesan over the top and brown under hot broiler.

My husband really liked this. He went back for seconds, which is unusual for him. Due to the broiling, it didn't have the "hard pasta" that he dislikes so much.

My 2 year old son really liked this. He asked for seconds as well, and ate the sausage, which is unusual for him.

I thought it was a little on the bland side. I wish I had added more Tabasco, or wonder if the Cremini mushrooms would have added more flavor, or using all Italian cheese blend. I would like to try the suggestions of the reviewers on food network's website and add another can of tomatoes or maybe some spinach for some more flavor and veggies!

Definite keeper in these parts!

Pictures coming soon!

Chicken Curry (without Chickpeas) with Tomatoes

This one comes from Robin Miller's Quick Fix Meals, and also can be seen here. (Robin answered my question about substituting the chickpeas! WOW!) As is well known, my husband does not eat chickpeas. So, I just left them out here.

Serves 4
TOTAL TIME: 15 minutes
Prep time: 10 minutes
Active cooking time: 5 minutes
2 cups quick-cooking white or brown rice
2 roasted chicken breast halves
15-ounce can chick peas, drained
15-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 cup lowfat sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Salt and ground black pepper
Cook rice according to package directions.
Meanwhile, using a fork, pull chicken meat from bone in shreds. Transfer chicken to a medium saucepan. Add chick peas, tomatoes, sour cream, curry powder, and cumin and mix well. Set pan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Simmer 5 minutes to heat through. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Serve chicken curry over rice.


I thought this was pretty flavorful, and was very happy to use up some of my leftover cilantro (since fresh herbs go bad so fast and get forgotten so easily in my house) from Sunday's pico de gallo. My husband, however, had MAYBE three bites. I may have gone a little heavy handed with the curry, but it was still a tasty recipe.
The point of Robin's recipe is to use the leftovers from a previous roasted chicken recipe she made (you can also see it on the website linked above), but I imagine any leftover roasted chicken, including a store bought rotisserie would work well here.
The longest part of this recipe was taking the chicken off the bone. I wish there was something else I could add here to substitute for the chickpeas, they're so stinking good for you, but she was right that we didn't even miss them, but I suspect they would add a nice little flavor to the dish too... and of course, the protein!!
Pictures coming soon!

Pico de Gallo

I've never made pico de gallo, despite loving it a ton. I decided to make it for yesterday's Super Bowl party. I researched a bunch of different recipes, but sort of made my own way with it. Here's what I did:

4 Roma tomatoes, seeded, diced
red onion, diced--maybe 1/4 c
scallions, sliced--about 1 stalk
cilantro--about 1/4c chopped
lime juice from half a lime
chopped garlic--maybe the equivalent of 2 cloves

I meant to put in some diced jalapenos, but forgot. Oops.

I served these with both tortilla chips and pita chips. It was good on the tortilla, but EXCELLENT on the pita!!

I'll definitely be making this one again. So tasty and so healthy. I bet it would be really good on tilapia; I think I'll try it one of these nights I'm on my own for dinner!

Lauren's Mini Aloha Calzones

Ingredients

• olive oil I used Pam
  
• 1 batch pizza crust I used the Pillsbury kind
  
• 1 cup ricotta
• 1 cup mozzarella
• 1 cup diced ham
• 1 cup diced pineapple (if using canned, drain first!) I used canned crushed pineapple
  

Preheat oven to 400. Lightly coat a 9x9 baking dish with oil.

Roll out pizza dough and divide into 16 pieces. Combine remaining ingredients in a large bowl.

Take a piece of dough and flatten. Place a spoonful of the pineapple mixture into the dough and wrap the corners around to seal. Place seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Bake uncovered for 16-20 minutes.

Happily stolen from Lauren's blog. We had plans to get together with some friends for our monthly get together, and it coincided with Super Bowl Sunday. Although none of us were big football fans (except my husband, that is), we decided to go football esque with our theme. I was in charge of appetizers, and planned several in anticipation of snacking throughout the game. I wasn't really sure what to make, but had my eye on these little buggers, which Lauren made as part of a competition she was in. They looked easy and TASTY, so away I went. They were most definitely tasty, and got raves from everyone who ate them. They weren't, however, very pretty. First problem, I may or may not have sprayed the second pan with Pam. Next problem, I may or may not have drained the pineapple well enough. I also had WAY extra filling.
Since I baked these at my friend's house, I didn't take any pictures--plus, not so pretty anyway. I'm going to try to reheat these to see how they turn out for a second day.

I'm really curious to know whether Lauren made this one up or if she found it somewhere--either way, though, it was GREAT and I will definitely be making it again!! YUM!

Sausage Strata

1/2lb Italian sausage I used hot, BAJ said he prefers the sweet
1/2c green pepper, chopped I I substituted fresh mushrooms
1/2c onion, chopped
can of stewed tomatoes, reserve juice
bread, crusts removed
3 eggs
milk
salt

1. Remove sausage from casings, brown in a skillet, breaking up. Add onion and green pepper, saute about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook about 15 minutes.
2. Spray an 8x8 microwavable pan with cooking oil. Place bread on the bottom (I used 4 here). Spread sausage mixture over, then top with more bread (another 4).
3. Combine eggs, tomato juices, and enough milk to make 2.5 cups. Pour over bread. Cover with Saran Wrap and microwave for 15 minutes.

This is an old recipe of my mom's...definite comfort food for me. I planned to make something completely different, but the meat was bad so I luckily had some sausage defrosted in the fridge so went to that instead. This time, the only bread I had was a whole grain something or other, which really wasn't a good choice--this recipe needs white bread! Otherwise, I was pleased with how this turned out. For some reason, despite following Mom's recipe, it doesn't come out tasting just like Mom's, but it was good anyway. I did like the substitution of the mushrooms, which would probably be good along with a bell pepper too.

Picture coming soon!

Roasted Chicken with Smokey Apricot Sauce

From Robin Miller's Quick Fix Meals. See it online here. I love Robin Miller's cookbook and ended up getting my own copy after checking it out from the library. I really like her tips for cooking big meals and then using the leftovers to make something new... the epitome of once a month cooking. We all know that leftovers can be super fast but also sometimes pretty boring, so this really helps jazz things up.

Serves 4
TOTAL TIME: 45 minutes
Prep time: 10 minutes
Walk away time: 35 minutes
Cooking spray
10 (5-ounce) skinless chicken breast halves (with bone)
Salt and ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups apricot preserves I had about one cup
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
Preheat oven to 400º. Coat a large roasting pan with cooking spray.
Season chicken all over with salt and black pepper. Arrange chicken in prepared pan and set aside.
In a small bowl, combine apricot preserves, soy sauce and liquid smoke. Mix until blended. Pour mixture over chicken.
Roast 35 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Serve four chicken breast halves with this meal and refrigerate remaining chicken until ready to use (or freeze up to 3 months).


We had two breasts with either roasted potatoes or sweet potato fries and sugar snap peas. This was a really JUICY breast of chicken, but (and perhaps it was because I didn't have enough sauce due to not enough apricot preserves) there wasn't a whole lot of flavor. Next time, maybe I'll use my Ronco flavor injector to get the flavor into the meat in some way. I used two of my ten breasts and plan to make one of her morph recipes later in the week (I'm thinking the quesadillas!)

Chicken Parm sandwich

This came from my ATK cookbook. Since ATK has caused other bloggers some issues, I won't copy it from their recipe, but tell you what I did.

First, I took 2 chicken breasts, and pounded them thin. I dredged in flour, then a beaten egg, then some Italian breadcrumbs. I heated some olive oil in a frying pan, added some garlic, then cooked the chicken for about 4 minutes on each side until brown. I then drained on a paper towel.

Next, I put the chicken in a baking dish, covered it with tomato sauce, Parmesan, and mozzarella. I baked it for a few minutes until the cheese was melty.

I then put it on a toasted roll.

It was good. Very good. So good that my husband, who gets frequent chicken parm cravings, said "You can make this any time." I guess he liked it. I think the rolls I got were particularly good, which makes a difference.

Lemon-Rosemary Chicken Thighs

Original recipe can be found here.

Ingredients

• 6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 2 lb.), excess fat trimmed I had about 1lb of boneless, skinless
  
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary or 2 tsp. dried
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Salt and pepper

Preparation

Preheat broiler. Rinse chicken thighs; pat dry. Arrange thighs, skin side down, on a broiler pan. In a small bowl, combine lemon juice, olive oil, rosemary and garlic. Brush 1/3 of mixture over chicken and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Broil 4 to 6 inches from heat until lightly browned, about 7 minutes.

Using tongs, turn chicken thighs skin side up. Brush 1/3 of lemon-juice mixture over skin and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Broil until thighs are browned, about 7 minutes.

Turn off broiler and set oven to 450°F. Brush final 1/3 of lemon-juice mixture over chicken (discard any leftover lemon-juice mixture) and return pan to oven. Bake until juices run clear when pricked with a fork and meat is no longer pink at the bone, about 10 minutes. Serve hot.

Because I had no bone, I modified the cooking time a little. I broiled it on hi for about 5 minutes each side (which was a little too long for the second side). I then baked at 425 for about 7 minutes.

I served with Alexia brand roasted red potatoes and green beans. Delicious. This was a fairly easy recipe to make, perfect for a weeknight. BAJ liked it too, although he did comment that he doesn't really like dark meat. My response was "it's SOO much cheaper, it's totally worth it."

In addition to being so tasty, everything (except the chicken thighs, that is) was on hand. Score!

Blueberry French Toast Bake

Here's another make ahead recipe I found for our NYE extravaganza. Again, the kids ate it, but I was the only adult who did. This was delicious and so easy. I really loved that I didn't even have to defrost the blueberries!! It was a little crisp, but this was even great on the second day.

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1-1/2 cups whole milk
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 6 eggs
• 10 slices french bread, cut into 1" cubes
• 3 oz. pkg. cream cheese, diced
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (if frozen, do not thaw)
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts Omitted
  
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Preparation:

Generously grease 13x9" glass baking dish. Beat flour, milk, 2 Tbsp. sugar, vanilla and eggs in large bowl until smooth. Stir in bread cubes until well coated, then pour bread mixture into prepared pan.

Top evenly with cream cheese cubes and blueberries. In small bowl, combine 2 Tbsp. sugar, cinnamon, and nuts and toss to mix. Sprinkle over blueberries and cream cheese. Cover casserole tightly and refrigerate up to 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and bake casserole, uncovered, for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Serves 8

Make Ahead scrambled eggs

For the under 10 guests, I couldn't think of what to serve. I didn't want to go for chicken nuggets, but figured breakfast for dinner would be a big hit. Wanting to get as much done the day before NYE, I sought out a few make ahead breakfast recipes.

First up, I made scrambled eggs, according to this recipe.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 12 eggs
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/8 tsp. white pepper
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Preparation:

Beat eggs with cream in a large bowl. Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Pour eggs into skillet and cook, stirring frequently, until eggs are scrambled and just set, but still moist.

Remove pan from heat and stir in sour cream. Spread eggs into a greased 12x7" glass baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to eat, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Uncover the baking dish and sprinkle eggs with pepper and salt. Stir gently, then bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and eggs are hot, at least 140 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. 8 servings

This made way more than we really needed, since NONE of the adults had any (save ME)!! It was really good though! My son ate a good amount, and we both had some more the next day too--still great. This is a very rich recipe, as you can tell from the use of sour cream AND heavy cream, but it made some delicious scrambled eggs!

Spinach Artichoke Dip

This is another recipe I made for New Year's Eve, but forgot to take a picture and forgot to post. It was my first attempt at spinach artichoke dip, but it was just as easy as regular artichoke dip. It was a hit, and also reheated well (it made way more than anyone ate). We had it on both tortilla chips and fresh veggies. Delish!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Hot-Artichoke-Spinach-Dip/Detail.aspx