A Nostalgic Tuesday Treat

I have a soft spot for scones.  One of my favorite memories is eating them with English clotted cream in a park in London with my friend Alexi.  I'd just finished college, gotten engaged and landed my first job out of school.  Lots of things to be happy about!  I still remember the warm sunshine, the comfort of our rented lawnchairs and this incredible feeling of happiness and satisfaction.

So when I discovered that we had a ton of blueberries in the fridge and Brian suggested scones, I was all for it!  These are from Cooking Light, so there's no sugary glaze.  I like them better that way.  Lemon would also be a good addition here.

After baking I sent Lexi a text and said "I made scones, now I want clotted cream."  She texted back a selfie of her holding a big jar of the stuff, with a huge grin on her face.  Apparently there's a British goods store not that far from her.  I know another shop besides the local yarn shop that I will be visiting the next time I'm in the area!

Meatless Mondays

We're trying to embrace Meatless Mondays in our house again....one night a week we eat a vegetarian dinner.

The past two weeks have been quite good:

 First, a pasta with butternut squash, feta cheese and pecans.  Awesome, and I ate the leftovers for days!

The the other night was Wild Mushroom Farfalle, out of the October issue of Cooking Light.  I liked this too, with the spoonful of ricotta cheese on top that you stir into your plate.  The only thing I missed was something with a little crunch.  Like maybe toasted walnuts.  Just to give it a little texture.  (When I read that I feel like a Food Network judge on a cooking show, by the way.)

Also, I'd like to add that while we (meaning we the parents) are trying to adopt a meatless meal once a week, the kids have no problem doing it more often.  Meaning:  neither kid would touch this.  Still doesn't stop us from trying, though.

Herb Harvest!!!

This is the first year that I've been successful at growing herbs in deck boxes.  And having herbs that you can just snip and add to your cooking is awesome!

First the cilantro....we have so much of it.  I love it, especially in guacamole or tacos.    There was a sweet cilantro salad dressing the other day too.  Homemade salad dressing tastes SO much better and is apparently better for you, too.

Brian made a quick homemade spaghetti sauce the other night and used fresh parsley and basil. It was delicious.

Next up:  cilantro in homemade salsa and perhaps a basil pesto.  I'm loving this!  Now, if my tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini come up, it will be a perfect growing summer.

Supper Bowls

Something in this month's Cooking Light caught my eye this month:  brown rice bowls.  Basically, a bowl of brown rice bowls with add-in ideas.  The pork one sounded intriguing, with pork  tenderloin, asparagus, dried cranberries, feta cheese, balsamic vinegar and toasted almonds.  All flavors that Brian wasn't sure could go together, but as the flavor decider in this family, I said it was worth a try.  Delicious!  Almost, in fact, good enough to lick the bowl.

  Looking forward to leftovers tomorrow.

For a Change, Fish.

Moving and packing make for boring eating.  It's all about the sustenance and how quickly you can eat and go back to work, and not about fun and flavor. 

A couple of weeks ago, though, I made panko-crusted cod with a tomato and basil relish.  I couldn't take the bland choices we had been making...we needed to shake it up and create EXCITEMENT!  Ok, not quite.  I just wanted something a little more interesting than meat, starch, vegetable.  And honestly, I've seen enough pizza lately to want  a break from that as well.

Straight outta last month's issue of Cooking Light, this looked easy and delicious.  Breading the fish with the panko, frying lightly and finishing it in the stove:  genius.  The fish isn't super-oily like fried fish can be sometimes, and there's still plenty of moisture.  The crunch was very satisfying, and the relish was cool and refreshing.  (Though the onion flavor was a little heavy-handed.)

One sidenote about the couscous:  normally I'm not a fan.  This was a box mix, and it was a generic brand.  Really, really good!  I'd definitely buy it again.

More March Meals

The last few weeks have been insane.  Getting a house ready to sell is way more work than I ever thought.

It's going well, though.   I've packed up a lot of things for storage, and we've painted, cleaned, fixed, installed, and lots of other action words and items.  Pretty soon though, I'll be packing up the cookbooks.  That's ok though, there's still the Internet.  :)

I haven't had time to write individual meal posts, so how about a summary.

One night last week we had Pork Lettuce Wraps, courtesy of this month's "Cooking Light."  Usually I make these with chicken, so this was a nice change.  The ground pork is mixed with garlic and ginger and sauteed, and the vegetables (peppers, cucumber, etc...I didn't have any carrot so I put some onion in there instead) were supposed to be raw.  I don't really like raw veggies on a wrap, so I opted to sautee lightly.  It called for a serrano pepper, but only half of a serrano pepper.  Right, anyway....I chopped up a whole one because they're small and I am just NOT going to put half a serrano pepper away in the crisper to rot slowly.  I ignored my desire to put sriracha sauce in the mix and I'm glad I did because OH BABY!  Those were spicier than expected.  Delicious though.  Brian wasn't crazy about them because of the intense flavors.  (Fresh garlic, ginger paste, serrano)  I served the leftovers over rice the next day and was thrilled with them.

We were replacing the carpet in the family room over to Pergo laminate flooring on St. Patrick's Day weekend.  I had anticipated that this would take both Saturday and Sunday, so there really wasn't a point to making a corned beef and cabbage dinner.  Which is really too bad, because I love corned beef and cabbage!  So I planned an Irish Beef Stew instead.  And thanks to the awesome skills of hubby, my brother and my dad, the floor was done in a day!  I am SO THANKFUL that we have family members that not only have the skills to do this kind of work, that they don't mind helping!  The stew was really good, with some Irish soda bread on the side.  (not made by either of us, but bought at Price Chopper.)

Lastly, and I feel this really deserves its own blog entry....steak over arugula with a parmesan butter.  This recipe was out of Epicurious (goodness what a great cookbook!) and it only called for 12 oz of ribeye steak.  I was skeptical, I really was.  But sliced up, and served with a balsamic brown sugar and shallot glaze and the aforementioned pamesan butter?  This was good enough to be restaurant food.  And I wasn't at all unhappy with the amount of steak.  So, so very good.  And a very easy recipe to boot, the only difficult part was making sure you didn't overcook the steak.

That's it for now, folks!

Mac N Cheese Success!

5.  perfect macaroni and cheese from scratch

Finally, a success story!  Years of separating sauces, general gloppiness and all-around YUCK, I've finally made a decent baked macaroni and cheese.  The recipe was from Cooking Light, part of their 25th anniversary issue.  I know I know, light mac n cheese sounds like a drag.  But it wasn't!  It had parmesan, sharp cheddar, fontina and yep, Velveeta cheese product in it.  I think the secret is making sure the cheese is shredded fine, and the continuous whisking.  The garlic cracker crumbs baked on top weren't bad either.  This was so good, I had a second helping and was thrilled to have tons of leftovers.

Sadly, the kiddos wouldn't touch it.  So next time I make this (and there WILL be a next time) I'm going to trick them by leaving an empty box of Kraft on the counter. 

Chicken n' Shrooms

Meal #2 this week featuring pasta ( no red sauce or meatballs all week!). Chicken with mushrooms and garlic wine sauce.  Brian's been using a lot of mushrooms in his cooking lately, and I love it.  Served atop egg noodles....with more of that yummy shaved parmesan.  And this is a Cooking Light recipe??  i find that hard to believe, but it's true.

Fall Preview

I read in the local paper yesterday that apple season in Massachusetts is running about ten days early, due to warmer weather this past Spring.  So I've already made sure to write on the calendar what day in September that we'll go apple picking.  I LOVE the family apple picking trip every year!  The boys love it too, Will's already asked when we are going.

With that said, last night's dinner was Pork Chops with an Apple Pan Sauce, accompanied by Sauteed Apples n' Onions.  I am continually amazed at how good apples and onions taste together, they complement each other nicely.  The pork was cooked perfectly, and there was white rice to sop up the pan sauce.  Recipe courtesy of Cooking Light.  Again, surprised that this was a "light" recipe!  No pictures....the food was gone in the blink of an eye.  Well, mine and Brian's anyway.  Neither kid likes sauteed apples, which I thought for sure would be a hit due to their natural sweetness.  Nope, one or two bites of pork and the rice from the big kid, and total refusal from the little kid.  UGH.  I'm over it.  

On An Ordinary Sunday

This Sunday....Today= a perfect day, from a culinary standpoint, anyway!

Sunday started last night at 11:30pm, when Hubby and I spontaneously decided to throw together an Overnight French Toast to be baked in the morning.  Why not?  I got it in the oven this morning, sprinkled with blueberries and streusel topping, while he whipped up some of our favorite Strawberry-Lemon Syrup.  (An old Cooking Light recipe)  The result was a custard-y french toast, perfected with the syrup.  And there's leftovers for tomorrow!

Dinner for tonight is already in the crockpot.  I don't know why we don't utilize this method of cooking more often, the "set-it-forget-it" mentality can't be beat on a Sunday.  Plus again, the promise of leftovers on Monday is fantastic.  Tonight's menu is Sweet and Sour Chicken over brown rice.  The boys helped by draining pineapple chunks, washing veggies and even a little chopping.  (I did the chopping, they threw the seeds into the sink.)

And if this cooler weather prevails this afternoon, perhaps there's a little time for a batch of brownies from a mix, or perhaps cookies?  This Sunday Streak is going strong!

Good Stuff from This Week

My camera was lost for a few days....seems a curious little toddler hid it in his toy bin!  It also appears to be stuck on a setting that looks like drawings instead of pictures, but I'll have to fix that later when the battery is recharged.  Meanwhile, Highlights from the past week (or so):

Spinach and feta-stuffed chicken breasts, and basil couscous.

I LOVE spinach and feta together, it's one of my favorite flavor combinations.  The tomatoes were OK.  I wish that there was a way to make canned tomatoes not taste like the can that they were packed in, but haven't figured out a way to do that.  The couscous is a mix, it was pretty good.  I used to shy away from couscous because of its dryness, but with the right saucy meal, it's perfect.

First burgers on the grill for the season!

A beautifully moist burger patty recipe, courtesy of Cooking Light.  Served atop baby arugula, topped with sauteed onion and mayo.  And on the perfect crusty bun, toasted of course.  This burger was out of this world!  I'd never had baby arugula before, it's got a peppery bite to it.  And onions sauteed in butter make any meal better, not to mention the wonderful aroma they bring to your kitchen.  On the side:  sweet potato waffle fries from the freezer.  I liked them, but I think that I was the only one.

A Cheesy Dish

Last Tuesday Night:  Mac n Cheese with Bacon and Broccoli.  Believe it or not, this came from Cooking Light.

Believe it or not, it just didn't have enough bacon in it.  Two crumbled slices, my eye! We added a bit more.  Not an obscene amount of bacon, but enough to give it a little more flavor.  Having said that though, I wonder what an obscene amount of bacon would look like?

This is one of those meals that tastes better as leftovers, I don't know if it needed time to rest in the fridge to blend the flavors together or what.  All I know is that it was "eh" at dinner, nothing too special.  But for lunch the next day, I give it a hearty two thumbs up!

Salmon and Sweet Potato

Maple-Chili Glazed Salmon, and Roasted Sweet Potato.

The maple and chili flavors in the salmon rub complemented each other nicely, it had just enough kick.  For the sweet potato I just used olive oil, salt and pepper since there was so much going on with the fish.  The menu originally had "baked sweet potatoes" on it but when the potatoes are THIS BIG there's just no way it's a weeknight dinner:

Actual size, a monster of a potato!!  I only cut up one and roasted it for dinner, and it was more than enough for the two of us.   The boys turned their noses at the roasted sweet potato, so I knew what to do with the other one:  I processed and pureed and made it into sweet potato mini muffins.  The boys devoured those for breakfast, and Will even made a suggestion to have "sweet potato smoothies."  Hmmm...I don't know how appetizing that sounds but I'll put on my game face for him.  After all, if he's willing to try it, I should be willing to dish it!

Cook All Weekend

We found ourselves with a free weekend with no plans, due to an early-season snowstorm.  It's not even Halloween yet, and there was a decent-sized Nor'easter knocking on our door.

Snowy weekends always make me feel like cooking.  This one was no exception!

First up:  applesauce.  Done right this time, I remembered to COVER THE PAN of apples while it was cooking.  Made all the difference in the world. 

Brian made Chicken Divan for dinner, which is one of my favorites.  It's a tricky recipe though,if you prepare it the way that it's written (on the can of cream of chicken soup, that I saved the label many moons ago) the chicken turns out raw in the middle.  We've tweaked it over the years, but it still sometimes comes out wrong.   A little microwaving saved dinner!  And the meal is cooked perfectly for leftovers at work tomorrow...it certainly won't be overcooked from microwaving.  

Then last night we lost power.  It was heavy snow falling, and a lot of Central MA was without power.  We're one of the lucky ones, losing it for only three hours.  So this morning, Brian made waffles.  (And those were so special, they need their own blog post, with a little co-authoring.)  After breakfast, I baked some banana walnut muffins.  Don't get too excited...they're a box mix.  I did stir in half a bag of chocolate chips to dress them up a little, though.  

At the grocery yesterday, I bought the last two sugar pumpkins that were in Stop and Shop.  And today, we've roasted them in the oven, to process the pulp for Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie later on.  (And muffins, or bread, or whatever we feel like making.  Gosh, I love pumpkin!)  

On the stove right now:  baked potato soup.  I had this soup at our local coffee shop a few months ago and honestly I've wanted to have some more since!  Hubby is not usually a fan of soups, unless, according to him, they clog his arteries upon digestion.  :)  This ought to do the trick.  

My back is aching, and I should call it quits soon.  But I'm still dreaming about baking some cookies for the kids, and I just found the recipe for the Squash and Apple Turnovers that we made last year from the October 2010 Cooking Light.  AND I just found a recipe for beef and butternut chili.  Yes, I'm the only one who will eat it.  But who cares??  A girl needs lunch at work.  

Stuff from This Week

There was a lot of good things this week, but I don't want to dedicate a blog post to each one.  So...here we go!

On Thursday night, Hubby made steak tips on the cast-iron grill pan on our stove.  Just seasoned with little salt and pepper, we dipped them in steak sauce and they were awesome.  Add some pan-roasted red bliss potatoes and broccoli with a light cheese sauce, and you've got dinner.  The only thing to be sad about was that there were no leftovers for the next day.

Turns out though, that I had nothing to be sad about. On Friday, I went out to lunch with a co-worker and some people from the City.  We went to this little hole-in-the-wall place called Sweet T's.  The place was Southern cuisine and soul food.  Fantastic!  I can't really say that I've ever had soul food, but I know that I will be coming back for more.  The first thing I noticed was the big signs everywhere, proclaiming that they use peanut oil for frying, so basically don't eat there if you're allergic to peanuts.  The menu featured chicken-fried chicken, pulled pork, black-eyed peas, okra, cornbread, macaroni and cheese, mashed potato and your choice of brown or white gravy.  Everything is cooked fresh to order in the back, and was worth the wait.  I liked everything except the fried green tomatoes, which I've always wanted to try.  They reminded me of a hot jello....I wouldn't say I disliked them but I didn't like them either.  The drink choices were either sweet tea or Coca Cola.  I say "Coca-Cola" because it was no ordinary Coke.  No, this was real Coca Cola, made with sugar and served in glass bottles.  I could have easily drank two of them!

Then we get to dinner last night.  On the menu was potato-chip encrusted chicken tenders.  Here's the surprise:  it was a Cooking Light recipe!  I loved them, Hubby loved them, and the kids, well, they thought they were "allright."  Ah well.  Brian also made a "grilled" caesar salad, where one wilts the romaine leaves in a cast-iron grill pan.  This was modeled on a "grilled caesar salad" that we had at a restaurant in April.  The end result is a slightly charred romaine lettuce, with traditional Caesar dressing/cheese/crouton.  Awesome.

And now, a preview of what's to come:  We're celebrating my parent's birthdays tonight with dinner at our house.  It will feature a pork roast, potato and vegetable, cake and pie.  Stay tuned!

That's a Bowlful!

Brian made pineapple chicken satay the other night.  It called for sweet chili sauce, which neither of us could find in the grocery store so I bought a spicy sauce instead.  I'm sure I'm not spelling this right, but it was called sriacha, and i know it's used a lot in Thai cooking.  Dinner was the chicken, on skewers, plus a pineapple salsa and the sauce made from chillies and peanut butter.  AH!  Seriously spicy but I love peanut sauce, and little bits of the sauce instead of a big spoonful made it tolerable to my palate.  Today's leftovers for lunch involved throwing the above ingredients plus a little white rice in a bowl.  I love bowl lunches!  Just a little of this, a little of that, all put together.  Mmmmmmm.

Salmon Supper

Last Night's Dinner:  Salmon with Grainy Mustard Sauce.  Buying the fish the day that you are planning on using it makes a bigger difference than I ever thought, this was so fresh!

The sauce was divine.  Not heavy, with just enough creaminess.  Onion, fresh chive and mustard all in there for savory flavor.  This tasted what I imagine what eating at a French restaurant would be like.  Garlic and pecan pilaf and sauteed asparagus rounded out the meal.  What a special meal for a Saturday night.  Who needs to go out to a restaurant when you can eat like this at home??

Using the "Good Stuff"

Oven Fried Chicken Thighs with Roasted Potato and Corn

 I went with a group of friends/family to Northampton yesterday for the Annual Tent Sale at my (our) favorite yarn store.  All that yarn goodness certainly makes you hungry, and we had lunch at an Asian restaurant that we have frequented in the past. (side bar:  the food was delicious as always, but the service left a bit to be desired.  The sneezing waitress at the end was the straw that broke the camel's back...and I think we'll try somewhere else next time we're in Northampton)  Anyway, we were talking about fried food and I lamented that though I know it is horrible for you, I miss fried chicken sometimes.  My friend Holly made a point; that if you have something fried once in a while and it's quality (i.e not fast food,) that you crave it less.  Interesting.  

In the past six months, my fried food consumption has gone down significantly.  And though I do eat it on occasion, it's usually something that we've made at home instead of something at a restaurant.  (Though I had a fried spring roll yesterday and it was heavenly.  Just one...and I was pleased to discover that it was enough.)

However, there are good substitutions for fried food out there, and the recipe that we had last night for Oven-Fried Chicken Thighs certainly was a good example.  Another thing that helps a lot is using quality ingredients.  we had leftover (real!) buttermilk that I had purchased for a recipe, as well as fresh grated Parmesan leftover from our Mother's Day pasta dinner.  Usually I "fake" buttermilk by adding vinegar to regular milk.  It really does make a difference!  

So that's my soapbox talk for today:  1.  If you're going to eat fried food, go for quality fried instead of fast food.  And 2.  Use the good stuff when cooking....at least as often as you can and can afford!

Mother's Day Treats

My Mother's Day was filled with delectable treats.  First up:

Buttermilk Pancakes and Fresh Strawberry Syrup.  We've made this syrup for years, it's a recipe out of Cooking Light but you'd never know it.  So good....someday I'm going to serve it over ice cream.

Spiced Squash Muffins with Dried Cranberries and Golden Raisins.  I bought butternut squash last week and it sat in the fridge with no plans....so I went to allrecipes.com and found this recipe.  Loved it!  (and so did the kids, and they're packed with good stuff.  So there.)

Chicken Pasta with homemade sauce, fresh italian bread, and salad for supper.  Not to mention my parents and my brother and sister-in-law coming over for a big family dinner.  :)

And the best for last:  Melted Ice Cream Cake with Chocolate Marshmallow Frosting!  Yes, another Cake Doctor creation!!  A tub of melted ice cream replaces all the liquid in the recipe.  Our ice cream choice:  Central Market brand Caramel Caribou.  Left on the counter to melt for the morning.  Brian then scooped out all the caramel choco-cups with a slotted spoon and added them to the cake batter.  Wow.  That is some fine cake.  :)

Happy Mother's Day, everyone!

Soup's On!

I enjoy making soup.  I don't do it often, though, because of the time committment.  Boiling a whole chicken until the meat falls off the bones, then adding vegetables and a starch (my preference:  rice or noodles) makes your whole house smell fantastic!  But the time it takes to boil away the meat, the chopping of the vegetables...it's substantial.  However, I do find the chopping, stirring and tasting to be somewhat meditative.

So when I saw a recipe in Cooking Light for Escarole, Bean and Sausage Soup with Parmesan Cheese, I thought, hey, I can do that!  One of my favorite soups growing up was my friend Heather's mom's Escarole and Meatball Soup, so I knew that I would like this.

Shopping for it was a real who's who in the produce aisle:  the recipe calls for fennel, garlic, onion, white beans and escarole.  Happily, my local market had it all and I was soon on my way home.  It comes together rather quickly too, and doesn't make so much that you have way more than you could ever possibly eat.  I think I went a little heavy on the fennel, but the end result is delicious.  Which brings me to another thought:  I need to do this more often.  Making homemade soup is good for the mind, and good for the soul.