One Pan Cinnamon Sugar Pancakes

There is something about making breakfast on Sunday mornings.  We are pretty early risers, so even though we are going to head out to church, we usually have a pretty relaxed routine on Sunday mornings, and it just always seems like the right time to make breakfast.  These are the same idea as making your cookies in bar form.  Instead of standing and flipping multiples, you just make one pan, make some sausage (please make some sausage), then sit down, have a cup of coffee, and enjoy your morning!

I try to make this a two bowl dish.  Doing a ton of dishes in the morning is not my idea of a good time.  This fed my family of four, with a little bit leftover for breakfast the next day, so if you are making for a croud, you probably want to double or triple this depending on your numbers.

Pancake Batter: 

1 1/2 Cups Milk

4 Tbsp Melted Butter

2 large Eggs 

2 Cups Flour 

4 tsp. Baking Powder 

1/2 tsp. Salt

Cinnamon Sugar Swirl

4 Tbsp Melted Butter 

3/4 Cup Brown Sugar 

2 Tbsp. Ground Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease or butter a large rimmed baking sheet or jelly roll pan.

You will need one stick of butter melted so just go ahead and throw it in a bowl and microwave it in 30 second intervals until melted.  Once melted, separate out the 4 Tbsp. that you need for the pancakes into a larger bowl and add your milk and eggs.  Stir together until combined.

Add your flour, baking powder, and salt, to the bowl with the butter/egg/milk mixture and  mix until there are no lumps.  Pour into the jelly roll pan.  

In the bowl with the reserved butter, add the brown sugar and cinnamon and mix it well with a fork or whisk.  

Drizzle the brown sugar mixture over the batter.  Now, you can get fancy here if you like and make whichever pattern you like.  I personally, have no artistic talent when it come to these things, so I drizzled 4 lines vertically, and 3 lines horizontally and then ran a butter knife through the batter and swirl a couple of times to make sure it was distributed.  

Bake for 7-8 minutes until it is set, it will not really brown up or get golden.  Remove from the oven, slice it up and serve with your usual pancake fixings.  

Things on the Want To Do List:

I have a problem, my eyes and imagination are always bigger than my time, my stomach, and my wallet.  That doesn’t keep me from pinning, printing, and saving everything I see that is yummy, sparkly, and wonderful.  These are the things I’m pining for this week.  

Handheld Chicken Pot Pies oh my!  Who doesn't love portable food?

I need to stop shopping, my closet has gotten smaller since the move, but still, one more shirt couldn't hurt. . .could it?  

I need another craft project right now like I need a hole in my head, but with the leaves changing color, I just can't stop myself from looking at yarn for this.

Crockpot Vegetable Soup

I made some huge changes to the way I eat and live my life about 5 years ago.  It has been slow, and I’ve learned the awful, terrible lesson that there are no quick fixes no magic pills (really there are NO pills, so save your money).  Every once in a while I find myself slipping back into the habits that got me in trouble in the first place, so I have to have a little conference with myself and hit the reset button.  When it comes time to get back in gear, I need to make something that is really good for me, hopefully tastes good, and that I can eat a lot of, because depriving myself never works out really well for me, or anyone as it turns out. 

This Recipe is a giant one, and you will need a BIG crockpot.  Please think of the ingredients below as a blue print, I usually put the beans, then the celery, carrots, & onions since they are the flavor builders.  I add the liquids and spices, and then go to town adding the other vegetables until the crockpot is full.  You can use whatever vegetables appeal to you, I throw spinach, kale, mushrooms, asparagus, corn, etc., basically anything that is in my fridge that I need to use up in and it all turns out fine.  

I like a lot of flavor, and as I’m sure you know if you’ve used your crockpot before, it can be a flavor killer, and the first few times I made this soup, it was just kind of, meh.  Then one glorious day, as I was making this soup, and simultaneously cleaning out the fridge I noticed a jar of spaghetti sauce staring at me from the back of the fridge, and I thought, why not?  It went in with everything else, and I’ve never made it any other way since. 

3 cups Northern Beans, soaked overnight (you can use 3 cans of kidney, northern, black beans,  etc.)

3 cups Celery, sliced or chunked up

1 small bag Baby Carrots chopped

1 white or red onion, chopped

1 bell Pepper

2 zucchini diced or sliced

2 cups Peas

1 ½ Cup Green Beans

1 dried chili (poblano, serrano, etc.)

1 can diced tomato with garlic and onion

2 boxes broth of your choice

1 Jar of Spaghetti Sauce

½ tsp Sea Salt

1 Tbsp dried Oregano

2 Tbsp minced garlic

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

½ tsp Creole Seasoning or Seasoned Salt

2Tbsp. Brown Sugar

• Start by adding the beans to the pot, and then your celery, carrots, & onion. 
• Add your broth, spaghetti sauce, olive oil, and spices.
• Continue adding your variety of vegetables until they are all either in the crockpot, or you’ve run out of room.  Turn your crockpot to Low Heat and let this go for 8 hours. 

**This soup freezes great.  

Chocolate Chip Cake Batter Zucchini Muffins

Ok, these are a little bit of cheating, and they certainly are not a part of a well-balanced breakfast, and yet, that is where I am putting them.  When the garden is booming and I can’t keep up with the zucchini, I get out the food processor and I shred/grate those suckers up.  I measure about 4-6 cups into freezer bags, lay them flat, and then stack the unfrozen bags on a sheet pan, and then throw them in freezer. 

I’ll be honest, in years past, I’ve shredded tons of zucchini and then it has wasted away in the back of my freezer until I finally get sick of looking at it and end up throwing it away.  No more!  These muffins are so easy, that for the most part, they are made by my kids with only a small amount of supervision, which is mostly required to make sure that they don’t eat all the chocolate chips. 

This is a recipe that you can experiment with and use your imagination.  Any flavor of cake mix or baking chip will work for you here, vanilla with peanut butter chips, peanut butter cake mix, etc.,  The world is your oyster my friend.  

The springboard for this recipe came from a banana bread recipe that I had stuffed in my recipe book, so feel free to swap out the Zucchini for any ripe bananas that you have wasting away on your counter.  However if you do that, you can omit the water and oil, the bananas will give you enough moisture and you won't need them.  

• 4 cups Grated Or Shredded Zucchini
• 2  Egg
• ⅓ cups Vegetable Oil
• ⅓ cups Water
• 2 boxes (15 To 16 Oz. Size) Devil's Food Cake Mix
• ¾ cups Mini Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease two muffin tins.

Stir together the zucchini, eggs, vegetable oil, & water.  Add in the two boxes of cake mix and the chocolate chips, then stir to combine.  Depending on how wet your zucchini is, you may need to add a tablespoon or two of water.  Mine is usually from a frozen state, and so is usually pretty wet.

Scoop into greased muffin tins and bake for 15- 17 minutes.  Muffins are done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Remove the muffins from the muffin pan and let them 

cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes, if you can leave them alone that long.

Enjoy!  You can also easily double this and freeze the extra muffins.  Happy Back to School!

Grilled Zucchini

It has been a quiet two months here, but not in real life.  When this year started, I could not have imagined that by August, my house would be sold and I would be living in a rental house on a farm.  It has taken two and a half months to get here, but here we are.  Now we are going to get ready for the next phase, which is save money and look for our “forever” home, as the kids and I have started to call it. 

This past weekend involved an immense amount of cleaning, and lifting heavy boxes.   We would not have made it without the moms in our lives bringing and preparing mass quantities of sandwiches, pizzas, drinks and cookies.  It was a blessing, and it saved me several times over.  When it got down to Sunday night and it was time to feed my family myself, things got very simple.  The oven is not usable yet, that is a job I have not mentally been able to bring myself to tackle, and so the grill was my heat source of choice. 

This is a sentimental recipe in some ways, the first time I ever had this was at my aunt and uncle's house while on vacation.  It was so good,I didn't even know that I liked zucchini up until that moment.  I have been making it non-stop ever since.  During the summers, when my garden has been growing zucchini faster than I can pick it, this dish comes into play several nights a week.  I often throw other vegetables into the mix, and the spices differ depending on my mood.  These quantities are extremely flexible. 

Grilled Zucchini

• 3-4 zucchini
• 3 Tbsp. Olive Oil
• 1tsp Garlic Powder
• 4 TBSP Parmesan Cheese
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• Grilling Basket

Optional Vegetable Additions, cut into large chunks or quarters—Mushrooms, Green onions, onions, Summer Squash, Bell Peppers, Tomatoes, use your imagination

Option Spices—Red Pepper Flakes, Creole Seasoning, Seasoned Salt, Steak Seasoning Mix, again, use your imagination

1. Prepare Grill and get it to a med-high heat.
2. Combine all ingredients, except the parmesan cheese, in a bowl and stir to distribute olive oil and spices.
3. Spray the Grill basket with cooking spray AND THEN place the Grill basket on the grill rack, dump the veggies in the basket.  DO NOT RINSE THE BOWL; you should still have a little olive oil in the bowl.
4. Now if you are going to walk away from this, I suggest either preparing the grill in a two heat zone set up, so one side on med-high heat, and the other side low heat, or if you have the option, putting the veggies on the top rack.  I have four burners on my grill, so I usually leave the left-hand burners on med-hi heat, and turn the right-hand burners down to low.   I then put the veggies on the low heat side, close the lid and carry on with whatever else I am making for dinner.  Come back and shake the basket about every 5-7 minutes or so, until the vegetables reach your desired level of doneness.  If your aren’t going to multi-task, just throw them on the grill, however you have it set up, and keep an eye on it, still shaking the basket every so often until they reach.  These should be cooked in about 10-12 minutes. 
5. When the vegetables are ready, take the bowl with the leftover olive oil in it, and dump the grilled vegetables into it, add the parmesan cheese to the bowl, stir it all together, and enjoy.    

Wisconsin Deep Fried Cheese Curds

Do I need to tell you why this got made?  I’m not sure I need to explain the need to eat fried cheese.  In my neck of the woods this is what people live and die for.  If you find good cheese curds at a new eating joint, you tell your friends, it’s a sign of affection. 

A couple of tricks on this, the frying  goes a lot smoother if the cheese curds are popped into the freezer for about 20 minutes before you  batter and fry them.  I am not as technical about temperature as I should be,  I just put the oil on first thing, turn on the heat, and when I've got all the other set up done, I drop a little batter in, if it sizzles and fries I roll with it, if not, I give it a minute.  I generally find that medium heat is best for this.

Set-up is vital, once you start dropping the battered curds into the oil, you CANNOT walk away, they fry fast.  So, set up you serving plate with paper towels, have your salt handy before you drop the first cheese curd into the oil.  A second set of hands is also great, I’m the designated batterer & dropper, my husband usually handles the frying and removal portion of things, but if you've done your set up, you will do just fine on your own. 

On another note, sometimes when I don’t want to spend a ton of money on cheese curds, I simply buy 2 packages of cheese sticks and cut them up, or cheese cubes of various flavors.  No, they are not cheese curds, do they taste delightful anyway. . . yes, yes, they do.  

• 1 ½ Cup Pancake Mix (I use Bisquick)
• ½ Cup Beer
• 1 egg
• ½ Cup Cold Water
• 1 ½ to 2 lb. cheese curds, or various cubed cheeses of your choosing
• Salt (optional)
• Vegetable Oil for frying

Put your cheese curds into the freezer about 20 minutes before you begin your preparations.

Get a pan of oil going on the stove.  I usually use a 4 qt. pot, and add enough oil to go up the sides about 2-3 inches.  Just add enough oil to make it deep enough to float the curds and flip them without them sticking to the bottom of the pan.  Turn the heat onto medium high to start it off.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients except the cheese curds and blend well.  You should have a pancake like batter; it will be just a little thicker than what you would normally want for pancakes. 

Test the oil with a drop of batter.  If it sizzles and floats to the top of the oil immediately, you are good to go, turn the heat down to medium.  If your droplet of batter sinks to the bottom of the pan, walk away, let the oil get hot, trust me, I have learned this lesson through my impatience many times before. 

Remove the curds from the freezer, and drop a handful into the batter, making sure to turn them and coat them thoroughly with the batter.   Drop the battered cheese curds into the hot oil, I generally use a fork or a slotted spoon for this, so that I can get just a little bit of the excess batter off before they go into the oil.

Fry the curds for maybe a minute per side, they will turn brown and puffy quickly, so keep an eye on them and turn them quickly.  As soon as they are golden and brown on all sides, remove them to the plate you so wisely prepared ahead of time, salt them, and move on to your next batch. 

Once you are done frying all the curds, invite your friends and family to enjoy, or just go curl up on the couch, make peace with yourself, and enjoy them all on your own. 

Jalapeno Grilled Cheese

My husband has always been the kind of guy that gets the most excited over something warm, cheesy and gooey when it comes to food.  If it is crispy and a little spicy on top of that, he’s a happy man.  So when it came time to figure out what the special meal for Father’s Day was going to be, I looked far and wide through my books and Pinterest pages to see what amazing thing I could make him, and then I thought, why not just make grilled cheese?  It wasn’t too much longer after that thought hit me in the head, that I stumbled across these babies on one of my boards. 

http://basil-albi.blogspot.com/2012/04/jalapeno-popper-grilled-cheese.html#.U6QFgc9OVtQ

Now I did a couple of things different, not because I had any issue with the recipe as is, but one, goat cheese is not in my hubby’s culinary repertoire, and two with THE MOVE hanging over my head, I’m trying to actually use the things I have in my fridge and cupboard.  One less thing to move, is one less thing to move I say!  Also, I couldn’t find sourdough bread, I’m sure it was there, it just wasn’t my night.  

Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese –4 Sandwiches

• 8 Slices Italian Bread      
• 8 oz Cream Cheese, softened
• 8 Slices of Bacon, Cooked or Bacon Pieces (yes, the ones out of the bag that suspiciously stay good forever, don’t judge me)
• 4 Jalapeno Peppers
• 4 Tbsp. Jalapeno Jelly
• Butter, Softened 

Turn on your grill, and when it is hot, put the jalapenos on and char those bad boys up good, trust me, you want the outside pretty black.  I was timid the first time I tried this technique and didn’t blacken them up, guess what, that blackened skin peeled right off, not so much the less burnt parts.  After you have them roasted real good, drop them into a paper bag or a Ziploc bag, close it up and let them steam for about 10 minutes.  When you’ve let them have their little sauna moment, peel off the skin, seed them if you like, and roughly slice or chop them up.  Set them aside, their moment is coming. 

Start warming your griddle or frying pan on med. heat.

Take your bread and spread 4 slices with cream cheese  to your liking.  I called for 8 oz above, but if that is too much (or not enough), spread to your hearts content. 

Divide the bacon and roasted jalapenos between those same four slices, putting them on top of the cream cheese.  

Spread the other four other pieces of bread with the jalapeno jelly, and put them on top of the cream cheese pieces to complete your sandwich.  Butter both sides of the sandwich with the softened butter and place them into your warm pan.  You are basically just toasting the bread here, so keep a watchful eye, this shouldn’t take too long.  After about 4 minutes, flip your sandwich (try not to be like me and fling the top of the sandwich out of the pan when you do this), give it about 4 more minutes and then remove from the pan, put it on a plate, and then, put it in your mouth!  You are welcome. 

Italian Sausages

It has been a little quiet around here. . .I know.  The great move is underway, and it has proved to be a strain on my cooking mojo.  After cleaning and packing boxes, somehow food is just something that needs to be gotten out of the way.  During the day that often ends up meaning a couple of boiled eggs, veggies, and hummus.  As you can imagine, there are three other people around who don't share my feelings, and for some reason want some food to eat.  The crockpot has more often than not been my solution  to these problems, I'm more ambitious and focuses in the mornings, and am more likely to put something together.


These are always good, and what's more, the leftovers can be turned into not one, but two delicious pasta dishes..  If you are going to go for the leftovers, I would double the meat and veggies.  This is pretty saucy as it is so I wouldn't double the spaghetti sauce. 


For the Crockpot:
1lb Italian Sausages
1 Jar Spaghetti Sauce
2 Red Bell Peppers, Sliced
2 Onions, Halved and sliced into half-moons
Salt & Pepper


For Serving:
Sliced Provolone or Mozzarella Cheese
Brat or Hoagie Buns


Heat a large skillet over medium high heat with just a little drizzle of olive oil.  When the pan is hot, add the sausages to the skillet.  We are just looking to get a little sear on the sausages, so just brown them on each side, 2 minutes a side, and then remove to the crockpot. 


Add another drizzle of olive oil to the now empty, but still hot skillet, and dump in your peppers and onions, salt and pepper your veggies..  We are just softening these up a little, so pop a lid on your skillet and let them be for about 5 minutes.  Stir them around, put the lid back on for another 3 minutes or so.  Add the peppers and onions to the crockpot.


Pour the Spaghetti Sauce over the veggies and meat, stir to combine.  Put the lid on the crockpot, and set it on Low for 8 hours, or High for 4.  Serve on the buns with cheese. 

Beef and Shrimp Kabobs

I haven’t made these very often, although, they never disappoint when I do.  I’ll be honest; I’m not a big fan of fiddly food, i.e. meatballs, kabobs, cut-out cookies, etc.   It always looks like fun, but when it comes down to execution, unless I've got a tasty beverage and some tunes playing, I find that the fun wears off pretty quickly.  This has slowly started to change as the kids have gotten older and have taken an interest in helping me out in the kitchen.  It also helps that I don’t need to worry about monitoring every moment lest someone lose a finger or end up with a meatball in their hair.  Even my husband gets into it now, if the payoff is delicious, he will now gladly help make armadillo eggs, crab Rangoon, or even these kabobs.  This all makes mommy a happy camper, I get to make the fun fiddly food, and it stays fun, and we only occasionally end up with meat in our hair. 

This is a recipe that made us leftovers for the week, so as with many of my other lunch meals, this is quite large.  You can easily cut the veggies in half and omit one of the meats if you are not making this to get you through a couple of meals. 

Here is a note that you probably don’t need, because you probably think these things through a little better than me. You will see in the photos that there are some skewers that have both shrimp and steak on them . . . . .don’t do this.  Unless you are a rare steak lover, the shrimp will cook much faster than the steak, so make skewers with just steak and put them on first, and then add the ones with just shrimp about five minutes later.  This shrimp marinade still made these shrimp delicious, but they were just a tad overcooked.  If you are a rare steak lover, feel free to do what I did and just cook the kabobs until the shrimp are cooked.  I’ll be honest that is what I did on the second batch of skewers, because I like my steak with a little moo left in it.  

Steak and Veggie Marinade: 

• ½ Cup Soy Sauce
• ¾ Cup Olive Oil
• 4 Garlic Cloves, minced (I used from the jar)
• Black Pepper, lots of it, to taste

Shrimp Marinade:

• ¼ Cup Lime Juice
• ¼ Cup Honey
• ¼ Cup Olive Oil
• 2 Garlic Cloves, minced
• ½ tsp Salt
• ½ tsp Pepper

Meat and Veggies:

• 2lb Sirloin Steak, cut into 1 ½ inch Chunks
• 2lb Shrimp
• 2 Bell Peppers, seeded and cut into 1 ½ inch Chunks
• 3 Zucchini Slice into 1inch rounds
• 16 oz Button Mushrooms
• 2 onions, cut into chunks**
• 1 can Pineapple, drained  
• Metal or Bamboo Skewers (if using the wooden skewers, make sure you soak them for 15-30 minutes before assembling the skewers)

**Note on cutting up the onions.  1. Cut off both ends and peel off the skin.  2. Cut the whole onion, from top to bottom, into quarters, and get rid of the inner quarters, I just quickly diced the inner parts up and threw them in the fridge to use later in the week.  3. Cut each onion quarter in half lengthwise. Now depending on the size or your onion, your pieces may be just about right at this point, about 1 ½ inch, but if they are still pretty big, go ahead and cut the pieces in half again, but I usually just stop here, I love big chunks of grilled onion.  

Get out 2 Ziploc bags and a mixing bowl large enough to fit all the cut up veggies.  Mix the Meat and veggie marinade in the mixing bowl and then put half of it in one of the Ziploc bags.  

 Put the ingredients for the Shrimp marinade directly into the other Ziploc bag and squish them together to combine, add the shrimp.  Add the beef to its Ziploc bag, and squish the meat around in its' marinades, seal up both bags, and refridgerate them for 1 to 2 hours.

Add all the veggies, except the pineapple to the bowl with the reserved marinade, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and microwave for 5-7 minutes on high.  You want the vegetables to still have a little crunch left to them.  Then unwrap them and set them aside until you are ready to make the kebabs. 

When the beef and shrimp have had their time, take the bags out of the fridge, drain off the marinade, and grabbing as many volunteers as you can, start threading the meat, vegetables, and pineapple onto the skewers in whatever order you choose (see note above about combining meats).

Grill the kebabs over medium-low heat until cooked to your taste, probably about 12-15 minutes.  As I mentioned above, I would probably put the steak on first, and then add the shrimp about five minutes later.  This recipe makes a lot of skewers, so unless your grill is pretty big, you may need to do two batches.

I served this with plain old rice and roasted asparagus.  

Sunday Night Tostadas

This, was an act of desperation, a moment that arose out of a deep desire to avoid leaving my house to get food on a night in mid-April, when it decided to rain and then proceeded to snow.  By the way, “COME ON SPRING, ENOUGH ALREADY!”  An opening of the cupboards revealed a variety of ingredients, but none of them really seemed to go together, black beans, coconut milk, rice?  Then I spied in the deep recesses of the top shelf, a leftover bag of tostada shells, and also spied the mandatory can of chili that my son requires I keep on hands at all times.  That kid, I could spend hours lovingly making my mother’s chili, which is delightful, but he would just prefer to open this can, no beans mind you, warm it up, and go to town.  Children, the great destroyers of culinary dreams!  As with so many throw together meals, it was amazing, and we have now delightfully eaten this two Sunday nights in a row, it is now officially in our circulation and I don’t think it is going anywhere soon. 

I find that one small can of chili is enough for 5 tostadas, you don’t want too much chili or the bottoms get soggy, and as this meal is meant to be eaten in front of the TV, you want it to kind of hold together a little (bring the paper towels just in case).  I have also toyed around with the idea of topping this with a fried or poached egg.  I’ll let you know if that happens.

These are delightful as they are, but as with many things, they are even better with toppings, so go to town with salsa, sour cream, tomatoes, cilantro, guacamole (I couldn’t be bothered, so I just chunked up the avocado that was giving up the ghost on my counter) or pickled jalapenos, etc.  I just wouldn’t spend too much time chopping; these lose their mystique if they require too much work or cleanup.  

• 1 can chili of your choice, or leftover chili if it is super thick chili
• 1 cup Cheese of your choice
• 1 cup diced or sliced onion
• 5 tostada shells
• Black Olives, sliced (optional)
• Garlic Salt
• Toppings:  green onions, olives, tomatoes, guacamole, sour cream, etc.  

Preheat the oven to 400° and get out a baking sheet or pizza pan that is big enough to fit the amount of tostadas that your are making. 

Place your tostada shells on the pan, lightly sprinkle some cheese on them, and top them with the chili and onions.  If you are using black olives, sprinkle them on now, and top with the remaining cheese.  Sprinkle these lightly with Garlic Salt and pop them in the oven for about 12 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and golden.  Take them out and give them a couple of minutes to cool down, you will have a burned mouth if you don’t.  

As you can see, I couldn't be bothered to use a real plate.
Enjoy!

Sunday Night Omelets

Sunday nights around here are generally a no-cooking night for me.  We are usually ready to settle in and let the remainder of our weekend slip away while we watch a movie and eat something out of a paper bag or if I’m lucky, a paper box filled with noodles.  After another activity filled weekend, and some outdoor time, we just didn't feel like going anywhere, and everyone had leftovers from our previous excursions, everyone, that is, except me.  I get some enjoyment out of the times when I’m going to cook just for me, and when those times come, eggs are usually on the menu.  I deeply love eggs, they might even be my deserted island food, you know, if the deserted island had a refrigerator. I sway between two favorites when it comes to eggs for dinner, a fried egg sandwich and omelets, and since we are still staying away from gluten, an omelet is what I settled on.

A couple years ago, I wouldn't have made this choice.  I couldn't make an omelet to save my life, my veggies were never cooked, the insides were runny, or the outside was burnt, it just never turned out the way I imagined it.  Then I stumbled upon Cook’s Country and Cook’s Illustrated cooking magazines and that is when my cooking game went to a different level, and my days of avoiding omelets were over.  The key here is, wait for it. . . CHOPSTICKS.  You heard me right, chopsticks, if you want an omelet that is perfect inside and out, get yourself some chopsticks, and let’s make an omelet.

Use whatever you want for veggies, meats, and cheese, and of course use the quantities that you wish.  I typically try not to use too many fillings to avoid the omelet breaking apart as I fold it and try to get it out of the pan.

• 3 eggs
• 1 green onion sliced, white and green
• 3 mushrooms sliced
• ¼  cup shredded cheese
• 1tbsp butter
• Chopsticks
• Small non-stick frying pan

1.  Spray your pan, turn on your stove to med. heat, and plop the butter into the pan.  When it has melted, throw in the onion and mushrooms and cook them for about 3 minutes.

2.  Meanwhile, whisk together your eggs until there are no whites left in sight, salt and pepper, and pour the eggs, right into the pan on top of the cooking vegetables.  Give it a quick stir to evenly distribute the vegetables throughout the eggs.  Get your Chopsticks.

3.  Using one or two chopsticks, gently scramble/stir the eggs, as the eggs get closer to being cooked, don’t so much scramble them, but rather, use the chopsticks to poke holes in the cooked bottom layer of the omelet to let the runny egg on top reach the pan.  Once or twice, slightly shimmy the pan back and forth to make sure that the omelet isn’t sticking to the bottom of the pan.  

4.  When your eggs are almost set, but still just a slight bit wet on top, sprinkle on your cheese and then, using a heat proof spatula fold the omelet in half.  If you are still worried about the insides being cooked enough, you can cover the pan with a lid to help move the cooking along.  Give it a minute or two more and then take the pan and slide the omelet out of the pan onto your plate.  Garnish with salsa, hot sauce, avacado, or just eat it in its perfect plain omelet state.  

BBQish Pork Chops

This past weekend was filled with a lot of activities that did not involve cooking.  However, no matter what is going on during the weekend, we still need lunches during the week, and so it needed to be something quick and easy.  That is where these pork chops come in.  I’d love to tell you what cut they were, but I bought them in bulk when our local grocery store had a sale, so alas, I cannot.  I can tell you they were not boneless, and they were not terribly thick or thin, they were just your common, run of the mill pork chop that you see at the grocery store.  You can marinade these at your leisure, they are good after two hours, and they are also good after two days.

I have a four burner gas grill, I know it is not the purist way to go, but at this time in my life, when it comes to grilling, I value speed and ease.  Someday I will master the charcoal grill, someday.  The marinade is pretty drippy (is that a word?), and there could be flare-ups so keep your eyes on them so you don’t end up with a crispy critter.  Just so we’re clear, I fail at this every time! 

• 1 cup Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing
• ½ cup BBQ Sauce
• 3 Cloves Garlic Chopped (I cheated and just used the jarred minced garlic)
• 8 Bone In Pork Chops
• BBQ or Steak Seasoning Spice Blend

1. Combine the first three ingredients in a bowl or just throw them in a freezer bag and squish them together.
   
2. Add the Pork Chops to the bag, seal it up, and put them in the refrigerator.  Marinade for 2 hours or up to 2 days.
3. Pre heat grill, mine has a temperature gauge and I usually wait for it to read 500°, I leave two burners on med.-high heat, and turn the other two down. 
4. Remove the chops from the marinade, letting as much marinade drip off as you can or want, and then discard the marinade.  Sprinkle with your seasoning blend. 
5. I split up the chops between the top rack and the side of the grill that I have turned down.  
6. Put the chops on the grill, lower the lid and leave them alone for about 5 minutes, but a watchful five minutes.   Flip chops and continue grilling until they reach a temperature of 160°, or just give a little to the touch.  I like to take the temperature of my pork; it just makes me feel safer. 
7. When cooked, remove to a plate, cover with foil and let them rest for about 5 minutes.  Serve and Enjoy!

Philly CheeseSteak Stuffed Peppers & Getting Ahead

This is going to be a hectic week, lots of coming and going, and that is going to seriously impact my resolve to eat the things I need to.   There will be plenty of temptation to just stop and pick something up for dinner instead of eating what is here at home.  That is just the way it goes sometimes, and if that happens this week, it isn't the end of the world, but in an attempt to fend that off, my meal plan this week has several easy choices, and also some component parts that I made on the weekend. 

I get a lot of mileage out of the filling for this recipe, and in the end, you could easily just stuff more peppers and freeze them for later, or use the filling for taquitos, tacos, quesadillas, etc. (i also supposed you could just cut the filling ingredients in half, but if your going to cut and chop. . .why not make it count)  I had about 2 cups of the meat filling leftover for Taquitos later in the week, and I also set aside 2 more cups of just the veggies for a spaghetti squash bake as well.  

• 3-onions sliced
• 8 bell peppers, 2, sliced, 6 halved and de-seeded, whatever color you like, I used a combo pack of red, orange, & yellow
• 8oz-sliced mushrooms
• 1lb ground beef or turkey
• 2 cups cooked white or brown rice
• 6 slices pepper jack cheese
• 2 cup shredded cheddar cheese or cheese blend of your choice

Preheat oven to 400°

Whether or not you do this next step, is completely up to your tastes.  I put the peppers in the baking pan and I go ahead and just pop them in the oven, I like my peppers more cooked through, and not that crispy, so I like to start softening them up while I make the filling. 

In a skillet that will hold all the ingredients (save the halved peppers of course), add a tablespoon or so of olive oil and sauté the sliced onions, sliced peppers, and sliced mushrooms.  Add a touch of salt and pepper and cook them for about 6-8 minutes until softened and starting to brown.  Remove the vegetables to a bowl and set aside for a minute.

This is for spaghetti squash bake for
some lunches 

Place the skillet back on the heat, and start browning the meat, when you have browned the meat, drain off any fat.

Add the vegetables, rice, and 1 cup of the shredded cheese back into the skillet and stir to combine until the cheese has melted.

If you put the peppers in the oven, take them out now.  Place half a slice of the pepper jack cheese into the bottom of each pepper half, and then top and fill the pepper half with the meat & veggie filling.  Sprinkle the remaining shredded cheese over the peppers. 

The original recipe calls for cooking the peppers in the oven for 15-20 minutes, but again my preference is for them to be a little softer, so I cover the pan loosely with aluminum foil, and bake in the oven for 30- 35 minutes.  Remove from oven, let them cool just a few minutes (the roof of your mouth and tongue will thank me) and enjoy.  

Aren't Bell Peppers Pretty?

Standing Taco Bake

We are on a little bit of a gluten-free kick.  After a hard winter with lots of illness, some back injury, and joint pain one thing we decided to try was a gluten free eating plan for a couple of months and see if that helps clear things up a little bit.   That being said, I still need some comfort food I my life, it is still cold after all. 

I have made these tacos for a long time and they have pretty much stayed the same since I found the original recipe in Cook’s Country a couple years ago.  You can count on a recipe from Cook’s Country, if you follow the recipe, it will turn out the way it is supposed to . . . that is kind of their thing.  I swap out the hamburger for Turkey, I figure once it is surrounded by taco seasoning and cheese, who can tell.  I also add some extras like olives before I add the final dose of cheese, there are some people in my house who think the world begins and ends with olives. 

As it happens so many times when I go to cook something, I was missing a couple of odds and ends.  In this case, I forgot to check the ingredients on the taco seasoning packet, and sure enough, there was flour in it.  I ended up using taco sauce and cumin to “season” the meat, and it worked out just fine.  I just thought I’d give you that piece of information, but you are probably a lot more organized than me.

1-10 oz can of Rotel drained, reserving ½ cup of the liquid

1-16 oz can of refried beans

1 Tbsp. Hot Sauce or Taco Sauce

¼ cup Cilantro

3-cups Shredded Cheese (cheddar or a Mexican blend)

1-lb Ground Turkey

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 packet Taco Seasoning

12-Corn Taco Shells

1-can sliced black olives (optional)

Garlic salt (optional)

3-green onions or scallions 

1. Preheat oven to 475°
   
2. Combine half of the Rotel, the refried beans, taco or hot sauce  and cilantro together in a bowl, and then spread it into the bottom of a 13 x 9in baking pan.  If you hate dishes like me, just mix it up in the pan and save yourself a bowl later.  Sprinkle with 1 cup of the cheese.
3. Cook the ground turkey and onion in a nonstick skillet, over medium heat until the turkey is browned and cooked through until all the pink is gone, give or take 7 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, then drain the meat if there is a lot of fat, I used a pretty lean turkey, so I just skipped this.  Add in the reserved tomato juice and tomatoes, and simmer for 5 minutes until it has thickened up.
   
4. Now comes the standing part, stand your taco shells up in the baking pan, gently pressing them in to the bean mixture in the bottom of the pan to help them stay upright. 
5.  Sprinkle a little bit of cheese in the bottom of each taco shell, then top with the meat mixture, and sprinkle on the black olives to your taste.  Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for 10 minutes.  Take the pan out of the oven, remove the aluminum foil, and sprinkle on the rest of your cheese, and then if you want, give the dish a light sprinkling of garlic salt, mmmmm salty, melted cheese.    Put this back in the oven and back for 7-10 minutes until the cheese is melted and starting to get golden and crispy.
6. Remove from the oven, sprinkle on the green onions, and let this stand for about 5 minutes.  (This is a crucial step, this dish is absolutely volcanic and you will burn your mouth. . . believe me).    Serve with salsa and sour cream if you wish. 

Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup

There are times when one needs to clean up their act, to get back on track, and this is one of those times for me.  I have always struggled with my relationship to food, because, well, I love it, there are just times that I need to not love it quite so much.  Having said that, I’m not a diet person, I've learned through a five year effort to get healthy, that while a diet can be a great catalyst to get you going in the right direction, as a human being, I’m not going to stick with any kind of restrictive eating plan for the rest of my life.  I wish I was one of those people who viewed food solely as a fuel, and didn't care about the taste and joy of it, but I’m just not, so if I’m going to eat it, it needs to taste good.  So contrary to what you might think, when I’m going to clean it up, I get to cooking, and this is one of those recipes that I go to. 

It feels kind of fancy, Roasted Butternut & Sweet Potato Soup, and it turns out that when you roast and caramelize your veggies, you don’t need a lot of butter and cream to make them taste fantastic.  The floor plan for this recipe comes from Tara over at Undressed Skeleton, and I have made it her way many a time.  However one time I had a head of garlic and some sweet potatoes that needed to get used up or they were heading to the compost bin, so I cut them up and threw them in.  I was not disappointed.  I’m pretty sure you could throw carrots, celery, or any other root vegetable that is languishing in your vegetable bin and it would do nothing but make this better.  Look at me being healthy AND not wasting food. . . I’m doing good all-around today. 

This recipe is very easily vegan if you use Vegetable stock.  It is also gluten free!  I’m not a dietitian, so don’t hold my feet to the fire on this, but in case you wanted to know, when I calculate the soup I made on a recipe calculator, this came out to 59 Calories per Cup.  Oh!  My husband won’t touch this with a ten foot pole, my kids might sometimes, but only if I put some parmesan cheese on it and don’t tell them what it is. 

• 1 butternut squash
• 2 Sweet Potatoes
• 1 head garlic, tops cut off, cloves not separated
• 2 red onions
• 4-6 cups of Chicken or Vegetable Broth
• ½ tsp Sage
• ½ tsp Cayenne Pepper (optional)
• Salt & Pepper

1. Pre heat oven to  400 degrees. 
2. Cut the Squash, potatoes, & onions in half and put them on a rimmed baking sheet or baking pan, whatever will fit everything at once (cause I am not washing two baking pans).  Tuck the garlic in wherever you can make it fit.  You can drizzle lightly with olive oil (especially the garlic head) or lightly spray it with olive oil cooking spray and then salt and pepper this to your preference, keeping in mind that you will be adding broth to this later so watch out for the saltiness factor. 
3. I typically start out roasting this for about 40 minutes, depending on the size of your veggies, it might take longer.  Today, I put everything  back in the oven for another 20 minutes, after that I took out the potatoes, the onion and the garlic, because they were very done, but the squash was still not fork tender, so it went back in for another 20 minutes. 
4. Let everything cool down to a temperature that you can handle and scoop the guts out of the squash and sweet potatoes, into a soup pan.  I use a melon baller,  it is a little weird, but I feel like is does the job the best.  Throw in the red onions, squeeze the garlic out of its paper, add your remaining spices, and then add 4 cups of broth.
5. This is the part where you need to not be like me. Yesterday, I turned on the heat, and brought this to a boil and then used the immersion blender to blend it up.  Molten hot squash soup is not what you want splashing out of your pan onto your arm. . .I’m just saying.
6. Blend the soup in a blender, food processor, or with your immersion blender. . . THEN turn on the heat and heat through.  You may want to add more broth to get the soup to your preferred consistency, also check to see if you need more salt, depending on what broth you used, you may want to add more. 
7. I like to garnish this with a little bit of sour cream and Siracha.  

Beef Enchiladas

This is the big one!  These are probably at least 30% of the reason I snagged my husband, and I’m pretty sure they’re about 50% of the reason his friends still come over to our house.  They have evolved over the years, but not by much.  This is one of the first recipes I ever learned to make, and it was taught/given to me by my very best friend’s sister (we used to think we were going to have a cooking business together, at least for one hot summer afternoon when we decided to make a pot of soup and put it into canning jars).  They are a wonder, they freeze great, make FANTASTIC leftovers, in fact, I would say they are even better the second day, and they travel really well, making them a great potluck contribution. 

On a dietary note, these can be made gluten free pretty easily by using corn tortillas and using a taco seasoning (or making your own) that does not contain gluten.  

What you see here are the ingredients to make three batches, one for today when our friends come over, one for leftovers next week, and one to take to a family friend who has been under the weather, which is why you are getting the aluminum pan special. The ingredients and directions are for one batch.  

• 1lb Ground Beef
• 1 15 oz. Can of Refried Beans
• 1 oz. Packet of Taco Seasoning
• 1 Packet of Spanish Rice Mix (use your favorite, I used Uncle Ben’s)
• 1 10oz Enchilada Sauce
• 2 cups Cheddar Cheese
• Corn or Flour Tortillas

Brown the ground beef and the onion in a pan big enough to accommodate the rice and beans down the line.  Once you’ve got the meat cooked, drain off the grease.

Add the Refried Beans, Taco Seasoning, and the Rice to the pan (see what I said about picking a pan that was big enough. . . I will never learn this lesson).  Mix well, let the mixture heat through, and then remove from heat.

Pour just enough enchilada sauce into your greased 9x13 pan to lightly coat the bottom.

Assemble your production line:  pan, tortilla shells, & meat.  Start stuffing and rolling, I usually just eyeball it, but since this is a huge batch, I want to make sure I’ve got an even amount so I’m using my trusty cookie scooper.

Once they’re in the pan, pour the remaining enchilada sauce over them, cover them with the cheese, and a light sprinkling of Garlic Salt or Seasoning Salt.

Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes or until the cheese has melted. I like to let it go until the tortilla shells get just a little brown and crispy, but that is my preference, these are your enchiladas so do what you like. 

Serve with sour cream, salsa, avocado, etc.  

And there you have it; my masterpiece is now yours . . . use it wisely. 

Split Pea Soup & Wonderful Ham

Welcome!  This is Split Pea Soup, don’t let it’s looks fool you, it is a wonderful, Heavenly substance.  The footprint for this version is Emeril Lagasse’s Split Pea and Ham Hock Soup that I snagged off the Food Network website a long time ago, you can tell from all the food I've spilled on it over the years.  What you don’t see in the picture below is the Ham Stock and Leftover Christmas Ham that went into it, the recipe for Nigella Lawson’s Coca-Cola Ham and Stock is below, but feel free to use just chicken stock and regular ham.  I also added a random handful of red lentils that have been hanging out in my cabinet.  This is not a thin soupy Split Pea Soup, this is thick and stew like, which is what you need when you start out your week with wind chills in the -50 degrees zone. 

Split Pea Soup with Nigella’s Ham

2 Tbsp. Bacon Grease

3 medium Onions chopped (the ones that come in the bag at the grocery store)

1 cup Carrots, chopped

1 cup Celery, chopped

3 tbsp. Garlic, minced

2 Quarts Ham Stock

1 ½ lb. Split Peas

¾ cup Red Lentils

1 ham Hock

2 Cups Diced Ham

Heavy Cream

Either fry yourself up some bacon to get some grease, or if you are a little goofy like me and you happen to have some bacon fat in saved the fridge for uses such as this, drop in a couple of tablespoons and let it melt. 

Sauté the onions, carrots, celery and garlic for 2 to 3 minutes or until the onions start to soften and turn translucent.  Add the stock, peas (and lentils if you happen to have an annoying ¾ cup left hanging around in your cupboard), and ham hock. 

Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, I keep it covered, for an hour or so until the peas and lentils are tender.  Take out the ham hock, and if the soup is thick enough for you add the chopped ham and heat through.  If you want it thicker, take your immersion blender to it, mash it with a potato masher, or blend it up in your blender till you get it where you want it.  

At this point in time, add the heavy cream in small amounts to your taste, and go ahead and salt and pepper at this point.   Because the ham and the ham stock were so salty to begin with I barely added any salt, just do it to your taste. 

Nigella’s Ham, and subsequently Ham Stock

I am a Nigella Lawson addict. . . LOVE HER!  In any case, it doesn't feel like Christmas to me unless I have her Coca-Cola ham at some point in time during the season.   So here is her recipe, minus her glazing instructions, I don’t take credit, it’s hers, and it is magnificent.

2 liters Coke

1-5 lb bone in Ham (I usually do a spiral cut), fully cooked

1 medium onion, halved

Put the ham in a large pot, add the onion, and pour the coke over it until covered. Depending on the size of the ham to pan ratio, you may want to get an extra liter of coke just in case the first one doesn't cover it.  Bring to a boil and let it go for an hour.  Glaze it or not per the ham’s instructions (there is usually a package with the ham).  Now, here is the crucial part, what you need to do is freeze the leftovers, and for Heaven’s sake bag up and freeze the stock.  It is so good in black bean soup, split pea soup, anything with beans is wonderful when you use this stock.