Monday, December 30

Smoky Garlic - Chipotle Tomato Soup & Grilled Cheese


It is the end of the year. December has flown by! I have probably said that already a dozen times. Despite the fast pace of life, somehow the beginning of the week always crawls by. I was doing yard work in the front this morning... exhausting. It feels good to have gotten out there with the trimmer and blower/sucker up thingy. As a result though I really needed something good for lunch. Something warm, inviting, comforting, nutritious.... Which is why I am SO thankful for this recipe adapted from Heather at Farmgirl Gourmet. Her food is yummy. Click on over there. To speed things up and make the beginning of the week more fun -  create something memorable with this classic soup + sandwich combo. There is a million ways to make this classic soup, but I must say adding chipotles give it the perfect smoky heat to complement fire roasted tomatoes. 

Note: Go ahead and grab a can of chipotles. Use what you need, and freeze the rest. They freeze beautifully in a freezer plastic bag and are easier to chop and drop into other recipes later without defrosting. 



serves 3 adults
prep + cook time approx 35 minutes


Ingredients:
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 1/2 cups of diced onion (half of a large one or 1 small one)
2 - 14.5 oz cans of fire roasted canned tomatoes
1/2 cup of half and half
1 cup of water
1/2 cup of red pasta sauce or tomato sauce 
(click here for a homemade recipe)
2 chipotle chili peppers, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp olive oil
1 oz cream cheese - although I don't think this added much will omit next time


Directions:
1. Saute the onion and garlic together in a medium saucepan
2. When they are browned and softened (about 4-5 minutes) add in the tomato, tomato sauce, water, and peppers. Bring it to a boil. Cover. Reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes.
3. Blend it in batches (being careful because its hot). Return it to the original pot and over low heat whisk in the cream cheese and half & half. Let it heat through (about 3-5 minutes - turning the heat up to medium if needed). 
4. Taste it and add the salt if needed or more to taste. 


Enjoy with a yummy cheesy grilled cheese. I did one slice of baby swiss cheese and two slices of Colby jack on whole wheat with my soup. 


From my kitchen to yours
Enjoy the last few days of 2013


Thursday, December 26

4 Ingredient Hoisin - Lime Chicken

Merry Christmas! We made it. What a crazy fast month! Now... the good part has begun. The week of quiet between the two December holidays is "officially" here. Christmas is over and New Years is yet to come. I have the perfect meal for a relaxing night just incase you are like me and really need one. This amazing 4 ingredient meal carries the flavor of take out with less cost, calories, no delivery guy, and no venturing out into any bad weather. Yay! Just incase you are wondering this is husband and kiddo approved. My husband went into the kitchen looking for seconds after he'd already had two pieces of chicken. Winner winner chicken dinner - asian style. 

Recipe is from Recipe Girl. Please click on the link to visit other recipes on her blog. 

Ingredients: 
3 Tbs hoisin sauce
1 Tbs lime juice
1 Tbs chipotle ketchup or any kind of spicy ketchup
6 bone in pieces of chicken like thighs or drumsticks 

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375
2. While oven is preheating put all ingredients in a large ziplock bag and squish around until the chicken is covered. Let it sit on the counter and let the flavors combine - this can be done in advance. 
3. Coat a large baking dish with nonstick spray, oil or butter to prevent sticking
4. Use tongs to carefully dump the bag into the pan - make sure none of the chicken is touching for good heat circulation. 
5. Bake for 50 minutes - 1 hr until chicken is fully cooked. Juices should run clear when chicken skin is poked. 

I served mine with fried rice. White rice, brown rice, asian mix of veggies from the freezer sections, or noodles would also be a great side dishes. This is a great easy meal. I hope you try it. If you are like me and worked really hard to get to Christmas Day in one piece then you deserve some time out of the kitchen! Note: keep the recipe on hand for summer - for a great grilling idea. Or keep it on hand to use on chicken wings for the upcoming SUPERBOWL. If you are bbq-ing wait to baste the sauce on until chicken is almost cooked so it doesn't burn. 

From my kitchen to yours! 

Monday, December 23

Christmas gift ideas & Book Review

It is Christmas Eve's Eve. It is December 23 ie...officially crunch time for finishing up Christmas cards, Christmas gifts, and mailing or wrapping them up. Time is counting down for Christmas day. If you are shopping for gifts or been to the post office lately you know what I am talking about.... The stores are packed and I know there are some good sales going on. But if you want to give a more creative, personalized gift filled with love and solid ingredients, or you just remembered you forgot your sister's husband's brother.... here is a gift idea you should check out:


homemade muffin/ bread/cookie mixes 


Hopefully your gift shopping is done, you can sit back with your eggnog or hot cocoa, and enjoy the christmas carols or fun movies of the season. I would love to say that we are doing just that but it is Monday Night football. So we are doing some dinner and screaming at the tv for the next 3 hrs praying that the 49ers might choke. I know it doesn't sound festive. But if they can lose it will really help my Seattle Seahawks. Actually I will be hiding in the living room trying to not think about the christmas pb fudge in my fridge that my loving aunt left for us when she was over watching the seattle/cardinal sunday game with us. 

For this gift idea all you need is a recipe, dry baking/cooking ingredients (common stuff), brown paper sack lunch bags (one per recipe), gallon sized freezer bags (one per recipe), I used a laptop with the ms word program & printer to make the labels with regular white paper, a stapler, tape, some ribbon, and a bow. It takes about 20-30 minutes to make one recipe. Type up the label, print, cut off the extra paper, staple it to the paper sack... super easy. Fill the freezer bag with the dry ingredients seal it. Put in the bag and staple the bag closed carefully not to get the bag inside. You could do this too and be someone's hero. They will never think they were forgotten. Most people think you need a special recipe to do this but you can use your own favorite recipes - stuff you know tastes good.  

heres what that looked like at my house: 




Here are some recipes but -  really  - honestly you can use whatever sounds good or to fit someone's personality or age. You could give a young adult a cookie mix, give a guy a bbq or grill meat rub or a dry chili mix, give a mom bread mix or special hot cocoa with white or dark chocolate. So many choices out there.... The better you know the person the better the gift becomes.  Gift cards work but this is so much better. You gift becomes the gift of time... instead of someone spending time mixing this up themselves they can sit with their family or get an extra errand done or just relax. 

Recipes & Book Review: B+

I used some recipes from book, Not Your Mother's Make-Ahead & Freeze Cookbook by Jessica Fisher, for some my homemade gifts this year. I had never used the book before this and all ideas are my own. As a cook I give it a grade of a b+. It is clear the author knows food and how to manipulate it. Jessica Fisher loads her pages with useful hints, important and creative suggestions, and easy family friendly recipes. Most recipes have under 10 common normal ingredients. There is cooking directions, baking, freezing, defrosting, and storing information for over 200 recipes in this book. Overall it is a good and easy cookbook. You should find your book on amazon or at the library and check it out. True to the title this is not your mothers make ahead and freeze cookbook.... this is new, improved, and efficient! 

What I didn't like? There is no pictures, which is usually a HUGE drawback for me. I love looking at pictures. Also, because of its size and quantity of recipes it comes across as overwhelming and intimidating at first glance. Perhaps images and color pictures could've broken up the text making it more approachable and friendly. To add to the huge daunting task of finding a recipe for a normal cook or novice, feeling, the book's organization is a disadvantage UNLESS you are specifically wanting to freezer cook in bulk. If you are, this book will be genius for you. But, if someone picks up the book looking for one recipe they have to go many pages through an introduction, pre made grocery lists, and pre made possible menus before you get to the first recipe.  I do recommend this book, despite its flaws, because it comes down to food, flavor, and technique and like I said before, this author knows food. 

Recipes you'll want to try/Mixes you may want to gift:
1. Maple Oat Waffles Page 261 & 262
2. Whole Grain Cinnamon Rolls Page 311
3. Vanilla Cranberry Bread Page 291
4. Chocolate Chip Banana Bread with Oats Page 284
5. Cardamom Zucchini Cinnamon Rolls (click on the link)
(note if doing this as a mix use sandwich plastic bag to separate the filling from the main dough ingredients)
6. Oatmeal Honey Rolls (click on the link)
7. Orange Cardamom Vanilla Swirl Bread (click on the link)
8. Coconut-Pecan Muffin Mix

Something I want to try next year:

Chocolate Chunk Hot Cocoa Mix


Happy gift giving
Merry Christmas Eve's Eve 
From my kitchen to yours

Saturday, December 14

Turkey Green Salsa Pan- Fried Burritos

I did a little freezer cooking this week when I made these easy little things...Turkey Black Bean Green Salsa Pan Fried Burritos. They were quick to make, and used up some leftover turkey I had tucked away in the freezer from thanksgiving. Feel free to use some leftover chicken or shred up some cooked chicken in lieu of turkey. 



Freezer cooking has been something that I have gotten good at over the last year and half since my hubby took a night shift job. Freezer cooking lets me have something ready for him that he can reheat no matter what time he wants to eat. It also means that when I am not feeling well he or someone else or I can simply finish a meal I had already started. Real life moment.... I have had a ton of medical procedures done in the last six months and at least 4 of them have ended me on some sort of bed-rest or limited duty for a day or more. To say that it has been hard would be grossly understated. All baby stuff granted... not life or death. But it does make me stop and be thankful for meals like this that taste good the night you make it AND up to a month or two later after reheating them. Besides I needed a good reason to eat salsa verde. I love that stuff! 



Please customize these burritos to fit your taste buds.
Cook + Prep time: 15-20 minutes if you have 4 yr old helping
Recipe barely adapted from Good Cheap Eats


Ingredients:
2 cups leftover cooked turkey 
3 cups of shredded cheddar cheese, divided
7 oz salsa verde medium (this was half of a jar for me)
12 burrito size tortillas
2 - 15oz cans of organic black beans, drained and rinsed
sour cream
favorite toppings such as extra cheese, diced green onions, diced jalpenos, lettuce, chopped tomatoes, ect...



Directions:

  1. Combine turkey, 2 1/2 cup of cheese, black beans and salsa verde in a very large bowl. 
  2. Mix well. Can be a bit messy but do get your kiddos involved. Mine had a great time helping! 
  3. Spread out the 12 tortillas and put approx 1/2 cup of the bean turkey mixture in the center of each one. 
  4. Fold the burritos. Tucking in the sides as you fold over the top and roll to make a log shape out of the filling. 
  5. Put any filled tortillas you aren't going to cook into a labeled quart or gallon sized freezer bag. 
  6. In the ones you are going to cook first, put 1 Tbs sour cream for creamy texture and richness before folding. 
  7. In a large pan heat 1/2 Tbs oil. Use tongs to pan fry the burritos for about 5 minutes or so on each side until they are golden and heated through. 
  8. Serve hot and top with the remaining cheese so it can melt. Top melted cheese with another dollop of sour cream, and/or any additional toppings. Tastes great with chips, rice, or corn on the cob for side dishes.

from my kitchen to yours


Friday, December 13

Cookie Cutter Stew

Do you like to play with your food? I am not talking about playing with mashed potatoes like my son used to do in high chair, making shapes & letters all while having a really good time. Not talking about flinging food across the table at your spouse either (although that seems appealing). Playing with food as in like getting creative with it. If you do, you'll love this recipe. While we are on this subject I admit I am HORRIBLE at crafts so if you happen to be in that same boat. Let me reassure you this is EASY and FUN. 



I heart this stew.... This blog has been a bit one sided lately (heavy on the soups, stews, and chili) but honestly that's I have wanted to eat & cook & thus blog. It's winter what can I say. I just returned from a trip back where I grew up in the northwest and it's really really c-o-l-d there! Which brings me to this warm, inviting, fun, playful, kid friendly, veggie laden, cookie cutter stew. I promise it is just as much fun to make as it is to eat! 


cooking time + prep time: about 2 hrs 15-20 minutes*
*time may seem daunting but make this on a saturday or sunday for an easy way for the whole family to spend time together. Everyone can make their own specific shapes. 
Most of it is hands off cooking.

Recipe is adapted from Rachael Ray Magazine April 2013
serves 4

Ingredients: 
2 cloves of garlic, crushed & rough chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
just over 1 lb. beef chuck cubes
1 onion, rough chopped
4 carrots, cleaned & rough chopped (peel it if you want to)
3 parsnips, cleaned &rough chopped (peel it if you want to)
1 cup of water
1/2 Tbs olive oil
1 cups of beef broth
1 Tbs tomato paste
3 Tbs flour, whole wheat white plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling
1 sheet of thawed puffed pastry
1 1/2 cup of frozen peas (eyeball it - one small package)



Directions:
1. In a dutch heat the olive oil over medium heat. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. 

2. Pat the meat dry, sear the meat on each side using tongs or a spatula - about 3-5 minutes

3. Set the beef aside on a plate.

4. Add the onions to the dutch oven and saute for about 4 minutes until they are soft.  Add in the garlic and cook one more minute - stir

5. Add the flour to the dutch oven and let it start to cook out... stir. Mixture will be dry. Let it cook for one minute before adding the broth and the tomato paste (in that order). 

6. Dump the meat into the dutch oven including any meat juices that may have gathered on the plate. Add salt and pepper. 

7. Cover and bake in the oven for 1 hr & 45 minutes.  

8. Add in the carrots and parsnips. Cover and return to the oven until they are soft about 15 minutes. 

9. When the stew is finished in the oven let it rest on top of the stove while the cookie cutter shapes bake. 

10. Making cookie cutter shapes: When stew is almost finished put some flour down on a clean smooth kitchen surface such as a cutting board or counter. Increase the oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Unwrap the tri-folded puff pastry and start making whatever shapes makes you smile. Put the shapes directly on the parchment paper. 

*Note: wait until you are ready to make any cookie cutter shapes before taking it out of the plastic and letting it sit in the air. The softer it gets/the more time unwrapped, the harder it will be to move it. Bake this for 15 minutes or so until they are golden and puffed. 

11. Stir the frozen peas into the stew. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve and top each stew with a few cookie cutter shapes. The frozen peas will cool the soup slightly, the hot stew will warm the peas, and the peas will keep their lovely green color since they aren't being boiled to mush :)  Enjoy! 




Despite the season of cold - blessings of warmth to you in this dish
from my kitchen to yours