Roasted Chicken Orzo

Wait ... you're telling me that ShelleyBakes is a cooking blog?  Really?  I couldn't tell by the past couple of posts that had absolutely NOTHING to do with cooking.  Or food.  Unless the writer confessed her latest obsession for everything that has anything to do with Cool Whip.

Oh ... hey ... welcome back to the cooking portion of my blog. :)

But since I intro'd with that wee rant, I'm going to drift along a thought that I've been having in my head lately ... expanding ShelleyBakes beyond just cooking recipes.  I have a general blog that I haven't updated in two years.  (To be honest, I'm likely going to disband that one ... just haven't gotten around to it yet.)  DebtReduction101 ended last December after a very fun few years of writing.  I still live a quasi-frugal life and learn new things all of the time that could be shared, I've been reading a lot regarding minimalism lately, and as motherhood approaches - I've done a lot of research / implementation of greener alternatives in my daily life.  So ... those are some of my thoughts.  I'm not sure what the future of ShelleyBakes will be.  It might just not be limited to cooking.  (That could be good.  Or it could be confusing ...)

So, for real this time ... back to the cooking portion of ShelleyBakes.  This is the third time I've made this recipe - all of the other times, said recipe never lasted to the point where I was able to take pictures of the finished product.  This recipe is that good.

This time around, I used sliced baby bellas (I'm lazy ...) and I had some leftover asparagus in the fridge that I chopped and put in towards the end of cooking.

I haven't strayed much from this recipe, as posted by Cooking In Stilettos.  I've only made minimal changes in the times that I've made this dish - usually having to do with the chicken.  I like rotisserie chickens - I buy them frequently, but the first time I made this dish, I had some leftover shredded chicken in my freezer.  The second time, I was with some friends and couldn't find a rotisserie chicken, so I bought some pre-chunked grilled chicken.  The third time, I was having a hankering for this recipe, so I bought some chicken thighs (they were on sale at HyVee) and put them in the crock pot so I'd have the meat and the start of the chicken stock for this recipe.

This recipe is a cross between comfort food at its best and a surefire dish that is company-worthy.  And seriously - I've made it three times in over a month.  This isn't just a pregnancy craving.  I think this is love.

Stewed White Beans with Spinach and Bacon

Every once in awhile, you come across a recipe that is totally worth it's overall "pain in the ass" factor.

Friends:  This is that dish. 

After an ass-kicking three weeks of proposal writing and miscellaneous activity, I spent part of last Friday going through a stack of recipes that I had torn out of magazines (ahem, some of them going back to 2006 ... "Shelley, 'Hoarders' called, they were thinking you'd make a good subject for next season ..."), trying to find them on the Internet and then PDF-ing them to my hard drive.  Because, yes, in my world I apparently need about 150 more recipes to try, in addition to the ones I already have bookmarked from my forays into the Interwebs and have I ever told you that I have 50+ cookbooks that are standing sentry in my kitchen?  You might be able to classify this hobby of mine as an addiction, but ... meh.  I can stop whenever I want, right?  Right?

Well, I figure in a few short months, my life will be altered by the arrival of my mini Mahannah.  Painstakingly dicing baby red potatoes for Rachael Ray's Stewed White Beans with Spinach and Bacon will be a fond memory and I should make hay / obscure recipes while the sun shines.  So friends ... seriously.  Make this dish.  The beans become velvety in the short time it takes to simmer them in chicken stock.  The bacon is crunchy and the wilted spinach makes one feel even virtuous in the light of the bacon fat that the potatoes were browned in.


This one is a definite keeper.

I'm back ... kind of (Cacio e Pepe)

The cooking bug has yet to really return to me, so when I found myself seduced by a recipe this morning - I wasn't too surprised that it reminded me of comfort food from my childhood.  Cacio e Pepe is simply what the title translates to: Pasta with cheese and pepper.  It made me think of being a kid and the times my mom would make the simplest - but tastiest - dish ... boiled elbow macaroni with melted butter, a little bit of milk splashed in and plenty of salt and pepper.

  

I found this recipe at Ezra Pound Cake and tweaked the ingredients to serve one. 

Cavitini

This is another one of my mother-in-law's recipes that gets requested when we head down to Dubuque for a weekend.

What's really awesome about this dish is that it makes a lot of food and it freezes really well.  Which made it a perfect choice when I was getting some casseroles together for my friends Sharon and Joe.  They are expecting their first baby in September and since I live five hours away, this is my way of "being there" when I can't actually be there.

Cavitini

1 lb. of rotini or small shell pasta
1 26 oz. container of pasta sauce (MIL uses Ragu, I used Hunts)
1 16 oz. can of pizza sauce
1 lb. hamburger
1 pkg. pepperoni
2 c. shredded Mozzarella cheese

Boil noodles according to package, leaving off about 2 minutes of cooking time, because this will continue to cook in the oven.  Brown and drain hamburger.  Cut pepperoni into pieces and add to the drained hamburger.  Mix the sauces into meat and add to drained pasta.  Transfer into a 8 x 11 pan and bake covered with foil at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  When there are about 15 minutes left to cook, remove foil and top with cheese.

**If you decide to freeze, follow steps above and instead of baking, freeze.  Thaw out before you intend to cook and then cook according to directions.

Black bean quesadillas and roasted corn ... something-or-other

My husband and I live by the Seneca Food plant in town here and this is the time of year where one of our main routes home is clogged by semi trucks bringing in sweet corn for processing.  Which is great, in theory, talk about seeing where your food comes from.  Except that on some evenings, the air smells like corn.  Which is fine, in theory, until said smell lasts for several days on end.  So as much as I loved sweet corn as a girl and still do to some extent, living near a canning factory makes me a little green around the gills when I'm presented with corn.

Which is what my wonderful neighbor Bonnie did the other day.  A half dozen ears of corn and three fresh onions from her nephew's garden.  (I was pretty psyched about the onions.)  Faced with the prospect of having my kitchen smell like the canning factory, I shucked the corn and brought it out to the great outdoors and the grill. My idea was to make a roasted corn salsa with a bunch of other grilled veggies - tomatoes, onions and peppers.  As this started to come together, I couldn't decide if this was a salsa, a relish or a salad.  So we're just going to call this "roasted corn something-or-other."

You're gonna have to forgive the photo ... this is off the Blackberry, not sure where I put the camera.  Sigh!

For the Black Bean Quesadillas
2 corn tortillas
about 3 T. of 2% Mexican-blend cheese
about 2 T. of black beans

Heat a skillet over high heat and place one corn tortilla on the surface, carefully sprinkle with cheese and beans.  Wait until cheese is getting melty and press the other tortilla on.  Then give it a careful flip.  (And this is usually the part where I get cheese everywhere if I am impatient and do not wait for the cheese to melt.)  Heat the other side until the filling is cooked through.


Roasted Corn Something-or-Other
2 ears sweet corn, husks removed and cooked on the grill
2 red peppers, sliced and roasted on the grill, then diced
1 green pepper, roasted on the grill, then diced
2 large tomatoes, roasted on grill, diced **
1 large onion, halved and roasted on grill, diced
1 c. cherry tomatoes, halved
1 T. adobo sauce from chipotle peppers (optional - adds a strong kick of heat)
a couple dashes of hot pepper sauce
salt
Penzey's Adobo Seasoning

**FYI on the tomatoes - you're going to want a firm tomato so you don't get tomato juice all over your grates.


I am probably one of the last people who should be educating the masses on how to grill veggies.  So go here.  And here.  Once these are grilled and given a little chance to cool down, start dicing your grilled and roasted vegetables.  For the corn, take a sharp knife and cut the kernels away from the cob.  (FYI - you can save the cobs to make the base for a corn chowder, if you are so inclined.  Which I will be.)

Chances are good that the corn will cut off in cute, little slabs.  You don't necessarily want this, so go ahead and dig in with your (clean) hands to break them up and incorporate them with the rest of the veggies.  This is also where you'll add some regular cherry tomatoes - which is optional ... I added them for texture and color.  And because I love tomatoes.  Sprinkle liberally with salt and whatever Mexican-esque seasoning you have in the house.  (Plain ol' cumin is a good choice, maybe some chili pepper.)  At this point, the salad would be good as-is, but if you're craving a little heat, we added some adobo sauce from the chipotle pepper can and a little bit of hot pepper sauce. 

We ate ours on the warm side, but this is going to taste fabulous after it's spent some time in the fridge and melding all the tastes together. 

A quick lunch

I have been on vacation this week and am readying myself to start my new job at home.  This involves setting up a home office, getting rid of excess STUFF (how does one accumulate so much stuff?), watching "The Tudors" on Netflix while doing "important" things like going through my email and writing blog posts and getting my house cleaned up before next week's start date.  Because as much as I am a messy marvin, I know that having a messy house will drive me mad if I'm here to witness it.

In interest of trying to eat healthy and because it's just really damn tasty, the above-pictured dish has become a "go-to" in my house.  I was introduced to soba noodles when a friend of ours had my husband and I over for dinner.  Ever since then I have been slightly obsessed with them.  I feel slightly virtuous when I eat them because they allow me my noodle fix, but are buckwheat = healthy. 

There really is no recipe to this, but this is what I've been making and eating lately ...

Soba noodles (cook according to directions on package)

Pan-fried green beans with garlic - trim and cut green beans into bite-sized pieces.  In a large skillet, heat some olive oil and add a clove of garlic, roughly chopped.  Add green beans and saute. 

To this, I add a package of tuna - but you can also add any leftover meat you see fit - or omit altogether. 

When the noodles are done, drain and add to the skillet.  Toss with a little bit of dark sesame oil.

Bacon Swiss Meatloaf

Let's have a moment, shall we?  This is where I tell you how much I absolutely, unequivocally ADORE bacon.  I think that I've always liked bacon, but it's only in my adulthood that I realize what a guilty pleasure bacon is.  I mean ... under standard definition - bacon is not good for you.  But oh, it tastes good.  And oh, does it make an ordinary dish feel spectacular.

Last year for my birthday, my friends the Swensons gave me a copy of Taste of Home's "Bacon."  You can only find it on newsstands and its chock full of recipes that feature ... you guessed it, bacon.  On a recent evening, mindful that a little bit of bacon goes a long way - I adapted their Bacon Swiss Meatloaf recipe to be decadent, but a little lighter on my waistline.

Is there anything more beautiful than an end piece of meatloaf?  Why yes - a piece of meatloaf that features bacon.

Bacon Swiss Meatloaf
Adapted from Taste of Home

1 egg
1/4 c. fat-free evaporated milk
1 1/2 c. shredded Swiss cheese, divided
1/2 c. crumbled cooked bacon, divided (I ended up using about 4 slices.)
1/2 c. Progresso Italian-style breadcrumbs (it's what I had on hand ... use whatever you have in your pantry)
1 tsp. garlic powder (to keep the vampires away)
1 1/2 lbs ground turkey

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Take a half sheet pan and spray with baking spray.  (Hint: Next time I'm going to put a baking rack on my cookie sheet to get the meatloaf up off of the pan and out of the grease this recipe produces.)

In a large bowl, combine egg, milk, 1 cup of Swiss cheese, half of the bacon, bread crumbs and garlic powder.  Mix together.  Add ground turkey over the mixture.  While thinking of a recent Ina Garten episode, I ended up using my fork to incorporate all these ingredients together.  (She was saying something about using a fork instead of your hands.  Point A - it keeps your hands cleaner, and point B - it keeps the meat from compacting and making a tougher meatloaf ... or in her case, she was making burgers.  But I digress.)  Dump onto your baking sheet and form it into a loaf-like shape.

Bake, uncovered, for one hour or until the meat is done.  Sprinkle remaining cheese and bacon.  Bake for 3-5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.  Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Usually, I eat meatloaf with mashed potatoes.  But as I made this, I had an "oh sh*t" moment when I realized that I only had one potato in the house and not enough green beans to make a proper side dish.  So, I punted and came up with this.  

Shel's Kitchen Sink Rice Pilaf

1/2 c. basmati rice, cooked
1/2 c. wild rice, cooked
2 stalks of celery, sliced
1/4 c. sliced baby carrots
1/4 c. green beans, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 c. water or chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp. cooking oil/bacon grease ... whatever

I took my skillet and heated up a teaspoon of bacon grease.  I'd like to tell you that I used bacon grease so I could match the flavors of the meatloaf, but no ... I just keep a jar handy of bacon drippings and use that to cook most of my foods that come from a skillet.  (Decadent!)  Saute garlic in the bacon grease for about a minute, being careful not to burn the garlic.  Add the vegetables, a little bit of salt and saute for about five to seven minutes.  Add rice and water/broth.  Cover skillet and cook on low until the vegetables are tender.  Salt and pepper to taste.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A few random notes ...

* My friend Cathy has enlightened me on the joys of baking bacon.  Seriously ... I don't know that I'll ever bother using a skillet to make my bacon again.  The slices turn out perfectly crisp and don't curl up like they do in the skillet.  Plus, there's enough drippings left over to satisfy my yen to saute everything in bacon grease and you still get the "cooked bacon" scent in your kitchen.

* Pre-cooking rice.  Wild rice takes forever to cook and I'm not usually patient enough to wait for it to cook, so I don't use it as often as I should.  I've learned though, that you can pre-cook grains like rice and store them in your freezer until you want to use them.  It's very, very handy - I do it with brown rice and wild rice to pare off cooking time during the week.  Basmati rice is one of my favorite, go-to every day rices because it doesn't take a fortune of time to cook.

Thai Coconut Curry Shrimp

I had never tried Thai food until I was a reporter in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.  There, within walking distance of the newspaper office, was Newey's - an authentic Thai restaurant run by Newey Boonperm, a Thailand native who happened to marry a Wisconsin girl.  I would go into detail about this amazing restaurant, but I'm not going to torment you - Newey's is no longer.  All I know is that a lot of my reporter's salary went towards Newey's pad Thai, his amazing curry dishes and Thai coffee.

So when I was looking for some calorie-friendly Asian-inspired dishes the other day, I didn't even regard my husband's suspicion of seafood when I made this dish from Gina's Weight Watchers Recipes site.  It wasn't as good as Newey's cooking, but it didn't matter - it was Thai-inspired food made in my very own kitchen.  And my husband went for seconds.  I call this a winner.

You can find Gina's recipe here.

Coconut-Braised Beef

This was another Sunday night dinner - cooked slow.  I found this recipe from Mark Bittman on the Diner's Journal at New York Times.  Slow is the operative word here, because this method takes a cheaper cut of beef and cooks it until it is fork tender.

Coconut-Braised Beef
from Mark Bittman, New York Times


    * 2 hot dried red chilies
    * 3 garlic cloves, peeled
    * 1 1-inch piece ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
    * 1 T chili powder
    * Juice and zest of 2 limes, or 2 tablespoons rice or other mild vinegar
    * 2 T olive oil
    * 1 1/2 pounds beef, preferably chuck, cut into 1-inch cubes
    * 2 cups coconut milk (or 1 can, about 1 1/2 cups, plus 1/2 cup water)
    * Salt to taste

1. Put chilies, garlic, ginger, chili powder, lime juice and zest in bowl of a food processor, and process until everything is minced, or mince by hand and combine.
2. Heat oil over medium-high heat in a skillet that can later be covered. Add spice paste and cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add beef, and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and covered with sauce.
3. Pour in coconut milk, and bring mixture to a boil. Lower heat, cover, and simmer, stirring only occasionally (but making sure mixture is simmering very slowly, with just a few bubbles at a time breaking the surface) until meat is extremely tender, at least an hour and possibly closer to 2.
4. Uncover and cook until sauce is very thick and caramel-colored, stirring frequently so it does not brown. Season to taste with salt (it needed some, that was for sure), and serve with white rice.
Yield: 4 servings or two very starving Mahannahs.

Another note ... I cook with a gas stove, so the instruction to simmer slowly was darn near impossible for me, even with the flame turned very low.  It was still fine.  I also simmered my beef for about 1 1/2 hours and then served over basmati rice.

Pastitsio - Otherwise known as "Greek Lasagna"

I love Sunday dinner.  When I was growing up this meant a couple of different meals at my folks' house.  On Sundays where we didn't have a ton going on, slowly baked pork roasts served with mashed potatoes and gravy, creamed peas or scalloped corn and biscuits with my grandma's strawberry freezer jam. If we were busy, mom would usually doctor up a couple big cans of Chef Boyardee's Spaghetti with a ton of garlic powder and serve Texas Toast that she turned into garlic bread.  Either meal was fabulous and if I close my eyes, I can remember so many details of those wonderful dinners.

Sundays at my house is either a "thing" (i.e. - really good planned out meal) or cereal.  On a recent Sunday night, I turned to my beloved Ina for some inspiration and made this heavenly pastitsio - or as she referred to it, a "Greek lasagna."  This dish was time consuming, yet it made a ton and was heavenly for about three days after I originally made it - it makes for great leftovers.

This is like a relationship in a pan ...

Pastitsio
by Ina Garden

For the Tomato Meat Sauce:
    * 3 T. olive oil
    * 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion (1 large)
    * 1 pound lean ground beef
    * 1 pound lean ground lamb **
    * 1/2 C. dry red wine
    * 1 T. minced garlic (3 large cloves)
    * 1 T. ground cinnamon
    * 1 tsp. dried oregano
    * 1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
    * Pinch of cayenne pepper
    * 1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes in puree
    * Salt and freshly ground black pepper

** To be honest?  If I made this again, I would not use lamb. My untrained palate really couldn't tell if the lamb made this better and it was just freakin' spendy.  Use 2 lbs of lean ground beef.  OK, now I'm officially going to foodie hell.

For the Bechamel (Editor's note: Do not be intimated by the bechamel!):

    * 1 1/2 C. whole milk
    * 1 C. heavy cream
    * 4 T. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
    * 1/4 C. all-purpose flour
    * 1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
    * Salt and freshly ground black pepper
    * 1 1/2 C. freshly grated Parmesan or Kasseri cheese
    * 2 extra-large eggs, beaten
    * 2/3 C. Greek-style yogurt, such as Fage Total
    * 3/4 pound small shells

Directions

For the sauce, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large pot. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes. Add the beef and lamb, and saute over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until it's no longer pink, crumbling it with the back of wooden spoon. Drain off any excess liquid, add the wine, and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the garlic, cinnamon, oregano, thyme, and cayenne, and continue cooking over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 40 to 45 minutes. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the bechamel, heat the milk and cream together in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until simmering. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Add the flour and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly for 2 minutes. Pour the warm milk and cream mixture into the butter and flour mixture, whisking constantly. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes, until smooth and thick. Add the nutmeg, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Stir in 3/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup of the tomato and meat sauce, and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Stir in the eggs and yogurt and set aside.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling water until al dente. Don't over-cook because the pasta will later be baked. Drain and set aside.

Add the pasta to the meat and tomato sauce, and pour the mixture into a baking dish. Spread the bechamel evenly to cover the pasta and sprinkle with the remaining 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Bake for 1 hour, until golden brown and bubbly. Set aside for 10 minutes and serve hot.

Tabasco and Asparagus Quinoa

Asparagus is one of those vegetables that I didn't eat when I was a child.  I almost wrote that "I didn't eat a lot," but that isn't true - I didn't eat asparagus at all.  I'm not sure if it was something that my parents had tried once and didn't like or if they had never really ate it either, but I remember that the first time I tried asparagus was when I was out of college and in my 20s.  It was the start of a seasonal love affair.  I have never tried frozen or canned asparagus and I doubt that I ever will, because there's something so decadent about asparagus - I don't ever want that sense ruined by something that's sub-par.

So you can imagine how excited I was when I tried this recipe from Heidi Swanson's 101 Cookbooks.  I was a bit intimidated by the idea of liberal amounts of Tabasco, intrigued to cook quinoa for the first time and excited to cook a dish that promised to be healthy and something different for my lunch box.

As Heidi mentions in the headnote of this particular blog post, the taste of the Tabasco is subtle ... it's enough to bring your taste buds to attention, but not enough to have you running for a water glass.  The notes of lemon and mustard marry well with the butter.

My husband even liked this dish - I imagine that this will be one for the books and one that will be incorporated into our repertoire for years to come.

Tabasco & Asparagus Quinoa
from 101Cookbooks.com

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
25 drops Tabasco sauce
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

**Just a note - knowing that this was going to make more Tabasco butter than needed, I ended up halving this recipe.  It worked just fine.


1 pound asparagus, cut into 1-inch segments
4 cups cooked quinoa*
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted (I omitted)
scant 1/4 cup creme fraiche - optional (I omitted)
more Tabasco sauce to taste

Start by making the Tabasco butter. I used my mini food processor and combined the butter with the mustard, Tabasco sauce, lemon juice and salt.

Boil the asparagus in a large pot of well salted water, for just for a minute or so - depending on the thickness of your asparagus. Drain.

Take 4 cups of hot cooked quinoa and toss with 3 tablespoons of the tabasco butter. Stir in the asparagus. Serve with more Tabasco sauce on the side.

Serves 4 - 6.

*To cook quinoa: Combine 2 cups of well-rinsed dried quinoa with 3 cups water and 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 25 - 30 minutes or until quinoa is tender and you can see the little quinoa curliques.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

This is a recipe that my sister-in-law Amanda discovered on the back of a bag of shredded cheese.  And it is gooooood.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole
from Kraft

1 lb. chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 green pepper, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 c. frozen corn kernels
1 jar (16 oz.) salsa 'o choice (I used medium because I'm lame and afraid of stomach acid flare-ups)
1 bag of shredded cheese, Mexican blend
1 c. sour cream
corn tortillas

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Cut your chicken into bite-sized pieces and start browning in a medium-sized skillet.  Finely chop a green pepper and an onion, add to chicken (at about halfway through the browning process ...).  Once the chicken is basically cooked through and the veggies are softened, take off heat and add a cup of frozen corn kernels, salsa and sour cream.  Mix.

Spray a 9-by-13 cake pan or whatever you usually use to bake casseroles.  At the bottom of the dish, place a layer of corn torillas.  Like so:

Top this with about half of the chicken mixture.  Like this:

Sprinkle about half the cheese on top of the first layer:

The rest of the pictures look about the same as these do, so I'll spare you the imagery.  However, you will lay down another layer of tortillas and then repeat the layering sequence.  Tortilla, goop and cheese.  Then you put it in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes or until cooked through.

This is what you end up with ...

And it is gooood - even if it photographs poorly.

A couple of notes:

1) Spraying your baking pan is a must.  Just ask my SIL, although my husband and I helped her pick out the tortillas that got stuck to the bottom of her pan.  And then we ate that part.  This casserole is that unabashedly good.

2) I think that you could totally omit the sour cream in this recipe or cut in half, saving you valuable calories and fat grams.  I'm not sure if I'm going to go that far though ...

3) For people who don't really care for chicken, I am confident that ground beef would also make for a good switch.  I could also see adding some black beans because I really like them.  The possibilities are damn near endless.

And finally ... while this is awesome when it's fresh out of the oven, this is one of those cases where the leftovers aren't great the second day - or as my husband said "the flavors are better, but the chicken is spongy and the tortillas are meh."  You have been warned.

Creamy Polenta with Parmesan and Sausage

During my junior year of college, my life was majorly altered when I decided to study abroad for a semester.  I traveled with a group of 12 others to the Mediterranean island of Malta, spending six months in a different culture - learning a lot about myself (Did I really want to be an English major?  Would Amsterdam be a good country to be exiled in?  Do I really have to go home?  When do I get to go home?), learning a lot about other cultures and living with three extraordinary other women.  My flatmates were named Heather (the lady who ran the hotel gym across the street always called her "Heeter," I still call her Heeter), Gretchen (I usually just refer to her as "G") and Andrea - we called her "D."

While I have incredible stories about our times as a group and my times spent individually with these great people, this particular dish reminded me of Heather.  Although D and I would sometimes commandeer the kitchen and make stuff that reminded us of our Midwest roots, Heather was the spontaneous and adventurous one who was on a first-name basis with the butcher down the street, the green grocer who was around the corner and taught me how to de-ink a squid in our flat's kitchen.  She was also the first person to introduce me to polenta, which I would cheekily call "Pacino."   And while I remember little about what she served polenta with or if I even liked polenta the first time I tried it (there were few of Heather's dishes that I didn't like, so I'm sure I loved my Pacino too), this dish reminds me of when I was younger, a little more reckless, actually liked seafood, had access to wine that I would kill for now and of my dear friends.  I love each and every one of you ...

Creamy Polenta with Parmesan & Sausage
by Mark Bittman - New York Times

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 good-quality sweet Italian sausages (I ended up using chicken sausages with roasted red pepper in 'em ... divine!)
1 cup medium-to-coarse cornmeal
Salt
1/2 to 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, or to taste
2 tablespoons butter
Freshly ground black pepper.


My sausages were pre-cooked and only needed to be heated, so if you need to cook your sausages - here's the directions for that:  Put oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, add sausages and cook, turning occasionally, until well browned on all sides and cooked through, about 20 minutes. Set aside.

Meanwhile, put cornmeal in a medium saucepan along with 1 cup water and whisk well to make a slurry; continue whisking mixture to eliminate any lumps. Put pan over medium-high heat, sprinkle with salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and continue to cook, whisking frequently and adding water as needed to keep mixture loose and free of lumps, between 3 and 4 more cups. If mixture becomes too thick, simply add a bit more water; consistency should be similar to sour cream’s.

Polenta will be done in 15 to 30 minutes, depending on grind. Add cheese and butter. Taste and add salt, if necessary, and lots of pepper; serve topped with sausages.

Yield: 4 servings.

Here's my take on polenta as a 31-year-old ... while it will never replace mashed potatoes as my comfort food of choice, it is still pretty damn good.  And like most dishes - it tastes better the second day when the flavors really get a chance to meld together.  I actually ate the leftovers for breakfast over the next couple of mornings - it was hearty and filling.

Chana Masala

Lately, I feel like websites like Smitten Kitchen and The Pioneer Woman have been in tune with my cravings.  That is kind of weird if you pause a moment and consider that ...

It's a Saturday night and I'm munching on the last of some naan bread.  Originally, I was going to make some black bean soup for dinner, but since I torpedoed a rare weekend off (I worked Saturday and then had a family obligation on Sunday), I figured that I'd suck up to my husband by making some Indian food.  After all, the family that burns out their taste buds together inevitably sticks together.  So I made Smitten Kitchen's recipe for chana masala.

So first off - I really need to share more of my reaction with you guys than just my standard "oh man" or "holy awesomeness Batman," but to be honest - my first reaction was a bit of meh and then my nose started running, which unclogged the rest of my senses and I was wowed by this dish.  My reaction became "oh man, my husband is going to ADORE me."

You may find Smitten's recipe here.  A couple of notes:

1) I have no knife skills.  They have improved over time, but if I was a contestant on any cooking show, some judge would throw my butt out of the kitchen because I suck with a knife.  So I use the handy dandy miniature food processor that I inherited from my beloved late grandma Boots.  She used it as a "nut chopper" (don't ask) and it's brilliant for small-scale cutting like onions and garlic.

2) I have finally conquered my fear of ginger, so much so that the next time I see soap that is scented with ginger, I am buying it.  Long after I had grated what I needed, I sniffed the remaining ginger like a junkie seeking some sort of a fix.  "It smells like ginger ale!" my mind crowed and shifted to images from my childhood.  Not that I drank a lot of ginger ale as a child, but it's a wholesome thing to drink and, um ... Ginger. Fear conquered!

3) Do not rub your eyes after you have cut and seeded hot peppers.  You will cry.  Many tears.

4) The cumin seed needs to be toasted and crushed.  I had not performed that task prior to dumping the spices into my skillet and was left standing with a plastic container full of cumin seeds.  So I omitted.

5) Target makes good naan.  Sure, it's probably more Minnesotan than authentic, but it sure is tasty.  Don't waste your time on the whole wheat stuff.  It tastes like arse.

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Romance starts here.

Or ... erm, well, maybe not, but I have to share the "squee" moment that I had recently when an old colleague of mine wrote me and asked me some menu ideas for the romantic Valentine's dinner that he was cooking his girlfriend.  I had an Ina Garten moment, you know what I'm talking about - she's on her show and she's cooked or concocted something fabulous for one of her equally fabulous friends.  If she's letting her friend do the work, she devises up a recipe, writes it down with her Sharpie and sends it along with her friend - complete with pictures so they know what mashed potatoes should look like.

Well, my friend Chris isn't getting the Ina treatment, per se, but I did spend the past few nights whipping together an entree that is worth a snog or two from his extraordinarily lucky girlfriend.  (My husband told me I couldn't use the term "sex-worthy."  Sigh!)  I remembered an entree that I had made a few years back - stuffed chicken breasts that had featured spinach, mushroom and feta.  Then I thought about a Rachael Ray dish that I made this weekend that featured roasted garlic, mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes.  This dish is a hybrid of both, brought together with a velvety bit of goat cheese.  Because nothing says "I love you" like goat cheese.  At least that's what I think.

Stuffed Chicken Breasts
by ShelleyBakes
(I concocted this dish to serve two, but if you're being generous this Valentine's Day and want to double date, you can easily double this and serve four.)

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts - trimmed of any visible fat
4 oz. button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced fine
1/2 bag of baby spinach
5 sun-dried tomatoes, sliced/chopped (the kind packed in olive oil)
2 oz. goat cheese, cubed
handful of Parmesan cheese
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Wash and slice mushrooms, mince garlic.  Heat a skillet over medium high heat with about 2 T. extra virgin olive oil.  Saute mushrooms for about one minute, add garlic (careful not to burn, because that's typically what I do) and saute until golden ... about five minutes. Lower heat and add spinach, stirring the pan to let the leaves wilt down.  Remove from heat, dump into waiting bowl that is holding the tomatoes and goat cheese.  Add about a handful of Parmesan cheese and incorporate all ingredients together.

In the meantime, take your chicken breasts - you can either cut a slit in them for filling or you can flatten them.  I put the chicken breasts individually between sheets of waxed paper and then pounded the hell out of them with my rolling pin.  You're basically aiming for consistency - you want an evenly distributed chicken breast, not with one side heavier than the other.  Place chicken breasts on a baking sheet and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.  Spoon half of the filling in the middle of each of the flattened chicken breasts, bring the ends together and secure with a toothpick.  Brush the outside of the chicken breast with some olive oil and sprinkle with more salt and pepper.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 35 minutes.  (Or when you take a steak knife and ascertain that the chicken is done by hacking into the poor bird.)  Remove toothpicks.  Serve.

Serving suggestions:  This would be great to serve with some roasted vegetables - baby carrots and baby reds that have been roasted with some olive oil and rosemary.  Baked potatoes could also suffice.  I also told my friend to pair this with a green salad and some good crusty bread.

And for the record, my husband is not getting stuffed chicken breast for Valentine's Day dinner (he had it twice this week, so he's probably thankful to be spared yet another night of chicken ...).  We're ordering in from our favorite pizza joint and I'm going to attempt these Molten Chocolate Cakes. :)

Crockpot Swiss Steak

Among the many things that I'm thankful, every winter I'm reminded how thankful I am that my father, my nephew and my brother like to hunt.  And that they are good hunters.  And as sad as it is that they shoot Bambi's mom or dad, I cannot complain when my father sends me home with about 10 pounds of free meat that he no longer wants cluttering his freezer. 

I've heard people's complaints about vension ... it's very lean, it has a "gamey" taste, etc.  Personally, my husband and I think it smells terrible when it cooks, but I can't look at free steak or ground venison and turn it down - because it's cheap (FREE!), it's very lean and I am one of those odd people who do truly enjoy venison until I have ate it for about three weeks and would rather become a vegetarian until the next hunting season rolls around.

I don't think I have a secret to making venison great, unless I take a page from my aunt Sue's book and fry up a platter of steaks and then bake them off while wrapped in bacon.  But if I had a secret, I think it would be this recipe.  Again, I found it at an odd source - a recipe listed in a debt reduction blog that I subscribe to, but this recipe is so good that I nearly cried.

Crockpot Swiss Steak
adapted from Recipezaar.com

1 1/2 lbs round steak, cut 3/4 inch thick (** you may use venison or beef)

What you are going to do is dredge this in a mixture of seasoned flour - since I doubled this recipe, I took about a cup of all purpose flour and mixed in some seasoned salt, black pepper, some cayenne pepper for kick and garlic powder.  Come to think of it, I used kosher salt too, because that's my new favorite seasoning.

Brown the dredged steaks in a mixture of butter and olive oil (about 1 T. of butter to 1 T. of olive oil.  I have no clue why I did this, it just felt like the right thing to do at the time.)
   
Move the steaks to a plate and add the following ingredients to the pan drippings:

    * 1 (16 ounce) can tomatoes
    * 1 small onion, sliced
    * 1 stalk celery, sliced
    * 2 medium carrots, sliced

Saute until the vegetables are softened - about 5 to 7 minutes.

Put the steak, the vegetables and all the drippings into a large crockpot.  Add:

    * 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
    * 1/4 cup red wine
    * 1/4 cup water

Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.  I came home from work at about hour four to make sure that my massive crock 'o deer was not drying out.  On the contrary, I had some awesome drippings going on in my crockpot.


Finally, when it is time to eat (and weep when you realize that the venison that's been so lovingly neglected in your Crockpot is fork tender), serve with hot noodles, rice or cheat like me and buy some Bob Evans' Cheddar Mashed Potatoes.  Seriously - I think they are laced with crack.  Never mind that I can make perfectly passable mashed potatoes, these are up there with my mom's.

It's all about the chicken gumbo

When I worked as a journalist in Willmar, I got stuck working every other weekend as part of my job as the night reporter/cops and courts reporter.  Looking back, it was kind of a nice arrangement because every other week I would have Friday, Saturday and Sunday off and after a year or so of weekends working together, the weekend crew started to have potlucks on the Sunday evenings that we worked.  I was usually good for a dessert, the sports guys usually contributed chips and my news editor Susan would usually whip up a Crockpot full of Chicken Gumbo Sloppy Joes.

I never realized how much I would miss Susan's sloppy joes until I went about six years without having one, so I sent her a message the other day to ask for the recipe and oh man - it was like eating a little sandwich made from the clouds of Heaven.  Or in our case, some ground venison (love you dad!) and a little can of Campbell's Chicken Gumbo Soup.

This is the first time in my relationship with my husband that I've served French fries.  But they're baked, not fried.  I suck.

Chicken Gumbo Sloppy Joes
from Susan and a zillion other home cooks who got bored or bought the wrong can of Campbell's and decided that meat would make it nifty

Brown 1 pound burger with onion.

Then add 2 T. ketchup, 1 tsp mustard and 1 can Chicken Gumbo soup. Simmer a bit for it all to heat through and thicken.

Chicken Chickpea Curry Bowls

I think one of the secrets to my marriage is that I make a passable curry recipe.  I'm still afraid of raw ginger (I will conquer this in 2010, I swear), most of the spices that are typically mentioned in "authentic" Indian recipes have me scratching my head, but I'm not afraid to buy curry powder and use it.  And my husband loves curry - he loves curry even when I screw up the recipe, so he was particularly happy one night when I announced I was making Rachael Ray's Chicken Chickpea Curry Bowls.

One of the blog sites that I have bookmarked is Everything Rachael Ray and they've been kind enough to link to me on a couple of occasions.  This recipe was featured and I knew that I had to try it:

Rachael's Chicken Chickpea Curry Bowls
Adapted from Rachael Ray and Everything Rachael Ray

1 T. EVOO - Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 baked chicken breasts, chopped into bite sized pieces
1 large red pepper, sliced
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 cup plain yogurt [I used Greek yogurt - the full fat, thick and wonderful stuff.]
1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1 14.5-ounce can chick peas, drained and rinsed
Green onions, sliced (optional)
Brown rice to serve

Yields: 4 servings


Editor's Note: In an effort to save time, I cooked up a large batch of rice and kept it in the fridge to use throughout the week.   Dishing out the rice and having to heat it up separately also keeps hubby and I from eating inordinate amounts of rice at dinner (we love us some brown rice - we're slightly addicted to carbs).  But if you need to make rice, here's the recipe:  In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine rice, water and salt. Bring to a boil then reduce heat. Simmer, covered, 15-20 minutes, until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed.

Place a large skillet over medium-high heat with 1 turn of the pan EVOO and warm the chicken. Add the peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, for 7 minutes.

Sprinkle with the curry powder and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the yogurt and simmer gently for 3 minutes, adding a splash of water if it needs to loosen up a little (I used some of the juice from the diced tomatoes for this.)  Stir in the tomatoes and chickpeas then remove from heat.

When trying this, I felt like there was something missing (something I feel frequently when I'm making my own curry ...), so I added a dash of cinnamon for some warmth and a bit of cayenne for some heat.  And damn - it was good.

Divide the rice and chicken mixture among individual bowls and garnish with the green onion.

A few more notes ... the original recipe called for ground chicken, which I'm sure is really good.  There had been a sale on chicken breasts (bone-in, alas!) but I bought them and baked them at 400 degrees until they were done and then took the meat off the bone, stashed some in the freezer for future dishes and left the rest in the fridge.   I also had the brown rice cooked and on hand.  I do this when I'm working on other stuff in the kitchen, because it saves time later in the week when I'm fracking exhausted and would rather eat cereal than actually cook dinner.

Pioneer Woman's Fancy Macaroni

Did I tell you that I've been relatively obsessed with macaroni and cheese lately?  Have I told you that I cannot really make homemade macaroni and cheese without putting bacon in it?  (For that, I blame the divine Ms. Jenn_C.) This was another one of The Pioneer Woman's recipes that I saw on her blog and made almost immediately ... and man ... is there anything better than a pan of homemade macaroni and cheese?

Pioneer Woman's recipe may be found here.  And the only modifications I made to the recipe was that I use thick-cut bacon (it's something I need to stop, but it's soooooo goood) and instead of gruyere cheese I used Monterey Jack.

Leftovers are delicious.  I lived on this stuff for about four days.

Giada's Farmer Pasta - Loosen Your Belts, Friends

I had the pleasure of hosting dinner the other night with a dear friend from high school.  I hadn't seen my friend Heidi in years and since she's living the academic life in Boston (my buddy does research at Harvard which makes me awesome by proxy!), I decided to bake something rich and awesome.

That "something" was originally going to be crockpot beef stew, but as I was sitting on my ass in the living room on Monday night prior to Heidi's arrival, I just couldn't get excited about beef stew ... at that moment, it seemed like a Sunday thing, not something you serve in the middle of the week.  (Do not ask me where I get my arbitrary rules.)  So I found myself flipping through "Giada's Kitchen" and one of Rachael Ray's cookbooks (note: thank you to my "moms" - Gloria and Sharon for getting these for me) and I came across this Farmer's Pasta dish by Giada.

Oh dear God ... first and foremost - this dish demonstrates that there is no such thing as too much cheese.  Secondly, this dish is making me long for the gym because I can just feel my ass getting bigger with every bite and thirdly - I was "meh" on the first day, slightly smitten on the second day's leftovers and ready to embark on a love affair with this dish on the third day when I warmed some up for breakfast/ brunch.  It is an entree that just gets better after sitting in the fridge and letting the flavors meld.

The pain in the ass factor of this dish (beyond what it's doing to my waistline) is kind of high.  I mean - I'm bound to grate a knuckle when I haul out the box grater, so there's always that danger factor.  But I cannot stress the outcome - it is worth it.  And I am only making this dish for special occasions ... but man ...

Farmer's Pasta
adapted from Giada DeLaurentiis

Ingredients

    * Cooking spray, for greasing pan
    * 2 tablespoons (or more) olive oil
    * 6 ounces pancetta, chopped (**you can use bacon ... I probably would the next time)
    * 4 teaspoons minced garlic
    * 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
    * 4 cups whole milk
    * 3 cups heavy whipping cream
    * 8 ounces Fontina cheese, grated
    * 4 ounces mozzarella cheese, grated
    * 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
    * 6 ounces provolone cheese, cubed
    * 1 pound penne pasta
    * 3 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped
    * Salt and freshly ground black pepper
    * 1 cup fresh coarse bread crumbs (**I used panko breadcrumbs ... not sure I'd do that again)

Directions

Grease a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking dish. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add the pancetta and saute until golden and crisp, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the pancetta to a small bowl. Reduce the heat to medium. Add 3 teaspoons of garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the flour and whisk for 2 minutes (you want to cook the raw flour taste off). Gradually whisk in the milk and cream. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, whisking often, about 5 minutes. Gradually whisk in the Fontina, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheeses.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until almost al dente, stirring occasionally, about 7 minutes. (The pasta will continue cooking in the oven.) Drain pasta and add directly into the cheese. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes. Add the parsley, basil, provolone and pancetta and toss to coat. Season the pasta mixture, to taste, with salt and pepper. Transfer the pasta mixture to the prepared dish.

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the remaining garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Remove from the heat. Add the bread crumbs and toss to coat. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture over the pasta mixture. Drizzle the top with extra-virgin olive oil and bake until the sauce bubbles and the bread crumbs are golden brown, about 20 minutes.