Flakey - and I'm not talking about a crust

Well, I completely flaked on blogging last week.  That's right, I didn't give it a thought until Sunday night.  By that point, I figured with the 100+ recipes we have accumulated over the months, one week wouldn't be missed, right?  We have a lot of family staying with us through Christmas so it is easy to lose track of to-do's when you are hanging out together in the evenings.  Not a bad thing in my opinion, this is a hobby after all...unless someone wants to pay me for it :)

We are working up towards our big Thanksgiving Day feast next week.  I have the menu planned, turkey ordered, and we will do all the shopping this weekend.  I am pretty excited for it - Thanksgiving happens to be one of my favorite holidays.  I think it has something to do with the fact that the Christmas season "officially" starts once the leftovers from Thanksgiving are packed up.  I am definitely looking forward to reporting back on our Thanksgiving festivities - mashed potatoes, apple pie, and remembering how fortunate we are to have such an incredible life.  Does it get much better than that? 

In the poultry department, one of the recipes my mom brought out with her last time they came to visit was Baked Chicken Po Boy Sandwiches.  Mmmmmm...these were yummy.  Breaded chicken on bread - sign me up.  These were really good and are definitely kid friendly...a little much for Ellie but she only has 8 teeth so that could have something to do with it.

Another recipe my mom brought out was Wedding Soup.  We used to have this recipe when I was growing up; it is really great on cold, wintery days and makes enough that you can have some leftovers to freeze and take out next time the snow starts to fly.

A lot of people live by the slow cooker.  I have a lukewarm feeling towards ours.  I get why people love them; you come home to a warm dinner with no post-work prep time.  Where I get hung up on slow cooker meals is when they don't work out.  We have very few crock pot meals that I have worked into our regular rotation.  We tried Curried Lentil Tomato Soup, and even after 8 hours of simmering in the crockpot, I came home to undercooked veggies and firm lentils.  Bleh.  I was pretty disappointed to say the least.  My mom prepped a much more delectable Baby Back Rib recipe in the crockpot for us.  Pair it with some Mac n' Cheese and some peas and you have yourself a very American comfort food dinner.

One of the nights that Flick's mom was out we had Butternut Squash and Mushroom Tarts with Gruyere cheese.  Oh man.  This sounds like it would take hours upon hours to put together, but we were able to make it in the 40 minute window after work one Friday night.  I highly recommend giving this a try - there are a lot of little steps involved but read through it a few times, formulate a plan, and get to it.

Finally, for a taste of some southern cooking (there is okra in it!) we made Chicken and Sausage Gumbo.  This was a solid, tasty meal that will definitely be a part of our regular rotation.  We are not huge okra fans but in this one-dish meal it adds a nice flavor.

I hope everyone has a scrumptious Thanksgiving with family and friends, we'll run through the festivities next week!  

Happy Halloween!

I really love this time of year.  I know I have already harped on how great the transition into fall and winter comfort food is, so don't even get me started on the Holidays.  It all kicks off by getting dressed up in a costume and collecting candy from perfect strangers.  I haven't quite figured out how we get Ellie to understand that on this one day, with Mom and Dad, it is okay to accept candy from a stranger.  Otherwise, run. 

We went down to Pearl Street this year for the Munchkin Masquerade.  It is the place see and be seen on Halloween.  There are some pretty amazing costumes (think an entire family dressed up as the Incredibles...) and all the stores hand out candy to the kiddos.  Needless to say, Ellie was completely overwhelmed but happily took it all in, held safely in Mom and Dad's arms.  She was a dinosaur this year (and really excited about it):

Slightly more ferocious than the ladybug costume she donned last Halloween:

Apparently she was so worn out from the sleeping and milk drinking at the Munchkin Masquerade that she fell asleep when we set her up for her post-Pearl Street diaper change:

Too cute.  Along with getting dressed up for Halloween, we always enjoy carving pumpkins.  Flick was traveling during primo pumpkin carving time this year, so my mom and I spent an evening carefully cutting away the perfect Halloween designs in our pumpkins.  It is a good thing that Halloween is over because the animals have been feasting on our artwork for the past few days and there is not much carving left to speak of.  They were cool while they lasted though:

The pumpkins may be done but we are still feasting on the roasted pumpkin seeds that we meticulously separated from the "goo" on the insides of the pumpkins while carving.  For tasty roasted pumpkin seeds, separate the seeds from the pulp.  Rinse thoroughly to get all the goop off and soak in a clean bowl of salted water overnight (just a few shakes should do it).  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Drain the seeds and cover a baking sheet with foil; spray with cooking spray or rub some oil on the foil to grease it.  Spread the seeds in a thin layer on the sheet and sprinkle with a little more salt.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Using a spatula, flip the seeds and bake for another 10 minutes.  Allow to cool slightly before enjoying! 

If you are tough like we are, you can eat the entire seed, hull and all (yeah, so it is a little strange but that is where all the salt is!), otherwise, peel off the hull and enjoy the little green pepita inside!

We'll start our meal chat with Enchilada Casserole.  We have featured this meal before and I brought it out again while my parents were in town.  Since my dad is lactose intolerant, we used cheddar cheese in place of monterey jack (cheddar and muenster are fine for him!) and he seemed to really enjoy it, as did my mom and I.

Since the Enchilada Casserole only uses 4 wraps, Flick and I used the rest of them earlier in the week for Grilled BBQ Chicken wraps.  These are great on the grill year round and are so easy to make.  They are pretty kid friendly too so hopefully the whole family can enjoy them together.

Shrimp Fra Diavolo is another one of those solid meals that tastes more gourmet than the short list of ingredients and rapid cook time implies.  I love meals like this, they are real confidence boosters.  This dish doesn't pack as much heat as the name and ingredients imply.

I made Flick and I some Honey Cashew Chicken with rice for a good healthy dose of vegetables one night.  I really like this recipe and love that it uses edamame - something that we don't often cook with but that has a really good flavor and increases the heartiness factor of a dish in a very healthy way. 

Our vegetarian meal was Falafel Pitas.  YUM!  I love falafel and these were so easy to make.  You could easily make a double batch, shape the patties, and freeze them for future use.  Just take them out, defrost, and continue forth with pan-frying them for a quick, healthy, tasty meal on a rushed weeknight.  You will have to use your imagination on these because we wolfed them down before getting the camera out.  I really enjoyed the sauce that went along with them and Ellie actually ate it off the top of her falafel - so that gives you some indication of how delicious it was.  Hope you all had a great Halloween, happy cooking!

Freezer friendly

One of the keys to homemade dinner success in our household is the ever present freezer meal.  When Flick is on the road I live by leftovers.  There is little time for cooking in the short time between when Ellie and I get home from daycare and when she is getting ready for bed.  That means we plan ahead and have plenty of insta-meals at the ready.  As much as my sisters and I begged for those Kids Cuisine TV dinners when we were younger, our freezer meals are all from scratch theses days.

Flick and I had planned to make some of these meals prior to Ellie's arrival so that we would have a freezer full of food to siphon off of in the weeks following her birth, however, Ellie had other plans.  When she decided to make her entrance a few weeks before my due date, Flick ended up running back home from hospital to whip up some lasagna and chili to tide us over before my folks came out.  He's the best.  These meals are all great as leftovers.  Cook them, let them cool, and freeze them in individual portions.  Take them out a day or so early and let them thaw in the fridge.  As a forewarning, there are no photos for these foods (yet) - I'll get those up ASAP...but some recipes need to be made and photographed first!

Lasagna is a freezer friendly no brainier.  It makes a large amount of food, freezes really well, and tastes quite good reheated.  I have two lasagna recipes, one is a vegetarian lasagna and one is a meat lasagna.  The vegetarian recipe is super light and would be great even in the summer.  The meat is a little more hearty but very delicious, we have some in the freezer as we speak.

Chili is another great meal that reheats well.  You can take chili from a frozen block and throw it in a saucepan on a medium to low temperature and break it up as it warms.  In thawing it on the stovetop, you get the added bonus of your home filling with the aroma of a fresh batch of warm chili.  If you are feeling ambitious, make a double portion and you have that many more meals ready to go.  We have had this recipe since our Boston days and both really love it.  Recently we made it and let it simmer in a crock pot for Fall Fest at my office.  Feel free to get a little creative with your chili and tailor it to the tastes of your family.

Forget Marie Callenders, you can freeze your own chicken pot pie that may save you from eating 6 sticks of butter in one sitting.  Just saying.  To keep the crust from being soggy when you reheat it, consider warming it in a preheated oven or toaster oven.

Meatballs.  Need I say more?  Make a batch of meatballs, freeze them, and you can have meatball subs or spaghetti and meatballs in a flash.  If you don't do beef, sub in ground turkey or chicken.  These little guys are perfect since you can take out just as many as you need that day and heat them up quick.

Don't fear the freezer - as long as you take the time to store your food properly, it will taste just as delicious as the day you made it.

Streamlining

I believe I have previously alluded to the book I am currently reading: The Joy of Less: A minimalist living guide.  The whole idea of the minimalist lifestyle is to live with less "stuff" which ultimately gives you more time and space to enjoy doing the things you love.  It is an idea that I have started to employ around our house (not to the extremes mentioned in the book; the only piece of furniture in the author's bedroom is a futon mattress on the floor...slightly excessive, er, minimalist).  At home, I am really trying to keep clutter to a minimum and get rid of the things that we don't really need.  There are so many ways to streamline our lives.

I have had this recipe for Swedish Meatballs cut out since we lived in Boston.  When I first started gathering recipes, I was putting every recipe that sounded good into a sticky back photo book.  Needless to say, I was filling up these books pretty quickly and still rotating through the same old recipes.  Flick suggested that I start actually making the recipes before putting them in the book so that I have a comprehensive collection of recipes that have already been vetted.  He's so smart...and that was much more efficient.  With this blog, I have found that I am able to further condense my recipe collection into my online recipe book.  No more piles of paper needed, we just keep everything organized in a nice, searchable format online.  Along the same lines, the whole goal of this blog is to share recipes that taste great but that don't require a lot of pomp and circumstance to pull together.  In theory, I am pulling together a list of minimalist dinner recipes - guess I was destined to start tracking in this direction!

A quick way to put together an after work chicken dish is with Chicken Chilaquiles.  This recipe uses rotisserie chicken to cut down on prep time and carries just a tiny bit of spice.  Don't fear the heat - we are not big spicy food fans in our family so if we can take it you know it has to be pretty mild.

Another recipe that we have had since Boston, but that I have actually been cooking for years, is Smothered Pork Chops with Thyme.  This is a good fall recipe served up with mashed potatoes and some veggies.  To make the pork chop baby friendly, we threw it in the food processor with some of the sauce and Ellie loved it.

 



Two recipes that we have previously featured but that have been out of the loop for awhile are Tuna Noodle Casserole (big hit with Ellie) and Monterey Jack, Corn, and Roasted Red Pepper Risotto.  That's right, we made a risotto after work and had it ready to go at 6pm for dinner with Ellie.  Nothing is impossible with a little bit of planning and the drive to get it done.

Upgrades

Flick and I made our first real "grown-up" furniture purchase this week.  Over the years we have managed to acquire almost a house full of furniture in hand-me-downs, craigslist purchases, and thankfully, in gifts from family/friends.  Although our kitchen table and chairs currently fall into our good furniture category, we made the call to replace them over the weekend when we realized that we were going to require a table which could comfortably seat more than four.  As you may have noticed, having home cooked meals and eating together is extremely important to us.  This year we will be hosting both Thanksgiving and Christmas and we are going to require seating for a whole troop of people.  With that being said, it was time to upgrade.

 

That was such a random commercial.  Back to the kitchen table - since we are working with a pretty tight space (currently) we wanted a table that wouldn't be in the way of our day-to-day activities but that could be the center of attention come mealtime.  We found one that is the same size as our current table - but that has 2 leaves (leafs?) that extend it out to seat EIGHT.  Yes, eight...and since Ellie is in a high chair that means eight adults.  Needless to say, we jumped on that one - and some unexpected chairs (you'll have to wait in suspense - they are far from traditional), and there you have it - a kitchen table where we can gather with family and friends for years to come.  We are so excited for it to get here...and given that we are excited over a furniture purchase, we are officially adult-like.

It will be a little while before we are eating meals on our new table, but in the meantime we have some great dinners lined up for this week. 

Open Faced Blackened Catfish Sandwiches are yet another way to break out of the mold when it comes to cooking fish at home.  You get the simplicity of pan cooking a filet of fish, without serving it alongside a pile of rice and a vegetable.  We cut this up with a knife and fork and really enjoy the cool coleslaw with the mild kick to the fish...and it is on bread, so you can't go wrong there!

Not long ago, Flick and I would take a vegetarian meal and add chicken or beef to it in order to make it fit our dinner expectations.  Over the years, our definition of a meal has changed and we are now taking the meat out of a dish in order to work in a few more veggies (and save some money).  Butternut Squash Tagine, served over pistachio couscous, originally had chicken in it, but we upped the squash content and took out the chicken and I don't miss it one bit!

Chicken and White BBQ Potatoes were in one of the more recent issues of Cooking Light that came to our door.  I love potatoes and I was intrigued by this recipe - fortunately, it worked out well and using rotisserie chicken makes it a snap to pull together.  The relish kind of turned Ellie off from this dish but she happily ate some potatoes and shredded chicken.

Pork Chops with Roasted Apples and Onions was a big time winner.  What a perfect fall dish.  The apples and pearl onions are perfect together and paired with pork chops and some rice - you have yourself a meal that is fit to serve guests but that you can pull together in 30 minutes or so after work.  Definitely give this one a try!

We served Spicy Honey-Brushed Chicken Thighs with Quinoa Salad and Peaches on a Friday night when Mark and Tara were out visiting.  We needed a meal that you could both prepare in a flash after work, and increase the number of servings without prolonging the cooking time.  I am presently a little obsessed with Quinoa (pronounced Keen-wah...I think).  Now that I know how to say it, just try and stop me from ordering it everywhere I go.  It is a versatile "mother of all" grains (coined by the Inca).  Seriously, this little number (not even a true grain, as it may be), is a powerhouse of nutrition - high in calcium, protein, phosphorus, magnesium, and iron.  It is also a good source of fiber.  I am on the lookout for some more recipes involving Quinoa so get ready for it - we'll Boulderize you yet. 

Flexibility

The recipes this week show just how much we are straddling the line between summer and autumn right now.  As hard as it is for me to make a nice chili during the summer, those summery, one-dish pastas just don't do it for me when the weather turns cooler.  Part of being able to cook easy, delicious, healthy meals, depends on your ability to adapt.  Whether you are adapting to a new schedule, the new variety of fresh produce at the turn of a season, or dietary limitations in your family - the more flexible you can be, the easier it is to cook at home.

Almost Meatless Sloppy Joe's (AMSJ) is a recipe that was posted awhile back.  AMSJ's are a delicious alternative to popping open a can of Manwich sauce and pouring it over some ground beef.  With this recipe, we manage to sneak in some vegetables and beans with the meat in order to make it a more well rounded meal.  Speaking of flexibility, instead of serving AMSJ's on rolls, for this meal we broke out some russet potatoes, pierced them with a fork, microwaved them for about 5 minutes.  We put them in the oven for 45 minutes at around 400 degrees.  Voila - AMSJ's over baked potatoes.  YUM!  We even managed to sneak in some cheese as a creamy topper because you all know how we feel about cheese.

Speaking of cheese (I don't think that is the first time I have said that), one of the meals that starts to show up a whole lot more during the winter months are Calzones.  Calzones are really not all that much different than pizza, however, there is something fun about having a cheesy packet of deliciousness all to yourself.  Calzones are really easy to tailor to the needs of your family - you can mix and match veggies and meats so that everyone ends up with something that speaks to their individual tastes.  We serve these with a side of marinara for dipping. 

Summer lemon vegetable risotto is about to be retired for the year.  This is one of my favorite summertime risottos and one of the few dishes that I am okay sweating over the stove in our hot-box kitchen for.  You really pay homage to the key summer vegetables in the form of zucchini, summer squash, snap peas, and asparagus with this meal.  If you have some finicky vegetable people in your family, hopefully they can find at least one "green thing" that they can enjoy in this dish.

Warm Pasta Salad with Shrimp is a meal that I was not so sure about when I decided to make the recipe.  Something about beans and pasta...it just didn't seem like it would work for me.  I was SO wrong.  This has become a year-round staple in our house.  The flavor runs deep and with all the beans, spinach, and lean shrimp - you are getting some great nutritional benefits from this meal.  We add more spinach than the recipe originally calls for (it cooks down significantly) and you could sub-in some whole wheat pasta for even more points in the "good for you" column.  I hope you decide to give this one a chance!

Christa introduced me to this Chicken Cordon Bleu recipe.  She made it out in Colorado and it is the best Chicken Cordon Bleu recipe that I have ever had.  Hands down.  Even if you have your own recipe at home, give this one a go - we have fully converted and not looked back since!

The New Kid on the Block

I apologize in advance if you now have a NKOTB ballad stuck in your head.  I couldn't resist.  You may or may not find it interesting to know that I was never a New Kids fan.  Yes, though I was a product of the 80s and early 90s music era, I did not "hang tough".  The only NKOTB swag that I owned was a pair of slippers that my Memere and I bought when she took me shopping as my birthday present one year.  I am pretty sure that my lack of interest in them had something to do with the fact that I was too busy listening to the Pointer Sisters and Michael Jackson albums.  Now do you have "Jump for my Love" or "Man in the Mirror" in your head instead?  How about now?

Back to being the new kid on the block.  I started a new job this week.  After having been with my previous company for just over 6 years, I landed a new gig with a biotech company here in Boulder.  The first day I was excited at the prospect of a fresh start but had that nervous "first day of school" feeling.  I think it is a good thing - as my late father-in-law used to say: "If you're green, you're growing, if you're not, you rot".  My goal in life is to always be some shade of green; staleness does not sit well with me.

Where does this all tie into a weekly meal plan you ask?  It is so easy to fall into a pattern of making the same few dishes over, and over.  Before you know it, you are burnt out on your usual rotation and you would rather scrape gum off the driveway than have to eat the same old dinner for the 5th (or maybe 10th) time in a month.  Writing this blog has really helped me to expand our repertoire of meals.  Of course we have our favorites that we go back to when we are looking for something delicious and reliable, but putting a new dish on the table for dinner can be oddly satisfying (well, not so odd if you are anything like me).  Not every new dish will fall into the "keeper" category but you never know until you try.

I made these recipes a little while back, just before I made the decision to halt new endeavors until after my recipes were fully converted to the new site.  They were all "never-evers" and luckily, we hit it out of the park with all of them.

Black Bean, Corn and Zucchini Enchiladas was our vegetarian dish.  These were so yummy.  I find the wheat tortillas to be great for enchiladas because they are really soft.  Throw in some black beans, veggies, a delicious red sauce, and of course...some cheese, and you have yourself a healthy and satisfying dinner option.  Note that the enchilada sauce takes about 30 minutes to cook - I made it the day before so that all we had to do was put everything together and bake it when we got home from work.

We are not fortunate enough to have In-N-Out Burger here in Colorado, however, I had my first In-N-Out experience this past summer when we took a family trip to Lake Tahoe.  Flick ALWAYS stops to get a burger on his way up to the mountains so I felt like I really needed to see what all the hoopla was about.  YUM.  These Out-N-In California Burgers are a healthy, home-made alternative and were quite tasty.  I would have liked to be in the test kitchen when they were devising the recipe for these little guys.

Chicken and Herb White Pizza was a nice, light take on our semi-weekly pizza foray.  The fresh herbs really stand out and you don't end up missing the marinara one bit.

Tilapia tostadas were a take on a chicken tostada recipe that we have.  We try really hard to have fish at least one day a week.  It is all too easy to fall into the fish filet + rice + veggie meal plan.  There are plenty of ways to eat fish so don't be afraid to experiment.  I like the texture that the tostadas add to the fish/tomato/guacamole since they all tend to be on the softer side. 

Finally we have Fresh Tomato, Sausage, and Pecorino Pasta.  Doesn't it just look divine?  It is such a basic recipe that really plays to all of the comfort food qualities.  The pasta brings in the carbohydrates, cheese needs no further introduction, sausage and tomatoes belong together, and some fresh basil..."I'm so excited".