Dinner, A-Team Style

You tell 'em Hannibal

I had to do a little extra planning for this week's meals.  Flick was gone with work for a few days so I needed to make sure that I chose meals that were either make-ahead friendly or quick to pull together.  It's all about the planning.  Some days work out better than others, but it always feels good to know that there is a nice meal just around the corner as I am scooting around the house after work trying to get everything done.

Perhaps one of the best summertime meals to fill this role is Penne with Corn, Roasted Poblanos, Avocado, and Tomato.  This recipe requires a lot of prep (read: make-ahead meal), however, it results in a pretty hefty amount of food.  We usually serve it as an entree (sometimes we add some grilled chicken to give it a little more umph), but it would make a fine side dish as well!  When roasting the peppers, make sure you give them time to really blacken up.  It makes the peeling process go much faster:

When it all comes together it is not only a tasty dish, but a pretty one too!

I had to run an audible on my fish dish this week.  I did not have all the ingredients for the recipe I was intending to make (despite sitting down with it to make my grocery list...these things happen), so I did a little experimenting.  The original recipe is Bombay Shrimp Curry with Coconut Rice; we have made this before and both really enjoyed it.  My ingredient snafu came with the rice so I made plain white rice and used the coconut milk in the curry itself.  I found the sauce to be a little too rich for my liking - the coconut milk was much better served as the cooking medium for the rice.  We will go that route for future editions so the recipe I am providing is the original "un-edited" version.

Moving on to the meat segment of the blog - we really worked the "other" white meat this week; pork chops and country ribs both graced our table for dinner.  The pork chop recipe is a very straightforward dry rub that you coat the chops with prior to grilling.  

We served them with rice pilaf and some of our sweet green peas.  Yum!  I was excited about the rib recipe because we do not have ribs very often, and we also do not use our slow cooker as much as we probably should.  It is really great to come home to a meal that is virtually ready to be eaten, however, there is always a little up front work to be done.  For me this means that I just need to do the "cooking" in the morning, rather than when I come home at night.  Despite the morning prep requirements, it is nice to be greeted at the front door not only by a giant Bernese Mountain Dog, but also by the mouth watering smell of BBQ ribs simmering in the crock pot. We had our ribs with some cornbread, slaw, and baked beans.  Our neighbors were having ribs on the same night so we brought over half of the cornbread for them to enjoy with their dinner.  It is nice to be able to share good food with friends and neighbors!

Last, but certainly not least, is another vegetarian dish: Vegetarian Stuffed Mushrooms.  These are flavored with Balsamic Vinegar - portobellos, tomatoes, cheese and balsamic - you really cannot get much better than that!  The recipe calls for Fontina cheese, which we do not often have on hand and can be expensive, so we sub in fresh Parmesan as a nice alternative.  Flick was home for dinner this night so he ended up pulling it together - the prep time is very reasonable and makes for a nice mid-week meal.

Recipe Facelift

I am pretty excited for the recipes this week because not only are they delicious, but they are posted on my new recipe website, hosted by Recipefy.  I've been using a Google website that I created to store my recipes, but after only 10 weeks of posting I had reached my photo upload limit (really??).  That was going to be a problem.  It took some digging but I came across this site which is basically like Facebook for recipes.  Most people would not be that excited about it, however, I am over the moon.  Yes, it does mean that I have some serious work to do, moving all my recipes over there and updating all the links in the blog, however, it will be worth it in the end to have such a professional looking, user friendly collection.  Onto the food...

Most of the meals for this week were "indoor cooking" meals but there are some real favorites in this set (does it seem like I am always saying that?  I love good food).  Pork Chops with Country Gravy is a nod to the southern style sausage and gravy that is fun to indulge in for brunch every now and again.  It is a white gravy and is so delicious you would be hard pressed to believe it is "healthy".  We serve these chops with mashed potatoes.  We have not tried it yet but if you like sausage and gravy, you could definitely use this gravy to make a nice hearty breakfast.

We followed up this heavier meal with Garlic and Herb Oven Fried Halibut.  We really liked the crunch of the panko on these fish filets.  You can use any mild, white fish - just adjust your cooking times depending on the thickness of the filets.

The grill dish that we enjoyed this week was London Broil with Tomato Corn Relish.  London Broil can be a tough cut of meat so let it hang out in this marinade for awhile and resist the urge to over-cook it.  The relish is the perfect compliment (and a good way to work some veggies in!).

Honey Cashew Chicken with Rice was one of our "new to us" recipes this week.  Cashews are the number one nut in my book.  I do not pick them out of the mixed nuts (anymore) but I do give myself a mental fist pump when I end up with a solid handful that includes a lot of cashews.  Fun fact - cashews grow on trees and the nut itself grows off the end of a "false fruit" - the cashew apple:

Long story short, the richness of the cashews really round out this dish for me.

Finally, we are featuring another Mark Bittman creation - Sweet Potato Chile Mac.  I'll be honest, I was pretty skeptical about this dish and probably would have passed over the recipe if it had not come from his collection.  That is the power of good branding for you!  The dish went over very well and Flick actually declared "the guy who came up with this is genius!".  Enough said - give it a try for yourself and see what you think!  We used a pressed sausage (more along the lines of a kielbasa) as opposed to a crumbly sausage and it came out great.

Just throw some cheese on it...

Ellie had her 9 month wellness visit this week.  I know, 9 months already!  She is no small fry either - 75th percentile for both height and weight.  Love it - nothing better than her cute little belly and strong "skiers" legs (no pressure Ellie, I swear).  As we were reviewing her milestones, Dr. B asked how she was doing on solids - "Is she eating all of her vegetables?".  I replied with an enthusiastic "Oh yes, she loves everything she has tried so far - especially if you put a little cheese in it".  Back it up - really Michelle?  Ellie will eat her vegetables as long as they are laced with delicious, creamy, clog-your-arteries, cheese?  I am reminded of a commercial for Flick's favorite salad dressing that has always driven me nuts:

I wonder why the kids in "Hidden Valley" can't get enough of their vegetables (and yes, I do enjoy Ranch dressing)?  Needless to say, Ellie's mashed potatoes and peas did NOT have cheese on them at lunch that day.  She ate them, but gave me the stink eye the whole time.

The urge to add cheese to everything is something that we are very aware of in the Flickinger household.  Many so-so recipes have been miraculously "saved" by shreds of mozzarella or a few shakes of parmesan.  Even meals that taste great sometimes get the "What kind of cheese do we put on this?" question.  Did I mention that we both have high cholesterol?  These days I am really trying to draw out the flavors in recipes that need a little something, rather than just ensuring everything tastes like the cheese of our choice.  The 3 meals for this week that include cheese are supposed to - so if you feel the need, add a little more, but remember that cheese is only 1 of the ingredients.

Since we are fresh on the topic, lets start with the Pizza Margherita.  This was a good one - we used a fresh dough ball from the grocery store and pre-baked it a bit before adding the toppings.  The balsamic finale is the perfect touch and really took this pizza to the next level.

We fired up the grill and broke out the skewers for some Chicken Kabobs on one of our 90 degree days.  You really cannot go wrong with kabobs - there are a plethora of combinations of meats, fruits, veggies, and fish that you can make work.  For this concoction, a little fresh pineapple is great on the skewer with the onions and peppers.    

When it came to fish this week, I went to the grocery store without a specific fish recipe in mind.  I bought what was on sale (Cod) and came home to find a recipe.  Since we have a pretty robust collection of "staple" ingredients, I figured we would be able to come up with something.  We ended up with "Fillets and Spinach with Balsamic Vinaigrette" from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.  I should probably use this and the Betty Crocker cookbook more frequently; we always get good results with their recipes.

Turkey Meatball Ruben Subs is a whole new way to use ground turkey in a meal.  I felt as though the meatballs in the original recipe were on the dry side (there were no breadcrumbs, eggs, or milk in them).  One of the reasons I sometimes shy away from turkey burgers/meatballs, is that they tend to be on the drier side, given the lower amounts of fat in the meat.  A dry meatball is not a happy meatball.  There is no reason they cannot be just as good as their beef counterparts, so I tweaked this recipe and they came out a whole lot better - they even stood up well to the microwave when re-heating for leftovers!

We'll round out with Parmesan Polenta with Spicy Sausage.  Make only as much polenta as you will eat in the one sitting; it is much better when made fresh and only takes 5 or so minutes to whip up a batch for the leftover sausage sauce.  Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!!

The All American Blueberry Muffin - Bonus Recipe

Once summer was in full swing back in Connecticut, my mom used to pack us girls up into the car to go strawberry and blueberry picking with my Memere and Pepere.  Needless to say we LOVED everything about these trips - from hanging out at our Grandparent's house to sneaking pounds of freshly picked berries as payment for our efforts.  I am serious about "pounds" and use the term "sneaking" very loosely...if you have ever eaten dessert with me, you know what I'm talking about:

Mom, I am pretty sure Christa ate that chocolate cake...

My mom used to say that they were going to need to weigh us on the way in and the way out of the fields to account for all the fruit we ate while picking.  I can think of worse things to be loading up on!

I have yet to come across a "pick your own berry" farm out here in Colorado.  These days we settle for expensive quarts and pints of berries at the supermarket which definitely do the trick - but nothing beats fruit fresh from the fields.  I guess I better get on planning that garden for next year!

On a recent trip to the grocery store I bought an enormous bag of frozen blueberries (for about 1 million dollars).  On my first Mother's day all I really wanted were blueberry pancakes.  My body knows no limit when it comes to blueberry pancakes - like pizza, cereal, and ice cream, I could eat them all day long and that "you are full" filter would never kick in.  It is a problem.  The great thing about an extra large bag of blueberries is that once the pancake batter runs out, you can whip up a batch of blueberry muffins.  I made these muffins for dessert one night when we realized we were deficient in the sweets department.  They are really quick to pull together and they make the house smell amazing as they come out of the oven.  Fresh is always best, but once they are completely cool, if you wrap them individually in wax paper and put them in freezer bags, you can enjoy them a few weeks later and they are just as good!  We have pulled out frozen muffins for quick snacks in the morning before heading up skiing or off to work and it is always nice to know you have something good on hand.  I didn't get the greatest picture of them (it was kind of late and our kitchen lighting leaves a lot to be desired), but they certainly disappeared quickly in our house!

Hot Pockets

The weather was a little cooler the week that we made these recipes so it was not too bad to have the oven going in the house at night (these recipes queued up the week before we left on our trip).  Our kitchen gets HOT in the summer.  Between the inefficient light fixture that is like a heating lamp over the sink and the non-venting oven...we keep it toasty in that 1970's kitchen.  When we moved in last year it was a warmer than average summer and I was pregnant.  Normally my thermostat runs on the cooler side, however, last year I was a hot mess from the time we started cooking until I went to bed at night (with the windows open and ceiling fan on).  I never drink ice water but our ice trays couldn't keep up with Dozer and I.  Fortunately we had a lot of help with the meals right after we moved in thanks to our amazing families and the time they spent settling us into our new home.  After that we used the grill as much as possible and ate outside every night - meal planning was a little less formal at that point!

Speaking of hot, our first meal, Savory Sausage, Spinach, and Onion Turnovers, flash me back to those microwaveable Hot Pockets we used to enjoy growing up.  My sisters and I really didn't have any problem with chowing down on Hot Pockets (though I always burned my mouth on them...). 

These are pretty straightforward to make and there is no need to get hung up on the shape of the turnover.  Our turnovers never come out looking like turnovers so just shoot for getting the dough sealed up - circle, square, half-moon - they all taste the same and you won't be disappointed!

One recipe that we are enjoying for the second summer in a row is Grilled Zucchini Caprese Sandwiches.   All the cooking is done on the grill and it takes very little time to pull together these veggie filled sandwiches.  I recommend getting some good bread for these as it adds a lot to the meal.

This week we welcomed back Mac n' Cheese alongside a Baked Cod Filet.  For a quick grammatical interlude - as I was typing this entry I went back and forth between "Filet" and "Fillet" before resorting to my old friend, Google, to ensure that I was not misrepresenting the spirit of the meal.  I came across a blog that indicated the terms can be used interchangeably (both mean "a boneless cut of meat") and that Americans and Canadians are the most inconsistent in their usage.  I also happened upon this article published in the Boston Globe regarding the AP's guidance on food related words.  I found it to be pretty amusing and if I ever go pro with my food writing I am going to have some serious studying to do - in the meantime, stash a few of these nuances away for trivia night!

Back to the food: the crumb on the fish is made from Ritz crackers (or Zips if you are like us and buying generic) and lends a nice buttery flavor to the fish.  I cannot wait until Ellie can have Mac n' Cheese so we have a good reason to keep a few (more) boxes on hand.

The summer squashes are starting to pop up in the grocery store at "in season" prices, so we made Baked Ziti with Summer Vegetables.  For the pasta connoisseurs out there, you will notice that those are penne in the picture - any short pasta will do for this recipe (we always seem to have 1/2 boxes of pasta hanging around).  Dishes like this don't need a specific shape so cook up whatever short pasta you are looking to get rid of. 

Finally, Chicken with Lemon Leek Linguine.  I was skeptical at first about leeks and linguine coming together.  It seemed too stringy to work, but the flavors are great and we both really enjoy the mild onion-y taste of the leeks with the pasta and chicken - it is a great summer-time meal.  Keep it cool out there and if you are hanging out with a pregnant woman this summer, by all means, bring her a glass of ice water!


 

Well worth the wait

These days, the week prior to leaving on a trip is somewhere between circus and total chaos in our house.  Hence - the blog post just did not happen last week.  With a baby in tow it takes a minimum of 3 days to prepare for a vacation and when you throw in that baby being sick, work, school, mani/pedi (we were in a wedding - gotta have nice nails!)...time just really gets away from you!  Congrats to Mark and Tara on their beautiful wedding weekend and I hope that they are both relaxing on a peaceful beach in Hawaii....ahhhh.

When can we go?

I assure you that these meals were worth waiting for and you won't be disappointed if any end up on your table this week!

Let's start off with Italian Meatball Sliders.  We really loved these - this was a new recipe to us and it made enough for lunches during the week.  I couldn't find slider buns at the store so we just used smaller hamburger buns and they turned out just fine (we made the patties a little bigger as well).

Our meatless meal was Vegetable and Rice Burritos with Cheese.  These were nice and hearty for a veggie only burrito and we both agreed that this was a "keeper".  I was very careful not to over-stuff mine (for the sake of taking a picture) but Flick got a little aggressive with the fillings on his:

I'm way to full...

His required a fork and knife - mine came out well but doesn't stand out much against our burrito-wrap colored plates...a better photographer would have anticipated this and had an array of beautiful bright colored plates to display these tasty morsels on...we are a one-type-of-plate family:

Camouflaged

Antipasto Style Penne made for some delicious leftovers at lunch one day during the week.  I have made this both with the prosciutto crisped up and with it plain.  Both are fine but I definitely prefer it to be broiled a bit.  It is less stringy...I am a person who loves my bacon just to the edible side of "burnt to a crisp".  Limp bacon doesn't do it for me and I think prosciutto falls into that same category.

We tried Coconut Curried Pork, Snow Pea, and Mango Stir Fry this week.  This was a big hit with both of us - it is becoming apparent that we both really love curry dishes with a coconut milk base.  Mangoes are in season now so it is the perfect time to try this meal (so get after it!).  We have had this recipe in our book for ages and for whatever reason,  I have always passed over it.  I am so glad it is part of the rotation because it made for a delicious meal!  We served this over a sticky, long grain rice (I made a big batch and we used the leftovers in the aforementioned burritos later in the week).

Onto our fish meal: Cornmeal Crusted Catfish.  I never really had catfish until living out in Colorado but have come to include it as a regular player in our fish dinner category.  We design this meal to fully embrace the southern-style preparation for this fish (served with baked beans, slaw, and corn on the cob).  On a night with more time, we have cornbread too and it is just divine.  If you are a little unsure of catfish - use another mild, white fish (orange roughy would work really well too).

Hopefully you find these meals to be well worth the week delay in posting them!  It was great to catch up with everyone at the wedding and thanks to all who are following the blog.  I loved hearing from you about it and it means a lot to me to know that you are enjoying the posts.  Can't wait to see you all again soon!  Enjoy!

Double Duty Meals

One of our vegetarian meals this week did double duty for us - both as a pot-luck lunch and then as leftovers for dinner the following night.  I love meals that you can multipurpose.  Leftovers do not freak me out at all - they are essential in our house for those nights where unexpected things crop up making it tough to pull together a dinner.  It happens.

So one of our double duty meals was Curried Couscous with Broccoli and Feta.  This comes together very quickly and makes a pretty substantial amount of food so you can count on getting a few lunches or maybe another dinner out of this meal.

Another meal that we stretched to two nights was Cheesy Potato Soup with Ham Sandwiches.  The ham sandwiches are entirely optional so you can make this a straight up vegetarian meal if you decide to forgo them.  The fancy mayo that goes with the sandwiches is quite delicious so don't be afraid to make a little extra and use it on sandwiches for lunch!

Thai Chicken with Sugar Snap Peas is an old staple of ours.  It is actually hand written into my first recipe book - if you have ever been to our house while we are cooking, most recipes are cut out of our Cooking Light magazines and put into sticky-back-page photo albums.  Only our oldie-but-goodies and some family recipes make it into the hand written books.  I think we first made this when we lived back in Boston - it was probably one of the first (and only) entrees I ever made that involved peanut butter :)

For fish we went with Pecan Crusted Tilapia.  We had this on a business school class night so I made everything up (grits and corn on the cob) and cooked my fish and left some of the "crust" for Flick to use to make his once he was out of class.  I know I just got done talking about how much I like leftovers...but leftover fish is not my favorite so I wanted Flick's to be freshly made rather than reheated.

Finally...another pizza :)  This is Roasted Veggie and Ricotta Pizza.  A really great vegetarian pie.  The good news is that Ellie had cheese for the first time and seems to love it so we can count on her to help us polish off a pizza in the near-ish future...not that we have any problems doing that now on our own.