Spooooooky Cake!

We had a bake sale at work today. Elle made a tombstone cake which was totally sweet. I went slightly lamer and just made a delish Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake. Quite tasty, less impressive though.

Note the deformed looking spider...I was running out of decorating gel!

Thanksgiving trial run

Having never really prepared a turkey on my own before, or all the accoutrements, I decided to get a bone-in turkey breast and make some fixins this weekend. I had a delightful 6.3 pound breast that apparently needed lots of weird gross juices added to it, which I had to pour out of the cavity and rinse thoroughly. The dog was VERY interested in these smells. Anyways, I seasoned said bird with salt, pepper, and slathered some butter all over it. Then tossed an onion in the small cavity and slung it in a 325 deg. oven. It needed about 3 and a quarter hours until it reached 170 degs internally.

Meanwhile, I prepared some stuffing/dressing. I cheated - I simply softened an onion and some celery in some butter with salt/pepper, then tossed in about 3 c of cubed Pepperidge Farm seasoned stuffing mix and added the requisite amount of chicken broth. Toss in a casserole dish, and it baked alongside the turkey for the last hour or so.

Additionally meanwhile, I made some mashed potatoes. I'm not going to explain how to make potatoes. If you need assistance, see the Food Network homepage.

And finally, I made gravy with the turkey drippings. Drippings, plus flour, mix until flour is unfloury, add chicken broth (or turkey broth) and in my case, pepper and wine. A bit too much wine, so I had to cook it a bit longer and add more broth, but it was still pretty good.

c'est fin.

Sandwich experiments

R and I experimented with a Cuban sandwich, as envisioned by one Mr. Alton Brown in this recipe. It involved layering pork, ham, cheese, mustard, and pickle slices on a hoagie bun. It was actually quite delish. Elle will be horrified.

More FB snacks

Elle will recall these from our recent mini-party at Chez Elle, but R and I devoured a plate of these whilst watching football on Saturday:

Mmm....delicious crescent roll filled with pepperoni and provolone...

Eat a dang quesadilla!

Last night's dinner was fab quesadillas. Tortillas with a spread of refried beans mixed with diced chilis, some shredded chicken, a bit of cheese, and sauteed onions and peppers. Mmm. Delish.

Here's R's, sans beans. Photo by R.

Building a soup

Sunday was spent in the kitchen making some soups. I decided to do a sort of vegetable beef stew and R requested chicken noodle for his lunches.


For the vegetable beef stew, I lightly floured* 2 lbs of extra lean stew meat and browned it in a small amount of olive oil, in batches. Set aside the meat on a plate. In the remaining fat, add 2 chopped onions, 1 c thinly sliced carrots, and 1/2 c chopped celery.



Give that 10-15 minutes to soften. Then I added 1 chopped zucchini, about 1 1/2 c fresh green beans, and 2 diced potatoes.





THEN, I added the herbs - a sprig of rosemary, several sprigs of thyme, and some bay leaves, along with more salt/pepper. And I squished in some roasted garlic.



I added about 1/2 c of red wine and allowed that to simmer. Then came a 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes, with their juice, and 2 boxes of beef broth. I let that simmer forever, meanwhile, adding about 1/3 c of pearl barley, 1/4 elbow macaroni, and about 1/4 c lentils. There was also corn. I added about a shot's worth of Worcestershire sauce and probably a tsp of bouillion powder over the duration of the cooking time. I don't have a pic of the final product, because I keep forgetting. But it is quite good. And we're eating it again tonight. Third night of it. Yeah.


The chicken soup is much quicker. First, I browned 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs in a small bit of oil. Once the skin was browned, I added some salt and pepper, and 1 box and 1 can of low sodium chicken broth, along with a can's worth of water. I added a sprig of rosemary, two thyme sprigs, a sprig of majoram, more salt and pepper, 1 chopped onion, about 1 c of chopped carrot and 1 stalk of chopped celery (R doesn't like celery). I also squeezed in some remaining roasted garlic, about 3 cloves worth. I allowed that to simmer at a low boil for about 20-25 minutes, until the chicken was cooked through. I took the chicken thighs out, and replaced them with 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts. After 15 minutes, those were also removed, and all the chicken parts were de-meated and the meat was shredded (skin/bones were discarded, much to the pup's dismay). The chicken meat was returned to the pot, the liquid was brought back up to a boil, and a heaping handful of egg noodles were added and cooked until soft. And that's that.








*I seasoned the flour with salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.

Pasta fagioli

As mentioned, we kick off the diet with dinners of decent sized helping of pasta fagioli, or, Italian bean soup (we add meat too b/c we heart meat).

Start by frying up one strip of bacon over medium low heat with 1 tbsp olive oil in a large stockpot. Meanwhile, brown 3/4 lb ground sirloin in a separate pan, and drain thoroughly. To the bacon, add 2 medium onions, chopped, 1/2 chopped carrots, and 2 chopped celery stalks. Turn up heat to medium and cook until slightly tender. Add 3-4 cloves of minced garlic, 1/2 tsp red chili pepper flakes, 1 tsp dried rosemary (crushed), 1-2 tsp dried thyme (crushed), salt, and pepper. Allow the seasonings to toast a bit, then add in the ground beef, 1 large can of crushed tomatoes, 1 smaller can of diced tomatoes (I used leftover garden tomatoes), and about 5 c of chicken stock. Allow the mixture to come to a boil, then add 6-8 oz. dried elbow macaroni, or other short pasta. Add one can each dark red kidney beans and navy beans, rinsed and drained. Allow to cook on medium heat until pasta is tender. Serve with a light dusting of parmigiano reggiano grated on top. Delish.

Chicken and beyond

Earlier this month, R and I had a chance to dine at one of our fave restaurants, Maggiano's for a rehearsal dinner. We had some lovely apps, followed by a family-style servings of chopped salad and caesar salad, gnocci with a tomato vodka sauce, chicken saltimbocca, roasted pork, chicken with veggies and farfalle, and for dessert, chocolate zuccotto and a delicious apple crostada. It was super delish, and super filling, obviously.

R lurved the chicken saltimbocca, so I set about to replicate it at home. Basically, I pounded out chicken, seasoned with salt, pepper, and an Italian seasoning mix (was out of sage, and was v. po'd about it) and then layered on some prosciutto and a sprinkling of parm. Rolled it up, pinned it with some toothpicks, and then browned it in a pan and baked until done. I then made a bit of a sauce using the brown bits in the pan, a splash of wine, chicken broth, lemon juice, and butter.

To go along with the chicken, I made an Everyday Food recipe, Mushroom Ragout with Pasta. I didn't use quite that many mushrooms, mainly b/c I didn't feel like buying that many mushrooms, and I subbed in some tomato balsamic vinegar for the red wine vinegar (because I had it on hand, from the fab Oil & Vinegar store). It was pretty tasty, and R loooved it. I'm not sure that I'd build the sauce with just tomato paste the next time, but then, I guess it simply becomes a basic mushroom sauce. Hmm. Anyways, I would recommend it for mushroom people.

Chicken Cordon Bleu (or something like it)

So, after seeing leftovers of Elle's fab chicken, I decided to go out on my own and prepare something resembling chicken cordon bleu. First, I mixed about 1/3 c of mayo, 1 tbsp of Dijon mustard, 1 finely minced garlic clove, salt, pepper, and about 1/2 c shredded swiss cheese. Then, I pounded flat two chicken breasts, laid slices of smoked ham on top, and spread on the swiss cheese mixture.

I then crushed about half a sleeve of faux Ritz crackers and placed in a bowl. The chicken was rolled up, floured, egged, and crackered, then fried in a bit of oil and butter until crisp and browned. The chicken was tossed in a 375 degree oven until cooked through (25 minutes?) and served with a fabulous (actually, kinda gross) Rice-a-Roni mixture and some green beans with red pepper and garlic.



Note to BC grads - anyone remember the Chicken Kiev or whatever it was called that was served in the dining halls that would literally shoot butter in your face when you sliced it?