Gran's Lemon Icebox Pie reinvented as Key Lime Pie

Vanilla Wafer Crumb Crust:
Mix 40 crushed Nilla Wafers, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/2 cup melted butter in a pie plate.  Press mixture into crust.  Bake 8 minutes at 325 degrees.  Let cool.

Grate 1 tablespoon lime peel.  Squeeze limes to get 1/2 cup juice.
Separate 3 eggs.
Beat yolks and add 1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk.  Add lime juice and zest.  Blend well.
Fill pie crust with mixture.  Bake at 325 degrees for 14 minutes, until filling is set.  Turn off oven.  Prop door.  Let pie cool in oven.  Refrigerate.  Top with whipped cream to serve.

Creamy Parsnip Soup

This is a recipe from Martha's Everyday Food, so thank you (again) Martha Stewart!  It's really tasty, very easy, and only takes about 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. butter
1 lb. prepared leeks, sliced (2 cups)
1 lb. parsnips, trimmed, peeled, and cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces
2 apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium baking potato (about 1/2 pound), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 can (14.5 ounces) reduced sodium chicken broth (or homemade stock is even better)
1/2 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste
Leek garnish (see below)

Directions:

1. Heat butter in a large pot over medium heat.  Add leaks (reserving 1/2 cup for garnish). Cook, stirring, 5 minutes.
2. Add parsnips, apples, potato, broth, and 4 cups water.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, until vegetabels are tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
3. Working in batches, puree soup in a blender until smooth (or use an immersion blender).  Return it to pot; stir in cream.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serve with leek garnish.
4. To make leek garnish, in a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon butter over medium-high.  Add reserved 1/2 cup leeks; cook, stirring, until golden brown, about 3 minutes.

Tom Ka Gai

I made tortilla soup for us and chicken noodle soup for the kids the other night and wanted a way to use more of the stock afterwards.  I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and gave it a try tonight.

Ingredients:
3/4 pound boneless, skinless chicken meat (I used the leftover roasted chicken, but this would be excellent with shrimp, scallops, mussels, or chunks of a mild white fish.)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 (14 ounce) cans coconut milk
2 cups water or chicken stock
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger root
1 stalk lemongrass, cut into 2-inch pieces
4 tablespoons fish sauce or soy sauce (or combination)
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:
1) If using raw chicken, cut chicken into thin strips and saute in oil for 2 to 3 minutes until the chicken turns white.  (Skip this step if using seafood.)
2) In a pot, bring coconut milk and water or stock to a boil.  Reduce heat.  Add ginger, lemongrass, fish sauce or soy sauce, lime juice, and cayenne pepper.  Add the chicken and simmer until the chicken is done, 10 to 15 minutes.  If using seafood, simmer soup for 5 minutes, then add seafood and simmer an additional 5 to 10 minutes or just until seafood is cooked.  Add sugar in small amounts to taste - it really brightens the flavor of the soup.
3) Serve over cooked rice.  Sprinkle with scallions and fresh cilantro and serve steaming hot.

This is extremely easy to make and really good!  The flavor is fantastic, with just enough spice to really warm you up from the inside.  Mike liked his with slivers of fresh garlic on top, too.  We ate it with sugar snap peas and leftover garlic cheese bread and were stuffed afterwards.  I will definitely do this one again!

Sweet Mustard Roast Beef

I was at the grocery store this morning, standing in the produce section (one ear cocked for the sounds of my kids screaming at each other as they did their part of the shopping - more on that later), and trying to figure out what the heck to fix for dinner that we hadn't eaten in the last week.  I was paging through one of my go-to blogs, "A Year of Slow Cooking", and came across this recipe.  Sounded easy enough and I was definitely in the mood for a crockpot dinner, so I gave it a go tonight.

Wow.  This was REALLY good and super easy.  It took about 3 minutes to prep, 6 hours to cook, and no time at all to serve.  I used Stephanie's suggestions of mashed potatoes and green beans to go with the meat and it was the perfect combination.  Mike got home a bit late, so the kids ate first and they devoured about 2/3 of this.  All three of them loved it!  Mike and I ate after they went to bed and found we had just enough for the two of us.  I would probably use a little bigger roast the next time, knowing how much we all enjoyed it.

Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

3 large russet potatoes
2 Tbs. butter
2-3 Tbs. sour cream
1-2 Tbs. green onions, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Wash and peel potatoes. Cut into 1 inch cubes.
Put potatoes into a pot and add enough water to cover by 1/2 inch.
Boil potatoes until tender, 15-20 minutes.
Drain potatoes and put into a bowl.  Mash to desired consistency.
Add butter and mix until incorporated (add more if desired).
Add sour cream, salt, and pepper to taste.
Add green onions to taste.
Let potatoes sit for 5-10 minutes to allow onions to flavor potatoes; reheat if necessary before serving.

You could also use this recipe (see Topping) if you prefer a lower-fat version and like the flavor of parsnips.

Crockpot Chicken with Apricots and Dates

I wanted to use my crockpot again, so I turned to my go-to blog for a recipe this morning. This is the one I tried today and it's very tasty. I used bone-in thighs and removed the skins part-way through cooking. I should have removed the bones earlier because we ended up with a lot of cartilage pieces in the meat, and I did cook it a bit too long because the meat ended up a bit soupy. The flavor is really good, though, and I'd definitely make this one again. (Note: I added salt to taste at the end because it was a bit bland, as many of her recipes are. I've learned by trying them that she likes things less flavorful than we do.)

I served this over couscous, mainly because I had some on hand. It would have been better over a bigger grain, like rice, or over cauliflower couscous. I also roasted some broccoli in the toaster oven, which went with this really well.

Roasted Broccoli

Cut broccoli florets into halves or quarters, depending on size. Cut stems into equal size pieces. Put broccoli on baking tray and drizzle with olive oil. Toss to coat.
Sprinkle with granulated onion, granulated garlic, salt, and pepper.
In oven or toaster oven, bake at 400 degrees. Watch closely and as one side starts to brown, remove tray and stir.
Return tray to oven and continue baking to desired tenderness.
For toaster oven, baking time is approximately 5 minutes. For oven, baking time is 15-20 minutes.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We had a lovely day today. We all wore our green (sorry, forgot to take pictures) and the kids had some fun activities at school. The highlight for them was the Irish dance troupe that came and performed for the school and now our older daughter is dancing around the house trying to imitate them. To be honest, if she was interested in doing some kind of dance, I think that would be the perfect type for her - non-stop motion and very high energy! The older two had swimming this afternoon and then we came home so I could get dinner done for all of us. I did corned beef, which seems intimidating, but there is absolutely no easier way to do a big hunk of meat. I got a 3-pound corned beef brisket and put it in the crockpot (my second crockpot meal this week!) with an onion, 3 cloves of garlic, some peppercorns, and 2 bay leaves, covered it with water (about 2 cups), and turned it on high. 5 1/2 hours later - dinner! It was really good, too - very tender and tasty. I served it with twice-baked potatoes that I made myself and steamed asparagus. It always surprises me when a meal I plan and make turns out really good and this one was really tasty and actually quite easy. I will definitely do this again!

Shepherd's Pie

Who would have thought this blog would see three recipes in a row! I've gotten so sick of eating the same old stuff that I've had to actually try cooking, which is a big deal for me. Tonight was Shepherd's Pie, another recipe from the February issue of Martha Stewart Living.

Ingredients:

For the topping:

1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
3 parsnips (6 ounces), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup plain fat-free yogurt

For the filling:
1 Tbs. plus 1 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
3 celery stalks, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 pounds lean ground turkey
Course salt and freshly ground pepper
1 Tbs. fresh thyme
3/4 tsp. chipotle or regular chili powder
2 Tbs. plus 1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch
6 ounces frozen peas (about 1 1/2 cups)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Make the topping:
Place potatoes and parsnips in a medium saucepan, cover with water by 2 inches, and bring to a simmer.
Cook until fork tender, about 20 minutes.
Drain, reserving 2 cups cooking liquid.
Pass potatoes and parsnips through a ricer.
Stir in yogurt and 3/4 tsp. salt. Season with pepper.

Make the filling:
Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.
Cook onion, celery, carrots, and garlic stirring, until tender, 10 to 12 minutes.
Add turkey; cook, breaking up any large pieces, for 5 minutes.
Stir in 1 1/2 tsp. salt, thyme, and chili powder.
Whisk together cornstarch and reserved 2 cups of cooking liquid; add to turkey. Boil for 1 minute.
Stir in peas.
Transfer to a 2-quart round or oval baking dish; top with potatoes.
Bake until bubbling and top is browned, about 35 minutes.

I made some changes to this: I used ground bison instead of turkey because we love the flavor of this meat. I also used a bag of frozen mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, green beans, corn) instead of the chopped carrots and frozen peas. And I didn't have cornstarch, so I used all-purpose flour to thicken the sauce instead. I ended up using only 2 parsnips instead of 3 and needed a 3-quart casserole dish to fit all of the filling instead of the recommended 2-quart.

All of that said, this was SO good! It's definitely something I will make again. I will probably go with just peas and carrots next time (Mike wasn't completely thrilled with the corn, but I liked it) and I may try a mix of ground lamb and bison for a little different flavor. Cornstarch would make the sauce thicker and less soupy. This will be our go-to recipe for mashed potatoes in the future, too. The parsnips aren't overwhelming, but add a nice complement to the potatoes, and the yogurt adds a really nice, rich flavor without using butter.

This is the perfect meal for a cold night and could easily be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated and then put into the oven at dinner time (let it come to room temperature first so you don't crack your casserole with a sudden temperature change.

Breakfast Quinoa

I bought an issue of Martha Stewart Living a week ago and have been really enjoying reading it. There are some great recipes and this one caught my eye, so I decided to try it since we were actually home this morning (a very rare thing!).

I didn't see this recipe on the web site yet, but that may be because it just came out in the magazine. There are lots of other quinoa recipes, though, if you happen to really like this particular grain.

Ingredients:

2 cups whole or low-fat milk, plus more for serving (I used soy milk instead and it worked well.)

1 cup quinoa, rinsed

3 Tbs. light-brown sugar, plus more for serving

1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon, plus more for serving

1 cup (1/2 pint) fresh blueberries, plus more for serving

Directions:

Bring milk to a boil in a small saucepan. Add quinoa, and return to a boil.

Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, until 3/4 of the milk has been absorbed, about 15 minutes.

Stir in sugar and cinnamon. Cook, covered, until almost all the milk has been absorbed, about 8 minutes.

Stir in blueberries and cook for 30 seconds.

Serve with additional milk, sugar, cinnamon, and blueberries.

This was SO good! I'm not a huge oatmeal fan, so I don't tend to make hot cereal, but this was fantastic. The grains have a really nice texture after cooking and the flavor is a bit nutty and mixes well with the sugar, cinnamon, and fruit. Personally, I really like the flavor of cooked soy milk and would choose it over regular milk any day, but that's just me. One tip - be sure to watch this closely because it can boil over very quickly. I stirred it occasionally as it was cooking, and that worked well to keep the foam down.

Zucchini Börek

Mike and I love Anthony Bourdain's show "No Reservations". The latest episode was shot in Istanbul and featured some incredible-looking food. We knew nothing about Turkey (heck, I didn't even know where it was, which isn't surprising coming from me since I have absolutely no knowledge of geography) and certainly didn't know what constituted Turkish food, so we were happily surprised to hear about dishes combining elements from all of our favorite kinds of food. Okay, not so much the sweetbreads and testicles, but the other stuff sounded really tasty.

One of the dishes that he ate at someone's home was called zucchini börek. It's basically phyllo dough layered with a zucchini and cheese mixture and it looked really amazing. I decided to see if I could find a recipe for it, and low and behold, the internet provided. "Almost Turkish Recipes" has the below recipe, which I made for dinner tonight and served with a green salad and Aidell's Garlic and Gruyere Cheese sausages.

Ingredients:

1 box of phyllo dough (about 14 sheets) or 2 boxes if using double sheets

Filling:

4 cups of grated zucchini

3 eggs

1/2 cup finely chopped dill

1/3 cup finely chopped mint or 3 Tbsp. dried mint flakes

1/2 cup crumbled white Turkish cheese or feta

1 Tbsp. paprika

1 Tbsp. or less black pepper

salt to taste, depending on how salty the cheese is

1 tsp. spicy red pepper flakes (optional)

For brushing phyllo:

3 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 cup plain yogurt (any fat content)

Directions:

Thaw frozen phyllo according to package directions.

Mix all filling ingredients together in a bowl and let sit for 10-15 minutes.

In the meantime, grease an 11 x 13 or 11x11 baking sheet or line with a Sil-pat.

After sitting, filling will be very wet. Squeeze excess liquid out and put into a separate bowl.

Add yogurt and olive oil to the liquid and mix well. This will be used to brush the phyllo.

Place a phyllo, wide side facing you, on the counter. Brush it with the yogurt mixture.

Place a second phyllo on top and brush it with the yogurt mixture.

Note: Phyllo is very thin, so you may want to use 2 sheets together instead of one. If you decide to use double sheets, you will need at least 28 sheets total.

Place about 1/7 of filling along long side of phyllo and roll tightly into a long, thin cigar shape.

Coil roll into a tight spiral on the baking sheet.

Repeat brushing, filling, rolling and coiling 6 more times, until all of filling has been used.

Brush top of borek with remaining liquid.

Bake at 350 until golden brown, about 50 minutes.

Cut into triangle pie slices to serve.

I had never worked with phyllo before, so the first couple of rolls were a bit tricky to deal with. I also just used single sheets instead of double, making it that much harder. Once I got the hang of separating the sheets and layering them, though, it wasn't difficult, just time-consuming, to put this together. It has an interesting combination of flavors, that actually went quite well with the sausages we used. I think if I made this again, I would double the cheese in it since we couldn't taste it at all.

There were several other börek recipes on this site that I think I'd prefer to this one. There is a spinach version that sounds very good and another with ground beef that I'd like to try. It was fun to try something really different, though, and got us out of the rut of eating the same dishes over and over and over.

Crockpot Chicken and Biscuits

I've been wanting to pull out the crockpot again, but didn't feel like doing anything we've had in the past. I love pot pies, so I thought there had to be a recipe for one in the crockpot. This recipe really appealed because it doesn't use cream-of-something soup. Because I was short on time (baseball sign-ups were tonight and I didn't want to wait another 45 minutes to eat after I got home), I just made frozen biscuits to eat with it instead of baking homemade biscuits on top. I'll give that a try next time.

Ingredients:
4 cups chicken stock
1 roasted chicken, meat removed and diced
1 large onion, diced
2 carrots, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
3 stalks celery, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
3/4 cup flour
2 tsp. salt
black pepper

1 batch or your favorite biscuit mix/recipe
OR
1 dozen frozen biscuits

Directions:
Melt butter in a pan and add onions. Saute over medium-low heat, about 7 minutes, until translucent. Add salt, several grinds of black pepper, and stir in flour until it is smooth and bubbly.

In the meantime, turn your 6-quart crockpot on Low. Add chicken stock, carrots, celery, and potatoes. When onion roux is ready, stir it in as well. Cover and cook on low 4-7 hours or until potatoes are tender. Make sure you check it periodically, especially after the 4 hour mark, so your veggies don't turn to mush. Stir, turn to Warm, and add diced chicken and frozen peas.

Preheat oven to biscuit-baking heat. If desired, spray the top edges of the slow cooker to prevent sticking. drop biscuit dough in like dumplings. Place crock in the oven without the lid and bake for 15-20 minutes (usually about five minutes longer than recommended for cooking biscuits on a baking sheet).

Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.

If using frozen biscuits, bake according to package directions. Split biscuits and serve either under or over chicken.

This was really good! Definitely a recipe I'd do again and great comfort food. This recipe makes a LOT, but it should be great as leftovers. The kids gave it two thumbs up (the girls) and one thumb down (our son, although he liked the biscuits), so it's easily something we could do for a family dinner.

Beef Stew

It finally cooled off here, so I've wanted to make some hearty dishes. Last night was tortilla soup and tonight I decided to try beef stew. I found a recipe that sounded good, but I modified it a bit based on some of the comments. Here is my version.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter
1 pound beef stew meat
6 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups sweet vermouth
2 cups new potatoes
2 large carrots, quartered
4 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

8 ounces sliced brown mushrooms

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup cold water

Directions:

Melt butter in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the beef stew meat, and fry for 2 to 3 minutes, or until evenly browned on the outside.
Pour the chicken broth and vermouth into the stock pot. Add the potatoes, carrots, and garlic. Season with tarragon, bay leaf, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, honey, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and cover. Cook 2 1/2 hours to blend the flavors.
Remove cover and add the mushrooms. Continue cooking 20 minutes.

Dissolve the cornstarch in cold water then add to the stew. Boil for 15 minutes or until stew has reached desired thickness.

Serve over egg noodles.

This was really good, a very filling stew for a cool night. Next time, I'll decrease the sugar and honey by half and add a bit more salt. I may also use more meat and fewer potatoes.

Spaghetti Squash Casserole

I was wanting something different for dinner, so I got a spaghetti squash the other day. Of course, I had no idea what to do with it, so once I got home I surfed around trying to find a recipe that sounded good. I found one that I wanted to try, but made a few modifications to make it a bit more satisfying for us meat-eaters. I did end up overcooking the squash, so it didn't shred into strings - it was more like your typical mushy squash - but it tasted great and worked well as a casserole instead.

Ingredients:
1 medium-sized spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
1/2 pound sausage (we like Jimmy Dean, in the chub)
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1/4 cup grated romano cheese, plus an additional 1/4 cup (or more) for topping
2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
2 teaspoons butter, melted
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place squash in a baking dish, cut side down, and bake 30-50 minutes, until a knife can be inserted easily into the thick part of the squash. When the squash is done, remove it from the oven and allow to cool enough to handle. While the squash is cooling, cook the sausage until done. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon, leaving the drippings in the pan. Cook the onion in the drippings until translucent and add to the sausage. In a clean, dry pan, toast the pine nuts until brown on all sides, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Set aside. When the squash is cool enough to handle, scrape out the flesh using a fork and put in a casserole dish. Discard the skin. Add the sausage, onion, pine nuts, 1/4 cup romano cheese, sage, butter, salt, and pepper and mix together. Smooth out mixture in dish and top with additional romano cheese. Put dish back in oven set to broil and watch closely. Remove when cheese is melted and browned and squash mixture is bubbling.

We were pleasantly surprised at how this turned out! My attempts at improvisation while cooking are usually inedible, so this was a good surprise. I would definitely make this again when I'm in the mood for a homey, fall dish.

(11/10) Note: At the grocery store yesterday, I looked over the squash they had on display. it turns out that the one I used for this recipe was actually a butternut squash - that explains why it didn't "string" after it was cooked! So this should really be titled "Butternut Squash Casserole". I have no idea how this would taste with spaghetti squash, but I'm willing to give it a try!

Pasta Pomodoro

My garden has produced absolutely fantastic tomatoes this season. I think having them on the front porch where they can get the maximum amount of sun has made a huge difference in the flavor and quality of the tomatoes,m and we've been enjoying them immensely. But as often happens with a garden, we had an overabundance and needed to use the tomatoes we already had in the house before we could harvest the next batch. I decided to try making tomato sauce, using this recipe. My tomatoes are quite sweet, so I omitted the sugar, but followed the recipe otherwise. It was incredibly good and makes me never want to eat jarred sauce again!

lafille’s Pomodoro Sauce (see the original at the above link; my modifications are below)

Ingredients:
6-8 ripe Roma tomatoes (or any fresh tomatoes), diced (Some people insist they must be skinned. This is riDONKulous.)
1 medium-sized onion, color of your choice, diced
3 cloves fresh garlic, crushed, chopped, or thinly sliced
2 tbsp. olive oil
small handful fresh basil
2 tsp. sugar (depending on sweetness of the tomatoes)
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the onion, cook on medium heat for five minutes or so. Toss in the garlic, lower the heat, cover, and cook for ten minutes (stirring occasionally), or until quite soft.
2. Add the tomatoes, basil, sugar, salt, and pepper, cover and let simmer another ten to fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally. Cook your pasta.
3. If you don’t want a chunky sauce, throw it in the food processor. If you are a person who likes good things, skip this step and eat that stuff in all its chunky glory straight from the skillet. Feel free to add red pepper and Parmesan cheese to the finished product.

Barbecued Pork

I decided to pull out the crockpot again today and did a pork roast for the first time. I shredded the meat after it was cooked and we ate it on hamburger rolls with cheese and coleslaw. It was really good! This is definitely a recipe I'd do again. (Sorry I don't have pictures - we ate it before I thought about photos.)

Here is the link to the original recipe. My version is below.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds boneless pork shoulder
1 onion, sliced in rings (I used a sweet onion, but any should do)
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup barbecue sauce (I like Stubbs)
1/8 cup warm water
1/8 cup apple cider vinegar
1/8 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions:
Use a 4 quart crockpot. Trim meat, and place into your crockpot. Add sliced onion, ketchup, and barbecue sauce, then pour the warm water into the measuring cup and rinse. Pour the saucy water into your crock. Add vinegar, brown sugar, Worcestershire, Tabasco and salt.
Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, or until meat shreds easily with a fork. Remove meat, shred into small pieces, and then add back into crockpot. Turn it up to high and vent or remove lid to reduce sauce for 1-2 hours, until desired consistency.
Make sandwiches on rolls or sliced bread, adding cheese of your choice, mayo (I like Miracle Whip, but I'm the only one), and coleslaw.

Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup Crisco
1 1/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups oats, uncooked
1 cup raisins (optional)

Directions:
Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add Crisco, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat smooth, about 2 minutes. Stir in oats and raisins. Drop by heaping teaspoonful onto greased cookie sheet. Bake in preheated 300 degree oven for 15 minutes. Remove from tray when cool.

Tortilla soup

Tonight was tortilla soup night. I'm not much of a cook, but this is one thing I do well and we always enjoy it.

Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:
Roasted chicken (I use 1 chicken for 2 people) from Safeway or Costco
3 carrots
3 celery stalks
1 yellow onion
Salt to taste
1 (or more) avocado
1 lime
1 block jack cheese
1 block fontina cheese
1 bunch green onions
1 bunch cilantro
1 bag Mission tortilla strips

To make stock:
Remove meat from chicken. Cut into bite-size pieces and set aside.
Put chicken carcass (including skin) into large pot.
Cut carrots and celery into 4 or 5 pieces. Add to pot.
Cut onion into large pieces. Add to pot.
Add water to cover everything in pot.
Cook over high heat until boiling, then lower to simmer. Simmer for at least 2 hours or until vegetables are mushy. Remove from heat.
Remove chicken bits and vegetables with a spider or slotted spoon. Strain stock through a fine strainer to remove small pieces (if desired).
Skim fat (usually darker in color than stock) using a large spoon until all bubbles are gone.
Salt stock to desired taste. I don’t add any other seasoning since the chicken has a lot of flavor from the spices they use for roasting it.
If you are not using the stock right away, put it into the fridge until you are ready for it.

To prepare:
Pour stock into pot and heat.
Peel and cube avocado. Toss with lime juice.
Cube both cheeses.
Thinly slice green onion.
Remove leaves from cilantro and chop into small slices.
Heat chicken in microwave 1-2 minutes.

To serve:
Layer chicken, tortilla chips, cheese, avocado, green onion, and cilantro as desired in bowl. Ladle stock over ingredients.

Macaroni and cheese, broccoli, and tuna casserole

Mike and I have a thing for "white trash" food. I don't say that to be derogatory, it's just our way of describing comfort food that is very far from fancy. This is one of our favorites, which we had for dinner tonight. It's easy and was good on a cold night like tonight.

Macaroni and Cheese, Broccoli, and Tuna Casserole

Ingredients:
(all amounts are approximate and to taste)
1 large package Stouffer's frozen macaroni and cheese
broccoli
1/2 cup onion, chopped (I use the pre-chopped onion you can get from the grocery.)
2 cans tuna, packed in water
shredded cheddar cheese (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 Tbs. butter or olive oil or combination of both

Directions:
Assemble all ingredients in a 1 quart casserole dish.
Cut broccoli into bite-sized pieces. Steam in pot or in microwave until tender, but not soft (mushy broccoli is gross!). Put in casserole dish.
In a small pan, melt butter and saute onion over low heat until soft and transluscent, about 5 minutes. Add to the casserole dish.
While those are cooking, prepare the macaroni and cheese in the microwave according to the package directions.
Drain the tuna and add to the broccoli and onions.
Add the macaroni and cheese when it is done cooking.
Mix everything thoroughly.
Add the sour cream and mix until incorporated.
Press noddle mixture gently into the dish until top is smooth. Top with shredded cheese.
Bake at 375 degrees until cheese is melted and brown on top, approximately 15 minutes. Watch carefully to prevent burning.

I bake this in our toaster oven and it works very well, but I'm sure it would be fine in the regular oven, too. It might take a bit longer, so just watch for when the cheese looks as done as you like it.

What a crock!

I'd been talking with some friends at the kids' school about cooking with a crockpot and some of them absolutely swear by it, so I finally got a new crockpot (our old one was way too small to make anything that would feed all five of us) and decided to give it a whirl. One of those friends sent a link to a crockpot cooking blog A Year of Crockpotting, where I found a recipe for ropa vieja, a Cuban beef dish that Mike really likes. It seemed easy enough - get the ingredients, put them into the crock, and let it go for the day. We even had most of the stuff for it, so there was minimal shopping involved (a big plus with 3 kids home for spring break!).

It turned out to be a phenomenal success! (I'll bet you thought I was going to say it was horrible.) Mike was home for the day on Saturday - his first day home in almost 2 weeks - so he took over after I got it set up and started and tinkered with it a little bit. Not much though, so what we had was pretty true to the recipe. He also made some Cuban rice to go with it that was fantastic. The one thing we forgot was bread, which would have been great for soaking up the sauce, but otherwise, it was a wonderful dinner and one we would definitely do again. And it was even better for lunch today.

Ropa Vieja

Ingredients:
--3 lbs meat (get what's on sale. Stew meat, chuck roast, steaks, whatever.)
--1/2 cup chicken broth
--1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (could use white)
--1 T cumin
--1 tsp smoked paprika
--1 tsp salt
--1/2 tsp black pepper
--1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
--1 large red onion, chopped
--2 red bell peppers, chopped
--2 med yellow apples, grated
--3 stalks celery, chopped
--3 cloves smashed and chopped garlic
--1/2 cup cilantro leaves


Directions:
I used a 6.5 quart crockpot. I think you'll need at least a 5 quart----this is a lot of food.

Combine all of the dry spices in a bowl. Rub the spices all over the piece (or pieces) of meat you are using. Put the meat into your crockpot. Dump any extra spice on top.
Coarsely chop the vegetables and add to the pot.
Smash the garlic, take the leaves off the cilantro stems, and add.
Peel the apples, and grate them into the pot with a cheese grater.
Add the chicken broth and vinegar.
Cover and cook on low for a very long time, or on high for a pretty long time. I'd go for at least 10 hours on low and at least 7 hours on high, checking about 2 hours before serving to see if you can shred the meat with forks. (This is when we added the tomatoes.) If you can't shred the meat, cook for longer, or remove the meat and cut in long slices, then return to the pot.
Ropa Vieja means "old clothes"---the meat and vegetables should be shreddy and fully intertwined. The longer and slower you cook this, the better. There is plenty of moisture from the chicken broth and vinegar---if you are a peeker, you may need to add more chicken broth; but otherwise, you'll get a good amount of juice at the bottom of the pot.
Serve over brown or white rice, with a ladle full of broth.


Cuban Yellow Rice

Ingredients:
1 cup converted rice
1 small red pepper (or green, or mix)
1 small onion
3 small cloves garlic
2-3 Tbs. vegetable oil
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/8 tsp. saffron, ground (or 2 Tbs. annato oil)
3 Tbs. boiling water
1 tsp. salt
1/4-1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. paprika (half hot, if desired)
1/8-1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
2 cups low salt chicken stock

Directions:
Measure spices. Steep saffron in boiling water.
Chop pepper, onion, and garlic to small dice. Saute in oil over medium heat until translucent, about 10 minutes.
Add rice, saute 3-4 minutes until rice is translucent.
Add spices and saffron water and cook another 30 seconds to 1 minute until the saffron water is absorbed and the rice turns deep yellow.
Add stock and peas, stir well.
Cover and cook over low heat for 20 minutes.
Remove from heat and allow to rest undisturbed 10-15 minutes.
Remove lid, fluff with fork, and serve.