Recipe Round-up: Um...yum!

If you haven't figured it out by now, I'll just say it: I love food. I love it. I love trying new foods (so long as they're not spicy. I do not like spicy food.), I love making new foods, I love food. I wonder daily if I'm instilling that love for food into my boys, especially my younger son, the dreaded Picky Eater! (Dun, dun dun...)

Now, I should say that I know Devin does love food. He really does. He just loves the wrong foods. Cookies, chips, crackers, candy--the four Cs of doom. We'll add some breads, pastas, butter, jam, peanut butter and for some strange reason, veggie corn dogs and veggie 'chicken' nuggets. I hate to be so cliché, but it really is like pulling teeth to get D to eat anything remotely healthful.

Due to D's penchant for junk and the large plastic tub of junk food wrappers that my husband brought downstairs recently, our house has gone on a near complete junk food ban. If it's not healthful, it's not in the house. This means that I need to rethink my recipe arsenal some too as those convenience foods were a big part of how I'd even get D to eat at all.

So what's a mom to do, right? Research! I know, I know...research means work. Research means experimenting. Experimenting can mean failure, lots and lots and lots of failure. Ask me, I know. Too many nights of, "I don't liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike <<insert any food here>>!" tend to grate on the nerves of even the most patient parent. Now, what I'm about to share with you is no guarantee. Your child may hate it. Your child may throw it at you or stop speaking to you for a week. I don't know. My child, my super picky hates everything that touches his lips that isn't mostly carbs, gave this one the highest praies he gives to anything. He saves this praise for his favorite treats: ice cream, slushies, junk...But this time, and maybe only this time, Devin gave a healthful dish an "Um, YUM!!!" when asked what he thought of it.

Honeyed Mango Chicken with Toasted Cashews

Ingredients:



3 tablespoons peanut oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 cup salted cashews
3 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/4 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped (about 1/4 cup)
1 medium mango, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
Sesame Rice, recipe follows



Directions:

In a large bowl or re-sealable plastic bag, mix together 2 tablespoons of the oil, the soy sauce, and the honey until well combined. Add chicken and toss to coat well. Place in refrigerator to marinate at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.

Meanwhile, heat a large frying pan over medium heat and add nuts. Toast nuts, shaking pan a few times, until nice toasted, about 2 minutes. Set aside to cool. (Can be made up to 3 days in advance.)

When chicken is ready, heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic and onion and cook until soft, about 2 minutes. Add chicken and marinade juices and cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken is browned on all sides and cooked through, about 6 minutes. Stir in mango and cashews and cook until heated through, about 

1 minute. Taste and adjust seasoning, as necessary. Serve immediately over Sesame Rice.

Toasted Sesame Rice:
3 1/2 cups water
2 cups long-grain rice
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1/4 cup white sesame seeds
Bring water to a boil. Add rice and salt and stir to combine. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until rice is tender and water is absorbed, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, to finish cooking, about 5 minutes. Stir in oil and sesame seeds and serve.
Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 2 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Ease of preparation: easy


Notes: I added in some sliced zucchini and sugar snap peas just a couple minutes before cooking was done.


Enjoy!! I'll be adding this one into the rotation for sure!!

Recipe Roundup: Spaghetti with Asparagus, Smoked Mozzarella and Prosciutto

HI Everyone! I hope you enjoy my first recipe here on Christy's Blog. This recipe was featured on the Today Show a few days ago and it is YUM!!! It's such a quick and easy recipe to prepare and uses just a few ingredients!! Enjoy!

Spaghetti with asparagus, smoked mozzarella and prosciutto

Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients

• 2 pounds asparagus, trimmed
• 3/4 pound spaghetti
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 6 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, cut crosswise into strips
• 6 ounces smoked mozzarella cheese, diced (about 1 cup)
• 6 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil leaves

Preparation

Cook the asparagus in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 2 to 3 minutes. With a spider or slotted spoon, remove asparagus from boiling water to a bowl of ice water to cool and stop the cooking. When cool, cut asparagus into 1-inch pieces, and set aside.
Return the water in the pot to a boil, adding additional water if necessary. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, tender but still firm to the bite, about 8 minutes. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.
Heat the oil in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 20 seconds. Add asparagus to the skillet. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add the pasta, and if needed, some of the reserved cooking liquid. Toss to coat. Add the prosciutto, mozzarella and basil, and toss to combine. Turn off the heat. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and serve.

Serving Size

Recipe Round-up: But, Mommy!! You know I don't like...

Anything? Yes, I've got a picky eater in my house and it's not me. Well, mostly not me. My eight year old is the most vexing child when it comes to making dinner. A meal he liked last week has become the most vile thing this week. Case in point: when D was younger, once of his favorite foods was a crock pot meal called Cream Cheese Chicken. He'd eat it with gusto, it's ranchy, ricey goodness being shoveled into his mouth with abandon. Then, out of nowhere, "I HATE THAT!!!" And he does. With a passion rarely seen in children his age. A dish he ate for years now relegated to the ever growing list of things my child won't eat. 

What's a mother to do when her child just refuses to eat, well, anything? I don't cater to his food whims. I'd never leave the kitchen if I did. I am more inclined to make a few things I know he will eat more often than I'd be wont to do otherwise. One of D's favorite dishes is the old stand-by--spaghetti and meatballs. It just so happens that the rest of us love it too. Now, I'm sure you all know how to cook pasta and have your own favorite sauce whether it be jarred or scratch made. (Jarred please--Mid's brand. OMG, yum! If you can find it--buy it, use it. Thank me later. Seriously.) But meatballs. Meatballs!! They're a dish that left me stymied for years. No matter what I did, they turned out hard and nasty. Until I borrowed a Taste of Home ground beef cookbook from the library. (Angelic music plays...) EUREKA!! Here's the holy-grail of meatballs for our family. I confess, I'm not the one that makes them, the husband does that. He's just got this magic touch with them that keeps them light and delicious. 

Meatballs!

Ingredients

• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
• 2-3 Tablespoons steak seasoning (that's a guesstimate, I eyeball it.)
• 1 envelope spaghetti sauce mix
• 1-1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 
  

Directions

• In a bowl, combine the eggs, bread crumbs, cheese, parsley, 3 tablespoons spaghetti sauce mix and salt. Crumble beef and pork over mixture and mix well. Shape into 20-24 meatballs.
• In a large skillet, cook meatballs until no longer pink; drain. Stir in your spaghetti sauce of choice. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 25 minutes.
• Meanwhile, cook your pasta according to package directions. 

Notes:

On occasion, we'll grate some zucchini into the meatball mixture. When we do this, we usually reduce the number of eggs to one since the zucchini adds enough moisture on its own. It's just one way to get a little bit of veg into my oh so finicky child. 

I hope you all try this meatball recipe! And if you think you've got one that's better, please share!! Until next time...

Recipe Round-up: Nostalgia on a roll...

I've been feeling a little homesick lately. Okay, a lot homesick. I miss my friends in Madison, I miss all my favorite stores and haunts, too. I know it sounds silly, but I really miss having a Super Target less than a mile from my house. So, I'm feeling homesick for Madison, which, in turn, makes me homesick for New Jersey. Yeah, I said it. Don't judge. I lived there for 24 years. It's my home, my foundation for pretty much everything I know in life--especially food. My ideas on what makes a good pizza, a good bagel, Taylor ham! It all comes from New Jersey and the surrounding area. I managed to find great pizza in Madison, a decent bagel---and no Taylor ham. Here in Cinci, I've found decent pizza, chain bagel shops and Taylor ham (thanks, Jungle Jim's for having a selection so varied!). The one thing that I have yet to find in any of the places I've lived outside of New Jersey (they also include Texas and Florida--neither of which had good pizza or bagels...or the ham) is a Philly Cheesesteak. The soft bread with the crusty outer shell, the warm, greasy, salty meat, the sweet grilled onions...and the cheese, or should I say Cheez? Oh man, my mouth is watering as I type. Like most people who've been to Philly for a true Philly cheesesteak, I have a favorite. I've tried Geno's, Jim's and Tony Luke's as well as a few other smaller places that aren't nearly as well-known or popular. For me though, the undisputed champion of cheesesteaks is Pat's King of Steaks. So delicious, so messy, so bad for you...but oh so good. So what does any of that have to do with today's recipe? Well...years ago, Pat's posted their recipe on their website. It's no longer there that I see, but being the crafty person that I am, I saved and laminated that recipe as soon as I found it. And today, dear readers, I plan to share its deliciously greasy joy with you. Now, let me just say that it won't ever be exactly like Pat's---you'd need their rolls to achieve their version of cheesesteak Nirvana...but it comes dang close.

drooooooool.....

Pat's King of Steaks Cheesesteak

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons oil (Soybean oil is recommended)
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 24 ounces sliced rib eye or eye roll steak
• Cheez Whiz; American or Provolone
• 4 crusty Italian Rolls
• Sweet green and red peppers, sauteed in oil (optional)
• Mushrooms sauteed in oil (optional)
• Ketchup

Directions:

Heat an iron skillet or a non-stick pan over medium heat and add 3 tablespoons of oil to the pan and saute the onions to desired doneness. Remove the onions and add the remaining oil and saute the slices of meat quickly on both sides. Melt the cheez whiz in adouble boiler or in the microwave. Place 8 ounces of the meat into the rolls, add onions, and pour the store-processed cheese over top. Garnish with sweet peppers, mushrooms, ketchup.

Put on the theme song to the first Rocky movie and enjoy.

Do yourself a huge favor--try the Cheez Whiz. It's the standard at Pat's, for a reason. If you're ever in Philly--give cheesesteaks a chance, try a few of the places listed here.

Recipe Round-up: Eat Your Veggies

Lately, my husband and my older son have been asking for a lot more vegetables. For a veggie-hater like myself, this is akin to asking me to tear out a tooth without any sort of numbing agent. That's not to say that I won't eat veggies, I will! I'm just not eager to do so. In an effort to appease their more herbivorous natures, I'm introducing vegetarian meals to our menu at least once a week. I figure that for the first week or two, I should just dip my toe in the waters. I'm not the only veggie-hater in this house! So, I'm starting with the following recipe--cream cheese, pasta, lemon...what's not to love?!

Linguine in Lemon Cream Sauce
recipe © and courtesy Vegetarian Times magazine

Ingredients:
8oz dry linguine (I'll use a full 16oz package, the husband loves pasta leftovers)
½ cup light cream cheese (I'm using regular since I don't keep light on hand)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 lemon, juiced, plus 1 Tbsp zest, grated
½ cup chopped parsley

Directions:

1.  Cook linguine according to package directions in pot of boiling, salted water.
2.  Warm cream cheese, oil and 2 Tbsp. lemon juice in saucepan over low heat.
3.  Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of cooking water.  Stir reserved cooking water into cream cheese mixture.  Add pasta, lemon zest, and parsley; toss to coat.  Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

Nutritional Information  (per 1 cup serving):  calories 343, protein 11g, total fat 14g (5g sat), carb 45g, cholesterol 21mg, sodium 294mg, fiber 2g, sugars 4g  (for those interested--this dish, as written,  is 9pts through the Weight Watchers Points Plus program.)

And that's it!! I know, you're wondering where the veg is, right? Have no fear, it's covered. I'm serving one of the few veggie dishes I can truly say I love: Parmesan Roasted Broccoli!! Add some crusty bread and enjoy!!

Recipe of the Day: Alfredo Sauce

Hi, this is Heather (aka. Ther) sharing this week's recipe, which happens to be a new favorite of my family. I am a mom to five little ones and that alone keeps me on my toes so when it is dinner time I just don't have a lot of time to cook. So, I am always looking for quick delish options that are affordable and that my family will eat...we have some serious picky eaters. For instance, we LOVE Alfredo sauce especially from Olive Garden but we can't afford to go there as often as we would like. I have not been able to find one in a jar that we like and most recipes just aren't as good...until now. Hopefully you family will love it too.

(Picture taken from myrecipes.com)

1/2 c. butter

1 pkg cream cheese (8oz.) - The last time I made it with the Philadelphia Cooking Cream and it worked great.

1 c. half and half

1/3 c. Parmesan cheese

1 T. garlic powder - I like garlic so I substituted two minced clove of garlic here.

Pepper to taste

In a sauce pan, melt butter. When almost melted add cream cheese and stir until creamy. Add half and half, Parmesan and garlic. Stir till mixed and pour over noodles, use as a pizza sauce or simply as a dip for bread sticks (that is what we do with the leftover sauce).

I hope you enjoy it. I think I know what I am making for dinner tonight. :)

Recipe Round-up: What's for dinner?

That's the BIG QUESTION, isn't it? I try my best to plan ahead, but tend to fail miserably by the second or third dinner. Then I'm left with that BIG QUESTION again. What a pain in my neck! It doesn't help that, even though I love to cook, I'm a lazy cook. I like easy. I like quick and dirty meals that require minimal preparation and thought. I really like recipes that allow me to delegate most of the work to my boys and/or my husband. For recipes that fit the bill, I turn to breakfast! Andrew makes some really amazing waffles, JP's old enough to scramble eggs, and Devin's a pro at getting the bacon onto a cookie sheet and into the oven. All I have to do is sit back and wait.

Now, I'm going to ask you to trust me with this recipe. It might sound a little out there, it might not even sound good to you. This is where the trust comes in. Trust me! These waffles are the BEST. WAFFLES. EVER. Period. End of sentence. Stop looking for another recipe...unless you're the one person on the planet who doesn't like bacon. If that's you, move along. Nothing to see here...

Crispy Cornmeal-Bacon Waffles

Ingredients:

• 8 bacon slices
• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup yellow cornmeal (buy a fine ground cornmeal, please.)
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups buttermilk (I use Saco buttermilk powder and make it according to the package directions. Saco buttermilk powder is great! No need to rush out and buy buttermilk on some random Tuesday night)
• 2 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted, cooled
• Additional melted butter or nonstick vegetable oil spray
• Additional pure maple syrup
• Brown sugar and or cinnamon/sugar 

Directions:

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper, lay out out bacon strips. Sprinkle liberally with brown sugar. Feel free to add some cinnamon sugar if you like. We skip the cinnamon, I'm allergic. )^; Put bacon into a cold oven, set the temperature to 400°F and walk away. Come back 15 minutes later. Is the bacon just crisp? Yes? Take it out. No? Walk away for two more minutes, check again. Once it is just crisp, take it out and allow it to cool just enough to avoid burns. Crumble and set aside.

Whisk flour and next 3 ingredients in large bowl to blend. Whisk buttermilk, eggs, and 3 tablespoons maple syrup in medium bowl to blend. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients; stir just until blended. Fold in 1/4 cup melted butter and crumbled bacon.

Preheat waffle iron (medium heat). Lightly brush waffle iron with melted butter or spray with nonstick spray. Working in batches, spoon batter onto hot waffle iron, spreading evenly over grid. Close waffle iron and cook until waffle is brown, crisp, and set, about 6 minutes, depending on type of waffle iron. Transfer waffles to plates. Serve with maple syrup. Eat, enjoy. Thank me profusely. Name your next child after me. Go ahead, you know you want to...

Join me again next week for another yummy recipe! TTFN!

Leila

Recipe Round-up: Chicken Parmesan Rollatini

Have you ever had one of those days? One where you're sure the entire world is out to get you, nothing is going your way, the kids are on their worst behavior, etc., etc.? Yeah, me too. I can usually handle all of that, but then throw in trying to figure out what to do with yet another package of chicken breasts, well, sufficed to say it becomes that proverbial straw to my camel's back. As much as I love to cook, I hate figuring out what to cook as much, if not more.

On a recent day when all I wanted was for Calgon to take me away and never bring me back, I stumbled upon the following recipe. Chicken Parmesan Rollatini. I need you to be aware of something: I'm a sucker for chicken parm in pretty much any form it can take. I've had it on pizza, I've had White Chicken Parm, I've even made a chicken parm pasta. It's truly one of my favorite foods. So I printed this recipe up and showed the kids--and when Debug, my exceptionally (and somewhat irrationally) picky eight year old said, "Oh, Mommy, that's looks super-de-dooper delicious!!", I just knew it would be on my table. So, without further ado, the dish that made my Debug eat tomato sauce and green things (and polenta...)....

Photograph by Antonis Achilleos

Chicken Parmesan Rollatini

courtesy of and copyright FoodNetwork Magazine

Ingredients

• 1 cup fat-free low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 14.5-ounce can crushed San Marzano or fire-roasted tomatoes 5 or 6 fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 4 thin (1/8-inch-thick) chicken cutlets (4 ounces each)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 6 ounces shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (about 1 cup)
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 large egg white
• Cooking spray
• Instant polenta, for serving (optional)

Directions

1. Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 450 degrees F. Cook the broth, garlic, tomatoes and basil in a skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Cover to keep warm.
2. Season the chicken with salt and pepper; place smooth-side down on a work surface. Sprinkle with the parsley and mozzarella. Starting at the short end, roll up to enclose the filling. Secure with a toothpick.
3. Mix the parmesan and breadcrumbs in a shallow dish. Put the egg white in another dish and beat until foamy.
4. Mist a cast-iron skillet with cooking spray. Dip the chicken rolls in the egg white, then coat with the breadcrumb mixture. Place in the skillet, seam-side down. Sprinkle with any remaining breadcrumbs and mist with cooking spray. Bake until cooked through, about 20 minutes. Serve with the tomato sauce, and polenta, if desired.

Per serving: Calories 355; Fat 14 g (Saturated 7 g); Cholesterol 105 mg; Sodium 848 mg; Carbohydrate 15 g; Fiber 2 g; Protein 44 g

I hope you all enjoy this one as much as we did. A small confession: I bought a couple rolls of precooked polenta, sliced it up and gave it a quick sauté in a skillet with some butter and olive oil. Debug thought they were corn cakes--who am I to argue? (^;

Until next time!!
Leila

Recipe Round-up: Grammy's Cranberry Jello Salad

Happy Thanksgiving readers! We're celebrating here in the States and I (Leila) thought I'd come and share my favorite holiday dish with you all. For years, this jello salad was the highlight of my holiday meals. I sat at the kids' table though, so by the time the pan got to me, there was barely a bite left! My Grammy finally decided that it was time to make an extra batch of this scrumptious combination of ginger-ale, cranberry, pineapple and lemon jello for our table alone!  She really was the greatest, so in her memory I give you:

Grammy's Cranberry Jello Salad

1 (20 ounce) can pineapple tidbits or crushed pineapple

2 (3 ounce) packages lemon Jell-O gelatin

7 ounces ginger ale

1 (16 ounce) can cranberry sauce

8 ounces cream cheese

1 (2 ounce) package Dream Whip

½ cup pecans, chopped

Directions

Drain pineapple, reserving juice. Add water to make 1 cup.

Boil; add Jello, stirring to dissolve.Stir in ginger ale.

Blend pineapple and cranberry sauce.

Fold into Jello.

Pour into a 9x9 or 9x13 baking dish and chill.

Make Dream Whip according to package directions.

Beat in cream cheese.

Spread over Jello and top with chopped pecans.

You may add 1/4 to 1/3 cup powdered sugar to topping, if desired. I find it needs that touch of sweetness.

Skip the nuts if you don't like them. Also, make this the night before or your frosting will be runny!

I hope you'll all give this spin on Thanksgiving cranberries a try! I promise you won't be disappointed!! 

Recipe Roundup

Hey everyone!!! It is Heather here with your Recipe Round-Up. I must admit that I am not a huge cook….not that I don’t want to be but never learned. Growing up we lived on boxed meals. After all, my mom only knew three seasonings (garlic, salt, pepper, and did I already mention GARLIC?). That little glove (Hamburger Helper) was family and we spent our time baking instead. Thank goodness my husband cooks or else we would either starve or be sick to death of things that come from a box. LOL

So for today I want to share one of my absolute favorite recipes that I received when someone brought my family dinner after I had my first son. The meal was fabulous (creamy chicken enchiladas) but really I live for dessert so the recipe that I am sharing is for the most fabulously scrumptious chocolate chip cookies. These are perfect as an after school snack or to make an ice cream sandwich just add your favorite flavor. To make it perfect for the holidays, peppermint ice cream is awesome with these….and a little chocolate syrup on top is heavenly if you need a little more chocolate. Crushed candy canes make the perfect garnish too.

Now on to the recipe….

1 c. Butter Flavored Shortening
¾ c. Brown Sugar
¾ c. Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Salt
2 ¼ c. Flour
1 bag Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream sugars and shortening. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Sift together soda, salt and flour and add to mixture. Add chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by spoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 11 minutes.

That is it! Enjoy! Can’t wait to hear back if you made these little beauties and how they turned out.