fa la la Ooooo la la

Every family has their own Christmas traditions. Some traditions dictate when to open presents, others instruct whose house to go to for brunch or dinner, and many others simply resolve to spend as much time as possible with as many different family members as possible. Growing up, my family traditions included all of the aforementioned items. Now that I’ve moved away, married, and have two children of my own (ok, ok they are children of the canine persuasion but they are still my babies), Dan and I have created our own annual tradition that I absolutely LOVE and would not trade for the world! On Christmas day, Dan and I sleep in, open presents with the puppies, make breakfast together (Dan makes coffee with Bailey’s, it counts as helping) and then spend the entire day lounging around the house in our pajamas watching parades and various Christmas-themed movies. Sometime mid-to-late afternoon, I get up, get showered, put on some fresh pajamas and start making an elaborate Christmas dinner that is typically served somewhere around 8 or 9pm, depending upon degree of complexity and level of absolute laziness (usually it’s the laziness causing delays). Last year, I created a steak house sensation! It was fabulous and ohemgee delicious and it was difficult to think of something to top it.

For this year’s Christmas feast, I’m dishing up some fantastic French fare and am oh so excited about it!! If you asked Dan, he’d say he’s never eaten French food. That’s because he thinks French food has to be fancy or include things like snails in order to be considered “French.” He has no clue that meals I make on the regular are actually classic French cuisine! He’s had boeuf Bourguignon, poulet cordon bleu, poulet frit au paprika, petit salé aux lentilles, hachis parmentier, vichyssoise (but warm), and his all-time favorite gratin dauphinois just to name a few. Of course, when he asks “what’s for dinner,” I don’t always tell the whole truth as it is much easier to say “beef stew” or “potato soup” (I ask you all dearly to please not mention anything about leeks to him, ever).

I spent quite a lot of time poring over recipe sites and flipping through my cook books to create what, I believe, is the BEST Christmas dinner menu ever!! Also, BIG thanks to Ms. Fonda for letting me bounce ideas off her and for her fabulous suggestions (and just for putting up with my obsessive menu planning behavior in general). If I were to win an award for this meal, I’d totally thank her in my acceptance speech. I do still have one hole in the menu: the salad. However, I’m not stressing over it because I do not eat salad. I’d love to do a salade de pissenlit, but I’m too afraid I’d slip up and tell him he was eating dandelion and he’d ruin the mood by gagging (even if he loved it). So, for the salad course, we’ll just see what fresh field greens I can find and toss them with some shallot and a fun vinaigrette; maybe I’ll do a raspberry champagne vinaigrette!!!!

So without further ado, here is my Christmas Feast:
Appetizer Course: Brie en croûte with Almond Champagne
Soup Course: Soupe à l'ail with Sauvignon Blanc
Main Course: Coq au Vin, carottes vichy, Haricots verts à l'étouffée and Purée de pommes de terre à l'ail with Chardonnay
Salad Course: as we discussed, this is still open and up for debate
Dessert Course: Crème Brûlée with Champagne

I really hope I can pull this off, and that we are able to eat dinner before midnight!

I wish you all the happiest of happy holidays and the best of luck with your Christmas meals, whether they be at your house or another’s. Cheers!!

dan's BIGGEST challenge

Dan has mastered the art of reheating things; he can use the rice cooker and as long as I put the flour/seasoning in a bag, he can “shake-and-bake” oven fried chicken. It was time. He was ready. And he aced it!! Tonight, Dan used his patented “shake-(pause)-and-bake” method for the chicken; made some rice in the rice cooker; boiled peas & carrots and even … wait for it … simmered a sauce while constantly stirring so it didn’t burn. There were still a few steps left for me to finish when I got home, but GO DAN GO!!!!

Tonight for dinner, we had HG’s Sesame Chicken swap with a healthified fried rice. I’m not going to claim any credit for the sesame chicken (you can find that recipe here), but I am going to outline how to split a recipe up into steps that can be easily done by two different people.

Two nights before:
- Take two skinless/boneless chicken breasts from the freezer and place in the fridge overnight to defrost.

One night before:
- Take the chicken breasts out of the fridge and chop into bite-sized pieces; place in a re-sealable plastic bag with 2tbsp teriyaki sauce (this isn’t in the HG recipe, but the chicken looked so plain and boring by itself) and place in the fridge.
- Place ½ cup of whole wheat flour in a re-sealable plastic bag and set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, mix ¼ cup fat-free chicken broth with 1tbsp cornstarch, stir until dissolved. Add 2tbsp sugar-free pancake syrup, 2tbsp seasoned rice vinegar, 1tbsp ketchup, ½ tbsp lite/low-sodium soy sauce, ½ tsp sesame oil, ½ tsp crushed garlic and stir well. Cover with plastic wrap and set in the fridge with the chicken.
- Line a baking pan with foil and place on the countertop; set out the rice cooker (or microwaveable bowl with lid) and rice near the pan and also the wheat flour. Place two small sauce pans on the stove.
- Write down the instructions for the next day.

Dinner time:
- Heat oven to 350; take the chicken and sauce out of the fridge.
- Drop a few pieces of chicken at a time in the flour and shake to coat; place chicken on the baking pan and place in the oven. Set the timer for 20 minutes.
- Place one cup rice plus one cup water in the rice cooker and set timer for 15minutes (or whatever your package directions state).
- Place ½ cup frozen peas & carrots in one of the sauce pans, cover with water and heat on the stove over medium-high heat until boiling, lower heat to keep it simmering.
- Place refrigerated sauce in the other sauce pan and heat over low heat, stirring occasionally to keep it from burning.

****THIS IS WHEN I CAME HOME AND HOW I FINISHED DINNER****

- Toss the chicken in the sauce and place back in the oven to keep warm.
- Drain peas & carrots.
- In a large pan or wok, melt 1tbsp faux-butter and scramble one egg. Add rice and peas & carrots, 1tbsp light/low-sodium soy sauce, ½ tsp of crushed garlic, ½ tsp of black pepper and sauté for about 5 minutes.

Enjoy!

i don't eat broccoli

The Thanksgiving holiday is barely over and everywhere I go, all I hear about is Christmas!! I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving holiday and wonderful long weekend. I’d love to hear about your signature dish, what you do with your leftovers or your favorite dessert … please share!!

Now, what was that I said about Christmas? Oh yea … like many people, I normally start celebrating Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. I would probably start earlier, but I have a deal with Dan that I will not start until the day after Thanksgiving because he thinks I go a little overboard and that it is not healthy to listen to Christmas music year round. So every year, on the days after Thanksgiving, I lovingly turn my leftover turkey into Feel Better Soup, clean the house top to bottom and bring out the decorations and tree to make the whole house look like Christmas exploded all over the place. This year, however, I am way behind on my normal schedule thanks to Dan talking me into a complete and total lazy day followed by a day with the fam followed by a gluttonous girls’ day (wine + mani + pedi = yay!). It wasn’t a total loss; I enjoyed myself thoroughly but now I am BUSY getting caught up from my three days off! Between Christmas prep, working on my list of 101, regular every day “fun” and who knows what else that’ll pop up … I will be very happy when January 1st has come and gone. (I normally take down everything Christmas on January 1st, if I don’t then Dan threatens to do so for me and, well, neither of us wants that!)

As part of my ongoing attempts to cut-the-fat, here is another holiday fave gone thinner. I cannot personally vouch for the flavor as I detest broccoli; it does not matter what you cover it in, I still can’t eat it. However, Dan told me this Thanksgiving that this dish has moved to his list of holiday faves and has asked for it to be added to our Christmas menu. I can attest that the cheese sauce is delish though so I hope you give it a try!

Broccoli Au Gratin (sounds fancy for broccoli with cheese sauce)
3-4 cups fresh broccoli (frozen works too) washed and chopped
1 small brick Velveeta made with 2% milk (I know, I know, I’m not a big velveeta person either but I promise this is good)
1 cup reduced sodium 99% fat-free chicken broth
2-3 cloves garlic, minced (2 if they’re large, 3 if they’re small or you’re measuring minced garlic out of a jar)
2 tsp black pepper
1tsp white pepper
Panko (or whatever bread crumbs you have in your pantry)

- Cut the brick of velveeta into about 1” cubes and place in small saucepan with remaining ingredients over medium-low heat

- As the velveeta melts, whisk the sauce together until smooth; immediately remove from the heat or it will BURN (yes, I know from experience)

- Steam your broccoli, or boil your frozen (you can do this while the veleeta is melting)

- Place broccoli in a casserole dish, pour the cheese sauce over and toss to coat, sprinkle a little panko over the top

- Bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes until all bubbly and browned; enjoy!

**VARIATION: increase the broth to 2 cups and add 1 cup uncooked Minute brown rice + 2 cups cooked and cubed chicken breast (or leftover turkey), increase cook-time to 30-45min and turn this into an easy weeknight casserole entrée instead of just a side dish. Again, I cannot personally vouch for the flavor but Dan loved it when I made it for him from the leftovers we had in the fridge. **

is that a vegetable or a dessert???

Technically it’s a vegetable, but did you know it flowers? Regardless, the sweet potato is fabulous. Packed full of important vitamins, they’re low in calories and have virtually no fat. There’s a whole lot of good info about sweet potatoes here so I won’t bore you with just typing out all the facts. So what’s the problem with sweet potato pie? Namely that it is drowned in butter and sugars and sometimes marshmallows or whipped cream which negates all the positive influence of the pure sweet potato!

In order to get the full benefits of the sweet potato without loading it down in fat and calories, I’ve modified my traditional sweet potato casserole while still maintaining that Thanksgiving-esque sweetness. Hope you enjoy!

Sweet Potato Casserole
3-4 medium sweet potatoes
3 tbsp heart-healthy faux butter, divided
¼ cup fat free half & half
2-3tbsp of skim milk
2 tbsp brown sugar substitute, divided (splenda brand is best)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp cinnamon blend or pumpkin pie spice
1tsp each salt and black pepper
¼ cup chopped walnuts or pecan

-- Wash the sweet potatoes and prick a few times with a fork; microwave for about 7-12min (depending on size) until really soft; allow to cool slightly for easy handling
-- Once cooled, split them open and scoop out the insides into a casserole dish
-- Add 2tbsp of the faux butter, half & half, milk, 1 ½ tbsp brown sugar substitute, vanilla and spices; mix well then smooth out the top. I add the milk a tablespoon at a time until I get the consistency that I want so that portion may vary.
-- Mix remaining 1tbsp faux butter and ½ tbsp brown sugar substitute with the chopped nuts and spread across the top of the sweet potato mixture (I sometimes sprinkle a little more cinnamon on top too)
-- Bake at 350 for about 20-30 min or until you have a nice crust and enjoy!

the holiday fifteen

I think we can all admit that we give up during the holidays and eat whatever we want, whenever we want … or is that just me? Cooler weather rolls in, bulky sweaters hide everything, and hell, we’re *this* close to the new year so why not say “eff it” and promise to make a resolution to eat better and exercise in 2011 (or 2012, or 2013). Holiday food is amazing; I’ll take the turkey, ham, roast beef, mashed potatoes, buttered corn, glazed carrots, various vegetable casseroles and whatever that is there with cheese on top, all covered with a heaping ladleful (or two) of gravy made with pan drippings please! Just like the first time you went into your college dining hall, the buffets seem endless. Thankfully, the holidays only come once per year, not 2-3 times per day, every day like freshman year.

Perhaps, like me, you justify why you eat so much during the holidays: they do only come once a year, it’d be rude not to heap our plates full of the yummy foods the hostesses so carefully prepared, I’ll just try a little bit of each, and there are only so many months where you can find pumpkin pies!! As part of my ongoing efforts to cut the fat, I’ve tested out variations of my personal faves and will be sharing those recipes here on my blog for any of you that are willing to give something new a try this holiday season. First up: creamed spinach!!

Baked Creamed Spinach
2 pkg frozen chopped spinach
½ cup fat-free half & half (you may need ¾ cup, depends on the brand of spinach you use)
1 cup part-skim shredded mozzarella (divided into ¾ cup and ¼ cup)
½ cup reduced fat grated parmesan (or parmesan blend), plus extra to sprinkle on top
1 clove garlic
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp crushed red pepper
2 tsp ground black pepper
¼ cup panko
Salt to taste (optional)

-- Prepare the spinach according to package directions (pretty much you just boil it in water)
-- Drain the spinach really, REALLY well then place in casserole dish
-- Add the remaining ingredients (except for the panko and ¼ cup mozzarella) and mix well; if you’re not getting a creamy texture, add more half & half; the mozzarella will somewhat melt but don’t worry if it’s not melting, it will once it gets into the oven
-- Smooth out the top of the spinach and top with the ¼ cup mozzarella, a handful of panko and sprinkling of parmesan (in this order)
-- Bake at 350 for about 30-40 min until all bubbly and somewhat browned then broil for about 5 min longer to get a nice toasty crust on top
-- Let it set on the counter or table for at least 10 min before serving and enjoy!

dan-the-man watson

Dan has been a HUGE help as I work to complete my 101 items in 1,001 days. I recently marked #88 off my list by joining a gym and am working towards completing #26 (exercise at least 3 times per week for 6 straight months). For those of you who know me, you know how ridiculously hard this is for me to do. I hate exercise, hate sweating and am slightly (read: completely) robotic when it comes to my daily schedule; any changes to such schedule throw off my entire day, often resulting in a mild (read: unreasonable) hissy fit sometime that evening. This usually takes place in the kitchen when dinner is, goshforbid, served later than 7pm. Thankfully, I am also obsessed with being organized and prepared so with the help of Dan, the schedule change has caused more laughter than tears.

Because I’ve been going to the gym right after work, I haven’t been getting home until 7/715pm each evening which has caused a little stress in my life (see above re: dinner after 7). Fortunately, I have Dan, unequivocally the best husband ever. Every evening when Dan gets home, he plays with the dogs for a bit then finds the slip of paper on which I’ve written his instructions for that night’s dinner. He then goes to the fridge, pulls out all of the food I’ve prepped and gets to work. The first night was great: chicken stir-fry. I’d marinated chicken in a healthified teriyaki sauce and already cut the chicken and veggies into bite sized pieces. All Dan had to do was spray the wok with olive oil, add the chicken and stir, then add the veggies when I got home and stir some more. When I got home breathless and exhausted, he was doing fabulously and had just added the 1 cup brown rice + 1 cup water to the rice cooker and hit “start.” By the time I got out of the shower, dinner was ready! Dan grinned ear-to-ear as I complimented his gourmet dinner (hehe).

The next night was equally a success. Dan took the prepared Salisbury steaks out of the fridge and had them slowly simmering in the healthified gravy when I got home. He threw in the fresh mushrooms then boiled the water for the whole wheat egg noodles while I showered and we had another fantastic weeknight dinner. On the third night, I learned my instructions needed to be slightly more specific. I’d prepared chicken parmesan for Dan to cook. The chicken was already breaded and on the pan, the sauce was made. Dan placed the pan of chicken in the oven, boiled water, heated the sauce and was doing great until he got to my line item that stated “when the timer goes off, spoon a little sauce over each chicken breast and sprinkle some mozzarella on top then put it back in the oven for 10min.” When I got out of the shower and headed towards the dinner table, the timer went off to indicate all was ready. Dan drained the whole grain linguine while I went to take the chicken out of the oven … it went like this:

Me (laughing): how much cheese did you use?
Dan (serious): just the one bag
Me (still laughing): baby, the instructions said “a sprinkle!”
Dan (still serious): no, the instructions said to sprinkle some on top, I sprinkled it on top like the instructions said!! (points to instructions; he was right, damn!)
Me (giggling): but honey, isn’t this a bit much?
Dan (snippy): well you never use enough when you make it!!!

Now I pre-measure out cheeses for him so as not to leave any room for interpretation. He used an entire 2 cup bag of shredded mozzarella for 2 chicken breasts!! True it was part-skim, but still, wow!

Night 4, Dan ruined my chicken satay. Hungry Girl emailed out a recipe swap earlier that week so I decided to try it. Everything was prepped and ready except for the final step: stir in ¼ cup plain yogurt. Dan came home, played with the dogs, put the chicken skewers in the oven, heated up the peanut sauce and steamed the veggies. While I showered, he set the table and completed the final steps for dinner. That was the night I learned that plain is synonymous with vanilla in Dan’s world. To me, plain is plain, vanilla is a flavor but nooooooooo, in Dan’s mind plain = vanilla and vanilla = plain … or “vanilla is totally plain, it sucks.” Can you tell he’s a chocoholic?? Let’s just say the peanut sauce was a tad too sweet for my taste (but he loved it).

Night 4 also happened to be the night I started having Dan come back in the kitchen after I finish prepping the next night’s dinner to have him walk through the instructions with me while pointing at what is what in the fridge, and we haven’t had a similar incident since! Dan was very happy to have the weekend off from “cooking” and did a fabulous job last night. I’m hoping he keeps this up so that I can complete #79 in the near future (don’t complain about anything for a week). Wish me luck!

Oh!! I owe you some recipes ... check out the facebook page to see my most recent note, a chicken corn chowder that is FAB! I'm still working on interpreting the chicken scratch that is Dan's handwriting so I can post the cookie recipes :)

epic. fail.

going to something like the superbowl or a world series game is a once in a lifetime kind of experience. unfortunately, i am now completely convinced that i am the jinx. the rangers really blew it last night and dan won't even let me watch tonight's game. he'll be watching in the bedroom while i see what regular tv programming has to offer in the living room. the only good that came out of yesterday's game was crossing #22 off my list of things to do. while there, i was able to complete #53 as well. i walked right up to a table full of young, adorable navy sailors and thanked them for their service and told them i admire their commitment. then i ran away before i could start crying because something about someone so young in uniform makes me happy sad.

after the game, we came home exhausted and frustrated. i let dan check #76 off the list, we left the dishes in the sink and went to bed.

today, i have satisfied #28, a total "me" day off from work. i slept in, went to the dentist then spent the day relaxing on the couch catching up on the dvr'd shows we missed last night. pretty sure i may do #28 again, it's been a nice day. i think i've fully recovered from the craziness of last night so on to my next item for completion: #15 cook for a whole week - no takeout.

i'm going to take this one completely seriously so i won't even be eating out for lunch. this might be a lot of work but i'm sure my body will thank me for it next monday. first up for tonight is a teryaki pork tenderloin with fried rice and veggies teppanyaki style (or as close to it as i can get without the huge flattop iron grill). wish me luck!

what to do first ...

my dear friend shannon talked me into doing the day zero project. i still don't think i'm very clear on the overall purpose of this, but you make a list of 101 things that you want to complete in 1,001 days. i tend to be a fairly impulsive person (but not in the dangerous way) and tend to just do whatever i want, whenever i want; therefore, it was a touch difficult for me to come up with a list of 101 things when i've done most of what i want to do already. i'm also very rational and know that 1,001 days isn't a super long time and i don't get an unlimited budget so i couldn't list some of the things i really do want to do like "open a restaurant." trying to come up with a list of 101 things that i thought i could actually complete in 1,001 days proved to be a challenge in itself. the task of completing the list was my #1 thing, and only thing i've completed thus far.

i tried to put things on my list that i thought would be fun, interesting and new. i also tried to add a few things i knew would be easy for me to accomplish. being the opportunist that i am, i also put a few on there that while they are not the same thing, i could totally kill two birds with one stone. since shannon wouldn't let me prorate my number of days to meet a shorter list, i had to find a way to make this doable. an example of this can be found by looking at #23 and #14. i can satisfy #23 as one of the three in #14 ... two birds, one stone!

you can find the full list here: http://dayzeroproject.com/user/valwatson

since cooking is one of my passions, yes, many of the items on my list have to do with cooking. i'm trying to branch out though and am forcing myself to do so with #34 and #51. then there are the things i did just to appease dan. in consideration for many of the items on the list that he will have to endure (see #17), i added #76 and #77. so does that satisfy #19? perhaps. i think i'll leave #19 left as incomplete though because that is one that i don't want to cheat, it'd be bad karma. ok, enough of the numbers, sorry.

bottom line, this is going to be tough but i'm going to do it. now i just need to determine what to do first. i think #22 is a great way to start ... go rangers!!! dan and i are going to the world series game at rangers stadium on halloween :)

The Perfect Bite

For my last bite of any meal, I have to have the “perfect” last bite. Dan makes fun of me relentlessly over this peculiarity, but I just can’t help myself. If I’m at breakfast, my perfect bite typically consists of a bit of egg atop a small piece of bacon over some hash browns, lightly dipped in ketchup (unless I’m having pancakes or French toast in which case the bite has to be from the very middle, no side/crust) … YUM! I simply cannot end a meal on a sour note. It is so important to me that often, I’ll even assemble and line-up 2-3 last bites. The other night, we went to a steakhouse and Dan couldn’t help himself from torturing me as I lined up 3 last bites: 2 onion strings on each of the 3 cubes of ribeye so that I could then dip my fork into my potato then spear the onion/steak combo for my perfect last bites.

It was because of his ribbing that I think I may have come up with the perfect restaurant idea … American food served tapas-style. In other words, every plate would have 5-6 perfect bites!! This would also solve my problem of when I just want a bite of something. I would definitely serve breakfast as I am often conflicted when faced with ordering breakfast. I want a bite of everything but the combo meals are too much food for just one person; I try to talk Dan into ordering some of what I want so we can just split but he usually orders something I don’t want to touch; so either I end up half-way satisfied because I only order one thing or wasting a ton of food because I order everything even though I only want a bite. How great would it be if Dan and I could order breakfast tapas?? We could have a few bites of pancakes, some waffles, eggs with sausage, (oh yea, and a plate of something he wants too) I am DROOLING here just thinking about it! For lunch, we’d serve small shot-glass sized tastes of various soups paired with bites of matching sandwiches; for example, I’d love two shots of tomato soup with 5 bites of grilled cheese followed by a shot of black bean soup and 3 bites of a chicken tortilla wrap. OR you could pick your favorite bites served on skewers over a lunch-sized salad.

Dinner would be magnificent. We’d serve some traditional things like bacon-wrapped scallops and grilled bbq shrimp skewers, olive and cheese plates, various croquettes, etc. for the Happy Hour crowd but our signature foods would be our Perfect Bites. My star attraction would be the ribeye bites described above but I’d also have pot roast bites (roast topped with a slice of carrot, slice of celery and cube of potato drizzled in gravy) and for sure serve chicken parmesan/fettuccine alfredo spears! I’m seriously having difficulty concentrating on anything else while I sit here brainstorming different Perfect Bites and wondering how I’d be able to build things like the “baked bean with macaroni and cheese over corndog” bite off the kids’ menu without making it an ugly mess. I think the shepherd’s pie bite would be ok but the chicken pot pie bite difficult; lasagna bites easy but any other pasta besides ravioli too messy. And for gnocchi and prosciutto with asparagus, do I layer them one on top of the other? In which order? Or should I just wrap the gnocchi/asparagus in the prosciutto?

So many questions, but I’m sure I’ll get it all figured out before I ever actually open a restaurant … if I ever do open a restaurant. In the meantime, enjoy how to turn your leftover mashed potatoes into delicious and light homemade gnocchi!

Leftover potato gnocchi:
3 cups leftover mashed potatoes, a little bit dried out (leave uncovered in the fridge overnight)
**really this can be any amount, just alter the egg/flour amounts**
1 egg, beaten well
1 cup flour, if using whole wheat flour you'll need more (make sure you sift it or if you don’t have a sifter, toss it in a bowl and run a fork through it a few times)
Salt to taste

- Mix the egg into the potatoes until fully incorporated and the potatoes are sticky, lightly salt the mixture to taste (I sometimes add pepper and garlic here too)

- Add the flour a little at a time until you get a crumbly mixture then knead the dough VERY gently, if it’s too crumbly add a few drops of water, if it’s too tacky add a little more flour; the dough should be moist but not sticky (I usually start by adding about ¾ cup of the flour to get it crumbly then the rest as I knead it to make it a more consistent dough)

- Now the hard part … cut the dough into 8 pieces and roll each of the 8 into a long, thin log without overworking the dough (very light touch required); cut each of the logs into ½ inch pieces (I use a pizza cutter for this) and lightly dust with some flour until ready to boil OR lightly dust and follow next step if you’re up for the challenge (I failed next step 4 times before finally succeeding)

- Optional step (aka HARD step) - to shape the gnocchi hold a fork in one hand and place a gnocchi piece against the tines of the fork, cut ends out; very quickly but lightly, use your thumb and press in and down the length of the fork creating a little curl/C-shape with the ridges from the fork on the back

- Finally you get to boil the gnocchi!!!! Bring your pot of salted water to a boil and drop the gnocchi a little at a time into the boiling water; gnocchi is done when it floats to the top, it should only float for no more than 30 seconds or so before you fish it out with a slotted spoon

- Immediately toss the gnocchi in sauce and serve … enjoy! I like this best with pesto, for a super easy homemade pesto w/ tomato, blend a jar of sundried tomatoes (with the oil they’re in) with a big handful of fresh basil, 2 garlic cloves and some black pepper until smooth.

happy first full day of fall!!!

Autumn is hands down my absolute most favorite of the four seasons. It is also the only time of the year that I miss living on the East Coast. While Texas is beautiful, nothing compares to a drive through rural Pennsylvania in mid-October with the sun shining and the various colors of the leaves providing such beautiful scenery that you almost forget you’re in the 21st century. Texas tries, don’t get me wrong; we have pumpkin patches and such, but nothing close to the outdoor harvest festivals of PA/NJ that serve homemade apple cider and hand-crafted beers from locally grown ingredients. It’s also just hard for it to feel like fall here with the 95 degree temperatures instead of the crisp, cool mornings so common back East.

Last fall, Dan and I went to Boston with our friends Shannon and Ed to celebrate Shannon’s birthday. It was definitely one of the best mini-vacations ever! We had a great time with great friends, saw all the sights that could be seen (ps if you’re going to walk 15miles per day, wear appropriate shoes and no, flip flops are not appropriate shoes … whoopsie!), drank A LOT of Sammy A “LAH-guh” and most importantly, we rang in Shan’s birthday with a bang-bang-bang. As wonderful as the company was and as beautiful as the scenery was, I almost lost it over all the pumpkin-based products at every stop. Breweries had various pumpkin ales, bakeries had pumpkin everything and local ice cream shops had pumpkin ice cream (side note: if you’re ever in Salem, MA you must get the pumpkin pie ice cream at the little shop right near the ferry). Suffice it to say, if there was pumpkin on the menu, I had it. One may say my obsession with pumpkin* borders on the unhealthy, but I don’t mind, I love me some pumpkin!!!

To me, autumn truly begins on the Monday of Labor Day weekend. That day typically signifies the end of summer: you’re in pain from the weekend-long last blast before school starts back up again, it’s your last chance to hit the beach before packing up and heading back to reality, and it is sadly your last “holiday” from work until Thanksgiving. It’s also the day I usually start picking up cans of pumpkin in the grocery store. However, this year we experienced a pumpkin shortage. I went to the grocery store as usual with thoughts of pumpkin cheesecake dancing in my head, but I could not find pumpkin anywhere! I checked two other stores before heading to the farmers market then eventually the specialty food store but still no pumpkin. Ok, maybe it was just going to be a week late, two weeks late, three weeks late?? Those of you who know me, know that I almost fell into a full-blown depression over this. Then last week, I saw actual pumpkins in front of the store and flew to the baking aisle, but alas, there was still no pumpkin puree … I was sad. Thankfully, pumpkin has now made its grand appearance on grocery store shelves and I am ready to stockpile.

In honor of the first full day of fall, and thanks to a big can of pumpkin given to me by a fellow foodie, I made a pumpkin walnut cake with cinnamon butter cream frosting. I would normally have made this cake with cream cheese frosting, but I didn’t have cream cheese in the house and was too impatient to wait for Dan to go to the store to get me some so I subbed butter cream frosting instead. Over the next few months, I’ll use pumpkin in everything, sweet and savory, until Dan finally confesses that he’s had enough and begs me to please stop the insanity. Here are the recipes for the cake/frosting that I made to celebrate the coming of fall; they are super easy and this cake will fill your house with the most delicious aromas of autumn. I hope you give them a try!

After the cake was baked and almost cooled, I frosted it while still warm, gave Dan a sizeable slice then packed it up to bring the rest to work this morning. To quote two coworkers:
- It’s like pumpkin pie but richer; it is SOOOOOOOOO good
- I can’t believe Dan let you leave the house with this; I would’ve tackled you at the door and kept it for myself if I were him


*Remind me some day to tell you about my similarly unhealthy obsession with bacon and my trip to Montreal when I had bacon with every meal. Don’t judge, bacon makes everything better!! Dang it, all this talk about Montreal makes me want poutine.

Pumpkin Walnut Cake:
1 box cake mix – butter recipe (Moist Deluxe is best)
1 cup water
1 cup canned pure pumpkin
3 eggs
1 cup chopped walnuts
cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg
1. Mix all ingredients except walnuts using an electric mixer; first on low speed for 2-3min then on med-high speed for 4-5 min
2. Stir in the chopped walnuts
3. Bake at 375 for 40-45 min (if using bundt pan; 30-35 min if using 2 rounds)

Cream cheese icing
1 stick butter (½ cup)
1 lb cream cheese (two 8oz pkgs)
1 cup powdered sugar (sometimes more)
1 tsp vanilla
**add about a teaspoon of cinnamon with the sugar if using to frost the pumpkin cake**
Cream the butter and the sugar together with an electric mixer, add cream cheese in chunks and blend on high until smooth, add vanilla and mix until fully incorporated.

Buttercream Frosting½ cup shortening (Crisco all-vegetable based)
1 stick (½ cup) butter (make sure it’s super soft but not melted)
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp milk (don’t use skim but 2% is ok)
**add about a teaspoon of cinnamon with the sugar if using to frost the pumpkin cake**
Cream shortening, butter and vanilla together then gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well with each cup. After all the sugar has been added, it’ll look tough and difficult to spread so add the milk a little at a time until light and fluffy and spreadable.

feel better soup

Everyone has that one thing that makes them feel better when they’re not feeling well … I have multiple. When I’m sad, I want popcorn with lots of butter. When I’m sleepy, I want chocolate milk. When my belly hurts, I want peanut butter on toast. When I have a cold, I want soup. When my muscles ache, I want a burger. When I am stressed, I want pizza. When Dan is any of the above, he wants “feel better soup.”

Turkey vegetable soup, aka feel better soup, became Dan’s go-to back when we had dated less than 6 months and he got a really bad cold. Wanting to be a good girlfriend, I took the Thanksgiving leftovers and tried to recreate my grandmom’s turkey soup as best as I could from memory. I somehow succeeded in both making a fantastic homemade soup and making Dan feel better in a snap! Now it’s become my annual tradition: every Saturday after Thanksgiving, I turn my leftover turkey into “feel better soup.” I try to make a HUGE vat of the soup and preserve it to last through cold and flu season, but it rarely does. Dan drinks this soup like water, having it every evening between dinnertime and bedtime, like it is a preventative medicine. If he does get sick, he’ll eat it and only it until he’s better. I’ve found I make multiple batches of feel better soup throughout the year now, in addition to the once a year event (side note: it also cures hangovers). I do have to admit that I sometimes wonder if this soup is magic!

I don’t know how to explain it, there’s just something about it; the smell wafting through the house as it simmers on the stove puts a smile on my face and starts to make me feel better hours before it’s ready for eating. So when Dan wasn’t feeling so great this past weekend and said he wanted feel better soup, I went to the store and bought some turkey breasts, hit the produce aisle and went straight to work. While it wasn’t exactly the same as our after-turkey-day soup, it came pretty darn close and it still cured my honey. I’ve tried to make it with chicken before and it’s just not the same, chicken does not have the healing powers of turkey. The soup varies from year-to-year based on what’s left over from the turkey day feast and batch-to-batch based on what I have in the fridge; however, the main components are always the same: turkey, broth, tomatoes, and lots of vegetables!

Here is the soup, as made this past weekend:
•1lb turkey breasts
•6 cups chicken broth
•4 cups water
•15oz diced tomatoes
•15oz stewed tomatoes
•4-5 carrots
•4-5 celery stalks
•1 medium onion
•2-3 cups mushrooms
•2 heads broccoli
•2-3 cloves garlic
•Olive oil, salt, pepper and poultry seasoning

Lightly season the turkey breasts with olive oil, salt, pepper and poultry season then bake until cooked through. Allow the turkey to cool then shred it into small bites.

Peel and chop the carrots; chop the celery and onion; slice the mushrooms; break up the broccoli into small florets and mince the garlic.
Pour a healthy bit of olive oil in the bottom of a large stock pot and add minced garlic, sauté until the garlic opens up and makes your kitchen smell fantastic. Add the carrots, celery and onion and sauté about 10min or until the veggies are tender. Add the mushrooms and sauté about another 5-7min. Add the broth, water and both cans of tomatoes; bring to a boil. Add the turkey, broccoli and some pepper; reduce heat to low, cover, and allow it to simmer for 2-3 hours.

You can add egg noodles, sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. Serve garnished with a little bit of parmesan and fresh cracked pepper … and a big hunk of bread!

The Next Food Network Star ... Season 7!

Last year, I wanted to audition for TNFNS but I didn’t find the application online until the deadline had already passed. I am not making that same mistake this year!! I downloaded the applications, all eleven pages of it, and am sitting down to start working on it … gender? F; nickname? No thank you; food industry experience? hmmm does being a waitress/hostess in college count?? If I were an ingredient I would be __________ because _________ … and now we get to the tough questions requiring self-reflection, ugh!!

While I ponder my “culinary point of view,” I scroll through the 10 pages of legal yaddayadda to figure out what I’m signing up for and notice a simple sentence that states I may be asked to develop 30+ original recipes “on the spot” if I get invite to NYC for a final interview with producers so to start preparing. FUGH! Well, as I sit and think about this (and abandon my application for a moment), I dig out my handwritten recipe book where I try to remember to write down new dishes I create on the fly: 1, 2, 3, 4 … 38. WOW! I had no idea that I’d come up with that many, well no that’s not true, I knew I had that many in my repertoire, I had no clue I’d written that many down in my book! (Thank you Aunt Vicki for the wonderful bridal shower gift btw)

Ok, now I’m obsessing: do the 30 original recipes need to be all entrees or should it be entrees paired with sides or are sides separate “recipes” according to the true definition? I’m going to guess that sides are a separate recipe for now, but prepare for the worst. Dinner tonight is my chicken and black bean enchilada casserole and it is not written down in my book but it is an original recipe I made up one day when I didn’t have a whole lot of ingredients in the house but Dan wanted Mexican. I’ve enlisted the help of Dan to try to write down what I use and how much I use when I create these on-the-fly recipes based upon the contents of my cupboards and fridge. One more recipe added to the book! This is doable, I can do this, I can be a tv chef!!! Well, once I figure out my culinary point of view that is …

Chicken and Black Bean Enchilada Casserole
1lb skinless/boneless chicken breasts
2 cups fat-free ricotta
1 cup fat-free sour cream
2 cups reduced fat shredded cheddar
1 can black beans
2 cups salsa
3 jalapeños, diced (or a 4oz can of diced green chiles)
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1tsp chili powder or fajita/taco seasoning
1tsp cumin
½ cup fresh chopped cilantro (or 2tsp dried)
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
8 corn tortillas, cut into quarters

Lightly dust both sides of the chicken breasts with salt, pepper and chili powder; bake until cooked through then shred and set aside in a bowl.

Sautee onion and garlic in the olive oil until onions are clear, add to the bowl with the chicken. Drain and rinse the black beans.

In a separate bowl, mix the ricotta, sour cream, jalapeños, cumin, cilantro and some more salt and pepper.

In a deep casserole, pour 1 cup of the salsa then spread to cover the bottom; top with half of the tortillas then half of the ricotta, half of the black beans then finally half of the chicken. Top the chicken with the remaining salsa and half of the shredded cheese then repeat layers: tortillas, ricotta, black beans, chicken then remaining shredded cheese.

Bake at 350 for about 30-40minutes until heated through all bubbly. Let it cool/set for about 10min before serving.

ONE DOWN, SEVERAL MORE TO GO!! Now back to some deep self-reflection, booooooooooo

if i had my own tv show

Most people don’t know this about me, but I’m not so great in front of an audience. Put me at the head of a table and ask me to conduct a meeting and I’m fine, as long as you let me stay seated. Put me at a podium, standing on stage, in front of an audience that is staring at me and I will freeze!! I’ve been told that I hide it well externally, but I don’t believe that for a second. Internally I feel like I am on fire, I constantly pan the room looking for the nearest exit and the clearest path towards it so I waste no time getting out the door and away from the scary audience when I’m finally done presenting.

this is my adorable nephew evan, the pic makes sense when you get to the last paragraph

In the fall of 2002, my siblings and I were on the Weakest Link. The audience was behind us and in total darkness, but I still felt their presence. The lighting on set was such that I could really only see the host, cameras/crew and my siblings, but I knew everyone behind me was staring at me, waiting for me to give the wrong answer. And really? Did I really miss a Britney Spears question on national tv?? That aside, I think my true downfall was that no one was standing there by my side. My closest sibling was only 2-3 ft away but at her own podium which made it feel like it was 2-3 football fields away. Even worse was the after-interview: just me, the camera, and two of the staff egging me on to make a nasty comment about one of my siblings. If you’ve ever seen the show, and no I won’t show you if you haven’t seen it, I was awful!!

In contrast, my sister and I were on VH-1’s very short lived series Motor Mouths and I wasn’t the least bit nervous. It was just us, alone in a car filled with hidden cameras, singing along to the cd they gave us, with me trying to get her to make a fool out of herself and eat a Slim Jim. I was totally fine, because I had my sister, an ally, sitting there right beside me through the whole thing. The episode only aired once, and I do not have a recording, but I did so much better. I was at ease, relaxed, totally as if the cameras weren’t there … until the last and final moments when all these people jumped out at us to tell my sister the jig was up and that she’d just been filmed for national tv. When that happened, I nearly sh*t, but so did she so I looked fine in comparison.

Therefore, if I had my own cooking show, I would want to have guest “stars” on all the time. Not true stars in the sense that they are in movies or are on tv (although that would be nice), but rather I’d want to have the people who have starred in my life and who would make excellent co-hosts to help me feel more at ease. If I had my nearest and dearest there with me, Dan flanking the stage and a friend or family member standing there with me to chat in front of the cameras while I cook, then I’d be a-ok! I think for my first episode, I’d want my dad to be there. After all, he’s the one that first taught me to cook; making E.T. shaped pancakes on Sunday mornings. My first episode would be “It’s all about family” with my dad and maybe my nephew Evan there too. We would make pancakes together, buckwheat of course, and dad could demonstrate how to make the perfect dunkin’ egg. We’d talk about how much fun we had on Sunday mornings, making breakfast for the family then going out and spending the day playing sports or ice skating on the frozen lake. I could give my quick lesson on the importance of a good, healthy breakfast to fit in line with my show’s theme, Evan could roll his eyes.

After we clean up the pancakes, Evan and I could make some chocolate chip cookies, a staple I recall from my childhood that went great with hot chocolate after a long day of playing out in the snow and over which we often recounted stories from our day. My aunt Jill makes the absolute best chocolate chip cookies in the world so she may have to be there so Evan can do a side-by-side taste comparison of Jill’s regular cookies vs. my healthy whole wheat ones. Even if he chose Jill’s, I wouldn’t mind, I’d just be having a fun time in the kitchen with family. And I must admit, I wouldn’t be surprised if Jill’s cookies were the winner, I think I’d choose them too!

My overall theme to my 1st season would be quick & easy, healthy family meals. I’d close out my episode by reminding my virtual tv audience that I believe a kitchen makes a home and that no matter how busy you are, if you follow my recipes you will never be too busy to spend family time, in the kitchen together. Then maybe the camera would pan over to Evan’s adorably chocolate covered smile (seriously, how cute is that kid?) and he could say “bye!!” I’d give everyone a hug and whew! first episode over.

I choose the stick …

From time to time, I make rash decisions and put myself through complete and utter torture. I’ve done bootcamp a few times, tried belly dancing (which was more emotionally scarring than physical), trained for a half-marathon and had countless other “great” ideas turn painful. This week? The Cleanse!!! I came home from work today with an enormo bottle of pills and told Dan that a coworker and I had made a pact to do a cleanse together. She’ll be doing a cleanse that I did last December; however, I’ve ventured into the unsafe and decided to try something completely new and unknown. Dan’s response: ugh that means wheat flour and no ice cream again; ok fine, but you’re not using MY bathroom!! Can you at least make that lemonade parfait stuff? As usual, he got over it pretty quickly as he knows it’s difficult to sway me once I’ve made up my mind about something. Easier to grin and bear it than argue the unwinnable argument.

Last December, I had more vacation time than I could carry forward into the new year and decided to take the week of Christmas off. In typical fashion, I was unable to sit still after the first few minutes Saturday morning (even before the first work-day off), took my car to get an oil change, and while walking around Wal-Mart trying to waste time while waiting on my car, I wandered into the scary vitamin aisle and had the GREAT idea to purchase a cleanse. I sat there waiting on my car, read the little pamphlet cover-to-cover and prepared myself mentally for the inevitable physical pain. As with anytime I decide to do something crazy like cut out carbs or give up my vino, I went on a total food bender and put off starting the cleanse until Monday. Monday morning, after Dan went to work and before a visit to the dog park, I googled, searched blogs and read message boards trying to understand what I had gotten myself into. It scared me sh*tless, but I’d made my mind up and I was going to get through it no matter what!! Just before lunch, after the visit to the dog park, I took my first dose … nothing. Before bed, I took my second dose … nothing. Day 1 came and went with nothing notable. Day 2 came and went with nothing notable.

Day 3. While not painful and awful, it wasn’t fun. I tend to be a private person when it comes to those things, even though the rest of my company (minus a few) clearly do not have my same issue, so I won’t go into too much detail. Day 4, fine. Day 5: I decided that I was fine, my body prevailed and had won out in the fight against the cleanse. I was going to be fine so why not just eat what I want instead of keeping to the high-fiber, low-cal, low-fat, fruit and vegetable rich diet … I wanted WINGS!! Big mistake, big, HUGE mistake (see Pretty Woman). Day 6, wings still hurt. Day 7, fine. Day 8 … 7lbs down!! Initially, I thought it was just water weight and the wings that made the difference, but two weeks later those 7lbs became 10lbs and stayed off. The cleanse was a success.

Now as I sit here perched on the edge of summer with zero will to eat right or exercise, I’ve decided to try another cleanse to kick start my efforts. While I could just do the same one I did before, I couldn’t find it in the store and was too impatient to wait and go to another store. Therefore, I bought a different kind of cleanse to try. So at least for the next 14, yes, 14 days I will eat healthy and do some exercise, if for no other reason than the fear of the consequence. In the age old tale of the carrot and the stick, I choose the stick. With my whole wheat banana bread baking away in the oven for my week’s breakfasts and the turkey chili simmering on the stove for lunches, I am prepared. Wish me luck!!!

I eat healthy, but not because I want to

Coworkers and clients are always surprised to learn that I hate vegetables. I recently had a lunch meeting at work and a coworker was extremely surprised to see me knock all the rabbit food to the side and remove the lettuce and tomato from my deli sandwich, I prefer just meat and cheese thank you (but it was a whole grain roll). I guess I just give off the vibe or appearance of someone who eats healthy? I hate eating healthy! I know I’m supposed to, I know it’s good for me, and I do feel better when I eat a light veggie-packed meal vs. this past Thanksgiving when I over-indulged on carbs and fats and couldn’t even sit without feeling sick for hours after. But I’d still rather cover my plate in gravy made from fatty pan drippings than eat a boring piece of plain grilled chicken with some asparagus spears any day! Unfortunately, I reserve those gravy covered days for the winter holidays and stick to my chicken throughout the rest of the year, with some exceptions of course. You can’t expect me to give up my vices entirely, can you?

As discussed, a few years ago, I started making over my eating habits. It hasn’t always been easy, and it surely isn’t fun to say no to a bedtime slice of cheesecake, but it’s a work in progress. I now eat vegetables, which if you asked my mother, is something she never imagined I’d give in on after 25+ years of refusing. I still can’t stomach a salad though, the taste and crunch of lettuce makes me gag; however, I can eat most vegetables if they are cooked. I’ve not yet worked up to raw veggies and please do not bring broccoli around me, the smell of cooked broccoli makes me ill. I have also cut down significantly on fast food, take-out, pizza (whimper) and even my regular fountain sodas. Side note: it wasn’t hard to cut down on pizza for my first 5 years in TX but unfortunately, I found a really good east-coast style pizza place recently and it has been so hard not to go get a slice every Saturday!!

Although I miss just ordering dinner and having it magically appear on my doorstep, I consider myself a fairly decent chef (no Kelly, not a “cook” like Bethenny), and so I enjoy the challenge of making over all my favorite recipes. It was a (mostly) win-win. I get to play around in the kitchen with new ingredients and still get to eat all my favorite dishes. There are some drawbacks of course, non-fat and low-fat ingredients don’t always melt and blend the same as the full fat versions and I hope with all my being that I am never forced to live a low-sodium lifestyle, but all-in-all; you can eat healthy while still enjoying your favorite foods. It just takes a little more work and a lot of experimentation. Thank goodness Dan has an iron stomach!!

I would still much prefer an order of mucho nachos, a muchaco and an extra large regular coke to my daily lunch of Campbell’s healthy request light soup (with the nasty chicken bits picked out), 4-5 whole wheat saltines and a big jug of fresh water. And sure I don’t mind my lunches as much when I have the time to make a vat of (healthy) homemade soup to freeze for the week or when I have the foresight to throw an additional chicken breast on the grill the night before, but nothing can or will replace my cravings for Bueno. Whole wheat lasagna noodles with ground turkey, reduced-fat ricotta and part-skim mozzarella fill my pasta void for the most part (as long as I have time to make homemade sauce); however, it’s just not the same!! I always thought once I started eating healthier, it’d get easy, I’d miss the bad foods less and less over time. I sincerely doubt I’ll ever feel the same way about turkey burgers or black bean burgers as I do about ¼ lb angus or sirloin burgers cooked to medium doneness perfection topped with a thick slice of aged cheddar and a few slices of peppered bacon.

I guess I’m just still waiting for it to get easier, I know I’ll continue to give in and get a Sonic bacon cheeseburger toaster from time to time, but I refuse to give up! And dangit, now I want tacos, stupid Bueno!!!! Oh well, maybe tomorrow ...

İCelebre Cinco de Mayo!

I love random holidays that give me an excuse to spice up a normal weeknight with something festive for dinner. Cinco de Mayo is not actually the same as our Fourth of July like many think it is; in fact, it is much more similar to our Battle of Bunker Hill or Battle of Bull Run. Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Battle of Puebla, where the Mexican army was victorious over much stronger French forces. Mexican Independence Day is actually in September. And yes, I knew this without having to search Wikipedia like some of you may be doing right now in an attempt to prove me wrong! Nonetheless, Cinco de Mayo is a day we Americans use as an excuse to consume entirely too much tequila and cerveza. In fact, I think Corona may have invented this holiday for just that purpose (personal opinion).

Enough of my history lesson, let’s get to the purpose of my writing today: I love Mexican food!! I live in Texas where fresh ingredients for Mexican cooking are plentiful aaaand Dan could eat Mexican food every day and never get bored. Therefore, I prepare Mexican dishes quite often at home. They’re typically pretty simple and if you’re making authentic dishes, they’re not all that bad for you! I tend to stay away from canned sauces and smothering everything in cheese and instead use traditional spice combinations to give delicious flavor to my creations. The one thing I don’t make from scratch: tortillas. Sorry, I’ve tried, it’s just not pretty (or yummy); I use store-bought tortillas and pop them in the microwave or oven for just a minute or so to give them that fresh from the griddle feel. Plus now, I can find whole grain flour tortillas and tortillas infused with various vitamins and minerals … living in TX definitely has its advantages when it comes to cooking.

For dinner tonight, I’m making Tex-Mex loaded beef nachos and I was going to make traditional fajitas but Dan was more in the mood for some cheesy enchiladas. Since I’m trying to watch what I eat (ha!), I’m making a healthified version of my normal chicken enchiladas with sour cream sauce, Mexican rice & black beans.

Loaded Nachos
1 bag tortilla chips – I try to get the kind that have big individual chips vs. the little round chips
1 can refried beans (low-sodium, non-fat)
1 lb ground beef (97% lean)
2 cups shredded cheese (cheddar made with 2% milk)
2 tbsp taco or fajita seasoning
2 tbsp water
¾ cup salsa
lettuce, tomato, jalapeño (optional)

Cook the ground beef in a skillet and drain, return to pan and add taco seasoning and a tablespoon or two of water and allow the beef to simmer in the seasoning for at least 10min. Heat the refried beans in the microwave for about 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally until they are heated through and the consistency thins.

Lay tortilla chips out in a single layer on a baking sheet with very little overlap (you’re going to make two layers); top with about half of the refried beans, half the beef, 1/3 of the cheese and ½ cup of salsa. Lay out a 2nd layer of tortilla chips and cover with the rest of the refried beans, rest of the beef, ¼ cup of salsa and the rest of the cheese.

Bake at 350 for about 7-10 minutes until the cheese is all nice and melty/bubbly. While that’s baking, shred your lettuce, dice your tomato and slice your jalapeño into thin rings (or drain the jar if you bought already prepared jalapeño). Let the nachos cool for about 3-4 minutes then top with the lettuce, tomato and jalapeño (I only put this on half because I hate lettuce and tomato); serve warm and enjoy!!

Chicken Enchiladas with Sour Cream Sauce
3 skinless/boneless chicken breasts
12 whole wheat flour tortillas
2 cups shredded cheese (either Monterey Jack or Cheddar made with 2% milk)
¼ cup light butter
¾ cup chopped onion (about ½ of a large onion)
¼ cup flour
2 cups low-sodium non-fat chicken broth
1 cup non-fat sour cream
2 jalapeños, diced finely (or a small can of diced green chilies)
Salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder
Olive oil

Lightly sprinkle the salt, pepper, cumin and chili powder on both sides of each chicken breast then bake in the oven until cooked through. Pull/Cut/Shred the chicken into little pieces and set aside. (I was lazy tonight and picked up a rotisserie chicken that I shredded then sprinkled with cumin and chili powder so I could skip to the next step)

Sauté onion in a skillet with a little bit of olive oil until they are clear, add chicken and sauté with a little more cumin and chili powder for about 5 minutes. Pour into a bowl and set aside to cool.

Microwave the tortillas (only 3-4 at a time; don’t put the whole stack in there) for 15-20 seconds to get them to soften so they roll without breaking. Add the cheese to the cooled chicken mixture and spoon into the tortillas, roll the tortilla from one end to the other and place seam side down in a baking dish (I use my lasagna pan). I usually add the cheese to the chicken mix and fill the tortillas as they come out of the microwave

In a saucepan, melt the butter, whisk in the flour and add the chicken broth. Cook about 3-4 minutes until it starts to thicken. Stir in sour cream and jalapeños and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes while stirring. Spoon the sauce over the tortillas then bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes; let them cool for a few minutes before serving or they fall apart.

The Great Debate

Saturday afternoon in the Watson living room …
Me: I’m bored; I think I’ll bake a cake
Dan: Did you say cuuuupcaaaakes??
Me: No, I said a cake
Dan: But Missy, I want cupcakes.
Me: Ugh, you have to fill all those little wrappers then they take forever to frost (insert pouty face here)
Dan: Missyyyy???
Me: No
Dan: Missssyyyyyyy???
Me: No!!
Dan: 3-2-1-1-2-threeeeeeeee
Me: Fine! But you’re doing the frosting, hmpf!
Dan: SWEET!

I do have to admit, I much prefer a cupcake to a slice of cake, but why? Is it the frosting to cake ratio? Is it the individual size? Perhaps it is because I don’t need a plate and fork? Whatever the reason, there is just something oh-so-irresistible about a cupcake. I can turn down a slice of cake pretty much any day of the week, but I absolutely, without a doubt, cannot turn down a cupcake!

So here is my absolute favorite recipe for chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, I hope you enjoy them as much as Dan did!!

Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
1 ½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Hershey’s, it didn’t turn out as well with Nestle)
3 cups flour
3 cups sugar
1 tbsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp salt
3 eggs
½ cup warm water
1 ½ cups buttermilk
¾ cup vegetable oil
1 ½ tsp vanilla
1 bag (8oz) miniature chocolate chips

Sift cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in large bowl; mix together with a fork. Add in eggs, ½ cup warm water, buttermilk, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Mix on medium-high until smooth. Stir in the mini-chocolate chips then fill your cupcake wrappers.
(ps-I never sift anything even though it tells me in all my recipes that I should)
Bake at 350 for 18-20minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 stick butter (½ cup)
1 lb cream cheese (two 8oz pkgs)
1 cup powdered sugar (sometimes more)
1 tsp vanilla

Cream the butter and the sugar together with an electric mixer, add cream cheese in chunks and blend on high until smooth, add vanilla and mix until fully incorporated.

like martha ... if i could be like martha!!

Most of my generation will recall a very annoying Gatorade commercial from 1991; back when Michael Jordan still played for the Bulls (the first time). It was insanely popular and that terrible song was constantly stuck in the minds of young children: like Mike, if I could be like Mike! Well, in 1991 you probably did want to be like Mike; he was wildly famous and extremely wealthy, had won his first NBA Championship, and was the epitome of a positive role model with his clean-cut public persona. Kids loved him, parents loved him even more!

In 1991, Michael Jordan was someone young children could look up to. Fast forward 19 years to the year 2010, and many individuals may not feel that same way anymore. In the past 19 years, he retired, tried his hand at professional baseball, came out of retirement, retired, un-retired again, had a few adultery scandals, got divorced and while he’s finally retired (for good this time) and the NBA official website still touts him as the greatest basketball player of all time, I think he’s landed himself somewhere in VH-1 “where are they now” obscurity. OH, I almost forgot his gambling problem that was first uncovered in Atlantic City, Q-Jersey!!

I don’t want to be like Mike, I never wanted to be like Mike. I wasn’t a girly-girl, I didn’t dream about being a princess and I for sure never dreamt about being married and having kids. I wanted to be a career gal wearing power suits with shoulder pads. Maybe I’d be a doctor or a lawyer, but definitely not a boring old school teacher (no offense meant to my teacher friends, but well if you know me, you know teaching just isn’t my forte); then one day I awoke and announced that I was going to be a chef. My parents slightly indulged my wishes and didn’t really complain much as long as the cookies were yummy and I didn’t burn down the house.

Julia Child was my role model. Here was a woman who didn’t really care much about what anyone thought of her and she didn’t try to hide or cover up her mistakes. She just did was she loved doing and didn’t care about much else. If she dropped something on the floor, she’d just pick it up and go back to work. Nothing got in her way, not even that tricky puff pastry. Her carefree attitude about cooking and really about life is awe inspiring still to this day. She was a pioneer; this was looooooong before the days of Food Network and most women on tv were on Soap Operas or Roseanne back when I was in a budding little pre-teen trying to figure out life. To me, she was the end-all-be-all of what I wanted to be when I grew up.

Although I near my {gasp} 30th birthday, I think I can still learn a lot from my childhood idol. However, I’ve turned my recent attentions from Julia to Martha. Martha Stewart is the definition of success. She went from being a model to working on Wall Street to various other employs, eventually turning her every day chores into an enterprise. To top it all off, she went to jail for 5 months, I expected she’d head to that VH-1 obscurity … but she came out even stronger and more popular than before. Throughout her life, when the world got her down or she was kicked aside, she got right back up and demanded more. She has turned her personal opinions, experiences and lifestyle into an enormous omnimedia corporation, yet she can still tell you which generic brand foods taste just the same as the expensive brands so that you can save some pennies while trying to cook along at home to one of her recipes. And I truly believe she taste tests it all herself. Why? Because Martha Stewart is a perfectionist. Sometimes perfectionists get negative press, we’re called high-maintenance or b*tchy, but I think perfection is a positive thing! While I have absolutely no intention of spending time in jail, I would be glad to be like Martha.

Martha is my hero; Julia is my idol. I think if I can strike the right balance of Julia’s positivity and carefree attitude mixed with Martha’s perfectionist attention to detail and fortitude that I can accomplish anything that I set out to do. To prove this to myself on a very, VERY small scale, tonight I’m making a chocolate cake from scratch using ingredients I’ve never used before then frosting it with homemade chocolate cream cheese icing, which I have never even tasted before. Both recipes are featured in the April 2010 edition of Martha Stewart Living; I’m not sure I can reprint it here without getting in trouble but I’ll be sure to let you know how good it tastes!!

I found a recipe on Martha’s site that is close to the same chocolate cake recipe in the magazine: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/one-bowl-chocolate-cake

it was an easter MIRACLE!!

March was rough: our dishwasher broke which I turned into an opportunity for a full kitchen renovation but then I got shingles and didn’t move for a week which was followed by a debilitating stomach virus. To top it all off, Dan came down with the same virus on the same day I finally started feeling better. What could have been a project completed in 2-3 weekends turned into something lasting longer than a month and I wasn’t able to cook for about 3 straight weeks … I was in hell. As a result, I channeled my inner Bob Villa, flashed back to the old times with Brucie in the garage, picked up Dan’s power tools and got to work! In no time, I was using the T-square to make perfect corners, laying down masking tape guides for the jigsaw, and putting in our new countertop all by myself (well ok, Dan helped lift it into place). I also got to play with the drill, belt sander, little sander, pliers, socket wrench, dremel, battery-powered screwdriver, crowbar, hammer, various other tools and my personal fave: the rubber mallet.

It is such a wonderful feeling of accomplishment; I installed a countertop and a sink! I sanded down all the cabinets and other wood using the belt sander with an 80 grade then 120 grade paper to finish them and make them all smooth. Then I got to work painting and painted from first morning’s tea until the last big girl glass of the evening. As of right now, the kitchen is about 96% done from a painting aspect and the counters are 33.3% done. We still have to put the counter top in under the stovetop and put the cabinets back together (the ones I decided I didn’t want sitting out in the middle, cutting my kitchen in half any longer) over on the other side of the kitchen. But all of that can wait and I won’t scream or cry or stomp my feet. Why? Because the most important part is done: the sink. Who knew the sink was so pivotal to the rest of the kitchen?? You can’t run the dishwasher without the sink so we were stuck on paper plates and plastic utensils. You can’t boil pasta without water, and I’ll be damned if I fill a pot of water in the bathtub and carry it into the kitchen; I barely have enough balance to make it from the sink to the stove. You can barely do ANYTHING without your kitchen sink properly installed and in place.

To celebrate my hard work and triumphant return to cooking, I promptly made dinner using the oven, stove, microwave and yes, of course, the sink. It was so nice being able to use my kitchen again for more than just reheating one of the many meals I’d cooked and frozen (and nearly ran out of). My stove was turned on, 3 burners at once! I think I heard my stove wheeze a sigh of thanks, he feels more useful when he’s cooking a real meal vs. just heating up the tea kettle. My oven definitely felt appreciated and used this opportunity to express his gratitude by filling the house with the wonderful smells of deliciousness that, for the first time in a week, weren’t the result of yet another Totinos pizza. Side note: if you ever have a really bad stomach virus, little bites of Totinos 4 cheese pizza with little sips of ginger ale keep the nausea at bay.

Sunday morning, I awoke to an Easter miracle. I’d gone to bed the night before, utterly exhausted and worn out from my hard work and manual labor; so tired that I actually hadn’t bothered to clean up the mess I’d made, something that never happens. Dan awoke Sunday morning to let the dogs out while I slept and, wait for it, waaaaaaiiiiiiiiiit for it … cleaned!!!!! I was able to go into my (halfway done) new kitchen, go straight to the fridge, and without having to dodge random tools strewn about or watch my step so I didn’t put a nail through my foot like the night before, I was able to cook! I decided to rejoice in the beauty of my half-finished kitchen by baking a strawberry French toast casserole to take to Easter brunch at Sam’s house. I carefully whipped my egg whites, creating soft peaks, before adding the buttermilk and slowly blending in maple syrup, brown sugar, granulated sugar and hot-oil cinnamon by hand, enjoying every last minute while the oven preheated. I then took a loaf of whole wheat French bread and sliced it into 1-inch cubes and placed it all into a deep casserole. I dusted the bread with more cinnamon, added a few dollops of the strawberry jam I’d picked up at the farmer’s market, then poured in my egg mix. After setting atop my new countertop for about 20 minutes (covered) letting the egg soak into the bread, I popped it in the oven for 40 minutes of blissfully aromatic baking. The house smelled amazing, the brunch dish turned out fabulous, and I had a very Happy Easter indeed.

We still have quite a bit of work ahead of us to finish the kitchen completely, but I was happy that for one day, I was able to cook!

cooking is an art ... baking is pure science

Some people will say they can cook but they can’t bake and others can bake but they can’t cook. I never really thought about it before, but whenever I am cooking a new recipe, I follow the recipe for the most part, but really don’t bother to measure anything and have no problem “improving” upon the recipe and adding or deleting whatever I want. HOWEVER, when it comes to baking, I always measure everything out perfectly and very rarely do I stray from the recipe, at least not the first time I’m trying it. The reason I don’t mess with baking is that a cake is so fickle. You sub out peanut butter for regular butter and boom, cake comes out dense and oily. Maybe you add a teaspoon of vanilla to kick up the flavor but nope, you just end up with a cake that is gooey in the middle and burned around the edges. Only have two eggs and the recipe calls for three? Your cookies burn, your bread doesn’t rise and your cake resembles a large hockey puck. Altering a recipe for a baked good takes science and calculated substitutions; you can’t just add a little of this and a little of that.

On the other side of the spectrum, cooking is absolute art. While I love baking, especially the end result, I love the art of cooking even more. Going through my pantry and trying to figure out what flavors go with what based solely on what I have in the house (because I don’t feel like running to the store) can be so much fun! Take today for example, I found a recipe for a Reese’s peanut butter cake, followed the recipe to a T, and was ready to eat the batter with a spoon vs. actually baking it. But alas, I threw the batter in cake pans and placed them in the oven to bake. Meanwhile, I searched through the house to figure out what to make for dinner. I took some steaks out of the freezer to defrost, pulled a few potatoes out of the cupboard to bake, and got to thinking … baked potatoes are boring, not in the mood for mashed, what if I make twice-baked stuffed potatoes? Immediately, I went to my fridge to see what ingredients I had on hand. Hmmm, does asiago pair well with cheddar? I didn’t know, so I took a little piece of each, smooshed them together and popped it in my mouth, fab! I don’t have sour cream, guess I’ll use butter milk. Ooooooo, I think I even have some bacon!!!!

Once the steaks thawed, I rubbed them with a mix of fresh pressed garlic, cracked peppercorns and sea salt then sprinkled them lightly with a little Worcestershire sauce (say it with me Texans Woo-stur). I pulled the cake out of the oven and popped my potatoes in to bake; before I threw them in the oven, I washed the skins then rolled them in kosher salt, it makes the skins extra crispy, very important for twice-baked stuffed potatoes! Once the potatoes are cooked through, I’ll slice them in half lengthwise and scoop the insides into a bowl (always bake 3 if you’re serving 2 people, 6 if serving 4 people and so on); you only have to save as many potato halves as people you’re serving so once you have that many nicely preserved, it’s ok to ruin the others. Brush the halves very, very lightly with some olive oil (inside and out) then sprinkle with some salt and place back in the oven for about 5 more minutes and cook my bacon. Meanwhile, back to that bowl of potato innards, I’m going to add a few tbsp of non-butter, a big splash of buttermilk, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Normally, I am very much anti-lump in my potato, but for these, I use a hand masher and allow a few lumps. Once it’s all mixed up, I add half of the cheese and crumbled bacon and mix lightly with a big wooden spoon. I spoon the mixture out into my empty potato shells, top with the rest of the cheese and bacon then will eventually set them back in the oven for about 10 minutes (until the cheese is nice and melty).

On the stove, because if I’m using the grill and the oven, then clearly I have to use the stove to create a full-kitchen mess, I have a sauté pan filled with mushrooms, fresh pressed garlic, and a few tbsp of non-butter. Once Dan walks through the door, I’ll send him out back to warm up MY grill for the steaks then grill the steaks, turn on the mushrooms and pop the potatoes in the oven … all three will be done at just about the same time!

Just finished prepping everything and now I sit here and wait for Dan to get home, so I’m typing away as I ponder the differences between baking and cooking. It really does come down to art vs. science. Those that were very good at science in school are most likely much better bakers; and those that were better in the arts and English are probably best at cooking. I was really good at science and English, but well with art, ever hear the expression ‘A for effort?’ Yea, that was me. My art was never meant for a gallery, and usually hidden beneath something else on the fridge; I can draw a mean stick figure though! I guess it just took a few years to realize it, but cooking is my art.

And yes, I know I’m not having a green vegetable for dinner but dammit, I'm also having something called a Reese's peanut butter cup cake, clearly I don’t care

opposites attract

What is the opposite of Irish? Well if you grew up on the East Coast, NJ especially, you know the answer to that is Italian. Since we had that fabulous Irish feast last night, tonight we will have Italian. Every good Italian dish starts with the sauce. I’ve made a huge vat of my homemade sauce and it has been simmering away all day on the stove. Many people are scared to make homemade tomato sauce because more often times than not, it comes out too acidic and ruins the dish. My trick for handling the acidity is to add in some finely chopped carrot and zucchini; they absorb the acidic flavors and naturally sweeten the sauce. In the rare case that doesn’t work, I just add a dash of sugar.

My favorite part of any Italian meal is always the bread. I tried to find a recipe for homemade Italian bread with a crunchy crust but all of them required about 5-6 hours of effort … no thanks. Instead, I found the recipe for a rosemary focaccia, which was MUCH easier, barely required any kneading, and only needed 30 minutes to rise. Despite my inability to make bread outside of my breadmaker, this turned out amazing and OMG my house smells SO GOOD!!!! I now can make two kinds of bread without my breadmaker: Irish soda bread and rosemary focaccia. Please don’t ask me to try anything else just yet; I’m still glowing over the success of these two breads.

Now really, with a good loaf of bread and a pot of sauce, I don’t need much else, maybe just a big girl glass. But alas, Dan will want a real meal when he gets home and if I’m already cooking, why not make an entrée. I’m going to make my grandmom’s famous lasagna. Many who’ve had my gmom’s lasagna would be mighty surprised to meet her, as she is the opposite of Italian. BUT another thing I learned back East is that you don’t have to be Italian to make a great sauce, you just have to be from the tri-state area. Since I’ve pretty much thrown the 90 day challenge out the window, I could just make the lasagna the way my gmom does; however, I’m feeling the need to at least try to be the littlest bit healthy so I’ve tweaked the recipe some. I’m using whole grain noodles, all low or nonfat cheeses and extra lean ground sirloin (beef two nights in a row, Dan is going to flip!).

After I finish layering my lasagna pan full of noodles, cheeses and meat sauce; before I top with my final handful of mozzarella, I’m going to melt 1 tbsp of butter into ¼ cup of milk and pour it over the top, just like grandmom used to do. That is the big Lewis family secret to the most amazingly delicious lasagna you have ever had in your life! Of course, gmom always used whole milk and real butter vs. today I used skim milk and reduced-fat butter substitute, so we’ll see if the results are the same.

My healthified version of Grandma’s classic lasagna:
1 box whole grain lasagna noodles
1 15oz container fat-free ricotta
2 cups part-skim mozzarella
1 cup reduced-fat parmesan plus extra for sprinkling
1 egg
Whatever Italian seasonings you like: oregano, basil, parsley, etc.
1 lb extra lean ground sirloin (or ground turkey)
3 cups tomato sauce
¼ cup skim milk
1 tbsp butter/margerine

Brown and drain the meat, return to pan and add 3 cups tomato sauce and warm through.

In a large bowl, beat the egg, then add ricotta and parmesan cheese and mix well. Add Italian seasonings and mix.

Now it’s time to make your lasagna; pour a healthy spoonful of sauce in the bottom of the pan; place 1/3 of the noodles on the bottom of the pan, top with 1/3 of the ricotta mix and 1/3 cup of mozzarella, cover with a ladleful of sauce. Repeat your layers until you just have noodles on the top.

In the microwave or on the stove, melt the butter into the milk and pour over the bare noodles; top with remaining sauce and remaining mozzarella.

Cover the lasagna with foil and bake for 30 min at 350. Remove the foil and bake another 20 min. Remove from the oven, re-cover with foil, and allow the lasagna to sit for 15-20minutes before serving. Enjoy!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Since today is St Patrick’s Day, and since I cannot mix alcohol with my various medicines, rather than celebrating with a few pints of Guinness, I will instead cook an Irish feast! I’ve decided to make some Irish Soda Bread, a shepherd’s pie and green cupcakes for dessert. First up, the soda bread … I really need to buy a pastry cutter. Mixing the cold butter into the dry ingredients is really such a pain in the bottom, but I’ve somehow been able to accomplish it with a fork. As I type, the soda bread is baking away in the oven, filling the house with the most wonderful aromas. You need to keep an eye on your soda bread, if it starts to brown too much on the top, just cover it with some foil until it’s completed baking.

Next up? Time to bake some cupcakes. I’ve decided to make plain, normal butter-recipe cupcakes and will add in some green food dye. Since Dan would probably think that is pretty boring, I will use a little ganache for the frosting.

Now onto the meat … I make a fairly traditional shepherd’s pie, with beef though, not lamb. I start with extra lean ground sirloin, brown and drain that then return it to the pan. While my beef is browning, I start peeling my potatoes for my mashed and set them on the stove in lightly salted water to boil. To the beef, I add beef broth (normally I’d also add Guinness but since I can’t drink it, I forgot to purchase it), Worcestershire, spicy brown mustard, and various seasonings from my cupboard. For my veggies, I’m adding corn, carrots, peas and green beans. I would normally only add peas and carrots, but I’m trying to up my vegetable intake and the farmers’ market really had some amazing produce today. I’ll steam them just a little in my microwave vegetable steamer then add them in with the beef, cover and let it simmer until the broth reduces (you may need to add a little roux). If you’re not as fortunate to live in a warmer climate that has access to fresh vegetables year round, or if you’re just lazy and not in the mood, you can totally use frozen mixed vegetables in place of fresh.

Your potatoes should be nice and tender by now and ready for some mashing. For shepherd’s pie, I only add milk, butter, salt and pepper then mash until all the lumps are gone. In a large casserole dish, pour the beef mixture, then top with the mashed potatoes. Make sure as you smooth out the mashed, you leave little peaks and valleys rather than making it perfectly flat across the top. Dot the top of the casserole with a few pats of butter, some salt and pepper and pop it in the oven for about an hour at 350. Let it set on the counter for a good 10-20minutes before serving; otherwise, when you go to scoop out that first piece, it all comes pouring out and your beef to potato ratio is reduced.

Well the soda bread is just about finished so it’s time to stop typing and start the cupcakes. I hope everyone has an absolutely wonderful St. Patrick’s Day, enjoy a pint for me!!

My recipe for Irish Soda Bread:
4 cups flour
3 tbsp sugar
3tsp baking powder
1tsp salt
¾ tsp baking soda
6 tbsp COLD butter
2 eggs, beaten
1 ½ cups buttermilk
(1 ½ cup raisins and 1 tbsp caraway seeds if you want, but I leave these out since I don’t like them)

Combine dry ingredients and cut in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. (stir in raisins and caraway seeds if you’re using them)

In a separate bowl, combine buttermilk and all but 1tbsp of the egg (set aside for later). Stir liquid into the crumb mix until moistened … it is VERY sticky at this point. Turn the dough onto a very well floured area and knead about 10-12 times then shape into a ball.

Place the dough on a greased baking pan (I like using baking stones, it comes out better), cut the traditional “X” in the top and brush the top/sides with 1tbsp of the egg mixture. Bake at 350 for about an hour and 20 minutes. Keep an eye on your soda bread, I usually have to cover mine with foil for the last 20 minutes of baking because the top browns too quickly.

i want my kitchen back!!!!

I haven’t cooked in days … at first, I was really excited about the kitchen remodel but now I’m just over it. Yes, I knew it would be a lot of work and no, I didn’t think it could happen overnight but ugh!!!! I am a very organized and methodical person. Before starting any project, I make a list of individual tasks that need to be accomplished in order to complete the overall project before I even think about starting anything. I then put them in order of which needs to happen first, second, last and power through each item one at a time until all of it is done. Now if only I could get Dan to be that way, hmpf!

It started as an accident, Dan was pulling out the old dishwasher and he broke a few of the bad 70s tiles that covered our countertops. Then he disappeared for a few minutes into the garage and emerged with a rubber mallet in one hand and a screwdriver in the other. Within seconds, he’d removed a 2ft x 2ft square of the tile and was smiling ear to ear. By the end of the night, all of the tile on the right hand side of the kitchen was GONE! I was quite pleased. Unfortunately, the removal of the bad 70s tile revealed bad 70s yellow laminate (? I think it’s laminate but I really haven’t a clue). Over the next two weeks, Dan worked nightly to continue removing the rest of the tiles and to begin removing the remnants of cement that still covered the bad 70s yellow. And here we are now, the tile is gone, the cement is almost completely gone (some from the backsplash still remains), and I have not yet picked out what I want for my new countertops.

I am a clean-as-I-go kind of person, Dan is not. He has kicked me out of the kitchen on more than one occasion through this process because I just cannot stand the mess. I thought I was helping him, cleaning up his mess as he was making it; apparently I was just being annoying. We are now at a critical point, I can make him pause and live with the bad yellow for a few days and at least get back into my kitchen, or I can let him forge forth with sanding down our bad 70s cabinets which he will then refinish. What do I do??? I cannot live in a state of perpetual mess, but I want my new kitchen, I would’ve worked from the top down and completed the cabinets first, but then again this all started as an accident and how could he know that his accident would turn into a kitchen remodel? Just for today, I’m going to enjoy having my kitchen back, today. It is Sunday, my Sunday, the day I typically spend all day in the kitchen.

If you don’t hear from me for a few days, it is most likely because I have given my kitchen, MY kitchen, back to Dan to continue working. Now I’m off to enjoy my big girl glass while my stuffed peppers cook away in the oven, filling our home with the most beautiful aroma, one I’ve missed while waiting to get back in my kitchen. Wish me luck!

where's the beef

There are certain times that ground turkey will just not suffice and I have to have some juicy, tasty RED meat. Thursday was one of those rare exceptions, although it was not due to a craving of my own; damn that Dan!! I attempted to protest, as we were only on Day 4; however, Dan had threatened me with the promise of placing a muchaco from Bueno in front of me (something I am unable to resist) if I did not show him the beef. While I should instead work on my own willpower and inability to say no to the sweet deliciousness of the muchaco shell wrapped around the savory goodness that is the perfect mix of Bueno beef, beans and shredded cheddar, which I am most positive is not made with 2% milk; I instead gave into my husband’s request and found a way to healthify one of his favorites: Salisbury steak. But now that I think about it, I really could go for a muchaco …

US News & World Report stated back in August of 2009 that red meat can be part of a heart-healthy diet, when eaten in moderation and if the right cuts of beef are chosen. I selected extra-lean ground sirloin: in a 4oz portion there are 130 calories (40 calories from fat), 4.5g of fat, 60mg of cholesterol , 75mg of sodium AND 22g of protein. There is also a big serving of Iron, Vitamin B12 and Zinc. For comparison purposes, in a single chicken drumstick, you can find the following: 112 calories (90 from fat), 10.1g of fat, 60mg of cholesterol, 273mg of sodium and 18g of protein. Also, there is very little Iron and minimal amounts of Vitamins A, E and B2.

I purchased 1lb (16oz) of extra lean ground sirloin, divided it into fourths and restrained myself enough to only eat one portion. But before I could divide and conquer, one must first season one’s meat or risk Chef Ramsay shaking his head in shame that I learned nothing from watching every single episode of Hell’s Kitchen, not even his cardinal rule: you must season your dish! I chose to go fairly light on the seasoning: 1 minced garlic clove, a healthy sprinkling of fresh ground black pepper and a dash of red wine. Add the seasoning to the meat and mix it well then form into 4 mostly equal portions; roll each portion into a ball then smush between your palms to form fairly thick patties, with even thickness throughout (you don’t want them thick in the middle and skinny on the sides).

Over on the other side of my kitchen, I had my favorite pan warming over medium-low heat. I pretty much always use my cast iron pans when I’m making beef, I don’t know why but I swear it just makes beef better. I placed the patties in the pan and increased the heat to medium; you want to brown both sides of the patties. Meanwhile, whisk about 2 tbsp of flour into 2 cups of nonfat reduced sodium beef broth until the flour is fully incorporated. Once the patties have been browned on both sides, add the broth to the pan, also adding about 1 ½ cups sliced mushrooms and a good sprinkling of black pepper. Once the broth starts to boil, reduce the heat and allow the patties and mushrooms to simmer, turn the patties occasionally until they are fully cooked through.

While those finished cooking, I popped some green beans in the microwave and voila! A well-balanced, healthy meal that had beef as my centerpiece. So there Dan … there’s your beef, you can keep your muchacos to yourself!!!