Tomato Soup

It’s Easter Sunday. We are done with the lunch and egg hunt that we attend every year at the Thomas Hub (which is what I think I will call our Aunt Judy’s house from now on).  Naturally stuffed on ham and other goodies, and completely exhausted from the day’s activities, we got home and wondered what we would do about dinner.  We wanted something simple and not too filling, mostly something to keep us from going to bed hungry.  So Aaron and I decided that grilled cheese sandwiches were the easiest answer.

We almost always have tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches.  I didn’t understand this when I met my husband, but I certainly do now.  In fact, that’s just about the only time I eat tomato soup.  Sadly, we didn’t have any in the house (we usually get Campbell’s Select Harvest) but we did have a can of tomato paste.  So I decided it was time to experiment.

I used one can (six ounces) of tomato paste.  I added two tablespoons of butter, a teaspoon or two of both garlic and onion powder, and some basil paste I had in the fridge that I need to use up.  Now, if you were being a good little cook and not lazy like I am, you would saute one or two cloves of garlic with somewhere between a quarter and a half of a small onion.  When the onions were soft you would then add the tomato paste.  You would also use fresh basil chopped finely, and not paste out of a tube like I used.  But like I said, I’m a lazy cook.  I then added a few shakes of the Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste.  When everything was mixed well I added three cups of milk and kept it on medium high until it just started to boil.  At that point I turned the heat down just a touch and let it simmer for a bit, maybe another ten minutes.  Be sure to check and taste it from time to time to make sure you don’t need to add any salt, pepper, or other seasonings.

The kids dipped their sandwiches in it without too much argument.  I enjoyed it.  Aaron declared that we were never going to buy soup in a can again.  I guess that means he liked it.

Easter Cookies

It’s time to stuff baskets with goodies, and I wanted to treat my kids with something a little more special than the standard store bought stuff.  Don’t get me wrong, I bought candy, but that’s not all that’s in their baskets.

I went looking for a sugar cookie recipe (so I could make shapes, obviously) and went to my usual go-to resource for All Things Food.  When I did a search for sugar cookies on The Pioneer Woman’s blog, This Recipe   popped up.  The fact that they were decorated with a glaze instead of being covered in frosting appealed to me.  So, using the only spring themed cookie cutter that I own (a flower, which can also double as a snow flake) I baked a batch of lovely easter cookies.

I used blue and yellow for the glaze, mostly because those were the only colors I found in the pantry that were not green (Who said I was good at planning?)  I also did not have shortening, so I used butter.  Shortening would have probably made them a touch softer, but they are a rather pleasant texture with butter.  And I didn’t use the egg whites in the frosting.  If I were serving them today, or only eating them myself, I might have.  But the Idea of using raw egg on cookies that aren’t going to be eaten until Sunday made me feel icky.  A note on the frosting – if you’re going to forgo the egg white (I have no idea how it alters the frosting) be sure to let the frosting begin to set up just a bit.  I made mine a tiny bit too runny, and some of the flowers look like they are… um… pollenating vigorously.

But otherwise, aren’t they pretty?

Have a lovely week, whatever you celebrate.

-Angela

Warm Pudding

I was in a bad mood yesterday.  I wanted chocolate, and thought that I wanted to bake, but decided against it for laziness reasons.  So, for kicks, I pulled out my pudding recipe and added cocoa to it.

First, the basic vanilla version…

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups milk, divided

Pinch salt

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

2 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon butter or margarine

Directions

Place 2 cups milk and salt in a saucepan. Sprinkle sugar on milk.  Let them sit for a minute without stirring for at least a few minutes; heat over medium-high. Quickly combine cornstarch with remaining milk; add egg yolks and mix well. When milk comes to a full boil, remove saucepan from the heat and stir in cornstarch mixture (I always temper the egg/cornstarch mixture first).  Return to the heat and cook for 1-2 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla and butter. Pour into individual dishes. Serve warm.

Now I took this recipe and added 1/2 cup of cocoa powder to the egg mixture.  It was tasty, but extremely rich.  I would recommend starting with 1/4 cup of cocoa for a less intense flavor.

Also note, this recipe is meant to be served warm.  If you chill  it before eating, it will start to get a bit gloopy.  It still tastes wonderful, it’s just not as smooth and pretty as it is when it’s warm.

I would have taken a picture, but I devoured all of it before I thought about it.

Palak Paneer (sort of)

There is a dish that I would love to learn how to make properly.  It hasn’t happened yet, but we’re getting closer!  Tonight I made lentils and rice (rice cooker, one cup lentils, one cup rice, some turmeric, salt, and if you like, a little ground cumin) and the desire struck me to have something green and vegetable like on the table.  I went and looked up various recipes for Palak Paneer, and sort of winged it.

I have always been under the impression that this dish required yogurt, but none of the recipes I found listed it.  One called for sour cream, which I just found weird.  One called for heavy cream which sounded fine, but I didn’t have any and wound up adding whole milk.  I was also out of paneer cheese, seeing as how I still haven’t learned how to make it (must correct this soon) and I have yet to find a store near me that sells it.

I don’t have any idea how much of anything I used.  When I finally get the blasted dish right, then I’ll worry about measuring and writing down what I’ve done.  I know this doesn’t make sense, but it’s how I work.  I grabbed some garlic and put it through the press because it’s easier than chopping, and tossed it into some olive oil and cooked it a bit.  I also tossed in some chopped onion, ginger, ground coriander, cumin seeds, turmeric, and a touch of red pepper (I don’t know, it’s the stuff in my husband’s special Indian food spice kit).  When the onions looked clear I added all of the spinach I could find in my fridge and cooked it down until it just looked like I had hardly any spinach at all.  At this point I added a tablespoon or two of tomato paste.

I took everything out of the pan and put it into a food processor.  I poured in a bit more olive oil and hit the button.  After a few seconds I grabbed the milk and added a little at a time, pulsing the mix in between pours.  When it was just a little too thin I pulled it out and put it in a small pan to simmer for a bit.  When it had the right consistency (and a pretty close flavor) I pulled it off to let it cool for a bit.

Like I said before, I didn’t have any paneer cheese, so I used what was in the fridge.  What was in the fridge happened to be goat cheese.  I think this is where things when horribly wrong.  The goat cheese melted into the palak way too easily.  It also had such an overpowering flavor that it took over the whole dish.  Since I think goat cheese is wonderful and can do no wrong, this wasn’t entirely a problem for me, but it just wasn’t… right.

I still have not mastered this dish, but believe me, when I do, you’ll know!

Chilli

So!

Remember when I said we were going to do chicken strips and a steak and all that? Well…things happened. School, my kid getting sick and the metroplex I live in becoming covered in a sea of ice. When it came down to it I could write both of those posts right now, but without pictures it kind of feels..pointless, and last night, when the world was frozen and shivering and everyone in my life was teeth chattering cold, I decided to knock out one of my major monthly contributions to our house’s dinner rotations and make a big batch of chilli.

Now before I begin, I want to state that even if I live in Texas, I do not make Texas Chilli. Texas Chilli does not have beans, and there’s a whole bunch of other rules to it and frankly while I enjoy it when I eat it, I live with northerners and I enjoy beans in mine. So if you’re gonna complain about it, then take them out in your mind. Just imagine my household living in a lovely bean free state and all will be well.

So basically, like most of my recipes there’s no real measurements I can provide you..unfortunately I cook by feel, which I think is perhaps the best way to do things like this but I could be wrong. However, my advice is simple, start with a little, and add more. Of everything. Start with a little, taste, and taste, and taste as you go and soon you’ll start to get a ‘feel’ for things.

Right! So with all that said lets begin!

First I take two pounds of ground pork, and two pounds of ground beef and toss it into the pot I’m going to make the chilli in. I brown the whole mess while covering it with a whole slew of things.

3-4 tablespoons of garlic Depending on your love of garlic

1ish tablespoon of Cumin, Oregano, Chilli Powder and whatever strikes your fancy. Cilantro is a good one too.

Then a couple teaspoons of salt and pepper.

 

When the meat is all browned and good, I drain it thoroughly and put it back in the pan. I then add two big cans of crushed tomatoes, and two big cans of tomato sauce. Then a large can of tomato paste and three drained cans of red kidney beans (though I’m dying to try some other beans, like black or the like) and then add a couple more table spoons of garlic, more cumin and oregano and chilli powder and salt and pepper..

Stir it up thoroughly, and taste. It will be a touch..strong here or should be but not too spicy and overwhelming. Bring to a good bubbling simmer and leave on low heat for at least three hours. Tasting throughout and adding whatever you feel is lacking.

I then make cornbread to go with it and serve it with Cornbread which can be eaten on the side, or crumbled up and mixed in. I also give cheese and sourcream and if we’re having company some chips.

I purposefully make a big pot of it when I make it so that we can put into freezer bags in dinner sized portions and thaw it out and reheat it for lunches or dinner as we see fit. It’s a great way to have something on hand that everyone enjoys!

I hope you all enjoy!!

Coming attractions

I fear that this little bit of quiet is coming at the end of a little bit of nasty fall, and some more settling into routines. However, I still have ideas and things to post on here! I was thinking of doing a a steak broiling tutorial, and we recently made home made chicken strips here that were awesome and I wanted to share them so there is content waiting to make it’s appearance on this stage!

 

I will try to get the tutorial for making a steak up on here this afternoon, but I make no promises. I have a lab exam to study for. Hopefully my lovely assistants will be posting something soon as well!

 

-Jess

Adaptable Handful Dinner Bowls

As the only singleton in this motley crew of kitchen witches, you’d think I would be either subsisting on Cheerios and takeout all the time, or I would be obsessed with preparing the most elaborate dishes I could afford.

…well, I DO like Cheerios…

In all seriousness, my schtick is to cook things that are simple, but not easy, and yet still yummy. It curbs my urge to dirty up all the dishes I own, see, but doesn’t produce anything inedible.

My favorite thing to do lately has hinged on the fact that I’ve begun keeping two sealed bowls in the refrigerator – one full of brown rice and one full of shredded Brussels sprouts. Using these two things plus a small array of other ingredients, I can produce a delicious, filling, and I think even semi-nutritious meal in about twenty minutes. Here’s what happened with my latest one – and I am sorry I have no photos, but it was eaten much too quickly.

I sweated a small handful of chopped onion in some olive oil until it got a bit translucent, then added a tablespoon of minced garlic. Yes, I can and do chop my own garlic, but I don’t have anything against the jarred stuff, and that’s what I used here.

Once the garlic smelled fantastic, I tossed in a handful (see where I got the name?) of pre-cooked chicken breast pieces and a handful of snow peas. Those got stirred around until the peapods were a really bright green.

This is when I threw in some of the rice, a generous splash of soy sauce, and an egg. I was going for something akin to fried rice, and I wanted some serious protein because I started ballet class this week and I was feeling it.

Maybe next time I will put the rice in with the chicken and leave the peapods for a little later, because the peapods were a little limp by the time I was sure the egg was cooked.  I don’t mind limp peapods, but I know it isn’t optimal.

At any rate, I stirred the whole thing around until the egg was cooked, and then I tossed in a little more soy sauce and a handful of sprouts. The sprouts don’t need long – you don’t want them to get overcooked and vile-smelling. Really, two or three minutes should do it. You want them bright, a little crisp, and warmed through.

When you are as done as you want to be, scoop some out into a nice deep bowl and store the rest for lunch the next day. Eat like it is going out of style.

The great thing is that this is so adaptable. Use quinoa instead of brown rice. If you’re wimpy about sprouts, choose another hardy green, like bok choy or chard or cabbage. Instead of peapods, use asparagus spears or broccoli pieces or none of these things. I’m toying with the idea of toasting some pine nuts and throwing them in, if I can bring myself to buy them (are they made of gold? sheesh). I have often had my handful bowl without any meat in it at all, and most days I don’t use egg, either.

The idea is to experiment until you find what you like, and the key to all of it is to have at least two bowls of ingredient – one whole grain and one hardy, leafy green – on hand at all times. I do my prep on these Sunday afternoon while watching TV or listening to music. It takes maybe a half hour of my time to do it, and I find it is actually pretty soothing and it makes me feel good to have taken a firm hand in knowing what I am eating.

Which, all in all, is not a bad thing to do.

Meat Pie

This is basically one big meat pastie, all of it’s homemade.  Good for one of those days when you don’t feel like doing much more than letting your food cook itself, and also another good filler for those cold nights.  Jess and I used to make casseroles and bakes when we weren’t up for anything strenuous. (Thinking of you, girl!)  It’s heavy and thick and tasty!  This is basically one of my creations, and albeit not always the -prettiest-, it’s of the yummy.

What you’ll need for the inside -

1 pound of ground beef (or meat of your choice)

1 tbsp of Beef base

1 1/2 Cup of hot water

 

What you’ll need for the crust -

3 cups of Flour

4 teaspoons of Baking Powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup of melted butter

So I always suggest starting your bread first, not that it takes long.  This is a yeast free bread that you’re going to use for the shell, so it’s quick and easy to put together.

Add the dry ingredients and mix’em together, then add the butter and milk to the dry.  I use the dough bar for this.  Mix it for about 4 minutes or so, until all of the loose flour is gone.  If it’s sticky, add a bit more flour.

While you’re doing that, start your ground beef and preheat your oven to 400 F.  You want to make sure that you mix it with about 3/4 of flour when you put it in the pan, this will cause the gravy effect.  Mix your beef base with your water, stir thoroughly and add it to the beef in your pan.  Make sure you’re cooking at about medium high to thicken it up.

 

While that’s thickening, form the dough into a ball and place it into the pan of your choice.  I went with a round 8 inch glass bowl that works in the oven, about 4 inches deep.  Mash the dough down and form it to the inside of the dish, making sure you tug it over the edges like so:

When the meat is thickened to the consistency that you want it (not too watery), add it to the shell.  There are multiple ways to close the top, and you don’t have to if you don’t want to either.  You’re also able to add veggies into it as well if you want, tonight I was lazy and just did a meat pie, plain and simple.  When you close the shell, make sure you pinch it tight, as the bread will spread once it starts cooking and you don’t want the filling all over the inside of your oven.

Place in oven and cook for 25 minutes.  When you pull it out, it’s going to be hot so I’d suggest letting it sit for about 10 minutes before cutting into it.  While it sets, smear a little butter over the crust to soften it a little.

 

Like I said, it doesn’t always look like a masterpiece but it’s tasty and gives you enough creative leverage to make it look anyway you please.

 

Enjoy!

Simple Herbed Chicken Breasts

So I was sitting on my couch exhausted this afternoon, chicken breasts in the kitchen thawing, with absolutely no clue what I was going to do with them.  It was “Clean the Kids’ Rooms” day and I was feeling more than  a little wiped out.  I had every intention of doing my usual parmesan chicken nuggets (which I’m only getting a little sick of) when I happened upon the show Cook Yourself Thin.  Now, this is not their recipe.  To be fair, I didn’t really pay attention to what they were doing, I just saw that they were doing an herbed chicken and it sounded good.

I took three chicken breasts (the kids usually share one) and set them aside.  In a large dish I added olive oil, lemon juice, sage, thyme, rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper.  I mixed that together well, and dredged the chicken breasts in it.  When the breasts were nice and covered, I let them sit for a while, just to let everything soak in just a touch.

While I waited for the chicken to get cozy with all the ingredients, I went ahead and turned the oven on to 400 degrees.  I also sliced up some potatoes.  I’m not sure I’m even capable of making a meal that doesn’t include those delicious red potatoes anymore.  I might have a few issues.  I tossed the potatoes around with some olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary.  That’s really all there is to them.  Every thing is to taste.  If you don’t have (or like) rosemary you can easily add basil, or oregano, or thyme, or ROSEMARY, because rosemary is really really good.  Did I mention that I have issues?

I popped everything into the oven, checking the potatoes after about 15 minutes, giving them a good stir (so they don’t stick).  The potatoes take about thirty minutes total.

The Husband devoured it, because that’s what he does.  The four year old ate one bite and declared that he didn’t like it.  Apparently it couldn’t even be saved by ketchup.  He ate the potatoes, but only after scraping the rosemary off of them. The toddler devoured the potatoes, ate two bites of chicken, drank a large glass of milk, and asked for crackers.  That’s my girl.

I thought it was wonderful.

Simple Herbed Chicken Breasts

3 – 4 Chicken Breasts

3 TBSP Olive Oil

1 TBSP Lemon juice

1/4 tsp sage

1/4 tsp thyme

1 tsp rosemary

2 cloves garlic pressed (or chopped)

salt and pepper to taste

In a large dish, combine olive oil, juice, garlic, and seasonings.  Dredge chicken breasts in mixture. When the breasts are fully covered, let them sit in the oil for 10 to 20 minutes.  Turn the oven on to 400 degrees.  Set the chicken on cooking pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until juices run clear.

Chicken and Dumplings

So I apologize for the quiet that has happened in the last few days, I fear the semester started and I have been focused mainly on getting settled into my classes. It doesn’t mean however, that I’ve stopped cooking! And after lastnight with a lovely dinner party consisting of me Lissa Angela (Fayne in spirit..we missed you love!) and a poor bedraggled boy we yanked along (Paco, poor poor Paco) I was reminded that we should be talking about what we are eating more often. The food last night was very good..simple but delicious and I’ll let Lissa go into detail (which btw Lissa is a big hint) so I’ll be talking about what I made the other night.

It’s finally decided to get cold in our southern state around here and when it is cold I am drawn to thick stews, soups, and roasts to warm myself and my family up. So it was with that in mind that I decided to make some chicken and dumplings.

What follows this is just basically what all recipes say about chicken and dumplings, but it’s my version of it and since I know I can make it I am fairly sure anyone else can do it as well.

I took one whole chicken and cleaned it out and patted it dry. In the pot that I was using to do the whole thing in, I put some cut up onion (about a half of one) and a overly healthy addition of garlic (seriously I put at least a whole head in ) but I like mine garlicky so if you don’t scale back. I sauteed them until the onion was translucent and then I put the chicken in and covered it with water. To that I added four bay leaves, rosemary, sage, thyme and oregano in an amount that frankly made me a bit nervous. I then added salt and pepper and put it on in between medium and  high and let it boil for two and a half hours, covering the pot to keep it from evaporating..

When I came back the chicken was easily pulled off of the bone with a fork, so I got the whole bird out of the water, and using two forks and a lot of pulling up of the big girl panties, I pulled off all the skin and tossed it, then removed all the usable meat from the bones and tossed the bones, after putting the meat back in. Then I added chopped celery and carrots, enough that it felt like a good ratio (this depends on the amount of broth and chicken you have in there, for my chicken I used four stalks of celery bite sized chopped and five carrots. And in it went again without the lid for another 2 and a half hours. By the way I can not stress enough to test the broth during this phase. I had to add a lot more salt and pepper, and some more garlic powder to mine during this to get it to the taste that I wanted.

Once I made sure that the carrots were soft enough to be cut with a fork, I then took the one cheat of the whole process and made bisquick drop biscuits. They are easy, and when I think ‘dumplings’ they are immediately what springs to my mind.

After I made the dumplings, I realized that the broth was too think for my taste, and so bisquick came to the rescue one more, I took two tablespoons, and a bowl, spooning some of the broth into it and mixed up a quick roux and put it into the broth to simmer for another 15 minutes before serving. I like my chicken and dumplings to be somewhere between stew and soup, so it came out perfect for me.

The boys of course wouldn’t eat it. I ended up giving my picky eaters, a peanutbutter sandwich and yogurt for their dinner, but it warmed the adults of the house for a few days before we froze the leftovers for another cold snap.

Personally? I enjoy mine with a nice little sprinkling of red pepper flakes on top. For a little zing with all that flavor. I hope you can make this for your cold days as well!