It's Thanksgiving week and my mom will be hosting. I asked what my contribution should be and she said salad. We both had some kind of funky restaurant style salad in mind (like greens with fruit and nuts) but neither of us are salad experts.
So I bought bagged field greens and baby spinach. I got slivered almonds, sunflower seeds, pears and canned pineapples. I also picked up regular balsamic vinaigrette as well as some kind of raspberry vinaigrette. We shall see how that goes.
Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning my kitchen I found a BJ's circular/magazine and knew there was something I wanted out of it. I tore it out and tossed the rest. It was a soup recipe but also had a recipe for pesto bread sticks.
That's it! In case my salad is a bust, I'll make bread sticks too. They call for bisquick. But I've never used bisquick. I think its time, what with all my new cooking attempts. So I do some googling and find a recipe for cheesy garlic biscuits and decide to try them too.
Pesto sticks:
Water, bisquick.
Pesto ingredients, which I dont need because I have a packet of pesto mix.
Uh oh, no I don't.
Whatever, I'll improvise and mix 3/4 olive oil with garlic powder and italian seasoning. Works for me.
Mix 2 cups bisquick and 1/2 cup cold water. Roll onto greased and bisquick sprinkled cookie sheet to 10" x 8" flatness. Spread part of the "pesto" onto the dough. Cut into 12 strips then cut in half. Twist each and bake on 450 degrees for 12-14 minutes. Dip into remaining oil to eat.
Dry, flakyish, dry. Not very impressive.
Cheesy garlic biscuits:
Stir 2 cups bisquick, 2/3 cups milk and 1/2 cup (or more) of shredded cheddar until dough forms. Drop into 9 lumps on ungreased cookie pan.
Bake on 450 for 8-10 minutes.
Coat with mixture of 2 tbsp melted butter and 1/8 tsp. garlic powder.
I added a little garlic powder to the dough as well as a teensy hint of old bay just to make things interesting. Yum! (Got the idea from the internet. Apparently Red Lobster serves biscuits that people love.)
So for Thanksgiving, biscuits it is! Especially in the case that my salad sucks.
Lesson learned: water plus bisquick = dry and flaky. Milk plus bisquick = soft and moist.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
2 Ingredient Real Dinner
Tonight's dinner only has two ingredients.
Okay, only two you'll have to buy. The rest you'll have, I promise.
It's a roast. A yummy, hearty, enough-to-feed-a-small-army roast.
It takes little effort, little ingredients and a lot of time just sitting.
Ingredients:
Large Rump Roast
1+ bags of carrots, peeled
Oil (olive or vegetable) - I use half of each
Liberal amounts of Salt & Pepper
2-3 cups water
Bay Leaf
Directions:
1 - Pour just enough oil into a large pot to cover the bottom
2 - Warm it on low, toss in your roast and brown on all sides
*Oil heats VERY quickly and will burn your pot if you burn the oil*
3 - Add in water and spices
4 - Add in carrots
5 - Cover and simmer on low 2-3 hours.
Last time I made this, and when my mom made it (I gave this recipe to her!), it took way less than 2 hours for the meat to cook through. So it's your preference really, as long as the meat is cooked.
Serving Suggestion: Mitzy's noodles
Mitzy is the great aunt of my best friend from childhood, who treated me like her own niece when I practically moved in with them every summer.
Cook egg noodles and drain. Fry in a pot with lots o' butter and bread crumbs until coated.
ENJOY!
Okay, only two you'll have to buy. The rest you'll have, I promise.
It's a roast. A yummy, hearty, enough-to-feed-a-small-army roast.
It takes little effort, little ingredients and a lot of time just sitting.
Ingredients:
Large Rump Roast
1+ bags of carrots, peeled
Oil (olive or vegetable) - I use half of each
Liberal amounts of Salt & Pepper
2-3 cups water
Bay Leaf
Directions:
1 - Pour just enough oil into a large pot to cover the bottom
2 - Warm it on low, toss in your roast and brown on all sides
*Oil heats VERY quickly and will burn your pot if you burn the oil*
3 - Add in water and spices
4 - Add in carrots
5 - Cover and simmer on low 2-3 hours.
Last time I made this, and when my mom made it (I gave this recipe to her!), it took way less than 2 hours for the meat to cook through. So it's your preference really, as long as the meat is cooked.
Serving Suggestion: Mitzy's noodles
Mitzy is the great aunt of my best friend from childhood, who treated me like her own niece when I practically moved in with them every summer.
Cook egg noodles and drain. Fry in a pot with lots o' butter and bread crumbs until coated.
ENJOY!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Cheater's Chicken Soup... and that's not all
Even though I've written another post about my Grandmom's red sauce, I'm going to write it again, this time with recipe. (Score!)
The reason? The boy and I decided to have red sauce involved in this week's food and I got a stock pot, which I needed desperately. Bed Bath and Beyond's 20% one item coupon made my Denmark Stainless Steel 8-quart covered stock pot $16 or so bucks. Sweet!
Why not make red sauce? That's what came up when we were pouring over this week's grocery circular to decide what to buy for the week. Surely! But it requires only one carrot and one celery stalk.
Oooh, I know! I'll make chicken soup too!
Here's the red sauce recipe:
1 - Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a large pot.
2 - Brown 1/2 medium white onion, 4-6 cloves garlic (both chopped of course) and a Bay leaf? (Maybe it's basil leaf, but it's not what I have in my cupboard.
3 - Add 1 carrot, 1 stalk celery (cut to 1" pieces), 3 large cans of Cento peeled tomatoes with Basil leaf (there it is!) and 1 tiny can Cento tomato paste.
4 - Bring to a boil then lower heat to simmer, covered for 1 hour.
5 - Add 1 lb ground beef, 1 egg, and enough Italian bread crumbs and grated parm to form meatballs.
6 - After the hour, strain the sauce. I use the OXO food mill and this time used the plate/insert with the largest holes and think it's the best so far!
7 - Return strained sauce to pot, drop in meatballs, cover and simmer for 1-3 hours.
(Yeah, I know, 1-3 hours is pretty vague but this leaves you flexibility. Just ensure meatballs are cooked through!)
Now for the main part of this blog - my DELICIOUS (unless I mess up) "Cheater's Chicken Soup."
Disclaimer: This is easy, quick and yum! But it may take a lot of pots
Ingredients:
1 bag of carrots, peeled (Or cheat further, get baby carrots!)
2/3 bag of celery stalks
8-10 pieces of chicken breast tenders (boneless, skinless)
Half bag or more egg noodles, medium is a good size but it's up to you
7 cups chicken broth or 7 chicken bouillon cubes (cheaper too!)
Salt, pepper, garlic, Italian seasoning, bay leaf
*And, most importantly, a ZipLock steamer bag*
1 - Fill the steamer bag with carrots and celery, cut into soup size pieces
2 - Sprinkle in some Italian Seasoning and microwave per directions on bag
? - If using bouillon, boil 7 cups water and dissolve 7 cubes
3 - Add chicken and 1 cup broth covered pan ("Hamburger Helper size pan")
4 - Cover and cook on low-med heat until chicken is cooked through and falling apart
Add in some garlic powder if you'd like.
6 - Cook pasta (this isn't really six, since the pasta kind of needs to be done at this point)
7 - Squish the chicken if need be to make it piece-y
8 - Add chicken, broth, pasta, and steam bag full of veggies to a large pot
9 - Sprinkle lots o' salt, and a pot top surface of pepper, garlic, Italian seasoning
10 - Add bay leaf
11 - Simmer, covered, for as long as you can wait before you die of hunger. Or like 15 minutes.
ENJOY!
Okay, so those directions sucked. How about this
1 - Simultaneously cook pasta, prepare broth (open cans, dissolve bouillon, etc), cook chicken and microwave-steam veggies
2 - Add all of the above into a large pot
3 - Spice, cover and simmer
ENJOY!
PS - this time the soup is PERFECT. Last time, not so much. The culprit? Making sure to use enough spices. That's why I kinda went balls out this time. It worked - I haven't even put the tupperware full into the fridge because I just keep eating more.
The reason? The boy and I decided to have red sauce involved in this week's food and I got a stock pot, which I needed desperately. Bed Bath and Beyond's 20% one item coupon made my Denmark Stainless Steel 8-quart covered stock pot $16 or so bucks. Sweet!
Why not make red sauce? That's what came up when we were pouring over this week's grocery circular to decide what to buy for the week. Surely! But it requires only one carrot and one celery stalk.
Oooh, I know! I'll make chicken soup too!
Here's the red sauce recipe:
1 - Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a large pot.
2 - Brown 1/2 medium white onion, 4-6 cloves garlic (both chopped of course) and a Bay leaf? (Maybe it's basil leaf, but it's not what I have in my cupboard.
3 - Add 1 carrot, 1 stalk celery (cut to 1" pieces), 3 large cans of Cento peeled tomatoes with Basil leaf (there it is!) and 1 tiny can Cento tomato paste.
4 - Bring to a boil then lower heat to simmer, covered for 1 hour.
5 - Add 1 lb ground beef, 1 egg, and enough Italian bread crumbs and grated parm to form meatballs.
6 - After the hour, strain the sauce. I use the OXO food mill and this time used the plate/insert with the largest holes and think it's the best so far!
7 - Return strained sauce to pot, drop in meatballs, cover and simmer for 1-3 hours.
(Yeah, I know, 1-3 hours is pretty vague but this leaves you flexibility. Just ensure meatballs are cooked through!)
Now for the main part of this blog - my DELICIOUS (unless I mess up) "Cheater's Chicken Soup."
Disclaimer: This is easy, quick and yum! But it may take a lot of pots
Ingredients:
1 bag of carrots, peeled (Or cheat further, get baby carrots!)
2/3 bag of celery stalks
8-10 pieces of chicken breast tenders (boneless, skinless)
Half bag or more egg noodles, medium is a good size but it's up to you
7 cups chicken broth or 7 chicken bouillon cubes (cheaper too!)
Salt, pepper, garlic, Italian seasoning, bay leaf
*And, most importantly, a ZipLock steamer bag*
1 - Fill the steamer bag with carrots and celery, cut into soup size pieces
2 - Sprinkle in some Italian Seasoning and microwave per directions on bag
? - If using bouillon, boil 7 cups water and dissolve 7 cubes
3 - Add chicken and 1 cup broth covered pan ("Hamburger Helper size pan")
4 - Cover and cook on low-med heat until chicken is cooked through and falling apart
Add in some garlic powder if you'd like.
6 - Cook pasta (this isn't really six, since the pasta kind of needs to be done at this point)
7 - Squish the chicken if need be to make it piece-y
8 - Add chicken, broth, pasta, and steam bag full of veggies to a large pot
9 - Sprinkle lots o' salt, and a pot top surface of pepper, garlic, Italian seasoning
10 - Add bay leaf
11 - Simmer, covered, for as long as you can wait before you die of hunger. Or like 15 minutes.
ENJOY!
Okay, so those directions sucked. How about this
1 - Simultaneously cook pasta, prepare broth (open cans, dissolve bouillon, etc), cook chicken and microwave-steam veggies
2 - Add all of the above into a large pot
3 - Spice, cover and simmer
ENJOY!
PS - this time the soup is PERFECT. Last time, not so much. The culprit? Making sure to use enough spices. That's why I kinda went balls out this time. It worked - I haven't even put the tupperware full into the fridge because I just keep eating more.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)