beer, bacon and cheddar cornbread

Recently I made cornbread in my cast iron skillet. If you've never done that, try it. Assuming you have a cast iron skillet, of course. It makes a nice crust, and it's even better if you're making a recipe that uses bacon. You fry the bacon in the skillet, take out the bacon and pour off most of the bacon grease leaving only enough to coat the skillet. Then you put the corn bread batter in that same skillet and pop it in the oven to bake. Yum!

So, what did I change in the recipe? (You know I always change something.) I added scallions since I had some in the fridge to use up, and I doubled the cheese. That's it. Oh, and I greased the cast iron pan with bacon grease left over from frying the bacon. This particular recipe doesn't call for that; however, I like the crust it produces.

It was delicious, just like I knew it would be. It was salty and a little smokey because of the bacon, and tangy because of the sour cream and beer. I used Yuengling Premium since that's what was in my husband's camping cooler outside. He says he couldn't taste the beer, but what does he know?? I tasted it right away, because I don't actually like beer. It gave the cornbread a good flavor, though.

My only gripe is with the shredded cheese I used. Lately I've been shredding my own cheese from a bigger block; however, I had some packaged shredded cheese I needed to use up. What a difference! As you can see, it looks kind of dry on top and almost seems like it didn't melt. It didn't taste cheesy either. Considering I doubled the cheese on top and the amount I mixed in the batter, that's really disappointing. There's nothing wrong with packaged shredded cheese, it just doesn't really melt the same in some recipes.

Here's the recipe I used:  Beer, Bacon and Cheddar Cornbread

my first spanakopita

I'm always looking to try a new recipe around the holidays or when I'll have family over for a big meal. This year I decided I wanted to try making spanakopita, which is Greek spinach pie.  I likely wouldn't have ever attempted making this; however, a coworker recently made it for a potluck we had at work before Christmas.   The filo pastry was flaky and buttery, the filling was rich, and overall it was just SO DELICIOUS!!!

I started searching for recipes since my coworker was on vacation and I couldn't ask for hers. (Actually, it's her grandmother's recipe.) I wanted THE authentic Greek recipe--I often agonize over this aspect when searching out a recipe and it drives me nuts--however, I quickly realized that there are so many recipes and they all purport to be "traditional" or "authentic." But like any other recipe, there are always variations and it all depends on how YOU make it. That's what makes it traditional or authentic to YOU and your family. I noticed that the difference the various recipes was the herb mix. Some used parsley only, others were a mix of parsley and dill, and others had parsley and mint. Measurements were all over the place. I found a few that called for a "bunch" of parsley and/or dill (that is A LOT of dill!), while others called for 1/2 a cup of parsley and 2 tablespoons of dill or mint. It was really frustrating to figure out which one I should use in order to get similar results to the one my coworker made. (I later found out that she used parsley only, though her mom and grandmother use parsley and fresh mint.)

I decided on this one since it seemed pretty easy, plus I didn't have to buy a bunch of special ingredients. Overall it was pretty easy, but I have to say that working with filo dough is tedious and tricky, and you have to work quickly otherwise the dough dries out before it can even make it to the pan. I used tips I found during my recipe search:  lay the dough out on a cookie sheet, cover it with a damp paper towel, cover that with plastic wrap, and work quickly!  This worked pretty well. My only issue was pulling the first piece of dough off the pile. It didn't want to come apart and it tore easily; however, it was going on the bottom of the pan so it didn't matter what it looked like. I made it through the next nine layers easily (there are 10 on the bottom, then the filling, and then another 10 layers of dough), brushing on lots of melted butter as I went along. The other trouble spot was separating the second to last piece from the last piece, and I wasn't able to save that one. Filo dough is paper-thin, though, and doesn't puff up, so I didn't notice that the finished baked product had 19 layers of dough rather than 20. Yes, spanakopita has 20 layers of filo dough!

I made the filling before pulling the dough out of the fridge. This ensures that the dough is fresh and everything is ready to go once you open the package. As I said, it dries out FAST, so you need to have everything ready before assembly. After I finished the painstaking work of layering the dough sheets, then the filling, then the remaining dough sheets, I cut it into 15 large pieces--this makes it much easier to portion out after baking.  I then baked it for about an hour and voila!

I waited until it cooled down a bit before trying it. OMG it was awesome! Rich, buttery and cheesy. My only complaint, which really isn't a complaint, is that the filling was very chunky. The one my coworker made had a very fine filling--I couldn't even tell there was feta cheese in it since it was chopped and blended so well. If I make this again, I will make sure to crumble up the feta more and put the spinach through a food processor. Even though the spinach was pre-chopped, it was a little stringy. I wish I'd thought about the food processor when I mixed everything and saw it was chunky.

It's safe to say I blew through this whole pan in a matter of days, all by myself; I basically ate it for every meal for three to four days. I just popped it into the toaster oven at 400 F for about 12 minutes.I should add that I ended up NOT making this for the family's annual "Christmas in January." The crappy weather that weekend prevented half the family from travelling. It worked out, though--more for me!! (Sorry, guys!)

Here's the finished product. Look at all that yummy feta and cottage cheese!  And here's the recipe:  Spanakopita. One change I made is to bake it on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, rather than baking it in a casserole dish or baking pan. The filling really doesn't ooze out since feta doesn't melt all that much, and I found this method worked well for me.

bbq chicken cauliflower casserole

When I recently went through my big freezer, I realized I have a lot of riced cauliflower in there. A LOT. I have six bags of plain riced cauliflower, four bags of riced cauliflower stuffing, and two bags of rice cauliflower stir fry--all from Trader Joe's. I can't even remember why I originally bought it.  So, the question became:  WTF am I going to with with all this damn cauliflower?

I got an email from The Kitchn recently, which contained a group of five-ingredient casseroles. As I looked through I noticed one, BBQ Chicken Casserole, that called for a bag of plain riced cauliflower. Also:  shredded chicken breast, onion, eggs, salt, pepper and BBQ sauce. Since I had two rotisserie chicken breasts in the freezer from a few weeks ago, I figured this would be a good recipe.

The verdict?  This was so easy and came out great. How did it taste? Like BBQ chicken. You can't taste the cauliflower at all.  Even my husband, who doesn't eat cauliflower, liked it. I made a couple modifications to it: I used store-bought BBQ sauce and used two cups rather than two and a half, used a 12 oz bag of riced cauliflower rather that 16 oz (that's what I had on-hand and didn't want to open another bag), and added about two cups of shredded Mexican cheese to it.

Assuming you're a weight loss surgery post-op and divide the casserole into 12 servings, one serving is about 240 calories, 9g fat, 26g carbs, and 15g protein. If you want to leave the cheese off, which is how the recipe was written, you'll save yourself 75 calories per serving.

meal prep: chicken with baked sweet potatoes and green beans

It's been awhile since I've done any meal prep, and it's showing in my current inability to stick to my eating plan, which of course means the scale isn't moving down like it was a couple weeks ago.  I used to do meal prep just about every week, but I admit I've been lazy about it. I need to get back to it so I can eat better and stick to my plan. And it's especially important now since my husband also needs to eat better.

A meal prep post from a website I enjoy recently popped up in the Facebook feed, so I decided to try it out. It came from Budget Bytes and it's a full meal:  chicken breast, sweet potatoes and green beans.  Aside from the fact that most of her meals are pretty easy, one of the main reasons I chose this recipe was because I'd bought some sweet potatoes...and never used them. Of course. I do that all the time. I buy stuff and then either forget I bought it, or forget what recipe I bought it for, or just get lazy and decide I don't feel like using whatever I bought.I was determined to not do that this time.

The recipe calls for trying the chicken breast; however, I hate the cleanup so I grilled it instead. I baked the sweet potatoes according to the recipe, although I omitted the cayenne pepper. Bob doesn't like a lot of spice, and cayenne tends to be pretty hot even when you use just a tiny dash. I made sure to line the baking sheet with foil, because I hate cleaning baking sheets. It seems like no matter how much you scrub, they never come completely clean. And OMG they smelled so delicious while cooking! I could smell the cinnamon. For the beans I finally used the steamer pan I bought last year. It was so easy and the beans came out perfect! I'd definitely make this again. It was easy and everything tasted great.

Here's the finished product.  And here's the recipe:  Smoky Chicken and Cinnamon Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Look at all that carmelization. No sugar added! Those are the natural sugars in the potatoes.

The beans are nice and bright after steaming. I love this steamer pan. You just set it on top of a pan of boiling water and put the lid on.

The finished beans. Just butter, course salt and ground pepper.

And here's lunch. I made a couple for myself and a few for Bob. Just grab it from the fridge and go to work. Obviously his had a whole chicken breast. This was my portion, which I could just about finish.

sweet potato chicken curry

As I mentioned in another post, I bought a couple sweet potatoes with no thought as to what I'd actually do with them. The first recipe I made, sweet potato chili, came out great. Here is another recipe I tried this past weekend, which is for the Instant Pot.

I was skeptical about curry. It's not something I typically eat. I made chicken curry once for my husband before we were married, but that was many moons ago and I don't remember if I liked it or not. I don't know if he liked it either. Probably not, since I had no idea at that time that he was so plain-vanilla about food.

I was happy to find a recipe for the Instant Pot, since I don't use it for much other than large batches of seasoned rice and hard boiled eggs. I settled on sweet potato chicken curry--I had a lot of chicken in the freezer and a sweet potato to deal with.  The only thing I had to buy was curry spice (dollar store!) and a can of coconut milk.   I skipped the cashews and cilantro. Cashews have a ton of calories and I can't control myself with them, and I'm not into garnishing my food so I skipped the cilantro.

It was easy to put together, and it was especially nice to just throw in the Instant Pot and cook it on high pressure for 12 minutes.  Unfortunately, I think I cut the sweet potato too small, because it pretty much disintegrated. The taste was there, but no chunks of potato. The onions melted away, too.

I liked the taste of this, and it was filling. I didn't put it over riced cauliflower or anything like that. I just ate it as-is. It was a nice change from the standard stuff I usually eat.

There are two changes I would make if I were to make this again.  I'm someone who likes chunkiness in my stews, so I would chop bigger pieces of onion and sweet potato.  Also, I'd probably pour it over riced cauliflower as suggested in the recipe in order to make it more substantial.

Here's the nutritional info (per cup) I got using My Fitness Pal:  284 calories, 13 g fat, 18 g carbs, 7 g sugar, and a whopping (!!) 23 g of protein. I'm quite surprised at the protein. I know the chicken contributes a lot, but that seems off to me. According to My Fitness Pal, the whole can of coconut milk is 14 grams of protein, so that adds a little more. If you decide to make this recipe, you may want to plug it into whatever food logging app you use and see what you come up with.

This is the recipe I made, which made six one-cup servings:  https://therealfoodrds.com/instant-pot-sweet-potato-chicken-curry/

something different: sweet potato chili

When I went to the grocery store last week I was feeling a wave of motivation and commitment to cooking more. Normally that means I come home with a ton of ingredients, like fresh produce, full of hope and inspiration. I make a meal that night, and then I get back to reality...and promptly forget about the special items I bought. They sit there for most of the week. I look at them every time I go in the kitchen, hoping to feel the motivation I felt on grocery day, but it doesn't happen. (I have to admit, I'm usually hoping that these items somehow cooked themselves and will be ready for me to eat when I open the fridge.  That hasn't happened for some reason. I guess it's not quite the age of the Jetsons yet.) The produce goes bad and then I have to toss it, or I end up having to put meat in the freezer for another time, or non-perishables end up in the back of the cabinet, never to be heard from again.

So, what did I come home with? Two sweet potatoes. That's it. (Shockingly, that equaled 1.5 pounds!) I kept myself under control and didn't buy a bunch of things that might end up in the garbage. I've learned that I need to have either very big goals (weight loss surgery, tummy tuck) or very small goals (wake up everyday, buy only two sweet potatoes). For some reason I can't do anything in between.

I get the potatoes home and...not a clue what to do with them. I've made mashed sweet potatoes and sweet potato hash in the past, but that's just way too much sweet potato for me. I'd rather it be in the background, kind of an accent, not the main attraction. I Googled and came up with a recipe for the Instant Pot, which is a chicken sweet potato curry. I plan to make that later in the week. The other recipe, below, was shared with me by someone on a blog I read. (Here's the link if you want to make it:  Vegetarian Sweet Potato Chili)

I've always wanted to want to try vegetarian chili, but never had the guts. Mainly because I can't fathom chili without meat. But since I had to do something with the sweet potatoes I bought, I figured, why not? The recipe looked interesting--it calls for cocoa powder!--and I had all the ingredients except the peppers, so I gave it a go.

It was very easy to make. Honestly, the hardest part was chopping the damn potato. I had no idea sweet potatoes were so hard to cut in half! Once I got it cut in half, it was much easier. Also, one potato produced a pretty large quantity once chopped--about two cups, maybe a little more. Basically you just throw all the ingredients into the pot and let it simmer. It smelled wonderful! The cocoa powder and other spices hit the heat and the smell just wafted up into the air. Heavenly!

I really like how it came out. I was worried that the sweet potato would take over, but it really didn't. It added a sweetness and a hint of sweet potato. I couldn't taste the cocoa powder, but that's the point--it's supposed to enhance the flavor of the chili. The two modifications I made to the recipe were to reduce the cayenne to about 1/2 tsp., rather than the full teaspoon, and it was still plenty spicy; and to use chicken broth rather than vegetable broth. That was simply because that's what I had on-hand.

I'm thinking I'd like to add ground turkey to this next time, since I really like meat in my chili. I mashed up some of the sweet potato in order to get it to the consistency above. If you don't mash them up, it seems a little more like soup. Although, it thickened a bit after I let it sit for about a half hour. I added a few crackers for dipping when it was time to eat.

I plugged this into My Fitness Pal and here's the nutritional info it came up with and assumes nine one-cup servings (this made a lot!):  165 calories, 2 g fat, 31 g carbs, 10 g fiber, 6 g sugar, and 8 g protein. So this is a pretty good meal for a post-op, in my opinion. It definitely won't break the calorie bank and should be OK for those who are a little sensitive to sugar.

homemade french onion soup

This weekend I made French onion soup for the first time ever. It was time-consuming, but I'm so glad I did!

I've been wanting to make onion soup for quite a long time; I love it. Obviously the best part is the cheesy crouton on top, but I definitely love the whole package. I can make a meal of it. Not only because I love it, but because it completely fills me up (I am weight loss surgery patient, after all!). But I don't order it very often. Mainly because I'm always completely torn about whether I want an actual meal, like a burger or something, or I want the delicious onion soup. On the one hand, ONION SOUP! On the other hand, a complete meal with leftovers to take home. The meal almost always wins. I think, too, that I just can't get away from who I am: someone who craves food variety, and has a real FOMO (fear of missing out). What if I get the soup and I really miss having the burger? What if I get the burger and it isn't good? What if they stop making burgers or onion soup? And now that my stomach is so small, I can't have a meal AND the soup. And I hate wasting food. And sometimes I don't like leftovers. *sigh* The struggle is real...

I found this recipe online and decided to give it a try: How to Make French Onion Soup. It didn't seem overly complicated, most of the cooking time is hands-off, it didn't have any non-typical onion soup ingredients, and I have pretty good luck with recipes from The Kitchn. 

I had to buy a few ingredients to make this, but it wasn't anything I won't use again: crusty bread for the croutons (got some off the day-old bread clearance rack--it's gonna get toasted and dunked anyway!); gruyere cheese, which I got on sale in the deli; brandy; and wine (I got the little four-pack so I don't waste a bottle--I'm not a wine drinker). 

I set about slicing all the onions (lots of crying was done...). They went in the pot with the melted butter and olive oil and cooked for about 15 minutes. The you add the sugar, salt and pepper and cook for about an hour.

This is about three pounds of yellow onions. Close enough!

This is what it cooks down to. For whatever reason, I can never seem to get my onions to the "dark walnut" stage of color when caramelizing. I don't know if it's the recipe, me, my stove, or what. They still tasted great, though. To this you add the flour, cook for a minute, and then add the broth and wine and simmer for at least an hour.

This is after adding the broth and wine and then simmering for a little more than an hour.

I finished it off with about 1/4 cup of brandy. Then I sliced up the bread and toasted it in the toaster oven. After popping it on top of the soup, and then topping with a couple slices of Gruyere cheese, I put the bowls on a cookie sheet and broiled until the cheese browned. This is the only thing I did differently from the recipe. The recipe says to bake the bowls of soup in the oven for a half hour and then broil to brown the cheese, but my bowls don't specifically say "oven safe" on the bottom and I didn't want to chance them breaking. Still came out just fine, though.

The results? Divine!! I typically judge French onion soup by two factors: the cheesiness and crunchiness of the crouton, and the saltiness of the soup itself. Obviously, I can control the crouton very easily, so no problem there. It was kind of crunchy-chewy, with lots of melted cheese. I was worried that the soup would be very salty, as onion soup usually is, but it wasn't salty at all. As a matter of fact, I think I could have easily doubled the salt without an issue. Since I followed the recipe and used what was called for, I just added more salt and pepper at the end.

I would totally make this again, but I think I would add at least another pound of onions. It just didn't have enough onions for me, as I typically prefer onion soup to be a bit on the chunky side. Although this was pretty time-consuming to make, it was mostly hands-off cooking time.

(And yes, one bowl completely filled me up.)

cinnamon baked oatmeal

So, I made this while I was on vacation a couple weeks ago:  Cinnamon Sugar Baked Oatmeal. Just click on the name to go to the recipe.

This oatmeal was so yummy and the recipe was so easy! What I liked about it was that it came out more like an oatmeal bar. I'm thinking I could add raisins and pass them off as actual oatmeal bars. Yup, I think I need to try that!

I also liked that it calls for only one banana, as opposed to the three bananas in this recipe I made awhile back for peanut butter brownie oatmeal.  There are times when I forget I'm saving the bananas for a reason and then I end up eating them. So, I'm left with one overripe banana. What does one do with just one overripe, mushy banana? Make this recipe, of course. :)

If sugar is an issue for you, just omit the cinnamon sugar topping. Or you could use an artificial sweetener that scoops like sugar. I kept the real sugar, but was careful to test the waters before eating a bigger piece. The oatmeal itself has only one banana and 1/4 cup of brown sugar, so it has a bit less sugar that the peanut butter brownie oatmeal recipe, which uses three bananas. You could even sub in a different milk, like nut milk that's unsweetened, for even less sugar. I used whole milk this time around, but next time I might use my Fairlife milk, which is half the sugar of regular milk.

So, what baked oatmeal recipe should I make next? I'm thinking something with blueberries, since I have a bunch of fresh blueberries in the freezer. I've also got some unsweetened coconut in the fridge. I have cocoa powder galore. Maybe another batch using the cocoa and coconut. I'm sure if I scour the cabinets and freezer enough I'll find lots more that I can whip into a batch of baked oatmeal!

baked oatmeal: a newfound love

Never in my life had I heard of baking oatmeal until I started following Budget Bytes. I follow her on Facebook, as well as browsing her website from time to time. She has lots of budget-friendly recipes.

A couple weeks ago I saw on her Facebook page a recipe for what looked like a dessert:  Peanut Butter Brownie Baked Oatmeal.  It looked so delicious! I figured it would be loaded with sugar, but it called for only 1/4 cup of brown sugar.  She has lots of baked oatmeal recipes and most of them use bananas, unsweetened applesauce, or sweet potatoes as the main source of sweetness.

I decided to give it a try since I had all the ingredients on hand and I'd just bought a massive bag of thick-cut rolled oats.  It was really easy to put together. I think the most "strenuous" thing was mashing the bananas, and that only took a minute. The rest just gets tossed into the bowl and mixed, then milk added, then oats. Then you put it in a casserole dish and bake it for about 45 minutes. Baking time depends on the depth of your pan. I used a 2 quart smallish square dish and it took almost an hour to bake.

The results were delicious!! I tried a forkful right out of the hot pan; however, I've discovered I prefer it cold, sliced off like a brownie. The texture is much more like a brownie than it is oatmeal, though you could eat it warm or cold.  It's also very filling, especially for me since my stomach in so small.

One thing to note:  even though most of the sweetness comes from the bananas, it still has sugar. Anyone who is a WLS post-op and has an issue with sugar will need to test the waters as to how much you can eat at once. I find a can eat the standard brownie size, about 2" x 2", without an issue. (Note:  standard brownie size! Not pre-WLS brownie size, which typically meant almost half the pan back in the day.) 

Here's the recipe for the oatmeal I made last weekend:  Peanut Butter Brownie Baked Oatmeal.

And here are the search results for baked oatmeal:  Baked Oatmeal Search Results.

buttered balsamic mushrooms

I don't think there's any better side dish for a good steak than sautéed mushrooms. Actually, it's a toss-up between sautéed mushrooms and creamed spinach, but I think the mushrooms win--they're probably a little more healthy.

A few weeks ago I bought some shallots at the farm stand down the street, even though I didn't have a clue as to what I'd use them for. I know they're in the onion family and can be used the same way, but have a milder taste.They had been sitting on my counter for a while. I kept ignoring them, because I was being lazy and couldn't be bothered to Google a recipe.  I finally decided it was time to use them, though. Coincidentally, The Kitchn had a post that day for buttered mushrooms with shallots. It made my mouth water just looking at the picture of the gorgeous, glossy, buttery mushrooms, so I decided it was time to defrost a steak or two and make these to have on the side for dinner.

This recipe was really easy. What's nice is that you can use Worcestershire sauce if you don't have soy sauce, and that's what I did. Also, this recipe gave me a chance to use some of the rosemary in my garden. I would say this took closer to 30 minutes to cook, but my mushrooms were big and I like mine cooked well.

As you can see, they look pretty good. Although, not as good as the picture in the recipe link. Does anything ever come out looking as good as it does on the Internet??

Here's the recipe:  15-Minute Buttered Balsamic Mushrooms.

By the way, in the picture is my most favorite wooden spoon. It just seems perfect for just about everything:  it's the right size, it has a slanted edge to scrap up bits from the pan, and a shallow bowl for tasting.  Only $4.99 at Bed Bath and Beyond.

honey & chili chicken breasts

A few weeks ago I had a bunch of cilantro and didn't know what to do with it. When I bought the cilantro from the farm stand up the road, I had visions of Mexican dishes in my mind, but, as usual, the motivation to actually find and make the recipes fizzled by the end of the day. So, I was left with a whole lot of cilantro to use or lose.

I found this recipe online at one of my favorite cooking sites, The Kitchn. I grilled the thighs rather than baking. The recipe calls for baking the chicken, but a lot of the comments mention how messy the pan got and how hard it was to clean, which is because of the beer and honey. That's not for me, so grilling it was!

The marinade came together easily. Picking the cilantro was a little tedious, but not overly so. Once it was mixed, I tossed the marinade in a large zipper top plastic bag along with the chicken and left them in the fridge overnight. I made the sauce, too. The next day I grilled the chicken, stirred up the sauce (it seemed to separate a little) and then poured it over the cooked chicken.

I also roasted some red potatoes with olive oil, fresh rosemary from my garden, salt and pepper; and some green beans with olive oil and Borsari seasoned salt (love this stuff!); both were also from the farm stand. It was a very easy meal, actually.

I thought this tasted really good. I will say, however, that if you don't like cilantro, you won't like the sauce. It's quite strong. It was good, though.  I'd make this recipe again, but I would probably make half the amount of sauce or find multiple uses for it.

If you want the recipe, here it is:  Honey & Chili Chicken Thighs with cilantro Cream Sauce.

Here's the finished meal!

weekly cookbook project: apple maple oatmeal; pot roast

I've kept up with my goal to make recipe per week from my cookbooks; however, I forgot to take pictures of two recipes I made recently.

Last week I made apple maple oatmeal from my Great Big Pressure Cooker Book. It was simply steel-cut oats, water, maple syrup, cinnamon and dried apples. Maple syrup took care of the sweetness, so no sugar was added. Dried apples were necessary, rather than fresh, so they stand up to being pressure cooked. It was good, but if I make it again I'd either add less water or more oatmeal; it was too soupy for us.

A couple weeks ago I made a pot roast from the same book (can you tell I like my Instant Pot??). It was a beef roast, beef stock, rosemary, bay leaf, onions, potatoes and carrots. All I had to do after pressure cooking was thicken the gravy and it was ready. I really liked this pot roast. In fact, I may not use my old standby recipe anymore:  pot roast in the slow cooker made with Lipton Onion Soup mix. What was nice about using the pressure cooking function vs. slow cooking was that the meat stayed intact. In the slow cooker it totally falls apart and becomes more like a beef stew. Pressure cooking makes the meat very tender, but it basically stays in one piece so you can slice it. It's good either way.  It depends on what your preference is.

I haven't decided what I'll make this week yet. Although, our anniversary is at the end of the week so maybe I'll find a special recipe for our anniversary dinner.

weekly cookbook project: balsamic and orange-glazed chicken thighs

In keeping with my goal to cook one recipe per week from my cookbook collection, today I made balsamic and orange-glazed chicken thighs from The Great Big Pressure Cooker Book.  I've been loving this book. The recipes, for the most part, are pretty easy and it gives me a chance to use my Instant Pot.

This was really easy. All I had to do was brown the boneless skinless chicken thighs, which I did right in the Instant Pot, whisk the balsamic and marmalade together and throw it in the pot with a rosemary sprig (cut fresh from my rosemary plant).  The only thing I needed to buy to make this recipe was the orange marmalade. I've never tried orange marmalade and since I've had weight loss surgery, I tend to stay away from jams and jellies--way too much sugar in them.

I was worried the finished dish it would be really orange-y tasting, or have a strong vinegar taste, but it was fine. It didn't have a vinegar taste, just a hint of it, really. And the orange wasn't overpowering at all. The vinegar, marmalade and rosemary all worked well together. I served it with my seasoned brown rice, which was fresh out of the Instant Pot, too. We poured the balsamic-orange mixture over the rice and it was delicious.

weekly cookbook project: chicken and pasta with a spicy peanut sauce

I posted recently that my goal this year is to cook at least one recipe per week from my collection of cookbooks.  I have 20 of them and pretty much never use them other than to look through them from time to time.

This week I made my first cookbook recipe for my New Year's weekly cookbook project:  chicken and pasta with a spicy peanut sauce.  It's from The Great Big Pressure Cooker Book. I really like this book.  It has a big variety of recipes; it gives notes with each recipe as to how to change things up, how to serve it, etc.; the introduction talks about what to do and not to do with a pressure cooker and why; and it's written with the Instant Pot/electric pressure cooker in mind.

I picked this recipe because I had all the ingredients. (Actually, I didn't have the whole wheat ziti or fresh ginger, but I had regular ziti and ground ginger; both of these worked just fine.) Also, I really wanted to use the pressure cooker function on my new Instant Pot.

Here are the ingredients for the recipe:

• ground allspice
• ground cayenne pepper
• chicken breasts
• ground cinnamon
• ginger
• peanut oil
• peanut butter
• chicken broth
• ground cloves
• yellow onions
• whole wheat ziti pasta
• canned diced tomatoes

I couldn't find the whole recipe on the internet and I didn't feel like typing it out, so I just included the ingredients. Basically, you sauté the onions, garlic and ginger in the oil and the add the other ingredients. The Instant Pot is set the pressure cook on high for 8 minutes and then you do the Quick Release to release the pressure. That's it.

We both liked this recipe. It had good peanut taste that wasn't overwhelming and, since I didn't use the full amount of cayenne pepper, it wasn't really spicy. Had I been cooking it for myself only, I would have used the full amount, but Bob doesn't like as much spice as I do. I think this would have been better over rice, though. Ziti in a Thai-inspired dish just seemed odd to me. My only complaint about this dish is how totally blah it looked. It was a big mass of brown. Even the ziti turned brown from the peanut butter.  Otherwise, I'd make this again.

homemade tabouleh

I recently checked out a few cookbooks from the library, one of which is Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything (Leia is making sure it doesn't fall off the table).  As the name suggests, it gives you all the basics for just about any food you can think of, along with multiple recipe variations.

While flipping through it I found a recipe for tabbouleh that looked pretty easy. I tried tabbouleh once a long time ago and liked it. I've been wanting to shake up my diet lately, so I decided to try making it. It's a mixture of bulgar wheat, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, scallions, parsley, mint and tomatoes.

My team members at work gave me a Whole Foods gift card for my birthday, so I decided to buy the ingredients to make the tabbouleh. I even bought a citrus squeezer, which I've used several times already. (In case you don't know what that is, it's a handheld gadget used to squeeze the juice from citrus fruits like lemons and limes. It extracts the juice while leaving the seeds behind.) Can't believe I ever extracted fresh lemon juice without it!

The recipe called for roughly chopped parsley, leaves and small stems only. Have you ever seen a bunch of parsley? It's not easy to get only the small stems, which means either separating the individual stems and stripping them, or chopping off a large portion at the bottom and losing some of the leaves. Same goes for the fresh mint. And have you ever tried chopping parsley and mint?  It's not difficult, but it's messy. Same goes for seeding tomatoes. Again, not difficult, but kind of tedious and messy. The bulgar prep, on the other hand, was simple:  just soak it in some hot water for 30 minutes, drain it and squeeze out the excess water.

Here's the finished product. It tasted pretty good, but for the amount of prep that goes into it and the price of the ingredients, I'd rather just buy it ready-made.

One caveat:  you may want to check your teeth after eating this. Chopped herbs like to stick to, and in between, your teeth.

chicken tortilla soup

I was scrolling through my Facebook feed last week and came across a blog post by my bariatric surgeon.  I took a peek at the recipes that were posted and found this recipe for soup.

I'm not much of a soup eater.  I don't feel as though it fills me.  I used to like it when I first had surgery, because it was easy and the warmth was easy on the new stomach.  But nowadays I really have to be in the mood for it. Plus, as a gastric bypass patient, this kind of qualifies as drinking with my meal.  And that's something I'm not supposed to be doing; it can stretch out the new stomach by forcing more food through it, and it washes my food down faster, which leads to hunger faster.  I decided to make it, though, because wanted to use up some ingredients.  No, strike that.  I wanted to use ONE ingredient:  a little 4 ounce can of chopped green chilies. (I bought it at some point and never used it.  I don't even remember what recipe I wanted to make.  I have lots of stuff like that in my cabinets.) I had all the other ingredients except enchilada sauce, which was easy enough to buy. Conveniently, it used up the open carton of chicken broth haunting my fridge, as well as the black beans I was likely holding onto for another recipe I can't remember. Oh, and I finally finished up the bag of frozen corn!  OK, so maybe I had more ingredients I needed to use up.

This was super easy.  Just chop up the onion and dump everything in the crock pot.  Viola!  Dinner is ready when you get home from work.

I liked the way it tasted. Just a little spicy, but not much.  If I make it again, I might reduce the amount of broth, but that's just because I prefer something more like a stew.

If you're interested in the recipe, you can find it here:  Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

The nutritional information is posted on his website, but here it is.  Note:  This assumes 8 regular-sized portions.  Bariatric patients will likely get at least 12 out of this, depending upon how far along they are.  This recipe fills a large crock pot.

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 8
• Amount Per Serving- about 2 cups
• Calories: 168.6

• Total Fat: 2.5 g
• Cholesterol: 35.0 mg
• Sodium: 311.2 mg
• Total Carbs: 20.3 g
• Dietary Fiber: 4.2 g
• Protein: 17.4 g

Source: SparkPeople

zoodle stir fry

Until recently, I hadn't heard of zoodles.  My trainer mentioned them to me and said I should try them for something different and as a pasta alternative. I recently tried them, and I was pleasantly surprised.

What are zoodles, anyway? They're zucchini "noodles."  You take a zucchini and use a little tool called a zoodler to make long noodles that resemble spaghetti.  It looks and works like a manual pencil sharpener.  Here's an example.

I decided to try them, because the local grocery store had them already cut.  I don't have a zoodle maker and I didn't want to buy one, just in case I didn't like the zoodles.  The package contained yellow squash, zucchini and carrots--the carrots were julienned--and cost $4.99.  Since I didn't have to do the work, I figured it was a good price.

I found a recipe online at Nerd Fitness (a new favorite website).  It's a stir fry made with zoodles, chicken breast, veggies, and a sauce of lime juice, fish sauce and red pepper flakes.  It has a Thai flavor and it seemed like it would be interesting.  (For once, I read through the entire recipe--I'm famous for not reading through, and then I'm surprised when I'm missing a couple items or I'm not prepared for a step that requires some prep work or waiting.)  I did all the prep work of chopping the veggies, mixing the sauce, cutting up the chicken and beating the egg.  I'm glad I did, because it would have really delayed meal time.  It was easy to cook once I had all the prep done and it tasted great.  I was very surprised at how much I liked the zoodles.  The texture wasn't mushy.  The key to this is to leave the raw zoodles out for a couple hours so the water evaporates; zucchini and squash have a lot of water.  I could really taste the lime juice and all the flavors worked well together.

Here's the finished product:

So, zoodles.  Do they vaguely resemble (in looks) spaghetti?  Somewhat.  They're long and thin.  Do they cook like spaghetti?  Not that I'm aware of.  All the recipes I've seen call for sauteing the zoodles, not boiling them. Do they taste like spaghetti?  Nope.  This is not something that will fool you into thinking you're eating pasta.  Some people treat them like spaghetti and put all the trappings of a pasta dinner on them--sauce, cheese, etc.  I don't know that I would like that, so I think I will stick to recipes that call for Asian flavors.  Or, really, anything other than pasta sauce. Do they taste like nasty vegetables?  Well, if you don't like zucchini and squash...the answer is yes.  If you like those veggies, then, no, they don't taste nasty.  Are they mushy?  Some people say yes, but they key is to not overcook them and to put them in a bowl or on a plate for a few hours before cooking. Yes, in the open air.  This lets some of the water evaporate from the zoodles.

Here's the recipe:  Thai Noodle Stir Fry.

What I did differently from the recipe:  I used pre-made zoodles, used peanuts instead of cashews, and didn't use any of the optional items--I just didn't have them on-hand.

 If you want something different, go try this recipe.

homemade onion dip: round 2

For my family Christmas dinner I was looking to make something different.  We always have the old stand-bys, like mashed potatoes and corn. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, I usually look forward to those things. But since dinner was at my house, I took the opportunity to try some new recipes.  It's my house, my rules.  And it's my prerogative to ditch the mashed potatoes if I want to.  ;) I made Ree Drummond's au gratin potatoes, glazed carrots, and had my brother and sister-in-law bring sweet potato and apple casserole (it tastes like apple pie and it's delicious!).

Since I was making some new recipes, I figured why not make onion dip from scratch?  Last February I made homemade onion dip for the first time. It was good, but it didn't taste anything like what we buy in the store.  Sure, the store stuff is salty, but I like it and so do most other people I know. I went in search of a better recipe and found one on Alton Brown's website.  (I LOVE Alton Brown, so I'm willing to try just about anything he makes.)  This recipe uses mayo and sour cream, rather than Greek yogurt.  That right there told me this dip would taste more like the dip I grew up with.

The recipe calls for a pound of diced onions.  Anytime I use a recipe that wants diced onions or minced garlic, I pull out the food processor or my mini chopper.  Even though I know how to dice and mince those items, they're just messy and stinky to deal with, especially the onions. I didn't want to deal with sticky fingers and runny eyes.  So, I tossed the peeled and trimmed onions in the food processor and in about 10 seconds I had diced onions.  The longest part of the process was frying the onions, which took about 20 minutes--I was frying a double batch, so it took longer for the onions to cook through.  While the onions cooled I mixed together all the other ingredients.  I let the onions cook for a total of about 30 minutes, then mixed it all together.  I then let the dip sit for two days in the fridge.

The results were delicious! Very close to the store-bought onion dip.  Not the crappy stuff that doesn't need refrigeration (scary!), but the stuff in the dairy isle, like Helluva Good.  I liked it much better than the recipe I tried last year and would definitely make it again.  It wasn't difficult or time-consuming to make.  Everyone who tried it loved it. Except my husband.  He didn't seem all that thrilled with it, but that's OK.

Here's the recipe link if you want to try it yourself:  Alton Brown's Onion Dip from Scratch  The key to making this simple is to chop the onions in a food processor.  Otherwise, you're not likely to want to make this.  You'll be crying a river by the time you chop a pound of onions and will want to race for a box of tissues.

(Yes, I had some chips and dip.  Just in case anyone is wondering.  No, I didn't go overboard.)

glazed carrots

I was looking for a side dish to bring to my sister's house for Christmas, and had a ton of carrots in my fridge, so I decided to make this recipe.  I also wanted something a little different; I get tired of the same old holiday food.  (My family isn't overly adventurous in the food arena, so we don't typically deviate much from the standard holiday foods. I remember one year I made homemade cranberry sauce--we are strictly a canned, jellied cranberry sauce family-- and no one touched it, except my mother.  I'm not sure if she was just being supportive or if she really liked it, but I'm happy someone tried it. )

I Googled "glazed carrots" and I got many, many hits.  I found one that calls for whiskey, some with honey, some with orange juice or maple syrup, some with brown sugar only or white sugar only or some combination thereof, etc.  The Internet is great, but it can often be overwhelming to have so many choices and different variations of the same dish. I settled on this recipe from BakeSpace, which is pretty simple and doesn't call for any special ingredients other than fresh lemon juice.  (To me, a "special ingredient" is one I wouldn't typically have on hand, like lemons.  Other people might keep lemons on hand, but I don't.)

I found this recipe to be easy, but it was a little tricky to judge when the liquid was reduced enough before adding the lemon juice.  It wasn't difficult by any means.  I just wasn't sure what the right consistency should be.  But that will come with practice.  And, really, there's no way to ruin this dish unless you burn the sauce or way overcook the carrots.

I really enjoyed the end product.  The carrots were tender and sweet, but not overly so, and I could taste a small hint of the lemon juice. 

I made this for my in-laws last weekend, and the cause came out even better.  I plan to make this again next weekend.

The only change I made to the recipe was that I used pre-cut baby carrots.  I already had them on hand. Recipe below.

Perfect Glazed Carrots 

(Recipe found here:  Perfect Glazed Carrots, which is originally from Cooks Illustrated magazine)

Ingredients

1 lb carrots (about 6 medium), peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick on the diagonal (I used pre-cut baby carrots)

1/2 tsp salt

3 TB sugar

1/2 cup chicken broth 

1 TB unsalted butter cut into 4 pieces (I think salted would be fine)

2 tsp lemon juice (I used fresh)

Ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Bring carrots, salt, 1 tablespoon sugar, and chicken broth to boil, covered in 12-inch non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, until carrots are almost tender when poked with tip of paring knife, about 5 minutes.
2. Uncover, increase heat to high, and simmer rapidly, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced to about 2 tablespoons, 1 to 2 minutes.
3. Add butter and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar to skillet, toss carrots to coat and cook, stirring frequently, until carrots are completely tender and glaze is light gold, about 3 minutes.
4. Take the pan off the heat and add the lemon juice. Toss to coat. Transfer carrots to serving dish, scraping glaze from pan. Season to taste with pepper and serve immediately.

homemade chocolate pie

This year I did something a little different for my contribution to the family Thanksgiving meal: chocolate pie. It's a staple at our holiday meals.  Normally one of my sisters makes it, but I decided I would try it this year.  But I didn't want to make the standard pie, which is store-bought crust with boxed pudding. Not that that's bad, but I wanted to try my hand at making the pudding and crust from scratch.

It was time-consuming:   there are several steps, with rest periods in between, for both the crust and the pudding.

After mixing the crust, it had to go in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to chill.  Then when I rolled it out and put it in the pie plates it had to go back in the fridge; that's supposed to improve the results and make the crust even flakier. I've made pie crust only once before--earlier this month when I made homemade apple pie--so I don't have a lot of practice yet.  It seemed to go well, though, despite the fact that I don't have a pastry blender; it broke the first time I used it, which was when I made the apple pie.  And I can't seem to do the two-knives thing for cutting the butter into the flour, so I just used my hands and rubbed the butter into the flour.

Here's my baked crust.  It isn't super pretty, but it was flaky.   

Then came the pudding.  I had to mix some of the ingredients in a saucepan, then put it on the heat and add the rest of the ingredients, bring it to a boil, and then pour it over the chocolate, butter and vanilla, and then mix until smooth.  Then it goes through a sieve to remove any lumps.  Then it goes in the fridge for a couple hours to cool. Meanwhile, I baked the crusts, which then had to cool completely.  Then in goes the pudding and the pies go back in the fridge overnight to set up.

Here's the finished product, ready to hit the fridge.

Anyway, I managed it.  And the results were totally worth it:  it tasted like a dark chocolate fudge bar, and I was told that I'm now in charge of the chocolate pies.

By the way, if you're a chocolate pudding lover, skip making the crust.  This pudding is absolutely chocolate heaven!

Here's the recipe, which comes from King Arthur Flour (sorry, it's not my own recipe).  This is a well-written recipe and everything seemed to work just like it should with great results.  Note:  You really need to set aside one full weeknight to do this, unless you can work a lot faster than me.

Chocolate Pie

Crust

2 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter
7 to 10 tablespoons ice water

Filling

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/3 cups semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used Ghiradelli 60% Cacao Baking Chips)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (I used dark cocoa powder)
1 teaspoon espresso powder, optional; for richer chocolate flavor (I used 1/4 tsp)
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 large egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream, divided
2 cups milk (I used whole milk)

Directions

Crust:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, and salt.
2. Cut in the shortening until it's in lumps the size of small peas.
3. Dice the butter into 1/2" pieces, and cut into the mixture until you have flakes of butter the size of your fingernail.
4. Add the water, two tablespoons at a time, mixing with a fork as you sprinkle the water into the dough.
5. When the dough is moist enough to hold together when you squeeze it, transfer it to a piece of wax or parchment paper. It's ok if there are dry spots in the pile. Use a spray bottle of water to lightly spritz these places; that way you'll add just enough water to bring the dough together without adding too much or creating a wet spot.
6. Fold it over on itself three or four times to bring it together, then pat it into a disk 3/4" thick
7. Roll the disk on its edge, like a wheel, to smooth out the edges. This step will ensure your dough will roll out evenly, without a lot of cracks and splits at the edges later. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes before rolling.
8. To blind bake the crust: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a 9" pie pan that's at least 2" deep. This will make serving the pie easier after it's finished.
9. Roll out the pastry for the pie to a 13" circle. Transfer it to the prepared pan, and trim the edges so they overlap the edge by an inch all the way around. Tuck the edges up and under, and flute them. Put the lined pie pan in the refrigerator to chill for 10 minutes.
10. Line the crust with foil or parchment paper, and fill it with pie weights or dried beans. Bake the crust for 20 minutes. Remove it from the oven, and gently remove foil or parchment with the weights or beans. Return the crust to the oven for 10 to 20 more minutes, until it's golden brown all over. If the edges of the crust start becoming too brown, cover them with a pie shield, or strips of aluminum foil. Remove the crust from the oven and cool completely.

Filling:

Place the chopped chocolate, butter, and vanilla extract in a 2-quart mixing bowl; set aside.

1. In a medium saucepan away from heat, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, cocoa, espresso powder, and salt. Whisk in 1/4 cup of cold heavy cream until the mixture is smooth, with no lumps. Repeat with another 1/4 cup of the cream. Whisk in the egg yolks.
2. Place the saucepan over medium heat, and gradually whisk in the remaining cream and milk.
3. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly as the mixture thickens; boil for 1 minute.
4. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the mixture over the reserved chocolate and butter.
5. Whisk until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.
6. Pass the filling through a strainer into a bowl to remove any lumps.
7. Place plastic wrap or buttered parchment paper on the surface to prevent a skin from forming, and chill thoroughly.

Assembly:

1. Transfer the cooled filling to the cooled, baked pie crust. Level the top with the back of a spoon or an offset spatula.
2. Chill the pie until ready to serve. Note:  Chill for at least 6 hours, otherwise the filling will be loose and it will be messy to slice the pie.