Archive for the ‘The Recipes’ Category

First, can I tell you how difficult it has been to type up some of these recipes? The crockpot beef one was SO good the day I made it, then the next night it was my greatest aversion ever. In fact, I couldn’t even look at the pictures of it on my own blog because it made me sick. But these muffins? They are all I’ve been able to manage in the mornings since last weekend.

They are really just a slight adaptation of the world’s easiest cake recipe, but made into muffins with tiny chocolate chips. They are heaven. They are my current savior of the mornings. The chocolate chips are obviously optional, but they are SO good. Especially if you warm them up before eating them so the chocolate chips are all melty.

And frankly, these are the easiest thing you’ll ever make. And they’re delicious. So make them. Unless you don’t like pumpkin, then, well, I just cannot understand you.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Makes: 22 muffins

Ingredients
1 Spice cake mix
1 small can of pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1/3 bag mini-chocolate chips

Directions
1. Preheat the oven according to the cake mix instructions. Line muffin pan with liners or spray.

2. Mix cake mix and pumpkin just until combined.

3. Add chocolate chips, stir until just combined.

4. Spoon into muffin pan. Note, these don’t really puff up that much, so if you want them to look pretty when they bake, you need to make them look pretty before they go in the oven. Clearly, I did not care about this when I made these. Put them into the pre-heated oven.

5. Bake according to the cake mix instructions. You really can’t undercook these since they have no eggs, but make sure they’re not mushy. Let them cool just slightly and then eat them. Because they are SO freaking good.

I’ll be making a new batch on Saturday because otherwise I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to eat breakfast again.

So, I know pancakes are not an entirely unique or special meal and this recipe isn’t like secretive, but it makes reliably good pancakes. It is very similar to the recipe on the Bisquick box, but with one important exception: butter. Because, I mean, come on now. What isn’t better with butter?

The other thing I wanted to share is how I deal with leftover pancakes. I like my pancakes crisp on the outside and soft inside and heating them up in the microwave? No. They’re flappy and soggy and just not that good. But the way that I reheat them? Totally perfect.

And just before we begin, the chocolate chips are, of course, totally optional. But they are so good, you won’t want to omit them.

Pancakes!
Makes about 25 medium sized pancakes

Ingredients
2 cups Bisquick mix
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly (just so it’s not scalding)
1/3 of a bag of mini chocolate chips
Extra butter for the pan

Directions
1. Mix Bisquick, milk and eggs slightly. You don’t want to completely mix them up, just enough so that when the warm butter hits the mix it’s not on completely uncovered eggs. Scrambled eggs have no place in pancake batter.

2. Add in butter, and mix. There will be lumps. Don’t hate the lumps.

3. Now, your batter can be done now, or…

4. Now that your batter is done, get your pan warm over medium heat (too hot and they’ll burn on the outside and stay raw inside) and then add a bit of butter and move it all around so that the whole pan is covered.

5. Drop batter by spoonfuls onto the buttered, hot pan. Don’t overcrowd them or you’ll never be able to flip them over.

6. After a minute or two you’ll see bubbles form and come to the surface, that’s your clue that it’s time to flip them.

7. I only have one picture of one of them flipped because flipping pancakes it time sensitive, but then you’ll cook them on the second side until the edges don’t look shiny anymore. You can always peek and see how brown the bottom is and do a finger poke test to check for mushy insides. When they’re done you’ll have this lovely crispy outside, and all soft and lovely inside.

8. Now eat! I ate mine with strawberries and real maple syrup and it was freaking awesome.

Now, the extras. Put them in a plastic bag and into the freezer.

In the morning (or whenever you want to eat them), toss them into the microwave for 15 seconds to defrost, then flip them and heat for 15 seconds more. Then, and this is the key, toss them in the toaster.

When you take them out of the toaster, they will crispy outside and nice and fluffy inside, just like the night before.

You guys, it just doesn’t get better than this.

Other variations I’ve tried with success: white chocolate and chopped macadamia nuts, served with syrup and sliced bananas, or just plain is also absolutely delicious. You can make the recipe according to the Bisquick box directions, or you can add some butter and have your mind blown. I strongly recommend the latter.

Go and create your own combinations, and then come back and tell me so I can make them too. I love me some pancakes.

I know I usually do recipes on Wednesday nights, but I had nothing else to write about, and this was all ready to go, so you’re getting it a day early. It’s really good, you’ll thank me later.

This is a recipe I got from my mom, though it may be totally whacked out version, because I tend to never remember her recipes right. Normally I just do the beef, but yesterday I decided to go out on a limb and add potatoes. But since my husband doesn’t like baked potatoes (I know, I don’t get it either), I ended up mashing them. You can leave them just baked if you want to, or you can leave them out altogether. It’s your meal, choose your destiny. Or something.

The whole thing takes less than 10 minutes to prep and the mashed potatoes took me about 5 minutes before eating. In short, it’s really easy. My only major bit of advice is to not get your roast from Target, because holy expensive meat, Batman. You can use Rump Roast instead of tri tip, but the tri tip has always come out better for me.

Let’s get (slow) cooking!

Crockpot Beef and Mashed Potatoes
Serves: 6ish

Ingredients
1 tri tip roast (our was about 2.5 pounds)
1 jar mild salsa (I promise it doesn’t taste like salsa when it’s cooked)
Salt and Pepper
Red Potatoes, scrubbed
Butter
Milk (if mashing the potatoes)
Sour Cream (if mashing the potatoes)

Directions
1. Cover the bottom of a crock pot with two layers of foil with large overhangs. Lay them in an x so that you can cross over and make a well sealed packet. Pour a light layer of salsa on the foil to cover the bottom.

2. Salt and pepper the tri tip, then add it on top of the salsa and pour salsa on top. I used about 2/3 of my bottle of salsa and it was a pretty good amount. I promise, it really doesn’t come out tasting like salsa. I don’t like salsa, I love this meal.

3. Seal it up in a nice foil package so that it’ll steam and cook all gloriously in there.

Now, you can stop here, or you can do potatoes too. Totally your choice.

4. For the potatoes, put 8-10 small red potatoes, a few pads of butter and salt in another criss crossed foil packet. Seal it up and set it on top of the other packet in the crock pot.

5. Put the cover on and cook on low for 10-12 hours, or on high for at least 6. I had mine on low for 12 and it came out perfectly.

6. When everything’s done, pull the potatoes out and either serve as baked potatoes, or mash and add butter, milk and if you like them extra creamy, some sour cream. Definitely add salt. Potatoes are begging for salt. I don’t use a recipe for them, I just mash them with a potato masher, then I toss them in my kitchen mixer and let it do the mixing with butter, milk and sour cream until they look like this (though these were a little lumpy because I was too tired to mash them super well)

7. For the beef, unwrap your little magical beef package, and you will find the most wonderfully fall aparty beef ever. This is a hunk of it I got just by pinching it slightly with the tongs. It is fall apart awesome.

8. Really all you need to do now is put it on a plate. And eat. I promise you, this is SO good. And SO easy.

Like I said, the potatoes are totally optional. I think they’re a nice partner to the beef, but the beef can stand all on it’s own, I promise. The beef stores well in the fridge overnight and reheats beautifully the next day. We had leftovers tonight. They were divine.

I challenge you to make this and not love it. I think it’s pretty much impossible.

You’ll probably notice a theme in my recipes- they’re all easy. Very few of them are authentic in any way to the cuisine in which they originated from, but they all taste good and are relatively easy to prepare. This soup is no exception. It’s extremely easy to make and it’s really delicious.

I will tell you that I totally cop out and buy a rotisserie chicken to make this, but if you’re less lazy you can just cook (probably boiling or baking would be best to keep the meat a little more tender) 2-3 chicken breasts depending upon the size, and use those. But also, if you’re less lazy than me, you might be reading the wrong site for recipes. Just saying.

Anyways, this one could hardly be more straightforward if it had to be. And it’s all contained in one pot, so clean up is pretty easy too.

Easy Tortilla Soup
Adapted from Cooking Light
Serves 4-6, depending upon how hungry you are

Ingredients
Cooking spray
4 garlic cloves, minced
Olive oil to coat bottom of pot
4 cups chicken broth
2-3 breasts of chicken, cooked and shredded
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
12oz can diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained
12oz can black beans, drained
Tortilla chips
Cheddar or Mexican shredded cheese
Lime

Directions:
1. Saute garlic in olive oil in a large pot over medium heat for about a minute.

2. Add broth, beans, tomatoes, chicken, cumin and chile powder. Stir and let cook over medium heat.

3. When soup comes to a bowl, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.

4. After 15 minutes, pour it into bowl, top with crushed tortilla chips, cheese and a squeeze of lime. Enjoy!

If you’re totally gross and like avocado, sour cream and/or cilantro, I am told those also go well. But since they’re all totally gross, I highly doubt that. Anyway, it stores well and reheats well in the microwave or on the stove top. And seriously, it’s pretty much as easy as dinner ever gets.

As much as I love to cook, I have one major shortcoming as a home cook: I am terrible at beef. I can make and grill a mean burger, but otherwise I am the master of cooking every last bit of juice out of a piece of beef. Which is unfortunate since my husband actually really likes beef. Wah wah.

So I decided to try a beef dish that I could overcook without a big problem and that’s when I came across this recipe. It’s a lot like something you could get at a Chinese restaurant, but healthier and home made. I will admit that there are a number of specialty Asian ingredients, but not next week, but the following week I’m going to try to post another recipe that uses some of the same things so they won’t go to waste in your fridge/pantry.

My only real warning about this recipe is that you need a big pan. My big pan was dirty, so I used a medium sized one and I had some space issues. If you find yourself without a big pan you can either cut back on veggies (broccoli is the biggest space taker), or you can do I what I did and cook your beef in a separate pan first then toss it in the medium pan to finish.

Without further ado, let’s get cooking.

Beef Lo Mein
Adapted from Cooking Light
Serves: 6

Ingredients
8oz Udon noodles (or Spaghetti)
1.5 tsp dark sesame oil
1 tbsp peanut oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups chopped broccoli
1 sliced white onion
1.5 cups shredded cabbage
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 (1-pound) flank steak, trimmed, cut across the grain into thin strips
6 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
4 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1.5 tbsp chile paste with garlic (unless you’re not into spicy, then add less)

Directions
1. You can either cook your noodles while you’re cooking your veggies or in advance, but either way, once cooked, add the sesame oil into the noodles and toss to coat. Don’t skip the sesame oil, it adds a really great flavor. I recommend cooking pasta while cooking veggies, so they’re still warm, but that’s me.

2. Heat peanut oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add veggies to pan, cook until soft, 8-10 minutes.

3. While your veggies are cooking, cut your beef. Flank steak is a really nice cut of beef and it matters how you cut it. It has a “grain” which is a fancy way of describing those lines.

When you cut it, you want to cut perpendicular to those lines, otherwise it’ll be really tough. It has to do with muscle fiber orientation and I can explain all that, but you probably should just trust me on this one.

4. When veggies are getting soft, add beef. If your pan is not big enough, cook beef in a small pan and add to veggies when mostly cooked. Cook until beef is no longer pink and is heated through.

5. While veggies or beef are cooking, combine soy sauce, brown sugar, oyster sauce and chile paste in a bowl, whisk with a fork to mix thoroughly. This sauce will give the lo mein a kick, so if you do not like spicy, or have kids who do not like spicy, cut back on the chile paste. You can add more if you really like it spicy, but my husband and I both found this to be a really good level of heat.

6. Once the beef is cooked through, add the beef and veggies to the pasta, toss. Then add sauce and mix well.

7. Eat!

For us, this was a nice change of pace from our normal chicken based dinners. But not to worry, next week I’ll be back to my normal chicken cooking self.

I stumbled across a recipe for a fig based panini on Pinterest a few weeks ago and have been dying to try it since. And since I was too tired to make anything more involved than a panini tonight, I thought I’d share another week night dinner with you.

If you don’t like goat cheese, you can substitute with another cheese of your choice, but again, I cannot really be your friend anymore. Goat cheese is just way too freaking great. And the only change I’d make next time is a little less fig jam, or, I’d make my own dried fig compote. The fig preserves ended up being a little sweeter than I wanted. Still, totally deliciously awesome.

Chicken, Fig and Goat Cheese Paninis
Adapted from: a random picture on Pinterest

Ingredients
Ciabatta or focaccia or any bread you like
Fig preserves/jam
Chicken (cooked)
Goat cheese
Oil for panini press or whatever you’re cooking it on

Directions
1. Split bread in half (or lay out two pieces). Spread the bottom half with fig preserves.

2. Put shredded chicken breast on top of fig preserves.

3. Crumble goat cheese on top of chicken and top with top bun.

4. Place on grill. I have a panini press (thank you wedding registry!), but you can also make these on George Foreman grills or even as a regular grilled cheese cooked on the stove top. You’re just going to cook it until the bread is crispy and the cheese is melted. It took me about 5 minutes.

5. Eat!

Paninis are one of my favorite things to make, so expect some future panini combinations. Not all, but most of which, will include goat cheese. Because duh.

This is another one of those recipes that I went in search of after moving out of New Orleans. In New Orleans and other parts of the south, red beans and rice are served on Mondays because they used to be soaked all day long on Sunday while the laundry was being done. Many restaurants in NOLA serve red beans and rice specials on Monday nights and they are to. die. for. If you’re there on a Monday, order them. Seriously.

So this is a very simplified version of red beans and rice. It’s not entirely authentic, because I don’t have all those restaurant secrets, but it still packs a lot of flavor and we like it. And even better, it’s done in the crockpot so you don’t have to spend hours soaking and cooking the beans. If you don’t have a crockpot, I assume that you can cook it on the stove, it’ll just take several hours, but I can’t promise. Also, crockpots are awesome and I have a feeling they’re going to save me this semester.

I put these bad boys in the crockpot at 5:30 in the morning and when I got home 13.5 hours later, my house smelled AMAZING. And dinner was pretty much ready. Win, win. Minus the being awake at 5:30 part, because that totally blew.

So let’s go.

Crockpot Red Beans and Rice
Adapted from: Our Best Bites
Serves: 6-8

Ingredients
1 lb. dry red kidney beans, rinsed
6 c. water*
5 regular bouillon cubes or 1 Tbsp. + 2 tsp. chicken base*
12 oz. smoked sausage, cut into rounds or half rounds (I use turkey smoked sausage)
1 yellow onion, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. Cajun or Creole seasoning (you can leave this out if you’re using Andouille)
3/4 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika (also leave out if using Andouille sausage)
Rice, cooked. I’d say you need between 1/4 and 1/2 cup per person
Hot sauce, if desired
*You can use 6 cups of chicken broth/stock in place of the water and bouillon. That’s what I do because I’m allergic to MSG.

Directions
1. Pour everything EXCEPT rice into the crock pot.

2. Mix it all up.

3. Put the lid on and cook, either on high for 4-5 hours or on low all day. Mine went for 14 hours and came out fine. I might only recommend having someone stir them half way through if possible.

4. When you’re nearly ready for dinner, take a fork and mash about 50-75% of the beans. Then stir and let them cook at least 15 minutes more, or up to an hour if you’re not ready for dinner. You can really do the bean smashing step whenever the beans are all soft and stuff.

5. Plate up your dinner! Rice first:

Top with Red Beans!

I usually add a little hot sauce on mine (as does my husband), and then just enjoy! It can be refrigerated and stays good for a few days.

It’s a hearty meal, so be prepared to be full of all kinds of deliciousness!

About a year ago I was at my sister’s house for something and she asked if I wanted to stay for dinner. To my delight, the meal she made was this pasta salad with creamy goat cheese and chicken. I asked for the recipe and since then, this has become one of our family favorites, one of the few my husband actually asks for pretty regularly.

And if you knew him and his absolute inability to ever make a decision when it comes to anything, especially food, you’d understand how big of a deal that is.

Now, for those of you who don’t know, I love goat cheese. Like, would marry it if I could because I’d like to spend the rest of my life with it. I personally don’t think that it has an especially strong flavor, but it is creamy and melts into so many things to give subtle delicious flavor. It’s not tangy like feta, but if you’re wary of goat cheese, you can substitute feta for it. If you don’t like feta, you can omit the cheese altogether or add something like chunked mozzarella like you might see in a more traditional pasta salad.

To me, the toughest part of this recipe is timing. I usually don’t put the pot of hot water on to boil until I’ve diced up either the onion or the bell pepper. See, the hot orzo kind of wilts the fresh veggies and melts the goat cheese, so if you cook your pasta too soon, it won’t still be hot when you pour it in and your veggies will stay more on the raw side. It’s not the end of the world, but I’d air on the side of caution (unless you’re a quick chopper) and not start heating up the water until you’ve done some or all of the prep work. Otherwise, this recipe is as easy as mixing things in a bowl.

Orzo Chicken Pasta Salad
Adapted (fattened up a little) from: Cooking Light

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups uncooked orzo (rice-shaped pasta)
2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
Approximately 3.5oz trimmed arugula (half a 7oz bag)
3/4 of a red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 a small red onion, chopped (or 1/4 of a large one- if you don’t like red onion, you can try green or yellow onions or omit them altogether, but I like the flavor it adds)
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3oz crumbled goat cheese (if your grocery store doesn’t sell it crumbed, buy the block and chop it up a little so it can melt)

Directions:
1. Add chopped onion, chopped bell pepper and chopped basil to a large bowl. The original recipe also called for halved grape tomatoes, so if you’re a fan (we’re not) go ahead and toss those in too.

2. Add chicken and about half a bag of arugula on top. It’ll seem like a lot of arugula, but it wilts down a lot when it gets heated up, I promise. Toss the goat cheese on top.

Mix to combine it all up so that it all gets evenly heated by the orzo.

3. While the orzo is cooking (according to the package’s instructions) and once you’ve got everything else in the big bowl, in a separate small bowl combine about a quarter cup of red wine vinegar with a tablespoon of olive oil. Whisk it together with a fork and set aside.

4. Once the orzo is cooked, quickly drain it of all excess water and add it to the bowl with all the vegetables and goat cheese. Stir to combine everything together. The goat cheese will start to melt and the arugula will wilt.

5. After it’s thoroughly combined, add in the dressing and mix well.

Then all that’s left is to scoop it into bowls and serve.

It makes enough for 4 solid servings and it reheats well as leftovers. Typically I reheat each portion individually and add a tbsp of red wine vinegar mixed with a splash of olive oil, just to kind of rehydrate things a little.

The recipe is super flexible, so add your own spins and touches and make it yours!

Living in New Orleans opened my eyes to a whole new set of recipes that I otherwise never would’ve encountered. And now that I can’t get my favorites from all the amazing non-chain restaurants I used to live near, I have to make do with home made versions.

That said, I actually began making this recipe while I still lived in NOLA and while I’m the first to admit that it’s not absolutely authentic to my favorite city and their cajun cuisine, it is still delicious. And easy and not too bad for you, which I think is the mark of a good recipe.

So let’s start cooking. Just as a warning, it looks like a lot of ingredients, but it’s not so bad, I promise. This is totally doable. If you can chop everything up and stir, you can absolutely cook this jambalaya.

Jambalaya
(adapted from Cooking Light)
Serves: 4 dinner portions, can easily be doubled to serve 8

Ingredients
Olive oil for pan
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced (not chicken breast halves, should be between .5-1 pound of chicken)
6 oz Smoked turkey sausage
3/4 cup diced white onion
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
3/4 cup uncooked long-grain rice
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
1/2 cup water
16 oz chicken broth/stock
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with green chiles, undrained
1/2 pound medium peeled and deveined shrimp (if desired, I left them out this time because I was feeling cheap)
1/2 tsp hot sauce

Instructions
1. Heat oil in dutch oven or large pot over medium heat. Add chicken, sausage, onions and bell peppers. Cook 5 minutes, stirring fairly frequently.

2. Add rice, cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent the rice from sticking to the pan.

3. Add in the thyme, black pepper and ground red pepper, cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
4. Add water, chicken broth/stock and tomatoes. Stir to combine.

5. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce heat to medium low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. I usually uncover it and stir it once about half way through to prevent rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
This is what it will look like when it starts to boil

And after 15 minutes of simmering, the rice will absorb a bunch of liquid and it’ll be less watery.

6. After 15 minutes of simmering covered, add in a few shakes of hot sauce (depending upon how much you like spice), if you’re adding shrimp, now is when you want to toss it in. Stir, then cover the pot and continue cooking for 5 more minutes.
This is my very favorite hot sauce, I got hooked on it in New Orleans and I can still sometimes find it at my local grocery store.

7. After 5 minutes most of the liquid should be absorbed and if you’re using shrimp, they should be nice and pink and cooked through.

Now all that’s left is to scoop into bowls and enjoy!

It’s especially delicious served with warm corn bread. Which now I really wish I had to eat with my leftovers tonight.

Enjoy!