Play with your food!

Squash soup reboot

2010-11-06T17:56:00.000-06:00

You might remember my post from October 8th, when I posted a recipe from Food Network Magazine for a butternut squash soup recipe. Well I revisited it last night and it turned out so much better with the changes I made. We actually used butternut squash this time and I did add curry seasoning. We also bought some prosciutto di Parma and fried that quickly in a pan, then chopped it up as a garnish. This was my first experience with prosciutto and frankly it was amazing. The meat is so rich and flavorful, it was like biting into pure butter. It went well with the curry spiced soup. So here is the updated recipe!

Curried Squash Soup:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 small onion, chopped
Kosher salt
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. curry powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 medium butternut or kuri squash (about 2 pounds), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 teaspoon sugar
5 cups chicken broth or stock
1/4 cup plain yogurt (optional)
Freshly ground pepper
Make the soup: Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Add the onion and 1 teaspoon salt. Increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, curry, cumin and coriander. Cook an additional 2-3 minutes. Add the squash and sugar and cook, stirring, until glazed, 3 to 4 minutes. Add 5 cups broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, until the squash is tender, 15 to 20 minutes.
Working in batches, transfer the soup to a blender, crack the lid to let steam escape and puree until smooth; return to the saucepan (or puree directly in the pan with an immersion blender). Stir in the yogurt, if desired. Season with salt and pepper, and top as desired.

Easy Black Bean Burgers

2010-10-10T17:26:00.000-06:00

Two posts in a week, aren't you lucky? I had to post this recipe because I thought I had already posted it at some point, but apparently I never did. I should have shared it the first time I made these, as these burgers are moist, flavorful and so easy to make. This dish is vegetarian, although not vegan (eggs are used). These burgers also freeze incredibly well and can be reheated in minutes for an easy and tasty weeknight meal. I have even made burrito-like wraps from one of these patties, cut into pieces, and wrapped in a tortilla.
While ideal for summer, these burgers cook best on a skillet or griddle, so they are quite good in the winter as well. Serve them like you would any burger: on a nice bun with lettuce, tomato, cheese, pickles, mayo, mustard, ketchup, even salsa. I have found that a soft potato bun or a good chewy ciabatta bun is good with these burgers and I quite like them topped with salsa. Served with a side of oven fries and spicy ketchup(ketchup mixed with your favorite hot sauce) or "fry sauce"(ketchup and mayo mixed together) you have a classic meal. Have I teased you enough?

BLACK BEAN BURGERS (recipe from Weight Watchers "Down to Earth" vegetarian cookbook)

3 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1 3/4 cups diced onion

1 1/2 cups uncooked regular oats

3/4 cups chopped cilantro (optional)

2 Tbsp.(or to taste, I do about 1/4 cup) seeded, minced jalapenos (or your favorite spicy pepper. I like Serranos)

3/4 tsp. salt

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 all purpose flour

1/4 cup yellow cornmeal

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil, divided

Place beans in a large bowl and coarsely mash with a fork (I like to use my hands). Add onion, oats, cilantro (if using), peppers, salt and eggs; mix well. Shape mixture into 8 patties (1/4 lb. each). Combine flour and corn meal in a shallow pie plate or dish, stir well. Dredge the patties in the cornmeal mixture. (You can freeze the patties at this point or wait until after they are cooked. Just wrap individually in foil sprayed with nonstick cooking spray)

Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 4 patties and cook 5 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Remove and repeat with remaining oil and patties.

Assemble and dress your burgers however you like

I like a bit more heat than some people so I like to add extra peppers, as well as different assortments of peppers. This time around I did 3 serranos, 2 red jalapenos and 2 large green jalapenos. Came to about 1/2 cup peppers, I think. I also pureed the peppers with the onion in the food processor before adding to the beans, this gave a more even distribution of the peppers. By far the most flavorful batch of these I have made. I like the cilantro in the burgers, but many people detest the earthy herb, so I usually leave it out for my sister's sake.
Please enjoy and feel free to get back to me with any suggestions or comments you have about my recipes. I would love it if some of my vegan readers tried these with tofu or perhaps vegetable oil in place of the eggs for binding.

Time for fall food again!

2010-10-08T14:25:00.000-06:00

I adore Autumn. It is my favorite season for many reasons: the weather cools down and I can wear jackets again, the food turns to comfort and warmth, the colors start changing and Halloween is on it's way.

Obviously I am going to focus on the food here. Specifically on squash. I have just found, in recent years, that I have a love for the vine vegetables. Growing up I always hated squash, or so I thought. My mother insisted on the old standby of spaghetti squash, which she would bake into a mush and then smother in butter, salt and pepper or butter and brown sugar. This was always vile and flavorless and disgusting to my taste buds.

However, in the past couple of years I have decided to experiment with different squashes. If you go back into my archives(October 2009) you will find a stuffed Buttercup squash that my sister and I made last year. We have also prepared Kuri squash, Butternut squash, and Acorn squash. These squashes are all firm flesh, "meaty" and with distinct flavors. A vast improvement upon my childhood memories of squash.

Squashes are so versatile and, this time of year, cheap and plentiful. This past weekend we decided to make a squash soup inspired by Food Network Magazine's October 2010 issue.

here is the link to the recipe (and yes, we did make the bowls too)

Squash Soup in Pumpkin Bowls

Ingredients

For the Bowls:

4 small baking pumpkins (such as hooligan or sugar pie), acorn squash or sweet dumpling squash
2 teaspoons sugar
Kosher salt

For the Soup:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 small onion, chopped
Kosher salt
2 sprigs thyme
1 medium butternut or kuri squash (about 2 pounds), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons
heavy cream (optional)
Freshly ground pepper

For the Toppings:

Pepitas (hulled green pumpkin seeds)
Sourdough and/or pumpernickel croutons
Paprika, chili powder or Spanish pimenton
Crisp prosciutto, serrano ham or bacon
Fried onions
Fried sage or parsley leaves

Directions

Make the bowls: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Use a paring knife to cut a large circle around the stem of each pumpkin (make a zigzag cut, if desired). Remove the lid and scoop out the seeds and fibers. Sprinkle the inside of each with 1/2 teaspoon each sugar and salt. Place the pumpkins and lids on a baking sheet; roast until tender, 20 to 35 minutes, depending on their size.
Meanwhile, make the soup: Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Add the onion and 1 teaspoon salt. Strip the thyme leaves into the pot, increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Add the squash and sugar and cook, stirring, until glazed, 3 to 4 minutes. Add 5 cups water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, until the squash is tender, 15 to 20 minutes.
Working in batches, transfer the soup to a blender, crack the lid to let steam escape and puree until smooth; return to the saucepan (or puree directly in the pan with an immersion blender). Stir in the heavy cream, if desired. Season with salt and pepper, and top as desired.

Now we made Pumpernickel croutons for our soup: we bought a loaf of Pumpernickel bread from the Harmon's bakery and cut it into 1 inch cubes. We baked these in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

For the soup itself we used fat free plain yogurt at the end, instead of heavy cream. We also topped the soup with salt, pepper and paprika before tossing in the croutons.

In the future I am going to use chicken broth, as plain water made the soup somewhat bland. I might also add cumin and curry powder, as I think curry flavors will go quite well with Butternut squash. Also we will not be making the bowls again, that was a lot of work for something that we didn't even eat, although it was fun and cute

Easy Weeknight Curry

2010-08-30T20:39:00.001-06:00

Curries are one of my favorite foods. They are so full of flavor and color and aroma I just can't resist. Curries can also be very involved or very simple. The other night I made a very easy 30 minute curry and I wanted to share with you all. I did this as more of a coconut korma style with the addition of coconut milk and it turned out so creamy and delicious. These were all ingredients we had on hand in our kitchen and the recipe just formed as I cooked, so there are not really any exact measurements.

Lessa's Wednesday Night Chicken Curry (feeds 4, or 2 with leftovers)
2 Tbsp. canola oil
1 tsp. mustard seed (I used brown for a more pungent flavor)
1 tsp. cumin seed
1 tsp. coriander seed
1 small onion, diced
1 1/2 lbs. chicken breasts, cubed
1 can drained chickpeas (garbanzo beans)

2-3 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp minced fresh ginger
1/4 c. blanched unsalted peanuts
1/2 tsp Kosher salt

3 Tbsp. curry powder (red or yellow, I used yellow madras curry powder)
1 can lite coconut milk

In a large saute or sauce pan heat the oil over medium heat. When shimmering add the seeds and toast lightly. When the cumin seeds start to pop, add the diced onion. Cook until soft then add the chicken, garlic, ginger and chickpeas. When the chicken is no longer pink add the salt, peanuts and curry powder. Stir to incorporate the curry powder. Add the whole can of coconut milk, stir and let simmer for 20 minutes.

I suggest serving over Basmati or Jasmine rice and with naan, if you have it. It's kind of monochromatic so a side salad would complement it well.
I love Indian food. Looks like vomit, tastes like heaven.

Update on home gardening

2010-08-17T16:10:00.000-06:00

As usual I am a plant killer. Well not quite yet. My plants are not dead, but have yet to bear fruit. I suspect that the plants will be dead before Autumn.

Not your Mama's fried chicken

2010-08-06T09:58:00.001-06:00

I was Stumbling around teh interwebz one day and happened upon an amazingly simple, absolutely delicious looking fried chicken recipe. No, not the "extra crispy or original" kind, more like the chicken nuggets kind. Not the crappy pre-formed processed nuggets you are thinking about, but fresh, hand cut, hand seasoned little strips of joy.
I have kept this recipe among my bookmarks for months now and decided to break it out the other day when I realized we had very little to make for dinner. Of course I couldn't leave the recipe alone, first of all we don't have one of the ingredients, and one of the other ingredients seemed a bit off to me, so I left it out. If you know me, you know I like things spicy, so I kicked up the heat index using serrano peppers instead of jalapenos.
In addition to fried chicken for dinner, I made tempura fried green beans to use up the fresh green beans we had in the fridge. The only thing missing for those was a tasty dipping sauce
Frying on a midsummer's night when your A/C is giving up is not always a great idea, I was dripping by the time all the food was ready.
This chicken recipe is GLUTEN FREE for any of my friends who may be gluten sensitive. You may even be able to make it vegetarian by using seitan or firm tofu, squeezed and pressed

The original recipe can be found here: Spiced Lime Fried Chicken

Jamaican Jerk Fried Chicken 

2 egg whites

1½ tsp toasted sesame oil

1½ tsp Jamaican Jerk spice

2 TBSP corn starch

1½ tsp Kosher salt

¼ tsp freshly ground pepper

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

3 boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 2lbs), cut into thin long strips

2 cups canola oil

1 lime, cut into eights

2 serrano peppers, seeded and thinly sliced cross sections

In a large bowl, whisk egg whites, sesame oil, jerk spice, corn  starch, salt, ground pepper and red pepper flakes until the  egg whites have loosened. 

Stir in the thinly sliced chicken breast into the bowl until the  chicken is completely coated. Let chicken marinate in the refrigerator  for at least one hour.

In a large saucepan or wok over medium high heat, heat canola oil until it shimmers (about 325˚).

Being careful not to over crowd the pan, cook chicken strips until  they are light-golden brown and cooked through, about 5-6 minutes. Let  each batch drain on a rack or paper towel.

In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly toss chicken, lime and serrano  slices in a bowl (keep in mind the longer you toss the jalapeno and  chicken, the spicier it gets). Salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

Tempura  Green Beans 

Tempura batter:

1 egg

1 cup ICE water

1 cup all purpose flour

Salt and pepper to taste 

Mix ingredients until all the flour is wet. The batter will be a little lumpy.  Now dip whatever vegetable you wish to fry. This night we happened to  have fresh green beans, but broccoli, sweet potato and sweet onions all  make excellent tempura veggies. Make sure to let the oil come back up to  temperature between batches or your veggies will be soggy and greasy.  Also have a splatter screen handy, frying is dangerous business!

Drain on a rack or paper towels and serve while still warm.

This corn will make you say "Olé!"

2010-07-30T22:50:00.000-06:00

Mexican Grilled Corn

I have heard of this dish many times and have been meaning to try it for a couple of years now. Tonight I finally stopped putting it off. I am so glad I finally tried it. What a refreshing and unique way to take advantage of summer's bounty.
Sweet corn is plentiful in Utah in late July and one can only eat so much buttered corn on the cob. The flavors of this Mexican style grilled corn are a great change of pace.
"Elote" incorporates lime, chili, mayonnaise and cheese in an explosion of taste, I was left wanting more corn on which to spread this delightful concoction.
I "stole" this recipe from another blog, Foodblogga

Elote, or Mexican Grilled Corn
Serves 4

4 ears sweet corn
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon lime juice
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper of chile powder
salt, to taste
2/3 cup crumbled cotija anejo cheese
lime wedges
extra cayenne pepper of chile powder, for sprinkling
fresh finely chopped cilantro for optional garnish

Soak corn (in husks) in cold water for 25-30 minutes.

Prepare a medium-hot grill. Peel back the corn husks leaving them attached at the end. Remove the silk. Pull the husks back up and tie with a spare piece of husk or a small piece of cooking twine. Place the ears on the grill. Cook 20-25 minutes, turning several times to ensure even roasting. The kernels should be soft when fully cooked.

If you’d like the kernels more charred, then simply follow the above instructions, but cook in husks for 15 minutes only. Then cool ears slightly, pull back the husks (to use as handles) and place the ears directly on the grill (with husks overhanging the side) for 5-7 minutes, or until they reach desired level of charring.

Place crumbled cheese on a plate large enough to fit an ear of corn. In a small bowl mix the mayonnaise, lime juice, cayenne pepper or chile powder, and salt. When the corn is cooked, brush each ear with some mayo sauce then roll in the cheese. Serve with lime wedges, additional cayenne pepper or chile powder, and fresh finely chopped cilantro.

Cotija cheese is a fresh, mild cheese often used in Mexican cuisine. It crumbles easily, like feta, and has a salty, but mellow flavor. I like it on tacos, salads and of course, this corn. I left out the cilantro, as my sister doesn't care for it, but I intend to try it next time.

As anyone who knows me can tell you, I greatly dislike mayonnaise, but I found I had to slather it on the corn in order for the cheese to stick. With all the flavors and textures involved I was able to ignore the usual "mayonnaise gag" and didn't have a problem eating it.

I would like to try this over a charcoal fire some time to see if it tweaks the flavor in any way.

This was but the first post in many to come on my revised blog, check back often! Lessa

REBOOT!!!

2010-07-28T11:16:00.002-06:00

Please pardon my dust as this blog is under construction.

I am never buying teriyaki sauce again!

2010-05-26T20:29:00.000-06:00

You heard me. I will never again purchase teriyaki sauce. I just made the best tasting sauce ever and I wish you all could taste it through the internet. Teriyaki sauce is pretty basic, it turns out and I can't believe I have been buying it all my life. I hope I can encourage all of you to make your own from here on out.

Alessa's Sweet and Spicy Teriyaki
(All measurements are approximate)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup water
1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
1 Tbsp finely chopped crystallized ginger
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 cup pineapple chunks (fresh is preferred, but canned is fine if drained)

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan, stir until sugar is dissolved. Cook over medium high heat until boiling, then lower heat and let simmer until thickened. Adjust seasonings as needed to get the flavor you want. When it coats the back of a spoon it is ready to be used.
Use as a marinade, a basting sauce, a condiment, there are so many possibilities!! Last night we used it as a marinade for chicken breasts and basted grilled pineapple with it, then served that all over rice with additional sauce. Next I am thinking Teriyaki Bison Burgers or Teriyaki Tofu. Enjoy these photos of our delicious teriyaki dinner:

Lessa says "Grow your own!"

2010-05-24T17:27:00.000-06:00

So we haven't posted anything in a while, life has been a little hectic and the food has been fairly uneventful. However I did want to post about a little experiment I am trying out: an apartment garden.
Karin and I live in a second floor apartment and do not have any green space to call our own. I decided to do a little research and find out if I could grown any vegetables we eat in pots on our deck. Turns out there are quite a few vegetable plants that will grow in small spaces. Dwarf beans, some squashes, tomatoes and peppers were just some of the varieties I found.
Here's a problem though: our family is cursed with a black thumb. I alone have killed multiple cacti and other houseplants. Growing my own is going to be quite a challenge. I decided to start small with tomatoes and bell peppers. If I can succeed with these maybe next year I will add another veggie, or some herbs.
I planted small starter tomatoes about 3 weeks ago and they are growing like mad! All 4 of my plants already have buds on them. Unfortunately the weather has been rather uncooperative in Salt Lake the past few days (snow today!) and the little guys are now sitting inside the kitchen rather than out on the deck. I hope to put them back out tomorrow as the sun comes out of hiding.
I just planted some pepper plants this last week and they seem to be doing fine, but I understand they take a little longer to mature than tomatoes. I am doing my best to not over-water the seedlings and am getting them as much sun as possible with a west facing deck. Here are a few pictures of the current situation ( yes that is a Topsy-Turvy):

I will keep you updated on whether or not they survive. If they do work out, we might need help eating all the bounty!

We're still cooking ;)

2010-04-30T18:45:00.000-06:00

Just really slow on the blogging front. Alessa informed me it was my turn to make an appearance to blog about the Chile Verde Chicken Stew we made a few weeks ago. I decided since we are making Falafel tonight I ought to get on and update with the last kitchen shenanigans before tonights fun.

OK, so the Chile Verde Chicken Stew from our Cooking with Beer cookbook.
My first experience cooking with fresh tomatillos (who knew they were sticky when you take the husk off) Oh man did it make the Verde AWESOME! This means I am changing the way I make my traditional chile verde from now on.

Now on to the recipe because you are really going to want this one, easy and YUM.

1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt, divided
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 LBS boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 1/2 in. cubes
4 TBS vegetable oil, divided
1 LB tomatillos (about 9) husked and halved
2 med onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cans (4 oz each) mild green chiles
1 TBS dried oregano
1 TBS ground cumin
1 tsp sugar
1 cup Mexican lager
1 can (14 oz) chicken broth
5 red potatoes, diced

Topping suggestions: Chopped cilantro, sour cream, shredded Monterey Jack cheese, lime wedges, diced avocado and/or hot pepper sauce

1. place flour in a bowl and season with 1 tsp salt and the pepper. Toss chicken pieces until lightly coated; discard remaining flour. Heat 2 TBS oil in large non stick skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and cook until lightly browned on all sides; transfer chicken to dutch oven.

2. In same skillet, heat remaining 2 TBS oil. Stir in tomatillos, onions, garlic, green chiles, oregano, cumin, sugar and remaining 1/2 tsp salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, 20 minutes or until vegetables are softened.

3. Transfer contents of skillet to blender or food processor. Add lager and broth and blend until almost smooth. Pour over browned chicken and stir in potatoes. Cover and bring to a boil over med-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally. 1 hour or until potatoes are tender.

A meat lover's Easter dinner

2010-04-12T21:05:00.000-06:00

WARNING!!
The following recipe is very carnivorous, so my vegetarian friends may want to steer away from this post.

Okay, now that we have that out of the way, I am finally posting my Easter dinner recipe.
Mom and Dad were invited over for an intimate dinner. Being that I am not actually a practicing Christian, Easter holds no special significance for me, but I am a big supporter of eating lamb and this was the perfect excuse.
Now, Mom has never really eaten lamb. Her dad was a butcher and hated lamb for its "slimy" texture, so he never brought it home. How I came to like lamb so much I don't really know.
I have seen many recipes for Irish Lamb Stews and have really been wanting to try one. Fortunately I had one in a "beer cookbook" that was sitting in my kitchen. Without any further ado here is Irish Lamb Stew:

Irish Lamb Stew

1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 teaspoons salt, divided

1/2 teaspoon pepper, divided

3 pounds lamb stew meat, depending on taste ( I suggest Utah's Own Morgan Valley Lamb)

3 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup chopped onion

1 can (1 pint) stout beer, like Guinness or Murphy's

1 teaspoon ground thyme

1 teaspoon sugar 

1 pound new potatoes, quartered

1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1/2 to 1 cup water or broth

1 cup frozen peas

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1. In large bowl, mix flour with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Toss lamb pieces in flour until well coated, shake of excess flour and discard leftover flour. Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. In batches, brown the lamb on all sides. Transfer browned lamb to a bowl.

2. Add onions and 1/4 cup stout to pot and cook over medium heat about 10 minutes, scraping up the tasty brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Return the lamb to the pot and stir in remaining stout, thyme, sugar, remaining salt and pepper. If needed add more liquid, enough to just cover the lamb. Cover and simmer about 1 1/2 hours until lamb is tender.

3. add potatoes, carrots and 1/2 cup water or broth. Cook, covered, 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Stir in peas and parsley and simmer until peas are warmed through. Soup's on!

This stew is extremely meaty and rich. We actually used less meat than the recipe called for(about 2 1/2 pounds) and it was still almost too much. I was amazed at how simple, but delicious it was. I was not truly aware of how fantastic thyme is. I do not utilize thyme very often and never on its own. it has a wonderful light, springy flavor. I have heard it described as lemony.
We served this with some fantastic whole wheat biscuits that Karin made. The leftovers heated very well for lunch the next couple of days.

There you have it, a wonderful Easter supper good enough for any day.

We put the "we" in Awesome

2010-04-04T12:54:00.001-06:00

So Karin seems to think that one has to be feeling "creative" to blog. I beg to differ. I believe our readers want easy to read, easy to understand recipes without a lot of frills. So, once again, I will be the one posting.
This week we made a couple of really great dishes that I want to share with you. The first, a vegetarian black bean burger and then a delightfully light and flavorful spring salad.

Tuesday, March 30:

The Black Bean Burgers are easy, quick and delicious. They are also hearty, chock full of fiber and protein and we could easily turn this recipe vegan. I was honestly surprised at how well these held up on their own. I am usually leery of so-called "veggie burgers" as the textures are usually too "gristly" or too crumbly. These were neither. I found that the best way to mix the meatless mixture was with my hands (a cook's best tool!)

Black Bean Burgers

3-15 oz cans of black beans, rinsed and drained

1 1/2 cups finely chopped onions

1 1/2 cups uncooked regular oats

1/4 to 3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (depending on taste)

1 large jalapeno, seeded and minced

3/4 tsp salt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup flour (AP or Whole Wheat)

1/4 cup cornmeal

In a large mixing bowl mash the beans, with a fork, potato masher or your hands. Add the onions, oats, cilantro, jalapeno, salt and eggs. Mix well. Form 8 patties

In a shallow dish or pie plate, combine the flour and cornmeal. Dredge the patties in this flour combo.

In a large nonstick skillet heat 1 TBSP vegetable oil over med-high heat. Add half the patties, cooking 5 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Remove and set aside; cook the remaining patties.

Garnish as you would your favorite burger. We found these to go exceptionally well with a chipotle salsa, pepper jack cheese and sliced avocado. I recommend a soft roll or bun, as these would fall apart in a chewier bun. We used potato sandwich knots from the Harmons bakery. These also freeze quite well and can be quickly reheated for a quick and easy dinner. Replace the eggs with silken tofu and these would become vegan-friendly.

Friday, April 2:

Strawberry Balsamic Salad

1 cup of strawberries, sliced

1 large orange, segmented (reserve the juice from the leftover bits of orange)

1/4 red onion, thinly sliced

1/2 yellow bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced

6 ounces Fontina cheese(or a mild Swiss), diced into 1/2 inch cubes

1/2 head Romaine Lettuce

1/2 head Green Leaf lettuce

1 1/2 cups fresh baby spinach

1/2 cup toasted pecan halves

Toss salad together in a large bowl. (Watch this video on how to segment an orange. He explains it perfectly)

For the Dressing:

Reserved juice from the orange

Juice from 1/2 lemon

1/4 c Extra Virgin Olive oil

2 TBSP Balsamic vinegar (or to taste)

salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together the vinaigrette and toss over your built salad. Serve salad with toasted pecans sprinkled on top.

"Where do I find toasted pecans?" you ask. Simple, toast them yourself! Place pecans in a small skillet on med-low heat. Stir gently until you just start to smell a nutty aroma. Remove from heat (they will go from perfect to burnt in no time so be quick). Ta-da! Toasted pecans!

We served this with a nice crusty French bread and my favorite local white wine (Castle Creek's Lily Rose White.)

This salad was so full of flavor and bright notes and colors it felt like spring, even though it was snowing outside.

Today's adventure is Irish Lamb Stew(in honor Zombie Jesus :P). I'll post the recipe if it turns out well.

Spicing up dull winter nights

2010-03-01T20:18:00.000-07:00

Hello again, friends! Alessa updating tonight.

I have decided to make it a goal to post at least once a week, even if it is a recipe I don't think is spectacular. No more extended breaks, you all deserve better than that.
Tonight's recipe was actually made over a week ago, but I am just getting around to sharing with you. This is a simple and quick recipe I picked up through one of Harmon's cooking classes. It's a great way to use tofu and I think even tofu naysayers can get along with this recipe.
The most important thing about cooking with tofu is to remember is to prep your tofu. You want Extra Firm for this recipe, but Firm works too. Set it in a bowl or large dish lined with paper towels or a clean, absorbent kitchen towel. Place a plate on top with weight on it (like a few cans of food or a brick). Let the tofu squeeze out over the course of a day, preferably, but even a couple of hours will help. The more liquid you get out of the tofu, the more room there is for flavor absorption!
A suggestion for my fellow meateaters: If you really can't stand tofu I think this recipe would be fantastic with ground pork or even shrimp!
Here's a great tip that I learned in that same class, it's the best way I've ever seen to peel fresh ginger root. Use the edge of a spoon to scrape off the ginger peel. It's safe, easy and gets in all the nooks and crannies better than any knife without losing any of the tasty flesh. Trust me, you'll never use a knife to peel ginger again.
Now that your tofu is prepped, get your knife out and get ready for a lot of chopping:

Spicy Tofu Lettuce Wraps

2 teaspoons Canola Oil

1 medium onion, diced

1 Tablespoon Fresh Ginger, minced (I like extra ginger, up to 2 TBSP.)

1 Tablespoon Lemongrass, minced (if you can't find any, just skip this)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound Extra Firm tofu (prepped), crumbled

8 ounces Water Chestnuts, drained and chopped

4 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

4 Tablespoons Hoisin, Plum or Oyster Sauce (Plum Sauce would be vegan friendly.)

2 teaspoons Sriracha sauce (the Asian hot sauce with a rooster on the bottle. )

16 Leaves Butter Lettuce, washed and dried

Optional Garnishes

Grated carrot

Chopped green onion

Chopped fresh Mint

Chopped peanuts

Hoisin, plum or peanut sauces

Fresh citrus wedges ( to squeeze over wraps)

In a large skillet heat the oil and saute the onions, ginger, garlic and lemongrass over medium high heat for about 3 minutes. Add the tofu and water chestnuts, cook until heated through. Add the sauces, bring to a boil and transfer to a large serving bowl. Have the garnishes set out with the lettuce leaves and make your wraps to your taste.

These come together so quickly and are so delicious to make. The wraps are surprisingly filling and two or three are enough for most people. I just ate the leftovers we had and the filling reheats quite well in the microwave.The recipe is very flexible too. Karin and I like things fiery, so we add extra Sriracha and extra ginger. If you want to tone it down, use less ginger and Sriracha and use plum sauce for extra sweetness.
As I mentioned earlier plum sauce would also make this recipe vegan friendly, most Hoisin should be as well. I believe most plum sauces are gluten-free as well, but if you are gluten sensitive always read labels carefully!

Simple and safe Sushi

2010-02-22T22:01:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody!
It's Monday night, which means I am home alone while Karin works at the WW. Usually I don't really fix dinner on these nights and just make myself a sandwich or something simple, but I had been planning to make sushi for some time now. WAIT, come back!

I know sushi scares many people, but just a reminder: sushi does not have to have raw fish. Sushi is simply rice and fillings rolled in a seaweed wrap (nori). Since sushi grade fish is rather expensive in the desert state of Utah I decided to go for a vegetarian "Philly roll" as a way to use up the nori I have had for a few months and some of the veggies we bought last week.
Now some of my readers may be sushi aficionados. Please keep in mind this is not really a "proper" way of preparing sushi (especially my rice) so please go easy on me

Gather your ingredients:
Pretty much anything can go inside a sushi roll so pick your favorite veggies or whatever is on hand. I used carrots, cucumbers, avocado and cream cheese. I also put wasabi in half the rolls for extra kick.

Start cooking your rice:
If you have a rice cooker this step is extra easy. A short grain (or "sushi" rice) is preferred, but I used a medium grain Calrose rice. You can do brown rice as well, but the texture will be much nuttier.

Prepare your filling:

I love this recipe because it gives me an excuse to break out the mandolin slicer. I put in my julienne attachment and went to town on the cucumbers and carrots. The avocados and cream cheese I cut by hand, too soft for a mandolin, about 1/4 inch strips of each.

Prepare the rice filling:
A traditional sushi rice mixture is too sweet for me, it usually involves sugar and rice vinegar. I just tossed some rice vinegar over my rice and mixed well.

Assemble the rolls:

Get out your nori and spread rice on the sheet leaving about an inch margin at the top of the roll. If nori makes you squeamish you can also use rice paper or soy paper, but I find those lack a lot of flavor. On the bottom 1/4 of the rice assemble your fillings. I put wasabi paste on some of them, just a tiny bit. Then I laid down my cream cheese, avocado, cucumbers and carrots. If you are fortunate enough to have a bamboo sushi mat then use that to assist you in rolling a tight roll. You can roll using plastic wrap to aid you if you don't have a bamboo mat.

Once rolled, cut with a sharp, clean knife into 3/4 slices. Use clean, quick knife strokes to avoid tearing the nori

Arrange on a plate and serve with a side of soy sauce and extra wasabi (if you like it hot)!

Yummy!!

Next post: Spicy Tofu lettuce wraps (vegan friendly!)

Plan to Fail or Fail to Plan - the great debate

2010-02-17T20:31:00.000-07:00

Hello friends and followers! Karin blogging at you today.

First and foremost, many apologies for the lack of content and inspiration from the Two Sisters as of late. We've been blaming it on our over the top efforts at Thanksgiving, but in reality it is more a result of our lack of groceries and oomph to create.

We are starting afresh with a new resolve - PLAN and actually execute a menu.
Revolutionary I know, but if you think about, could actually produce some amazing results.

First step - the decision to look through my dozens of cookbooks for recipes
Second step - Grocery shopping for selected recipes

It's a good thing Alessa and I have very similar taste and thought patterns or this could have resulted in disaster. Luckily, we were both tired of the nightly routine of 'What should we do for dinner?' Then end up ordering out or scrounging the cupboards. Both too costly, for the pocketbook and the waistline.

As most of you may be aware, not only do I work for Weight Watchers, I am also a member.
So the importance of keeping off the weight I lost (70 lbs) is not only a personal goal but a professional one as well.
Honestly, if you were to show up to a meeting to find some pudgy little person telling you all about the skills and such you need to develop for lasting weight loss and good health, wouldn't you question it? Kind of like when Dr Phil tells people they need to lose weight and how they should do it, right.

Alessa and I have both agreed we need to give ourselves a swift kick in the rear and get back to healthy, yet delicious options in our kitchen, for all meals, Brown Bagging it at work really is the smart way to go. Neither of us are what you would call morning people so we take breakfast and lunch with us.

The grocery bill was a bit hefty, but we will be rewarded in the end.

Breakfast options:

Oatmeal, a classic and very filling.
I have found that microwave oatmeal packets just aren't worth it, with oatmeal I am a traditional girl.
Old Fashioned Rolled Oats it is for me.
1/2 a cup dry in a to-go container, throw in some cinnamon, maybe some dried fruit. Top it with about 1 1/2 cups boiling water and ta da perfect by the time I get to work.

Fruit and Yogurt Parfaits MMMMM, yum!

1 C light Yogurt, flavored or plain
1/2 - 1 C frozen mixed berries or 1 1/2 cups fresh berries
1 serving of my homemade Fruit and Nut Bites (granola)

Fruit and Yogurt Smoothie
Same as above, but instead of the Granola toss in some Soy Milk and throw it in the blender.

We also bought the stuff to make some sausage breakfast rollups, but have not made them yet.

Lunch options

We bought some fresh deli meats and a small variety of tortilla wraps. Fresh veggies, Tomato, Onion, Avocado, Lettuce, Spinach, Cucumbers etc. Just pick your favorite combos, pack em up and throw em all in a wrap when it's lunch time. Or all the fixins for salad as another option.

We also made some Chicken Fiesta Soup the other night for dinner and froze the leftovers in individual serving size containers to grab and go.

Sugar Snap Peas, pre sliced Apples, yogurt and Blue Diamond Smokehouse Almonds add to lunch, or serve as snacks during the day.

Now on to the star of the blog.

Dinners

These are the ones that require a bit more planning, not only to you need to have all ingredients but you also need to plan ahead a bit and make sure you have the time to make it.

Our menu for the week, promise I will add the recipes ;)

Fish Tacos with Pineapple Salsa (easy, good)
Pasta with Sausage and Ricotta (quick and delicious)
Tofu Lettuce Wraps
Jerk rubbed Chicken Skewers with Pineapple Chutney
Lentil Sausage Soup
Spinach and Cheese Pie

A different kind of potato bar

2010-01-20T18:47:00.000-07:00

Alessa updating again today. I realized I promised a Quinoa stuffed pepper recipe a few weeks back, but let's say that I forgot what I put in them and call it even, k?

Instead I am posting a recipe that I just threw together last night: Turkey Chili and baked sweet potatoes.

We bought a couple of sweet potatoes last week and needed to use them before they went soft. So we decided last night would be a good night to bake them. Now I don't know about you guys, but I prefer my sweet potatoes (or yams, depending on your geographic preference) savory as opposed to super sweet. I'd rather put salt, pepper and butter on than nasty old marshmallows. So I was trying to figure out what we could serve with the sweet potatoes as a complimentary dish and was reminded of the leftover roast turkey breast we had in the freezer (yeah we roasted a turkey breast a couple of weeks ago, nothing special)

Hmm, I thought, turkey and sweet potatoes sounds fine. But what to do with the turkey? We didn't really have anything to make a gravy with and no green veggies to have on the side. Well heck, why not make a quick chili from the turkey? Even better, why not just sub the sweet potato for a baked potato and put the chili right on TOP OF THE SWEET POTATO!Thus Tuesday night's dinner was born!

The chili turned out with a good "deep" heat, the kind that hits the back of your throat instead of the tip of your tongue and the sweet potato served to calm that down just right. To top it all off I had an Applewood and Walnut Smoked Cheddar from Beehive Cheese that we shredded over the whole mess. Delicious!

FYI: Beehive Cheese is a local Utah cheese company that makes the most amazing cheeses you have ever heard of. They have won many national and international awards. They even make a cheddar exclusively for Harmon's called Seahive Cheddar, it's rubbed with honey and sea salt *DROOL* The Barely Buzzed is a lavender and espresso rubbed cheddar, simply divine!

Start the Sweet potatoes first. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Wash the Sweet potatoes. You may want to put them on a pan or over foil, sometimes they ooze when they are baked. When the oven is ready place the potatoes inside and set your timer for 45 minutes. Check them after that, but larger tubers may require an hour or more. While these are baking prepare the chili.

Alessa's Super Easy Turkey Chili

2 tsp oil (canola, veggie, whatever you like. I used Jalapeno Olive oil)

1 lb cooked turkey breast (or ground turkey works)

2 cloves garlic, minced or 2 tsp chopped garlic from a jar

1 bay leaf

15 oz can Diced Tomatoes

1/3 c sliced jarred Jalapenos (or a small can of green chiles for less heat)

5 oz can of tomato paste

1 c water (optional. Leave out for a thicker chili)

15 oz can Great Northern or other white beans, drained

2 tsp Mexican Style Chili Powder

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp mustard powder

1/4 tsp allspice

1 tsp salt

1 to 2 Tbsp dried minced onion (whatever you like, I accidentally added a bit too much for my tastes)

In a heavy pan heat the oil over medium heat, add the garlic. Chop the turkey into bite size pieces and add to the pan when the garlic has started to pop. Add the bay leaf. The next step is optional. I do not like canned tomatoes much so i insist that they be blended or diced very finely. While the turkey is browning put the tomatoes (not drained), jalapenos and tomato paste in the blender, blend until smooth, or just barely chunky.

Add the tomato puree to the pan along with all the beans, spices and onion. If you decide to use fresh onion, brown that with the garlic instead. Stir together and let simmer over low heat until the potatoes are done.

When the sweet potatoes are done, skin and mash into a bowl (wait until they are cool enough to handle!)

Pour 1 cup of the Turkey Chili over the mash and top with sour cream, grated cheese or whatever your traditional chili topping is. Enjoy while hot, perhaps with a nice beer or a cup of milk to cool off your mouth if needed.

Shhh, I know, I recycled an image from our tri-color chili post. Didn't have my camera out last night :p

This really turned out waaaaay better than I expected, as strange as this combination might sound to you. The sweet potato was the perfect compliment for the acidic tomato and all the spice. The smoked cheddar on top was really the kicker though. It was the perfect salty/smoky/cheesy/yummy companion for this dish. Karin figures the chili was about 4 WW points and the sweet potato was 1 (they were small), so it's a nice low point dinner made with filling foods to finish off your day.

2 lbs of spinach+1 new cookbook=yummmmm

2010-01-03T19:24:00.000-07:00

Hello dear readers,
Last week Karin and I decided to purchase a Costco membership. I was mostly opposed to this, but Karin pointed out how much cheaper dog food and coffee would be, so I agreed. Once the membership pictures were taken, we immediately headed back to the meat and produce section. We bought enough meat for about two months: salmon, chicken and pork (Karin is not a fan of red meat.) Over in produce we had a hard time deciding what to get. I mean, what do two people do with that many veggies?. We settled on a large bag of fresh spinach and 6 bell peppers among other things.

Now I am not a huge fan of cooked spinach, but I am perfectly content eating it raw. I am not about to eat spinach salad every day for two weeks though! Fortunately for us, Karin received an Indian cookbook for Christmas. Spinach is used frequently in Indian dishes, especially in Saag. Saag is a wonderful savory dish of pureed spinach, tomatoes and spices in which you cook whatever meat or meat substitute you are using. When we first looked at the new cookbook we were certain we spotted a Saag Paneer recipe. Paneer is a soft Indian cheese with a texture similar to tofu. In fact, tofu can be used in place of it.
So we decided a tofu saag would be great way to use some spinach.

New Year's Day 2010
We bought our tofu and some spices we would need and opened up the cookbook. Lo and behold, there is not a Saag paneer recipe to be found. WTF?!? We both saw it, I swear! Alas, it was not to be. So we decided to go with the Chicken Saag recipe instead, and replace chicken thighs with firm tofu. The dish turned out quite well and we made some chapati bread as well, an Indian flatbread similar to a tortilla.

Tofu Saag (modified from Chicken Saag in Best Ever Indian Cookbook, pg 136)
8 ounces fresh spinach leaves
1-inch piece fresh ginger root, grated or minced
2 garlic cloves, crushed or minced
1 cup water
1 TBSP Vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced
1-15 oz can diced tomatoes, mostly drained
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder
3 Tbsp plain yogurt
1 block firm tofu, drained and squeezed. Cut into 1 inch cubes

Step 1: Rinse the spinach and place in a tightly covered pan. Cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes, until wilted. Put the spinach, garlic and ginger in a blender or food processor with 1/4 cup of the water. Blend into a thick paste. Note: Blending hot food can be very dangerous, do not tightly close the lid or you risk an "explosion"

Step 2: Heat the oil on medium heat in a large heavy pan, add the onions and fry for 6-8 minutes until the onion has browned

Step 3: Add the tomatoes and simmer on medium heat for 5 minutes. Stir in the curry powder, salt and chili powder. Cook for 2 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Step 4: Stir in the spinach paste and the remaining 3/4 cup water. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add the yogurt 1 Tbsp at a time and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Step 5: Add the tofu, stir to coat. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes until tofu is warmed through. Serve warm with some naan or other flatbread. Like Chapati!

Chapati
2 cups Whole Wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup water, to start. You may need to add more water.

Combine flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the middle and gradually stir in the water, mixing with your fingers. Form a supple dough and knead for 7-10 minutes. Ideally, cover with plastic and set aside for 15-20 minutes.

Divide the dough into 8-10 equal portions. On a well floured surface, roll out each piece into a circle.

Heat a skillet over high heat. when hot, lower to medium and add the first chapati to the pan. When it begins to bubble, turn it over and press down on it. Once lightly browned, remove from pan and place on a plate, cover with a clean towel to keep warm. Once all are cooked, serve warm.

The Best Ever Indian Cookbook is a wonderful purchase for anyone who wants to learn how to make classic Indian dishes.

One of the most interesting results of owning the book has been shopping for spices for these recipes. Many of them are not very common in Salt Lake City (such as fenugreek and curry leaves) and have proved challenging to find. That's all part of the fun! Karin and I look forward to making many more dishes from this book and sharing our modifications and improvements with you!

Next Up: Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers

Tradition? Tradition!

2009-12-29T19:56:00.001-07:00

So it’s been over a month since our last update, as my loyal followers keep telling me. Truth be told, Turkey Day kind of wiped us out. We hadn’t even been grocery shopping since that week. Pathetic, isn’t it? We haven’t really cooked anything of note in the meantime, so we felt no urge to update here.

With that annual, over commercialized, hyped up, gift giving holiday now past I felt inspired to write about some of my favorite “traditional” holiday dishes. These are recipes I know by heart (by stomach?) and ones that I only learned through watching them be made every (or so) year.

Now the Smith family does not really hold to “traditions.” You won’t find us doing the same thing every year for any reason, we don’t have special places we go or special stories we read. We rarely even erect the oh-so-pagan “Christmas” tree.

Side note: Karin and I did buy a tiny little white one this year, which I displayed my Grimmleigh’s Jolly Eyebally on (shout out to Rachel and Leigh. Check out their blog/shop over in the sidebar!) Total impulse purchase.

Anyway, we don’t do “normal” family activities. Who needs tradition?! However, there are a few recipes that we make almost every year (at least 3 out of 5, so we will call that traditional.)

Sadly, one of these recipes can no longer be made in the way we have always done it. This year our Cheeseball Dip was retired as Kraft Foods stopped making one of the vital ingredients, Roka Blue Cheese jar cheese. They stopped making the Old English variety a few years ago, so we were forced to use the American instead. I will list the recipe so you can all marvel at the calorie and fat laden delight that was “Cheeseball Dip.” I call it dip because we never could get it to form into a ball, so we served it in a bowl and usually mixed the nuts right into it, as opposed to rolling the ball in chopped nuts.

Now I can hear some of you asking “What in the heck (hey it’s Utah) is jar cheese?” It’s the tiny glass jars of cheese food stuff that are usually located above the Velveeta and Cheeze Whiz (the horror!!) This stuff:

Five Cup Salad is a wonderful fruit salad that is also calorie laden, but isn’t that required at this time of year? Being a holiday recipe it also requires marshmallows and maraschino cherries, which makes it a pink fluffy delight! I would eat bowls of this stuff as a child and always looked forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas just for this dish.

Finally, most of you will probably be familiar with (and have your own recipes for) “Funeral potatoes” aka “Sunshine potatoes” aka “Cheesy potatoes” aka “Mormon Tates.” I have it on good authority that Mos are not the only ones to make these, though probably the most prolific (pun intended!) This is my mother’s recipe, though I often eliminate the onions or replace them with green onions when I make it. Additionally crumbled potato chips or panko bread crumbs are always an option for a topping instead of the cornflakes.

Thanks to Mom for having these recipes all typed up, it saved me much work! :D

Cheeseball Dip (Retired?)

2- 5 oz jars Kraft Old English cheese (or American)

1- 5 oz jar Kraft Roka Blue cheese

1 -3 oz package cream cheese

Dash of Accent or Seasoning Salt

1 Tbsp Dried Chives or ¼ c fresh chopped green onion

¼ c chopped pecans or almonds

Mix all cheeses together in a bowl until cream cheese is all blended in. Mix in the remaining ingredients. Refrigerate until ready to serve or start eating right away. I recommend letting it sit for a few hours to give all the flavors a chance to meld. I absolutely love this served on Triscuits, Mom is partial to Wheat Thins.

I have made this with the Bacon flavored jar cheese before and liked it, but if you do not like smoky flavors I wouldn’t recommend that. We might try making this with some crumbled blue cheese and some extra cream cheese, but only if we can find a super mild blue.

5 CUP SALAD

5-6 servings

1 cup chunk or tidbit pineapple (drained)

1 cup mandarin oranges (drained)

1 cup sour cream

1 cup shredded coconut

1 cup mini-marshmallows

Optional: chopped maraschino cherries

In a bowl, combine all ingredients. Refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Mom calls the cherries optional, I say they are necessary! The pink tinge and extra sweetness just add to this ambrosial delight. Children love this salad, not surprisingly.

FUNERAL POTATOES

Serves 8

2 lb. pkg frozen cubed hash brown potatoes or shredded (I like the shredded myself)

1/3 cup diced onion (green or white)

1/2 cup melted margarine

1/4 tsp pepper

1 Teaspoon salt

1 -2 Cups sour cream

1 can cream of chicken soup (could use cream of mushroom, potato, celery)

2 Cups grated Cheddar cheese

2 cups lightly crushed corn flakes mixed with

2 Tablespoons melted margarine

Mix all ingredients together while potatoes are still frozen, except corn flake mixture. Put into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Top with the corn flake mixture. Bake at 350^o for 55 minutes.

I prefer the shredded potatoes as the cubes are sometimes still hard. To mix it up and add flavor and color you could use the frozen Potatoes O’Brian

Those are the only three recipes I can remember having at practically every holiday dinner. Not fancy, not really unique, but comforting and familiar. This is the closest my family has ever come to tradition and that is ok by me.

Speaking of holidays, Karin got an Indian cookbook for Xmas, so be prepared for a lot of curry and saag coming your way!

Thanksgiving menu

2009-11-25T19:24:00.116-07:00

Happy Turkey Day to all!

I actually started this blog last week, but the number of recipes I had to type up stretched it out, luckily I was able to do links to a few.

Mom is busy working away at getting her house ready to sell and she has packed up a lot of her kitchen and it's a bit out of order. This means Alessa and I will be hosting Thanksgiving at our place this year. We have taken this responsibility quite seriously and we set to work planning a fancy menu.

MENU

Turkey
Fluffy Whole Wheat Biscuits
Sweet Potatoes Stuffed with Cranberries, Pecans, Pear

Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Toasted Almonds

Mashed Potatoes, Parsnips and Carrots

Broccoli with Lemon-Garlic Crumbs
Gingerbread Pumpkin Trifle

Not exactly your traditional Thanksgiving dinner, no Green Bean Casserole, no Cheesy potatoes, we didn't even have jellied cranberry sauce! We attempted to forgo stuffing as well but mom brought the Turkey and she stuffed it.

Honestly who would expect traditional from us?

We really liked the sound of all these recipes and couldn't wait to see how they all turned out.

We started the meal with some Pumpkin Sticky Buns. Which we turned into 'Monkey Bread' to snack on while we finished preparing the meal.
This is a recipe we got when we took a bread baking class at the Harmons cooking school (thanks Chef Bob)

Pumpkin Sticky Buns
Dough
1 TBS dry active yeast
1/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup flour
1 cup pumpkin
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs slighty beaten
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
6 TBS butter, softened

Syrup
1 cup packed brown sugar
8 TBS butter
1/4 cup honey
3/4 cup chopped pecans

Filling
1 TBS butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon

Dissolve yeast in the water in a large bowl until foamy. Add sugar, 3/4 cup flour, pumpkin, salt eggs, milk and vanilla and mix until well blended. Slowly add the remaining flour until a soft but workable dough has formed. Work in the butter. Place into an oiled bowl and cover. Let rise to double, about 1 hour.

While the dough is rising, make the syrup. Combine the sugar, butter, and honey in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat and add the pecans. Pour evenly in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.

When the dough has doubled, roll in a 16x12 rectangle. Spread the filling ingredients evenly over the dough and roll, pinching shut the edges . Cut into 8 slices and arrange on top of the syrup. Cover with a cloth and let double in size.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, until the syrup is bubbly. Let cool 5 minutes and invert onto a sheet tray or serving platter.

We used Maple Pecans instead of plain Pecans which just made them even more delicious. These are great and rather easy to make, dangerous as a 'snack' because they are irresistible.

Our meal was a lunch because most of us then headed over to the brothers house for dinner and Beatles RockBand. My Sister in Law always plans for an army when it comes to food so we knew there would be a lot to eat once we got there. I guess we could of switched our menu to be more like a brunch but we just couldn't resist the recipes we'd found.

About the Brussel Sprouts, I guess you either love 'em or hate 'em.
Well, Alessa and I have never had them and we've both been thinking about giving them a try.
Mom says she hates them and Kim (other sister) says she likes them.
We'll see if mom changes her mind after this, because I'm guessing she's only ever had them steamed or boiled. Preparation goes a long way with vegetables. Alessa and I will also have formed our own opinion after this meal.

The Fluffy Whole Wheat Biscuits are a recipe Alessa found for me on allrecipes.com they are yummy! True to their name they are light and fluffy.
I figured out the Weight Watchers Points and they are 2 per biscuit. A roll is 3 points.

Stuffed Sweet Potatoes and the Potatoes, Parsnips and Carrots both come from Harmons Grocery store ads.

Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

8 Yams - scrubbed

4 TBS butter

4 tsp fresh ginger - peeled & minced

4 tsp brown sugar - packed

1 1/2 TBS white balsamic vinegar

2 firm, ripe pears - cubed 1/2 inch

1 cup pecans - coarsely chopped

1 cup dried cranberries

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

Bake the Yams at 350 until tender, about 55 minutes. Meanwhile, soak the cranberries in 2 cups hot water to reconstitute, about 10 minutes then drain. Saute the pears and ginger in half the butter for about 5 minutes. Add the drained cranberries, pecans, brown sugar and white balsamic vinegar. Saute about 2 minutes, remove from heat and let cool. When the yams are ready, cut off about 1/4 inch from the top. Melt the remaining butter, add the balsamic vinegar and mash into the yams. Top with the pear mixture.

These can be made a day ahead of time, just wrap and refrigerate. Reheat in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

Mashed Potatoes with Parsnips and Carrots

4 LBS Russet potatoes - peeled and cubed

2 LBS Parsnips - peeled and cubed

2 medium carrots - grated

1/4 cup butter

3/4 cup milk

Salt & Pepper to taste

Cook the potatoes and parsnips in a large pot of salted water until tender, about 40 minutes. Drain the water and mash. Add the milk and butter and mix well. Add the carrots, salt & pepper.

The Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Toasted Almonds (3 points) and Broccoli with Lemon- Garlic Crumbs are both Weight Watchers recipes.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Toasted Almonds
20 oz Brussels sprouts, trimmed of outer tough leaves and cut in half lengthwise
2 Tbsp olive oil, extra-virgin
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 Tbs sliced almonds, natural-flavor

Preheat oven to 425ºF.

In a large bowl, combine Brussels sprouts, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper; toss to mix and coat and then spread on a nonstick baking sheet. Roast, stirring once, until nice and brown, about 20 to 22 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a small skillet, cook almonds over medium heat, stirring constantly, until golden brown and fragrant, about 3 to 4 minutes. Mix toasted almonds with cooked Brussels sprouts and serve hot. Yields about 2/3 cup per serving.

Now on to the best part, Dessert!

We chose to create a Gingerbread Pumpkin Trifle. Alessa had a recipe for one, then after we decided to make something similar to it, we watched a Paula Dean Thanksgiving special where she made one. We figured if Paula Dean was filming it, we had made a good decision.

Of course we made up our own recipe.
I used a Weight Watcher Gingerbread recipe and then instead of the vanilla pudding that all the recipes called for, I made a vanilla custard from scratch. Both of those layered with Pumpkin whipped cream.

MMMmmmm, DROOL.

I also chose a White Chocolate Custard recipe to use as a model, but replaced the White Chocolate with Vanilla Chips.
I had originally thought vanilla when we were planning this, then Alessa suggested Cinnamon chips. Of course I thought that would be awesome with the gingerbread and so we bought some on our grocery shopping trip Sunday.
When it came to cooking it though, I completely forgot we had picked up the cinnamon chips and just grabbed the vanilla ones out of the cupboard.
I also personalized the Gingerbread and added some chopped candied ginger.

Another fun tidbit, I didn't have any Powdered Sugar for the whipped cream because I had used the last of it just days before in my Whoopie Pies for the office potluck.
There was no way I was going to the store Wednesday night. I made my own, since I needed 1/2 a cup powdered sugar, I measured out just less than 1/2 a cup granulated. I used my coffee grinder to turn that into powdered sugar, it worked great.

Old Fashioned Gingerbread

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp salt

6 TBS unsalted butter

1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/2 cup molasses

1 large egg

1/2 cup boiling water

approx 1/4 cup candied ginger chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350

Spray an 8x8 baking dish and dust lightly with flour

Combine the first 8 ingredients plus the candied ginger in a bowl. In a separate large bowl, with an electric mixer on med-high speed beat the butter and brown sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the molasses and egg until well combined. With the mixer on low speed slowly add in the flour mixture until well blended. Beat in the boiling water. Pour into the baking dish.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 - 35 minutes.

Let cool in the pan on a rack 5 minutes. Remove from pan let cool completely. For the trifle it is best to make this a day ahead of time.

If it is not for the trifle, Eat up!

Custard
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
4 cups milk
4 large egg yolks
6 oz white chocolate (chopped) or flavored chips
2 tsp vanilla extract

In a 3 quart saucepan, with a wire whisk, mix the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Slowly stir in 4 cups in the milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture boils and thickens; boil 1 minute. Remove saucepan from heat. In a cup beat 4 large egg yolks with a fork; slowly stir about 1/2 cup of the hot milk into the egg yolk. Slowly pour the egg mixture into the saucepan, stirring rapidly. This will prevent lumping. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and coats a spoon well. Remove saucepan from heat. Stir in the 6 oz of flavored chips and vanilla. Stir until melted and smooth. To keep skin from forming as it cools, press plastic wrap directly onto surface of hot custard.
For the trifle let the custard cool and set for at least 1 hour in the fridge.

Pumpkin Whipped Cream
1 1/2 cups pumpkin
2/12 cups heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp allspice

In a non reactive bowl (glass or copper) whip the cream, add the powdered sugar, vanilla and spices mix well until it forms stiff peaks. Fold in the pumpkin and chill for 1/2 an hour.

Assembling the Trifle

Cut the gingerbread into bite sized cubes and place 1/2 of it in the bottom of a bowl, top that with half of the custard, then half the pumpkin whipped cream. Repeat the layers with the remaining ingredients. Refrigerate at least 4 hours' best if overnight.

Can I just say, OMG for this trifle, I honestly think it is going to become one of my signature dishes for potlucks and dinner parties.

All in all, this was a great meal, We ended up not making the biscuits, even with all the prepping we did, we were slightly pressed for time.

Luckily, cousin Ali brought rolls along with a homemade Oreo pie for a contribution. She wasn't able to head home this year so she came over to hang with the crazy extended family.
I liked the Brussel Sprouts and will probably have them again on occassion, the broccoli was alright. I like Broccoli but I think my expectations were a little to high on this one, which of course usually leads to disappointment.

The Stuffed Sweet Potatoes and the Mashed Potatoes, Parsnips and Carrots were yummy I will keep those recipes handy for various occasions or just an ordinary dinner.

As far as the Cinnamon chips we now have sitting in the cupboard?

Alessa suggested making my favorite Weight Watchers Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies but use the Cinnamon chips instead of chocolate. Oh yes, that will be happening soon.

What do you eat when you have no appetite?

2009-11-17T22:12:00.002-07:00

It's the younger sister again and I just had to post what I made tonight because it was freaking delicious and came together so nicely.

The past few days I have felt slightly under the weather. Not quite sick, just not quite right either. A general malaise, if you will. I have been slightly nauseated and just out of it. This feeling has made me entirely lose my appetite and I have only been eating when my stomach reminds me that I am hungry. Well Karin and I had made out a menu plan for the whole week so I decided to stick to it, regardless of how "blah" I felt.

I happened to have a Bison sirloin steak in the freezer that was big enough for two people (another delicious freebie from work) and had an idea to make something simple, hearty and delicious with it.

Bison is much leaner than regular beef and has a more meaty flavor, in my opinion. It is a delicious meat that makes a great substitute for plain old cow meat. Because of it's leanness you need to be very careful that you don't overcook bison, as it will get tough and dry. It's a bit pricier than beef, so I only have it occasionally. I felt this was a great way to utilize the small steak I had. Once again I didn't think to take pictures, which is a real shame. I truly wish there was a way for me to capture smells and put them on the web for you, because the aroma was amazing. It brought my appetite back in a big way!

Bring on the Philly cheese steak!

Ingredients:
6 oz Bison Sirloin Steak, cut into 1/2 inch strips (cut against the grain for best texture)
1 med Red Bell Pepper, cut into 1/4 inch strips
1 med Yellow Bell Pepper, cut into 1/4 inch strips
1 med White onion, cut in half then cut into 1/4 strips, separate the half rings
2 Tbsp. Vegetable oil
4 slices Provolone cheese
2 large deli rolls or sub sandwich rolls, cut almost in half lengthwise
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
Heat oil in a large skillet or saute pan saute over medium high heat, add onion. Cook onion until it starts to brown on edges (caramelize.) Toss in the steak strips and cook thoroughly. The meat and onions should finish at about the same time. When the meat has no pink showing throw in the peppers and cover with a lid. Cook for about a minute. Open lid and separate the filling evenly into two piles. Cover each pile with two slices of cheese and lay the sandwich rolls open side down on top of that. Cover again. After another minute or so the cheese will have melted onto the bread and oozed into the filling and the rolls will be nicely steamed. Flip the rolls out onto waiting plates and pile in the filling. Now stick that in your mouth and enjoy!

Oh....my...god.....These sandwiches were amazing. Perhaps it was my empty stomach, maybe it was the beauty of the finished product or maybe it was the astounding aroma, but whatever it was I ate every bite of this sandwich. No guarantee that my appetite will stick around, but if this sandwich "cured" me I wouldn't be surprised.

Next up: Thanksgiving Menu Preview

Sacrificing Social Life for Salmon

2009-11-15T20:52:00.010-07:00

Alessa coming at you tonight. My plans for Sunday originally consisted of going bowling with some good geeky friends, but adult life reared it's cursed head. Instead, Karin and I needed to go grocery shopping and pick up a few other things for our kitchen, then I had laundry to do and the kitchen was a mess too. Sigh!

We had some salmon in the freezer that needed to be used and no clue what to do with it, so I started looking up some salmon recipes. Nothing really looked good so I was just going to do my fallback of Teriyaki salmon and rice. Karin then suggested we look up quinoa (keen-wa) recipes to replace the rice.

Oddly enough, once I started looking up quinoa on www.foodnetwork.com I found a salmon recipe! Potato crusted salmon? Sounds good to me. The following recipe is quite complex and had many elements we left out. We simplified and changed quite a bit, but it turned out pretty good and as a bonus we ended up with homemade potato chips!

Here is a link to the recipe I used as inspiration. Like I said, it's huge, so I didn't want to post the whole thing here. My version is much easier and uses less ingredients

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/saras-secrets/potato-crusted-alaskan-salmon-with-arugula-quinoa-salad-lemon-beurre-blanc-recipe/index.html

Here is what I did:

First I started the quinoa (an ancient Peruvian grain that is a complete protein, for all my vegetarian friends.) Quinoa can be used in place of most rices and grains in any recipe. We used the rice cooker to make it, but stove top method is good too.

1/2 pound (8 oz) Quinoa
about 2 cups (16 oz) of water

In a medium saucepan combine the water and Quinoa and bring to a boil. Boil for 15 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Turn off heat, cover pan with a lid and let sit for about 5 minutes. Fluff the quinoa and set aside until later. This will be turned into a salad.

Ingredients for Quinoa Salad
Prepared Quinoa
1/2 small red onion, diced
1/2 large cucumber, diced
1/2 large or one small bell pepper, any color (we used yellow), diced
about 2 Tbsp Flat Leaf Parsley, chopped

Toss all together in a bowl with a simple vinaigrette (ours was White Wine vinegar, Olive oil, fresh ground black pepper, sea salt, lemon juice and Herbs de Provence) Chill while the fish is baking.

Ingredients for the Salmon
2-6 ounce Salmon Fillets (wild caught if you can get it), preferably skin on
1 large Russet potato, sliced extremely thin (use a mandolin or v-slicer)
4 ounces Roasted Red Peppers in Olive oil
1 Tbsp. Fresh Italian Parsley, chopped
1 Tbsp. Vegetable oil

Combine the Parsley and red peppers and chop into a thick paste. A food processor would work well for this, but since we don't have one I used the mad knife skills I have now (thanks to Chef Bob and his Knife skills class!). Smear the paste over the flesh side of the salmon fillets. Shingle the potato slices onto the salmon, I only ended up using about a quarter of our one potato.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a skillet, heat vegetable oil over medium-high heat and lay the fish POTATO side down. This part is tricky so have fun trying to keep the potatoes in place. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the potatoes start to crisp a little on the edges. Transfer the Salmon to a greased cookie sheet, potato side UP. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, depending on thickness and how done you like your fish.

We had plenty of potato slices left so I fried them up real quick in the same pan I had cooked the fish in until they were crispy. Once fried I put them on rack over a towel to drain and salted and peppered them.
Jazz Hands! Homemade potato chips. Jazz Hands!

Serve all together on a plate and enjoy :D

The roasted red peppers were a nice twist, but did burn slightly in the oven. I think a white fish would compliment the red pepper better, like a halibut or cod. Also I would use less onion in the salad next time, our onion was VERY pungent and overpowered the other flavors. I would definitely try this recipe again, while still not exactly following the Food Network version.

Bad Apple Baking

2009-11-07T20:41:00.006-07:00

With more of the offending apples sitting in the fruit basket on the counter taunting me I had to do something. Seriously, they have been laughing at me every morning when I make my coffee.
Alessa and I had already decided we were going to make some Apple Turnovers, but we had 8 apples left and that would have filled our freezer with dessert, so we needed a few more options.
After getting home from working at Weight Watchers today I went on the search for more uses of the apples. I had muffins on the brain.
After taking the dogs out, I logged on and entered my search criteria on one of my favorite recipe sites www.allrecipes.com The selections were rather slim and pretty much the same basic recipe.
Among some of the interesting items in our cupboards, we have a bag of Flax Seeds, I thought I'd give baking with them a try. Once again I entered some search criteria, I found 1 recipe with Apples, Flax seed and whole wheat flour, but it called for a bunch of other things it called for and I didn't have any of them. Instead of utilizing any of these recipes and having plain old ordinary apple spice muffins, or going to the store for more ingredients, I got ambitious and created my own.

It will need a bit of tweaking to get it just right, but mighty impressive for a first attempt I must say.
We now have some VERY high fiber muffins sitting in the freezer for a grab 'n' go breakfast.

Here is my truly original recipe., I've named it:

Hearty Harvest Breakfast Muffins
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 1/2 c Flax Seed (ground slightly)
1/2 c bleached flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp Cinammon
1 tsp Allspice
1 1/2 c unsweetened applesauce
3 eggs
1 c milk (I used soymilk)
1 c sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp Orange extract
1/4 c Canola oil
2-3 cups diced apples

In a medium mixing bowl combine the first seven ingredients (all the dry except sugar). In a larger mixing bowl, add the eggs and beat slightly, add the applesauce, milk vanilla, orange extract, canola oil. Mix together. Add all the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix with a spoon. Mix in the apples. it will of course be thick and slightly lumpy.

Use a large muffin tin with baking cup liners. not the dinky size muffin tin but the jumbo ones. Fill the cups between 3/4 and all the way full.

Bake at 375 for 25 minutes.

I got 18 of the big muffins from this recipe.

The flavor was decent and the texture was good, dense, but still soft. They did stick to the muffin liners, so I think I'll use cooking spray on them next time.

The modifications I am considering highlighted in purple:

1 c whole wheat flour
1 c Flax Seed (ground slightly)
1 c bleached flour
2 tsp baking powder (possibly 1 tsp baking soda instead)
1 tsp salt
2 tsp Cinammon
2 tsp Allspice
1 1/2 c unsweetened applesauce
2 eggs
1 c milk (I used soymilk)
1 c sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp Orange extract
1/2 c Canola oil
2-3 cups diced apples

If this mixture is too dry I'm planning on increasing the applesauce.

In case you noticed the mention of turnovers, this was a very simple process of refrigerated pie dough and a quick homemade apple pie filling recipe. whick we decided to add some candied ginger too.

Apple Turnovers

4 TBS Butter
2 C Brown Sugar
1/4 c chopped candied ginger
2 cups diced apples
2 TBS uncooked tapioca

In a skillet, on med-high heat melt the butter. Add the apples and cook for about 1 minute, add the candied ginger and cook another minute. Add the brown sugar and bring to a boil remove from the heat and add the tapioca, mix together.

I cut smaller rounds out of the pie crusts and then place about 2-3 TBS of the filling on 1 side then folded the dough over the top and sealed the edges by pressing the seams together. I sprayed the tops with cooking spray and sprinkled cinammon sugar on top. Baked at 450 for 15 minutes.

We are now heading for apple overload! Even after all that, we still have 2 cups of diced apples left. They are now sitting in the freezer......
Any ideas?

Update on stuffed squash recipe

2009-11-07T20:29:00.003-07:00

Hey folks, Karin here. Couple of things on the stuffed squash recipe posted earlier.

1 I forgot an ingredient on the original post. It has since been added, but just in case, we also used 1/2 a cup of Pine Nuts in the stuffing.

OK, now on to the slight modifications. Our original recipe made so much stuffing that we couldn't fit it all into 1 squash. Good thing we had the Acorn squash at the ready.
This evening Alessa added some applesause and oil to the stuffing for a binding agent. It worked great. She did about 2 TBS of unsweetened applesause and 1 tsp of Olive Oil. She also added a 100 calorie pack of Ocean Spray Craisins (about 1/4 cup)

Yummy, the stuffing was actual stuffing rather than Pilaf and the craisins were a great addition.

Fall Fare and Bad Apples Part 2

2009-11-04T19:43:00.008-07:00

As Alessa and I were wandering aimlessly around the produce section on Halloween, we came across the fun assortment of not so common gourds that were in for the season. They were all so pretty with interesting colors and patterns with fun names to match.

Talk about odd impulse purchase, we had to buy some.

We selected an Acorn Squash (not so unusual) and then finally decided on a Buttercup squash, yes, Cup not nut. It looked like a small to medium pumpkin except it was a lovely dark green color. We also picked up a bag of Fingerling potatoes. An assortment of baby sized potatoes, some Russets, Reds, Yukon Golds and a few purple ones too. Did you know that potatoes could be purple? They actually look black until you cut into them.
With no real plan for these squashes, I think we both had an epiphany, at the same time, weird, …stuffed squash!
Strangely enough, both of us were also thinking sausage and wild rice stuffing. We made our way over to the Harmons meat counter and picked up some house specialty Turkey Maple Apple sausage patties.
Have we mentioned that Alessa works for Harmons and I am a bit of a snob and prefer a store that looks a little fancy and people do not take their entire family ( 12 kids and Grandma) with them when they go there.
Anyway, then we stopped by the rice aisle and picked up a small package of long grain wild rice. I do not recall the brand but it was a cute little yellow box with a goose or some other bird flying across it.
The only question was how do you stuff a squash??? Such a random thing to have just pop into your head, but once again it was just something that sounded good.
I am always up for giving myself a challenge of the creative variety, I am woman______,fill in your 'Girl Power' phrase of choice here. Alessa was up for it too, so off to the internet we went.
We found a few recipes for easy cheesy stuffed squash, but nothing close to what we were making. I picked up a good tip though about microwaving the squash before baking, who knew, Squash in the microwave, crazy.
Well last night, I do not know what came over me, but Domestic Goddess Extraordinaire was taking care of business. Not only did I manage to get all of my bedding washed, trust me quite the task. When you let your dog sleep with you, not only do you have a lot of sheets, but you change them often so if you are not careful the laundry task can become overwhelming just for sheets alone.
I also created a fabulous feast of roasted potatoes and stuffed squash.
Alessa was working a bit late, so she didn’t get home until I was almost finished. Perfect timing though, she added the final touch to the stuffing and gave it just what it needed.

Ingredients:
1 squash (such as a Buttercup, Butternut or the Acorn varieties)
1 cup of Wild Rice
½ pound sausage (a chicken or turkey sausage would work best with this recipe)
½ cup Pine Nuts (I forgot these on the original posting)
1 apple cored peeled and diced
½ cup of white onion, diced
1 TBS Olive Oil
1 tsp Allspice
Dash of salt
　
Directions:
Tip of the day- Read directions thoroughly before getting to work. Trust me, I know, I've had that lesson several times and still haven't managed to graduate the class.

Depending on the shape of your squash, either cut the top off or cut it in half and scoop out the seeds. Place the squash, cut side down on a microwave safe plate, and microwave for at least 5 minutes to soften it. Carve out the flesh of the squash, leaving it about 1/4 inch thick. Set aside the harvested squash. Brown the sausage and onion in the olive oil. Throw all ingredients in the mixing bowl. Once the rice is ready add that in too.
Don't forget the allspice and salt. Mix it all together and pack into your squash shells.

For the rice, I really couldn’t decide if I should cook it as the package directed or leave it uncooked. I opted for an in between and essentially par boiled it. I followed the directions on the package but cut 15 minutes of the cooking time and drained the remaining water.

Line a cookie sheet with foil and place your squash on it. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.
　
Beautiful and delicious, the flavors were all so subtle and blended together nicely. The only addition we could think of was the need for some type of binding agent for the stuffing. It was a bit like a pilaf rather than a stuffing. We were thinking a nice mild Goat Cheese next time. Any other suggestions?

Fall Fare and Bad Apples Part 1

2009-11-04T18:44:00.006-07:00

Hey folks, Karin here to update you on our kitchen fun over the weekend.

Fall weather requires that one yearns for soups and stews, even better if made in a Crockpot. In keeping with the theme of fall and it's own food family, we have Halloween and its traditional dish, Chili!
Utah has all sorts of strange food traditions. I would not be surprised if some of you found the idea of a traditional Halloween food (besides candy corn) a ridiculous notion, none the less it is tradition here in the good old Beehive state. Sister Wives and Mothers of a dozen, or more, love this dish for its ease of preparation and low cost per serving.

2 recipes for you this time, on deck, my own Tri Color Chili.

First, the recipe we found to get rid of a bad apple or 2. (Check the next blog for the recipe invention where we used up another apple)

I purchased some apples from Costco when my wonderful brother and his wife let me tag along on their grocery shopping trip. Typically I am impressed with the quality of produce I purchase at Costco.
However, when I got the apples home, both Alessa and I were sorely disappointed with this particular bunch. We decided it would be more cost effective to find recipes for the suspect fruit rather than just throw them away.
The Two Sisters went on a cooking spree this weekend, we needed some things to take for lunches or have for a quick easy dinner when we have other things going on or the kitchen is too dirty to even think about cooking.
Good old www.allrecipes.com came to our rescue with an Apple Chicken Stew recipe, it sounded very interesting and we selected that one to experiment with.
　

Apple Chicken Stew
Submitted By: Carol Mathias
Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Cook Time: 4 Hours
Servings: 6
Ingredients:
4 medium potatoes, cubed
4 medium carrots, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 medium red onion, halved and sliced 1 celery rib, thinly sliced
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon caraway seeds
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
1 large tart apple, peeled and cubed
1 1/4 cups apple cider or apple juice
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 bay leaf
Minced fresh parsley
Directions:
1. In a slow cooker, layer potatoes, carrots, onion and celery. Combine salt, thyme, pepper and caraway; sprinkle half over vegetables. In a skillet, sauté chicken in oil until browned; transfer to slow cooker. Top with apple. Combine apple cider and vinegar; pour over chicken and apple. Sprinkle with remaining salt mixture. Top with bay leaf.
2. Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours or until vegetables are tender and chicken juices run clear. Discard bay leaf. Stir before serving. Sprinkle with parsley.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2009 Allrecipes.com Printed from Allrecipes.com
　
We propped up our model for inspiration, meaning I left my netbook open and on the kitchen counter, and went to town creating our own masterpiece, as any true artist would.
Our first draft reduced or increased the portions of a few ingredients, omitted or switched some.

These modifications included:
A Jonagold apple instead of a tart variety, due to the Costco apple fiasco
2 large sweet potatoes (not yams) in place of the standard potatoes
½ a white onion rather than the red
I accidently greatly increased the amount of Thyme but it worked out.
I purposely doubled the amount of apple cider because there wasn’t nearly enough liquid once we got everything in the crock pot.
We did away with the caraway seeds and bay leaf, mainly because they were not in our spice cupboard and we were not going back to the store.
I also threw in some fresh Rosemary sprigs.
Once completed, we paired it with a sinfully fluffy and fresh Harmons Bakery French White Bread round.
All in all, this recipe is very good, freezes and reheats well. The Sweet Potatoes really soaked up the Cider and were sweeter because of it. We agreed it would probably be better with a tart apple, such as a Granny Smith, rather than the sweeter Jonagold variety.
I’m pretty sure we will be making this again, with a few more modifications. Possibly not as much chicken, it really did call for a lot for just 6 servings.
I might even go crazy and get the Caraway seeds and Bay Leaf.
　
Now, on to my very own creation.
Tri Color Chili
I was actually pretty impressed with myself on this one. It was splendid for something I just threw together because I thought it sounded good, and I was right. ;)

Ingredients:

1 can black beans, drained
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 can great northern beans, drained
1 can diced tomatoes
1 TBS tomato paste
1 packet Chili seasoning (I think I used the Western Family brand)
McCormick Hot Mexican Chili Powder to taste (1-2 tsp)
½ a white onion
1 ½ lbs ground chicken thighs
1 TBS Sciabica Jalapeno infused Olive Oil

Directions:　
In a large pot, on Med-High, heat the oil and sauté the onions, add the chicken and brown. Throw everything else in the pot, stir to mix, and heat on Med-High for approximately 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer for at least an hour, I recommend longer though.
This recipe would also work well in a slow cooker overnight.

We actually prepared both of these soups on the same day. The aroma of the chili was so delightful we were tempted to have that for dinner rather than the Apple Chicken Stew as we had planned all along. We opted for the stew and saved the chili for lunch the next day.

Tree photo courtesy of Sarah Chorn :)

Breakfast on the go

2009-10-30T17:53:00.006-06:00

Hello everybody, Karin here.
Now that I'm back in the world of the gainfully employed, a decent yet easy breakfast option has become a concern.
Sure grabbing a yogurt and a piece of fruit or some microwave oatmeal is always an easy choice, but with winter leering at us I feel a hearty and warm breakfast is necessary.
Alessa and I have been on the lookout for some good options but with no luck. I'm not really a fan of the instant oatmeal packets and the selections in your grocery freezer section are not worth it to my waistline or good health in general, nor do I find them very filling.

Earlier this week I was making some hot cereals using our rice cooker which was great. Steel milled or rolled oats. Toss in some cinnamon and Ocean Spray Craisins. Top it off with water turn on the cooker, voila it's done and ready to be dished out by the time I'm out of the shower and ready for work. Throw it in a portable container and it's still warm by the time I get to the office. Nice, but a person needs some variety.

I suggested we make some breakfast calzones to keep in the freezer, this idea was prompted by the Light Life Smart Sausages chorizo style (vegetarian) we had sitting in the fridge. Gotta love all the freebies Alessa gets from work!

Normally I would have made my own dough but my food processor broke several months ago and a replacement was not in the unemployment budget. I opted for the easy method, Pillsbury refrigerated pizza dough.

Here is what I threw together for 8 calzones

2 rolls of the pizza dough
2 cups of egg substitute
1/2 c Ricotta Cheese
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
3 sausages
2 tsp Sciabica's Jalepeno infused oil

Heat a skillet over medium high heat, add the oil, scramble the egg substitute. Set aside in a bowl while you heat the sausages, breaking them up into crumbles as you do so. Add the ricotta to the eggs and mix them together. Throw in the sausage and mix up.

Roll out the dough, cut each package into 4 servings (shape of your choice)
Add approx. 1/2 c of the mixture to each piece of dough top with even amounts of the shredded cheese. Then fold the dough over and press all the edges to create a seal. Cook according to the dough package.

These turned out great, we put them in the freezer for a quick grab 'n' go breakfast. about 3 minutes at 50% power in the microwave heats it just right without making the dough tough and chewy.

We have decided to make several varieties of this calzone, different meats and a veggie one.

Next up on the blog, Fall Fair. We are going to make a stuffed Buttercup squash. Yes ButterCUP.

That's it for this post, we'll get back to you soon with our various fall food fun (we have a bunch of apples too)

An introduction: The younger sister

2009-10-26T19:36:00.003-06:00

Hey all, no recipe tonight, I'm home alone and just had a grilled cheese. What? You want to know how? Come on people!
Slap some cheese between two slices of bread, slather with butter/margarine and grill in a pan until toasty brown outside and gooey inside.
There, satisfied?

Oh, BTW, this is Alessa, the youngest of the Two Sisters. The basics: I'm 26, happily single, work a 9-5 office job for a local grocery store (Harmon's), have lived in Utah all my life and hope to someday travel the world.

I would have to say my love of food and cooking is a family trait, mostly from my Grandpa Malone. James Thomas Malone was a Chief Petty Officer in the US Navy during WWII. He married my Grandmother, Royleta, and remained a cook for the rest of his life. Grandmother could barely make toast. Fortunately for us grand kids Mom took more after Grandpa in the kitchen.
We grew up cooking for ourselves much of the time. There wasn't a lot of eating out in our household and I am grateful for that. I am always amazed when I have friends who can't even make something as simple as a grilled cheese sandwich. As a kid I loved experimenting in the kitchen along with my siblings and was quite proficient at making my own meals by the age of 9 (this was a vital skill for a hungry latchkey kid.)
When I started venturing out on my own I quickly learned how culinary education was not that common for kids my age. Many of my college roommates and friends had rarely eaten meals made from scratch. Even making Kraft Macaroni and Cheese was a challenge for them. So I learned to appreciate my simple upbringing and was grateful for being forced to learn how to cook (and do my own laundry, thanks Mom!)
Now as an adult I find joy in the act of preparing a meal and get thrills from trying interesting new dishes. I love finding new ways of preparing foods or new pairings that seem unusual at first, but end up working great together (like curry powder and pineapple, no joke.)
I also enjoy coming up with new cocktails and mixed drinks and often end up playing amateur bartender at parties.
My love of food and drink has led to a bit of a weight issue that I have struggled with all my life. I hope that living with my sister Karin, a Weight Watchers instructor, that I will learn healthier habits and be forced to eat better(for me) foods.
I hope this blog serves as inspiration for all of you following it and I hope we can all cook together sometime!

Not fancy, but wonderful anyway. Kinda like me

2009-10-20T19:40:00.005-06:00

Hello world, Alessa here tonight. Big sister Karin is working on her Weight Watcher's lesson so I took the initiative and made dinner myself. We wanted something quick and easy, but still delicious and nutritious. Working off what we had in the fridge I spotted the Parmesan we had left from our Mac and 5 Cheese adventure last Saturday. Combine that with some chicken from the freezer and the leftover pasta sauce from dinner last Tuesday and we have...Chicken Parmesan!
Also in the fridge we had a can of Pillsbury Reduced Fat Crescent rolls that I decided to get creative with. Here is what I did:

Garlic and Olive Oil Muffin Rolls
1 can (8 ct) refrigerated reduced fat crescent rolls
3 medium cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp virgin olive oil
Rosemary or other favorite herb

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, 350 for a dark pan.
Mince the garlic and mix in a small dish with the olive oil. Set aside.
Prepare a muffin pan with a little baking spray or more olive oil. You will only need 8 of the cups, so fill the other 4 with a bit of water to prevent scorching.
Roll out the crescent rolls and separate. BEFORE rolling into croissants spread a touch of the garlic and olive oil on the dough. Roll loosely into croissants. This will be messy from the olive oil squeezing out, but it's ok.
Lay the crescent rolls into the muffin cups, they will form cute rounded rolls. Karin suggested topping the rolls with some rosemary, of which we had fresh sprigs in the fridge. I did that and they looked great.

Now just follow the baking directions on the roll package. I put mine in the oven for 14 minutes at 375. Just before they were finished I sprinkled some extra Parmesan on top and baked until the cheese was golden. They came out smelling marvelous and looking great.

While the rolls were baking I got the chicken ready. I figured that we could snack on the rolls while the chicken was baking. We also snacked on some wonderful Colavita Crushed Green Olives I got at work today. Oil packed with Italian herbs and seasoning these olives had a very robust flavor

Tuesday Night Chicken Parmesan

1 Large Chicken Breast (or two small, flattened)
1/2 cup Bread Crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
2 tsp Rosemary (or whatever herb floats your boat)
about 1 cup of jarred pasta sauce

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mine was still hot from the rolls so it didn't take long at all.

I sliced one very large chicken breast in half (I am convinced Harmon's chicken breasts come from freak chickens, always enormous.)You could use two small breasts pounded a bit flat as well. After prepping the chicken WASH YOUR HANDS. No cross contamination in my kitchen!
I mixed about 2 Tablespoons of the Parmesan with my Delallo bread crumbs and spread that in a shallow dish. Make sure your chicken is damp (could use an egg wash, I just use water) and dip one side in the bread crumb mixture. To reduce some fat and carbs I only breaded one side of the chicken, but you could do both.
Lay on a lightly greased cookie sheet and sprinkle the top with some more Rosemary or whatever herbs or seasoning you choose. Pop in the oven for 8-10 minutes.

After the timer rings sprinkle the remaining Parmesan on top of the chicken and continue baking until cheese is melted and golden brown. The chicken should be done at this time if it was thin enough. Thicker breasts may need more cooking time so use your best judgment.
After about 14 minutes of total baking time our chicken was still juicy, but completely cooked. Perfect!

We topped our chicken with Muir Glen Vodka Sauce (also from work) and served it with the Garlic Rolls and Green Giant Immunity Blend frozen veggies and some more of those delicious olives.

This took maybe 30 minutes to prepare and was an easy, but tasty, Tuesday night dinner. The chicken was perfectly done and the garlic rolls turned out great. *Sniff, sniff* I can smell the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies Karin decided to make, I think they are calling my name! See y'all next time we decide to get creative.

Two Sisters Takeout

2009-10-18T19:19:00.004-06:00

Alessa and I started our day with a brunch of honey whole wheat pancakes, the leftover thick cut bacon and a side of pink grapefruit. No fabulous recipes there we took a few shortcuts.

However after a day of cleaning and organizing our new space we decided to try out a recipe from one of my many Weight Watchers cookbooks. If you know me that is no surprise, if not you will soon realize that Weight Watchers friendly dishes will be a recurring theme here.

Today's entry required we break out the chopsticks:

Thai Noodles with Tofu

3/4 lb reduced fat firm tofu
1/2 lb rice stick noodles
6 TBS ketchup
3 TBS Thai fish sauce
2 TBS packed dark brown sugar
1 tsp chili-garlic paste
4 tsp peanut oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 scallions, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 TBS chopped unsalted peanuts
2 cups bean sprouts
Lime wedges

Personal touches:

We already had Lo Mein noodles in the cupboard to use in place of the rice noodles.

There is never any ketchup in my house, so we used a combo of mild Chili Sauce and hot Chili Sauce. We wanted to use even amounts of each, but only had just over 1 TBS of the mild. Needless to say our finished dishe had a nice kick to it. We also added a red bell pepper, cut into 1/2 inch strips, it was sitting in the fridge and needed to be used.

If you have never cooked with tofu, it is necessary to 'prep' the tofu by removing as much liquid as possible.

1. Place the tofu between 2 flat plates. Weight the top plate with a heavy can until the tofu bulges at the sides but does not split. Let stand about 30 minutes drain liquid off the plate. Cut into 1/2 inch cubes.
2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook until tender, 6-8 minutes. Drain the noodles and rinse under cols running water; drain again and set aside.
3. Combine the Chili Sauce, Fish Sauce, brown sugar and chili-garlic paste in a small bowl; set aside. Heat 2 tsp of the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add the eggs and cook, stirring occasionally, just until set, about 2 minutes. Transfer the eggs to bowl.
4. Heat the remaining 2 tsp of oil in the skillet over medium high heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, just until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the tofu and cook, stirring occasionally, until hot, about 3 minutes. Add the scallions, cooked aggs and red pepper, cook, stirring about 1 minute. Add the noodles and the sauce; cook tossing just until heated through, about 3 minutes.

At this point the original instructions are to transfer to a serving dish, sprinkle with peanuts and serve at once with the bean sprouts and lime wedges.
We opted to add the bean sprouts as the last step in the cooking, and toss just to heat them through, about 1 minute. Then we transfered it to a serving dish and dished it out.

This dish is a definite keeper, as I mentioned it did have a bit of a kick to it, so next time we will split the Chili Sauce evenly 3 TBS of each the hot and the mild.

You will have to forgive us, we are new at this and once again did not think about pictures until it was too late, trust us it was pretty.

Welcome to our kitchen

2009-10-16T21:19:00.000-06:00

So my lil sis (Alessa) and I (Karin) have recently taken up residence together.
We consider ourselves 'foodies' therefore we decided to create a blog of our culinary escapades. Alessa's gay boyfriend (Nicholas)to be known as GBF from here on out will be joining us frequently in our adventures. Because this blog was something of an impluse (you know like the candy bars by the checkout counter) we will each add an introduction of ourselves at a later time.

Some of our entries will be original recipes or expirementations, others will be the original recipes we used as inspiration and the changes/additions we made, then we will list our critiques and our ideas for changes we will make for the next go around.
We of course decided to do a blog upon completion of this recipe, so we didn't take pictures of the beatiful completed dish before we broke into it. In future we will include pictures.

Our first recipe entry is the good old Comfort Food of Macaroni and Cheese.

Our inspiration recipe is as follows:
From www.AllRecipes.com Wisconsin Five-Cheese Bake
SUBMITTED BY: Kim B.
(the original recipe was for 12 servings below you see the conversion we made for 4 servings)
INGREDIENTS
1/3 (16 ounce) package elbow macaroni
1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup shredded provolone cheese
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons sour cream
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
1/8 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1/8 teaspoon garlic salt

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add macaroni, and cook until tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain.
In a large bowl, toss together the mozzarella cheese, Swiss cheese, Parmesan cheese and Provolone cheese. Remove about 1/2 cup for topping and set aside. In a separate bowl, stir together the ricotta cheese, sour cream and heavy cream. Season with parsley, Italian seasoning and garlic salt.
Pour the ricotta cheese mixture and drained macaroni into the bowl with the cheeses and toss lightly. Do not mix too thoroughly, it's better left messy. Pour into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the reserved cheese over the top.
Bake in the preheated oven until cheese is melted, about 10 minutes, then turn the oven to broil. Broil for about 5 minutes to brown the top

We decided to switch up some of the cheeses and add a few ingredients, we also used a Whole Wheat Penne in place of the Elbow Macaroni.

INGREDIENTS
1/2 (13.5 ounce) package Whole Wheat Penne
1/3 cup shredded Tillamook Medium Ceddar cheese
1/3 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1/3 cup grated Gruyere
1/3 cup shredded Maple Leaf Smoked Gouda cheese
1/4 Precious Low Fat Ricotta cheese
2 1/2 tablespoons light sour cream
3 tablespoons half and half
3 slices thick cut bacon
1 Shallot
2 large cloves garlic
Bread Crumbs
Pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spray 9 inch glass loaf pan.
Cook the bacon, crumble when cooled.
Chop shallot and garlic then lightly carmelize over medium high heat.

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta, and cook al dente, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain. In a large bowl, toss together the 4 hard cheeses. In a separate bowl, stir together the ricotta cheese, sour cream and half and half. Pour the ricotta cheese mixture, drained macaroni, Shallots, garlic and crumbled bacon into the bowl with the cheeses and toss lightly. Do not mix too thoroughly, it's better left messy. Pour into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the bread crumbs and pepper over the top. Bake in the preheated oven until cheese is melted, about 15 minutes, then turn the oven to broil. Broil for about 5 minutes to brown the top

Our Critique:
The flavor and aroma was quite nice, the smoked Gouda complimented the bacon wonderfully, however the texture was not creamy like you would expect a homemade Mac and cheese to be.

GBF stoped by after work to give his opinion (and get a free meal), his vote was a win overall but agreed with us on the texture.
The general consensus was we used too many hard cheese so it just didn't melt quite right.

So the changes we are making for Round 2 of Baked Mac and Cheese.

Replace the 1/3 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano with 1/3 cup shredded Jack Cheese
Replace the 1/3 cup grated Gruyere with 1/3 cup Shredded Provolone
Relace the bread crumbs with crushed Cheddar Harvest Sun Chips to give the topping a bit more flavor.
We also decided to use a more shallow pan, so a glass 9x9 or 8x8 square baking dish instead of the loaf pan.