In keeping with the time theme for the next few weeks here is this weeks weekly installment for Quick Easy Meals.
I call this School Lunch Specials because they were inspired by some of my favorite school lunches as a kid. Yes I had favorite school lunches as a kid. Not all School lunches are bad and one of my favorites and now my families favorites was Bagel Pizzas with carrots and broccoli and ranch dip. I like to vary this particular recipe because let's face it there are a TON of varieties of bagels. For instance you can use Everything Bagels with pizza sauce and pizza toppings, you can use plain bagels with HUNTS oregano and basil tomato sauce and whatever pizza toppings you like. What I'm saying is the combinations are endless and you can let your imagination fly. To alleviate the "guilt" of serving your kids bagel pizzas you create a side dish of fun veggies for dipping.
Prep time: varies depending on ingredients used for pizza
Hands on time: approximately 20 minutes.
Ingredients:
Bagels (big or small bagels it doesn't matter)
Pizza sauce or tomato sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Sliced pepperoni
Browned Italian sausage.
Browned Hamburger (I like to brown my hamburger ahead of time and freeze it)
Sliced bell peppers
Black or green olives
Really whatever you like on your pizza that's what you put on top of your bagel.
Favorite raw veggies sliced for little hands
Ranch Salad dressing for dipping.
Set the oven to 350 degrees and assemble your bagel pizzas. Cook in pre-heated oven until cheese melts and is slightly bubbly. Cup up your veggies and assemble on the side of the plate. When the bagel pizzas have cooled slide onto the plate with veggies and ranch dressing for dipping.
My families other favorite "School Lunch Special" is tuna melts with Homemade Fries. For this recipe you'll need Lender's Everything Bagels. I've tried other brands and they are sadly just not the same. For easy clean up I suggest lining the cookie sheet with some tin foil.
Ingredients
Favorite brand of tuna fish
1 medium onion
2 stalks of celery
sweet pickle relish
Mayonnaise
Dijon or some kind of spicy mustard.
5 large potato's (roughly one large potato per family member)
Thick sliced Cheddar Cheese
3 sliced tomatoes
Vegetable oil
Large pot for frying
In a large mixing bowl your going to put in two of your favorite cans of tuna fish (be sure to drain the liquid first). Finely chop the onion and celery and add to the tuna fish. From there you're going to mix in your mayonnaise. Notice I'm not giving you measurements for this, that's because EVERYONE has their own idea of what is enough for their perfect tuna fish to mayonnaise ratio. After you mixed your desired consistency up you're going to add 1 tablespoon of the spicy mustard and mix well then add the relish to taste. Set that aside and line your cookie sheet with tin foil and place the Everything bagels split and open on it. Spoon the tuna fish onto the bagels and and place one slice of tomato and one slice of cheddar cheese on top. In case you haven't yet it's time to pre-heat the oven.
Now rinse off those potatoes and peel those bad boys! here's the secret to REALLY amazing home made fries. Whether your bake them or fry them ALWAYS rinse them in with clean water and then pat them dry. This gets rid of the excess start from the potatoes. Put the vegetable oil in the pot and once the oil is hot and popping you're going to slide the potatoes into the oil. Watch them carefully when they float to the top take them out and put them in a brown paper bag. OK now mostly likely your kids are going to want to do this part. In the brown paper bag place whatever seasonings you want on your fries, salt, pepper, Tony Chachere's, whatever it is that you love seasoned on your fries close the bag up and give it a shake! Shake it, shake it, and do the french fry dance! I like to peel, wash, and fry each individual potato and place them in separate paper bags for each of the kids to shake. This way each one gets their "own" special home made fries ;-).
Once your oven is pre-heated place the cookie sheet of tuna melt bagels inside and let bake till the cheese melts about 5 to 8 minutes.
Remember those paper bags you shook your fries in? Tear those bags open along one side and spread out at the table then place one bagel tuna melt next to those "special" homemade fries.
Hands on time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Meals Made Easier
Thank you for bearing with me while our office went through their busy time. It's finally slowed down enough for me to get back in the saddle. With that in mind I've pulled my favorite "no fuss" easy dinners and put those together for a months worth of meals. The holiday season is on us and our lives will go zipping by at lightening speed. With Fall decorating, Halloween parties, pumpkin patches, Thanksgiving, and of course Christmas, you won't want to be spending a whole lot of time in the kitchen. Or if you happen to be my friend Elizabeth you think Kitchen is synonymous Drudgery (I don't know if that's an actual word but I'm claiming it!), so in honor of the impending holidays and for people like my friend Elizabeth the next few weeks blogs are going to be all about saving time and whipping up easy, yummy, meals.
Week One:
Tortellini with Butternut Squash, Mushrooms, and Fontina
Hands on time: 10 minutes
Total time: 40 Minutes
1 small butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 pound button or cremini mushrooms, stems trimmed and halved if large.
1/4 cup fresh sage leaves. (If you don't have fresh sage leaves you can use dried sage leaves just be sure to cut the amount down by half).
2 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 pound fresh or frozen tortellini
2 ozs. Fontina or Gruyere, grated (1/2 cup), plus more for serving.
Heat oven to 450 degrees f. on 2 rimmed baking sheets (or a pizza stone if you have one), toss the squash and mushrooms with the sage, oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Roast, tossing once, until tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
While that's roasting you want to start cooking the tortellini according to the package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water; drain the tortellini and return to the pot. Add the vegetables, Fontina, 1/4 cup of the cooking water, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and toss gently to coat. Sprinkle with Fontina.
IF that's still too much cooking for you here's another fall evening favorite in our house.
Tomato soup with Roast Beef, Cheddar, and Horseradish Panini.
Hands on time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
1 large family size can of tomato soup
2 large onions, chopped (optional)
4 cloves garlic, chopped (optional)
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
sandwich bread (whichever kind you feel like using)
8 ozs thinly sliced roast beef
8 ozs sharp white cheddar, sliced
Ok remember how I said the onions and garlic were optional? Well that's because I like to "doctor" my tomato soup with them. If you'd like to try your soup my way it's super simple, just chop the onions and garlic and throw them in with the canned tomato soup and let it all simmer on the stove top together. Tomato soup is so versatile you can throw just about anything you like in there and it's gonna be good. So that's it for the soup. I do have a homemade tomato soup recipe and just for fun I'll post that for my slow cooked Sunday dinner post.
While the soup is heating up and cooking it's time to assemble the sandwiches. Remember when I posted that improvised panini post? Well same thing applies here if you don't have a panini press don't worry about it you can improvise with other things. A panini is really just a fancy grilled sandwich anyway. Your going to to need a small bowl and a whisk. Stir together the sour cream and horseradish. Form sandwiches with the bread, roast beef, cheddar, and half the horseradish mixture.
Side note: if you happen to have some arugula on hand (a peppery type of lettuce) it's awesome on these sandwiches.
Heat a lightly oiled grill pan over medium heat and cook the sandwiches until the cheese is melted, about 5 to 6 minutes per side. Top the soup with the remaining horseradish mixture and serve with the sandwiches.
Week One:
Tortellini with Butternut Squash, Mushrooms, and Fontina
Hands on time: 10 minutes
Total time: 40 Minutes
1 small butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 pound button or cremini mushrooms, stems trimmed and halved if large.
1/4 cup fresh sage leaves. (If you don't have fresh sage leaves you can use dried sage leaves just be sure to cut the amount down by half).
2 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 pound fresh or frozen tortellini
2 ozs. Fontina or Gruyere, grated (1/2 cup), plus more for serving.
Heat oven to 450 degrees f. on 2 rimmed baking sheets (or a pizza stone if you have one), toss the squash and mushrooms with the sage, oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Roast, tossing once, until tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
While that's roasting you want to start cooking the tortellini according to the package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water; drain the tortellini and return to the pot. Add the vegetables, Fontina, 1/4 cup of the cooking water, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and toss gently to coat. Sprinkle with Fontina.
IF that's still too much cooking for you here's another fall evening favorite in our house.
Tomato soup with Roast Beef, Cheddar, and Horseradish Panini.
Hands on time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
1 large family size can of tomato soup
2 large onions, chopped (optional)
4 cloves garlic, chopped (optional)
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
sandwich bread (whichever kind you feel like using)
8 ozs thinly sliced roast beef
8 ozs sharp white cheddar, sliced
Ok remember how I said the onions and garlic were optional? Well that's because I like to "doctor" my tomato soup with them. If you'd like to try your soup my way it's super simple, just chop the onions and garlic and throw them in with the canned tomato soup and let it all simmer on the stove top together. Tomato soup is so versatile you can throw just about anything you like in there and it's gonna be good. So that's it for the soup. I do have a homemade tomato soup recipe and just for fun I'll post that for my slow cooked Sunday dinner post.
While the soup is heating up and cooking it's time to assemble the sandwiches. Remember when I posted that improvised panini post? Well same thing applies here if you don't have a panini press don't worry about it you can improvise with other things. A panini is really just a fancy grilled sandwich anyway. Your going to to need a small bowl and a whisk. Stir together the sour cream and horseradish. Form sandwiches with the bread, roast beef, cheddar, and half the horseradish mixture.
Side note: if you happen to have some arugula on hand (a peppery type of lettuce) it's awesome on these sandwiches.
Heat a lightly oiled grill pan over medium heat and cook the sandwiches until the cheese is melted, about 5 to 6 minutes per side. Top the soup with the remaining horseradish mixture and serve with the sandwiches.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
American Food
It just dawned on me that I totally forgot to post a recipe last week!! I sooo apologize my faithful readers and will make up for it this week by posting two..that's right I said it TWO recipes this week.
I've been thinking about this next recipe for a loooonnnggg time. When I was living in Colorado they had Pow Wow's during the summer and the general public could go and watch the local tribes participate in tribal dances, hatchet throwing contests and other Native American events. I used to go with an ex-boyfriend of mine who was half Native American and my favorite event was the jingle dress dance competition. All those cute little girls and boys dressed up in thier jingle dresses and doe skin pants doing traditional dances and showing off their home made outfits..awww. I know what's not to love about that right?! The only better than a jingle dress competition is an Indian Taco. I remember the first time I ate one of these, I had NO IDEA it was going to spark a love affair with soft, pillowy, fried bread. If anyone has ever had a Native American Taco you know of the magical deliciousness I speak of.
For the longest time the only place I could indulge this food love affair was at the local Pow Wow's. When I moved away from Colorado I can't say I was really upset except for the idea that I would never again get to indulge in an Indian Taco or have Indian Fry Bread. My mind could not accept this for a fact so I set out on a mission to find a recipe for Indian Fry Bread and Indian Taco's to be exact and I found one!!!!! Well actually I found several but after many failed recipes this is the only one that was even close to the taste of a traditional Indian Taco. So here for your midwestern taste buds I give you Chef Dee's Indian Taco recipe!!
Ingredients:
12 Frozen dinner rolls
1lb ground beef
1 package taco seasoning mix
2 cups chopped lettuce
1 tomatoe chopped
2 cups shredded cheese
Directions:
1: Place frozen rolls on a greased cookie sheet
2: Let rise until nearly double
3: In the meantime brown the ground beef, drain, add taco mix and 1/4 cup of water.
4: heat oil in skillet or pan
5: stretch the dough thin, fry until golden brown, turning once. Drain on a paper towel
6: Top with seasoned meat mixture, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, whatever you normaly put on your tacos..you can put on here.
Eat and enjoy!!!
I've been thinking about this next recipe for a loooonnnggg time. When I was living in Colorado they had Pow Wow's during the summer and the general public could go and watch the local tribes participate in tribal dances, hatchet throwing contests and other Native American events. I used to go with an ex-boyfriend of mine who was half Native American and my favorite event was the jingle dress dance competition. All those cute little girls and boys dressed up in thier jingle dresses and doe skin pants doing traditional dances and showing off their home made outfits..awww. I know what's not to love about that right?! The only better than a jingle dress competition is an Indian Taco. I remember the first time I ate one of these, I had NO IDEA it was going to spark a love affair with soft, pillowy, fried bread. If anyone has ever had a Native American Taco you know of the magical deliciousness I speak of.
For the longest time the only place I could indulge this food love affair was at the local Pow Wow's. When I moved away from Colorado I can't say I was really upset except for the idea that I would never again get to indulge in an Indian Taco or have Indian Fry Bread. My mind could not accept this for a fact so I set out on a mission to find a recipe for Indian Fry Bread and Indian Taco's to be exact and I found one!!!!! Well actually I found several but after many failed recipes this is the only one that was even close to the taste of a traditional Indian Taco. So here for your midwestern taste buds I give you Chef Dee's Indian Taco recipe!!
Ingredients:
12 Frozen dinner rolls
1lb ground beef
1 package taco seasoning mix
2 cups chopped lettuce
1 tomatoe chopped
2 cups shredded cheese
Directions:
1: Place frozen rolls on a greased cookie sheet
2: Let rise until nearly double
3: In the meantime brown the ground beef, drain, add taco mix and 1/4 cup of water.
4: heat oil in skillet or pan
5: stretch the dough thin, fry until golden brown, turning once. Drain on a paper towel
6: Top with seasoned meat mixture, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, whatever you normaly put on your tacos..you can put on here.
Eat and enjoy!!!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Milkshakes for the BIG KIDS :)
As a mom I'm always sure to have something cold and sweet on hand during the summer for my kids. I'm sure all the other moms that read this blog would agree with this statement. Whether you make your own fruit smoothies or frozen fruit bars or buy them at the store it's easy to find lots of cool sweet treats for kids, but what about mom and dad?
My answer: Chocolate Baileys Milkshakes!!!
yes it's been a while since we had a sweet dessert recipe on here and with the heat I felt it was time to address this issue. Below you will find a generic recipe for Baileys Milkshakes. You can mix and match all kinds of ingredients with this recipe and make it your own.
this serving is for one person so to make more simply double the recipe.
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup French Vanilla Ice Cream
1/4 cup Hersheys chocolate syrup
1/4 cup Milk or
1/4 cup eggnog
1 banana (if you choose to include the banana I reccomend using the milk)
Baileys Irish Creme. (Please note that I did not list a suggested measurement for the Baileys. The reason for this is that I've found that everyone has thier one desired taste they are going for. So the suggest measurement is to your own taste).
DIRECTIONS
1: Add in a blender the ice cream, baileys, chocolate syrup, banana (if you choose this option) and milk (or eggnog whichever you prefer)
2: Blend lightly to desired consistency
3: Pour or spoon into tall frosted glasses and garnish with whipped cream, chocolate syrup, or a sprig of mint.
There are many variations of this milkshake that you can make. You can use strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, just about any kind of fruit will make this milkshake good.
My answer: Chocolate Baileys Milkshakes!!!
yes it's been a while since we had a sweet dessert recipe on here and with the heat I felt it was time to address this issue. Below you will find a generic recipe for Baileys Milkshakes. You can mix and match all kinds of ingredients with this recipe and make it your own.
this serving is for one person so to make more simply double the recipe.
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup French Vanilla Ice Cream
1/4 cup Hersheys chocolate syrup
1/4 cup Milk or
1/4 cup eggnog
1 banana (if you choose to include the banana I reccomend using the milk)
Baileys Irish Creme. (Please note that I did not list a suggested measurement for the Baileys. The reason for this is that I've found that everyone has thier one desired taste they are going for. So the suggest measurement is to your own taste).
DIRECTIONS
1: Add in a blender the ice cream, baileys, chocolate syrup, banana (if you choose this option) and milk (or eggnog whichever you prefer)
2: Blend lightly to desired consistency
3: Pour or spoon into tall frosted glasses and garnish with whipped cream, chocolate syrup, or a sprig of mint.
There are many variations of this milkshake that you can make. You can use strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, just about any kind of fruit will make this milkshake good.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Mexican Pasta Bake
I like mexican food but the prep work for it soooo messy and I hate the clean up! Still when I came across this recipe I just had, HAD to try it. Little did I realize when I decided to make it that it would make SOOOOO much. My suggestion to you all is to freeze half of it or else cut the recipe down by half.
MEXICAN PASTA BAKE
2lbs of ground beef
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1 large white onion
6 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 tbsp Olive oil (substitution is 2 tablespoons butter)
4 tspns cumin
4 tspns chili powder
4 tspns dried oregano
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes in oregano, basil, and olive oil (like it actually says that on the label)
2 14 oz cans of black beans
2 14 oz cans of corn
Mexican cheese blend (I used regular old cheddar cheese)
2 box Penne Pasta
Step one:
Dice and mince the peppers, garlic and onion. Heat the olive oil, or butter if you use that instead, next you're going to sweat the onions, peppers, and garlic until the aroma permeates your kitchen. Basically your going to saute until all the flavors come together yumm.
Step two:
Once you've sweat the veggies put your ground beef in the same pot and add all your spices (cumin, chili powder, oregano) and the cans of diced tomatoes. Start brown the meat and veggies and spices all together. Now while that is cooking start your water for your noodles.
Step three:
Once the meat is browned and the noodles are cooked you'll need a LARGE bowl. Mix in that bowl the browned meat concoction along with the noodles and the cans of black beans and corn. and mix it all up. Divide your mexican pasta into two 9x13 casserole dishes and cover with the mexican cheese and bake in the oven at 350 until the cheese melts. Viola you are done :)
Side Note:
As I said at the beginning of this post this makes a LOT of food and I divided mine up to make more meals than just this one. The awesome thing about this meat mixture is it's a great mexican filling for tacos, taco salad, and nachos. In order to use the meat mixture for other mexican dishes I suggest only mixing your noodles in with the first 9x13 pan and leaving the noodles out of the second one. This way you can use the meat mixture for many and more recipes throughout the month. The meat mixture freezes extremely well and anytime you want to throw together a quick mexican meal you have the filling already made :-) I do suggest leaving the cheese out of the portions you plan to freeze though. So far out of this one recipe I've made:
the original pasta bake
Taco salads
Quesadillas
Soft Tacos
Loaded nachos
Since the meat mixture is a basic mexican blend of spices, veggies, and ground beef it translates well into many different meals so left overs don't have to be boring :)
Kid reviews:
Gavin 5 yrs old: Liked the pasta bake and the soft tacos was not crazy about the Quesadillas. (he never likes Quesadillas no matter what's in them lol)
Magnus 2yrs old: Magnus felt the need to eat this with his hands and at one point abandoned even that method and just stuck his face in the bowl. I'm taking that as two thumbs up :)
Andrea 14 yrs old: Andrea really liked this she even ate with black beans in it and she HATES black beans. I think it helps that you really can't taste them because they are just mixed in with everything else. It was her idea to make loaded nachos, leave it to a teenager with the metabolism of a greek god to come up with that LOL, she also added sour cream and salsa to her mexican pasta bake as a topping. That was surprisingly good and made my foodie heart proud to see her experiment.
MEXICAN PASTA BAKE
2lbs of ground beef
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1 large white onion
6 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 tbsp Olive oil (substitution is 2 tablespoons butter)
4 tspns cumin
4 tspns chili powder
4 tspns dried oregano
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes in oregano, basil, and olive oil (like it actually says that on the label)
2 14 oz cans of black beans
2 14 oz cans of corn
Mexican cheese blend (I used regular old cheddar cheese)
2 box Penne Pasta
Step one:
Dice and mince the peppers, garlic and onion. Heat the olive oil, or butter if you use that instead, next you're going to sweat the onions, peppers, and garlic until the aroma permeates your kitchen. Basically your going to saute until all the flavors come together yumm.
Step two:
Once you've sweat the veggies put your ground beef in the same pot and add all your spices (cumin, chili powder, oregano) and the cans of diced tomatoes. Start brown the meat and veggies and spices all together. Now while that is cooking start your water for your noodles.
Step three:
Once the meat is browned and the noodles are cooked you'll need a LARGE bowl. Mix in that bowl the browned meat concoction along with the noodles and the cans of black beans and corn. and mix it all up. Divide your mexican pasta into two 9x13 casserole dishes and cover with the mexican cheese and bake in the oven at 350 until the cheese melts. Viola you are done :)
Side Note:
As I said at the beginning of this post this makes a LOT of food and I divided mine up to make more meals than just this one. The awesome thing about this meat mixture is it's a great mexican filling for tacos, taco salad, and nachos. In order to use the meat mixture for other mexican dishes I suggest only mixing your noodles in with the first 9x13 pan and leaving the noodles out of the second one. This way you can use the meat mixture for many and more recipes throughout the month. The meat mixture freezes extremely well and anytime you want to throw together a quick mexican meal you have the filling already made :-) I do suggest leaving the cheese out of the portions you plan to freeze though. So far out of this one recipe I've made:
the original pasta bake
Taco salads
Quesadillas
Soft Tacos
Loaded nachos
Since the meat mixture is a basic mexican blend of spices, veggies, and ground beef it translates well into many different meals so left overs don't have to be boring :)
Kid reviews:
Gavin 5 yrs old: Liked the pasta bake and the soft tacos was not crazy about the Quesadillas. (he never likes Quesadillas no matter what's in them lol)
Magnus 2yrs old: Magnus felt the need to eat this with his hands and at one point abandoned even that method and just stuck his face in the bowl. I'm taking that as two thumbs up :)
Andrea 14 yrs old: Andrea really liked this she even ate with black beans in it and she HATES black beans. I think it helps that you really can't taste them because they are just mixed in with everything else. It was her idea to make loaded nachos, leave it to a teenager with the metabolism of a greek god to come up with that LOL, she also added sour cream and salsa to her mexican pasta bake as a topping. That was surprisingly good and made my foodie heart proud to see her experiment.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Slow cooked Sunday
Most nights I'm rushing to get a meal on the table. Many of the meals I frequent are quick, versatile, and translate into other meals with their left overs. This is why I feel Sunday Dinner, or Saturday whichever is your slow day, is sacred family dinner time. Sunday Dinner is the only meal I will spend hours lovingly prepping and preparing even plating our Sunday Dinner. It's a chance for us to slow down and recap our full week and our weekend. Sunday may be my favorite day of the week just for this tradition.
Usually I try to post recipes that fit my busy schedule but I thought it important to post Slow cooked Sunday for any of you that also cherish that extra time on Sunday before the madness of the week descends. This particular recipe is not hard but it is a slow cooked meal which does not make for an easy weekday dinner. I have have to share this one with you all especially my non-cooking friends because the ease of this recipe will change your mind about cooking. I originally stumbled across this recipe at Nigella Lawson's online blog. Once you make this you may never make Chicken and Ribs the same way again!
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
2 Aluminum roasting pans (regular roasting pans if you have them sadly my kitchen is lacking one :( ).
2 Large Freezer bags.
Maple Glazed Chicken N'Ribs
Ingredients:
12 pork spare ribs
12 chicken thighs, skin and bone still on
8.5 Oz's. apple juice, as sharp as possible
4 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick, halved
6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
(you will notice that Nigella's measurements are in ml. and I've converted them to tablespoons and ounces for those of us who don't use the metric system)
Prep and Cook
Put the ribs and chicken pieces in a couple of large freezer bags or into a dish.
Add the remaining ingredients, squelching everything together well, before sealing the bag or covering the dish.
Leave to marinate in the fridge overnight or up to two days.
When the marinating time is up, take the dish out of the fridge and preheat the oven to 200°.
Pour the contents of the freezer bag into one or two large roasting tins (making sure the chicken is skin-side up), place in the oven and cook for about an hour and a quarter, by which time everything should be sticky and glossed conker-brown. (I don't know what conker-Brown is but as long as it's glossy and brown you're good)
In America we call this dump chicken and no matter what name you give it it's good every single time!!!!
This Sunday I'll be serving this with steamed broccoli and cauliflower along with some ears of corn.
Usually I try to post recipes that fit my busy schedule but I thought it important to post Slow cooked Sunday for any of you that also cherish that extra time on Sunday before the madness of the week descends. This particular recipe is not hard but it is a slow cooked meal which does not make for an easy weekday dinner. I have have to share this one with you all especially my non-cooking friends because the ease of this recipe will change your mind about cooking. I originally stumbled across this recipe at Nigella Lawson's online blog. Once you make this you may never make Chicken and Ribs the same way again!
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
2 Aluminum roasting pans (regular roasting pans if you have them sadly my kitchen is lacking one :( ).
2 Large Freezer bags.
Maple Glazed Chicken N'Ribs
Ingredients:
12 pork spare ribs
12 chicken thighs, skin and bone still on
8.5 Oz's. apple juice, as sharp as possible
4 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick, halved
6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
(you will notice that Nigella's measurements are in ml. and I've converted them to tablespoons and ounces for those of us who don't use the metric system)
Prep and Cook
Put the ribs and chicken pieces in a couple of large freezer bags or into a dish.
Add the remaining ingredients, squelching everything together well, before sealing the bag or covering the dish.
Leave to marinate in the fridge overnight or up to two days.
When the marinating time is up, take the dish out of the fridge and preheat the oven to 200°.
Pour the contents of the freezer bag into one or two large roasting tins (making sure the chicken is skin-side up), place in the oven and cook for about an hour and a quarter, by which time everything should be sticky and glossed conker-brown. (I don't know what conker-Brown is but as long as it's glossy and brown you're good)
In America we call this dump chicken and no matter what name you give it it's good every single time!!!!
This Sunday I'll be serving this with steamed broccoli and cauliflower along with some ears of corn.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Everything but the Kitchen sink Spaghetti Sauce
I like pasta but I'm not usually a huge fan of spaghetti sauce. That's why I had to figure out how to make my own. Maybe if I made it from scratch I'd like it better so I opened my fridge and took stock of all the veggitables I had in there and started collecting ones that I thought would be good together. What I came up with was so yummy that even I used the last of the bread to scrape the bowl! The best part about this recipe is you can use whatever veggies you have on hand and it should still be good..you know unless you're trying to mix things like corn and mushrooms that might not be so good.
I'm calling this 'Almost home made' because I do use a can of tomatoe sauce.
What you will need:
A pot big enough to hold all your chopped veggies.
A blender
Ingredients:
One large portabella mushroom diced
One yellow onion (I used vidalia but you can use any kind of onion)
One yellow bell pepper diced
One red bell pepper diced
2 stalks of celery chopped
Italian seasoning
Dried Oregano
Minced Garlic
1 bay leaf
1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
This is so easy it will blow your mind!!! Chop everything up and put it in a pot. Now if you want to get creative and try some other things you can put a tablespoon of olive oil in there and a teaspoon of Balsamic Vinegar I've tried both combos and they are really good. Pour in the can of tomato sauce and let everything come to a simmer. Keep it at a simmer until the veggies are tender and then pour it all into your blender. Now If you like your sauce chuncky then you don't have to blend it but if you like your sauce smooth (and I do) just blend away until it's the consistency you like. Viola you have made your own spaghetti sauce!! You can use it on ANYTHING my kids like to pour it over bread and eat it that way. I prefer using it on traditional pasta but either way it's totally worth making.
I'm calling this 'Almost home made' because I do use a can of tomatoe sauce.
What you will need:
A pot big enough to hold all your chopped veggies.
A blender
Ingredients:
One large portabella mushroom diced
One yellow onion (I used vidalia but you can use any kind of onion)
One yellow bell pepper diced
One red bell pepper diced
2 stalks of celery chopped
Italian seasoning
Dried Oregano
Minced Garlic
1 bay leaf
1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
This is so easy it will blow your mind!!! Chop everything up and put it in a pot. Now if you want to get creative and try some other things you can put a tablespoon of olive oil in there and a teaspoon of Balsamic Vinegar I've tried both combos and they are really good. Pour in the can of tomato sauce and let everything come to a simmer. Keep it at a simmer until the veggies are tender and then pour it all into your blender. Now If you like your sauce chuncky then you don't have to blend it but if you like your sauce smooth (and I do) just blend away until it's the consistency you like. Viola you have made your own spaghetti sauce!! You can use it on ANYTHING my kids like to pour it over bread and eat it that way. I prefer using it on traditional pasta but either way it's totally worth making.
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