So...

I haven't posted in a while. Our Hanukkah celebration had me cooking, but no time to post. Here are a few things I whipped up!

Latkes

A traditional Hanukkah meal. Serve with applesauce or sour cream, or both!

5-6 large potatoes such as Yukon Gold - peeled
1 sweet onion
flour
3 eggs
salt (I use a lot of salt in this recipe - for me. Probably up to 1 T kosher salt.)
oil for cooking

I tried for the first time the double grating method with the potatoes. Grate all potatoes with the shredder blade of the food processor. Set 1/2 in colander to drain while you grate the other 1/2 with the "swirly" blade. Grate the onion right in with the potatoes.

Drain all the potatoes and squeeze until quite dry. Sometimes I put them in an *old* tea towel and Scott and I get on both ends and twist and twist out all the moisture.

place drained potatoes in bowl. Start heating your pan and then oil - start with about 2 T. Mix potatoes/onions, eggs, about 1/3 cup flour and salt.

Flatten out about 2 T batter into pan and cook until nicely browned on both sides. Often you will find the first time around your oil isn't hot enough. Let it get really hot (over medium heat) before you start.

Drain on paper towels, sprinkle with salt and enjoy! We never have leftovers.

French Onion Soup

This is something the Holcombs (my family) have every year on Christmas Eve accompanied by an appetizer dinner.

2-3 large sweet onions
3 T butter
1-2 T oil (canola)
3 cans Campbell's beef Bullion
water
1/2 to 3/4 cups white wine
2 T (ish) Worchestershire sauce
1 t sugar
1/2 t salt

slices of toasted french loaf
provolone

Thinly slice onions while melting butter and oil in pan. Toss in onions, sugar and salt. Cook verrryyyy slowly (about 2+ hours) over low heat until beautifully wilted down.

Add soup, and 3 cans of water, wine, and Worchestershire sauce. Simmer for at least an hour but long simmering makes it great.

When ready to serve, turn on broiler, ladle soup into ovenproof bowls. I use my Fiestaware but my mom had special crocks just for this! Top with bread and cheese and broil until brown and melty. Enjoy some Christmas memories!

2 for 1

Two breakfast pies.... why two? Read on.

Breakfast Pies The First

1 can refrigerated biscuits
1 carton Eggbeaters
8 strips turkey bacon (or whatever), cooked and crumbled
1/3 c milk
hot sauce - 1-5 dashes to taste
cheese

Spray muffin tin well. Separate biscuits (if using Grands or the like - I would use ½ a biscuit). Stretch them out and line each cup with a buscuit. Mix eggs, milk and hot sauce. Ladle egg mixture into muffin cups and top with bacon and cheese. Make sure not to fill too full as these will puff up very nicely.

Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes - start checking at 20. Bake until firm.

These were delicious and made enough for 2+ days of breakfasts. HOWEVER, someone (who may or may not have a law degree) left them out on the counter all day after Day One. We were all very sad. But it led to:

Breakfast Pies The Second

5 eggs (yes - we are now out of eggbeaters)
1 can cream of celery soup
8 strips turkey bacon (or whatever), cooked and crumbled (or 8 link breakfast sausage - yes I use turkey)
stale bread - cubed
½ t dried mustard
hot sauce as above
cheese

Line muffin tin with papers and spray. Put a few dried bread cubes in each cup. Mix soup, eggs, mustard and hot sauce. Ladle into cups and again top with bacon and cheese. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes checking at 20 minutes.

Both are good - I think we liked the second one better because it is very reminiscent of the famed and loved Paul's Breakfast Casserole.

I baked both these the night before and nuked them in the AM. If I was a more of a "get up early" kinda girl I would have assembled the night before and baked in the AM. But I'm not.

Cranberries!

We are on somewhat of a cranberry kick here at Why Mom Why. The Lawyer is the only person I know who eats (whole berry) cranberry sauce year round. Now that the stores are full of fresh ones - he is in heaven. He made cranberry sauce this weekend and I made (a small test recipe of) cranberry chutney.

Cranberry Chutney
½ bag fresh cranberries washed and picked over
1 apple - chopped with skin on - Honeycrisp preferred
10 dried apricots
handful golden raisens
½ small can pineapple (not crushed but in small slices)
½ minced red onion
2 t canola oil
1 t cinnamon
1/8 to 1/4 t dried ginger
1/8 to 1/4 t nutmeg
1/8 to 1/4 t ground cloves
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1/3 cup orange juice

Saute the onion in the oil until very soft. Add rest of ingredients and simmer until the dried fruit is moist and the mixture is thick, 20+ minutes. I had planned to put sugar in this but I seriously forgot. It was perfect without for us as we like tart. You could also add 1/4 to ½ cup white or brown sugar. I am planning to make this as gifts and I will definitely put in some sugar. The lawyer loved this. I think it is already gone.

Apple Cranberry pie

1 pie crust (I DO use Pillsbury - I hate making pie crusts!)

3-4 apples (honeycrisp preferred)
½ bag fresh cranberries washed and picked over
3 T butter (which I will omit next time)
1 t cinnamon
1/8 to 1/4 t nutmeg
1/8 to 1/4 t ground cloves
approx. ½ cup white sugar (although I think brown would be good too)

thinly slice apples and layer with cranberries. Dot with butter and sprinkle on sugar and spices. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

This was VERY soupy. I will omit the butter next time or only use 1 T. The "soup" was delicious though. This makes a small pie - just right for a smaller Thanksgiving or if lots of other desserts are being served.

NEWSFLASH

Mah Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies are WINNERS!

My recipe took first place at the Champaign Public Library healthy recipe smackdown! (The events committee has a catchy name which is escaping me right now.)

OH! Did I mention there were TWO "sweet" entries. But HEY - I WON!

ahem. What did I win? A $10 dollar gift card to Latte Da!, the cafe in the library.

and. Since you asked. The ingredients set me back $12. But hey! I WON!

Too Easy

This one is almost too easy and was a surprisingly huge hit.

Italian Wedding Soup

meatballs (one batch - see below)
1 ½ cartons of chicken stock or equivalent homemade
pasta - small shapes cooked
cheese
spinach - optional

Simmer the meatballs in the stock for as long as you have time. I simmered for about ½ hour while I was cleaning up the kitchen and running Maya to choir.

If using spinach - right before serving, add to broth.

Place pasta in bowl and ladle soup over pasta. Top with cheese. Compliment yourself on a quick weeknight supper.

Meatballs - I usually make a triple or quadruple batch of meatballs whenever good ground beef is on sale. Here is the basic recipe.

1 lb ground beef (90/10 is good for flavor)
1 medium minced sweet onion
garlic or garlic powder to taste
oregano
parsley
salt
pepper
spicy seasoned salt (just a couple shakes)
1 egg
½ cup bread crumbs
½ cup grated hard cheese, parmesan, asiago, whatever you have in the fridge

Combine everything and cook over medium heat until no longer pink. I usually add in some white wine if the pan gets too dry.

These freeze extremely well. If you have these in the freezer, your life on weeknights will be so much better! Add your favorite pasta sauce and have spagetti and meatballs, or meatball subs. Or make this soup with pantry items and your family will love you.

Sweet and Sour Sausage Bites

This is an old recipe of my mom's. I really need to ask her where she got it. Likely clipped from a magazine. She has a whole notebook full of those that I still look at when we visit Dayton. When she first started making this in the 70's, the crazy breakout ingredient was soy sauce! So daring and unusual! This recipe tastes like childhood to me.

My kids love love love these. Sometimes I use turkey breakfast sausage cut into chunks and sometimes meatballs. Kielbasa would also be good. This time I used turkey breakfast sausage for our Halloween party tonight.

1 cup brown sugar
3 T flour
2 t dry mustard

Mix these well (to avoid lumps) in a sauce pan. add:

1 cup pineapple juice
½ cup white vinegar
2 t soy sauce

cook over medium head until bubbly and thick. Pour over "bites". Make a day or two before your party then heat and serve in a crock pot. Sometimes we have these as a main dish over rice. The leftovers, if any, are always gone by the next day. Seth loves these so much - he asked for them for breakfast this morning. Poor kid had to make do with plain turkey sausage. His life is so hard!

White Chicken Chili

Maya had her first performace with the Central Illinois Childrens Chorus Friday. My folks came from Ohio to see it. Let me tell you how THRILLED she was to have them at her performance.

We planned on dinner after the performance. I wanted to do something in the crockpot - it was cold and yucky and this perfectly fit the bill.

White Chicken Chili

chicken - rotisserie or 4 cooked breasts - I FORGOT to buy a rotisserie one so we did the four breasts
3 cans chicken broth or equivalent homemade
2 cans white beans - one whizzed up in the blender
1 can chopped green chilis
1 sauted onion (sauteed in 1 T olive oil)
1 cup frozen or canned corn

dump everything in the crockpot and go to a lovely performance of wonderfully talented children. ( cook on high about 4 hours)

When you get home, take out about 1 cup liquid and mix in 1 T cornstarch still smooth. Stir in slurry and continue to cook on high while you set the table and get drink orders. Serve with avocado, shredded sharp cheddar cheese, salsa and sour cream on the side and let everyone pick their toppings. We also had corn muffins.

this was a HUGE hit. Maya was starving and ate two bowls full. My dad and mom loved it as did Seth and I. Scott liked it okay but soup is not his favorite thing. I will so be making this again and I think my mom will too. My folks, who are retired, get into ruts with their lunches, which they hate. I am thinking this might kick them out of a rut this winter!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

This time of year - I want to use pumpkin, sweet potatoes or squash in EVERYTHING! Therefore:


1/3 cup oil (canola is preferred)
14-15 oz canned pumpkin (there are rumors of a canned pumpkin shortage but I found tons at County Market on Kirby this past weekend)
1 egg
3/4 cup white sugar (or a mixture of white and brown sugar)
1 t baking soda
½ t salt
1 T vanilla
2 cups flour
1 cup mini chocolate chips
1 T pumpkin pie spice (or 2 t cinnamon and ginger, allspice, ground cloves or nutmeg to make up 1 T)

Mix egg, oil and sugar(s). Add in spices and flour. Mix until completely blended. Add in chocolate chips.

Scoop out in small scoops. I used an actual scooper for aabout a 1" diameter cookie.

Bake at 350 for approx. 15 minutes. Make sure these are nicely browned. Start the first batch at 10 minutes and check thereafter.

Devour. These are fairly healthy due to the pumpkin which allows you to use very little oil. These are a cakey cookie that are even better the second day (if there are any left.) My kids love these. I plan to make them again this weekend for my parents - sans chocolate as my mom is strictly no caffeine (and I wonder how she EVER makes it through life....)

Pumpkin is loaded with beta-carotenes which are antioxidants that are converted to vitamin A in the body. They are thought to boost the immune system and help to repair free radical damage to cells. Beta-carotenes are being studied to determine what role they play in the prevention of various disease states. These healthy, bright orange pigments are also found in carrots. This is one reason your mom always pushed you to eat your carrots. She would have wanted you to eat pumpkin too. Pumpkin is also a rich source of vitamin C and potassium which may help to prevent heart disease and normalize blood pressure.

Johnny Marzetti - Elementary School Flashback

Do you know Johnny? If you grew up in Ohio and ate in the school cafeteria I'm sure you do!

I had some ground turkey and couldn't think of what to do with it. In the recent past we have had meatballs, lasagne, tacos and sloppy joes. Hmmmm..... Then it struck me! Let's have Johnny over to dinner! Most of the recipes I found (on Allrecipes) called for egg noodles, but we here at Why Mom Why only had about 1/4 of a bag. But - a whole box of Mostacolli. It also usually calls for green pepper (which we didn't have) and olives - but um - yuck. I like 'em - but not here.

So - here we go!

Johnny Marzetti comes to Why Mom Why

12 oz pasta - I would use shapes - cooked

1 lb ground turkey or beef
1 diced sweet onion
1 T olive oil
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can diced tomatoes whizzed in the blender
1 can mushrooms or sliced fresh mushrooms
2 T worchestershire sauce
garlic or garlic powder
1/8 cup sugar
cheddar cheese

Brown and thoroughly cook turkey and onion in olive oil. Add in all other ingrediants except pasta and cheese and simmer for a bit. In a large sprayed dish mix pasta and sauce and bake for about 30 minutes. (again - we like the crunch factor - if you don't - use a smaller dish.) Sprinkle with cheese and bake an additional 15 minutes.

Most of the recipes said to prepare the night before so I did. I had Seth sprinkle with cheese and put in the oven before I got home. I think he put about 1 teaspoon of cheese on it! I added more cheese and broiled until nice and melty.

Verdict: The kids liked it okay. Maya asked for leftovers the next day. Scott and I liked this. It's a nice change of pace from something like lasagne and a flashback to my childhood at Edwin D. Smith School in Oakwood Ohio!

Baked Rice

Do you know Tastespotting? I'm addicted. This rice dish is loosely based on a Tastespotting recipe.

1 cup long grain rice
1 T olive oil
1 finely chopped sweet onion
1 can or some fresh sliced mushrooms
2 cups chicken stock or a mixture of stock and water
1 can cream of mushroom soup
grated sharp cheddar cheese

saute onion in olive oil. When it is nicely brown (I WAY over browned mine!) add in rice and toast until golden.

Cook rice as you usually do. I use a Pampered Chef microwave rice cooker. I love it. It's a no brainer - you can stick the rice in the microwave and forget it until your food is ready - even up to 1 hour before! Just cook it for about 13 minutes and leave it in to steam until you are ready.

Mix in mushrooms and place rice in a 9x13 sprayed pyrex pan. Dot top with undiluted soup and bake at 350 for about ½ hour. Top with cheese and bake for about 15 more minutes. I use a large pan for maximum crunchiness. If you don't like yours so crunchy - cook for about 15 minutes the first go round and use a smaller dish.

I am not really one for making side dishes, even though I love them, usually more than the main dish. Everyone liked this. We had it with some boneless beef ribs at what may be our last grilled meal of the season.

I explored some baked rice dishes in which you do not cook the rice beforehand. I smell a yummy experiment coming up!

Maya's Fav

Maya LOVES Cheese Triangles. She used to get them at Papa George's before it sadly closed..... So we have to make them at home!

Cheese Triangles

1-ish cup cottage cheese
1/2 brick of Feta crumbled
1 sweet onion finely chopped
1 T olive oil
1 egg
spinach - thawed and squeezed of liquid
Phyllo dough - thawed
pepper
melted butter


Preheat oven to 350.

Gently saute the onions in the oil until transluscent. Cool. Add in cheeses and egg and spinach, pepper to taste.

cut phyllo into quarters - I use a pizza cutter.

Place a scant 1 T filling in the end of a quarter of two phyllo dough layers. Fold into a triangle. Place on cookie sheet. When the cookie sheet is full, brush with butter. Maya started making the triangles when she was barely 7 and I was sorry I didn't let her try before then. She is way better at it than I!

Bake for 15 minutes - watching carefully after 10 minutes. Serve hot or warm. This recipe made 2 cookie sheets full and the kids and I ate almost all of them almost immediately. No one said a word about EATING SPINACH!

Watermelon Lemonade

So - pretty crappy 4th of July. Maya was NO candidate to go to the fireworks in Monticello Friday night, so stayed home with her.... RAINED. ALL. DAY. Saturday. Craptacular Sunday. Did some cooking though! Yay me.

First off - Watermelon Lemonade - recipe courtesy of Here's my version:


juice of two lemons
1 small watermelon chunked
1/2 cup simple syrup

Whirl chunks of watermelon in food processor. Strain and put in pitcher. Do in batches. If your kids are weird - let them eat the pulp. Mix in simple syrup and lemon juice. Serve super cold. Wow - pictures and everything





Seth LOVED this.

Summer Cooking

In the summer I get the urge to eat little, often Mediterranean bites of things. Last summer, you may remember I spent quite a bit of money at the Schnuck's grocery store olive bar.

This summer, in the name of economy (and fun!), I'm trying to make the little bits myself.

Roasted Grape Tomatoes (I can't wait to make these with our own homegrown grapes!)

1 pint Cherry Tomatoes
1 T+ olive oil
several cloves of garlic - skin on
kosher salt

preheat oven to 400, line baking sheet with foil, spray, toss tomatoes, olive oil, salt and garlic in the pan and roast for ½ hour or until they are done to your liking. The garlic imparts flavor and you can pick it out and use with other dishes like...

Tzatziki Sauce!

1 cup or one container plain yogurt
Drain yogurt through a coffee filter and a colander into a bowl (try to set it up so the yogurt isn't sitting in its own juices) I just set it up and leave it on the counter for several hours - about ½ cup of stuff (whey??) will drain out depending on the type of yogurt.

½ of a cucumber, seeded (VERY IMPORTANT) shredded and squeezed of much of the moisture as possible.

1-2 cloves roasted garlic

kosher salt

Blend all ingredients together and use as a topping for falafel or as a spread for baguette.

Balsamic Onions

Pearl onions or 2-3 large white onions sliced- Vidalias are DELICIOUS!
½ t sugar
1 T butter
kosher salt
Balsamic vinegar

Slowly slowly slowy cook the onions with the butter, sugar and salt. This will take an hour depending on how many and what type onions you are using. Do not brown too soon, let them carmelize. When nicely carmelized, add in a couple shots of vinegar and let cook. Cool and eat with the Tzatziki Sauce or add to pasta salad. Try not to stand over the sink and just eat the whole batch plain. :-)

Roasted Chick Peas

Gawd I love these. I only make them in the summer and am never sure why I don't ever make more at one sitting? Because Scott and I usually eat them all quite quickly? Possibly...

Roast Chick Peas

1 can chick peas rinsed and drained and drained on paper towels
1 T olive oil
1-2 roasted garlic bulbs (I roasted a bunch this morning for various recipes)
salt
chili powder

In a ceramic pie plate combine oil, garlic and spices. Mush up the garlic a lot so it will be evenly spread. Add chick peas. Roast at 350 for 1+ hours. Usually when the hour is up I just leave these in the hot oven for another hour or two.

I should say this makes about 1 cup of the finished product.

delicious. Perfect with a drink about 4 on a Sunday afternoon. Hmmmm... guess what I'm doing RIGHT NOW?!

Enjoy!

Clean Out The Fridge Pasta Salad

3 oz dry orzo - cooked
1 ½ cups chick peas
3-5 handfuls (handsful) baby spinach
3 T minced onion (red or vidalia)
1 pint roasted grape tomatoes (see note)
feta (or whatever cheese you prefer - I only had about 1/3 cup but it was fine.)
2+ T olive oil
juice of ½ large lemon
lemon zest of 1 large lemon - chopped finely

Place spinach and onion in bowl. While orzo is still hot - pour into bowl. Stir to partially "cook" spinach. Add in oil, lemon juice, zest, tomatoes and feta. Eat warm or cool.

Roasting grape tomatoes. I tried this both ways this weekend and prefered the 2nd.

1. Line cookie sheet with foil. Spray with olive oil spray and sprinkle w/ kosher salt. Roast at 250 for 1+ hour.

2. Line cookie sheet with foil. Spray with olive oil spray and sprinkle w/ kosher salt. Place in a preheated 450 oven and turn off heat. (I had just made tortilla chips - so my oven was nice and hot.) Leave in oven until they are roasted and slight caramelized.

In either case - as soon as they are done - put into a bowl to save all the yummy juices. You could also sprinkle a couple garlic cloves in with these and then have roasted garlic!

Greek Casserole

This is loosely based on a WW recipe - if the queen is coming to dinner you could likely call it Pastitso

1 large onion chopped (why do most of my recipes start this way?) I had a ½ of a HUGE red one so I used that
1-2 stalks of celery (optional but I like a little crunch)
1 t garlic powder or two cloves garlic
salt
pepper
½ t cinnamon ( I have to admit I am OUT of cinnamon so used some pumpkin pie spice and some extra nutmeg. Things just go CRAZY when Scott is out of town.)
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t cloves
3/4 lb ground meat, ground beef, sirloin, turkey. This time I actually used chicken thighs I ground in the food processor - because I wanted the ground texture, not a cubed one.
1 can diced tomatoes (fresh in season are wonderful)
1 glug white wine

3/4 lb (dry) pasta - cooked - used ziti this time

3 cups skim milk
3 eggs
1/4 cup cornstarch (does this stuff go bad? I've had the same box for *quite* some time now...)
nutmeg
salt
pepper
4 oz shredded white cheese - whatever you've got - I used an Italian blend this time

Brown onion, celery, garlic & spices until onion is soft. Add in ground meat and brown completely through. Add in tomatoes. Simmer while you make the rest of the dish.

Cook pasta. Set aside

Make white sauce. Simmer milk, eggs and cornstarch until thick. Add in seasoning. Add in cheese and stir until smooth. NOTE: I had about 1 cup extra white sauce and a DEEP layer of it on top - I think next time I will make about 1/2 of the recipe for it.

Spray casserole dish with Pam. Add in pasta. Layer in meat sauce. Top with white sauce. Bake at 350 until top is brown and bubbly. About 45+ minutes?

Seth and I loved this. Maya had plain pasta. Scott is away - I think it would not quite be his thing due to the white sauce.

Enchilada Casserole

This is a hit any time I make it. It has endless variations.

9+ corn tortillas (let me tell you the amusing story of how my husband bought 3 lbs of these babies...)
1 lb ground beef, turkey, whatever
1 large can mild enchilada sauce (if this were for grownups only I'd use medium) Green is good too but the store didn't have the brand of green I like
1 onion chopped
1 t garlic powder or 2 cloves garlic
1 can black beans rinsed and drained
1+ cups cooked rice - white brown whatever
4 oz sharp cheddar grated

Brown beef, onion and garlic until onion is nicely browned and meat cooked through

spray your favorite casserole dish with PAM.

Coat bottom of dish with some enchilada sauce. Layer with tortillas to cover in one layer.

Layer 1/2 meat, rice, beans, 1/3 cheese and sauce. Add another layer of tortillas and repeat. End with one more layer tortillas, sauce, and cheese.

Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes until nice and bubbly.

I made this last night and everyone also had some for breakfast today!

Passover Roast

By Sunday of Passover, which started on Wednesday, we were dying for meat. We tend to eat a TON of poultry this time of year. This is wonderful anytime though.

So - without further ado - Passover Roast!

1 medium size roast (I forgot to check the poundage)
2 large sweet onions sliced
2 -3 handfuls of baby carrots
½ c. red wine
½ c. water
2 T red wine or balsamic vinegar
1 - 2 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic through the masher
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 300.

Get the oil very hot in an oven proof dutch oven. Salt and pepper the roast. Brown the roast on all sides and add the onions in about ½ through this process to get them a little browned too. Add in the garlic & carrots. Add in all the liquids. Cover with an ovenproof lid.

Roast for 3-4 hours. I really don't think you can roast this too long. Try not to peek too often. After 2 hours check for liquid level and add another ½ cup wine if necessary.

Remove roast and let rest. Reduce pan gravy. Slice roast and serve with pan gravy, mashed potatoes and horseradish sauce. Be shocked if you have leftovers!

Breakfast Casserole

We actually had this for dinner Monday night. There were no leftovers....

5 eggs
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can milk
1-2 t good mustard
4-5 shakes hot sauce
½ - 1 lb sausage (you can use turkey breakfast sausage as I do, pork breakfast sausage, turkey or pork Italian sausage
5 slices good bread - cubed (My sister in law Sherry uses tomato rosemary focciacia sometimes)
1 cup shredded super sharp cheddar

Cook and crumble sausage. Drain well. Spray casserole dish and put bread cubes and then sausage in dish. Wisk eggs, soup and milk. Add in mustard & hot sauce. Wisk. Pour over bread & sausage. Top with cheese. Spray foil with Pam (or use no-stick foil) and cover tightly. Refrigerate overnight. Bake at 350 for at least 1 hour if not 1 ½ hours. Uncover for last 15 minutes. Yum.

You could also add sauteed fresh mushrooms, or canned , finely diced onions or celery or all three. If you used Italian sausage, you could top with Mozzerella or provolone.

This will puff up and look awesome. It will also look like way too much food. People always love this and I rarely have leftovers. But it re-heats very nicely.

Pot Roast Stew

So - I didn't have pot roast but I did have beef stew meat.

2 onions - sliced into sixths lengthwise
carrots - I had baby ones on hand - used about ½ bag
4 stalks celery - sliced into thirds
1 T olive oil
3-4 garlic cloves
1 lb beef stew meat
salt
pepper
sugar
wine
flour

Heat oil in a dutch oven until it is very hot. Meanwhile pat beef chunks dry and season with salt, pepper and sugar (the sugar gives it a GREAT carmelized sear). Sear the beef in two batches. Set beef aside. Add in wine - white or red - your preference. I used about ½ bottle of rose for this - cause it's what I had on hand. Using your garlic press, press garlic into wine. Add in veggies and beef. Cover with tin foil or ovenproof lid of dutch oven. Roast at 350 for 2+ hours. Remove meat and veggies. I use a big wok slotted spoon. Add more wine depending on how much is left and start it boiling. Make a slurry with 1/3 cup wine and 2-3 T flour. Add some hot wine into slurry and then add the whole thing into the dutch oven. Wisk to keep it smooth. Add back in meat and veggies and serve over mashed potatoes (as I did), egg noodles, good bread (for a pot roast hot shot), rice, whatever you have on hand!

I realized in the middle of the night - when I have all my great realizations - that the recipe I was cribbing off of called for a can of whole tomatoes - crushed. Totally forgot but this was great anyway. Scott loved it. There were no leftovers.

Whole Wheat Bread

So - a slight whole wheat bread obsession - compliments of my husband - has overtaken me. He doesn't like the white bread I make. It's too dense and too white for him. (one of his solutions? Yellow food coloring. Really.)

So - I started with this recipe from Smitten Kitchen. Six or so loaves later I think I've got it.

I used this yeast. I had the thought on about loaf 4 to use more yeast. This caught my eye at the grocery and I like the brand.

I proofed the yeast according to the package (1/4 cup warm water, 1/4 t sugar) BEFORE I added it to the flour mixture.

I used this whole wheat flour and added it first so that I would be sure to get the full amount in the bread.

I used this white flour and only added about 2 1/4 cups. But that always varies.

Wow - a whole wheat dough that actually rose! It responded to the second rising (a problem I'd been having) and baked up wonderfully. The loaf is almost gone - I made it Sunday and it's Tuesday.

Success!

Kale Soup

Lisa's making Kale soup on the WILL show and I've been thinking about it ever since she mentioned it. At Wal-mart on Saturday they had HUGE bags of triple washed kale. HUGE. about 16x12 inches. And I had a turkey kielbasa in the freezer so....

Smoked Turkey Kale Soup

1 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic - mashed
1 T olive oil
3 medium potatoes diced
1 cup white wine
2 cans chicken stock
1-2 cups water
1 Turkey Kielbasa (1 lb?) chopped
a lot of kale
salt
pepper

saute onions and garlic in olive oil. Add potatoes and saute the whole mess for a while. (I don't know why - but sauteing the potatoes in soups first makes them more palatable to me.) Add kielbasa and brown a bit.

Add white wine, and start ripping up and adding kale (I had about a 6" long piece of kale in soup at a restaurant recently and it was NOT GOOD.) Let kale cook down a bit. Add some more kale, the chicken stock. Cook down. More kale. Water. Cook down. More kale. I would guess I used about 1/3 of the bag of kale. Let kale simmer and cook down. It really doesn't ever get mushy (a la spinach).

I just had some for lunch. Tasty.

Exciting pieces of news:

Scott reports that Papa Del's now has signage up & equipment inside at their long-awaited restaurant at Village at the crossing.

Secondly - Seth won! Seth Won!! Seth will be cooking live on WILL TV, 3/9/09. He submitted his beef stew recipe and was the only child selected. I have never seen him so excited! Details to follow.....

DARN! Taco Filling

This was a huge hit and I really wasn't paying attention when I was cooking it.... I *think* this is pretty close.

1 lb beef stew meat (I get ours from Marketday.)
1 can diced or crushed tomatoes
1 onion - diced
4-6 diced pickled jalapenos
1 cup chicken broth
½ -1 t sugar
salt
pepper

saute onions and peppers in olive oil. Season meat and brown in two batches. Add tomatoes & chicken broth. Simmer for 2-3 hours until the beef shreds. Use as taco, enchilada, mexican lasagna filling, etc.

And - I'm working on more pictures!

Chicken Tetrazzini

This was an attempt to get everyone to eat the same thing for dinner. If I make something very very basic (chicken breasts or steak with [plain] pasta) everyone will eat it. But really - how often can you eat that....

Everyone did eat this. Maya, Scott and I loved it. Seth tolerated one serving and filled up on Clementines. I'm not sure what I'm going to do when that season is over.

Adapted from a Weight Watchers recipe

8 oz. pasta ( I used angel hair broken into thirds) cooked al dente
2 Market Day chicken breasts - cubed
1 onion - chopped fine
2 stalks celery - diced large (the better to pick it out...)
2 T flour
1 cup skim milk
3-4 oz sharp cheddar - separated
Potato Chips [because Seth will eat ANYTHING with potato chips]

Saute chicken in a bit of olive or canola oil. Set aside. Saute veggies and add flour. Cook flour for 3-4 minutes. Add milk and ½ the cheese. Stir until cheese is melted.

Pam a casserole dish. Mix everything together. top with chips and the rest of the cheese [grated]. Bake at 375 for approx. ½ hour. I made this the night before and once again - was SO happy to have a dinner to pop in when I got home.

What are YOU doing tomorrow?

I'm making these two recipes. I counted and I have 24 small and 12 large goodie bags to make!


Puppy Chow

My kids love this stuff. It goes for $4 for about a 3 cup container at our County Market grocery - and it's so easy to make at home. My friend Maggie calls it Trash because she coats it with powdered sugar in a trash bag. I have my eye on a 1XL Glad bag to do my mixing this year. I'll likely make 4x this recipe in two batches.

1/2 cup Peanut Butter
1/4 cup Butter
1 cup Chocolate Chips
1/2 tsp. Vanilla
9 cups Crispix cereal
1-1/2 cups Powdered Sugar

1. Combine peanut butter, butter and chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl.

2. Microwave for one minute then stir to blend all ingredients thoroughly. Add 1/2 tsp. vanilla. Stir well.

3. Pour over cereal. Coat with powdered sugar.

Buckeyes

My friend Judy from Chicago calls these diabetic coma cookies. When I was growing up in Ohio these were a standard at holiday parties. Once my girlfriends and I made a game of counting how many one of the mom's at the party ate. It. Was. A. LOT. These freeze perfectly.

1 lb. box powdered sugar
1 1/2 c. smooth peanut butter
1/2 c. soft butter
3 c. Rice Krispies
dark chocolate or whatever you prefer

Put peanut butter and powdered sugar into bowl. Melt butter, blend into peanut butter until smooth. Add Rice Krispies and combine. Cool for a bit for easier handling. Coat hands with butter and form mixture into "small" balls. Return to refrigerator to re-cool.

Melt chocolate in double boiler or microwave. Once balls are cooled, insert a toothpick as a "handle" and dip 1/2 of peanut butter ball into chocolate. Place onto waxed paper and allow to cool. I have NO idea how many batches of these I'll make, probably at least three.

Perhaps I need to get out more?

Two cool things I came across at lunch today.

One - from a children's Hannukah cookbook - grate the potatoes for your latkes over a colander and let them drain. Amazing! I just never thought of this.

Two - from a co-worker's plate of holiday goodies - she took a picture of the plate then put on labels for all the items, printed it out and taped it to the cover. Amazing again! Like a map of a box of chocolates.

Two cool cooking things in 1 hour! Fun!

Three (or more!) Cheese Lasagna

This is a hit at potlucks with kids.

12 pieces dry lasagna (NOT the "no-boil" kind)
2 jars of your favorite pasta sauce
1 medium container cottage cheese
1 medium container ricotta cheese
shredded mozzerella, provolone, maybe a little cheddar to make 8-16 oz. - depending on how cheese-y you are feeling.
1 egg

These are the bare bones ingredients. I usually doctor up the sauce with by sauteing some onions, garlic & mushrooms in olive oil first, and adding some wine or balsamic vinegar.

Mix all the cheeses except for about 4-6 oz of the shredded, with the egg. You could add a little parsley too if you wanted.

Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Ladle in one cup sauce (A 1 cup ladle is a MUST in any kitchen!) Line pan with uncooked lasagna, breaking pieces to fit as necessary. Top with ½ of the of the cheese mixture. Top with 2 cups (approx) of the sauce. Repeat with lasagna, cheese & sauce. Add one more layer of lasagna and sauce and top with reserved cheese.

THIS IS THE KEY TO THIS RECIPE: Spray a large piece of foil with cooking spray. Tightly and completely cover the pan with the foil. You can make ahead and refrigerate at this point.

Bake at 350 for 1 1/4 to 1 ½ hours. Remove foil and broil a couple minutes if you like your cheese browned.

For potlucks - this is a nice non-meat dish that kids love. If just the family is eating - I would add some ground sirloin to the sauce - browning with the onions, etc.

yum.

Getting Ready for the Holidays

Just thinking about cooking for them them is fun for me. This is what I typically make - recipes to follow throughout the next couple weeks:

Cheddar Jalapeno Crackers - from my single days

Poor Girl's Turtles
This is what the kids love to make - although Seth wants to try something "real" this year. Cover a pan with mini pretzel twists. Top each with a Rollo. Put in oven for 3 minutes on 300 - watching very closely. Remove from oven and carefully press a pecan half into each one. Cool and enjoy! Make WAY more than you think you will need. Unwrapping the rollos is a highly recommended activity for kids ages 4-ish on up. Just give them a limit of how many they can eat while unwrapping.

Buckeyes - cause you know, you can take the girl out of Ohio but you can't take the Ohio out of the girl.

Sugared Walnuts - both this and the fudge are recipes my mother and I always made

Fudge - always always dedicated to my maternal grandpa Ray Wheeler

Potato Latkes
potatoes
onion
carrots
oil
egg
salt & pepper
flour

grate potatoes, onion and carrot. If you want to get all fancy, place them all in an old dish towel and squeeze the moisture out. This involves help from your husband and makes him feel all strong and macho. If you don't want to be all fancy, just add into bowl and use the technique described later. Add in egg(s) salt & pepper, and a little flour.

Heat oil. Fry one latke first to ensure the oil is hot enough. This is one for the trashcan. It never turns out right. I find that smaller latkes work the best. Fry latkes and place on an oven-proof plate in layers of paper towels. Place on low/warm in the oven. Serve with applesauce and sour cream. We like to have horseradish in our sour cream.

If you do not remove moisture from the potatoes, quite a bit will accumulate in the bowl. I tilt the bowl and try not to get too much of it in the latkes when I scoop out the potatoes.

Puppy Chow also known as Trash - a delightful combo of chex mix, peanut butter, chocolate and powdered sugar. A recent discovery and a new fav of the kids.

Seth and I are looking for cookie recipes to add to our holiday favorites. Any ideas?

Sick Mom Crockpot Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts - frozen is okay (of course we use Marketday)
1 box rice pilaf
several splashes of your favorite zesty italian dressing

spray crockpot with Pam
put in chicken and splash with dressing
add 1 cup water
put in pilaf and seasoning packet
add another cup water and splash again with dressing.

Cook on low all day. Splash with some more dressing if it seems to be getting dry.

This was a hit with the kids and not just cause I served it with whole cranberry sauce. I used the dressing to keep the chicken moist - mostly cause that's usually what I marinate it in and the kids love it. The pilaf comes out sort of risotto-y. Very comforting when you are sick.

After I put this on to cook I took some Nyquil and slept all day. I was SO HAPPY to have dinner all ready to go!

A Small Preview of the Halloween Party

When I saw these on Suburban Bliss I knew we had to make them. Scott already found me the arms.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

I had some at the new Houlihan's a month or so ago and knew it was something I could re-create at home. Both the kids love this.

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 large onion - chopped
1 small can of those little peppers found in the hispanic food aisle (the real name is TOTALLY escaping me at the moment.)
2 T olive oil
3-4 ribs celery chopped
1 pattypan squash (I threw this in cause I had some on hand from the farmer's market - totally optional)
2-3 cloves garlic - put through press

brown onion, celery, garlic, peppers in olive oil. Add in cubed chicken about 1/2 way through.

Add: 1/4 - 1/2 c white wine and a squirt of lime juice

Add: 1 of those huge cans of chicken stock - or homemade stock (which I am out of - guess what I'm doing NEXT weekend...)

Simmer for 1-4 hours.

Add in: 2 large flour tortillas sliced into thin strips.

When ready to serve slice up two more tortillas, lay on baking sheet and spray with olive oil spray. Cook at 375 until brown (watch closely).

Ladle piping hot soup into bowls or mugs. Add in: 1 T fat free 1/2 & 1/2 (Optional - again - I had it on hand). Sprinkle with tortilla crunchies and shredded cheese (if you like!)

This is going to be great later this week when it gets cold here. The leaves are changing, fall weather is almost here. This is why I love the Midwest and will never leave.

Obsessed

I know - I've made challah 3 times in the past 5 weeks or so.

This is the original recipe I've always used and it's really the best one I can make. This is "Scott's" recipe - from the News-Gazette and it pre-dates me - so it's from before 1995!

Scott's Challah
7 - 7 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 T active dry yeast (I use 2 packets)
2 c water
1/4 c sugar
1/4 margarine
2 t kosher salt
3 eggs
1 egg
raisins, popppy seeds, sesame seeds (optional)

Combine water, sugar and margarine in a saucepan and heat until just barely over body temp (a tip from Alton Brown I recently tried. Apparently I had always heated my water too hot!)

Meanwhile - mix 3 c flour and yeast in stand mixture with hook. When water mixture is just hot enough add to flour and mix well. Add in 3 eggs. Add in flour 1 cup at a time until the dough is moderately stiff and elastic - mixing for 6-8 minutes.

Place in clean oiled bowl and let rise until double. Divide dough into thirds and each third into thirds again. Work in raisins at this point if you are using. Braid into three loaves. If it's a holiday - make into a round loaf. Otherwise you may leave straight. Let rise until double again. Brush with beaten egg and top with seeds if desired. Bake in 350 - 375 degree oven for about 28 minutes. Knock on loaf when it looks done - if it sounds hollow - it's done (a tip from Cathy Holcomb.) Cool on wire rack.

This is delicious. My kids could eat nothing but this with butter for days when it's fresh. It also makes wonderful french toast when it's not so fresh. (mix egg, 1/2 & 1/2 or milk, vanilla, a splash of oj. Soak slightly stale slices of challah and grill until golden brown.)

The Weekend & Baking for Rosh Hashanah

This past weekend I hosted my parents in for a quick trip from Ohio. The kids love to see them and it was all the more fun because Seth won third place in the state-wide Town & Country Art show. We were all thrilled.

Sunday they left early as is their habit. I spent the day baking for Rosh Hashanah and doing laundry. I made two recipes from the Smitten Kitchen, Challah and Honey Cake. Deb is my new hero. Next time I am putting either raisins or chocolate chips in the honey cake - just to see. Maybe do a loaf with both? It would also be tasty with apples, as in one of her comments.

L'Shanah tovah.

Have a sweet new year.

Isn't This What EVERYONE Does With Their Saturday?

Yesterday I bought 5 lbs of ground sirloin. HOW FUN!

I made:

Meatballs
2 lbs. ground sirloin
1 large chopped onion
2 cloves pressed garlic
1/2 t red pepper flakes
1 T Italian seasoning
salt
pepper
1/4 cup milk
1 cup bread crumbs (I threw some pieces of almost stale french bread into the blender)
2 eggs

Mix well and form into balls. I baked mine this time b/c the stovetop was full. This made approx. 70 meatballs.

Chili
1 1/2-ish lbs ground sirloin
1 large onion chopped
3 pressed cloves garlic
3 stalks celery chopped
1 large can crushed tomatoes
1 large can whole tomatoes
3 cans of beer
1/4+ cup chili powder
1 can kidney beans (I would have put in another if I had one on hand!)

Brown meat with onion, garlic & celery. Drain any grease.

Add everything into dutch oven and simmer the heck out of it for 3+ hours. Mash whole tomatoes with potato masher after 2 hours.

We eat Cincinnati style - spaghetti, grate super sharp cheddar, crackers. Maya just has the pasta and cheese!

Empanadas
1 1/2-ish lbs ground sirloin
1 large onion chopped
3 pressed cloves garlic
3 stalks celery chopped
2 T chili powder
1/3 cup dried fruit - I had cranberries. You could also use raisins
Shredded sharp cheddar
refrigerated biscuit dough

Brown first 4 ingredients. I actually did the chili meat and the empanada meat together.

Add chili powder and cranberries.

Fancy way (for when the queen comes to dinner) roll out rounds of biscuit dough. Place small amount of meat and cheese and fold over. Seal with fork. I did about 10 of these, got bored and placed the rest of the biscuit dough (I used almost all of 4 small cylinders) into muffin tins (the tin I used is somewhere between mini & regular sized). Smash meat mixture with fingers. Top with cheese. Bake @ 350 for about 20 minutes. I had 10 regular and about 24 muffins. We ate the regular and I froze the muffins.

Now I have a bunch of meals in the freezer! Yay for me!!!

Dinner Tonight

I'm home with Seth, who is sick. You may have heard me whine about this already today.

So tonight for dinner - what are you making? Here's mine

Beef & Bean Enchiladas

1/2 lb of some kind of cheap steak. I'm marinating it in olive oil, garlic and red wine (WHINE) vinegar as we speak. I'll cook this slowly in the oven with some onion and then shred
1 can black refried beans
1 large can red enchilada sauce (I would prefer the green but the store didn't have any today)
2 cups cooked brown rice (Since Scott is not home to see me cook - I'm sneaking in the brown that he doesn't like as much of the white) Cooked in microwave in a Pampered Chef rice cooker - BEST. EVER. RICE. COOKER.
salsa - I have like 1/2 jar in the fridge.
grated cheese - we like sharp cheddar
whole grain tortillas

Mix together shredded steak and onions, beans, rice & salsa. Maybe add in some chopped pickled jalapenos. Stuff tortillas with bean mixture and cover with enchilada sauce. Bake for about 1/2 hour and then add cheese and back for another 10 minutes or so and broil at the end.

Serve with: sour cream - Maya, avocados - the rest of us.

Not too fancy but I know everyone will eat it! We some great honey crisps - so I'll serve those on the side.

Kids & Food

Is your child picky?

Read this. And the comments. I find them so interesting. I am a bad mother. I don't push things I know my kids won't eat. I ask occasionally.

Seth - I started to write a list of what he *will* eat and then realized it was pretty comprehensive. He will not eat most veggies however. I try to fill in with fruit and he will eat raw veggies over cooked. He refuses anything "fuzzy" (soda) and love milk and lemonade. He loves sushi, pate (a direct result of his trip to France this past summer). He is not big on sauces (on his chicken nuggets, pasta sauce, etc.) He will eat beans in any form: chili, hummus, black beans with his tacos, you name it. Often he tells me he LIKES something (such as mushrooms) but he's just not in the MOOD for it right now....

Maya - would willingly live on mac & cheese (she likes Easy Mac the best! Better than Stouffers!!), grilled cheese, cheese quesadillas, cheese pizza. You get the picture. She would rather die than drink milk, however. She LOVES soda. Ugh. She does realize when she has eaten too much cheese or sweets and will self ration at times (No more sweets today, Mom. No cheese until Tuesday!) HOWEVER, she will eat other standard things we have a lot, with not *too* much fuss. And, she will always pick the apples at a fast food restaurant over fries. She also loves Greek food.

They will both eat Chinese, Thai - any Asian. We took them for Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) and they were both in heaven. They love any type of berries and will pick those for a treat over candy at the grocery .

SO - I know I need to push the veggies more. When I was growing up, we always had carrot and celery sticks and if you didn't eat the vegetable served with dinner, you ate those. I need to start doing that!

Scott and I eat Indian, Greek, Asian, sushi, lots of veggies, spicy food, a broad range. I love to cook (obviously) and try new recipes and we love to try new restaurants. In the winter we eat a lot of soup. I think this food electicism (is that a word) is rubbing off on my kids. They are always willing to at least try new types of foods, or foods they like cooked in a different ethnic way, and for that I am happy. This is not to say they don't eat pasta with butter & cheese at least once a week. Cause they do. And they love it.....

Trader Joe's

Who can tell me why we don't have a Trader Joe's in Champaign? That, in addition to the rumored SuperTarget off the new Curtis Road interchange, and I could die a happy woman. We are reduced to gigantic shopping trips at the one in Kettering, OH, minutes from my folk's house. Here's what I usually get:

Annie's Organic easy mac
roasted red peppers
pitted calamata olives
roasted red pepper dip
orzo (SO MUCH CHEAPER)
dried tortellini (again with the cheap-ness)
frozen pot stickers
frozen artichoke hearts
Two Buck Chuck - 6+ bottles (I use the white for cookin' and the red for drinkin')
dried fruit
dark chocolate - if in bulk
marinara sauce
feta cheese
goat cheese
frozen tuna burgers
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
peanut sauce
mango chutney
Indian shelf stable entrees
Laughing Cow garlic & herb light
various chicken sausages (last time I got chicken andouille which is so hard to find)
some type of fun beer.

Since we go so rarely - I buy in bulk - usually at least two of everything but the vinegar & oil.

health?

Have you ever had vertigo? I hadn't until Monday. All I can say is yuck. I thought there was something SERIOUSLY wrong with me. Luckily (?) the verdict came back inner ear infection. The really really FUN part is the medicine they give you for the vertigo. Knocked me on my ass for about 32 hours.... Am finally coming out of the haze. Back to work tomorrow? We'll see. Oh! and the OTHER fun part, if anxiety makes your already borderline high blood pressure go up, you should see what it does to you along with feeling like crap. I suspect the doc visit today is mostly a BP check. I am not vertignous (?) anymore. I don't think. It's so hard to tell when you've been sleeping practically since Monday night. And when I say sleeping, I mean in a coma.....

Cheers!

Summer Cooking

This summer I feel like I've been making the same things over and over.

Dish #1
Potatoes, squash or eggplant, onions, sometimes tomatoes
chop 'em all up
drizzle with olive oil
garlic or garlic powder, maybe some salt and pepper
cook on grill in cast iron skillet.

Dishes #2 & 3
Potato Salad & Baked Beans - I almost always make these at the same time
See potato salad recipe in post below.

Baked Beans
1-2 large cans of Bush's Vegetarian Beans
catsup
mustard
hot sauce
brown sugar
cook in crockpot for a good long while (doesn't heat up the kitchen!)

Dish #4
Little Bits of Things on Baguette.
Go to Schnucks olive bar. Purchase the onions, the mushrooms, feta & olives, buffalo mozzerella, sun dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, maybe some artichoke hearts. Serve with hummus
Eat on deck - take a long time to finish.
This is actually a huge hit with everyone. Seth loves hummus. Maya loves feta. Scott and I love everything else and we ALL love baguette!

Dish #5
Chicken Breasts (boneless skinless from Marketday)
Marinate in italian dressing, Soy Vay Teriyaki sauce, whatever. For some reason my kids are LOVING these this summer.)

Dish #6
Pudding Cups (not very highbrow!)
2 packages instant pudding - we use chocolate & vanilla
bunch of oreos
2 cups cool whip
2 cups milk
Make pudding with 1 cup milk and 1 cup cool whip per package.
Let each of your 2 kids smash 8-10 oreos in a zip lock bag
Put one oreo in medium sized dixie-type cup. Layer with pudding and crushed oreos - 2 layers of pudding - three of oreos.
Freeze until firm. Let your kids go wild. Bath children or at least wash faces. With these I figure they are getting SOME calcium, etc. It's a good thing to have in the freezer on hot summer nights.

I'm off to the farmers market this weekend. Inspired by the folks @ Sweet Juniper!

First Family Pic in a Looong time!

All gussied up for MIL's 70th b-day party at Jupiters on 8/17/08.

Curry/Chinese Chicken Salad

In an effort to save money, i've been trying NOT to purchase expensive "special ingredients" which is HARD for me! I get our usual "pantry" items and go with those. (Hence the Pantry pasta salad, etc.)

Also this weekend we bought a smoker at a garage sale ($5! Friend price from my dear friend and neighbor Jenny - came with delivery too!) For our first experiment we did: a brisket, some salmon and a whole chicken. Okay, THOSE were "special ingredients" but so worth it, we've used, or have plans for every single delicious bite! Most of the brisket (w/ BBQ sauce) and salmon were eaten Saturday night along with another batch of pantry pasta salad and grilled potatoes (done in my new lovely square cast iron skillet with "grills" on it. $4.98 on clearance at Bed Bath & Beyond!) We even had enough to provide my jet-lagged MIL her friend with dinner.

So - here is Pantry Chinese Chicken Salad
2 cups shredded chicken from a smoked chicken. (a store done rotisserie one would work well too)
1/4 cup mayo ('cause that's all that was left!)
1 T lime juice
1 T honey
1 T soy sauce
½ t curry powder
1/4 cup water
4 interior stalks of celery with fronds - sliced thin
1/4 of a large vidalia - cooked until brown in 2 t canola
1/4 cup sliced almonds½ cup sliced red grapes (green would be fine or dried cranberries or even mandarin oranges)
cilantro for garnish
So - these were all things I had on hand. I made the dressing in the mayo jar to get every last drop of the scant 1/4 cup I had left - shook it up and dressed the salad.

How do you say delicious in Mandarin?!

My Parents....

This is what I think of when someone says "Potato Salad". My mom is a good cook with some core recipes - this is one. She didn't really learn to cook as a child and didn't have the time raising the three of us, working (usually FT) and getting her masters when I was in high school (ahem - ALL A's!) My dad came later in life to cooking as well. With the scientific things (like perfect eggs), he is the master!

Marjie’s Potato Salad

5 large Yukon gold potatoes (or your preference) scrubbed well
2 T salt for boiling water
½ Vidalia onion very finely minced
3-4 stalks celery finely chopped
¼ to ½ c. dry white wine
2 T butter or margarine
½ - 1 cup mayonnaise (I use Hellman's Olive Oil mayo lately)
3-4 hard boiled eggs, sliced
Paprika to garnish

1. Bring large pot of water to boil and salt liberally. Chop potatoes into large chunks and cook on a low boil until a fork slides into one easily.
2. Drain potatoes, place in large bowl, and immediately (while the potatoes are HOT) dot with butter and sprinkle wine over them. Let wine and butter soak in.
3. Add rest of ingredients in bowl and mix well – taking care not to mash the potatoes. Add ½ cup mayo and see if it’s wet enough. If not – add ¼ cup at a time until it’s how you like.
4. Sprinkle with paprika if the queen is coming to dinner. You can also save one egg and scatter the slices atop the salad & then you will be very fancy.
5. Serve hot if you like (we do), warm or chilled.

Paul’s Hard Boiled Eggs
Put eggs in cold water and bring to a boil. Let boil about 1 minute and then turn off heat. Let sit in pot on burner for 15 minutes. Douse eggs with cold water and peel. These will be beautiful (no green ring) every time.


And no, Linda, probably not too points-friendly. Sorry!

Susan's Hot Sauce

1 medium Vidalia onion
2 large (or 4 small) roma tomatoes (I would probably get regular red tomatoes with the stems on about now!)
1 green jalapeno
1 red jalapeno
3 cloves garlic
Cilantro (if desired)

Chop onion into quarters and skewer all the veggies. Spray or coat garlic with olive oil.

Grill for 10-15 minutes.

Peel peppers (and de-seed if you wish) and throw everything into blender or food processor. Blend until chunky. Add in ¼ - ½ cup white vinegar and pinch salt. Blend and taste to correct seasonings. Add cilantro and blend again.

YUM! We like on eggs and hash browns, chips, with guacamole, on just about anything!

Pantry Pasta Salad

½ package dried cheese tortellini or more if you have a whole package!
1 cup orzo (cooked separately)
1/4 chunk feta crumbled
3 green onions chopped
1 roasted red pepper chopped
3 stalks celery chopped
1/3 cup chopped kalamata olives
20 slices turkey pepperoni sliced
½ cup salad dressing (I used light ceasar)
1 T brown mustard

Mix cooked hot pasta with all ingredients. Eat warm or chilled, as you prefer.

Add in whatever catches your fancy in your pantry or fridge - cubed cheese, chopped ham or turkey, fresh or sundried tomatoes, Vidalia onion, Parmesan, artichoke hearts ( I meant to put these in but forgot!)

Great for lunches when you are sick of sandwiches - LIKE ME!

10 Things to Like Today

1. I'm off Friday afternoon.
2. The Lawyer slept last night
3. The kids L*O*V*E their new day camp
4. Fern has been sleeping with me (she hates the C-PAP)
5. We are having a garage sale on Saturday, even though it's a lot of work
6. Monica and I remain friends through everything
7. My new library friends too! And Jenny!!
8. I'll be with my family at the Holcomb Adventure Weekend & Kelly & Fred, etc. on 7/3.
9. *I* slept last night!
10. My new allergy pills seem to work - at least until I get home from work.

Kinda boring - but some days it's the little things......

cookie pizzA

102_0972
Originally uploaded by srhlerner

someday I'll figure all this out!

Cookie Pizza

Happy Memorial Day!

The kids and I made this delicious cookie pizza. It is from a Betty Crocker kids cookbook. It was a huge hit at our BBQ!

Okay - I know my picture links are not working - but this old clunker computer isn't very cooperative! Click on them to get to flickr.

French Onion Soup

This is a family favorite - traditionally had on Christmas Eve. Credit my SIL Cathy for asking for seconds.... (WHY didn't We think of that!)

I now make several pots a year. I'm the only one at my house who eats it so I eat it every meal for several days. Good crusty bread, smoked provolone, Fiestaware dish and a few minutes under the broiler. Heaven...

Marjie's French Onion Soup
3-4 cans Campbell's Beef Buillone
2 cans water
1 can dry white wine
5 large sweet onions
a buncha butter
worchestershire sauce
pinch of sugar

Slice onions into rings. Over low heat sweat the onions in the butter & sugar until they are soft and transluscent. Seriously, the last time I made this it took 2 COMPLETELY WORTH IT hours. Add in liquids and simmer for a couple hours.

To serve - put in ovenproof bowl, top with crusty bread and smoke provolone and broil. I like my cheese broiled to brown spots!

Merry Christmas!

where to begin?

I've been inspired by Lisa at Champaign Taste to start blogging again. So stay with us and see where we've been. Thanks Lisa!

What have I been cooking lately you ask?

Cincinnati Chili - yum. I was in college before I realized you could have a bowl of chili plain - without spaghetti!

1 lb ground beef or turkey
1 large onion chopped
3 ribs celery chopping
2 cloves garlic
1-2 T chili powder
½ t cumin
½ t cinnamon (yup, cinnamon)
1 square unsweetened Bakers Chocolate (you heard me - chocolate!)
Olive oil - just a little
Sauté the vegetables and add the spices and chocolate. Add in meat and brown completely.

Add - 1 large can tomato puree, 1 large can diced tomatoes, 1 or 2 little (drinkable) cans of tomato juice or V-8, 1 beer, 2 cans red kidney beans, undrained

Stir and cook for several hours - at least 2. Taste and adjust chili powder as needed - I always need to add more at this point. Add hot sauce at this point if desired and more liquid if it seems thick.

Cook a while longer - one hour at least.

Serve "five ways"
chili (the beans make it a "way")
spaghetti (long and thick spaghetti!)
grated cheddar
oyster crackers
shredded onion


Bread - quite a success. Made one recipe of whole wheat bread. Added home-roasted sunflower seeds, mashed flax and separated into two loaves. One loaf - savory - green olive and sun-dried tomato. The other loaf - sweet - dried cranberries & cinnamon. This was a total experiment and worked out really really well!

Meatballs. Pretty standard for me. Good to have in freezer.

Burritos. Made my own filling: chicken, corn, refried beans, enchilada sauce, rice, onion, garlic. This was kind of a clean out the cupboard & fridge dish. Made one meal and probably have enough filling left for 1 ½ more meals! Kids loved them as did Scott. I like them well enough. I was initially thinking Mexican lasagna but I might do that with the leftovers.

The kids love all this stuff. Chili, tacos or burritos, and meatballs are standard fare for us! I always have canned tomatoes, all sorts of beans, enchilada sauce and pasta sauce in the pantry.

Sunday Dinner (last Sunday)

Sunday Dinner
(no pictures!)
Braciole – idea by Champaign Taste

Recipe by Alton Brown – Food Network
Twists by Susan
3 cups tomato sauce
1 1/4 cups flavored croutons 1/3 cup grated Parmesan 2 eggs 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano 1 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary 1 teaspoon finely chopped thyme 1 clove garlic 1 pound flank steak, pounded to 1/4-inch thick Olive oil, for brushing Salt and pepper Vegetable oil, for searing
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the tomato sauce in a 9 by 13-inch baking dish and place in the oven to heat.
In a the bowl of a food processor mix the croutons, cheese, eggs, herbs and garlic until it forms a paste.
Brush the pounded flank steak with the olive oil and season generously with the salt and pepper. Spread the filling evenly over the meat. Roll tightly and tie with butcher's twine.
In a large saute pan heat 1 to 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and sear all sides of the rolled meat. Remove from the pan.
Add to the hot tomato sauce, cover with a tin foil tent so that the foil is not touching the meat. Braise for 35 minutes or, up to 3 hours.

Twists – I used Prego sauce – no inclination to make my own! I didn’t heat the sauce first. I also used Asiago cheese. Used about 1/3 cup chopped parsley and no other herbs. I used about 3 large cloves garlic. I sprinkled with flour and salt and seared in olive oil and deglazed the pan with about ½ cup dry white wine. I did this all in a big oven proof dutch oven and roasted it in that too, covered with the lid for the pan. I roasted for about 1 ½ hours at 325 and 1 hour at 300 – turning about every ½ hour. I added some more wine and sauce about ½ way through the roasting as it seemed to be getting low and thickening up quite a bit. I served with fettuccine and more grated asiago.

This was delicious, tasty, wonderful! Scott liked it. Seth and I LOVED it and Maya merely tolerated it (as it bore no resemblance to macaroni and cheese).

Thoughts: The flank steak shrank quite a bit. If I was serving more than four, I would make two rolls. I would also use the garlic press or roast the garlic first (I just minced it this time). It was QUITE garlicky! I would also crush the croutons by hand and not use the blender at all. Just mush everything up in a bowl and go from there. Definitely use butcher’s twine. I made the roll early in the day and pan seared it about 2:30 pm. I think chilling the whole thing for a couple hours really helped it maintain its shape. This is a long fairly involved recipe. I love making this type of thing on a Sunday afternoon!

Kids’ reactions: Seth loved it! It tasted like “mushed up meatballs”. Maya tolerated it.

I will definitely be making this one again!

What did YOU do Thursday night?

For Linda

http://www.publicradio.org/columns/marketplace/thejuice/2007/08/youll_still_have_to_go_out_for.html#comments

I l*o*v*e when you hear stuff on the radio and it just makes you think of one person and one person only. This made me think of my Mommy friend - Linda. (and I don't even DRINK coffee!)

Indian Feast

I don't have time to transcribe the recipes and you probably wouldn't make them anyway! Had a huge Indian feast last night. Naan, samosas, curry chickpeas and tandoori-ish chicken & of course basmati rice. Delicious! Here are some progress pics - once we got close to dinner, everyone was too hungry for me to snap many of the finished products!

Chicken in first marinating stage.

Potatoes for samosas.

Partially completed chick pea curry.

Onions and red hot peppers for samosas.

Onions and Jalapenos for chick peas.

Naan grilling.

Change in Direction & Some Gumbo

I've been very very into cooking lately, so I've decided to blog about that for a while.... I don't generally use recipes or measure unless baking. Who knows where the wind will take me next with this blog.

Here's the Gumbo I made last weekend.

Susan’s Gumbo
2 T olive oil
2 t flour
On medium low heat, cook the olive oil and flour together to make a roux. This will take 15+ minutes. Watch carefully to avoid burning and stir every couple minutes. It will turn a lovely peanuty color. Take off heat when done.
1 large onion diced
same amount of carrots diced
same amount of celery diced (I didn’t have any and so left it out this time.)
about 2/3’s the amount of green or red pepper diced
2-3 cloves garlic crushed
1 T olive oil
½ t thyme
salt
pepper
hot sauce – to taste
Saute veggies and garlic and seasonings in olive oil until sweated down and slightly brown.
2-3 cups chicken stock
½ cup dry white wine
water
1-2 boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs
6-9" smoked turkey sausage
Add roux.
Add liquid and meats. Cook for about ½ hour until chicken is done. Remove chicken, cube and return to soup. Cook soup for 2-3 hours. Add water as needed. If it seems too thin, towards the end combine 1-2 T cornstarch with some of the broth in a small bowl and add to the end of the cooking time.
20-30 pieces of okra cut in ½" slices
Add okra IMMEDIATELY after cutting (or it will get gummy). Cook soup for an additional ½ hour or so until okra is tender.
This freezes very well. Serve with hot rice (leftover is okay). This time I made corn muffins from a Jiffy mix with some cheese added and crumbled them into the soup.

Hey - where ya been?

I've been missing you! More later... Things are good - new gig is good. Snowdays however, bad.... very very bad!

It's a good day

Last Day at the Old Job.

big fat smiley assed face.

My best laid plans...

Have gone astray once again... If the weather warms up anymore I won't be able to use my table on the deck as an extension of my fridge on Thanksgiving. You know - what with the old one CATCHING FIRE and all...

Seriously - I'm so excited about Turkey Day. My boys love it - I think it is probably their second favorite holiday... Or maybe third. (Halloween and their birthdays may take the lead - but they are ALL OVER this one.)

My parents are coming! To Illinois! For a major holiday!

I get to cook. I Loves Me Some Cooking. Been planning for weeks.

Add all that to the fact that I will be unemployed for the holiday and I am like a little pig in you-know-what.

Hooray!

Gobble Gobble.

S

WHEN???

When Oh When Is It Going To Stop RAINING?

What I would rather be doing....

It is raining.

It is cold.

Maya has gymnastics.

This is likely the last time I personally get to (have to) take her.

De-light-ful.

A cold drafty gymnasium. Sitting on cold bleachers.

Then there is the little boy who obsessively throws a tennis ball up in the air and catches it. I almost had to be restrained from him once.

Then there are the multiple pop machines with which they are both obsessed. Already made sure I have my crisp dollar bills.

Then there is the freaky looking mom who I have a hard time not staring at for a solid hour. Bad Manners Much?!

Then there are the little little kids with Leappads. Nothing like dueling Disney Princess leappad books to brighten your afternoon.

Seth loves gymnastics. There is an older boy there who apparently doesn't have a gameboy and likes to watch Seth play Pokemon. Makes Seth feel like a rock star... Sometimes if he is feeling particularly benevolent, he lets him PLAY it.

What would I like to be doing? Sitting on my fanny on the couch watching me some Judge Judy and drinking cheap Pinot Grigio from the grocery store.

3 things

Starting the new gig the Monday after Thanksgiving. I know things happen for a reason and this just confirms it, yet again, for me.

I'm going shopping in Indy tomorrow with: Monica, Nita, Mona & Sharon. Should be a total blast. It always is! The lawyer just doesn't understand. It's fun to watch him try to puzzle it out.

My parents are coming for Thanksgiving. I'm making this salad:


Apple Raspberry Salad
Serves: 8 person(s)
Preparation Time: 10 mins
Extra Time: 2 hrs (for refrigeration)
Yield: 8 x 1/2 cup servings

Suggested apples to use include Empire, Ida Red, Jonathan, McIntosh, Red Delicious and Rome.
Ingredients:
1 package (3 oz) raspberry flavored gelatin *
1 cup boiling water
1 package (10 oz) frozen raspberries or 1 cup fresh raspberries
1 1/2 cup chopped unpeeled apples
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup broken pecan pieces
1/2 cup sliced celery

Directions:
In a 2-quart mixing bowl dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Add frozen raspberries and stir gently until raspberries are thawed. Stir in apples, applesauce, pecans and celery. Pour into serving dish or mold.
Refrigerate about 2 hours or until mixture is set.

Other than that - the menu is all traditional - for the Holcombs... Oyster stuffing, mashed and sweets, pumpkin and pecan pie, brocolli, 7 layer salad, etc. etc. etc.

What are YOUR Thanksgiving traditional foods?

Peace in my soul

Here is the quote from this week's Hobby Lobby ad:


What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
Emerson

This is exactly the feeling I am going for today and this week. I was in such turmoil on Friday. Reacting to events instead of trusting myself to move forward. I think I am over it.

Sorry to be so cryptic - don't wanna to get dooced.

S

PS - Emerson also said "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" another favorite quote.

PPS - Hobby Lobby rocks.

Sneaky and underhanded is no way to go through life...

grrrrr...

neither is stupid AND a bitch.

'nuff said - at least here on the internet.

S

This'll cure what ails ya'!

Susan's Minestrone

Easy and freezes well. Add some Italian sausage or chicken if you like meat. I don't measure. sorry!

Carrots – 2-3 large
Onion – 1 large
Celery – as much as you have carrots
Olive Oil (2 T??)
Garlic – 2-3 cloves
Italian seasoning (1 T??)

Chop the veggies. Brown in oil. Add in the garlic last so it doesn’t burn. Saute until onions are cooked through.

Add: (without draining)

2-3 cans crushed tomatoes (or whole tomatoes crushed up, or diced. Whatever you have on hand will work)
1-2 cans white beans (navy or canellini)
2 cans chicken stock

Rinse the tomato cans with water or wine to add more liquid and get all the tomato bits into the soup. Add more water or chicken stock if soup seems too thick. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for at least 1 hour. At the end of the cooking process add:

1 block frozen chopped spinach. Still frozen is fine.

Serve with cooked pasta (if you want) and (absolutely) parmesan cheese!

Life is fast and furious

Things are nutty lately.

Went to California... (F*A*B*U*L*O*U*S)
Came back sorta sick (stinkin' airplanes).
Busy busy busy week in the life of a mom last week.
I got sick for real Thursday
Maya spent a day puking Friday (as only Maya can)
Halloween party Saturday.
Suit shopping and general mommy-ness Sunday.
GLAD to be able to sit down today!

More nuttiness to follow this week. Stay posted for details.

wish this was more funny or interesting... Unfortunately - it's just my life!

Californ I A

I'm off on Sunday for Palm Springs. Oh my...

Will be interesting there and in Illinois to see how the beasts and the lawyer do without me...

Back on Wednesday late.

Another List

Things I love (in no particular order)

The Weather Channel
WXRT Radio Chicago streaming
Making cards with Maya
Watching Jon Stewart with Scott
Vince Vaughn
Andy Garcia (for totally different reasons)
Lame Disney Halloween movies
Pictures of my friends' kids
Kettle Korn
Hearing Seth & Maya do the "twenty-five" scene from Spongebob and cracking themselves up
Snuggling
Lighting Hannukah candles and listening to the kids sing the prayer

What do you love?

Micro....

Microdermabrasion
Microphone
Microplane
Microcephalus
Micronesia
Microscope
Microprocessor
Micromini
Microbiology
Microeconomics

Kathy's thoughts on friends...

um. Sorry Kath - this was too funny not to share.

"I am glad that I still meet the criteria to be your friend and share similar 'issues' even if we never actually talk and I live in a 3rd world country. I totally agree with your criteria, but beg to differ with the happy hour hour. Down here in Mex-eee-coh, any time after noon is acceptable for starting happy hour, and there is not specific end time required. And, PAH-Lease, if you want to bi*ch about not fitting in with the women who live near you, you have hit the jack pot with me. Try to be an over-5-foot-tall blond person with an actual education and job who does not paint her fingernails with pictures of little flowers or believe that a child's diet should be made up in equal parts by candy, pop, cheese, and chili powder and live in MY neighborhood. Oh, yeah, I totally blend in..."

More thoughts on friends....

Someone who would take a picture of a dead plant - JUST TO PROVE A POINT.
Someone who e-mails me to check up on me. And knows I do the same for them.
Someone who e-mails me a reaction to something - the same exact time I am e-mailing them the same thing. Jinx! Buy me a coke! (uh... Linda? Mags? Monica?? I'm talking to YOU girls!!!)
Someone who knows it's funny when someone else falls. Even if it's me falling.

This is not about work

In an effort NOT to write about work (don't ask) - here are some thoughts.

Why does it seem that my long distance girlfriends (and I) have problems finding other women like them close by? Similar age, kid status, interest, work status, etc. I've long thought that there MUST some woman in my sub-division or close by who could be my friend. But short of going door-to-door begging for a friend in the neighborhood, I'm at a loss to figure out how to find her. There needs to be a "dating service" for moms...

I can only imagine that this is harder for SAHMs. At least at work - I get out - meet people and have internet access all day long. Many of my friends here in Champaign I met or got closer to because we all sent our kids to the hospital daycare.

My requirements for a friend:
Someone who has sent their 7 year old to school with a peanut butter and KIWI jelly sandwich - hoping he doesn't look inside to see the green goo...
Someone who has dosed up a kid with tylenol, sent them to school and prayed for the best.
Someone whose floors are worse off than mine (although that is a tall order).
Someone who loves their husband, even likes them too, but is continually exasperated by them.
Someone whose DIY home improvement projects take way longer than on HG TV.
Someone who would rather read a good book (or People magazine) than clean.
Someone who thinks cocktail hour starts at 4.
Someone who thinks PTA is not the end-all and be-all of life.

So - that's it. But I *am* flexible!

What are your requirements (uh- Linda? Since you are the only one who reads my blog!)

Almost there in the dining room

The little things...

It's my mom's birthday - now a very bittersweet day. Just one more little thing that has changed in the last 5 years.

Happy Birthday Mom. You are the best.

Hit me now

Just in the last 2 weeks:

the dishwasher broke
the washing machine broke, right after
the toilet flooded the basement
the downstairs fridge caught on fire (WTF??)
we ran into a $325 hitch with the dining room hardwood floors

what else? really - hit me now - I'm numb.

Now I think I'm Cool

hee hee...

linda said it was easy...

Darn - she was right! Course *I* uploaded the wrong pic.... But you get the idea.

Baby

Happy Birthday Julia.

writing

good g-d I need to spend more time on my writing. My BIL Fred once asked me if I thought I had a book in me. I confidently said I did. Silly me - I think I only had one child at this point. But, I still think I do. Lilyan and that whole thing.... Scott and I want to do it together. And we should - it really being his story and all. The thought of research with him in dusty stacks at the Chicago Public Library totally does it for me. What to do, what to do, however, with the pesky kids....

HOWEVER (my favorite word) in the short term I need to focus on humor, conciseness and good grammer, much less so than OTHER THINGS.

later.

Clever Girl

Took my own advice last Sunday when the depression started to set in. On Saturday too for that matter. And guess what? IT WORKED. BOTH TIMES.

Who can tell me why, though, I have such a problem with the weekends? between 2 & 4 things just start to fail. Better yet - who can explain it to Scott....

Picture

I am a secret country music freak. Love the Cash and the song Picture totally does it for me every time....

My oh my. What WOULD the folks from Oakwood say? I believe much of it can be directly blamed on my husband, who though he would be LOATHE to admit it, could be from Oakwood. However, he has been singing "She's the Queen of my Double Wide Trailer" to me since the day I met him. He is also directly responsible for the folky thing too.

At least I don't listen to WIXY.

But this - coupled with my TLC thing, makes me feel like Sybil.

Much more me today

Pandora is thinking I am much more Susan today. What a relief. No more teenage angst. Between that and the PMS I could hardly stand myself yesterday.

Seth told his whole daycamp class that if they got into trouble, for $5 his daddy would get them out of it.

Nice.... We are SUCH GOOD PARENTS!

Looking for a babysitter for saturday. Interested?

crunchy

Moved on from popcorn to Smale's Pretzels. You will SO only get that if you grew up in Dayton....

Why does Pandora suddenly think I am an angst ridden 19 year old?

School starts on Monday. WOO-HOO!

later...

Bad Habit

I have a new bad habit of moowing down a small bag of popcorn from the cafeteria every day after lunch… Needs to stop. I’m sure my co-workers are SICK of listening to me snarfing popcorn. Plus – there is popcorn filth all over now. Not to mention the salt, carbs, etc.

My dad HATED it when my high school friends & I would eat popcorn. Apparently 15 year old girls are not too good at hitting their mouths. I got better – but not with popcorn.

I had a friend in college we called Hoover. A la the vacuum type of Hoover (not Herbert). She spent the better part of the end a long night of abusing various substances eating spilled popcorn. Crawling around on her hands and knees. And boom: Her “friends” call her Hoover for the next 4 years.

Off for the HAW. See you soon.

how do you explain...

Depression to someone who has never felt these feelings before? The sense of hopelessness and helplessness and the day stretching on and on an on before you finally can just give up and go to bed. How do you get that across to someone? Someone who cares and WANTS to help, but just doesn't understand... If you know, please tell me.

Then, as suddenly as it comes, it goes. A brisk walk, a meal, a shower, and a good night's sleep and today is a whole brighter new day.

Note to self: remember the four above points on the depression days (which are thankfully just about a yearly event anymore. But when they come - they are bad...)

Happy 4th of July.