Saturday, February 25, 2012

Loaded Breakfast Potatoes

But you can have them for supper if you want. That's what we did tonight. We have breakfast for supper a lot here, since I can never get my act together enough to actually have breakfast for breakfast. Plus my mom and my grandma did it a lot, too. The first time my dad had dinner at my mom's house, when they were "courting," my grandmother served pancakes and bacon. Love it. Apparently my father was taken aback, and said that at his house, that's what they had for breakfast. I can't remember what my grandmother replied. Apparently my grandmother on my dad's side had it together in the mornings. You can see which side I got more DNA from, then. We had this with "cheesy eggs," which is just scrambled eggs sprinkled with cheese. This recipe is from the latest Simple & Delicious.

Loaded Breakfast Potatoes
1 1/2 lbs red potatoes, cubed
1/4 lb bacon strips, chopped
3/4 cup cubed fully cooked ham
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Place potatoes in a microwave safe dish and cover with water. Cover and microwave on high 4-5 minutes or until tender (this recipe must have been tested in a lightning microwave. It took mine almost 20 minutes to get tender). Meanwhile, cook bacon over medium heat in a large skillet until crisp. Remove to paper towels with a slotted spoon. Drain potatoes; saute in bacon drippings until lightly browned. Add the ham, cheese, salt, pepper and bacon. Cook and stir over medium heat until cheese is melted.

These were really good. Next time I am going to add hunks of onion in, because that's the only thing I thought was missing. A very yummy breakfast. I mean supper.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Tuscany Bread and Cheese Soup

This is meatless. And it's something totally new that I've never made before. And it sounded really good. Alas, not everyone thought so...from the Everything Soup cookbook.

Tuscany Bread and Cheese Soup
1 large sourdough baguette
4 cloves garlic, divided (I used more)
3 tbsp olive oil, divided
Salt (I used sea salt)
1 large spanish onion (I do not know what makes an onion "spanish." They had no onions labeled as such at either Walmart or Hannaford. I saw Autumn at Hannaford whilst looking for a Spanish onion and she didn't know what it was either. I just ended up using a regular onion)
2 stalks celery
2 leeks (the leeks at Hannaford were BIG so I only used one and I still think a whole one might have been pushing too much)
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes, drained & diced (again I ask, why not just buy them diced?)
2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 pinch of cayenne pepper (a teeny tiny pinch if you are me)
6 cups vegetable broth
2 tbsp basil
1/2 cup parmesan cheese (we used shredded parmesan)

Preheat oven to 300. Cut the bread into 1/2-inch slices. Crush 1 clove of the garlic (I used 2 cloves here) and rub bread slices with it (if you think that sounds hard, you're right), then cut the bread into 1-inch cubes. In a bowl, toss the bread cubes with 1 tbsp of the oil and a generous sprinkling of [sea] salt. Place them in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes, then set aside.

Meanwhile, coarsely chop remaining garlic (I used 3 cloves here for a total of 5 cloves), onion, celery, and leek.

In a soup pot, heat remaining oil. Add the onion, celery, leek, and garlic. Cook on low for 4 minutes. Stir in the thyme, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Add the broth, tomatoes, and basil; bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in bread cubes. Let sit, covered, for 5 minutes. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese on top.

Okay. Best croutons ever. I am not kidding when I tell you that I ate half of them before the soup was done. I'm not even embarrassed to admit it. They were that good. Also, I did not mix all the (remaining) bread cubes in with the soup in the pot. I added them to the individual bowls, because otherwise the leftover soup would have been unusable. There are enough croutons left for one serving. There should have been more but oh well.

The kids hated this. Steve and I thought it was fabulous. There was nothing the kiddos could really pick out that they liked, like meat or beans, which is what they usually do with soup. Emma wouldn't even touch it and was reduced to tears. Nathan had his with saltine crackers because I knew he wouldn't want the bread crumbs, and occasionally he would dip a corner of one cracker into the broth and eat it. Sam ate about half of his, like a champ, and then said, "No Mom, it's good, I'm just full." But he only says that if he doesn't really like it, because if it's something he likes, he just eats it and doesn't pay attention to if he's full or not. So I guess I will not be making this soup again, but I did already write down the crouton part of it because they were, seriously, SO fabulous. But I will have to be careful because I could eat the whole batch of them without even thinking about it.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Chicken & Bacon Tart

This is mostly a pizza, even though it has "tart" in it's name. It is on a sheet of puff pastry so I guess that's why they call it that. It's from the new Simple & Delicious mag that I got last week, woot! There are a lot of good ones in this one that I am excited to try. We had this with our guinea pig family, although all the kids (except Sam) had chicken nuggets and applesauce instead of this. I just knew they wouldn't like it so I didn't even try.

Chicken & Bacon Tart
1/4 lb bacon strips, cut into thirds
2 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced
2 medium apples, peeled and thinly sliced
1 pkg (9 oz) ready to serve roasted chicken breast strips (I happened to have a coupon for this so I did get it, but you could totally just cook a chicken breast and cut it into strips)
1/4 cup jalapeno pepper jelly (at the Brewer Walmart this is by all the other jelly, on the top shelf...it's red, which I thought was weird)
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp salt
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I used a bit more)
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tbsp minced fresh parsley

Cook bacon over medium heat until crisp in a large skillet. Remove to paper towels. Saute onions and apples in bacon drippings until tender. Stir in the chicken, jelly, thyme, and salt.

Unfold puff pastry onto a lightly floured surface. Roll into a 10x9 inch rectangle (the brand I bought was practically this size already). Transfer to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Prick with a fork.

Spread chicken mixture over pastry to within 1 inch of edges. Sprinkle with cheese and pepper. Press edges with a fork, forming a decorative border.

Bake at 425 for 10 minutes. Add bacon strips to top; bake 5-10 minutes longer or until golden brown. Sprinkle with parsley.

Oh my word. So so so good. If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you know I don't like spice. The jalapeno jelly was just delicious, not even spicy. It did make my lips tingle a bit but didn't taste spicy at all. The flavor of the "tart" was so good. Seriously good. We will definitely have this again. Yum.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Orange Chicken

People have been giving me recipes lately. It has been nice because usually if someone shares a recipe with you it's because they really like it and they think you will too. That is not the kind of service you get from this blog, since I give you the good, the bad, and the ugly, but when your friends take the time to write out (or type out) a recipe and share it with you, they're usually good recipes. Unless they are playing a mean trick, but I haven't run into that yet. Now that I thought that I am going to be a bit more skeptical when someone gives me a recipe...hmmmmm. Like if someone gives me a recipe for haddock with mayo I will not try it, and I may throw up a bit as well. However, this delicious one came from my friend Jodi at church, who was not trying to trick me and probably doesn't have a tricky bone in her body.

Orange Chicken
4 flattened chicken breasts
1/2 cup orange marmalade
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
1 tsp paprika
salt & pepper
oil for frying

Mix crumbs, flour, paprika, salt and pepper and coat chicken with it. Fry in hot oil til done. Mix juice and marmalade together and pour over chicken. Let thicken. Serve over rice.

I put way too much oil in the frying pan, but I'm glad I did because the chicken came out crispy and perfect. So instead of adding the orange mixture to the pan with all the oil in it, I put the orange mixture in a smaller skillet and transferred the chicken over there once it was done. This came out so fabulous. It was almost like the orange chicken you get for Chinese food, but without that fatty batter that's on it. What is that batter called? Tempura, maybe? Well it doesn't have that. This was so easy and so good. All the kids loved it, which is a rarity here. We will definitely have this again!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Potato Cheddar Soup

Even though this is a potato soup, and some of those are vegetarian, this one's not. The first ingredient is bacon. Yummy yummy bacon. We had this for supper tonight, out of the Everything Soup cookbook.

Potato Cheddar Soup
1/4 lb bacon, diced
1 large onion, diced
1 1/2 lbs potatoes, diced (I scrubbed mine really well and left the peel on but you could peel them too if you wanted to)
1/2 tsp fresh minced sage (I used 1/8 tsp dried)
3/4 cup shredded sharp white cheddar cheese
1 tsp mustard (I used dried mustard)
3 cups chicken broth (I used homemade stock)
1 1/2 cups cream
1 dash tabasco sauce (omitted)
salt & pepper to taste
Scallions, thinly sliced, for garnish, optional (forgot to buy them)

Heat an empty soup pot; add the bacon. As it releases fat, turn the heat up to medium and cook until crisp. Drain off all but 1 tbsp of the fat. Add the butter (what?? there's no butter in the ingredient list! I just didn't add any in), onion, and sage to the soup pot with the bacon; simmer for 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add mustard and cook for 1 more minute.

Pour in the broth and add the potatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and cook for 13 minutes. Mash some of the potatoes against the side of the pot, stirring to thicken the mixture. Remove from heat.

Gradually stir in the cream, then the cheese; stir constantly until melted. Add the hot sauce, salt, and pepper. Garnish with scallions.

Okay I used half-and-half instead of cream. I thought it would just be a better choice. This soup did not have the traditional look of potato soups, where the broth is kind of white. Mine was browner, but I think it was because my stock is darker than chicken broth you buy in the store. It came out really good. Everybody but Nathan liked it, but you can't really judge things by him. We will definitely have this again. So good.

Best Banana Bread

My sister-in-law sent me this recipe the other day, and I happened to have over-ripe bananas today, so I decided to try it. Also I've never made banana bread in a bundt pan, so I tried that, too. She said she developed this recipe herself. So recipe credit goes to Dawn =o)

Best Banana Bread
1 stick unsalted butter (ok if you only have salted)(which I do)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2-3 very brown bananas
2 eggs
1-2 tsp vanilla (I used 1 tsp because I used vanilla yogurt)
1/2 cup sour milk, plain or vanilla yogurt, or sour cream
2 cups flour (I used 1 cup white and 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup nuts, optional (I used mini chocolate chips. The kids are so used to chocolate chips in their banana bread that they might rebel if I did not include them)

Blend sugars and butter together until creamy. Add bananas until well blended. Add eggs, vanilla, and yogurt and stir to combine. Add dry ingredients and mix for about 2 minutes. Bake in 2 greased loaf pans or greased bundt pan at 350 for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes back clean.

This batter was creamier than my usual banana bread batter, which came from a Betty Crocker cookbook. And once it was done and cooled, the kids and I cut into it. Nathan said he didn't want any, because he thinks he doesn't like banana bread. But the rest of us really liked it. The texture was perfect. We always put butter on our banana bread slices, and we did this time too, but I bet you wouldn't have to and it would still be really good. I already put this banana bread recipe in the spot my old one used to be in and threw my old one out. You should definitely try it.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Minestrone with Meatballs

Do you say it "minestrone" to rhyme with stone? Or "minestroney" to rhyme with pony? I've heard it both ways. I bet it's regional. Whatever you want to call it, it's what we had for supper last night. Also I confess that I love store-bought meatballs. I have tried, in years past, bunches of different homemade meatball recipes, and they just can't compare to store-bought ones. The texture, the uniformity of flavor, etc. You can try to convince me that your Great Aunt Maude had a great homemade recipe, but I won't try it. And, I won't believe you. Well, if you invite us for dinner and you make those meatballs, of course I'll eat them (disclaimer: unless they have mayo in or on them). I just mean you won't be able to convince me that I'll like them as well as store-bought ones. The ones I have made in the past were certainly edible, just not delectable. This recipe is from the Everything Soup cookbook.

Minestrone with Meatballs
24 cooked meatballs (notice it doesn't say store-bought. So feel free to use Aunt Maude's if you want)
1 15 oz can navy or other white beans, drained
1 tbsp dried minced onion
1 tsp basil
1 bay leaf
2 cups beef broth
2 cups water
1 cup ditali, orzo, or other pasta (I used alphabet pasta. It's what I always use instead of orzo)
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained (I think you can only get 14.5 oz cans now)
1 10 oz pkg frozen mixed vegetables, thawed (I used green beans)
1 tsp sugar

In a 4-qt saucepan, combine the meatballs, beans, onion, basil, bay leaf, broth, and water; bring to a boil. Add the pasta and cook for 15 minutes. Reduce to a simmer and add the tomatoes and their liquid, the vegetables, and the sugar; heat through. Remove the bay leaf and serve.

This soup was a huge hit. The kids loved it. I had to pick the tomatoes out of Nathan's before he would touch it, but once I did that he ate it with a vengeance. This was easy enough to make on a busy night and came together really quickly. I have enough meatballs left to try it again in a few weeks. Hopefully I'll remember they're in there so I don't serve meatball soup in July. I think next time I might cover the soup pot while the pasta is cooking. A lot of the water reduced, and there was hardly any broth to dip my bread in. I do like some broth. But Steve said it was perfect, and that he liked it more stew-y. So do whatever you want, but this was a good one to try.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Oreo Cheesecake Cookies

Even home run hitters strike out a lot. That's what Steve says to me when I don't laugh at his jokes. Usually I think he is hilarious, especially if I am tired. That's when he is at his funniest. But sometimes he says something and I don't laugh at all. And that "home run hitters" line is his self defense. So I am using that line and applying it to this recipe. Not like I'm such a great chef or anything, but we have had a lot of good recipes lately. I guess I was bound to get a bad one. To protect the innocent, I will not be naming the source of this recipe. But doesn't the name of the cookies make it sound like they would be so yummy? Well, I guess I can't even really say if they were yummy or not, since they appeared inedible and I didn't even try one. But read on.

Oreo Cheesecake Cookies
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1 cup oreo cookie crumbs

Preheat oven to 375. Cream together butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add sugars and vanilla and mix until well combined. Add flour and combine well before adding chocolate chips. Scoop dough into 1" balls and roll in cookie crumbs. Place balls 2" apart on cookie sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes or until edges just start to golden. Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack.

I completed all the steps. When it was evident things were going badly, I went back and reread the ingredients and directions several times. I did everything right. When I was rolling the dough into balls, it had a good consistency, not too dough-y or anything. But once they were in the oven something happened to them. Even though I placed them 2 inches apart, they started to melt and merge all together, and bubble and boil. Pretty soon there was one big mass of cookie on the cookie sheet, with the edges where the cookies should have been divided being especially browned and hardened. Thank God I used a baking stone, I have heard the Pampered Chef people say you can't burn a cookie on a baking stone. If I had used a metal cookie sheet I am sure I would have thrown it away rather than try to scrape the burned mass off.

Usually you can salvage a cookie recipe. But these looked just terrible. I had been planning to bring them to home fellowship. I had no time to make anything else, so instead I ended up buying tortilla chips, salsa, and cheesy poofs. The kids were happy about it, but I was mad about the waste of ingredients and then the money spent on replacement snacks. Oh well. I guess that's the risk you take when you make a recipe for the first time for a big get-together. Sigh.