Life gets busy doesn't it?

So I'm sure you have notice the lack of posts for the past couple of weeks. Somehow we have events going on lately and not sure how that happens because we're homebodies. We have been planning very simple menus. Like this week for example we don't want much for leftovers because we don't plan on being home a whole lot, the food will probably go to waste. I've also been studying for exam that I have to take here in a couple of weeks, maybe sooner then that. But don't worry we haven't made anything too exciting. I had Barry make some  Baked Cinnamon Roll Pancakes from the Big Red Kitchen, a blog that I follow. Good idea if you have to feed a crowd. Robin Sue has this Mason Jar thing going on you should check out, specially if you need to take lunch to work. I also had a fryer bird that I had thawed and was planning on making the roasted chicken but I forgot to prep it the day before, so we made the fried chicken. It was sooo good. Always remember to let your protein rest before you dive right in. I'm also playing around with adding a second page for whatever happens to come to mind. It might be about food it might not, but it will have its own page for that. Maybe if we get our act together next week we can come up with a menu. I notice its harder to want to make food when you don't have fresh produce available at your finger tips. I haven't been very inspired. Everyone take something different to your Thanksgiving fair. It's kinda fun to watch how it throws everyone off specially if they're not use to it. I think I brought  guacamole one year, imaging how a bunch of German meat and potato raised family reacted to that. Then again Grandma could make a pretty mean pot roast and potatoes and gravy. 

Menu for November 1st to November 6th

Some of my favorite fall back recipes are Campbell's condensed soups. My mom got me for Christmas awhile back a 3 cookbook collection: Homemade in Minutes, Classic Recipes, and Everyday Easy Meals. It uses all their brands but you can easily switch out to store brand. This time of the year condensed soups, single serving soups and stock/broth go on sale and if you clip coupons you'll notice that Campbell's and Progressive has coupons for their different types of soup. Stock up! I love going into the pantry and having easy meals on hand with condensed soups. Just think, chicken and rice, I have this in my pantry and freezer.
Here is our menu for the week using recipes from the Campbell's collection. campbell kitchen

Tuesday
Baked Supreme Ziti (recipe)

Wednesday
Creamy Chicken Risotto (recipe)
(this is a favorite of ours)

Thursday
Subs

Friday
Ham and Green Bean Casserole (recipe)
( I really wanted to make green bean casserole)

Saturday
Country Scalloped Potatoes (recipe)
(Ok, so this recipe was oringal scallop potatoes and onion and I was going to add leftover ham. When looking up that recipe I found the Country Scalloped Potatoes, niffty!)

Sunday
Slow Cooker Pot Roast (recipe)
(using leftovers for meals next week)

Three Cheese Macaroni

     I do not enjoy the simple dish of macaroni and cheese. It just sits there like a lump in my stomach and just makes me feel ill. My husband likes it and the closest thing he's had to it is the Bowel Appetite's.  He mixes it with water and microwaves. Yum....I also told him that I wasn't making it for him either. That was a few years ago. A few weeks ago, I get the  October edition of Everyday Food and they have in their featured Big Batch: Three Cheese Macaroni. I skim down the ingredient list and they don't have American Cheddar in it, not my favorite cheese. They use a white cheddar and Monterey Jack (think you can find just white cheddar hanging there with the rest of the cheeses? no)  so I go the triple cheddar which had the white cheddar in it. It was a nice sharpness. I then look at the other page where they have the options for the leftover and there's this baked tomato casserole. I can try this.
    We adapted the recipe to our tasting and plus we didn't want to buy Old Bay Spice as it had it in the original recipe. We didn't know if  we would like it and how often we would use it. We made up our own southwestern seasoning of garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, paprika, and cayenne pepper. Barry thought the cumin was odd, but I didn't mind it. We did add bacon to it, of course. I thought that added a lot to it. If I had more time I would have baked this with panko or bread crumbs on top. We cut the recipe in half because that would have been way too much for 2 people. We still had leftovers and will make the leftover recipe mentioned above. I would probably make this again. I like it as it was creamy but didn't taste blah.This was a nice comfort dish that didn't take to much time to do.

Three Cheese Macaroni adapted from Everyday foods

• coarse salt
• 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups skim milk
• garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, paprika, and cayenne pepper to your taste
• 1 1/2 cups white cheddar shredded
• 1 cup Monterey Jack shredded
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• bacon (optional)

Ok so, what you do is get your pot of salted water going  to a boil.
In a pot melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium and start whisking in the flour and cook stirring a lot until mixture is pale golden and has a nutty aroma, about a couple of minutes. It goes fast. Whisking constantly, slowly add milk. It will start thickening right away until you start adding more milk. Cook, whisking along bottom of pot, until boiling, about 7 minutes. Reduce heat and gently simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thicken, 10-12 minutes.  You should add your noodles now while it is thickening to your already pot of boiling water and cook maracroni according to package instructions. Drain.
Remove the sauce from heat and add  1 tablespoon butter, spices, and cheeses.  Add the cheese in handfuls at a time otherwise it will bunch up in a ball. This way the cheese will have the chance to melt into the sauce. It doesn't take long. Stir until it's smooth, season with salt.
Add macaroni to sauce and stir to combine. If you want bacon cook up a couple of slices and crumble on top.
Refrigerate and leftovers for up to 5 days

Menu 10-24 to 10-29

Monday
Baked Tomato Casserole (October 2011 Everyday Food)

Tuesday
Pulled Beef Sandwich
Hasselback Potatoes recipe here

Wednesday
Pork Loin

Thursday
Chicken Casserole (October 2011 Everyday Food, original Tuna)

Friday
 Lo Mein with Pork (November 2011 Everyday Food)

Saturday
Halloween Party Menu:
Lil' Smokies
Caramel Cheese and Apple Slices
Dirty Martini Dip
Sassy Crackers
Apple Pie with real Cidar

Menu for Oct 10-14

Well, I haven't had much of a menu for the past couple of weeks and it's the same case this week. Basically just your simple meals. Chelsey has homecoming this week and we are going away for the weekend so not much cooking.

Tuesday
Barry's on his own

Wednesday
Hormel Pulled Pork and baked potato

Thursday
Spaghetti

See not much of a menu, probably not worth publishing.  It might change.

Colossal Chicken

      I remember when growing up seeing this yellow cover cookbook. My mom had it, both my grandmas had it and I'm sure my aunts had it. I think one said the cover is missing. It is a massive cook book. I have mine in a magazine holder so it doesn't get damaged in the cupboard. The Recipe Roundup at Ramsey. My mom gets her banana bread recipe from it. My Grandma Ubben has submissions in it. I think hers is under Mrs. Harold Ubben. A lot of recipes are listed like that, if you look at the end of this entry you'll see this recipe is by Mrs Russell Sonnenberg.
      As weird as the ingredients are below, this actually turned out pretty good. I did change out some of the ingredients as I didn't have everything plus I wanted to use what I had.  I had leftover rotisserie chicken and green beans mom gave me. Try out, will probably make this again if I have left over chicken.

1 can chicken gumbo
3 tbsp butter
2 cups cooked green beans
1 cup diced cooked chicken
1/2 cup cooked onion
1 cup panko
1 cup cheddar cheese
Melt the butter and brown the onions. In the original recipe it calls for flour, but since I used chicken gumbo, it has okra and okra is a natural thickener.  Take a 2 quart casserole dish and layer the chicken and green beans. I used garden green beans and cooked them longer then I would if I was just serving them. Pour the sauce on top. Sprinkle the cheese  and then panko across the top. The orignal recipe called for chips, but I didn't have it and it also didn't call for cheese, like that would stop me.  Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
Inspired by Mrs. Russell Sonnenberg recipe
Recipe Roundup at Ramsey pg 217

Oven Pancake

     Barry and I attended Waldorf College in Forest City, IA. For the first two years we stayed at Tillie Rasmusson dorms. She was the cook for near fifty years serving homemade food. Everything by hand, everyday. When we ate at the cafeteria, the food was ok and Sunday nights were a little sketchy.  Now, Sunday mornings there was brunch and it was perfect for a hangover cause it was greasy! They made you omelets to order and you can bet there was bacon and cheese in mine. During our 4th year there, we decided to go to an auction a few blocks from our apartment. I don't remember what I wanted there, maybe furniture, but I got a box with a sewing supplies and other odd ends. The main thing that was in there was a Waldorf Cookbook. Being in apartment meant I had to cook for myself and couldn't eat at the cafeteria without paying, so I needed more food to make. Cheap food. Old time cooks books had that.
       When flipping through it, I came across the Oven Baked Pancake. It had 5 ingredients and made 2 pancakes. When it cooks, it kind of raises up the side of the pan leaving center like a bowl. A bowl waiting for goodness to fill it. I don't remember what we did the first time, but this time we used apples from my grandparents farm. We sliced them up and added some cinnamon and sugar to it and laid them out in a pinwheel fashion on top of the batter and let it bake. I debated whether or not to put syrup on it when it was done. So I tried a piece with it and without it and went with the syrup. I think Barry went without. Adding the apples was my idea so the recipe was inspired by the recipe of Carol Johnson. The recipe below is Carol  Johnson. Since it is a baking recipe you really can't go changing it. People are like "oh she's plagiarism", probably, but the recipe is so simple you can really make it your own and put whatever you like on it.

oh my

Makes 2 pancakes
9-inch round pan or pie pan, metal
18 minutes at 450 degrees, then 10 mintues at 350 degrees

3 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tbsp margarine

Place margarine in baking pans and place in the oven long enough to melt the margarine. Meanwhile, beat the other ingredients together until smooth. Pour the batter into the pan on top of the melted margarine. Bake. This pancake may be served with hot maple syrup; or melted margarine, powdered sugar and a lemon wedge; lingonberry sauce; or warm strawberry sauce. You can bake fruit into. You could spread any jam or jelly on it. Whatever you like, you could even make it savory since the pancake is on the plain side.
 recipe of Carol Johnson
Waldorf Auxiliary Cookbook, pg 57

Somewhat Creamless Corn Chowder

I didn't have any fresh corn on the cob on me as that season was well done with when I came across this recipe. I did, however, have corn off the cob in the freezer. This did cause a problem as I didn't have enough corn to puree and put in the soup. Therefore, I did have to turn to a cream, cream of cheddar soup. I gave the husband the choice of  cream of celery or cream of cheddar, he picked cheddar as he doesn't like celery. It surprises how many people don't like celery. I wanted to use the celery as I thought the cheddar was just weird and it smelled weird when it was cooking. I'm not sure is using this cream is any healthier then using like heavy cream (which would make sooo good) or half and half. There's still salt, sugar, fat and other stuff.

oh look at that bacon goodness

The cream of cheddar did mellow out when I added the can of milk to it.  We ended up liking it. It's soup and you really can't go wrong with soup. I like soup a lot, specially the creamed based ones like potato or corn chowder. You can usually get by using whatever leftovers you have and throwing it into a soup. Maybe I'll do an entry about soup.  Starting using up those end of the season produce and make some soup or stir-fry. Have you ever garnished your plate with green onion? It gives it a nice freshness and the onion is not overpowering. It's one of my favorite standbys to add color to the plate.

2 cups frozen corn
1 large onion, peeled and sliced very thick
½ red bell pepper, stemmed and seeded
1 pound new potatoes, halved
1½ Tbs. olive oil
Salt and ground black pepper
4 slices bacon, chopped
1 tsp. dried thyme leaves
1 quart chicken broth
1 can cream of cheddar
1 can milk
Green onion to garnish

We did the short cut to this recipe and used the frozen corn and the cream of cheddar soup as I didn't have the puree. I fried up the bacon and then added the vegetables and saute until tender. I used a green pepper. The recipe says red, but I didn't have a red did I? I then added the chicken broth and corn and simmered until all the veggies where done 12-15 minutes. To see if the potatoes are done, stab a fork in them and if they go through and kind of break then they are done.
Orignal Recipe

Menu for September 19-23

Since the weather is cooling down, I think it's a good time to start using the oven more regularly. If you're one of those people who like to wait to the last minute turn on the heat, like me, you can use the oven as a source of heat.
This week I have decided to go retro with the recipes. I bought out my Ramsey Cookbook, my Waldorf Cook book and a Campbell Cookbook. I have meat in the freezer that I need to use up and I thought it would be fun to start rummaging through those old recipes. Plus they make a lot of food with not a lot of extra ingredients. I found I had most of the items in my pantry. What do you have to use up in your freezer?

Meatless Monday 
Oven Pancakes (Waldorf Auxiliary Cookbook)

Tuesday
Colossal Chicken (Recipe Roundup at Ramsey)

Wednesday 
Pharmacist Softball Night

Thursday
Marinade Steak Recipe Here

Friday
Porkchops and Potato Scallop (Campbell Cookbook Cooking with Soup)

Yesterday I used up a bunch of tomatoes and made chili starter. I'm hoping I can get a big bag of apples and make some apple butter. The smells of fall.

Playing it by ear

Busy week, not sure if I'll have a menu for this week. Happy Birthday Barry!

Outdoor Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Pesto and Tomatoes

 I found this recipe on Hy-Vee.com in meal solutions. It's a Curtis Stone recipe that he contributed to the website as part of his partnership. It orginially had Gruyère cheese and wedge Brie cheese (such as St. Andre), something that we didn't want to buy. We bought some provolone and used up whatever cheese we had left in the fridge. In order to sell this recipe to the husband, I told him that we can put bacon on it.(It has tomatoes in it!)

This was a winner for us. We like how the bread was soft but had a crunch from the grill. The cheese melted well, the tomatoes brought a tangy freshness and the bacon brought it all together. I paired it with  some green beans from the garden and I fried them with some butter and garlic. I'll show how to do that later. Sorry about not having a picture of Barry grilling.


Serves 6.

All you need:
For the pesto:
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 c. (lightly packed; about 1 1/2 ounces) fresh basil leaves, divided
1/4 c. pine nuts, toasted
1/3 c. (about 2 ounces) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 c. extra-virgin olive oil
For the sandwich:
1 1/2 pounds ripe tomatoes, cut into 3/4- to 1-inch pieces
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Take and Bake Artisan ciabatta
Provolone Slices
Cooked Bacon slices
Whatever cheese you got left in the fridge
To Make:
      Make pesto, I used my baby food processor and put in the pine nuts, basil, garlic, and Parmesan and whirled it around until all the ingredients where broken down. I then put in the oil until it formed a paste. I  tasted it and added some salt and spun it again tested it again and was happy.. Oh how I love pesto.
     Preheat barbecue for high heat (500°F). I don't grill so Barry did that part.
     Take your chopped up tomatoes and mix it with the balsamic vinegar and set it aside.
     Using a large serrated knife, cut ciabatta. We bought a bag of ciabatta rolls to make it easier and just cut them in half.
     Spread pesto on each half. We then put the bacon on, if you're adding it, I don't know why not. Then the cheese. We layered it with provolone and then the shredded cheeses.
Now it gets a bit out of my league:
     For a 2-burner gas grill, turn 1 burner off and place ciabatta halves, cheese-side-up, on grill rack over unlit burner. For a 3-burner gas grill, turn left and right burners off, leaving center burner on. Place ciabatta halves on grill rack over unlit burners. For a charcoal grill, pile charcoal on 1 side of barbecue and place ciabatta halves atop grill rack on opposite side. Placing ciabatta over unlit burners ensures it doesn’t char too much.

     Close hood and grill until cheese melts and bread is golden brown, about 10 minutes. Avoid opening hood too often in order to maintain heat inside barbecue.
     Transfer sandwich to cutting board. Scatter tomatoes over bottom half of ciabatta; discard juices in bowl.
Cover with top half of ciabatta, cheese-side-down, and press gently.
Inspired by a Curtis Stone recipe from Hy-Vee Recipe Here

Menu for September 5th to September 11th

This week we are using up more produce and chicken breast/meat that I have in the freezer. Some of these recipes come from food blogs that I follow. Though it took me 4 blogs to find the original General Tso recipe. 
Monday
Cheddar Wurst
Grilled Veggie packet
fresh green beans

Tuesday
Creamless Corn Chowder  (found in USA WEEKEND September 2-4, 2011)

Wednesday
General Tso Chicken Recipe here
Rice

Thursday
Tacos

Friday
End of Summer Chicken Recipe Here

(Barry's weekend to cook)
Saturday
BBQ Pizza

Sunday (MN Vikings play)
Tailgating Food

Stove Top Chili Mac

During the summer months when the temperature is rising and it's heating up in the house, you don't want to do a whole lot of cooking to make it warmer and make the A/C work harder. I try to avoid turning the oven on but that darn husband likes frozen pizzas. Everyday Food Magazine showcased stove top meals in their September issue. I like stovetop and one pot meals, less mess and less dishes.We used ground turkey instead of hamburger and might have added some bacon. Bacon, like butter, makes everything taste better. Which reminds me, I'm out of butter. This recipe mixes late summer produce and hearty fall flavors. Which means you can start using up more of that produced!

We used penne and elbow macaroni pasta, it's what we had in the pantry.

We did like this recipe. Barry is getting use to seeing zuchinni in everything. I topped this off with green onions and more cheese. Cheese, like butter and bacon, makes everything taste good! This does make a lot so plan on having leftovers.

Recipe:
Serves 4, Active time: 25 minutes, Total time: 45 minutes

• course salt and ground pepper
• 3/4 pound  tube shaped pasta (like the penne)
• 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 1 small onion, diced small
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 cup corn kernels thawed if frozen 
• 1 small zucchini diced medium ( you can scoop the seeds out if you want)
• 1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes
• 2 ounces cheddar, grated (3/4 cup)
• Bacon (Garnish)
• Green onions (Garnish)

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, cook pasta to what it says on the box. Drain and return to pot but don't do this to far in advance otherwise your pasta will get sticky. Meanwhile, in a large skillet  heat oil over medium. Add garlic and onion and cook until onion is translucent, 3 minutes.
   
2. Increase heat to medium-high, add turkey, and cook, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Drain that fat off. Get a different wooden spoon as that has been contaminated.  Add cumin and cook until fragrant, about a minute. Season with salt and pepper. Add corn and zucchini and cook until zucchini is crisp-tender, 2 minutes. Open that can and add tomatoes and juice, bring to a simmer, and cook until mixture is heated with salt and pepper. Divide pasta among four bowls, top with meat sauce, and sprinkle with cheese, bacon and green onions

Adapted from: Everyday Food, September 2011, pg 82

Menu for August 28-Sept 2

It's been a busy past week and a half and I didn't get a chance to post new content. I do have pictures of meals I took last week that I need to type up. We didn't go grocery shopping until today, used quite a bit of coupons. After we got home we did some prep work with the vegetables so I just have to dump in to pots. We are using left over chicken from Monday's meal.

Sunday
Tortellini Primavera with Pesto Sauce

Monday
High Roast Chicken with Potatoes (was suppose to be last week's meal)

Tuesday
We had frozen pizza because I was gone for most of the day

Wednesday
Chicken Enchiladas (featured in this blog)

Thursday
Chicken Noodle Soup

Friday 
Outdoor Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Pesto and Tomatoes (Curtis Stone recipe off of Hy-vee.com)


I have a bunch of tomatoes that I need to use so I'm hoping that I can get spaghetti sauce made this week. Do you have produce that you need to start using up before it goes bad? Remember fresh produce that you get locally does not last as long as store produce. I'm hoping that I can make Apple Butter here soon. I make in the crockpot so I need to find my recipe. Advice for the week, don't eat a carrot after handling a jalenpeno. Make you wash your hands after handling any chili otherwise it's painful. Thanks goodness for Popsicles.

Andrea's Spicy BLT Soup and Couscous Cakes

  I was quite excited when I seen this recipe as it combines a bunch of yummy ingredients. Plus, I had everything to make it. I just had to wait a month to actually make it when produce was going to be available, like tomatoes and cucumbers. I wasn't going to buy them when I knew mom was going to have some in the garden.
   You need a blender and a fine-mesh sieve. I don't have a fine-mesh sieve. I used a smaller hole colander and pressed the liquid through. I think I might have to invest in one,  it would have been easier and a cleaner. I probably got about 4 servings out of it.

The tomatoes, garlic, cucumber, lettuce (finish picture) and jalapeno came from our gardens.

    I was actually disappointed in how it came out. I think the cucumber I used was way to much. It reminded me eating watermelon soup even though it was tomatoes. It turned a pink color and not the orange looking color in the magazine. You can see in the blender how it turned out. I'm pretty sure there's was pink to before they touched it to make it look like tomato soup. Barry had issues with it too and thought it tasted fruity. He said he was burping up cucumber all night. He did like the bacon.
   We tried it both cold and warmed up and neither was better then the other. I really did like the Chopped Egg and Garlic Vinaigrette which I'll include after this. I put some on as a garnish and didn't add anything to the soup, I couldn't taste what I made, just these chunks of egg. It also wasn't that spicy either, but that was of my own choosing. You never know how spicy a jalapeno can be so I just added a half one.  Try making this and see how it turns out. It's great for getting those tomatoes used up. I just had two pounds when I weighed it. I'll have to try something different next time.

Recipe:

• 2 lb tomatoes (whatever you picked from the garden will do) chopped up
• coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 small cucumber, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 medium jalapenos, (take seeds and ribs out if you don't want added heat)
• ½ small yellow onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, smashed
• 2 tsp white vinegar (or whatever vinegar you have on hand)
• 1 slice wheat bread, crust removed and torn into pieces (once again whatever bread you have)
• ½ c  olive oil ( extra virgin)
• ½ tsp sugar 
• Chopped Egg and Garlic Vinaigrette
• croutons, crumbled cooked bacon, and sliced lettuce, to garnish 

    Sprinkle tomatoes with 1/4 teaspoon salt; let sit 10 minutes. While the tomatoes are relaxing in salt, prep the rest of your veggies. Now get the blender and combine tomatoes, cucumbers, chiles, onion, garlic, vinegar, bread, oil , and sugar and puree until smooth, about 1 minute. Pour through a fine-mesh sieve (that I don't have) into a large bowl, pressing on solids; discard solids. Cover soup and refrigerate until cold, about 2 hours (or up to 3 days). Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve with a drizzle of vinaigrette and desired toppings. Serves 4
Adapted from Everyday Food, July/August 2011, pg 39


Chopped Egg and Garlic Vinaigrette
  This taste better then it looks. I also maybe forgot that I was cooking the eggs and gotten over done, hence there's no photo of dicing up the eggs. I would make this again as sandwich or put on lettuce. I didn't buy a lemon but I used lemon juice from a bottle. It's fine to use lemon juice from a bottle. I can see people swinging their heads in disbelief. Lemons are rather spendy in Iowa. I'm sure if I wouldn't have like the zest anyway. Also, the yolks get a little hard to mash if you don't over cook them to a rubber consistency. Silly eggs.

Separate the whites and yolks of 2 hard-cooked large eggs that you didn't over cook.  In a small bowl, mash yolks with and stir in 1 garlic clove, mashed into a paste,  2 teaspoons lemon juice, and 1/3 cup olive oil. Roughly chop egg whites and add to bowl. Season to taste with coarse salt.You'll need salt.

Couscous Cakes

 The first time we had couscous was at Disney World in Animal Kingdom at Tusker House. The restaurant showcases flavors of Africa. It's amazing how you try new stuff on vacation. We had it cold in salads or warm in side dishes. We absolutely loved it. It's very easy to make and different then noodles, rice and potatoes. This is the first time we ever tried it like this.We liked them but thought they could use a little more flavor. It took us about 1 minute and 30 seconds to cook per side.

• 2 1/4 cups cooked couscous
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

  Stir together couscous, eggs, and basil until combined and season with salt and pepper. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 3 tablespoons oil over medium-high. Working in batches, drop couscous mixture in 1/4-cup mounds (just about 8 mounds). I just flattened each mound with my 1/4 cup measuring cup. Cook until golden and crisp, about minute and 30 seconds for each side, flipping once. Might want to use a fork and spatula to flip them over so they hold together better. Drain on paper towels.
Adapted from Everyday Food, July/August 2011, pg 88

Menu for Aug 22nd to Aug 27th

Once again our menu is show casing products from the gardens. We enjoyed a low grocery bill this week as I pretty much had most of items in my pantry or from my garden or the parents.

Monday:
  Andrea's Spicy BLT Soup and Couscous Cakes  (July/August EveryDay Food)

Tuesday
  Stovetop Chili Mac (September EveryDay Food)

Wednesday
  Cold Meat Sandwiches (Busy evening)

Thursday
  Hot Dogs (Thanks with Franks) Cinco (They moved this day to Sept 15th, who wants margaritas?)

Friday
  Left open for whatever comes up

Saturday
High Roast Chicken (featured on this blog)

Most of these recipes call for tomatoes, zuchinni and cucumbers all are in season right now! So find a neighbor with a garden or visit your farmer's market (they'll appreciate the business plus it will be organic)  or the food co-op and enjoy the season and the freshness!

Zucchini Fries

I asked my mom for some large zucchini and she delivered. We probably just started eating zucchini in the past year. I grilled some on my little griddler last summer with some oil and salt and it was tasty. Everyday Food had a recipe for Zucchini Fries in the June edition. We served hot dogs with it. I think we made this Tuesday as I realized I didn't have the meat I need to make the stuffed peppers so we just switched meals.

 This recipe did take some time to do. It is not a quick side dish since you have to flip each one over at 10 minutes. I did taste it after 20 minutes to see if it was done enough. It would be crisp yet if it wasn't.  If you haven't worked a lot with cayenne pepper start small and build up. Its one of my new favorite ingredients to work with. The panko took us forever to find in the store but we found it next to the meat department. It must be one of those items they didn't know what to do with so they put on the same shelves as the Velveeta. Panko is Japanese style breadcrumbs. It is much lighter and crunchier then normal breadcrumbs.
Overall, I really liked these and Barry warmed up to them.
Recipe:
Serves 4
Active Time: 15 mins
Total Time: 35 mins

• nonstick cooking spray
• 1 1/2 cup panko 
• 3/4 cup shredded Parmesan  (2 1/4 oz)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• coarse salt and ground pepper
• 2 large egg whites
• 2 large zucchini (1 1/4 pounds total) halved crosswise and cut into 1/2-inch wedges

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Lightly coat two rimmed baking sheets with cooking spray.  Get your station set up so you can go from bowl to bowl to pan and not make a big mess. In a wide bowl, mix together panko, Parmesan, Italian seasoning, cayenne, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper. In a medium wide dish, lightly beat egg whites.
2. You can put a few in the egg whites and then drop them into the breading. Then working with one at a time dip zucchini wedges in egg whites, then breadcrumb mixture, get a good coat on them. The crunchier the better.  Arrange on sheets in a single layer. Bake until coating is golden brown and crisp. Set a timer for 10 minutes flipping each zucchini over and rotating sheets halfway through and then another 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper; serve immediately.
Adapted from EveryDay Food, June 2011, pg 47

Breakfast Tacos

Monday night we made the quick and easy recipe of  Breakfast tacos. It probably took us 15 minutes to make. It has tomatoes in it and so Barry had to eat it, the bacon might have made it go down easier. I used garden tomatoes and not what the recipe called for. I also added garlic, I happen to have a lot on hand. We also used up a red pepper and I really like how it added flavor to it.

We might have used bacon because we ran out of butter, plus it made the man eater happier about what he was about to eat.

Doesn't look like much does it? Add cheese and onion!

When the eggs are set it might still seem runny, but that is just the liquid from the tomatoes.

I garnished mine with sour cream and salsa. Very colorful, it should appeal to your senses.

Over all we really enjoyed it and used up my produce. Whoohoo for cleaning out the fridge and saving money! I had everything except the tortillas and green onions, well and butter.

Recipe:
Breakfast Tacos

• 1/2 packaged tomatoes, quartered
• 6 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 tablespoons butter
• 3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 5 green onions, sliced thin
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 4 medium flour tortillas, warmed
• Salsa to garnish (optional)
• Bacon (garnish

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and milk. Stir in tomatoes.
Heat that butter in a large pan over medium high heat. When butter melts and bubbles and smells divine add eggs. Let eggs sit  until edges cook, about one minute. Reduce heat to medium low and stir constantly.
When eggs begin to hold together but are still runny, add cheese and onions. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook until eggs set.
Serve eggs in warm tortillas. Garnish with salsa and bacon and more cheese if you like. 
(This was taken out of a coupon insert from the Sunday paper and is not my recipe, I'm guessing NatureSweet Tomatoes)

Menu for the week of Aug 14-20

I thought I would try something new and post the our menu for the week. We started planning our meals when Barry was no longer working nights and then we go grocery shopping on Sunday. It helps to stick to your list and less trips to the grocery store which means you'll spend less money.


Monday
Breakfast Tacos (There is a recipe for them in this Sunday's Coupons, not sure which insert)
Tuesday
Stuff Peppers (Everday Food) Hot dogs and zucchini fries
Wednesday
Hot Dogs and Zucchini Fries (Everyday Food) Stuffed Peppers
Thursday
Pizza Family visit and had Cinco de Mayo
Friday
Ledyard Legion Chicken Supper?? Used the leftover meat from the stuffed peppers and made tortilla pizzas
Saturday 
Birthday Bash

The nice thing about a menu is you don't have to think what you're going to make. You can always switch up the menu if it doesn't work or if you decide to eat out cause you really wanted Chinese food. Thursday nights are usually pizza night. I'll break out the bread machine or go eat out at Premier. This week's menu is allowing me to use up the produce I have around my house. It's going to be a busy week. Birthday Celebrations have started.

Ahhh August

Since my last post in March, I realized the way I blogging was not for me. I looked at some food blogs over the past few months and they post bigger photos with less writing which seems to work. I haven't stopped making simple food or taking pictures. I have a large library of photos of food in my collection. I decided I'm not going to edit them either, only if they really need it. If I want to get more post out then I need to do it easier and faster. We'll see what happens. My uncle is more faithful to his blog then me. http://dagwoodshopnotes.blogspot.com/ He's into woodworking and a handyman of sorts. I also changed my title of my blog. I haven't looked at my recipe box since we organized it. Barry and I work similar hours now and maybe we can make some suppers with it. I just didn't want to advertise an idea that I couldn't produce. I'll still keep the web address the same kind of a tribute to my Grandma.

August, despite it being my birthday month, I don't think I fully appreciated it till now. I'm starting to get whole bunch of fresh produce, despite the late growing season. I got zuchinni, cucumbers, kohlrabies and tomatoes from my mom and dad. We also dug up the garlic.We normally dig up the garlic in July but the stalks weren't brown enough. My soft necks are puny and will probably make garlic oil with. My hard necks did well and had some nice size bulbs. They are drying out at my parent's acreage. My bell peppers, on the other hand, did not like the weather we had this summer. They have blooms on but I probably won't have any until November ;).   Barry and I also had some really good sweet corn from my uncle's plot. We froze a bunch of bags to use this winter.  I'm starting to get tomatoes. I planted my tomato plants in a different area this year. I made a small garden and the tomatoes took over. I've never had the plants get so big. It's like a little jungle in the corner. I have a bunch of tomatoes on the vine, but they are slowly turning. I've picked 5 so far. I have 4 in the house that will be ripening. I did that so bugs wouldn't get into them. It would be nice to have more so I can making sauces. My basil looks really good. I only had 2 plants grow from the 2 rows that I planted. I had to buy some more and they look really good.
So what am I going to do with all this produce. I used some today in making chili. I've been making creamy salads with the cucumbers. I plan on making zucchini french fries. The tomatoes, I like to make chili starter and spaghetti sauce. The garlic will get used the next coming months. You can use garlic with anything you put onion in. I'll do an article with my experience with garlic. The kohlrabies you just like an apple, peel and slice away. I think you could slice them up and maybe use for stir fry? They may give you interesting burps. Just saying...  

Chicken-Stuffed Shells with Two Sauces

Sam, the nurse, told me of this recipe she made from Pillsbury.com that was stuffed shells and you use two different sauces. I was listening. I love stuffed pasta, Ravioli, Tortellini, Manicotti, Stuffed Shells and Cannelloni.   She then went on to say she stuffed the shells with cottage cheese and cubed chicken.  I was then appalled. Cottage cheese? Sam said it was very good. I wasn’t so convinced. I couldn’t come around eating a stuffed shell with solely cottage cheese even if there was chicken in it. Also cubed chicken?  I couldn’t get my taste buds grooving to that.  I told her I would make the recipe but I ‘m changing it to ricotta and ground up chicken breast. So, I did, and I liked it.

 I grilled the chicken while getting the shells ready and while everything was cooking I got the filling going. I used a Ziploc gallon bag and threw everything into it and mashed the ingredients together. Now snip a corner off, the bigger the hole the harder it is to handle. This makes piping and clean up easy. If you want, you can do it the old fashion way and lovingly spoon the filling into the shells. When I was following the recipe I only put in a cup of ricotta and needed a little more, so maybe a cup and ½ of ricotta. My barely surviving window basil plant wasn’t enough fresh basil so I add some dry basil to it.  I really like the combination of two sauces and didn’t think I was going to, even Barry liked it and he’s against alfredo sauce. I think this recipe is a keeper. Here is the recipe as is; the tips at the bottom came with it. This again, is one of those meals you could serve with  salad and bread-sticks and nice glass of milk (or wine).

Chicken-Stuffed Shells with Two Sauces

Prep Time: 20 Min

Total Time: 1 Hr 5 Min

Makes: 6 servings

INGREDIENTS

18 uncooked jumbo pasta shells

¾ cup lightly packed chopped fresh basil leaves

3 cups diced cooked chicken breast (about 1 lb)

1 cup small-curd cottage cheese

1 egg

2 cups tomato pasta sauce

1 container (10 oz) refrigerated Alfredo sauce

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

1    Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray. Cook the pasta to what it says on the box.

2    In medium bowl, mix 1/2 cup of the basil leaves, the chicken, cottage cheese and egg. Spoon about 1 good size tablespoon mixture into each cooked pasta shell.

3     Pour pasta sauce into baking dish; and tilt the dish to evenly coat bottom. Place filled shells over sauce, filled sides up. Drizzle Alfredo sauce over shells. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Cover tightly with foil.

4   Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until sauce is bubbly and shells are hot. Sprinkle with remaining basil.

Pillsbury.com site