Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

http://simplycooking.wordpress.com/2007/12/07/best-drop-buttermilk-biscuits/

These biscuits didn't really drop. I had to use my hands to form the dough and press it onto the cookie sheet. I used half the butter called for and increased buttermilk to compensate. These were good, but I cooked them too long and so they were dry. 14 minutes is far too long. Next time I'll probably take them out after 10.

I made drop biscuits last year and haven't tracked down the recipe yet. I think I'll make this recipe again with whole wheat flour and cook it less time and see what happens.

These are best fresh. They were really dry the next day and beyond.

Corn and Black Bean Salad

Corn and Black Bean Salad

I adore this salad. It is best when you have really sweet corn. This might work with a super awesome brand of frozen corn, but fresh is best.

2 cobs of sweet fresh corn

1 can of black beans, rinsed

1-2 tomatoes, chopped

1 avocado, chopped

handful cilantro, chopped

Cut the corn from the cob. I had never eaten corn raw like this until Reija made this salad at a dinner last summer. It rocks. You could add other raw things too, like red bell pepper or fresh green beans.

Mix corn with other ingredients.

Eat.

I love this recipe since it is so fresh and good. I have discovered that DH would like this much more sans cilantro. Next time I'll put it in a bowl to pass around as a garnish.

Moroccan Beef Stew

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/MOROCCAN-BEEF-STEW-234422

This was a fun stew. After searing the beef I let it simmer in the broth with the the vegetables. I sautéed the vegetables but the carrots weren't quite done, and then threw in the veges and spices into the soup. I should have held off adding the raisins until 5 minutes before I took it off heat. The raisins released more sugar than I would have liked and the soup was a bit sweet for DH. He loved the olives though. I used regular raisins since I didn't have golden. When DH got home, I put in the cilantro and garbanzo beans at then took off heat. It was yum.

Tuna and Butter Bean Salad

http://thestonesoup.com/blog/2010/01/how-to-cultivate-the-packed-lunch-habit-save/

I didn't have butter beans. Neither did the store. It turns out, butter beans are white lima beans. I didn't discover that pertinent fact until after I'd already bought white kidney beans (Cannellini) to use in this recipe. It was fantastic and very quick and easy.

Update: Safeway DOES have butter beans. I found them. They were great with this!

Potato Salad

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/potato_salad/

I made 1.5 times this recipe but kept the # of bacon strips to six. This recipe was really tasty. It is not low fat by any means. I was planning to try out a low fat version, but had no yogurt. I used russet potatoes. I use my food scale so often including to measure potatoes in this recipe. It is a great thing to have in the kitchen.

This is great for a picnic. It served 6 adults as a side and there were still a bunch of leftovers.

9/26/2010 update:

I made this with 1/2 cup low-fat plain yogurt, 1/4 cup mayo, and 1/4 cup low-fat sour cream (as a substitute for the 1 cup mayo/sour cream combo). It was still very tasty! DH didn't know the difference.

Eggplant Parmigiana

http://thestonesoup.com/blog/2010/05/10-tips-for-optimum-vegetable-storage/

This recipe has only 5 ingredients and was pretty easy. I tend to like eggplant dishes more than DH so I really liked it while he merely liked it. I also really liked the flavor of the eggplant skin.

Next time I will only do half the recipe so there aren't as many leftovers. As written, it would probably serve 6.

Chicken and Broccoli Pasta

My sister-in-law Sonrisa made this during our last christmas visit to Utah. It's really good.

2+ cups chopped chicken

2 small or 1 large head of broccoli (alternatively, use 1 bag frozen broccoli)

3-4 chopped tomatoes (or a can of chopped tomatoes)

12 oz bag egg noodles

Prepare chicken. Boil it or use leftover chicken and cut up. At least 2 cups of chicken as this recipe makes a lot of food.

Meanwhile, cut broccoli into bite size pieces, including the stem. The stem is good! Cut off the exposed end, but keep the rest. Steam broccoli. I used 2 small heads of broccoli thinking it would be a lot, and it turned out not to be nearly as much as I thought. I might 3 small next time.

Also meanwhile, boil lots of water and cook the pasta.

Also meanwhile, make alfredo sauce:)

Alfredo Sauce

1/4 c. butter

1/4 c. flour (I use whole wheat)

1 1/2 c. milk

1 1/2 c. water

2 chicken bouillon cubes

1/2 c. Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper

Melt butter in medium sauce pan over medium heat. Stir in flour to make a paste. Slowly stir in water until smooth, Add milk, chicken bouillon cubes, and salt and pepper. Let simmer and thicken for about 10-12 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in Parmesan cheese.

Combine cooked broccoli, pasta, tomatoes, sauce, and chicken. Stir around until sauce is distributed.

Notes:

We were eating leftovers of this for way too long. It would serve at least 6 people. Next time halve or third the recipe!

Tortilla Pie

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Tortilla-Pie-231795

This was very quick and good. I did not heat/fry the tortillas. It fit perfectly into an 8x8 inch baking dish since I used 8 inch diameter medium size tortillas.

notes:
If using GF Udi brand white tortillas, they should be fried and crisped up first. They get too soggy otherwise. (But still good..but could be better!)

Potato Pancakes

This recipe is from a little cookbook called Frugal Feasts, by Mary Spilsbury Ross.

The following recipe is enough for ONE person. I doubled it.

Potato Pancakes

2 medium potatoes, peeled

1 small onion, grated

1 beaten egg

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

pinch black pepper

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1) Grate potatoes and onion onto tea towel, squeeze dry and place in a bowl. Add beaten egg, flour, salt and pepper, and stir very well.

2) Place frying pan over medium heat and add 1 tsp oil. Drop 1 heaping serving spoon of potato mixture into hot oil. Flatten as much as possible or pancake will not cook evenly. Fry until golden and crisp on the outside and tender inside.

3) Place pancake on a plate and keep warm in oven. Add another drop or two of oil to frying pan and continue making pancakes until batter is used up.

The recipe says to serve with bacon, sour cream on top, or applesauce on top. David liked sour cream. I tried applesauce and decided it was good if using a very thin layer.

Verdict: It was quick and easy, and tasted fine. I think I will look for another recipe to compare with this one though.

Popcorn

I have done this ellusive thing known as making popcorn on the stove. And had success!

I followed these instructions: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/perfect_popcorn/

I used peanut oil, but I wonder if it would work with butter instead. I tried adding salt to the oil before popping began, but I don't think it distributed over the popcorn at all. Salting afterward seems the better way to me. A full 1/3 cup of kernels will barely fit in a 3 qt sauce pan. I used just under a 1/3 cup. My saucepan is tri-ply stainless. Not sure if that makes a difference. Nothing burned and it was delicious.

Olive Garden Soup

http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Olive-Garden-Copycat-Zuppa-Toscana-38298

This is a rip off of the potato soup served at Olive Garden. It is really great. I alter the original recipe:

1/2 lb hot or mild sausage (i use bulk)

6 medium potatoes

3 slices bacon, cooked and chopped

1 or 2 onions

2 clove garlic

1 qt chicken broth

2 cups water

1/2 tsp pepper (if not using hot sausage)

1 cup milk

4 cups kale or swiss chard leaves (or a bunch, I don't measure. Like a couple huge handfuls. whatever. lots though, and make sure it is in chunks and not chopped in small bits. i just tear it off the stalks and don't do much else.)

Very good! If your sausage has very little flavor you might opt for the full lb.

I cook the bacon and sausage at the beginning (in the soup pot) and keep it in a bowl until the instructions (in the link) say to add it later on. The bacon gets crumbled. I use bulk mild or hot pork sausage from the New York Style Sausage Company. David likes the hot sausage best.

Chicken Pot Pie

I have made this pot pie several times and it is really good.

The original recipe is here: http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Delicious-Chicken-Pot-Pie-10744

I use milk instead of half and half.

This made about 3 quarts because I added more vegetables. It barely fed 6 adults (3m/3f). It would have fed 4 more comfortably.

I used:

3 large chicken breasts

1 large onion

4 stalks celery

5 med carrots

4 med potatoes

fresh thyme

And then did what the recipe said. You could decrease the butter to make it lower fat. I usually use just a couple tablespoons of butter, and mostly milk instead of half and half. I do like to put in a bit of half and half or cream though, for the richness.

The crust I use for this comes from a comment by BothFex:

"Sift together 1 C. flour and 1 t. salt. Cut in 1/4 lb. cold butter or marg. till resembles coarse crumbs. Whisk together 1 egg yolk and 2 T. ice water add to flour mixture and mix till it just comes together. Let rest in fridge for 20 minutes then roll out and top pie."

I don't always let it rest, but it comes out flaky and good.

Update:

I always have the problem of the filling spilling out on top of the crust. When this happens, the crust is soggy and nasty. The solution I believe is to use pie dishes and fill them completely. Then put on a top crust only, and there is the rim for the crust to wrap around. When I make a huge pot pie in a 4 or 5 qt pot, the crust often falls too low and gets soggy. It has happened enough times that I need a different method. Alternatively, I could use a 2 or 3 quart glass casserole dish and fill it completely. Then put crust on top so that the edges seal. Sealing the edges is important so liquid can't get on top of the crust. Any leftover filling can be baked separately without crust. The most important things are to completely fill whatever container you use and then make sure the crust is large enough to extend beyond the edges and be sealed.

Another update:

I made this again but did it according to the measurements specified in the original recipe (except used less butter and milk instead of half and half). I used whole wheat flour in the pie, and half wheat half white in the crust recipe. It turned out really well. It was a touch too runny, so maybe a bit more flour would be good for thickening next time. This fit pretty well into a 2 quart glass dish, but was just shy of making it. The crust didn't drown this time, I think rolling it out large enough so it goes over the rim of the dish is key.

Another update- 5/1/2013:
Made again as in the last time, using original recipe in 2 qt glass dish, worked perfectly. Roll out dough large enough to go over the rim and fold under like a top crust on a regular pie. This time I used all white flour. The sauce was not too runny once it had time to cool slightly. I would recommend allowing 20-30 minutes of cooling time on the counter to avoid the initial runny sauce, it will still be really hot. It was a while ago that I made it last time though, and it might just be that white flour does better at thickening than whole wheat flour.

Pear Salad

David made a pear salad for an activity and it was really good. I looked in a couple cookbooks and we ended up putting these things in the salad:

pears

bacon

walnuts

feta

red onion

shallots

Spring mix lettuce

And then used a red wine vinaigrette as dressing. It was really good! The pears were just right and it was total luck that they had ripened well and were juicy and good. Pears often seem to be grainy to me, but these were great.

Baked Fajitas

My long time friend Jillian taught me to make these during undergrad. They are easy and good.

I think Jillian used portobello mushrooms instead of chicken, but I like to sub that for chicken and baby mushrooms.

Cooked chicken pieces (maybe 1 large chicken breast?)

1 bell pepper (I prefer a non-green type)

1/3 lb baby mushrooms (I think 10-15 mushrooms. I like crimini).

1 tsp cumin

4 medium flour tortillas

1 cup salsa

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

Slice bell pepper into strips and slice mushrooms. Saute until mushrooms are cooked. Add cumin. Divide mushroom/pepper mixture into 4 piles in pan. Roll up mixture with 1/4 of available chicken pieces in tortilla. Put tortilla in square glass casserole dish. 4 of these should fit perfectly. Pour salsa over rolled up tortillas and sprinkle cheese over top. Bake for 20 min at 350.

(If you don't want to saute the veges, just roll up everything raw (but the chicken still cooked) and bake for 30-40 minutes.

This is good for 2 people.

Notes: Sauteed onions would be good with this.

Trout

One block from my house is a great little grocery store called JJ&F. They have a full service deli, butcher and fish area as well. (Awesome sandwiches!)

I bought one trout that had been deboned and gutted, so when you open it up you have two fillets still in their skins ready to go. I've made trout many times. The herbs / spices vary, but some things always remain the same.

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Butter the bottom of a square casserole dish. Place trout skin down into dish. Mix 1 tbsp. butter and juice from one lemon and heat until butter is melted. Pout mixture over trout. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top.

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So, that is the part that is always the same. This time I also chopped up some fresh basil (maybe 1/4 cup?) and put that on top of the fish before pouring the lemon butter over the top.

Then, I bake at 400 for 15 minutes.

It is soooo good. Even DH likes it.