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.

---

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.

Penne with asparagus and bacon

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Fettucine-with-Peas-Asparagus-and-Pancetta-358490

I just noticed epicurious.com spells fettuccine with one c, while BonAppetit.com uses two. Fettuccine has two c's, just so you know.

Anyway. I used penne instead. And left out the peas, of course. (You must know I hate peas.) And then I used bacon instead of pancetta.

This was AWESOME. yeah. The asparagus I bought was the slender kind. It worked really well. Use fresh parmesan cheese too. The Kraft kind is very inferior and pointless in my opinion...

Rice and corn salad

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/southwest-rice-and-corn-salad-with-lemon-dressing

This was so good. I used medium grain white rice and frozen yellow corn. I used an entire poblano pepper as well as a whole yellow bell pepper. And used green zucchini. I've only seen yellow zucchini once earlier this year.

The poblano pepper hardly added any heat at all. It was very mild. So don't be afraid. The cilantro was lovely as well. But only if you like cilantro. Apparently some people don't. Weird people.

The sweet corn mixed with creamy avocado was a nice combination. Loved it!

Chicken with tarragon

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/quick-recipes/2010/05/chicken_with_tarragon_and_quick_roasted_garlic

I adore tarragon. And it was SO good in this. Fresh is best. Actually, fresh is all I know. I've no idea how dried tarragon would turn out. It could be nasty.

Pappardelle with lamb ragu

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/quick-recipes/2010/05/pappardelle_with_lamb_ragu

I did not like this very much. It tasted ok, but that's all. Ok is not enough for me. Plus it was purple. And the flavor did not redeem the purple color. Maybe the red wine I used was too dark? I used a Pinot Noir, same as I use in beef stew.

There are better uses for lamb.

DH liked it though. He is weird.

Indoor Pulled Pork

This is from the Jan/Feb issue of Cooks Illustrated. Or, here: http://thebittenword.typepad.com/thebittenword/2010/01/indoor-pulled-pork-and-other-superbowl-food-ideas.html

I made the lexington vinegar sauce because it has the least amount of sugar. This pork was SOO good. The texture is best when you don't over pull the pork--make sure it is still in big chunks.

The one and only time previous to this that I attempted pulled pork it turned out SUPER NASTY (it was a crockpot recipe... usually crockpots work well but not for this!)

This recipe is a winner. I used a 5 lb pork shoulder and tried to cut it in half (slabwise..is that a word?) but there were some bones that made it uneven. But it worked. There was way too much sauce. Easily half a recipe for sauce would be sufficient. We ate this for two meals and then froze the rest. It will last another couple meals I think.

I highly recommend this if you are at home for the day. I had to start dinner at 11 am, but most of that time it was in the oven and I was doing something else. Eat it on hamburger buns.