Beef with Peapods & Mushrooms

Sorry.  It's been a while.  I've been cooking a lot, but haven't had a lot of time to blog about it, what with birthdays and parties and spring cleaning. 

I'm back now.

I made this recipe the other night because I had some peapods and mushrooms to use up - and Matt had three helpings.  Three.  I don't remember the last time he had three helpings of something, so I'm assuming he liked it.  Ben and I sure did.  Also, enjoy the photo - Ben set it up.

Beef with Peapods and Mushrooms

Ingredients:
6 T soy sauce
4 T rice wine vinegar
2 T brown sugar
1 tsp. cornstarch
1/2 - 1 T hoisin sauce
1 - 2 T vegetable oil
2 tsp. sesame oil
1 T minced fresh ginger root
1 T minced fresh garlic
1 lb. flat iron steak, sliced (or flank steak, or skirt steak - whichever is cheapest & looks the best)
1 package fresh peapods (8 oz. or so)
8 oz. sliced mushrooms
2 C rice, prepared

Assembly:
In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, brown sugar, cornstarch & hoisin sauce.  Set aside.

Heat the vegetable & sesame oils in a wok over medium high heat - add in the ginger and garlic and stir fry for about 30 seconds.  Add the steak and cook until evenly browned on all sides. 

Add the snow peas and mushrooms (and any other vegetables you want) and cook until just softened (about 3 - 5 minutes).  No mushy veggies, you hear?

Add the soy sauce mixture (scrape the bowl well in case the sugar didn't dissolve all the way) and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Lower the heat and simmer until the sauce thickens.

Serve over rice, next to a car.

Spicy Mac & Cheese

We are always trying different versions of mac & cheese - it's probably one of Matt's most favorite foods ever, and we're always looking for new ways to change it up a bit (however, more often than not, we make Matt's mom's version, which is so yummy and creamy and good...I should add that on here).

Anyway, I found this recipe on Pioneer Woman & knew we had to try it - I mean, mac & cheese, some spiciness...how could we go wrong? 

Spicy Mac & Cheese

Ingredients:

4 C cooked elbow macaroni

1 T olive oil

1 small jalapeno, de-seeded and finely diced

1/2 red onion, finely diced

Equal amount red bell pepper, finely diced

4 oz. canned green chiles, chopped

1 C frozen corn

1 (heaping) C shredded pepper jack cheese

2 - 3 cloves garlic

1 C heavy cream

2 T butter

Salt and pepper, to taste

Assembly:

Cook pasta until al dente.

In a large skillet (bust out the cast iron, will ya?), add the olive oil and saute the onion, pepper, jalapeno, corn and garlic over medium heat.  After a few minutes, add in the chiles and stir.  Turn off heat.

Drain pasta and add it to the pan.  Pour in cream, add cheese and salt and pepper - stir gently.  Add in the butter and stir gently again.

Serve by itself, or as a side to steak or chicken.  Just serve it.  Trust me.

Potsticker Soup

This is one of my new favorite soups to make - it's so easy, and we always have the ingredients on hand (thanks to Costco, I've always got a lot of chicken broth in the fridge and bags of potstickers and edamame in the freezer).  I've made it a few times since discovering the recipe (and have tweaked the original quite a bit) and each time, we all have seconds.  Even Ben.

Potsticker Soup

Ingredients:

32 - 64 oz. low sodium chicken broth (depending on how brothy you want your soup - I usually use about 1 1/2 boxes, or 48 oz.)

1 2" piece ginger, peeled and minced

16 oz. frozen potstickers

8 oz. sliced mushrooms (we just use regular mushrooms, but you can use Shiitake if you really want)

1 14 oz. bag frozen edamame, prepared according to package (don't forget to remove from the pod!)

Soy sauce, to taste

Sliced scallions, for garnish

Assembly:
In a large pot (I love using my stock pot for this), bring the chicken broth and ginger to a boil.

Add the potstickers and carrots, simmering until the carrots are tender (about 10 minutes).

Add the mushrooms and edamame - cook until warmed through (just a few minutes).  Stir in soy sauce, and top with scallions before serving.

Chicken with Lemon, Tomatoes and Thyme

Right before I had Ben, I made a bunch of freezer meals that would be easy for Matt and I to heat and eat while severely sleep deprived and learning to parent a newborn.  This was one of those meals.  It's so easy, it'll probably take me longer to type this up than it does to actually make the recipe - and it's good, too!  It's a little acidic with the lemons and tomatoes, but Ben loves it anyway.

Chicken with Lemon, Tomatoes and Thyme

Ingredients:

1 lemon

1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes

8 sprigs thyme
1 tbsp. capers
1 fryer chicken, cut up
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
4 resealable freezer bags, quart sized

Assembly:
Slice lemon into rounds.

In a small bowl, combine tomatoes & their juices, lemon, capers & thyme sprigs.  Divide evenly among four freezer bags.

Season chicken with salt and pepper, and place chicken pieces into bags (I put 2-3 pieces in each bag).

Freeze up to three months. 

To cook, heat oven to 400 degrees.  Empty contents of bag into roasting pan or baking dish (I use a roasting pan).  Each bag is one serving, so for the three of us, I cook two bags at a time.  Drizzle chicken with olive oil and cook until chicken is golden brown and cooked through - about an hour or so.

Potluck Cake

Ok, so, what I'm about to post is probably one of the least healthy, most processed things you could eat.  But it's freaking good, so just work with me here, ok?

 Potluck Cake (aka Dump Cake)

Ingredients:
1 can (21 oz.) cherry pie filling
1 can (15 oz.) crushed pineapple
1 box (18 oz.) yellow cake mix
1 stick margarine
1/2 stick butter
Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream

Assembly:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Dump cherry pie filling and crushed pineapple into 13x9 baking dish and stir.

Sprinkle the cake mix over the top of the fruit mixture and lay sliced margarine and butter evenly over the top of the cake mix.

Bake for 45 minutes to an hour - the top will get all nice and gooey and browned.  Serve with whipped cream or ice cream, because really, you've already killed your diet with this...a little extra on top won't hurt.

Chicken with Green Beans and Mushrooms

You know what I love?  Chicken.  And green beans.  And mushrooms.  So it made perfect sense to make this dish.  (Though, after making this, we've realized that Ben does not like mushrooms...the only food he won't eat!)

Chicken with Green Beans and Mushrooms

Ingredients:
One 3  1/2 to 4 lb chicken, cut into pieces (I found a cut up fryer chicken on sale, so we used that)
3/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (or less, if you're a wimp)
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped + 12 whole cloves, unpeeled (I peeled them accidentally - they still worked fine...but I wish I would've saved myself the time & not peeled them)
1 small navel orange, halved
3/4 lb green beans, trimmed
One 10 oz. pkg mushrooms, sliced (I used a mix of baby bella & regular)

Assembly:
Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Rinse & pat dry the chicken, and place in a roasting pan.

In a small bowl, combine the thyme, red pepper, 3/4 tsp of salt & 1/4 tsp of pepper.  Brush the chicken with 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil, and sprinkle with the chopped garlic and spice mixture.  You might find it easier to kind of stipple on the spice mixture with a silicone brush (I did).

Arrange the garlic cloves & orange halves around the chicken and roast until cooked through, about 30 to 45 minutes. 

Meanwhile, place the green beans and mushrooms on a baking sheet.  Drizzle with the remaining olive oil and salt/pepper.  Roast until mushrooms are cooked and the beans are lightly brown - so, about 15 minutes, stirring once.  (I removed the roasting pan cover from the chicken when I put in the mushrooms/beans to let the skin crisp up a bit.) 

When finished, squeeze the orange halves over the chicken & serve with green beans and mushrooms.  (We served it all over rice - and it was goooooood!)

 

A New Use for Leftover Fruit

When our fridge gets really full and disorganized, the stuff in the far back freezes.  Lovely.  That happened to some watermelon we'd cut up, and I didn't want to let it thaw and get mushy, so I threw it in the Magic Bullet, blended it up, poured it in ice cube trays...

...And used them in my lemonade & vodka cocktails.  Soooooooooo refreshing.

No watermelon?  Try honeydew or musk melon, peaches,  or even cucumbers.  Throw them in lemonade, water, cocktails...and enjoy =)

Salmon with Bacon and Tomato Salsa

Our local grocery store has this fabulous bacon - freshly sliced into nice, thick slices...soooo good.  And, it's the same price as the pre-packaged stuff.  We purchase this bacon quite frequently, and go through it really fast, but with our vacation last weekend, we had some that needed to be used up.

Enter Salmon with Bacon and Tomato Salsa.  My mom made this for us a long time ago, so I dug up the recipe, made a few simple changes and, as Ben would say, "taaaaaa-dah!"

 Salmon with Bacon and Tomato Salsa

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs fresh salmon (skin removed, if possible...or do it yourself, but that's a pain)

2 tsp. dried thyme leaves (or, 10-12 sprigs of fresh, chopped, leaves only)

6 slices bacon (trust me)

1 T garlic paste (or minced garlic...it's all I had)

Small red onion, diced

Extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp. mesquite seasoning

10 oz can diced tomatoes & chiles, mild (well drained, which I forgot to do)

Assembly:

Cut bacon into 1/4 inch pieces, and place in pan with onions and garlic.  Cook 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until bacon is brown.

While bacon is cooking, cut away dark sections of salmon and cut into 4 servings.  Rub both sides of the salmon with olive oil and sprinkle on thyme, mesquite seasoning and pepper.  (I mixed the spices in a bowl, and then rubbed it on the salmon all at once.)  Place salmon on grill, or in grill pan (we used a cast iron grill pan), with darker side up.  Close lid, or loosely cover with foil, and cook 2-3 minutes on each side, or until the fish is thoroughly cooked (145 F degrees).

Add the tomatoes to the bacon mixture, reduce heat to medium and simmer 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until mixture thickens and the liquid evaporates.  Serve salsa over salmon.

Red Wine Sangria

Oh my gosh, do I love sangria.  That's a statement.  Not a question.  I found this recipe and loved how easy it was to make...and it tasted fan-freaking-tastic, too!  A perfect summer drink.

Red Wine Sangria

Ingredients:

3/4 C simple sugar (equal parts sugar and water)

2 bottles dry red wine (cab sav, merlot, something like that)

3/4 C brandy
1/2 C triple sec

3/4 C orange juice

2 oranges, sliced into thin rounds

2 green apples, cored and sliced thinly

2 lemons, sliced into thin rounds

Assembly:

Boil water and pour over sugar to dissolve.  Cool.  Combine all ingredients in a large pitcher and refrigerate, covered, for two hours or up to two days (hahahahaha like it'll last two days!).  Serve over ice.

Spanish Omelet with Potatoes and Chorizo

I love breakfast for dinner.  I love breakfast for breakfast, but there's something so fun about having it for dinner.  I ran across this recipe a long time ago, but never ended up making it...until recently.  Matt came home with some chorizo, and everything fell into place...

 Spanish Omelet with Potatoes and Chorizo

Ingredients:
Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
Chorizo (I took two sausages, cut the casings & scooped out the meat...it turned out kind of like ground chorizo - I think the brand we used was Johnsonville?  I didn't get special cured chorizo like the orignial recipe calls for)
3/4 lb. diced potatoes (I had Russet on hand, so that's what we used)
Salt & pepper
3/4 flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
10 large eggs, beaten
1 C shredded sharp cheddar

Assembly:
Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Heat the olive oil in a large ovenproof skillet (hello?  Cast iron!) over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook for about five minutes.  Add the chorizo, potatoes, salt and pepper (start with about 1/2 teaspoon of each...but add more if you like salt and pepper).  Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender (about ten minutes or so).  Add in the parsley.

Pour the eggs into the skillet and stir to distribute evenly.  Sprinkle with cheese and pop in the oven.

Bake until eggs are puffy and brown around the edges, and a knife comes out clean - about fifteen minutes.

A Funny Food Story

This is posted to distract you from the fact I haven't posted a recipe in months.  Sorry.  I'll get better.  Promise.  I have a super easy three layer pie I'm getting ready to write about, but in the meantime...

From Daily News:

An Australian publishing company must fork over a large amount of cash for a typo that appeared in one of its recently released cookbooks.

Penguin Group Australia had to reprint its "Pasta Bible" last week after one recipe listed "salt and freshly ground black people" instead of pepper, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Penguin had to cook up $18,000 to reprint 7,000 copies of the recipe book.

Head of publishing, Bob Sessions, told the Herald that the "Pasta Bible" would not be recalled as it would be "extremely hard" to do so.

According to Sessions, pepper was spelled correctly every other time it appeared in the book's 150 recipes. The misprint only occured once - in a recipe for spelt tagliatelle with sardines and prosciutto.

"We've said to bookstores that if anyone is small minded enough to complain about this very ... silly mistake then we will happily replace [the book] for them," Sessions told the newspaper.

Buttered Herb Rolls

My most awesome mother in law got me a cast iron skillet for Christmas, after I dropped many not so subtle  hints.  I was so excited to get this skillet - you don't understand.  Since Christmas, both Matt and I have used the skillet quite a bit - to make everything from typical hamburgers or eggs to...rolls.

Rolls?  Rolls.  Buttered herb rolls, to be more precise.

Read on.

 

Buttered Herb Rolls

Ingredients:

Frozen, unbaked dinner rolls (I used Rhodes White, in the orange bag)

Melted butter

Fresh rosemary, coarsely chopped (you don't like rosemary?  Blasphemy!  I mean, try thyme or something.)

Coarse sea salt

Assembly:

Spray a cast iron skillet with cooking spray (or coat with olive oil).  Place frozen rolls in the skillet - make sure to leave enough room for rising.  Cover and let rise for several hours.  (I covered with a dishtowel for about...5 hours.)

After rising, brush the rolls with melted butter.  Sprinkle with the chopped rosemary.  Brush with more butter.  Add the salt.  

Bake according to package directions (ours took about 20 minutes until they were a nice golden brown).  Serve on the table in the skillet.

Leave room for the rest of your dinner.

(Also, these re-heat really well!  Usually, I don't like re-heated bread, but I popped the leftovers in the microwave for 25 seconds & they were pretty good!)

Pizza Casserole

What?  Casseroles are nasty?  Nah.  They're total comfort food, super easy and totally customizable, which are three main things that every dish should be...

I found this pizza casserole recipe, tweaked it a bit, loved it and added it to the rotation.  Go ahead - try it.  It'll be added to your rotation, too.  Trust.  You can add whatever kind of pizza toppings you like - we like pepperoni, onions, mushrooms & green pepper.  Next time, I might use half ground chuck and half ground italian sausage or turkey.  Mmmm.

Pizza Casserole

Ingredients:

2 C uncooked egg noodles

1 lb. ground chuck

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 green pepper, chopped

1/2 C mushrooms, sliced

1 C pepperoni, sliced

16 oz. pizza sauce

4 T milk

1 C shredded mozzarella

Assembly: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook noodles according to package directions. 

In a skillet over medium-high heat, brown the ground chuck with the onion, garlic, mushrooms and green pepper. Drain excess fat. Stir in the noodles, pepperoni, pizza sauce and milk, and mix well. Pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. 

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 20 minutes, top with the cheese, then bake for 5 to 10 more minutes.

Nom nom nom.

Sausage and Corn Chowder

I love soup.  Love it.  I never really used to make it at home, but now that I've found a few soup recipes that are really good and really easy, I've been making it more.  That, and the weather is frigid, so soup really hits the spot this time of year.

I think I saw this recipe on a message board somewhere, but I didn't really keep track of where.  Whoops.  I've made several changes to that recipe, so it's kind of turned into a Leanne original anyway.  It's quickly becoming one of my favorite things to make and eat. 

Sausage and Corn Chowder

Ingredients:

Tube Jimmy Dean pork sausage with sage (the sage makes the dish - get the one with sage!)

1 onion, chopped

1-2 cloves garlic

1 can creamed corn

16 oz. frozen corn

5-6 medium sized diced potatoes (you can use any kind of potatoes - red, Russet, whatever...you can also skin them if you want)

2 C water

Flour

1 bay leaf

1 can evaporated milk

Black pepper

Hot sauce (optional)

Assembly:

In a large soup pot (I like to use my stock pot), drizzle some olive oil.  Saute onion and garlic until onion is soft.

Add the pork sausage and brown.  Add in your diced potatoes, can of creamed corn and bag of frozen corn.  Mix a bit of flour into your 2 C water to thicken it, and pour into the pot.  (Add more flour to pot if you still want it a bit thicker.) 

Add in bay leaf and bring soup to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until potatoes are soft.

Add one can evaporated milk and stir well.  Cook until heated through.  Remove bay leaf.

Serve with black pepper and hot sauce, and maybe some warm crusty bread on the side.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

This dip is addicting.  So addicting.  There's a reason it's nicknamed "Crack Dip."  I've made a few modifications from the original recipe, and to be honest, I'm pretty sure my version is even yummier.

Buffalo Chicken Dip 

(LOL at the paper plate in the picture!)

Ingredients:

1 rotisserie chicken, skinned and shredded

2 blocks (16 oz.) low fat cream cheese, softened

3/4 C Frank's Red Hot Sauce

1 C ranch dressing

1 1/2 C shredded cheddar cheese (I like sharp)

Assembly:

In your crock pot, mix the all ingredients well.  Once they're mixed, turn crock pot to high until mixture is warmed through and bubbly, then turn to low/warm.  (You could set it on low from the beginning, but I don't like to wait for this to cook...)

Serve with Ritz crackers, celery sticks and white corn tortilla chips.

Wait for applause and recipe requests.

Baked Potato Soup

Panera used to have really good Baked Potato Soup, but I don't think they have it anymore...or they don't have it when we're there.  Either way, we miss it, so when I found a recipe for Baked Potato Soup, I knew we had to try it.

It's not a match to Panera's, but it's pretty dang good.  In fact, it might be better than Panera's version.  Take that, Panera!

Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients:

Russet potatoes (I used 8 small/medium sized ones)

4 tbsp. butter

1/2 C flour, divided

6 C milk (original recipe calls for 2% - I only had skim and whole, so I used 3 C skim and 3 C whole...it worked out well)

2 tsp. salt

Black pepper, to taste

3/4 C sharp cheddar cheese

1/2 C green onions, chopped (or more, if you like green onions, like we do)

1/2 C low fat sour cream

For topping:

Crumbled bacon

Green onions

Sour cream

Shredded cheddar

Assembly:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Scrub the potatoes & prick them several times with a fork.  Place potatoes on baking sheet and bake for one hour.  Remove them from the oven and let them sit until you can handle them; scoop out insides into a bowl.  (I left part of the skins on, which is why I washed the potatoes, but you can discard the skins if you want.)  Break up the potatoes until they are in small chunks (I used a fork.  It was fun.  You could also use a food processor, if you have one).

In a large stock pot, melt the butter.  Add 1/4 C of the flour and whisk into the butter.  Whisk consistently until the butter/flour mixture is a golden brown.  Whisk in the milk and the rest of the flour.  Cook until thick and bubbly.  Mix in the potato chunks, salt, pepper and cheese.  Stir until the cheese is melted.  Remove from heat, add the green onions and sour cream.

Top with sour cream, green onions, crumbled bacon & shredded cheddar cheese.  Serve immediately.

This will make a ton, so you'll have leftovers, but they won't last long.  At least not around me.

Chicken Spaghetti

Best.comfort food.ever. 

This is probably one of my most favorite things to eat make.  It's a slightly adapted version of this recipe, but it's pretty close to original.  Regardless, it's fab.  Fab, I say!

Chicken Spaghetti

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked chicken (I shred & skin a whole rotissierie chicken for a nice mix of white/dark meat)
2 cans Cream of Chicken and Mushroom soup
2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 finely diced green pepper
1 finely diced medium white onion
1 4oz. jar diced pimentos, drained
3/4 - 1 box thin spaghetti, broken
2 cups chicken broth
Lawry's Seasoned Salt (I don't measure - just taste and add...start with 1 tsp.)
Cayenne pepper (again, taste and add, start with 1/8 tsp.)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 add'l cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

Assembly:
Cook the spaghetti until al dente - do not overcook.  Meanwhile, skin and shred the chicken.  When spaghetti is cooked, combine with all ingredients except the one add'l cup of sharp cheddar.

Place in casserole dish and top with remaining 1 cup of cheese.  You can freeze for up to 6 months, cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days, or bake immediately at 350 for 45 minutes until bubbly.  You can cover with foil if the cheese starts to get too cooked.

I've also frozen leftovers after it's been baked & then just throw in a pot, cover & thaw/reheat when we're ready to eat it again.  I've also been known to eat large amounts of this before it's been baked.  Shhh...don't tell.

The Second Best Potatoes You'll Ever Have!

As promised in an earlier entry, the recipe for the second best potatoes you'll ever have.  (If you recall, the best potatoes ever are these.)

This recipe was featured on Food Network's The Next Food Network Star.  I've made them twice now (once with swiss, once with provolone because that's all I had in the fridge), and they were fab both times.  Ben loves them, too.

I won't tell you how many of these I've eaten in one sitting...

Mini Potato Gratins

Ingredients:

Vegetable spray

3 large Russet potatoes, roughly peeled and thinly sliced

3/4 C grated Swiss cheese

3 green onions, finely chopped

1 C heavy cream

Salt & pepper

Assembly:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees & spray a 12-opening muffin tin with vegetable spray.

Layer the potato slices, cheese, salt, pepper and green onions in each muffin cup.  I like to season each layer with a little S&P, rather than just topping with S&P like the original recipe recommends.  What can I say?  I like salt and pepper.  Top each gratin with 1 - 2 tablespoons of heavy cream.

Cover with foil and bake for 15 - 20 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake for another 15 - 20 minutes.

These are sooooo good - try to save room for the rest of your meal when you make these!

Italian Beef

This is one of my most favorite things to make - and eat. I absolutely love this recipe. I think my mom got this recipe from a (crazy) lady she used to work with, but I'm not exactly sure where crazy lady got the recipe. Regardless, I'm happy I have it now, because I could eat this stuff every day.

Italian Beef

Ingredients:

3 - 4 lb. beef roast

1 package dry onion soup mix

4 beef bullion cubes, dissolved in 3/4 C water

3 oz. cherry Coke OR 3 tbsp. brandy (I prefer the soda)

12 oz. beer (i.e. Miller Lite, Heineken, Labatt Blue - just a normal beer)

Assembly:

Ready?  This is going to be a tough one...

Mix all liquid & onion soup mix.

Place roast in crock pot, pour liquid mixture over it.

Turn on low for about 8 hours.

Shred.

Put on bun (buttered...mmmm...).

Eat.

You're welcome.

(The potatoes in the picture are Mini Potato Gratins - I'll update with that recipe soon, because they might be the second best potatoes you'll ever have!)

Mexican Smores

So, I know it's fall...and I do have some fall recipes to upload (really, I do!), but I realized I didn't blog about my Mexican Smores that I made over the summer...so, here it is. Better late than never, right?

Mexican Smores

Serves 8 - or Leanne, for an afternoon

Ingredients:
8 cinnamon graham crackers
8 marshmallows
4 1.5 ounce chocolate bars, broken into pieces

Assembly:
Heat broiler.

Break the crackers in half (to form 16 squares). Place 8 squares on a cookie sheet, top with a marshmallow and broil until the marshmallows are lightly browned (about a minute and a half).

Top with a chunk of chocolate and the remaining 8 cracker squares. Squish.

Serve immediately. With napkins, because you will make a mess.