This Week's Dinner Menu

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Roasted Tomato & Eggplant Soup

I got this freezer-friendly recipe via Martha Stewart. She actually has a great selection of some freezer recipes that I'm interested in trying on her website. And all the pictures are oh-so-beautiful, of course.


I had made lasagna with eggplant last week and wanted to try out another eggplant recipe. I had most of these ingredients sitting around my house, so I decided to give it a try. It's an involved recipe for something so simple as soup. But I enjoyed making it. All the pureeing credit goes to my friend Nicole. I was busy making a Mediterranean tuna casserole while waiting on the veggies to roast on the soup, so she jumped in and helped me out. 



Ingredients:
3 tomatoes, diced (the recipe calls for 12, I used a can of crushed tomatoes instead)
1 large can of crushed tomatoes 
1/2 pound baby carrots, diced
3 tsp of minced garlic
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 large eggplant, chopped into 3/4 inch chunks
1 can of red kidney beans, drained & rinsed (you can use chick peas or other another bean)
2 tsp curry powder


Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
You will need two rimmed baking sheets. Spray with olive oil spray.
In one baking sheet mix together tomatoes, carrots, garlic, 1/2 tbsp olive oil oil, 1 tsp salt, & 1/4 tsp pepper. Spread in single layer.
On the other baking sheet mix together eggplant, beans, curry powder, 1/2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper. Spread in a single layer.
Place both sheets in oven. Tomato mixture on top rack and eggplant on bottom.
Roast until tender which will be about 30 minutes, toss halfway through.
Puree tomato mixture in a blender. Since we didn't use enough tomatoes their wasn't much juice, so instead of adding the 3 or 4 cups of water in the next step you can do it in this step. That way the tomato mixture will puree better in the blender. Or what we did is we added the crushed tomatoes and that allowed everything to mix better. 
Transfer to large pot. Stir in eggplant. Add 3 cups of water to thin. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Season with additional salt & pepper, if desired.
Let cool completely and transfer to storage container.
Freeze for no more than 3 months.
To eat later, defrost overnight, reheat over medium-high heat. Thin with water, if needed. Sprinkle with cilantro & crispy bread.







What do you think? Comments? Suggestions? I would love to know that you visited my blog. Please leave me a message letting me know you were here! Did you try out a recipe? Let me know! I would love to hear from you :-)

Poker Night Cheesy Taco Dip

Now that I'm in good standings with the library again (long story) I've been checking out cookbooks. One of them that I borrowed was Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Recipes - Family Favorites. This recipe was inspired by one of the recipes I found in the dip section. Gerald had the guys over to cook meat in the smoker all day (who says guys can't cook!?!?) and watch football. I decided to hide in the kitchen all evening to avoid all the testosterone. They had ribs and chicken cordon bleu wrapped in bacon. They were showing off all their creations to me and when it was ready to eat they just went to town and devoured it all. It was comical it reminded me a little bit of the epic meat videos I had seen on youtube. The chicken cordon bleu is below, isn't it a beauty? I can't take credit for it, it was all my husband and his friends. 



I wanted to cook something that complimented the meat. Literally, that's all they had...meat. No side dishes, no salad, no starch, no veggies. Just meat. So I attempted to make salad & cornbread, but got distracted. I just made this dip instead to make sure they had all 4 food groups covered. I modified it based on what I had in the kitchen and it turned out to be a delicious, creamy, cheesy, tasty, masterpiece. Oh and despite the name, we did not play any poker that night. 


Ingredients:
1/2 pound of extra lean ground beef
1/2 cup fat free sour cream
1/2 cup shredded mexican cheese (Sargento was buy one, get one free this week)
1 can of fat free refried beans
1 package of taco seasoning (or maybe just 3/4 of the package)
4 oz of reduced fat cream cheese
1 triangle slice of laughing cow light cheese (i used this instead of cream cheese, you can just use additional ounces of cream cheese)
1/2 cup of onions
green chilies, diced
1 or 2 bag of Fritos Scoops



Directions:
Turn slow cooker on low.
Cook the ground beef and brown. Mash up the ground beef into really small pieces (see picture)
Mix sour cream, taco seasoning, cheese, & beans in a medium sized small cooker and stir together.
Stir in beef, onions &, chilies.
Then add cream cheese & laughing cow cheese, cut them into chunks first. They won't be mixed in right away, wait until they melt a little bit.
Cook on low for 2 to 3 hours. The cheeses will start to melt and you can stir and mix everything together 2 or 3 times while cooking.
Serve warm when everything is melted with fritos. 


I didn't get any good pictures, here is the dip after we started eating it. As you can see we ran out of fritos, so we switched over to doritos. The dip was a hit!

What do you think? Comments? Suggestions? I would love to know that you visited my blog. Please leave me a message letting me know you were here! Did you try out a recipe? Let me know! I would love to hear from you :-)

Crock Pot Corn Chowder

There is this cool website called A Year of Slow Cooking about a women who set a New Year's Resolution to cook, using her crock pot, every day in 2008. It's great because she has a TON of slow cooker recipes. There are desserts, drinks, entrees, soups, etc. All kinds of recipes. I found this corn chowder one and decided to give it a try.

I did this recipe a little differently. The original recipe has you throw everything into a slow cooker, cook for 4 hours, then puree the soup using a small hand mixer while the soup is hot. I didn't have the resources or the skill to do that. So I pureed everything in a blender first, then put it in the slow cooker and cooked it after everything was blended together. I was still happy with the results. You may want to add more seasoning, or garlic, or other types of vegetables. But the corn and potatoes is what gets it done. 

Ingredients:

2 quarts of low fat chicken broth

1/2 cup diced onion

1/2 cup diced red pepper

1/2 cup diced celery

1/4 cup shredded carrots

32 ounces of frozen corn

6 small white potatoes (i didn't peel mine, but you can choose to take the skins off of yours)

1/2 cup low fat shredded cheese (optional)

olive oil or fat free cooking spray

fresh parsley

salt & pepper

Directions:

Brown the onion in oil until cooked.

Add onion, red pepper, celery, carrots, broth, & corn into a blender and puree. You can do this in sections, if needed.

Add potatoes and blend more. 

It should be a creamy consistency and there shouldn't be too many lumps. 

Transfer to slow cooker. Cook on high for 4 to 5 hours or low for 8 to 9 hours.

When ready to serve top with cheese & parsley, add salt & pepper to taste. 
Serve with toast. 

What do you think? Comments? Suggestions? I would love to know that you visited my blog. Please leave me a message letting me know you were here! Did you try out a recipe? Let me know! I would love to hear from you :-)

Beef Taco Penne Bake

I was suppose to make beef taco lasagna (from my Freezer Pleasers book) but realized I only had 4 lasagna noodles (I needed 24). So i bagged the lasagna idea and went with another type of taco pasta dish. This makes 2 casserole dishes. One to eat now & one to freeze later! :-) I froze both because i have an awesome new freezer!!!!!!!!!!


So last night I used one of the dishes for dinner. If freezing, defrost in fridge for 8 hours. I put it in the fridge before I left for work and took it out when I got home, probably was more than 8 hours, but that was fine. Then take out of fridge and preheat oven to 350. Bake in oven for 30 to 40 minutes. Mine came out a little dry, so you may want to think about adding a little bit of water when it's in the oven. Or you can add more sauce & cheese to the original recipe, maybe diced tomatoes as well.


Ingredients:

Casserole, before it goes in the oven.

1 box of whole wheat penne pasta
1 lb of extra lean ground beef
3 tablespoons of taco seasoning
4 egg whites
2 cups of fat free cottage cheese
1 cup reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese
2 cans of diced tomatoes or salsa


Directions:
Cook pasta according to box directions
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink.
Stir in taco seasoning & tomatoes. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Cheesy, yummy goodness.

In a small bowl, combine egg whites & cottage cheese.
Drain noodles and pour into two casserole dishes.
Pour in cottage cheese mixture, then beef mixture.
Top with shredded cheese.
Cover & freeze or cook now.


To eat now: Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.
To eat later: Thaw in fridge for 8 hours. Remove from fridge 30 minutes before baking. Cook in oven as above.

I would love to know that you visited my blog or tried out a recipe. Leave me some love & encouragement!

Meatball Soup

Another awesome recipe from Freezer Pleasers! LOVE THIS BOOK! I've cooked a lot of these recipes so far. I was able to fill two full loaf pans full of soup. One to eat now, one  to save for later in the freezer. This smelled so good while making it and it was pretty easy to do.


Ingredients:
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 pound extra lean ground beef
1/2 cup of carrots or dry cole-slaw mix
4 cups low fat beef broth
1 can of dark red kidney beans, rinsed & drained
1 can italian stewed tomatoes
1 teaspoon italian seasoning
4 oz. uncooked tiny penne pasta


Directions:
In a small bowl, combine egg, bread crumbs, parsley, parmesan cheese, garlic salt, & pepper.
Crumble uncooked beef over mixture, mix well.
Shape into 1 in meatballs. 
Brown in large saucepan. Does not have to be cooked all the way through.
Add broth, beans, tomatoes, and italian seasoning. Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add uncooked pasta and cook for 10 minutes longer or until meat is no longer pink and pasta is tender.





What do you think? Comments? Suggestions? I would love to know that you visited my blog. Please leave me a message letting me know you were here! Did you try out a recipe? Let me know! I would love to hear from you :-)

Spaghetti Squash & Sonoma Jack Alfredo Sauce

Though this isn't one of my many New Year's Resolutions, I am attempting to try out new ingredients that I've never cooked with before. I've done a good job of stepping out of my comfort zone when it comes to food. My first real challenge was cooking with quinoa. I had never eaten it, seen it, tasted it, or even heard of it. But I tried it and it worked out great. I tried cooking with italian sausage and potatoes last fall, (I know, I know, potatoes is most definitely not a unique or unusual food item to cook with, especially in Lancaster County, but it was for me, I had never cooked potatoes the 28 years I was on this planet. Don't judge.) I felt confident with these first few challenges so i attempted more exotic ingredients such as, avocados, and butternut squash (really impressed myself with that). This week I used couscous! Next up? I've got eggplant in my fridge to make eggplant lasagna (I've never cooked anything with eggplant in it, let alone eaten it.) and I'm also up for the challenge of doing something with my pomegrante that I just bought. But before I tackle that I'll share with you my last victory...

SPAGHETTI SQUASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't even know what it was until a few months ago. It's an actual squash, but when you scrape a fork through a roasted one it comes out looking like actual spaghetti. So cool! It looks so much like pasta, I treated it like such. I read a recipe on Tj's Test Kitchen about how to compliment the spaghetti squash with Laughing Cow Alfredo Sauce. I prefer the Sonoma Jack brand of cheese wedges, so I used those instead. I also served it with a side of asparagus. Healthy & delicious. I feel great right now! :-)


Ingredients:
Large spaghetti squash
3 Sonoma Jack light cheese wedges
2 teaspoon garlic powder
6 tablespoons 1/2 & 1/2, i didn't have fat free :-(
4 tablespoons reduced fat parmesan cheese
pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons of water


Directions:
Now, it's a little tricky with the squash. I prefer to cut mine in half, seed, then roast it in the oven. What i've read there are all different way to cook it. I cooked mine in the oven for 45 minutes at 400 degrees, I seasoned it with a little bit of pepper first. I've seen some recipes, where you don't cut it in half, you just poke it with a fork, then cook for an hour or an hour and a half. So you have to see how much time you have and what's easiest for you. I prefer not to cut mine when it is hot, but I know how hard it is to cut squash when it is raw. Your call.


While squash is cooking...


In a small sauce pan, on low-medium heat mix in half & half, sonoma jack cheese, and garlic powder.


Stir with a whisk until cheese is melted and there are no more lumps. I thought I would need to cut the cheese up first, not needed it melts away pretty quickly.


Next add parmesan cheese & pepper. Stir together. It will be pretty thick, so you can add about 2 tablespoons of water, you may add more if you want it thinner.

Take squash out of oven. You have to be careful, it is hot and hard to remove the contents.  With a fork scrape the contents out of shell. Shred from one end to the other and place in bowl. You will be surprised how much it seems like spaghetti. Pour contents of alfredo sauce over "pasta" and enjoy! 

Cornbread Chicken Suiza

This is from the Pillsbury Bake-Off book, but I'm not sure which of these products is supposed to be a Pillsbury product. That's not important anyway, because this dish is delicious no matter what brand you use.


My husband raved about it, went back for seconds, then had more as a late night snack the following evening. I guess it was good!


Suiza refers to a cream-based white sauce. So this dish is cornbread topped with a creamy chicken sauce. It's delicious mixed in with real corn & red peppers.

Ingredients: 

4 Tbsp of butter

1/2 cup of chopped onions

2 cloves of garlic

1 can of whole kernel corn, drained

1 can of cream-style corn

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 box 7.5 oz corn muffin mix

3/4 pound of chicken

1.5 cups of fat free sour cream

2 tbsp of chopped, canned green chiles

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 cups reduced fat monterey jack cheese

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Cook chicken using preferred method and cut into cubes.

In a 6-inch skillet, melt butter on medium heat, add onion and garlic. Cook & stir for 4 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender. Set aside.

Grease or spray 9 x 13 inch baking dish. 

In a large bowl, mix together corn, cream-style corn, eggs, 1/4 teaspoon salt, & corn muffin mix.

Then add butter mixture, mix, and pour into baking dish.

In another large bowl, mix together chicken, sour cream, chiles, 1/4 teaspoon salt, & pepper.

Spoon over cornbread, but leave about an inch all around the sides.

Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes.


























I would love to know that you visited my 
blog or tried out a recipe. Leave me some love & encouragement!

Almond-Crusted Chicken

My mom sent me this recipe because I had Panko bread crumbs burning a whole in my cabinets. This chicken dish turned out very well and was  easy to make. My husband really liked the chicken which is always a plus. You can serve this with the chicken cut up in strips, as a salad, (with a side of ranch like I did) or take the fresh spinach and cook them in the drippings. 

 

The best part about making this delicious & simple meal? 2 of the ingredients require a beating with a meat cleaver! Nothing like getting that aggression out after a long day of work. :-)

This recipe is perfect for two.

Ingredients:

4 small chicken breasts 

1 egg
2 Tbsp. buttermilk (i didn't have to so i looked up buttermilk replacements)
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup panko (Japanese-style bread crumbs) or fine dry bread crumbs
2 tsp. snipped fresh rosemary
1/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. Canola oil
 

Directions: 

Place chicken between sheets of plastic wrap. With a meat mallet, pound chicken to 1/4- to 1/2-inch thickness. (be careful, I might have made mine too thin, then separated while cooking)
 

In a small bowl whisk together egg and buttermilk. In another shallow dish combine almonds, panko, rosemary, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. 

Preheat medium-sized skillet and heat oil.

Dip chicken breasts, one at a time, in egg mixture, turning to coat, then dip chicken pieces in almond mixture, turning to coat. Then place in skillet.

Cook chicken, in hot oil over medium heat for 4 to 6 minutes or until no longer pink, turning once halfway through cooking. Remove chicken from skillet; keep warm.

Serve on a bed of fresh spinach.

I had to make my own buttermilk and I had to measure out 0.125 of an ounce, luckily my small scale was there to help!

The fresh snipped Rosemary smelled delicious!

I would love to know that you visited my blog or tried out a recipe. Leave me some love & encouragement!

Strawberry Baked Oatmeal

This blog post is dedicated to my friend Nicole who was the inspiration for this creation. The amazingness that is baked oatmeal was only recently introduced to me in the past year. Since then I've made it a lot and posted several versions of the recipe. This one has been one of the best!

After sampling Nicole's baked oatmeal with blueberries I knew that I needed to mix in some fruit with mine as well. I didn't have blueberries, only had strawberries, so I used them and it was a nice touch. A while ago I was on the hunt for Pumpkin Pie Spice and couldn't find it at Darrenkamps. Luckily, Nicole found some for me at Sharp Shopper! So now that I had a brand new bottle, I needed to put it to good use. So instead of ground cinnamon, I used the pumpkin pie spice. I recommend trying it yourself. Enjoy!

This recipe serves a lot of people, probably about 12. So cut it in half if needed.

Ingredients:

4 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup sugar

1.5 cup of milk

6 cups old-fashioned oats

6 tsp baking powder

2 tsp salt

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice or ground cinnamon

1-2 cups of frozen strawberries

1/3 cup raisins

1/3 cup walnuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix eggs, oil, 1/2 cup of the milk, & sugar in a large bowl.
Combine the oats, baking powder, spice, &, salt in another large bowl.
Combine two mixtures.
Add strawberries.
Spoon into a greased 13 x 9 x 2 in baking dish.
Top with walnuts & raisins (I only covered half the dish since not everyone likes nuts & raisins)
Pur remaining milk over over baking dish and put into oven.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until edges are gold brown.

What do you think? Comments? Suggestions? I would love to know that you visited my blog. Please leave me a message letting me know you were here! Did you try out a recipe? Let me know! I would love to hear from you :-)

Fiesta Bean Dip

I wanted to contribute some sort of treat or snack at our family's extended Christmas gathering. So I was planning on making my usual taco dip. But then when I went to the grocery store to buy the ingredients I changed my mind at the last second. I bought some random ingredients and made this dip up on the spot. It turned out great.


Ingredients:
1 container of low fat sour cream
1 can of black beans, rinsed & drained
1/2 cup of diced onions

1 can of diced tomatoes w/ chilies

1 tsp of red pepper flakes

1/4 cup of taco seasoning or 1 package

2 cups of cheddar cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix sour cream & taco seasoning in a medium sized bowl.

Spread in the bottom of an 8 x 8 square casserole dish.

Top with a layer of the black beans.

Sprinkle with red pepper & top with onions.

Top with layer of cheese.

Cook in the oven for 20 minutes.

Top with tomatoes after you remove the dish from the oven.

Serve with tortilla chips.

I would love to know that you visited my blog or tried out a recipe. Leave me some love & encouragement!