Croutons

Along with the Italian Chicken Soup, we had salad.  I had forgotten to put any forethought into the salad, so I found myself scrambling at the last minute so we would have something other than mixed greens!  I found some hamburger buns from the previous week in the pantry and turned them into yummy, homemade croutons.  This is such a simple thing, I wish I had been making them out of my leftover breads all along. I usually make croutons out of a nice baguette or french bread, but it turns out that buns work just as nicely!

1 loaf french bread, baguette or similar thick bread
1 Tbs olive oil
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
salt and pepper


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cut bread into equal cubes, toss with olive oil, parmesan, salt and pepper.  Spread out over baking sheet, bake for 7 minutes.  Turn bread cubes and bake for an additional 7 minutes or until golden brown.

Italian Chicken Soup

Superfoods.  This is my new mantra! I have wanted to start eating better, and now with a massive wound on the mend, the time has come. I have been reading about wound health and what to eat to help your body heal itself, and the 10 Superfoods seem to be the way to go. In case you haven't done your own Google search on these foods yet, here is a list:  Plain low-fat yogurt, eggs, nuts, kiwis, quinoa, beans, salmon, sweet potatoes and berries.  I also checked into specific foods to aide in wound healing and found the vitamins and minerals to add to my diet; 2 to 3 servings of protein daily, Vitamin A (found in dark green, leafy vegetables, orange fruits and vegetables and fortified dairy products), Vitamin C (found in citrus fruits, strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and spinach) and Zinc (found in fortified cereals, meats and seafood).
So there you go.  Luckily it is summer and all of the wonderful fruits and veggies are in season, so this shouldn't be too hard.  Also, the husband is a good sport and will try anything as long as he doesn't have to make it!

The first recipe I tried is an Italian Chicken Soup.  What a yummy, hearty soup.  I found the recipe on Allrecipes.com where it was added by Julie M.  I had to adapt the cooking a little as she made hers in a pressure cooker and I only had a stock pot.  Turned out wonderful with a bunch of leftovers for the freezer (and some for mom and dad!).

I must also add that this is the first thing I have made from scratch since I cut myself.  It was a little difficult but my chefs knife and I are on our way to repairing our friendship!

2 tsp. olive oil
5 Italian turkey sausage links, casings removed
1 med. onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup pearl barley
1 cup green lentils
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
4 cups chicken stock
1 (15 oz can) chickpeas (garbanzo beans), draines
8 oz bag fresh spinach leaves, choppes
1 cup mild to medium salsa

Heat 1 tsp olive oil in saute pan over medium heat.  Add sausage and cook until browned, breaking into crumbles.  Drain and rinse sausage, set aside.  In a large stock pot, heat another tsp olive oil over medium heat, cook onion and garlic until onion is transparent.  Add barley and stir 1 minute. Add sausage, lentils, chicken breasts, parsley and 3 cups chicken stock to pot, adding enough stock to completely cover chicken.  Cover and turn heat to high.  Cook on high for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to medium, cook for an additional 10 minutes.

Remove chicken breasts from pot, shred the meat and return to soup.  Add garbanzo beans, spinach, salsa and additional 1 cup stock.  Stir to blend and heat through (about 5 more minutes).

Choc-Oat-Chip Cookies

I have had this recipe forever, since I worked on the phones for Quaker Oats. J doesn't like raisins in his oatmeal cookies, but chocolate chips are good in everything!

I made the first batch of cookies too large and cooked them too close together, resulting in some very ugly cookies. They still tasted great though. Just keep in mind they spread!

1 cup (2 Sticks) butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 Tbs. milk

2 tsp. vanilla

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 1/2 cups Quaker Oats (quick or Old Fashioned, uncooked)

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat together butter and sugars until creamy. Add eggs, milk and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, and salt; mix well. Stir in oats, chocolate pieces and nuts; mix well. Drop rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 9 to 10 minutes for a chewy cookie, or 12 to 13 minutes for a crisp cookie. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; move to wire racks to finish cooling.

If I continue to bake instead of cook, I am never going to lose the weight I want to lose! Or maybe I will just make my neighbors fat!

Strawberry Shortcakes

For Fathers Day, I put myself in charge of desert. I actually volunteered for this course before I chopped off my finger, and it turned out to be a good thing. Cutting vegetables for skewers still sounds dangerous to me (I think I have PTSD when it comes to knives). I did cut all of the strawberries by myself, but I used a small, non-threatening paring knife!

Half way through the 3 batches of shortcake I made, I ran out of white flour, so I used the whole wheat that I had on hand. I had already gone to the grocery store that morning, and really didn't want to go back for flour. It turned out ok anyway, because dad preferred the whole wheat, and since he is what fathers day is all about, I say it was a success. The wheat flour did make the shortcakes more grainy, but there was the added bonus of adding more strawberries and syrup to soften them up! Oh wait, dad is diabetic, that may not have been the best idea!

Recipe courtesy of Cooks Illustrated "American Classics" 2010

*Prepare the filling first so the juices have time to become syrupy and sweet.

-Fruit

8 cups strawberries (about 2 1/2 pounds), hulled

6 Tbs sugar

-Shortcakes

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting workstation

5 Tbs. sugar

1 Tbs. baking powder

1/2 tsp. table salt

8 Tbs (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup plus 1 Tbs. half and half or whole milk

1 large egg white, lightly beaten

-Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy cream, cold

1 Tbs. sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla extract

1. For the fruit:

Place 3 cups of hulled strawberries in large bowl and crush with potato masher. Slice remaining 5 cups berries and stir into crushed berries along with the sugar. Set fruit aside to macerate for at least 30 min and up to 2 hours.

2. For the shortcakes:

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. In food processor (I use my blender, works great), pulse flour, 3 Tbs. of sugar, baking powder and salt to combine. Scatter butter over and process until mixture resembles coarse meal, about 15 1-second pulses. Transfer to medium bowl.

3. Mix beaten egg with half-and-half in measuring cup. Pour egg mixture into bowl with flour mixture. Combine with rubber spatula until large clumps form. Turn mixture onto floured work surface and lightly knead until it comes together.

4. Use fingertips to pat dough into 9 by 6 - inch rectangle about 3/4 inch thick, being careful not to overwork dough. Flour biscuit cutter (I used a cup) and cut out 6 dough rounds. Place rounds 1 inch apart on baking sheet, brush tops with beaten egg white, and sprinkle with remaining 2 Tbs. sugar.

5. Bake until shortcakes are golden brown, 12 to 14 minutes.

6. For the whipped cream:

While shortcakes bake, chill nonreactive, deep 1 to 1 1/2 quart bowl and beaters for hand held mixer in freezer for at least 20 minutes.

7. Add cream, sugar, and vanilla to chilled bowl. Beat mixture at low speed until small bubbles form, about 30 seconds. Increase speed to high and continue beating until cream is smooth, thick, and nearly doubled in volume, about 20 seconds for soft peaks. If necessary, finish beating cream by hand to adjust consistency.

8. To assemble:

When shortcakes have cooled slightly, split them in half (bottom from top). Place each shortcake bottom on individual serving plate. Spoon portion of fruit and then a dollop of whipped cream over each shortcake bottom. Cap with shortcake top and serve immediately. Enjoy.

Disaster in the kitchen

So I haven't been cooking this week, and I am probably going to be doing more baking for a while. I had a little fight with my chefs knife ... the knife won! I was in the process of making what would have been a great dinner when I cut the nail off of my middle finger. I have pictures of this, but I made the wise decision to not post them on a food blog! You are welcome.

We ended up ordering Pizza. Total disappointment!

Roasted Asparagus

These turned out great! They were still crisp and bright green after cooking, and even though Asparagus isn't J's favorite, he enjoyed it as well. He did request that I use this recipe for green beans in the future.

I got this recipe from my favorite source, Cooks Illustrated. I love Cooks Illustrated because they have developed their recipes after trying everything. They deconstruct recipes and figure out the best ingredients and techniques to use for your dish to turn out perfectly. This is exactly what a newbie cook like me needs, though I will admit I still manage to screw it up sometimes!

3 Tbs. olive oil

2 medium garlic cloves, minced (About 2 tsp.)

1/2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme leaves

Table salt and ground black pepper

1 pound medium asparagus, tough ends trimmed

10 ounces white mushrooms, stemmed and quartered

1 Tbs. lemon juice

1/2 cup shaved Parmesan Cheese

Adjust oven rack to upper position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Stir in oil, garlic, thyme, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper together in large bowl. Spread asparagus across rimmed baking sheet; drizzle with half of garlic mixture and toss to coat. Rearrange asparagus in single layer. Combine mushrooms with remaining garlic mixture and toss to coat. Scatter mushrooms over asparagus.

Roast until asparagus begins to soften and turns bright green with some brown edges, about 10 minutes. Drizzle with lemon juice and continue roasting until asparagus is softened and mushrooms are deeply browned, about 5 minutes. Toss vegetables, season with salt and pepper to taste, transfer to platter, and sprinkle with Parmesan. Serve.

Serves 4

Recipe from Cooks Illustrated, Spring Entertaining 2011

Pork Chops in a creamy garlic sauce

This recipe has the distinction of being the first on the blog, not because it is my favorite, it just happens to be what I made and took pictures of first! I got this recipe from a cookbook of my moms. I don't have the name of the book to give credit where credit is due (I wrote the recipe down a few months ago on an index card) but I will get it and let you all know. Bottom line, this is good. I served it with Roasted Asparagus (recipe on next post) and mashed potatoes that I bought from Costco!




4 Pork Chops
1 Cup Chicken Broth
12 to 15 Garlic Cloves, pealed and crushed
1/2 tsp. Olive Oil
1 Tbs. Chopped Parsley
1/2 tsp. dried Tarragon
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Pepper
2 Tbs. Water
1 Tbs. Flour
1 Tbs. Dry Sherry

Bring Chicken Broth and Garlic cloves to a boil in a small sauce pan over high heat. Cover, reduce to low. Simmer 25 to 30 minutes until garlic mashes easily with a fork. Let cool, puree until smooth. (I used my Magic Bullet for this and it worked great).

Heat Olive Oil in large skillet over med-high heat. Add pork (I pre-seasoned my chops with salt and pepper. This adds great flavor to the meat itself), cook 1 to 1/2 minutes each side, or until browned. Pour garlic puree into skillet. Sprinkle parsley, tarragon and salt and pepper into sauce. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low, simmer 10 to 15 minutes. Remove pork and tent loosely with foil.

In a small bowl, combine flour and water. Slowly pour flour mixture into skillet, return to a boil. Cook, stirring often until mixture thickens. Stir in Sherry.

Serve sauce over Pork Chops. Serves 4

Let's get some things out of the way...

First, I don't write recipes. I have only been cooking for a while and I am no where near to the point of creating recipes. Maybe, hopefully, that will come in time. That brings me to my other disclaimer, this is not going to be like other food blogs where everything turns out perfect. Cooking, for me, is still an adventure. I hope you all enjoy reading, trying the recipes and maybe helping me out along the way.