made by Rachel Once a week my husband and I have pizza night, and my latest favorite is Buffalo Chicken with Blue Cheese and cilantro, an idea I got from a friend during our Super Bowl party...the pizza was a pretty huge hit and while it's not healthiest choice, it is great for every once in a while! You will need: Pizza dough (I have been making this recipe lately and LOVE it) Blue cheese dressing (my favorite is Marie's if you can't do homemade) Cilantro, chopped Red onion, diced (as much or as little as you like) Scallions, optional, chopped Chicken, about two cups (I use a rotisserie chicken because I think they have the best flavor, but you can also boil a chicken breast or two, or use canned if you are in a pinch and don't mind canned chicken) Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Sauce (about a half cup, depending on how much chicken you use) 2-3 Tbs of butter Mozzarella cheese (again, up to you how much, I use about a cup and a half) To make: Pre-heat your oven to 500F and put in your pizza stone (if using). I usually let my oven preheat while I prep everything else (chop my onion, cilantro, shred the chicken, etc.) The dough I make says to pre-heat for about an hour before cooking your pizza. All the while your dough should be on the counter rising. In a saucepan, melt your butter and Franks Red hot. Once the butter is all melted, stir in your chicken, and add more Frank's if needed. You want the chicken to be coated but not soupy. Lower the oven to 425 and take out your pizza stone. Now hopefully your pizza dough shaping skills are better than mine because my pizzas are almost never round. They usually end up looking like I didn't try at all and just plopped the dough on the stone...but I really do try! So stretch your dough and make the best circle you can and lay it out on your stone.
Using a spatula, spread a thin, even coat of blue cheese dressing over the dough. I liked to get the dressing even on the crust parts for extra flavor. Now spread your chicken pieces all over, then cheese, then onions. Bake your pizza at 425F until the edges are golden brown (or darker if you like super crunchy pizza crust!). Remove from the oven and keep the pizza on the stone for a few minutes until the cheese sets and it's ready to cut. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and serve...and do yourself a favor and don't eat the whole pie - you will want to!!
made by Rachel Do you ever make a huge batch of meatballs and have them waiting for a recipe in your freezer? Well, I feel like I always have meatballs in my freezer, so I made this lasagna recipe up to use some. You could sub meatballs for plain old cooked ground beef, but I think this bulks up the flavor and consistency of a meat lasagna - try it out and let me know what you think!
What you will need: 5 oz fresh spinach, chopped 16 oz ricotta 8-10 meatballs, chopped up or smashed with a potato masher 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning Marinara or meat sauce - 1 cup for filling, approx 4 cups sauce for assembly 1 egg 1 box lasagna noodles (if you want you can make your own!) Fresh or shredded mozzarella (I use both, shredded for the layers and fresh on top. You will need about one bag of shredded, or one square hand shredded, and one baseball size ball of fresh) Fresh or dried basil (for sprinkling on top) Fresh or dried oregano (for sprinkling on top) S&P Directions: Start a large pot of water boiling. Add about a tablespoon of salt and a splash of olive oil. In a bowl, combine spinach, ricotta, meatballs, Italian seasoning, 1 cup of the sauce and egg. Mix well so the eggs are spread evenly throughout the mixture. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. Add your noodles to the boiling water and cook for 8-10 minutes - you want the noodles al dente so your lasagna is not mushy. After 8 minutes take a noodle out and test it...it should be firm but not hard. Pour your noodles over a colander to strain the water.
Pre-heat your oven to 350F.
Now assemble your lasagna:
Spread a 1/2 cup of your sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish. Layer three noodles across horizontally. Depending on your dish, you might need to cut an extra noodle for the side so the dish is covered in a single layer of noodles.
Spread a thin layer of your spinach/meatball/ricotta mixture across the noodles, use a spatula or your fingers to spread the filling out evenly. Sprinkle a thin layer of shredded mozzarella on top of the filling (meat/spinach/ricotta).
Drizzle a layer of sauce on top of the cheese, using a spatula to spread, if needed.
Layer another 3-4 noodles, filling, cheese, and sauce, and another one....until you run out of room in the dish. The top layer should be noodle, then sauce, then fresh mozzarella. Sprinkle the top with basil, oregano and pepper.
Bake at 350F for an hour, or until the cheese on top is starting to bubble and turn golden.
Enjoy!
made by Emily I've made Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon recipe a few times and wanted to experiment with another recipe (which evolved originally from Epicurious) since I had short ribs in the freezer. Also, Julia's recipe has a lot of steps and I didn't want to be in the kitchen all day...but I found out, to my misfortune, that this recipe takes a while too. I think that's just the deal with fall-off-the-bone meats (I would start it by noon if you want to eat around 6). The prep doesn't take that long but it cooks about 5 hours and then you have to make the gravy. Although a bit cumbersome, it's worth it because it is really, really SO tasty. It's like a fancy comfort food beef stew where the meat falls apart and the broth is delicious. I asked my husband how he liked it after a few bites and he replied, "this is my favorite kind of food". I'm not a big stew person but this recipe won me over.... I almost hid the leftovers so he wouldn't take them to work.
Makes 3-4 servings (for us it was 3 because I guess we eat a lot?)
You'll need for the short ribs:
2 lbs short ribs w/o bone, or 4 pieces bone-in beef short ribs
1 Tbs vegetable oil
Sea salt
Black pepper
3 big carrots, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or pressed
1 14oz can whole tomatoes in juice, pureed in a blender with juice (you'll only end up using 1/2 the amount)
1 1/2 cups dry red wine
4 cups beef stock
2 sprigs fresh thyme (don't remove leaves, just use the whole sprig)
1 bay leaf
1 Tbs red-wine vinegar
1 Tbs balsamic vinegar
For the vegetables:
20 pearl onions (approx 5 oz) - you can use fresh or frozen. Frozen is easier b/c the skin is off. Fresh tastes better but you have to get the skin off which is a P.I.T.A.
2 Tbs butter
1 Tbs red-wine vinegar
2 cups chicken stock
2 big carrots, cut diagonal into extra large bite-sized pieces
4-6 bacon slices (smoked bacon or applewood-smoked is great), cut into 1inch chunks
8oz pkg fresh white mushrooms (about 10 mushrooms), stems trimmed and diced
To Make:
Braise the short ribs:
Put oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 250°F.
Pat beef dry. Heat oil in a wide heavy pot over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown beef on all sides, turning with tongs, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper.
Add chopped carrots, onion, and garlic to oil in pot and cook over moderate heat, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in 1 cup puréed tomatoes (reserve remainder for something else, no more needed for this recipe) and bring to a boil over moderately high heat. Add wine and boil, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thickened, about 8 minutes.
Add beef stock, thyme sprigs, bay leaf, vinegars, and sea salt and pepper to sauce (don't be shy with the S & P!), and bring to a simmer. Skim fat from surface if needed (I didn't), then add beef along with any juices accumulated on plate and cover pot with a tight-fitting lid. Transfer to oven and braise until beef is very tender, about 5 hours (the longer the more tender). Cook vegetables while beef braises:
De-skin the pearl onions but try to keep them "whole" or intact as best as you can (luckily you skip this step if you are using frozen ones).
Heat butter in dried saucepan over moderate heat and then cook onions, stirring occasionally, until brown spots appear, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in vinegar, then add chicken stock and carrots and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until vegetables are tender, 20 to 25 minutes. You want the liquid to reduce by about half. You can cover, if necessary. It should look like the liquid glazes the veggies.
While vegetables are simmering, cook bacon in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until almost well done looking. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring, until mushrooms are tender and bacon is browned and crisp, about 4 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to vegetables in saucepan so you don't get the remaining grease. Finishing touches:
Transfer a short rib to each of 4 soup plates and keep warm in oven. Pour sauce through a colander into a large bowl, discarding solids (or you can save for another use later b/c I feel like it's a little wasteful). Skim fat from top if you see a lot accumulated. Boil sauce until thickened and reduced to about 3 cups. Add about 2 cups sauce to vegetables (reserve remaining sauce for another use), then spoon mixture around each bowl of your short ribs. Taste to check if you need to add a little more salt & pepper.
Enjoy! We made salad to go on the side of this dish, but you can do egg noodles too or a crusty french loaf to soak up the broth would be good too.
By Miranda However, I do like it now, and even more so with a little gravy on top! This makes a flavorful meatloaf that is (for lack of a better word) moist! :) My meatloaf: 1 lb ground beef 1 egg 1/3 cup bread crumbs 2 Tbsp ketchup (couple squirts) 1 Tbsp water 1 tsp worsheshire sauce 1/2 tsp salt ground pepper to taste 1/3 cup onion, diced small 1/3 cup ground or shredded parmesean cheese 1/4 cup milk 1 garlic clove, minced fresh parsley (1/2 tsp dried or a Tbsp chopped fresh) Pre-heat your oven to 450F. Mix all the ingredients together and form into a loaf. Place the loaf in a roasting or baking pan and bake at 450F for 15 minutes, then 350F for about 35 minutes. If you have enough juices in your pan after baking, you can make a gravy. In order to do this, remove the meatloaf from the pan. Sprinkle a Tbsp of flour over the pan juices along with a splash of milk or water. Whisk over medium-low heat until thickened and then season with s+p and parsley. *This meatloaf was served with Caramelized Onion Mashies and Roasted Brussel Sprouts
By Rachel This soup is AWESOME!! Seriously. It's so full of flavor and it's pretty simple and quick to make - making it a for sure soon to be household staple! I would highly recommend using a rotisserie chicken because the chicken in this soup was SO tender and tasty. It's 10am as I write this post and I am honestly counting down the hours until I can have it again for lunch!
You will need:
3 Tbs olive oil
3/4 cup onion, diced small
1 jalapeño, diced and seeded
3 garlic cloves, diced small or put through a garlic press
2 15 oz cans of diced tomatoes with chilies
6 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 Tbsp cumin
1/2 Tbsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (start with a pinch then add more to your preference of spiciness)
1/2 tsp paprika
1-2 cups cooked rice (depending how thick or thin you like your soup - I used 2 cups)
2 -4 cups cooked chicken (I used one of those store bought rotisserie chickens because they are EASY, have so much flavor and you can make a big ol' pot of stock from the leftovers. But if you don't want a whole chicken you can boil 2-3 chicken breasts and then shred with a fork - but seriously, a rotisserie chicken is the same price if not cheaper and sooooo much tastier! OR if you are handy and talented like Miranda, you can make your own whole chicken!)
S&P
Optional but HIGHLY Tasty Toppings:
Cilantro
Avocado
Shredded cheddar cheese
Sour cream
Lime wedges
To make:
Chop up your onion and add to a pot with 3 Tbs olive oil and cook about 3-5 minutes until tender. While that's cooking, cut up your jalapeno and put your garlic through your press and add both to the onions.
Then add your cans of tomatoes to the pot along with 6 cups of chicken broth. Next add the cumin, chili powder, cayenne, paprika and season to taste with S&P. Bring this to a boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
Finally, add your chicken and rice and cook another 5 minutes.
Serve with a dollop of sour cream, some chopped avocado, chopped cilantro, a sprinkle of shredded cheddar and a spritz of lime juice. Don't skimp on the topping, they all add a little something something to bring out all that tastiness!
YUM!!
By Rachel Do you ever get tired of plain old mashed potatoes? Don't ask Miranda that, she loves mashies, LOVES them. But me, sometimes I need a little somethin' somethin' to spice them up and this recipe totally does that. The flavor is so wonderful, they have a bit of a kick and a little sweetness - and they are just awesome! You will need:
2.5 pounds red skin potatoes, skinned
1/2 large onion (preferably yellow)
2 tsp brown sugar
1 Tbs balsamic vinegar
2 Tbs dijon mustard
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 Tbs mayo
Pepper
2 Tbs heavy cream
2 Tbs cooking water (saved from the potatoes)
4 Tbs butter, divided
Here's how you do it:
Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a medium saucepan or skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sugar and sauté for 10 minutes or until the onions are caramelized. Remove them from the heat and stir in vinegar, which will help release all the brown deliciousness from the pan.
Place potatoes in a pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until tender (a fork should easily stab a cooked potato). Drain the potatoes, reserving some of the water for later, and return potatoes to the pan. Add 3 tablespoons butter and the heavy cream then mash til creamy (or chunky if you like it that way).
In a separate bowl, mix together the mustard, lemon juice, mayo, and 2 tablespoons of cooking water. Add this mixture and caramelized onions to your mashies and stir well.
You are going to want to eat the whole pot of potatoes, but I suggest balancing it out with some veggies ;)
Enjoy!
By Rachel When I was in college, my Aunt Deecy introduced me to this wonderful little Thai restaurant with the absolute BEST fried tofu. Even for those who are tofu-phobic, keep reading because you can't deny that no matter what the food is, if it's fried, it's probably worth trying. Every once in a while I crave this but can't find anything close to it in Ann Arbor...so I decided to make my own and surprisingly it came out really good! The peanut sauce is so tasty - and the tofu crunch is really complimented by the sweet and spicy flavor of the dip.
For the fried tofu:
1 block/package extra firm tofu
4 Tbs flour (more as needed for coating tofu pieces
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Pinch of cayenne - optional
Cilantro - for garnish, optional
For the peanut sauce: (make this first)1/2 cup peanuts1/4 cup water1 clove garlic, minced/pressed1/4 tsp soy sauce1 tsp sesame oil1 Tbs brown sugar1 Tbs fish sauce1 Tbs lemon or lime juice1 tsp chili sauce1/3 cup shredded coconut To make the sauce:Put all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until relatively smooth.
To make the fried tofu:
Drain the tofu and place between several layers of paper towel or real towel and press to soak up as much liquid as you can (the less wet the tofu the better it will fry). Slice the tofu into 1/2 inch slices then slice those in half again. In a flat bowl, combine the flour, garlic powder, pepper, cayenne and salt.
Fill a sauce pan with enough canola oil to cover a slice of tofu (if you are unsure you can always add more canola oil if your first piece isn't totally covered). Heat the oil to medium and cover (hot oil is HOT watch out!).
Working with about four slices of tofu at a time, roll a piece in the flour mixture and place it in the hot oil for about 4 minutes or until golden brown. I say to work with four at a time because you don't want the pieces to stick together while frying. Remove fried pieces with a slotted spoon and set on paper towel until all the pieces are done. Serve with the sauce you made and a garnish of cilantro, which adds great flavor!
By Rachel Beware...if you made a New Year's resolution to eat super healthy I would not read this post. This recipe is so good but so bad at the same time. One bite will lead to many, many more bites of deliciousness!!
What you will need: 5 oz fresh spinach, chopped into small pieces 8 oz fresh mushrooms, chopped small 16 oz ricotta 2 eggs 30 oz Alfredo sauce (store bought or homemade) 1 box lasagna noodles (I prefer the ones you have to cook yourself, not oven ready - OR make your own) Fresh or shredded mozzarella (I use both, shredded for the layers and fresh on top. You will need about one bag of shredded, or one square block that's shredded by hand, and one baseball size ball of fresh) Fresh or dried basil (for sprinkling on top) Fresh or dried oregano (for sprinkling on top) S&P Directions: Start a large pot of water boiling. Add about a tablespoon of salt and a splash of olive oil. In a bowl, combine spinach, mushrooms, ricotta, and eggs. Mix well so the eggs are spread evenly throughout the mixture. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. Add your noodles to the boiling water and cook for 8-10 minutes - you want the noodles al dente so your lasagna is not mushy. After 8 minutes take a noodle out and test it...it should be firm but not hard. Pour your noodles over a colander to strain the water.
Pre-heat your oven to 350F.
Spread a 1/2 cup of your Alfredo sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish.
Layer three noodles across horizontally. Depending on your dish, you might need to cut an extra noodle for the side so the dish is covered in a single layer of noodles.
Spread a thin layer of your mushroom/spinach mixture across the noodles, use a spatula or your fingers to spread the filling out evenly.
Sprinkle a thin layer of shredded mozzarella on top of the filling.
Drizzle a layer of Alfredo sauce on top of the cheese, using a spatula to spread, if needed.
Layer another 3-4 noodles, filling, cheese, and sauce, and another one....until you run out of room in the dish.
The top layer should be noodle, then sauce, then fresh mozzarella. Sprinkle the top with basil, oregano and pepper.
Bake at 350F for an hour, or until the cheese on top is starting to bubble and turn golden.
I shouldn't even have to say "enjoy" because I know you will....mmmmmmm.
By Rachel, Jess & of course...the monkey My great friend Jess and her husband came to visit and help ring in the new year this past weekend, and when I get to see her I am guaranteed to eat well, talk a LOT, and be left with a sore belly from laughing so hard. I think you will get the picture...needless to say, we had a great time and came up with some great recipes! Jess really challenges my creativity when it comes to cooking because while I tend to rely on cheese and meat to make things really hit the spot, she is lactose intolerant and a vegetarian! You would think this would ruin a meal for me, but honestly, I am shocked at how delicious our meals always are when we cook together... The menu for New Year's Eve was Maple Glazed Salmon accompanied by Local Fixin's (which is her new project of bringing local Illinois farm products to the people of Chicago - it consists of black beans, wheat berries and an incredible seasoning mixture) sided with mixed greens tossed in a dijon vinaigrette. If the picture doesn't cut it (mine never seem to) do yourself a favor and trust me on this one and make this for yourself sometime...DELICIOUS! Local Fixin's take a bit longer than your average side dish to make, so we started early. We soaked the black beans and wheat berries in water for about 6 hours. This sounds time consuming but it's not at all...just takes some good old memory (or your phone alarm). Seriously though, how hard is it to wake up, cover the dried stuff with water and then not think about it until 2 hours before dinner - piece of cake. Once those suckers were good and soaked, we rinsed them off and put them into a 6 quart pot with 3.5 cups of water. Jess was super smart in creating this little goodie jar because the mason jar has measurement lines on it and doubles as your measuring cup - how convenient! Then we added the contents of the spice pack and stirred. After bringing this mixture to a boil, we lowered the heat and simmered for about two hours, or until all the water was absorbed. Again...cake!
While that simmered we cracked open the bottle of vino that she brought us wrapped up in this hilarious little monkey suit...the monkey got a little tipsy too.
While sipping our monkey wine, we marinated our salmon by combining all the ingredients below and sitting the salmon skin side up in it for about an hour. If you make this, you should marinate for at least 10 minutes but not longer than an hour or so just in case the vinegar breaks down the salmon.
Maple Salmon Marinade:1/2 cup balsamic
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup maple syrup (thank you Miranda for my New Hampshire Maple Syrup!!)
Dramatic drizzle of olive oil over top everything
S&P
Now for the mixed greens. We made a simple vinaigrette by mixing up the ingredients below, tasting along the way until it was what we wanted. Tossed with a bunch of mixed greens, this made a light and easy side for our dinner.
Dijon Vinaigrette:
Two heavy squirts of Dijon mustard
A large splash of apple cider vinegar
Double the amount of vinegar with olive oil
Season with S&P
Add a dash of maple syrup
After a few more laughs and a wine refill, we set the oven to broil and took our salmon out of the fridge. We put the salmon skin side up in a baking dish with about a 1/4 inch of the marinade in the bottom of the pan and broiled for about 10 minutes. Then we flipped it over and broiled until the salmon turned from shiny orange to matte peach, about 10 more minutes, depending on the size of your salmon pieces. The top gets a little candied and is delicious!
While that broiled, we chopped up some fresh ingredients from the fridge to mix with our Local Fixin's. Here is what we used...
Black Bean and Wheat Berries with Veggies:
One Jar Local Fixin's (black beans, wheat berries and seasoning)
Carrots, cut real thin for easy eating
Edamame, steamed and removed from pods
Cherry tomatoes, chopped
Sun-dried tomatoes, just a couple, chopped
Red onion, just a touch, finely chopped
A heavy sprinkle of feta cheese for on top
One bottle of wine and lot of good laughs later...everything is ready, monkey man is happy, and we are ready to dig in! Cheers to good friends, good food, and monkeys who hide wine bottles! NOTE: If you aren't able to get your hands on Local Fixin's for yourself, you can try to recreate them by cooking black beans with wheat berries and a combo of dried basil, oregano, marjoram, parsley, dill, mint, onion, black pepper and mustard.
By Miranda I found a wild rice blend in the bulk section of my grocery store and decided to use it in a soup. I had some keilbasa in the freezer and this is what I came up with. I served it with homemade biscuits to add more calories- ha! Makes 4-6 servings.
You will need:
10-12 oz kielbasa (I used a blend of pork, beef and turkey- stores usually have a variety of kinds), chopped
3/4 cup chopped celery/about 2 large stalks with leaves included
3/4 cup chopped onion/about 1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic minced
6 cups chicken broth
3/4 cup chopped carrots/about 2 large
1 cup wild rice
1/2 tsp bells seasoning (comes in a yellow box with red and white writing on it - I use this in a variety of soups - it's worth buying!)
s+p to taste
To make:
In a stock pot over medium heat, brown the chopped kielbasa. Remove kielbasa (set aside for later), leaving oils in pan. (Depending on the fat content of your meat, you may want to discard some oil. I leave most of it in however, because this is where the flavor is).
Add onion, garlic and celery to the pot and stir occasionally until softened. Add the broth to the pot and bring to a boil. Add carrots and rice and simmer until rice is cooked through (usually about 40 minutes). Add kielbasa back to soup and add spices. Season to taste
with salt and pepper.
|
