The BEST Lasagna

I love pasta. If I could, I'd eat nothing but pasta for the rest of my life (and any kind of cake or cookie or cupcake...yes, I am a junk food lover!). Heck, I run because it lets me eat pasta. Carbo-loading anyone?

Lasagna is one of those always awesome dishes. I've had about seven gazillion different versions, but come back to this one as my favorite. It's Giada DeLaurentis's recipe (and let me just say that life is totally unfair when someone can cook and eat like this, and stay as tiny as she is). I've taken what I like about her recipe and then added my own little spin.

I'm not wild about spinach or ground beef in my lasagna--so I take those out and substitute sausage instead. I keep everything else pretty much the same. This is one of those dishes that takes a lot of time, more than even your normal lasagna, so plan ahead. The bechamel sauce and fresh tomato sauce need to be made earlier in the day, so account for that when you plan for this (total time for this dish, complete with cooling of the sauces, is about 2 to 2 1/2 hours). It's not a throw-it-together kind of meal. Then again, eating lasagna is one of those things that SHOULD take time, not to mention the carbo-nap you'll need afterwards ;-)

Giada's Classic Lasagna--Shirley's Version

Bechamel Sauce:

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 cups whole milk at room temperature
• Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce, recipe follows 

Simple Tomato Sauce:

• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 (32-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
• 2 dried bay leaves

Lasagna Assembly Ingredients

• 1 pound ground Italian sausage
• Salt and pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds ricotta cheese
• 3 large eggs
• 1 pound lasagna sheets, cooked al dente
• 3 cups shredded mozzarella
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

 First, make the Bechamel sauce. Melt the butter in a large saucepan, then whisk in the flour (I add a bit of salt and pepper here too). Add the milk, whisking as you add it, then cook over medium heat, whisking, until it comes to a boil and thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. That takes about 10 minutes, so just keep whisking. Add a dash of nutmeg (you should always add nutmeg to a white sauce; it helps bring out the flavor). I actually grate the nutmeg in--a little nutmeg nut lasts forever, so it's a good investment and tastes way better than the canned stuff.

To make the tomato sauce, heat the oil, then add the vegetables and cook until softened. Add the tomatoes and bay leaves. Simmer for 15 minutes. Cool. Then use either an immersion blender or a regular blender, and blend the sauce until smooth.

Mix 1 1/2 cups of the tomato sauce into the bechamel. You'll have extra tomato sauce, so save that for another dinner. It freezes well, and also lasts several days in the fridge.

Brown the sausage and cool. In a large bowl, mix the ricotta cheese and eggs. Set aside. Now you're ready to assemble. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Place 1/3 of the bechamel sauce in the bottom of the lasagna pan. Layer on noodles. Add the sausage, and the ricotta mixture, more noodles, bechamel, rest of the ricottta (and sausage if you have more) and half the mozzarella. Another layer of pasta, then top with bechamel and remaining mozzarella, and Parmesan. Giada has you put the lasagna pan on top of a cookie sheet lined with foil. A good idea if your lasagna might boil over out of the pan.

Bake, covered, for 30 minutes, then remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. I found, however, that I needed to cook it longer than this--45 minutes with foil on, then 20 minutes with it off. Might have been my grumpy oven that day, which every once in a while doesn't cooperate with me. Anyway, this is DELISH, and yeah, it's fattening, but not every day is a diet ;-) Speaking of fattening, I have made it both with the extra butter she recommends, and without, and saw no difference, so I took the butter out here. I'd rather eat more cheese ;-)

Enjoy!

Shirley

Easiest Crock-Pot Roast Beef Ever

I love an easy recipe. Even better, one that requires almost no effort on my part, yet still gets rave reviews from my family. This roast beef fit the bill on all levels.

Easiest Crock-Pot Roast Beef Ever

1 chuck roast, 3-4 pounds
1 package Italian dressing mix
1 package Brown gravy mix
1 package Ranch dressing mix
1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons corn starch
1/4 cup cold water

Put the roast in the crock-pot (browning beforehand is optional). Mix the three mixes and the 1/2 cup water, then pour over the roast. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4 hours. When done, remove the roast and put on a cutting board, allowing it to rest before slicing. Meanwhile, mix the corn starch and cold water in a bowl, then add to the gravy in the crock-pot. Turn crock-pot to High and stir, until gravy thickens.

This was so tender, you could cut it with a fork. The gravy was AWESOME and definitely made the beef way more flavorful. Easy and quick, my favorite kind of cooking!

Shirley

Perfect for Fall's Chill: Oven Baked Beef Stew

There's just something about fall that has me in the kitchen, cooking. I love the smells of things in the oven, love hunkering down with my loved ones and enjoying a dish I've made myself. This oven-baked Beef Stew is one of my all-time favorites and one of those things I crave as soon as the temperatures dip. I've made it a couple dozen times (which is a miracle in my house, because I'm always trying something new!).

Oven-Baked Beef Stew

1 pound round steak, cut into 1-inch cubes

2-3 cups red wine (I use a Shiraz, or a Merlot, something we would normally drink; enough to marinate the beef)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
3 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 pound carrots, chopped
2 small onions, chopped
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups red wine (same wine; but NOT the wine in the marinade; I basically dump the rest of the bottle in)
3 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup cold water
3 tablespoons corn starch

Marinate the beef in a zip-lock bag for 1 to 3 hours, depending on when you remember to start this ;-). Remove from marinade, then heat olive oil and cook beef until browned. Remove from pan. Cook garlic and vegetables until browned, remove from pan. Melt butter, add flour and make a roux (the base for a sauce, if you don't know what this is, you can go here for the basics). Add the wine gradually, stirring with a whisk. Then the chicken stock and tomato paste. Put the beef, vegetables and liquid into an oven-safe Dutch Oven or other large pot/pan and bake at 375 for two hours (you can also put this in the Crock-pot).

Just before you're ready to serve, you can thicken the stew. I like a really thick stew, so I mix the water and the corn starch, then stir this into the hot stew. It makes it nice and thick, really yummy . I serve it with biscuits and that's enough for a mega meal. Okay, this is totally not Weight Watchers friendly but when it's 25 below outside, I really don't care ;-)

 

Enjoy!

 

Shirley

White Chicken Chili

This is one of my favorite dinners. I usually poach extra chicken when I'm making stock or a soup or something else that requires cooked chicken, then make this quick dinner on a busy weekday.

 

When I made it this week, I used fresh peppers and jalapenos from the garden, instead of the pickled jalapeno. It made it hotter, for sure, but still delicious! :-)

 

 

White Chicken Chili

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup onions, chopped
1 cup green pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons pickled jalapeno (comes in a jar in the Mexican food aisle), chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon kosher salt (or regular; I just prefer to cook with kosher)
2 cups chicken broth (I used the broth I made from the chickens I roasted the other day)
2 15-ounce cans Great Northern beans, drained
1 pound cooked chicken, shredded (again, from those chickens I roasted; I just made two instead of one)
1/2 cup whipping cream (I rarely have that on hand so I used half and half)

Heat oil in a large pot (like a Dutch oven) over medium-high heat. Add onion, green pepper and jalapeno. Saute about 4 minutes, until soft and onion is translucent. Add garlic and spices. Cook for one minute. Add broth and bring to a boil. Add vegetables, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook until vegetables are tender. Add beans and chicken and cook for 10 minutes. Stir in cream and cook until heated through. Serve.

Shirley

Easy Honey-Beer Bread

I saw this on Pinterest the other day. It looked super easy and delicious...and it was both! Although I LOVE homemade bread, all the time involved...I'm not a fan of that. So quick and easy bread, definitely my kind of homemade bread!
This one turns out really dense. I used Coors Light beer, and don't know if a regular beer would change the density, but it was still good. Next time I think I'll experiment with a different kind of beer, maybe something that has a flavor to it, just to add a twist :-)

It's a five-minute batter, literally. Mine baked for 60 minutes, but your mileage may vary depending on your oven.

Honey-Beer Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder

2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons honey

1 can beer

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and divided

Preheat over to 350F. Grease a 9″x5″x3″ loaf pan (I used Pam and I missed one spot, so definitely get the whole pan well). Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the bottom and press it into the Pam/butter.

In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Heat the honey in the microwave for about 10 seconds to make it easier to stir, then add the honey and the beer to the batter. Mix until all ingredients are blended well.

Pour half the melted butter onto the bottom of the loaf pan. into the loaf pan. Spoon in the batter, then drizzle the rest of the butter on top. If needed, spread it with a pastry brush (this gives it a nice golden crust).

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes until the top is golden brown and a toothpick/knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. It rises pretty quickly in the oven, so make sure there's enough room between racks for it :-)

Shirley

Running and Writing

Those who are friends with me or follow me on Facebook know I've started running this past fall, both to get in shape and lose those last few pounds, and to take advantage of the gorgeous weather outside. I have NEVER been anything remotely close to an athletic person (in high school, the only "sport" I did was intramural swimming, where we basically went to the Y and hung out by the pool). My husband is an athletic guy, though, and he's encouraged me to find a sport I like.

I wouldn't say I like running, but I sure like having run. When I'm done, I'm always glad I got those miles in. One thing that helps me run is great music, and a friend of mine who is a DJ and wedding planner puts great free mixes up on his Facebook page from time to time. The one I had on my iPod today started with Pitbull's "Back in Time," and had me motivated from the first note.

What does all this have to do with writing? Well, I find that working out regularly  has a two-fold effect--it keeps the dreaded "writer spread" from making my butt the size of Toledo, and it sharpens my senses. When I treat my body well (eat right, exercise), my thoughts are clearer, I have more energy and I accomplish a lot more during the day. So it's a good thing, all around. Now, will I ever be a marathoner or triathalon competitor? I doubt it. I'm pretty happy with my 5k ability (and have done two 5k races so far) and might inch up to the 10k, but that's about it. I run for the benefits it gives me, not to become the next Olympic sprinter  (and at my age, it'd have to be the Senior Olympics, LOL).

Do you run? Any tips for this non-athlete to increase speed/distance? Or do you have another exercise you like to do, like Zumba? Pilates? I do lots of other things in the colder weather, from spinning classes to Piloxing (a combo of kickboxing and Pilates) and that helps tone up all those other parts :-)

As for the chili mix, it was okay but nothing I wanted to write home about. I much prefer my own chili recipe to the one DH brought home :-)

Shirley

Quick and Easy Spaghetti Pie

Quick and Easy Spaghetti Pie

I'm all for a dinner that's quick and easy, especially when it's hot outside and I don't feel like being in the kitchen. I made this spaghetti pie the other night, and the entire family loved it. Quick, easy, one pot on the stove, one dish in the oven:

1 pound spaghetti, cooked
3/4 jar spaghetti sauce or equivalent of fresh sauce (I made fresh)
1 container Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cooking Cream Italian Herb flavor
8 ounces fresh baby spinach
Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cook the spaghetti, drain it, and return it to the pot. Add the spaghetti sauce and Philadelphia Cream Cheese sauce, stir, then add in spinach and stir until it's wilted. Pour the spaghetti mixture into a greased pie plate. Top with grated Parmesan cheese. Bake for 30 minutes. Done! :-)

FYI, I used the reduced fat PCCC, and it tasted the same as the regular. Saved a few calories there :-)

Shirley

Chipotle Pork and Low-Fat Creamed Spinach

I love Cooking Light magazine. It's one of my must-buys at the grocery store, and I have both Apps for my phone and iPad :-). Tonight I had two recipes from them that were a hit!

Anyway, when I saw this Chipotle Pulled Pork recipe in the February 2012 issue, I had to try it. My family doesn't like things super hot, though, so I only used two chipoltes, instead of the three in the recipe. It's one of those recipes that you have to plan ahead for--it marinates for an hour and cooks for 2 1/2 but it was great. If you can't find a Pork Shoulder that small, just cut the one you buy and freeze it (I got a 3-pound one and put half away for another dinner). The recipe says 300-odd calories a serving, but I found it made enough servings for 6, not four, so I get less than that calories per serving.

I also love Creamed Spinach--when it's homemade, not in a can or from a freezer package (eww). I've made a low-fat version before (that I used to make high fat, LOL) but this one looked awesome. And it definitely didn't disappoint! It's only 102 calories a serving, so not bad at all!

I served this with mashed sweet potatoes--just baked them and mashed them with a little honey, some cinnnamon and a dash of salt--a healthy, really good dinner all around :-) I can see using the Chipotle Pork to make pulled pork nachos...though that might undo all the low-cal goodness I had tonight! ;-)

Enjoy!

Shirley

Tonight's Dinner: Chicken and Dumplings

Tonight, I had an oldie but goodie for dinner. I used a leftover rotisserie chicken, homemade broth (I make my own and freeze it) and homemade dumplings to create Tyler Florence's Ultimate Chicken and Dumplings. When I ran the recipe in the blog before, I used chives in the dumplings, but the recent snowfall killed my chives outside, so I used parsley instead. Delicious dinner and great way to use up the leftover chicken!

Shirley

Cauliflower and Ham Gratin

Tonight's dinner was a sort of "what's leftover" creation, with a vegetarian version on the side for my daughter. I had come across a recipe for a cauliflower ham gratin but it had received iffy reviews for the lack of flavor. So I decided to make mine with lots of stuff, which really boosted the flavor.

It was easy, and quick and used up a lot of that ham from Easter :-)




Cauliflower Ham Gratin

2 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, diced
2-3 shallots, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1/2 8 ounce package button mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup flour
salt and pepper
1 cup milk
1/2 cup chicken or vegetable stock
dash nutmeg
1 16 ounce bag frozen cauliflower
1/2 cup gruyere or Swiss cheese, shredded, divided
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded (I don't use the can stuff), divided
1-2 cups cooked ham, diced

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cook the cauliflower in the microwave, then drain well and chop it into one-inch pieces. In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Add the onions, garlic, shallots and peppers and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring regularly, until vegetables are softened. Add mushrooms and cook another 3-5 minutes, until mushrooms are softened. Sprinkle with flour and add about 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Stir until flour coats the vegetables. Add milk and broth a little at a time, stirring well after each addition, until it's all incorporated. Add nutmeg. Bring sauce to a boil and cook 1-2 minutes, until thick. Add 1/4 cup Swiss and 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese and cauliflower, and stir.

(at this point, I divided out one-quarter of the mixture and put it in a small baking dish, topped with some of the reserved cheddar cheese and set it aside...that was the vegetarian version for my daughter).

Add the ham, then pour the mixture into a Pam coated baking dish. Top with reserved cheese. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and melted. This one was a big hit with everyone in the family. They even had seconds :-)

Shirley

Chicken Canzanese and Marmalade Carrots with Candied Pecans

I'm a huge fan of the show America's Test Kitchen. It's on PBS and is filmed in a kitchen in Vermont. Kind of quirky people, who test everything to death, ensuring you get a pretty darn foolproof recipe in the end.


I've made this Chicken Canzanese twice now and I have to say, it's one of my favorite chicken recipes. My mouth waters just thinking about it, no kidding. It's made with chicken thighs, which makes it economical, too :-)


It uses a technique called braising--which is basically searing, then simmering in the oven in a sauce. The chicken stays tender, the sauce gets thick and everything gets all yummy. The recipe is here (and has a video and everything). One of the things the recipe doesn't tell you is total cooking time. It usually takes me a little over 2 hours (there's an hour and 15 in there of in-oven time). So don't start this one late in the day ;-) It makes a great presentation, so it's on my guest menu, too.


You do need to have a Dutch Oven for this one. I have the Martha Stewart one, which is okay and cheaper than the Le Creuset, which I covet ;-).


Registering for America's Test Kitchen is free, and I definitely recommend that. Also, try to catch the show on your local PBS channel. Mine runs on either Saturday or Sunday mornings (I forget; the DVR just tapes it automatically for me). I have bought a few things they recommended on the show--a chef's knife, a vegetable peeler, a garlic press. Love them all.


When I made this tonight, I used center cut bacon since I was out of prosciutto. I never seem to have whole cloves on hand, so I use ground. I've been growing rosemary in my kitchen (I truly have no green thumb, but have yet to kill the rosemary) so I had that fresh. It does make a difference to use the fresh ingredients, particularly things like garlic--chopping your own is a HUGE difference in taste over using the jarred stuff. I served it with Marmalade Carrots with Candied Pecans, which were delicious. :-)


Marmalade Carrots with Candied Pecans

For the pecans:

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon white sugar

dash salt

For the carrots:

2 pounds baby carrots

4 tablespoons butter, divided

3/4 cup orange juice

2 tablespoons orange marmalade (I made my own today; look for it in a future blog post)

2 tablespoons brown sugar

dash kosher salt

In a small saucepan, prepare the pecans. Melt the butter and add the sugars. When the sugar melts, stir in the pecans and cook until syrupy, stirring often, about 5-7 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool in a dish or on a plate.

In a separate large saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Add orange juice, marmalade, brown sugar, salt and carrots. Cook 12-15 minutes or until carrots begin to soften. Remove from heat, toss with pecans and serve.

This one was a huge hit with the whole family (my son calls it his favorite chicken). The vegetarian teen only had the carrots and liked those :-) So it's all on my keeper list! :-)


Shirley

Vegetarian "Chicken" and Dumplings...w/o the Chicken ;-)

My daughter has become a vegetarian, which has made for alittle bit of a challenge in cooking. For a lot of my recipes for her, I've been using the Cooking Light Vegetarian cookbook. (Except for tonight's recipe, which came from Rachael Ray's magazine...more on that recipe in a minute).


I love the Cooking Light cookbook because it not only has the "what is it" info (like what is tempeh) but also step-by-step directions that go straight back to the basics of cooking. It shows you how to prepare tofu, what to do with lentils, even slicing tomatoes (perfect for my child, who needed help making a three-ingredient panini, LOL). When she goes off to college, I'm packing this for her...and hoping she cooks from this instead opening a can of raviolis ;-)


Anyway, before the vegetarian days, her favorite soup was Chicken and Dumpling. I couldn't do that, so when I saw a vegetarian version in Rachael Ray Magazine, I had to try it.


I followed the recipe to a T...except I mixed in a mixture of parsley and this new freeze-dried dill (have you tried these? They're nearly as good as fresh, better than dried) into the dumplings. I also made double the amount of dumplings because I knew my family would love them.


Verdict--EVERYONE in the family loved it and no one noticed the chicken wasn't there. My daughter had the biggest bowl of soup I've ever seen her eat, LOL.

Shirley

Yum-bo Gumbo and Jan. 15 Speaking Engagement

Okay, lame name for this dish, LOL. Guess all my creativity got used up on the fiction writing today.

I made gumbo for the first time this week (thanks to Lori Leger for the Cajun spices!). I love Cajun food and had a great bowl of gumbo a couple weeks ago, and was dying to replicate the recipe. I took one of Emeril's (figuring he knows New Orleans cuisine pretty darn well) and added a few tweaks to it, based on the restaurant one.

Here's Emeril's recipe. The one I had at the restaurant had ham hocks in it (which to be honest, the thought of even cooking with them had me totally grossed out, but I was a trooper, and decided to try it). Emeril starts with a roux--I browned the ham hocks in a little oil first, then took them out of the pan and followed Emeril's steps. I re-added the ham hocks with the sausage (I had to use kielbasa because I couldn't find andouille sausage). I also added frozen chopped okra, to beef up the vegetables. When the gumbo was done, I removed the ham hocks but diced up the meat and put that in. I kept the spice level low so the kids could eat it, so it wasn't as spicy as the one in the restaurant, but still smelled AMAZING and tasted FAB. My son loved it (DD wasn't home that night). My husband added some hot sauce to it, to increase the level of heat, but everyone had seconds.

If you want some more Cajun recipes, check out Lori's Blog on Cajun Cooking. I'm looking forward to trying more!

I served it with homemade cornbread that I brushed with honey butter while it was still warm. A hit all around, and definitely has me looking forward to my trip to New Orleans where I'll be speaking to SOLA on "Taking a Book from Good to Sold" on January 15th. If you're in the area, join me!

Shirley

Soup-A-Palooza Dos

I promised yesterday to blog about Soup-a-Palooza, so here I am :-) I had held one a month or so ago with my friends--basically, I made a bunch of soups (Oven Baked Beef Stew, Spicy Thai Soup, Mexican Chicken Tortilla and French Onion) and invited over my friends, telling them to bring something to go with soup. The party was a hit--lots of different types of soups to fit each person's tastes (a beef, a chicken, an Asian and a vegetarian style), and it was fun to have something so earthy for a party.

My daughter, whose friends I normally invite to my theme nights (and had forgotten to invite to this one) asked if I'd do the same thing for her friends. Dubbed Soup-a-Palooza Dos, I let my daughter dictate the menu, and let her create the guest list. Lots of teenage girls made for lots of laughter and chatter, so it was a blast. One of them brought rolls, another made this yummy dessert Christmas bread that we baked while we were eating. I made the soups and the Macadamia Nut Yummies.

I served three soups: Chicken and Dumpling, which I've put on the blog before, Tomato Tortellini, also a previous blog appearer, and a new one--Lemon Chicken Rice (a Greek soup, aka Avgolemono). My dear friend Tori Carrington (a husband-wife writing duo) makes this all the time and said that I had to make a long kissing sound while adding the egg mixture to the soup or it would be ruined (I love those kinds of quirky customs). Since the soup was a hit (two of the girls took home leftovers), I think the kissing noise paid off ;-)

Before I made the two chicken based soups, I made a Simple Chicken Stock:

1 whole chicken
1 onion, peeled and halved
1 full head of garlic, halved
4-6 sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4-6 black peppercorns

Put chicken in a stockpot or dutch oven. Add other ingredients. Add enough water to cover the chicken. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and simmer for one hour. Remove the chicken and shred the meat. Strain the stock and use in soups or freeze to use later.

Trust me, it makes a HUGE difference to use homemade stock. And it seasoned the chicken nicely, so it tasted perfect in the chicken and dumpling soup and the Lemon Chicken Rice Soup. It only takes a minute to put a stock together, and just a little over an hour to cook. Do it a couple days before if you want. I've even made it in the Crock-Pot (turning the CP to High).


Easy Avgolemono Soup (Greek Lemon Chicken Rice Soup)

6 cups chicken broth (reserve extra for later; the rice expands and I added a cup of stock at the end)
1 cup long grain rice
2 eggs
Juice of 1/2 of a lemon (reserve other half to add more lemon juice if you need it)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley

Bring stock to a boil, add rice, then reduce to a simmer and cook about 20 minutes, until rice is tender. Add the chicken, then make the egg mixture (it will thicken the soup and give it a nice, creamy texture).

Separate the eggs. Whisk the whites until they're frothy, then add in the yolks and the lemon juice. Add one cup of hot cooking liquid, whisk, then add another cup. Pour egg mixture into the soup (making that kissing sound if you want). Season with salt and pepper, add parsley. Serve.

Shirley

To Brine or Not to Brine

I posted my Thanksgiving Plan the other day, and since then have had lots of discussions on Facebook and by email about brining (BTW, that's not my turkey in that picture, just one I found on the Internet :-). Friends who haven't brined before wanted to know what the big deal is, and if it's worth the effort. I wholeheartedly say YES. It makes the meat so much moister. Last year, nearly the entire turkey was eaten--leaving me with almost no leftovers, LOL. But it was a huge hit around here, so it's a no-brainer to brine again this year.

I use Alton Brown's brining recipe. He has two of them--one on the Food Network that calls for a few ingredients that are hard to find here (allspice berries? Geesh, I have trouble finding shallots in my grocery store), and then this one, which is in his I'm Just Here for the Food book. That's the one I'm planning on using (though I have to admit to being tempted to try Anne Burrell's when I saw it on Food Network the other day).

I don't stuff my turkey, either. I used to, but have had great success putting aromatics in it--rosemary, garlic, onion, lemon and sage--and then rubbing butter all over it. I always worry about the food poisoning thing with stuffing the bird anyway. And I'm impatient enough not to want to wait for the extra cooking time ;-)

So tell me, do you brine your turkey? Are you going to try it this year? Or are you a deep fryer? Or someone who skips the turkey all together?

Shirley

Tyler's Ultimate Barbecued Ribs

Tyler Florence is amazing. I have always liked his shows and his recipes, and lately have been on a kick to try his "ultimate" recipes from Tyler's Ultimate.

I have yet to be disappointed. Last night, I made the Ultimate Ribs. They were AMAZING. The sauce alone...OMG. Incredible. Sweet, sticky, a tiny bit of spice...exactly what a good barbecue sauce should be. These take some time (two hours total) and I did them in the oven since we were out of propane and the directions call for oven cooking.

There's a video of him cooking the ribs on the Food Network site. I made these exactly as the recipe said (I know, for once I followed a recipe exactly, LOL). And they were the best ribs I've ever cooked, probably the best ones I've had. I'm not a huge fan of ribs (not a fan of messy meals, really) but I couldn't stop eating these ones. It was only me and DH last night for dinner (he loved them too) so no kid opinions.

Tyler Florence's Ultimate Ribs

NOTE: For mine, I used red vinegar and had Dijon mustard so I used that, not the dry mustard. It makes more sauce than you need, which is great for another dinner. I'm going to put it on some chicken next week. But truly, I loved the sauce so much I could eat just that, LOL.

2 slabs baby back ribs (about 3 pounds)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil
2 bacon slices
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 onion (NOTE: NOT CHOPPED UP, just leave it whole or cut it in half)
3 smashed garlic cloves
2 cups ketchup
1 cup peach preserves
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard or 1 tablespoon dry mustard
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons red or white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground paprika

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Put the ribs on a baking sheet, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Stick them in the oven, and let the ribs bake, low and slow for 1 1/2 hours.

Meanwhile, make the sauce. Wrap the bacon around the middle of the thyme sprigs and tie with kitchen twine so you have a nice bundle. Heat a 2-count of oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the thyme bundle and cook slowly for 3 to 4 minutes to render the bacon fat and give the sauce a nice smoky taste. Add the onion and garlic and cook slowly, without coloring (NOTE: I THINK HE MEANT STIRRING), for 5 minutes. Add all of the rest of the sauce ingredients, give the sauce a stir, and turn the heat down to low. Cook slowly for 20 minutes to meld the flavors. Put some sauce in a separate bowl for basting, reserving the remaining sauce for serving.

Baste the ribs with the sauce and let them continue cooking, basting twice more, for 30 more minutes. When the ribs are cooked, take them out of the oven. You can let them hang out like this until you're ready to eat.

When ready to eat, preheat the broiler for 5 minutes and broil the ribs, basting with the sauce. They should become crisp and charred, about 5 minutes on each side. Pick the onion and garlic out of the sauce and serve with ribs. (NOTE: I broiled 5 minutes on one side, 5 on the other, then basted once more on the "pretty" side and broiled another 3 minutes).

I've had great success with the Tyler Florence's recipes. My whole family loved the Ultimate Chicken and Dumplings. I'm dying to make that one again! I saw he has a Fried Chicken recipe, so that one's going on my list to try. FYI, he also has a blog and website. What I like most about his "ultimate" recipes is that they are rarely complicated, and become those kind of stand-by dishes you'll make over and over again.

The Ultimate Chicken Cordon Bleu was also awesome. The only change I made was serving it with a cherry chutney, which was truly the perfect complement to the dish. It's another dish I'm already craving again! I haven't posted his Ultimate Roast Chicken yet but trust me, it was INCREDIBLE. I highly recommend it. I made two at a time, so I had a ton of leftover chicken for other dishes. And then I made stock out of the bones. Yum all around!

Today I'm making a Tyler wings recipe for an appetizer. I'm figuring they'll be just as fabulous as all his other dishes. That man can definitely cook :-)

Shirley

Beer Battered Fish and Onion Rings with Low-Fat Tartar Sauce

My son pronounced this my "best dinner ever." I think it's because I put Red Robin seasoning on the fries and onion rings, LOL (I baked up some fries too, but they weren't on my plate, hence, not in the photo). And yes, I made a vegetable, too, but it was just broccoli, so I didn't put it in the picture.

I was going to make baked fish. Then realized I had all the ingredients for beer batter, and a hankering for some fried food. So I made this, and made the low-fat tartar sauce to kinda offset the calories (it's the Big Mac and Diet Coke theory ;-).

Beer Battered Fish

1 pound of cod or other whitefish
1 12-ounce bottle of beer
2 cups of flour, divided

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
more salt and pepper

Canola oil

Heat about an inch of the oil in a thick bottomed pan to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Also preheat the oven to 200 degrees and put a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

Cut the cod into two-inch pieces. Mix the beer and 1 1/2 cups of flour in a bowl. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder. In a separate bowl, mix the remaining 1/2 cup flour with some salt and pepper to season it.

Dredge the fish in the beer batter, then shake gently to remove the big bits of batter. Dredge in the flour. Fry, a few pieces at a time, about 4 minutes per side, turning once. Remove and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt while it's still hot. While other pieces are cooking, put the first pieces on the cookie sheet and into the oven, to keep them warm.

When the cod is done, if you happen to have a sweet white onion (like a Vidalia), cut into 1/2 inch rings, dredge in the batter (skip the flour), then fry, about 3 minutes per side. You might need to add more oil and reheat the oil to 375 before cooking the onions. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with salt.

For the low-fat Tartar Sauce, mix 1 small container plain yogurt with 3 tablespoons relish (I used my zucchini relish :-), a dash of hot sauce, a little lemon juice, and a tablespoon or so of lite mayonnaise to thicken it.

Shirley

Baked Coconut Chicken Nuggets

I've had two dinner winners this week, according to my youngest. This recipe, Baked Coconut Chicken Nuggets served with a cherry chutney (leftover from another dinner) was a huge hit. My oldest was disappointed not to find any leftovers the next day. Everyone had at least two helpings, maybe more. They are sweet, but not too sweet, and let me use up a lot of the buttermilk from the Ultimate Chicken and Dumplings (why doesn't buttermilk come in tiny containers, like heavy cream????).

These ones are quick and easy, and if you don't have cherry chutney, I'd recommend any other kind of sweet topping--cherry preserves, a raspberry chutney, whatever you have on hand. The sweetness really made the dish and made me think of the amazing Monte Christo sandwiches I used to get at Magic Pan a thousand years ago. That restaurant is no longer there, sob sob, but they made a great sandwich and awesome pea soup.

Anyway, I digress ;-)

Baked Coconut Chicken Fingers

(note: the chicken marinates for an hour so leave time for that)

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch strips (a tip: freeze your meat for a half hour before slicing it. You'll get much cleaner cuts and with less effort!)

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1/2 cup flour

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 cup Panko breadcrumbs

3/4 cup sweetened coconut flakes

1 teaspoon garlic powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon curry powder (which I was out of, so I used this substitute: a dash of cumin, coriander and tumeric)

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Combine chicken and buttermilk in a shallow dish or zip-type bag. Chill ONE HOUR. Then drain chicken.

Preheat oven to 475 degress. Place baking sheet in the oven to get it nice and hot. In three bowls (I prefer pie plates), put flour in first one, beaten eggs in second, and all remaining ingredients in third. Dredge the chicken in flour, then eggs, then coconut mixture.

Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. Lay chicken on hot cookie sheet, in a single layer. Bake at 475 for 6-8 minutes, turning once, until done.

Serve with a cherry chutney :-)

Shirley

Pork Chops with Bourbon Peach Glaze

Tonight's dinner was quick, easy and tasty. It wasn't OMG awesome like the Spicy Thai Shrimp Salad I had this afternoon or like yesterday's Chicken Cordon Bleu but it was good. And like I said, quick and easy, which after the long day I had (spent almost TWO hours at the Verizon store...ugh), was what I wanted. I did have a cheap bourbon, and having tasted good bourbon, I think I'll toss the cheap stuff and get some good stuff for future dinners...and sipping ;-)

Pork Chops with Bourbon Peach Glaze

4 pork chops (bone-in or boneless, your choice)

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

1 tablespoon minced shallot

1 tablespoon minced garlic (about two cloves)

1/2 cup chicken broth

2 tablespoons brown sugar

3-4 peaches, sliced (you can use frozen)

2 sprigs thyme

2 tablespoons bourbon

1 tablespoon butter

In a skillet, heat the oil. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper, then pan-fry until browned on each side and nearly cooked through. Remove chops, then add shallot, garlic and cook that for about 30 seconds. Add the broth, and cook another minute. Add brown sugar and peaches and cook until peaches are partly softened. Add thyme. Add bourbon and boil for a minute or two, to help cook off the alcohol. Replace the pork chops in the pan and cook until cooked through (about 5-10 minutes). Remove chops, stir in butter until sauce thickens, then serve over pork chops.

I served this with asparagus that I steamed with a little bit of butter, a 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest, a dash of salt and the juice of a little less than half a lemon (maybe 1 1/2 tablespoons of lemon juice). The asparagus was very yummy :-) and went well with the chops. My son and DH liked it--my daughter who is not a big fan of meat anyway, didn't, LOL.

Shirley

Paula's Yummy Enchiladas

I made a recipe my friend gave me the other day and it was a huge hit with everyone in the house. My daughter, who LOVES Mexican food, particularly burritos and enchiladas, went back for seconds, and had the leftovers the next day. The only change I made was to add some cheese to the beef mixture (and also top it with cheese as instructed) because we love cheese ;-)

For me, this recipe made two 13" X 9" pans of enchiladas--I think it was about 12 or 14. They were eaten pretty fast, LOL, so I didn't really pay much attention. Because I had so many, I used extra enchilada sauce, too. So here is Paula's recipe, with the amounts I used added by me :-)

Paula's Enchiladas

2 packages soft tortilla shells ( I like the corn but the flour are bigger usually and the rest of the fam likes them better)
1 can Enchilada sauce
1 can Cream of mushroom soup (i know, sounds weird but it works)
1 pound Ground Beef or Ground turkey
1 can refried beans
grated cheese (any kind you want, I usually use the "mexican blend" or cheddar)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook the beef, heat the shells in the microwave to make them soft. LIGHTLY coat the bottom of a flat baking pan with the enchillada sauce. Mix the soup and cooked beef and refried beans in a bowl. [I added cheese here, about 3/4 of a cup of shredded Mexican blend]. Lay the tortillas and spoon in your mixture. Roll them. Place them in the pan and then use a spoon to spoon over a light coat of the echillada sauce over each tortilla. Then apply cheese generously :) Wrap baking pan in foil , then just before they are done take off foil for another couple of minutes.

You can pretty much wing it on the baking time as its already cooked you just need to heat it up and make the cheese melt. [all together, I think mine spent about 20 minutes in the oven; just until everything was bubbly and the cheese was all melty].

Thanks to Paula for a fabulous recipe that I'll definitely be making again! She was right about the soup--you don't taste it in the final product; it just adds that extra creaminess factor. I use the same kind of thing in my Mexican Catalina Bake.

Enjoy!

Shirley