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Recipe Roundup- Leftover Edition
Recipe Roundup

Recipe Roundup- Leftover Edition

LSiehLeave a comment

This week was a week of one recipe and two leftover recipes. I had a few freezer dinners and chili at work. It was “Hell Week” for the Husband’s play and he was gone until late all week. Fancy and I missed him a lot! His group performed “The Laramie Project.” It was so powerful! I’m not sure if I’m ready to blog about it, because it brought a lot of stuff up. Maybe I’ll tackle it all in a future post.

Fancy did get a new toy over last weekend, from the Husband’s uncle to distract her from the Husband being gone for so long. Poor little pig didn’t even know what was coming for him…

She’ll get one of her treat bones today with some homemade treats in it. It’s raining and she won’t go out except to use the bathroom. She’s going stir crazy though, so if anyone has a need for slightly crazy puppy cuddles, let me know. 🙂

I just made a chocolate applesauce cake today, so I’ll start with that recipe and end with the leftover recipes.

1- Chocolate Applesauce Cake from Taste of Home. https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/chocolate-applesauce-cake

I was trying to recreate a chocolate applesauce cake my Mom makes, but this was not the right recipe. It’s delicious and moist, but not dark chocolaty enough. She said another name for it was “Chocolate Tea Bread” maybe, so I might look that up. I used my homemade applesauce for it. I wanted this cake since I made the applesauce, so I am happy with it. 🙂

2-Slow Cooker French Onion Chicken from Pillsbury. https://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/slow-cooker-french-onion-chicken/ec69f51d-b79d-4ac0-8619-693a35167a87

First off, I didn’t make this in the crock pot. I baked it at 350 for about 45 minutes, maybe? I also used boneless thighs and drumsticks instead of chicken breasts. I ran out of time for the crockpot.

It was good. I liked the garlic and always like caramelized onions. I had it with green beans and a homemade herbed french bread roll. I forgot to oil the mini cast iron, so the bottom of it got stuck. It still tasted delicious though.

So I made a lot more chicken than I needed by accident and had to come up with a few things to do with it. I have no pictures of these ideas, but can give you the measurements from what I remember.

3- Chicken Salad, recipe by me.

I chopped up a couple of pieces of the chicken, added a few tablespoons of chopped celery, and about a 1/8 cup mayo. Also, salt, pepper, and I accidentally dumped at least a tablespoon of dried tarragon in the container. It was delicious! I was going to eat it with crackers, but they had gone stale in my snack drawer at work. Apparently my face was absolutely hilarious because my client burst out laughing in the middle of her sentence. 🙂 I ate it by itself after that.

4- Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup, recipe by me.

I chopped up the rest of the chicken, a small onion, a garden jalapeño, and two cloves of garlic. I added them to a box of chicken broth, a can of diced tomatoes, a can of diced green chilis, and a can of tomato paste. Spices were cumin, garlic powder, a little turmeric, oregano, and salt and pepper. I let it cook overnight and promptly had it for breakfast on Friday. It’s delicious and spicy! It’s helping the Husband’s cold, we think.

I did learn that the massive jalapeños are probably massive in heat level, not necessarily size. I know this because I rubbed my eyes at 4:30 AM and cried for a very long time. I had cut one (only one!) up, washed my hands multiple times and went to bed. Apparently it was extremely potent. I think I might need gloves to make the salsa. Yikes! Not a good way to wake up for sure.

My work schedule is crazy as usual. I decided to move to one counseling center full-time, instead of part-time at two centers, so while this will eventually make it better, right now it’s not the easiest. I’m attempting to tell clients I’m leaving, but both last Friday and Monday, I had three no shows or cancellations each day. It makes it hard to move things along for sure. My plan is to be full-time at only one center by January. Hopefully I can have a couple of earlier nights  during the week to actually cook things again.

Speaking of cooking, I should go make dinner for me. I’m going to make a grilled cheese with the herb bread. I’ve used it before and it was delicious!

Have a great weekend! May it be filled with naps!

Recipe Roundup
Recipe Roundup

Recipe Roundup

LSiehLeave a comment

Fancy, the Husband, and I are tuckered out. We went on a grand adventure today to our college’s homecoming. We took Fancy with us and discovered that she can be in the car with just the car harness belted in and not in her crate for about 2 hours. We had the crate with us in case, but it’s nice to know that we can do that.

We all had a great time! It was a little weird being back on campus and realizing I graduated 10 years ago. Gosh, I’m getting old.

Some things we discovered during the parade: Fancy does not like drums, is unsure of bagpipes, and would very, very much like to eat the cheerleaders’ pom-poms. She’s currently snoring on her blanket after meeting several new dogs and a very many new people. She was quite the attention getter and is now an honorary Phi Mu Alpha (The Husband’s fraternity) house dog. 🙂

Because it was homecoming, I made one of our college’s famous foods, Highland Chicken. It figures, the only school spirit I have comes out in food… Of course, I improved it a little.

1- Highland Chicken, recipe by me. Absolutely no measurements, sorry!

Saute mushrooms and onions in olive oil until tender. Add garlic powder, salt, pepper, and parsley. Add half a brick of cream cheese. Cook until melted. Roll out puff pastry and cut into 6 squares. Divide mixture between puff pastries, twist corners into center. Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes.

It was good and brought back a bunch of good college memories. 🙂

We used left over chicken from the next recipe to make the Highland Chicken.

2- Roast Chicken With Herb Butter from In the Heat of the Kitchen by Gordon Ramsey. Section: Poultry and Game Birds. 

I was brave and popped the legs off as suggested and roasted them separately. I didn’t get this one too badly  off, although I forgot to make carrots to go with it and we had salad instead.

3- Old Fashioned Bread Stuffing from The Comfort of Cooking. http://www.thecomfortofcooking.com/2010/02/old-fashioned-bread-stuffing.html

This was good. A little dry for the Husband. I normally don’t like stuffing, but it was good.

4- BBQ Beef Ribs, by me!

I threw some boneless beef ribs and homemade BBQ sauce in the crockpot with some garlic cloves and cooked it for 7 hours. We had it twice. The picture is from the second time when we had mashed potatoes and carrots. The Husband had it with a salad the first time.

We managed to have a few new recipes in the past week, even being busy. The Husband starts being at play rehearsals more this month to figure out the production side of things, so our meal schedule may be a bit crazy.

Now if you’ll excuse me, Fancy is currently making this face at me to try to get me to play. 🙂 Stay tuned for my monthly report tomorrow!

Recipe Roundup
Recipe Roundup

Recipe Roundup

LSiehLeave a comment

I love my job! Sometimes it’s difficult, heartbreaking, and crazy, but other days I do feel like I’m accomplishing something. This week in particular has been stressful, due to long hours and some difficult situations. On Tuesday though, my dollhouse was home to a puppy party and the dolls were buried in puppies! Then on Wednesday, the dinos took over. They made a huge mess! It made me smile though, so that was good. The fireplace was also built by a client and I think it’s great.

So with this week being long, we didn’t have many new recipes. We had another of the freezer/crockpot meals, an original recipe, and I made a special biscuit recipe for Fancy. She may even like them better than her store-bought treats.

Speaking of Fancy, she is currently aggressively snuggling me on the couch. The Husband is off at Cedar Point with people who don’t get horribly ill on roller coasters, so she is a little clingy. She’ll just climb on up on your lap because she’s in denial about not being a lap dog. I say this like I mind, when it should be fairly obvious that I love snuggling her. How could anyone not love this pup?

Here are her treats and recipe so you can spoil your pup, just like we do.

1-Ridiculously Simple PB Dog Treats

http://simplificlife.blogspot.com/2013/11/ridiculously-easy-peanut-butter-dog.html?m=1

They are unbaked in this picture, but didn’t really change much when baked. I used chickpea flour instead of regular and half water/half chicken broth.

There was way too much liquid! I don’t know if chickpea flour causes problems with texture or not, but both dog treat recipes I used it in were way too sticky. I had to add at least another cup of flour. They also have a little rye flour after I ran out of chickpea flour.

I only made half the batch, as I didn’t have time before work to make it all. The rest is in the fridge, where I am hoping it will be better behaved after being chilled.

Fancy loves them! Her tail starts going a mile a minute and she gets dancy feet. 🙂 They came out very crunchy, so if I can get the dough figured out, I may make these again.

2- Sweet Chinese Beef from Freezer Meals by Julianna Sweeney. 

I added peppers and a little bit of broth, since it was a little less than half the crockpot full. It was alright, needed a little more seasoning. Good for a quick dinner though. I didn’t get a picture of it though.

3- “Catch Your Man” Chicken Potpie, recipe by me.

So, two out of the four guys I have ever made this for proposed and I married the second one, so I figured the name was appropriate. 🙂

This is one of the Husband’s favorite dishes, especially when I make it with pie dough. He thinks I should make this my Masterchef audition dish, but I’ll have to find a way to elevate it first.

I based the recipe on a Betty Crocker one, but never use it any more. I use a roux first and then add milk and broth. I’ve used both frozen and fresh veggies and either works. It’s a great comfort food.

4-Flamingo Mac and Cheese, recipe by me.

I made this last night. I didn’t want canned soup and didn’t actually want to eat anything, but needed to eat. The flamingos helped. I added peppers and shallots, Pensvy’s “Forward!” Spice, salt, pepper, and smoky bacon cheddar cheese. Fancy was extremely interested in it.

I am planning on making Fancy pupcakes for tomorrow and am debating between a pumpkin recipe or a pb one. I think I can just use gluten-free flour, but need to double check. I also have rye flour, so may just use that. Fancy is a wheat free dog, so the rye should be okay. She’s fancier than us for sure!

She is also demanding a walk, so I’d better take her out. She’s been waiting patiently all day while I was gone. Tune back in tomorrow for a pupcake update!

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Recipe Roundup

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I think I am in another food rut. Nothing sounds good and I don’t have the energy to cook anything new. Then, when I actually do cook something new, I think of all sorts of ways to change it or make it better. Plus, when we do eat out, or I eat a quick frozen dinner, I get sad and just want to make it better. It’s becoming a problem, although maybe a good problem to have, I guess.

I’m wondering if this cookbook challenge is pushing me in another direction, a new and slightly scary one. Maybe it’s time for me to start thinking about making up my own recipes… Real recipes, not just thrown together ones.

As I’m writing this, we are watching Masterchef, and the Husband is pointing out that the next audition cycle is “coming to a city near you!” (Chicago on September 9 is the next one.) He’s threatening to apply for me and bring me Mystery Boxes to get me ready for auditions… I may have created a monster…

While I’m not quite ready for Masterchef yet, I could maybe handle trying to create a few of my own recipes.

I did make spaghetti and bagel pizzas this week that were my own recipes. These will not win me Masterchef, but did make for tasty dinners.

1- Spaghetti, recipe by me.

The spaghetti had tons of fresh basil in it, so had a little bit of a different flavor. I had run out of garlic, so it just had garlic powder. It cooked in the crockpot for about 10 hours. The Husband’s coworkers are in awe of my cook time for spaghetti sauce, apparently. It is a long time, but if it cooks for under 4 hours, it isn’t as good. It still doesn’t taste as good as my Dad’s recipe either.

Yes, the pasta is mixed shapes. I thought I had more spaghetti and it turned out I had double the fettuccini, not spaghetti.

2- Fettuccini Alfredo with mushrooms from the Pasta book. This was not a new recipe, but I did add mushrooms. (We didn’t have these back to back, there were a few days in between.) I spaced on pictures, we were too hungry.

3- Bagel Pizzas, recipe by me.

The Husband laughed at me when I was talking about making these because apparently they started simple and then sounded extra fancy when I had finished what was going to be on them. They really aren’t fancy at all. I made homemade pizza sauce with dried oregano, parsley, basil, and garlic and onion powders. I toasted the bagel before adding the sauce and it made it much nicer. I added a slice of mozzarella cheese, mushrooms and ham, and then another slice of cheese on top. They were baked for about 10 minutes at 350.

4- Herb Chicken Meal from Freezer Meals by Julianna Sweeney. 

It looks terrible, but was actually pretty flavorful. We used boneless, skinless leg quarters and baked it for about 50 minutes, as it was still slightly frozen. Salad and garlic bread completed the meal. I will make this again, it was good.

Oh gosh… Now the Husband has my Masterchef plan of attack all worked out, from knife skill drills, to dinner parties where other people can eat the fish that neither of us like, to what we’ll do after I win.

If he starts telling all of you to send me weird food items, don’t listen! 🙂

For now, I think I’ll stick to trying some new ways to prepare foods and maybe try a few things out on my own. I still need to meal plan for the week too. My back is currently acting up very badly, so resting with an ice pack and recipes seems like just the thing to do.

Fancy is being bratty and demanding pets and rope tugs, which the Husband has provided. This has been my view during the week when she decides I’m done on the computer for the night.

It is National Dog Day though, so I suppose we can spoil her a bit. 🙂 Who can resist puppy snuggles, after all?

Recipe Roundup
Recipe Roundup

Recipe Roundup

LSiehLeave a comment

It’s Shark Week! I know I said that before, but I’m still enjoying it. I watch it for the science, okay! 🙂 No judgements!

Lunches, as well as TV, have been a bit more exciting for me this week. I’ve been terrible about preparing something ahead of time lately and decided to change it. This week I made two new recipes specifically for lunches. Both were vegetarian, so I didn’t have to share.

I used all Food Network Magazines this week by accident. The weeknight cooking sections have been surprisingly helpful and have only taken around 30 minutes or so. Normally with the “30 minute recipes,” it’s been and hour and a half and fifteen bowls and pots before we eat. They lie to us…

On to the recipes!

1- Slow Cooker Soy Citrus Chicken from Food Network Magazine, Jan/Feb 2015. V.8, N.1

Modifications: I added carrots and onions to the slow cooker. I also added more soy sauce. The Husband has figured out that he doesn’t like citrus flavors with meats. It was a decent dinner, but I probably won’t make it again. No pictures, since I had a different dinner at work.

2- Chicken Divan by The Husband’s Mom. This was the recipe he requested she give me for my bridal shower. (Don’t tell her, but he likes mine better because I leave out the broccoli. She’s still got me beat on pot roast though.)

Recipe:

Cooked Rice, 4 cooked and chopped Chicken Breasts, 1& 1/2 Tsp lemon juice, 1 & 1/2 cup Shredded Cheese, 2  10 oz packs of cooked frozen broccoli, 1 1/2 cup Mayo, 1 1/2 TBS Curry Powder, 3 cans Cream of Chicken Soup, 1/2 cup breadcrumbs.

Spread cooked broccoli in casserole dish. Top with chicken. Combine soup, mayo, lemon juice, and curry powder. Pour over chicken and broccoli. Sprinkle cheese and breadcrumbs on top. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Serve over cooked rice.

Modifications: I leave out the broccoli and serve a salad on the side. I also normally cut the recipe in half and use two cans of soup. I like it, but not for too long. And it helps keep down the leftovers or waste.

3- Lentils with Watercress (Spinach) from Food Network Magazine, October 2016. V.9, N.8. 

Modifications: This was a lunch recipe. I used half broth and half water for more flavor. I used spinach instead of watercress, as it was what I had. Also, I am the only one eating this and it seemed wasteful to get a whole thing of watercress. I’m guessing the Husband will not like it. It was good. I would make this again, but would probably have it with a hard-boiled egg or something. I was hungry soon after eating it.

4- Curried Egg Salad from Food Network Magazine, April  2017. V. 10, N. 3

Modifications: My second lunch recipe. I used garlic powder and cut the recipe. I would have eaten it with crackers instead of bread, but forgot them. It was interesting. I’m not sure if I liked it or not. No pictures, I forgot to take them at work.

5- Lamb Shoulder Chops with Carrot Puree with Cucumber Salad from the above Food Network.

Modifications: Dried cilantro in the puree, instead of fresh. I didn’t blend the puree as much as it told me too. I got impatient with the stick blender.

When I served it, the Husband said “Hooray baby food!” Oh sarcasm… it was pretty gross though. I don’t know that I like purees.

The lamb chops were good, as was the cucumber salad. I would make both of those again.

6- Couscous Tabouli, Method by me.

Recipe: Cook the couscous per package directions. Add chopped parsley, mint, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Add olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.  Mix well and enjoy warm or cold.

The Husband thinks I should have a Gordon Ramsey week, but I’m not sure if I have enough recipes. I only have one of his cookbooks. I’ll do some research and see what I can do though, as it sounds fun.

Since there is a monthly review coming up, I’m going to be checking on which cookbooks need to still be used. Ramsey’s cookbook is one of them. It’s kind of intimidating. He might end up with more reasons to call me a muppet if I mess things up…

This is Fancy’s face when I make a new recipe lately. She’s been getting very nosy. The featured picture is her when we open anything in a bag or box. I just love her ears!

Recipe Roundup
Recipe Roundup

Recipe Roundup

LSiehLeave a comment

It always seems like vacation cannot last long enough and there is so much to catch up on. I didn’t cook at all on our trip. I had intended to, but wasn’t able to pick a recipe and then vacation naps happened. 🙂 Both my parents are excellent cooks too, so we were happy to sit back and just enjoy the delicious food.

Here is the Recipe Roundup for last week. Sorry for the delay. I used three new cookbooks!

1- Grilled Greek Chicken and Beans (Zucchini) from Food Network Magazine, June 2017, V. 10, N. 5

Modifications: My friend helped with this recipe and the shrimp and it was delicious. The chicken was very flavorful. We used zucchini instead of beans and I would have used the dipping sauce as a marinade instead. It wasn’t as flavorful as it could be. I would make the chicken again, but not the veggies.

2- Foil Packet Lemon Shrimp Scampi from Food Network Magazine, July/Aug 2017, V. 10, N. 6

Modifications: None, I followed the recipe! It turned out delicious and the shrimp seemed to be cooked perfectly. I would happily make this again.

3- Gold Beach Burgers from Retro Beach Bash by Linda Everett. This book doesn’t really have organized sections per say.

Modifications: I looked up Teriyaki sauce ingredients and just added them into the meat, instead of making a full sauce. It worked pretty well. The burgers were so good! We had Gouda cheese on them. I would definitely make these again. It was a nice change from traditional burgers.

4- Oreo Ice Cream from Sober Julie. http://www.soberjulie.com/2013/06/ice-cream-recipe/

Modifications: I had half and half, so I used that along with the cream. I like custard based ice cream better so far, but the Husband liked it. It tastes okay, but it melted really fast and was a little icy.

5- Baked Chicken with Tomatoes and Mushrooms, recipe by me! (I have no actual measurements…)

Recipe: Add 4 drumsticks to a pan, drizzle with olive oil. I used garlic olive oil. Chop two garlic cloves and add them to the pan along with a quarter of an onion, mushrooms, and handful of cherry tomatoes. Add salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano, basil, and onion powder. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 ish minutes, or until juices run clear.

This was a nice simple meal. The Husband threw it in the oven and we ate it separately.

6- Pickles from The Art of Preserving. Section: Pickles and Relishes.

Modifications: Absolutely none. I don’t mess with canning recipes at all, especially ones I haven’t made before. We brought a jar of these for my Mom and tried them up there. I hope they even out in terms of flavor. They were a little harsh in the vinegar department and were a little soft. I will try another pickle recipe, I think.

I was happy that I managed, with some help, to use a bunch of new recipes, even though we were going to be out of town.

Fancy is currently chasing a sky raisin, otherwise known as a fly. It’s hilarious to watch, but she’s all upset about it. She’s also trying to climb the couch to get a moth. It could be a long night.

I’m currently enjoying watching all the sharks I can handle on Shark Week. I think I’ll look up a red colored cocktail and serve it in my shark glass some time during the week.

I’m excited to show you some of the pictures I took over the weekend and get back into my regular posting routine.

Recipe Roundup
Recipe Roundup

Recipe Roundup

LSiehLeave a comment

It has been a busy week! I used eight new recipes. It was lovely to have an extra few days to relax and play. Fancy was so excited that we were home and is now sad when we go back to work.

We finally pulled out the grill. My in-laws gave it to us last year, but haven’t used it at all this year, or even last year. The Husband was the grill master and I provided the ingredients and recipes. I’ll start with those recipes.

1- Grilled Chicken and Peaches from The Taste of Home Market Fresh Cookbook. Section: Cornucopia

Modifications: I didn’t have peach “spreadable fruit,” or any peach jam, so I used the rhubarb marmalade. I also used thigh pieces instead of breast pieces and marinated the chicken in the spice mixture minus the jam before grilling it. I used the jam as a glaze when it was on the grill.

Oh my gosh, this was delicious! The chicken thighs were beautifully tender, the marinade was just spicy enough, and the jam added just a little bit of sweetness.

The peaches were something that I have really wanted to try, and they turned out wonderful. I want to make more and serve them over ice cream with amaretto or brandy. We only had one small hiccup. We think the Husband may be allergic to rhubarb. He had a nasty reaction to the chicken on the second day and the rhubarb is the only thing that he hasn’t had before. If this is true, we are going to have a lot of extra bbq sauce up for grabs.

2- Grilled New Potatoes, recipe by me!

I cut up some new potatoes and tossed them with fresh rosemary, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and olive oil. We put them in foil and found out that you can indeed burn potatoes on the grill. Only a few though, the rest were just right.

3-Grilled Asparagus with Gremolata from Food Network Magazine, June 2016. V. 9, N. 5

Modifications: I reduced the recipe quite a bit. I used garlic powder instead of grated garlic. It was good and made me feel fancy while eating it. I didn’t get pictures of the completed dish by itself, but you can see it on the grill and on the plate above.

4- Meat Pies from A Taste of Lebanon by Mary Salloum. Section: Savory Pastries and Breads. 

Modifications: The recipe called for lamb. It was a good thing to find a new recipe for lamb. I left out the diced tomatoes. It called for fresh and I didn’t have any. These were pretty good. They made tiny little pies though. Next time I will use a bigger circle. I think these will freeze well.

5-Savory Pie Dough from the same cookbook. No modifications made. I think it would also make a fantastic thin crust pizza. It’s a nice, soft dough with a mild flavor.

6- Smoky Spanish Roasted Chicken from Food Network Magazine, April 2016. V.9, N.3.

Modifications: I cut the spice rub recipe in half, as it was for two chickens. It was not as flavorful as I would like. I didn’t pull up the skin to put the spices under it and I probably should have. It called for 2 whole heads of garlic! One which was added to the inside of the chicken and one was baked with the chicken and the bread. It was still very good. We ate the bread with the rosted garlic too. Mmmmm… We had carrots as well and fruit.

7- Pasta Shells with Smoked Chicken in a Garlic Cream Sauce from Garlic by Janet Hazen.

Modifications: I had just made ice cream, so I used a cup of 2% milk along with the rest of the cream. It took a little bit longer to thicken up. I substituted zucchini, as the Husband tolerates that, but doesn’t like broccoli.

It was good and I would make it again. This was a cheat recipe, it’s the second recipe from the entree section. I suspect I may never going to top the duck from the same cookbook, but I couldn’t resist this recipe when I had the smoky chicken already.

8- Vanilla Bean Ice Cream from Ashleemarie.com. http://ashleemarie.com/vanilla-bean-ice-cream/

Modifications: None made. This was unbelievably silky smooth and rich. We had it for the special 4th of July breakfast md it was amazing! The Husband took a bite and said “Now this is ice cream!” We’re going to try chocolate next. I have plans to make meringues with the egg whites, but am still deciding what kind of meringues to make.

We’ve got another busy weekend planned. Fancy has recovered from the fireworks. This was her last night. She is such a lady…

The garden has provided four more tomatoes and two more strawberries. We keep eating them before I can take pictures. There are four more that just need one more day, so if I can get to them before the squirrel does, I’ll take a picture.