Cooking over the past week...

I have been on vacation from work for a little over a week now, and I should have been cooking much more than I have been. However, I am lazy, especially when I am on vacation, so I have not been. However, I do have some recipes to share...one from dinner the other night and three from a party that we are throwing today to celebrate my husband's and my stepson's birthdays!

From last week, we have roasted vegetables:


I make roasted vegetables often, all winter long. For this incarnation, I used:

• baby red potatoes
• yams
• yellow onion
• asparagus
• olive oil
• Adobo

I cut the vegetables up in chunks and tossed them in olive oil in my 13" X 9" pan. I then sprinkled them with Adobo, stirred them up, sprinkled with Adobo, stirred them up, and sprinkled them with Adobo again. I baked them at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes...until the potatoes and yams were fork-tender.

This is a great recipe for a family because people can always pick out what they don't like. I sometimes us different potatoes, add carrots or turnip, or use spicier seasonings. Yum!

Today, I made some of my favorite soup, Cabbage Patch Soup. I first had a soup like this at the home of an ex-boyfriend's dad and stepmom. I found a close-enough recipe on the Internet and adapted it to make it my own:


For this recipe, you need:

• 1 - 2 pounds ground meat (I used meatloaf mix, but anything ground will do)
• 1 head cabbage, chopped coarsely
  
• 3 cans diced tomatoes
• 6 cans broth (I use four can vegetable and two cans beef)
• 2 to 3 cans beans (whatever kind you like - I used kidney and white beans)
• carrots

Brown the beef in your stock pot. Once it is brown, add the tomatoes and the broth. Allow to come to a boil. Add beans, carrots, and cabbage. Turn down heat to allow soup to simmer. The cabbage absorbs a lot of liquid, so you might have to add water or broth. Simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring occasionally.

This soup is even better the next day or so!

I also decided to make a homemade-from-scratch cake, my first-ever, for my husband's birthday. I found the recipe for this cake and icing on the Food Network's website:


Chocolate Cake (by Cathy Lowe)

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 1/2 t baking soda
• 1 1/2 t baking powder
• 1 t salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two 9-inch cake pans by rubbing with butter, sprinkling with flour, and tapping our extra. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix together with a wooden spoon and set aside. In a small bowl, combine eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Beat well with a hand mixer. Slowly add boiling water and mix. Add wet ingredients to flour mixture and fold and stir until smooth. Pour batter into pans, dividing evenly. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes (note - mine only needed 30 minutes). Remove cake from pans and cool on racks.

Note - My dog ate a hunk off of one of my layers, forcing me to make another layer. The recipe halved well. Also, I tried some of the layer he destroyed, and it was yummy! Also, he got put in time out.

Basic Buttercream Icing (by Colette Peters)

• 1 cup unsalted butter or margarine, room temperature (I used salted)
• 1/2 cup milk, room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla or other flavoring (I splashed extra vanilla in)
• 2 pounds confectioner's sugar

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix at slow speed until smooth. This recipe is enough to cover and fill a 9" X 13" sheet cake or 2 9" cake layer (note - I had a good amount left over).

I have never made cooked icing, and I didn't feel like trying it today. However, this icing was yummy! I have to note that I am really not good at icing cakes, so this one isn't looking so fantastic. I hope everyone forgives me that when they see how good it tastes!

Bon appetit!!!

Crock-Pot Conversation

Like just about everyone else I know, I registered before my wedding for the biggest slow cooker I could find. I use it most often for making stuff to take to parties...dips and chili and wings and barbecue. For a while, I was using it also to make meals for my husband and me at home. I work night shift, so it was very convenient to stop at the grocery store on the way home in the morning, pick up some ingredients, throw them in the slow cooker, and wake up to a home cooked meal. However, that biggest slow cooker I could find was pretty hot, and I found myself sometimes using the "keep warm" setting to do the actual cooking because I wanted it to have to cook for seven or so hours while I was asleep. On some days that my husband worked from home, he actually had to turn it off after four hours because the food was done. And when he didn't work from home and I slept past the point when it should have been turned off, we ended up with dry tough meat and a slow cooker that was a pain in the butt to clean.

Several months ago, I was wandering around my local Wal-Mart, and I came across a smaller (2 quart) Crock-Pot for $9.94. I was sold. It has been sitting in my garage since then, but I pulled it out today to use it to make the pork for the Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches, and I have to say that it has been cooking for about four hours now on the low setting and there is still plenty of liquid in the pot, and it is looking like it will be nice and moist. I am thrilled!

One thing I used to hate about the smaller slow cookers is that they didn't have removable stoneware insert that the big ones did. However, this one does have a removable crock, which means it can go right into the dishwasher! And the lid is plastic, so I don't have to worry about it ending up shattered all over my kitchen floor!

My Crock-Pot dreams have come true!

OMG, is she actually going to COOK????

To be fair (to me), I also cooked last week...once. Well, that may not exactly be true. I bought filets and corn and marinated the filets. My husband did the actual cooking on the grill. Well, I cooked the corn...so I guess I did half the work?

Tonight, I was going to make eggplant parmesan because a friend gave me a home-grown eggplant from her garden the other day. However, it is hot here, just like it is everywhere else in the country, and the thought of Italian food was NOT doing it for me.

I was flipping through some foodie blogs today (which I also had not done in a long time), and in a few different places, I found a recipe from allrecipes.com for Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches. The recipe is as follows:

INGREDIENTS:
1 (2 pound) pork tenderloin
1 (12 oz) can or bottle root beer
1 (18 oz) bottle your favorite barbecue sauce
8 hamburger buns, split and lightly toasted

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place the pork tenderloin in a slow cooker; pour the root beer over the meat. Cover and cook on low until well cooked and the pork shreds easily, 6 to 7 hours.

2. Drain liquids and stir in barbecue sauce to taste. Serve on hamburger buns.

I used a can of birch beer because that is what I was able to lay my hands on. And I bought lite hamburger buns because of that whole Weight Watchers thing. Oh, and I also bought some coleslaw to put on the sandwich because I love my pulled pork with coleslaw on top. The pork is still cooking as I type this...and it is looking nice a shredded without me even having to put a fork to it!

I plan to serve this with more corn on the cob (the season will wind down soon, and I will miss it terribly), along with some roasted red potatoes with Adobo on them. I bought my corn and the potatoes at a local produce stand, and they are great!

Oh, and there will be no pictures because my husband left my camera somewhere in Cleveland over the weekend...which is sad. But I am going to get a new camera...which is happy! But it won't be until Christmas...which is sad. As soon as I can get to my mom's, I am going to borrow her little point-and-shoot because, of course, my dog has been freakin' adorable all week, and I have no way to take pictures of him! Silly husband!

UPDATE: The pork was yummy! Still no camera!

Who has time to cook?

I work night shift as a nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit of a local hospital. My shift is 7 PM to 7 AM, and I usually work three nights per week. That is a nice schedule that would seem to leave plenty of time for cooking. However, that is not always so.

We have recently been overrun with little preemies to take care of, and, as a result, I have been picking up all kinds of extra hours. Therefore, I have been surviving less on my own home-cooked food and more on the stuff made by the nice people at Lean Cuisine. This week, I have four nights off in a row, so I plan to do some cooking at least two of those nights. Next week, I work six of seven days, so it will be back to frozen meal land.

I did make a fun dessert for a bridal shower this weekend. I wouldn't call it cooking because nothing in the dessert has to be cooked, but it does get put together quite nicely. This is a recipe that my husband's aunt Charlene makes for family gatherings, and I have always loved them!



Phylo Cups with Fruit

Two packages frozen phylo cups
1 8 ounce block cream cheese
1 container whipped topping
vanilla extract
confectioners sugar or Splenda
fresh berries

Soften cream cheese. In large bowl, mix cream cheese with half of the tub of whipped topping (I used Cool Whip). Add vanilla extract and sugar or Splenda to taste. Using pastry bag with star tip attachment, pipe mixture into phylo cups. Top each cup with fruit of your choice.

These were a big hit, and they are easy to make! And you could experiment with flavors and make them something all your own!

Some Everyday Italian, lightened up...

Tonight, I made a recipe by Giada DeLaurentiis that I saw in the orange kitchen for Ricotta and Crab Cannelloni. The recipe is as follows:

1 box (8 ounces) cannelloni or manicotti pasta (about 12 shells)

1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese (I used part skim.)

3/4 cup grated Parmesan, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves (I used 1/2 cup of basil paste.)

1 pound lump crabmeat (I used three cans of Chicken of the Sea lump crab meat.)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper (I used mixed peppercorns.)

Bechamel Sauce, recipe follows

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta. In a large bowl, mix together ricotta, 3/4 cup Parmesan, egg yolk, basil, crab, salt, and pepper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Fill the cannelloni with the crab mixture and place in a buttered baking dish. Top the filled cannelloni with the Bechamel Sauce and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese. Bake until bubbly and the top is golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Bechamel Sauce:

5 tablespoons unsalted butter (I only had salted.)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

4 cups whole milk, warmed (I used 2%.)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper (I used the mixed again.)

Pinch freshly grated nutmeg (I used jarred.)

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk until smooth, about 2 minutes. Gradually add the warm milk, whisking constantly, until the sauce is thick, smooth, and creamy, about 10 minutes (do not allow the sauce to boil). Remove from the heat and stir in the salt, pepper, and nutmeg. (The sauce can be made up to 3 days ahead. Cool and then cover and refrigerate.)

I would say that my substitutions worked fine. I have never had a Bechamel sauce, so I can't speak to its authenticity. It didn't end up being very thick, but it kept the pasta wet during the baking process. The meal turned out very well, although I would imagine that it would be even better if Giada herself had made it for me!

Here's the final result...

Foodie Blogroll

I am now, in the infancy state of this blog, a proud member of the Foodie Blogroll. If you happen to find your way here, please leave me a comment! And if you happen to be a foodie blogger, please join the Foodie Blogroll! It will make it that much easier for me to stalk you...

Italian-inspired eating...

Last night, I had some pork chops all thawed in the fridge and ready to go. I didn't want to do my usual marinade-and-bake or shake-and-bake (yummy and not too bad for you if you are in a hurry or a bind). I had just been reading somewhere about all the different ways you could stuff chicken, and since I had pork on hand instead of chicke, I decided to stuff that instead!

I started out with the following ingredients:

I had the pork chops and garlic at home. I picked up, from my local food store, some basil paste (much better than the dried version, and I don't use fresh quickly enough), some fontina cheese, some grape tomatoes, some prosciutto, and some shredded parmigiano-reggiano cheese.

I butterflied the pork chops, after trimming off some of the excess fat, and placed in the center of each a slice of fontina cheese and two slices of prosciutto. I then put them in the baking dish and sprinkled Italian-style bread crumbs over the top, alone with some of the parmigiano-reggiano.

I then halved the grape tomatoes and sauteed them in a little bit of olive oil (I got this idea here) with three cloves of garlic (two were pretty small, while one was a decent size...not three large cloves of garlic). After they were soft and releasing some juice, I added a couple of squirts of the basil paste (I had never used the herb pastes before, but I was really pleased with it!). I sauteed that a little longer while my penne (I used Barilla Plus) finished cooking to an al dente finish. Then, I mixed those together and heated them through.

Here's the final result:

I sprinkled more cheese on top of the pasta, and it was a fantastic meal! I will definitely make this or some form of it again...enjoy!