Month: July 2013

Broccoli Chicken Salad

~ lk529 ~ 2 Comments

Here’s a lettuce-less twist to Salad Night. And a great way to practice your knife skills. I actually prepared this salad the night before we ate it. I knew if I didn’t we’d end up ordering pizza or picking up Chick-fil-A, because let’s face it what sounds better – pizza or broccoli? But if dinner is ready to go, no waiting, then it’s hard to argue with healthy. I can’t promise you that this recipe is tastier than pizza, but I can assure that it’s delicious in its own right. And it’s most definitely better for you.

Broccoli Chicken Salad

Ingredients for salad:

  • 1-2 tbs olive oil
  • 1 lb ground chicken
  • 1 lb broccoli, chopped
  • 2 carrots, diced
  • 1 C shelled edamame
  • 1 red bell pepper, diced
  • Crunchy Chow Mein Noodles for garnish

Ingredients for dressing:

  • 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
  • 2 tbsp canola oil
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 1 1/2 tsp sriracha
  • 1 1/2 tbsp minced ginger
  • 2 tsp minced garlic
  • 1 tsp salt

Steps

  1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.
  2. In a medium skillet brown chicken in olive oil over medium-high heat. Season liberally with salt and pepper.
  3. Par-boil broccoli for 2-3 minutes. Drain broccoli and put into an ice bath.
  4. In a salad bowl, combine the broccoli with the edamame, carrot, and red pepper.
  5. Whisk together dressing ingredients and toss with the salad. Top with the Chow Mein noodles. Note: If you choose to make this ahead of time like I did, keep the dressing separate from the salad until serving.

*This recipe is adapted from Sara at http://www.wherethecookiesare.com/2013/07/10/chinese-chicken-broccoli-salad-with-fresh-ginger-sesame-dressing/*

Broccoli Chicken Salad 1 Broccoli Chicken Salad 2

Goat Cheese Cheesecake

~ lk529 ~ 2 Comments

July 30th is National Cheesecake Day! I have been dying to try baking my own cheesecake, but have never been brave enough. And with a husband who claims not to like cream cheese, there hasn’t been much incentive. (He loved this dessert and simply gave me a “yeah, whatever” when I teased him about his cream cheese aversion.)

And then I started this blog. Stuart has been really supportive with this newest hobby of mine and I think he’s enjoying the side effects of more homemade dishes. It wasn’t until “late” in life that I was aware of my love for cooking. I discovered the Food Network late my senior year of college, and parked myself in front of the TV with a notebook before finally becoming employed. I love trying new recipes and exploring the world of food blogs.

After working for 2 years, cooking every night started to seem more like a chore – well really the piles of dishes were deterrent enough. Making a home cooked meal 6 nights a week turned into 3 nights. But writing this blog has brought me back up to about 5 nights a week. So I have to say thank you to my readers for rekindling my love of cooking.

Baking isn’t something I feel I’ve particularly mastered. Which, being an engineer I find a little amusing because baking is a science; it’s following a recipe and measuring out ingredients properly. There’s more flexibility in cooking, and maybe I need the break from exact, and I get to find that in savory dishes. Regardless, baking a cheesecake seemed to be above my comfort level.

Until I found this recipe! On an episode of Food Network’s Best Thing I Ever Made, Anne Burrell said this cheesecake was the best thing she ever made with cheese. She walked through the steps and I thought to myself, “I could do that!” So, on National Cheesecake Day, I am enjoying a large slice of Goat Cheese Cheesecake.

I will apologize in advance for making your house smell like a gourmet bakery. And I don’t recommend tasting the filling before putting the eggs in because you might just give up on the final product and eat the entire bowl of cream cheesy goodness; taste at your own risk.

Nilla Wafer Crust 1 Nilla Wafer Crust 3

Cheesecake Filling 2 Cheesecake Filling 3

Cheesecake 1 Cheesecake 3

Goat Cheese Cheesecake

Ingredients for crust:

  • 6 tbsp butter, melted
  • 2 1/2 C Nilla wafers
  • 1/4 C sugar
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • pinch nutmeg

Ingredients for filling:

  • 16 oz cream cheese
  • 12 oz goat cheese
  • 1 1/2 C sour cream
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 C sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract

Steps

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Put all ingredients for the crust in the food processor and pulse until you achieve the look and feel of wet sand. Press the crust into a buttered spring form pan, pressing it halfway up the sides.
  3. In a stand mixer, beat the cheeses. Add in the sour cream and beat until combined. Add in sugar and vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time. Pour filling into the crust.
  4. Bake 30 minutes. Rotate the cheesecake and bake another 30 minutes. Allow cheesecake to cool completely before serving or setting in the fridge overnight for best results.

Goat Cheese Cheesecake 1 Goat Cheese Cheesecake 2 Goat Cheese Cheesecake 3

Mexican Pizzas

~ lk529 ~ 6 Comments

It’s another Mexican Monday and today my suggestion is to try these “Taco Bell Mexican Pizzas”. I do not frequent the local Taco Bell, so I can only trust the source I got the recipe from that they are indeed “Taco Bell Mexican Pizzas”. Either way, they’re delicious and a simple week night dinner – I opted to add ground beef to the pizzas, but you could omit the meat and keep them vegetarian. Don’t be deceived, these tortilla sized pizzas are surprisingly satisfying.

Mexican Pizzas

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 lb ground beef
  • 1/8 C taco seasoning or 1/2 pkt
  • 1/4 C water
  • 4 wheat tortillas
  • 1 C refried beans
  • 1/3 C enchilada sauce
  • 2 Roma tomatoes, diced
  • 1/2 small red onion, diced finely
  • 2/3 C shredded Mexican cheese

Steps

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  2. In a medium, non-stick skillet brown ground beef over medium-high heat. Stir in taco seasoning and water according to taco seasoning directions. *If making your own taco seasoning, use 1/4 C water and 1/8 C seasoning for the 1/2 lb of meat.
  3. Crisp up tortillas in a skillet sprayed with cooking spray, flipping often.
  4. Heat the refried beans (the microwave will work just fine) until they’re warm and easier to spread. Spread over two of the crispy tortillas.
  5. Top each tortilla with the remaining two tortillas. And spread the enchilada sauce over top. Pile on meat and veggies. Cover with cheese.
  6. Bake 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

*This recipe is modified from Allyson at http://domesticsuperhero.com/2013/05/20/taco-bell-mexican-pizzas/*

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Soccer Game Day Dip

~ lk529 ~ Leave a comment

Dips are synonymous with watching sporting events on TV. This dip, even though I’m calling it “Soccer Game Day Dip”, is a great accompaniment to any yelling in front of the TV get-together.

So why am I signaling out soccer?

Gold Cup Final

Partially because we’re watching the CONCACAF Gold Cup final. Partially because my brother has a game day dip that we associate more closely with football games.

But mostly because I got this recipe from one of my husband’s soccer buddies. He brought it over one soccer game day. I was very hesitant to try it, especially once I found out what was in it! It’s not very pretty, and it’s far from gourmet. But don’t judge it yet.

This dip is cream cheese and canned chili. That’s it. I don’t like canned chili and my husband doesn’t like cream cheese – but we both gobble this one up. The best dipping vessels for this party dish are Frito Scoops.

If I’m trying to minimize the amount of dirty dishes I’ll heat the dip in the microwave. And if your serving dish is microwave safe – then that’s an exciting bonus!

Soccer Game Day Dip

Ingredients:

  • 1 block cream cheese
  • 1 can chili – whatever variety you prefer
  • 1 bag Frito Scoops

Steps

  1. Combine cream cheese and chili. This can be done one of two ways: A) Warm chili in a pot on the stove. Slowly add in the cream cheese until it’s melted. B) Put both cream cheese and chili in microwave safe bowl. Heat for 2 minutes. Stir. Heat for 1 minute. Stir. Heat another minute. Repeat until completely melted and hot.
  2. Serve with Fritos Scoops.

Soccer Game Day Dip

 recreatedbysrc

Blueberry Bars

~ lk529 ~ 1 Comment

It’s PCS (permanent change of station) season here in the military community and a lot of our friends are packing up and moving on to their next great adventure.

I recently made these Blueberry Bars for a going-away party. We were celebrating after an indoor soccer game, and in retrospect I probably should’ve chosen cherry pie filling instead of blueberry because they wear red as a team. But, it’s July and July is National Blueberry Month. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it!

Blueberry Bars

Ingredients:

  • 1 C room temperature butter
  • 1 3/4 C sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 1/2 C flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 can blueberry pie filling, or whatever flavor you desire!

Steps

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. In a stand mixer, beat together butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add in eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla. Beat until combined. Mix in the dry ingredients until combined.
  3. Spread all but 1 1/2 C of batter into greased 9×13″ cake pan. Spread the pie filling on top and then spoon on the remaining batter.
  4. Bake 40 minutes.

*This recipe is adapted from Alicia at http://www.everydayhomecook.com/2011/08/fruit-squares/*

Blueberry Bars Blueberry Bars

Update May 2017: While this electronic update is occurring end of January 2018, these updated photos are from May 2017! Wow. I made these bars for a church picnic and they were a huge hit. These blueberry bars are incredibly easy to assemble and perfect for bringing to any potluck. You can change the filling with your favorite pie flavor or a fruit that better fits the season.

blueberry-bars-pin.png

A dusting of powdered sugar never hurts!

bb bars (sugar)

Penne with Vodka Sauce

~ lk529 ~ 1 Comment

I love pasta. I could never do a carb-free diet… because, I love pasta.

When I was a little girl, the only thing I would eat was Macaroni and Cheese in the Blue Box. And then my pasta diet grew up a little bit to pasta with butter and balsamic vinegar. (I had some recently, and it’s still delicious!) I love pasta.

Now, my favorite pasta sauce is Vodka Sauce. And I’d always wanted to try making my own. Then I found a recipe on a friend’s food blog. So I made it! It takes time to make because the sauce actually gets baked in the oven, but I multi-tasked and while the sauce was doing its thing, I prepared dinner for the following night! When I opened the oven to pull out the sauce, it smelled like Italy. Okay, so I haven’t actually been to Italy, but it’s what I imagined Italy would smell like. I would also advise to not skip out on the fresh oregano. I’ve been known to substitute dried herbs in lieu of purchasing fresh (because I can’t grow my own…) but in this recipe, I’m glad I didn’t. The best bites were those with some fresh oregano. I love pasta.

Penne with Vodka Sauce

Ingredients:

  • 1/8 C olive oil
  • 1/2 onion, diced
  • 1 large clove garlic, minced
  • 1/4-1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes depending on your spicy preference
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/2 C vodka
  • 6 roma tomatoes, peeled and chopped
  • 1/2 lb penne pasta
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh oregano, divided
  • 2/3 C heavy cream
  • 1/4 C parmesan cheese, plus extra for garnish

Steps

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. In a large, oven-proof skillet, saute onion in olive oil over medium-high heat. When translucent, add garlic, pepper flakes, dried oregano, S+P. Pour in vodka and cook until reduced by half, stirring occasionally.
  3. Put the peeled tomatoes in the pan and crush with a potato masher. Season with S+P, cover, and bake for 1 1/2 hours. Remove and let cool slightly.
  4. Cook pasta according to box directions.
  5. Blend cooled tomato sauce and heavy cream and puree until smooth. Return to the stove and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in 3/4 of the fresh oregano, S+P. Toss in the pasta and parmesan cheese.
  6. Garnish with remaining oregano, extra Parmesan, and red pepper flakes if desired.

*This recipe makes 2-3 servings and is modified from Tara at http://www.tarasmulticulturaltable.com/penne-alla-vecchia-bettola-penne-in-tomato-vodka-cream-sauce/*

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How to Peel Tomatoes

~ lk529 ~ 3 Comments

I have a slight addiction/OCD when it comes to peeling things. It all started with my first Christmas. It’s Christmas morning, we’re opening presents. It’s all new and exciting. But then it’s nap time? Nap time on Christmas?! Well I didn’t think so! When my mother came back into my room, I had managed to peel the wallpaper off the wall by my crib. I still peel things – it’s why I never get my nails done. If there’s tape on a door/wall, it’ll be removed before I finish walking by. If paint is peeling off a desk, it’ll be stripped before class is over. And I happily open up all new CDs and DVDs. So why I didn’t think I’d like peeling tomatoes is beyond me!

When a recipe called for peeling and crushing fresh tomatoes, I thought about skipping that step and buying them out of a can. But when I saw that the tomatoes at the grocery store were in good shape, I decided to just go for it. It’s actually really easy (and fun)!

Here’s what you’ll need: paring knife, gently boiling water, bowl of ice water

Here’s what you’ll do: Cut an “x” in bottom side of tomato (opposite end of stem). Put in water for no more than 30s until the tomato starts to open up. Transfer tomato to the ice water. Peel!

How to Peel Tomatoes

How to Peel Tomatoes How to Peel Tomatoes How to Peel Tomatoes

A Baby Shower

~ lk529 ~ 5 Comments

I don’t follow celebrity gossip or the royal wedding/birth but as it blows up my Facebook newsfeed I do know that a new prince was born Monday. I’m going to take advantage of the internet baby fever to share a quick little story about a Surprise Baby Shower I threw for a friend of mine. with the Mom-to-Be

I like surprises. I don’t particularly care for being surprised, I like providing the surprise. When my friend was pregnant with her first child, I just knew I wanted to do something for her. With a lot of help from her husband and dance teacher, I assembled a guest list and sent out formal invitations.

I had never thrown a baby shower and I don’t think I’d been to one yet, so I looked to the trusty internet for inspiration. Unfortunately every game had the caveat “ask the mom if she’d be okay with this”. But I couldn’t ask the mom! Luckily, my best friend’s sister was also pregnant and her mom threw a Onesie Decorating Party. Bingo. It really is a genius idea – it eliminates any embarrassment on both the mom and the mixed guest list.

Spinach Dip, Meatballs, Macaroni and Cheese Cupcakes, Roll-out Cookies
Spinach Dip, Meatballs, Macaroni and Cheese Cupcakes, Roll-out Cookies
Onesie Decorating
Onesie Decorating Table

Onesie Decorating 2Onesie Decorating 3

I’d say the party was a success and the mom-to-be was surprised!

Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Salad

~ lk529 ~ 5 Comments

When I travel I like to bring a magazine on the flights with me. On my last business trip in April I made it through the 3 Food Network magazines I brought with me before my last flight, so during my layover in Atlanta I scoured the shelves for something that would interest me. I was hoping for a book of crosswords, but all I could find were Sudoku and Word Searches. Then I saw the most appetizing looking salad on the cover of Everyday with Rachael Ray. It was the May issue and had lots of Mexican style recipes and party ideas. This salad recipe has been worth the $4 I spent because I’ve made it four times already! I’ve even made just the sauce for leftover chicken and created nachos when I didn’t have any lettuce left.  Another variation, and time saving tip, is to use leftover chicken and warm it through in the sauce.

You have to make this! (It takes care of Mexican Monday and Salad Night)

Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Salad

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 lb chicken, sliced into strips
  • 1 tsp each cumin, paprika, coriander
  • 1/3 C + 1 tbsp olive oil, divided use
  • 1 shallot
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce depending on your desired heat level
  • 2 tbsp sherry vinegar
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 hearts of romaine lettuce
  • 1/2 onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 avocado, diced
  • juice 1 lime
  • 2 tomatoes, diced
  • 1/2 C chopped cilantro
  • 2 C crushed tortilla chips

Steps

  1. Season chicken with salt and pepper and spices. Cook completely in a large skillet with 1 tbsp olive oil. Remove chicken from skillet and set aside.
  2. Make the sauce/dressing in a food processor or blender. Puree shallot, garlic, chipotle peppers, vinegar and brown sugar. While the machine is running, pour in 1/3 C olive oil. Simmer in the same skillet from step 1 for about 1 minute.
  3. Make salad with remaining ingredients. Top with chicken and warm dressing.Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Salad

And don’t throw away the remainder of the can of chipotle peppers in adobo! I have an ice cube tray that I use for freezing foods. Simply put a pepper in each segment of the tray and the sauce over each of them, when frozen put into a freezer bag and now you’ll have chipotle peppers in adobo whenever a recipe calls for them. As a general rule of thumb, one ice cube is about 1 tbsp. I do this for tomato paste too.

Update August 2016: We’ve made this salad many times and it was a favorite go-to dinner for quite some time. It was fun to revisit it this summer, and while I’m still not thrilled with these updated photos, they’re immensely better than what you see above! I now prefer to buy the colorful tortilla strip salad toppings to crushing up regular tortilla chips; I find they provide a better crunch ratio as they don’t get soggy as quickly.

Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Salad | Sew You Think You Can Cook | http://sewyouthinkyoucancook.com

Mini Cinna-Crescent Rolls

~ lk529 ~ 1 Comment

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had cinnamon rolls for Sunday breakfast. Not the slave in the kitchen home made cinnamon rolls, the pre-made refrigerated dough in a can kind. My brother and I actually still prefer them to the “real thing”. Now that I’m “all grown up” and married, I still buy them! 

Before going to sleep last night, my husband was already looking forward to cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Unfortunately we didn’t have any. But I wasn’t about to disappoint! I had a can of crescent rolls so I decided to wing it. The experiment was successful so now the photographs won’t be going to waste! A blog post has been born. 🙂

Mini Cinna 1 Mini Cinna 2 Mini Cinna 3 Mini Cinna 7Mini Cinna 4 Mini Cinna 5

Mini Cinna-Crescent Rolls

Ingredients:

  • 1 can crescent rolls
  • 1/2 C brown sugar
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 C powdered sugar
  • 1 tbsp + 1 tsp milk

Steps

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9″ round cake pan.
  2. Unroll crescent dough, making a rectangle out of two crescents. Over lap and press the seam together. Repeat making a total of 4 rectangles.
  3. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon.
  4. Top each rectangle of dough with a good heaping tablespoon of the brown sugar cinnamon mix. Roll along the longest edge. Cut into 1-2″ rolls. Place cut side down in cake pan. Bake for 15-18 minutes.
  5. Make frosting by whisking the powdered sugar and milk. Add more milk 1/4 tsp at a time if needed. Drizzle frosting over Mini Cinna-Crescent Rolls.

Mini Cinna 6