Dinner Tonight - Wasabi Salmon

The only way I ever had salmon as a kid was canned made into salmon patties. We had them at least once a week. When I was married to my first husband we lived very close to my brother. Money was tight then and I was making salmon patties for dinner one evening while my brother was at the house. Now my brother is a lot like my Dad was, very thrifty. He suggested I buy canned Jack Mackerel the next time instead of canned salmon. I checked it out at the store and it was a lot cheaper than the salmon. But it did not taste nearly as good. I never tasted fresh salmon fillets or steaks until I was well into my 30's and I had ditched the first husband. What a tremendous difference! I still will occasionally make salmon patties with the canned stuff, but I much prefer fresh fillets anytime!

Wasabi Salmon is a great way to prepare some fresh salmon fillets. This is a recipe from Cooking Light that is one of our favorites. The salmon fillets are marinated briefly in the soy/wasabi marinade and cooked off in a non-stick skillet in a matter of minutes. The short marinade time really imparts much flavor to the fish. I suggest you follow the directions and use a low-sodium soy sauce as the regular stuff will make it too salty.

For the side dishes we had tossed salad along with Broccoli with Orange Sauce, another Cooking Light recipe from 1995. This was good, but it did not overly impress us. I much prefer a lemon flavor with broccoli. I steamed the broccoli on top of the stove with my very old steamer basket, and it was slightly overcooked. I have a vegetable steamer, but I did not want to get it out and it takes longer to use. However, I prefer the flavor of it when it is cooked in boiling water for just a few minutes and then placed in an ice bath to stop the cooking. You could always toss the broccoli with the sauce in the skillet to reheat it. I may try that method next time.

Be sure to check out the ARF Tuesday roundup over at Sweetnicks tonight for some new recipes using lots of veggies and antioxidant rich foods! Sweetnicks does such a great job with this weekly roundup, I can't keep up with all the great new recipes to try!

Also, Alysha at The Savory Notebook has started a weekly Virtual Recipe Club. The theme this week is SOUP! A woman after my own heart! I could eat soup every night and never tire of it. Be sure to check it out this week!

For tomorrow we have another main dish from the Cooking Light archives that will use some of the canned crabmeat I stocked up on. Be sure to check it out! Until then, enjoy the recipes.

Recipes
Broccoli With Orange Sauce
adapted from Cooking Light, March 1995

Wasabi Salmon
adapted from Cooking Light, December 2003

Meatless Monday - Family Frittata

Busy day at work today, as par for the course on Monday. For those of you not familiar with dialysis, it is the process of doing the work of your kidneys for people who no longer have functioning kidneys. They are connected to a machine for the course of their treatment. Treatment times (at our facility) can range from 3 hours to 5 1/2 hours. The patients require treatment 3 times a week. We see them more often than some of their own families! It is easy to see how the staff can become very attached to the patients and vice-versa. It is always a celebration when one of our patients gets "The Call" to go for a transplant. Unfortunately, that does not happen often enough. So here is my plug and it is the only time you will hear it. Be an organ donor if at all possible! It can save many lives.

Staying with the Meatless Monday theme we had another frittata for dinner. This one comes from Cooking Light Magazine, May 1998. Family Frittata was loaded with good veggies and was easy to prepare. This frittata cooks for a time on top of the stove and then is moved under the broiler to finish and brown the top. We had this with a garnish of low-fat sour cream which complemented it perfectly. I thought the veggies on the bottom may have been a little overcooked so you may want to cut down on the time somewhat. Otherwise, it will be a repeater here. Best of all, I have leftovers for tomorrow to take to work and I have my entry for Sweetnicks ARF Tuesday!

On board for tomorrow is a favorite of our from Cooking Light that uses Wasabi Powder. Be sure to check in to see what is cooking! Until then.

Recipes

Family Frittata
adapted from Cooking Light, May 1998

Quiet Sunday

Not a lot to blog about today. I kept busy doing household chores and planning next week's menu. I did make some chicken stock and I discovered that the Italian Batter Bread I made the other day makes excellent croutons! The boys have been requesting a meal that I only make about twice a year so I decided to accommodate them today. Thus dinner tonight was Fried Chicken. I like to use Alton Brown's method of marinating the chicken pieces in buttermilk overnight and then draining, seasoning, dredging, and frying. The boys were quite pleased. We also had Broccoli and Carrots with Toasted Almonds that Joe over at Culinary in The Desert made a few days ago.

So that's it for tonight. Be sure to checkout Weekend Dog Blogging over at Sweetnicks. I am off to watch Iron Chef America. I will leave you with a pic of the 168 ounces of chicken stock I made today! Whoo-hoo, the freezer is stocked with stock for a while!

Curry!

I did make it to White Feather Farms today and I was able to pick up a few more cans of crab for $4.50 a can. Wow, that is an unbelievable price. I did not need any more cheese but they did have some samples of Barvarian Swiss and the price was good so I picked up a small package. While I was waiting in line to pay, a gentleman behind me was talking to Lisa, the owner of WFF about a Gorgonzola and pear spread with dried cranberries he had at Trader Joe's. He was buying Gorgonzola and dried cranberries and he said he was going to try to re-create it. My thought was that it is kind of funny how foodies all know where to shop for the good stuff!

We have been in the process of slowly remodeling the kitchen. It can be a slow process when you work as much as we do. We managed to get some drywall mudding out of the way and it will soon be ready to sand and paint. Not sure when we can get back on it since I work next weekend. Tomorrow my day will be tied up with laundry and other housework. It never seems to be done.

Tonight's dinner is the last one for this week from The Minimalist Cooks Dinner. I am kind of sorry to see this book end...for now anyway. There have been some very quick and easy yet terrific meals from this book. Tonight was no exception. Chicken Curry with Coconut Milk would be a wonderful work night meal and is packed with good flavor. With only 5 ingredients (minus the cooking oil and seasonings) it was together and on the table in about 30-40 minutes. I served it over some brown rice that I prepared in some vegetable broth. We had a salad with viniagrette along with this and it was well received by all. Even Zac said "I like curry."


No pics tonight for Weekend Cat Blogging or Weekend Dog Blogging. The animals are getting a bit weary of me taking their pictures. They hide if they see me with the camera so I guess I will give them a break. Kiri is on holiday over at Eat Stuff so Boo the cat at Masak-Masak is hosting WCB. Be sure to check it out. And check out Kalyn's Kitchen for Weekend Herb Blogging and Sweetnicks for WDB.

So, Goodbye to Mark Bittman for awhile. Next week I will not be cooking from a specific cookbook but from a magazine, Cooking Light. Check in to see what is cookin'. Until then.

Recipes
Chicken Curry with Coconut Milk
adapted from The Minimalist Cooks Dinner by Mark Bittman

Pizza Night!

Not much to post about today. We had homemade pizza for dinner. I modified a pizza crust recipe from Wolfgang Puck by using white whole wheat flour (I Love this stuff!). If there is one thing Wolfie knows, it is pizza! The recipe is pretty simple and always produces a good crust. Using the whole wheat made it a little nutty tasting as well, not a bad thing in my book!

This is my weekend off work so I have a lot to do around the house plus planning the menu for next week. I hope I can go to White Feather Farms and find some more of that $4.50 canned crab! It will probably not be available though. I knew I should have bought more than one can last time!

That's it for tonight. I have some wine reviews that I hope to post this weekend. Check in tomorrow to see what's cookin'.

Recipes

Pizza Dough
adapted from Wolfgang Puck

A Day in the Kitchen

Zac stayed home from school again today. He is beginning to feel better this evening so it is back to school tomorrow. His English class is taking a field trip to the library and he does not want to miss that.

Since I was home I played in the kitchen. I made Italian Batter Bread and some muffins of my own creation. Alysha at The Savory Notebook is having a Virtual Recipe Swap and this month's theme is grab and go healthy breakfast foods. The latest issue of Cooking Light did a story on the health benefits of peanut butter which inspired this idea. Plus, I like peanut butter and banana!

Italian Batter Bread

Peanut Butter and Banana Nut Muffins

Dinner tonight was again from The Minimalist Cooks Dinner. This one made up for the so-so dinner from last night. Spanish-Style Shrimp. This was quick, easy, and very good. The flavor of the shrimp is not masked by a heavy sauce, just the right amount of liquid to sop up with bread. I served this with a salad and the bread I made today of course! This is simple yet tasty fare. I really like this cookbook!

Spanish-Style Shrimp
adapted from The Minimalist Cooks Dinner by Mark Bittman

The Italian Batter Bread comes from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads. I picked this book up at the library this week and I think I will need to copy many of the recipes. Mr Clayton apparently lives here in Indiana in Bloomington which is DH's home town. Maybe I can look him up some day!

Italian Batter Bread Texture

that's all for tonight folks. Check in tomorrow to see what's cookin'

Recipes
Italian Batter Bread
Peanut Butter Banana Nut Muffins
Spanish-Style Shrimp

Dinner Tonight - Chicken with Apricots

Today was my day off and Zac was home with a fever and a cough. He is not better so I will be staying home with him tomorrow as well. He has been pretty quiet and not been very hungry today so I KNOW he is sick for sure. If he doesn't get better tomorrow, I guess it will be time for a call to the doc.

Dinner tonight was once again from The Minimalist Cooks Dinner by Mark Bittman. Chicken with Apricots just did not knock my socks off. Despite the vinegar and wine in the sauce, I felt it was too sweet. True to Bittman's style the dish was easy to prepare with only a few ingredients. I don't think it will be a repeater for us however. Maybe with a different dried fruit I would like it better.

I served this with some steamed broccoli and Crisp Potatoes from the same book. The potatoes were excellent. Crispy on the outside and fluffy and smooth on the inside. I have seen other chefs recommend par-boiling the potatoes before you roast or pan fry them and it really does make for a nice result. Again, a minimal number of ingredients for a very good side dish.

I have finally had the chance to make my experimental muffins I have been thinking about. I will post about them tomorrow. Until then.

Recipes

Chicken with Apricots
from The Minimalist Cooks Dinner by Mark Bittman

Crisp Potatoes
adapted from The Minimalist Cooks Dinner by Mark Bittman

Crabby Crabcakes!

Dinner tonight was once again from Bittman's The Minimalist Cooks Dinner. Crabby Crabcakes (I love that name!) did not make me feel the least bit crabby! True to Bittman's style in this book, these were not fussy with very few ingredients. In the description of the recipe Bittman states "Getting the most out of crabcakes often means putting the least into them. When you start loading them up with white bread, corn, curry, and complicated sauces, you might be making them different, but you're not making them better."

These were among some of the best crabcakes I have ever had, at home or in a restaurant. I used can crab that I purchased on my trip to White Feather Farms a few days ago. The flavor of the crabmeat really came through and the cakes were delicate and flaky. If you like crabcakes (like my boss Tobey) you will like these. I highly recommend you giving these a try.

I served these with a homemade tartar sauce (mayonnaise, chopped shallots, pickle relish) with a simple salad and bread. A very relaxed and unfussy meal, but very satisfying and flavorful.

Be sure to check Sweetnicks for the ARF Tuesday round-up. Until tomorrow, enjoy the recipe.

Recipe
Crabby Crabcakes

ARF Tuesday (a day early) and the 7's Meme

I mentioned yesterday that I have been on the prowl for a good mushroom soup recipe. Fast Creamy Mushroom Soup from The Minimalist Cooks Dinner is the closest I have come so far. This was very simple to prepare and the result was a rich and tasty soup. Bittman uses dried along with fresh mushrooms in this version. The stock from the re-hydrating of the dried mushrooms adds richness and depth of flavor to the base of the soup. I thought the soup did lack a little something so I added a few drops of hot sauce which really perked it up. This soup delivers big flavor for very little effort in preparation.

Be sure to head over to Sweetnicks tomorrow night for the ARF roundup. I've got it covered!

Fast Creamy Mushroom Soup

I have been tagged for the 7's cooking meme by Michele over at Chef Michele's Adventures (Thank-you Michele)! After much thought, here we go.

Seven Culinary Things to do Before I Die

1. Make a souffle.
2. Cook and serve a whole lobster (yes, I have never done this)
3. Meet Alton Brown
4. Enter a cooking contest and win
5. Make my own wine
6. Make my own cheese
7. Live in a house with a large, well equipped kitchen

Seven Things I Can't do in The Kitchen
1. Make a perfect pie crust
2. Cook if there are just a few dirty dishes in the sink
3. Crack an egg with one hand
4. Keep my cabinets neat and organized so DH doesn't get upset
5. Flip food in the skillet with a flick of the wrist (like the TV chefs)
6. Peel and chop onions without needing a tissue (just like Michele)!
7. Prepare a Rachael Ray 30 minute meal in 30 minutes

Seven Things That Attract Me to Food Blogging
1. It is FUN
2. Helps me organize my recipes
3. Utilizes my cookbooks
4. Did I mention it is fun?
5. I am learning more about my digital camera
6. Learning about HTML and building web sites
7. Meeting new friends online

Seven Thing I Say Most Often While Cooking
1. Oh s--t!
2. Ouch
3. Oh man, I am out of ____
4. Don't touch that, it is for dinner later
5. Get out of my way!
6. When you are through, clean up your mess
7. Dinner's ready!

Seven Cookbooks I Love
1. King Arthur Flour Baking Companion
2. Cookwise
3. I'm Just Here For The Food
4. I'm Just Here For More Food
5. 30 Minute Meals 2
6. How To Be a Domestic Goddess
7. Nigella Bites

Seven Cooking Shows I Can Watch Over and Over Again
1. Good Eats
2. 30 Minute Meals
3. Everyday Italian
4. Iron Chef (original or America)
5. Nigella Bites
6. Food 911
7. Barefoot Contessa

That's it! I now tag Alysha at The Savory Notebook, Erika at Tummy Treasure, and Punky at Busy Nights Real Food.

Until tomorrow.

Recipes
Fast Creamy Mushroom Soup

Sunday Dinner

You may remember that leftovers were planned for last night. Well, I got home from work and DH was fixing dinner! Some steaks and salad. It is always nice to come home after my long Saturday and find him cooking dinner. Thank-you dear!

The cookbook I have chosen to utilize this week is The Minimalist Cooks Dinner by Mark Bittman. I really like this book so far. The entrees are not too fussy and he makes suggestions for sides and wine to serve with the entree. I have planned the entire week from this book!
On to tonight's dinner. Bittman has a bread recipe in his book he calls 60-Minute Bread. I decided to give it a whirl. It is not bad. Not fantastic, but just as good as a grocery store bakery bread and very easy to make.
For the entree we had Pork Cutlet with Hoisin-Red Wine Sauce. The recipe in the book is for Miso-Red Wine Sauce and calls for red miso. I could not find any miso at the store and I already had some hoisin on hand, so the rest is history. The sauce was very smooth and had bold flavor. The chops were well received by all.
For the sides we had a simple salad of romaine and arugula with a soy viniagrette, and a Bittman's suggested side of Rice Salad with Peas and Soy. This was very good with a lot of different flavors going on that went well together. What is interesting is the use of Arborio rice for something other than risotto. This will also be a great salad for a summer picnic (or a houseboat trip). The recipe calls for fresh cilantro which I am not overly fond of so I used parsley since I have a lot of that on hand.
All in all, this was a nice Sunday dinner. Not too fussy and all were easy to put together. On tap for tomorrow is a mushroom soup. I have yet to find a good mushroom soup recipe so we will see how this one goes.

Zac redesigned the banner at the top of the page here. I don't know where he learns all this stuff, but I did not have a clue how to change the banner so there would be pictures there. Let me know what you think. Until tomorrow.

Recipes
60-Minute Bread
Pork Cutlet with Hoisin-Red Wine Sauce
Rice Salad with Peas and Soy

WDB # 18

Here is Buster on the lookout in the backyard once again. He is such a brave dog!
Check out the other cute pups over at Sweetnicks.

WCB #33

Here is a shot of Angus in a profile as he waits patiently by the back door. We had some spring like weather here in Indiana in January no less! Angus was itching to get out and explore!

Check out all the other kitties this weekend over at Eat Stuff.

Soup Night! Oh Yeah!

Beginning today you will notice a slight change at Adventures in Food and Wine. I will now post the recipe picture and a link at the bottom of the post to the recipe on Adventures Recipes. Please be patient with me as I learn more about blogging. I thought it might get too unwieldy and unorganized with all the recipes on this blog. One of the purposes of this blog is to help me organize the recipes I try. Hope you will like the new format. In the future I hope to have a drop down box like Sweetnicks does for the recipes also.

I went to the library today and picked up Cooking Aboard Your RV. We are planning to spend a few days in June on a houseboat. RV, houseboat, should be about the same so I thought I would check this baby out. If any of you know some good recipes for camping/houseboating let me know. I have been put in charge of coming up with the menu for this trip.

Today my DS Chris moved closer to home. He moved to Cleveland Ohio and arrived today. He will still be working in the restaurant business. He plans to come for a visit again soon and we hope to visit him in Cleveland. After all, Cleveland is the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and we have never been there.

I felt a bit ambitious today and made a couple recipes from cooking magazines. For me, nothing compares to hot soup and chewy bread for a meal. Brown Butter Soda Bread comes from the February 2006 issue of Bon Appetit and Kale and White Bean Soup comes from February 2002 issue of Gourmet. Both were excellent.

The bread was dense yet chewy and with the combination of rosemary and black pepper it is an excellent bread to serve with soup. This being a soda bread, it does not contain yeast which makes it great for throwing together without a lot of pre-planning. I changed the recipe a little by subbing some King Arthur White Whole Wheat flour for about half the required flour and subbing turbinado sugar for white sugar. I will be taking the extra loaf to work to share tomorrow.

Brown Butter Soda Bread

The soup was a bit more time consuming since it uses dried beans. I think it would work just as well with canned beans however. I like to use dried when I can because I think they have better flavor and texture. This is the first time I have ever cooked with kale and I must say it is good. I did have to fish the Parmesan rind out after cooking since it did not dissolve completely. I could definitely taste the Parmesan flavor however. I used Healthy Choice Keilbasa for the smoked sausage.

Kale and White Bean Soup
Isn't it cool that you can see the steam coming off the soup in this picture!

Tomorrow night will be leftover night since we have a lot of leftovers in the fridge. I have to work late anyway so a night off from cooking will be fine. I have been working on coming up with my own healthy muffin recipe. I have a few ideas and I hope to try one out this weekend. Until then.

Brown Butter Soda Bread
Kale and White Bean Soup

Comfort Food at it's best - Chicken Pot Pie

Today I had to go to be recertified in CPR. What a way to spend your day off. It was scheduled from 10am to 3pm and thankfully we were done by 1:00. I am sure glad I do not have to use this skill very often and I only have to recert every 2 years.

Tonight's dinner from The Foster's Market Cookbook was Chicken Pot Pie with Foster's Herb Biscuits. This is comfort food! This was easy to put together and the flavor was out of this world. My only complaint is I think the filling should be a bit thicker.

The biscuits were light and fluffy. I usually do not make biscuits that are rolled out. I have a recipe from Cookwise by Shirley Corriher that I swear by because generally I am all thumbs when it comes to rolled and cut biscuits. These were the exception. The dough was very easy to work with and the biscuits are great. The herb I choose to add to the biscuit mix was chopped dill. This complimented the filling very well.

I am off work again tomorrow as this is my Saturday to work (oh joy). I hope to make something to take into work with me on Saturday. Check in over the weekend to see what is in the works. Until then, enjoy these recipes.

Recipes

Chicken Pot Pie with Foster's Herb Biscuits
from The Foster's Market Cookbook

Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Biscuits
from The Foster's Market Cookbook

Yalumba Unwooded Chardonnay

Chardonnay is not a wine I will usually choose. Generally, I think they have too much oak. Last spring before the wine expert left my local wine store, he conducted a large tasting with over 50 wines. One was the Yalumba Unwooded Chardonnay. This is one Chardonnay that I really like. Big on citrus and tropical fruit, it has a nice, crisp, and refreshing taste. This goes well with grilled food in the summer and fish and chicken all year round. It sells for approximately $13.00.

Late, Late, Late

This was a day for being late all around. First, I left for work and we had received about 2 inches of snow overnight. No big deal, I live 1 mile from my job. Well, at 5:45 am it was SLICKER THAN ... out there and I was consequently 2 minutes late for work. Then the day progressed in such a way that I got a late lunch break. After work, I stopped to pick up some dark beer to make tonight’s dinner. Now, I don’t often purchase beer. Wine, yes. Beer, no. OMG, choosing beer is worse than choosing a bottle of wine! Who knew there were so many to choose from? Lager, Amber, Pale Ale, Wheat Beer, Pumpkin Beer, and the list goes on and on. I finally asked a young gentleman who was buying a case of Coors if he could recommend something. I settled on Beck’s Dark Beer. Thus, my dilemma with choosing beer made my trip home longer than I expected, which made dinner late. We finally were able to eat about 8pm. Then Lost came on so now my evening post is late.

So what was for dinner you may ask? Fiery Three-Bean Chili from The Foster’s Market Cookbook. Oh boy, when they say Fiery, that is what they mean. I really did not think it would be all that hot but my mouth was on fire. The flavors were excellent thou. DH said "Where's the meat? You cannot make chili without meat." Even so, he still liked it and so did Zac. They can both tolerate hot a little better than me. I will be taking a Pepcid before I go to bed tonight for sure. Until tomorrow.

Recipes

Fiery Three-Bean Chili
from The Foster's Market Cookbook by Sara Foster

Dinner Tonight - Roast Pork Tenderloin with Dried Cranberries

I had a busy and productive day at work. I will be taking an exam to become a Certified Nephrology Nurse on February 18. I was able to attend the first of weekly review sessions until the test. Today's topics were anemia and kidney transplant. I have a lot of studying to do between now and the test and I am very fortunate to have the review sessions to attend. It is a difficult exam.

Dinner tonight from The Foster's Market Cookbook was Roast Pork Tenderloin with Dried Cranberries and Rosemary. This was a very good dish. The pork was very tender and moist with excellent flavor. I put the marinade ingredients together this morning before I left for work and let it marinate all day. When I got home I just popped it into a pre-heated skillet to brown and then in the oven for approximately 25 minutes. Could not have been simpler. The guys are a little adverse to fruited meat, but this one was a winner. I served it with leftover Mac-N-Cheese and wilted spinach. Thus far all the recipes I have used from this book have been great.

For the wine I served Sockeye Pinot Noir from Oregon. This is one of my favorite wines. The local wine shop that sells this recently lost their wine expert and the shop was unable to get this wine in for weeks. Fortunately they had some when I stopped in last Saturday. This is not too dry and has a nice fruity aroma and taste. I am not a wine review expert, I just know what I like and if you like Pinot Noir, I highly recommend this one.

Also for you tonight is a recipe for Oatmeal Apple Muffins. These are great for grab and go mornings and very healthy to boot! I saw this recipe in the magazine supplement of my Sunday paper and knew I had to try it. The recipe comes from USA Weekend and allrecipes.com

So with these recipes I have the ARF Tuesdays covered for this week! Stop on over to Sweetnicks for the roundup. Enjoy the recipes. Until tomorrow

Roast Pork Tenderloin with Dried Cranberries and Rosemary
from Foster's Market Cookbook by Sara Foster

Oatmeal Apple Muffins
from USA Weekend and allrecipes.com

Dinner Tonight - Frittata

Wow, for all you 24 fans out there, I thought last nights episode was great! That is one show that really keeps you on the edge of your seat! 24 and Lost are the only TV shows I will watch on a regular basis. Most of what is on TV these days just doesn't interest me.

Since we are trying to stay with a "Meatless Monday" theme, tonights dinner from The Foster's Market Cookbook was Garden Vegetable Frittata. This was something very easy to put together and with a wonderful combination of flavors. I served it with just a little bit of sour cream on the side which was an excellent compliment to this vegetable laden dish. This will be a repeater for sure. As the author of the cookbook, Sara Foster says, you can use just about anything you have in your refrigerator in this dish. I think broccoli or asparagus would be nice. I followed the recipe for this outing but may change this one up the next time depending on what is available.

On tap for tomorrow is a couple of dishes that fit in with Sweetnicks ARF Tuesdays. Be sure to check out what I will be making with some dried cranberries. Until then, enjoy tonights recipe.

Recipes

Garden Vegetable Frittata
from The Foster's Market Cookbook by Sara Foster

Sunday Dinner

What a sad day in Indiana since the Colts lost today. Everyone was hoping they would be in the Super Bowl this year. DH is a Bears fan so he still has hope that one of his teams will make it.

Dinner tonight was our first entree from this week's featured cookbook The Foster's Market Cookbook by Sara Foster. I love a roasted chicken so that seemed like the place to begin and Balsamic-Roasted Chicken lives up to the author's promises. Moist and extremely flavorful, DH proclaimed this chicken wonderful. This was easy to prepare and made the house smell magnificent while it was roasting.

On the side we had some mixed vegetables (Green Giant Tuscan Blend) and Mac and Cheese. I used a recipe from the Food Network as a guide and then went from there. Using some of the smoked gouda I picked up yesterday, this was rich and flavorful. DH has been asking for some mac and cheese for awhile so I thought to include it today. This is definatly not a light version but oh so good. I did use the Barilla Plus macaroni so that helped a little. And I made a bechamel sauce for the first time, YEAH!

I made a light dessert from the book also. Peach Cobbler. I lightened it by subbing Splenda for the sugar and using white whole wheat flour in the crust. This was good, not overly sweet and I think the white whole wheat flour gave it a somewhat nutty flavor. This is one I will repeat in this summer when peaches are in season.

24 returns tonight and I cannot wait to see what is in store for Jack Bauer this season. Until tomorrow.

Recipes

Balsamic-Roasted Chicken
from The Foster's Market Cookbook

Smoked Gouda Mac-N-Cheese
adapted from the Food Network

Peach Cobbler
adapted from The Foster's Market Cookbook

WDB # 17

Buster relaxed and in heaven as he is loved on by Zac. He is hard to get a picture of because he usually will not look at the camera. I think he doesn't like the flash.

Check out all the other pups for this weekend over at Sweetnicks

White Feather Farms

Well my trip to White Feather Farms was certainly productive as you can see here.

I picked up some Feta Cheese, Vermont Cheddar, Jarlsberg, Smoked Gouda, grated Parmesan and grated Three Cheese Blend, Quinoa, and a can of Crab Meat. That was the real bargain at only $4.50. I should have bought more than one but I have never tried this in the can before though I have seen it at Meijer and at Costco. Maybe some crab cakes this week?

The employees at White Feather Farms were very gracious and allowed me to play with my camera until it died.

Some kind of bleu, I did not need any but it sure looked good!

Cutting my slice of feta

Some Gouda

Jarslberg (yummo!)

I also picked up some beef hot dogs for the kid at only 50 cents a package. He had some for lunch and proclaimed them very good. Those finds are rare and usually only available until they are gone. Once I picked up some Plugra for $1.00 a pound. They have never had it since.

Dinner tonight was my last entree from Rachael Ray's 365: No Repeats. DH really liked tonight's meal but said he is happy I am moving on to another cookbook for next week. Greek-Style Garlic Shrimp with Orzo and Caesar Salad was on the menu this evening and it was delicious (shrimp, feta, olives...you can't go wrong with that combination)! This was very flavorful and easy to put together. Instead of the recommended kalamata olives, I used a blend of olives as I have a large jar of them in the fridge. The olives and the feta added just the right amount of saltiness to this dish. After I prepped all the ingredients, it was done in under 10 minutes which would make it an easy weeknight meal. I only wish I could have found a whole grain orzo for this. I wonder if it would be good over quinoa? I may have to find out!

I have planned the menu for next week and the book I will be cooking from is The Foster's Market Cookbook by Sara Foster.
There are some terrific meals in this book and I cannot wait to get started. Dinner tomorrow will be from this wonderful book so check back in.

Until then, enjoy the recipe.

Greek-Style Garlic Shrimp and Orzo
adapted from 365: No Repeats by Racheal Ray

So we say so-long to Racheal, for a while anyway.

WCB #32

Here is Angus all stretched out and relaxed on his favorite spot in the house. Oh to be so carefree!

Check out the other kitties at EatStuff

Dinner Tonight - Gorgonzola!

Busy day at work today. I was on a roll this morning calling housekeeping and maintenance about some issues we were having all week. I guess by Friday I was just fed up. At least one of the problems was resolved today. My co-workers joked that they better not get on my bad side today. I actually work with a great group of people. All the staff are hard working and really seem to care about our patients.

Dinner tonight is once again from Rachael Ray but it is an old standby that I have served before. The original recipes come from Food Network but I have tweaked them abit. First up we have Beef Tenderloin Steaks with Gorgonzola. This is a quick and easy meal to put together and always pleases the guys. Thick tenderloin steaks finished off under the broiler with Gorgonzola cheese. Yum.

For the salad we had Bleu Cheese and Walnut Salad with Maple Dressing. With a combination of baby spinach, Bleu Cheese, and glazed walnuts...well, what's there not to like! This is one of my favorite salads from Rachael and I like to serve it with steak. Also on the side we had some corn in butter sauce.

Tomorrow morning I am off to a Muncie tradition. Saturday morning at White Feather Farms. This is a local distributor of all kinds of cheese, nuts, grains, coffee, and some unusual items. Only open to the public on Saturday morning, it is the place to go for fresh cheese at wholesale prices. I am planning to take my camera and see if they will let me take some photos for the blog. On the shopping list is some fresh feta for tomorrow nights dinner and whatever else that might interest me. I have been working so many extra Saturdays that this will be my first trip there in months. I can't wait!

Enjoy the recipes and check in tomorrow to see what's cooking. Until then.

Recipes

Bleu Cheese and Walnut Salad with Maple Dressing

adapted from 30 Minute Meals with Rachael Ray

Beef Tenderloin Steaks with Gorgonzola
adapted from 30 Minute Meals with Rachael Ray

Leftover Thursday

Yep, been cooking all these meals from Rachael and we have some leftovers to devour tonight. And, I stayed up late (for me anyway) watching Lost last night. I am beat. So the family can fend for themselves and heat up their favorites from the last couple days.

Have a good night and go check out some of the other blogs I have listed here. Some really cool photos and recipes to be had, you just have to look. Until tomorrow.

Chicken and Horseradish?

Tonight's meal choice from Rachael was Chicken in Horseradish Pan Sauce over Orange and Herb Couscous along with Baby Spinach Salad with Mandarin Oranges and Red Onions. I was a bit skeptical about this one, but once again we have a winner. The sauce was very tasty and not overly bitey from the horseradish. The couscous was lacking something however. The orange flavor was not real pronounced. Maybe adding some juice from the orange along with the zest would brighten it up more.

Spinach and mandarin oranges are always a winning combination in my book so I really loved the salad. I choose this salad to accompany the main dish because I thought the orange flavors of both would complement each other. They did so beautifully. The dressing was not overly sweet which was a plus. I used Smuckers Simply Fruit Orange Marmalade. The Simply Fruit line from Smuckers is my favorite choice for jams.

Now it is time to go settle in to watch Lost tonight. After a month-long hiatus I am anxious to find out what is up next for these castaways. Until tomorrow.

Recipes

Chicken in Horseradish Pan Sauce over Orange and Herb Couscous
adapted from 365: No Repeats by Rachael Ray

Baby Spinach Salad with Mandarin Oranges and Red Onions
adapted from 30 Minute Meals with Rachael Ray

ARF Tuesdays #2-Brussels Sprouts!

When I was growing up, both my parents did the cooking until I was 13 and my Mom had a debilitating stroke, then my Dad took over. Now my Dad was a great cook. Grew up on a farm and actually did some farming before becoming a factory worker. I would have to say that I learned most about cooking from him. However, neither him or my mother were adventurous when it came to cooking. I never tasted many wonderful foods until I became an adult and began to develop my own interest in all things culinary. We never had cauliflower, broccoli, asparagus, or brussels sprouts. Never any fresh spinach, only canned. No other salad green except iceberg lettuce. One year I begged my Dad to plant spinach in the garden. It was wonderful.

When DH and I first got together, he told me how much he liked brussels sprouts. So being the loving woman that I was, I became determined to make them for him. I did not have a clue how to cook them. I thought I would just boil the hell out of them. Well, needless to say they tasted like hell also. I never attempted to touch them again for 10 years. Yes, I was a bad wife, depriving my husband of brussels sprouts.

About two months ago I was watching Giada make sprouts...they looked sooo tasty. So I bought a pound and tried again. Heavenly. Tonight we had them with our entree and they were still tasty, it wasn't just a fluke last time! I have discovered another wonderful vegetable! If you think you don't like sprouts, try this dish, it will make a brussels sprouts lover out of ya!

As promised, another entree from RR. Rosemary Lemon-Peppered Pork Tenderloin with Lemon Parmigiano Dressed Greens (whew, that is a mouthful). This took me more than 30 minutes to prepare because I need to have everything cut up and in ready to go before I start cooking. I do not have a cutting board right next to a cooktop to make prep easier. Never the less, this was very good. The pork was cooked perfectly, tender and flavorful. The salad was DELICIOUS. Served with Giada's Brussels Sprouts, this was a very flavorful and satisfying meal.

I served an old vine Zin with this that was a perfect match. Not too dry with hints of blackberry. This is a perfect wine for bold meat dishes. 7 Deadly Zins sells for about $15.00 a bottle.


So for ARF Tuesdays my submission is Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta from Giada. Be sure to stop by Sweetnicks for the roundup. On tap for tomorrow is another new recipe from RR so stay tuned.

Recipes

Rosemary Lemon-Pepper Pork Tenderloin with Creamy Lemon-Parmigiano Dressed Greens and Garlic Croutons

From 365: No Repeats by Racheal Ray

Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta
from Giada