Catching Up.

I got good news at the doctor on Thurs! My liver values are high normal still, BUT they are the lowest high normal he's seen from me in quite a while! Yay! Also my A1c (The average blood glucose over the past 2-3 months. It can take 120 days for the blood cell to die so that's why it's a range) was 6.2%. For normal people it's normally 5%. For diabetics they (the experts) disagree but they want it between 6.5-7% My doctor and I would like to see around 6%. (The lower it is the less chance of eye, kidney and nerve problems.) My Cholesterol levels were also checked: Total chol is still slightly high (213) with the lab high being 199, my Trig still high (429) but considering it's been at the point where they couldn't measure it I'm still happy about that, and my HDL is still low (32). It is looking better than the last time though. Because of my liver problems I can't go on any of the statins though. We've increased my Fish oil to three times a day. They can't do the LDL/HDL test off-hand at this lab so he made a note when my Triglycerides are over 400, so he made a note that the next time it's over to run a special test to do so that will be able to break them down. He said there is a special type of fish oil that Is made for people who have Triglycerides that are over 500. Mine aren't and he's not sure that it'll help me, but depending on how my LDL/HDLs break down it may help me. So we'll see. My Blood Pressure was great though. :) I will also get my iron levels checked next go round too. Their new office is great, and I got to meet the new Nurse Practitioner and she got to learn all about my interesting medical history. ;) As Dr. Galeski said, "JJ's been a learning experience." They were also able to give me the name of a gynecologist. I like the one I had, but I just can't handle the OB part of her practice. I asked them if there was possibly a place that I could go where there was just the GYN part. They gave me the name, and I called - unfortunately I got home too late Thurs, and they were closed on Friday. I need to call on Monday.

Poor Miss Miko though. She had 4 teeth pulled (a slab fracture molar, 2 canines and another one I can't remember). She was not happy with me, barely wagged her tail when I picked her up, just wanted to leave. Can't say that I blamed her. She didn't make a peep in the car and wanted to sit on my lap. I didn't let her of course - there's no room. She still wanted to eat when we got home. That's my pug! Luckily I still had a can of dog food. I gave her a small amount and she ate it and went and laid in her dog bed. I also gave her a pain pill and a bit more food before heading to bed later that night. She woke me up at 3:40 am to get fed again. I gave in and fed her - I'm such a soft touch - but once more, only a little bit. The last time though that I fed her on demand though was at her normal feeding time of 6 am though. She got the rest of the can - at that point it was only a 1/4 of the can left and 1/2 cup of moistened food (dry food soaked in warm water until soft). I felt so bad since she drops food now - at least she's not like those Yorkies who can't keep their tongues in their mouths after their teeth are removed. She is finally back to normal though although I am still moistening her food - I'll continue with that for a few more days at least.

To those that are celebrating it, Happy Easter. We've got a bit before Passover happens - usually it seems that Easter and Passover are a bit closer - so I'll wait for my wishes until it's closer. :)

Today is going to be quiet here at Chez JJ. It will just be hubby and I here, since we've been with his family for his birthday last weekend we decided to just spend this weekend together.

I am making something that I have never eaten before, at least if I have - I don't remember them. Hot Cross Buns. I'm making what looks to be a plain Jane version - no fruit or spices - which is fine for my first go round since I'm not really sure what exactly they are supposed to have in them and if they turn out ok, I can add them in later. The recipe I'm using is from a book I checked out of the library: America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. It's from the same people that do Cook's Illustrated and America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country. They of the test and re-test how to do a recipe (I posted the link earlier this week of a send off of boiling water). They gave how to do it by hand/food processor and stand mixer and what did I do? Made it in the bread machine. :) At least on the dough setting though. Anyway, they are on their second rise now, and will be split and baked off soon enough and I'll wake up John when they are done. I must admit I might have to buy this cookbook. And like I need ANOTHER cookbook. *SIGH* I really like it though, and it looks like one that is good to give to new cooks too. I was thinking I'd just copy a few recipes that interest me, but it would be a lot easier to buy the whole darn thing.

Later today I'll fix the ham, with a brown sugar and sherry sauce, our normal sauce (just a box of brown sugar, a bottle of sherry and some cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg added to the ham before it goes in, and basted occasionally as it bakes). [Is it bad that I am more looking forward to what we call Scalloped Potatoes Au Gratin and Split Pea Soup using the leftover ham (and some of the sauce in the case of the soup)than the actual first meal of the ham???] I'm also going to fix some roasted Brussels sprouts, either mashed potatoes or boiled red potatoes, whichever hubby and I feel like (I imagine hubby is going to want mashed) and I might make broccoli but we'll have to see how tired I am - since there's just the two of us there's no real need to make a whole lot of food either.

I've got a craving for Vegetable Beef Soup. I don't mean Beef Stew either, I mean the ground beef added to Vegetable Soup. Not sure why, and I haven't had it in a while. I was teasing hubby yesterday that might be what we have for Easter since my allergies were bothering me and my throat was hurting me. He told me it didn't bother him. What a good husband I have.

Menu Plan Monday

Relatively easy plan for this week:

Monday: Corned Beef (of Course) with cabbage, carrots and red potatoes
Tuesday: Mustard Thyme Tilapia (from the freezer) with salad
Wednesday: Reubens using Monday's leftovers (Hubby's b-day he requested them)
Thurs: Country Fried Chicken and Peppers (from the freezer) with coleslaw
Friday:Pizza
Saturday: Leftovers
Sunday: (Easter) Ham with Brown Sugar & Sherry, Mashed Potatoes, Asparagus (or Broccoli depends on what looks good at the store), Orange carrots, homemade rolls

Check out I'm an Organizing Junkie for even more Menu plans (over 200 usually!) http://orgjunkie.com/2008/03/menu-plan-monday-march-17th.html

Penne alla Vodka

Penne alla Vodka
Serves 4
From: Weight Watchers Greatest Hits

I like to use Fat-Free Half and half - but I like it, and then I use more Parmesan cheese to make up the difference. [1/4 cup of heavy cream has 6 points, while the same amount of ff has 1. It is thinner, but if you increase the Parmesan it will thicken the sauce. I can add up to 7 Tbsp of Parmesan to make it 5 points]. Try it either way and decide what you want. I also kinda decide what I want to have around the house too - sometimes I can only find the FF in large containers and I don't really want that in the house, and other times I really don't want a container of heavy whipping cream around either.

2 c uncooked penne [I like using mini penne if I can find it - whole wheat is good too]
2 Tbsp reduced calorie tub margarine
1 shallot, finely chopped [or a mixture of garlic and onion]
1 plum tomato, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup reduced fat chicken broth
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp vodka
1/4 c diced tomato
2 Tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp minced flat-leaf parsley

Cook the penne according to package directions; drain and keep warm
Meanwhile, melt the margarine in a medium nonstick skillet, then add the shallot and tomato. Saute until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the broth, tomato paste, and pepper. Reduce the heat to low, then add the cream and vodka. Cook, stirring constantly, until just heated through (do not boil). Pour the sauce over the penne and toss to coat. Sprinkle with the diced tomato, cheese and parsley and serve at once.

Per serving (3/4 cup): 278 cal, 9 g fat, 4 g sat fat, 19 mg chol, 201 mg sod, 36 g carb, 28 g fib, 73 mg calc. POINTS: 6

Menu Plan Monday

I posted my review of last week here along with the recipe for todays planned recipe.: http://view-from-the-stove.blogspot.com/2008/03/review-of-this-weeks-menu.html

Last week, I used up some meats that I had in my freezer, and chicken legs and thighs that were on sale and made up some freezer meals. I’m pulling some of those out for this week. I’m replacing those meals with ones using the lean ground beef that’s on sale this week. I hope this helps! I can’t believe how much the prices have increased, not to mention the gas prices too! I must admit this is the only time that I don’t enjoy living in the country!

Monday: Mary's Hoisin Chicken buns with frozen oriental vegetables (Using the Basic Chinese Bun Dough and leftover Mary's Hoisin Chicken)
Tuesday: Salmon Burgers on buns with Oven Roasted Red Potatoes
Wednesday: Ginger Chicken Breasts with Chinese Coleslaw
Thurs: Hamburgers with Pirogies (doctors appointment late in the day so quick and easy when I get home)
Friday: Crock BBQ chicken Supper with coleslaw (leftover), corn & Baked beans
Weekend: Leftovers

Check out I'm an Organizing Junkie for more Menu Plans http://orgjunkie.com/2008/03/menu-plan-monday-march-10th.html

No Sleep DST

Saturday night wasn't much fun at Chez JJ. And we lost more than an hours worth of sleep. Not just thanks to the DST, where we lost an hour. Hubby had trouble breathing. He had caught a cold a while back, and had been to the doctor, gotten antibiotics and an inhaler. He was starting to get better but last night things were starting to get worse again. He had finished his Advair inhaler and had switched to the Proventil (albuterol) inhaler that the doctor had prescribed when the Advair had run out (the Advair was a sample) if he still needed one. Hubby kept saying that he was worried that if he fell asleep he would stop breathing. Yeah, not so much sleeping from either of us that night. It also didn't help that at 2 am, my Palm that I had in the bedroom (I usually charge it in there) where I had been playing Bejeweled before trying to sleep decided to tell us that DST was in effect. And not only that, when I decided to go try to sleep, instead of turning it off, I had paused the game and turned it off instead of switching to the main menu. After the DST alarm went off it went into the Bejeweled screen saver mode which is the sound of clinking jewels - at 2 am. And then around 3 or 4 I told hubby that he might have better luck if he tried to sleep in the LaZPug recliner instead since he had more trouble breathing trying to lay down. So he moved there. Percy then decided that he missed Daddy and started whining. So I took him out to Daddy. And then he decided that he didn't know where he wanted to be and spent most of the rest of the time walking between the bedroom and the living room checking both of us out. Percy is blind - has been for years. You'd think by now that he knows our house since we don't move things around because he's blind. Nope. He still goes pretty much as fast as he can and runs into things all the time. Not conducive to sleep as your blind dogs runs into things at full speed. And then at 5 am the phone rings. It's a wrong number. ARGH! We both figure we did get some fitful sleep throughout the night, but it wasn't really what one would call sleep.

I did convince him to got to the ER though. We spent a couple of hours there. Of course he wasn't wheezing when we finally went. *sigh* But the ER nurses and doc were very nice. They did check him out for heart problems - but everything there checked out normal. His breathing and chest x-ray also checked out fine. They did 2 nebulizer treatments. Sent him home with a short course steroid treatment and a new inhaler. And a stern lecture about smoking that I'm afraid didn't do any good. He needs to check in with his GP after the 12th. We both slept better last night.

Review of this weeks Menu

Everything went well. Yay! Nothing was ugh! The Broiled fish with Ginger butter was dead easy (and recipe is exactly as the title says) - the grated ginger in the melted butter giving a nice bit of zing to the mild tilapia. Sprinkling a bit of cilantro on top giving it a nice touch of color. I did add a can of black beans to the Chili-sauced Crock Chicken legs since it didn't quite fill up my crock-pot, and it worked out well, making it more of a chili and going well with the rice that I served it over. It definitely filled us up! And the meat was fall-off-the-bone tender. The Manhattan Clam Chowder was tasty as always - It was hard saving a serving for my MiL - but I did. :) And the Beef stew was also tasty as always - it's hard to screw that up. Tonight is Ground Beef Gyro's - a new recipe for us. And then I shouldn't have to cook for a few days since we'll be eating leftovers for a bit. I will be doing a bit of "re-cooking" of the Mary's Hoisin Chicken, though.

We had the Mary's Hoisin Chicken last night. I threw it in the freezer after making it, taking it out to thaw before hand. (BTW the recipe can be found all over the net if you Google it.) We have plenty leftover since there's just the two of us. I did make one small change after tasting it after it cooked. Ok, well technically two- one before cooking also. I used bone-in thighs, since the original called for boneless since I didn't feel like de-boning the thighs - not a big deal and I also feel like it:
#1: gives more taste to the sauce
#2: keeps the meat from over cooking a bit better since it takes a bit longer to cook
#3: Gives the sauce a bit more body also
I also added a tablespoon of Asian chili-garlic sauce after it cooked because I wanted a bit of spiciness too it. But then again, we don't have kids to worry about. I also think a bit of peanut butter would be good in it too. Either way it was very good, and man noises were heard as it was eaten. :)

As I said there was plenty leftover and I plan to use those leftovers to make one of our favorites: Steamed Chinese Buns. These are the perfect way to use any leftover Chinese food - even better if you have just a little bit left - which we actually have more than a little bit, but that's ok. Anything, and I really do mean anything works well in these. I made these a lot of times when we were eating vegan since it was hard finding vegan pre-made dumplings and we had leftover homemade vegan Chinese food. It was great using fake TVP and BBQ sauce too. The original recipe comes from "The All-New Ultimate Bread Machine Cookbook: 101 Brand-New, Irresistible, Foolproof Recipes for Family and Friends" by Tom Lacalamita

Basic Chinese Bun Dough

Believe it or not, bread does have a place in Chinese cooking, especially steamed breads, like savory filled buns. Besides being delicious and highly addictive, Chinese steamed buns are quick and easy to prepare when using the bread machine to make the dough. To save even more time, the fills are made from take-out dishes from your local Chinese take-out restaurant. And left-over steamed buns can be froze and then reheated in the microwave oven.

1 cup water
1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp finely chopped chives or scallion greens
3 cups bread flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp dry yeast
For Filled Bun: 1 pound of meat or vegetables in 1/4 cup of sauce

All ingredients must be at room temperature. Liquid ingredients should be approximately 80 degrees F. Add ingredients in the order specified in your bread machine owner's manual.

Select manual/dough.

At the end of the cycle let the dough rest 5 minutes, then proceed with any recipes for the Chinese steamed buns.

Basic Buns: Remove meat or vegetables from sauce, reserving sauce and chop meat or vegetables into very small pieces in a food processor. Combine with 1/4 cup of the reserved sauce.

Roll bun dough on a lightly floured surface into a long cylinder, 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Cut into 16 pieces. With your fingers, flatten one piece of the dough at a time into a 3-inch round. The edges should be thinner with a puffy 1-inch center.

Place a heaping tablespoon of filling in center of dough, and gather edges together, pressing to seal. Twist gathered edges together, pressing to seal. Twist gathered edges to prevent them from opening. Repeat with remaining dough and filling.

Place buns gathered side down, 1 inch apart, on bamboo or metal steamer trays lined with parchment paper. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise in a warm, draft-free place, 15 minutes.

To steam buns, place bamboo steamer trays over a pan or wok of boiling water, or place metal steamers into a large, covered pot of boiling water. Steam buns over high heat 15 to 20 minutes, or until puffed and springy to the touch. If you are steaming a few tiers at a time, rotate steamer trays midway through. Transfer steamed buns to a platter and serve right away.

Menu Plan Monday

Menu for this week in no particular order (beef for beef stew is already thawing) but it will probably be close to this order:

Broiled fish with ginger butter with multi-grain rolls, steamed cauliflower with cheese and garlic sauteed spinach

Crock Chicken Drumsticks with baked sweet potatoes and cooked collards

Beef Stew with biscuits

Manhattan Clam chowder with garlic bread and spinach salad

Mary's Hoisin Chicken with brown rice and a green salad (recipe for this is all over the net)

Ground Beef Gyros with a Greek salad

Check out I'm an Organizing Junkie for more Menu Plans! http://orgjunkie.com/2008/03/menu-plan-monday-march-3rd.html

The week in review. ;)

It has been a pretty nice week. I like it when I get to spend a week with hubby.

I'm going to say (type) something that will probably cause you all to gasp. I hardly did any cooking at all this week. We were so well stocked with leftovers that it was pretty much just heat and eat this week. Monday we headed to Costco to pick up my contacts there (while waiting for the ones that our Insurance paid for to come in - it's cheaper if we're paying cash to get them from Costco - $16 and change per box from Costco vs $30 per box if insurance is paying for them) and while there we picked up one of their Take-and-Bake 5 Cheese Pizzas. So, that was what we ate, I added our own Turkey Pepperoni and sliced red onions to it. It was yummy, and it's huge! It's larger than my pizza stone actually for less than $10.

We still haven't technically had our Anniversary Dinner. But that's ok. We ate at Bob Evan's with MiL. I was bad, and got the Fish Dinner - even going so far as refusing the grilled fish and getting it fried AND getting a baked potato AND fries instead of veggies. Granted I did share a bit of it with hubby, but still. It was yummy either way - and totally worth it since it's not something I do every day. Heck I probably do that about once a year if that. Hubby got his favorite, breakfast - and sausage to boot. It's rare that he gets sausage, eggs AND biscuts at the same time, so he was in heaven. ;) [I have been informed that it is very important that I make the distinction that it I point out it was sausage LINKS - I hardly ever buy those.]

We've been rocking out with Guitar Hero III. I'm getting better, but I've found out that I'm more of a bass girl. It's a shame that you can't play that on the actual game part, only on the practice parts. I love doing that part! I still can't play it very often, like most things, if I do too much of it, it irritates my wrists. We took a break from it this weekend. So far hubby has finished it on Easy. I keep telling him he needs to go up to Medium - but he tells me he's not ready for that yet.

Hubby did bring me home some beautiful pink roses. They smell wonderful! I so love roses. He was hoping to get some roses like I had in my wedding boquet (white/cream with dark pink edges) but no luck this year. That's ok. I'm not that picky about it, although he is. I swear, if I had the money I would buy a bunch of flowers every week. That is one thing I would do if I ever won the lottery (course I'd have to actually PLAY the lottery to win it huh?). I would set it up to have a bouquet of flowers delivered every week. I do have rose bushes out back, but since my liver problems, they really need to be cleaned up and such. Actually all of my flower beds need to be cleaned up. I'm hoping to be able to do more this year - but we'll have to see. Sometimes the bending down causes problems. I do a bit of container gardening - but that's not quite the same.

I bought some of the freezer menus from Saving Dinner this week too. I went through them and I have some meats that my sister gave me that I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them (the red meats) and I used some of the recipes from there for them. And FoodLion is having a sale on chicken thighs and legs this week so I picked up some extra (I was already planning on getting some for my menu this week) and I made a few meals to restock the freezer with some actual freezer meals once more.

So far I've made:

Herbed Grilled Sirloin Steak
Polynesian Sirloin Steak
Caribbean London Broil
Mexican Crock Chicken with Black Beans
Apricot Barbecued Chicken Legs
Crock Barbecue Chicken Supper

I've got some boneless/skinless breasts that I'll use to make up:
Far East Grillers
Carolina Style Grilled Chicken
Ginger Chicken Breasts with Chinese Coleslaw (I've made this before and it's one of our faves!)
Chicken Satay
Country Fried Chicken and Peppers

I'm also going to make up:
Salmon burgers
Mustard Thyme Tilapia
Dad's Favorite Sloppy Joes

I also went ahead and made up Mary's Hoisin Chicken and Crock Chicken Drumsticks for this week so all I have to do is dump into the crockpot. I went ahead and made them up so I could get all the skinning of the chicken out of the way at one time. I'll post my menu in a separate post.

Puffed Wheat Balls

I haven't tried this one yet but it came from one of the pamphlets from the Baltimore Gas & Electric company from my Grandmother. There's no date on it, but the others date from 1937 - 1949. This came from a pamphlet on "Menus & Recipes for Thanksgiving and Christmas: A Wide Selection for ALL Tastes and Budgets".

Puffed Wheat Balls

1 package puffed wheat
1 cup light molasses
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 tbsp vinegar
1/3 c granulated sugar

Melt the butter in a saucepan, all the molasses and sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, then continue cooking until brittle when tested in cold water. Stir lightly toward the last of cooking to prevent burning; add the vinegar and mix lightly. Heat puffed wheat until very crisp, then pour the mixture over the wheat, stir until well blended and form into balls.

Menu Plan Monday

Well, once more not much of a plan. Our 10 year anniversary is on Thurs, and I still have no idea of what I'm going to cook. Hubby and I don't really feel like a hunk of red meat on our plate - we had prime rib as part of our dinner (It was just our immediate family at a local B&B in Stauton) and a Chocolate Orange Cheesecake as our wedding cake. I don't want a whole cheesecake around what with WW and all, even if it is in the freezer since there's just the 2 of us. I was asking hubby what he felt like, and he also doesn't really have any dish that he feels like he wants, I guess knowing that he could pretty much have anything he wanted, and knowing that it would be tasty gets kinda old? ;) Anyway after looking at each other and shrugging for a few minutes, he asked if there was any type of food that either of us could think of that summed up our ten years together? He came up with liver (my recent medical problems) and I came up with Ham (well...you know me...). So we're still kinda stuck at what to make. He's off this week, so we'll come up with something, probably on the day of. It also doesn't help that he's already got Keema Matar in the fridge that he likes, and I've got Sauerbraten in the fridge that I like, so really, we're happy. hahahaha! And: last week I lost 1.6 lbs, giving me a 15.6 lb loss so far for WW! Course this week I'm sure I won't be seeing much of one, and I'm ok with that. If I do, that's fine and if I don't, that's also ok. Between the Indian foods (which I did do well on just no idea how to even try to count it) and what we may have for our Anniversary Dinner (which deserves to be a true celebration) if I gain it won't be the end of the world.

Monday: Chicken Noodle Soup - Using some leftover chicken from a rotisserie chicken I picked up and since hubby gets his cap put on his tooth this morning
Tues: Leftover Roast Pork with wild rice pilaf
Wed: Leftover Pea Soup
Thurs: Our Anniversary
Fri: Possibly Homemade Pizza
Sat & Sunday: Wait and See what the week brings I have meals in the freezer I can use

To see more menu ideas visit I'm an Organizing Junkie http://orgjunkie.com/2008/02/menu-plan-monday-feb-25th.html

Caramelized Cardamom Apples with Pistachio Cream (Sev Ka Murabba)

Caramelized Cardamom Apples with Pistachio Cream (Sev Ka Murabba)

An easy dessert that can be made with any sour, firm apples such as Granny Smiths. It may be served hot or warm.

Cream:
1 cup heavy, whipping cream
2 Tbsp unsalted pistachios, finely chopped
Apples:
1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter
4 medium-sized sour, firm apples
1/4 tsp finely ground cardamom seeds
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
2/3 cup sugar
3 Tbsp blanched, slivered almonds
2 Tbsp chopped walnuts

Whip cream lightly in a bowl until it just holds its shape but is not stiff. Fold half the pistachios into the cream, cover and refrigerate.

Melt butter over low heat in a large, nonstick frying pan. Take pan off heat. Peel, core and slice apples thinly, dropping slices into the butter as you cut them. Fold them into the butter as you go so that they do not discolor. (You could, if you like, keep the frying pan over very low heat as you do this.) Add cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, sugar, almonds and walnuts. Cook on medium heat 2 to 3 minutes, stirring gently. Then turn heat to high. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring very gently now and then, until apples have caramelized lightly.

Serve on individual plates with a dollop of the cream partially on and partially off the apples. Sprinkle remaining chopped pistachios over the cream.

From "Madhur Jaffrey's Quick & Easy Indian Cooking" by Madhur Jaffrey

My Trip to India (kinda)

Well, not really. It was through my Herbal Society's Gourmet Group meeting yesterday. Our Herbal Society has officially reached it's limit for membership (50 - I was one of the last if not the last one) so for the time being it is closed. The Gourmet group meets mostly every other month (the opposite months of the official meetings of the Herbal Society with breaks during the summer months for vacations). This was the first one that my mom was able to attend, and of course the first one that I was able to attend. And there was at least 22 people there! Needless to say I don't remember everything that was there, and I'm afraid that I forgot to take a pen and paper. But they should be sending out the recipes with the newsletter and I can forward them on if y'all would like. I found out that the host(ess ) gets to choose the menu for the meeting. I'm afraid that with a chance of such a large turnout that I won't be able to host a meeting at my house. :( I would love to, but we just don't have the houses that most of these people do. Hosting my Easter dinners with 11 people makes it quite tight here as it is. I can say that most of the time I'm not jealous of what people have and we don't - but in this case, I guess I am. Between seeing some of these people's gardens and their houses I do feel a bit of the green monster. Anyway.... after we ate we gathered around and discussed our recipe and gave out copies if we had them, and gave at least one copy to the newsletter Editor so that it can be put into the newsletter. Oh, and I got some good news. Not only is there a Whole Foods AND a Trader Joes coming to Richmond - BUT there's a Penzey's is coming too! It's going to be opening up on Cary St! (Down near Ukrop's they said, near Grace maybe? I don't know that area as well as I used to) YAY!!!!! And some bad news. Buffalo Springs Herb Farm is closing. :(

I took Keema Matar (ground beef and peas) one of John's favorites- and actually what I consider a quick and easy recipe for us. I doubled the recipe and used half ground beef and half fake meat actually to lower the points and cholesterol. No one noticed and everyone liked it - but it's something that I've made like that before because the curry flavor hides any "fake" taste really well. I gave my mom a recipe for rice pudding from "Extending The Table" (another book from the same people that do the More with Less cookbook) since I knew she liked rice pudding. Someone else did a rice pudding too. It was a different one, and both were good I hear (I didn't try either since I'm not a good judge of rice puddings. There were quite a few chicken dishes that were yogurt based with the only differences being either the type of nuts used or a different spice. It was quite interesting how different yet the same things were. Everything was different enough that nothing was exactly the same, and no-one really knew what anyone else was bringing. I was glad that my mom was excited to try the foods, I've been wanting her to try Indian food for a while, and this was her first try at it. It wasn't really spicy, I know that I toned mine down, and I'm sure a lot of other people did, with some even putting the peppers as add-ons for their dishes.

While we waited to start we dined on pecans brought in by the hostesses daughters (her birthday is today so they were up from Ft. Worth, TX not only to help out with the meeting but to celebrate her birthday). The pecans were wonderful! There were 3 different kinds, one was a rosemary kinda that had just a hint of sweet but was more savory, one was a praline and the other was a cinnamon sugar. I tried to sit as far away from them as possible. Someone also brought Chai tea. One of her friends' father was stationed in India and her friend was sent to boarding school there, and sent her a book on Chai tea when she talked to her. She and I were talking during dinner and she was asking me about the Hindu people (my mother had told everyone how much I like to cook and such) and how do they make chai without milk? I told her all about soymilk and almond milk and cashew milk. Everyone thought that I knew all about Indian food, since I had told the hostess what I was thinking about making (either Aloo Gobi, Keema Matar or a Tomato Soup) and I knew the actual Indian names, and I had to tell them that I know some about Indian food, but not that much. I was a bit uncomfortable about it, but I guess since I knew more about it than them, I guess it did seem like I was an "expert" . I'm not so sure I enjoyed that experience part of it. I got to explain about tamarind too.

I do not have a recipe yet for a dish that consisted of black-eyed peas and potatoes, with tomatoes that was quite good, and I can't wait to make that one- but then again, I like bean dishes. There were quite a few from Madhur Jaffrey, including one (I think that is where it came from) that I do have a recipe for that I will post next message. It was for Caramelized Cardamom Apples with Pistachio Cream. I was going to make the samosas from The Moosewood cookbook (the original one) but I'm glad I didn't since someone else brought that. There was a very good recipe that was chunks of pineapple with some red onions, cilantro and garam masala. I think that would be great over some grilled chicken, pork or fish during the summer! There was a Lentil soup (I didn't try it since my plate and hands were already full and my stomach was full by the time I finished my plate). Someone laughed that her recipe prep consisted of getting in her car and driving to the Indian grocery store - hitting aisle 4 with the freezer section and picking out a package of bread (paranthas) since that's what her Indian friend said she does for breads. :) There was a Mushroom Curry out of a book that I already own that I will have to make. I've looked at it a few times, so it's definitely going on the rotation at some point. (I'd post the recipe but I can't get to the book so it'll have to wait for the newsletter.) There was a lot of chicken dishes that I can't remember what they were - I remember one was "Green sauce" one was "korma" and I know there were 2 or 3 others but I don't remember the names. There was a Spicy Chicken also from Madhur Jaffrey where the person used wing drumettes that was very good. There were also a few bowls of rice with either cilantro or spices mixed in to serve with the chickens too.

I was pretty full, even though I had taken pretty tiny little bits by that time, and I mean basically tablespoonfuls of stuff. I went back for a few more things. I got a bit of the above mentioned Caramelized Apples, and boy was I glad I did! I tried a bit of a Carrot Slaw with cashews that was good. She placed the chili on the side so those who wanted it could add it if they wanted it. There was a purple banana "Cheese" dessert. There was a funny story with that one. It came from an old cookbook they had forgotten they had. She said it was written funny, and must have been translated and by someone not well versed in English to translate. Anyway, the dessert recipes were all pretty involved so she chose this one because it was easy. It called for bananas, cream of wheat (and I can't remember what else, but not much else). It calls to mash 11 bananas so she decides to do it in her food processor. "I didn't think how much room 11 mashed bananas would take up in my Cuisinart!" and then, "It called for me to place the bananas and the cream of wheat in a double boiler so I did. I had to cook it for 3 hours. Well after about an hour I had to change double boilers because it got REALLY big and it turned purple!" (I do remember there was no acid in the recipe to keep the bananas from turning). It was very tasty, almost like a banana bread. She said it was listed as something good to feed to the sick or babies. All this was offered with coffee flavored with cardamom.

Next one (In June - there is a break because we have participate in a plant sale during April) I will definitely take a notebook with me so I can take notes! And mom has said that she is interested in trying more Indian foods. The only problem is that my stepdad isn't much into spicy foods- sometimes even black pepper is too much for him. So we'll have to kinda work around that.

Recipe Reviews

Dinner last night was wonderful, unfortunately, I can't post the recipe because we were taste testing the recipe. Once it's posted (or printed) I will post a link for it here though. It was the Pork Loin recipe, and it will defiantly be going into our rotation, hubby ate 3 servings. I forgot to ask him what his numerical rating of it was though. You rub the loin with some spices and roast it. And it has a Romesco sauce made from roasted red peppers and almonds (like normal Romesco sauce) but without the olive oil so it's not as bad for you Weight Watchers-wise.

Dinner tonight is the chicken breast recipe that I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do with it. I figured out WHAT. :) I went to Tom Leonard's yesterday. I don't know if anyone that reads this is near Stew Leonard's, but this is his son (I think it is). Tom got married and they moved down here to be with her parents. I love this place and it's been a while since I've been there, mainly because it's kinda like a Target for me, except with food. It's not like it's got all gourmet stuff, it's just that it's got such nice vegetables and their brand stuff! I have to keep telling myself there's only two of us, and only one of us eats leftovers for lunch (Hubby only eats leftovers on the weekends). They also make fresh mozzarella (from cows milk, but it's still yummy!) that is my downfall! Hubby actually asked when he came home and found out where I've been if there was any mozzarella left. I have been known to eat a whole mozzarella ball by myself. :( I actually saved the mozzarella and that's what gave me the idea for tonight's dinner: Chicken Parmigiana. I flattened chicken breasted, dipped in a mix of breadcrumbs mixed with a bit of Parmesan cheese. Pan sauteed for a bit and put into a pan with a can of blended Italian-style diced tomatoes and topped with a slice of that fresh mozzarella cheese. I'm just waiting for hubby to get home now so I can pop it in the oven and warm it up for about 25 minutes to to melt the cheese and make everything even nummier!

I'm still going through my grandmother's cookbooks. Its slow going, only because I'm also reading some books from the library (Yarn Harlot's books and a book on the Yellow Fever [aka Dengue Fever] in Philadelphia in 1793.) I also picked up Michael Chiarello's "At Home with Michale Chiarello" while I was at the Library too. I opened it up and had to giggle a bit when he said, "In the past, I could never understand why the home cook was nervous about throwing a dinner party. It was always easy for me. Whenever I entertained, I would write a menu and hand it off to a sous-chef, who would pull together the ingredients and prep them. The the restaurant staff would help me load up my car, and I'd take along a cook or two for the evening who wanted to cook with me. Throw the party, sit down with my guests, and enjoy the last glass of red wine - it was as simple as that. Meanwhile, my apprentices cleaned the kitchen and loaded the car with all the dirty plates, glasses, pots, pans, and linens. It worked out beautifully for me. I was always in bed by eleven." ... I think this is the big problem with a lot of professional chef cookbooks. They really don't do a lot of home cooking - or what they do actually do isn't the same home cooking that most people do. Heck, I don't even think that what I do is what most people do. I know that a lot of people my age don't cook most of their meals anymore, most people my age go out to eat most nights. Anyway, I have gotten home and breezed through the cookbook quickly, and while it's not too bad, I still think a lot of it is still a bit more than most people are going to want to do, but that being said, I do know people that will want entertain as he does. I will be the first to admit I am more of a laid-back type of entertaining person. I don't really do a lot of decorating and such when I entertain. I probably should actually pay more attention to plating, or heck, even do more plating instead of serving from the cooking pots. ;) Anyway, all that to say, there's a few recipes in there that interest me, and I'll have to make note of them (Onions roasted on a bed of salt).

Menu Plan for this week

Ok, this is a loose plan since I'm not sure exactly WHEN we'll be eating the dishes, just WHAT we'll be eating this week. Recipes for Salmon and Sauerbraten posted below. Check out I'm an Organizing Junkie (http://orgjunkie.com/2008/02/menu-plan-monday-feb-18th.html ) for more Menu Ideas!

Tonight (Monday) was Miso-Glazed Salmon - Hubby and I love this!

For the rest of the week:
Polenta with Shrimp (Not sure how I'll fix the shrimp yet, we'll play it by ear)
Sauerbraten (using an already cooked piece of beef in the freezer)
Roasted Herb Pork Lion (This will be soon since it's thawing in the fridge as I type)
Chicken Breasts (I'll decide how on the day of)
Split Pea Soup (This will be later on in the week so I can give some to my mom when she comes this weekend so we can go to a Herb Society Meeting on Saturday together- and some will go to FIL and MIL too. Yes, I'll be making a lot.)

Miso-Glazed Salmon

A sweet-salty miso, brown sugar, and soy sauce glaze caramelizes in about 10 minutes as it cooks atop this rich, meaty salmon.

1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons hot water
2 tablespoons miso (soybean paste)
4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets (about 1 inch thick)
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives

Preheat broiler.

Combine first 4 ingredients, stirring with a whisk. Arrange fish in a shallow baking dish coated with cooking spray. Spoon miso mixture evenly over fish.

Broil 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork, basting twice with miso mixture. Sprinkle with chives.

Yield: 4 servings

CALORIES 297 (33% from fat); FAT 10.9g (sat 2.5g,mono 4.7g,poly 2.8g); PROTEIN 32.4g; CHOLESTEROL 80mg; CALCIUM 29mg; SODIUM 742mg; FIBER 0.3g; IRON 1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 15.7g

Cooking Light, NOVEMBER 2002


* Exported from MasterCook *

Round Steak Sauerbraten (9 pts)

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 4 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Beef Crockpot
Ethnic

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 1/2 lbs round steak -- cubed
vegetable cooking spray
3 beef bouillon cubes
2 c water
1 onion -- minced
1/4 c vinegar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp mustard seed
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ginger
pepper -- as desired
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
6 to 8 ginger snaps

Brown meat in fat. Add bouillon and water. Bring to boil. Stir in
remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours. Thicken with ginger
snap cookies.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 412 Calories; 22g Fat (48.8%
calories from fat); 34g Protein; 18g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 101mg
Cholesterol; 922mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 4 1/2 Lean Meat;
1/2 Vegetable; 1 1/2 Fat; 1 Other Carbohydrates.

NOTES : Can do in pressure cooker or in crockpot. If do in there,
leave roast whole.
Serve with dumplings, noodles, rice, potatoes, etc.

Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Some recipes from last week.

I wasn't totally up to snuff for this week, so I didn't blog much, sorry.

I ended up not making garlic shrimp, instead I made Salt-And-Pepper Shrimp for Valentines Day. But first I'm going to post the Crepes recipe I used for Breakfast. I actually woke up in time to make breakfast for hubby. Normally it's not a problem for me to wake up in time, but this week it was. When my liver acts up, one of the problems it causes is that it makes me really tired. Anyway - This recipes is from a cookbook I grew up with in my mom's house, the "McCalls Cookbook" a big yellow cookbook I think from the magazine. Mom wouldn't give me hers but I was lucky enough to find one of my own in a used bookstore. I tried this recipe years ago on a whim and it's actually the only recipe I've ever used to make crepes. And I've never used a crepe pan to make it, just a small 8" nonstick skillet. We ate them with some lemon juice and Confectioners' Sugar that day and I had the leftovers filled with some Splenda sweetened ricotta and sliced fruit later (hubby did the lemon juice and sugar)

Sunday-Morning Crepes (2 pts per crepe)
Makes 12 crepes

1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs,beaten
2 cups milk
2 Tbsp butter or margarine

Sift flour with sugar, baking powder and salt into medium bowl.

Combine eggs and milk; beat with rotary beater, until well mixed. [I use my hand mixer.] Pour into dry ingredients; beat until smooth.

Preheat oven to 300 F.

For each pancake, melt 1/2 teaspoon butter in 8-inch skillet.

Pour in 1/4 cup batter, rotating pan quickly to spread batter completely over bottom of pan.

Cook over high heat 1 minute; turn; cook 1 minute longer. Fold into quarters. Keep hot in oven while cooking remaining pancakes.


For dinner I decided to do Salt-and-Pepper Shrimp. I had already decided to do shrimp, just not what kind. I decided to wait on doing the garlic, and I might do a tapas type garlic shrimp for our anniversary (on Feb 28th - our 10th!) and do a Tapas style meal. This recipe isn't a Chinese style S&P shrimp. It was very good. I served it with a roasted garlic bread that I get at the POG (Plain Ole Grocery - one of my other lists calls it that) that has whole cloves of garlic in it that we love). It was very easy to make - which was good since I fell asleep before hubby came home and he had to wake me up so I could make dinner. :( Instead of preheating the oven - I just broiled the shrimp. Just make sure to watch it closely- don't overcook it!

Salt-and-Pepper Shrimp
Makes 4 Serving
From: Weight Watchers Take 5: 150 Five-ingredient Recipes
This simple technique of cooking the shrimp in their shells adds flavor and helps keep the shrimp moist. It also makes this an interesting and ideal party food to offer at your next buffet. Serve with prepared cocktail sauce, if desired.

1 1/2 pounds extra-large shrimp
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

Adjust the racks to divide the oven into thirds; preheat the oven to 450 F. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray; set aside.

With a sharp pairing knife or small scissors, cut through the back of each shrimp just deeply enough to expose the vein; remove the vein, leaving the shell intact.

Combine the shrimp, oil, salt, and pepper in a large bowl; toss well to coat. Arrange the shrimp in a single layer on the baking sheet. Roast on the top oven rack until just opaque in the center 5-7 minutes. Let stand 2 minutes before serving.

Per serving (about 7 shrimp): 133 cal, 5 g fat, 1 g sat fat, 202 mg chol, 1,072 mg sod, 0 g carb, 0 g fib, 22 g prot, 42 mg calc, POINTS: 3

TIP: Kosher salt is preferred by many gourmet cooks because it has a softer flavor than table salt and its coarse grains better adhere to meat, poultry, and fish. Leftovers? Peel and halve the cooked shrimp, then toss with some reduced-fat mayonnaise mixed with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and some chopped red onion, celery, and fennel. Serve on multigrain bread or over Boston lettuce leaves.


I tried a new recipe for pizza dough. It's the same points as my other one - the bialy one that is posted here (http://view-from-the-stove.blogspot.com/2007/10/i-have-found-dough-for-our-pizzas.html ) and we like both. This one makes enough for 2 12" pizzas, and is a bit easier for my breadmachine/mixer/food processor to handle. I made the whole wheat version. If you want extra-chewy dough, use bread flour which is higher in gluten and if you want extra crispy use the semolina one.

Basic Pizza Dough
Makes 2 (12 inch) pizza crusts (6 servings each)
From Weight Watchers Pizza,Pizza: 150 deliciously dazzling ways to make everyone's favorite pie

This dough makes enough for two pizzas, so you can freeze half the dough for another day. If you freeze it, thaw it in the refrigerator over night or on the counter for 1 1/2 hours. Unlike other bread dough, pizza dough only needs to rise only once. After rising, simply punch it down, then let it rest for 15 minutes before rolling or stretching to the desired shape. If you like you can let the dough rest in a floured zip-close freezer bag in the refrigerator overnight. You'll find it easiest to roll out or stretch bread dough when it's at room temperature.

1 1/2 cups warm water (105-115 F)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 pkg active dry yeast (2 1/2 tsp)
1 Tbsp olive oil
4 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt

Combine the water and sugar in a 2-cup measuring just. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Stir in the oil.

Combine the flour and salt in a food processor. With the machine running, scrape the yeast mixture through the feed tube; pulse until the dough forms a ball, about 1 minute. If necessary, turn the dough onto a lightly flour surface and knead briefly until smooth and elastic.

Spray a large bowl with nonstick spray; put the dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl lightly with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm spot until it doubles in size, about 1 hour.

Punch down the dough, then cut in half. Refrigerate or freeze in floured zip-close [I have better luck with a bit of oil in the bag instead of flour- about a tsp and spread around the bag] freezer bags at this point or use as directed in the recipe.

Per serving (1/12 of dough): 174 cal, 2 g fat, 0 g sat fat, 0 mg chol, 292 mg sod, 34 g carb, 1 g fib, 5 g prot, 7 mg calc, POINTS: 3

TIP: if mixing by hand: To make bread by hand, combine the water, sugar and yeast in a large bowl; set aside until foamy. Stir in the oil, flour and salt until the dough starts to gather around the spoon. Turn the dough on to a lightly floured surface; knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.

Variations:
Cornmeal Pizza Dough: Pizzas with a Mexican influence are terrific made on a cornmeal crust. Substitute 1 cup cornmeal for 1 cup of the all-purpose flour.

Per serving: (1/12 of the dough): 178 cal, 2 g fat, 0 g sat fat, 0 mg chol. 292 mg sod, 35 g carb, 2 g fib, 5 g prot, 5 mg calc, POINTS: 3

Semolina Pizza Dough: Using part semolina flour makes a crispier-crusted pizza. If you can't find semolina flour, use farina cereal. Substitute 1 1/2 cups semolina flour for 1 1/2 cups of the all-purpose flour.

Per serving (1/12 of the dough): 192 calories, 2 g fat, 0 g sat fat, 0 mg chol, 292 mg sod, 38 g carb, 2 g fib, 6 g prot, 8 mg calc, POINTS 4

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough: Whole-wheat flour makes a higher-fiber, more nutritious crust. Substitute 1 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour for 1 1/4 cups of the all-purpose flour.

Per serving (1/12 of the dough): 177 cal, 2 g fat, 0 g sat fat, 0 mg chol, 292 mg sod, 34 g carb, 3 g fib, 6 g pro, 5 mg calc, POINTS 3


And because I don't think I've posted my sauce before. This is a mixture of some sauces I've made before. It's mostly a mixture of a Cooking Light Marinara sauce for the freezer and one on the web that is supposed to be like Papa John's Sauce. I call it Chez JJ's Sauce now. :) This makes a little more than enough sauce for 2 pizzas depending on how much sauce you like on your pizzas. We like about 1/2 cup of sauce per 12" pizza.

Chez JJ Sauce

15 oz crushed tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp crushed fennel [gives a bit of a sausage-like flavor]
1 tsp red pepper flakes

Combine and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15-20 minutes until thickened. Let cool. You can freeze. You can also double/triple as needed.


To make a pizza:

Preheat oven to 450. Roll dough into a 12" circle. Prick with a fork and place onto oven stone. Par-bake for 4 minutes. If you don't have a stone, place on pan and par-bake on bottom rack of oven instead. Remove from oven - and if it has bubbled up a bit, I usually press down with a towel or my pizza peel and let cool a bit before topping on a wire rack. For each pizza top with 1/2 cup of sauce (if not using homemade I will just use jarred spaghetti sauce), 3/4 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese (or 3 oz Italian cheese blend) and then with 17 turkey pepperoni slices and any other toppings (thin sliced onions, mushrooms, peppers, etc). Don't put a whole lot of toppings on because too many will make the pizza soggy. The sprinkle about 2 Tbsp of shredded Parmesan on top. Bake for about 9 minutes until the cheese is melted and starting to brown and the edges are browning (it's going to be 12-15 minutes total including the par-baking). Take out and let cool for about 3-5 minutes so the cheese won't slide off when you go to cut it. Eat and enjoy. It's going to be about 5 points per slice depending on if you add any more pointy things to the pizza when you top it. Now, if you eat two pieces, it's not 10 points for both, it's going to be 11, just to warn you, and it's going to be 16.5 points for 3. So watch what how many you eat. :)

My Menu Plans for this Week

I must admit there's not much planned. I'm not sure what's going on with hubby being sick so most of it is flying by the seat of my pants. I'm also not sure what he's going to feel like eating. I'm doing Weight Watchers too, so most of these stuff are now being made healthy (whole wheat pasta and smaller amounts of butter/oil and fats) And the pizza...smaller serving sizes. *sigh*

He says he does feel like eating enchiladas tonight though.

Tonight (Monday): Chicken enchiladas (from the freezer)
Tuesday: Chili Mac (using leftover chili)
Wednesday: Potato Leek Soup (Made it today since I needed to use up the leeks my mom gave me from her garden weeks ago)
Thurs: Garlic Shrimp if hubby feels up to it (shrimp were BOGO at the store)
Fri: Homemade Pizza

Check out http://www.orgjunkie.com/ for more Menu Plan Monday ideas.

Sick Hubby

Picture024.jpg,
originally uploaded by dibranchia.

Hubby has actually called in sick. Something I think he's only done once or twice for as long as I've been married to him, so you know he's not feeling well at all! He's always telling me how often Miko and I sleep alike, and now I have proof that Percy and he sleep alike too. Poor thing! He's actually asked for canned chicken noodle soup for lunch too, even though I told him I'd make it homemade for him.

I am doing a 14 days of Valentines for him (ie- 1 Hershey's kiss on the 1st, 4 Honeybuns on the 4th day, 6 Krispy Kreme doughnuts on the 6th, a massage on the 10th [10 fingers]) and was tempted to actually buy 10 cans of Chicken Noodle soup for him the other day, but didn't think I could find room for all of them, not to mention they weren't on sale either. Today I've left 11 little post-it's all around the house telling him little reasons why I love him. I got the idea for the 14 days from Carrie (http://scarehaircare.blogspot.com/) on a WW board I like to read (and I participate in occasionally). She does it much better than I do.

Yesterday wasn't much fun. Not because hubby and I weren't feeling well but because of the weather. It wasn't even that cold yesterday. We had high winds, and we ended up losing power for quite a few hours. Found out later, once it came back, that there was a pretty big fire because of it (the power lines falling on the dry trees and such) and people actually being evacuated. And it didn't just happen in my county but other counties in Richmond too! http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-02-11-0173.html

Needless to say, not much got done yesterday. Although I did get the ceiling fans cleaned. That way I didn't have dust snakes when they started up again.

Today not much else will get done. It's another day of not feeling so great, but that's ok. I'll get done what I can. Dinner tonight is pulled from the freezer, it's enchiladas. All I have to do is put it together, I froze everything separately (takes up less room that way). If hubby doesn't feel like eating it, I'll still fix it, and he can have soup. That way it's still made and it won't go bad since it's thawed. I get to play nurse today.

Why yes, I am still alive.

Sorry for being quiet this week. I've had some medical problem, liver related. I hope to be back to normal posting although hubby is starting to come down with what I'm afraid looks to be the flu. :( We'll see what happens. You might just get a recipe for chicken noodle soup. Anyone know how to build an autoclave?

Recipe Review: Caldo Tlalpeno

YUM! Hubby gives it an 8, but with this note: "I would give it a 9, but I don't really have a spot to hit at this moment thanks to the dental work this morning." Poor dear. This soup worked out perfectly for this. I was going to make quesadillas to go with it as noted in the directions, but after making it, it looked like it would definitely be enough for both of us with just a few tortilla chips, and I was right. Hubby didn't eat lunch (we got back from the dentist about lunch time), and we both went to bed after taking our respective pain meds (him: Ibuprofen, me something a lot stronger). I didn't make it totally as directed, I had some already cooked, shredded chicken in the freezer already, so I skipped that part and just pureed the garlic with the chipotle in the broth and warmed everything through when I cooked the instant brown rice (which I was surprised I actually did have in the pantry). The chipotle made the broth smell heavenly as it was cooking, and it was just spicy enough as it was cooking. As for the pepper with the onion, I'm not sure what I used, since it was one of the ones that I grew this summer on my back porch that I had just thrown into the freezer. This would definitely be a good dinner for when you've got a cold and are all stopped up too! AND I think it would be good with some white beans or pinto beans instead of chicken meat too. I froze the other chipotle peppers in individual sandwich baggies and then put them inside a larger gallon ziploc bag for later use.

From Eating Well Magazine http://eatingwell.com/recipes/caldo_tlalpeno.html
Caldo Tlalpeño

NUTRITION PROFILE: Low Calorie | High Fiber | Low Sodium | Low Cholesterol | Low Sat Fat | Heart Healthy | Healthy Weight

Although there are many variations of this Mexican chicken soup, spicy chipotle chiles are always part of the broth. Make it a meal: Serve with a Mexican beer and cheese quesadillas.

Makes 4 servings
ACTIVE TIME: 30 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 40 minutes
EASE OF PREPARATION: Easy

6 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup water
1 head garlic, cloves separated and peeled
8 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast, trimmed
2 teaspoons canola oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 poblano or Anaheim chile pepper, chopped
1 canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (see Shopping Tip)
1 cup instant brown rice
4 radishes, sliced
1 small avocado, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 lime, quartered

1. Bring broth, water, garlic and chicken to a boil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, skimming any foam that rises to the top, until the garlic is tender and the chicken is cooked through, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat. Transfer the garlic with a slotted spoon to a blender and the chicken to a clean cutting board.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion and poblano (or Anaheim) chile and cook, stirring, until beginning to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Add to the broth.
3. Add 1/2 cup of the broth and chipotle pepper to the blender and process until smooth (use caution when pureeing hot liquids). Pour the mixture back into the broth in the pan. Stir in rice. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook until the rice is tender, about 10 minutes.
4. Shred the chicken and divide among 4 bowls. Ladle the broth over the chicken and top with equal portions of radish, avocado and cilantro. Serve with a wedge of lime.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per serving: 318 calories; 13 g fat (2 g sat, 7 g mono); 39 mg cholesterol; 31 g carbohydrate; 22 g protein; 6 g fiber; 264 mg sodium; 517 mg potassium.
Nutrition bonus: Vitamin C (60% daily value), Selenium (16% dv).
1 1/2 Carbohydrate Servings
Exchanges: 1 1/2 starch, 1 vegetable, 2 lean meat, 1 1/2 fat

TIP: Shopping Tip: Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce are smoked jalapeños packed in a flavorful sauce. Look for the small cans with the Mexican foods in large supermarkets. Once opened, they’ll keep 2 weeks in the refrigerator or 6 months in the freezer.

My Menu Plans for Next Week

Ok, I must admit I don't have much planned out, a lot of it will be eating leftovers, depending on how I'm feeling. I'm having a lot of liver pains, which not only make me feel bad, but also make me tired, but when I take the pain pills, also make me even more tired. So, since I've been taking them this weekend, I'm glad I can even focus! Luckily I started working on this a bit early.

Check out http://orgjunkie.com/2008/02/menu-plan-monday-feb-4th.html for more great menus!

Monday: Hubby has his dentist appointment and possible root canal. Caldo Tlalpeno - from the current Eating Well Magazine: http://eatingwell.com/recipes/caldo_tlalpeno.html
Tues: It's Shrove Tues (Fat Tues) so it's going to be Pancake Night (how easy is that!)
Wednesday: Green Chicken Enchiladas (already in the freezer, just need to thaw and put together)
Thurs:Chinese New Year - steamed dumplings: Frozen from the Chinese Grocery Store - we buy a big bag of these (it's like $8) and they feed us for many, many meals).
Friday: Leftovers or homemade pizza whichever I feel like (pizza makings are in the freezer)
Sat & Sunday: usually also leftovers, but sometimes I cook. I'll know more when Thurs rolls around, usually my day for errands when I'm in town.

Tasty Dinner Tonight

Dinner tonight was very much a no thought deal. I had a small loaf of pumpernickel leftover from last weekend (I had froze it). I sliced it in half and filled with some Thousand Island Dressing, pressed sauerkraut (so it wasn't as wet), sliced deli Pastrami (as in packaged Hillshire Farm on sale) and Kraft 2% Milk Swiss slices. Closed it up, wrapped in Reynolds nonstick foil and popped it in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes. I served it with the following salad out of the current Eating Well Magazine. I left out the caraway (I don't like them, although I like the taste if they are ground and did top with a bit of gorgonzola). I doubled the amount, but didn't add the lettuce, that way I can keep it in the fridge (the vinegar should keep the apple from going brown). Hubby gave it an 8. Oh! I also didn't have a shallot (I don't often keep them on hand) so I used a green onion and added a bit of powdered garlic.

I've got chicken legs marinating in some Mrs. Dash Extra Spicy, a bit of cider vinegar and Texas Pete for Baked Buffalo Chicken Legs and I'll make some chili tomorrow too. One or the other will be for lunch and one will be during the game, not sure which will be which. Doesn't really matter in the long run since we don't really watch the game. ;)

Creamy Chopped Cauliflower Salad

Makes 6 servings, about 1 cup each

5 tablespoons reduced-fat mayonnaise
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 small shallot, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds (optional)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
3 cups chopped cauliflower florets (about ½ large head)
2 cups chopped heart of romaine
1 tart-sweet red apple, chopped

Whisk mayonnaise, vinegar, shallot, caraway seeds (if using) and pepper in a large bowl until smooth. Add cauliflower, romaine and apple; toss to coat.

Per serving: 54 calories; 2 g fat (0 g sat, 0 g mono); 0 mg cholesterol; 9 g carbohydrate; 2 g protein; 2 g fiber; 128 mg sodium; 257 mg potassium.
Nutrition bonus: Vitamin C (53% daily value), Vitamin A (22% dv), Folate (15% dv).
1/2 Carbohydrate Serving
Exchanges: 1 vegetable, 1/2 fat

Toasted Sesame Strips

Gayle over at http://grocerycartchallenge.blogspot.com/ wanted some thrifty snack ideas. While we don't make many snacks around here, usually going for the fruits, or leftovers, and occasionally popcorn, cereals or cheeses. I have been sometimes known to make some.

This is one is one I used to make as a kid. First off I should mention that my parents were born and grew up in Baltimore, MD. I was born there also, but pretty much grew up in Va. Why do I mention this? Because one of my favorite trips, was when we visited the Inner Harbor. We used to stop by the McCormick's place they had there and take the tour, EVERY time. I would beg to go every time. They no longer have that place there, but I still remember it and the teashop we'd always get tea at. I have a little cookbooklet from them, "Kids' Cookery: A Learn to Cook Book for Children". No date is on it, and I used it quite a bit when I first started to cook. And this is one treat my sister and I made quite a lot when we got home from school in the toaster oven. We also liked to have it instead of garlic bread too. And that was all to say that's why the instructions seem so simplistic too. As we got older we wouldn't bother cutting off the crusts, unless we wanted it fancy. And even got to the point were we would just spread softened butter and sprinkle on the garlic powder, but you use less butter/garlic powder if you go the melted route instead. :) You can just toast the slices whole instead of baking too. And a cheap place to get sesame seeds, the Asian grocery stores! Big bags for what you'd pay for a small jar. Same thing for poppy seeds, especially if you have an Indian Grocery store for those.

Toasted Sesame Strips

You will need:
Measuring spoons
A saucepan
a knife
a pastry brush
a baking sheet
2 Tbsp butter
1/8 tsp garlic powder
4 slices of bread
1/ 1/2 tsp sesame seeds or poppy seeds

Have an adult turn the oven on to 425 F.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Add the garlic powder to the butter.

Cut the crusts off the bread slices

Use a pastry brush to brush the butter and garlic powder mixture on each slice of bread

Sprinkle sesame seeds or poppy seeds on top of each slice of bread

Cut each slice of bread into 3 strips

Place the strips on a baking sheet

Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned.

Makes 12 strips, 3 per serving.

And for a Repeat Performance!!!!

Ok, so I am making it a day early (I realized that I since the recipe is a bit more time involved, it would go better today than tomorrow where there's a chance that I might be home late tomorrow), so tonight's dinner is finishing in the oven as I type. It's one we've had before, and I can't wait! It's Mediterranean-Style Baked Lima Beans from Veganomicon. I am really surprised that no one else has really written about it. Doing a quick google, the other person that wrote about it, didn't have mint and thought it was ok (and yes, I think that does make the dish, and I just use dried and it works fine for me). I forgot to pick up pitas and I don't have time to make any right now. I am not feeling so great today, and ended up taking like a 4 hour nap today! Good thing I cooked the dried (soaked) limas in the crockpot. Because of the previous nap, my limas got a bit over cooked, but they still look great. AND I even have some soy feta to put on them (Sunergia) brand.

Note to self:

Next time when you decide to do your mile walk with Miko and want to do it at a faster pace than the normal leisurely and without the normal stop and smell everything that sticks up that Miko normally does: make sure you're not wearing the pants that are now two sizes to big that you have to hold up, because they are hard to hold up while walking fast AND holding a leash at the same time.

Misc stuff

So, the fudge turned out fine, except that it ended up being too warm in my my sister's kitchen and we had to scoop it out anyway. Oh well, warm chocolate isn't a problem :) The rest of the food was yummy, and it's been a while since I've had sauerbraten. But, as hubby said, we've had our meat quota for the month. We've really pretty much gotten off the red meat train, almost. It's hard to be totally off of it at this moment when I'm trying to eat from the freezer and that's what is mainly in there since we don't eat it that much and that's pretty much what my sister gave me. Poor hubby. There's not much other meat frozen in there, and I'm really trying to use it up and I think hubby's trying to call a truce. I'm not really sure what to do. Doesn't help that I want more sauerbraten either. I almost wonder if hubby did better on the vegan diet (he has IBS), with occasional forays into meat instead of meat with occasional forays into vegan. I've tried to ask him, but he doesn't really answer me, probably because he doesn't pay that much attention to it.

I had a bit of a ....well...went off my spending plan a bit. I stopped at B&N. *hangs head in shame* I bought some magazines. *doesn't look anyone in the eye* Cooking magazines, and one knitting one. *stares intently at her shoes* I wasn't horrible mind you, but still. *sigh* I originally went into town to return a candy thermometer that I had bought at Target that was just way to big and I ended up not even opening up the package. I know, I know, I should have just waited until I went into town for WW, but I wanted to get it over with before then, because I hate fighting the lunchtime traffic to get there, since I go to the WW meeting that is right before lunchtime and when I get out, everyone is out on the roads for their lunch and it's a madhouse. I realized that I really get stressed driving around to run my errands, and it makes me dread doing my shopping.

As I pulled into my parking space between two HUGE SUV's I look over to notice that the one on my right is a brand new Suburban. (I think that's the name) Either way, the sticker's still on it. It gets 14 city/19 highway miles to the gallon with an estimated yearly gas cost of over $2, 600 !!! WTH would someone buy a car that gets lousy gas mileage like that? It's just stupid! And you know the gas estimate was before the gas prices started going up. Course that's kinda like the people that drive Hummers in Richmond. You don't need a Hummer in Richmond, it's FLAT people!

Some help with my grocery savings

I've been checking out websites, reading along for a while before deciding to jump in and do a freezer/pantry challenge of sorts. I've always kind of menu planned, but it was usually what we felt like eating and what recipes interested me, not necessarily what I had on hand. It's a bit different for me to to it this way. I thought I might list a few blogs that I've been using to help me. Eventually I'll sit down and get them migrated over to the side and actually make them as links too [once of the drawbacks of dial-up is that it takes so gosh-darn long to do things that it takes longer than Flylady's 15 minutes to do one thing sometimes].

http://grocerycartchallenge.blogspot.com/ I've just recently found this blog, and she mentioned earlier this week that she was going to have a thrifty recipe on Friday (last) which got me thinking. Thanks to Gayle and going through a pile of old recipes, I found two recipes that I loved and realized were thrifty (Lentil with Greens Soup and Curried Celery Soup).

http://orgjunkie.com/ This one not only helps with my clutter (like FlyLady but different) but it's the place for Menu Plan Monday. I've been reading it for quite a while now, but actually participated for the first time (as in sent in what I planned) today. It's a bit scary since they usually have over 200 people doing it! It's a good place to get ideas!

http://www.stretcher.com/index.cfm This is the home for the Dollar Stretcher I had been reading their for a long while, and love the website and they even have forums now!

http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/ Because well, it's cheap, healthy and good food. What more can I say? :)


http://www.home-ec101.com/ I am lucky that I learned a lot of stuff from my mom, but I didn't get to take this in school, actually we had to fight for me to be able to even take band since I was on the college bound courses, which left me unable to take any other thing besides a foreign language *sigh*. I really wanted to take Home-ec even though I knew how to sew and cook and all that stuff anyway. I really wanted to take some shop classes and stuff, but there was no way that school would have let me do that. This site gives you some hints for lots of stuff!

http://www.biblicalwomanhoodonline.com/blog.htm A great bit of everything really. I unfortunately am unable to have kids, but after reading how much Crystal has to do, there are days that I don't have to. I must admit, I wonder with my ADD how adding a child would make my life, would it force me to become or organized, or would I just deteriorate? Anyway, she's always got such great ideas, and I downloaded her Supermarket 101 Course and it's given me a place to start with coupons.

http://likemerchantships.blogspot.com/ I wish I had thrift stores around here like Meredith has! The ones around here aren't that great, and the consignment shops usually charge too much for me. But I still go in, trying to keep her tips in mind. She's got a great eye, and such great tips! Even if I do suffer a bit of the green-eyed monster while reading about her great finds, I always come away with a great idea to keep in mind while looking at what I want to do with my house while decluttering it.

http://www.tammysrecipes.com/ Tammy just had a new baby girl (Welcome Ruth!), so things are going to be a bit quiet on her site for a bit I'm sure, but she's had some great recipes! She's stocked up a bit before hand, and has a great treasure trove of recipes on her site already. I love hearing about how she teaches her two young sons to help her around the house, and how they enjoy helping her cook - or spray the dishes. ;) She always gives such great ideas on how to freeze or can those surplus foods (pumpkins or bananas anyone?). And one of these days we'll try her homemade pepperoni.

http://burbanmom.blogspot.com/ OK, this doesn't outright help with grocery savings, but in essence it does because it helps to keep me from buying STUFF. Because if I think about the impact of what I buy on the environment, then I think about do I really need this in the first place. Hubby and I aren't all "Hippy, crunchy granola" type people, but we are trying to be gentler on our world. After all- it's all we've got, and who else will?

OK, last one for now.

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/ I've been reading Trent for a while now too. He's another one that makes me think about STUFF. Helps me to keep me from buying it, and helps me to focus on where we want to go with it. He's also starting to get into cooking and I'm looking forward to when he comes out with his cooking blog too!

Menu Plan for this week

We're still trying to mostly eat out of the pantry this week.

Monday: Buffalo Chicken Wraps with Mrs. T's Pierogies (using leftover buffalo chicken chunks: going to chop smaller, mix with some wing sauce since the Shake & Bake stuff wasn't all that, put in a tortilla with some salad mix [on sale this week], some carrots and celery and blue cheese dressing and bake the pierogies)

Tues: Rice with beef - I pulled some unlabeled cooked rice from the freezer. Not sure what actual flavor this rice is, but it should be fine with some cooked ground beef added to it, if not I'll add some beans to it instead. :) Either way, we'll live. Salad on the side.

Wed: Spicy "Chicken" (Bean for us) Tortilla Soup - recipe posted earlier

Thurs: Mediterranean Baked Lima Beans (from Veganomicon)

Fri: Southwest Stuffed Turkey Burgers (my sister gave us a few of these made from turkey when she gave us a bunch of frozen foods when we were really low on money: it's from the Kraft foods Magazine. They were so good, we're making more and will be freezing our own this time. (edited to add the recipe since I can't find it on their website anymore)

Southwest Stuffed Burgers

Not all smart burgers are the same. Ours has a taco-flavored filling sandwiched right in between the two patties

1 1/2 lb extra lean ground beef or lean ground turkey
1/4 cup Kraft Light Mayonnaise, divided
1 pkg (1 1/4 oz) Taco Bell Home Originals Taco Seasoning Mix
1/2 cup Kraft Natural 2% Milk Reduced Fat Colby & Monterey Jack Cheese Crumbles
1/4 cup Taco Bell Home Orginals Salsa, divided
6 Lettuce Leaves
6 slices tomato
6 whole wheat hamburger buns, split

Preheat greased grill to medium-high heat. Mix meat, 3 Tbsp of the mayo and the seasoning mix; shape into 12 thin patties. Combine cheese and 2 Tbsp of the salsa; spoon over 6 of the patties. Cover each with one of the remaining patties; pinch edges together to seal.

Grill 7 minutes on each side or until cooked through (160 F) Meanwhile, combine remaining 2 Tbsp salsa and remaining 1 Tbsp mayo.

Place lettuce, tomatoes, and burgers on bottom halves of buns; top with salsa mixture. Cover with tops of buns.

Makes 6 servings, 1 burger each.

Extra lean ground beef: cal 340, fat 13 g (sat 4.5g), chol 75 mg, sod 830 mg, carb 26 g, fib 2g, sugars 2 g, prot 30g
93% lean ground turkey: cal 360, fat 17g (sat 5g) chol 95 mg, sod 870mg, carb 26g, fib 2 g, sugar 2g, prot 28g

Make ahead: Stuffed patties can be covered and refrigereated up to 4 hours before
grilling.


[EDITED TO ALSO ADD: I'm joinig I'm an Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday http://orgjunkie.com/2008/01/menu-plan-monday-jan-28th.html after reading it for ages!!!! Go check out some other great menu ideas, theres usually over 200 other people participating!]

Spicy Chicken Tortilla Soup

Got this from my sister today. Her whole family likes it (her kids are pretty picky and she doesn't make it too spicy for her kids, and her kids like to use it more as a dip since she pretty much blends everything (but the chicken) and they just put what they want on top and dip the chips. I am thinking of leaving out the chicken and putting beans in it. I might even throw in some of the dried refried bean mix (I think it's by Fantastic Foods - at least it used to be I get it at the HFS in the bulk bins) to thicken it up instead of the flour mixture and I will have to add less of the cumin/chili powder too. I got all excited the other day to find out not only is our local food store (FoodLion) not only carrying Better than Bouillon now, but it is also even carrying the fake chicken flavored one too! Yay! Anyway, here's the recipe. It came from one of those checkout booklets from Prevention for Preventing Diabetes.

Spicy Chicken Tortilla Soup

15 oz diced tomatoes
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 lb chicken breast, cut into 1" pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
1-2 jalapenoes, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans (14 1/2 oz) reduced sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup fat-free sour cream
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
4 oz reduced fat tortilla chips, crushed

In food processor, combine tomatoes with juice, chili powder, cumin, black pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and hot pepper. Process to smooth thick consistency and set aside.

Warm oil in large pot over medium high. When hot, cook chicken, onion, jalapeno, and garlic, stirring frequently, 5 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and onion is softened. Reduce heat to low, add tomato mixture and broth and simmer, uncovered 15 minutes.

Meanwhile in small bowl, whisk flour and water until smooth paste forms. Add to soup and raise temperature if necessary to keep soup barely boiling. Simmer 5 minutes.

Remove from heat. Add sour cream and stir until well blended. Stir in cilantro and garnish with tortilla. Serve.

Makes 8 (1 cup) servings
190 cal, 22 g carb, 3.5 g fat, 2 g fib

Hamburger Pinwheels

This is from the Hot Meat and Poultry Snacks section of "Mary Margaret McBride's Encyclopedia of Cooking" It sounds quite interesting, although I think I would add some sauerkraut and mustard to the corned beef pinwheels - although the sauerkraut might make them hard to cut nicely. These would be very easy to make veggie too, and I think would be great made with some leftover roasted veggies too!

Hamburger Pinwheels

1 small onion, minced
2 tbsp butter
1 pound ground beef
1/4 lb pork sausage
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 recipe baking powder biscuits

Cook onion in butter until tender but not brown. Add meat and cook until browned. Season with salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce.

Roll out biscuit dough into a rectangle 1/4 inch thick. Spread meat on dough and roll jelly roll fashion. Cut into slices about 1 1/2 inches thick.

Place cut side up, on greased baking sheet and bake in hot oven (400 F) about 15 minutes. Serves 8.

Ham Pinwheels: Use chopped ham and hard cooked eggs with sweet pickle and mayonnaise instead of beef mixture. Bake as above.

Corned Beef Rolls: Blend 1 12-ounce can corned beef with 3/4 cup evaporated milk. Use instead of beef mixture.

Some older appetizer recipes...

So, this week has been a bit stressful,and I haven't been doing Weight Watchers so well. That's ok. I'm still doing it, just not as well as I should. The fact that I didn't plan is really biting me on the behind, and that's my problem. I expect a slight gain this week. It also doesn't help that I've got a migraine (and felt kinda crappy) thanks to the weather all this week too (I think the Topamax will have to be increased by another pill).

On Sunday we're heading back to where I grew up for my my mom's belated birthday dinner. My mom requested Sauerbraten. My sister is handling that bit, along with a cake - probably angel food and the veggies. I'm making rolls (and some Pumpernickel bread since my SFiL has never had it) and fudge. I've never made fudge. My mom and sister love fudge, so that's why I'm making it. That way it's not sitting around their house. I have my grandmother's cookbooks. She wasn't a cook by any stretch of the imagination, my great-grandmother was (Nana). BUT she loved desserts. And the cookbooks where there are fudge recipes are all dirty. :) So that's the recipes I'll use. I need to go buy a candy thermometer. The last time I made candy it was hard candy and I was living at mom's still. I hope I don't end up with Chocolate soup! Anyway I am going through a few of the cookbooks (one of them is a set of 'encyclopedia of cooking' types. The one most of these recipes is coming from: "Mary Margaret McBride Encyclopedia of Cooking"). There's some interesting recipes. Sauerkraut Cocktail anyone? I thought I'd post them here so I can hopefully remember them - Not all of them I actually want to make, some of them are just...odd. There's a whole section on Party Sandwich Loaves. Those Sandwiches that where sliced or hollowed out and filled with usually savory fillings and then put back together and frosted with usually a mayonnaise based "frosting" to look like a cake along with "pies" that were made with round loaves of bread too. Like this one:

Canape Pie

1 round loaf of rye bread
1/3 cup softened butter or margarine
1/4 cup mayonnaise
caviar
sieved egg yolk
cream cheese
sardine paste
shrimp paste
salmon paste
pickled onions

Cut a slice horizontally (1/2 inch thick) from the widest part of the loaf of bread. Trim off the crusts.

Mix the butter or margarine and mayonnaise and spread generously on the slice of bread. Mark the slice in concentric circles, using cutters and bowls of various sizes.

Fill the center ring with caviar, marking the center ring with a sieved egg yolk. Fill the next ring with cream cheese pressed through a pastry tube. Fill the next rings with sardine paste, shrimp paste and salmon paste, separated by cream cheese.

Pipe an edge of cream cheese around the outer edge. Line the rim of the plate with tiny pickled onions.

Cut the canape in wedges like pie. Serve cold.


This one actually sounds pretty good:

Caraway Cheese Custard

1 1/2 slices bacon, chopped
1/2 medium sized onion, minced
3 Tbsp sour cream
3/4 cup finely shredded Swiss cheese
3 eggs, well beaten
1/2 tsp salt
dash of black pepper
1/2 tsp caraway seed
pastry

Put bacon in frying pan and cook until lightly browned but not crisp. Add minced minced onion and cool. Add sour cream, cheese, eggs, salt and pepper. Mix well.

Line an 8 inch pie pan with pastry having top crust come just to edge of pan. Pour in filling and sprinkle with caraway seed (or ground caraway).

Bake in moderate oven (350 F) until custard is set.

Cut into thin wedges when cool and serve as an appetizer. This is an appetizer that requires plate and fork and usually is accompanied by wine.

There is an unusual fascination with hot dogs (frankfurters) and this cookbook is dated 1958. There is even a canape topping of mashed baked beans, topped with sliced hot dogs and stuffed olives. But this recipe I might actually make, it's basically Cheese Biscuit covered hot dogs, kinda like a homemade hot pocket I guess. It's odd to me in that it contains oatmeal.

Hot Dog Round-Ups
1 1/2 cups sifted enriched flour
1 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 c uncooked oats
1 cup finely grated cheese
4 Tbsp shortening
2/3 c milk
6 frankfurters
paprika
Barbecue Sauce:
2 cups cooked tomatoes
1/4 c ketchup
1 Tbsp vinegar
2 tsp prepared mustard
1 tsp salt

Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder; mix with rolled oats and grated cheese.

Cut in shortening until particles are size of rice grains; add milk and mix just until dry ingredients are dampened.

Roll out on lightly floured board to 1/8 inch thickness; cut into 6 rectangles, about 6x4 inches.

Wrap each frankfurter in biscuit dough, sealing edges with tines of a fork. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake in a very hot oven (450 F) 15 to 20 minutes. Serve with hot barbecue Sauce.

Combine all barbecue sauce ingredients and cook for 15 minutes.

Ok, that's all for now...or at least as much as my headache will allow me to type.

Two Cheap Recipes

Well, since hubby's got to have some dental work done (root canal and a cap put on) and I go to the dentist on Friday and I think I have a cavity, we're trying to do a bit of eating out of the pantry. We had Lentils with Greens Soup last night. I found it in a Family Circle magazine and I still have the page, it's dated '98. It makes quite a lot, and we love it. The most expensive part is the sausage- but it only uses 1/2 lb enough that you can either double (and freeze some) or freeze the extra sausage, both of which I've done. I usually use a block of frozen chopped spinach too (10 oz) and change the way I make it - my notes at the end of the recipe.

The other recipe is one I'll be using later, especially since I've got a bit of celery that is getting a bit limp. It's vegetarian, and actually, vegan without any changes. I know I also got it from one of the women's magazines, but I didn't write down from where. It's for Curried Celery Soup. I usually just throw everything into a crockpot and use my immersion blender and blend it all together right before serving. It's just so much easier! And I usually just use dried herbs - especially in the winter.

Lentils with Greens Soup

1/2 cup dried lentils, rinsed and picked over
8 cups water, divided
1 lb escarole or spinach
1 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 lb Italian sausage, casing removed
1/2 medium onion, chopped
3 tsp chicken broth granules
1/8 tsp hot pepper flakes
4 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

Combine lentils and 4 cups of water in saucepan. Simmer, uncovered 20 minutes or until just tender. Drain.

Meanwhile, cut out and discard escarole stems; separate leaves. Rinse. Chop coarsely.

Heat oil in a 4 quart pot over medium-high heat. Add sausage; cook, breaking up any clumps with a wooden spoon, for about 3 minutes or until no longer pink. Add onion and escarole; cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add remaining 4 cups water and broth granules. Bring to a boil, lower heat; simmer, covered 15 minutes. Add lentils and pepper flakes; simmer 3 minutes more. Ladle into 4 bowls. Top with cheese.

HOW I MAKE IT: Saute sausage and onions, breaking up clumps of sausage, until no longer pink. Add 6 cups water, lentils, pepper flakes, 10 oz box frozen chopped spinach (still frozen) and bring to a boil. Lower heat; simmer, covered 20 minutes until lentils are tender. Ladle into 4 bowls and top with cheese.

Family Circle Magazine 2/1/98 244 cal/12 g fat/6 g fib

Curried Celery Soup

2 tsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 leek, washed and sliced (or 2 cloves garlic, minced)
1 1/2 lbs celery, chopped
1 Tbsp curry powder
8 oz potatoes, washed and diced
3 3/4 cup vegetable stock
1 stem parsley, for bouquet garni
1 stem thyme, for bouquet garni
1 bay leaf, for bouquet garni
2 Tbsp mixed herbs, chopped fresh for garnish
salt
celery seeds & leaves, for garnish

Cook onion, leek and celery in oil, covered, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add curry powder, and cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add potatoes, stock and bouquet garni. Cover and bring to a boil. Simmer 20 minutes, until vegetables are tender.

Remove and discard bouquet garni and set soup aside to cool slightly. Puree. Add mixed herbs and season to taste. Return to pan to warm up.

A few weeks ago, one of hubby's tooth cracked. It's now started to hurt and he's finally made an appointment with a dentist. He hasn't seen a dentist for as long as we've been married, and I don't know when he last saw one before we got married. I can't say that I've been much better, I've only seen one once so far during that time. Mostly because we haven't had dental insurance with our jobs. Anyway, we've got some insurance now, and a need. He's found some one and he's got an appointment on Monday. We are both hoping it's not going to be too much money. So in preparation for this, we're eating out of the pantry/freezer this week, and maybe more. This means I can buy fruit/veggies, and some deli meat for him and milk this week and maybe even for a few more weeks. It'll make Weight Watchers intersting, and if it goes on for long enough, could make dinners interesting. (Oh, speaking of WW - I lost 2.2 lbs last week. Yay!)

Anyway, the first dinner this week is: Swiss Steak. I have some Cubed Steak in the freezer that was given to me by my sister when she had to clean out her freezer when her new "shipment" of her part of butchered cow was coming in. This recipe is from "Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook" and I make it all the time. The book automatically opens at this page actually. I like it because it contains no cream-of soup and it's different since it contains dry mustard. Today we're trying it with Hunt's Fire-roasted tomatoes, but I expect it will be tasty. Since the meat wasn't thawed I skipped the dredging and browning and just threw everything into the crockpot. I also added a cup of beef broth (leftover from roasting the hunk of beef last week that I had frozen) so we'll have more juice that I can make into gravy to serve over mashed potatoes (of which I actually only have 3 real potatoes but plenty of dehyrated type since I bought some from Costco a while back and made potato bread using it but still have a bunch left. It's not as bad when you use buttermilk to make it instead of milk It's also good when you're sick and hubby doesn't know how to cook *grin*.). Anyway, without the extra cup of broth it still makes enough sauce, I just wanted extra. This will probably fall apart, especially since it's using cube steak- but since this is from a butcher it's not formed ground beef it won't be quite so bad. I will probably even have enough leftover since there's just the two of us to make either a small cottage pie (shepherd's pie) or a pasta sauce.

Swiss Steak
From "Fix-It and Forget-It: Feasting with your Slow Cooker by Dawn J. Ranck and Phyllis Pellman Good"
Recipe contributed by Marilyn Mowry, Irving, TX

Makes 4-6 servings

3-4 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 1/2 tsp dry mustard
1 1/2 -2 lbs round steak
oil
1 cup sliced onions
1 lb carrots
14 1/2 oz can whole tomatoes
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Combine flour, salt, pepper, and dry mustard

Cut steak into serving pieces. Dredge in flour mixture. Brown on both sides in oil in saucepan. Place in slow cooker.

Add onions and carrots.

Combine tomatoes, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Pour into slow cooker.

Cover, cook on Low 8-10 hours, or high 3-5 hours.

Excuse me, but is that a water bottle in your tea?

I bought one of those new Lipton Pyramid teas a while back. I know Lipton teas aren't the best teas around (fannings and all) but there are times when I'm not really picky. And the one I got on sale with a coupon was the Black tea with caramel. Caramel people! :) Anyway... I opened the box the other night and was disappointed in the bag that the pyramid is made of. I don't think the actual bag is compostable - something we do out here at ComfortHound Corner. We have a green Rubbermaid thingy just for it. Anyway, I went on Lipton's site just to look up what the bags were made of without being able to find anything on the box or on the site. I sent off an email. Got this back the next day:

"Hello Jennifer,

Thank you for writing.

The translucent Pyramid tea bag is made of PET, the same food grade material clear water and juice bottles are made of. As with any plastic, it would not be considered biodegradable. PET is completely safe and is 100% recyclable within the plastics waste stream."

Great. We've stopped drinking bottled water for a while now just so we wouldn't add to the stream of plastics added to the landfill. In Louisa, plastics aren't recycled, just paper, cans and glass. As it is, I don't even like getting all my prescriptions refilled because I end up with all these prescription bottles (and no, they won't re-use the bottles, I asked). Luckily I like our water (it's well water) and we have plenty of containers to carry around water if we go somewhere.

The long and short of this post: I won't be buying these tea bags again, even if they were worth it. At least I have plenty of other teas, including loose that I like.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts!

Roasted Brussels Sprouts! I love Brussels Sprouts. I always have, even though I never got to eat them much as a child since my mother didn't like them. And yes, I even liked them boiled. My mother didn't over-cook them. I always asked for her to make me "those little cabbages" and most of the time she made a face and told me no. I just keep forgetting about them now that I'm older. Well, the other weekend we had PBS on, and the RealSimple show was on. They had a recipe that had Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Salmon. I was more interested in the Sprouts and since hubby eats most anything I asked if it was ok if I made them. He said sure. I picked some up yesterday. I should have picked up two containers. I basically used the recipe from Veganomicon, although I roasted at 450 since the other recipe I made (a fish recipe) was cooked at that temp. It worked out fine, was just cooked for less time. It's a good thing that hubby walked in the door soon after they came out of the oven, because there may not have been many left. Course we were both picking at the pan while I finished cooking up the rest of dinner (mac & cheese). We probably would have been happy with just the roasted Sprouts. And they were actually the first things to be finished. YUM!

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Picture010.jpg,
originally uploaded by dibranchia.

Made these on Friday for Jennifer's Birthday from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I just dipped the tops in the Melty Ganache instead of drizzling. They turned out well. I would have more to say about them, but well, I must admit I am one of those people who doesn't really like peanut butter. But Jennifer is, and that's why I made them. It helped me to stick to my diet though. :)