vegetables

“Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner”

~ nancyruth ~ Leave a comment

I put the title in quotes in case it is copyrighted or something. Where did that expression come from anyway? Hmm?

Okay, I am back from my quick internet search…

This recipe is from the 1991 Woman’s Day magazine article “Make the Chicken of Your Choice.” I made one of the seven choices before, Chicken Piccata. The choice for this dinner was Chicken with Broccoli and Dill. And as usual, I changed it up, just slightly.

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So the changes I made were using a mixture of vegetables that did include broccoli but also had cauliflower, carrots, and yellow and green squash. I did not have red pepper but had a frozen mixture of red and green peppers with onions. All told it was about 4 cups of vegetables. They were cut large. I also used only two chicken breasts and unseasoned panko bread crumbs.

  • slightly brown the chicken sprinkled with the bread crumbs in a skillet with 2 tablespoons of oil, 6-8 minutes
  • add vegetables and liquid and seasonings
  • cover and simmer for about 20-30 minutes; I simmered mine for longer just because I was waiting for Hubby to get home.

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  • I removed the chicken and vegetables; blended one cup buttermilk with a tablespoon of flour and teaspoon of dried dill weed.
  • Add that to the skillet and stir over heat until slightly thickened. Well, I added a bit more flour because this was quite soup-y. I then added leftover Chinese rice to thicken it further.

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This was delicious! It is basically poached chicken with different vegetables and flavorings. Who knew that poached chicken could be so good? I’ll make one of these “choices” next week. Stay tuned!

 

 

Supper: Quinoa and vegetables

~ nancyruth ~ 3 Comments

Do you ever have those days when you think about eating healthy, exercising more, etc.? I spend a lot of time thinking about what food to make that is healthy and will help us improve our cardiac conditions and cholesterol numbers, lose a little weight, and feel better overall. I think about brown rice, quinoa, chia seeds (what am I going to do with those chia seeds in my pantry?). I think I may even engage in fantasy thinking in that if I think hard enough about losing weight, I could actually lose some poundage. And then I watch the Great British Baking Show, get a new Cook’s magazine, and see interesting looking baked goods in my FB feed. What to do?

In my pantry there is healthy food. I found this fabulous quinoa/rice mixture that cooks up in ten minutes. Yay! No rinsing required.  I figured I should make a casserole or salad of some sort. I found two fully cooked turkey drumsticks in my freezer and some homemade broth. I have a package of frozen tri-color peppers and onions. I could assemble this all together and that would be supper.

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Ingredients are approximate amounts: Serves 4

  • 4 servings quinoa/rice mixture (made by Minute Rice), cooked according to package
  • 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 cup mixed peppers and onion strips
  • 1 cup broth
  • about 2 cups diced cooked turkey from two drumsticks
  • 1 cup frozen peas, added at the last because it looked like it needed more vegetable and more color

Easy directions: saute peppers and onions in the olive oil in large enough skillet to accommodate the quinoa mixture as well. Stir in the turkey then add the cooked grains and 1/2 the broth. Stir to mix on low heat. Add the frozen peas and the rest of the broth; stir on the heat for a few minutes then turn off heat, cover skillet and let sit for 5-10 minutes. I let it sit to steam the peas a bit and because Hubby wasn’t home yet.

If your broth is seasoned that might be sufficient with some salt and pepper. I added a pinch of tandoori seasoning but that was not adequate. Hubby ate his with a healthy sprinkling of Worcestershire Sauce. Me, too, and that did the trick.

This is a basic casserole with meat and grains and vegetables. Any of these three ingredients can be changed up at whim and/or depending on what you have on hand. My mother would throw all the leftovers in one pot and cook them…usually she would over-cook them. Sorry, Mom, but that’s the way it was!

Lunch

~ nancyruth ~ 4 Comments

Sometimes good food is not about recipes and cooking but about eating.

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Hubby found a store that stocks Daisy Cottage Cheese. Yay! Real ingredients: cultured skim milk, cream, and salt. No guar gum, carageenan, sodium dioxide, etc. Happy us!

My neighbor gave us some little heirloom tomatoes that he is growing. The string beans are also of his crop. A friend of mine gave me some cucumbers from a friend’s garden. Fresh vegetables and I did not have to grow them. Yay!

A simple lunch for a weekday at work: slice the cucumber; quarter the tomatoes; trim the green beans; pile onto a dish of cottage cheese; sprinkle with black pepper; eat.

Absolutely delicious!

Lo Mein

~ nancyruth ~ 8 Comments

At a shopping trip a few weeks back I picked up a package of lo mein noodles and a package of soba noodles because they were on the clearance shelf. Yes, I occasionally buy foodstuffs from clearance. Hubby and I like “Clarence”! That’s often where we look first when shopping but not usually for food. But this was at one of those lot clearance warehouse type stores: Ocean State, Odd Lots, and when and where I was growing up it was Grandpa Pigeons!

I figured I would use some leftover cooked chicken that I had in the freezer. I read the recipe on the back of the package and it was BORING! It was a few vegetables and broth. So I substituted my own ingredients.

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  • one package lo mein noodles (upper right corner)
  •  4 cooked chicken thighs, bone removed
  • 2 stalks of celery, sliced
  • about a cup full of sliced carrots
  • 1 green pepper, diced
  • 2 green onions, sliced, green and white parts
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 1 tablespoon tahini
  • 2-4 tablespoons mushroom soy sauce

Chop all the vegetables. I started off sauteing these in a bit of olive oil in a skillet but had to move them into the wok. I forgot about having a wok. We may have used it no more than two or three times. I cooked the noodles in water in a separate pot. Everything else went in the wok after the vegetables were cooked for about 5 minutes.

The noodles were drained and added to the wok. This gets stirred around until all is warmed. Sprinkle on a bit more soy sauce and it is done.

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I was pleasantly surprised that it actually tasted like the lo mein from a Chinese restaurant. Hubby thought it was delicious. And I had leftovers for lunch all that week. Now, what to do with the soba noodles?

Salad Supper

~ nancyruth ~ 6 Comments

 

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Trying to be healthy I found a fascinating bag of produce at the Walmart. Yes, I did my little bit of grocery shopping at the Walmart. I am not always impressed with the produce section but looking carefully, there are some good choices. I call this “prepared” and not “processed” food.

This is cool. I also buy this brand’s broccoli slaw mix to add to salads. Hubby is not a fan of broccoli so I have to sneak it into the meals. This blend is probably for making smoothies but I prefer to eat my vegetables instead of drinking them. I figure this can go in a soup, chili, or just throw on top of a salad. There was a mix of butternut squash but I only bought this one this time. Hubby calls and says he is rather full so don’t fix a lot for dinner. Okay, well a big salad will do. I’ll use the opportunity to try out the making hard boiled eggs in the oven recipe.

I bake/boil 6 eggs in a muffin tin, whole, for 30 minutes in a 320 F degree oven. Plunge them in a bowl of cold water and cool. Then peel. I found the recipe on Alton Brown, and allrecipes, and one of you lovely bloggers. It  works. And what was wonderful was that Hubby came home in time to shell the eggs.

Here’s the vegetables:

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And now for the protein parts:

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I make a batch of whole wheat popovers:

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Hubby makes the dressing and we put it all together:

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Sunday Salad

~ nancyruth ~ 3 Comments

I am sort of determined to eat better because I can lose weight, reduce cholesterol, and better manage hypertension. So there is all my protected health information in one fell swoop. Oops! Hubby is on board with this as long as he can keep his cheese and chips. Speaking of which, we had one supper this weekend which consisted of tortilla chips covered with melted shredded cheese with jalapeno pepper slices scattered on top. And we had planned on making a hearty salad! So on the next day when I suggested that I could make a Beef Bourguignon, he said, “what about that salad?” Party pooper!

At our last grocery shopping I had bought a lot of produce with the intent of eating healthier than not. So I get out all of the produce from my fridge:romaine, spinach, fennel, carrots, green onions, celery, colorful mini peppers, mushrooms, cilantro, parsley, dill, cucumber, and some coleslaw mix. I also have tomatoes but these are not stored in the fridge. We don’t put all of this in our big salad tonight but most of it.

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It is nice to have Hubby help with the meal prep. I don’t often give him the chance but I’m working on it. I set the vegetables before him and he wields the knife.

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I am in charge of the dressing. Hubby’s favorite is my version of a buttermilk ranch. I take the cruet and pour red wine vinegar to the “V” mark. (I usually use lemon juice but did not have any.) I pour olive oil to the next mark even though it is “W”. I chop a bit of fresh parsley and fresh cilantro and one clove of garlic. I put that in the cruet and shake that up in the vinegar and oil. Then I pour in buttermilk to the next mark, “O”. Shake vigorously. Then add a dollop or two of plain yogurt to thicken it up a bit. Add just a few shakes of salt and pepper. Voila!

To serve, tomato is added along with a sprinkling of Romano cheese, grated cheddar, and freshly ground pepper. I had bought a store-bakery baguette earlier in the day. This is one good looking salad even if I say so myself!

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Now this is no guarantee that this will stop us from having chocolate ice cream for dessert!

It’s Just a Pasta Dish!

~ nancyruth ~ Leave a comment

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I spent a morning organizing my recipe notebooks in which I had collected clippings and printings of recipes I have used and/or want to try. It was quite interesting going through the most recent collection. I removed some that were duplicative and that I would not really use again. I have another one that also has “classic” recipes from my early days as a wife and mother. I did not glean through that one. When these are changed up it is kind of like losing the ambiance of the thing. I have three of my mother’s notebooks. I wonder if my daughter will do this? I gave her one to start on but…?

pasta with beans and greens 005In organizing the two notebooks I came across this newspaper clipping from a year or so ago. In deciding what to cook for supper I wanted to use Italian sausages and thought this recipe could be the inspiration for supper. We like pasta dishes that have more “stuff” than the pasta.

I gathered what I wanted to use. I did not have fresh greens (Swiss chard) nor cannelini beans but that never stops me from going forward!

  • 3 1/2 pounds sweet Italian sausages in links (my addition)
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 8 oz pkg of baby portabella mushrooms, roughly chopped (my addition)
  • 1/2 pint grape tomatoes, cut in halves
  • 1 cup frozen spinach (my substitution, but I like cooking with spinach)
  • 1 15.5 ounce can pinto beans, drained (substitute for the canellini beans)
  • 1/2 cup of broth
  • olive oil for the skillet
  • 8 ounces whole wheat fusilli pasta (less than the pound of the newspaper recipe)
  • sprinkle of red pepper flakes
  • grated Romano cheese to serve (at son’s suggestion)

First put on a big pot of water to boil for the pasta. Cook pasta according to package.

I sliced up the sausage links. This is easier to do when the meat is partially frozen.Heat olive oil in a large skillet and brown the meat. Be sure to cook it through. This takes about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally so that all gets evenly cooked. Meanwhile chop the vegetables. When the sausage is browned remove from the pan and drain most of the fat. Saute the onion and the garlic in this pan with a bit of the fat. When fragrant and caramelizing add the mushrooms, tomatoes, and beans.

Stir the mixture and cook for about 5 minutes, then add the broth, the spinach, and the sausages to the pan and simmer while waiting for the pasta to finish cooking. This should cook for another 10 minutes.

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Blend in the drained pasta, add a shake or two of red pepper flakes, sprinkle on the Romano, and dinner is served:

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This was a big hit with hubby and son who were home for dinner. Which means I will make this again. This serves six. Son had two helpings. I put the remaining two servings in a freezer container for an “emergency meal” for the future.

Thoughts for changes that would be nice: use more spinach (or other greens of choice), use canellini beans (or less than a full can of pinto/brown beans), artichokes could be added, and an addition of black olives would be spectacular!

 

 

 

Pork and Peppers

~ nancyruth ~ 1 Comment

The inevitable question running through my mind is “what’s for dinner?” I don’t think other family members have this question constantly bombarding their brain. Sitting home with son and hubby I was contemplating this and when I asked what they thought, I got the “I don’t know” looks from them. Son tried to be helpful with “what do we have?”

I looked through several cookbooks but was not inspired. I keep a running list of meats that I have in the house so I can quickly pick out something. I recently inventoried my pantry and spice cabinets and posted the contents inside the cabinet doors. (I am not used to being home 24 hours a day!) In the spring and summer I will keep a list of produce so I can use it before it passes it’s prime. I hate throwing away food!

So after reaching a point in the book I am reading where I could put it down for a bit, I took three pork chops out of the freezer. I defrost these somewhat in the microwave. Not sure what to do with them yet, I decide to take out veggies from the produce drawer and add them all together. In my perusal of recipes I had recently come across one that called for grating an inch of ginger root, so I take the ginger root from the freezer and some teriyaki sauce from the fridge. I will cook up all these veggies and serve them on top of the pork chops. I add a side dish of Bulgur.

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  • 1/2 inch of ginger root, grated; approximately 2 tablespoons
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed in a press or finely minced
  • olive oil and coconut oil for the pan, 2-3 tablespoons combined
  • 2 small onions, sliced
  • 3 carrots, pared and thinly sliced
  • 1 large red pepper, sliced (I should dice these in the future)
  • 4 ounces portabello mushrooms, roughly chopped
  • splashes of teriyaki sauce
  • sprinkle of oriental five spices powder
  • 1/2 cup broth (I make my own and freeze it in 1-3 cup portions)
  • 3 pork chops, bone in

Put the pork chops in a pan and into the oven at 350 F. Prepare a skillet with the oils. I love using my cast iron skillet. Grate the ginger root. Mince the garlic.

Several years ago I picked up a gadget from a tag sale. This is a garlic press. It is made in Italy. I had to ask what it was and thought it was a novelty so took it home. I know that I figured out how to use it then but had not since. It did not work out quite like I expected.

So I finely chopped the garlic cloves with a knife.

Saute the onion, garlic, and ginger in the oil in the skillet. While this is cooking, stir it occasionally, chop up the carrot, red pepper, and mushrooms. Put the carrot and pepper in to cook for 4-5 minutes, then add the broth and splashes of teriyaki and 5 spice powder. You will have to judge the amount based on the fragrance, whatever is pleasing to you. Add the mushrooms and cook uncovered about 5 minutes. The broth will be reduced and the carrots will be al dente.

pork and peppers 017Take the pork chops from the oven and flip them over. Put all the vegetables on top. There is a little bit of liquid so the pork chops will not dry out. Return to the oven and increase the heat to 425 F for about 20 minutes more.

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“This is delicious” were the first words out of son’s mouth after his first bite. That’s what a mom likes to hear.

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So I wrote down how I made this dish so I can make it again. But never leaving well enough alone there are a few changes: I think if I had put the temp up to 450 F and left in the oven a bit longer, the vegetables would take on a “roast” like look and flavor. I would either dice up all the vegetables or slice all of them more equally in size. I might add a bit more ginger root for more of a “bite”, OR I could make it the same way and know that it is delicious as is!

 

Suffering Succotash!

~ nancyruth ~ Leave a comment

Lima beans and corn. My Mom was a good baker. She could make candy, cookies, cakes and pies, even biscuits! Dinner food, not so much. She burned canned green beans once. She made regular food in her regular kitchen. I think she enjoyed the advent of convenience foods. She gardened but also bought lots of canned vegetables. She used to can her own vegetables. And she made pickles and jelly. I did not learn how to make pickles and jelly nor to can. Even now the canning process seems overwhelming to me. Then came the chest freezer. This was put in the basement with an adapter for the plug to a non-grounded outlet! This was just the way things were done: (Think about the overplugged electrical outlet featured in the movie A Christmas Story from 1983). With the freezer Mom could now “preserve” fruits and vegetables much more conveniently. She even got recipes for Freezer Jelly. A fond memory I have is that she used to put chocolate chips in a mayonnaise jar in the freezer to keep longer and/or to keep away from us kids. We kids, well me, would sneak handfuls of chocolate. When finally we confessed this Mom confessed that she thought it had something to do with the deep freeze. This new technology of home food storage was new to her!

For dinner she would always serve a vegetable or two. These would either be from the farm stand, her garden, out of the freezer, or from cans in the pantry. For succotash she would open a can of corn and a can of lima beans, pour them in a pot, and heat them.

I have always thought of succotash as a southern dish. I grew up in Missouri and my Dad’s family is from Arkansas/Oklahoma. So when I opened up my  Better Homes and Gardens Heritage of America Cookbook, I was surprised to find it in the New England section, from Maine! Then I looked up succotash on the internet and this makes sense, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Succotash, since the word is Narragansett in origin. The dish apparently became popular during the Great Depression here in the United States and that was the era of my Mom’s growing up years. Some recipes call for creaming the dish with butter and milk. I don’t remember ever having it that way.

A few years ago I decided to resurrect succotash and serve it to my family. My hubby taught me that any frozen vegetable tastes better dry roasted in a skillet with a bit of sautéed onion. I figured this would make succotash taste better too. And it did. I have since begun adding a bit of fried bacon and a few red pepper flakes. And this is what I made for a side dish for dinner after the Christmas holiday.

  • frozen corn
  • frozen lima beans
  • bits of bacon
  • bits of chopped onion
  • a shake of red pepper flakes
  • bit of broth, or water

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The amount of corn and lima beans is subjective. Use whatever is on hand or what seems like the amount to feed whomever you are feeding at the meal. I usually use a half bag of corn and 1/4 bag of lima beans. This time I had more beans than corn and it worked out just fine. A few strips of bacon and half an onion, even a quarter onion, should be adequate. I used about 1/4 cup of the bits and ends of the uncured bacon I store in my freezer. (It is almost time to traipse up to Trader Joe’s to get some more.) Oh and then there is the cube of frozen broth. This particular cube is 1/4 cup of chicken broth. You can just add a bit of water if you don’t have broth.

First fry up the bacon until brown and then add the onion for a few minutes. Sprinkle on a few red pepper flakes. Then add the rest of the ingredients.

The water in the frozen vegetables and the broth will steam the beans so they become tender. Mix that around in the pan and then cover with a lid and let steam on low-medium heat for about 8-10 minutes. Stir this occasionally and add a bit more liquid as needed. When done it will be moist but not have much liquid remaining in the pan.

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This made a nice side dish for three to four people.

Gumbo time!

~ nancyruth ~ Leave a comment

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With fresh okra and fresh tomatoes and peppers from my local farm market it is time to make gumbo. I found a recipe that I have used before and it is tasty so I send my husband to the store for Andouille sausage on his day off.

But first… I have been reading a book that describes the French kitchen and ordinary cooking. The food does not look simple to me but has an appeal because of the fresh vegetables, cheese, and meat that is part of the everyday food lives of the French people. This book talks about the mythical or real French grandmother who taught or showed the family generations how to cook. The striking part to me is how this is “making do” cooking using what is seasonally available and what are pantry staples. Maybe when I retire I will live in a town where I can walk or bicycle to a local bakery and farm market daily and find farm fresh eggs and chickens to feast on. New Hampshire?

So although I am going to tell you about making gumbo with mostly fresh ingredients and pantry staples I do not usually make this fussy of a meal. And in reading that book it occurred to me that I would like to just make food without fussing over the particular ingredients or methods. But I want to make good food. Food that is satisfying and filling and healthy and nutritious. And on occasion do fussy! This is how my mother fed us. My mom collected recipe clippings all the time. She made few of them. I think she wanted to be more adventurous in cooking and baking but she struggled with obesity and the need to please my father in losing weight. She had to be economical as well so she made do with what were pantry staples and what grew in their garden. I did not get the green thumbs of my mom and dad like my sister and brother, but I did get her “make do” spirit.

This gumbo is an adaptation of a Better Homes and Garden recipe. I am using the recipe as a guideline for ingredients and amounts. I am putting in more of the vegetables and am adding tomatoes. I am using 3 cups of homemade chicken broth that I have in my freezer. I have chopped 5 plum tomatoes which is about two cups. The okra is about 1 ¾ cups sliced. Four cloves garlic, freshly ground black pepper, 2 bay leaves, and a pinch of red pepper flakes is all the spice that is used.

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gumbo 003First everything is cut up and then I make the roux. I suppose one does not have to make the roux but it makes it more classic. The roux is made with 1/3 cup flour and ¼ cup oil. Why I chose to stand over the stove and stir for this long I am not sure.

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gumbo 009I did not stand and stir for 20 minutes but for about 15 until the roux was a reddish brown in color.

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Now add the mire poix. It’s not traditional because it lacks carrots but it serves the same purpose. The garlic is in this addition. This is cooked for a few minutes , 3 to 5, before adding the broth, and then the meat and okra. This is when I add the tomatoes as well. Bring to a boil and add bay leaves and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

gumbo 014Serve over rice. Yummy. And there are leftovers for dinner during the work week.