Microwave Mushroom Risotto

This recipe comes from the April 2009 issue of Everyday Food. I don't know that Chef Ramsey would approve of microwaving Risotto, but it actually turns out very tasty. Plus, I don't seem to be doing as much work as those donkeys on Hell's Kitchen when I make it. I'm pairing it with wilted spinach and strawberries.

2 TBSP butter

1/2 tsp dried thyme

10 oz button mushrooms, trimmed and quartered. (I use pre-sliced mushrooms, breaking up the big ones)

coarse salt and ground pepper

1 cup Arborio or long-grain rice

1 can (14.5 oz) reduced sodium chicken broth (or substitute vegetable)

3 garlic cloves, sliced (I just use the bottled minced garlic 1.5 tsp)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

You must have a deep dish casserole with a lid. I use my largest Corning Ware.

1. Combine butter and thyme. Microwave covered on high 1 minute or until butter is melted.

2. Add mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Microwave covered 8 minutes, until mushrooms release their water.

3. Put mushrooms aside on another plate and try not to snack on them.

4. Combine 1 cup rice, broth, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Microwave on high 9 minutes.

5. Add 2 cups of water and microwave 9 more minutes.

6. Stir in the mushrooms and microwave until heated through, about 2 minutes. Stir in Parmesan. (If risotto is too thick, add a little water.)

Crock Pot BBQ Pulled Pork and Ranch Coleslaw

This is a recipe I created when I couldn't find a pulled pork recipe to my taste. It makes a lot, so it's great one to make when you're expecting guests. Often I let the pork cook the night before, prepare it in the morning, and then reheat it in the oven for my guests. The BBQ recipe is sweet and tangy. I also like to put slaw on mine, so I included a really simple recipe for that as well.

Sirloin Pork Roast (4-5 lbs)

2 large onions (Sliced into rings)

1 large carton Swanson's Vegetable Broth

Spritz large crockpot with non-stick spray. Layer one onion on the bottom. Add roast. Be sure to remove netting and plastic thermometer from it. Layer the second onion on top. Fill the crockpot with broth a little over half of the way up the meat (2 cups or so). Cook on high 1 hour. This is important in getting a roast up to temperature faster. Turn to low and cook 8-10 hours or overnight.

Drain the broth and discard most of the onions. Shred the meat with a fork. It should just fall apart. Add just enough BBQ sauce to coat and stir gently. If you are serving right away, spread a layer of BBQ sauce over the top. Heat and serve. If you are serving later, spoon BBQ into lightly sprayed large casserole dish. Put a layer of BBQ over the top, cover, and store in fridge. Reheat in microwave or oven.

Sweet and Tangy BBQ Sauce (Depending on your roast size, this may make more than you actually need. You don't have to use it all, unless you like a lot of sauce.)

Mix together:

2 cups KC Masterpiece Hickory Smoked Brown Sugar BBQ Sauce

1 cup ketchup

2 tsp prepared yellow mustard

1/2 cup brown sugar

If you like sweet and spicy, add some hot sauce to taste.

Ranch and Bacon Coleslaw (From Kraft Food and Family)

1 bag cole slaw

Ranch Dressing (I like the light NOT the fat free)

Bacon (cooked crisp)

Mix together adding enough ranch dressing to coat.

I hope your family and guests enjoy this meal as much as mine do!

Regular Me and Chicken Spaghetti

Every six months or so I suffer from an identity crisis.  Just when I think I'm feeling comfortable staying at home with my children, I get that itch to seek employment; to do something slightly more incredible with my life than cooking, cleaning, laundry, shuttling people around, and bottom-wiping.  It can be depressing.  Now I know that raising kids is an incredible job, but I can't help but feel that I'm not living up to my own expectations.  Yes, I know too...enjoy them when they are little, and I do.  But.......

Yet, I really have no direction at this point.  Some days I want to go back to teaching.  This seems unlikely with the current teacher layoffs in our county. Some days I think I'll get my masters. But in what?  I love to read, so maybe library science.  I just have this fear that I'd spend all that money and not be able to find a job near my home. This kind of wallowing can go on and on. Luckily, I married a very patient man.  

What pulled me out of it this time was a conversation I had with my three year old son yesterday.  It went something like this:

Charlie in his favorite batman t-shirt and black "batman" socks

Me in my PJ top, robe, and blue jeans 

Me: There's my batman!

Charlie: I'm NOT batman!

Me: There's my batboy?!

Charlie: I'm NOT batboy!  I'm Charlie! I'm REGULAR Charlie!  (sounds like rehyoular Charwee)

Well if he's okay with being regular Charlie then I should be okay being regular Emily. Right? Not professional Emily.  Not extra educated Emily. Just regular Emily.  It's okay to just be regular. There's a certain peace in accepting that.  (Isn't funny how children can be the best life coaches?)

Which leads me to......Chicken Spaghetti.  Just regular chicken spaghetti.  It isn't too fancy.  It isn't too hard.  But it IS rather good and comforting and filling.

I followed Ree Drummond's recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks pretty closely.  I can't seem to ever follow a recipe exactly...part of a rebellious nature perhaps.  Here is the link to her recipe: Chicken Spaghetti

Here is what I did differently:

Instead of cut-up fryer chicken, I cooked a whole chicken because it was cheaper to do this even when buying humanely treated. 

1. Rough cut 2 onions, 3 stalks celery, and 2 carrots.

2. Rinse chicken and remove gibblet bag.

3. Place chicken in the pot and cover with vegetables, about 10 peppercorns, and a dash or two of salt.

3. Cover all with water.

4. Bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 2-3 hours.

5. Remove chicken.  Remove and discard vegetables and pepper.

Follow Ree's recipe from here.

This made a very large casserole.  It could easily be made ahead and popped into the oven later.

Velvety Vegetable Cheese Soup

The past couple of weeks have been a flurry of activity around here.  With all the holiday bustle, it's sometimes hard to get motivated to prepare dinner at home. Picking it up seems so much easier.  Here is an extremely easy and fairly quick soup that is perfect for those tired nights after a busy day.  Velvety Vegetable Cheese Soup comes from Kraft Food and Family online.  If you puree the vegetables, your kids won't even know they're in there!

Ingredients:

1 (16 oz) package frozen broccoli, cauliflower, and carrot mix

2 (15 oz) cans of chicken broth

12 oz Velveeta cheese cut into pieces (I use the 2% kind to cut calories/fat)

1.  Put vegetables and broth in large pan.  Cover and bring to a boil on med/high heat.  Reduce heat and simmer for 10 min. or until vegetables are soft.  

2.  Mash vegetables.

3.  Add cheese and and cook five minutes, stirring constantly.  

Optional:  Puree vegetables for a smoother consistency. 

Serve with bread or a sandwich.

Tangy Pork Chop Stuffing Bake

Tangy Pork Chop Stuffing Bake comes from Kraft's Food and Family magazine. You can also access this recipe and many others online, without being a subscriber. The addition of cranberries to the stuffing makes this a really festive looking dish. I kept the basic recipe, but simplified it a bit.  

Ingredients:

6 bone-in pork chops 

1 pkg. (6 oz) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Pork (or Chicken)

1 can (16 oz) whole berry cranberry sauce

3/4 c KRAFT Original BBQ Sauce

2 TBSP brown sugar

Directions:

(These are based on my modifications.  Follow the link above for the original Kraft recipe.)

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Mix stuffing, cranberry sauce, BBQ sauce, and brown sugar together.  Let sit.

3. In a skillet on medium heat, brown pork chops.  Aprox. 5 min per side.

4. Mist 9x13 pan with cooking spray and place chops in a single layer. Spoon stuffing mixture over chops.

5. Bake for 30 min. or until chops are cooked through.

Mitford Series Week 1: Puny's Chicken and Dumplings

Warning: this is not a quick recipe.  You will need to be home for several hours for this one.  Everything is fresh and from scratch.  No pre-cooked chicken, pre-made broth...no shortcuts please.  The work is well worth it I guarantee you.  

You will need to start the chicken stock first.  All the vegetables are rough chopped.

Puny's Chicken Stock

(from Jan Karon's Mitford Cookbook 2004, pg 137)

1 (3-4 lb) chicken, rinsed and giblets removed (the plastic bag in the cavity of the chicken)

2 large onions, quartered

2 large carrots, sliced thick

3 stalks celery, sliced thick

10 black peppercorns

2 teaspoons salt

3 sprigs fresh parsley

4 quarts cold water

In a large pot, combine all ingredients, adding water last.  Bring to a rolling boil. Cover the pot, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 2-3 hours.  Remove chicken.  Strain and discard the vegetables.

Puny's Chicken and Dumplings 

2 cups self-rising flour (more for rolling out dumplings)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

1/2 tsp sugar

1/3 cup shortening

3/4 cup buttermilk

4 1/2 cups Puny's Chicken Stock

3 TBSP unsalted butter

4 cups cooked chicken meat (from the chicken stock)

1 cup milk

1.  Combine flour, salt, pepper, and sugar in a large bowl.

2.  Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until coarse crumb consistency 

3.  Add buttermilk and stir with fork just until dough forms.

4.  Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface (put a sheet of wax paper down for easy clean-up) to 1/8 in thick and cut into 1 inch squares.

5.  Bring the 4 1/2 cups of stock to a rolling boil in the large pot and drop dumplings in one at a time so that they don't stick, stirring gently occasionally.

6.  Put chicken meat on top of dumplings and pour the milk over all.

7.  Cover, reduce heat to med. low, and simmer for 20 min.  Do not open the cover.

8.  Add more milk, if it's too dry and season with salt and pepper if needed. 

I served my on top of homemade mashed potatoes.  

For more information about the Mitford books or how to purchase them please visit:

http://www.mitfordbooks.com/

Baked Ham Sandwiches

I found the original recipe on allrecipes.com submitted by Charlotte Rowe, but of course I didn't follow it exactly, adjusting the ingredients to my own tastes.  These are great for freezing and baking later.  I like to have them with soup or as a quick meal on the weekend.

Ingredients:

1/3 c butter (softened)

1/3 c prepared yellow mustard

1/3 c dried minced onion

1 TBSP poppy seeds

8 hamburger buns

1 pkg deli sliced ham

8 slices swiss cheese

aluminum foil

 

1. In a bowl, combine butter, onion, mustard and poppy seeds. Spread about 1 tablespoon over both halves of buns. Layer ham and cheese on the bottom halves; replace tops. Wrap each sandwich in foil. Bake at 350 degrees F for 6-10 minutes or until cheese is melted, or freeze for up to 2 months.
2. To use frozen sandwiches: Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Spill-the-Beans Minestrone Soup

I found this vegetarian recipe in a Light & Tasty magazine and have been making it for a few years.  Thanks to Reuben Tsujimura for this one!  It is as easy as spilling the ingredients into the pot and cooking for fifteen minutes.  The only modification I make is omitting the kale, so my children will eat it.

Ingredients

1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 TBSP olive oil 

1 32 oz carton Swanson Certified Organic Vegetable Broth 

1 15 oz can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 16 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1 can (14 1/2 oz) stewed tomatoes (cut up)

1/2 cup uncooked small pasta shells

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp coarse salt

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes or more to taste (1/2 tsp is pretty spicy.)

6 tsp freshly shredded parmesan cheese (NOT grated)

1. Saute onion and garlic in oil until onion is tender.

2. Add broth, beans, tomatoes, shells, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil.  (I usually work on breaking down the tomatoes with my spoon while waiting for it to boil.)

3. Add pasta. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 10-15 minutes until pasta is tender.  

4. Sprinkle each serving with parmesan cheese.

Kids in the Kitchen

I want my boys to be great husbands someday.  Part of this training takes place in the kitchen as they are already learning how to prepare some simple meals.  This Chicken Pot Pie recipe is perfect for preschoolers.  It is also a meal that I can keep on hand without worrying about spoilage.  Since I did not make it to the store today, pot pie is on the menu.  

The Ingredients

Prepared diced chicken

1 can mixed vegetables

1 box rolled dough

1 can cream of chicken soup

 

1.  Dump chicken, vegetables, and soup in bowl.

2.  Mix it.

3. Taste it.  (Optional)

4.  Place pie crust in pie and pour in the mixture.

 

5. Put on the top crust.  Fold and pinch the two crusts together.

6.  Fork it in the center and around the sides.

7.  Bake 375 for approx 35 min.

I love my pie shield!  If you don't have one, use aluminum foil.

Plan B

It's raining on my Fourth of July plans.  Nix Plan A to eat at our local festival.  Enter Plan B.  Make a meal that's quick and easy.  Grilling is out because my father informed me that our grill, which we've had for nine years and was a wedding present, might endanger our lives and/or property.  I think his exact words were "I wouldn't use the grill." (BEAT) Dad reconsiders the forcefulness of his statement and revises, "Don't use use the grill."  

In-laws are coming.  So, I must think of something fast and easy.  I decide to make Cheesy Cheddar 'n Ham Loaf.  The recipe comes from Kraft Food and Family, and is a great meal to have on hand for weekends or for the end of the week when the fresh grocery items are gone.  I revised this recipe to use Pillsbury French Loaf, which is found near the refrigerated biscuit tubes at the store and replaced the Miracle Whip with Olive Oil Mayo.  I usually serve this with cottage cheese and fruit.  For dessert, I made Sugar Cookie Bars.  They are the easiest and fastest sugar cookies I've ever made.  http://stylishcuisine.com/?p=1033

Cheddar 'n Ham Loaf Recipe

Ingredients:

1 pkg thinly sliced ham

1 tube Pillsbury French Loaf

1 cup sharp cheddar shredded

1/4 cup Miracle Whip (Olive Oil Mayo)

1 egg (slightly beaten)

Parmesan Cheese

 

Preheat oven to 350.

 

1. Unroll dough on floured wax paper.

2. Layer on ham, leaving some room around the edges.

3. Mix cheese and mayo.  (I use the ham container).  

4. Spread cheese mix on top of ham.

5.  Moisten edges of dough with brush dipped in water. 

6. Fold dough over 1/3.  Then overlap with other side.  Fold in corners and pinch seams tightly.

7.  Flip seam side down on lightly greased baking sheet or just plop on your EXOPAT mat.  

8.  Cut four slits and brush with egg.

9.  Sprinkle with Parmesan Cheese.

10. Bake 26-30 min.