Yet to Try: Vegetarian Split-Pea Soup

This looks so good, and it's dairy-free! http://www.girlsgonechild.net/2011/02/eat-well-meat-free-your-split-pea.html

I have my own split-pea soup which I plan on making tomorrow and will hopefully post about, but I do use ham in it. The above recipe looks fantastic.

Pepperoni and Sausage Spaghetti Cakes

It's nearly 3:30pm and I finally figured out what to make for dinner tonight. Yikes. I like to know a little earlier, but I am simply not motivated today. It's hot in Albuquerque, and it's hot upstairs in our house where I took a little nap an hour ago. Ugg.. Of course now I'll be making the house just a little hotter when I turn the stove on for Pepperoni and Sausage Spaghetti Cakes. However, not nearly as hot as if I had to bake. That would be a disaster. :)

The original recipe comes from Epicurious.com here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pepperoni-Spaghetti-Cakes-11560 and I am adding the sausage part since we have amazing apple chicken sausage from the grocery store in our freezer. Not quite sure yet what other modifications I'll be making, but I know I won't be including cheese, and I have green bell peppers in the refrigerator, not red. And I'll have to replace the green onions with chives or white onions... Perhaps add some Kalamata olives? Hmmm...

Ingredients

• 1/4 pound spaghetti
• 1/3 cup finely chopped sliced pepperoni
• 1 apple chicken sausage
• 1/3 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced scallion greens plus two 3-inch pieces of scallion green for garnish
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large egg, beaten lightly
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• sour cream as an accompaniment

Preparation
This is copied from epicurous.com, but I will be editing it later after I've made the meal:

In a large saucepan of boiling salted water cook the spaghetti until it is al dente and drain it well. While the spaghetti is cooking, in a bowl toss together the pepperoni, the bell pepper, the Parmesan, the sliced scallion greens, the garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Toss the spaghetti with the mixture, add the egg, and toss the mixture well.

In a non-stick skillet measuring 6 inches across the bottom heat 1/2 teaspoon of the oil over moderate heat until it is hot but not smoking, add half the spaghetti mixture, pressing it evenly, and cook the spaghetti cake for 3 minutes, or until the underside is golden. Turn the spaghetti cake, cook it for 3 minutes more, or until the underside is golden, and transfer it to a plate. Make a second spaghetti cake in the same manner with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon oil and spaghetti mixture and transfer it to another plate. Keeping 1/2 inch of one end of each scallion green piece intact, make lengthwise cuts to form brushes. Spoon a dollop of the sour cream onto each spaghetti cake and arrange the scallion brushes on the cakes.

The Verdict: Coming Soon

Broccoli Chicken Pasta Salad

I've been pretty sick for awhile, again, hence the blogging hiatus. Dan's been doing the majority of our cooking, but I am finally working my way back into the kitchen. I picked up some broccoli thinking I'd use it for an Auggie recipe, but made sure to get enough for the whole family. Why not cold pasta salad? It's perfect for the temperatures we've been having lately, and with chicken and whole wheat pasta you end up with a pretty balanced meal.

This web site was my inspiration after a Google image search: http://koshercuisine.blogspot.com/2009/01/pasta-salad-with-broccoli-and-pine-nuts.html .. I've never seen this web site before, but it had a few key needs, namely no diary and no MSG-laden spice packets or salad dressings. Beyond that, I used my own methods and went with what we had in the fridge, and it turned out wonderfully enough to deserve its own blog post.

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb whole wheat rotini or other juice-holding pasta
• 1-2 heads of broccoli, cut into small pieces
• 1 chicken breast, filleted
• 1/4 c olive oil
• 2+ cloves minced fresh garlic
• 1/4 c chopped nuts
• The above recipe recommends pine nuts or almonds, but I only had mixed nuts and they worked splendidly
• 2 strips bacon, finely chopped
• 1/2+ c crasins
• 1/3 c chopped parsley
• 2 Tbsp finely minced red onion
• 1/2 - 1 c mayonnaise
• 1/4 c +/- white wine vinegar
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Cook pasta according to directions, rinse with cold water.

Bring another pot of water to boil and blanch broccoli. I made sure it was still firm and bright green when I was done - so no longer than a minute and a half. Scoop out broccoli and rinse with cold water.

Bring the broccoli water back to a boil and add the halved chicken breast. Poach until cooked through, rinse with cold water, and then chop into 1/2" pieces.

Heat olive oil in the pasta pot, saute minced garlic and chopped nuts for a few minutes over medium-low heat. (I didn't brown the garlic.)

In a large bowl mix the following ingredients together: Pasta, broccoli, diced chicken, olive oil/garlic/chopped nuts, diced bacon, crasins, minced parsley, and minced red onion. Add mayonnaise, white wine vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. 

Cobb Salad

I heart Cobb salad. Big time! I could eat it just about any day, seriously. What's not to love about a salad that is full of rockin' ingredients like bacon and blue cheese, has a tasty dressing, and still counts as healthy since it also contains the likes of lettuce and tomatoes? Mmmm mmm!

My obsession with Cobb salad started when my little brother was in junior high and studied the 30's in English class. For a project he researched and made Cobb salad. While I know my dad had made it beforehand at some point, this particular instance made it a classic in my family's dinner repertoire, and thus my own.

According to Wikipedia, a fine source of truthful information on the Internet (ha!), there are two stories to how the Cobb salad came about:

• In 1937, Brown Derby owner Robert H. Cobb went into the restaurant's kitchen to fix a late-night snack for Sid Grauman, operator of Grauman's Chinese Theater. He browsed the refrigerator for ingredients, and chopped them up finely. Thus, the Cobb salad was born. From then on, Grauman often requested that a Cobb salad be prepared for him. Word soon spread about this creation throughout Hollywood, quickly increasing its popularity. It became such a hit that film stars started requesting "Cobb's salad", and it was eventually added to the menu of the Drake Hotel.
• Robert Cobb's widow told a different story. Cobb came to work after a difficult dentist appointment and asked his head chef to prepare something he could eat. The chef made up a salad of ingredients he knew Cobb would like and chopped it up finely. Cobb liked it and added it to his menu.

Either way, this salad came from the late 30's and has been hot ever since.

Please note that you can adjust proportions to your wishes.. Like my slim wedge of chopped onions above. :)

Serves: Approximately 4-5 (maybe? I'm not really sure.. Eyeball it!)

Ingredients
In my opinion the Cobb salad has 8 essential ingredients, although if you Googled a Cobb salad recipe you'd get a pretty random set. Here's my Official list of those 8 ingredients:

1. Bacon
2. Hard-boiled eggs
3. Chicken
4. Avocados
5. Tomatoes
6. Red onions
7. Roquefort or blue cheese
8. Lettuce

The dressing ingredient list is also specific:

• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 juiced lemon
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• black pepper
• 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp dry English mustard
• I usually end up using regular yellow mustard since I don't own any for whatever reason
• 1 clove (or less) fresh minced garlic
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Preparation 
Make sure everything is appropriately cooked and chopped depending on the ingredient.

Put lettuce in a large bowl. Place each ingredient side-by-side on top of the lettuce in a pizza-slice-like arrangement. This makes for a great presentation. Drizzle dressing on top.

Mix it all together and serve.

Orange Cranberry Bread

Am I obsessed with this blog? Only a little bit. Some friends described it today as what sounds like a fun hobby, and I agree completely. :)

There is little my husband loves more than baked goods, thanks to his amazing-in-the-kitchen mom who whips out some truly rockin' food on a regular basis. So when I found a recipe for Orange Bread I thought I'd give it a try. And now Dan officially hearts this bread.

The recipe itself comes from the Simply Recipes blog which I stumbled upon yesterday and now officially follow. You can find the original here: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/orange_bread/

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup butter, room temperature
• I used a margarine without hydrogenated oils
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2-3 Tbsp orange zest
• The original recipe calls for 1 tbsp, but I accidentally made well over 3 and I loved the result
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• I used whole wheat
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 
• I rounded the teaspoon since we live above 6,000 ft
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Once again, I rounded the teaspoon since we live above 6,000 ft
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• I used 1 rounded cup of plain soy yogurt
• 1/2 cup crasins

Glaze

• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon orange juice
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 4x8-inch loaf pan.

Beat the butter/margarine on high for 2 minutes. Add sugar and beat on high 2 more minutes. Add eggs one at a time until incorporated. Add orange zest.

In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients together.

Add the yogurt and dry ingredients to the wet ingredients separately 1/3 at a time starting with the yogurt: 1/3 c yogurt, mix; 1/3 dry ingredients, mix; 1/3 yogurt, mix; etc etc. Mix until just combined.

Add the crasins and once again mix until just combined.

Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake on center rack for 45-50 minutes.

Remove when a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Let cool for a little while.

Mix the glaze ingredients together in a bowl. Btw, the original recipe says that the glaze is optional, but I think it's a must. It adds a nice tangy, sweet punch, so don't skip this step!

Poke holes into the loaf with a toothpick and then pour the glaze over the loaf. Viola! It's done!

The Verdict: A Keeper
This recipe is delicious! It's definitely good enough for Dan to want over and over again, and meets the high standards required in sharing with friends. Enjoy!

CrockPot Cincinnati-style Chili

To be perfectly honest, I've never eaten Cincinnati Chili in Cincinnati so I'm not entirely sure what true Cincinnati Chili is. However, our friends had us over for dinner and made it and after that we were hooked–at least on what we thought was Cincinnati Chili–I just don't know since I've never had it in Cincinnati.  (I include this because my family once had "Chicago-style Pizza" when we were in Denver, CO, and it was NOT Chicago-style pizza. It was in fact terrible.) I believe two key ingredients in Cincinnati Chili are chocolate and cinnamon, so with that understanding the recipe below can at least qualify as "Cincinnati-style".

After our friends had us over I found the recipe "Cincinnati-style Chili Casserole" in my slow cooker cookbook, Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes Volume 2. (This cookbook is how I survived going back to work full-time when Auggie was 6 weeks old.) The recipe I'm making for dinner tonight, however, is a modified version (surprise!) of this recipe. One of the things I don't cook with is instant beef bouillon, an ingredient this recipe calls for, because it is chock-full of MSG. (As an aside, if you don't know how bad MSG is for you or how prevalent it is–it's in nearly everything–check out this web site: http://www.truthinlabeling.org/) I also thought it could use some extra spices and whatnot. So after a Cincinnati Chili Google search and some recipe reviewing, I pieced together the following crockpot recipe.

Ingredients

• 2lbs ground beef
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 26-oz jar pasta sauce 
• I had 3/4 a bottle in the refridgerator, so I used that with an additional 8oz can of tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup water or broth
• I used chicken broth since once again we had some in the fridge. Beef broth would probably be a better choice. I use the Kitchen Basics brand since they swear over and over on their packaging that MSG is neither used nor created when they make their broth. 
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tbsp chocolate pieces
• I used baking chocolate since it's milk-free, but I'm sure any would be fine
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar
• I added more later since I want it to be tangy
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice

• spaghetti noodles 
• I have whole wheat rotini in the pantry so I think I'll end up using that since the noodle shape holds sauce so nicely

Sides

• shredded cheese
• chopped onions
• kidney beans (can also be cooked in crockpot, but Dan's not a huge fan so I'm skipping them)
• oyster crackers

Preparation
Brown ground beef in a frying pan, and cook onions and garlic along side beef.

Put beef mixture into crockpot, add everything else except for the noodles, and mix thoroughly. 

Cook in crockpot on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.

Cook noodles according to directions. Serve chili on top of noodles with sides.

Comments
Brilliantly, both sets of measuring spoons were in the running dishwasher while I prepared this recipe, so I ended up approximating all of my measurements–which I probably would have done to some extent anyway. Also, since Auggie kindly motivated me to get out of bed by 7am this morning, I actually prepared this before going to Bible study and thus get to cook something in the crockpot on low for once.

The Verdict: A Keeper
Dan loves this dish. (I'm sensing a pattern here - he seems to love hearty dishes with ground beef, some sort of absorbent ingredient like pasta or cornbread, and a tomato-based sauce. Tamale Pie, for instance, or Chimichangas (recipe coming soon).) ... I think it's pretty tasty myself, although because it is so hearty I probably could eat it about once a month and not more, especially if other such hearty dishes are making the rounds as well. Serving it with a salad on the side is a must in my opinion. 

Roast Chicken Breasts with Garbanzo Beans, Tomatoes, and Paprika

Dinner tonight is something that I first made two years ago and have repeated every couple of months since. It's an easy and tasty recipe, and fairly full of protein which is always a plus. It's an epicurious.com recipe and can be found here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Roast-Chicken-Breasts-with-Garbanzo-Beans-Tomatoes-and-Paprika-242113

The picture includes a side of rice pilaf.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, pressed
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika 
• This isn't hard to find and pretty much makes the dish
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt or Greek yogurt 
• I'll be using plain soy yogurt for the first time ever tonight
• 4 chicken breast halves
• The original recipe calls for bone-in breasts, but skinless and boneless is always easier and is thus what I used tonight
• 1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained
• 1 12-ounce container cherry tomatoes
• random leftover veggie pieces :)
• 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro, divided
• optional: lime wedges on the side

Preparation
Preheat oven to 450°.

Mix first 5 ingredients in medium bowl. Pour 1 teaspoon spiced oil mixture into small bowl; whisk in yogurt and set aside for sauce.

Place chicken on large rimmed baking sheet. (When it's just Dan and me and I'm consequently making less, I can usually get away with making this in an 8"x8" glass casserole dish if I'm only cooking two breasts.) Rub 2 tablespoons spiced oil mixture over chicken. Add beans, tomatoes, and 1/2 cup cilantro to remaining spiced oil mixture; toss to coat. Pour bean mixture around chicken. Sprinkle everything generously with salt and pepper.

Roast until chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup cilantro.

Transfer chicken to plates. Spoon bean mixture over. Serve with yogurt sauce. I know I've served this with lime wedges as well, and tonight I made rice pilaf as our side.

Modifications
I only made a few modifications, including adding some green bell pepper and artichoke heart pieces that were leftover from making pizzas last night. Oh, and I completely forgot to buy cilantro! Blast!! I used a small amount of chopped fresh tarragon and parsley in its place, but I definitely recommend cilantro if you have it. One more note: I used less tomatoes than called for. Dan isn't a big tomato guy, so I'll probably eat most of what I did cook with, and this way the carton will last for cobb salad later on this week.

The Verdict: A Keeper
Okay, the verdict was obvious since I've already made this recipe at least 10 times. But this was my first time using soy yogurt and it honestly wasn't bad. Sure, I would have preferred the real thing, but all of the soy options available in our grocery stores make going dairy-free for Dan fairly easy. Also, the fresh tarragon and parsley replacement was good. I'm going to remember that next time and perhaps even experiment with other fresh herbs. Rosemary, thyme, and basil could be great options. Yay versatility!