Pork and Kidney Bean Soup, February 3, 2016

Jeannene was dreading the meal on the day I made a kind of funky sounding pork and kidney bean soup. It seemed like it should be pretty tasty, but we both ended up thinking it was pretty meh. I think part of the problem for me was the texture---the pork and kidney beans and everything ended up puréed, which seemed weird to me. The flavor was not bad, but it wasn't good enough that I would bother sharing it with y'all. However, the gorgeous crudités with pomegranate arils and the grapefruit in rosemary syrup were both splendid! Jeannene doesn't like grapefruit one tiny bit, though, so she basically only liked the veggies. Ah, well, at least she liked those.

To make the veggie platter, I simple arranged some of our favorites on a platter---sugar snap peas, snow peas, baby carrots, green pepper, orange pepper, cucumber slices, radishes. Then, I drizzled them with good olive oil, scattered pomegranate arils across the whole thing, and sprinkled it all with a little Maldon salt. Delicious and completely gorgeous!

Grapefruit with Honey Rosemary Syrup

1/2 c. sugar

1/4 c. water

3 tbsp. honey

3 sprigs rosemary

3 grapefruit (I used a mix of pink and white)

Bring everything but the grapefruit to a boil over medium heat and simmer 5 minutes. Cool completely and discard rosemary sprigs. Section the grapefruit, pour the syrup over it, and chill. Serves 4 or so. 

Pork and Rice Noodles with Peanut Sauce, October 8, 2015

The other night, we had a delicious meal of pork and rice noodles with peanut sauce, sesame soy roasted broccoli, and mandarin oranges. It was pretty quick to throw together and delicious! We both oohed and ahhed quite a bit over the broccoli, especially. You could easily make this vegetarian by subbing tofu---and strict vegans can omit the honey.

Pork and Rice Noodles with Peanut Sauce

1/2 c. boiling water

1/4 c. peanut butter (reduced-fat is fine)

2 tbsp. rice vinegar

2 tbsp. tamari

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp. lime juice

1 tsp. sesame oil

1 tsp. garlic chili paste 

1 tsp. honey

1 tsp. cornstarch

4 boneless pork chops, cut into strips

1 red pepper, thinly sliced

6-8 oz. rice noodles, cooked and drained

Mix together everything but the pork, pepper, and noodles. Heat through and stir to incorporate peanut butter well. Cook pork and pepper strips, in a large skillet that has been coated with cooking spray, over medium-high heat until pork is completely cooked through. Add peanut sauce, tossing to coat pork and peppers. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and allow to simmer a minute or so. Add to pork and sauce and toss well. Serves 4. 

Sesame Soy Roasted Broccoli

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss broccoli florets with a smidge of sesame oil & a splash of tamari. Roast, on a baking sheet, 15-20 minutes. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. 

Chicken Pot Pie, August 21, 2015

A couple weeks ago, Jeannene suggested that it was about time for me to make my chicken pot pie again. Friday night, it seemed sufficiently cool and pot pie-ish to fulfill her request. I learned to make my chicken pie from my friend, Teresa, in Tennessee. It's good, although I think I used a bit too much chicken this time. Jeannene disagrees. Since I'd just been to the farmer's market and had all kinds of marvelous produce, I added a tomato and cucumber salad and a corn and zucchini sauté to complete the meal. I experimented with putting a little oregano in the tomato and cucumber salad and discovered I didn't like it at all, but add it, by all means, if you like it. I felt it muddied the clarity of the flavors. I also had some parmesan & onion hanky pankys ready to pop out of the oven when Jeannene came home. These little toasts go by all kinds of names, but I like the playfulness of hanky pankys. My favorite version is my aunt Holly's Gloria Hardingtons, which I have written about here before. There is also a version involving sausage and Velveeta, which I have not yet tried. Honestly, I've been reluctant to try any but the Glorias because they are so stunningly good. But this parmesan version was pretty tasty, too. This is the basic recipe for the appetizer, which should be enough for 7 people. You can easily cut the amounts if you're just making it for 2 people, but in my experience, when making these type of appetizers for larger groups, it's actually better to double the recipe, just because people love them so much.

Parmesan & Onion Hanky Pankys

1/2 red onion, finely chopped

1/2 c. mayonnaise 

1/4-1/2 c. grated parmesan

Pepper & a little garlic powder

14 slices cocktail rye

Preheat broiler. Mix everything but rye together. Broil rye until lightly toasted. Turn over and spread with topping. Broil until bubbly and nicely browned. 

Chicken Pot Pie

2 pie crusts (I use the pre-made refrigerated kind)

1/2-1 pound chicken breast chunks, cooked (I used about 1 & 1/2 this time, too much for me)

1 can Veg All, drained (You can use other mixed veg)

1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup (I almost always use low fat, low sodium versions of the soups)

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put one crust in a pie plate. Mix the rest together & pour into crust. Top with second crust, crimping & sealing. Cut slits to vent the top (or use mini cookie cutters for make designs). Bake 1 hour. Let stand at least 10 minutes before serving. Serves 6.

Tomato & Cucumber Salad

1 large tomato, diced (I like to use an heirloom tomato here)

1 cucumber, peeled & sliced thickly

3 or 4 leaves basil, sliced in chiffonade

1/4 red. onion, diced

1 tsp. garlic salt

1/2 tsp. oregano, opt. 

1-2 tbsp. olive oil

Mix everything together and let stand 5 or 10 minutes before serving. Serves 4-6. 

Corn & Zucchini Sauté

2 tbsp. butter or olive oil

1 zucchini, diced

1 onion, diced

1 jalapeño, seeds and membranes removed, minced (or to taste)

Salt and pepper

Garlic powder

Kernels cut from 2-3 ears corn (you can do this with frozen corn, but it's not the same. I only make it in season)

Melt butter in skillet and add everything but the corn. Cook until veggies are tender, then add corn and cook another few minutes, until corn is tender. Serves 4. 

Spiced Pork Chops with Apple Chutney, or The Dinner That Was Too Terrible To Eat, January 7, 2015

Occasionally, I make a dinner that is inedible. Last night was one of those occasions. I was already leery of the meal because of my food rules, as my friend Sue has dubbed them. First, as i have mentioned here before, I don't like sweet and meat together. I can think of zero exceptions. But, I am cooking through this dang thing, like it or not (mostly, I do like it). Besides, Jeannene usually does like sweet and meat & doesn't ever get to have it. Second, I don't like cooked carrots. Well, I do if they are roasted in a pot roast or cooked in a stew. Otherwise, forget it. So, I knew going in that I would likely only want the pork without the chutney and the roasted rosemary potatoes I was going to make. 

However, I ran out of time for the potatoes and ended up just boiling them. Except I over boiled them and they dissolved into mashed as soon as I tipped a little Smart Balance spread into them & tried to stir it in. So be it. They were fine, anyway. If you want to make roasted rosemary potatoes, though, you cube them (peels still on is my preference & you can use whatever potatoes you like, including a mix---throw some sweet potato in there, if you like!), toss them with a little olive oil, several cloves of garlic, a few sprigs of rosemary, a little salt, and a healthy grinding of pepper. Roast them about half an hour in a preheated 425 degree oven. 

The pork's badness was most likely my fault, although Jeannene blames the particular blend of spices.  I decided to be smart (cheap?) and just use the pork chops in the freezer (we got a big pack of them on sale and Jeannene divided them into packets of 2, 3, or 4) instead of buying a couple pork tenderloins. I figured I could just rub the spices on one side of the chop that I would have rubbed on the outside of the pork loin. This, in retrospect, was a bad idea. I should have just seasoned them the way I usually do chops. Further, the chops themselves weren't terribly nice in the first place. Perhaps that's why the sale? I think the spice blend would be nice on pork tenderloin, probably, but is a bit overwhelming for the chops. It's garlic, 3 parts ginger, 3 parts mustard seed, 3 parts red pepper flakes, 1 part allspice, 1 part fennel, 1 part thyme, all whizzed in the blender.

The apple chutney was delicious, but I would prefer it on crackers or over a block of cream cheese or on an English muffin, perhaps. Here's my rendering:

Gingered Apple Chutney

1 apple, peeled & chopped (I used a Honeycrisp)

1 bulb fennel, chopped

3/4 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. ch. pecans

1/3 c. golden raisins

1 tbsp. crystallized ginger, chopped

1/4 tbsp. salt

1/3 c. cider vinegar

Mix everything together and bring to a boil. Cover and cook on low 15 minutes. Remove cover and cook another 15-20 minutes. 

I thought the carrots au gratin were revolting. In fact, my stomach turned at the smell of the dish as I pulled it from the oven. However, Jeannene really liked it (in fact, it turned out to be her entire dinner---me, I had a bowl of Cheerios), so you might, too. If you like cooked carrots, give it a whirl:

Carrots au Gratin

3 c. carrot slices (5-7 carrots)

1 can cream of celery soup (I used the Healthy Request sort)

1 c. shredded cheddar (I used 2% fat cheese)

1/4 c. roasted garlic breadcrumbs

1 tbsp. butter, melted (I am sure olive oil would work just as well)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover carrots with water and cook until just tender. Drain and mix with soup and cheese. Place in greased (I used cooking spray) casserole. Mix crumbs & butter. Sprinkle on carrot mixture. Bake 20-25 minutes. Serves 6-8.

My Year in Food: Spaghetti, November 18, 2014

In chilly weather (well, really, in any weather) one of our favorite meals is spaghetti with meat sauce. Jeannene had been hinting that she would very much like to arrive home someday soon and discover that I had made it. With the snow we've been getting, a cozy plate of spaghetti seemed like just the thing to warm us. I am a very lazy spaghetti maker, nearly always just doctoring up a jar of sauce from the grocery. My current favorite is Newman's Own Sockerooni Sauce. However, what we had on hand was a jar of Bertolli Tomato & Basil Sauce Jeannene picked up a couple weeks ago because she is not comfortable without at least a jar or two of spaghetti sauce in the house & it was on sale.

My usual doctoring mostly consists of adding some extra oregano and basil, along with some parmesan cheese. The other night, though, I decided to get a little more creative. I splashed in a little merlot and added Italian seasoning, basil, fennel seeds, and parm and let it bubble awhile before we ate. Jeannene was just delighted with this version and thought the 96% lean ground beef I used was mixed with Italian sausage, thanks to the fennel seeds.

We were too cold to eat salad, so I roasted some Michigan-grown Lacinato kale we got at the farmer's market the other day. To do this, I tossed it with a little olive oil, salt, & pepper before sticking it in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 14 minutes. It was lovely and crispy when it came out of the oven! We also had some Pugliese bread from the grocery. If you have a Kroger near you and you see this bread in their bakery, give it a try. We love it!

La Luna Cooks Gooseberry Patch: Maple-Glazed Carrots

As I was preparing to make this dish, I was fairly certain I wouldn't be eating any of it. It violates one of my more firmly held food rules (no sweet with meat). Furthermore, I have a long history of greatly disliking cooked carrots on their own. Stick them in the oven with a roast, some potatoes, and onions and I love them. In chicken or veggie soup? Terrific. On their own? Nope. Mostly, though, I just like crunching on them raw, with or without dip. Jeannene, on the other hand, was thrilled. My wife loves sweet, soft veggies and is an avid dipper of sausage in syrup, which makes me shudder, if only inwardly, every single time. She never gets to have cooked carrots because I never make them. So, this cookbook project is quite beneficial to her.

I'd hoped I heard her wrong when she mentioned bacon as an ingredient, but when I got down to making these carrots, I saw that the recipe does, indeed, call for bacon. Oh, yuck. What ended up happening, though, was that it wasn't as abhorrent as I was expecting. Jeannene really loved it and I found that I could eat it and even sort of enjoy it. True, I gave myself more of the apple part than the carrot part, but I had an entire serving. I think any cooked carrot lover would be delighted with this recipe. It was good for me to stretch myself.

I'd worried that the carrots wouldn't be properly cooked in just 10 minutes, that Jeannene would be appalled at how crunchy they still were, but they softened up nicely (if you find that sort of thing nice). I mistakenly cut the apple into thin slices, rather than thin wedges, and I think it would be better with thick wedges to stand up better to the bulk of the baby carrots. The apple bits kind of became wisps. Next time, I will remember that. Next time? Really? Yes, because I love my wife.

Last Supper of Summer

Although I squawk about the coming cold, I really do love the change of seasons and Autumn is one of my favorites. I am sorry to say goodbye to Summer, with all the lovely produce and the warm weather, but I'm excited about this new season, too. I am all excited about creating my October dinner menus & have already picked my First Rainy Day of Fall soup for the year. Tonight, in honor of the Autumnal Equinox, I am making pumpkin waffles for our first fall dinner. Last night, for the final supper of summer, I thought a salad was appropriate, so we had a chicken piccata salad with roasted kale and fresh blackberries. I picked up a mini pie from Achatz, a Michigan 4 Berry pie. I had tried their cherry pie before and been unimpressed, but a friend was singing their praises the other day, so I decided to try again. I remain unimpressed. Grand Traverse Pie Company's pie, on the other hand, is dangerous for me to have in the house!

The original salad recipe is Rachael Ray's, but I've tinkered with it a little bit. You could probably do a very successful vegetarian version with fried or baked tofu or vegetarian "chicken" & veggie broth instead of chicken broth. You can also lessen the amount of olive oil in the salad and grill or broil the chicken instead of breading without destroying the meal. Low sodium broth is a good idea, too. I almost always use that instead of the regular sort.

Chicken Piccata Salad

1 1/2 lb. small red potatoes, quartered

12 oz. green beans, halved

1/4 c. + 2 tbsp. olive oil

3-4 tbsp. capers

Chopped parsley

Juice & zest of 1/2 lemon

Salt & pepper

1 egg, beaten

1/2 c. flour

2 chicken breast cutlets (the fancy, thin sort you usually see with chicken piccata)

1/4 c. chicken broth

Splash of dry white wine

Cook the potatoes until they are almost tender, but still firm. Set aside in a colander with a slotted spoon and add the green beans to the same water. Cook a couple minutes, then drain. Cool veggies slightly. Whisk together 1/4 c. olive oil, 1-2 tbsp. capers, 3-4 tablespoons chopped parsley, lemon zest, and half the lemon juice. Add the vegetables, along with salt & pepper to taste. Toss gently. Season the flour with a little salt & pepper. Heat 2 tbsp. olive oil. Dredge the chicken in the flour, then dip in egg. Dredge once more in flour, then fry until it is golden brown and cooked through. Remove from skillet and cut into strips. Put broth and wine in skillet and deglaze the pan. Add 2 tbsp. capers, 2 tbsp. parsley, rest of lemon juice. Put salad in 2 shallow bowls or on 2 plates. Top with chicken and drizzle with sauce. Serves 2, with lots of potato-green bean salad left for the next day's lunch. Or 4, if you add a couple more chicken cutlets. 

My default kale recipe is raw Tuscan Kale Salad, but when the weather gets cooler, sometimes it's nice to have warm kale, instead. Plus, this stuff is completely addictive. Completely. Again, you can cut the olive oil by half. Just make sure to toss the kale well so that it all gets a hint of oil. 

Roasted Kale

1 big bunch curly kale

2 tbsp. olive oil

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Tear kale leaves into bite-size pieces (if you hate throwing away the stems, they can be added to a pot of veggie trimmings you are simmering to make broth---if you don't want to make it right away, just keep a gallon zipper freezer bag in your freezer and toss various veggie ends in until the bag is full). Toss with the other ingredients. Let sit 5-10 minutes. Spread on a rimmed baking sheet and roast 2 minutes. Stir and roast another 2 minutes. Serves 4. Or 2 kale-greedy people.

If you want to make dessert of the blackberries, they are excellent with a dollop of dulce de leche. You can usually find this Latin caramel confection in the grocery, but if you can't, you can also make it by removing the label of a can of sweetened, condensed milk, lowering it carefully with tongs into a pan full of boiling water, and letting it boil, on its side so that it can roll, for 3 hours. Make sure there is always plenty of boiling water in the pan, as lots of water around the can prevents it from overheating and bursting open. If you see the level of water dropping, simply add more boiling water. When the 3 hours is up, you will need to exercise still a bit more restraint, as it's extremely important to allow the contents of the can to cool to room temperature before you open the can. If you skip this cooling step, you could get an eyeful of burning milk caramel as it geysers out from the can. Anyway, at the end of the 3 hours, remove the can carefully with tongs from the water and ALLOW TO COOL to room temp. It is superb, once cooled, but if you hurt yourself making it, you will not enjoy it nearly as much as you will if you are patient.

Lemon Vinaigrette Asparagus with Goat Cheese

This post should actually have been written in May, so it's just a catch-up. I can't remember what the meal was that night, but this made a good side dish. Personally, I would probably omit the cheese if I was making it again, but that's just me. Jeannene liked it with the cheese.

Lemon Vinaigrette Asparagus with Goat Cheese

2 lb. asparagus, trimmed

Juice & zest of 1 lemon

 1 tbsp. olive oil

Salt & pepper

1/3 c. crumbled goat cheese

Steam asparagus until crisp-tender. Mix lemon juice with oil, salt, & pepper. Drizzle over the asparagus. Sprinkle with cheese and garnish with zest. Serves 4-6.

Warm Green Bean Salad

One of my favorite veggies ever, green beans have so many possibilities. While we've been eating the canned version in green bean casseroles lately and I tend to default to roasting or steaming and serving fairly plain with the fresh ones, sometimes I like something a little fancier. This salad is very good. The dressing, if you taste it before adding it to the green beans, may be a little much, but do not be alarmed. When paired with the salad, it's perfect. This recipe, which I got from my friend Kira and adapted, makes much more dressing than you will need. You can make less or, an option I like better, you can use it for other veggies the next day.

16 cloves garlic, with skins left on
2 1/2 tbsp. + 1/4 c. olive oil
1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp. chopped fresh basil
1 lb. green beans, trimmed
1 1/2 c. thinly sliced red onions
3 plum tomatoes, seeded and cut into matchstick strips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drizzle 2 tbsp. oil over garlic and bake, covered, 20 minutes. Uncover and bake another 10 minutes. Allow to cool, then squeeze garlic from skins. Process into a smooth paste with 1/2 tbsp. oil. Add vinegar and mix well. In large bowl, slowly add 1/4 c. oil, whisking as you go, until thick and smooth. Add basil, salt, & pepper. Cook beans until crisp-tender in boiling water, about 2 minutes. Drain and place in ice bath to stop cooking. Drain and pat dry. Toss with 1/2 tbsp. oil and season with salt & pepper. Preheat broiler (if preparing in summer, you can grill, instead). Broil beans until they're just starting to brown, stirring often, about 2 minutes. Place in large serving bowl. Add onions and tomatoes and toss with enough dressing to coat.  Serves 4-6.