Dumplings!!

I made a pot of chicken soup the other night to use up the rest of the chicken I had bought before it spoiled and it'd been sitting in the fridge until last night when I was so cold after walking home from the bus stop because there's no gas around my area at all and my Jeep's been sitting parked by my house for 2 days now and I'm taking the train to work.. it's just what I've gotta do for now.

.......But anyway... the chicken soup..

I went and heated up the soup last night, picked out the bones and thought to myself this soup need Dumplings... so I headed to the recipe box...

Dumplings:

1 Cup All Purpose flour
2 tsp. Baking powder
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs butter
1/2 C Milk


1. Stir together Flour, Baking Powder, Sugar & Salt in a medium size bowl.  Cut in butter until mealy and stir in milk until you've got a soft dough

2. Drop by spoonfuls into boiling soup/stew/broth cover and simmer for 15 minutes.  Do not take off the lid while it's cooking!


Soft fluffy dumplings :)

Chicken and black bean burritos

This has easily come to be one of my favorite quick meals.  Not only does it make enough for a family dinner (or for us enough for leftovers for a day or two) but it's quick and easy on a hot summer day.

Chicken and black bean burritos (adapted from cooking light)



1 pound chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 /2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons canola oil
1/2 cup lower-sodium canned black beans, rinsed and drained or soak dried beans as per package directions
1 garlic clove, minced
2 (10-inch) whole wheat tortillas
Preshredded Monterey Jack cheese (or cheese of your choice, I like the new Kraft with a touch of Philly blends, they melt really well)

Cooking spray (I keep canola oil in a spray bottle, no chemicals)
1/2 cup pico de gallo
1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream

Combine chicken, onion, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper in a bowl; toss well.

 Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Add oil & swirl to coat. 

Add chicken mixture; cook 8 minutes or until chicken is done, stirring occasionally. 

Add beans and garlic; cook 2 minutes or until heated, stirring frequently.

Place tortillas on a plate and cover with a damp paper towel, microwave 15-30 seconds to make malleable so they don't crack while you roll them up

Divide chicken mixture evenly among tortillas. 

Top each burrito with 2 tablespoons cheese. Roll up each burrito jelly-roll fashion.

 Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. 

Coat both sides of burritos evenly with cooking spray. 

Place burritos in pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until browned. 

Top with pico de gallo and sour cream.

Biscuits ... and more...

Sometimes I'm at a loss of what to cook around here.. not because I don't know what to cook, not that the kid is a picky eater... sometimes I just.don't.know.

The last few weeks money's been really tight and my usual $50/week grocery budget has had to be pinched a bit to make ends meet.  It happens, I manage to make it work.  It's not always easy, but I can always manage to make it work.  Yesterday I went online and scoped all the circulars for all the grocery stores around here to see which had the best deals to make the most meals for a week and then armed with some coupons and a solid list in my head I went in, grabbed just what was on my list and was out of there with a week's worth of groceries for $26.94.

I don't often buy breakfast sausage.. sometimes the list of ingredients really creeps me the hell out.. but at $1 a box I went and grabbed two boxes because, well.. makes for an easy addition to a meal.  Eggs were $1.69 for 18 eggs.. I usually spend $2.19 for a dozen so that was a great deal.   Breakfast is often a challenge around here since I'm not a big breakfast eater and kiddo here isn't either unless he can just grab it and go.  So this morning I went ahead and made some biscuits with scrambled eggs and sausage mixed right in.  No muss, no fuss.  but really tasty.  All it was missing was cheese.. I'll remember that next time.  About 1/2 shredded cheese would have made them super!

These biscuits are So easy and really light, fluffy and delicious!

Drop biscuits

2 C All purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp. Baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut into cubes
1 1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350°f  & Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, set baking sheet aside


In a large bowl add flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.

Mix with your hands to incorporate the dry ingredients together and then add the butter.

With your hands, incorporate the butter until it's the texture of a coarse meal*(see note about mix-ins).

Add the milk and give it a good stir with a wooden spoon or spatula to get it combined.

 DO NOT OVER MIX!

You want this a little lumpy, it's OK.

I use an ice cream scoop to drop even amounts of dough on the parchment lined sheet.

Bake 15-20 minutes and viola!

*Note
If you are adding mix-ins to the biscuits like meat, egg, cheese or all of the above add them to the dry ingredients and toss to coat them before adding the milk, this will keep them from sinking to the bottom of the biscuits.

I Don’t like lentils, I don’t like Lentils... Oh hey, Lentils are good

I can be a stubborn ass..

Ok.. I Am a stubborn ass, I’ll admit it.

For the longest time I swore up and down I didn’t like lentils.  I just thought they looked gross, they smelled weird and I really didn’t want anything to do with them.

But... Lentils are cheap.

And... Lentils are really, really good for you with only 230 cal, 16 grams of fiber and 18 grams of protein per cup they're a great addition to almost any meal.

So I manned up and bought some lentils one day at the grocery store at $.79/lb Yeah.. Like I said, they're cheap.

The lentils sat in my pantry for 2 weeks.. I sorta forgot about them... Wasn’t really sure what to make with them, so one day when it was really slow here in the office I decided to head on over to foodgawker and do a little recipe research.

When I got home that night I decided to just go with what I had in the pantry and if it came out good then I was one up.. If not I’d just have to try again.  I wasn’t even sure if The Kid was going to like it... so I was apprehensive when I called him to dinner but... he loved it.  I almost fell over.  I mean, I thought it was good, and he’s my toughest critic so I was really happy that it was good.

Since that day I’ve incorporated lentils into dinner a few nights a week and over the weekend something really awesome happened.  I decided to try on a pair of jeans that have been taunting me for months... I bought them on clearance months ago.. 2 sizes smaller than my regular size and I tried them on occasionally.. Knowing that eventually I would fit into them.  Sunday morning I saw them sitting there and I figured what the hell... they pulled right up.. They zipped and they buttoned with ease.   I almost cried.

I haven’t changed the way I exercise.. But I have incorporated more protein into my diet with the addition of lentils and that’s the only change I’ve made.  So yeah.. I’ll be sticking with it.

When I get home tonight I will have a recipe with pics to add here too.

Chicken with Lemon & Olives

I did something on Saturday night that I rarely do.. and should really do more often.

I get a lot of cooking magazines and I love to read them and ooh and ahh over the recipes and beautiful pictures.. and then I don't look back.  Way back when I started dating the BF he was horrified by my stacks of cooking mags that I had hidden under the coffee table in my living room.  The next time he came over he brought over these gigantic binders and told me to go through all the magazines, pull out the recipes I wanted and to please toss the rest.

and I did.  I was very good with it and I still have that binder... and I still haven't made more than half the recipes in there.. *GUILTY*  I can be such a recipe hoarder.  But in my own defense, since the BF and I started dating I moved and unfortunately my kitchen considerably downsized and therefore my kitchen adventures have been not as adventurous as I would like.  My kitchen is so small I don't even have a kitchen table... I have a .... hell, I don't even know what to call it other than sort of another counter that's roughly a foot wide and 3 feet long.  we could sit there and eat if I had stools, but I didn't want to shell out $$ for bar stools when I moved in and they weren't supplied.

Anyway....I digress.

Lets get back on track here.

Last week while The kid was on my computer doing his homework and there was absolutely nothing on TV I started to go to through the latest batch of cooking mags and wondering to myself.. WTF Ashley?  Why don't you make some of these recipes?  They look great, you know what you're doing just make a shopping list and go with it."

See, there's my problem.  I do my grocery trip on Fridays after work and more often than not I go without a list, which is bad bad bad.  I have to stick to a grocery budget of $50/week which isn't all that easy but it's still workable and I manage to do pretty well keeping within the budget buying only fresh foods and nothing prepackaged. (OMG I watched that show extreme couponing on TLC last week and was totally shocked at the amount of prepackaged foods these people consume. Gross!)

When I went grocery shopping on Friday armed with my list I got everything I needed and was happy that I would be sitting around going "hmm, what am I making for dinner tonight?" which I do more often than I'm willing to admit.

I made these Saturday night and wow, they were so good.  The only thing I was missing was honey because I was positive that I had a jar, but it turns out I didn't.  They were still fantastic though!

Chicken with Lemon and Olives

Recipe from Cooking Light Magazine

YIELD: 4 servings (serving size: 1 leg quarter and 2 tablespoons sauce)

COST PER SERVING:$2.39

Ingredients
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
6 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
4 chicken leg quarters, skinned
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
16 pimiento-stuffed green olives, halved
1 lemon, thinly sliced
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°f.
2. Combine first 7 ingredients; marinate at room temperature 30 minutes.
3. Pour marinade into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Arrange chicken in dish; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with olives and lemon slices. Bake at 400°f for 40 minutes or until a thermometer registers 165°f.
4. Remove chicken from dish; keep warm. Strain sauce over a saucepan, reserving solids. Bring sauce to a boil; cook 3 minutes or until slightly thick. Stir in olives and garlic; serve with chicken and lemons. Top with parsley.

Southwest style chicken & veggies with pasta

My local grocery store had the new Philly cooking creme on sale for 2/$4, I had a coupon with me for a free container.  Now, I hadn't planned on going to the supermarket at all today.  Actually, in all honesty it would have been nice to just stay in my PJ's and clean on this rainy Sunday.  But since we were out anyway to pick up The Kid's reserved copies of both Pokemon Black & Pokemon White and I was out of my favorite black cherry flavored water I figured I'd grab some groceries for the week while I was at it.

I picked up the Italian Herb and the Southwest style Philly Cooking creme along with a pack of Chicken thighs.  Now, you can use whatever kind of chicken you want.. I tend to stick with thighs for everyday cooking because they're cheaper than breasts and are easy to cook pretty much any way you want.

Cook the chicken (skin removed) in a preheated skillet (because I used thighs I didn't bother adding any oil to the pan)  Cook about 10 minutes on each side, turning twice until they're cooked through.

Into the pan add 1 thawed bag of broccoli florets (I use frozen because they're cheaper, I know they're fresh and they're there whenever I need them) and 1/2 box of mini rigatoni or any shaped pasta you'd like.

Stir in 1/2 container of Santa Fe style Philly cooking creme until incorporated.

The cooking creme holds up very well and has a great flavor.  Next time I'm going to try it with rice.   I didn't add any seasoning to my chicken before I cooked it and the cooking creme alone was just enough to give everything in the pan a wonderful flavor with light creaminess.  I didn't use the entire container because I was making just enough for myself & the kiddo.. so if you're cooking for more than 2 you should definitely use the entire container.

The final verdict was 2 thumbs up from The Kid & myself.

Portuguese Kale Soup

Some days are soup days, you just want warmth and comfort and a full belly with little effort.  Sunday was that day for me.  It was in the low 30's when I got up and I woke up knowing I was going to make soup.  I had picked up Chorizo at the store on Saturday with this soup in mind.  It's so incredibly good that between The Kid and myself, the entire pot of soup was gone by the end of the day.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 lb chorizo sausage 

1 quart chicken broth
1 large onion, roughly diced
4 large potatoes, cubed
1 bunch kale, stemmed washed & chopped (abt. 1 lb.)
fresh ground black pepper
salt (optional)

Cut sausage into bite sized pieces.

Heat oil in a heavy soup pot; saute the sausage& onion just until the fat is rendered, about 3 to 5 minutes.

Drain on paper towels.

Add other ingredients except kale

Bring to boil and simmer 10 minutes.

Add kale and simmer about 8 minutes until tender.

Taste for seasoning- depending on how spicy your sausage is, add salt and pepper to taste.

Dinner for 2, less than $5!

bag of Frozen Broccoli Florets: $1.50
Box of Angel Hair: $1
Garlic (sleeve of 10 heads) $1.00
salt, pepper & 2Tbs olive oil

Preheat oven to 350°f

Peel and smash 3 cloves of garlic

pour bag of frozen broccoli out onto a foil lined baking sheet

pull apart smashed garlic and sprinkle it around the top of the broccoli

Roast in the oven for 20 minutes.

While the broccoli and garlic are in the oven put on a pot of water to boil

Cook pasta according to box directions

drain pasta and toss it back into the pot with the oil

Stir to coat the pasta with the oil

add broccoli and garlic, stirring to combine

Cover and let sit for 5 minutes to let the flavors combine with the pasta.

Enjoy!

$5, 6 ingredients and less than 15 minutes.. Dinner!

Tonight I wanted something quick for dinner with stuff that I had on hand.. so I opened up the cabinets and it hit me...

Quick fix hearty pasta

1 box rigatoni
2 Tbs Olive oil
3 cloves garlic, Minced
1 can pitted black olives, drained
1 can diced Italian style tomatoes
Basil


Cook pasta according to box directions, drain and add back to saucepan with oil
add Garlic, olives and tomatoes to pan and turn the heat on medium stirring frequently for 2 minutes.
Turn off the heat and add the basil.
Cover and let stand 3 minutes and serve with Parmesan cheese.

Cheap and Easy.. 3 ingredient dinner

Yesterday was one of those days.. Besides the fact that the weekend flew bye and my office was chaotic with 7 lines ringing almost continuously all day I knew I was going home to an empty refrigerator with no idea as to what I was going to make for dinner.

As I sat on the bus contemplating if I should stop at the supermarket on my way home or find an alternative it dawned on me.. There was an onion in the fridge and that became the foundation of my dinner... yea, it sounds weird, but keep reading... I just had to stop at the deli and get Swiss and I was ready, woo hoo!

Years back I rented from a little German lady who gave me this recipe one of those nights when I was in college, working and raising a toddler. It’s fast, easy and the best part above even that.. It’s Delicious!

(She made this recipe using Spaetzle, but I just use regular pasta when I’m in a pinch) Tyler Florence’s recipe for Spaetzle, I dont’ use chives though)

1 batch Spaetzle or ½ box Ditalini (cooked)
1 medium onion, diced
½ lb. Swiss cheese, diced

Cook pasta according to box directions (or Spaetzle according to recipe) Drain and set aside.

In the same pot that you used to cook the pasta heat 1 Tbs. oil and add onion, Cook until lightly browned. Turn off the heat and add the pasta, stir to coat the pasta and then add the Swiss cheese. Stir to combine and melt the cheese. Cover for 2 minutes and serve with a salad.

Viola! Dinner :)

Nothing like a warm bowl of Pasta E Fagioli

It was nice today, still cool but it is October after all so I can’t complain too much (even though I still do, lol) it wasn’t raining and it wasn’t near freezing like it’s been the past 2 days but I’ve been thinking about Pasta E Fagioli all week and the only thing I didn’t have was a can of beans.. But I got that taken care of on my way home tonight (yay)

Pasta E Fagioli (pronounced like Pasta Fazool) is one of my favorite dishes, it’s quick, hearty and can be served as a main dish or a side.. Tonight it was the main event with some fresh baked bread.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 diced onion
1/3 cup diced Prosciutto or you can use Italian sausage, removed from it’s casing and crumbled
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 15-ounce cans Great Northern or Cannellini beans with their liquid
4 cups chicken broth
Salt & Pepper to taste
2 cups canned plum tomatoes, well drained and chopped
1 pound Ditalini or other small macaroni, cooked
1/4 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese (Optional)

Directions:
1. Combine oil, onion, prosciutto(Or Sausage, that’s what I use most often), and garlic in a large saucepan over medium heat. Sauté for about 5 minutes or until onions are translucent and begin to turn golden. Be careful not to burn the garlic.
2. Stir in beans and their liquid, add broth and salt & pepper and bring to a boil. Add tomatoes and return to a boil. Lower heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes
3. Stir in cooked pasta and cook for an additional 5 minutes.

Serve hot, sprinkled with Pecorino Romano cheese, if desired.

This is something that my grandma made when I was a kid and I would sit there with the cheese and black pepper and ‘fix it up’ the way I liked it and would sit there with the bread sopping up every last bit.

It's cold, and I don't like it

Once the weather drops below 50 I'm not a very happy camper, I don't like the cold, I'm not a huge fan of winter (and go figure, the Kid is a Winter baby) I was born in the summer and I like it Hot, once it's over 80° I'm happy.. (I might whine because I have no ac, but that's a given with anyone I think.) I love the long days of summer and being outside, catching fireflies, having dinner outside and not having to wear 3 layers of clothing to keep warm.

I woke up this morning and it really hit me.. HOLY CRAP! it was 42° outside and not much warmer in here.. my landlord still hasn't turned the heat on. I can't 'really go and bitch and moan to turn the heat on, but I'd like to! I'd also like to bitch about the party they had last night well into the early morning hours.. but then again I have to remember that this is not my house, I'm just renting here, but a little common courtesy would be nice.

Anyway, as I'm starting to veer to the left here let me get back on track.. because since it was so annoyingly cold in my apartment this morning I decided I was going to make pot roast in my crock pot, but I was out of my usual cream of mushroom soup.. damn.. in the very back of my cabinet I found a packet of vegetable soup mix, so I worked with that and it all turned out really good :)
1-4 lb pot roast
3 potatoes cut into chunks
1 packet Vegetable soup mix

Really, that's it. I started it off on low at 8am and at 12pm I flipped it over and cooked it another 4 hours. The meat totally fell apart and there was almost a full pot of gravy in there! Since P. likes his more of an au jus I left it as is and served some sauteed broccoli and garlic on the side with some freshly baked bread. ( I told you, it's cold in my apartment, so I turned on the oven to bake some bread too, lol)

Sausage and Peppers, in the crock pot!

I'd been staring at the sausage in the pack in the refrigerator since Tuesday.. I kept saying I'll get around to it.. and I did.. last night, at 10:30.. I was getting ready to go to bed and I decided that I was just going to toss it all in the Crockpot and just give it a go.. if it didn't taste good I had chicken in the fridge.. so.. I did just that!

I lined the Crockpot with my trusty Reynolds liner and started layering..

1 whole onion chopped
1 bag of frozen mixed pepper strips (seriously people, these are the best things.. I can't spend $2.99 for a pound of peppers, I just can't.. it's insane unless I"m having a party or making a special dinner, these are like $1.49 for a 10 ounce bag of yellow, red and green at Stop and shop)
1 pound sweet Italian sausage
1 cup crushed canned tomatoes
2 Tbs. dried Italian seasoning


Chop up the onion and toss in first to make a layer at the bottom of the Crock

Take the skin off the sausage and toss it on top of the onions

Dump the bag of Pepper strips over the sausage

Pour in the tomatoes

Sprinkle Italian seasoning over tomatoes

Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours (or overnight if you're like me)


I turned the Crockpot on when I got home and heated this all up (it was in the fridge all day) and served it with some crusty Italian bread that I picked up on the way home.. It was so Freakin' good! there was a Ton of sauce and the sausage was all crumbly.. It wasn't Grandma's with the nice caramelized onions and peppers.. but it was still really good with very little effort.

OMG, I just realized this is my 100th blog post! WOW!!

Tomorrow I'm gonna have to post something really good :)