A whole lotta cookin' goin' on!

Now is when I begin to list the reasons why I have not been blogging so frequently. Okay, not really.

Thank you for being patient as I made my blog private, and muchas gracias to my faithful readers (right?).

I have tons to catch up on, and you know what they say about procrastination? Well, what do they say?

I'm going to upload the pictures of what I have cooked in the past, oh, month or so, and then write descriptions as I go. Sounds good? Okay, I am glad :-)

My goal for dinner this night was a fresh, healthy breakfast for dinner. In my elementary school, breakfast for dinner was bittersweet. I loved having French Toast, pancakes or French Toast sticks, but always disliked the inevitable sticky plastic utensils. Sticky utensils still continue to be one of my issues.

 Fresh Sweet Fruit Salad


Baby arugula
Peeled and chopped into chunks pink lady apple
Watermelon chopped into slightly larger chunks

Zucchini and Tomato Scones

This recipe comes from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. They were a bit dry, but then again, if I used real butter like the recipe called for, I might have had flaky scones. It was interesting to have a scone that wasn't extremely sweet---blueberry scones,  plain scones...  I think that if I get the guts to use real butter (and believe me, this would take A LOT), I'd try it again.

Eggs in a Frame/Gas-house Eggs

Growing up, I'd usually spend a week of my summer at my grandparents' (Dad's parental units) home. This is the first place I remember having the buttery, gooey taste of Gas-house Eggs. Really simple to make, and if you use Egg Beaters like me, they are relatively healthy.

Step one, cut a hole in the bread.
Step two...okay, really...step one is to spread a thin, even layer of margarine on both sides of the bread, then cut the hole in the bread. But if you got where I was going with the Step one thing, thank you!

Then place in frying pan, add either 1 egg or about 1/4 c Egg Beaters to hole, then fry 'er up!

Indian (Chicken) With Curried Cauliflower

 

Summer Corn Saute With Tons of Herbs

Disclaimer: I can't help that you will want to make this 7 nights a week!

 

Roasted Pear and Arugula Salad with Honey Sesame Dressing

R 

One-Pot Spaghetti Supper

This recipe comes from the Parade magazine that comes with Sunday newspapers. Since Dan and I elect not to receive a Sunday paper, my Mom sends me these magazines to catch up on reading them---they are really interesting!

Anyways, this was a healthy way to incorporate a serving of fish into dinner time---tuna fish!

 

Thai-Style Chicken Wraps with Mango Salsa

To Dan and I, any ethnic food is yummy! I was really excited when my Mom sent me this recipe from The Pittsburgh Post Gazette. This was easy to make and tasty. The peanut flavoring was very good---I ground unsalted peanuts in a Slap-Chop to make the peanut topping.

From Italy to Galilee...to too toasty risotto

Since its summer, I've been experimenting with salads other than the typical garden salad with dressing. Either I've been making vegetable salads or fruit salads or making homemade dressings for field greens. The homemade dressings are so easy to make! And, when you think about the list of ingredients on the back of a store-bought dressing compared to the 4 or 6 ingredients in homemade dressing...it makes you smile...or cringe.

This night, we started with Green Bean and Mushroom Salad that was in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. This was very easy to make and tasted so fresh! I mean, it wasn't filling, but it was tasty! The ingredients were all fresh (except my green beans since I can't have fresh legumes, ridiculous, I know) and mostly something you'd find in your kitchen!

Each week, the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle includes recipes called "The Chronicle Cooks." I usually cut them out because a) They are (mostly) Kosher and b) Usually tasty!

Galilee Spinach Soup was Cheesecake Factory on a scale of McDonald's to La Tour d'Argent. It was edible and spiceful, but just okay. When I make soup, I like it to include a protein so it is not just extra calories. The recipe intrigued me because it included chicken. Dan had two helpings, go figure!

Since I didn't want us to be hungry after dinner and to avoid snacking, I made one side dish for the soup. Toasted Orzo Pasta is a recipe that I found in Parade Magazine (you know, the one that comes with your Sunday paper). Either my orzo toasted too fast or...well, really, that is it. So the ten little burned orzo added a very cajun taste to the rest of the orzo. Although the onion, chicken broth and barley did add to the taste, the burnt orzo really took over. I'd try it again and just toast very very slowly on low heat!

Bon appetit!

Whole Wheat Muffins

To accompany our chicken soup, I made Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Muffins! These were very easy to make, healthy, and sweet!

We ended up eating them as dessert, which was fine by us! I ate one for breakfast the next morning, a good breakfast food!

There are two versions of the recipe on the package...one with applesauce and one without. I used the one with applesauce because I figure its another way to get fruit nutrients.

These are very healthy, and tasty!

Bon appetit!

Gram's Chicken Soup

When I was younger, I ate over my Grandparents' home a lot. I always liked what we had for dinner, but always looked forward to when my Gram made chicken soup. This was probably the only time I asked for seconds---not because I didn't like the other dishes, but I was the most finicky eater around. (Who takes 30 minutes to chew a steak? Mom, remember this?)

To make Gram's Chicken Noodle Soup, I first boiled about 1 c uncooked yolk-free egg noodles. I set these aside, rinsed the pot (with warm water to keep it hot) and refilled and then boiled two breasts of chicken. While boiling chicken is not the most pleasant thing, I like how the chicken turns out, especially for soup. If you haven't boiled chicken before, please, please please, for the love of anything lovable, skim the frothy stuff that appears up top. After the chicken was boiled, I then washed and switched the water again.

I put the chicken aside on a dish, brought 8 cups of water to a boil. I seasoned by water to make broth with: garlic powder, onion powder, and a PINCH of salt. I then added:

1 c peas
1 c corn
1/2 c barley
1/4 c quinoa
1/4 c lentils

I let everything simmer together for about ten minutes before adding the season de resistance: ketchup!

When I asked for the recipe, which I admittedly tweaked with the addition of quinoa and lentils, Gram told me her not-so-secret seasoning is ketchup! So, I squirted in about 1/4 c of the red stuff (This is a time I wish I had green ketchup!) and stirred. Taste, and if you want, add more...I did!

Bon appetit!