Tag Archives: chef

Red Beans and Rice

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I am a New Orleanian trapped in a Chicagoan’s body.

I just realized this as I sit here streaming traditional New Orleans jazz on WWOZ-FM while a pot of Red Beans and Rice slow cooks in the kitchen, filling the house with the spicy, smoky aroma of a lazy Monday afternoon in the Crescent City.

Red Beans and Rice

Red Beans and Rice

You see, red beans and rice is traditionally made on Mondays using the leftovers from Sunday’s dinners. I have an old Times-Picayune cookbook that says this tradition that goes back to the city’s colonial days, when ham was what was for dinner on Sunday, and the scraps and leftovers were boiled with a pot of beans all day Monday, while the washing was done.

It is a dish still closely identified with New Orleans. When you visit the city, you will see it on a lot of restaurant menus, and a big pot of it is cooked whenever people gather together to watch a Saints game, for Mardi Gras or second line celebrations, or any other festive occasion, from what I’m told.

Red beans and rice was Louis Armstrong’s favorite dish. How cool is that? Also, how cool is it that the city’s airport is named for Louis Armstrong?!  What a place! (Can you imagine naming O’Hare after Chicago musicians? Buddy Guy International Airport? Styx Field? Wait, I actually kind of like both of those.)

You can put a lot of things in red beans and rice, besides the titular ingredients. Traditionally, there’s a mix of vegetables and ham or sausage in a tomato-based sauce, but there are really no limits. If you serve it with jalapeno cornbread, please call me because I will be there.

I like to mix all the ingredients the night before in the crock pot, then refrigerate it until the next morning. Before going to work, I pop it into the slow-cooker, set the timer for 8 hours on low and when I get home the house is filled with magic. Must drive the dogs nuts.

If you’re home, you can also cook it on the stovetop over a low flame for several hours. Just give it a stir once in a while when you walk past it.

If you buy one of those boxes of Zatarain’s red beans and rice, your heart is in the right place, but you’re not doing it right.

Red Beans and Rice

16 oz package Polska Kielbasa (or Turkey Kielbasa), sliced into medallions

1 medium white onion, diced

1/2 green pepper, diced

3-4 carrots, peeled and diced

2 celery stalks, diced

2-3 jalapenos, seeds and ribs removed, diced

15 oz can whole peeled tomtoes, hand crushed

12 oz can diced tomatos and chiles

2 cans red beans, drained and rinsed

1 bay leaf

1 cup Spicy V-8

2 cups cooked rice

Combine all ingredients, except the rice, in crock pot. Stir together and cook on low for 8-10 hours, stirring occasionally.

To plate, press rice into a ramekin and invert in the center of a soup bowl. Ladle the red beans mixture around the rice, and garnish with parsley or cilantro sprigs.

Serve with jalapeno cornbread or any kind of fresh made bread, turn on a little Professor Longhair and you officially are an honorary New Orleanian.

Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans? Share your Crescent City favorites in the comments section below. And thanks for looking at my blog!

The Whole Enchilada

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Did you every make something just so you could make something else with the leftovers? I do that all the time so we can have one of our favorites – enchiladas.

Enchiladas are kind of like open-ended burritos that are baked. They always include a traditional sauce made out of a variety of roasted peppers pureed together, and they usually include some sort of cheese.

Chicken, Black Bean and Corn Enchiladas

Chicken, Black Bean and Corn Enchiladas

Whatever else they are filled with is up to you.

I have collected recipes for enchilada sauce, but it’s one of those things that is just easier to buy. It’s not really very expensive and you can get it in a 14 oz can, which is just the right amount. Its very flavorful but not all that spicy.

We like to stuff our enchiladas with leftover chicken, pork or just beans and corn if that’s all we have. I almost always make a little rice to bind it together, but I’ve also made it without rice.

I have a wonderful rice steamer, which is soooo easy to use — you just pour in the rice and liquid, turn it on and forget about it! But I have been making brown rice lately because it’s healthier and I’m trying to weed out our overflowing pantry. Brown rice needs to be made on the stovetop because it takes a lot longer to cook.

I haven’t used instant rice ever since I learned that nearly all the nutritional value is leached out when they pre-cook it then dehydrate it. Yuck.

Whenever I cook a chicken, beef or some sort of pork, I almost always plan on making enchiladas with the leftovers a day or two later. I can justify spending money on the meat if I know I’m going to get at least two meals and probably a lunch out of it.

If you only have a little bit of leftover protein, you can stretch it out with extra rice or beans.

Enchiladas are also another excuse for us to have our favorite homemade guacamole. I also serve it with (fat free) sour cream and our special salsa blend, which is made with two parts regular salsa (any kind) and one part chipotle sauce, which has a wonderful smoky flavor but is much too spicy to eat on its own.

We probably have enchiladas at least twice per month. It’s a night we look forward to because it’s super delicious and easy to make. It can even be made a day ahead of time if you know you are going to be busy, or you can even freeze it for another time.

Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas

8-12 oz leftover chicken, white or dark meat, diced

15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

14 oz can enchilada sauce

1 cup cooked rice

1 cup cooked corn, canned or fresh

1 cup shredded cheese (cheddar and Monterey Jack mix preferred)

5 whole wheat tortillas

Assembling the Enchiladas

Assembling the Enchiladas

Preheat oven to 375F. Spray a 9″x9″ baking pan with pan spray.

Combine chicken, beans, rice, 3/4 of cheese and 3/4 can of the enchilada sauce in mixing bowl and stir together. Lay out tortilla on cutting board, fill one side with 1/5 of the mixture, roll up tightly and place sealed side down in baking dish. Repeat with remaining four tortillas. Drizzle remaining enchilada sauce over the top, then sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cover with foil and cook for 35 minutes. Remove foil and cook another 5-10 minutes to crisp up the top.

Serve with guacamole, sour cream, salsa and tortilla chips. Also goes great with beer.

The Mystery of Foccacia Bread

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One of the things that inspired me most to become a chef was bread.

Bread is alive. It eats, it breathes, it grows, it changes shapes. I was drawn to the mystery of how all those things happened.

Tomato and Mozzarella Foccacia

Tomato and Mozzarella Foccacia

Even after studying the scientific facts of bread, and memorizing lists of what each ingredient adds to the equation, and reporting on bread faults and what causes them, I’m still filled with a sense of wonder about the whole process.

I understand how it works. I just like to think about why it works because it’s beautiful and magical.

Baking bread is one of my favorite things to do. I’ve written before about how I wish more people would bake their own bread, and how easy and rewarding it is. The aroma of baking bread fills your house with goodness.

So when I came across a recipe for focaccia bread — an oil-rich Italian flatbread that is a relative to pizza — on the wonderful Hungry in Milwaukee blog, I knew I had to try it.

Foccacia dough is stickier than other bread doughs

Foccacia dough is stickier than other bread doughs

Focaccia dough is stickier than most bread doughs I usually work with. It reminded me of coffee cake dough with its tacky texture.

The inclusion of a sponge starter — a little bit of yeast, water and flour made the night before that helps foccacia to get a running start on fermentation — means it will have holes of various sizes, rather than than uniformity, when you cut it open. I like that.

But the real attraction for me is that you can pack foccacia with cheese, olives, onions, tomatoes, you name it, and it is strong enough to not only hold everything together, but stand up to the flavors and not let them overpower the bread.

A side note: Normally I can find sun dried tomatoes at one of the local grocery stores, but for whatever reason there weren’t any this week, so I made my own oven-dried tomatoes. Just cut some plum tomatoes in half, use your finger to pull out the seeds, salt them, let them drain face down for about an hour, then flip them over and roast them in a slow (200-225F) oven for several hours. The result is a tomato with a highly concentrated flavor, perfect for this recipe.

Sun Dried Tomato and Mozzarella Foccacia

Foccacia sponge

1/16 tsp active dry yeast

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup plus 3 TBS all-purpose flour

Combine yeast and water and let rest 5 minutes. Then add bread flour and stir. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature 12-24 hours. Sponge will become thick and bubbly.

Foccacia

1-1/4 cup plus 2 TBS water

1/2 cup EVOO

Focaccia sponge

1-3/4 tsp active dry yeast

2 TBS plus 3/4 tsp corn meal

3-1/3 cup all purpose flour, more if needed

1 TBS sea salt, plus more for sprinkling over loafs

4 oz fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/2″ cubes

4-5 sun dried or oven dried tomatoes, slightly rehydrated, rough chop

1 tsp dried thyme

1. Combine water, 1 TBS EVOO and sponge in bowl of Kitchen Aid mixer (or mix in bowl with wooden spoon if you don’t have one). Combine yeast, corn meal and flour in another bowl. Using dough hook, mix on low and slowly add the flour mixture to the wet mixture.

2. Add the salt and increase speed to medium. Mix until dough starts to pull away from the walls, about 6-8 minutes. Add additional flour if dough is too damp.

3. Pour TBS of EVOO into a clean mixing bowl, then use a napkin to spread the oil throughout the bowl. Turn the dough out into the bowl, then cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let it sit undisturbed in draft-free, warm place until doubled in size, about 90 minutes.

4. Gently dust a counter with flour, then turn dough out onto counter. Acting as if the round has four sides, fold the edges of the dough toward the center. Sprinkle a little more flour on top, flip the dough, then return it to another clean, greased mixing bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let double in size again, about an hour.

5. Measure out 1/4 cup EVOO, then pour evenly into two 9″ cake pans and swirl around so that the bottoms and walls are completely covered. Dust the counter again, turn out the dough again, then use a knife to cut into two equal halves. Place the halves in the cake pans then cover with a clean dishtowel and let rest about 5 minutes.

6. Use your fingers to poke holes in the dough and fill each hole with a cheese cube or sun dried tomato. Cover the pans with the dishtowel and let rest about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425F.

7. Just before putting the dough into the oven, brush with EVOO and sprinkle liberally with thyme and salt. Bake on center rack for 30 minutes, then move to lower rack for the final 5 minutes to form a crisp bottom crust. Remove from pans and cool on racks.

You can play around with different cheeses and herbs — cheddar and rosemary are a good combination — as well as vegetables, such as carmelized onions or olives. Foccacia is great on its own, or it goes well with pasta. I served mine with a gemelli in red sauce with grilled Italian sausage.

What bread recipes do you love to cook? Why not share them in the comments section below? And thanks for looking at my blog!

Meat Free Monday – Quick Quesadillas

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Quesadillas, or Mexican grilled cheese sandwiches, are a quick and easy choice for when you don’t have a lot of time to make dinner.

At our house, we almost always have a jar of salsa and some fat-free sour cream sitting in our fridge. And I’ve already written about our passion for guacamole.

Mango, Black Bean and Corn Quesadillas

Mango, Black Bean and Corn Quesadillas

With these three garnishes ready to go, nothing could be simpler than filling a few tortillas with some shredded cheese and whatever your have lying around — leftover chicken, or a couple of shrimp, or just cheese alone.

I love to fill them with fruit, especially mangoes, which happen to be really cheap this time of year.

A mango has a disc-shaped seed running through the center of it lengthwise. To remove it, simply use a paring knife to cut along either side of it. Then take the halves and make cross-hatch cuts, then invert it. From there it’s easy to cut off the diced mango peices.

Add a bowl of tortilla chips and you’ve got yourself a fun and inexpensive Mexican appetizer or dinner!

Quesadillas have been on a lot of menus at restaurants where I’ve worked because people love them and they are very inexpensive and efficient to make.

At home, quesadillas are something we probably have about two or three times per month, so we usually have a package of whole wheat tortillas and some sort of cheese, almost any kind will do, really.

In the past, we’ve used the pre-shredded Mexican cheese from the grocery store because it’s so convenient, but I began shredding my own after I learned those pre- shredded cheeses are sometimes sprayed with chemicals to prevent them from getting dusty. Also, they are more expensive.

Instead, I’ve been picking up a nice piece of Chihuahua cheese from the Hispanic grocery store, or something called “quesadilla cheese,” which is a soft, shreddable cheese that is less expensive, but not as flavorful.

Or I will use cheddar, monterey jack, gouda, mozzarella or combination of whatever cheese I have that I can shred. Whatever will melt nicely will work just fine. Stay away from blue cheese or paremesan, though. Their flavor will overpower the dish.

I usually spray my quesadillas with pay spray and just bake them in the oven, for convenience sake, but in restaurants I will cook them on the flat top griddle because it is faster and they get a nice, brown crispy crust.

If I’m just cooking for myself, I will use my cast iron skillet.

Serve them with little bowls of salsa, sour cream, guacamole, shredded lettuce and some tortilla chips and you’ve got yourself a party!

Mango, Black Bean and Corn Quesadillas

6 whole wheat tortillas

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can cut corn, drained and rinsed (or even better, cut kernels from one leftover grilled corn on the cob)

1 mango, diced

2 cups shredded Chihuahua cheese

1 TBS cumin

1/2 TBS chili powder

Pan spray

Preheat oven to 375F. Spray sheet pan with pan spray and lay out three tortillas. Distribute half the cheese evenly among the three, then the beans, mangoes, corn, then the remaining cheese. Sprinkle with the cumin and chili powder, then cover with the remaining tortillas and spray generously with pan spray. Bake about 20 minutes or until tortillas are crisp. Remove from oven and cut into four slices each. Serve with salsa, sour cream, guacamole, shredded lettuce and tortilla chips.

If you have any cilantro, it’s also nice to use.

Do you have any fast and easy favorites? Why not share them in the comments section below? And thanks for looking at my blog!

Apple Butter On My Mind

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I wish my family had a tradition of jarring our own apple butter every autumn, but we don’t.

I only learned about this sweet, healthy spread a few years ago when I was dieting and looking for an alternative to butter or margarine. But I love the romantic idea of making an annual pilgrimage to the apple orchard, picking a bushel of delicious apples, then taking them home to make apple butter.

Oh, well. I suppose we could start a new tradition, because making apple butter is super easy and inexpensive. It also is very healthy because it is 100 percent natural.

People have been making apple butter since at least the Revolutionary War era. I like to imagine people in tri-cornered hats plucking apples from the tree, then carrying the bushels home to cook them down, mash them, then store them in jars for the long winter ahead.

It’s called apple butter because you spread it like butter, not because it contains any butter or actual dairy products. It is a lot like applesauce, except it’s cooked longer so it is darker, denser and sweeter.

Apple butter is healthier for you than real butter because it contains no fat and no added sugar. All the sweetness comes naturally from the fruit.

Obvioiusly, you can make apple butter any time, but it usually is made this time of year because of the apple harvest. It will keep for months in your refrigerator. It also makes a lovely, handmade gift for you to share with your family, friends and neighbors.

I found these cute little jars at the dollar store. They are just the right size.

It is very inexpensive to make, especially if you buy apples when they are on sale, which they always are this time of year. It’s also a good way to use up apples you pick yourself at the orchard.

You can use any kind of apples you like. I used a combination of a sack of inexpensive red apples I picked up at the grocery store and some green Granny Smiths I had lying around. If you want to take the time to peel the apples, that’s fine. But they are going to get cooked all the way down, then pureed anyway, so it’s not essential.

This time of year brings a lot of changes, from the color of the leaves to cooling temperatures. It sets the stage for all the rituals and traditions of the holiday season, and the long winter that follows. I think I’ll make apple butter one of those annual rites that can make these changes something to look forward to all year round.

Apple Butter

4-5 lbs apples, cored and sliced

1 cup apple juice or cider

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/4 tsp grated nutmeg

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp sea salt

Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Bring to boil, then reduce to lowest heat possible. Cook until apples turn to mush and are dark brown, about 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Cool. Puree using an immersion blender, or mix small batchers in the food processor or blender.

What autumn food rituals does your family enjoy every year? Share them in the comments section below. And thanks for looking at my blog!

End of the Farmer’s Market Season

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Farmer’s Markets are winding down. Today was the final day until next Spring for the one I visited this morning.

This makes me sad because there are great bargains to be found at the Farmer’s Market. Today I spent $3.50 and bought a beautiful baking pumpkin, about 3/4 pound of lovely turnips, a bag of shelling beans, and three ears of end-of-the-season sweet corn.

End of the Farmer's Market Season

End of the Farmer's Market Season

But even when I don’t buy anything, I just love to stroll through the Farmer’s Markets. Where I live, there’s at least one every day of the week from spring until autumn.

All farmer’s markets are different, yet they are all the same. There’s the hectic bustle in the big produce tents contrasted by the serenity of the flower salesman, his wares splayed colorfully on the ashpalt. The plain Mennonite women in their bonnets selling homemade breads and sweets, next to entrepreneurs hawking jewelry, gym memberships or timeshares.

I often see the same two older gentlemen sitting at a folding table selling jars of suspect honey, chatting with passersby. I’ve never actually seen them make a sale, although they must sell something to afford the space rental.

In summer, children run in bursts between the aisles and down the midway, excited by the colors, smells and sounds. By autumn, the kids are safely back in school and their parents return alone or in pairs to pick efficiently through the produce, taking a brief respite from their busy days.

Day after day, month after month, year after year.

Here’s a recipe for one-pot pork roast I made with some of the produce I bought today. It’s an quick and easy dish to prepare on a quiet autumn afternoon. The quantities are purposely vague so that you can use whatever you have or don’t have on hand.

One-Pot Pork Roast

One-Pot Pork Roast

See you next year, Farmer’s Market! Sigh.

One-Pot Pork Roast

3-4 lb pork roast

1/2 TBS sea salt

1/4 tsp cracked black pepper

1/2 TBS onion powder

1/2 TBS granulated garlic

1/2 TBS dried thyme

2 TBS EVOO

1-2 white onions, rough chop

3-4 carrots, peeled and rough chop

3-4 white turnips, peeled and rough chop

4-5 red potatoes, quartered

2 cloves garlic, smashed but not crushed

1 cup beef stock (or chicken stock)

1 bay leaf

1 sprig fresh rosemary

3-4 sprigs fresh thyme

Put cast iron pan over heat. Meanwhile, season pork roast liberally with salt, pepper, onion powder, granulated garlic and dried thyme. When hot, pour TBS EVOO into skillet. When smoking, sear pork roast on all sides until dark brown.

Put large pot over heat. When hot, add TBS EVOO. When smoking, add onion, carrot and turnip. Cook until slightly brown, about five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add stock and bring up to boil. Add potatoes, garlic cloves and bay leaf. Place pork roast directly on top of vegetables, throw rosemary and thyme sprigs on top, cover and place in 350F oven for 35 minutes.

Remove from oven, remove roast to cutting board and and let rest, uncovered, 5 minutes.

To plate, spoon vegetables in heap in center of pasta bowl. Slice pork into medium slices and place on top. Spoon a little of the liquid over the top of the pork. Garnish with parsley or fresh herb sprigs.

Head-to-Toe Pumpkin Soup

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It’s autumn and pumpkins are everywhere – grocery stores, garden centers, Farmer’s Markets, pumpkin farms.

So what does one do with all these pumpkins? In my case, make a horrible mess. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin Soup

First things first: pumpkins are edible. In fact, they are delicious. Basically, you cook them like most other edible squash, such as acorn, butternut, spaghetti. But our culture fetishizes carving them into scary jack-o-lanterns, so many people think edible pumpkin only comes in a can.

Large pumpkins are for decoration. They are purposely overgrown and the flesh is too pulpy. Cooking pumpkins are the medium sized ones, about the size of a large softball. The smaller ones make cute serving vessels.

A while ago, I picked up a cooking pumpkin and a couple of smaller ones to make pumpkin soup, but I didn’t get to it until yesterday. Pumpkin soup is easy, but there are multiple steps. And it can be dangerous, as we’ll see.

A few days ago, I cut the cooking pumpkin in half, removed the guts and seeds, sprayed both sides with cooking spray and roasted it in a 375F oven for about 35 minutes until it was soft. When it cooled, I scooped out the meat, threw away the skin and refrigerated the roast pumpkin.

Yesterday, I pulled out all my ingredients and went about making the soup. All was well until it came time to blend it. In a commercial kitchen, I would use an immersion blender, which is a giant version of one of those blending sticks that used to be popular for making smoothies and such.

Sadly, I don’t own one of these, so I used my blender. I filled it about 3/4 full with hot, chunky pumpkin soup, held down the lid with a dishtowel and flipped it on.

The soup exploded out of the blender and went all over everything — me, the windows, the curtains, the ceiling, the ceiling fan, one of the dogs, everything. It seems when the blades kicked on a burst of steam blew the lid off the blender despite my holding it down. Fortunately, nothing was injured except my pride.

The next batch, I only filled the blender 1/3 full, pulsed the toggle switch, rather than throwing it full throttle, and held the lid down tight. No more trouble.

So while pumpkin soup is not difficult, be careful when blending it. If possible, use an immersion blender. If not, let the soup cool before blending it in small batches. You can always reheat it later.

I’m going to go towel off now. Here’s the recipe:

Pumpkin Soup

2 TBS whole butter

1 medium onion, diced

3 carrots, peeled and medium chop

1 celery stalk, chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 gypsy peppers (only because I had them, not critical)

1-1/2 qt chicken stock

4 cups mashed pumpkin

1/2 cup apple juice

1 green apple, peeled, cored and chopped

2 tsp chopped fresh ginger

1 TBS dried thyme

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground allspice

Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

1/2 cup sour cream (for garnish)

1. Cut pumpkin in half, scoop out guts and seeds, pan spray then place flat side down on cooking sheet and roast in 375F oven until soft, about 35 minutes. Remove from oven, allow to cool, scoop out meat and refrigerate until needed (can be done days ahead of time).

2. In large pot, melt butter over medium flame. Add onions, carrots, celery and peppers and cook until translucent, about 5-10 minutes. Add garlic and cook another minute, then add pumpkin, chicken stock, apple juice, apple, ginger, thyme, cinnamon and allspice. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer for about 15 minutes.

3. Blend with an immersion blender, or allow to cool and carefully blend in blender in small batches (1/3 full). Reheat if necessary.

4. For garnish, whisk together 1/2 cup of sour cream with 1 TBS cold water. Pour into squeeze bottle and zig zag over soup. Add thyme or parsley sprig for a color.

A note on pumpkin seeds: When you clean your pumpkin, rinse the seeds in a colander under cold water. Remove everything except the seeds. Spread out on a sheet pan, pat with paper towel, then dry overnight uncovered.

The next day, cover sheet pan in foil (pumpkin seeds pop like popcorn) and cook in 350F oven for about 25 minutes. Allow to cool. Eat while pitching a baseball game.

Do you have any cool pumpkin recipes? Why not share them in the comments section below? And thanks for looking at my blog!

That’s right, Banana Bread!

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Want to hear something weird? I get excited whenever our bananas start to go bad.

Because that means … wait for it … banana bread!

Bananas on the Turn

Bananas on the Turn

See, brown, mushy bananas are perfect for banana bread. The older a banana gets, the more flavor it develops. Have you ever eaten a banana that was still a little green? Almost no flavor at all, right? Now try one that has a few brown spots on it. Mucho flavor.

Let that same banana age another day or two and you are in for a culinary treat.

I love banana bread because it sounds healthy but is actually a sugary,  chocolatey indulgence: “What are you eating?” “Banana bread.” “Oh, okay, that’s good.”

I chock my banana bread with chocolate chips, so it kind of tastes like banana flavored chocolate chip cookies. There’s also a ton of butter in it, so it’s texture is dense and filling. My love for banana bread is tempered by the fact that I can’t eat very much of it without getting full.

Banana bread, still slightly warm from the oven with a hard brown crust on it, is like nothing else in the world. You don’t need to slather it with butter or add anything to it at all, except maybe a late winter afternoon and a cup of hot tea.

Now that’s living.

About 30 years ago, my mother and her friends collected recipes from all the ladies in our parish and published them in a book, ”The St. Catherine’s of Alexandria Cookbook”.  A lot of the recipes are kind of dated, or at least not nutritionally ”correct”, but I think that’s what I love about them. They are kind of like a document of how life was when I was growing up.

This banana bread recipe is from that cookbook.

Banana Bread

1/3 cup butter (5-3/4 TBS)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, well beaten

3 TBS sour milk (or sour cream or buttermilk)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 bananas (the riper the better)

1 cup chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Bake in greased bread pan at 350F for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.

I realized I haven’t had any baking recipes until now in this blog. That’s partially because it’s been warm out and baking goes more with cooler weather. But I admit that while I enjoy baking, it’s not my strong suit. Like they say, cooking is art, baking is more like chemistry.

But to improve I must focus on my weakness, so more baking. Plus it’s getting cooler out, so baking makes more sense now.

What tried and true recipes do you like to make for a cool autumn afternoon? Why not tell us about them in the comments section below? And thanks for looking at my blog!

Mini Turkey Meatloaf

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When I found these miniature aluminum loaf pans at the dollar store, they were so cute I just had to buy them. I knew I would figure out a way to use them later.

Well, it turns out they were just perfect for mini turkey meatloafs. I simply made a batch of my turkey meatloaf recipe, then instead of using a regular sized bread pan, I stuffed it into six of these tiny disposable loaf pans.

The batch made enough for six mini meatloafs. I cooked off three and froze the other three for another time. Perfect!

I threw the pans away when I was finished with them, but you could clean them and re-use them if you wanted. They were six for $1.50, so I didn’t feel too bad about tossing them, though.

The individual meatloafs were both delightful and delicious. And they are perfect for when you have guests with diet preferences — no onions, for example — because you can make their meatloaf mix separate from the rest. Everybody’s happy!

We almost always have turkey meatloaf rather than the normal kind made with a mixture of ground beef and pork because it’s lower in fat and, in my opinion, there’s almost no difference in flavor once you add the seasonings and smother it in tomato glaze.

I served these mini meatloafs with Rosemary Roasted Red Potatoes, and steamed broccoli crowns.

Mini Turkey Meatloaf

2 lb ground turkey

1 yellow or white onion, diced

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 TBS Italian seasoning

1 tsp granulated garlic

1 TBS sea salt

1/4 tsp cracked black pepper

For the Glaze

1/2 cup ketchup

1 TBS mustard powder

1 TBS brown sugar

1/2 tsp Worchestershire Sauce

1/4 tsp Tabasco or hot sauce

Preheat oven to 375F. Combine meatloaf ingredients in mixing bowl using your hands. Spray mini aluminum bread pans with pan spray, then stuff them with the meatloaf mix until filling is even with the top of the pan. Cook for about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, stir together glaze ingredients in small bowl and set aside. Remove meatloafs from oven and pour and scrape off the separated fat and gloop on top. Carefully remove them from the pans by inverting them onto a baking sheet, then thoroughly brush each mini meatloaf with glaze. Return to oven and cook until glaze starts to get tacky, about 10 minutes.

Added bonus: Turkey meatloaf is excellent the next day on a sandwich. It can be served cold or heat it up for a minute in the microwave before putting it between two slices of bread.

Programming Note: It’s the start of a new year, so here at Budget Cooking Blog we are launching a new feature. “Wines on Wednesday” will be spotlight inexpensive yet extraordinary wines for under $10/bottle to complement some of the dishes we’ve been cooking. “Wines on Wednesday” also will give tips on how to select the best wines, and how to successful pair wines with food to enhance your dining experience. Look for “Wines on Wednesday” starting this Wednesday on Budget Cooking Blog!

 

Meat Free Mondays – Vegetarian Lasagna

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My dad’s best friend, my Uncle Tony, is Italian and as a boy I looked forward to family parties at his house because his mother was the greatest cook I have ever known.

Her specialty was the lasagna. Layer after layer of pasta, meat, tomato sauce and gooey cheese, its flavor was indescribable. I still tear up a little thinking about it.

Long before it was Garfield’s favorite food, Uncle Tony’s mother’s lasagna was — and remains — the single greatest dish I have ever tasted. The woman was a genius.

Whole Wheat Vegetable Lasagna

Whole Wheat Vegetable Lasagna

Over the years, I have attempted to replicate this lasagna hundreds of times, both in commercial kitchens and at home, but I have never fully succeeded. Don’t get me wrong, my lasagna is super delicious. But it’s like comparing my line sketches to DaVinci’s.

I first made Vegetarian Lasagna back in 2003, when the South Beach Diet was popular. Remember that one? To this day, cauliflower is banned from our dinner table because of that diet’s use of it as a substitute for mashed potatoes.

But this Vegetarian Lasagna isn’t much different than regular lasagna, except you replace the meat with vegetables and you use whole wheat lasagna noodles.

Whole Wheat Lasagna Sheets

Whole Wheat Lasagna Sheets

Back then, I had to make a special trip to Whole Foods to buy the whole wheat lasagna noodles, which cost like $4.00/box, as I recall. Now, I can buy them at my local Jewel (on sale for $1, bonus!).

This lasagna has five elements – the pasta, the vegetables, the spinach, the sauce and the cheese.

For the pasta, there are two schools of thought: The first says the lasagna noodles are pre-cooked into soft noodles prior to lasagna assembly. The second says they are put in dry and soak up the sauce as it cooks. Having mass produced lasagnas in restaurants, I’m in the latter camp because it’s easier and tastes the same.

I replace the meat with zucchini and yellow squash. The South Beach version called for asparagus as I recall, but we found it made the lasagna taste bitter. I also added an eggplant because I had one left over from the Farmer’s Market.

The sauce is my standard super easy tomato sauce. In this dish, you don’t even need to cook it because it will cook inside the lasagna.

If ricotta is too expensive, you can subsitute cottage cheese. I was prepared to do this when I discovered that the generic ricotta was cheaper than cottage cheese. Winning!

This recipe, inspired by Uncle Tony’s mother, is adapted from the South Beach Diet Cookbook.

Whole Wheat Vegetable Lasagna

For the sauce

3-8 oz cans tomato sauce

2 TBS Italian Seasoning

2 tsp sugar

For the cheese filling

15 oz package reduced-fat ricotta cheese

1/4 cup grated parmesan

1 egg

1 TBS Italian seasoning

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/8 tsp fresh ground black pepper

For Assembly

TBS EVOO

1 zucchini, sliced into thin strips lengthwise

1 yellow squash, same

1 eggplant, cut into 1/2″ cross sections

9 sheets whole wheat lasagna noodles

10 oz package frozen spinach, defrosted and drained

1/4 cup fresh mozzarella cut into discs (or shredded)

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Spray a 9″x14″ baking dish with pan spray. In cast iron pan, sear off zucchini, yellow squash and eggplant in EVOO until brown and a little crispy, about 3 minutes per side. Set aside.

2. In mixing bowl, combine ricotta, parmesan, egg, Italian seasoning and S&P.

3. In another mixing bowl, combine tomato sauce, Italian seasoning and sugar.

4. Assemble lasagna by starting with a layer of 3 pasta sheets, topped with a layer of pasta sauce, topped with a layer of the cheese mixture, topped with a layer of the spinach, then a layer of zucchini and yellow squash. Repeat, using eggplant instead of zucchini. Top with a final layer of pasta sheets, tomato sauce and the mozzarella.

5. Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and return to oven for another 20 minutes. Let sit 10 minutes after removing for oven so it holds its shape when it’s cut.

What is the best dish you have ever eaten? Share your thoughts in comments section below. And thanks for looking at my blog!