Super Sweet Potatoes

I know I promised to post my menu recipes, but things have a way of smacking you in the head and that’s been the case this week. However, I hope to appease you with some stuff I’ve made today :)

SUPER Sweet Potatoes

6 large sweet potatoes – peeled and cut in half

that’s it!

I wrapped each potato in a piece of aluminum foil.  I placed them on a foil lined baking sheet and baked them in a 350 degree oven for roughly 90 minutes. Then I let them cool all by themselves for an hour or two.  Don’t mess with them, don’t take them out of the foil. Just let them set.

When you’re ready, take them out of their little aluminum and sugar cocoon and into a bowl.  At this point, you can mash them with a fork, they should be so nice & soft.  They have caramelized, and mine, at least, need nothing. No butter, no brown sugar, nothing. They’re simply perfect.

Tilapia Croquettes, revisited

I hate it when I make something that I don’t realize is going to be AWESOME, so I don’t bother taking pictures for the blog. LOL  This turned out to be the case last night when I decided to make tilapia croquettes for dinner.  I didn’t have the time nor energy to come up the stairs to print out the recipe, but I was pretty sure I remembered it.  Mostly.  So I set out to eek out dinner despite having a really lousy day, and it turned in to a delicious dinner for everyone, which, in turn, helped make my day better.

1 lb tilapia filets

1/2 c. panko breadcrumbs

1/2 c. Italian flavored breadcrumbs

2 eggs, scrambled

1/2 stalk celery, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

2 Tbs. olive oil

1 Tbsp. lime juice

2 Tbs. butter

1/4 c. white wine

2 Tbsp. sweet relish

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

 

1. Melt 1 Tbsp butter in skillet and add 1 Tbsp. oil. 
2. Sauté onion and celery until onion is translucent.
3. Add fish filets and cook over medium-low heat.
4. Once fish is cooked through, break it up into chunks and add white wine.
5. Turn heat to low and allow wine to reduce.
6. While the fish is cooking, beat the egg in a bowl. 
7. Add relish and lime juice to egg.
8. In separate bowl, combine breadcrumbs, salt, pepper & red pepper flakes.
9. Fold wet & dry ingredients together and add fish, turning gently. You don’t want to shred the fish.
10. Heat remaining oil & butter in skillet.
11. Press approx. 1/3 cup of breading and mixture into patties.  Mine made 8 or 9.
12. Cook in small batches until brown. 

Enjoy!

My family is SO weird.

I posted our “Thanksgiving” menu on the kitchen bulletin board. 

Thanksgiving Menu:

• Pot Roast
• Baked Potato
• Meatballs
• Bread
• Pie

I wanted to see if anyone would notice.  All day went by and nothing. No one mentioned anything.  This morning, I went down to get my coffee and found this note.  

To Mom:  (big smile face)

pie: what kind of pie?????

bread: do you mean biskits?

Nothing about the lack of turkey. Nothing about the meatballs. 

My family is so weird.

Yummy Autumn Salad

You know how sometimes, you just start throwing things together, and it turns out either really fabulous or really ... unfabulous?

This salad came out in the first category - FAB U LOUS.

I realize I may be a little late to the game of adding fruit into a salad, but am I ever glad I've finally wisened up! The fresh apples that we happened to pick up this weekend on sale at the WalMart Supercenter for $.35 a POUND came in handy, that's for sure!




Yummy Autumn Salad

• 2 cups baby romaine leaves
• 1 plum tomato, quartered
• 2 slices deli turkey breast
• 1/4 gala apple, cut into slivers
• 3-4 slices pepperoni
• bacon bits (real, not bacos)
• fat free honey dijon dressing
  

I layered it all in, then just sprinkled about a tablespoon of dressing on top - tossed it gently and then SCARFED IT DOWN.

The apple woke this salad up! It was wonderful - you have GOT to try it. :)

12 Days & Counting

Hard to believe it, really. Just 12 days from now, another Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving was always a BIG day in my family growing up. All of us would gather at someone's house, whether it was my aunt & uncle's turn or my mom & dad's turn to host, and as the family grew bigger, so did the turkey. It was a favorite time of year because (maybe it was my naivete') we all had a great time together, and the food was always perfect. Always.

 

 

 

The standard fare was: (to serve typically 15+)

• A HUGE turkey (20+ lbs at least)
• homemade mashed potatoes
• pan gravy
• mashed butternut squash (they boiled the squash)
• mashed carrots (boiled those too)
• my family's recipe for stuffing (to drool over)
• various other sides, like corn, cranberries (both canned)
• celery
• desserts, typically a couple of different pies

After hubby & I moved to New Hampshire and had our daughter, it became impractical to be driving the 3-1/2 hrs down to RI for Thanksgiving with the family, only to rush back to NH for Jimmy to go to work on Friday.  So I began cooking Thanksgiving dinner for my small family.

The first couple of years, I struggled with cooking the turkey the way my mom did and my nana before her.  Last year, I finally – FINALLY – decided to do it like my mother always did – and like my grandmother always did.  It’s not the preferred method of Butterball, but it’s tried and true. Why fight history?

Last year, and this year, I’ll be going with this menu and I’ll be posting the recipes over the next few days.  If you are cooking Thanksgiving for your family and/or friends this year, won’t you leave your link so I can come visit you as well?

The menu will consist of:

• a 12(ish) lb turkey
• sausage stuffing from my nana’s recipe
• cornbread & cranberry stuffing
• oven roasted sweet potatoes
• oven roasted squash
• home-made rolls
• pan gravy
• home-made mashed potatoes
• home-made pumpkin pie

I can’t wait!

Chicken Cordon Bleu & Chicken Fregula

Last weekend, I happened to be watching food network when a (new to me) show came on.   Secrets of a Restaurant Chef with Ann Burrell was the show and I enjoyed watching her and made a note to look for a particular side-dish that she’d made called fregula.  Basically, they’re little balls of pasta.  Bigger than a pastene but smaller than ummm… a ravioli LOL  Otherwise known as Isreali couscous, I managed to find it at the health food store in the bulk bin and it was very cheap.  I only bought what was about 1 cup because I didn’t know if we’d like it.   Then it sat in the paper bag for the last week and a half while I thought about how I’d like to make it.  I wasn’t going to make it like her, but haven’t been feeling really inventive in the kitchen as of late. (Read why on my other blog :S)

So this weekend, I was watching food network again and found myself drooling over Tyler Florence’s version of chicken cordon bleu.  I made sure to buy some proscuitto this weekend, and provolone cheese and then all that got thrown in the fridge as well LOL

Finally, I found the enthusiasm to cook tonight, and oh what a deliciouso dinner!  Give yourself some time for this – but believe me, it’s worth the effort.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded out flat.
• 2 slices of prosciutto ham
• 2 slices provolone cheese cut in half
• 2 eggs - scrambled
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup flour

I pounded out the chicken breasts with the flat side of my mallet while it was inside a storage bag.    Once they were all an even thickness, I took a slice of prosciutto and tore it down the center because it was quite thick and I didn’t want it to be overwhelming in the chicken.  I topped the ham with the 1/2 slice of provolone cheese.  I rolled the whole thing up slowly and and then wrapped the chicken in wax paper, keeping it tightly rolled.  Once they were all done, I put them in the freezer for approximately 40 minutes or so.

Once they were in the freezer, I began the preparation for the fregula.

Chicken Fregula

• 1 cup fregula
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 small onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil

In a 2 qt. saucepan, I melted the butter and added the olive oil (the olive oil helps  to keep the butter from burning).  To that, I added the onions and garlic and stirred it frequently to keep the garlic from burning.

Once the onions & garlic were softened, I added the fregula and mixed it in to be sure that it was all coated.  I added the 2 cups of chicken broth and brought it to a boil.  I then lowered the heat, covered the pan and simmered it while I began the prep for finishing the chicken. (probably about 20 minutes on low) – the fregula will absorb the broth, so keep an eye on it.

Back to the chicken, I scrambled the eggs into one bowl.  I placed the flour in another bowl.  In the third, I added the panko breadcrumbs, along with salt, pepper and just a sprinkling of  poultry seasoning.

I removed the packages of chicken from the freezer, where they’d stayed nice and cold, and therefore held together very well.  Working quickly, I dipped each chicken breast into the flour, coating it on all sides.  Then I dipped it into the egg and then finally coated it in the bread crumbs. 

In a skillet, I heated a Tbls. of canola oil and placed the breaded chickens into the skillet.  At this point, I don’t know WHY but I had the heat up too high and next thing I knew, I could smell burning breadcrumbs.  Gah!

So I took them out of the frying pan and placed them into an oven pan, put the oven on 425 and cooked them for roughly 30 minuts or so – I had the meat thermometer in them and took them out at 175°. They were moist & delicious! The fregula plumped up with the chicken broth and was just amazing.  (click on the photos for better detail)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recall news

This is scary. 

Nestlé USA Voluntarily Recalls Two Production Codes of Nestlé Nesquik Strawberry Powder

Time is running out!

Today is the last day to enter my cookbook giveaway over at my new review blog, Dawniemom Reviews.  OF course, I can’t remember if I even told you about it here or not, but in any event, get over there and enter! :)

Cristina Ferrare’s Chicken Pot Pie with Cornbread Crust

I watched Oprah last week when she had Cristina Ferrare on, talking about how to stretch your dollar in today’s lousy economy.  She prepared this and it just looked so good, I had to try it.

Filling:

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter (I omited this, but used more olive oil)
• 1 medium Onion , chopped
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups chopped Roasted Chicken (I used roasted boneless chicken breast)
• 1/2 cup frozen sweet petite peas
• 1 potato , diced and boiled
• 1 1/2 cup chopped, cooked carrots
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• Cracked pepper
• Dash of Tabasco® sauce (I omitted this)

Crust:

• 3/4 cup white or yellow cornmeal
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 large egg
• 2 Tbsp. canola oil

To make filling: Preheat the oven to 400°. Spray a 2-quart casserole with cooking spray. In a large sauce pan, heat olive oil and unsalted butter together. Add onion and sauté until tender, about 4 or 5 minutes. Add in flour until blended. Slowly stir in 2 cups of heated chicken stock, whisking well. Cook mixture over medium heat until thickened and bubbly, about 4 minutes. Stir in chicken, peas, potato, carrots, salt, pepper and Tabasco®. Pour into a 2-quart casserole dish coated with cooking spray and cook until heated and thickened. Spread eventy into an ovenproof dish. 
To make crust: In a bowl, stir cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Stir milk, egg and canola oil until well combined. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Spoon the batter evenly on the filling. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 22 to 25 minutes.

My finished product.  In the prep, I had to use more than 2 cups of broth – and then, after it was baked and spooned out into the bowls, I found that the corn bread had absorbed virtually all of the “gravy” , so I thought it to be kind of dry.  Everyone else loved it.  I’m not sure how else I’d fix it to make it better though.  I will say, though, that it was extremely satisfying to make something completely from scratch!  No canned veggies, no boxed corn bread. Everything fresh!  It’s much cheaper too.

More linky love

So, as I mentioned, I went to BlogHer Boston and heard these amazing women talk about cooking and blogging and the food blogging community. They mentioned a few sites that they enjoy and I've just finally gotten a chance to take a look at some of them, and O M G. You've GOT to check them out - just don't get zapped licking your computer screen.

• Food Gawker - their tag line is "feast your eyes" - and it's SO true!
  
• Photograzing - similar to Food Gawker - another delicious resource.

The main idea of the Social Media Can Save Dinner is this: The food blogging community is both huge and generous. So getting traffic to your blog is entirely possible when you start visiting AND COMMENTING on other people's blogs - it's the same basic concept for any type of blog. I didn't use to have a lot of food blogs on my blog roll because I'm a google girl. When I need help with a recipe, I google it. Of course, if we ALL did that, no one would have any kind of traffic on their blogs, and we'd all just sit here getting depressed at our stats and lack of comments. So I'm going to try to get to more food blogger blogs, introduce myself, try your recipes and make some new friends :)

So - tell me - who are your favorite food bloggers? Leave me your link and their link in the comments and I'll be by!

Thanks!!

Good news!

I've been doing product reviews for several months over at my other blog, Coming to a Nursery Near You. However, since I've been doing more than even I'd want to read instead of actual news, I've begun my own review blog, Dawniemom Reviews (original, right?). So the GOOD news for you guys is that I'll also be doing giveaways there and from time to time, I'll post here when there's a giveaway over there. How's that? I'll also post here when I review a food product over there. So go take a look, perhaps add me to your feed reader, or just say hi :)

Also, I went to BlogHer Boston earlier this month and it was SUCH an incredible experience! One of the sessions, "Social Media can save Dinner" caught my eye specifically, and through that, I was introduced to some more food bloggers, which is ALWAYS cool! Kalyn's Kitchen, The Perfect Pantry and Nika's Culinaria all feature mouth watering recipes AND photos. I'm sure you'll love them as much as I already do.

Lots of good stuff! (edited)

I haven’t been doing much of making up my own recipes, but I figured that since I haven’t updated here in a while, I thought I’d share with you what I’ve been making.

THIS bread recipe is INCREDIBLE! I’ve never made my own bread other than in the bread machine, so I wasn’t so sure how it would do – but it was AWESOME! And it’s so much cheaper than buying bread! - (Sorry, had the wrong link in there. LOL)

I also revisited my OMG THIS IS SO GOOD apple pie, and this time, cut both of the sugars by half and it still turned out fantastic!

Because we were still working on the apples we picked last MONTH, I even bought this candy apple mix and made them!

I will probably finish the apples off by making some more apple sauce – if I can find a better way to sweeten it without it tasting like a jarred applesauce.

So, what have YOU been cooking?

Going Pink for October

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month - please support this important topic by educating yourself about breast cancer. Similarly, join the "movement" and pinkforoctober.org. Finally, do what you can to donate to the Susan G. Komen foundation, or ANY that raises money to help fight this horrible disease.

Thank you.