Cooking Extravaganza!

A wonderful friend of mine, Katie (yes, the one who gave us the hit dish Cornbread Chicken Enchiladas), is having a little baby girl in February. In her ever-so-responsible nature, she decided she wanted to freeze a whole bunch of meals so that when she and baby return home, her husband wouldn't be burdened with all the cooking and she wouldn't be even more overwhelmed with cooking on top of all the other new tasks. What better way to spend a Thursday than cooking with a great friend?!

Naturally, it's important to cook on a full stomach, so we swung to Qdobas and picked up some burritos for lunch. We also needed to get some storage containers for her food, so we hit the Target attached to the Springfield Mall. Let me tell you what - it's a two-story store (which I've never seen before) AND the coolest part was that in between the escalators in the middle, there was one for the cart?!? I was so amused watching the carts go up and down alongside the people. It's the little things that amuse me...

Anyways, we got home, scarfed down food and then went to work (oh, right, and we took a chocolate fondue break...yummmm!). We made a black bean pie (thanks to Barb C. for that recipe!), a chicken pot pie (not traditional PA Dutch...the stereotypical kind), a chicken-noodle bake, meatloaf and lasagna. When it was all said and done we had enough food for at least 15 days worth of dinners! I'd say it was a resounding success. We're hoping to get one more all-day session in so she has a  good month's worth of food.

Here's our prep area:

Here are recipes for everything we did and some photos recapping our fun :)

Black Bean Pie
Ingredients
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 small green bell pepper, chopped
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained
2/3 cup salsa
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
3/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 (9 inch) unbaked 9 inch pie crusts
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). 
2. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Sauté onion and green pepper until tender. Sir in beans, salsa, red bell pepper, chili powder, cayenne and black pepper. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. 
3. Spoon half of the mixture into one of the pie crusts and cover with half of the cheese. Repeat with remaining beans and cheese. Top with remaining crust. 
4. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. 
5. Let it sit for about 5 or 10 minutes before cutting into it so that it has a chance to firm up. 

Pre-cooked pie:

Me in my cooking glory:

Chicken Pot Pie
Ingredients
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
1 cup sliced carrots
3/4 cup frozen green peas
1/2 cup sliced celery
3 medium potatoes
1 bullion cube
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
2/3 cup milk
2 (9 inch) unbaked deep-dish pie crusts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, potatoes and celery. Add bullion cube and water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.
3. In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust (making a dome on top), seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.  

Chicken Noodle Bake
Ingredients
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
6 ounces egg noodles
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1 cup crumbled buttery round crackers
1/2 cup butter

Directions

1. Poach chicken in a large pot of simmering water. Cook until no longer pink in center, about 12 minutes. Remove from pot and set aside. Bring chicken cooking water to a boil and cook pasta in it. Drain. Cut chicken into small pieces, and mix with noodles.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together mushroom soup, chicken soup, and sour cream. Season with salt and pepper. Gently stir together cream soup mixture with the chicken mixture. Place in a 2 quart baking dish.
3. Melt butter in a small saucepan, and remove from heat. Stir in crumbled crackers. Top casserole with the buttery crackers.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 30 minutes, until heated through and browned on top. 

Katie's chicken-noodle bake:

Our finished pies and the bake:

All stored up:

I don't have the meatloaf recipe (forgot to write it down, but I know I can still get it from Katie!), and her lasagna was simple...layers of ground beef, mozzarella cheese, marinara sauce and noodles.

Everything turned out deliciously (we, of course, had to sample!). If you have any recommendations for good freezable meals for us to make on our second go-round, post it in the comment section. We plan to make baked potato soup and her husband's going to make shepherd's pie, but we need a few more suggestions. Oh, and next time, Katie - we need a photo together!!

December 28 - Valerie's Chicken

I forgot to post dinner the other night...seriously, I think the only night I've cooked so far is Tuesday. The boy and I ate chips and dip for dinner the last two nights while the kids ate either peanut butter (almond butter) and jelly, or pasta. We're all just so sick of food! When I did cook, I made Valerie's Chicken, which is always a big hit around these parts...can't go wrong with this one :)

Valerie's Chicken
Ingredients
2 boneless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
3 oz. cream cheese
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup of cooking sherry/white wine

Directions

1. Melt butter in pan over medium heat.
2. Brown chicken breasts; season with Italian seasoning.
3. Simmer 10 minutes.
4. Combine cream cheese, soup and wine and pour over chicken. 
5. Let simmer for 20 minutes.

The recipe originally calls for 4 chicken breasts, but I find there isn't enough sauce if you do that many. If you need to do 4 pieces of chicken, DEFINITELY double the sauce (6 oz. cream cheese, 2 cans soup, 1/2 cup wine). Give it a shot with pasta and rice - I like it both ways!

December 26 - Flank Steak Pinwheels

We invited our great friends and neighbors, Joy and Kortney, to join us for a post-Christmas dinner and Wii dance party last night. We were pretty stoked that we *finally* got a Wii...little behind the 8 ball...and I was planning on making flank steak pinwheels that would make twice what we could eat. What better way to wrap up the holiday weekend than with great friends, yummy food, and a whole lotta dancin?!?

The pinwheels turned out amazingly well (and so pretty! I rarely make "pretty" food.), and we had some garlic red potatoes to go with them. Joy and Kortney seemed to enjoy the countless rounds of dancing and Wii bowling, and the food was a hit! They ended up leaving around 8ish and then the boy and I put the kids to bed and went back to dancing. He found out his office was closed around 10ish, so the rest of our evening was determined from there...we were up until 1 a.m. dancing. And in those 5 hours, I think I beat him twice :( I thought I was a good dancer, but evidently my husband is far better?! I swear he was in a boy band in his former life...

And here's the recipe for the pinwheels and potatoes!

Flank Steak Pinwheels
Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup red wine
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 1/2 pounds flank steak, pounded to 1/2 inch thickness

1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped shallots (or onion)
1/4 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions

1. In a large resealable bag, combine the olive oil, soy sauce, red wine, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, lemon juice, 1 clove of garlic, Italian seasoning and pepper. Squeeze the bag to blend well. 
2. Pierce the flank steak with a knife, making small slits about 1 inch apart. Place the steak into the bag, and seal. Refrigerate overnight to marinate. (I forgot to do it overnight and marinated for about 8 hours and it was just as good.)
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
4. Remove the steak from the bag, and discard marinade. Rub the salt and minced garlic over top of the beef.
5. Place layers of chopped shallots, bread crumbs, spinach, and cheese over the garlic. 
6. Roll the steak up lengthwise, and secure with kitchen twine or toothpicks (dental floss is also an acceptable substitute for the twine). Place the roll in a shallow glass baking dish.
7. Bake uncovered for 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until the internal temperature of the roll is at least 145 degrees F (63 degrees F) in the center. Let stand for 5 minutes to set, then slice into 1 inch slices to serve. 

Honestly, it sounds much more labor intensive than it really is...it was a fairly quick meal to make and the results were really excellent! And here's the potato recipe - posted a few times, but definitely a fan favorite.

Roasted Garlic Red Potatoes
Ingredients
2 pounds red potatoes, quartered
1/4 cup butter, melted (I used low-fat)
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (175 degrees C). 
2. Place potatoes in an 8x8 inch baking dish. 
3. In a small bowl combine melted butter, garlic, salt and lemon juice; pour over potatoes and stir to coat. 
4. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over potatoes. Bake in preheated oven for at least 60 minutes (often a little longer).

A new contest!

Since I haven't done a giveaway in ages, I thought I'd do one as an end-of-the year wrap-up. I'm going to offer up a mini photo session with Kristina Hall Photography. Kristi is a great friend of mine and an awesome photographer (see the bottom of my post for some of her work)! She will travel to your home (or a site of your choice) and offer a 60-minute photography session for you and your family. She'll also edit and customize your photos and give you digital copies of everything she captures. Unfortunately, the downside to this offer is that it's only for readers in the Pennsylvania/Northern DE/NJ area, as I can't make poor Kristi travel cross-country for this ;-) If you are an out-of-towner, but are planning a trip to the area in the future, you can still enter and "cash in" your session when it's convenient for you.

So how do you win this fabulous prize, you ask?! Simple! I have my blog tracked through Google Analytics, and ran a report to determine which of my recipes were most visited. I have 3 that have had more hits than any others by a decent stretch, so you need to tell me which ones they are. Now, there's a strong possibility there will be a tie, so in that case I'll do a random drawing for the winner.

But seriously, this contest is way easy! Just pick three recipes you think have had more views than others and post them in the comment section. When you comment, please leave your first name, last initial, and your e-mail. If you don't feel comfortable posting the e-mail address, you can always send it to me privately.

GOOD LUCK!!

 Contest ends on Friday, December 31st at 11:59 p.m. Please only one entry per reader.

Holiday Food

It's been awhile since I've had time to just sit down, much less update the blog. There really hasn't much to update anyways...I haven't really been cooking over the past few days. I made spaghetti for Lindsay's birthday on Tuesday, per her request, and then did leftovers on Wednesday. The kiddos went to my folks' house on Thursday, so the boy and I had a nice dinner at Firecreek (flash-fried calamari appetizer, short rib for the boy, and a mahi/lobster/crab dish for me).

On Friday we were at my family's Christmas celebration and had jambalya, clam chowder, and my mom's amazing mac-n-cheese. And finally yesterday we were with the Risser side of the family for their celebration. My brother-in-law always cooks (which is a special treat for all of us since his culinary skills are probably the best in the fam...no offense to anyone else?!?), and it's tradition to have prime rib. I was in charge of a side (to go with all of the other sides he put out), so I made a winter fruit salad with a lemon poppyseed vinaigrette. I was hesitant to make something like that because the boy grew up with PA Dutch-style cooking, so some of the things I put on the table he totally balks at (therefore, it's likely his family would, too). But, I know it was way too good not to make, and it fit in nicely with the rest of the dishes. I never even made it to dessert yesterday because I was way too full (with the exception of a small toffee millionaire bar...of which I could have easily eaten another half-dozen), although naturally I was not too full to enjoy all of the wine my SIL & BIL brought. It sure beat the hell out of the boxes I'm used to ;-)

So, yup, it was a great holiday weekend, filled with all sorts of fun! We're spending today recuperating and it's nice to have the boy home as backup (usually he's back at work the day after Christmas). I do have to say, though, I am so sick of food. I need to use the flank steak that's in the fridge, so I'm making flank steak pinwheels tonight, but come tomorrow I don't even know what to make...I can't stop eating, but nothing sounds appetizing anymore?!

Winter Fruit Salad w/ Lemon Poppyseed Vinaigrette
Ingredients
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 teaspoons diced red onion
1 teaspoon Dijon-style prepared mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1 head romaine lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces
4 ounces shredded Swiss cheese
1 cup cashews, pecans, or walnuts (I used leftover pecans from my pie the other week)
1/4 cup dried cranberries
2 apples - peeled, cored and diced
1 pear - peeled, cored and sliced

Directions

1. In a blender or food processor, combine sugar, lemon juice, onion, mustard, and salt. Process until well blended. 
2. With machine still running, add oil in a slow, steady stream until mixture is thick and smooth. 
3. Add poppy seeds, and process just a few seconds more to mix. 
4. In a large serving bowl, toss together the romaine lettuce, shredded Swiss cheese, cashews, dried cranberries, apple, and pear. If making ahead, you can toss the apples and pears in the vinaigrette so they don't brown.
5. Pour dressing over salad just before serving, and toss to coat.

Everyone seemed to love this yesterday. It makes a TON of dressing, though, so you might want to either serve the dressing separately or add some more lettuce. Also, it's not something that is good as leftovers if you mix the dressing with the salad (everything gets wilted and loses its crunchiness).

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