Food goodness

Elise's recipe calls for making the salsa from scratch. Fun and yum, but I am mom-of-a-toddler-fying every recipe I touch these days, so I followed her tip about using salsa verde from a jar. I took out the salsa ingredients and step to make the salsa here, but you can find it on her site by following the link at the bottom of this post. Even though this bakes in one dish, it still requires individual assembly of each enchilada roll. Well worth it, but I'm serious about simplicity these days and we're lucky this one got made. Ingredients 4 chicken thighs, bone-in, skins removed (about 1 3/4 lbs) 1 jar, salsa verde Salt 1 bunch cilantro, rinsed and chopped, stems included High smoke point cooking oil such as canola oil, peanut oil or grapeseed oil 12 corn tortillas 3 Tbsp sour cream 1/2 cup crumbled Mexican Cotija or Queso Fresco cheese Method 1 Put chicken thighs in a medium sized saucepan and just cover wit

That name is very Rachel Ray , isn't it... unnecessarily grating but solid nonetheless. I only vaguely followed this recipe but I liked the technique of mixing in the pasta water with the cheese -- it made a simple and really delicious sauce. My notes in brackets. Ingredients 1 pound curly pasta (recommended: campanelle or cavatappi by Barilla) Coarse salt 1 10-ounce box frozen chopped spinach [I used a whole bag of fresh] 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided 1 medium zucchini [I used yellow squash] 12 cremini or baby portobello mushrooms, sliced [I skipped] [I added about five tomatoes plus a handful of cherry tomatoes] 1 medium onion, thinly sliced 3 cloves garlic, chopped Salt and pepper 1 roasted red pepper, drained, pat dry, quartered lengthwise then thinly sliced 1 1/2 cups part skim ricotta cheese [I used ricotta con leche, which is almost fat-free] 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, a couple of handfuls, plus some to pass at the table 1 cup fresh basil leaves, about 20 leave

I'm at it again with the dog treats. I can't help it, Sally ate all the other ones. That may be partially due to Ernie and Gaby liking to feed them to her, because she gets so very excited. These were not quite as easy to make, because the dough is more crumbly. But I think Sally actually likes them better than the peanut butter ones. Of course, that is probably because they're filled with bacon-y goodness. 2 packages real bacon bits 3 1/2 c. whole wheat flour 1/4 c. beef broth 1 c. corn meal 3/4 c. extra-virgin olive oil 1 1/3 c. warm water Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal and bacon bits. In a large measuring cup, stir together 1 1/3 c. warm water and the broth and pour into dry ingredients. Add the olive oil and stir together to form a loose dough. Knead on a work surface until smooth. Roll out the dough to about 1/8-inch thick, and then cut into 1-inch squares. Bake 12 minutes, flip, and then bake 12 more minutes. Let cool completely.

This was so, so tasty. And, as with almost everything for the slow cooker, really easy. One warning, though -- it's not pretty when it comes out of the slow cooker, just because everything has been in there cooking together. But it tastes great, and I didn't really care that it wasn't pretty. Plus, vegetarian! I'm always happy when I can get Ernie and Gaby to eat a meal with no meat. Also, I made this in my really big slow cooker (6 qt., maybe?) and it filled the whole thing. You might want to scale it down a little bit if you've got a smaller slow cooker. From the slow cooker genius , of course. 1 26 oz jar of your favorite pasta sauce 1 small container of ricotta cheese (I recycled the plastic already. 10 oz? 12 oz?) 8 slices of mozzarella cheese 2 cups shredded Italian cheese mix 1 large eggplant 3 summer squash 1 pound of slices mushrooms bag of baby spinach 2 Tbsp. warm water Wash all of the vegetables. Slice the squash and the eggplant in long, slices, about 1

My grandmother made this pie for us this weekend. It's different from most pies because it has a cake-y "crust" and a layer of cream cheese filling. It was a nice change from a typical pie. Step 1: 3/4 C. flour 1 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 C. milk 3 Tbsp. butter 1 small package instant vanilla pudding Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients at medium speed. Spread in 9" round pan. Step 2: 1 (15 oz) can of peaches, drained, juice reserved Place peaches on top of batter. Step 3: 1 (8oz) package of cream cheese 1/2 C. sugar 3 Tbsp. peach juice (from canned peaches) Mix together and beat well. Spread on top of peaches. Do NOT spread to edge of pan. Step 4: Mix 1 tsp. sugar and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Sprinkle on top of pie. Bake 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees.

Another blogger, Kerry at To Every Meal There is a Season , posted this recipe on her site. It's originally from Simply In Season (World Community Cookbook). It's one of those dishes that could be a dessert or a side dish. I served it with sausages last night and the sweet/savoury combination was truly yummy. 2 lbs butternut squash (peeled, seeded, and fibers removed; cubed) 2-3 baking apples (roughly chopped) 1/3 c brown sugar 3 T butter, melted 1 T flour 1/4 tsp allspice Arrange squash and apples in baking dish. Combine next 4 ingredients in a small bowl then sprinkle on top of apples and squash. Cover and bake at 350 degrees until squash is tender, 40-50 minutes.

I am lifting a glass to all of the food blog contributors at the moment -- we have collected so many good recipes here that tonight, instead of looking online or in a cookbook for something to make with only the contents of my refrigerator, I did a search on Food Goodness. I found Becky's three-cheese penne and made a variation of it, and it was really delicious. We have achieved critical mass! We are so excellent.

I think of myself as a fairly competent cook, but not a very confident one. I use recipes more than half the time and usually think they turn out better than most of what I make up on the fly. So, when I went to make this recipe from Bittman's lackies -- found here , and I wound up with a variation of the first one -- and realized very quickly that it just wasn't working, I got a little nervous. But it went OK and the tomato sauce turned out pretty well. I can't say that this was Worth It in capital letters; the amount of time and attention it takes doesn't seem proportional to the amount of better it is than a jar of Classico. If you find yourself with 6 million pounds of tomatoes and no clue what to do with them, though, I'd recommend it. Core and chop 50-60 tomatoes. I used the food processor with regular blade on it -- not pureed, because there should still be some small chunks. Drain off as much of the juice as you can. Saute lots of chopped onion and garlic in

This is adapted from a Gourmet recipe 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 onions, chopped 6 garlic cloves, peeled, smashed 2 medium tomatoes, cored, chopped (from my garden!) 3 cups dry white wine 1 cup water 3-4 dozen small littleneck clams, scrubbed 1/3 cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves (from my garden!) 1/4 cup chopped fresh thyme (from my garden!) 1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano (from my garden!) 2 pinches of dried crushed red pepper Melt butter with olive oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onions and cook until soft, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and stir 1 minute. Add tomatoes and cook until beginning to soften, stirring often, about 2 minutes. Add white wine and 1 cup water and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes to blend flavors. Bring broth to boil. Stir basil, parsley, oregano, and crushed red pepper into broth in pot. Add clams, cover, and cook until clams open, 5-7 minutes minutes (discard any clams that

Courtesy of Weight Watchers If you buy baby eggplants (I did) or Japanese eggplants, you can skip the usual salting step. 1 1/2 lb eggplant cut into 1/2" cubes 4 t olive oil 1 T minced onion 1 T minced carrot 1 T minced celery 1 T grated peeled gingerroot 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 T raisins 1/4 t cinnamon 1 t ground cumin 14.5 oz canned diced tomatoes 1/4 t hot sauce 16 oz can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained 1/2 fresh or frozen peas 2 T chopped parsley 1.5 C cooked couscous Makes 4 servings, 7 pts/serving In a large skillet (I used my dutch oven), heat the oil. Saute onion, carrot and celery until wilted, about 5 min. Add the ginger and garlic, saute 30 sec. Add eggplant and saute about 5 min or until beginning to soften. Stir in raisins, cumin and cinnamon and stir well. Add tomatoes and hot sauce and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 min. Add water if stew becomes too thick. Stir in chickpeas and green peas and simmer 10 min. Stir occasionally. Sprinkle w

I think Shannon and I both made this last week -- it's very decadent and cheesy. From A Veggie Venture . Serves 8 [not in my house -- was more like 4 or 5 servings] 2 pounds yellow squash, ends trimmed, halved lengthwise, sliced into half moons SAUCE 2 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup sour cream [I used fat-free plain yogurt] 1/2 cup cheddar cheese 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon paprika 2 egg yolks, beaten slightly with a fork 2 tablespoons chopped chives TOPPING 2 tablespoons butter, melted 1/4 cup panko or dried bread crumbs [I used a mixture of both] 1/2 cup grated Parmesan Chopped chives for garnish Preheat oven to 350F. SQUASH Place squash pieces in a microwave-safe dish, add a tablespoon or two of water and cover with plastic wrap. Cook on high until squash reaches the desired tenderness. (It won't soften much more in the oven, so do watch the tenderness. I cooked the squash until it was cooked but still had some slight bit of bite.) Drain if needed. SAUCE In a saucepan, m

This was really yummy, and I made some mashed potatoes and roasted some parsnips, carrots and apples which went with it nicely. I used two pork steaks instead of the leg joint, half a lemon and didn't have any white wine so only used the recommended amount of stock. I also didn't have any cumin seeds, so I used ground instead and chucked some extra in because I love it so much. I will probably use slightly less lemon next time for my smaller recipe because the flavour really intensifies with the slow cooking and it was a bit unbalanced. But still very delicious. Here's the real recipe from The Slow Cooker Cookbook by Gina Steer. Serves 6 1.5kg/3lb pork leg joint 1 tbsp unsalted butter 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped 2-4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped 1 tsp cumin seeds 1 large lemon, preferably unwaxed or organic, cut into wedges 150ml/ 1/4pt dry white wine 300ml/ 1/2pt veg or chicken stock 1 tbsp soy sauce few fresh sage leaves 1 tbsp cornflour lemon wedges and fresh

I love stewed tomatoes. I usually only want to eat them when I've got macaroni and cheese, but you could eat them anytime, I guess. Usually I just open up a can and heat them on the stove, so I was excited to try this recipe today. It didn't disappoint -- these were much better than the ones you get in the can, and really simple. And it made a ton, enough for Ernie and I to both eat them (Gaby does not eat tomatoes), a container for the fridge and another for the freezer. I think you could make them with fresh tomatoes (I'm thinking of you , grower of all the tomatoes), you'll just need to increase the cooking time so that they get nice and soft. And I'm thinking you don't even have to blanch and peel them, the skins will slide right off when you take them out of the slow cooker. Perhaps I'll have to pick some tomatoes this week at the farm, so I can give it a try. Recipe, not surprisingly, is adapted slightly from the Year of Crockpotting . 2 cans of whole

Recipe shamelessly taken from Smitten Kitchen , who I have a total cooking blog crush on. I've had the blueberries in the fridge for more than a week as I tried to find the time to make these bars. I finally made the time this morning, and I'm glad I did. So, so good. I'm going to polish off the whole pan myself. 1 cup white sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup cold butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces) 1 egg 1/4 teaspoon salt Zest and juice of one lemon 4 cups fresh blueberries 1/2 cup white sugar 4 teaspoons cornstarch Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan. In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly

Ok, so this isn't a recipe, but a technique that I discovered last night while making zucchini bread. After reading Hef-K's comments about her zucchini bread taking forever to bake due to the high water content in the zucchini, and suggesting that folks dry their zucchini before using, I decided to find a solution to this problem. If you're like me and have closets and cabinets and drawers and basement shelves full of cooking gadgets and implements and widgets, you might have a potato ricer. After shredding the zucchini in the food processor, I loaded it into the ricer and squeezed most of the green juice right out. It took 10 seconds and worked incredibly well, leaving me with piles of "drained" zucchini shreds without staining a nice clean dish towel green. I think this will be a particularly good method for draining thawed frozen spinach, which always yields a ton of deep green water.

I felt like I needed to find a recipe specifically for fresh tomatoes rather than canned, although I'm not sure if it made a difference. In any case, this is good -- I tripled the recipe and am going to freeze most of it, and I think I'll stir in some parmesan and milk or cream when I defrost. 4 cups chopped fresh tomatoes 1 slice onion 4 whole cloves [I only had ground, and you can really taste them... I like it, but if you don't care for cloves, I'd skip this step] 2 cups chicken broth [I used vegetable] 2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons white sugar, or to taste [I used less than this] big splash of balsamic vinegar [I added this based on the comments from All Recipes] In a stockpot, over medium heat, combine the tomatoes, onion, cloves and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, and gently boil for about 20 minutes to blend all of the flavors. Remove from heat and run the mixture through a food mill into a large bowl, or pan. D

Ernie really likes steak. I could take it or leave it, honestly, but since he puts up with me cooking a lot of chicken and fish (or vegetarian), I make steak for him once in a while. I do very much like beef stroganoff. It's one of my father's favorite meals and I can remember my mother making it for him on special occasions (his birthday, their anniversary, when he'd come home from sea). This recipe is from "Mama Now Cooks Like This" 2 lb. sirloin, sliced 1/4 inch thick 1/2 c. (one stick) butter 2 c. coarsely chopped onion 2 cloves garlic, minced (I put mine through the press) 1/2 lb. mushrooms, sliced 2 Tbsp. flour (I thought my gravy was a little thin. Next time I'll use more flour) salt and pepper 1 1/2 c. beef stock 1/4 c. dry white wine 1 c. sour cream 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce handful of chopped fresh parsley 1 lb. dry fettuccine 2-3 Tbsp. butter Brown strips of meat well in 1/2 c. butter. Remove from pan, but keep warm. Add onion and garlic to pan an

I love chimichungas. I even love to just say chimichungas. This is what's for dinner tonight. I tasted the meat a few minutes ago, and it's really good. I think you could use chicken instead, just adjust the cooking time. In fact, I'll probably try that next time. Recipe from here . We are having this with salsa (not homemade, unfortunately), sour cream and guacamole . 1 1/2 pound hunk o' meat (I used a chuck roast) salt and pepper 1/2 cup water 1 T dried minced onion, or 1 diced fresh onion 1 can tomatoes and chiles--drained 1 can diced tomatoes--drained burrito-sized tortillas, and whatever toppings you like Salt and pepper your meat on all sides. Plop it into the crockpot and cover with 1/2 cup of water. Add onion Cook on low all day---I cooked this for 8 hours. After your meat has cooked all day, remove it carefully. Skim the fat out of the liquid at the bottom of your stoneware, and remove excess juice. You really only need about a cup of juice left in the crock. P

Are they muffins? Are they cupcakes? You decide! (I prefer to think of them as muffins... they sound healthier that way...) I saved this recipe twice in my recipe bookmarks , tagged once as each. Brilliantly, I also forgot the eggs when I was baking this today -- and I'd doubled it to use up a huge zucchini, so that's a total of six missing eggs. I made 12 muffins to take to work and two large breads, and they all taste great, but the bread completely falls apart when you cut into it. Oh well, more for us. I'm not complaining. 1 1/2 cups (360 mL) brown sugar 1/4 cup (60 mL) melted butter 3/4 cup (180 mL) vegetable oil 3 eggs [don't forget them, duh] 1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla 1/2 cup (120 mL) buttermilk [I substituted low-fat yogurt] 2 cups (480 mL) grated zucchini 1 cup (240 mL) chocolate chips 2 cups (480 mL) unbleached flour 1 cup (240 mL) cocoa, sifted [I never sift anything] 1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) salt 2 tsp (10 mL) baking soda

Mmm...cupcakes. A few weeks ago Ernie and I discovered there is a CakeLove counter in Tyson's Corner mall. Unfortunately, they don't stack the buttercream frosting as high as they do at the one in DC. Which of course got us to asking ourselves why we were paying $4.50 a cupcake when I could just make some. So today I did. I made the cupcakes while Gaby was still at school, so that we could make the frosting when she got home and decorate them together. Which is why some of them look like this: This recipe is from the Magnolia Bakery cookbook. The Magnolia Bakery, if I remember correctly, is in NYC and is the one where Carrie used to shove whole cupcakes in her mouth during episodes of SaTC. I could be wrong about that, but I think that's right. (we went there during our SaTC tour last year, but I was not feeling great that day) Chocolate cupcakes 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened 1 cup granulated sugar 1 cup firmly pa