Chicken Marsala

24 Feb

This wasn’t in the original meal plan for this week, but since I wasn’t feeling well earlier this week, I fell behind in cooking and had some things I needed to get cooked before they went bad.  So, I decided to make Chicken Marsala, something we haven’t had in a while.  For the sides, I steamed my last bunch of asparagus and made mashed potatoes with a partial bag of potatoes I had left.  Since I have herbs from the Italian themed veggie pack, I added crushed fresh garlic and minced fresh rosemary to the mashed potatoes.  It was a nice addition.  I also got to use the fresh herbs in the Chicken Marsala.

Chicken Marsala
Based on recipes here and here 

What you need:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon minced fresh oregano
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
8 oz package mushrooms, sliced
3/4 cup marsala wine
2 teaspoons minced fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary

Pound chicken to 1/4 inch thickness.  Mix together flour and oregano, and fully coat chicken with this mixture.  Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.  Add chicken and cook until no longer pink.

To the skillet, add and melt butter.  Add mushrooms, wine, parsley, and rosemary.   Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.  Cover, and cook for 5 minutes.  Flip chicken over, cover again, and cook for another 5 minutes.  Remove cover and simmer until sauce has reduced by half.

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Moussaka and Pastitsio all in one!

23 Feb

 

I tried to think of a new name for this, but with the migraine I have, I’m not feeling too creative at the moment.  This is a combination of 2 of my favorite Greek dishes, Moussaka and Pastitsio.  I got the Italian themed veggie pack from Bountiful Baskets this week, and it had an eggplant and a zucchini.  Not really enough to make Moussaka or something like Eggplant Lasagna, so I decided that adding some pasta, like in Pastitsio, it would make a great meal.  I was right, it turned out great.  I put the pasta on the bottom, then the zucchini and eggplant, then the meat sauce, then the bechamel sauce.

 

Moussaka and Pastitsio All in One

What you need:

Filling:
1 eggplant, cut lengthwise, 1/2 in  width
1 zucchini, cut lengthwise , 1/2 in width
Salt
Olive oil
1/2 lb macaroni (supposed to be long macaroni noodles, but they are hard to find, so elbow macaroni or a noodle like penne or ziti works too)
1 eggs
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
1 lb ground beef or lamb (for meatless, use diced mushrooms, zucchini or eggplant)
1 medium onion
1 12 oz can tomato paste
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Grated Kefalotiri, Parmesan, or Romano cheese

Cream sauce (krema):
2-1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
Salt and pepper to taste

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Sprinkle eggplant slices with salt and set on paper towels for 15-20 minutes to let them drain.  Pat tops with a paper towel.  Spray or brush each side of the eggplant and zucchini slices with olive oil and lay in a single layer on a baking sheet.  Bake in oven for 10 minutes, flip slices over and bake for another 10 minutes, until they are tender and slightly brown.

Boil macaroni according to package; drain; return to pan.  Melt the 1/4 cup butter, beat in egg, and stir in with macaroni.

In a skillet, brown onion and ground beef or lamb.  Add tomato paste, and seasonings.  Cook for 5 – 10 minutes.

Make cream sauce. Melt 1/4 cup butter and pour in 1/4 cup flour; brown slowly. Beat 2 eggs with 2-1/2 cups milk, salt, and pepper, and pour into butter and flour mixture very slowly; mix well. Cook over low heat until it thickens.

To assemble, grease a 9 x 13 pan.  Add macaroni mixture to pan and press down with a piece of wax paper.  Sprinkle generously with the grated cheese.  Lay out eggplant and zucchini in a single layer.

Sprinkle with grated cheese.  Spread the meat sauce evenly.  Pour cream sauce evenly on top.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 – 50 minutes, or until golden brown.

Freezes best unbaked, thawed for 1/2 hour, then baked as above.

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Zaycon Foods Seafood

22 Feb

A while back I heard about Zaycon Foods.  They are a company that formed in 2009 to bring fresh meats to customers at wholesale prices.  They do events all over the US.  At the time, they weren’t delivering close enough to make it cost effective for me, so it fell off my radar.  In January, they had a boneless, skinless chicken breast and a hickory smoked bacon event that delivered to my area, but I missed out on ordering before it sold out.  Earlier this month, I found out they were having a seafood event.  We love seafood, and they were offering Frozen Alaskan caught Sockeye Salmon Fillets, Frozen Alaskan True Cod Fillets, and White Shrimp.  Each was available as a 20 pound unit.  I found some friends to share the units so that I could get some of each without breaking the bank too much, plus to try it out to see how this process works and find out the quality.

It’s pretty neat how it works.  The day of pick up, they have signs to direct you in to the truck.  You pull up, show them your receipt, they load it in your car.  I wasn’t sure how big the boxes would be, so I made sure I had plenty of room in my car.  Turns out, I was fine.

The boxes of cod were a little beat up, but the fish is all fine.   It was packaged in one large bag in the box, and it seems like each fillet is about 1 pound.  The shrimp was in 2 pound bags, 10 bags total.  The salmon was vacuum sealed in approximately 2 pound fillets, and has skin on one side .

It looks great and I can’t wait to try it out!  I am planning on using some shrimp this week, then will be deciding what to make next.

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Key Lime Pie

21 Feb

I love, love, love, Key Lime Pie.  It has been so long since I’ve had it, so when I got key limes this week from Bountiful Baskets, I decided the pie is what I wanted to make.  I found this great recipe that is super easy to make.  I think the hardest part was juicing all the little limes.  Well, that and waiting for it to chill so I could eat it!  In the reviews for this recipe, someone suggested using a garlic press to juice the limes.   I thought this was brilliant because I don’t have a tool yet to juice my lemons and limes. I cut each lime into fourths, then squeezed each piece.  It was still time-consuming, but I was able to get quite a bit of juice out of each lime, more than I would have hand squeezing.

 

Key Lime Pie
Original recipe here

What you need:

1 9-inch prepared graham cracker crust
2 14-oz cans sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cup key lime juice (I juiced 16 limes to get this)
1 tablespoon grated lime zest (after juicing the limes, I grated some of the peels for the lime zest)

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients. Mix well and pour into graham cracker crust.

Bake in preheated oven for 5 to 8 minutes, until tiny pinhole bubbles burst on the surface of pie. DO NOT BROWN! Chill pie thoroughly before serving. Garnish with lime slices and whipped cream if desired.

 

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Weekly Meal Plan: 2/19/2012 – 2/25/2012

21 Feb

I’m a little behind with putting up this week’s meal plan!  I’ve been focused on some finances, so I haven’t had much time to think about food!  Here is what I have made/will be making:

Keftedes (Greek fried meatballs), Jerusalem Artichoke and Potato Au Gratin

Frozen tortellini with meat sauce, steamed asparagus

Lemon Herb Chicken using fresh herbs from the Italian themed veggie pack, Roasted asparagus

Broccoli Cheddar Cheese Soup with Homemade Chicken Broth

Pizza

Something with eggplant, zucchini, and yellow squash

Shrimp Linguine Alfredo, green beans

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Jerusalem Artichoke and Potato Au Gratin

20 Feb

Part of the fun of participating in Bountiful Baskets is that it’s a surprise what will be in the baskets each week, and there is a bit of variety.  And, it’s always more fun when you get something you’ve never seen or heard of before.  This week, the element of surprise was a dozen, small Jerusalem artichokes, sometimes referred to as sunchokes.  Despite having artichokes in the name, they are really nothing like artichokes you normally see.  Instead, they are a tuber, and look similar to other roots, like ginger.  I came across this recipe on the Bountiful Baskets Facebook page, and decided it was probably the best way for us to try these out.  It turned out really good, it was a nice mix of the almost nutty flavor of the sunchokes and potatoes, cheese, and spices.  Thank you to Bountiful Baskets for giving us something new to try!

 

Jerusalem Artichoke and Potato Au Gratin
Based on recipe found here

What you need:

6 Jerusalem artichokes (about 3/4 pound), peeled and cut into 1/4-inch slices (I used my mandolin slicer)
2 large baking potatoes (about 1 1/4 pounds), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch slices
Salt
Black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil, divided
1/2 cup diced onions
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup milk
1 cup dried fine bread crumbs
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Put the sliced Jerusalem artichokes and potatoes in a mixing bowl.  Toss with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.

Grease the bottom and sides of a 2 quart casserole dish (I used an 8×8 glass dish). Put half of the artichoke-potato mixture in the pan, spread evenly along the bottom.  Then, sprinkle with 1/4 cup diced onions, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, 1/2 cup shredded cheese, and all of the flour.  Put in the remaining artichoke-potato mixture, spread evenly.  Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup diced onions, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, and 1/2 cup cheese. Pour the milk evenly over the whole dish.

In another bowl, mix together the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil with the bread crumbs and parsley. Spread this topping evenly over the mixture.

Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour, or until the potatoes are tender.

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Basket Breakdown – 2/18/2012

19 Feb

This week, I trained at the site to learn to be a Volunteer Site Coordinator (VSC).  Since Bountiful Baskets has gained so much popularity here, there are a few of us hoping to add another site here in town.  After participating and volunteering for a year and a half, it’s neat to take the next step of seeing how things come together behind the scenes and to get to organize things day of.

I contributed for the conventional basket for $15, the Italian themed veggie pack for $8.50, and 5 loaves of sourdough bread for $10, plus the $1.50 handling fee, for a total of $35.

The conventional basket. Starting on the left, Ataulfo mangoes, apples, key limes, oranges, pineapple, bananas, Romaine lettuce, spinach, yellow squash, Jerusalem artichokes (or sunchokes), Roma tomatoes, English cucumbers.  You can also see the loaves of sourdough bread.  They are not pre-sliced.

The Italian themed veggie pack.  From left, eggplant, rosemary, zucchini, oregano, mushrooms, Italian flat parsley, red onion, basil, yellow onion, lemons, garlic, and bay leaves.

I’m not sure what all I will be making yet, but there are lots of yummy possibilities!

 

Note: The type and amount of food may vary from another basket because of geographic location and because of variances in how the ends of produce cases are distributed after everything has been distributed evenly.  I also volunteered this week and got 1 extra item for volunteering.

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Alternative Pizza Crusts

19 Feb

We don’t have any dietary restrictions in my household, but I have some friends who eat gluten-free or low-carb.  These 2 pizzas are both gluten-free and low carb (I think, correct me if I’m wrong, please!).  My friend, Jen, is the one who had posted about the cauliflower pizza crust, and once I saw it, I knew I wanted to try it.  I love cauliflower, and it’s been cheap at the store lately.  The eggplant pizzas I found on allrecipes.com, I just modified it slightly. You do have to like the taste of eggplant to enjoy this one, but it’s a wonderful way to cook the eggplant.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust
Recipe from Jen D.

What you need:

1 large head cauliflower
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
3 eggs, beaten
3 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp garlic salt
Olive oil (optional)
Pizza sauce, shredded cheese and your choice of toppings (I used diced mushrooms)

How to make it:

Take the head of cauliflower, remove stems and leaves, and chop the florets into chunks. Add to food processor and pulse until it looks like grain. Do not over-do pulse or you will puree it. (If you don’t have a food processor, you can grate the whole head with a cheese grater). Place the riced cauliflower into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 8 minutes. There is no need to add water, as the natural moisture in the cauliflower is enough to cook itself.

Preheat oven to 450 F. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, stir together cauliflower, egg, and mozzarella.  Add oregano and garlic salt, stir.  Transfer to the cookie sheet, and using the spoon or your hands, pat out into a 12″ round.  Optional: Brush or spray olive oil over top of mixture to help with browning.

Bake at in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.  It should look like this:

Remove from oven. To the crust, add sauce, toppings and cheese.  Return to the oven and cook for 5 more minutes, or until cheese has melted:

 

 

Eggplant Pizzas
Based on recipe here

What you need:

2 eggs
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (you could use almond flour instead)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 large eggplant, sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
1/4 cup olive oil
Pizza sauce
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Pizza toppings (I used mushrooms)

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Beat the eggs in a bowl.  Mix the Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and oregano in a separate bowl.  Dip each eggplant slice in the egg, then in the cheese mixture one at a time, making sure to coat both sides.

Heat the olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Place the eggplant slices in the skillet to cook, turning occasionally, until evenly browned. Drain the eggplant slices on a paper towel-lined plate. Arrange the eggplant in one layer on a baking sheet. Spoon enough pizza sauce to cover each eggplant slice. Top each eggplant with mozzarella cheese.

Bake in the preheated oven until the mozzarella cheese is melted, about 5 to 10 minutes.

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Handprint Mardi Gras Masks

18 Feb

 

Katie’s preschool class was making these when I picked her up on Friday, and she had cut hers wrong, so she didn’t get to finish.  I decided we could make them at home instead!  They were using ribbon for the side, which I didn’t have, so we used strips of construction paper instead.  They also had sequins and jewels, but I don’t have those right now, so we only have glitter on ours.  You could probably add some feathers to the fingers too.  Also, make sure when you lay out their hands, you put them pretty close together.  I did my younger daughter’s mask first, and her eye holes ended up a little too far apart because I didn’t get her hands close enough together.  She still thinks it’s pretty cool, thankfully 3 year olds are easy to please.

 

Handprint Mardi Gras Masks

What you need:

Yellow construction paper
Green, yellow, and purple ribbons or construction paper strips
Wooden craft stick
Glitter, sequins, feathers to decorate

How to make it:

Have you child lay both hands on the yellow construction paper, with their thumbs overlapping in the middle and their other fingers straight up and spread out.  Trace around their hands, then cut it out.  Cut out 2 holes for eyes.  On one side, glue down the ribbons or paper strips, then the wooden craft stick.  Decorate with  glitter, sequins, feathers, or whatever you have to decorate.

Avgolemono Soup

18 Feb

It has been a LONG time since I have had this soup.  I hadn’t actually made this soup until now.  When I was making the chicken broth, my uncle commented on Facebook that when my grandmother was cooking chicken broth on the stove in the morning, he knew they were having Avgolemono Soup for dinner that night!  That was my motivation to finally make it.  The ingredient list is short, but it does require a little time and attention while making it.  The results are worth it, I promise!  If you want, you can add some cooked, shredded chicken to this to make it more of a meal.  I made it without.

Avgolemono Soup
Recipe from my Uncle Chris

What you need:

1 quart broth
1/4 cup long grain rice or orzo
1 egg
Juice of 1 lemon

How to make it:

Bring broth to boil. Add rice or orzo. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, squeeze lemon and mix with egg in a bowl.

When rice is done cooking, remove from stove. Using a ladle, add a small amount of hot broth very slowly to the egg-lemon mix while constantly stirring the egg-lemon mix with a wisk or mixer. Continue doing this with about half the broth and then reverse the process; use your ladle to slowly add this mix back into the remaining broth. When this process is complete your soup should look frothy.

Return it to the stove to heat back up to serving temp–But don’t let it boil! What you are making is called a suspension. The soup looks creamy, but it is actually comprised of tiny globs of egg suspended in the broth. The cooling process used to create the suspension is called tempering. If you just dumped the egg into the hot broth it would cook too fast to suspend (you end up with egg-drop soup). You don’t ever want to boil the soup because that will cook the egg too much and cause it to separate from the broth. This happens also when you reheat the soup. It never looks as good as it does on the first serving.

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