Potato Salad

I have now made this recipe twice and I figure I should write it down or I will forget it.  If I'm going to write it down, I might as well write it on here so everyone can see it!  I made this the first time for Riley's birthday party and it was a huge hit. I made it again for 4th of July dinner and my Aunt-in-law loved it so much she asked to borrow a cooler so she could take some home (she lives two hours away and she wanted to make sure it stayed cool!).  Anyway...here's the recipe: )

10 red potatoes, scrubbed and washed
24 oz mayonnaise 
1/4 cup yellow mustard4-5 celery stalks, chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped 
12 oz sweet relish 
Salt, pepper and paprika to taste
6 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped

Place potatoes in a large pot, cover with water and bring to a boil.  Boil for 15 or so minutes (cooking time will depend on size of potatoes), until potatoes are soft.  Remove from pot and set aside to cool.  In a large mixing bowl, combine mayonnaise, mustard, celery, green onions, relish and seasonings.  When potatoes are cool chop into cubes and stir into mayo mixture.  I always add the eggs last and stir gently so they don't end up pulverized: )  Cool for at least an hour before serving. Both times I made this, I made it a day ahead to let the flavors combine.    

Angel Chicken Spectacular Spaghetti Squash

Today my kitchen smells amazing.  Probably because I am making two delicious recipes!  Yay experimentation! One recipe is my own, and the other one is from my favorite recipe website, AllRecipes.  I made a couple changes to each and am going to try combining them later.  Here's what I'm up to...

My own recipe is the Spectacular Spaghetti Squash. I left out the cheese and only used minced garlic, salt, pepper and basil to season all the veggies (which were half an onion, 1 red bell pepper and a cup of sliced mushrooms).  I also used about half the amount of butter. That was cooked in the oven, scooped with a fork and is now waiting for the chicken to get done.  

As for the other recipe, Angel Chicken Pasta is one my mom discovered several years ago. It is amazing and I have always loved it, even when I didn't really like chicken (quick sidenote, we have always doubled the sauce). For this recipe, I used half the amount of chicken (mainly because I buy organic chicken and it is expensive!) and used 1 can of cream of mushroom with roasted garlic soup and 1 can of cream of onion soup.  I mixed the soup with a half cup of plain, nonfat yogurt, 1 dressing packet and about a half cup of water and poured it over the chicken I had placed in my crock pot.  That's been going on high for about two hours so it should be done soon!  

If you haven't guessed already, my plan is to put the angel chicken mixture over the spaghetti squash in place of noodles.  I'm pretty sure the result will be deliciousness but I will post in the comments how everything turns out: )

Vegetarian Lasagna...slow cooker style

First of all, I must give a shout out to Food Network Magazine for the idea.  One of the features for their April issue was 20 slow cooker recipes.  I definitely want to try out a few more but the first one I picked was the Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna.  It sounded delicious, but really unhealthy. And honestly, a little bland too. It didn't even call for any garlic! How can you make lasagna without garlic? I'm pretty sure that is against the rules.  Anyway...a drastic reduction in the amount of mozzarella cheese, a partial substitution of nonfat Greek yogurt for ricotta cheese and a large addition of spices later, this is what I came up with.

Slow Cooker Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna

1 (15 oz) container part-skim ricotta cheese
12 oz nonfat, plain Greek yogurt
1 (10 oz) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
8 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced or diced
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil (1 tbsp dried)
2 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano (1 tbsp dried)
Salt and pepper to taste
12 oz part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
1-2 oz grated parmesan cheese, grated
1 (32oz) jar marinara sauce
6 lasagna noodles

In a medium bowl, combine ricotta, yogurt, spinach, mushrooms and seasonings.  In a small bowl, combine mozzarella and parmesan cheese.  Spread about a 1/2 cup marinara sauce in a thin layer on the bottom of a 4.5 quart slow cooker. Layer 2 lasagna noodles (broken into pieces to fit), 1/2 ricotta cheese mixture, 1/3 mozz. cheese mixture and 1/3 remaining sauce. Repeat layers once and top with remaining noodles, cheese and sauce.

Bacon For The Win!

It has been too long since my last post...as usual.  I'm not very good at keeping a blog updated.  I swear I am trying to get better!  Anyway...because I took so long between posts, I figured I needed to post about something awesome.  What is more awesome than bacon?  Let me think....um, nothing.  Bacon is the best ever.  So here are a couple bacon recipes for your viewing (and hopefully, eventually gastronomic) pleasure.

This first recipe for toffee isn't really mine.  The recipe for Popularity Cookies is one my mom showed me a couple years back and it is absolutely fantastic.  So why am I posting it on my blog?  Well because one day I was making these for a party and happened to have leftover crumbled bacon and bacon grease from another dish (bacon caramel popcorn, still perfecting that recipe).  While I was getting all the ingredients together for the toffee, a beautiful idea struck me.  BACON TOFFEE!!!!! Best. Idea. Ever.  I didn't even have to alter the recipe that much.  So here is my version of popularity cookies.

Extremely Popular Cookies



1 sleeve club (or similar) crackers
1 cups butter
1 cup packed, light brown sugar
2 Tbsp bacon grease
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips
8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line an 12x17" jelly roll pan with foil and line up crackers on foil.  Melt butter in sauce pan and stir in brown sugar and bacon grease until dissolved.  Stirring almost constantly bring mixture to a boil for 3 minutes. Watch carefully so it doesn't boil over.  Pour over crackers and spread evenly.  Place in the oven and bake for 5 to 6 minutes.  Remove from oven, turn oven off and let oven door stand open for 1 minute.  Pour semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips evenly over the toffee and place back in the oven for 1-2 minutes or until chocolate has begun to melt.  Using the back of a wet spoon, spread chocolate evenly.  Top with crumbled bacon and refrigerate or freeze until set.  When set, remove from pan and break into pieces.  

This recipe makes a decent amount of toffee but I almost always make a double batch...even without bacon this stuff goes fast!!

The next couple bacon recipes are ones I created for a special Valentine's day meal.  I wanted to make a bacon themed meal for Wayne and I because we rarely ever buy/eat bacon but we both love it.  I went a little crazy and used 2 lbs of bacon throughout the four dish meal: )  It was delicious.  We started with a salad topped with bacon crumbles and homemade bacon-avocaodo-ranch dressing.  Unfortunately I did not keep track of how I made the dressing.  I just threw ingredients in until it tasted right so I can't give out that recipe.  The main course (recipe below) was bacon stuffed portobello mushrooms with a side of cheesy bacon ranch mashed potatoes (recipe also below).  For dessert we had pecan bars with bacon.  That recipe came from the food network magazine bacon issue so I won't be posting it here.  Really it was just a basic pecan bar with crumbled bacon added.  Because I was making several different dishes and had only a short time to prepare them, these recipes are very simple but very delicious.

Bacon Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

4 large portobello mushrooms, washed with gills and stem removed
1 box cornbread stuffing
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes with garlic
8 slices bacon
6 oz Fontina cheese, shredded (or your preferred white cheese, I thought about using smoked Gouda)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper and place bacon on the pan.  Bake for ten minutes (bacon will not be fully cooked) and slice in half.  While bacon is baking, prepare box of stuffing according to directions and mix with diced tomatoes.   To assemble place mushrooms on foil lined baking pan and top each with 1 slice (2 half slices) bacon, stuffing mixture and another slice of bacon.  Bake for 15 minutes, top each with cheese and return to oven for 5 minutes (or until cheese is all melty and bubbly and delicious).

Cheesy Bacon Ranch Mashed Potatoes

6 servings prepared instant mashed potatoes (or make your own real mashed potatoes, I was pressed for time so I cheated with the instant stuff: )
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded Fontina cheese
1/2 pkg dry ranch dressing mix (I know this is weird but I used the other half for the dressing I made)
1/4 cup chopped chives
1/4 cup chopped green onions
3/4 cup plain greek yogurt
about 2 cups steamed milk

Place all ingredients except for milk in a large bowl and stir until combined.  Slowly add steamed milk and beat until desired consistency is reached.

Normally I would have experiment notes but all these experiments were a such a success, I wouldn't change anything!  Hopefully you like them as much as I do: )

Failed Risotto and Successful Soup

So...that didn't work
  I was going to write a whole blog about my failed attempt at brown rice risotto (which, looking back, I knew better than to try) but I have had so many successes in the kitchen (yay! go me: ) that it seems silly to waste a whole blog post on something I won't be trying again.  Let us just say that arborrio rice is the only rice to use for a proper risotto. And even if you don't want a "proper" risotto, brown rice is really not an option.  It takes too long to cook and the bran and germ surrounding the endosperm prevent enough starch from escaping to create the creamy texture that is the whole point of a risotto.  Lesson learned.  Moving on to more delicious things.

So...this did work!
  Well, lately it's been pretty cold here in Kansas (although as a write this, its a nice 60 degrees outside). That means lots of soups. Specifically lots of soups involving lots of vegetables and chicken or beans (or both).  After the success of the Chicken and Navy Bean soup, I decided I wanted to make another chicken and veggie soup.  Wayne and I were both ready for more delicious, healthy, soupy goodness.  I went back to my soups and stews book and found a tomato basil vegetable soup recipe that looked great.  Adding chicken to it just seemed like a good idea.  I really didn't alter the original recipe that much other than to cook it in a slow cooker instead of on the stove and to add chicken, of course.  Also, because the cookbook is pretty old (Wayne's mom had it for a while before she gave it to us: ) it called for spices that aren't easily bought at the grocery store.  Mace and "savory" were seasonings I did not have. After a quick google search or two I picked ginger to replace the mace and poultry seasoning to replace the savory. Normally I wouldn't put a recipe that isn't really my own on my blog, but I plan to try this again with alterations that will be discussed after the recipe so I figured I should post the first attempt: )


Tomato Basil Chicken Soup

 Ingredients
3-4 celery stalks, diced
4 medium carrots, sliced
1 large yellow onion, diced
4-5 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 Tbsp oil (I used 
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 large cans diced tomatoes
2 Tbsp oil (I used coconut oil)
Seasonings to taste (I used the following spices and ratios)
  -1 part poultry seasoning
  -1 part ginger
  -2 parts oregano
  -2 parts thyme
  -3 parts basil
  -no idea how much salt and pepper I used but it wasn't a lot of either

Directions
  Place celery, carrots, onion and garlic in the bottom of the slow cooker and toss with oil, salt and pepper.  Rub chicken with half of total spice blend and place on top of vegetables.  Pour tomatoes on top of chicken and top with other half of spice blend. Cook on high heat for one hour, stir (as much as possible, it's kind of hard) and cook for an additional 1-1.5 hours or until chicken is 165 degrees.  Remove chicken breasts and use a fork and steak knife (or two forks) to shred chicken. Return to slow cooker and serve: )

Notes on the Experiment
  The end result of this small experiment was pretty amazing, however I feel there was room for improvement.   The entire time the soup was cooking I kept thinking about chicken parmesan.  It smelled just like chicken parm baking in the oven! If I had any Parmesan cheese in the house at the time, I definitely would have added it.  I didn't though so I had to settle for dreaming up ways to turn this soup into Slow Cooker Chicken Parmesan Soup. Because yeah, that sounds ridiculously awesome.  So far I have two different ideas.  Adding Parmesan cheese and noodles to the soup was my first idea and that would be easy enough.  Probably delicious too.  But my way better idea was trying to figure out some kind of french onion soup inspired presentation.  That would take it up at least 2 notches on the epic soup scale, maybe 3.  Maybe add Parmesan cheese to the soup and ladle individual portions into a ramekin (or other oven-safe bowl) then top with garlic toast, a blend of Italian cheese and bake until the cheese reaches epic bubbly, melty awesomeness.  Hmmm....science demands I test this idea out: )

Chicken and Navy Bean Experimental Soup

New Name...New blog. Hopefully: )
 Most of the time, when I bring a dish to a gathering or have people to my home for dinner, I find myself saying "This is experimental cheesecake" (don't worry, that will be another blog) or "We're having experiments for dinner".  What can I say? I like to play with food.  Cooking is a art project and a science experiment rolled into one.  A delicious creative endeavor: )  Soup happens to be one of my favorite experiments.  Such a versatile medium!  Seriously, what can't you do with soup? Also, it's really hard to mess up. Anyway, here is the story of the Chicken and Navy Bean Soup experiment. Recipe in blue at the bottom.
   Winter is obviously the perfect time for soup experimentation.  Knowing this, Wayne and I have been looking through a Better Homes and Gardens "Soups and Stews" cookbook that his mom gave to us.  I came across a Ham and Bean Vegetable Soup that looked delicious! Only one problem.  We both gained a little weight over the holidays and are really trying to eat better. We are trying to eat less meat overall and make the meat we do eat organic.  Two pounds of smoked ham hocks wasn't going to work with that.  Wayne suggested chicken and bean vegetable soup. Now that was something I could work with! Wayne played with Riley on the floor while I sat there writing the grocery list and figuring out how to alter the soup.
  The original recipe called for the beans to be soaked, the ham hocks to be added and cooked for a total of one and a half hours at a strong simmer, adding the veggies in the last 30 minutes of cooking.  I felt like chicken, being a much more tender meat, would basically get boiled and fall apart. And while there's nothing wrong with boiled chicken (especially in chicken and noodles...oooh that should be another winter experiment: ), I wanted bigger chunks of still very tender chicken in my soup.  Well that sounds like the perfect job for my slow cooker!  The original recipe called for a standard mirepoix (2 parts onion to one part celery and one part carrot) which is my favorite aromatic group for poultry.  I decided to use those as a bed for the chicken in the slow cooker. I rubbed some poultry seasoning on the chicken and covered it all in chicken broth. Two and a half hours later I had deliciously tender chicken and amazing broth and veggies to add flavor to the beans. Success!
  The original recipe also called for potatoes to be added with all the other veggies.  Potatoes weren't going to add flavor to the chicken so they could wait and be added to the beans with the other veggies. I did that and honestly, I wish I hadn't. The potatoes had very little flavor and were probably cooked too long. They didn't add anything to the dish so I left them out of the recipe below. I do think sweet potato might have worked better and would be an interesting addition. I may try that next time.
  Overall I would definitely rate this experiment a success.  I ended up with a much more healthy version of a recipe I really wanted to try. I also have more ideas for future soup endeavors! I love it when cooking one dish makes gives me great ideas for more: )

 

Chicken and Navy Bean Soup

Servings: 8 to 10

Ingredients

• 4-5 medium carrots, peeled and sliced

• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 4-5 stalks celery, diced
• 2 large, boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 tsp poultry seasoning
• 12 cups water
• 4 tsp chicken granules (instant bouillon)
• 16 oz dry navy beans
• salt and pepper to taste ( I actually didn't use any added salt because of the salt in the instant bouillon)

Directions

Place carrots, onion and celery in the bottom of a 3-4 quart crock pot. Place chicken breast on top, rub poultry seasoning on top. Boil 4 cups of water, remove from heat and stir in chicken granules. Pour on top of chicken and veggies and place lid on pot. Turn crock pot on high and cook for 2 and a half hours or until thermometer reads 165 degrees when inserted into the thickest part of the breast. When chicken has 1 hour left to cook, rinse navy beans and place in a large stock pot. Cover with 8 cups water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for two minutes, then cover and remove from heat. Let stand for one hour. When chicken is done, remove breasts from crock pot and place on a cutting board. Transfer broth and veggies to the pot with the beans, reserving about 1 cup of broth.  Add any desired seasonings at this point. Bring beans and veggies to a simmer, reduce heat to medium and cover. Cook for 1-1.5 hours or until beans are tender and soup has reduced to desired consistency. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Meanwhile, shred chicken and place back in crock pot, on low, to keep warm. When beans and veggie are done, stir in chicken and serve.

Note: Wayne tends to like really thick soups that are pretty much stews. If you like a thinner soup, you might want to add some water to the beans along with the vegetables.

Spectacular Spaghetti Squash

Ingredients

1 large spaghetti squash

1 red onion, small dice

3 bell peppers, any color, large dice

4 large garlic cloves, minced or pressed

3 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces

Italian or Garlic seasoning blend

salt and pepper

Olive oil, for brushing

½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese (optional)

½ cup feta cheese (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Halve spaghetti squash and scoop out seeds. Brush each piece liberally with olive oil. Sprinkle liberally with seasonings and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and place butter and garlic in the bottom of the two halves. Divide veggies and place in each half. Sprinkle with more seasonings and a little bit of oil and return to oven for 15 to 20 minutes, when spaghetti squash is done and veggies are at desired tenderness. Sprinkle with cheese and allow to cool slightly. When cool enough to handle, use a fork to scoop out the halves into a large bowl. Toss, taste, add additional seasoning if needed and serve. 

Recipe Notes

       This is a very flexible recipe. You can change up the vegetables and the amounts. Zucchini and mushrooms would both be great additions/substitutions. Broccoli too!  You can use more butter and less oil or omit the butter entirely.  And as for the seasonings and cheeses, go crazy! Also, bacon would not be amiss here, but that makes it markedly less healthy: )