Oh! You Cook!

So I was cleaning out the freezer, getting ready for Passover, and rediscovered a forgotten container of leftover soup chicken.  Ooh!  Perfect for a casserole or tacos or something equally exotic.  So I tossed it into the fridge to defrost, and to give me time to figure out what exactly to do with it.

A few days later Pi Day happened.  And since there is no rule that pies have to be sweet, a savory Chicken Pot Pie would be perfectamente!  Except for one slight problem:   I'm terrible at making tender, flaky crusts.  So I instead topped the filling with drop biscuits instead.  No rolling, no cutting, just a little scooping.  Totally easy and very delicious!  Even crust-haters ask for seconds.

A few friends and some Dear Readers have mentioned giving up meat, either temporarily for religious purposes or for a myriad of reasons long-term.  So to help them a little, I am sharing this amazing, easy to make meat-free pasta dish.


Chock full of olives and herbs and kissed with a bit of lemon two ways, theHubs says it's amazing as is.  But I prefer the addition of Parm cheese to jazz it up dairy-style.  Either way, this weeknight olive sauce is so easy to make, you will have to wait for the pasta to finish before you can finish off the sauce.


Pasta with Green Olive Sauce
Adapted from Bon Appetit
Yield:  4 Servings

1 (12-16 oz.) box linguine, spaghetti or spaghettini (thin spaghetti)
1/3 cup olive oil
1 (19 oz) can green olives, chopped (use sliced olives to speed up the prep)
2 Tbl. drained capers
1/2 cup panko (Japanese bread) crumbs
1/4 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
finely grated lemon zest of 1/2 lemon
1  loosely packed cup fresh parsley leaves, cho…

Gong Xi Fa Cai, Gong Hey Fat Choy or Happy Chinese New Year!  No matter how you say it,  celebrate the Year of the Dog with this easy to make dinner.  Only 20 or so minutes from lining up  the ingredients to sitting down to eat.

So I'm leafing through the print version of Hadassah Magazine when I happen upon a Brussels sprouts recipe that stops me cold.  Literally.

Cold. Raw. Brussels sprouts.

Jazzed up and served as a salad, but raw.

Raw?  Aren't Brussels sprouts disgusting enough cooked?

But the ingredients, plus most of the directions, had the potential for major improvement.   I knew I was on to something after tinkering with both ... something that even haters will enjoy.

Like the taste of pomegranate, but hate messing with all those seeds?  Then get ready to be wowed:  tender cubes of beef, drizzled with a honey-kissed pomegranate sauce ... with nary an aril in sight!

What if I told you that making your own sauerkraut was mad easy?   What if I told you that it only has two ingredients ... and that neither is vinegar?

I know what you'd say:  um ... you already told us all that yesterday.  Cabbage.  And salt.

Okay then ... besides that?

 Oh, this is so exciting, that I'll tell you now.

Ready?

But before I do, to add just a touch of suspense, let me mention that you don't need any fancy-schmancy equipment.  No need to sterilize jars or covers, or boil the life out of the cabbage to get rid of bacteria.  Because THAT'S the real secret ingredient ...  bacteria.

Wait ... what?  Bacteria?

Now stop with the ewwwww.  Especially if you (by now) peeked at yesterday's post.  Because probiotics, in a ton of superfoods that you love and enjoy, are simply bacteria.  Just the good kind. The kind that makes a fermented food a superfood.  And cures everything from cancer to ingrown toenails, if you believe all the hype anyway.

But why bother maki…

I heard that some big football is coming up in a couple weeks, and people celebrate by screaming at the TV, drinking beer and eating themselves silly.   Like I need an excuse to do every one of those. And although I have a reputation for creating fancy-schmancy dinners, I like junkfood almost as much.  Which leads me to brats and sausages.  Especially when paired with beer and sauerkraut like in this recipe.  Really perfect for parties, since it's really very forgiving.  Make with whatever kind of sausage-like substance you feel like having, or whatever theHubs brings back from the Try-n-Save despite that carefully crafted shopping list you agonized over (it's a good thing that my favorite is whatever kind of sausage he eventually brings back).  I've made this with bratwurst, sweet Italian sausage, hot Italian sausage, German something-or-other, no matter.  Still comes out great.   Cook 'em over the BBQ for the best char and taste, but since my own grill is allergic …

Did ya miss me?

Have to admit, the primary reason for the lengthy hiatus was summer laziness.  I really planned to come back with fresh recipes in September.

Then, at the end of August, at what was supposed to be a routine exam, a "suspicious" shadow suddenly appeared on the technician's screen ...

Is this the bestest name you've ever seen?   This dark and lovely cake gets its rich lusciousness from unsweetened (baking) chocolate and brown sugar.  Not coffee, as many dark chocolate cakes utilize to enhance color and flavor.  Extremely moist and delicious, with a hint of sweetness.  No need for icing, frosting, glaze, ganache nor any other topping you can possibly imagine.  I brought a few pieces to work, and not a crumb was left.

I was planning to grill yet again, but due to my usual impeccable timing, the heavens opened up just as I was about to crank up the BBQ.   So I made my second choice.  Which made me forget about the first choice.  Good thing, since the sun came out just as dinner was plated.  Oh, well.  Tomorrow's another day.

Lemon-Kissed Honey Rosemary Chicken
Adapted from The Rachael Ray Show
Yield:   4 Servings
2 Tbl. Olive oil, divided
4 skinless boneless chicken breasts
2 pinches each kosher salt and coarsely ground black pepper, divided
1/4 cup honey
1 large sprig rosemary leaves
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 Tbl. Dijon mustard
grated rind of 1 lemon

Heat a large skillet over medium heat.  Add olive oil, wait 10 seconds, then add chicken breasts in a single layer.  Sprinkle evenly with a pinch each of the salt and pepper.

Cook 5-6 minutes, or until browned.  Using tongs, flip breasts and sprinkle evenly with remaining salt and pepper.  Continue to cook 5-6 minutes, or until browned.  Transfer chick…

Is eating clean still a thing?  Because this smoothie is clean.  Very clean.  Except for the mess if you use a food processor instead of a blender.  

The Green Peanut Butter Smoothie is a sneaky way to get veggies into your kids.   But one taste, and you'll find excuses to keep it for yourself for breakfast or as an afternoon pick-me-up.

And that's not even the best part of this delicious smoothie! 

It's Passover this week, which to many most people means two choices:  meals served on matzoh, or meals with matzoh mixed in.  Nuh-uh, not in my house.   Here is an example of the kind of meals my family enjoy.  Ground beef, sauteed with mushrooms and other yummy add-ins, served over Passover-friendly spiral noodles made of potato and tapioca starches.  Perfect even if you don't celebrate Passover, but happen to have gluten issues.   A bit of wine reduction (which sounds fancy-schmancy, but really takes more time to say than to do) gives the flavor a grown-up kick.

The interesting thing about this recipe is that it came about totally by accident.

Can you stand yet another company-worthy appetizer?   Serve this refreshing (emerald) jewel of a soup!

Having a few people over, but don't know what to serve?  With not much more than a twist of the wrist, make these dressed-to-impress canapes!

Continuing with my testing appetizers for a dinner I am partially hosting, my latest experiment is baba ganoush.

Baba ganoush is a Middle Eastern dip.   Made with roasted eggplant, tahini, lemon juice, plus a few spices, baba ganoush is usually served with pita or another Middle Eastern bread.  Parsley is not a traditional ingredient, but I think it really adds to the flavor.

Turn your beet-haters into beet-lovers with this flavorful side dish!

So I volunteered to be one of the hosts (hostesses?) for a progressive dinner for charity.   A progressive dinner is where the appetizers, main and dessert courses are each served at different homes.  I'm doing the appetizers.  Since this fundraiser brings out major contributors, you don't just heat up store-bought frozen puffs and pass around a bottle of ketchup. These people deserve major bang for their donation bucks.  So I've been testing a few recipes that catch my eye here and there.  Such as these from-scratch sausage rolls, served with from-scratch tomato dipping sauce.

Short ribs and beer ... perfect together!

A newly improved " crab" cake ... with even more improved not-so-secret sauce!

Who knew elegant could be so gosh-darn easy .... with a capital E!    A few slices of lemon and a sprig of rosemary really dresses up a dish, while flavorizing it like no one's biz.

Improve Cooking Challenge, hosted by Nicole from Cookaholic Wife, is where members are given a pair of ingredients and challenged to post a recipe around them.  This month's challenge is to use lemon and rosemary.  To me this really was no challenge, since this easy recipe is a family fave, and very lucky since I never got around to posting.

Until now.