Homemade salsa, the easy way

Today my husband discovered the salsa (courtesy of The Pioneer Woman) that I made earlier in the week and sent me the following series of texts:

 You think he liked it?

The recipe was easy, but it would have been easier if I had a large food processor (I have a little 4-cupper) or a decent blender. SIGH. I had to do the salsa in batches in the blender. I also added a lot more cilantro (I used an entire bunch), used lemon juice instead of lime because that's what I had, and used one fiery hot chili pepper from our garden (no seeds, and still! SO HAWT!!).

It's good stuff. John'll tell you. :)

Salsa chicken in the crock pot!

Oh man, this recipe totally saved my butt for dinner. It was about 1 pm and I had NO IDEA what to do for dinner. I knew I had salsa, rice, and chicken breasts (frozen) on hand. I remembered a salsa chicken recipe my friend Elizabeth posted on Style Lush and wondered if I could make it my slow cooker. I googled a few salsa chicken recipes but they all called for beans and corn (which I did not have on hand) and I decided to just throw caution to the wind and go for it.

BOY AM I GLAD I DID! This recipe knocked our socks off. We have been doing a lot of soup in the crock pot lately (we are totally sick the classic chicken tortilla soup in the crock pot ... I was making it once a week for a while).

Anyway, here goes:

Put 4 frozen chicken breasts and lots of salsa (2+ cups) in the crock pot on low for 6-8 hours.

When you're nearly ready to eat, make some rice. I made 2 cups of uncooked white rice in my rice cooker ... it took about 15 mins.

Take the chicken out of the pot and set on a plate. Add 2-3 Ts of sour cream to the sauce in the pot and stir. Then add as much rice as you want (I added most of what I made in the rice cooker, minus about 1/2 cup).

Scoop up some rice on a plate and top with a chicken breast. Add cheese if you want. Be sure to put the leftovers somewhere the dog can't get it. I learned the hard way that my basset hound REALLY liked this dish too. UGH.

Cauliflower's new life

John hates cauliflower. HATES. I can't say that I've ever big a big fan of it either but I get tired of the same old green beans and broccoli and steamed carrots racket, you know? A while a go my friend Holly mentioned that she and her boyfriend actually got into a FIGHT over some roasted cauliflower they'd made and they now had to get TWO heads of cauliflower so they could still have harmony in their relationship. I've been experimenting with roasting veggies more lately (see the recipe for roasted carrots here ... Syd and I LOVED these!) and so I pressed Holly for her instructions on roasted cauliflower. I finally made this one night when Syd and I were on our own for dinner and WOW. She and I ate the entire head of cauliflower between the two of us! YUM! I knew I had to make it for John. I did just that a few weeks ago and he has requested it several times since. Last night I made it again and he turned to me with a mouthful and said "I think I'm addicted to this stuff!" If that's not a total 180 I don't know what is!

Here's the method I use. One head can serve two hungry people, but I've made two heads at a time just like Holly and it doesn't last long! We usually eat all the leftovers the following day!

1-2 heads of cauliflower, cut into florets, stem and leaves discarded
olive oil
kosher salt & pepper

Once you've cut up the cauliflower put it into a large bowl and drizzle with A LOT of olive oil. I'm not really sure how much I use because I don't measure but it has to be at least a cup when I make 2 heads! I usually drizzle, then add a few pinches of salt and pepper, toss, then add more until everything is completely and evenly coated. Then dump the bowl onto a large cookie sheet and pop it into a 400 degree oven. Every ten minutes or so toss the cauliflower with a large spatula. After about 25 mins your cauliflower will be soft, slightly browned (and it shrinks a bit in size) and is totally amazingly addictively delicious. I dare you to find a picky eater who won't like this veggie!



Photo from simplyrecipes.com

Give Brussels sprouts a second look!

Recently at Trader Joe's I saw a bag of washed and ready-to-go Brussels sprouts in the refrigerator section and snapped them up. I was planning on slicing them up thinly and sauteing them in bacon drippings that I've had in my fridge forever (I saw a similar dish in a magazine and thought I'd give the yucky sprouts of my childhood another go). However, things took a turn when I made a ham in my slow cooker this past Monday. The ham bone went in the freezer for a future, and may I say lucky?, pot of beans. John had a ham sandwich earlier in the week and we have enough ham left for about one more collosal sandwich and then a lot of smaller pieces for .... I didn't know. Last night I was cooking up a storm, trying to keep a lot of fresh veggies from going to waste (we had corn on the cob and roasted cauliflower too!) and I needed a quick way to prepare these sprouts. I went to google and found a recipe that called for brown sugar and chicken broth and HAM, so I improvised!

I put a tablespoon-ish of bacon drippings in the pan, melted them down, then added about 2 cups of chicken broth and heated until boiling. Then I added about 1 T of brown sugar and one t. of kosher salt. I threw a top on the pan and served up the other veggies to Syd and when the sprouts were slightly wilted I gave it all a stir, crumbled in some ham, turned off the heat and ate. I liked the (Syd did not). It was an easy and fast way to prep the sprouts and it definitely got my mental wheels turning. And of course we're all reminded of the important fact that bacon and/or ham make ANYTHING better. Ha!!

I've found my inner fat kid

And here he is:

 

I love him!!

C is for skillet cookie, that's good enough for me!

Monday was a Mama Needs Cookie kind of day. My friend Jennie recently linked to Ezra Poundcake's version of Martha Stewart's skillet cookie (say that three times fast). I am always looking for new ways to use my trusty Lodge cast-iron skillet, so I was immediately interested. I have to confess that I had some trouble with the, uh, wording of the instructions. The last item on the original ingredient list goes like this: 1 1/2 cups mixed milk and semisweet chocolate chips (about 9 ounces). For a good thirty minutes I pondered this. How does one mix milk and chocolate chips? How do you know how much of each to use? How do you combine a liquid measurement and a dry measurement? I even took to Twitter to beg for help. After which I soon realized that it was calling for milk chocolate chips and semi-sweet chocolate chips. DUH. Can you tell I'd had a LONG day? Which was WHY I needed a cookie in the first place?

You'd think it would be smooth sailing after that little episode. I assure you, it was not.

This cookie dough is not to be trifled with. I snapped my spatula in half while trying to fold in the semi-sweet chocolate chips (I chose to boycott the milk chocolate chips for making a fool of me. Also, I didn't have any on hand). RIP blue spatula. We had a good run.

Once I got past the recipe tomfoolery and the spatula injury, this cookie was impressive. I also accidentally added 1/4 cup too much white sugar (I make the Toll House recipe so much it's imprinted on my brain) and it turned out delicious. AMAZING, actually. It was gone by last night. How sad.

 

 

Here's the recipe with my modifications in bold. Best of luck!


Serves 8

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (I used less, let's say "scant")
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened (I used salted butter)
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar (I used dark)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (about 9 ounces)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes (I used a hand mixer).
4. Add egg and vanilla, mixing until they are fully incorporated.
5. Add flour mixture, and beat until just combined.
6. Stir in chocolate chips (Beware, flimsy spatula!)
7. Transfer dough to a 10-inch ovenproof skillet, and press to flatten, covering the bottom of the pan. Bake until the edges are brown and top is golden, 40 to 45 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool, 15 to 20 minutes. Cut into 8 wedges. Serve each with a scoop of ice cream or a large glass of milk.

Easy stuffed peppers

I recently re-organized my cookbook (basically a three-ring binder with clear plastic pages into which I stuff recipes that I find and like), and happened back upon my mom's recipe for stuffed peppers. I made it for dinner tonight ... so easy and really yummy! I threw this together while Syd munched on her dinner in the high chair.

Here's my mom's recipe with some tweaks (I ended up with 6 peppers, her recipe called for 4).

6 bell peppers, green or red
1.5 pounds ground beef
medium-large diced onion
~1 T minced garlic (to taste)
2 small cans diced tomatoes
shredded cheese (I used a Mexican blend I had on hand, but you can use whatever you like)
salt and pepper
chili powder
1/2 cup instant rice
1/2 T. sugar

Cut the tops off the peppers and clean out the insides. Par boil the peppers by dropping them in boiling water for about 7 mins. Remove and place in a rectangular baking dish with high sides (I used two glass loaf pans).

Meanwhile sautee the ground beef with the onion and garlic (add more garlic if you like). When the meat is cooked add the tomatoes, sugar, salt and pepper, and a few dashes of chili powder (optional). You really can season this however you like ... you could add red pepper flakes if you like it spicier, or substitute a can of RoTel for one can of tomatoes ... the possibilities are endless. Stir everything together and then add the rice. Cover and cook until the rice is done.  Taste the meat filling and adjust your seasonings as needed.

Place a small amount of the meat mixture in the bottom of each pepper, then place some cheese on top of that. Then fill the peppers to the top with the rest of the meat mixture and then top with cheese. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes.

I enjoyed my pepper with corn tortilla chips (as I do most things).

Bon apetit!!