Wish Upon A Chef

The Italian dish of risotto is typically prepared by adding liquid, small amounts at a time, to rice and stirring almost constantly until the liquid is absorbed each time and more can be added. Ain’t nobody got time to be standing over a stove all day long.

And that’s why I like this recipe for Italian Sausage Risotto from Farmstand Chef. It only takes a few minutes for the wine to absorb and beyond that you can dump in all the stock and forget about it with the exception of a few stirs here and there.

I used hot pork breakfast sausage for this – I have it in the freezer from my Windy Hill Farms CSA and I’m not much of a sausage eater so I’m always trying to find creative ideas to use it. I also had pork stock in the freezer from some previous kitchen project involving pork. And speaking of things in my freezer – I’m not a red wine drinker either but anytime I entertain and have red wine for Boy Toy or friends, I pour any leftover wine (WHO has leftover wine??) into a container and freeze it for use in recipes. It never freezes solid so I can chip off as much as I need and thaw.

Serve this dish with a green salad and dinner can be ready in about 30 minutes. I love easy, simple and delicious recipes like this. It’s a man-pleaser too - Boy Toy loved it.

Italian Sausage Risotto
servings = 4-6

From Farmstead Chef

1 lb. Italian pork sausage (I used hot breakfast sausage)
1 cup onions, finely chopped
1 tablespoon butter
1-1/4 cup Arborio rice
½ cup red wine
3 cup chicken stock (I used pork stock)
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
Salt and pepper, to taste

Fry sausage in a large skillet, breaking it up into small pieces. When lightly browned (about 8-10 minutes), remove from pan and drain on paper towels.

To the same pan, add butter and onion and cook over medium heat until onions soften (about 3-5 minutes.) Add rice and toss until well coated in butter, stirring constantly.

Add wine and stir until it is absorbed. Add sausage back to pan and stir.

Add stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to very low, cover and cook 15-20 minutes until the broth is absorbed and the rice is tender. Stir occasionally.

Remove from heat and stir in cheese and salt and pepper. Serve extra Parmesan cheese alongside for sprinkling on top.

No matter how old you get, there are times when only your Momma can make you feel better.

When you're down with a bad cold, only Momma can make chicken soup just the way you like it.

A scraped knee?  Momma will make the boo-boo all better with nothing but a kiss and a Snoopy band-aid.

When your first (second, third or twentieth) true love breaks your heart, Momma is there to help you pull yourself up by the bootstraps and make you feel loved again.

And so it is that after I've been in a blogging/cooking rut for almost a year, only Momma could get me started again.

This time last year Boy Toy and I were getting ready for vacation in Mexico and the folks were on safari in Africa.  It was the last week of "normal" as we would know it until very recently. After months, days and weeks of watching my mother struggle to get her strength back, I was very pleasantly surprised when she showed up and dropped five dozen ears of corn at my doorstep.  Things were definitely getting back to normal.


My hometown in Tennessee has long been known for fruit and produce grown by the Scott family - namely strawberries, tomatoes, and corn.  There is a world of difference between real farm-grown food and the mass-produced food in the grocery store but most people never have the chance to experience the difference. Nor have they experienced the satisfaction of "putting up" food to be enjoyed long after it's out of season.

As a child, I can vaguely remember most all of my family members sitting on the porch at some point in time stringing and snapping beans from the garden or "working" tomatoes into pints and quarts.  It was a family affair - a time to be together, talk, laugh and tell stories.  It was a joint effort to do the work and a joint effort to enjoy the bounty for the rest of the year.  It was a way of life.  Sadly, the art of canning and preserving food has been lost on alot of today's population.  Invite a bunch of friends over for a bean stringing party or a corn shucking soiree and see how many show up!  I'm still a farm girl at heart because, even after years of being removed from it,  I still love the satisfaction of "working" real food. 


The folks and I spent Friday evening shucking and plucking 60 ears of corn (some of us even clowned around) from Scott's farm and planned to prepare it on Saturday for the freezer.  Once you get past all the shucking, it's really a pretty easy thing to do.  

























Once the corn is clean of all the silks and the ends are trimmed, fill the largest pot you have with water (about halfway) and bring it to a slow simmer.  Add the corn in batches and give the water a few minutes to return to a simmer.  Cook the corn for about 4 minutes, making sure to push the corn down to the bottom a few times because it floats to the top. 


Remove the corn from the pot and put it into an ice bath to stop the cooking process.  Once the corn is cool, use a sharp knife and cut the kernels from the cob.  Bag the corn in freezer bags - it works best if you make the filled bags lay flat so you can stack them in the freezer and take up less room.  We bagged the corn in both pint and quart bags and got 10 pints for me and 9 quarts for Mom. 

When you're ready to use the corn, defrost it and cook however you please.  I like to saute it with a combination of olive oil and butter along with fresh garlic, diced red or green bell peppers.  Add fresh herbs like parsley, thyme or basil at the end of cooking and season with salt & pepper. 

With a little bit of time and effort this summer, you can enjoy fresh corn all year long!

Despite a ridiculously rainy summer, this year's garden bounty was still fairly decent and it's a good thing too, because I put alot of money and effort into revamping my garden space earlier this year. 


The Boy Toy was kind enough to haul my 300 pounds of crap and I nearly chopped off a few appendages and almost destroyed my fence while using my birthday present (thanks Pop!)

Unfortunately, my squash and zucchini never lived to see the light of day thanks to hungry wascally wabbits and some of my tomatoes fell victim to the monsoon conditions, but overall I was still happy with the results.  I was so excited to see these two lovely eggplants and the first order of business was to transform them into one of my all-time favorite dishes:  Eggplant Parmesan.  I'm even more excited that there are more eggplants coming along in the garden and they're slated for this fear inducing Ina Garten recipe.



Always quick and easy to prepare, this dish is also freezer-friendly.  Just prepare it up to the point of baking and pop it into the freezer to be thawed and prepared at a later date. 


Eggplant Parmesan
Serves 6

Printable recipe

1 large eggplant
flour
salt and pepper
2 eggs, beaten
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 6-oz can tomato paste
2 16-oz cans diced tomatoes
1 cup water
fresh parsley, chopped
1-1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Combine tomatoes, tomato paste, water, and parsley in a medium sauce pan.  Season with salt and pepper.  Simmer, uncovered, about 1 hour or until thickened, stirring often.

Prepare two plates:  one with flour seasoned with salt and pepper and the other with eggs.  Peel and slice the eggplant into 1/4" thick slices.  Season each slice liberally with flour, shaking off excess.  Dip slices into egg.

Heat oil in large skillet and fry slices a few at a time until golden brown, turning once.  Drain well on paper towels.

Spoon a thin layer of sauce in a baking dish  Arrange half of the eggplant slices, overlapping, over sauce.  Top with more sauce and half of the mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.  Repeat layers.

Bake 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until sauce is bubbly and cheese is melted.  

 
I've been on a slow cooker roll here lately!  It seems that after I griped about the lack of things to prepare in my pot, recipes started jumping out at me left and right and from behind bushes.  And I recently came into possession of my 92-year-old grandmother's Crock-Pot and I'm totally digging the whole retro vibe of it.  I also scored her 1960's (I think) era combination slow cooker/fryer  called   Hy-Fry which looks just like this one.  It's never been used and she still had the original instruction booklet where she had penciled the date of December 25, 1974 which means she got it as a Christmas gift when I was 3 years old.  Call me sappy, but I'm hugely sentimental about things like that. 


I found a marinara recipe on Budget Bytes, which is a neat site that features really great recipes that are budget friendly.  Beth estimates this recipe costs a little over $5 to prepare - of course that's going to depend on prices in your geographic area and other variables like coupons, sale prices, etc. but even if it's a few cents more, it's still a pretty sweet deal.

I love having my freezer stocked with things that I can pull out last minute, thaw and have a good home cooked meal on the table without much effort at all and this fits the bill perfectly.  After the sauce cools, portion it up into 1/2 cup or 1 cup servings and freeze.  In addition to serving over pasta, this makes a great marinara for pizza (try this one topped with bacon, cheese and pepperoni or throw your favorite veggies on this homemade pizza dough.)

Slow Cooker Marinara
approximately 13 servings (1/2 cup)

Printable Recipe

2 (28 oz.) cans crushed tomatoes
1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste
1 onion, diced
1/2 Tablespoon garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1 Tablespoon dried basil
1/2 Tablespoon dried oregano
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Add all ingredients to your slow cooker, cover and cook on low for 8 hours.  When done, stir the sauce and remove the bay leaves.  Season with more salt and pepper if needed. 

Last week I harped about not having many Crock-Pot recipes that I enjoyed and I subconsciously suggested that I should take a lesson from the Boy Toy because he crocks alot.  So I took my own advice and asked him to share one of his favorite recipes and now I'm getting even more lovin' from my Crock-Pot.

Cacciatore means "hunter" in Italian and it's typically a rustic dish that includes chicken, bell peppers, onion, and tomatoes.  The meat is typically braised and everything simmers together in one pot for about an hour, which makes it a perfect recipe for the slow cooker. 

I used a combination of white and dark meat chicken because that's what I had on hand, and if you have a splash of red wine just begging to be used, by all means, throw it in too.  When Boy Toy makes this for his kids, he chops the veggies small so they are undetectable (he's sneaky like that) and serves it over rice.  I dished mine up over pasta but you could also just use a nice crusty Italian bread to sop up the yummy sauce. 

I prepared a double recipe and portioned it into freezable containers.  On the nights that I don't feel like cooking from scratch, I'll just thaw out a portion and prepare the rice or pasta.  Easy peasy and delicious! 

Crock-Pot Chicken Cacciatore
Serves 8

Printable Recipe

8 chicken thighs, with the bone, skin removed
28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced into strips
1/2 green bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 large onion, sliced
1 teaspoon oregano
1 bay leaf
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
fresh herbs such as parsley, for garnish

Season chicken with salt and pepper and place in slow cooker.  Pour tomatoes over the chicken, top with onions and peppers.  Add oregano, bay leaf, more salt and pepper and give it a stir to combine everything.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours. 

Before serving, remove bay leaf and adjust seasonings if desired.   If you'd like your sauce a bit thicker, you can remove the lid and continue to cook on high for about another hour. 

My Crock Pot and I have a love/hate relationship.  I love the convenience of using it and I love most of the foods that come out of it (we can count the so-called "lasagna" as a colossal failure.) But I hate the fact that I can never seem to find more recipes that float my Crock Pot boat, and believe me, I spend alot of time surfing Pinterest for recipes when I should be doing my real job in my spare time.

Whereas Boy Toy uses his Crock Pot incessantly, I use mine mostly only for roasts (this one being my favorite), an occasional soup (although none of them have turned out to be blog post worthy) and for making these caramelized onions from the lovely Becky Turner of Random Musings of a Deco Lady (we miss you Becky!)  Maybe I should take a Crock Pot lesson from the Boy Toy because he cranks out some tasty dishes from that thing. 

This recipe is one of my favorites to prepare when I catch pork roasts on sale.  I served it with BBQ sauce instead of the gravy as a sandwich for the kids and actually got two compliments from the Little Miss and the Teenage Boy ate FOUR sandwiches, which I deem to be an unspoken compliment.  I enjoy it alongside typical BBQ trimmings - a helping of homemade mac & cheese and coleslaw. 

It is fall-apart tender and any leftovers can be frozen and enjoyed later.  What's not to love?


Crock Pot Pork Roast with Gravy

printable recipe

4 to 5 lb. pork loin roast
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 medium onions, sliced
1 bay leaf
1 cup water
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Rub roast with salt and pepper. make tiny slits in meat and insert slivers of garlic. In Crock Pot put 1 sliced onion on bottom. Add roast then remaining onion and other ingredients. Cover and cook 1 hour on high. Turn to low and cook 9 to 10 hours or until done.

GRAVY: Remove roast, onions, clove and bay leaf. In separate cup or bowl, blend 2 tablespoons cold water with 2 tablespoons cornstarch to form smooth paste. Set Crock Pot on high and pour in paste. Stir well and let come to a boil (10 to 15 minutes) until thickened.

I was probably about 8 or 9 years old when I started showing an interest in cooking, thanks in part to the 4-H Club in my elementary school and to my mom for letting me help when she was in the kitchen.  I started out making simple things like cookies, biscuits, and corn muffins and I was also responsible for tearing up the cheese slices for my mom's homemade mac & cheese, which was a very important task because that was some seriously good stuff! 

I'm always delighted when Boy Toy's 10-year-old daughter wants to help me in the kitchen.  She already has some really good slicing, chopping and stirring skills and so far her attention span is long enough to pretty much see a project through until the end (minus the cleaning up part, of course).  She doesn't know it yet, but she's getting her own apron for her birthday in March.  Shhhh! 

When working with kids in the kitchen, you have to keep in mind that they are probably going to make a mess and it may not turn out quite the way you planned, but that's okay because the whole point is to get them involved and keep it at their level.  Show them, teach them and fine tune their skills and know that you are teaching them a life skill that will benefit them many times over. 

I had to whip up a quick appetizer for a New Year's Eve party (quick because I had totally forgotten that I was supposed to take something), and I chose these Spicy Sausage and Cheese Tarts that I found on Pinterest from Plain Chicken.  I like Plain Chicken's blog because she has alot of "Football Friday" recipes that are perfect for entertaining or watching sports and I've bookmarked alot of her stuff because Boy Toy occasionally has friends over during football and baseball season and I'm always looking for quick and easy "dude food."

My sous chef pretty much completed this task all by herself - she chopped the pepper, browned the sausage and then mixed all the ingredients together.  She did a bang up job of filling the phyllo cups and even decorated the tray and plated them.  She claimed the whole time that she didn't like sausage and even when she tried one after they were baked she said she didn't like it, but I'd almost swear I saw her sneak one later in the evening when she thought no one was looking. 

Could you say "No" to this tray of treats? I thought not.

Spicy Sausage and Cheese Tarts
inspired by www.plainchicken.com

1 lb pork sausage
1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced small
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
8 oz Spicy Hidden Valley Ranch dressing
5 (2.1 ounce) packages frozen mini phyllo shells

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook sausage in a large skillet, stirring until it crumbles and is no longer pink.   About halfway through cooking the sausage, add bell pepper.  Drain.

Combine the sausage, cheese and Spicy Ranch dressing in a large bowl.

Fill each phyllo shell with a heaping teaspoon of the sausage mixture. (Freeze at this point, if desired.)

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until cheese melts. (Add 2-3 minutes to baking time if baking frozen tarts.)

Makes approximately 75 tarts.

   

If I were in charge of the world, soup would be declared its own food group and moved to the top of the food pyramid.  It would be mandatorily featured on menus year round.

Soups are filling, easy and affordable to prepare and most of them freeze exceptionally well.  My freezer is forever stocked with serving-size portions that can be pulled out, thawed overnight and eaten for a quick lunch or pair with a salad for an easy dinner on nights when I'm too tired to cook from scratch. 

This garlic tortellini soup is amazing - very few ingredients and it packs a ton of flavor!  It is super simple to prepare and would be great during the summer months since it's a lighter broth-based soup.  Don't skimp on the garlic - it seems like a lot but it works.

I found this recipe on Pinterest as part of a listing of 20 homemade soups, but it appears to have originated from a 2001 edition of Fine Cooking. 


Garlic Tortellini, Spinach and Tomato Soup

2 Tbs. unsalted butter
6 to 8 cloves garlic, chopped
8 cups low-salt chicken broth
6 oz. fresh or frozen cheese tortellini
14 oz. canned diced tomatoes, with their liquid
10 oz. spinach, washed and stemmed; coarsely chopped if larger
8 to 10 leaves basil, coarsely chopped
Grated Parmesan cheese

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Add the tortellini and cook for half the amount of time that the package directions suggest.  Add the tomatoes and their liquid, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook just until the pasta is tender. Stir in the spinach and basil and cook until wilted, 1 to 2 minutes. Serve sprinkled with the grated cheese.

Talk about role reversal! Last year my vegetable garden flourished and nearly buried me alive with produce while my herb garden waned and struggled.  Now this year, my vegetable garden is dying a slow and painful death and my herbs are crowding and spilling over from their allotted space into the flower garden that borders them.  I guess it's too much to ask to have two green thumbs at once. 

I've already harvested once from my basil plant and not even two weeks later, it's time to harvest again.  The most obvious thing to make with fresh basil, of course, is pesto.  Quick and easy with only a few quality ingredients, pesto can be made ahead and frozen so it's a great way to get that burst of fresh summertime flavor long after the season has passed. 

I purchased a couple of plastic ice cube trays from Dollar Tree which made perfect portion sizes for the pesto.  Once they are frozen, the pesto cubes pop right out of the trays and can be transferred to a freezer storage bag.


Fresh Basil Pesto Recipe
Yield: Approximately 1 cup.


2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts (I used walnuts and toasted them just a bit)
3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Combine the basil in with the pine nuts, pulse a few times in a food processor. (If you are using walnuts instead of pine nuts and they are not already chopped, pulse them a few times first, before adding the basil.) Add the garlic, pulse a few times more.

Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula.

Add the grated cheese and pulse again until blended. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

At this point, you can portion the pesto into desired containers and freeze. 

Memorial Day, the day marked to remember the brave soldiers who have given their life for our freedom is also the unofficial start to the summer season.  The long weekend is spent celebrating all things that make this, The United States of America, a truly remarkable country to live in regardless of your religious and/or political views.  For me, it was yet another wonderful holiday spent with the Boy Toy and his uber-awesome offspring doing all things American:  cheering on baseball games, splashing in the pool, cooking out, eating watermelon and probably the most awesome American thing of all, eating peanut butter and jelly. 

The habit of slathering PB&J between two slices of bread became a staple during the Great Depression when money was tight and food was rationed and has become not only a tradition but also a rite of passage for almost any American child who ever toted a shiny metal Raggedy Ann and Andy lunch box to school.  A 2002 survey showed the average American will have eaten 1,500 of these sandwiches before graduating from high school!  (I'm betting only my "mature" readers A) even know who Raggedy Ann and Andy are, and B) have ever seen an actual metal lunch box.  I had one just like this in grade school and I'm still especially aggravated at my mother for selling it in a garage sale ~ especially since I saw it in an antique store not long ago for $40.  Let's just skip over the fact that I am now old enough to see some of my favorite play things and possessions in an antique store.)
When I saw this recipe for Nutty Peanut Butter and Jelly Squares from the May 2012 edition of Rachael Ray's magazine I was thrilled that, after 6 months of receiving and numbly flipping through her magazine during my lunch hour, I'd finally found a recipe that I actually wanted try.  Even better was the fact that it only dirtied up the bowl of a food processor and one other small bowl.  Say what you will about RR and her annoying EVOO extra-virgin olive oil habit (and I say I very much like the cookbooks of hers that I own, but not so much her magazine) but her recipes are always simple and quick to pull together and don't require any outlandish ingredients.  I immediately thought I'd make these for Boy Toy's kids because they both are PB&J lunch packers but ironically enough they did not deem them "kid-friendly."  I didn't get feedback from them as to exactly why but I'm thinking it's because neither of them are big on eating alot of sweets and these were pretty rich.  I'm going to tag them as kid-friendly anyway because maybe your kids or yourself will enjoy them.  In all honesty, I was never a big fan of the PB&J combination back in the day or even now (how un-American, I know), but I stored the leftovers in the freezer after the holiday and I really enjoyed it better served ice cold when I pulled one out this week. 

Enjoy your Summer 2012 and even though the Memorial Day holiday is over, continue to remember all those who helped give you the freedom to enjoy whatever flavor of jelly you like with your peanut butter!

Peanut Butter & Jelly Squares
courtesy of Rachael Ray Magazine, May 2012

3/4 cup salted, roasted peanuts
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 ounce stick unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces
3/4 cup natural creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup grape or strawberry jam

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees . Line an 8-inch square baking pan with an 8x13 inch sheet of parchment, letting the excess hang over.

Using a food processor, pulse the peanuts until chopped. Transfer to a medium bowl.

In the processor bowl (no need to clean), mix the 2 flours, the brown sugar and salt. Add the butter; pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the peanut butter and vanilla; process until crumbly. Measure out 2/3 cup of the crumb mixture; transfer to the bowl of peanuts.

Dump the remaining crumb mixture into the prepared pan and pan down firmly (it doesn't have to be perfectly even). Spoon the jam on top and spread to within 1/2 inch of the edges. Sprinkle the peanut-crumb mixture evenly over the top, going all the way to the edges of the pan.

Bake until the top is golden-brown and the jam is bubbling, about 45 minutes. (If browning too quickly on top, lay a sheet of foil loosely over the pan.) Transfer the pan to a rack to cool completely.

Grasp the parchment and gently lift the entire dessert out of the pan. Place on a cutting board and cut into 16 squares.

The marriage of a fired up grill on a warm summer day with a piece of chicken equals nothing short of a match made in heaven.  The relationship gets even better when the chicken is marinated with the simplest of ingredients that you probably already have on hand in your pantry and turns out tender and juicy every single time. 

This combination of ingredients is my go-to marinade for grilled chicken every single time.  I always let it sit overnight but it would probably be just as good only after a few hours.  Try it and see if it doesn't become your summer grilling favorite!

Marinade for Chicken
source:  Food Network Kitchens

2 tablespoons vinegar (cider, balsamic, red or white wine)
3 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons garlic powder or onion powder
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Put the vinegar, Italian seasoning, mustard, garlic (or onion) powder and oil in a large re-sealable plastic bag.  Close the bag and shake to combine all ingredients.  Open the bag and drop in the chicken breasts.  Close and shake the bag to coat the chicken evenly.

Marinate overnight in the refrigerator.  If using previously unfrozen chicken breasts, you may freeze the chicken in the marinade for up to 2 weeks.  Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and prepare as desired.  

Heat a grill or grill pan.  When the grill is hot, place the chicken on the grill and cook for about 4 minutes per side, or until cooked through.  You can also bake the chicken in a 375 degree oven for about 15 minutes, or until cooked through. 

Breakfast is always the hardest meal for me to plan and prepare for on a regular basis, so I'm always elated to find recipes that can be prepared ahead of time and that hold up well in the freezer. I load the office freezer up with several breakfast selections and never have to put much thought into what I'm going to eat while chained to my desk at work.

Pull one of these sausage and cheese scones out and let it thaw overnight in the fridge. Sliced open with a pat of butter and a few seconds in the microwave, it yields a filling and delicious breakfast for home or office. The recipe makes enough for 16 servings, so that's 3 weeks of work day breakfasts under my belt!


Sausage and Cheese Breakfast Scones
Serves 16

4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
4 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
6 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into pieces
1-1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1-1/2 cups ground sausage, cooked
1-1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk
4 large egg whites

Preheat oven to 400.

Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl. Cut butter into the bowl, mixing it up until it looks like cornmeal.

Stir in cheese and sausage.

Combine buttermilk and egg whites together with a whisk. Add liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just moist.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead lightly 4-5 times with floured hands (dough will be very sticky.)

Pat dough into two 8" circles on prepared baking sheet (spray with cooking spray or line with parchment paper.) Cut dough into 8 wedges, cutting into but not all the way through the dough like a pie.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely and cut into wedges all the way through and wrap individually. Put in a freezer bag and freeze.

To reheat: take wedge out of wrapping and place in microwave.

On a cold, blustery March day there is nothing better than the delicious warmth of a chicken casserole for dinner. Paired with a green salad and crusty french bread, this chicken and wild rice casserole was enough to put me into a creamy dreamy casserole coma this past weekend while March rolled in like a tornadic lion. (I would have never believed tornadic is actually a word, but I heard the weatherman say it and dictionary.com confirms it.)

This is easy enough to whip up ~ I used a store-bought rotisserie chicken and I left out the water chestnuts because while I can't believe tornadic is a word, I do believe water chestnuts are a total waste of time and space.  What's the point of them anyway?   They have no color, taste, or smell.  I don't need a crunchy filler food in my casserole just because.  Anyway, back to the point I'm trying to make....this casserole is easy to make and best of all, it's freezer friendly so it's great to make ahead and have in the freezer for impromptu company or on those days when you just can't be bothered with making something for dinner.


Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole
Southern Living, December 2011

1 (2.25-oz.) package sliced almonds
2 (6.2-oz.) boxes fast-cooking long-grain and wild rice mix
1/4 cup butter
4 celery ribs, chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
5 cups chopped cooked chicken
2 (10 3/4-oz.) cans cream of mushroom soup
2 (8-oz.) cans chopped water chestnuts, drained
1 (8-oz.) container sour cream
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 cups (16 oz.) shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
2 cups soft, fresh breadcrumbs

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Bake almonds in a single layer in a shallow pan 4 to 6 minutes or until toasted and fragrant, stirring halfway through.

2. Prepare rice mixes according to package directions.

3. Meanwhile, melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat; add celery and onions. Sauté 10 minutes or until tender. Stir in chicken, next 6 ingredients, rice, and 3 cups cheese. Spoon mixture into a lightly greased 15- x 10-inch baking dish or 2 (11- x 7-inch) baking dishes. Top with breadcrumbs.

4. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese, and top with toasted almonds. Bake 5 minutes.

To Make Ahead: Prepare as directed in Steps 2 and 3. Cover with aluminum foil, and freeze up to 1 month. Remove from freezer, and let stand at room temperature 1 hour. Toast almonds as directed in Step 1. Bake casserole, covered, at 350° for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 55 minutes to 1 hour and 15 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Sprinkle with 1 cup (4 oz.) shredded Cheddar cheese and toasted almonds. Bake 5 more minutes.

When the temperature drops below 70 degrees, you won't be seeing me out and about unless it's absolutely necessary. The least little drop in temperature and loss of humidity turns me into a frigid Ice Queen and makes me want to shut myself up in the warm confines of my house until next spring. (Okay, so according to a few of my former husbands, I'm an Ice Queen pretty much any time of year but that's a different story altogether.) I just wish it could stay the perfect temperature of 72.5 all year long.

But I suppose if the temperatures never changed, there would be no need for warm comfort foods such as these South of the Border Shells (affectionately referred to as SOBs in my household). These delicious shells offer a twist on typical Italian themed stuffed shells because they are stuffed with a combination of ground beef, green chilies, and Southwestern spices then topped with picante sauce. I highly recommend using a medium or hot (if you dare) picante to give the shells a boost of flavor.

When these appear on the Wish Upon A Chef menu, you can bet that my summer clothes have already been archived to the back of the closet, the fuzzy blanket is on the bed and the heat pump thermostat is pegged to a nice, toasty temperature. I'll see you folks when I'm finished hibernating, but in the meantime enjoy these SOBs!

South of the Border Stuffed Shells
Source: ilovepasta.org
Servings: 6

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
24 jumbo pasta shells
1 16 oz. jar picante sauce
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1 medium onion -- chopped
2 cloves garlic -- minced
1 pound lean ground beef
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 tsp chili powder
1 4 oz. can green chilies -- chopped
1/2 cup canned corn -- drained
1 cup Monterrey jack cheese -- grated

Prepare pasta according to package directions; drain.

Mix picante sauce, tomato sauce and water in small bowl. In a skillet, cook onion, garlic and ground beef in oil over medium heat until meat is browned and onion is tender (if using non-stick skillet, use only 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil). Remove from heat and drain off fat. Add chili powder, chopped green chilies, corn, 1/2 cup shredded cheese and 1/2 cup picante sauce mixture to meat mixture.

Preheat oven to 350. Pour half of remaining picante sauce mixture in bottom of 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish. Fill each cooked shell with 1 to 2 tablespoons of mixture and place shells in baking dish. Pour remaining picante mixture over top of shells. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 for 20 to 30 minutes. Uncover, add remaining 1/2 cup cheese and bake, uncovered, an additional 5 minutes until cheese melts. Serve immediately.

* This recipe can be assembled and frozen. To bake, thaw at room temperature for 8 hours and bake as directed above.

I'm not much of a shopper when it comes to clothes, shoes, purses and other "girlie" things. While my closet may contain vintage clothing in the truest sense, you can bet my pantry is over-flowing with food stuff and that I own the latest and greatest kitchen appliance and tableware. I'd go stark naked before I'd go without shopping for what I love most.

So it came to be that I was the laughing stock of all my friends ~ evidently sporting popped up collars on a Members Only jacket and huge earrings are no longer all the rage.  Like, when did that become totally uncool?  It couldn't be avoided it any longer ~ it was time to rid my closet of leg warmers, puffed sleeves, shoulder pads, and stirrup pants which pretty much did leave me naked and needing to go shopping. 

I loaded up my arms at my favorite little boutique and headed to the dressing room to slip out of my comfy stretch pants and into some new threads.  But the funny thing was, nothing seemed to fit!  I double checked the size on the tags and sure enough they were the same as my discarded pile of 80's memorabilia, but things were a little more snug in certain areas.  Could it be that they've...GASP! changed the sizing charts since the last time I shopped for clothes??  Yeah, I'm thinking that's exactly it because there is no way that my waist, thighs, and butt have expanded that much.  Right?

I made a few purchases and headed home amidst thoughts of how to go about getting a handle on my love handles.  Exercise?  Diet?  Ugh...it was just too much to think about on an empty stomach.  I figured I'd start fresh tomorrow with a plan of action.  In the meantime, what better way to beat the "I'm no longer a size 4" blues than with a pan of Baked Ziti loaded with cheesy goodness?

The recipe came from a recipe forum that I used to frequent and makes a huge pan of pasta ~ I suggest a deep 9x13 pan if you choose to make just one pan.  I usually divide it up into a couple of smaller pans for the freezer, as it freezes beautifully.  Just prepare it up to the point of baking and freeze.  Thaw before baking. 


NENZ'S BAKED ZITI

1 pound dry ziti pasta or rigatoni
1 onion, chopped
1 pound lean ground beef
2 (26 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce
6 ounces provolone cheese, sliced
1 1/2 cups sour cream
6 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
1.) Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.
Add ziti pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes; drain.
2.) In a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef over
medium heat. Add spaghetti sauce, and simmer 15 minutes.
3.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer as follows: 1/2 of the
ziti, all the Provolone cheese and sour cream, 1/2 sauce mixture,
remaining ziti, mozzarella cheese and remaining sauce mixture.
Top with grated Parmesan cheese.
4.) Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheeses are melted.

With this being the third Creole/Cajun themed dish that I've posted in as many weeks, it appears that I've subconsciously been in the mood for low country cuisine.  Most people initially associate Creole or Cajun dishes with spiciness and while they can certainly contain an element of heat, the dishes are mostly composed of several layers of complex flavors derived from the combination of  various ethnic backgrounds.  Most are roux-based and use spices and seasonings that are not typically used in everyday cooking.

Earlier in the week I posted a tribute to the lovely Becky Shauberger Turner and this post is dedicated to her as well.  It was hard for me to choose just one recipe from Becky's website so I chose several to pay homage to her.  Becky's home state was Louisiana and she grew up eating Creole cuisine so she was well versed in preparing it as well.  This recipe for Cajun Etouffee was prepared for her by her sister during a time when she wasn't feeling well.  The recipe came together quickly and easily with few ingredients but it was loaded with deep, rich flavors.  Where the recipe states "add water to cover," I used about 6 cups but in retrospect I should have stopped with 4 or 5.  My etouffee was a bit thin but it was still delicious.  I only had 4 pounds of shrimp on hand, so if you use the full 5 pounds, you may in fact need 6 cups of water.  Just use your best judgement. 

My etouffee was served in pink and blue Fiestaware, no doubt just the way Becky would have served it up.  

Real Cajun Étouffée

1 1/4 cups oil
1 cup flour
4 large onions, peeled and chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt, to taste
cayenne pepper, to taste
5 pounds peeled and cleaned crawfish tails or shrimp
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 bay leaf
1/2 lemon, juiced
8 cups hot, cooked rice

Make a roux of oil and flour. Cook it until tan, not brown. Add onions, bell pepper, garlic, salt and cayenne. Stir over low heat until vegetables are tender. Add crawfish or shrimp, and water to cover. Add green onions and parsley. Turn up heat, cover and bring to boil, stirring often. Reduce heat and cook about 15 minutes. Add bay leaf and lemon juice. Stir and let stand 15 minutes. Remove bay leaf and serve over rice.

No doubt that where ever you are located, the outside temperatures are just as hot (maybe even hotter) than they are here in the Carolinas. It's been miserable here for days on end and quite frankly, so have I. The heat just seems to zap all my energy and social motivation, so I find myself declining most invitations to go out with friends and sticking primarily to the confines of my air-conditioned house.

One would think that I need to stay home more often, what with the mile-long list of things that need to be done around my house. But most of those things take time and money ~ one of which I have alot of and the other, I don't. I've gotten a few chores knocked off my list, including painting my laundry room a lovely shade of "Wild Wisteria" and I've even started stocking the freezer with meals for those impending cold and dreary days that are (fortunately?) right around the corner. The 100 degree temps should be enough to make me shy away from stoking the fires in the kitchen but dealing with all the food in my freezer and pantry has been a priority lately.

I am a bulk food and buy one/get one free shopaholic. My grocery bills probably come close to equalling those for a family of four.  At the moment, my freezer inventory contains no less than 6 pork tenderloins, 10 lbs of shrimp, 5 lbs of bacon, and at least 5 bags of Tater Tots (what can I say??  The tots were a good deal!).  I haven't found the chicken just yet to know what size Army platoon I can serve with that.  Once I get a stock pile of "raw" ingredients, I set about cooking up mostly entrees and some sides to be pulled out for lunches and dinners later on.  I eat home-cooked meals almost every meal on every day of the week, but I only do any major cooking once or twice a month.   I think if more people subscribed to the OAMC (once a month cooking) theory, there would be less focus on fast food and fewer unhealthy eating habits.  There are several great websites dedicated to OAMC and I highly recommend that you check them out.  In the end, I truly believe it's not only a time-saver but saves you money as well. 

This Shrimp Creole is a perfect recipe for making ahead and freezing.  Just pull together the rice (you can even go so far as to make the rice ahead and package it separately for the freezer) and a green salad and Viola! you have a delicious dinner in a matter of minutes without much effort.  Enjoy this tasty dish while I contemplate 101 uses for Tater Tots.

Shrimp Creole

Servings: 4    
Categories: Seafood

3 slices cooked bacon
1/2 cup  chopped onion
1 clove  garlic -- minced
1/4 cup  chopped green pepper
1/4 teaspoon  gumbo file powder
1-1/2 tablespoons  flour
28 ounces  diced tomato -- in puree
1/4 cup  chopped celery
2 teaspoons  Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon  Tabasco sauce
1 teaspoon  salt
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons  chopped parsley
2 pounds  shrimp -- cleaned and deveined

Cook bacon in large skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat until bacon is crisp. Remove and drain. Pour off excess fat, reserving 3 tablespoons drippings.
Add onion, garlic, green pepper and gumbo file to bacon drippings and cook, stirring constantly, until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and blend in flour; return to heat and cook over low heat 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes and puree.

Add remaining ingredients except shrimp, and cook over moderate heat 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add shrimp and crumbled bacon; cook 5 to 10 minutes longer, until shrimp are tender. Serve over hot cooked rice.

Makes 4 servings.

Back in the glory days of catering, I was guilty of strictly promoting menu items that appealed to my personal tastes. Menus were designed based on the foods that I would like to have at a party if I were a guest and I would always be baffled when the client would come back and request totally different selections. It was a bitter pill to swallow when I realized not everyone loves goat cheese and eggplant Parmesan as much as I do. How can that be??

So I share with you yet another Rachel Ray recipe (and then I promise I'll get off my RR soapbox), even though it was not one of my favorites. I felt the Gorgonzola cheese was a bit over-powering even though I only used 5 oz. and not the full 8 oz. called for in the recipe. You have to be a real lover of the stuff for this. It's very rich and I'll admit to adding a bit of jarred spaghetti sauce (go ahead and judge me for not slaving over the stove and making it from scratch) just to tone down the creamy, moldy richness of the sauce. But hey, just because I don't like it doesn't mean you won't think it's the best thing since sliced bread, right?

Grab your EVOO and your garbage bowl and enjoy Rachel's Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna Roll-ups with Gorgonzola Cream Sauce.

Ingredients

* 16 crimini caps, cleaned with a damp towel and finely chopped in food processor
* 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
* 1 package frozen chopped spinach (10 ounces), defrosted and squeezed dry
* Salt and pepper
* 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, ground or freshly grated
* 2 cups part-skim ricotta
* 8 curly edge lasagna noodles, cooked to al dente (12-14 minutes)
* 1 cup fat-free chicken broth
* 8 ounces Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
* 1/2 cup heavy cream
* 1-1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

Preparation

In a medium skillet over moderate heat, sauté mushrooms, chopped onions and garlic in EVOO until mushrooms give off their juices and darken and onions are tender, about 7-8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper; the salt will help draw water out of the vegetables as they cook.

Add dry chopped spinach to the pan and heat through for about 1 minute. Adjust seasonings with salt, pepper and a little nutmeg. Add ricotta and stir into mixture to heat cheese through, about 1 minute longer. Remove pan from heat but leave in the warm skillet.

Heat broth in a small pan over moderate heat. Melt Gorgonzola into broth and bring liquid to a bubble. Stir in cream and thicken sauce, about 2 minutes.

Place cooked lasagna noodles on a large work surface or cutting board. Spread lasagna noodles with a layer of spinach-mushroom filling. Roll up pasta and arrange the eight bundles in a shallow casserole dish. Pour warm sauce over roll-ups and top with mozzarella. Place casserole under broiler to melt cheese.

I felt sort of bad about bashing Rachael Ray in my last post, so I thought I'd make it up by paying homage to a few more of her recipes.

The Spinach Artichoke Calzone is a great recipe that can be tweaked to accommodate any combination of ingredients that you want to use for filling ~ make them vegetarian or load them up with your favorite Italian meats. I was a little short on artichokes but had some sun-dried tomatoes and pepperoni on hand so I tossed those in as well. I picked up prepared pizza dough from the deli section of the grocery store instead of the tube variety and used it to make four huge calzones. After baking and cooling completely, these store well in the freezer.

Have fun and let your imagination run wild!

Rachael Ray's Spinach Artichoke Calzones
Makes 4

Ingredients

* 2 cups part skim ricotta
* 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated or a few pinches ground
* A few grinds black pepper
* 1/2 cup (a couple of handfuls) grated Parmigiano, plus extra, for sprinkling
* 1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
* 1 (15-ounce) can quartered artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped
* 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
* 2 (10-ounce) tubes refrigerated pizza dough
* 2 cups shredded mozzarella
* 2 cups tomato sauce, marinara or pizza sauce, for dipping or Five Minute Spicy Marinara, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Combine first 7 ingredients in a bowl. Roll each pizza dough out on a cookie sheet, and halve each cross-wise. Spread 1/2 cup mozzarella and up to 1/4 of filling on each rectangle. Work on just half of the surface of each rectangle of dough, then fold dough over top of filling and pinch edges firmly to seal. For a half-moon "pizza parlor" look to your calzones, mound filling into a half-moon shape, fold dough over top trim edges of dough to follow the rounded shape, then seal edges.

If your dough tears, remove a little of the filling and repair. Repeat the process, spacing the calzones evenly on baking sheet. Bake the calzones for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown all over. Serve calzones with warm tomato or pizza sauce for dunking.

Rachael's Note: Freeze any remaining filling in a small plastic container and use it to stuff a chicken breast on another day.

No doubt you'd rush the dessert table for a chocolate cupcake piled high with double chocolate frosting, but would you jump up from your desk and run to the office refrigerator for an egg cupcake?

An egg cupcake, you say? How funny is that?! The boss laughs every time I heat one of these up in the office kitchenette but I'm the one who's eating a healthy breakfast and laughing as he struggles with yet another foil PopTart package.

This recipe is great for two reasons ~ it's very versatile and it's freezer friendly. Thaw overnight (I pull a few out of the freezer at the beginning of the week and store them in an airtight container in the fridge), zap in the microwave for about 1 minute, add a spoonful of salsa on the side and you have a zesty, healthy, protein-rich breakfast.

Egg Cupcakes
makes 12

3 Tablespoons butter
1 cup mushrooms*, chopped
1 cup broccoli flowerets*, chopped
1 cup ham, finely diced (I use Applegate Farms organic and natural meat products)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 cup cheese, grated
Salt and pepper, to taste
Few dashes hot sauce, to taste
12 large eggs

*You can use any type of vegetables or ham, bacon or sausage that you would like for these.

Preheat oven 350 degrees. Spray cupcake tins with nonstick spray.

In skillet, add butter and olive oil and heat over medium-high heat until butter melts. Sauté mushrooms and broccoli, 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and add grated cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fill each cupcake half full with vegetable mixture.

In bowl beat eggs and a few splashes of water until light and fluffy. Season with salt and pepper and a few dashes of hot sauce. Pour over vegetables in cupcake tins.

Bake 10 minutes. Serve immediately or wrap each cupcake in plastic wrap and store in refrigerate or freezer. Warm up in microwave when ready to eat.