Family Food

The following are family friendly menus, not only for Mom, but also for kids. Well, at least mine. Meals I can throw together fast when I don't feel like cooking and Camden actually likes. They aren't pretty, but they're good!

This is a Pampered Chef recipe. A family sized burrito, sounds gross right? That's what I thought at first, but it's actually really good. Burrito size tortillas arranged on a baking stone and filled with chicken, salsa, garlic, onion, and bean dip then topped with cheese and plum tomatoes. A cinch to assemble especially if you have leftover chicken. It is served with an avocado lime sauce, which makes it even better.


Pesto and cheese pizza by the Hub.



Pineapple and Cappacola pizza also by the Hub. He's so sweet, isn't he?


Last is Shrimp Stir Fry. No recipe for this, just whatever veggies I happen to have on hand or seem fresh in the store that day. Served with jasmine rice, I buy this stuff by 10 lb. bags and we go through it like water. Like I said easy, no hassle food.

Noodle Bowls with Baked Crab Spring Rolls

Feeling rather uninspired last time I made my grocery list(I guess it can show, if you look at my menu plans) I stumbled upon this recipe. I bought this book probably a good year or so ago and am just now really getting into actually using it. Sad, huh? On my kitchen table sits two new books I have to crack open. I don't think I would dare ever count how many cookbooks I have.

This recipe was okay, nothing spectacular. I actually had pretty high hopes for it, maybe that is why it let me down. The noodle bowls were good, edible, bland honestly. I found that adding some ginger to the broth and soy sauce made them better.


The spring rolls were okay, the filling was a bit too soggy. Next time(if there is) I would cut back on the soy sauce or drain them, or something, ANYTHING. The first tore right through the phyllo. And really making spring rolls with the actual wrappers isn't any harder.

So yeah, I would say this was mediocre, I probably won't be making this again. If you'd like the recipe, leave a comment, I'll be glad to post.

Bake and Cook....

I have read many bloggers raving about this book. Having a love of baking, I knew I had to check it out. I ordered it a few weeks ago and received the book in the mail. I still have yet to look through the entire thing, it is HUGE! I think I am about half way. Yesterday I was looking for something fun to do with Camden and decided upon the Kids' Thumbprints, they are perfect because she could do the poking, which would be fun for her and stress free for me(ideally). She loves to help, which is endearing.

These were fantastic, I loved the crunch from the peanuts and gooeyness[is that a word?] from the jam. We had fun making these and even more fun eating them afterwards.


Dinner was a Potato, Spinach and Tomato Soup and Panini's from Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals 2 cookbook. This soup was good, however I have made something like this before without a recipe. It was enjoyable though since I am a huge soup fan and love dipping sandwiches in soup.


The panini's were good, I made a lot of substitutions. They were supposed to contain prosciutto, however I substituted cappacola. I also smeared the bread with a little pesto.

I got caught up in the cookies and my garden and completely forgot I was supposed to make bread for dinner that evening. So, I could either try to go buy some(no!) or find a fast recipe. Something told me to go to Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. And there it was, Quick Yeast Bread. This made a really pretty loaf actually. Of course it didn't taste as good as bread that has had time to properly rise, however, in a pinch, it was still a lot better than store bought. Easy, fresh bread in an hour and a half, you can't beat that. I had intentions to snap a picture, however, in my haste to get dinner on the table in time for the Hubs to eat with us, I forgot.



The Hubs came home hungry and had informed me he didn't eat at all last night, so he was starving. Ready to grab a bowl of cereal, I informed him I was making muffins. Of course, he didn't want to wait. These were thrown together very quickly, only requiring a few measuring spoons, a measuring cup, a whisk, and bowl.

They came of course from Dorie Greenspan's book. These were the Coffee-Break Muffins. Very good, I used coffee from yesterday that I had stuck in the fridge with intentions of making these. I believe it was a chocolate flavored coffee. I substituted instant coffee for the espresso powder because I can't seem to find that on island. Other than that, we were good to go. Upon biting into them, the first thing that hit me was a nice, browned crust; revealing inside a moist crumb. They did not taste too strong of coffee, just had nice undertones and were sweet, almost caramel, but not too sweet. Perfect for int he morning. The Hubs informed me these were well worth the wait. They paired perfectly with coffee. Camden liked them as well despite her disdain for coffee. So, another winner!!

Menu

Thursday: Potato, Spinach and Tomato Soup and Paninis
Friday: Noodle Bowls with Baked Crab Spring Rolls
Saturday: Winter Veggie Stew with Potato and Cheddar Pancakes
Sunday: Family Sized Baked Burrito with Mexican Rice
Monday: Pizza
Tuesday: Chicken Tikka Masala with Rice
Wednesday: Shrimp Stir Fry

Thursday: Fajitas with Mexican Rice and Corn on the cob
Friday: Pizza
Saturday: Honey Mustard Barbecue Chicken
Sunday: French Toast with Eggs or Frittata
Monday: Italian Sausage Calzone
Tuesday: Red Beans and Rice
Wednesday: Herb and Cheese Chicken Tenders

Who knew three lemons could go so far?

I have been so tired lately that I haven't even had a chance(or motivation really) to recharge my camera battery, much less, blog. This week has seriously flown by, is it Thursday already!? Earlier we did a deep deep New Year's cleaning to our house and I tackled tons of projects that have been sticking their dirty little tongues out at me. We've had church and Hub is on night shift, so I hardly see him. Then, don't even mention the full load of laundry that seems to appear everyday.

I don't even care to have a maid as long as I only had someone to do the dishes and laundry. I could do everything else. Dishes even, I don't know why I loathe laundry so much. My best friend and I always joked we'd swap since she liked laundry and hated dishes. Too bad she's in California now.

As I sit here multi tasking; eating lunch, watching to clock in preparation to wake up the Hubs for work and trying to blog I just want to collapse. We are eating macaroni and cheese, from the box, and carrots with ranch. Camden just took a bite out of each carrot, aren't three year olds the weirdest? All I want to do is curl on the couch[IN SILENCE!] with a cup of coffee and look at my newest cookbook. A luxury I haven't seem to have had all week. Ah well, here is the week so far. Well bits and pieces at least.

I'm not even going to attempt to remember what day any of this was made. I made a lemon curd in preparation for a meal later. This was a lot easier than I anticipated it being, much like most of the things I finally get around to making. Three lemons, egg, butter, and I believe something else, but so simple and so satisfying. I have used this in numerous ways as you will see below. It is also very good on toast.

A mock roast chicken from Rachael Ray's cookbook, which one, I can't remember. It was served with pesto mashed potatoes and a salad of endive, romaine, walnuts, blue cheese and vinagrette. Very good, reminded me a lot of kabobs, so I am thinking of just skewering this with veggiest next time.


I had phyllo leftover from an earlier meal so I decided to make it into shells and bake it in a mini muffin pan. I filled it with a layer of ground toasted almonds then the lemon curd. Good and so easy.


A Ravioli Veggie "Lasagna" also from a Rachael Ray book, don't you love those 30 Minute Meals? I have lately. Seems all the time I have. This was good, but I don't know that I'll make it again. Plain lasagna is just as easy and much better. I mean, you spend 30 minutes on a meal and how much harder is it to put a lasgana in the oven for another 30 mintues and forget about it until it's ready? The lemon curd was used in the recipe for the dressing on this salad; lemon curd, olive oil, chives, was that all? I think so!


Paula Deen had made some tassies with lemon curd in them on a show that Food Network has since rerun more times than I care to count. I decided this as another fun way to use some more curd, so I did so. They were okay, however the phyllo shells were easier and tasted better.


And last, Shrimp Taco's with Lime Cilantro Crema and Pinto Bean Salad from Cooking Light's December issue. None of the fish really excited me at the store, so I decided to try these with shrimp. I am glad I did! They were very easy to assemble, only took me about 30 minutes for the whole meal.

Oh, and I mentioned that I thought I needed a new knife sharpener, turns out mine is working just fine. First casualty with my Santoku, I cut off the tip of my middle finger, Ouch! My Hub being a medic was of course, the first to hear about it. Being on night shift, he was peacefully snuggled in his bed and I rush into there, flip the lights on and start crying "I sliced my finger off!!!!!!" I guess, I don't deal with wounds well? Here he was half asleep and said he was looking for a finger hanging off or something.

Anyway, the taco's were good, and I had TONS of shrimp leftover, so the next day for lunch I made a shrimp stir fry, which was dare I say...better than the tacos.

Dinner the other night was a pizza, which I also love, because you get this blank palette of dough and the possibility is as far as your imagination will allow. I made a pizza with Caramelized onions, blue cheese, walnuts, and spinach drizzled lightly with honey and olive oil. Too bad my camera was dead, so you can just imagine.

As always, if you would like any of the recipes, leave a comment.

Grilled Swordfish Steaks with Mango Salsa

You know those no brainer recipes that you really know you could've come up with yourself? Well this is definetely one of them. I won't even bother typing out the recipe because it is so much of a no brainer.

You simply throw together a mango salsa(mango, red bell pepper, chives, ginger, cucumber, lime zest and juice), grill some swordfish steaks drizzled with lime juice and zest, EVOO, salt and pepper. Then done!

On the side was couscous, cooked by box directions with some golden raisins and curry powder, after cooking throw in scallions, shredded carrots, sliced almonds, and chopped oranges. That's it! You're done, dinner is ready.

This is one of those nights when night shift really killed me. I know The Hub would've loved this had it not been breakfast time for him, however, in his state of grogginess he was a little less than thrilled. Where's the motivation to cook? Oh well. I guess at least I enjoyed it?

On a side note, I need a better knife sharpener, my knife seems rather dull already. Any suggestions on a good one?

Grilled Chicken Greek Salads

I frantically tried to get this together on Thursday evening as the Hub was on his way out to practice. With many setbacks that I can't seem to remember, the one that sticks out the most was dumping the majority of my walnuts on the floor. This was not fun.

However, in the end, I reaped the benefits. This was very good and easy, I was just having an off day. Ever have one of those? You simply assemble to salad, grill the chicken and wrap it in pitas.

The Spanakopita, Sorta was easy as well, saute onions, add in the spinach and other ingredients then wrap in phyllo(fillo) dough and bake. Very good!


Dessert was a take on Baklava, which turned out fantastic. It was very filling, I could only eat about half. However, I really liked it and it was a nice quick fix.

There were a lot of leftovers, this was way more than four servings. I was able to send some off with The Hub for my friend.

Recipes are below, they came from Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals 2 book. I made a few changes as well, my notes are in brackets.


Greek Grilled Chicken And Vegetable Salad With Pita Bread

1 1/3 pounds chicken breast tenders - (to 1 1/2)
Coarse salt -- to taste
Freshly-ground black pepper -- to taste
8 pita breads
1 ripe lemon -- zested and juiced
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh chopped oregano
3 garlic cloves -- chopped
2 Romaine lettuce hearts -- chopped[I only used one and had plenty]
1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives -- coarsely chopped
8 ounces feta cheese -- crumbled
2 vine ripe tomatoes -- seeded, diced
1/3 seedless or English cucumber -- diced
1/2 red onion -- chopped[omitted because I forgot to get one from the store]
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves -- chopped[also omitted]

Preheat grill pan over high heat. Place chicken in shallow dish and season with salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Wrap pita breads in foil. Place in warm oven and heat until dinner is served.

Combine lemon zest, juice and vinegar in a bowl and whisk in oil. Add oregano, garlic and whisk again to combine into dressing. Pour half the dressing over chicken tenders. Turn tenders in dressing to coat.

Combine remaining salad ingredients in a bowl. Pour remaining dressing over salad and toss well. The salad should be very lightly dressed. Season salad with salt and pepper and transfer to a large serving platter.

Grill tenders 4 to 5 minutes on each side. Transfer hot tenders to the salad lined serving platter. Remove pitas from oven and unwrap. Cut pitas in half and arrange around the edge of platter.

To serve, each person can pile grilled chicken and veggies into pita halves, wrap up on either side and enjoy! 4 servings.

Spanikopita, Sorta

1 1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion -- finely chopped
1 package frozen chopped spinach - (10 oz) -- defrosted, and
squeezed dry
Coarse salt -- to taste
Freshly-ground black pepper -- to taste
1/4 teaspoon ground or freshly-grated nutmeg
4 ounces feta with black pepper or plain feta -- crumbled tiny bits
1 egg -- beaten
3 tablespoons sour cream[I substituted yogurt]
4 sheets phyllo pastry dough - (13" by 17") -- defrosted
3 tablespoons melted butter

Place oven rack in center of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees.

Preheat a small pan over medium to medium-high heat. Add oil and onion and saute 5 minutes. Place onion in a bowl. Add chopped dry, defrosted spinach and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add feta to the bowl and combine it with spinach. Add beaten egg and sour cream to the bowl and combine with cheese, spinach and onion.

On a large work surface, place 1 sheet of phyllo. Paint half of the sheet with a little melted butter, paying extra attention to your perimeter. Fold sheet in half. Pile 1/4 of your spinach mixture into a log shape, working 2 inches from bottom and each side. Tuck bottom up and fold both sides in, then roll and wrap upwards until you reach the edge of the dough sheet. Each pastry will resemble an egg roll. Paint the seam and the ends of the roll with butter and set roll seam-side down on a cookie sheet. Repeat and make 4 rolls. Bake 15 minutes or until lightly golden all over and serve. 4 servings.



Bakla-Squares And Ice Cream

3 sheets phyllo dough
4 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1/2 cup finely-chopped walnuts
1 pint vanilla bean ice cream
Honey -- for garnish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Spread a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Top with a layer of phyllo and brush or using a spritz bottle, spray with butter. Combine sugar and cinnamon and cover the sheet of pastry 1/3 cup sugar. Repeat with 2 more layers of pastry, then top with the finely chopped walnuts.

Cut pastry into 3-inch squares with sharp paring knife. Cover the pastry with another sheet of parchment paper and another cookie sheet. Place pastry in hot oven and bake 15 minutes or until golden. Serve warm squares of pastry with ice cream and a drizzle of honey. 4 servings.

Mushroom Lovers' French Bread Pizza

When I saw this recipe I knew it was calling the Hub's name. He really loves mushrooms, a lot. Funny as he hated them when he was a kid. He still does not like them in spaghetti sauce. However, he loves them any other way. Portobellos and shiitakes are his favorite, so basically the most expensive. I dread the day if and when he ever gets his hand on a truffle.

These were actually very good and throw together quickly. Probably too, under 30 minutes. They would be a very good lunch. However, eating a fourth of a loaf of french bread I can imagine isn't that figure friendly, but at least I hollowed it out, right!? So it doesn't cound because it was hardly even there. Either way, I'll make these again!

On the side, I served a salad of butter lettuce and raddichio with a simple, I guess you'd call Creamy Honey Dijon Vinagrette? I don't know, I just threw stuff together until it tasted good!

Mushroom Lovers' French Bread Pizzas
from Rachael Ray's Express Lane Meals

8 large Portobello caps
1 lb. button mushrooms, stems trimmed
1/2 lb. shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded
3 tbsp. EVOO
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 bay leaf
4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
salt and pepper
1/2 c. dry white wine
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp. chopped fresh thyme leaves
1-24 in. loaf of crusty French bread
3 c. shredded Gruyere or Swiss cheese

Preheat the broiler.

Wipe the mushrooms clean with a damp towel and slice them. Heat the EVOO and butter in deep skillet over medium heat. When the butter melts into the oil, add the bay leaf, garlic, and sliced mushrooms. Cook until the mushroomsare dark and tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Season the mushrooms with salt and pepper and add the wine, stirring the skillet with a spoon to deglaze. Shake the pan and add the Worcestershire and thyme. Turn off heat.

Split loaf first lengthwise and then across. Pull out and discard a bit of the soft insides. Toast the bread lightly under the broiler then fill each section of bread evenly with mushrooms. Top liberally with the cheese. Return bread sections to the broiler until cheese browns and bubbles then remove the pizzas from oven and serve. 4 servings.

Breakfast, Lunch and Snacks, Oh my!

Lately it has been hard to find time to blog. True to consistency, our internet was off for a day and a half. Apparently, there was a big power surge leaving the whole island without internet. No biggie, I caught up on some reading and other stuff. It seems there is not enough time during the day to accomplish everything.

I have started going to the gym recently in hopes of losing my last few baby pounds and just be healthier in general. I am also hoping to start a bit of a garden, the weather here is perfect for gardening. It seems like the projects are building up.


New Years Day our friends invited us over for dinner. Their house is one of our favorite places to go as they are both fabulous cooks specializing in Thai and Indian foods. They made a beef curry which was really good. They toned the spice down a bit[because there were other guests], so it could have been a bit spicier. Still, it was fantastic.

After mowing the lawn and cleaning my house I realized I only had an hour until time to go to their house. I wanted to take a dessert or something to share, but didn't know what I could do in under an hour!?! I settled on some Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies from a Penzey's catalog. They were perfect and were ready just in time. I was a bit worried only to find out her husband's favorite cookies are peanut butter and chocolate chip.


This morning, as usual around pay day in my home was grocery shopping day. I will post the menu later. I knew I needed to eat something before I left, but didn't know since supplies were somewhat low and honestly, I wasn't feeling too motivated. Breakfast is a neglected meal in our home often, which is lame because I LOVE cooking breakfast foods. I think the buzzkill is the dishes first thing in the morning.

The Hub decided to get in the kitchen for me and spoil me. So he made me an omelet. I can't remember what he put in it because I didn't watch him, however, I can tell you it was good. So, off to the grocery store I went happy and fat.


The produce section looked like it had been attacked over the weekend so I was unable to find a couple of items I needed. If they did have the items, it was either scary, moldy, or both. So I did what I could.

I bought some greens for a salad since I have been craving that lately. I don't know how considering half my cart was produce, but I spent a lot of money!? I think it was the seafood. Ahh well. I guess we'll eat good?

Upon arriving home and getting the groceries all put away I had little motivation once again to cook. So, wanting to use the greens up before they went bad I made a salad. The Hub had bought me a pomegranate a few days ago, so I had that left and decided to put it in top of my salad. So, above is butter lettuce, raddichio, pomegranate, and buttermilk blue cheese with a raspberry vinagrette. Yum! and just perfect.


With such a light lunch I belly screaming at me around 3 PM and crepes sounded particularly good for whatever reason. So, while watching Food Network, I put together the batter and let it sit and went to sit back down and watch more TV. I couldn't wait any longer so I pulled it out and went to work. I had a really good pan for crepes(an 8 in. nonstick skillet), but it died, RIP; so I had to use a 10 in. skillet. I want my small pan back, or even better, an actual crepe pan. Anyhow, once getting the amount of batter right and I went to down and made crepes.

The first one never turns out right, for whatever reason, so I just sprinkled it with cinnamon sugar and ate it while cooking the rest. I forced myself to only eat one after that since they probably aren't the most healthy, especially considering the way I prepared mine. I had bought some dulce de leche ice cream at the store, so decided that the best filling and drizzled it with chocolate syrup. Perfect and happy I stayed, well, at least until dinner time.

Barefoot Contessa's Chicken Stew

The day I made this happened to be the perfect weather for this type of food. Thick, hearty, comfort food. Fairly rare for living on a tropical island, we had a dreary rainy day. Typically when it rains it remains warm and sunny still. So this is welcomed from time to time. This recipe is rather time consuming mind you, but very worth it. Rich and full of flavor and definetely, not low in fat; like most of Ina Garten's recipes.

Biscuits are really easy to make and I honestly don't know why I don't make them more often. These were particulary good with the addition of parsley and the non typical half and half. After rolling the dough out and cutting the biscuits, the scraps were calling to me so I used my mini cookie cutters on the remainders.


Camden really loved this as she typically prefers plainer fare. I made a few substitutions which are noted below.

Chicken Stew with Biscuits

3 whole (6 split) chicken breasts, bone in, skin on
3 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
2 chicken bouillon cubes
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 cups medium-diced carrots (4 carrots), blanched for 2 minutes
1 10-ounce package frozen peas (2 cups)
1 1/2 cups frozen small whole onions [I used celery]
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
For the biscuits:
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 pound (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced
3/4 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash[I used a bit of half and half]


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Place the chicken breasts on a sheet pan and rub them with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cooked through. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then remove the meat from the bones and discard the skin. Cut the chicken into large dice. You will have 4 to 6 cups of cubed chicken.

In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock and dissolve the bouillon cubes in the stock. In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter and saute the onions over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the hot chicken stock to the sauce. Simmer over low heat for 1 more minute, stirring, until thick. Add 2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and the heavy cream. Add the cubed chicken, carrots, peas, onions, and parsley. Mix well. Place the stew in a 10 x 13 x 2-inch oval or rectangular baking dish. Place the baking dish on a sheet pan lined with parchment or wax paper. Bake for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the biscuits. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the butter and mix on low speed until the butter is the size of peas. Add the half-and-half and combine on low speed. Mix in the parsley. Dump the dough out on a well-floured board and, with a rolling pin, roll out to 3/8-inch thick. Cut out twelve circles with a 2 1/2-inch round cutter.

Remove the stew from the oven and arrange the biscuits on top of the filling. Brush them with egg wash, and return the dish to the oven. Bake for another 20 to 30 minutes, until the biscuits are brown and the stew is bubbly.

Note: To make in advance, refrigerate the chicken stew and biscuits separately. Bake the stew for 25 minutes, then place the biscuits on top, and bake for another 30 minutes, until done.