A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

Spaghetti Squash Casserole

 

A little something I took to work last week as a vegetarian (not vegan) recipe.  The protein comes from the dairy and I loaded it with a mix of mushrooms.  Like any casserole, it was creamy, but this was also deeply mushroomy with a little crunch from the buttered bread crumbs on top. Of course it would normally be a side dish but it's exaclty the kind of thing that lays gently on my stomach for the middle of the night lunches and makes a wonderful entree on its own.

Colleen, I thought of you when I made this:  no rind to peel or not peel!

Great Potluck Recipe: Cream Cheese Brownies

 

(For you, Barb!)

This is one of those great potluck recipes where you can keep the main ingredients in the pantry on hand for any time you need it.  It's basically Chocolate Ooey Gooey Butter Cake, a church basement recipe made from a cake mix and a few things from the fridge, quick and easy. I took it last night to work for our going away party for Tom and ended up not only sharing it with the dept but we had one mom in Peds who'd had a really looooooong week with her sick child so after he went to sleep I snuck her in a small plate with a large square of this and whispered "Better than valium" as I handed it to her.

Voice of America Embraces Springfield-Style Cashew Chicken

 

Due to the recent New York Times food section article about David Leong and Springfield-style Cashew Chicken, we're a hot commodity these days.  This past weekend, a reporter with Voice of America,  Suli Yi (my apologies if I have the first and surname backwards!), contacted me through the blog after reading my posts "Springfield-style Cashew Chicken"  and "Let Me Introduce Wing Yee Leong" for my reactions to cashew chicken  from the viewpoint of a writer, blogger, and local.  After a few emails, on a whim I volunteered to make my own personal take on the dish, Heart-healthy Cashew Chicken and volunteered my own Glenna's Cashew Chicken Casserole, a short cut version that's easy to prepare in advance of entertaining that also contains lots of veggies.

I Must Confess to Cleanse My Soul (Banana Cake Recipe)

I, Glenna Muse, confess that I baked a cake and it wasn't from scratch.  OH NO! I can hear the screams now...but before you run off to crazytown and vow to never read me again, at least listen to my excuse: I was siiiiiiiiiiiiick.  I'm always sick these days. It's been a rough winter.  But that's not the point. The point is the cake was gooooooooood.  Very good according to the folks at Prime--a big howdy to the parts and shop folks!  My favorite quote Kenneth sent back to me was the person who said about the cake "Not big enough.  Need more."  Now THAT'S a review I'll listen to.

There are two punchlines. I forgot to take pictures and Gene and I didn't get to taste it so all I know is Kenneth was happy with his cake and he was asked by a few people for the recipe. (I'm making it again for the family Easter party so I'll have pics in a few weeks.)

Let me back up and tell the tale.  My little brother (who's now 36 but will forever be 12 in my mind) had a friend named Mark who passed away recently in a motorcycle accident. Mark was a great guy and everyone has a friend like him.  He's that daring fool stuffed full of fun that everyone adores and doesn't want to live without  but you wanted to smack him sometimes and say "Dude, what were you thinking?!" That's Mark, and he will be greatly missed.

When Mark died, Kenneth took some days off work to help Mark's family with the arrangements and he asked me to bake a cake as a way to say thank you to his co-workers for their support. I liked both Mark and Kenneth's friends at work so I wanted to do something special but I wasn't physically up to a big cake decorating marathon or a long day in the kitchen. 

Hmmmmm....I needed something that would be very yummy without being super labor-intensive.  I thought of Paula Deen and her Ooey Gooey Butter Cakes, always a hit at my house and the chocolate version is my favorite brownie recipe.  And hey, I don't even like chocolate that much so you know it's good!

I went to the internet and found Paula's basic recipe and a few hints on how to dress it up in different flavors.  Taking that base, and what I rummaged through my pantry and the fresh fruit I had on hand, I created my own version which I'm calling: Sandra Lee Does Paula Deen Banana Cake.  (Wonder if either one of them will come after me for that one? hehehe)

Sandra Lee Does Paula Deen Banana Cake

recipe by Paula Deen, perverted by Glenna Anderson Muse

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix with a hand mixer and pat into the bottom of a oiled 9"x13" baking pan:

1 box yellow cake mix (I use Betty Crocker mixes when I use mixes)

1 Martha White Banana Nut muffin mix

2 egg

1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)

(Mix will be very thick)

On top of cake layer, mix filling with a hand mixer and spread on top:

1 8oz pkg cream cheese

1 overripe banana

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

16 oz box powdered sugar

1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick--hey, it's Paula Deen!)

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until top is lightly browned and internal temp of filling is 140 degrees (eggs set at 140 degrees) with a meat thermometer.  Top will still be jiggly but not runny.  The cream cheese/ egg layer will thicken as the cake cools. 

Halushki

 

Gene and I were watching Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives a few days ago on Food Network and we were both struck by this dish served at a diner owned by a Polish family.  We both kept trying to get the name of it so I could Google it but the best we could come up with was that it rhymed with "push-key".  So instead I Googled "egg noodle and cabbage recipe" and Halushki popped up. Damn, I love the internet!

I ran to the store to get the ingredients, popped out an email to Auntie Miranda inviting her over for an "experiment" supper on her way from work, and it's now become a regular addition to our dinner repertoire.

I researched several versions of the recipe and found that the four common ingredients in all of the recipes are:  butter, onion, cabbage, and egg noodles.  You can make it from that simple vegetarian one pot meal (vegan if you sub out the butter), or you can add a few simple things to jazz it up a bit, like potatoes and/or bacon, thin-sliced cooked pork loin, chop, or ham.  I happened to have some proscuitto that needed to be used so that's what I picked and it was lovely.  Gene's comment was "Wow! I can't even taste the cabbage! I was a little worried about that!"  Okay, that made me laugh but he was right. It doesn't have an overwhelmingly cabbage-y taste.  The cabbage mixed nicely with the onions to create a simple sweetness to the noodles. Very comforting and homey.

It's also the perfect dish for my new quest for simplicity:  it's easy, quick, yummy, healthy, and cheap.  It doesn't get much cheaper than a $ .59 in cabbage, $ .25 egg noodles, $ .10 onion, and a few strips of bacon or in my case, some leftover proscuitto and the entire cooking time was maybe a half hour and most of that was cooking down the onion and cabbage.  The finished one pot meal fed the three of us and Gene and I had leftovers for lunch the next day.

Hot Chicken Salad stuffed Puff Pastry

 

I served this the other night to friends and while they oohed and ahhhed, I quietly laughed into my sleeve.  It's so simple. Really.  The presentation is much more impressive than the time required to make it and it's yummy so that's a win-win.

Weekend Herb Blogging: Gimme A (vitamin) "C" for Stuffed Red Peppers

Weekend Herb Blogging, created by the wonderful Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen, is being hosted this week by the equally wonderful Katie of Thyme for Cooking.  I love this event for reminding us that healthy food doesn't have to taste boring. There's a whole world of flavor out there that's non-fat, non-carb, and non-guilt.

Sweet bell peppes in any color are a powerhouse of vitamin C, providing 240% of the recommended daily  value (based on 2,000 cal diet) in just a 1/2 cup (raw) serving.  That same serving also provides 45% of the daily vitamin A and a significant amount of folic acid, vitamin K (necessary for blood clotting) and vitam B6.  With only 20 calories, 0 fat, 5 complex carbs, 1 protein, and 1 gram of Fiber, peppers are a bargain on anybody's diet.  Plus, they taste GREAT!

Robin Miller's Upside Down Pizza

I don't necessarily like a lot of Robin Miller's recipes but I do like the techniques she uses.  I'm the same way about Sandra Lee.  I don't have anything personally against either one of them but I can't claim to be a huge fan either.  With Robin, I like the idea of being organized and prepping meals for the week rather than playing it by the seat of my pants from night to night. Without a little plan going in my head I end up ordering in or going out for pick-up too much.  With Sandra I like the idea of applying my efforts to the amount of time I have vs. what will make me crazy in the kitchen.  When I have time to make from scratch, I do it. When I don't. I cut corners where I can. Nothing wrong with buying a rotisserie chicken to use in recipes.

Gene and I were cruising channels one day with the satellite on Robin Miller when she started making this Upside Down Pizza. She said a friend of hers had given her the recipe and that it's perfect for potlucks or casual entertaining.  GENE said "That looks interesting."  It ended up on our dinner table that night.

I have to say it was fun. And quick.  I'm adding it in to my recipe box for the occasional dinner.

Pizza isn't hard but this had the advantage of being pretty quick so it's perfect for nights when I really don't want to cook. We used sausage, onions, black olives, and mushrooms but I can see how you could literally add anything that appeals to you.  Personally, next time I'd love to add cubes of ham, pepperoni, and pineapple, my favorite pizza.

And one note about the recipe vs. photo.  The recipe calls for using a 9"x13" pan but I used something smaller than that, maybe 8"x10" so my dish came out taller and juicier. For a more pizza-like casserole be sure to use the size pan given.

The Comfort Foods Keep on Playing

Last night we had taco casserole for dinner that our neighbor gave me the recipe. I'm sure this is something that everyone but me has but I'll give the recipe after the click anyway.  I was thinking last night that I'm kind of the anti-casserole queen and I was wondering why.  When I was growing up my mom made a few casseroles but not that many. She's not with us anymore so she's not around to ask why. I'm not sure if she didn't like making them, or more likely, if it was because dad was such a meat and potatoes kind of guy. We ate a lot of fried chicken, pork chops, ribs, etc., with separate potatoes and veggies. Then, in my adult life I did a dozen years in the hotel business, mostly in convention and banquet planning, so again, my whole menu planning experience was all about thinking in terms of entree:  steaks, chicken, chops, veal, etc., starch side:  rice, potatoes, pasta, etc., and vegetable sides, the more high falutin' the better. 

So now, here I am an old lady in my 40's :-) suddenly during these few weeks of crappy weather carnage on a child-like joyous quest for simple casserole comfort food recipes because, quite frankly, I'm really enjoying making and eating them. It's giving Gene and I a whole new dining experience.  Sometimes you simply get bored and want something different for a while so I've been going back to the more comforting one casserole dish type meals with gusto.  Okay, albeit, going back to them only with better vegetables and less Campbell's soup than what I'm told on most of the recipes, I admit. My chicken and rice the other night had no soup in it and all fresh veggies and it was very good. I'll be making it again. It's perfect and perfectly easy, especially with going back to work and having less time to spend in the kitchen. 

This taco casserole recipe, I'm sure, has been in a million women's magazines but I got it from the neighbor. It was simple, quick, and really tasty, sort of a cross between chili and frito chili pie. Best of all, it used up the half bag of tortilla chips I was sick of looking at on the counter.

The Poetic Dance of Comfort Food

Mine and Gene's week of comfort food continues, as does the cleanup outside our front window in the city.  We just heard a press conference from the mayor that they're down to a little less than 20,000 homes without power, over one hundred stop lights are fully functional, 19 are flashing, and only 9 are still dark.  We did hoot and "holler" at still being a small town at heart when our Sheriff got up with his report to say that they had caught thieves who had tried to steal the generators from railroad crossings (power to the crossing arms and warning lights) to sell and he actually called them, on local tv, "low-life scumbags" and announced that he's going to have their names printed in the local paper after charges are filed so that everyone will know who they are what danger they put everyone in.  I love our Sheriff. He brooks no bulls***.  They've announced drop off spots for the debris but asked people to not clean up yet, until the temps warm up and the ice melts so that people aren't under limbs that might continue to come crashing down.  So in small steps our world is coming back to normal.

Our friend James, one of the unlucky ones still without power, came over last night to catch up some laundry and share a home cooked meal.  When you've been without power for almost a week, even a humble chicken and rice casserole hits the spot. And then when I served him warm chocolate cake with cinnamon ice cream...he felt he could go back and face his house.  He does have a generator to run the furnace so he has heat, and we did offer to let him stay with us but he insisted he wanted to sleep in his own bed. I understand that.

Hope everyone is safe and warm and eating well.