A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

Slow Cooker Reuben Chowder: Corned Beef, Potatoes, & Cabbage

 

My name is Glenna and I'm a huge Reuben addict.  Love the combo of corned beef and saurkraut. There's just something deliciously sweet, salty, crunchy, cheesy wonderful about it!  Imagine my pleasure when I accidentally stumbled on a recipe for reuben chowder...and then Googled for more recipes...and then took all the things I liked out of each one and made my own--in the slow cooker!

Heaven...I'm in heaven....

Glenna's Buttermilk Pound Cake

 What most people I know think of when you use the generic term "cake" is technically a butter cake, typically eggs and butter or oil beaten together and the dry ingredients then added, as opposed to a  chiffon cake, a lighter textured cake where the egg whites are whipped separately and folded into the batter.  Pound cake is butter or chiffon cake's sweet, voluptuous cousin, with rich, velvety crumb, created from not just eggs and butter but LOTS of eggs and butter!

Originally named "pound cake" for the simplicity of its ingredients: pound of butter, pound of sugar, pound of flour... it has long since been cut down to what we think of us "regular" cake size and customized in endless variations. This buttermilk and vanilla recipe is rich and. satisfying with straight-forward, simple ingredients that showcases what, to me, is almost a religiously divine combination: butter, flour, and sugar...and an oven. .

To fancy it up, add fresh strawberries or a drizzle of chocolate or caramel sauce. For me, I just cut a slice, pick it up, and don't bother dirtying a fork and plate.

Copycat Recipe: Joe's Crab Shack Harvest Bay Mahi Mahi

 

 One of the great things about things about cooking restaurant-style food at home is being able to customize it.  I love this entree, Harvest Bay Mahi Mahi, a firm-fleshed white fish covered in rich Alfredo sauce mixed with sauteed shrimp and mushrooms,  from Joe's Crab Shack but I've always wanted more: more sauce, more shrimp, more mushrooms!!!!!  Viva la shrimp and shrooms!  Since I don't have a district manager looking over my food cost reports, that's easy to do without sacrificing any of the integrity of the original dish, not to mention, being able to shave a few butter and Alfredo sauce calories here and there without sacrificing that luscious mouth feel and rich taste.

Here's How I did it, step by step, and with photos:

All-American Sloppy Joe Pockets

All-American Sloppy Joes, what a lot of us here in the states grew up on as a regular meal, basically also called a "loose meat sandwich" which sounds terrifying. It's not, really,To the uninitiated it's a dryer version of beef spaghetti sauce made to fit on a bun:  ground beef, Italian seasonings, and tomato paste. Taking it one step further, it feels like a treat to kids and Hubbies (who are really just big kids) as a fancified hand-held pocket sandiwch.

Great for a normal weekend dinner, a children's sleepover, children's parties or anytime you just want to do something a little extra special without making yourself crazy!

From scratch is always best but I will tell you that the Sandra Lee version is even easier if you're short on time and patience:  thawed bread dough from the supermarket, ground beef, cheese, and jarred Sloppy Joe or Manwich sauce.  Nobody will know the difference and you look like a hero!  But. Sometime do do the from scratch verion, you'll be glad you did and surprised at how easy it is. I promise.

This is my entry for World Bread Baking Day #57. Check the roundup to see all the great loaves of bread being baking in ovens both near and far from you.

 

Creamy Vegetable Soup for the Crock-pot/Slow Cooker

 I love soup. I particularly love cream soups, although I often feel guilty for eating them.  There's something ultimately wintery and comforting about soups with creamy heartiness that feels so good and yet so decadent.  But.  Using a trick I learned from a Pinterest recfpe for creamy chicken chili, creaminess doesn't have to equal loads of cream, flour, and butter. It's amazing what cream cheese can do in a slow cooker to transform a simple vegetable woup into a creamy feast on a cold winter's day.

Creamy Crock-pot/Slow Cooker Vegetable Soup

Recipe by Glenna Anderson Muse

Ingredients:

• 4 medium Yukon Gold (or russets or red-skinned) potatoes
• 1 cup green beans
• 1 cup carrots, julienned
• I cup celery diced
• 1 mdium onion, diced
• 1 red or green sweet pepper, cut into strips
• 1 cup broccoli florets
• 1 14.5 oz can Kidney, Pinto, or Navy Beans
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 15.5 oz can chicken broth
• 8 oz pkg light cream cheese
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes

Directions:

In heavy-bottomed skillet over mdium heat, saute garlic and onion in olive oil.  Add celery and pepper and saute for 3-3 minutes.  Add all  to crockpot along with rest of vegetables, beans, and spices.  Pour over chicken broth and lay cream cheese on top.  Cook on high for 2 hours and hten turn to low for 6-8 hours. Stir to mix cream cheese.

Makes 10 cups.

Nutrition per 1 cup serving:  Calories:    167;   Protein:    6.3;    Carbs:    16;    Fat:     6;       Fiber:     4.2;    Weight Watchers Points:      3

 

 

Good & Good For You: Ground Beef, Potato, & Veggie Chowder

 

There's something about cold, rainy nights that demand soup, isn't there?  Something warm and comforting on the inside to combat the dreariness of the outside.  This soup started out as a simple potato and milk soup but then Hubby Gene said "Can you put hamburger in it?" I thought "Why not?"  I knew I'd put lots of onion and celery in it, but on the heels of the ground beef addition, I also chopped fresh parsley, sweet red and green pepper, carrots, and fresh mushrooms so that our Yukon Gold simple potato soup became a very hearty and tasty ground beef, potato, and tons of veggies chowder, so yummy it's a pleasure to eat leftovers the rest of the weekend. 

 

 

Home-Made Buttermilk Herb (Ranch) Dressing

 I know that in some circles "ranch" dressing or dip is considered passe' but, to me, it ranks up there will all my favorite comfort foods like mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, chicken pot pie, and all the rest of the delicious, non-pretensious things that are so lovely and comforting to eat.  I do admit, though, that ranch dressing out a bottle from a grocer's shelf doesn't thrill me but making it home-made with fresh herbs is definitely the ticket! 

It's also much better for you.  Think about it.  Sure, it's a little more work to put the ingredients together but when you make it from scratch, including the mayo, you're talking about eating eggs, cold-pressed oil, buttermilk, dill, parsley, garlic, etc., all whole foods  not tons of chemicals and preservatives. That, and the fresh creamy herby taste make it worth every one of those 15 minute spent preparing it.

Baked Mostaccioli w/ All Day Slow Cooker/Crockpot Meat Sauce

 

 There's nothing like pasta, the ultimate comfort food, to feed a small army of company at the holidays.  It's tasty, it's easy, and it can usually be made ahead, all pluses in my book so that I can serve a delicious meal to my friends and family but also be able to relax on the day of and during the party instead of running myself ragged, cooking. 

Traditionally at New Year's Eve, I make a big lasagna, but this year I went to the same song, different verse, choosing to created a Baked Mostaccili dish instead. 

Several of my guests plus friends on Facebook asked for the recipe, so this is it:  Glenna's Baked Mostaccioli for a Crowd.  Even though the recipe easily serves 8-10, it can easily be cut in half for a family dinner or can be made as a whole and split into two separate baking dishes, freezing one for later. 

   

Celebrating with Baklava

 

 While the entire rest of the food blogosphere posts nice diet recipes for at least the first week of the new year, I'm going to go radical and tempt your tummy with step-by-step photos of how to make the sublime, baklava, my favorite densely rich, sweet, and decadent treat that's a pastry I can only describe to the unititiated as a cross between a bar cookie and candy.  Or as simply "the most yum in a bite I know of!" It's created from layers of paper thin pastry dough brushed with butter and filled with pistachios, walnuts, and almonds, along with warm spices and soaked in honeyed syrup.

Baklava can be traced back to the "cradle of civilization", Mesopotamia (the modern Iraq area), in the thousands B.C. but its most commonly associated with the Ottoman Turkish Empire of the 15th and 16th centuries whose capitol was Constantinople (modern day Instanbul, Turkey).  I'm pretty confident you can consider that a dessert must be good if it's been around for 5,000 years, don't you?

I'll admit that I assumed baklava would be difficult, or at least complicated. to make but the truth is delightfully that it really isn't. There a lot of steps, but most of them are all about the layering of pastry and filling.   For anyone experienced in working with phyllo dough I would consider this easy to make, and even for those who've never worked with phyllo before, I would still say it's only a low medium in difficulty.  The key to the recipe is in the steps and preparing the work space.  Some baklava makers create the pastry first and then make the syrup while baking so that it remains hot. I make the syrup first and set it aside while I make the pastry so that even though the syrup is close to room temp when poured as the final step, the baklava is so hot it quickly soaks in.  Having a little counter space is the only clincher to working with phyllo dough because it's easier to lay it out, then move it in towards you to butter and stack.  You'll see what I mean as you read through the recipe and see the photos.

New Year's Day: Get your Black-Eyed Peas on!

I'm not a huge fan of black-eyed peas but this is one recipe I love and make every year: Cowboy Caviar.  With its mix of black-eyed peas, black beans, corn, celery and other vegetables, it's a wonderful cold side dish, you get your New Year's Day good luck black-eyed peas, and it's a great do ahead recipe for New Year's Eve or New Year's Day parties!

While black-eyed peas are grown in many countries, they are particularly eaten here in the southern United States.  There are two southern traditions that explain the superstition of eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day for luck, both grew out of the Civil War. The first is the legend that whenever Sherman's Union troops sacked cities or plantations and raided the food supplies, the northeners considered black-eyed peas and field corn to be food for slaves and stock, and left it, so all the starving southeners felt "lucky" to have any food left to celebrate New Year's Day with at all.

The second is a much more pleasant legend.  Again placed during Civil War times, legend has it that many slaves celebrated the New Year's day that the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect by eating Hoppin' John, a common, hearty dish, made of a combination of black-eyed peas, rice, pork, and greens (also yummy). 

Other legends place black-eyed pea eating as far back as the Talmud and the Egyptians but having grown up eating very southern-ish, my favorite is the thought of celebrating the Emancipation Proclamation and the hope of great strides in civil rights of all men and women of all everything in our country's future.