A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

Chicken and Veggie Quesadillas

Quesadillas are one of those Tex-Mex restaurant dishes that's just as good, if not better!, made at home. Perfect for a family, they're easily customizable, delicious, and both quick and easy to make. Anyone can make these and I'm talking to you, Aunt Kay!  All you need is some kind of already cooked meat (or skip it and go vegetarian!) and at least a vegetable (or not and go carnivorous) and a hot skillet.  But since the goal is to eat healthier and get in those 5 servings of veggies a day, I went with the cooked chicken breasts that I had simmered in the chicken and orzo soup I made earlier in the week, and the onions, mushrooms, and red and yellow peppers that magically appeared in my crisper. By magically, I mean that Auntie Miranda found on sale at Aldi's and was kind enough to pick up enough for both of our homes since they were so cheap--thanks Auntie! 

 
 For those who know what a Girl Geek/Trekkie I am, is it really a surprise to know that my pizza cutter is in the shape of the Enterprise?  Yeah, I thought not.  Makes me smile every time I use it. 

 

 

Shrimp Fried Brown Rice with Veggies

Intended to make Sweet and Sour Pork this week but then a friend brought a huge bag of cooked shrimp and cocktail sauce to our New Year's Eve party so that got derailed (but in a good way!) into Shrimp Fried Rice.  This recipe is three of my favorite things:  fast, easy, and delicious!  (And good for us too)

 

Copycat KIND Bars

These are absolutely dynamite! Seriously, I can't say enough good things about them.  Not only do I love them so much I'll be making them every few weeks for my work lunchbox, everyone I gave them to at Christmas loved them, and I took a bag of remnants, little clusters of nutty goodness that fell apart a bit when I cut the bars, into work one night and shared them with the nurses and aides on 3West and was asked for the recipe multiple times.

A huge Thank You to Monica Matheny of The Yummy Life blog for these recipes. I'm not going to try to reprint the recipe here because her post includes step by step pics and eight different flavors of KIND bar copycat recipes.  My first batch was the Fruit & Nut Delight. My next foray will be the Almond and Coconut--YUM!

Click here:  Copycat KIND Bar Recipes

 

Mexican Villa at Home

Nothing like a huge pan of Mexican Villa fake out Burrito Enchilada Styles and cold winter's night...while praying for spring.

Click for recipe and updated step by step photos:  Mexican Villa Fake Out.

Pinterest Recipe: Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole (Two Versions)

The greatest thing about the invention of the Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole is the ease of it. I've made cordon bleu from scratch, and while it's not hard, it takes time.  The casserole combines both the basic elements of traditional cordon bleu: chicken, ham, and swiss cheese, along with a built in sauce for that creamy, dreamy, yumminess that is chicken cordon bleu.

I pinned two different recipes for Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole on Pinterest and this was the night I finally got around to moving it from my "wish" list to my "been there/done that/plan to do it again" list. 

This recipe (on the left) from Recipe Sweet was my biggest inspiration. I liked the sauce made from scratch, although I spiced mine up a little differently and I used whole pieces of chicken rather than rotisserie, not that there's anything wrong with using rotisserie chicken, it can be a great time-saver. I just used what I had on hand.  I prefer white meat and Gene prefers dark meat so it was easy to make a His and a Hers side to our casserole, along with a last minute thought on my part of adding broccoli to cook in that wonderful sauce, added to the Hers side, of course, since Gene hates broccoli.  But for non-broccoli-haters, it would be good strewn throughout the casserole to bubble away in the sauce.

My second inspiration was this Pinned recipe from Little B Cooks for a quick put together. The sauce is made from Cream of Chicken Soup which cuts the time down to almost negative minutes putting this one together and there are times when that is a HUGE plus! Both of these recipes call for pre-cooked chicken, rotisserie or other, which can save oven time but I started with the uncooked chicken breasts and thighs I had on hand. Either works beautifully. 

Don't Order Out: Tradtional Pasta Carbonara in 20 Minutes or Less

 

 This Mary Ann Esposito recipe changed my life. Okay, I know that sounds melodramatic but I really do mean it.  With only Gene and I to cook for, no matter how many times we vow to not order out and to not succumb to the convenience of processed foods, the fact is there are nights when cooking seems too big of a chore for either of us.  This recipe is our salvation.  FIVE ingredients and they are all things we keep in our pantry/fridge:  pasta, parmesan cheese, eggs, olive oil, and pancetta (or bacon, which I keep cooked up, crumbled, and in the freezer for uses such as this).

The entire meal takes five minutes longer than the time it takes to cook the pasta, and voila, it's eatin' time!

And to make this deal even sweeter? Because the sauce is made by the eggs and cheese, it's not even the caloric downfall that fast food Italian restaurants' versions are when they use Alfredo sauce. This is the real deal Carbonara and it's delicious without being stomach-achingly heavy. 

 

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:

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.

Home-Made Mayonnaise in the Blender in 5 Minutes; Garlic & Parsley Aioli 1 More Minute

I've often talked about what rotten brats my brothers and sister and I were as kids, not because we were inherently mean, but because we were so spoiled by our Mom's creativity and know-how in the kitchen.  As an adult, I appreciate the summers we spent gardening and all the home-made great food we ate but as kids we were the frowny faces who whined to our cake-decorator Mom "Please, anything for my birthday but cake with decorator frosting!" See? Brats!

We also had home-made pancakes (not from Bisquick or a mix), home-made caramel sauce for our ice cream, and home-made mayonnaise on our sandwiches. Did we appreciate it?  No! We whined for Bisquick pancakes, white store bread, caramel sauce that comes in a Smuckers jar, and Miracle Whip!

I laugh now, and hope she's laughing in Heaven with the unappreciated Moms!

I've been making a lot of buttermilk herb (ranch) dressing lately and since that's all from scratch, it seemed a shame to keep using commercially made mayo (I'm a Hellman's girl) when I know how to and how easy it easy to make home-made mayo before proceeding to the buttermilk dressing stage.  Mayo, like all dressings, is a relatively simple concept with a variety of ingredients that can be used for slightly different tastes. I'll give the basic recipe and add some of the ingredients that can be exchanged for the basics to 'fancy up" the basic eggy, creamy, rich concoction that is mayonnaise. I may not have appreciated it as a kid but I do now, Mom!

Good & Good For You: Creamy Tomato Soup

 

 After such a long hot summer, fall is a welcome relief!  With fall, come the cravings for great fall foods:  pumpkin and apple dishes, warm chewy breads, and thick soups.  Two of my favorites are leftover from grade school:  beef vegetable soup with peanut butter sandwiches and creamy tomato soup with grilled American cheese sandwiches. 

Campbell's or Progresso?  I could do that but for just a little bit more time I can have creamy tomato soup from my  pantry that still has tomato-y goodness but with a much more complex herby fresh taste I yearn for as an adult.