Veggie Lo Mein

I love Chinese food. One of my favorite things about these basic dishes, is how easy they are to make at home. The simplicity of these dishes actually surprised me when I got married and started cooking for us. We never made these types of food at home when I was a kid. My Mom is a master of comfort food. She makes delicious food, just not this kind. This is one of my Hubbie's favorite meals. It's easy and delicious. I do a meatless version most of the time, but I've also done chicken and pork in the past. My little sister recently became vegan and I plan on making a version for her soon.

Ingredients

2 cups Cabbage shredded

4 oz mushrooms, sliced

1 cup Carrots, shredded or julienned

1/2 bunch Green Onions, sliced

1 lb Fresh Steamed Thin Chow Mein Noodles

1/4 cup Soy Sauce (Light)

2 TBS Sesame Oil

1 cup Chicken Broth, or Vegetable Broth

1 TBS fish sauce (optional)

1.5 TBS cornstarch

2 packages of lo mein noodles, prepared acccording to paclage directions

 

Note: My small town grocery store doesn't always stock lo mein noodles, so I sometimes just use 3 packs of ramen noodles without the seasoning packets.

 

Prepare the noodles according to the package instruction, drain and set aside in a large bowl. Warm a small amount of sesame oil over medium heat in a large skillet or wok. Add cabbage, mushrooms, and carrots, sprinkle with pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally until cabbage is wilted and carrots are softened. Add the green onions. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, sesame noodles, broth, fish sauce (if using), and cornstarch and whisk together. Add veggies to the noodles. Pour the sauce mixture into the empty skillet and whisk until thickened, this will only take a few minutes. Toss the noodles, veggies, and sauce together and serve. Easy peasy.

 

You can find Fish Sauce in most grocery stores now, usually with the rest of the Asian foods. It has a very pungent smell, but it adds wonderful flavor to many Asian dishes. I hope you try it.

 

Chicken Rigatoni and Family History

A while back, I became interested in researching my Father's family. My biological Dad passed away when I was 14, and I never knew his Father or his father's family, except for one great-aunt. I met my grandfather only once, when I was maybe 3 or 4 years old, I very vaguely remember him.I've never actually spoken to him, though my research leads me to believe he may still be alive, so I am contemplating writing a letter. Anyway, my Grandma had told me a lot about the family. When she spoke of my Grandfather, she usually talked about how he cooked. He is Italian and from New York City and she told me about how when he made pasta, he'd have a big pot of sauce simmering all day long, and he'd stir it and check the spices and season it. The first time I set out to make homemade sauce, I disregarded any recipe that took less than 3 hours to make. She talked about his brothers and how they dressed and how the whole family ate. I always romanticized it in my head, and when I would see a big Italian family gathered together in movies or on TV, I always imagined that's what it was like and being a part of it. I have an Italian friend who is also from NY, and her family IS that large, loud, gorgeous, loving Italian family you see in movies. I remember eating dinner with her family and imagining that my Father's family was just like them and I might one day be a part of something like it. Please don't get me wrong, the family that I do know was wonderful to grow up in, and we had many many happy dinners and holidays.

Anyway, through my research I discovered that my Grandfather lived at least part of his life in upstate/central New York. Through researching the town, I found that there is a regional dish that is very popular there, called Chicken Riggies. I'd never heard of it in my life, but the description of rigatoni pasta, chicken, and peppers in a tomato cream sauce sounded amazing. I looked up several recipes and found that the recipes vary drastically from family to family. The ingredients that all of the recipes contained were rigatoni, cherry peppers, chicken, and tomatoes. So, I chose 5 recipes and picked and chose what I liked from them, added my own ingredients and preferred tastes, and came up with my own recipe. I can't call it Chicken Riggies, because I've never been anywhere near NY and I would have no idea if it tastes anything close to their beloved dish. I can tell you, though, that what I came up with is delicious. My husband devoured it, talked about it for days afterward, and has requested that I make it at least once a month.

Ingredients:

1 lb of Rigatoni pasta
2 lbs of boneless chicken, cut into bite-size pieces
5 cloves of garlic, smashed, grated, or minced
1 bell pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces, I used green
7 jarred sweet cherry peppers, seeded and roughly chopped (I plan to try with fresh when in season)
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 (28oz) can of whole tomatoes
1/2 cup sherry wine (cooking sherry is fine)
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp dried basil (can use fresh, just triple the amount)
salt and pepper
red pepper flakes, optional
olive oil, for sauteing chicken and garlic

In a large pot (I used a 5 qt nonstick dutch oven), place 2 TBS olive oil and 4 cloves of minced garlic (I grate mine on a Microplane) while the pan is still cold. Turn the heat on to medium and allow the garlic to heat with the oil, to infuse it with flavor and not burn and turn bitter, about 5 minutes. When the garlic is golden but not burned, add the chopped bell pepper and mushrooms. Allow to cook for 5 minutes, to soften. Add the tomatoes, cherry peppers, and sherry, bring it to a simmer. Cover and reduce heat to keep it bubbling but not boiling while you prepare the chicken.

In a large skillet, heat a little olive oil. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, when the pan is hot add the chicken and remaining garlic. Allow the chicken to get good and brown on both sides. This took about 15 minutes total for me. When the chicken is almost done, use a masher to break up the tomatoes in the sauce pot. Once the tomatoes are broken up, add the chicken to the pan. Use a splash of sherry to deglaze the skillet you prepped the chicken in. Add the deglazing liquid to the sauce. Put a large pot of water on to boil the rigatoni. While you are waiting for the water to boil, add the cream cheese and basil, stirring to fully incorporate the cream cheese. You could also use heavy cream, I chose cream cheese since the little grocery store I went to doesn't stock heavy cream. When the water is boiling, add 1 TBS of salt and the rigatoni to the water. Cook 1 minute less than the package tells you to. Continue stirring the sauce, making sure it is at a strong simmer, stir in the Parmesan cheese very well. When the noodles are done, drain them and toss them with the sauce in the pot. Serve with red pepper flakes and extra Parmesan.

I just love discovering regional dishes, local favorites, and I hope to visit many of the places I've read about and try the authentic versions myself. One of my favorites is the Moco Loco, which my husband ordered for breakfast in Maui at my brother-in-law's suggestion. It was so yummy and I've since made my own version at home. It's a bed of white rice, topped with a hamburger patty, a fried egg, and brown gravy. It sounds weird, but it is super yummy.

German Cabbage Rolls

Back in November, I posted my recipe for Cabbage Rolls. That recipe was the more traditional Hungarian style cabbage rolls most of us are used to, with a tomato-based sauce. They are fabulous, and I encourage you to try them out. Today I bring you my recipe for German style Cabbage Rolls. These cabbage rolls are my husband's favorite. They're meaty and hearty and scrumptious. Men seem to really appreciate these cabbage rolls, and I think the main reason is the sauce. I  place of a tomato sauce, these cabbage rolls are served topped with brown gravy. So yummy. These cabbage rolls are easy to make, super hearty, and they get better the next day. This recipe makes 12 large cabbage rolls. You can make them smaller to use more of the cabbage, or make more filling.

Ingredients:

1 large head of cabbage
2 TBS salt

Filling:

1/2 lb ground Beef
1/2 lb ground Pork
3 TBS bread crumbs
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 TBS German style mustard
1/2 tsp Pepper
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
pinch of Salt
1/2 cup diced onion
1 clove garlic, minced or grated on a microplane
2 TBS Butter

Sauce:
Optional: splash of white wine
1 cup beef broth
1/4 cup cold water
1 TBS cornstarch

Note: To cut back of fat, you can substitute all lean ground beef or even ground turkey for the ground beef and pork. There is a slight flavor difference, but it is still delicious and it's a way to eat "regular" food while losing weight or watching your cholesterol.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. In the meantime, melt 1 TBS of butter in a large skillet, add diced onion and garlic. Cook over medium heat until softened and lightly browned. Remove from heat. Wash cabbage and remove outermost leaves if they are loose. You can core the cabbage if you like, but it's not necessary. I like to because it helps the salt water flavor the cabbage and it seems to make the leaves easier to remove. As soon as the water boils, add the 2 TBS of salt. Gently add the cabbage and boil 15-20 minutes. Remove the cabbage, drain and allow to cool.

Once the cabbage is cool, mix all of the filling ingredients together. Remove the 12 outer leaves from the cabbage and begin filling. The demonstration photos I'm going to post now are from my last cabbage rolls recipe, but the folding method is the same.

Once all of the cabbage rolls are ready, heat 1 TBS of butter over medium heat in the large skillet you used to saute the onions. Place about half of the rolls in the skillet, seam side down. Allow to cook for 5 minutes, then flip and cook and additional 3 minutes. Remove to a platter and brown the remaining rolls in the same way. Optional: Remove rolls and deglaze the pan with a  splash of white wine. Add all of the rolls to the pan, pour in the beef broth. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer 45 minutes. Remove rolls from skillet, bump the heat up to medium-high, mix cornstarch and cold water together, add to the broth in the pan, stir constantly until thickened. This will only take a few minutes. Serve the rolls topped with gravy alongside mashed potatoes.

Barbeque Meatball Sliders

Meatball sliders are a huge hit in my family. I often take them to church functions, where they are always well-received. I usually make Italian style sliders, but a few weeks ago I decided to switch it up for our church business meeting. I didn't stick around for the meeting, but my Hubbie and Dad loved them. My Dad is a pretty picky eater, so it makes me happy when he enjoys my food. These are quick to put together, made with frozen meatballs. You could certainly use your own homemade meatballs, or make my delicious Meatballs. These would be a great addition to any finger food buffet or Super Bowl Party.

Ingredients:

24 Hawaiian Sweet Dinner Rolls
36 frozen Meatballs
1 cup of your favorite Barbeque Sauce
24 Pickle Chips
6 Slices of Cheddar Cheese

Preheat oven to 350°. Place the frozen meatballs in a large, microwave-safe glass dish. Heat on high until warmed through, about 5-7 minutes. Stop and stir the meatballs about 3 minutes in.
While the meatballs are heating, separate the dinner rolls and slice in half. Place the bottom halves on a baking sheet. Remove the meatballs from the microwave, toss with the barbeque sauce. Slice the meatballs in half. Place 3 halves on each bottom half. 1 meatball just isn't enough for this size roll, and 2 unsliced meatballs creates too much of a mess. Cut each cheese slice into 4 pieces. Top each slider with a cheese slice and a pickle chip. Put the top half of the rolls on. Place in the oven untilt eh cheese is melted, about 15 minutes. Stack on a platter and serve.

 

Egg in the Hole

 

I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas! Here is an easy and scrumptious breakfast to enjoy. If you still have out-of-town guests, pull out that griddle and make this one-dish breakfast.

Growning up, I had a baby-sitter who often made these for us for breakfast, she called them Chicken in a Basket. I always loved them. My Hubbie and son love these for breakfast. My Hubbie remebers his Mom making these when he was a child, instead of cutting the hole with a biscuit cutter, like I do, his Mom let him bit the middle out. I may let my son try that when he's older. He's only 2, and a carb lover, I don't think he'd be happy about having to hand a piece of bread back. This is a very simple breakfast to make, and if you have a large griddle, you can make several at a time.

Ingredients: I usually make two for my Hubbie and one each for my son and I.

4 slices of bread
4 eggs
4 TBS Butter
salt and Pepper

Preheat a skillet or griddle over medium heat. Butter both sides of each slice of bread. Use a biscuit cutter to cut a hole in the center. Don't discard the removed bread. You'll be toasting that up too, it's my favorite part.

Toast the bread and the removed portions on the griddle until medium brown and crunchy, flip. Place a small amount of butter in the open hole of each slice of bread, crack 1 egg into each hole. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, cover with a lid and cook until the whites are just set for a runny yolk. If you like a firmer yolk, cook a minute longer. Remove from the heat, use the reserved piece to pierce the yolk, and enjoy.

Chai Spiced Citrus Tea

I made a pot of this for us to sip while watching Christmas movies a few nights ago. I had intended to made a recipe I had been given for old fashioned Russian Tea, not the instant powdered stuff, but a recipe that sounded absolutely lovely. However, I was out of oranges, whole cloves and cinnamon sticks, and I didn't want ground up spiced floating in the tea, so I improvised and came up with my own recipe with what I had on hand. My Mother-In-Law gave me a tin of delicious loose-leaf Chai Tea last time she visited, it was awesome in this recipe.

Ingredients:
6 Cups of Boiling Water
3 Black Tea Bags
3 TBS Loose Leaf Chai Tea, or 3 Tea Chai Tea Bags
1 Cup of Water
1/4 Cup of White Sugar
the Juice of 4 Tangerines (you could use oranges)

Steep the black and chai teas in the 6 cups of boiling water for 8-10 minutes. While steeping, bring the water and sugar to a boil in a small sauce pan. Remove the tea leaves and tea bags, pour the sugar water into the tea, add the tangerine juice. Stir and enjoy.

We really enjoyed this tea. My Hubbie has requested a steady supply in the house until Spring.

Pecan Clusters

These Pecan Clusters are so easy to make. With only 3 ingredients, they are truly more than the sum of their parts. Everyone in my family enjoys these, even my two year old. They're a delightful addition to any gathering, or as a treat for a super sweet Hubbie. Don't skip the toasting step, it's mostly hands off and it really brings out the flavor of the pecans.

Ingredients:

3 cups of Pecan Halves
3 TBS of Butter, I use salted
12 oz Chocolate Chips

Preheat the oven to 300 °. Scatter the pecans on a baking sheet. Dot with the butter. Place in the oven for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Line a baking sheet or large cutting board with waxed paper. Place the chocolate in a large microwave safe glass bowl, microwave on high for 1 minute, stir. Continue microwaving at 30 second intervals, stirring between each interval until melted. Stir in the pecans. Drop by the spoonfuls onto the waxed paper. Allow them to set and enjoy.

How gorgeous are toasted pecans?

Reindeer Crunch Snack Mix

I made up this snack mix to enjoy while watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for Family Night. We all agreed it was a hit, and I plan to make it for our Christmas Eve get-together. Santa Claus comes through our neighborhood on a firetruck. It is a tradition we had in my neighborhood growing up, and one I am glad I can continue with my son.

This snack mix is sweet, salty, crunchy, fruity, chocolaty, you know, delicious. You can buy a bag of caramel corn instead of making your own, but I think it tastes way better this way. Also, I have fond memories of making caramel corn with my Mom as a child, and it makes me feel nostalgic to make my own. I use the Karo recipe, just like my Mom did, it's fool-proof. I'll include it in the ingredients and instructions, but here is a link Karo Syrup - Classic Caramel Corn

Ingredients:

For the Caramel Corn:

8 cups of popped popcorn
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup Corn Syrup
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter OR margarine
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon  vanilla extract

For the Snack Mix:

1 Recipe Caramel Corn
2 cups of small Pretzels
1 cup of toasted Pecans
2 cups of Mini Marshmallows
1 cup of dried cranberries
1 cup of chocolate Chips
1 large paper grocery bag

Directions:

For the Caramel Corn:
Spray a large shallow roasting pan with cooking spray. Add popcorn and place in preheated 250°F oven while preparing caramel.
Mix brown sugar, corn syrup, butter and salt in a heavy 2-quart saucepan. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil over medium heat.

Boil 5 minutes WITHOUT STIRRING. Remove from heat. Stir in baking soda and vanilla.(Mixture will foam)
Pour syrup mixture over warm popcorn, stirring to coat evenly.
Bake for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from oven and spread on foil that has been sprayed with cooking spray.

Cool; break apart. Reserve foil-lined baking sheets for the next step.

To Make the Snack Mix:

Place the cooled caramel corn, pretzels, pecans, marshmallows, and cranberries into the paper grocery bag. Shake to combine. Spread mixture out on the reserved baking sheets.

Place chocolate chips into a microwave-safe glass bowl. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir, return to microwave and cook on high for 30 second intervals until melted. This usually takes me 1.5 - 2 minutes depending on how cold it is. However, it is very important to stir it every 30 seconds, and stop heating it as soon as it is melted.

Use a spoon to drizzle the melted chocolate over the snack mix. You can let it cool, then break it up. Or you can place the snakc mix back into the bag as soon as you drizzle it with chocolate and shake shake shake to get the chocolate more evenly distributed, which is what I did.

White Hot Chocolate

I made this white hot chocolate as a treat for my family's Frosty the Snowman theme night. It was delicious. I had some leftover that I re-heated the next day. It made a perfect accompaniment to my Mom's Chocolate Chip Cookies. Both of these should defintely make an appearance at your holiday table or cookie swap.

White Hot Chocolate

4 cups of whole Milk
8 oz White Chocolate Chips, I used Ghirardelli brand.
1 tsp Vanilla Extract,
Optional Topping Ideas: Whipped cream, marshmallows, crushed candy canes, cinnamon

Heat milk and white chocolate chips in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring until melted and warmed through. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Ladel into mugs, add desired toppings, and enjoy.

Christmas Movie Theme Nights: Frosty The Snowman

Sorry for the terrible pictures, all of them were taken with my iPhone. I just LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this time of year. Christmas is such a special time of year for me. I have wonderful memories of family get-togethers, baking cookies and making fudge with my Mom, seeing Santa Claus on the Fire Truck every Christmas Eve, dancing the 12 Days of Christmas. My family had a lot of traditions growing up, these are just a few. I'm continuing several of them with my son, and adding some of our own.

One thing we started this year and we plan to continue is a Christmas movie theme night. Last Saturday was our first time, and we did Frosty the Snowman. My Hubbie got me a box set of animated Christmas classics last year, so that is what I will be using while my son is young. He LOVED Frosty. We started the day with Snowman shaped pancakes, which I didn't get pictures of, basically 3 different sized pancakes, cooked close together so they combined. Then we decorated them with chocolate chips. It was fun. That evening we had snowman-shaped white pizza for dinner and we enjoyed white hot chocolate during the movie. It was a lovely time, and all of us enjoyed it. It wasn't anything fancy, since I pulled most of it together last-minute with things I already had on hand. My snowman pizza is rather plain compared to those on Pinterest, but it was delicious.

I did get this picture on my cellphone of my son decorating a pancake for Daddy.

For the Snowman Pancakes I used my fabulous Cake Flour Pancakes recipe.
















For the Snowman Pizza:
I used half of the dough my recipe makes to make this snowman. It was barely enough for 3 people. I'd suggest making two or more if you have a larger family, or serve a soup or salad with it.

Per Snowman:
1/2 recipe of my Pizza Dough
1 cup of ricotta cheese
2 cloves of garlic, minced, or grated
2 cups of shredded mozzarella
Parmesan (optional)
black olives

Preheat the oven to 400.
Roll about 2/3 of the dough out into a 10 inch round
Roll the remaining dough into a 6 inch round.
Place them on a baking sheet so the bottom of the smaller round is touching the top of the larger round.
Mix the ricotta and garlic together, spread onto both rounds, leaving about 1/2 an inch of border. Top with mozzarella, I didn't measure, but I used quite a bit. Sprinkle with Parmesan, if you like. Slice olives in half and use them to create eyes, mouth and buttons. Bake 15-20 minutes, until crust is golden and cheese is bubbly. Check at 12 minutes, and then every couple minutes after that.