Apple-Pecan Pancakes

Apple-Pecan Pancakes
by 3KillerBs

The Verdict:  A+
I found this recipe on recipezaar last week.  It was fabulous!  Definitely more involved prep time than my usual pancake recipe, but really delicious. I loved the hint of lemon, the crunch of the pecans, the crisp bits of apple....

The only modification I made to the recipe was using rice milk in place of regular milk and the So Delicious Coconut Milk beverage in place of the heavy cream. 

The recipe says it makes 3 doz pancakes....I got about 8, but I made mine really big (like almost plate sized). 

I wish I'd taken a picture, but we were too busy eating.  The kids were totally silent if that gives you an indication of their opinion.  Even picky DD ate around the bits she was suspicious of without comment. 

Italian Chicken Roll-Ups

Well these were fun and different.  I particularly like the cooking technique -- they're steamed in foil. 

Italian Chicken Roll-Ups (serves 4)
4 thin chicken breast pieces (I halve my breasts horizontally)
1/2 c filling -- this is really whatever you want -- pesto, sun dried tomato something, etc.
4 sheets aluminum foil

Filling
1/4 c toasted pinenuts (we toast ours in the hot air popper -- thanks Alton!)
1/4 - 1/2 c chopped fresh herbs (I used basil & tarragon)
2 scallions
zest & juice of 1 lime
1 t olive oil (just enough to help hold it together but not enough to make it loose)
salt to taste

1. Start water to boiling in the bottom of whatever you use for steaming.
   
2. Combine filling ingredients in food processor and chop to a rough paste.  
3. Lay a piece of chicken on a piece of foil.  Spread 1-2T of filling all over the top.  
4. Roll up the chicken (length-wise).
5. Wrap the foil around it tightly, twisting the ends to secure it.  You'll end up with something that looks like a Christmas cracker.
6. Place foil packets in the steamer basket and steam for 10 minutes.
7. Carefully remove from the steamer and check to make sure they're fully cooked by piercing it with a wooden skewer.
8. Slice into roulades.

The Verdict:  B+
These were quite tasty.  I needed to work on my filling just a touch.  Next time I will also pound my chicken to a more even thickness before rolling.  All in all though, it was quick and easy.  The chicken was moist but fully cooked, and the presentation was nice.

Chicken Verde

I've renamed this recipe from Tomatillo & Chicken Tostadas.  This is the second Rachel Ray recipe (from Just in Time) on this week's plan.

Chicken Verde (serve 4+)

1 zucchini, quartered and chopped
4 scallions, chopped
12-16 oz of cooked chicken, shredded
1 t cumin (I used a good bit more b/c I love cumin)
1/2c - 1c tomatillo salsa
juice of 1 lime

1.  Saute zucchini til it starts to soften.
2. Add in remaining ingredients except lime and cook to heat through.
3. Remove from heat and stir in lime juice.

The recipe originally called for serving on crispy baked tortillas topped with cheese.  I was going to do that minus the cheese with my favorite uncooked tortillas.  Then they turned out like this:

Hahaha.  So needless to say ours were not tostadas/chalupas (there was much debate at our house about the proper terminology). 

You could also serve as a filling for soft tacos.

The Verdict:  B+
The flavors were excellent.  This particular execution was a little wonky, but I'll certainly try the basic concept again.

Provencal Tuna Salad

This was a really yummy recipe.  It billed itself as a 15 minute deal, but it took me a bit longer than that to put the tuna salad together.  However, it's a great make-ahead kind of thing.

This is very slightly modified from the recipe of the same name from Just In Time by Rachel Ray.

Provencal Tuna (serve 6+)
18 oz tuna (water-packed, drained)
2T olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
6 sprigs tarragon, chopped
10 basil leaves, chopped
3 T capers, drained
1-2 shallots, chopped
1/2 olives, pitted & chopped

The Verdict: A+
I loved this.  I don't know about the rest of my family, but this hit all sorts of good flavor things for me.  I think what really makes this dish for me is the tarragon. 

Sugar Cookies -- Belated Birthday Party Post

So I meant to post about this earlier, but it's just been too busy.  For DD's actual birthday I made the egg-free/ dairy-free Chocolate Cake that I've posted before.  However, for her party, I wanted to make something more portable/less messy since we were not going to be at home.

Sausage & Bean Casserole: Recipe & Review

This is a brand-new recipe for me.  I found it in a copy of Southern Living (Aug 2009?) that I was browsing during DD's dance class the other day.  I've tweaked it a bit to use fewer pre-packaged products.  If you're not limited by allergy issues as we are, by all means take advantage of those time savers though!

Sausage & Bean Casserole (serves 8)
1 lb ground pork (original:  1 lb bulk pork sausage)
Breakfast Sausage Spice Mix
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
1 large green bell pepper, diced
4-5 c cooked pinto beans (original:  4, 14.5oz cans of beans, drained)
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes w/ green chiles, undrained
Cornbread Batter (original:  1 c self-rising cornmeal + 1 c buttermilk)
6-8oz cheddar cheese (opt.)

Breakfast Sausage Spice Mix
1 1/2 t fennel seeds
1/2 t caraway seeds
1 t red pepper flakes
1/4 t ground all spice
1/2 t ground sage
1/2 t garlic powder

Cornbread Batter (this is half a normal cornbread recipe)
1/2 c AP flour
1/2 c cornmeal
2 T sugar (opt)
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 beaten egg
3/4 c milk
2 T oil/melted shortening

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Brown pork, breaking up as it cooks.  I didn't drain it since it seemed pretty lean and I needed some fat for the veggies. 
3. Add in the diced onion, bell pepper, and spice mix.  Cook until vegetables are softened.
4. Stir in beans and tomatoes.  Heat through.
5. Place meat & bean mixture in a 9x13 casserole dish.  Top with cheese if using.  Pour cornbread batter over the top.  Spread it with a spatula to cover the top of the casserole. 
6. Bake til cornbread is golden, 30-45 minutes.

The Verdict:  Adults -- A, Kids -- F
DH and I very much liked it although with the diced tomatoes w/ chiles it was "tingley" as my DH said.  Definitely use just regular tomatoes if you're not into hot.  This was an absolute failure with the kids.  I'm not surprised about DD not liking it, but I thought DS would go for it since he likes beans.  Not today.  They might have liked it better with more kid friendly vegetables (I'm thinking corn or similar). 

Also, I discovered that the cheese layer actually serves the important role of allowing the cornbread to really set up by keeping the liquids from the casserole from making the bottom soggy. 

Indonesian Fried Rice

Indonesian Fried Rice (serves 4-6)
(Based on a recipe from Green Mangoes and Lemongrass by Wendy Hutton.)

3-4 T oil
3-4 c cold cooked rice*
7-8 oz beef or pork, thinly sliced (beef's more traditional for Indonesia)
2-4 T soy sauce (I used Worcestershire + some extra salt)
eggs
1-2 green onions, thin sliced

Seasoning Paste
1 t anchovy paste/ 1/2t toasted shrimp paste
4-6 shallots
1 garlic clove
1t lime juice
2t oil
1/2t seasame oil
1/2 t dried red pepper flakes

*It's best to make the rice the day before and let it hang out in the fridge to dry out.

1. Heat oil in wok or heavy skillet over medium heat.
2. Combine the seasoning paste ingredient in a food processor in pulse til a rough paste forms (don't need to liquify it just get everything chopped v. small).  It's gonna be very strong smelling, but don't worry it'll mellow out when you cook it.
3. Saute seasoning paste in the oil until the shallots are becoming translucent and you lose the raw garlic and onion smell.
4. Increase the heat and add in the meat.  Cook meat through.
5. Toss in the rice and cook for 1-2 minutes.  Sprinkle soy sauce/alternative over the top.  Cook another few minutes.  You want to reheat the rice and get it thoroughly seasoned. 
6. Remove fried rice from the work and keep warm.  Add a bit more oil and fry one egg for each portion. 

Serve fried rice topped with an egg and sprinkled with scallions.  We ate ours with some Sriracha on top.

The Verdict:  B+
It's a good starting point for a fried rice recipe.  The seasoning paste was really nice despite my skepticism when it was still raw.  It needed a bit more meat and some veggies in it to fit our tastes.  Also I need to tweak my soy sauce substitute.  It's a nice quick recipe though...not too much chopping or prep work needed.

Review: Naan and Bombay Chicken

(Image from Flickmor )

Naan and Bombay Chicken
The kids absolutely loved the naan.  I enjoyed it but thought it was more akin to a Greek flatbread than the naan I've had before.  I thought the recipe must be mistaken when it said to knead the dough for 8-10 minutes, but it turned out very tender.  It's a touch sweet and I think I needed to roll the dough out a lot thinner. 

Amusingly that night, DH and I were watching a show about India where we saw someone cooking naan.  They cook it by sticking it to the inside wall of their tandoori oven.  Obviously the broiler doesn't have quite the same effect. 

The Bombay Chicken was nice too.  I just eyeballed the proportions for the sauce.  I ended up adding more curry because it wasn't curry enough for me.  I also split our chicken breasts horizontally (my new favorite trick for making it seem like we have a nice portion of meat while still decreasing the amount we're eating) so the cooking times were WAY too long.  I reduced it to 20 minutes & 20 minutes, but I could have gotten by with 15 & 15 I think.  Also I think this dish would be really great with a dark meat chicken, and of course would be a great freezer recipe. 

Chicken Stir-Fry with Mangoes and Cashews

It's night two of our Asian-themed dinners.  Tonight's stiry fry is Thai influenced.  This recipe is based on a recipe from Green Mangoes and Lemon Grass by Wendy Hutton.  The original included a diced tomato thrown in at the end. 

I cooked extra rice tonight to have cold on-hand for tomorrow night's fried rice dish. 

Chicken Stir-Fry with Mangoes and Cashews (Serves 4)
1 lb chicken breast, sliced thinly
3-4 T oil
1 mango sliced
1/4 c cashews
3 T fish sauce/ 1 t anchovy paste + 2 T water + 1 T Worcestershire + 1 t sugar
1 t lime juice
1/2 t salt
1 t sugar
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)
7-8oz snow peas/sugar snap peas

1. Heat oil in heavy skillet/ wok.  Add chicken in batches and cook through.  Reserve.
2. Mix together fish sauce (or substitute), lime juice, salt, and sugar.  Set aside.
3. Leave about 1 T oil in the pan, add garlic and red pepper flakes.  Cook til fragrant. 
4. Add peas, chicken, and sauce.  Cook another few minutes.
5. Add cashews and mango.  Cook 30 seconds to warm through.

Serve over rice.

The Verdict:  B+
I had to make some substitutions -- there were no decent mangos so we used fresh yellow peaches (that were not particularly ripe).  Mango would have been much better.   Also I was using frozen sugar snap peas that had been lurking in my freezer for eons and were WAY past their prime.   Then, of course, there was my "fish sauce".  I think our fish sauce we used to have was soy-free, but the last couple times I used it DH seemed to have a reaction to it, so I was faking it tonight.  I think my formulation still needs some work.

I wasn't entirely happy with my sauce. I think next time I'll add some lime zest and maybe finish it off with some fresh cilantro/basil.  DH doctored his by adding some soy sauce and some leftover Thai chili sauce from our take-out Friday night. 

The basic elements were good, it just needs a little polishing I think.  I'll definitely make it again in the near future.  We used to do Asian stir fry all the time before soy sauce became a no-go for us.

Review: Jamaican Beef Stew

Started with this recipe from recipezaar.

I made a few modifications to the sauce (see below) -- the meat & veggies are unchanged.

Cooked in the crockpot on low for about 7 hours...the carrots weren't quite as soft as I prefer, but the meat was very nice and tender.  The sauce came out fairly spicy, but I think the BBQ sauce is the main source of heat so that'd be pretty easy to tone down with a different sauce.  The meat and veggies weren't particularly hot themselves.  I served it over mashed potatoes which helped off-set some of the spice

Sauce Base for Jamaican Stew (Crockpot)

1T sugar
1 t anchovy paste
1 t dijon mustard
2-3 T Worcestershire sauce
~1/4 c barbeque sauce (I used Rudy's which has a lot of pepper)
2 t apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 t Beef Better Than Bullion (I'm like a walking billboard, I know!)

Mix together in bottom of crockpot before adding in the meat.  Stir to coat meat.  Top with vegetables.  Finish off with the tomatoes.  I used a can of whole tomatoes chopped up and did NOT add the extra juice.  There was plenty of liquid produced during the cooking process.  I also did not add the cornstarch to thicken the sauce. 

The Verdict:  A-
It was a nice change of pace from a more traditional beef stew/soup.  I think the sauce could use some refining.  The top sirloin is the perfect meat for this sort of thing though.  It doesn't completely fall apart but is definitely much improved by the slow cooking.

Review: Mediterranean Tuna-Noodle Casserole

I started with this recipe from What a Crock!

Modifications:

Dairy & Soy-Free White Sauce
2 c rice milk
2 c boiling water + 2 t Better Than Bullion (or you could use 2 c broth)
2-3T olive oil
1/2c + AP flour

I had a very hard time getting this sauce to set up.  I ended up adding a couple extra T of flour in (in a slurry w/ some of the broth) to get it to a decent consistency and even then it still didn't really thicken like it usually does.  I think the proportions weren't right since I was mostly using the proportions in the original recipe which called for whole milk which has some thickening properties of its own (unlike rice milk). 

I was not very optimistic when I poured it into the rest of the ingredients but it actually set up fine in the casserole. 

Cooking the sauce with the peppers in it also didn't make for a very easy time so I think next time I'll saute them then remove them from the oil to actually make the sauce.

Also, I had DH helping me and he didn't quite get that when I said to open 2 cans of tuna (I got 2 12 oz cans) that I didn't actually mean 2 regular 6oz sized cans.  So we ended up with only half of the amount of tuna called for.  In retrospect I kind of liked the fact that it wasn't overpoweringly tuna. 
 
I used elbow macaroni which DS (2) really liked.  It was good that the peppers and artichokes were good sized because they could be easily removed since he didn't care for them.

Verdict:  B+
A decent recipe.  The artichokes & peppers make it a bit more interesting, but it didn't blow my skirt up.  I think I would've liked it to be a bit zippier.  On the other hand, aside from my sauce issues, it was easy to prepare.

Spanish Green Beans

Just a quick note to say that the Pioneer Woman Spanish Green Beans were absolutely fabulous.  I approximately halved the recipe using 2 cans green beans & 1 can of tomatoes.  I also added about a 1/2c of sherry to deglaze the pan before I added the veggies.  My 2 y.o. thought it was about the best thing ever.  Old DD not as impressed but that's par for the course - she doesn't even like what she likes half the time.  I could even see this as a main dish maybe with a nice side of risotto.  YUM!

Chicken with Mushroom -Peppercorn Sauce

I'm getting off the plan slightly, but I realized we didn't have any apricots/peaches since I still haven't made it to the store. Gotta do that tomorrow. I made this pretty light on the meat (with only 1 medium chicken breast), but it had lots of gravy so the chicken wasn't really missed. I served this with basmati rice, broccoli, and a nice fruit salad.

Chicken with Mushroom -Peppercorn Sauce

1-2 chicken breasts
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1/2 onion diced
1t peppercorn (ground/crushed)
1 c water + 1 t Chicken Better Than Bullion
1/2 c rice milk
3-4 T AP flour
2 T sherry
1 T dijon mustard

1. Saute chicken breast in a bit of olive oil til browned on both sides (but not fully cooked). Cut up into bites and reserve.
2. Saute the onion, mushrooms, and peppercorn. Add a touch more oil if necessary. Cook til onion and mushrooms are softened.
3. Add in water, Better Than Bullion, and diced chicken. Cook over medium heat til chicken is cooked through.
4. Mix flour and rice milk (adding extra liquid from the pan if necessary) to create a slurry. Add to pan along with sherry and mustard. Cook til thickened. Don't boil.
5. Serve over rice or pasta.
   

The Verdict: A
This was a great creamy sauce without any dairy. I'm a big fan of mustard cream sauces, so it was nice to be able to approximate one pretty closely.

Recipe Round-up

Well, Tuesdays Balsamic Chicken got off to a bad start when I realized that I was more or less out of balsamic....doh! I decided to improvise with the T of balsamic I had left, a good dose of Worcestershire, and then a few T of my fig-cherry jam. That would have been fine except that I then proceeded to neglect my sauce and it burned. We salvaged the chicken, but only just.

The one bright spot of the evening was the asparagus. This recipe was vaguely inspired by a dish my grandmother always used to make for company (canned asparagus, cream of something soup, crumbled cracker topping, and sliced hardboiled egg at the end).

Asparagus "Gratin"

1 bunch asparagus, trimmed into 3-4" pieces
handful of Ritz-style crackers (I used our Wild Oats Original Crackers that are SF&DF!)
lemon-pepper seasoning

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Place asparagus into baking dish. Top with crumbled crackers and a liberal sprinkling of lemon-pepper seasoning.
3. Bake for 15 min or so.

The Verdict: A-

My 2 yo loved this! We thought it was good as well. Next time I might toss the asparagus with a little mayo (Hellman's Canola is DF&SF).

______________________

Wednesday's Souvlaki wasn't anything particularly exciting. However, I did experiment with grilling some Halloumi, which was a nice treat. I also served everything (Souvlaki, Halloumi, toasted pita pieces, olives, curried couscous w/ peas, golden raisins, and some carrot sticks) family-style on the dining room table. The kids really loved the picnic feeling of the meal.