I am lovin’ Squash

My BFF fixed squash with zucchini and it was excellent…With the leftover squash that had not been cooked I decided to try it her way as best I could.  It turned out really well and very quick and simple to do..

Ingredients

Yellow Squash

Whole Onion (for every 4 or 5 squash)

Garlic

Grapeseed Oil

Cheese

Bacon

Process:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Shred the cheese – about 1/2 cup depending on the amount of squash.  Cut up the squash up about 1/2 inch thick, same for the onions just cut across the whole onion, cut up the garlic.  I like a lot of onions with my squash.  Cook the bacon just until they are “almost” done and remove from the pan, and cut in big pieces and remove from the pan.  Add about a tablespoon of oil.  Add the onions and garlic to the same pan and sautee for a few minutes.  Add the squash, and bacon, stir everything together.  Season with sea salt, freshly ground pepper and a little bit of creole seasoning.  Cook no more than a few minutes (not until the squash is soft).

Pour everything into a glass dish, spread the cheese across the top and put in the over.  Bake for about 20 minutes.

Note:  You can add zucchini, eggplant, or different types of squash and follow the same process.  Cut in nice size pieces so they are not mushy.

It will take about 30 minutes or less to prepare this dish…it really could be a meal by itself!

 

Macaroni and Cheese – My Way

It’s almost Thanksgiving my FAVORITE day to cook!!  This year I am sharing the kitchen with my BFF, Stephanie and for the first time to share the kitchen…My mom and I have a difficult time doing that.  We both like to have the kitchen to ourselves when we cook.  But, I so love Stephanie’s cooking AND it is her house – LOL – why not!

I want to fix Turkey & Dressing – posted that recipe already and here goes for the Mac & Cheese.  I posted this recipe previously so I am just adding a list of ingredients and I will be putting bread crumbs over mine this time and adding an egg.  Once again I do not measure but I will try to give some measurements…You can always add a lil cheese or reduce it if you are not a big cheese person.  Or you can add different cheeses if you have some in particular that you favor. Part of this comes from my grandmother and it has changed a bit.  Interestingly, the first year I added sour cream to mine, I visited my sister for Thanksgiving that year and she was doing the same thing.

Ingredients:

Elbow Macaroni or Rotini Spiral (I like the spiral better for the look)

Cheese (sharp cheddar, colby, and jack) about 2 cups each

Butter

Milk

1 egg

1 cup Sour Cream

Flour

Salt & Pepper to taste

White Sauce

My grandmother taught me to make this for mac and cheese.  I use it for other sauces as well.

Put 3T of butter in a pot and melt on medium heat.  Add about 3-4 heaping forkfulls of flour and mix well stirring continuously until it is smooth.  Pour about 2 -3 cups of milk and cook until it thickens. Add your cheese, reduce heat, continue to stir until the cheese has melted.  Add a little salt and pour over the macaroni.  If you want the sauce a little richer, use half and half.  If it turns out too thick, just add a little more milk.

Mac & Cheese

I make mine a little different from the way I was taught – but it’s pretty basic. I will use just about any thicker pasta, shells, macaroni, spiral, and sometimes I mix them depending on how much I have available. The picture is the actual mac& cheese I made a few months ago -  looks good huh.

Pasta (cook until it is soft – not until it is completely done) rinse it and place it in a  bowl that is twice the size of the amount of pasta.  Cheese (colby, sharp cheddar, jack, mexican shredded) – I buy the first three in brick form and depending on the amount – I will use at least half of each.  Grate it.  We like it cheesy.  I make the white sauce, add half of the cheese into the white sauce after it thickens.  Pour the sauce mixture over the pasta in the bowl, salt, pepper, and at least a cup of sour cream, and add the rest of the cheese – mix it. I will put some of the shredded cheese in the bowl as well.  Once it is mixed well, I pour into a glass dish and spread grated cheese over it.  Now if you really want to add a little extra, put breadcrumbs on top as well for a different touch.  Bake for about 45 mins – 1hour.  I like it a little brown as you can see on the picture.  Yummy.

Tip:  If your sauce seems runny, you could add an egg which will kind of bring it all together. I think it also keeps it from being dry.  Sometimes I add an egg and sometimes I don’t.

I think I am going to post our Yeast Roll recipe next…watch out for it…Yes, you too can make rolls from scratch!

 

Homemade Cornbread Dressing

Thanksgiving is my most FAVORITE day to cook.  I thought I would share my dressing recipe – not quick but I like it.

My grandmother always saved left over cornbread, and the ends of white bread.  As I perfected my dressing each year I dropped the white bread.  I always save left over cornbread through the year and keep it in the freezer.

A KEY ingredient to this recipe is fresh sage.  My sister grew sage and we would all receive it from her.  I still have much of what she had, so I am grateful.  Eventually, well pretty soon, I am going to have to start growing it myself.  If you have fresh sage, you have to hang it upside down to dry it out.  It makes a HUGE difference in taste.  Do not use ground sage…it just does not work well..Trust me (I have done it and it was not good)..An alternative would be to find sage leaves..most of the time you can find that in the grocery stores near the Hispanic area with the other seasonings.

Another KEY ingredient is the cornbread.  If you don’t have old cornbread and/or you need more…Bake Jiffy cornbread a few days ahead of time if you can.  Let it sit out, or inside the oven to dry out as much as possible…Mrs Cubbisons cornbread dressing can be used to fill in…it WILL change the taste..I only use it if nothing else is available.

Prepare the dressing AT LEAST  one day ahead of time…TWO days if possible.

This is one of those times I cannot tell you what to measure.  If you are using two boxes of cornbread…I would say the bellpepper, celery, onion – should be about 3/4 cup each.

Ingredients:

Corn Bread

Milk

Eggs

Bell pepper

Celery

Onion

Garlic

Seasonings:  pepper, seasoned salt, thyme, old bay

1 stick of butter

In a skillet saute’ bell pepper, onion, celery, and garlic with a stick of butter or two if you are making a lot of dressing for about 5-7 minutes on medium heat. You want them to be opague and soft.  Add the seasoning in the mixture as well while it is cooking. Take the dried, brittle sage off of the stem and grind it in the palm of my hand. Put hands together and grind in a circular motion and add to the celery mixture as it is cooking.

While that is cooking, by hand crumble the cornbread in a large bowl. When the celery mixture is ready, pour it into the cornbread mixture and stir.  I would taste it at this point and make any adjustments of more seasoning, more sage.  Once it’s where  you like it, add 1 to 2 eggs and mix.  Remember it depends on how much cornbread you have.  Add about 1/2c of milk or less, just add a little bit at a time until you have consistency that you prefer.  I like mine to not be completely stuck together as if you could be put into a ball.  I like for it to still be in a crumbly state for lack of a better description.

Once it’s complete, put in a plastic bag and put it into the refrigerator.  When the turkey is ready and seasoned and it’s time to cook…stuff the turkey with the dressing.  Do not put it in the turkey and then put it in the refrigerator, that is not safe…only put in the turkey right before you put it in the oven.  Put any left over dressing in a glass dish to be baked later.  As the turkey cooks, put drippings from the pan into the extra dressing to add moisture and flavor. When you bake additional items, bake the dressing for about 30-45 minutes – again depending on the amount.

Enjoy and Happy Turkey Day!!

 

Great Pasta Dish

I don’t have a name for this dish yet.  If anyone has suggestions after reading this, please let me know…

I had a taste for spaghetti – kinda.  As I started to look for ingredients needed, I realized we only had a small, 4 oz can of tomato sauce.

Then I thought about meat loaf since we had potatoes and I could make masked potatoes.  For some reason that just did not feel exactly right but I wanted the taste…..I wanted something with pasta and cheese….I came up with what you see in the picture!  It tasted better the 2nd day!

Alternatives:  this dish could be fixed with no meat, shredded chicken, ground turkey – I fixed it with ground beef – I think I will try shredded chicken next time. I would also add about 1/2 cup of zucchini as well to add volume and flavor – especially if I was fixing this with no meat…

This will take about 1 hour to fix.

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Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef (lean)

whole wheat penne pasta

8 oz can of diced tomatoes with garlic & herb

4 oz can of tomato sauce

2 cups of shredded cheese

5 cloves of garlic (need about 1 tablespoon minced)

fresh spinach

1/4 cup of bbq sauce

1/4 cup of chili sauce

1/2 cup of bell pepper

1/2 cup of onion

1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes

2 T of olive oil

Non Stick Spray

3/4 cup of fresh mushrooms

1 package of meat loaf seasoning

Seasonings:  italian, thyme, old bay, seasoned salt, fresh ground pepper,

Process:

In a large pot saute’ bell pepper, onions, and garlic in olive oil for about 2 minutes.  Add ground beef or whatever meat you want to use.  If you use chicken, boil it and shred it first.  Brown your meat and season it.

While the meat is cooking, boil your pasta until it is almost done. When it is ready, drain and rinse with cool water, set it aside.

Pre-heat the oven at 350 degrees.

In a bowl, mix the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, bbq sauce and chili sauce.

After the meat is cooked, add the sauce mixture to the pot with the meat in it, and cook for about 15 minutes on a medium heat stirring occasionally.  Add 3/4 of the cheese, and mushrooms.  You can also add parmesan cheese as well.   I used a cheddar/jack mixture of cheese and parmesan. Mix the fresh spinach into the meat  sauce AFTER has finished cooking, just before adding the pasta.

Add the pasta to the pot, mix well and turn the pot off.  Spray a glass dish with non-stick spray.  Pour the ingredients from the pot into the glass dish.  Sprinkle with the remainder of cheese. Bake for 30 -45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Serve with garlic bread and salad…Yummmy

 

Quick Side Dish – String Beans

My BFF fixed this the other day with meat loaf and scalloped potatoes…They were excellent.

Ingredients:

Fresh Garlic

Olive Oil

Whole String Beans

Pearl Onions

Mushrooms (any kind)

You can use all frozen vegetables or fresh.  If you use fresh – you will need to cook longer.   You probably could even use Sesame Oil to add a different flavor.

Cut up the garlic and put in the pan with olive oil.  Use about 5 or 6 cloves if you like garlic, if not just use a couple.  Saute’ for a minute and add the pearl onions.  Add the string beans, and mushrooms and season to taste.  Cook for about 10 minutes and your side dish is done.

This was soo good – I can’t wait to have it again.

This looks like the original recipe – my friend added her own twist…Love her cooking!

I looked up a couple of weight watcher string bean recipes..sharing a few I am definitely going to try:

Green Beans with Mushrooms and Crisp Onion Crumbs

Sautéed String Beans with Almonds

 

Lasagna with a lil Mexican Spin

I am posting this for a family member that asked for the recipe.  This is one of those dishes you make for gatherings or something for the family to eat off of for a few days.  It’s not quick, but it’s easy.  If you like cheese, pasta, with meat and a little bit of sauce, you will like this.  I make this from memory so bare with it and taste a little to see if you need to add more. I am going to write this as if you are making a large one.  I suggest coooking this in a tin pan that you can throw away.  There are pans specifically for lasagne as you do want it to be deep because of the layering.

Ingredients/Shopping List:

Chicken- Thighs about 8 (depends on the size

(I like dark meat for this to add more moisture)

Med-Large can of refried beans or black beans if you want to be healthier but they need to be soft.

4 oz (med) container of sour cream

2 pkgs of taco seasoning

Cheese – (jack & cheddar at least) about 3 cups (guessing)

Green chiles (med can)

Black Olives (can)

Green chile sauce (mild)

Lasagna pasta

Garlic

Tomatoes (diced or canned stewed) If they have the mexican style of canned tomatoes – try that too.

Bell Pepper

Cilantro (if you don’t like the taste, you can leave it out – I love it)

Green onions (about 3)

Tin foil

Process:

Season and boil the chicken.  I use a seasoned salt (Johnny’s), fresh ground pepper (my fave), fresh diced garlic, bell pepper, bay leaves, old bay seasoning, lemon pepper, basil.  Once it is cooked, cut up in small cubes or largely shred it.

Cook the lasagna as well while the chicken is boiling. Cook enough lasagna for two or three layers depending on your pan.

While all of that is cooking mix the refried beans (or black beans), sour cream, and taco seasoning.  Again, depending on the size of the dish, this is your first layer on top of the pasta.  I would taste to see if you need to add anything else.

Shred your cheese if you bought blocks – never hurts to have too much you can always save extra for another dish right?

If you are using fresh tomatoes, now is a great time to cut that up as well as cilantro.

Time to layer

Spay the pan with non-stick spray.  Place lasagna pasta to cover the bottom.  Spoon a layer of the bean mixture first.  Add the chicken, green chiles, tomatoes, and a little of the green chile sauce, then cheese.  You can put a little bit of cilantro as well.

Add another layer of lasagna pasta and follow the same process.  If you are going to have three layers just keep the same steps.  On the final layer save some of the green chile sauce to poor over the cheese.  At the very end, spinkle the green onions and olives over the top.  Cover with foil and bake for about an hour until it is bubbling.  About 10 minutes before it is ready to come out, remove the tin foil.

As a side dish add a salad..that always helps.

Hope you like it.   Lynn – post a comment when it’s done and tell me how it came out – hopefully I did not miss anything.  I love ya and congratulations on the engagement once again, I am soo disappointed I won’t be there!

Now that I have posted this, I think I am gonna fix this myself tomorrow!  I have not fixed it in about a year.  Thanks for asking!

 

I love Cabbage

Wow – It is has been more than a minute since I posted on my cooking blog…

Well, I have been in transition of moving and re-grouping for a while.  I am sooo grateful that it is over and I am in a much better space both physically and mentally.  I now realize that I really have to be in the correct place mentally to want to cook.  I was soo not in the mood at all, which is not like me.

I love to cook..I love to eat good homemade food.  I so appreciate when friends of mine that like to cook actually cook.  I am in a very special place now with my one of my BFF’s that also is a great cook.  I am sooo looking forward to learning and trying different things with her.  I already have a few ideas on some new things to try, more to come in the near future.

This past weekend I fixed cabbage.  My BFF and her daughter really liked it…so for my first post after some time – I may have posted about this before – this one is strictly how to cook it with bacon only….here it goes:

At most, this will probably only take about 20 minutes to fix:

Ingredients:

1 head of cabbage (with the most leaves of dark green)

2 pieces of bacon

Seasonings (Johnny’s (or other seasoned salt), pepper, creole seasoning, garlic powder or cloves, old bay)

Process:

Slice the cabbage in half, and then in across it in small, thin portions – not too small.  Rinse the cabbage well making sure to drain most of the water. Remove the thick white core and any pieces that are thick, white, hard pieces.    They don’t cook well and if you leave them it can cause you to cook the cabbage too long and make it mushy.

In a pot, on medium heat,  fry the bacon at the bottom.  Do not use a skillet, but a pot. Fry the bacon until crisp.  Remove the bacon and add the cabbage.  Continously stir the cabbage into the pot, as it cooks it will shrink.  Don’t take too long to get all of the cabbage into the pot.  You want it to still be stiff so that it can absorb the bacon flavor and cook as well.

Add the seasonings, very little at a time and taste.  Cabbage does not require much seasoning so be careful…it abosrbs rather quickly in cabbage.  Continue to stir and once it is almost to the consistency you like, turn the pot off and cover.

The cabbage will steam and make its own water – no need to add any.  Taste it after it has been sitting there just to see if you need more seasoning.

You could make a meal out of this by accompanying it with yams, and cornbread – YUMMMY!!

Note:  I was raised in Michigan and my grandmother always used cabbage with dark green leaves.  In California, the grocers remove quite a bit of that before they put it out.  You may find in some neighborhood grocery stores that they have them.  If you do, remove the darker leaves and keep them seperate.  After the other cabbage is cut, roll up the darker leaves and then cut.  For some reason, the cabbage taste better with the darker green leaves.  Now that I am in the South and in the Midwest, I have found the darker green cabbage….Yummy

 

Chicken & Dumplins

My BFF made a comment recently that I have not cooked since I have been visiting.  Hmmm, I really haven’t hence I have not been posting to this blog either because I haven’t been at home in a few months.  There is something about cooking in your own kitchen that just breeds the need to cook! 

Sooo, since I plan to fly home next week I thought I should cook something for my BFF.  I needed something quick and easy because I had work to do.  I decided to make Chicken and Dumplins.  Since I don’t have any Bisquick which is my normal way to make them I had to look up a recipe.  They came out great and thought I would share.

Chicken

You can use any chicken pieces that you prefer and any amount.  Of course the more chicken the more dumplins.  I wash the chicken and put them in a big pot.  I season the mean in the pot.  I also “over” season because of the fact I am going to add a lot of water and boil.  I put seasonings like Johnny’s Seasoning, garlic, celery, old bay, pepper, creole seasoning.  Boil for about 30 minutes to an hour. Remove the chicken from the pot so the juice can be used to cook the dumplins.

Dumplins

This recipe worked well.  The only thing I would do differently is put 1 lest tsp of baking powder.  I think it was too much.  Other than that, follow the directions. Get the recipe I used here.

Once the dumplins are ready, add the chicken back into the pot and turn the pot off.

Tip:  Don’t put too much water, but enough so that the dumplins don’t stick to the bottom.  If you do it just right, the dumplins will also generate gravy in the pot.  When you add the chicken back and let it sit for a moment…it’s good.

This should not take more than about 45 minutes in preparation time.  A very quick and easy meal to fix.

 

Easy Refreshing Cake/Pie – Perfect for a Hot Day

My BFF always makes this for various family gatherings.  I always here her mention it but I never seem to get any.  Wellll she made one a few weeks ago and then this past weekend.  I am STUCK…It’s refreshing, light and just plain good.  I have been “hurting” myself and proud of it.

The 3 day diet was interrupted this week and oh well – A girl’s gotta do what she must.  It’s quick, does not require baking at all.

Dummy Cake

Crust

2 cups flour

1 cup butter

2 tsps sugar

Mix all together and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes (note:  she add’s pecans into it or layers them on the bottom – if you like them add that if not – it will still be good)

Alternative which I like the best:  Graham cracker crust.  You can use a ready make crust and layer pecans at the bottom!

Filling:

1 cup – 2 (8 oz) of cream cheese

Confectioners sugar (add to taste and consistency) so that it’s creamy

1 lg instant chocolate pudding

1 lg container of cool whip.

Layer the above items on the crust:  cream cheese, pudding, cool whip.

Keep in the refrigerator to stiffen, but you could eat it right away.

You can add your own twists however you like, it will work with all kinds of variations.

ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Chicken Wings – Quick and Healthy Too!

Well back in Southern California with my BFF and working.  I am starting the 3 day diet cycle again (off for a week) because this friend of mine has been very faithful with it for over a month and she is truly inspiring.  So in planning ahead and knowing that we would need three ounces of any meat for dinner, I decided to bake chicken wings.

Chicken wings are one of the fastest meats to cook and makes it very easy to do while working from home.  I decided to work from the kitchen table so that I am right next to the kitchen.

I seasoned the wings with salt,pepper, fresh garlic, green onions, and a little cilantro about 10 this morning.  If you saw the diet it said 3 ounces of meat – so I guesstimated that the meat off of 3 small wings would surfice.  Back to work.

About 2 – I put the wings in a pan and baked them for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.  Back to work.

I took the wings out and now they are ready for dinner.  Right before I took them out of the oven, I ate lunch so I would not be tempted to eat the wings – strategy!!  Somehow tuna and dry toast did not compare to chicken wings – lol.

One of the unacknowledged beauties about this diet – it’s efficient.  In about 70 minutes today – dinner is prepared. The vegetables on the diet, we use cans (not my normal style), but the beets, and green beans are quicker and easier this way.  So when you add in the other parts of dinner, seasoning and measuring – 70 minutes.

Can’t get more efficient than that – and healthy!