Do you ever make something, and when it's done you just stand there grinning like a fool from ear to ear, so proud of yourself you can hardly speak? That's what happened with this year's Christmas Day dessert. And it wasn't even that hard! I did go out and buy a set of custard cups (I've somehow managed to live this long without owning any, but it was time), but I should have bought two. Just wasn't thinking, really.
Anyway, I should say right off that this is not an original recipe of mine. However, I sadly cannot credit which cookbook it came from because I entered it into my files before I started making a note of where things came from. It was some sort of diabetic cookbook, but that's about all I've got. I have re-written the directions and changed a couple of things, though.
I'm not entirely sure when I started doing it, but every year at Christmas I end up making a truly ridiculous number of various and sundry baked treats. There are some that always make the cut, and then there are the always-rotating varieties. This year I ended up with six kinds of cookies, one kind of truffles, one kind of bread, two kinds of spiced nuts, and of course my Grandma Brown's Gingerbread.
I got lucky this year and had the whole week off work. Usually I have to try to schedule my baking between long shifts, but this time I could spread it out over several days with my only time constraint being it had to be completed some time between when I got home from work Sunday night and I went back Friday evening. Total win!
Every once in a while I run across a recipe of mine from a hundred years ago, and I wonder why exactly it is I've not made it in so long. This one, for instance, I first put together in something like 2001 or maybe 2002. Long before I had a Facebook page, a blog, or even a digital camera.
I was making a bunch of my Grandma Brown's Gingerbread already, so I just made an extra batch. Not that this needed an entire 9x13 pan of gingerbread. I had to eat the rest. Plus, I didn't have to use an entire pint of whipping cream, so I had some warm with fresh vanilla-cinnamon whipped cream. It was amazing!
Once again, I found myself with some fresh vegetables I'd forgotten I owned that needed to be used or they were going to go bad. Since I was already making Pork Marsala for dinner, I thought I'd add some colour and texture variety to the plate with them, but being me I went just a bit further than normal. What I ended up with was a really tasty side dish that will definitely happen again, with these and/or other vegetables.
Well, would you look at this! I not only had time to cook, I had time to create a new recipe *and* remembered to take pictures of the process so I could write a blog post! And then for the cherry on top, I have time to actually write the blog post! It's a November miracle, folks... Work is usually so crazy busy this time of year I'm lucky if I'm grabbing some Pop Tarts or a banana if I'm not getting fed while I'm there.
So. I decided to call this one Sweet n' Hot Chicken Stir-Fry. I was originally going for a sweet & sour kind of deal, but then I segued into more hot than sour, so there you have it. As always, I skipped the rice to save on carbs (but you'll see later I ruined that by doing potatoes), but you should feel free to serve it over rice or pasta or whatever if you'd rather.
If I were asked for one word that means "fall" to me, I would have to say, "stew". Specifically, this recipe for beef stew that I've developed over the years from the way my mom used to make it. I started with her recipe, then added and subtracted things I've learned about along the way, and while I never make it exactly the same way twice, it's always basically the same. And it is some tasty!
And it makes a vat of stew. I honestly don't know how much, but my Dutch oven is filled to within an inch of its top by the time the dumplings are done. I usually freeze some for later, which works well with the exception of the dumplings tending to disintegrate in the microwave after freezing. Just make sure your carrots aren't cut in big pieces, because frozen carrots experience a texture change that is not at all appealing if they're large.
If I could live on feta cheese and bacon, I would do it. There's something about the combination of the two that just makes my taste buds sing, so when I found myself looking at a partial package of bacon and an open container of feta cheese, I figured it was a sign I should create a recipe for them. Couple that with a package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs that I didn't have room to put in the freezer, and we ended up with an entree that was even more amazing than I'd hoped. I love when that happens!
If you've been around for a while, you know that by far the vast majority of my recipes are born because I'm standing in my kitchen and realize I have something I need to use or it's going to go bad. This one is no exception. Earlier this summer I bought a bag of small red potatoes intending to make my Dill & Sour Cream Potato Salad (because we love it and also because I wanted to get pictures so I could do a blog post), and then life happened and I completely forgot about it.
Fast forward about six weeks, and you'll find me opening the drawer where I keep potatoes and realizing they were still in there. See, the trouble is, I normally don't have potatoes since they're on the "you can't eat that" list for my mother. But there they were. So I looked around at what else I had, and came up with this. I was really pleased with how it turned out, and even more pleased with how low carb it was!
Normally in August I wouldn't be roasting much of anything, but this year we had a cold snap and it made using the oven possible. So there I was, standing in my kitchen, looking at a pound of green beans and knowing I had boneless pork loin chops that had to either be used or frozen immediately, and a recipe was born.
Last year I set out to write a recipe for a mixed berry cobbler. And then life happened. Through the sometimes magic (and sometimes horrorshow) that is Facebook's "On This Day" feature, I was reminded the other day I never got around to it.
Luckily, berries were on sale. Luckily, I had some time off. And luckily, I found my notes from before. Of course I made some changes to what I thought I was going to do because I can never leave anything alone (especially not after a year), but what I ended up with was something that is right now making my mouth water just thinking about it. I may need to have some more before I head to bed tonight.
It's summertime, and that means the cucumbers are taking over the world! I didn't grow any this year, but my sister and my mom's best friend did and they keep giving me more than I know what to do with.
This recipe is one I've never actually written down before, it's just something I make when I've run out of cucumber ideas. It's sort of like three bean salad, but with cucumber and onion instead of beans. It's nice to keep on-hand when it's hot, since it keeps for almost a week before going bad due to the vinegar.
We all have those recipes that are so simple, yet so fantastic, that people practically beg us to make them, right? This is one of mine. Regardless of who I have made it for or when, there are never any leftovers and someone invariably asks for the recipe. Even a self-proclaimed hater of eggplant couldn't stop raving about this one!
Granted, summer isn't necessarily the ideal time to boil and saute and bake, but this one is worth it. It was hot as Hades in my house while I was making this batch, so I took it slow, with lots of water and sitting in front of the fan breaks. That's the beauty of this one... You can take as long as you want to make it!
A while back smoked sausage was on sale for a ridiculously good price, so I bought a bunch of it. And now it sits in my freezer, mocking me every time I open it to see what I'm making for dinner, knowing I can't make it as often as I'd like because it bothers my mother to eat.
But one of the cool things about it being on sale is I got to try a couple of new varieties that I've been intrigued by for a while, including the 4 Pepper I used in this recipe. It's actually pretty darn hot, which was a pleasant surprise for me.
Fresh local green beans are in season, so I keep buying them every time I'm at the store or the farmer's market or the farm stand, or someone brings extras to work... We are eating green bean everything lately, and finding something else to do with it has become something of a challenge.
A few days ago I was sitting on my back porch, surrounded by my (mostly) herb garden, and it hit me. Herb butter! Why on earth have I not been making herb butter? And furthermore, why have I not been cooking green beans in it?
Thus a recipe was born. That's how it happens around here.
Summertime is salad time, at least in my house. Where I live it gets hot and very humid, so even though I'm Northern born and raised I tend to skew toward the Southern method of handling food and I cook a bunch of stuff late at night when the temperature is more manageable that can be eaten cold later.
Or, you know, sometimes I don't cook at all. Like I did with this Shrimp Salad. I actually came up with this one because I bought a bunch of stuff from Omaha Steaks and my freezer was so full something had to go. I figured I'd defrost a bag of shrimp, and while it was in the sink I pulled together a bunch of stuff I thought would be good in it. This got a high approval rating from everyone who tried it, to the point where I hid the last serving in a sour cream container so I could have it all to myself.
You know the absolute best part about summer? Fresh local produce. And because a lot of the local farms start their plants in greenhouses well before the snow melts, even in mid-June I can get just about everything I could ever hope to want at the farmer's market. Not that everything in this one came from there; some things simply aren't in season regardless, so I had to supplement from the grocery store. But I'd say this is about 80% farmer's market goods, and another 10% could have been if I'd gone that way.
I read somewhere once that if you're trying to eat healthy, you should always go with vegetables in a variety of colours. Not only is it pleasing to the eye, but it ensures you're getting the most diverse amount of vitamins and minerals. I think I succeeded quite well with this one!
I confess: If given the opportunity, I would eat avocado in some form every single meal, every single day, until there were no more avocados left. I love to snack on them, make dips out of them, use them as sandwich toppings, eat them in salads... Avocado is even more of a weakness for me than bacon, and if you know me you know that's saying a lot.
So I had this avocado on my counter that last night I noticed was a lot softer than I'd prefer, since apparently I missed the 12-minute window in which it was perfectly ripe. It happens more often than not. But it wasn't yet turning brown when I cut it open, so a new recipe was born.
You know how sometimes you put something together purely to see if it'll work? I do that a lot. In fact, there are an incredible number of things I've thought were going to become a new recipe that instead were relegated to the trash heap, never to be made again.
This, however... This one was a keeper! Even though I thought I had feta and it turned out to be blue cheese (and smoke flavoured blue cheese at that), I went ahead with my plan. And it was amazing!
For the last several weeks, I have been craving coconut shrimp. I've even dreamed about eating it more than once. But shrimp here comes only in frozen, and it's expensive, and me making some just wasn't going to happen. I'm not even sure we have a restaurant that sells it, unless maybe Red Lobster does... but even there is about a 25-minute drive in a direction I never go.
So what did I do? Decided to make cakes. Except I didn't have shrimp. Or crab. I had imitation lobster. I went ahead anyway. That makes sense if you live in my head.
Stir-fry is one of my favourite go-to meals when I've got fresh vegetables and no plan, or I'm in a hurry. This one was born because I had some bell peppers and no idea why I'd bought them, and since Vidalia onions are currently in season I'll take any excuse to use them. Add in some peanut butter and some other stuff for the sauce, and it ended up being a pretty darn fine meal.
I am a huge fan of Alfredo sauce, but I don't dare make it very often because it's usually not remotely healthy for you. However, I played around with some changes to a recipe that (I think) originally came from Betty Crocker, substituting lower fat ingredients where I could and trying not to give up the flavour or texture. I think I've won!
Let me start out by saying if you are a souffle connoisseur, you will be mortally offended by this recipe. I chose to call it a souffle because it got puffy as it baked and stayed that way, but it is by no means the intricate, detailed, multi-step dish more commonly known as a souffle.
You know what it was, though? Tasty as all get-out!
A site I used to frequent introduced me to the term, "C.O.R.N.", which means "Clean Out Refrigerator Night". It's as good a term as any, and everybody does it. Especially after a holiday dinner, when you've bought some things that are not normally in your rotation and most of them come in a quantity or size bigger than what you need for a particular recipe.
You know what's perfect for those nights? Quiche. Stir-fry also works, but I tend to gravitate toward quiche because it's really low in carbs and appeals to my generally lazy nature. I had some debate in my head about what to call this one, and finally settled on the title above.
This is a recipe of mine from so long ago I no longer make it the way I used to. Originally, I used giant shrimp or prawns, and it had hot peppers. Over time, due to dietary and budget constraints, it morphed into what you see here. It's actually even better, if I do say so myself.
What I love is it works with pre-cooked, frozen shrimp (although you can make it with fresh and it'll be even better). Where I live, finding fresh shrimp is a virtual impossibility, and while I understand that shrimp in general are much more costly than they used to be, fresh (or even frozen raw) are through the roof.
Some years ago, I started this tradition where I throw myself a birthday party at my favourite neighbourhood bar, and the last several years I've upped the ante and also make what I've come to call my truly ridiculous birthday cakes. They're completely over the top, decadent, and you're pretty sure you're gonna die (but die happy) while you're still eating them. They tend to weigh in at five or so pounds, and they tend to cost a great deal of money. They also are something you pretty much NEVER want to even think about their nutrition information.
This year's cake was adapted slightly from a recipe originally posted by A Beautiful Bite, and it was not just everything I hoped it would be, but considerably more.
Some time around Christmas I started craving fried rice. It's not like it's hard to come by, but where I live we don't have Chinese delivery and the only restaurants are not open hours that are conducive to my being able to go there with my work non-schedule. So I just kept wanting it and wanting it, until one day it occurred to me: Make it yourself, silly!
I'd never made fried rice before. Don't ask me how I managed to be this old without doing it, but I hadn't. I started looking for recipes online, and then I realized it couldn't possibly be that hard. I already knew you were supposed to start with leftover rice, and I had some. So then I just started adding things until I was satisfied, and it came out pretty darn tasty. My mother even liked it!
Let me start by saying this is not an original recipe of mine, not by a long shot. For starters, I'd have never called it Pork Diane, because I don't even know what that means. This is one my grandmother had written inside the cover of one of her cookbooks, and I have no earthly idea where it came from. I do know that I did a quick search, and virtually every recipe on the first page of results is almost identical to mine.
So, that said... Let's check it out, shall we?
Certainly anyone with a modicum of creativity and familiarity with a kitchen can come up with pasta salad, but this one was actually pretty darn good... Plus, I actually took pictures and made notes as I put it together, so I'm calling it a new recipe.
I actually used the pasta from a boxed pasta salad, but I picked out the nasty dried vegetables and used frozen, plus threw away the powdered dressing mix and used some dry ranch instead. I guess you could call this a sort-of homemade version of a boxed pasta salad.
When I bought the stuff for corned beef and cabbage, I also bought the stuff so I could make Reubens. I love Reubens! They're one of my go-to meals when I'm out for lunch, but nothing beats the ones you make in your own kitchen. And they're easy! The hardest part is remembering to save enough corned beef so you can make them, but I usually try to buy the biggest brisket I can find so there's plenty.
Here's my thing: Reubens are made with corned beef and sauerkraut. They are not made with turkey. They are not made with coleslaw. They are not broiled, and they are not baked. They are grilled or fried, in butter, and they are not meant to be made healthier. Because if you can't indulge now and then, life gets pretty darn awful.
Corned beef and cabbage is decidedly not a traditional Irish dish, but for whatever reason (and there is much debate about it) it has become a traditional St. Patrick's Day dinner in the US. For me, it's very similar to what I've always known as boiled dinner, except using corned beef brisket instead of ham hocks.
Yes, I am aware that I am late. My work schedule got in the way this year, so although I purchased everything I needed well before the holiday, I didn't actually have a chance to make it until well after. It happens.
Usually, I make it on the stove in a Dutch oven, letting it simmer away all day long. Sometimes I make it in the crock pot, although it requires almost as much supervision as simmering it on the stove. This year, I decided I was going to roast it in the oven, and I may never make it any other way again.
I don't know how most of you create recipes, but more often than not how it happens at my house is, "Oh, hey, I have (whatever) and it's really close to going bad. I should do something with that!"
Which is what happened with the eggs. Before she had surgery, my mother used to eat a hard-boiled egg every day for breakfast. So before she went to the hospital, she bought a couple dozen eggs so she'd have them when she came home. But then something happened with her sense of taste (we think it was the anesthesia) and she hasn't eaten any since. Eggs are good for far longer than the date on their carton, but there is still a limit... and we'd reached it. I've been eating egg salad and fried eggs and scrambled eggs and making quiche until eggs are coming out my ears, but I still had six left.
And so a recipe is born.
You know what I love best about Lent? Fish sales. I picked up some acceptable-quality frozen salmon for $4.99/pound, and that just doesn't happen any other time of year. Granted, it's not as good as the wild-caught fresh salmon fillets I love, but it's still acceptable quality. For some reason red and yellow bell peppers were also on sale, so I sat down and came up with a recipe that not only looked nice, but tasted good as well. I count that as a win all the way around, especially since my mother liked it also.
Last week I bought avocados because they were on sale. I had this idea I was going to do some eggs baked in avocado, but then I never got around to it. You know how they have that magical 5-minute window between hard as a rock and rotting? I actually hit it dead on while I was cooking! Made this one up mostly ahead of time but partially as I went along, and it came out pretty darn good. I love when that happens!
This post is obviously not going to be for everyone. Venison is one of those meats that some people just cannot eat, and while that is so foreign a concept to me it makes my brain hurt, I do understand that it's so. Me, I grew up on venison (and all manner of other game and fish), so for me it's worth its weight in gold. I was lucky enough to be gifted a pound of venison burger a short time ago, so I made a batch of chili.
About chili: There are two camps of people, and they're so adamant about being right they remind me of Capulets vs. Montagues, Hatfields vs. McCoys, or Republicans vs. Democrats. I'm talking about beans in chili, of course. I fall somewhere in the middle... Until very recently, in my world beans were for if you didn't have or couldn't afford enough meat for your chili. I'm good with or without them.
You know what I love? When a recipe born of sheer necessity comes together and turns out to be something absolutely amazing. That's what happened with this one, which started with me rediscovering two jars of Alfredo sauce on my lazy Susan that were dated the end of this month. I kept forgetting they were there since I usually just make my own, but they kept staring at me, demanding I do something with them.
And then I thought... Lasagna rolls! But not the ones I usually make with tomato sauce. I should do chicken and spinach and Alfredo sauce, and they're going to be fabulous. Turns out I was right, and I also actually documented what I was doing as I did it. Wins all the way around!
Sweet potatoes are a godsend for us, because they let us have potatoes periodically while still being high in fiber and definitely allowed under my mother's diet. Not that we can eat them all the time, but I do serve them about once a month. The challenge is in finding recipes that don't incorporate a bunch of sugar or syrup or both, because that pretty much negates any healthy benefits of eating them.
This recipe comes from Eating Well, and it's definitely staying in the rotation.
I'm pretty sure this is one of those things that there is no middle ground: Either you love it or you hate it. Around here, we love it, although we don't eat it very often since it's not even remotely good for you. But since we're in this ridiculous stretch of hideously cold weather (had you told me a week ago I would be giddy over it being a whopping 5 degrees today I would've said you were crazy), I wanted some. Because it's total comfort food, and requires ingredients I always have in the house.
However, I did make some changes to the way my family has made it since well before I was born in an effort to cut down on calories, fat, and carbs. It's not exactly the same, but it was pretty close and really darn tasty.
Do you ever buy something and then realize you have way too much of it and you don't have any idea what to do with it? That happened to me with rice noodles. In the city where my niece used to live is this fabulous little Asian market, where everything is cheap and they're genuinely nice people. But she and her family moved from that city to mine last fall, so I made one last shopping trip and bought an ungodly amount of stuff.
Enter this recipe, originally posted at Recipe.com. Which didn't call for rice vermicelli at all (it said udon or whole what spaghetti), but which was easily adapted so I could use a bunch of my rice noodles. I made a couple of other minor changes as well, but for the most part followed the recipe as written.
One of the biggest challenges in being restricted to an ultra-low-carb diet is side dishes. I used to rely on rice, pasta, or potatoes to fill out a plate, but those aren't really options any longer. Lord knows there is an incredible variety of vegetables, but even so I find myself stuck in a rut after a while.
This is a recipe from Eating Well, and it was just different enough that I couldn't resist trying it. And it was pretty darn tasty, too! Next time I'll probably add more cheese because we are big fans of cheese around here, but there definitely will be a next time.
Sure, there was football. And right up until the last minute or so it was a fabulous game. It's not that I particularly wanted the Seahawks to win, it's that I truly cannot stomach the Patriots. But we're not here to talk about football, we're here to talk about food!
It wasn't until I sat down to write this blog that I realized I never took a picture of the spread. Or of a full plate of food. But by golly I certainly got pictures of each step of each of the things I made! In addition to the three recipes you'll find here, we also had a nacho bar (tortilla chips, meat and beans, black olives, diced jalapenos, salsa, sour cream, diced onions, avocado, and melted cheese with Ro-Tel... each person made their own based on their own taste).
I had a bee in my bonnet about these two boxes of Omaha Steaks burger patties in my freezer. They were each received free with an order, and they were virtually burning a hole in my pocket. Then I remembered I also had some shredded Mozzarella cheese from another recipe, and from there I decided to come up with my version of what I was told was a traditional Southern recipe.
Being winter, I had to use canned tomatoes and dried herbs, but I suspect I'll be making this again come summer when all of those things are growing in my yard. Because it was amazingly tasty as it was.
Do you ever set out to make something, and all of a sudden realize you've never made it before and you have no earthly idea why? That happens to me not regularly, but more often than I like. For instance, the first time I ever made mashed potatoes was when I was darn near 30, which makes no sense whatsoever.
It also happened with broccoli cheddar soup. I wanted some, and I decided I should make it. I started looking for my recipe, and after about an hour suddenly realized I don't have one. I'd never made it. How odd! But, I headed to the internet, starting with some food blogs with which I have had great good luck in the past. And as it turns out, Sweet Jeanette came through for me again. Thank goodness!
Last summer I ended up with a box of steel cut oats, and no idea whatsoever to do with them. The internet is your friend, of course, so I searched out a bunch of recipes. Once I wrapped my head around the fact that oatmeal neither had to be breakfast food nor had to be sweet, a whole new world opened up for me. This was also during my baby bella mushroom obsession, so it pretty much demanded I try it.
This recipe (which comes from Foxes Love Lemons) was not exactly what I was hoping for, but it wasn't a bad way to fix steel cut oats. I'll make it again, although with some tweaking.
A while ago I was miserably sick for a few days. As such, I wasn't eating much, unless you count liquid cold medicine and herbal tea as food. But one day I decided enough was enough, and I simply had to have something to eat. Which meant I really wanted total comfort food. And since I had bought two giant bags of frozen diced potatoes for a potluck that never happened, I decided I needed to make a huge cheesy potato casserole.
It was glorious!
I love stuffed mushrooms. I could happily eat them with every meal, because there is a pretty much endless variety of things you can stuff them with. I was particularly intrigued by these because of their almost nil carbohydrate count, and also because I have a weakness for both cream cheese and blue cheese. Put that all together, and it's a match made in heaven.
Not my recipe... This one was posted by kberry at Recipezazz.com.
I've discussed before how sometimes you run across a recipe and it simply demands you make it because it's so goofy you cannot conceive of how it'll work. This is another one. Pizza with no flour in the crust? What?? Even as I was making it I had a hard time wrapping my head around it. And it's not a cauliflower crust, either, although I will be making one of those in the relatively near future as well.
It's not that we ever ate a ton of pizza, it's that having to cut out virtually all the carbs killed eating pizza ever for us, because the tradeoff wasn't that great. And as you know, being told you can't have something makes you want it constantly, even if you normally wouldn't have wanted it at all.
Everybody makes banana bread, right? There are only so many ways to make it, yet there are a bajillion recipes online and elsewhere, each of them marginally different. Mine is no exception, although the base recipe comes straight out of my mother's 1952 Watkins Hearthside Cook Book. I've added a streusel topping, which I think pushes this over the top from an excellent banana bread to a fabulous one.
For a while I was absolutely obsessed with baby portabella mushrooms (which I found out are also called cremini mushrooms, and that opened a WORLD of recipes to me). They were on sale almost every week, and I couldn't get enough of them. During that period, I ran across this recipe and it sounded like a neat way to eat them but also get some colour and texture variety onto our plates.
As you've probably guessed, this isn't my recipe. It was posted by LindasBusyKitchen at Recipezazz.com.
Do you ever make something purely because you cannot fathom how the heck it will work, or why anyone would have ever though of putting those things together and eating them? That's how I ended up making this bread. Avocados were on a killer sale (which doesn't happen often where I live), and I was about guacamole-d out so I was wandering around the internet looking at approximately 14 million avocado recipes.
And then I saw this. And said right out loud, "Wait. What? That's goofy!" And I knew I had to make it. Recipe comes from My Kitchen Affair.
Every family has traditional dishes, but I'm guessing mine isn't the only family that has these goofy things that people from outside look at us like we've lost our ever-lovin' minds for eating. We've always called this Grandma Unrath Salad, and everyone in my family knows exactly what you mean when you say it.
Grandma Unrath was my maternal grandmother (her last name was from her second marriage and nothing to do with us). If we were having a holiday dinner at Grandma Unrath's, we were having this salad. Every single time, without fail.
I have to admit, when I was a kid I hated this salad. Hated it with a mad passion. Would sit at the table for hours, pushing it around with my fork, until finally my mother gave in and let me get down. Now I make it on holidays on purpose. I've not only grown to love the salad, but making it reminds me of her. I like to think wherever she is, she's smiling at the fact that we always have it (along with some Aunt Nellie's sweet & sour red cabbage... that was also part of dinner at Grandma's).
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