"Meat Free Monday" Cooking Show!

Our most-recent episode of the cooking show featured recipes from Paul McCartney's Meat Free Monday cookbook.

We always try to have some type of theme to our shows.  Most of the time I play it safe and go with a seasonal theme; sometimes my cooking guest(s) will offer suggestions.

This time, however, I opted to go the surprise route.  My friend, Maribeth, was cooking with me and I happen to know that she adores Paul McCartney.  I thought I would surprise her by preparing recipes from his cookbook.

Cooking Show: Recipes with Lots of Fruits and Veggies!

My friend, Kerry, joined me for the latest episode of the cooking show.  The recipes we prepared were loaded with fruits & veggies.

Recipes that are perfect for this hot summer weather, when you're looking for something refreshing and not heavy!

We started with Tropical Mimosas.  

Okay, they're nothing like mimosas, there is neither orange juice nor champagne in these drinks.  I just thought it was a nice name for a light, fruity drink.

They're sort of a riff on Pina Coladas, but I swapped out the coconut creme (which has lots of calories) for coconut seltzer (no-calorie seltzer for the win)!

Next up was Brussels Sprouts Salad with Buttermilk Dressing.

Why bother with store-bought dressing when you can whip up buttermilk dressing of your own? If you don't have buttermilk on hand you can make your own substitute--for the 1/3 cup that is called for in this recipe, simply put 1 teaspoon of white vinegar into your measuring cup and then add milk to the 1/3-cup mark.  Stir and let it sit for five minutes.  Voilá, buttermilk substitute!

Arrange the salad ingredients in rows so that your family can easily spoon out their favorite combination...or avoid the ingredient that they don't want, as the case may be.  There are a few members of this household who avoid the gorgonzola!

We also used brussels sprouts in our Ginger/Honey/Soy Chicken Stir Fry.

If I had to to come up with a nickname for this recipe, I would call it Egg Roll Stir Fry.  With the shaved brussels sprouts and shredded carrots, the flavor is reminiscent of an egg roll, but without the calories of the deep-fried egg roll wrap.  Score!

Finally, we ended with Nectarine Crisp.

Similar to apple crisp, but it takes less time to prepare because unlike apples you don't need to peel the nectarines!

Cooking Show: Lemons!!

My friend, Gayle, recently told me that she lived in California when she was a child and there was a lemon tree in her yard.  My reaction was like, GET OUT!!!

It was fitting that Gayle should join me for our recent cooking show!  Lemons were the featured ingredient in each recipe that we prepared.

Gayle also told me that they had an avocado tree as well.  Mental note: future show.

Okay, back to lemons.  We started with Limoncello & Raspberry Fizz.  So refreshing!

Next, we prepared salad with grilled lemon chicken and lemon vinaigrette.

Click here for the printable recipe for the vinaigrette.  It's loaded with fresh herbs and a little goes a long way!

Toss together a salad using your favorite fresh salad ingredients.  We used 4 cups of romaine, 1/2 English cuke (chopped), 1 cup of grape tomatoes, 1 avocado (sliced) and 1/4 cup of kalamata olives.

We also used my favorite Grilled Lemon Chicken in this salad. It's one of my summer staples!  I like to prepare a large batch of this chicken at the beginning of the week and use it in weeknight dinners.

It's a great addition to salads, sandwiches, pasta and as you're about to see--pizza!!

Yes, PIZZA. Specifically, Chicken & Broccoli Pizza with Lemon Cream Sauce.   All the recipes you need--pizza dough, grilled chicken, cream sauce--are included in the link!

If you like Bertucci's Silano pizza, this is my attempt to replicate it.  It disappeared quickly when we finished filming the show...I think it was a hit!

Finally, we finished up with a Lemon/Almond Tart.  Sooo good, and also gluten-free.

Thanks for stopping by!

Chicken Orzo Soup with Fennel & Kale

Soup's on!

One more reason to be happy that cooler fall weather has finally arrived.  It makes me so happy to finally be able to simmer a pot of soup on the stove and not turn my kitchen into a steam bath, so I took a break from all the pumpkin recipes I've been trying out lately and made this soup!

I switched out a few ingredients from my usual chicken soup recipe, but if you're not feeling adventurous, go the traditional route and switch out the orzo for traditional noodles and use celery instead of fennel.

Today's Playlist:

• "50 Ways To Say Goodbye"...Train
• "Hey There Delilah"...Plain White T's
• "Revolution"...The Beatles
• "In the Next Room"...Neon Trees
• "Paint It Black"...The Rolling Stones
• "Warning"...Green Day
• "Have Love Will Travel"...The Sonics
• "Got To Move"...Cake
• "Hate To Say I Told You So"...The Hives

Chicken Orzo Soup with Fennel & Kale

Printable Recipe

• 2 stalks fennel, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 large or 3 small carrots, chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cups chopped cooked chicken
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 8 cups chicken broth
• 2/3 cup uncooked orzo
• 3 cups chopped kale
• salt & pepper, to taste

Gather your ingredients.

Chop the carrots, onion and fennel.  I pulled off a few of the fennel fronds and set them aside to use a garnish when serving.

In a large (6 to 8 quart) pot, heat the olive oil over medium/high heat.  Add the fennel, carrots and onions.  Crush in the garlic.  Add salt and pepper.  Saute the vegetables, stirring occasionally, until they start to soften and get a little bit of color on the bottom of the pan.

Add the cooked chicken, bay leaf, rosemary and chicken broth.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.  Allow the soup to simmer for 15 minutes.  Add the orzo and simmer for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, until the orzo is cooked.  Finally, remove the bay leaf, add the chopped kale and simmer for 10 more minutes.

Season with additional salt and pepper if needed.

Enjoy.

It's a Wrap...Chicken & Strawberry Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

September gives me recipe whiplash!!

The temperatures start to drop, I happily cook my way down the path of pumpkins & apples, soups & stews...and then BAM!

Another 90-degree day.

The last thing I want to do is heat up my kitchen.

I really don't mind...it gives me a chance to prepare and finally share this recipe, because despite it being my go-to salad this summer I haven't put it on the blog yet.

My excuse for not blogging about this salad, given that I've made it so frequently:  

It's so quick and easy to prepare, it's something that I usually make on the fly, when I'm in a hurry to throw dinner together.  On those hectic nights the last thing I can be bothered with is stopping to snap pictures for the blog.  

I wasn't in a hurry as I was preparing it this time, however...just a little wiped out from the heat, hehe.

Today's Playlist

• "Black Math'...The White Stripes
• "Sins of My Youth"...Neon Trees
• "Jerk It Out"...Caesars
• "Is It Any Wonder"...Keane
• "Psycho"...The Sonics
• "Train In Vain"...The Clash
• "I'm Shakin'"...Jack White
• "Learn To Fly"...Foo Fighters

Chicken & Strawberry Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette (serves 6)

Printable Recipe

Vinaigrette ingredients:

• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• salt & pepper, to taste

Salad Ingredients:

• 3 cups cooked chicken, bite-sized pieces
• 6 cups salad greens
• 2 cups sliced strawberries
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup feta cheese crumbles
• balsamic vinaigrette, see recipe above (or use 1/2 cup of your favorite prepared vinaigrette)

Optional: Flour tortillas, for wraps

To make the vinaigrette:

Whisk vinaigrette ingredients together in a small bowl.  Set aside while you prepare your salad.

Gather your ingredients.

Wash and slice the strawberries, chop the lettuce, cut the chicken into bite-sized chunks, chop the pecans.

Place the salad greens, diced chicken and sliced strawberries into a large bowl.  Drizzle with the balsamic vinaigrette.

Toss to combine.  Sprinkle with the pecans and feta.

Or serve the pecans and feta on the side, so the family members (ahem) who do not like nuts or cheese will eat the salad without complaint, and those of us who do like nuts and cheese can add them to our heart's content.

And at this point I grabbed some tortillas and decided to make the salad into wraps.

Sometimes it's hard to convince Mr. Terrific that salad can be a satisfying dinner...present it in a wrap, however, and he's on board!

So I piled the salad into a wrap instead of a bowl, and added a sprinkle of feta and pecans.

Enjoy.

Chicken and Mushrooms with Creamy Asiago Sauce

My goal: to make something so that I could use fresh chives, which happen to be the only herb in my garden that survived being buried under five feet of snow this winter.

Success!

Summer Salad Cooking Show!

We just finished taping another episode of the cooking show.  

Our theme was "Summer Salads."

Gayle joined me and we cooked up a storm.

BLT Chicken Salad

With a salsa dressing that is just perfect.

Strawberry Salad with Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette

This salad is topped with glazed walnuts, you can either buy them or click here to be taken to my recipe for glazed nuts.

Click on the above salad links to be taken to the recipes.

Southwest Sirloin Salad with Ranch Dressing.

Chicken Pesto Pizza (with mushrooms)

Caitie:     We should bake something today!

Erin (smirking, sarcastic):    uh, WE?

Caitie:    Well, YOU should bake something, and I'll sit here and keep you company!


That was a recent conversation between the two of them.

If you read my blog regularly, you may have seen the brownies and cupcakes and creative cakes that Erin regularly bakes.

Caitie does her best to avoid the kitchen.   Just imagine my surprise when I walked in the door one day last week and was greeted by this:

Caitie got busy baking blondies.  They were still warm!

And then she requested that I make Chicken Pesto Pizza.  She's hard to resist when she plies me with warm blondies.

I feel the need to warn you that this is going to be a long recipe.  Three recipes, actually.   I made the crust from scratch.  I made the pesto from scratch.  And THEN  I made the pizza.

But before I made the crust, pesto and pizza, I roasted the garlic (for the pesto), roasted the chicken (for the pizza), sautéed some mushrooms (because NO pizza-o-mine is complete without 'shrooms).  It turned into a two-hour ordeal.  Two hours!!!  For two pizzas.  But it was soooooo good.

Make that sooooooooooooooo good.

To save time, make it easy on yourself.  It's the pesto & chicken combo that's important,  and nobody's going to judge you if you don't prepare all of your ingredients from scratch.  Buy ready-made pizza dough.  Buy ready-made pesto.  Buy pre-cooked (or rotisserie) chicken.

Lentil Soup

I had been opposed to lentil soup for most of my life.  As a child, the only lentil soup I had ever been exposed to was sludgy-looking and smelled really bad. 

As I got older, I heard so many different people singing the praises of lentil soup that I began to rethink my aversion to lentils.

Several years ago, I scoured the Internet for 5-star lentil soup recipes and after a little bit of experimenting decided which ingredients and seasonings would be the most appealing to my family. 

I'm happy to say that every member of my family likes this soup, unlike the lentil soup of my childhood (which only my mother and my youngest brother would eat.  My dad, my other brother and I would hold our noses while they ate it.  No, not really.  Okay, yes really.  And maybe with a few "ewwwwwwwwws" "yucks" and gagging noises thrown in).

I believe in sprouting the lentils overnight.  Once they begin to sprout, they are no longer a dormant seed, but a live plant.  Sprouting aids digestibility, by neutralizing the phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors which are very irritating to your digestive system.  Remember this the next time you eat beans and it causes intestinal distress!  Sprouting allows the beans to produce enzymes which aid in their digestion.

Here is a picture I took of a few of the lentils before I sprouted them, while they were still dry.

And here they are about 24 hours later, after soaking.  Squint your eyes and look through my blurry photography, and you can see tiny white sprouts emerging.

I'll stop my lecture now.

If you don't want to sprout your lentils, you can omit the sprouting and just add the lentils into the soup while they are still dry; HOWEVER, you must increase the cooking time by about a half hour to allow the lentils to soften. 

The only downside to sprouting your lentils is that this soup is not a recipe that you can prepare on the spur of the moment.   I can never think to myself, "Maybe I'll whip up a pot of lentil soup!" Instead, I have to change my thought process to, "REMEMBER to sprout lentils so that I can whip up a pot of soup TOMORROW."

Broccoli and Chicken Stir Fry with Noodles

I can't believe I've been blogging for six months now and I haven't posted any stir fry recipes!

Here's a yummy one.......very basic chicken and broccoli over noodles.

I switched up the playlist.........as much as I love my Italian music, it just doesn't set a good stir-fry cooking mood.

Cheesy Chicken Quesadillas with Spinach

I didn't plan very well and had to cook my chicken as I was preparing this meal.   If you're more organized than I am and prep your chicken in advance, these quesadillas are a snap to make!

 I would suggest baking a few boneless breasts in advance:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Brush a roasting pan with a teaspoon or so of olive oil.

Brush some olive oil on your chicken as well, and season with salt and pepper.

Bake for about 18 minutes, until cooked through.

Use two forks to shred the meat into tiny pieces.  Keep in your refrigerator.

Better yet, buy a rotisserie chicken and you won't have to cook the chicken yourself.  You'll only have to shred it.

(Sometimes I feel like I should have named this blog "Hey, Mom! What Are You Gonna Make With That Rotisserie Chicken Tonight?")

Today's playlist is short, because if you've done your prep work in advance, your dinnertime preparations/cooking time will be less than 20 minutes!

Grilled Chicken Sandwiches with Satay Sauce

While I was cooking tonight's dinner, my son called me.  He's been in Italy for the last 11 days (but who's counting?) and will be home tomorrow.

I exclaimed, "Sean!  I've been thinking about you!  Listen!" and I held the phone to the speaker so he could hear Rosemary Clooney singing "Mambo Italiano." 

I like to listen to Italian music while I cook dinner, you know.  Or songs in English sung by Italian-Americans.   Or songs in English that remind me of songs that are sung in English by Italian-Americans.  Or songs in English sung by Americans who wish they were Italian.   Glad we got that squared away.

And then when I'm baking, I like to listen to alternative music.  Maybe because alternative music gives me a rush like a sugary high?  NOT to be confused with The Archie's "Sugar, Sugar."  I don't know what that song would put me in the mood to cook.

What is the point to all this rambling, you wonder?  I'm thinking that from now on, I will include a "cooking playlist" with my recipes.  To set the mood while you cook.

Thanks to the Weather, We're Back to Comfort Food...Pasta Alfredo!

Rainy, chilly weather.  Grilling season is on hold.

Back to comfort food.  Is it called comfort food because of the way it makes us feel or because I'm so comfortable making it?

If you omit the broccoli and basil, swap in heavy cream instead of light, and use fettucine rather than penne, the following recipe would be classic Fettucine Alfredo.

I just can't bring myself to use a stick of butter and two cups of heavy cream in the same recipe. 

I add some broccoli for psychological reasons.  It makes me feel healthy.

I add lots of basil because........well, if you've read this post , you know why.

Penne pasta was requested, so I obliged. 

It may not be the classic recipe but it's still smooth, creamy and oh-so-easy to prepare.

Open-Faced Egg Sandwiches with Ham and Cheese

Think of all your favorite breakfast foods........eggs, bacon, coffeecake, sticky rolls, muffins, french toast, pancakes, home fries, fresh-squeezed orange juice, omelettes, quiche, Belgian waffles........

Well, I've left a couple dozen of my favorite dishes off the list, but I think you get the picture.

Breakfast food is yummy!  But I very rarely prepare more than one of the aforementioned items at a time, unless it's a very rare occasion where I am up for hours before the rest of my family; when they wake up they want to eat whatever is available, they don't want to hear me tell them to wait a while so I can put the finishing touches on a breakfast smorgasbord.

So the usual (weekend) breakfast in my house is muffins or waffles or coffeecake or french toast or bacon and eggs........you get what you get, and you don't get upset. 

It's always a hit in my house when we have Breakfast for Dinner.  It doesn't happen very often but sometimes I'll make a buffet of breakfast foods at dinnertime.

And sometimes I'll compromise and make something like the following recipe; something that might be a little too time-consuming to make in the early hours of the morning, but easy to prepare for dinner--and a welcome change when you're in a rut and your family has been complaining that you've served chicken too many nights in a row.

"My Favorite Things" Lo Mein

I guess it's a recurring theme in this blog, encouraging you to stray from the recipe instructions.

This recipe for lo mein is no different.  I change it up every time!  Depending upon which ingredients I have on hand, it could be a side dish (heavy on the veggies) or a main dish (heavy on the protein).

The following list of ingredients is just a starting point........maybe you don't have to change the seasonings, but you definitely should change the meat and veggie ingredients to reflect your (and your family's) favorite foods.

You Decide!

Until I started this blog, I rarely measured ingredients.  Many of the dishes I cook are from memory, and I just throw the ingredients in until it "looks" right.

Even when I'm following a written recipe, I estimate the measurements.  I hardly ever follow a recipe to the letter.  I'm always adding more, omitting, substituting.

(Except when I'm baking.  It's very important to correctly measure your ingredients when baking, so that your finished product isn't too dry, too moist, too flat, too hard or too scary-looking.)

Now that I'm blogging, I'm measuring.  I need to make sure that I'm writing down the correct amounts.  Because I care about you.  There, I've said it.  Awwwwww.

But I encourage you to think for yourself and be a rebel.  Switch it out if you don't like it.

In the following recipe, for example, use beef, or shrimp, or pork, if you're sick of chicken.

Use angel hair instead of linguine. Use rice instead of pasta.

Use broccoli and carrots instead of peppers and cucumbers.  Use ground black pepper instead of sugar.  JUST KIDDING, I wanted to see if you were paying attention.

And when your version of this recipe turns out so much better than mine, leave me a comment that says, "na-NAH nuh-NAH-na, MINE is better than YOURS is!"

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

If I were Irish, I would probably post a recipe or two to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

But I'm not Irish.  Not a drop.

I always celebrate St. Patrick's Day by listening to my favorite Italian songs.  If you are also so inclined, I would recommend Lou Monte's CD, "Songs for Pizza Lovers."  Very festive, brings me back to my childhood.  I kid you, not.

Right now, I have my Italian station playing on Pandora.  It will play all day long, and drive my kids insane.

Do you listen to Pandora?  LOVE it.

Almost as much as I love this chicken and mushroom recipe.

(I am the only one in my family that eats mushrooms, so I only use about 1/2 lb of mushrooms when I make this.  If you happen to have a family full of mushroom lovers, use as many mushrooms as you can stand!  You may have to add an additional tablespoon or two of butter to saute the extra mushrooms in.)

Chicken Pot Pie. I'm Fighting Spring Fever with Comfort Food!

Mid-March.  For me, this is the worst weather of the year in New England. 

Freezing temperatures in January?  Psssh. In the winter I expect the cold, the snow, the ice.

After the 60-degree heatwave of a couple of weeks ago, it's hard get back to the 40-degree weather we have now.

Even a spring-y bunch of flowers doesn't help.  It only makes me wish this vase could be full of flowers from my garden like it is in the summer.

So to banish my spring fever, I'm going to focus on cooking a meal that is going to disappear from my summer menu.  Something that is perfect "comfort food" for the winter, when I don't mind spending the time in my kitchen, slicing, chopping, boiling and baking.

A menu item requested this week by one of my daughters.

She asked for it just in time.  The outdoor grill is no longer buried under three feet of snow, and it's only a matter of time before I'll be cooking outdoors.

Looks Fancy, But It's Easy!

Looks can be deceiving.  Today's recipe looks like it could be complicated, but it's soooo easy.  Trust me.!

Chicken Saltimbocca Roll-Ups

• 4 large Boneless Chicken Breasts, sliced in half for 8 cutlets
• 8 whole fresh sage leaves, plus 1 finely chopped
• 4 very thin slices prosciutto
• 3 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 teaspoon Poultry Seasoning
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons butter
•  2 tablespoons flour
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
  
  

Easy-Peasy Pizzadillas

Always a hit in my house, these little concoctions are what happens when you combine some pizza ingredients and cook them quesadilla-style.

My son likes pepperoni, one of my daughters likes very little sauce, another daughter likes extra cheese, I like LOTS of basil.  (I also like LOTS of sauteed mushrooms, but I am the only one in my family that eats mushrooms so I usually don't take the extra time to saute myself a skillet full of mushrooms.)  Mr. Terrific likes pepperoni.  And extra cheese.  And basil.  He eats it all.  Which is good, because you don't really want leftovers with these quesadillas (they don't refrigerate well; the tortilla absorbs the liquid from the tomatoes and they get mushy.  They don't reheat well AT ALL.)  So make sure you eat them all up!