Leek and Potato Soup - 100 calories a cup!

I like this soup in the fall when leeks are cheap.  As in 69 cents each.  When they are $2.69 each, I don't like them as much.  Plus, they are cheap when potatoes are cheap also - 50 cents a lb - so a big win on the budget front.

To determine calories, you must of course base it on what you use.  Your calorie count will vary...

Ingredients

Leeks (3 @54 calories each, 162 calories total)
Yukon Gold Potatoes, peeled (18 ounces @ 26 calories per ounce, 468 calories total)
Swanson or Progresso Chicken Broth, low sodium (8 cups, 15 cal per cup, 120 calories total).  Or go with vegetable broth.
1 cup water (free)
salt and pepper to taste (free)
Thyme to taste (free)

Yields 8 cups, so 94 calories per cup with what I used.

Cut the dark green portions of the leeks off, slice in half the long way, then slice fine.  Put in a big pot of water and swish around to get the dirt out of them.  Drain.

Add to big pot and sweat (that is, cook at low to medium heat till they soften).  You don't need oil, butter or anything else.  They will release moisture as they cook down.  Salt with about a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of pepper.

Peel and slice potatoes into 1/4 thick slices.  I do it this way because they then cook evenly no matter how big the potato is - every slice cooks at the same speed.

When leeks have gotten soft (10 to 15 minutes), add potatoes, thyme, broth and water.  Cook at medium until potatoes are soft

Put half at a time into a blender, blend till smooth - be careful and put a towel over the blender and don't fill it more than 1/2 way - to much is a good way of blowing the top off, burning yourself and painting the walls with the soup.

When pureed, serve.  Good hot, good cold.

Dad’s Butternut Squash, Chicken and Pasta, Risotto style

Dad’s Butternut Squash, Chicken and Pasta, Risotto style.  Low calorie, low fat, all delicious.

This is cooked risotto style - that is to say the pasta is sauted in a pan then cooked in chicken stock with the rest of the ingredients.  As it is not boiled, merely simmered,  the pasta takes longer than normal to cook.

Calories are approximately 194 per cup.  Approximately.  It depends on how much you cook down the sauce, how much cheese you put on, did you measure the oil, how big was your butternut squash, etc.  So basically, with 2 tbs of grated parm on top, I call a two cup serving 400 calories.

1 onion, small dice

1 stalk celery, small dice

1 red bell pepper, small dice (or large, if a food fusser wants to pick out theirs)

2 cloves of garlic, smashed and diced fine

1 medium to large butternut squash, cubed (½ inch cubes) - mine ended up being 5 cups diced.

1 lb raw chicken breast, no skin, bone or fat,  cubed (½ inch cubes)

2 oz white wine or white vermouth

3 cups chicken broth

4 oz Creamette 150 calorie pasta

½ lemon

1 tbs italian seasoning (dried basil, thyme, etc.  I use Penzey’s Tuscan Sunset)

salt and pepper

Parmesan cheese (not included in above calorie count - 1 tbs grated is 20 calories)

Heat pan (burner at 6 or so (medium heat)  add olive oil.  Put chicken in Pan, brown chicken  in a teflon coated chicken fryer that has a lid.  You could do this in a Le Crueset pot, but you will probably need another ½ tbs of olive oil if you do.  Don’t forget to adjust your calorie count. You do not need to cook it all the way through at this time - just brown it.  It will finish cooking later.  After brown, put to the side in a bowl, leaving any remaining oil, juices in frying pan.

Return pan to heat.  Saute the onion, celery, red bell pepper and italian seasoning.  If you need to add oil , adjust your calorie count.  Since I used a teflon coated pan, I did not need to.  When just about turning brown (or browning a little bit) add the garlic, saute for another couple of minutes.  I am generally at medium heat for this.

Add Pasta, saute with veg.  Pasta will get coated with oil and start to toast.  Feel free to cook for a while, or not.  Add vermouth or wine and stir.  When the pasta has absorbed the vermouth, use a spatula to scrape out the pan into the bowl that is holding the chicken and set aside.

Return pan to the burner and add the butternut squash and chicken stock.  Bring to a low boil (still at medium heat), cook for 5-6 minutes.  Be sure to cover the pot at this time to keep the chicken stock from evaporating too much.  When you taste a piece and it is getting cooked, but still firm, that is where you want it.

At this point, add all the ingredients back to the pan that is cooking the squash in the stock.  Stir, and cover.  A nice thing about the teflon chicken fryer I have is that it is a glass top, so you can observe the cooking without pulling the top.  This keeps the cooking temperature up, the evaporation down.  

Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring two or three times  Basically you are cooking the pasta till al dente - just slightly chewy.  The sauce is going to thicken and become very creamy, even though you did not add any dairy nor flour nor cornstarch..  Basically this is a combination of the starch from the pasta and the butternut squash forming a nice thick sauce.  You may need to add a little boiling water if it is getting too thick and the pasta is not cooked yet.  I usually just get the electric tea kettle going and keep the water hot in case I need it.  If the pasta is cooked and it is to liquidy, I take the top off and cook it down some.  Generally if you use the same proportions I do, you won’t need to do much of this.

When the pasta is just about cooked, and the sauce is nice and thick, I turn off the heat and let it sit for a minute or two. If you wanted to  you could mix in a bag of frozen peas which would make a little more food and add some nice green color (adjust calories if you do, although I think the per serving calorie count would be near about the same).

Just before serving, squeeze the juice of half of a lemon on top and stir.  Serve, with grated parmesan on top.

This will make four servings of two cups each. More or less, depending on how thick your sauce is.

A great dish, the takes some work but not to much.   It should be served immediately as you do not want the pasta to overcook.

A nice green salad would be perfect with this.  If you wanted to make this vegetarian, I would add a can of drained chick peas in place of the chicken.  Adjust the calorie count as required.

If you had some left over chicken sausage, that would be great also. Adjust calorie count.

Fish Taco's - Why Don't You Make Them?

I mean really - how easy can you get?  You really just want to have some ground up mystery meat stuffed in a piece of bread?  No I say - especially with Tilapia available year round, and usually inexpensive.

So tonight's dinner - Tilapia Tacos with grilled onions and peppers, corn with black beans  and a salad of lettuce, tomato, sour cream and guacamole.

The other advantage is that this is about the only way I actually like fish, and everyone else in the family is usually wining at me for more fish.  So.....Fish Tacos

Served on whole grain tortilla, this is a very healthy and very delicious meal - one you don't have to feel like you deprived yourself in order to have a good meal.  No, this is not real Mexican food.  But is good.
Ingredients

Corn and Beans
1 lb frozen corn - a great use of your own corn
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup Cilantro, chopped
1/2 lime

Salad
Lettuce
Avocado or 1/2 cup Guacamole
1 tomato
1/2 cup sour cream

Fish Tacos
1 lb Tilapia fillets (cut fillets in half the long way so each filet gives you two pieces)
2 tbs Chicken Taco Seasoning from Penzeys
1/2 lime
1 Pepper - yellow, red, green or orange, sliced thin
1 Onion - sliced thin
1/4 cup Cilantro
4 large whole wheat tortillas or 8 small ones
shredded cheese if you like

Recipe

This is a three pan dance.  Start the corn and beans in first pan, then lower temp and hold.  Make and place salad on plates.  Cook Onions and Peppers in one pan, Tilapia in the other, then assemble plates and serve (see above picture)

Corn and Beans
Heat Corn and Beans
Before serving stir in juice of 1/2 lime and cilantro
Serve.  If you like more spice, 1/2 tsp of cumin would be fine.

Salad
Pile it up - lettuce, tomato, avocado, guacamole, sour cream.  Sprinkle some cheese and cilantro.  Green onions over the top would be nice

Fish Tacos
Thaw and dry Tilapia.
Rub some oil (1tbs or so) on the fish, sprinkle with taco seasoning.  Let sit for 15 minutes
Heat two frying pans to medium/medium high (this is the only tricky part
In one pan put 1 tbs oil, add onions and pepper slices.  Toss till almost cooked to the way you like it, then turn off heat and hold.
In the other pan, at the same time, put 1 tbs oil, then add the Tilapia.  Cook almost all the way through, then flip.  Turn off stove - the residual heat will cook the fish through.
Arrange Taco by placing one to two filets on warmed tortilla, add onions/peppers, squirt some lime juice on top and toss with cilantro

Grand Finale
Set out four plates.
Arrange Salad, Corns and Beans, assemble one (or two) tacos per plate

Spicy Peanut Noodles (not really plagiarized recipes)

Does anyone really buy cookbooks anymore?  Does anyone even use them?  I mean other than as eye candy for the living room table or to fill space on a bookshelf?  I certainly don't (at least very often).

Instead, it is the Internet.  Yes, thanks to Al Gore, we have the internet were all things live in a kind of matrix, waiting for us to explore.  Kind of crazy really.

Which brings us to today's recipe - Spicy Peanut Noodles.  Now the recipe below is not plagiarized  exactly.  Well sort of....borrow from one source it's plagiarism, borrow from two it is research, after all.....

Ok then.  I found this first at Pink-Parsley, via a link on Pulse and Food Republic.  Which of course gave the HT to Pinch of Yum, which collected it from FN Just Recipes, which got it off of Serious Eats  by an author who has her own blog at Once Upon a Chef, but cites no one.  Perhaps she is Al Gore...

So, this is really research, right?

Well, what it is is great.  Great made a number of ways, vegetarian or not.  It is easy to make vegetarian and them simply toss in cooked chicken or shrimp for those of us who miss it.  You can make it spicy, or not.  Also dirt simple to take to a pot luck - make it the night before in it's constituent pieces, bag them, refrigerate, then mix all together at the pot luck.  If you have different veggies  use them.  Pieces of spicy fried tofu would be a nice addition


Dressing Ingredients 
5 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs water
2 Tbs natural peanut butter (I like chunky)
2 Tbs sesame oil
1 Tbs rice wine vinegar
1 Tbs minced fresh ginger
1/2 Tbs honey
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp Siracha or Sambal - use more if you like heat, less if you don't
1 tbs Sate Seasoning from Penzey's if you do not have the ginger and garlic on hand
1/3 cup peanuts - I use unsalted dry roasted

Salad Ingredients 
1 cup julienne red and yellow pepper.  Heck, why not just one red and one yellow (or orange or green or whatever you have)
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup shredded zucchini, squeezed in a paper towel to remove excess moisture
1/2 cup chopped green onions
2 cups chopped or shredded cooked chicken breast or 1 lb cooked shrimp (cook in the same sauce above if you like)
8 oz. cooked soba noodles or linguine or rice noodles
2-3 Tbs minced fresh basil - thai basil prefered
2-3 Tbs minced fresh cilantro
crushed red pepper flakes, to taste

Recipe
For the dressing, combine all the ingredients (except peanuts) in a food processor and puree until smooth.  Add the peanuts, and pulse a few times until coarsely chopped.  Season with salt or crushed red pepper flakes to taste.  If you just want to whisk it together, that works also.  It does not bother me if the peanuts are whole

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients for the salad.  Pour the dressing over the top, and toss to combine.

Before serving, top with cilantro and basil, and sprinkle with additional red pepper flakes to taste.

House Wine Red 2009 Review

Wine Blogging.  I hear it is the way to drive traffic to your blog and get free wine from distributors looking for someone to shill their wine.  Some places only give good reviews, working from the perspective, If you don't have something nice to say, say nothing at all.  Phooey.  Swill is swill and it deserves to be called out, no matter if you buy it or someone else does.

Good news is, House Wine Red 2009 is a pretty good wine, especially for the 5 bones it cost me at Gordy's in Eau Claire, WI.  Gordy's clearances out a lot of wine - if it isn't selling, it gets clearanced and they move in something else.  So I manage to try a variety of inexpensive (under $20) wine.  I picked this up (regularly $12.49) for $5.00.  It doesn't have to be great to be good at that price, but this is worth it's regular price and a great buy at clearance - I intend on buying out the rest tomorrow.

So, what is House Wine Red?  Made by the Magnificent Wine company, it is part of their Washington State wines that are designed to go with food - Steak House Red, Fish House White, etc. This is the general red - a wine that goes with many items on the menu, if not all.  68% Cab, 22% Merlot, 4% Malbec, 4% Syrah and 2% Petit Verdot, all from the Columbia Valley.  Some companies would call this "Meritage" or some glossy name, but here it is just House Wine.  

Somehow both a deep red and a light red together - almost Pinot Noir like.  Through the side of the glass it is dark, but looking down, much lighter.  Odd.  The nose is fairly soft, with some fruit and alcohol.   First sip is slightly fruity (blueberry?), soft,(some might say silky) with slightly tannins, with the tannins building up and fruit staying.  While there is alcohol on the nose, there is none in the tasting..  A dry wine, but not a fruit bomb (thank you for that), this is a wine that is fine by itself, better with appetizers and great with food.  Beef, lamb, veal.  Should be fine with chicken, fish or pork - a real house wine, comfortable with everything you serve.  If you enjoy a red wine with your meal, you will find this more than acceptable.

Good at retail price, excellent on clearance.  For another review, try The Drunk Yinzer blog.

Pressure Cooker Chili - Re-Post

Old, but great, especially this time of the year.  Trust me on this - you enter your office chili cook-off with this, you will win.

Alton Brown's Pressure Cooker Chili, modified with love

You can do this in the oven or on the stove (in your Le Crueset, natch), but it will take longer and while tasting great, not as great as it could be.

Red Lentils with Garlic and Onion

This is from Whole Foods (mostly) - what I like about this recipe is that instead of adding the onion to the lentils while cooking, your cook the lentils and garlic separately, then add at then end - it keeps the flavors distinct and stronger contrast to the mildness of the lentils.

Red Lentils cook faster than other lentils, and get soft and pulpy fast.  There is definitely no need to pre-soak them before using.


Ingredients

2 cups uncooked red lentils, rinsed
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric (or garam masala, or curry seasoning)
1 tomato, diced (peeled if you like)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons oil
1 large red onion, thinly sliced (or chopped fine)
12 cloves garlic, thinly sliced (or minced)
6 cups cooked brown rice

Recipe

Put lentils, turmeric, tomato and 4 cups water into a medium pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until lentils are very soft and pulpy, about 25 minutes. Add salt to lentils after cooking.  I leave them as is, but whole foods suggest you then purée in blender and set aside (or I suppose it could be boat motor time again).
While cooking lentils, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
Add onions and garlic and cook until golden brown, taking care not to burn them. You can also add some of the season to this mixture to cook into the onions and garlic - cumin would be fine here also.  Don't use more than 1 tps of seasoning.
Add onion mixture to lentils and stir well. Or serve lentils in bowls, then serve onion mix on top of lentils, allowing the individual to mix.

Serve hot, with brown rice on the side. Great as a meal itself, or great with grilled chicken also.


This is a fine dish with yellow lentils also

White Bean (or Lentil) and Kale (or spinach) and Sausage or Shrimp or ? Soup

This is really a kind of stone soup - there are basic ingredients, but most of them can be mixed and matched, used or not.  It is by far my favorite soup, and it can be vegan, vegetarian, or chock full of meat of sordid types.  One of my favorite ways to make this is with mexican chorizo and shrimp!

The Basics
1 onion, diced
1 stalk of celery, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 potato, peeled and diced
4 cloves of garlic, sliced (or minced, but not ever, ever, never pressed)
2 tbs tomato paste
1 cup white wine (or not)
4 cups stock or broth (vegetarian, beef, chicken, veal, ?)
Water (if cooking lentils in soup, you will need additional liquid
1/2 tbs cumin
1/2 tbs rosemary
salt and pepper

Additions
2 cans White Beans (cooked) or Lentils (2 cups cooked or 1 cup not, adjust time in soup if raw and add 2 cups water to recipe) or ?
1 head Kale, off stem and sliced thin, or 3 big handfuls of spinich or whatever leafy green vegetable you have
1 lb italian sausage, or kielbasa or chorizo, or polish sausage or ham or even ground beef.  Or heck, why not, all of them.
1 lb raw, shelled shrimp

Recipe

If using meat, brown (but do nothing with shrimp yet)
Add and saute onion, celery, carrot and potato (in 1 tbs olive oil if not using meat) over medium heat.  Cook till onion and celery are soft - the carrot and potato will still be fairly raw.  Add salt and pepper
Add garlic, cook for 2 minutes
Add tomato paste, cook for several minutes - you want to get the paste to turn a darker color, but not burn
Add wine - cook down to half the volume
Add stock, spinach, lentils and water (if raw), white beans.  Cook for 30 minutes or until lentils are tender.  If using cooked meat add at this time.
After 30 minutes, add lentils if  you are using lentils that are already cooked, cook until hot
If using Shrimp add and cook till done ( 5 minutes is more than enough)
Adjust seasoning
Serve - bread would be great, a salad fine.

If you need to boost the vegies even more, add some green beans.

Rice and Beans - Southwest Style (a.k.a. Spanish or Mexican rice) - Vegetarian also!

Rice and Beans are a classic combination across the world.  Cuban, Puerto Rican, Cajun, and many others.

But as far as I can tell, you can't get "spanish" rice in Spain, nor do you get (typically) rice and refried beans in Mexico (unless you are a restaurant catering to gringos)

Yet I love Rice and Refried Beans.  The only problem is most places the beans are boring (and seemingly straight out of a can) and the rice is a frighting dish too often prepared with tomato soup.  Blech.

However, I am also cognizant of time - how can I get dinner made while fitting it in with everything else that has to get done.  And finally you have the whole rice issue - it's basically like eating sugar pills - simple carbs that add nothing of value (although yes, I understand they make a complete protein when served with beans)

So here is my Rice and Beans recipe - Mexican style - fast, nutritious and delicious.  Just don't pretend this is how it is done in Mexico.  Or Spain.

Ingredients

Cooked Brown Rice (You do make extra when you make other dishes, right?  Otherwise this dish takes way to long to make), 8 ounces cooked.  Basically 2 ounces per serving - no more.
1/2 onion, white, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbs Chicken Taco Seasoning (from Penzeys), in 1/4 cup water
Peas - 16 ounces.  Frozen works great.
1 fresh tomato, diced (or 2 Roma)
1 Can, Vegetarian Refried Beans
1 tbs Rojo Taco Seasoning (Penzeys again).  Or cumin and cilantro if you don't like heat
Water
Cooking Spray or oil

Obviously you will have to adjust based on how many you are serving - the above is for 4 people.  You want at least 2 ounces of peas to 1 ounce of rice.

Recipe

Rice -

If using frozen peas, microwave about 1/2 the time on the package (your thawing them, not cooking at this time)
Heat non stick frying pan, spray with cooking spray or 1 tbs oil
Add onions - cook till just starting to brown
Add garlic, cook 2 minutes
Add rice and peas
Add Chicken Taco Seasoning that has been rehydrated as above
Cook 5 minutes.
Mix in diced tomato (your heating, not cooking the tomato)
If you turn off the heat but leave it in the pan it will hold for at least 5 minutes till your ready to serve.  Just cover with a clean dish towel

Beans -

Place beans in pan on stove, add 1/4 cup water and seasoning (either the Rojo or the cumin/cilantro).  Mix well
Heat for 5 minutes at medium heat.  Add 1/4 water (or broth) as needed to thin - the beans should be thin (think thick pancake batter), not watery or soupy

Serve next to each other, not mixed.  These are often served as a side dish, but there is no reason you could not serve this with a fresh salad dressed with guacamole and sour cream and it would be a great meal.  Or feel free to serve with carnitas or tinga or grilled chicken

Vegetable Bourguignon -

With an assist from Smitten Kitchen, my version of Vegetable Bourguignon

Boeuf Bouruignon (literally Beef Burgundy) is one of those dishes made of love by both of our parents.  It is a dish to fill the house with scents and to be treasured as one of those truly great meals.  I am sure Meme learned from her parents, and I know my mom and dad learned from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, as well as her show, The French Chef.

However, with half my family vegetarian and the other on a very restricted diet, it really is not a dish that we can have the way Julia made.  My version pumps up the vegetables, and cuts the pasta.  It is however still a great dish - one worth of family events made of love.

Ingredients


1 tablespoon olive oil
1 carrot, finely diced
2 stalks of celery, finely diced.
1 onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon seasoning - thyme is traditional, but I often used Penzey's mixed Italian blend
2 tablespoons tomato paste (use the double strength in a tube stuff - don't open and waste a can of it)
1 cup full-bodied red wine  Burgundy is the traditional, but a pinot noir or a petite sirah should be ok or any other dry, full bodied red wine (that means no Apothic/Cupcake or other of these modern chocolate bombs)
1 can (or 2 cups) vegetable broth (or chicken or beef if you have no vegetarians for dinner)
1 tbs Bragg liquid aminos (help pump up the flavor)
1 lb bag of baby carrots
2 pounds of mushrooms, halved or quartered, depending on size.  Feel free to use white, brown, button, whatever you have - even use a combination.  Many recipes have you slice them, but I like them a little bigger so they have more bite, more like the Boeuf.
1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (evil, I know.  But it is not much)
1 1/2 tablespoons butter (I know, evil. But as this is a meatless dish, I do not mind the limited amount of fat we are using)


Green Beans and little Red Potatoes to serve with.  No little sugar bombs (a.k.a. pasta)

Recipe

Get out the big Le Crueset pot.  Yes, the 7 quart or bigger version.  No messing around, you have a lot of food going in this.
Saute the finely diced onion, celery and carrots for 10-15 minutes, until they are soft.  Low-medium temp, not more than medium.
Add Garlic and thyme (or other spice) and saute for 2 minutes more
Add tomato paste and saute for another couple of minutes - you are turning the paste brown (it really does change the flavor).  Try not to burn it.
Add the wine, turn up the heat (medium high) and cook wine down 50% or so.
Add broth, aminos and baby carrots.  Cook at medium for 10 minutes
Add mushrooms.  Now the pot will look to full - and you will think, not enough liquid.  Yes, you have enough liquid.  Every couple of minutes stir the pot - the mushrooms will release moisture and "poof" all of a sudden you have enough liquid.
Cook for 20 minutes with the lid on on a medium to low medium heat - you want bubbles, but not a rolling boil
Start your potatoes
Cook for 20 minutes with the lid off (time to concentrate the liquid).
Start your green beans
Cut flour with butter (mix and mush together into a paste)
Add paste to bourguignon and cook for another five minutes.  The sauce will thicken and the flour taste will cook off

Serve

Concannon Petite Sirah - 2008

Petite Sirah is not a wine I drink a lot of - it is not very common, often used to mix with other grapes.  Add's color, depth.

Purchased this bottle at local grocery store - they are closing it out at $5 a bottle - who could say no to that?

Color - very deep - almost blueberry red in color.  Dark

Scent - alcohol, some fruit, but not to much.

Taste - this is wine.  Very full in texture.  Sticks around in your mouth, but not in a bad way.  Somehow both very dry, with tannins, but also sweet.  Has acidity. Nothing to much.  Not a fruit bomb, not sugary.  This is not like Apothic, or Cupcake, or any of those current fruit bombs.

Recommendation - This wine is fine on the porch, but I think this big boy needs food - grilled food.  Burgers, chicken, lamb.  If I was grilling, I would definitely pull this out.  If you can find this sub $10, do not be afraid of picking it up.  At $5 - great deal.

Some other reviews are here, here and here.

Peanut Stew (a.k.a. African Peanut Stew)

One of those dishes that you think it is crazy to even think about making, but once you have partaken, it becomes a regular in your rotation.  And everyone loves it.  Although I suppose someone with a peanut allergy might take offense.

Basic idea is that this is a vegetable stew, with peanuts and/or peanut butter. If you keep that in mind, you are free to add or drop ingredients as you have them or are available – don’t worry about having the “right” ingredients.  This is also easy to make vegan if you like.

Ingredients for the Stew

• 1 medium onion, diced 
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
• 2-6 garlic cloves, minced (adjust based on level of vampirism in neighborhood)
• 1 lb chicken thighs, diced
• 2  medium sweet potato, peeled diced
• 2  medium potatoes, diced
• 14 1/2 ounces diced tomatoes with or without green chilies (or use fresh)
• 1 lb total of butternut squash or acorn squash or carrots or other root vegetable, diced
• 1 can garbanzo beans
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup creamy (or chunky) peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon curry powder/sate powder/cumin – whatever your taste is or you have on hand – or more if you like
•   Salt and pepper
•  red pepper flakes – use some, but adjust based on your taste buds
•   2 cans (small, not the big honking ones) vegetable broth (or chicken).  

For the garnish – prepare and serve on the side for people to spice as they like

·         cilantro, chopped
·         green onions, chopped
·         jalapenos, fresh, chopped
·         lime quarters
·         unsalted dry roasted peanuts

Serve with Brown Rice

Recipe

Brown onion and celery (and chicken, is using).  Use 1 tbs olive oil

Add ginger, garlic, cook for two minutes

Add vegetables and garbanzo beans (what ever you are using) (but not peanut butter), broth, spices

Cook for about 30 minutes, or until root vegetables are soft

Add Peanut Butter – can use up to ½ cup

Cook for five minutes

Adjust seasonings

Serve over Rice

The Aldi Shopper Blog - yes, one exists

I enjoy shopping at Aldi's.  It is my favorite cheap chain grocery store.  While I don't love some of their product, much of their stuff is either the same brand as you buy elsewhere, or is just as good as other brands.

While searching for who makes their Friendly Farms Greek Yogurt (highly recommended - only 89 cents), I found The Smart Aldi Shopper.  Yes, someone has a blog all about Aldi's.  I have often thought about doing a Kwik Trip Blog, considering I am at one of their c-stores at least three times a week, but never took it up. The Smart Aldi Shopper has somewhat infrequent posts, but deserves to have more - Aldi's is a great place to shop.

BONUS LINK!

Someone actually reviews Aldi's wines - and has nice things to say (about some of them).  I think I may have to try them

Roasted Tomatoes

End of summer, early fall is a great time for roasted tomatoes.   They make an easy, healthy and delicious way to make a pasta sauce.  They can also be made year round, although the flavor tends to be less spectacular.   If you are doing it outside of garden grown time, I recommend using only Roma tomatoes – they will have the best flavor available at your grocer.  Second after that are grape tomatoes – the little tiny ones.

Ingredients

Tomatoes – cut into pieces.  Half if grape tomatoes, quarters if Roma, eighths if larger tomatoes.  For a dryer, more roasted flavor, you need to seed and juice the tomatoes.  If you want a juicier sauce, don’t, but you will likely never get good carmalization.

Olive Oil

Seasoning (basil, Italian, oregano).  Dried works well.  If I have fresh, I usually add that to the final dish, not the roasting

Salt and Pepper

Sugar

Recipe

Turn oven to 450

Line baking sheet (jelly roll pan) with foil.  Use several pans if you need to – you want each tomato to not touch the others.  If there are too many to a pan, they will steam, not roast or caramelize.

All ingredients in pan(s).  I use 1tbs of oil and seasoning per 1lb of tomato, ½  tsp of salt, pepper and sugar for each 1lb of tomato.

Roast for 20-30 minutes, or desired doneness.  The more juice and seeds you remove from the tomatoes, the faster and better they will caramelize.  If you do not do this, it will take a long time for the liquid to evaporate and you may never get good carmalization.

These make a great pasta sauce – just toss into cooked pasta.  Or, eat them as a side dish, or as a dressing for fish or chicken.

Easy Cassoulet - And Healthy!

Cassoulet is a classic french dish.  It is also, made traditionally, very high in fat.  It also takes a long time to cook.  Well, I need less fat and more time, so I came up with this recipe - Easy Cassoulet - Start to finish in 45 minutes.  No, it's not traditional.  Yes, it is good.  If Meme liked it, it's close enough.

It is also easy to make vegetarian - drop the meat.  You can add a couple of tsp of soy sauce or Braggs aminos.  Some whole mushrooms can add "meatiness" to it also.  You can also always cook the meat on the side and serve it that way, although the meat juices add a lot of flavor to the dish.

Ingredients

2 (or 3) cans northern beans, drained and rinsed.  If available, I like Randall's Beans - they come in a glass jar. 

1 onion, diced

1 carrot, diced

1 celery rib, diced

1lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs – diced

Chicken sausage (left overs if you have them)

Low fat ham if no sausage, diced.  Can use Canadian bacon

1 tsp oregano and thyme (each)

1 Bay leaf

4 cloves garlic, crushed and minced

1 can chicken broth/stock

½ cup white wine, if you have it.  White vermouth works also

2-3 cups fresh spinach, if you like.  Kale is also an option

Whole wheat garlic croutons (home made) – Toast bread, peal garlic clove, cut garlic clove in half.  Rub garlic over toast.  Cut into small pieces.

Either frozen veggie or salad on the side. 

Cooking instructions

Sauté onion, carrot, celery, chicken with 1 teaspoon oil.  When beginning to brown, add garlic and spices – cook an additional 2 minutes.  Add white wine, if using.  After wine cooks off some, add beans, sausage and chicken stock.  Add fresh spinach if you are using.  Cook for ½ hour.  Add ham/Canadian bacon about 15 minutes in.  

Make low fat garlic croutons (see above)

When done, toss garlic toast croutons over cassoulet, then serve.

Serve with veggies or salad.  A green salad with a vinaigrette is very nice - the acidity pairs well with the cassoulet.

Serve

Chicken Taco's with Black Beans

Taco's.  Wonderful taco's.  And again, they can be a super diet killer.  I love me some hard shell corn tortillas - wonderful little fat and sugar bombs.  Sorry - you don't get to eat them.  At least not very often.  Fortunately, there are plenty of high fiber tortilla options these days.  I don't worry two much about the fat content - I just look for what I like the taste of that has lots of fiber.  And then I don't eat more than 2.  One if they are really big.

Ingredient List

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 sweet potato, peeled and diced small

1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, sliced thin (not a huge fan of ground chicken)

1 green or red pepper, sliced thin

1 onion sliced thin

8 oz fresh mushrooms quartered or smaller

Chicken/Veg stock

Whole wheat taco’s

1 tomato, diced

Cumin, taco seasoning, adobe seasoning

Low or no fat sour cream (8 oz container)

Lettuce, sliced thin

No fat cheese slices

Salsa

Cooking instructions

Three basic things are happening  - cooking beans, cooking chicken/veg, cook tortillas.  Start the beans first, then move on to chicken/veg once the beans are underway, then do the tortillas when everything is done and keeping warm.

1)  Beans - Mix beans, sweet potato and a little water or chicken/veg stock.  If you like, you can put in ½ teaspoon of cumin or adobe seasoning (available from Penzeys).  Cook at medium heat until sweet potatoes are soft (about 20 minutes).  Lower temp and keep warm.  If watery, you can take some out and mash, then stir back in to thicken, or serve with a slotted spoon to drain excess liquid.  Or feel free to mash all of them into more of a re-fried bean.  But please don't fry them.  And not in lard, no matter how good they taste that way.

2) Meat – brown chicken, onions, peppers and mushrooms.  Do them separately.  Use cooking spray.  When all browned, toss in pan together, along with Taco Seasoning (one packet or 4 tsp of Penzey’s seasoning)  After about a minute, mix in water according to the taco seasoning instructions.  Keep at low temp to keep warm.  Of course you can keep chicken separate if you have some vegetarians at dinner.

3) Tortillas – heat over medium heat one at a time.  Takes about 20 seconds a side.  After heated, put in foil or clean towel to keep warm

When all three are done, serve with lettuce, sour cream, salsa, tomatoes, cheese.

Veg options are varied.  You can use zucchini, eggplants, potatoes, sweet corn.  You can mix sweet corn in with the beans also.

Red Tree Pinot Noir, 2010

In Summary - A fine light red wine, with some fruit, decent with food.

Red Tree makes cheap wine - $5.99 at Festival Foods (plus a $2 a bottle rebate). However cheap in this case means a pretty decent wine that you can buy a ton of for an event and not be embarrassed by serving it nor draining your checking account.

Red Tree pitches it's wines this way - Redtree offers consumers fresh, fruit forward, distinctive varietals of consistent quality and exceptional value that are ready for immediate consumption. These wines are ideal as an aperitif and complement everyday meals as well as special occasions

Not sure how distinctive they are, but sure - it is on the list for consideration of wine's at the upcoming wedding.