First, the meatballs. Long ago, Laura and I discovered the six pound bag of meatballs at Sams Club. We LOVE these meatballs and I always have a bag in my deep freeze. The regular grocery store also carries meatballs but not in such inexpensive gargantuan quantities. The trick, though, is to buy the meatballs ready-made SOMEWHERE. You CAN make the meatballs yourself, but that takes the meal out of the "fast" category.

Meatball Subs

I start by counting out frozen meatballs into a large stock pot. (I keep the quantities consistent by counting the meatballs exactly. I usually use six meatballs per person.) I put a scant half inch of water in the bottom of the pan, cover it, and turn the heat on low. After the meatballs have warmed through completely, I put in 2 c. of pizza/spaghetti sauce.

I also add a pound of frozen spinach. Again, I cover the pan and let things simmer and warm up together. Now, if the children in your house won't eat spinach, you can leave it out, but this is a very un-spinachy way to eat spinach. In fact, I've been known to sneak spinach past kids who claim to HATE it by serving it this way. After the meatballs, sauce, and spinach are all hot and bubbly, I turn off the stove and stir in 1 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella. The heat of the sauce melts the cheese nicely.

I ladle this mixture onto buns or french bread and have a tasty, complete dinner. In our house (of many large boys) I ask them to count out the meatballs and make sure they don't exceed their quota lest somebody go without.

If I'm able to actually plan ahead, I love to serve these meatballs on homemade garlic buns:

Garlic Sourdough Buns

Stir together:

• 2 c. water
• 2 c. bread flour
• 1 c. sourdough starter
• 2 t. salt
• 2 T. sugar
• 2 T. yeast
• 2 T. oil
• 2 t. garlic powder

This is the sponge. Let it sit and froth up for about 35 minutes. Stir in 2 more cups of bread flour. Then knead in an additional 1-2 c. bread flour until the texture is elastic and thick.

Let rise for about 45 minutes or until doubled in size. Punch down dough and form round buns. Let the buns rise until doubled in size (45-60 minutes.)

Bake at 400° until golden brown (20-25 minutes). Cool on rack.

For my vegetarian friends....clearly meatball subs have meat in them by definition. I have found, however, that after the meatballs are all fished out, any leftover spinach/sauce/cheese mixture is still delicious on a slice of sourdough. In fact, I've been known to spread the mixture on sourdough and stick it under the broiler for a few minutes. So this recipe definitely can be modified to have no meat simply by leaving out the meatballs. I do think it needs a different name though!

Barb

Was there any reason we couldn't make jambalaya pizza? Well, no, no reason at all. All that remained were the logistics. So the very next night, MIchael put himself in charge of making jambalaya pizza:

Jambalaya Pizza on Sourdough Crust

Crust:  Start by making a sponge for pizza dough by stirring together the following:

• 2 c. bread flour
• 1 c. sourdough starter
• 2 T. oil
• 2 T. sugar
• 1 t. yeast
• 2 t. salt
• 2 c. warm water

Let the sponge bubble for about an hour. Knead in another 3-3.5 cups of bread flour. Let rise for 40 minutes. Spread out onto 3 cookie sheets or 3 pizza stones. (This recipe can be cut in half if you can't imagine why you'd need THREE pizzas.)

Topping: Using a large spoon, scoop out approx. 2 c. rice and broth from the leftover jambalaya. Try to avoid as many chunks as possible. Put into the food processor and liquify into a thick sauce. Spread on pizza crust like you would spread red or white pizza sauce.

Using a large spoon, pick out chunks of ham, chicken, sausage, and pieces of pepper. Put those into a strainer and let the liquid drain off of them for a few minutes. When they've drained a bit, spread those bits and pieces on top of the sauce on the pizza crust.

Top the pizzas with mozzarella cheese. Bake at 450 degrees for about 16 minutes. Switch pans from top to bottom and vice versa about halfway through.

We were all surprised by how delicious this pizza turned out to be. It definitely gave pizza a whole new spin. Of course, any time I can use up leftovers to make something delicious I'm REALLY happy.

Barb

Note: If you aren't doing the sourdough thing, you can make this on regular pizza crust.

Joyful Jambalaya

(Feeds 16. You may need to scale down for a smaller crowd, unless you really like leftovers.)

Cook in a skillet:

• 4 pounds Andouille sausage (we actually had two separate pots of jambalaya to accommodate two degrees of spiciness in sausage)
• 4 pounds chicken, cut into chunks
• 2 pounds ham, cut into chunks

Set aside.

In extra large stockpot, saute in butter or olive oil:

• 4 c. celery, cut into chunks
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 4 bell peppers, chopped (we used 1 green bell, one red bell, one yellow bell and one orange pepper; this dramatically increased the "prettiness" of this dish!)

Add in:

• Creole seasoning to taste (You find this seasoning in a large shaker container--sometimes it's located by the spices and sometimes you can find it back by the meat counter)
• garlic salt, salt and pepper to taste
• cooked meats
• 3 c. uncooked long-grain rice
• 80 ounces of chicken broth
• 2 28 oz. cans of diced tomatoes with juice

Bring to a boil and then simmer on low for 30-40 minutes.

If this starts to get too thick, add more water. You're shooting for a stew-type thickness--not soup. Serve, garnished with chopped green onions. Be sure you have plenty of water nearby to quench the fires of Creole seasoning.

What I love about this recipe is that I can make it as spicy or non-spicy as my cooking audience requires. Michele made two pots so that she could use SUPER hot Andouille sausage as well as mild stuff.

The flavors were all wonderful and we are still enjoying the leftovers. In fact, our next post is going to be a MSK original on exactly HOW to use those delicious leftover!

Barb

I thought for a moment and couldn’t come up with anything more convincing than, “Wouldn’t that make it POTATO salad?”

“Nope,” Michael replied decisively. “Tonight we’re going to pretend those potatoes are actually vegetables.” Since Michael seemed to have a plan, I wasn’t going to argue…especially since the plan looked to be leading to our favorite pasta salad.

This pasta dish is much more method than recipe. One of the great things about this salad is that I don’t need enough of any single ingredient to feed everyone. That’s very helpful in finishing off the tag ends of stuff in the fridge. The whole idea is to creatively use what’s already in the fridge or cupboard. One of the best things about this salad is that none of the veggies are cooked, so this is a great meal when it’s too hot to cook anything.

Here are the things we found to put into our salad. Obviously, what you’ll find in your refrigerator will be different.

Amazing Pasta Salad

• 2 pounds cooked and salted new red potatoes, cut into chunks
• 1 cucumber, cut into chunks
• 1 ½ c. broccoli florets
• 1/3 c. green onions, finely chopped
• ½ c. chopped cilantro
• 2 roma tomatoes, diced
• ¾ c. alfalfa sprouts
• 1 pound imitation crab meat
• 1/3 c. toasted pine nuts
• 1 pound pasta, cooked and drained (I finished off 3 different packages of pasta this time)

After stirring these ingredients so they were thoroughly mixed, we dressed the salad with a mixture of 3 half-empty salad dressing bottles: Caesar dressing, Honey Dijon Onion dressing, and Greek vinaigrette. Every pasta salad we make tastes unique because the bottles that I’m trying to empty are different from one time to the next.

We served the pasta salad in big soup bowls and topped it with shredded parmesan cheese (crumbled feta cheese or grated asiago cheese would also be delicious.) This salad was huge–perfect for the boys who had been at swim practice at 6:20 AM and for the boy who worked all day out in the sun. Definitely scale the ingredient list up or back to make a salad that fits your family’s size. If you're of the vegetarian persuasion, leave out the crab and you're good to go.

And sure enough, Michael was right! Those new red potatoes were just perfect and we all pronounced the salad to be the BEST pasta salad we’d ever had.

This post was cross-posted at High Country Mom Squad on Tuesday. For more ideas of what things you might find in your fridge for pasta salads, see this older post.

Barb

A few weeks ago, I got a wonderful email from a helpful cook named Anne with the following variations that I just need to share with you all. Anne writes:

Fortunately for me, all of my co-workers and neighbors like any variation I have done with this recipe. Some of them have every 10 days marked on their calendars! I have reduced the fat and sugar in all of the versions by using ½ c of oil and ½ c of applesauce, and only ½ c to ¾ c of sugar instead of 1 cup. Some of my co-workers’ favorite versions are:

Fresh Cherry White Chocolate Bread – to the basic Amish Bread recipe with reduced oil and ¾ c sugar, use either white chocolate or cheesecake instant pudding mix, pit fresh cherries and cut into quarters, use 1 c white chocolate chips, 1 - 2 cups toasted, coarsely chopped pecans. Bake as muffins. They are delicious!

Fresh Blueberry Peach Muffins – to the basic Amish Bread recipe with reduced oil and ¾ c sugar, use vanilla instant pudding mix, add 2 c fresh blueberries, 1 ½ c toasted, coarsely chopped pecans, 1 – 2 c chopped peaches (I used canned sliced peaches when peaches were out of season). Put in muffin pans. Top each muffin with streusel mix. Streusel mix – 1/3 c melted butter, ½ c brown sugar, ½ c sugar, 1 c quick oats, 1 – 1 ½ finely chopped nuts. Put approximately ½ tablespoon of streusel mix on each muffin batter. If you want to have peach muffins, just eliminate the blueberries.

Pistachio Mini Loaves - to the basic Amish Bread recipe with reduced oil and ¾ c sugar, use 2 small boxes instant pistachio pudding mix, add 1 c white chocolate chips, 1 – 2 c raw pistachio nuts, finely chopped, and 2 c crushed canned pineapple. Pour batter into mini loaf pans.

Peanut Butter Bread – to the basic Amish Bread recipe with reduced oil and ¾ c sugar, use 2 small boxes instant butterscotch pudding mix, add 1 c smooth peanut butter, ½ c brown sugar, 2 tsp vanilla, 1 c chocolate chips (I added semi-sweet), 1 c peanut butter chips. I had to add an additional ¼ c milk, as the batter was too stiff. Baked in a 9 x 13 pan for approximately 40 minutes at 350.

Chocolate Brownie – to the basic Amish Bread recipe with the reduced oil and ½ c sugar, use a large box of instant chocolate pudding mix (the chocolate with caramel is very good), add 3 heaping teaspoons of dark chocolate cocoa, 1 to 1 ½ c toasted coarsely chopped pecans, ¾ c dark chocolate chips, ¼ c semi sweet chocolate chips, ½ c milk chocolate chips to the dry ingredients. After mixing dry ingredients w/wet, pour approximately ½ of the batter into the pan and sprinkle ¾ of a bag of caramel bits over batter. Spread remaining batter over caramel bits and bake. I have made this in a 9 x 13 or in small bundt pans. This is the cake that is usually eaten first.

Anne of Brighton, Michigan.

Thanks so much to Anne for her great ideas!

Because I have a slow-ish computer with a slow-ish connection, it's taking longer and longer to load the original post and all the comments. Therefore, we are closing the comments on the original AFB post and asking that any future comments be made on this post. We are NOT deleting all those valuable comments on the original AFB post and again, we urge you to read through all the comments because most questions you might have about AFB can be found there.

Barb

I will post the things we put on it, but I do hope you realize the point of this post is to show you how to produce something fabulous with what you have on hand (and it WAS fabulous--eyes-rolling-back-in-my-head fabulous!) You could substitute any number of ingredients and still end up with something delish.

Tuscan Pesto Chicken Panino:

We started with some day-old foccacia bread that we had acquired from Panera Bread Co. (You could make it a baguette or some other nice French bread, doesn't have to be day-old.)

We cut it horizontally in half, then smeared it with some homemade pesto (you could use canned pesto, or alternately, some sun-dried tomato spread, or even just plain pizza sauce.) We stuck this under the broiler for a few minutes until the edges of the bread were starting to brown, then removed it. Meanwhile, we sautéed strips of chicken breast in olive oil with garlic and onions and a splash of red wine and another splash of balsamic vinegar; then we spread the cooked chicken on the foccacia. We also put black olive halves (which you could skip, should you despise olives.) And over all this, we sprinkled shredded mozzarella and Romano cheese. The panini went back under the broiler for another 3-5 minutes until the cheese was bubbly. When they came out of the oven, Kirk drizzled the remaining juice and onion/garlic stuff on the bottom of the pan where the chicken was sautéed over the top of the panini. We served immediately, and commenced to making those delighted and inarticulate "MMMMM!" noises.

A few extra ideas: we could've made our own pizza dough for this, and the cooking would've taken a bit longer. We were hungry, and the foccaccia was sitting there begging to be used, so we didn't. We also could've toasted a few pine nuts in a dry pan and thrown those on top--see above reason for not doing it. We could've skipped the mozzarella. We could've used a tomato-based sauce or even a white sauce or Ranch dressing instead of the pesto. We could've used pepperoni or ham instead of chicken breast. We could've added vegetables. This was a wonderfully fast and delicious meal that felt really fancy and ooh-la-la, but it only took about 30 minutes from start to finish.

Laura

P.S. Dumb little pet peeve: "panino" is the singular for "little bread". "Panini" is plural. Some restaurants bill bread like this as "a panini". Please, people, use the correct Italian! I want "un panino" or "molti panini". You can't order a singular panini! Thank you, from all of us Type-A linguists in the crowd. :-D

I helped teach a little monthly cooking class this week, and the theme of it was learning a couple of tricks to help families (and the cooks!) save some time in the kitchen and make life simpler. People often ask me if I "make everything from scratch." And I often feel guilty and a little embarrassed for my answer--which is, yeah, I do. Sheepish/embarrassed because yes, it does take time, and I think I might end up looking like a big fat loser-pants who spends all day long in her white trash apartment, waiting for pizza dough to rise while sauce simmers on the stove and I re-organize my spice cupboards. Yes. Cupboard(s). Nevertheless, that's how I roll. But that doesn't mean that you have to spend a lotta time to get a lotta loving in your dinner. Let's talk.

At the cooking class, we focused on learning to make a couple of simple, simple sauces as a way to cook something once that could very well outline your menu for the week. How great would that be! Grocery list—done. All the ingredients are really accessible, easy-to-find things, and you probably have most of them in your kitchen already.

We did two basic sauces that store well, are good for you (of course!), and stick to a little budget. So, put your wallet away. Your family (or you) will be enjoying some good eating and the Olive Garden will become profanity in your household. Let's get to it--up, up, and away to the recipes!*

Cheater’s pesto sauce I call this the “Cheater’s” pesto sauce because it isn’t a true pesto sauce; that’s made with pine nuts and basil, which is not so budget-friendly, unless you’ve got your kitchen herbs growing. (And congratulations if you do—I have two cell windows that see no sun, so herbs, not I, said the little red hen. But if you’d like to give it a try, it’s easy—herbs just need lots of sun and water.)

½ C spinach leaves, frozen or fresh 2 cloves garlic, bashed 1 ½ C red wine vinegar ¼ C olive oil 1/8 C parmesan, grated (not the stuff from the can, which is made from my old textbooks, I think) 2 t lemon juice (optional) Salt and pepper, to taste

Put the spinach, garlic, red wine vinegar, and olive oil into a food processor and pulse until combined. Drizzle more olive oil—you don’t want it dry, but not too runny, either. Add the parm, lemon juice (if using) and taste. Adjust for seasoning—add the salt and pepper here. If you’ve got the basil in your kitchen, add a couple of tablespoons—four or five nice leaves. Otherwise, round these parts, anyway, it’s about $2.50 for a little plastic container, the basil in which probably grew in France about six months ago, who knows. Pine nuts are great, too, and you are welcome to put a couple of tablespoons in if you have more money or inclination to spend it than I have.

The simplest thing to do with this is toss it with a bit of whole wheat pasta—simple, fantastic, and bonus points for using an intact food with the whole wheat. Lots of benefits there. Other things to do with your pesto: As a dip for roasted or raw vegetables Drizzled on top of a pea soup Used on toasted or grilled bread as a healthful alternative to buttery garlic bread On top of grilled fish—tilapia, cod, halibut, even salmon On top of rotisserie chicken, mmm, I want to get some now Freeze it and keep it until inspiration strikes again! You’re ready for a meal. (Don’t forget to label your container—and use the pesto within a few months or it’ll be frosty the pesto man.)

*I’ll post the tomato sauce tomorrow, but a girl has got to get some sleep. Good lovin', it's tomorrow now!

One night last week, I needed to bake something that would fulfill two needs: 1)a moderately portable breakfast for the following morning (we had nothing in the house that could be considered breakfast food!) and 2)a tasty treat to serve at a women's meeting at church. So I started the process of making bread, and gradually ideas began to hit me, ("What about doing the Swedish cardamom thing? And look! There's cream cheese sitting here needing to be used. And aha! there's a jar of my homemade peach jam!") and the end result was this luscious thing of beauty that made my children very happy, and caused intense eye-rolling and ecstatic expressions at the meeting. So here it is: Cardamom cream cheese peach braid. Please note that you can substitute any other flavor of jam, or even fresh fruit, for the peach jam--it's just what happened to be sitting on my counter begging to be used.

Cardamom Cream Cheese Peach Braid

For the sponge, mix the following and let stand for 10-15 minutes, until bubbly:

• 1 TBSP yeast
• 2 TBSP sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 TBSP safflower or vegetable oil
• 2 c. warm water
• 2 c. flour

After the sponge has gotten bubbly and frothy, add while mixing:

• 1 tsp. cardamom
• 2-4 c. flour (a little at a time, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the mixer and is smooth and elastic)

Cover dough, and allow to rise for 1-2 hours.

Punch down dough and place on a floury surface. Knead it for a few minutes, then roll out/stretch into a long rectangle, roughly 8" by 14". Using a sharp knife, cut horizontal strips on each side, reaching about 1/3 of the way in (these are going to form the braided top.)

Using about 1/4 of an 8-oz. package of cream cheese, well-softened at room temperature, spread a layer of cream cheese in the center of the dough, between the strips. Then spread a layer of peach jam (or any berry jam, or slices of apple, pear, or berries) on top of the cream cheese.

Starting at one end, pull the side strips over the middle of the dough, and angled slightly down. First the left side, then the right side, and so on, so that they look braided. Pinch the ends to seal. Place on a greased baking sheet, and bake at 350ºF for 20 minutes, or until golden brown on top. (Don't worry if some of the jam bubbles out.)

Let the bread cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving with butter. Don't make this bread if you really want to have leftovers--there won't be any!

Variation: I also did one loaf where I rolled out the dough, slathered it with just the jam, and then rolled it up into a long roll. That was also delicious. Another possible variation would be to put the jam (or even cinnamon sugar and raisins) in the middle, roll it up, and then cut it into sweet rolls. Just a thought.

Laura

This risotto arose from a need to make dinner and a woeful lack of planning.  I looked in the fridge, and began to dig out everything that needed to be eaten.  Leftover Christmas ham, check. Veggies for salad, check.  A quick look in the freezer--a bag of artichoke hearts--huzzah!  A peek in the pantry cupboard shows a box of Arborio rice--aha!  a plan emerges!  So here's the method--your mileage may vary--if you have different things in your fridge, you can use those.  Risotto is not one of those things that HAS to be by the book. 

Risotto with ham and artichoke hearts:

I started with half of a large onion, chopped fine.  In a large skillet, I splashed about 2 TBSP of olive oil, and sautéed the onion until it was translucent.  Then I added about 1 1/2 cups of uncooked Arborio rice, and continued to stir. (Well, actually, my friend Nicole continued to stir, while I buzzed around chopping and planning.)  After about 5 minutes, I added half a bottle of leftover beer--you could use white wine, or skip this step.  I turned down the burner to medium-low, and Nicole kept stirring.

When that liquid was absorbed, I started to add a splosh at a time of chicken stock. (Add a splosh, keep stirring until it's absorbed, add another splosh, etc.)  I also threw in the last bit of Christmas ham, chopped into bite-sized chunks.

In the meantime, I chopped up a tomato that was sitting in my crisper that needed to be used--you can skip this, or you can add a TBSP or so of tomato paste if you want the added flavor.  I added the tomato when the rice was about half-cooked.

After another 5 minutes or so, I added some chopped up frozen artichoke hearts (I found a bag of these in the freezer section at the grocery store--what a GREAT staple to have on hand!)  Nicole kept stirring (and remember, I kept adding a bit of chicken stock every few minutes.)

When the rice was tender and all the chicken stock was absorbed (I'm guessing I added a total of about 5 cups) I turned off the heat, and added 1 cup of shredded Romano cheese, and stirred it in until it was melted.   I served it immediately with a loaf of fantastic homemade sourdough bread, and a salad.

Mmm, yumm!  Risotto is comfort food and splashy-effect company food all at the same time!  Enjoy!

Laura

So here are a few quick and tasty ideas for meals that need to get made quick:

Meatball sandwiches:

Thaw the meatballs

Using good bread, whether sliced or kaiser-roll-ish, and your choice of sauce (we like BBQ, but you could go a different direction with Ranch dressing, or horseradish, or even Hoisin sauce.  You may add slices of cheese if you wish.) Build a sandwich with bread, sauce, and meatballs.

Meatball soup:

Start with a pot of chicken stock.  I pulled out a tub of homemade turkey stock from my last turkey and used that.  You may use chicken stock prepared commercially.  Add any of the following:  leftover vegetables (I used the potatoes and carrots left from the roast beef we had a few nights before,) a bag of frozen mixed vegetables or a vegetable of your choice, minced garlic, oregano or Italian spices; a can of white beans, some noodles or rice.  Add a number of meatballs (they can go in frozen, since they will cook fairly quickly in the stock.)  Allow to simmer for about 10 minutes after the whole mixture has come to a boil.  Serve with a stack of warmed corn tortillas.

Fast spaghetti and meatballs:

Cook a package of your choice of pasta according to the directions on the package.

Thaw/cook the meatballs.

Toss the noodles with a jar of your choice of heated pre-fab spaghetti sauce (I like Ragu, because it's cheap;  I doctor it by adding extra garlic and basil, and perhaps a few mushrooms if I have them on hand.)  Top with meatballs and serve.

LB

Here are a few of our ideas. This list is not exhaustive, so check back for additions over the next few days. Concerning leftovers:

• What to do with a Turkey Carcass   It's not too late to turn that carcass into delicious turkey stock if you've had the carcass in the fridge overnight.
• Getting Ready for Turkey Leftovers
• Turkey Casserole
• Turkey Potpie with an Unusual Crust
• Using up the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers
• Tasty Turkey Leftover Tip
• Making Deviled Turkey

Over the next week, we will add any new recipes or experiments that we think will enhance this list. If we add enough items, we'll kick this entire post up to the top so it's easier to find.

If you have any really unique ideas for using turkey leftovers, please feel free to share. We're ALWAYS looking for good ideas!

Barb

Awhile back Laura posted a recipe for our mom's perfect split pea soup. Yesterday I was tinkering with it, trying to make it vegetarian-friendly for all my veggie friends. I must confess that I still prefer my pea soup with big fat chunks of polish sausage or ham floating in it, but this turned out to be very tasty. The fact that it was vegetarian didn't even come up as my carnivore sons wolfed it down.

Vegetarian Split Pea Soup

• 2 large onions
• 2 T. minced garlic
• 1 large bunch of celery, washed and chopped
• 2 pounds carrots, cut into "wheels"
• 2 pound split peas
• 1 t. oregano
• 1 t. basil
• 2 t. salt
• 2/3 c. ground flax seed

In an 8 quart stock pot, bring water and two pounds of split peas to a vigorous rolling boil. Cook for 30 minutes. Pour peas into colander and rinse. Place back into stock pot and fill with water. Bring back up to a boil.

While the peas are cooking, saute the onions, garlic, basil and oregano in 1 T. of olive oil until they're browned and starting to carmelize. At this point, stir in the chopped celery (better use a nice big skillet for this) and cook for a couple of minutes to crank up the flavors just a bit. Put all these veggies and seasonings into the stockpot with the peas.

Add the carrot wheels and flax seed and simmer for a couple of hours, stirring occasionally. You want the peas to be very soft and mushy. The carrots should be thoroughly cooked.

At this point, you can add the salt and any other seasonings that you like. We often add Lawry's seasoning salt for flavor. I've learned over the years that salting the soup at the table means less salt overall for everyone than if I try to salt the soup enough on the stove.

Serve with crusty french bread.

Barb

First the classic pizza bread:

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Slice a loaf of French bread (we're using Monterey Sourdough, which we found at Sam's Club) lengthwise and place on a cookie sheet. Spread with your favorite canned pizza/pasta sauce. Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella cheese (we didn't have any mozz., so we used white cheddar), and top with sliced pepperoni, sausage, olives, or whatever you have on hand. Place in the oven for 10-15 min. until the cheese is melted and slightly browned.

Then the gourmet version:

Spread the lengths of French bread with a gourmet sauce. We're using our Roasted Vegetable Bruschetta. Sprinkle with shredded cheese: we're using smoked gouda and a bit of Romano. You could use Provolone, or some other fancy cheese. Add other toppings as desired: olives, pine nuts, artichoke hearts, .....? We're just doing the bruschetta and Gouda, because we had people who were fainting theatrically in the kitchen, famished from a late bike ride.

Serve with a salad or munchie vegetables with dip. Slice each half-loaf into 3 or 4 big chunks, and dig in. You could use this as appetizers if you did skinnier slices.

LB

What I DID have was a package of whole-wheat pita pocket-bread. Somewhat skeptical, I nonetheless pulled them out. I put the whole pitas on a sprayed baking sheet, spread a dollop of pizza sauce on each, sprinkled with a mix of shredded mozzarella and provolone cheese, and topped with pepperoni. We baked them until the cheese was melt-y, about 8-10 minutes. The total effort took us about 12 minutes. When they came out of the oven, the pizzas tasted perfect! They didn't taste like a Mediterranean Mistake. The pitas actually made great crust! So next time you hit the grocery store, pick up a few packages of pitas for the freezer, for the next dinner emergency.

Laura

Mary writes:

This recipe bakes into a cake topping over a fudgy chocolate sauce and is guaranteed to put pimples on a pool ball.  It's great hot with ice cream or straight from the fridge though you may have to bake two to get some as far as the fridge.

This is a very forgiving recipe and doesn't much care if you can find your measuring cups and spoons as long as you're fairly close. (It doesn't even care if you omit the egg as long as the liquid amount is about right, but the topping is cakier with the egg.)

Good Goopy Easy Chocolate Dessert 

Preheat oven to 350°   Grease or butter 8 or 9 inch square pan (or the approximate equivalent).

• 1 cup flour
• 1 heaping tsp baking powder
• 3 T. cocoa
• 1 t. salt
• 3 T. oil
• 2 t. vanilla
• 1egg plus enough milk to make 1/2 cup (or just 1/2 cup milk)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 4 T cocoa
• 1 1/2 cups water

Sift together the flour, 3 T. cocoa, baking powder and salt, stir in the sugar, add oil, milk, (egg) and vanilla. Blend till dry ingredients are eqully moist. No point dirtying your mixer; it only takes a moment. The consistency will resemble brownie batter. Spread it in the pan.

Mix the brown sugar and remaining 4 T. of cocoa together and sprinkle over batter. Pour on the water, that's right, just pour it on; don't boil it, don't mix it, trust me.

Bake 30 minutes. (here comes the hard part)  Let it set up out of oven for at least 10 minutes.  (Stand out of way of family.)

Note: I can't get regular brown sugar here and use half white sugar and half tapa dulce but it works in gringo recipes and there's no reason brown sugar won't work in this.

-Mary

Thanks, Mary! I can't wait to try this recipe. It looks like the perfect recipe to try at the family cottage next month. I'm always looking for good, basic treats to make when I'm vacationing.

Barb

I call this salad Make-it-happen salad because this what I came up with when I decided not to wait until I could shop for special ingredients. I wanted to make it happen with the things I had on hand. I'll list the ingredients I used as well as suggestions for alternatives that I might have used if my fridge and pantry selections had been different.

Make-it-Happen Grilled Chicken Salad

First, I needed to use up some homemade sourdough bread that was getting stale, so I made croutons. This is a very easy process. I cut the bread into chunks, tossed the chunks lightly with olive oil, sea salt, and minced garlic, and then baked on a cookie sheet for about 25 minutes at 300°. At that point they were very crusty and golden brown. I turned the oven off and let them cool while I made the rest of the salad. (Storebought croutons will work fine if you have them.)
For the body of the salad, I tore up one and a half bunches of romaine lettuce into bite-sized pieces. (Any kind of leaf lettuce will work. A mixture of kinds of lettuce would be even better, I think. In fact, any kind of leafy green would probably be excellent in this salad.) I chopped one bunch of green onions up and mixed them through the lettuce.For the dressing, I whisked together:

• 1/4 c. ranch dressing
• 1/3 c. Italian dressing
• 2 T. balsamic vinegar
• 2 T. lemon juice
• (I could have used any prepared salad dressing. If I'd had any anchovy paste, I would have used that. Any vinegar and oil combination would do nicely. Fresh herbs would also add a lot.)

I grilled 5 chicken breasts that had soaked for about 20 minutes in the juice of two limes and some sea salt. After the chicken was cooked, I cut it into strips. (I will try this salad with grilled fish in the future. I might also use leftover chicken that's already been cooked. My son, Michael told me that he thought I should have cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces instead of strips. He also felt that I could have used LESS chicken for each salad. I could even use strips of deli meat if I didn't want to cook anything.)

After the chicken was grilled and sliced, I set it aside while I assembled the salad. First, I poured the dressing over the lettuce and added 1/2 c. grated romano cheese (I could have used parmesan or any hard cheese. I could also have used feta cheese; the feta would take the flavors in an entirely different direction.) I tossed everything thoroughly.

I put a generous bed of dressed lettuce on each plate. Then I added fresh, quartered tomato slices and sliced chicken. I topped the whole salad with some grated extra sharp white cheddar cheese and those crunchy garlic croutons.

(If I'd had bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, or cucumbers in the fridge, I could have added those as well. Next time I might sprinkle some toasted walnuts or pecans over the top. Shelled sunflower seeds or sesame seeds would have added a bit of crunch. Any kind of sprout would have added interesting texture. I think you get the drift. This is a salad that will turn out differently every time I make it because I'll never have the exact same combination of ingredients in my fridge and pantry.)

(If you have a variety of tastes in your household, you can also let everyone dress their own salad, using either homemade dressings or prepared dressings.)

The result was just delicious. The boys and Dave scarfed up every scrap of salad and felt pleasantly stuffed.

Barb

• 1 small package salt pork, cubed or cut in strips
• 1 tsp. rosemary
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 2 15oz. cans chickpeas/garbanzo beans (or 2-3 cups cooked from dry), drained
• 1/2 lb. pasta--small pieces, macaroni, penne, farfalle, etc.
• 1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes

Start by cooking the salt pork in the olive oil in a skillet for several minutes until the pork fat starts to become translucent. Add the rosemary and stir. Add the cans of chickpeas, with not quite enough water to cover them. Let simmer for 15-20 minutes uncovered.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a separate pot, until al dente. When the pasta is done, drain and set aside.

Take 1-2 cups of the chickpea mixture and the can of tomatoes, and blend in a blender or food processor until creamy. Add back into the chickpea pan and stir until it is well mixed. Then add the pasta and mix well. The texture should be that of a pasta dish with a creamy sauce. Let sit for 5 minutes, then serve hot.

I have done variations on this: before cooking the salt pork, sautée garlic and onions in the olive oil, THEN add the pork. Also, I have substituted fresh basil for the rosemary, and added it in with the tomatoes, rather than at the salt pork step. I often cook the salt pork in big chunks, and then remove them before serving. One alternative would be to use bacon instead of the salt pork. You can also use cubed ham, or even skip the pork altogether (but my family loves the extra flavor.) I have also, in the absence of tomatoes, used chicken stock instead of tomatoes to blend with the chickpeas.

LB

Quick Pizza Soup

Brown 1/2 pound sausage in a skillet. Drain and set aside.

Saute' in the bottom of a large stock pot until browned:

• 1 T. olive oil
• 2 T. minced garlic
• 1 medium onion, chopped fine
• 1/2 pound beef, cut into 1/2" cubes (I use whatever meat is on sale. This week, that was a sirloin roast.)

Into that stock pot add:

• Approximately 4 quarts of water
• 2 pound bag of frozen, mixed vegetables
• 1 c. quick-barley (if you use regular barley, be sure to cook that thoroughly according the instructions on the package BEFORE you add the frozen veggies)
• browned sausage
• 2 boullion cubes
• 1 c. pizza sauce

Simmer until the vegetables are cooked. Serve with a handful of large garlicky, crusty croutons and a T. of grated parmesan cheese on top.

This made a LARGE pot of soup that fed the hungry boys as much as they wanted for dinner and then provided lunch leftovers for the next day. Very tasty.

Barb

All but one of us has met at least a couple of the Loopies in real life. Seven of these women have been guests in my home at various times (various homes!) I've also had the privilege of staying in the homes of a number of my Loopies.

The very first time I stayed with a Loopy on one of my cross-country trips, I stayed with Kris in Nebraska. Kris also loves to cook and does it magnificently. I've eaten some great food at her house over a number of visits.  The first time I visited, she served us a dish that she called Chalupa. I have no idea whether this name is ethnically accurate. The only other time I've encountered the word Chalupa has been at Taco Bell--a veritable font of reliable information on Mexican food, doncha know. (Cough cough). At any rate, Kris's Chalupa is sort of Midwest casserole meets Mexican food. It is delicious! I'm going to share the recipe and then at the end I'll list the "true confession" substitutions that I made when I didn't have all the ingredients.

Kris's Chalupa

• 3/4 pound grated pepperjack cheese
• 1 dozen flour tortillas, torn into 1" pieces
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 c. sour cream
• 2/3 c. milk
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4 chicken breasts, cooked and cut into bite-sized chunks
• 1 can green chilis
• black olives (totally optional. I don't ever include them)

Heat soup, milk, sour cream, onions, and chilis until liquid. Layer 1/2 of the tortillas in the bottom of a rectangular Pyrex baking dish. Layer 1/2 chicken pieces, cheese, and soup mixture. Repeat. Top with grated cheese.

Bake, covered, at 350° for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes. Serve with lettuce, chopped tomatoes, fresh salsa, and sour cream if you want the extra calories.  Guacamole would be yummy too.

Barb's True Confession substitutions:

I didn't have cream of chicken soup, but I did had chicken noodle soup. I whirred the chicken noodle soup in the food processor until it was completely smooth.

I didn't have a can of green chilis but I did have a jar of green salsa. I used half the jar. I also added a bit of regular red salsa for good measure.

I really wanted to double this recipe but didn't have double all the ingredients.  I used cheddar cheese for the doubled part on the cheese. I didn't double the chicken at all. Instead, I stirred in 2 cans of great northern white beans. I also only had 1 c. of sour cream, so I added 1 1/2 c. plain yogurt. Basically, I used what I had on hand.

The best part: I froze the second pan and had an instant dinner for later.

Barb

Last night, we were running out of time and I wanted enchiladas. I made this casserole in just over an hour from start to when I dishedit onto plates.

Quick Homemade Chicken Enchiladas

This dish requires a little multi-tasking. Last night I had the assistance of my Very Handy Husband. Without the assistance of a VHH, this might take slightly longer than one hour to prepare and bake.

Several things will be happening at once.

Someone will be using the food processor to finely chop up 3 onions and to grate 4-5 c. cheese.

Someone else will be sauteing 4 chicken breasts in a tablespoon of olive oil. As soon as those chicken breasts are thawed enough to dice, dice them and finish cooking them.

In between those tasks, someone needs to get out the shallow glass Pyrex dish (10x15 is the size we used) and smear around about 1/2 c. mild salsa on the bottom. On top of the salsa, layer about 8 corn tortillas. There will be lots of overlap. We will NOT roll the ingredients in individual tortillas. We're in a hurry, remember?

Hopefully, by about now, the chicken will be done cooking. Stir the diced chicken, the chopped onions, and the grated cheese all together in a large bowl with about 3/4 c. mild salsa.

Spread 1/2 of this mixture over the tortillas in the pan. Lay down a second layer of 8 tortillas. Spread remaining half of cheese/onion/chicken mixture on top of those tortillas. Liberally pour salsa over the top. I used close to two cups of very mild salsa.

Cover tightly with foil and place in the oven (remember, you preheated it to 400°.) Cook covered for 20 minutes. Remove foil and cook for another 10 minutes.

Serve with some shredded lettuce, fresh chopped tomatoes, and a dab of sour cream. (That means that while the enchiladas were cooking in the oven, someone has to chop up some tomatoes and wash some lettuce.)
I'll be truthful and admit that I MUCH prefer flour tortillas for just about everything, including enchiladas. Unfortunately, all I had in the house were corn tortillas. If I had flour tortillas, I'd use those.

Ground beef or shredded pork will also work for this instead of chicken. I used mild salsa as the sauce, but a can of prepared enchilada sauce will also work.

All told, our prep time was 25-30 minutes and our baking time was just over 30 minutes. Not bad for such a hearty meal!

Barb

Curry Sweet Potato Soup

I started out with a smallish piece of pork roast that I wanted to use up. I put that piece of meat into my deep, heavy stock pot with a pint of turkey stock and about 2 quarts of water. I brought the water to a boil and then simmered it for a couple of hours.

While that was simmering, I baked 4 medium-sized sweet potatoes in the oven until fork-tender.

I also cooked up some brown rice. I put 2 cups of water and one cup of brown rice in a small saucepan and brought it to a boil. Then I turned the burner to low for about 40 more minutes. After the rice was done, I put half of it into the blender with two cups of the stock. I blended it until it was smooth and put it into the stock pan. Then I did that with the second half of the rice.

I peeled the cooked sweet potatoes and put them into the blender with about 2 c. of milk. I blended those until they were also smooth and added that to the stock pot.

While the stockpot continued to simmer, I sauteed:

• 2 onions, chopped
• 3 T. of olive oil

To this sauteeing mixture, I added:

• 2 t. curry powder,
• 1 t. chili powder
• 1 t. turmeric
• 2 t. of caraway seeds
• 2 t. salt

When the onions were quite brown I set that aside.

In a dry skillet, I toasted 1/2 c. flax seed on a medium burner for about 5 minutes after the pan was hot. Then I ground that flax seed up in an old coffee grinder. I added the ground flax to the stockpot.

About 30 minutes before serving the soup, I stirred in the sauteed onions and spices. I also cut the piece of pork into small cubes.

To serve, I ladled the soup into large bowls, dolloped about 1/2 c. plain yogurt into the middle and garnished with several sprigs of cilantro. The  flavor of the yogurt really complemented the spiciness of the soup.

I am so blessed to have kids who will eat anything and a husband who loves all kinds of flavors! I noticed that at least two of the boys went back and served themselves more soup right before bedtime!

The flavors and spicy warmth of this soup made it a perfect cold-weather dinner. Since we love Indian spices, this worked out just perfectly for us! I figure that between the brown rice, the sweet potatoes and the flax seed, this was also a very healthy dinner.

Barb

Of course, over time, this recipe has also evolved. Occasionally I'll forget that I know how to make fajitas for months at a time, but sooner or later, I realize that we're LONG overdue for this favorite meal.

Chicken or Beef Fajitas

There are two main variations of this recipe that I make--the regular recipe and the oh-shoot-I-forgot-to-plan-anything-for-dinner variation.

For the regular recipe, I marinate the following for a couple of hours:

• 2 medium-sized red onions, sliced
• 3 bell peppers (preferably, 1 green, 1 red, and 1 yellow....but I use whatever I can get for a reasonable price)
• 2/3 c. lime juice
• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 1 t. salt
• 1 t. Italian seasoning
• 1 t. paprika
• 1 t. chili powder
• 2 pounds of chicken or flank steak, cut into long strips
• 1/2 bunch of ciantro, washed and coarsely chopped

I pour about 2 T. olive oil into a large skillet and heat the skillet. When it's very hot, I dump the chicken, onions, marinade, and peppers. I stir and saute until the chicken is done.

I serve this mixture on warm flour tortillas with sour cream, slices of avocado, more cilantro, and salsa. DELISH!

If I'm having One of Those Days (kinda like today!) and hit 5:45 and still haven't even thought about dinner, this is how I handle fajitas.

FAST Fajitas

In a large skillet, I saute:

• 2 T. olive oil
• 2 red onions, sliced (although I must admit that today, it was just a plain yellow onion!)
• 2 large peppers (one pasilla and one hungarian hot pepper), coarsely chopped

Once those items are partway cooked, I added some hastily chopped chicken and continued to cook on a very hot burner. Once the chicken was nearly done, I stirred in a half a bunch of chopped cilantro. After the chicken was completely cooked, I removed the pan from the burner and stirred in about 1/2 c. lime juice and some chili powder and salt.

This mixture, which only took about 18 minutes to cook, I served on microwaved warm flour tortillas with chopped fresh tomatoes. It wasn't exactly the same as the marinated fajitas, but it tasted great and was pretty healthy for "fast food"!

Barb

Tortilla Soup

Saute:

• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 T. olive oil
• 3-5 peppers, coarsely chopped (I suggest using 1 poblano pepper, 1 jalapeno pepper, and several anaheim peppers, but use the peppers that are available and that are liked by your family)

In a large stock pot combine:

• 4 c. chicken broth
• 1 can diced tomatoes with chilis
• 1 can corn
• 1 t. cumin
• 1 t. chili powder
• 2 t. salt
• approx. 3 c. meat, cubed (I used leftover pork, but chicken is also a great option)
•  8 small corn tortillas, chopped into match-stick sized pieces
• sauteed onion and peppers

Simmer on a low burner for a couple of hours. The tortillas will break down and get incorporated into this thick soup. Add water as the tortillas start breaking down.  It should be thick but still soupy.

Right before serving, stir in:

• 1/2 c. sour cream
• 1/2 bunch chopped cilantro

Serve in large soup bowls. Garnish with a dollop of sour cream, more cilantro, a little grated Monterey Jack cheese, and a bit of salsa. I also baked up additional strips of corn tortillas that some of the boys crumbled on top of their soup.
This time, I made the mistake of using some mushrooms that needed to be used up. Not a good idea. They added an unpleasant texture and didn't really work with the rest of the flavors. I also added about a cup of half and half that needed to get used up.

The kids LOVED this soup and my swimmers pointed out that this would make a great pre-swim meet dinner because it's high in complex carbs as well as having ample protein from the meat.

This soup also reheats nicely in the microwave (which is how Josh ate it after his snowy hike home from school today.)

Barb

• the equivalent of a large can of chicken broth (use that wonderful turkey broth if you still have some)
• one kielbasa
• one large can of either crushed tomatoes or stewed tomatoes
• a chopped onion
• some chopped celery (especially the leaves)
• 1 package (family size) of tortellini (Recommended: the three cheese flavor)
• some V8 juice if you have some
• dried red pepper flakes...as much as your family will tolerate
• salt and pepper to taste

Cut the kielbasa into 1/2 inch slices and then quarter them. otherwise someone gets all the meat and someone gets only vegetables ;-(

Chop the onions and celery and start cooking them in butter or olive oil. Add the broth and then just add in the rest of the ingredients. Cook until the tortellini is done. Season with pepper flakes to taste and enjoy. The red pepper clears stuffy sinuses right up. Drinking this out of a mug is a great alternative to the soup and bowl routine.

Barb

Treats in a Jar

All this fun gift takes is a quart canning jar, a favorite recipe, and about 8 minutes.

These fun treats-in-a-jar are really all about layering. This year, we received cookies-in-a-jar from Darren and Sita, friends who can take a great deal of credit for getting us to North Carolina. For many years, I've made Brownies-in-a-jar. One year, I canned apple pie filling and gave pie-in-a-jar with a new pyrex pie plate to a couple of my sisters. Some years, I've made Russian Tea Mix in a jar. The common theme is JAR.

Start out with a clean quart canning jar. One year, I found decorative blue canning jars with old fashion wire bale lids at the dollar store. Some years, I buy a case of new canning jars from Walmart or the hardware store. Some years, I just look out in the garage to see what kind of empty jars I already own.

Into a clean, dry jar, measure the ingredients of your favorite recipe. Do not put in anything that is moist or oily. This means that I took my favorite brownie recipe and left out the eggs, oil, and vanilla. In a cookie recipe, leave out the eggs, shortening, and vanilla.

The trick to making these gifts really pretty is to be careful about layering. You COULD mix all the ingredients into one, but that doesn't look anywhere near as cool as layers do. Some of your recipes may need to be cut in half to fit into quart jars. It's important to experiment a bit to figure out what exactly will work best.

Put the lid on, place a circle of colored fabric or plastic wrap on top and tighten ring over it. Write up instructions on a small card or piece of paper and attach to the jar with a bit of ribbon or raffia.

Voila! Instant gift!

Barb