Friday Night Pizza Tradition

Awhile ago I posted about my favorite pizza places.  And I mentioned that some friends of ours from Cincinnati had a Sunday night Donato’s pepperoni pizza & movie tradition.  Something my husband envied and lobbied to copy but just never happened for us.  A couple weeks ago I was in the mood for pizza (something Jake never protests against) and it happened to be a Friday night.  I got to thinking that maybe we should start a Friday night pizza tradition.  But since we’ve endeavored to be better with our finances, ordering out every Friday night wouldn’t be permissible.  That didn’t stop me, though.  I decided that every Friday night that we’re home without other plans, we’ll have pizza of some variety, be that homemade, frozen or takeout.  (Not delivery, as that incurs a significant extra fee that would be silly to pay unless it’s blizzarding out.)  So far we’ve made it about a month and I’ve remembered to keep up the tradition.  I’m still excited about trying Orsi’s sometime in the near future.  I’ve even seen some commercials for them lately!  Anyway, if it’s Friday night and we’re at home, you know what’s going to be on our table.  Unless I forget.  :-)  Tonight is just such a night.  And it’s going to be homemade.  My recipe for homemade includes a Walmart brand pizza crust mix, Walmart brand pizza sauce, turkey pepperoni, Canadian bacon, mushrooms, Italian seasoning & shredded mozzarella.  I love ground beef on a homemade pizza, but it’s more work & more expense.  And Jake doesn’t love, love it so it’s just not worth it for us, I guess.  Feel free to let me know your recipe for homemade pizza!

Farmers Markets

A big ‘ole thank you to all you farmers out there who pack up your goods and haul ‘em to your local city to hock to all the urban folk who are too lazy to grow our own!  I grew up in the country, with a large garden to help tend and it was NOT my favorite summer activity.  I have some rose-colored fond memories of snapping beans into big bowls while watching movies in the basement.  But I have no such fond memories of weeding the garden or planting.  All that bending over!  This has caused me to continually postpone planting of any kind at my home.  We built a new construction house about 3 years ago and I have yet to plant any living thing except for one nice red maple tree that was donated to us as a house warming gift by a good friend from church (and to be honest, I didn’t really do the planting then either – Jake & a co-worker of his planted it, though I spread the mulch around it after).  In fact, I’ve even had a couple friends donate plants to me from their yards that I just didn’t get around to planting before they died.  I feel awful about that wastefulness!  But not awful enough to actually rectify it, I guess, since it’s happened more than once. 

In any case, I’m super grateful to the area farmers that sell me your wares at decent homegrown prices.  But I’m even more grateful to my gardening friends (that’s you, Aunt Marti!) that just give to me from the abundance of your garden bounty!!  I love it when my kitchen table produce basket is overflowing! 

Unfortunately, I only made it to our area farmers market twice this year.  But I hit the beginning & the end, so I feel fulfilled.  And this last trip produced a good-sized spaghetti squash for only $1.50, which I roasted via a recipe from www.skinnytaste.com that was super easy, and topped with regular store-bought spaghetti sauce (Hunt’s has become my friend due to its uber cheapness) mixed with Italian sausage.  Delicious & nutritious!  (I do cook my sausage in a Pampered Chef micro-cooker, using my Mix ‘N Chop to break it into small pieces, and then draining off all the fat through the drain holes in the lid, so it’s much less fatty, though lean ground turkey would be the healthiest way to go, probably.  Less tasty, though.  And I have to find a balance between health & tasty, so since I used the squash instead of noodles, the sausage stays.)

I was amused at my husband’s amazement with the spaghetti squash.  I grew up with such delicate cuisine, so I knew exactly what to expect.  But he was really surprised that we were substituting the squash for the noodles and then, as I was shredding up the squash, he asked where all of it was coming from.  Which made me chuckle.  It does take a bit of work to shred all the flesh of the squash with forks, and it is a bit surprising that so much squash is produced.  Oodles of “noodles” indeed!

One last note: I have a friend that used to live in Kansas City and last summer we went to the farmers market downtown there.  It. Was. Crazy. Amazing!!  It’s in an area that is surrounded by ethnic food shops, so that was an added delight.  But there were so many booths & lots of fun stuff in addition to food.  I highly recommend a visit to that area if you’re ever in town during the season.

From Bad to...Better

This is a tale of a bad lunch gone right.  Not something you encounter every day!

I recently had lunch at Famous Dave’s with my boss, his mentoring student, and my co-worker (Kim).  My boss (Jim) had a coupon for $10 off a “Feast” that fed 2-3 people.  The coupon was attached to an ad that had a picture for said “Feast”.  So he figured out that if we all went out, ordered the “Feast” & used his coupon, we could have a nice lunch for just $6 each.  Perfect plan.

When we arrived at the restaurant, sat down, ordered our drinks and proceeded to order our “Feast”, we encountered a problem.  Not a minor issue either.  The waiter informed us that the picture on the ad with the coupon was for a larger “Feast” than what the ad’s price proclaimed.  Nowhere on the ad did it specify that the “Feast” that was pictured was NOT the “Feast” that came with that price.  A small blurb under & off to the side of the picture declared that the larger “Feast” was also $10 off, but it didn’t say that the larger “Feast” was what was pictured.  This ad was very misleading and confusing.  And frustrating.  So my boss ordered the smaller “Feast” & another lunch plate of food, hoping that would be enough for all of us since the larger “Feast” that we were expecting would be double the price we had anticipated.  And then we waited.  And waited.  And waited some more.  This wasn’t the longest amount of time I’ve waited for food at a restaurant, but it began to feel like it.  And our waiter basically disappeared after bringing us our drinks. (On my boss’s recommendation I ordered the sweet tea.  Amazing!  Not too sweet, just right.) 

So far this wasn’t the most inspiring of lunches.  And though our waiter had not been outright rude, he hadn’t been the most helpful or sympathetic either.  But along came our food (finally!) and it appeared bigger than we had been expecting from the waiter’s previous description.  At first we feared that he’d brought us the bigger “Feast” by mistake, since that whole discussion had been confusing.  But he confirmed that it was indeed the smaller “Feast”.  So we dug in.  I began to suspect that perhaps he’d been a bit more generous with some of the portions than normal, especially with the corn muffins (which are fantastic, by the way).  I’m pretty sure the smaller feast comes with 2 and we’d been given 4, plus the one that came with the added lunch plate.  All of these muffins were a benefit to me, as I’d been thinking I might have to cough up some change to purchase an extra one since that’s my favorite part of any Famous Dave’s meal.  (And no, corn bread / muffins are not the same as regular bread in my book at all.  These corn muffins especially, since they’re sweet & moist.) 

From this point on, we all consumed generous portions of delicious food and had very stimulating conversation.  (I always enjoy lunches with Jim & Kim and Adam - the student - is a great addition as well.  Lots of laughter usually ensues.  And tales of fishing, which is an entirely foreign activity to me.)  Our waiter made numerous appearances to check on us, which was a pleasant change.  At one point, my boss even voiced our intrigue over the extra corn muffins and our waiter confessed his generosity in providing extra for us.  When it came time to leave, we were all cheery and content.  I had dropped a tube of chapstick under the table at one point during lunch, and was unable to find it.  When we were leaving, I tried glancing under the table but was still unable to locate it.  (I cannot be without chapstick!  If I have to go somewhere without my purse, I pocket my keys, my phone & my chapstick.)  Our waiter saw this and came over to actually move the benches and crawl underneath the table himself.  (It should be noted that this was after the check had been paid, too, so nothing was “in it” for him.  And their benches are quite solid and hefty.)  He was able to retrieve the lost item, something that wouldn’t have cost me more than $1 to replace, and gave us a pleasant farewell. 

It should be noted that right after we ordered, having had the coupon advertisement fiasco, there was discussion of contacting Famous Dave’s or asking for the manager and complaining about the false advertisement.  And it should also be noted that due to the quality of service during our lunch and after, no such discussion took place afterward.  (Though my boss said later that he still intended to call the company on principle about the advertisement due to the “bait & switch” sneak attack.)  This waiter did an almost impossible feat – he completely changed a negative dining experience into a most pleasant one.  Kudos, my friend!!

Thank Goodness For Minute Chicken & Rice

One night last week I got home from work late and only had a short amount of time before we’d have guests arriving for small group.  I had some chicken thawed in the fridge and a husband who was willing (perhaps not eagerly so, but still willing) to cut it up for me before I arrived home.  He also picked up the house a bit for me, too, so he definitely earned bonus points.  But that’s off topic.  Anyway, I came home & had to figure out if I had enough time to cook up the Honey Chicken Stir-Fry I’d planned and soon came to the conclusion that I did not have time to do so.  Before I burst into tears, I decided to try to think of something else that I did have time to make with this chicken.  And I came to the conclusion that Minute Chicken & Rice would fit the bill perfectly, which it did.  It may not be the most nutritious (Minute Rice is the high fructose corn syrup of rice, I know), but it was filling, delicious and works great in a pinch.  And if you don’t have it for dinner every night of the week (just in a pinch!) then you’re probably doing okay.  Plus, I always have the ingredients on hand.  So here’s my recipe for this lifesaver of a meal.

Minute Chicken & Rice

2 – 4 chicken breasts, trimmed & cut into cubes

2 C Minute Rice

1 C water

1 can cream soup (I prefer cream of chicken but any will do)

1 T oil or oil spray such as Pam

Spray large skillet with Pam or heat oil in skillet over medium heat.  When hot, add chicken and sauté until no pink is visible.  Add soup & water; stir til mixed well & bring to a boil.  Stir in rice & cover; simmer for 5 minutes or til rice is soft. 

Add a veggie for a side and you’ve got dinner, my friends!

Lisa’s Darn Good Chocolate Cake

I’m a fan of dessert.  And I’m a fan of chocolate.  I don’t think I’m over the top about chocolate the way some people are.  But I definitely don’t turn my nose up at it.  And I’m not the biggest fan of cake.  I like it fine, but there are definitely other desserts that can sway my vote away from cake.  However, there is one cake that I will eat any day of the week and twice on Tuesdays. (Tuesdays, instead of the traditional “Sundays” for that quote, because that’s the day my small group meets so that’s the day I’m most likely to get this cake since Lisa is in my small group.) 

Lisa Driver loves to bake.  She tells the tale of when she started baking a few years ago and decided to bake through a cake cookbook she received (The Cake Doctor, for those of you who are interested) and because of that her husband gained 50 pounds in just a couple months since she was so good at it.  And she is good at it!  I’ve had several of her baked goods and I can’t say I’ve had a bad one yet.  However, there is pretty much only one dessert of hers that I’m completely devoted to.  As in, undying devotion “devoted to”.   

I love to make desserts myself.  I like to be creative and see the elegant finished product.  And to have people rave over it.  I think I have a couple really good desserts up my sleeve that I can whip out from time to time.  But Lisa’s cake takes the prize.

This “Darn Good Chocolate Cake” is a chocolate bundt cake with chocolate chips mixed in (sometimes a peanut butter chip surprise or two as well but my all-time fave is just chocolate chips).  The cake is moist and delicious all by itself.  And I could maybe see myself being able to recreate the cake.  However, Lisa apparently took a whipped chocolate frosting recipe from the cake cookbook and tinkered with it until it reached a frothy state of perfection.  I used to be able to eat just frosting as a little girl, but these days I find that a little frosting goes a long way normally.  Not so with this frosting.  I could eat it with a spoon.  But it’s even better slathered onto this delicious cake. 

A big thank you to Lisa for introducing me to this delightful dessert and for making it on request whenever we all demand it (and we do demand it pretty often)!  There are few desserts I’d put in the same category as this cake.  And that goes for the restaurant variety as well.

A Dairy-Free Baby Shower Menu

Yesterday I hosted (and had lots of help!) a baby shower for a friend that is severely allergic to dairy.  So in her honor, we all pitched in and came up with a dairy-free menu to serve for her.  It was fun trying to come up with good options.  And I think we found some good stuff!  Here is what we served:  (any time “butter” is called for, I used Blue Bonnet Light, which is dairy-free)

Baklava Cups

1 pkg frozen mini fillo shells (15 shells in a pkg)

2/3 C chopped mixed nuts (preferably Pistachio or Pecan Lover’s Mix)

¼ C honey

1 tsp water

Fill frozen shells with nuts.  Place on a baking sheet (with sides) and bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.  Mix the honey and water.  Pour evenly into shells.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Crispix Sticky Snack Mix

6 C Crispix cereal (you can use Rice Chex for gluten-free)

½ C slivered or sliced almonds

½ C butter

½ C brown sugar

2 T light corn syrup

Bring butter, brown sugar & corn syrup to a boil in a large pot.  Cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat; add cereal & nuts until well coated.  Spread mixture onto wax paper to cool. 

Lemon Tartlets

Tart Shells:

½ C butter, softened

1/3 C sugar

1 egg white

1 ¼ C flour

Filling:

2 eggs

1/3 C sugar

1 T butter, melted & cooled

3 ½ T lemon juice

Powdered sugar

For shells, beat butter & sugar until light & fluffy.  Add egg white; blend well.  Add flour & mix just until well blended.  (May need more flour with dairy-free butter.)  Drop level scoops of dough into greased mini-muffin pan, using a small cookie scoop.  Press dough into cups with well-floured mini tart shaper.  For filling, lightly whisk eggs; whisk in sugar & butter.  Add lemon juice & mix well.  Pour filling evenly into tart shells.  Bake at 325 degrees for 20-22 minutes or until edges are light golden brown.  Let cool in pan for 5 minutes.  Carefully remove tartlets & cool completely on a wire rack.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, if desired.  (Makes 24 tartlets.)

Crunchy Macaroons

1 ½ C rice krispies cereal

1 ¼ C flaked coconut

2 egg whites

3 T sugar

1/8 tsp almond extract

Combine all ingredients.  With damp fingers, shape into small rounds on parchment paper-lined baking sheets.  Bake at 300 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.  Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. 

Skinny Taste Southwestern Black Bean Salad
1 15.5 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained

9 oz frozen corn, thawed

1 tomato, chopped

1 small hass avocado, diced

1/4 cup red onion, chopped

1 scallion, chopped

1 lime, juice of

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp cilantro (gross, never use it!)

salt and fresh pepper

Combine beans, corn, tomato, onion, scallion, cilantro, salt and pepper. Mix with lime juice and olive oil. Marinate in the refrigerator 30 minutes. Add avocado before serving.  Serve with baked tortilla chips or eat with a spoon!  (I actually think the tortilla chips mask some of the flavors, so I prefer without.)

Rumaki

2 cans whole water chestnuts, drained

1 lb bacon, cut in half (I used turkey bacon, which was perfect; if using regular, you will have to cook it some first before using)

14 oz ketchup

2 small plastic containers baby food peaches

3 T brown sugar

Splash of soy sauce

Wrap bacon around water chestnuts and secure with a toothpick (use uncolored).  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Mix remaining ingredients.  Pour over water chestnuts and bake for 30 more minutes.

We also served hummus with pita chips, a black bean dip (made by my friend Jenny) with veggies, fresh fruit and cupcakes that the guest of honor brought (silly thing felt she needed to bring something – too nice!).  And another friend brought the fixins for Shirley Temples, complete with cherries on top!  It was a great time and we introduced the guest of honor to some new foods that (she said) she loved. 

My Best Meal

I think every cook probably has his or her “best meal”, the meal they cart out for dinner guests or special occasions and know that it will be a crowd pleaser.  I honestly can’t nail down what my best meal would be as a cook.  I think it’s probably either stuffed Cornish hens, chicken pot pie or Italian grilled chicken with garlic herb potatoes and Aunt Marti’s corn.  And the meal would probably end with either strawberry trifle or devil’s food cake with penuche frosting.  As I’ve already posted the recipes for everything else, I’ll give you my recipe for strawberry trifle.

Strawberry Trifle

1 pint fresh strawberries, washed, destemmed & sliced

1 pkg vanilla pudding mix (I use sugar free, fat free) + milk to make pudding

Angel food cake, cut into chunks

8 oz Cool Whip

Mix milk & pudding mix.  Let stand for few minutes to firm up.  Fold in Cool Whip.  Add a dash of sugar to strawberries & mix.  In a nice clear bowl or trifle dish, layer cake chunks, pudding mix & strawberries.  Repeat until filled.  Cover & chill until ready to serve. 

What’s your best meal?