Sausage and Lentil Stew

It's finally that time again...time for iced coffee drinks! :)

I like Tully's more than Starbucks, and I love love love their Madagascar vanilla iced lattes.  I got mine sugar-free, and it was perfect on the most beautiful day we've had so far.  Lots of sun and warm enough for just one layer. :)

My mom and I had another "mom and girl day" today, which was fabulous.  It's something we used to do often, but life sped up and we hadn't really spent a full day together just having fun in way too long.  But over the break from school we're making up for it- lots of shopping and eating on Monday, and lots more today.

We went to visit my grandma today, and spent about an hour with her.  She may not be exactly the person she was before dementia, but I love her to pieces and I'm so proud to have her as my grandma.  It's hard to see her changing and loosing touch, but she's taken very good care of and always has lots of love sent her way.  

After visiting her we headed over to Whole Foods for lunch, where I had the Rainier sandwich and a dry vanilla bean soda.  Was I the only one who'd never had one before? It was great, and went perfectly with the sandwich.  It was basically caprese on a mini baguette, and I was thrilled with how much fresh mozzarella I got.

There's only one place to shop down there, and that's Bellevue Square.  I went in looking for jeans and came out with sandals.  But they were on sale, and I can't wait to wear them. :)  I'm thinking they'd be perfect for Easter.

Speaking of Easter, who's excited for lots of great food?  We're having two celebrations this year, one on Sunday and one the day before.  I'm working on a menu for Saturday and I'm way excited about some new recipes that sound perfect for an Easter brunch.

But I finally tried a new non-dessert recipe last night! Katie Lee is becoming my go-to girl when I want something totally delicious, and she didn't disappoint last night.  I made her Sausage and Lentil Stew, and it was perfect paired with a big green salad.

What are your Easter plans? 

Have a good rest of the week!

Love, 

Rosie

Cajun Cod with Praline Sauce over Dirty Rice

I can count on one hand the number of times in my life that I've grilled.  And the number of times that I've grilled completely by myself is...zero.  But on Wednesday night, after the first day of school, I grilled!  My dad had to make sure the fish was done (I have a fear of undercooking meat; one time while babysitting I set off the smoke alarm because I didn't want to give the kids undercooked hotdogs.  Surprisingly, they asked me back.), but I did the rest, and it felt great.  Maybe this will be the year I really get down to business and take on the grill :)

This is one of those recipes that I saw and put on my to-make list right away, because it sounded and looked amazing.  But I put all sorts of things on that list, and just because they get written down doesn't mean I actually make them...either I don't want to drain my wallet on expensive ingredients, we don't have a kitchen tool, or the recipe isn't really my style.  Which is a lame excuse, and one I think I'm getting over having made this.  Because this recipe wasn't my style- the grilling or the flavor combo.  But I was absolutely blown away by how perfectly the flavors blended and how it all came together.  

I'm eating the leftovers tonight, which I'm pretty excited about.  But not for a while, because I just ate six peanut butter cookies straight from the cooling rack.

Cajun Cod with Praline Sauce Over Dirty Rice

adapted from Annie's Eats

For the dirty rice:

1 link andouille or  sausage chopped

1/2 cup diced onion 

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 cups chicken or veggie broth

1 small bunch green onions, chopped

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup diced red bell pepper

3/4 cup long grain white rice

salt and cayenne pepper, to taste

For the praline sauce:

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/3 cup water

2/3 cup sugar

pinch salt

1 Tbsp butter at room temp

For the cod:

2 Tbsp olive oil

several generous dashes dried thyme

1 tsp salt

1 tsp paprika

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp pepper

4 cod fillets (you can use any white fish, halibut, tilapia, etc)

To make the dirty rice, cook the sausage a few minutes on medium-high in a large saucepan.  Stir in olive oil, onion, bell pepper, and garlic.  Cook just until softened, 2-3 minutes more.  Stir in the rice and cook for 1 minute.  

Mix in the broth.  Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cover and cook until the rice is tender, about 20 minutes.  Season with salt and cayenne pepper.  Stir in the green onions.

While the rice is cooking, make the praline sauce.  Toast the pecans in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until golden and fragrant, about 3-4 minutes.  

Transfer to a plate and set aside.  Return the pan to medium heat.  Combine sugar and water, bring to a simmer, lower the heat and cook until reduced by about half, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the pecans and salt and cook 1-2 minutes more.  Remove from heat and stir in butter.  Keep warm until served.

To prepare the fish, combine oil, paprika, thyme, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a bowl and whisk to blend.  Pat the mixture over both sides of the fish.

Bring grill to medium heat.  Grill until the fish is cooked through and flakes easily, flipping halfway (I took just over 10 minutes).  Serve over dirty rice with praline sauce.

*Notes:  the original praline sauce called for 1 Tbsp whiskey or apple juice.  I obviously don't have whiskey, but use it if you wish!  Also, the fish blend wasn't quite as "Cajun" as I imagined it would be.  It was good, but I would have liked a little more kick.  Maybe up the garlic and paprika, or even add a dash of seasoning salt.

Crock Pot Comfort Food

I'm always struck by the ridiculous, unimaginative names some recipes get.  For the Fourth of July I made Rainbow Gelatin Cubes, and this week I made 'Bean Dish'.  It was from an old spiral-bound compilation cookbook from a church or women's group, and there were many 'bean dish' recipes that were extremely similar.  I couldn't tell that one would be better or worse than another, and this one was easy to double and modify if I needed.  

Before I made this, I had never used a crock pot before.  It was never something I thought about doing, and there was never anything I wanted to make in a crock pot.  But as I was chopping and slicing I got so excited about how easy it was that I set my heart on learning the art of cooking with a crock pot.  Next on my crock pot list is a roast, probably with lots of veggies!

Here are some of the leftovers.  I roughly doubled the original recipe because we were taking it to a potluck, but since everyone brought a main and a salad/dessert, there were plenty of leftovers.  Hearty, comforting, and quick to reheat :)

Crock Pot Beans

(I'm including exactly what I used, because I loved the way it turned out.  Feel free to mix up the beans and meat, or the sauce if you want more kick, etc!)

1 16-oz can pinto beans, drained

1 16-oz can light red kidney beans, drained

1 16-oz can dark red kidney beans, drained

1 16-oz can cannellini beans (white kidney beans), drained

roughly one pound turkey bacon, chopped

1-lb can Bush's Baked Beans (don't drain, just throw it all in!)

1 lb ground beef, cooked and broken up

2 large onions, chopped

4 cloves garlic

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups ketchup

1 tsp Tabasco

2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp mustard

Combine all ingredients in a large crock pot (or half for a small) and let sit on high setting all day or until hot.  Stir after combining and throughout the day as you remember.

We took this to the Sayonara Party potluck, and one of our students, Tomoko, dished herself a bowl.  I love when people like the food I make, and it was especially gratifying to hear her say, "I like!" as she ate.  Both she and our other student Yuri were sweet girls, and I was sad to say goodbye on Saturday.  This is the first year I've had "sisters" my age, and it was tons of fun living with them for two weeks.  

Hitting up Krispy Kreme! On the left is my friend Eimi, whose family is from Japan, and then me, Yuri, and Tomoko.

They loved American food and would try anything.  Night after night we all agreed that we were "very full", and then went back for dessert.  On their last night here, they wanted to make Japanese food for us, and it was delicious.  There was a rice dish with tea and a crunchy topping, and a pancake called Okonomiyaki.  I was amazed enough that they didn't follow any recipes, and even more when Tomoko told us that she had never made it before, just watched her dad do it.  

She said she would email me the instructions from Japan, but I have a feeling it won't be the same if I try to make it :)

Loose Ends: French Onion Soup

True confessions: my camera is dead and since I don't have a battery charger I've been taking all my pictures on my phone.  It's not a bad phone (some sort of Android LG thing) but pictures could be better...even if they were taken with just a point-and-shoot.  So, last night I was sitting on a plane in San Francisco waiting to come home to Seattle area after a wedding (congrats Kelly and Justin!) and instead of reading I decided to delete all the old pictures off my phone, and I found eight pictures of French onion soup.  Mediocre pictures.  But to be honest, the soup itself was mediocre.  I'm not sure if it was me, my taste, or the recipe, but even French bread and gruyere couldn't redeem this one in my book.  My parents seemed to like it though, so maybe it was just me. 

Anyway, a few pictures for you:

Yum, onions are delicious!

Before it goes into the oven.  Does anyone else think it's weird to do soup on the stovetop for a few minutes and then just plop it in the oven?  Even if it is to get the bread soggy (why?) and melt the cheese.  Whatever. Haha.

With the French bread and lots of cheese!

And, dinner.  

If you want the recipe I used, you can find it here.

Oh, what this recipe taught me: how to open a wine bottle.  I had to ask my parents to buy the specific wine I wanted (Chardonnay) because I'm not 21, and I should have asked my dad to open it for me.  Because of course I was home alone while I was cooking, and all of a sudden it was time to add the wine.  Fifteen minutes, two how-to articles and two video tutorials later, I was back in business.  Ha.

I've checked out one Best Buy for a charger so far, but I struck out and found out that I'll have to go even further to find one.  But I just got the most exciting news EVER about an event happening in town tonight that I am dying to go to, so it looks like today might be that drive.  If everything works out, I'll have pictures for you tomorrow! :)

Tomato-Walnut Pesto

Pasta seems to be one of those go-to meals for busy nights.  It's so easy just to boil a pound of spaghetti and crack open a jar of sauce (or if you're fancy, thaw some frozen homemade sauce) and have dinner.   And sometimes that's just the thing.  We don't have it that often, but I love pasta- it doesn't matter what kind of noodle it is or what's on top, pasta is pasta is pasta.  Best prepared and eaten with family :)  I've made this pesto before, and it is a definite keeper- quick, simple, and healthy. 

I made it for dinner last night, and we ate it with my aunt's garlic bread and a big green salad.  It made a nice night-before-the-big-memorial-service-day dinner, and it would make a great any-night-this-week dinner as well :)

Tomato-Walnut Pesto

slightly adapted from Healthy Cooking magazine

1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes

1/2 cup boiling water

2 cups loosely packed basil leaves

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 clove garlic, peeled

1/3 cup reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable broth

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

3 Tbsp olive oil

*A few quick notes: the original calls for chicken broth, but if you're cooking for a vegetarian, go ahead and sub in the veggie broth.  Also, the original doesn't want the tomatoes packed in oil, but those are the only ones I've found at the grocery store.  If you can't find them packed in water, simply reduce the olive oil to 2 or so tablespoons and then adjust as needed.  One of the things that makes this such a fabulous recipe is that it is unbelievable easy to tweak everywhere and still produce a delicious result.

Place tomatoes in a small bowl and add boiling water.  Let stand for 5 minutes.

Place basil, cheese, and garlic in a food processor; cover and pulse until chopped.  Add tomatoes with liquid, broth, walnuts, salt, and pepper.  Cover and process until blended.  While processing, gradually add olive oil in a steady stream.

Serve immediately over (fun) pasta!

Ratatouille Bisque with Parmesan Croutons

Whenever I hear ratatouille, I think of the cute movie about the little rat who wants to be a chef.  I don't remember exactly how this particular dish fits in, but I think the rat teaches the young man to make ratatouille...? Anyway, this recipe is a fun take on that dish.  The soup's healthy (pretty much all veggies), and if the croutons are not as nutritionally impressive, they are delicious and are perfect with the soup.

It isn't hard, but peeling/chopping/cubing all the veggies takes a little time and effort.  The reward is great though, delicious and wholesome comfort food :)

Ratatouille Bisque with Parmesan Croutons

Slightly adapted from Modern Comfort Food

Soup:

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 large onion, peeled and sliced

5 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced

2 red bell peppers, sliced

1 small eggplant

1 medium zucchini

Two 14.5-oz cans chopped tomatoes

3/4 tsp dried thyme

generous dash parsley

1 tsp sugar

1/8 tsp cayenne

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1/4 or 1/2 cup half-and-half

salt and pepper to taste

Croutons:

thin slices French bread (however many croutons you want)

butter

grated parmesan cheese

1. In a large pot over medium heat, sauté the onions and garlic for a few minutes or until golden.  Stir in the bell peppers, eggplant, and zucchini.  Stirring often, sauté uncovered for another 5 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

2.  Stir in the tomatoes with juice, broth, thyme and parsley, sugar, and cayenne.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes, until everything is cooked through. 

3.  In a blender (in batches), puree the mixture until smooth and return to the pot.  Stir in the half-and-half and more broth is the soup is too thick.  Add salt, pepper, more herbs, etc as you want.

4.  For the croutons, broil the slices of bread on a baking sheet until golden on one side.  Flip them over and butter each slice.  Sprinkle cheese over each one and broil until cheese is melted and bread is crisp.

Believe it or not, this was the first time I've used fresh garlic.  Usually I pull out the jar of minced garlic from the fridge, but I loved using fresh cloves :) They smell sooo good!

Cutting board part way through.  Lots of compost for my mom's worm bin- haha.

Onions and garlic are in the pot!

Yum.

 YUM.

Tasty French bread...

dressed up with butter and cheese :)

The finished product!  I love the pretty orange color of the soup.

I also made a dessert last night, one that I'm pretty proud of :) Coming later!

Pumpkin Wheat Honey Muffins and Avocado Bean Wraps

The goal for today was to find something to make with some of the rest of the canned pumpkin I opened for the pumpkin banana bread.  I wanted to do something for breakfast, and settled on Pumpkin Wheat Honey Muffins.  These make a great breakfast- healthy, filling, and absolutely delicious.  I love that the walnuts and raisins add more texture and go so well with the flavor of the pumpkin.

Pumpkin Wheat Honey Muffins 

from allrecipes

The original said this makes 12 muffins, but I got 14.

1/2 cup raisins

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin tin.  Place the raisins in a bowl and cover with hot water.  Let stand for a few minutes- this will plump the raisins.

In a large bowl, stir together the whole wheat flour, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Make a well in the center and put in eggs, pumpkin, oil, and honey.  Drain raisins and stir in along with walnuts. Spoon into muffin cups.

Bake 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

They really aren't that full of raisins- I forgot to stir them in and sprinkled a few on top of each muffin before they baked.  Haha.

Until this afternoon there was an avocado sitting on our counter, getting riper by the day.  Our go-to way to use avocados is guacamole on a Friday or Saturday night.  My dad grills burgers almost every weekend, and we usually make the guacamole on burger night.  But there was no way this one could last until next weekend, and so I decided to find a new and exciting way to put it to use :)

After looking at a lot of recipes online, I decided to make Avocado Bean Wraps, adapting it for what we had on hand.  The wraps were quick and tasty, and pretty healthy too!

Avocado Bean Wraps


adapted from Woman's Day

1 ripe avocado, mashed
dash olive oil
cumin
chopped carrots
chopped bell pepper
1 can black beans
chopped cilantro
flour tortillas

Cook carrots and bell pepper in olive oil and cumin for a minute or two.  Just long enough to soften the carrots a tad and pick up the cumin flavor.  Mix with drained black beans and cilantro.  Stir in avocado.  Spread on flour tortillas, wrap up, and enjoy!

I used two long carrots and one bell pepper and we got 3 wraps, using 8-inch tortillas.

There's no must-obey ratio for these ingredients.  You could also throw in lettuce, tomato, etc.  We topped with salsa and sour cream.

I promise it looks better in real life... :)

Roasted Sausages, Peppers, and Onions with Cheesy Bread and Black Pepper & Misc. Desserts

Not a whole lot to say on this one.  It was fairly quick and easy, and we already had the ingredients (or those that could be easily substituted).  Oh. And it was delicious.  Perfect for a Monday night after a devastating weekend when all you want is good food and sleep.

Roasted Sausages, Peppers, and Onions with Cheesy Bread and Black Pepper

loosely adapted from Rachael Ray

1 package of 4 chicken sausages (sorry I don't remember exactly what size- it didn't really matter to me.)

Onion

Red bell pepper

Green bell pepper

olive oil

garlic

1/4 cup tomato sauce, thinned with a little water

Bread (I used the leftover baguette from our baguette pizzas)

parmesan cheese

garlic powder

olive oil

black pepper

Put the sausage in the oven at 425 for about 20 minutes, or until internal temp reaches 165 degrees.  If you use pre-cooked chicken sausage like I did, just get them nice and hot.  Heat the olive oil and garlic in a skillet, about 3 minutes.  Add the onions and bell peppers and sauté.  Add tomato sauce thinned with water and stir.  When the sausages are done, add them to the vegetable mix and keep hot until ready to serve with bread.  

Change oven setting to broil.  Drizzle bread with olive oil and sprinkle garlic powder and parmesan cheese on top.  Grate black pepper over cheese and broil until bread is crusty and cheese is melted.  

Veggies before being sautéed.

Bread ready to go into the oven...

Bread ready to come out of the oven!

Finished sausage and veggies!

The whole spread.  I threw together a green salad as well.

And a few miscellaneous desserts, some ideas from the Food Network magazine:

Broiled Banana Split: split a banana and sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.  Wrap in foil and broil until warm, and top with walnuts, chocolate chips, and whipped cream.

Dipped Strawberry: dip a strawberry in sour cream and roll in brown sugar.  That simple.

Both of these desserts are quick and easy, but neither was quite as satisfying as I'd hoped.  

Risotto with Shrimp and Peas and Easy BBQ Sauce

Since the AP World History test is over, the class has been...a little less rigorous than it was before the test. That's not to say we don't do anything, but things move a little more slowly.  Actually, we finished watching "Hotel Rwanda" today, and it was excellent.  But I didn't find the movie we started after to be as intriguing, and I spent several quality minutes on Rachael Ray's website looking for a good dinner recipe.  I found one that I liked the looks of, and since we already had everything it was a go.

This was my first time making risotto and I'll be honest that I was a little concerned about the delicate little grains of rice having to absorb so. much. liquid.  But it turned out beautifully, and made a delicious dinner :) I made sure to double it, so we have plenty of leftovers!

Risotto with Shrimp and Peas


adapted from Every Day with Rachael Ray

(These are the original, undoubled numbers.  I made a few changes though- the original recipe calls for
3 tablespoons of butter and when I doubled everything else I didn't double the butter.  I also ignored the set shrimp amount and threw in as much as I thought would go well.  Additionally, I eyeballed the onions and lemon zest.  The numbers for the add-ins are pretty forgiving, but I stuck to the rice/liquid measurements very closely.)

1 (14.5 oz) can chicken broth
3 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 cup arborio rice
salt and pepper
8 oz peeled, cooked small shrimp (just as much as you want)
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1 lemon, zested

1.  In a small saucepan, heat the chicken broth and 1 3/4 cups water over high heat until steaming; cover and keep warm.  Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, melt 1 tbsp butter over medium heat and add onions.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until soft (about 5 minutes).  Add the rice and 1/2 tsp salt and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes.

2.  Stir in 1 cup of the broth mixture, bring to a simmer and cook, stirring until the liquid is absorbed, 2 or 3 minutes.  Maintaining a low simmer, continue to add the broth mixture 1/2 cup at a time, stirring frequently and allowing the rice to absorb the liquid.  Cook until the rice is creamy and tender, 20 to 25 minutes.  add the rest of the butter, shrimp, peas, and half the cheese and cook and stir until the cheese has melted.  Stir in the lemon zest.

I found that it was very creamy and there was plenty of flavor, but I did add a but of pepper.  Season yours with the remaining cheese, salt, pepper, and butter if you like!

My aunt told me how to make a super easy barbecue sauce that tastes great and takes about 30 seconds to whip up.  You probably already have everything you need- ketchup, worcestershire sauce, and liquid smoke.  We also added a little Tabasco for a little kick, and it was great.  The nice thing about this sauce is that you can adjust it as much as you want to get the exact taste you want, and make it as spicy or as mild as you want.  And it is delicious on a pulled pork sandwich! :)