Christmas Dinner

Which, for us, is really Thanksgiving: Part 2.

I found a turkey recipe years ago in a Southern Living cookbook that works.  The turkey always usually comes out perfect and has a really good flavor.  This year I was feeling ambitious.  I've failed at dressing and mac & cheese before, but I planned on trying again.  Eventually I'll get it right...right?

Cornbread Dressing from Southern Living

• 2 T butter
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 (8-oz.) package sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1 recipe Andrew's Cornbread (see below)
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 1/4 cup firmly packed fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 2 T fresh sage, chopped
• 1 t salt
• 1/2 t pepper
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth

Melt 2 T butter with oil in a large skillet over medium heat; add mushrooms, celery, and bell pepper, and saute 8 to 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Crumble the cornbread into a large mixing bowl. Stir in mushroom mixture, half-and-half, and next 6 ingredients. Add chicken broth, and gently stir until moistened. Spoon into a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish. Bake, covered, at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden.

Andrew's Cornbread

• 1 t vegetable oil
• 2 cups self-rising yellow cornmeal
• 2 T sugar
• 1 T self-rising flour
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 T mayonnaise

Brush a 10-inch cast-iron skillet with oil, and heat in a 425° oven 5 minutes. Stir together cornmeal and next 3 ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Stir in buttermilk, eggs, and mayonnaise, stirring just until blended. Pour batter into hot skillet. Bake at 425° for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown and cornbread pulls away from sides of skillet. Remove to a wire rack, and cool 5 minutes.

My notes: I wasn't fond of the cornbread.  The small amount of oil I used was still too much and it caused the crust to do something strange.  Plus, it didn't crumble well...it ended up chunky and...just weird.  I loved the flavor, though, so I think next time I'll use my own cornbread recipe (the one on the bag of cornmeal with a little brown sugar added).

Creamy Four-Cheese Macaroni from Cooking Light

• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 2/3 cups skim milk
• 3/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese
• 1/2 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
• 3 ounces light processed cheese (Velveeta) 
• 6 cups cooked elbow macaroni (about 3 cups uncooked)
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/3 cup Panko bread crumbs
• 1 T butter or stick margarine, softened

Preheat oven to 375°. Place flour in a large saucepan. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cook over medium heat until thick (about 8-10 minutes), stirring constantly. Add cheeses and cook 3 minutes or until cheese melts, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; stir in macaroni and salt. Spoon mixture into a 2-quart casserole coated with cooking spray. Combine bread crumbs and butter in a small bowl; stir until well-blended. Sprinkle over macaroni mixture. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Bacon Wrapped Green Beans

• fresh green beans, trimmed
• bacon
• brown sugar
• butter

The amount of beans needed will depend on how many people you plan to feed.  For 5 adults, I did about 1lb.  Cook green beans - either steam or boil - just until done. Remove from heat and drop into ice water to stop the cooking process.  Wrap 8-10 beans with one piece of bacon, secure with a toothpick.  Melt about 1/2 cup of brown sugar with 1/2 stick of butter (depending on how many you're cooking).  We tossed these on the grill to cook the bacon, but that might not have been the best idea since I looked outside to see flames.  I ended up putting them in a dish and finishing them in the oven after I brushed the butter & brown sugar on them.  A better idea would actually be to brush them with the butter mixture first and cook them in the oven at about 400 for 20 minutes, or until the bacon is done.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

I've made a butternut squash soup before that is pretty good, but this one was much easier!  And it had a different taste to it. 

Curried Butternut Squash Soup from Weight Watchers

• 3lbs butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
• 2 medium onions, peeled and quartered
• 29 oz chicken broth
• 1 1/2 t curry powder
• salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425.  Place squash, onion & broth in a large dish and bake for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally.  Remove from oven and let cool about 15 minutes. 

In a small skillet, toast the curry powder over medium heat until fragrant, about 15 minutes.  Add the curry powder, salt & pepper to the veggies and puree.  I used an immersion blender to puree the vegetables, but you can also use a food processor or a blender.

We served this over light 4 cheese ravioli (Cooper was a fan!) with a salad.  You can also add a little sour cream and green onion.

WW Points: 3 (without ravioli) for 3/4 cup soup and 2 t fat free sour cream

Red Beans & Rice

Since we've spent almost 16 hours combined in the car in about a week, I used the time to purge my magazines.  I had a large stack to flip through, so I tore out recipes that looked good and put them all in a binder once we got home.  If I get around to cooking the recipe and it flops, I'll toss it.  If not, then I guess it's a keeper.

The first recipe I tried ended up being a keeper.  I'd post the Weight Watchers points value, but they changed their whole system.  I'm not sure if I like it...but I will have to give it a try.  I mean, I paid for 3 months when I started.  :-)

Slower Cooker Red Beans & Rice adapted from Southern Living

• 1 lb dried red beans
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 green bell pepper
• 3/4 lb smoked turkey sausage, sliced thin
• 1 sweet onion
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 3 celery ribs
• 1 T creole seasoning
• 1 14oz can diced tomatoes

Chop the peppers, onion & celery.  Add all ingredients to a slow cooker with 7 cups of water.  Cook on high for 7 hours, or until the beans are tender.  Serve over cooked rice.

Updated 3/2/11 - I did the WW PointsPlus calcuation for this and if you get 8 servings (should be easy - it made quite a bit) then you're looking at 6 PP for the red beans plus whatever rice you add.  1 cup cooked brown rice is 5 PP, but 1/2 a cup (3 PP) is more than enough for a serving.

I guess it is not like riding a bike.

I can't tell you the last time I baked something that wasn't an entree.  I remember baking cookies before Cooper arrived.  Since then...I'm not even sure I've made anything that sort of resembles dessert.  I've had good intentions - I wanted to bake kolaches as a joke for a friend.  I would have baked a cake for my coworkers birthday, but he requested Baskin Robbins.  And who am I to argue over Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream?

So I really can't remember baking anything since last Christmas.  I felt like Tuesday night was amateur hour in my kitchen.  I planned on baking two Pumpkin Rolls.  And that's where it all went south.  I didn't have enough sugar.  Ok, no big deal...I'll make one Pumpkin Roll and a batch of Pumpkin Pie Bites.  Except I didn't have pie crust.  Because I'm not a pie person.  They usually flop...so why bother?  Never fear, I had a box of phyllo dough in the freezer from, well, a while ago.  Only you're supposed to thaw it out for 5 freaking hours in the fridge!  I took a risk and popped it in the microwave on defrost, rolled them out, had Jason cut out little circles (it tooks some elbow grease) and baked away.

But that's not everything.  Major fail 2: running out of powdered sugar.  WTF!  I clearly remember having about 15 bags of powdered sugar in my pantry at one time because I kept forgetting I had it and bought more.  Apparently that was a long time ago.  Jason was nice enough to run to the store so I could make the Pumpkin Roll filling.

Major Fail 3: it turned out more like donut glaze.  I am still not 100% sure what happened.  First, let me back up.  The cake baked funky and I had to slice off a few inches.  Jason was happy to "test" them out though.  I kept telling myself "I can make this work" but I just couldn't figure out the filling!  I think it is probably because I used fat free cream cheese, but still.  Of course, if I'd had my head on I would have realized that I just needed to keep adding powdered sugar to thicken it up.  Instead I to started pouring the filling on the cake and that crap went everywhere.  I had glaze all over the counter.  I tried rolling the cake and more glaze went on the counter.  In the end I just wrapped it up quickly and put it in the fridge.  I'm going to pour the rest of the glaze on top and serve it that way.  It tastes good...but it just wasn't that pretty.

I think I need to practice baking more often.  Especially considering I'm doing Cooper's birthday cake next week.  This could get ugly.

Pumpkin Pie Bites adapted from Bakarella

• 1 box phyllo dough
• 8oz cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 2 eggs
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 t pumpkin pie spice

Preheat oven to 350.  Roll out about 6 sheets of phyllo dough and cut circles with a cookie cutter, about 4".  Press the dough into a greased mini-muffin pan.  Combine all of the remaining ingredients.  Pour about 1 T in each cup and bake 12-15 minutes.

Pumpkin Pasta

A few weeks ago I flipped through a magazine at my mom's house.  I came across a recipe for Pumpkin Pasta and it sounded pretty good.  To me.  Jason made this gagging noise when I told him about it.  But, being the good boy he is, he agreed to try it...and order pizza if needed.

Last week I picked up the stuff at the grocery store and...it was approved.  We adjusted the recipe a little bit, but next time I make it I'd really like to try sticking with the way it was written.  I doubled the amount of sausage and added more pasta, so it wasn't quite as pumpkiny.  And the second night I added in more seasoning - mostly pepper and a little oregano.

Pumpkin Pasta

• 8oz Italian Sausage (I used 16oz sweet Italian turkey sausage)
• 1 can pumpkin
• 5 sage leaves, chopped
• 8 oz rotini pasta (I used whole wheat)

Cook the pasta according to the package directions.  Saute the sausage until brown in a little oil.  Add in the chopped sage leaves, saute for another minute.  Stir in 1 cup of pasta water and the pumpkin.  Drain the pasta and toss everything together.  As mentioned, I added in some salt & pepper, plus a little oregano, for some added flavor.  It has a creamy texture - almost like penne a la vodka without the tomatoes.

WW PointsPlus: 8 PP per serving, 4 servings

French Onion Soup...or so I thought

My favorite soup soup is French Onion from Panera Bread.  I could probably eat this every day for lunch.  But Panera Bread is expensive, people.  $10 for half a sandwich and a cup of oh-so-yummy soup on a daily basis just won't fly around my house.  And unfortunately we don't have a Panera Bread close to work so I can't justify that as my less than once weekly lunch out.

The temps here finally dropped (we ran the heater this weekend!) and I figured it was a perfect time to try the soup.  Especially since we're climbing back into the mid-80's later this week.  Ugh.  To stick with my diet, I searched and found a recipe on Weight Watchers.

French Onion Soup adapted from WeightWatchers.com

• 1 T butter
• 3 vidalia onions, cut in half and sliced thin (I used sweet yellow)
• 6 cups vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 t dried thyme
• 1/4 t black pepper
• grated Parmesan cheese (2 T per serving)

Melt the butter in a large soup pot.  Add the onions, sauteing about 20 minutes.  Add in the remaining ingredients and simmer 20-30 minutes.  If you have oven safe soup bowls, you can scoop the soup into a bowl with a serving of your favorite baguette and the cheese, melting it under the broiler for a few minutes.  The recipe above makes 4 servings at 3 points each, however add points for the bread.

Now here is where I'm unsure.  I wasn't a fan of the recipe.  I was bland.  Like really bland.  I added more spices.  And more pepper.  And still...eh.  I just didn't like it.  Jason did, but I wanted it to taste exactly like the soup from Panera.  And it didn't.  So tonight I'm going for round two.  We consumed most of the broth (what wasn't soaked up by onions) and I have a ton of onions left.  I'm going to toss them back into the cast iron skillet and saute them until they are really brown and caramelized.  Then I'm going to add in beef broth and not vegetable broth.  And...we'll see.  Wish me luck.

Goals

I'm in sales.  My life revolves around goals.  Goals for how many phone calls I make.  How many emails I send.  The number I clients I see outside of the office...and in the office.  How many times I have lunch each month with clients.  And, of course, I have revenue goals.  I think being so goal-centric makes me set goals outside of work.  Goals for when I finish doing laundry, when we clean the house, everything I want to do before Cooper's birthday party.  I set "goals" for Christmas in how much money we're going to spend.  I guess that's more of a budget, than a goal. 

Anyway...I'm also not the best a meeting my goals.  I do great at work.  But that's how I get paid.  At home...things fall through the cracks rather quickly.  The Halloween costume for Cooper that I was going to make 2 weeks ago?  Yeah - I bought the fabric last night.  So when I started this diet I was asked to set a goal for how much I want to lose.  That's the point of a diet, right?  To reach a "goal weight?"  I'm not quite there yet, but I'm pretty darn close.  And yesterday I hit my first mini-goal.  5lbs.  I would have loved to drop 10 before our vacation, but I decided to be a little more realistic.  ((remember all of those lunches I'm supposed to have with clients?))  Instead I decided on 5.  I actually hit 5.5 and I still have 2 weeks before our vacation!  Score.

Pizza Pizza!!

I found this recipe in one of my Weight Watchers cookbooks years ago.  We've made it any time we've had a bit of leftover something - chicken, taco meat, etc.  Quick and easy!  Plus - you can adjust the ingredients to fit your points for the evening.  Last night I used 5 points.

Mexican Pizza

Whole Wheat Tortilla - 1

2oz cooked chicken - 2

Shredded 2% Mexican Blend Cheese - 2

Salsa - 0

Bake at 350 for 7-10 minutes.

We've also changed this up a bit with jarred pasta sauce and mozzarella.

What diet?

This weekend my cousin and his wife came to visit.  It was a last minute thing, but we haven't seen them in a while and we were looking for a chance to open some of our California wine.  Jason and I are going back in two weeks (yay!!) and we need to make room in the wine fridge for the wine we plan on bringing back.

We grilled some steaks and I wanted some sort of potatoes as a side.  I usually have the hardest time keeping mashed potatoes warm after we cook and mash them, so I decided to try these au gratin potatoes again. 

Lesson learned: some recipes are not meant to be made healthy. 

Last time I made these I used Half & Half and 2% shredded cheddar cheese.  Don't do that.  They were ok...but after making them Sunday, it's just not worth it.  Save the recipe for a day when you want something rich and creamy and so not good for you.

Potato Gratin Cups adapted from So Tasty So Yummy

• potatoes
• gruyere cheese, shredded
• heavy cream
• salt & pepper

Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray.  Preheat the oven to 350.  Slice potatoes 1/8" thin and cut to fit in muffin tin.  Layer potatoes in muffin tin, filling it about 1/3 of the way.  Top with a thin layer of shredded cheese, salt & pepper.  Repeat until full and pour 1 T of heavy cream over the top of each muffin cup.  They bake down so if the filling seems too tall, don't worry.  Bake 25 min, until it starts to brown on top.

Cluck cluck

Any day now I feel like I may sprout feathers and start clucking.  We're eating a LOT of chicken these days.  It's healthy, easy to prepare and can be used a hundred different ways.  I buy a huge package of chicken breasts or tenderloins each week and either use them in a recipe (like the previous post) or I grill the whole package for tacos, salads, sandwiches...you name it.  Plus, Cooper seems to be a huge fan of chicken.  Veggies...not so much these days.  But chicken...doesn't stand a chance.

This week I marinated some chicken and Jason threw it on the grill Sunday afternoon.  And OMG was it so freaking good!  You know those parties you get invited to and think "what the heck am I going to buy at this party?"  I always want to go.  I like getting to visit with friends, see the products, and of course the hostess usually has a wide variety of snacks.  I like snacks.

Earlier this year I went to a Homemade Gourmet party.  That was a first...but I like to cook.  Plus, I was given strict instructions to bring Cooper.  He was so tiny then!  And stationary...Anyway, I bought a few things - mostly dip mix type things.  But I also grabbed the Cilantro Citrus marinade.  I added the olive oil as directed and put the chicken in the fridge overnight.  The outside of the chicken charred a bit because of the oil, but we like it that way.

Since we've been cooking quite a bit of chicken I tend to try a mix it up a bit with the marinade - adding in a variety of flavors each time to see what I can come up with.  This was by far the best.  Just try it - trust me, you won't be sorry!

Swiss Enchiladas

Only they were not Swiss.  Last week Kelly and Eileen came over for the afternoon so that we could cook some dinners for the freezer.  I mean, if you're going to mess up your kitchen you may as well double the recipe and hang out with a friend at the same time.  I chose two recipes and we each went to the store for what we needed.

We also learned a valuable lesson.  This is not something that should be attempted when at home with two children and no husbands.  Especially if one child has boycotted his naps (ahem *Cooper* ahem) and is cranky.  It was like herding cats.  Or something.

In the end, we managed to get two recipes completed to put in our freezers.  This recipe had to be alterted a bit so that it was a little more Weight Watchers friendly.  I thawed it out Wednesday so that Jason and I could have dinner.  It was good the first night when I threw it in the oven, but the second night out of the microwave...it just didn't taste as good to me.  The sauce gets a little funky in the microwave.  Jason and I both decided that it was ok, but we'd rather have some other kind of enchiladas than try this again.

Swiss Enchiladas from Cooking Light

• 1 T olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
• 2 cups chopped cooked skinless, boneless chicken breast (about 2 breasts)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 4.5oz cans diced green chiles, undrained
• 1 14.5oz can petite diced tomatoes, undrained
• 2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
• 2 T all-purpose flour
• 1/4 t salt
• 6 8" whole wheat tortillas (low-fat)
• 2 cups shredded 2% milk Mexican blend cheese, divided

Preheat oven to 350.  In a large nonstick skillet, heat olive oil.  Add onion and cook 5 minutes, or until tender. Stir in chicken, garlic, chiles, and tomatoes. Reduce heat, and simmer 7 minutes or until liquid evaporates. Set aside.
Combine milk and flour in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook 5 minutes or until mixture thickens, stirring constantly with a whisk. Stir in salt.
Warm tortillas according to package directions. Spoon about 1/2 cup chicken mixture and about 2 1/2 tablespoons cheese down center of each tortilla; roll up. Arrange filled tortillas in the bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Pour milk mixture over tortillas, and top evenly with remaining 1 cup cheese. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until cheese is bubbly. Remove from oven.

Serving size: one tortilla, 7pts per serving

Chicken & Spinach Pasta

When I joined WW last week I spent some time looking for easy recipes to cook and plugging the ingredients into WW to get a points value.  This was the first recipe I tried and all three of us loved it.  Yes, I gave Cooper a few bites both nights we had this for dinner.

Chicken & Spinach Pasta Bake adapted from MyRecipes.com

• 8oz uncooked whole wheat penne
• 1  T  olive oil
• 1  cup chopped onion
• 1  10oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 3  cups cubed cooked chicken
• 1  14.5oz can Italian-style diced tomatoes
• 1  8oz container light chive-and-onion cream cheese
• 1/2  t salt
• 1/2  t  pepper
• 1 1/2 cups shredded part skim mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 375.  Cook pasta according to the package.  Saute onions in olive oil until tender.  I actually cooked the chicken & onions together.  Transfer chicken & onions to a bowl.  Drain spinach and add to chicken.  Stir in pasta, cream cheese, tomatoes, salt & pepper.  Stir well and spoon into a 9*13 baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.  Sprinkle evenly with mozzarella cheese, cover and bake for 30 minutes.  Uncover and bake for another 15 minutes.

Next time I will make a point to spread the spinach out a little more.  Some bites were all spinach and others...not so much.  I think I could also add another can of tomatoes to add a little more veggies.

6 Servings, WW points: 7 UPDATED 3/2011 - 9 Weight Watchers PointsPlus

Weekly Menu

This week I'm trying to get back into the swing of being on a diet.  In the past, I could look at a package and give it a pretty good guess at how many points that item would be.  I was also really good at guessing the right portion size.  Not quite so much anymore...  This week we're sticking with a pretty basic, yet healthy, menu.

Monday: Hot Dogs, Chips & Salsa (8)

Tuesday & Wednesday: Grilled Chicken Pitas with Oven Fries (8.5)

Thursday & Friday: Cabbage Casserole (5)

Grocery Shopping

Monday I took the plunge and rejoined Weight Watchers.  I've done it before a few times and when I do it right (because sometimes we all cheat) I do well.  So, here we go again.  I have some goals in my head of where I want to be.  Some are numerical and some are in the form of a certain dress...or pair of pants...that have been hanging in the back of the closet for far too long.

So, Monday night after Cooper's bath I headed to Kroger.  Jason went over the weekend and picked up a few things for me, but I needed to make one more trip to round out the week.  And in the process, I realized that I've completely forgotten how much I love grocery shopping.

First, I'm freak about shopping.  I always park on the same side of the store and start with the produce.  Which is on the opposite side of the store.  It drives me crazy when Jason parks on the produce side.  Then I go from produce to frozen foods, up and down each aisle.  Not that I always need something on each aisle, but you never know!  The problem with Cooper is that he makes it too the paper goods aisle and then he's over the grocery store.  Last trip I bought a roll of paper towels just to keep him happy.  And that usually means we rush through frozen foods and totally skip the pre-packaged deli stuff.

I was able to take my time, calculate points for one brand over another and only buy what I need.  I know - I'm a freak.  The grocery store can be very boring for some and for others it is just a pain in the...  But it's my happy place.

Next to Barnes & Noble and Hobby Lobby.

Grilled Artichokes

If you'd asked me 5 years ago if I liked artichokes I would have probably said no.  Or something more like "Ew."  Since then, I've had artichoke hearts a few times on pizza and in pasta...to thankfully realize that I do like artichokes.  And last spring when we took a trip to San Francisco we took a risk and ordered an appetizer of grilled artichokes.  Jason and both liked it and since then I've bought artichokes a few times to grill ourselves.  They're usually pretty expensive, so I wait until they go on sale for $1 each.  They can also be a little intimidating, but with a little help from Google, I figured out how to cook them properly.

Grilled Artichokes from myrecipes.com

2 artichokes
1 lemon
Olive oil

Salt & Pepper

Plunge the artichokes in cold water repeatedly to clean them.  Trim the stem and cut about 1" off of the top of the artichoke.  Slice off the bottom loose layer of leaves.  Using kitchen shears, trim about 1/4" off of the top of the remaining outer leaves.  Slice the artichokes in half.

Slice the lemon and drop into a pot of water to boil.  Using a steamer basket, steam the artichokes for 15-20 minutes, until the stem is tender.  Remove from the basket and let the cool slightly.  Use a spoon to remove the "choke."  Brush with olive oil and season with salt & pepper before grilling them.  Grill for 5-7 min on medium heat.

Garlic Lemon Mayo adapted from myrecipes.com

1/2 cup mayo

Lemon zest

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 clove garlic, pressed

crushed red pepper, to taste

Combine all of the ingredients and chill for 15-20 minutes before serving with the artichokes.

Getting back to what I love

When I started my blog it was supposed to be a "cooking blog."  I hoped that it would help me cook different things and get out of the same old thing rut.  It worked...for a while.  Then I would forget to take photos.  And we'd have something easy like hot dogs or hamburgers and really, who needs a picture of that?  Then I got pregnant and we were in the middle of finishing grad school, putting together the nursery and just trying to get our lives in order in general before Cooper came.  The result of that was more hot dogs and hamburgers.  And the blog just sort of morphed into stuff about us.  I really hoped to keep blogging about cooking and it just didn't happen.

I didn't do the cooking.  And now we're back in that 'same old thing' rut.  At least, that's how I feel.  I haven't baked since before Cooper was born.  Hello - he'll be 9 months next week! (WTH is that all about???)  I love baking.  I love cooking.  Now all I seem to cook is applesauce. Although, I'm a darn good baby food maker.

So, look for posts about food and recipes.  And dieting.  Because (although its not something I love) I'm back at that again also.  The free breastfeeding diet has ended and well, I'm just not the kind of person who can live life not on a diet (read: eating whatever I want) and not pay the consequences.