On days when my husband isn't home and I'm cooking for just the kids and myself, I like to keep it simpler. Less prep, less mess...that way, when the complaints from my picky-eating kids come rolling in I'm less frustrated being the only one enjoying dinner -- because it took less work to prepare.
Tonight being one of those nights it's chicken quesadillas with corn relish and a pre-made bagged green salad on the side.
The quesadillas were great, and proved as easy as I hoped they would be. I couldn't believe that I didn't even miss the cheese! The corn relish was a cinch and super fresh tasting. Word to the wise. Don't cook a 10 inch flour tortilla filled with goodness in a 10 inch skillet. You run into issues. Use a bigger one.
Recipe:
Corn Relish
1 cup of frozen corn - thawed
1/2 green bell pepper diced
1 medium tomato seeded and dice
2 tsp of balsalmic vinegar (do yourself a favor and buy the good stuff, you will use it in everything)
dash of salt
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and let rest while you make the quesadillas.
Quesadillas
6 10" flour tortillas
1/3 cup sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded iceberg lettuce
3/4 cup chunky salsa
1 1/2 cup diced cooked chicken
Dice the chicken from frozen (about 2 medium breasts.) Cook until heated through, only a few minutes. Combine chicken and other ingredients in a medium bowl and divide between 3 tortillas. Top with the remaining tortillas and heat in a very large skillet for 2-3 minutes per side. Serve with corn relish.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Changes in the Digital Wind
Dear Blog Fans (all 2 of you),
Last June I spiral fractured 2 bones in my right leg while rollerblading. I was in the hospital for days, have undergone 2 surgeries so far, with more scheduled this year to remove screws and rods and who knows what else. It stopped my workouts immediately and i am profoundly less active than I was last summer. How does this relate to cooking? Well, if you scroll through my old posts and recipes you will find a few common ingredients: cream, sour cream, processed flours, breads and pastas, cheeses galore, and lots of fatty meat cuts. Now that I am much less active these recipes are not so great for my "bottom line."
What you can expect to see in the near-future at least are some healthy alternatives to those fatty, heavy meals. In perfect time for spring and summer, the cream based sauces are out and the fresh herbs and vegetables are in, as well as healthier meat selections, and some new twists on some ethnic favorites.
I would love to hear your comments, or suggestions on this new path the blog is taking, and I hope for your continued readership and support!
Cassie
Last June I spiral fractured 2 bones in my right leg while rollerblading. I was in the hospital for days, have undergone 2 surgeries so far, with more scheduled this year to remove screws and rods and who knows what else. It stopped my workouts immediately and i am profoundly less active than I was last summer. How does this relate to cooking? Well, if you scroll through my old posts and recipes you will find a few common ingredients: cream, sour cream, processed flours, breads and pastas, cheeses galore, and lots of fatty meat cuts. Now that I am much less active these recipes are not so great for my "bottom line."
What you can expect to see in the near-future at least are some healthy alternatives to those fatty, heavy meals. In perfect time for spring and summer, the cream based sauces are out and the fresh herbs and vegetables are in, as well as healthier meat selections, and some new twists on some ethnic favorites.
I would love to hear your comments, or suggestions on this new path the blog is taking, and I hope for your continued readership and support!
Cassie
Monday, March 8, 2010
Chicken Paprikash and Cucumber Onion Salad
Okay....with a nod to my German heritage and my thoughts toward my Grandpa Clarence, who passed about a week ago last year, it is time to finally try some German cooking. I think the last time I cooked German food (besides the occasional massive batch of bierocks -- which freeze and reheat like a dream) was a German Chocolate Cake from a box when I was in 6th grade for a "celebrate your cultural heritage day" type thing. I searched online for a long time to find what I thought was the most authentic looking recipe I could find. I ended up at paprikash.com...how can you go wrong with that? I don't know if I hit the most authentic, having no standard by which to judge it, but it turned out well.
THINGS TO KNOW:
1. Don't forget the white onion at the store.
2. When you do forget the onion at the store, call your husband to go and fetch an onion.
3. Don't forget to teach your husband the difference between a red onion and a white onion and a yellow onion.
4. When you accidentally SHRED the YELLOW onion that your husband picked up instead of SLICE it in the because you forgot to turn the blade around in the food processor....
5. THEN...dig through the fridge and find out that you had a leftover white onion in the first place
6. Slice it by hand
:) :) :) Thanks for making the trip for the onion honey! :) :) :)
The paprikash was actually pretty easy to make. I store bought the spaetzel noodles and cooked them according to the directions on the box. I diced the chicken from frozen which made it way easier to cut up...my new pans (Calphalon tri-clad) are preforming perfectly...I've learned to preheat the pan before I add the oil, then preheat the oil before I add the food (it reduces sticking.) I added the onion, most of the chicken stock, the spices...and simmered for what felt like a hundred hours (I was starving -- not kid in Africa starving, like maybe I'm a little overweight for my height, and I have more than enough body fat to last through a summer famine kind of starving. In any case, after about 20 minutes I started looking for the corn starch...oh, read ahead, people...its in the recipe. I couldn't find it right away, but I did find some blue corn tortilla chips which I forgot about (yum!) fish fry batter (why would I even use that?) and potatoes that found a new home in the trash can...eek!
Heres the thing about corn starch...I used to think that you added it directly to your recipe...not so much...not in sauces anyway...shake it up in some cold water, then add it. Trust me. Its important.
After I added the corn starch I realized my noodles had probably been cooking too long, so I pulled them off the stove, let the paprikash cook for awhile longer, because i didn't trust the corn starch mixture...and voila! , It thickened up nicely, and was a beautiful red color, very appetizing, and pretty healthy actually...until I added the entire 12 oz of cream. It looked disgusting, and it lost all appearance of health.
But, it turns out it wasn't. It was good. Not super great, but really good. I won't add it to the recipe book to hand down to my daughter, I wouldn't make it for company; but on a cold snowy night in the middle of winter, this is a really good, hearty, warm and filling meal.
The cucumber onion salad was super easy to make too, thanks to my new handy dandy food processor (with the blade turned around the RIGHT way this time.) I peeled, seeded and sliced three cucumbers, added two red onions, also sliced in the food processor and mixed up a fairly simple vinagrette which the cucumbers soaked in for an hour. Much like me in the bath, about an hour and lots of red wine (in this case red wine vinegar.) This part of the meal did turn out great, and I will definitely make it again. It was easy, and the lightness and tanginess of it made it a perfect complement to this meal.
RECIPES:
Ingredients:
Chop up the chicken breasts into small pieces.
Put the chicken and garlic in a pot; sautee in olive oil.
Chop up the onion into small pieces.
Put the onions and some chicken broth into the pot. For now, use just enough broth to keep everything submerged, but don't flood it. You should have some broth left over (maybe around 16 ounces); the remaining broth will be used below.
Stir in the other spices (paprika, salt, black pepper, ginger, bay leaves).
Simmer to let the chicken and onions cook thoroughly. While it's all cooking, eat the Fudgesicle.
When the chicken and onions are fully cooked, add the starch as a thickening agent, by mixing it into the remaining broth and pouring it into the pot. (If you're out of broth, use water; but ideally you will have exactly enough broth for this.) Remove from heat and let it thicken.
Finally, mix in the sour cream, and it's ready to serve over spaetzel.
Directions
THINGS TO KNOW:
1. Don't forget the white onion at the store.
2. When you do forget the onion at the store, call your husband to go and fetch an onion.
3. Don't forget to teach your husband the difference between a red onion and a white onion and a yellow onion.
4. When you accidentally SHRED the YELLOW onion that your husband picked up instead of SLICE it in the because you forgot to turn the blade around in the food processor....
5. THEN...dig through the fridge and find out that you had a leftover white onion in the first place
6. Slice it by hand
:) :) :) Thanks for making the trip for the onion honey! :) :) :)
The paprikash was actually pretty easy to make. I store bought the spaetzel noodles and cooked them according to the directions on the box. I diced the chicken from frozen which made it way easier to cut up...my new pans (Calphalon tri-clad) are preforming perfectly...I've learned to preheat the pan before I add the oil, then preheat the oil before I add the food (it reduces sticking.) I added the onion, most of the chicken stock, the spices...and simmered for what felt like a hundred hours (I was starving -- not kid in Africa starving, like maybe I'm a little overweight for my height, and I have more than enough body fat to last through a summer famine kind of starving. In any case, after about 20 minutes I started looking for the corn starch...oh, read ahead, people...its in the recipe. I couldn't find it right away, but I did find some blue corn tortilla chips which I forgot about (yum!) fish fry batter (why would I even use that?) and potatoes that found a new home in the trash can...eek!
Heres the thing about corn starch...I used to think that you added it directly to your recipe...not so much...not in sauces anyway...shake it up in some cold water, then add it. Trust me. Its important.
After I added the corn starch I realized my noodles had probably been cooking too long, so I pulled them off the stove, let the paprikash cook for awhile longer, because i didn't trust the corn starch mixture...and voila! , It thickened up nicely, and was a beautiful red color, very appetizing, and pretty healthy actually...until I added the entire 12 oz of cream. It looked disgusting, and it lost all appearance of health.
But, it turns out it wasn't. It was good. Not super great, but really good. I won't add it to the recipe book to hand down to my daughter, I wouldn't make it for company; but on a cold snowy night in the middle of winter, this is a really good, hearty, warm and filling meal.
The cucumber onion salad was super easy to make too, thanks to my new handy dandy food processor (with the blade turned around the RIGHT way this time.) I peeled, seeded and sliced three cucumbers, added two red onions, also sliced in the food processor and mixed up a fairly simple vinagrette which the cucumbers soaked in for an hour. Much like me in the bath, about an hour and lots of red wine (in this case red wine vinegar.) This part of the meal did turn out great, and I will definitely make it again. It was easy, and the lightness and tanginess of it made it a perfect complement to this meal.
RECIPES:
Chicken Paprikash
This recipe is barely any more complicated than chopping things up and boiling them in a pot. If I use store-bought spaetzel, I can make a complete pot of paprikash and have all the dishes cleaned in 45 minutes.Ingredients:
| 24 oz. (1.5 lbs) boneless skinless chicken breasts 12 oz. sour cream 48 oz. chicken broth 1 onion 3-4 tablespoons Hungarian paprika 2 tablespoon garlic 1 tablespoon salt 1 teaspoon ground black pepper 1/2 teaspoon ginger 2 bay leaves corn starch olive oil 1 Fudgesicle |
Chop up the chicken breasts into small pieces.
Put the chicken and garlic in a pot; sautee in olive oil.
Chop up the onion into small pieces.
Put the onions and some chicken broth into the pot. For now, use just enough broth to keep everything submerged, but don't flood it. You should have some broth left over (maybe around 16 ounces); the remaining broth will be used below.
Stir in the other spices (paprika, salt, black pepper, ginger, bay leaves).
Simmer to let the chicken and onions cook thoroughly. While it's all cooking, eat the Fudgesicle.
When the chicken and onions are fully cooked, add the starch as a thickening agent, by mixing it into the remaining broth and pouring it into the pot. (If you're out of broth, use water; but ideally you will have exactly enough broth for this.) Remove from heat and let it thicken.
Finally, mix in the sour cream, and it's ready to serve over spaetzel.
Cucumber Onion Salad
- 1 cucumber, sliced
- 1 small to medium onion (I prefer red), sliced
- ¾ cup red wine vinegar
- ½ cup water
- 1 to 1½ tablespoons sugar
- ¼ teaspoon mustard seed
- ⅛-¼ teaspoon each, salt and coarse ground pepper
- In a medium bowl, separate onions into rings, add to cucumber slices.
- Dissolve sugar in water, add wine vinegar, mustard seed, salt and pepper.
- Pour over cucumbers and onions and toss
- Allow to marinate for at least an hour before serving.
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