shrimp arrabbiata

best part about this dish?
it's good for you. seriously. came from a weight watchers cook book.

second best part about this dish?
it's easy. you know how i feel about easy.

it's great because i used leftovers to make it. i had shrimp for christmas eve dinner, and of course it only comes in a massive frozen bag. so when i am tired of shrimp cocktail, i wanted to make something different. here it is!
as always, i'm giving you my version, not the cookbook version.





all you do is cook the shrimp (if it's not already cooked). remove it from the pan, and in the same pan, put some garlic paste. about three teaspoons. add to that a can of crushed tomatoes and a teaspoon of tomato paste. also, spices. whatever you want, but i added red pepper flakes (a good amount), italian seasoning, garlic salt, fresh ground pepper, and basil. fresh herbs would be best for at least the basil, but i'm a working woman, and don't have time to grow my own or money to buy my own.

when it's nice and heated through, and has started to simmer, add the cooked shrimp just to warm it up. don't cook it anymore or the shrimp will get tough.

add to some whole wheat pasta for a delicious and healthy meal in a jiffy!



i also served with steam-in-bag frozen veggies (yay, easy!) and some breadsticks i picked up that afternoon. would have gone great with a glass of red wine, but we're trying to get rid of all of our milk.

easy appetizer meatballs

i love easy meals. i love meatballs.
i love easy meatballs!!

take a bag of frozen meatballs.
add a jar of heinz 57 chili sauce. or generic, like i did.
add a jar of grape jam. seriously.
add a dash of worcestershire sauce. 

heat it all thoroughly.

serve.

this can also be made in the crock pot. put everything in, turn the pot on low, and forget about it. stir well before serving.

it's one of those meals that makes your whole house smell amazing.
and yes, i said meals. last night i had meatballs-- and nothing else-- for dinner. it's that good.

a special occasion breakfast

well, christmas came and went. and it was lovely. i hope it was perfect for you and your family. did you get everything you hoped for? did you love seeing the eyes of your loved ones light up as they opened your gifts? i know i did.

it's so nice to have such blessings in life.

well, i made a great breakfast for christmas day. something i found while browsing other blogs. delicious overnight blueberry french toast casserole. wow. it's something special! i did make a few slight changes to the recipe, so i'm telling you how i did it. feel free to check the original also!

you take a loaf of bread, like french or italian. something crusty. cut it into squares about 1 inch big. take a little more than half of the cuttings and spread into the bottom of a GREASED 13x9 pan. whoops. i forgot to grease mine. it doesn't change the cooking, it just makes it miserable to clean. layer on top of the bread some cream cheese. i used two bricks cut into pretty small chunks. i think it was a bit rich. i'd have used a little less. then layer a pint of blueberries. i have no idea how big a pint is, because my packages came labeled in liters. so, use *some* blueberries for this. top with the remainder of the bread.

then, in a bowl, whisk together 8 eggs and 2.5 cups of milk. sprinkle in some vanilla extract, nutmeg, cinnamon, and about 1/3-1/2 cup of syrup. when it's all mixed together, pour it over the bread mixture in the pan. i made sure to get the entire top of it damp, but i don't know how important that was.

i tried using a spoon to sort of press the bread down to make sure the liquid was all soaked up, but that didn't work well. so, i used my hands. it worked! it's messy, and i haven't decided if i like messy hands while i'm cooking.

do this all the night before. cover it with foil. in the morning, put the pan out to get room temperature-ish. warm your oven to 350. put the casserole in the oven with the foil on for 30 minutes, then remove the foil for another 30 minutes.

that's how i did it. the recipe i referred to above says to make a blueberry compote to go with it, and that would have definitely sealed the deal. i chose the lazy way out and we ate it without the compote. not bad at all, but missing it for sure. so, make the compote. or serve with maple syrup. or blueberry syrup, if you have that.

christmas eve dinner

i'm sharing old family recipes with you tonight. well, sort of. it's less about the recipes and more about the love that is in all of it. for my family, christmas eve was always the most important day, not christmas day. we have family traditions that date back to old ukraine. there's so many things you have to follow, like the number of foods offered. if you want to go real traditional, there's certain ways to make those foods. i adjusted a bit, because i didn't feel like making 12 dishes for just chris and me. i'll get WAY into the traditions next year, so stick around because that's going to be fun!

 pierogies. pasta pockets filled with mashed potatoes and onions. sure, you can make them homemade. or buy the handmade ones at your local ukranian church. or pick up a box of frozen ones at the grocery store. i melted a stick(plus) of butter, and diced an onion and a half. saute the onion on about a medium heat, until the butter gets clear-yellow instead of cloudy. boil the pierogies as it says on the box, then top with the onion/butter mixture. delicious.

so i didn't mention that this dish is vegetarian. we had fish and shrimp though. i just thawed some frozen shrimp , served with lemon wedges and garnished with (a lot of) olives-- i like olives.

also had a relish tray. carrots, broccoli, celery, pickles, more olives. and a ranch veggie dip. husband put this together. it was nice to have his help with that.

mmmmm. slimy mushrooms. well, they have another name, but this is what i've been used to calling them. when i was growing up, i'm pretty sure my daddy convinced me that i didn't like them, so he could have them all. it's a lot of mushrooms sauteed with a touch of oil, then heated through with a can of cream of celery soup and a little milk. this is nice to cook ahead of time, so i made it first thing in the morning and transferred it to this corningware to just heat in the oven before dinner. very convenient.
**you can also see an empty plate here. it's left for the deceased family members, as tradition**

and one of my favorites. simple. frozen tilapia, sprinkled with lemon pepper seasoning and lemon coins. then put a small chunk of butter on top of each wedge, and some fresh ground pepper. bake at 400-450 "until done" (about 15 minutes?). it is so flavorful and flaky. delicious.

also, you see some crescent rolls. confession: those are leftovers from dinner on dec 23rd, a bertoli frozen past meal.

so, since i'm supposed to have 12 dishes, let's get creative and try to find them.

1. pierogies
2. onions in butter
3. shrimp
4. celery
5. pickles
6. olives
7. broccoli
8. carrots
9. slimy mushrooms
10. crescent rolls
11. fish
12. white wine

i did it! 12 "dishes" for my first married christmas. even if it's a stretch, it's 12 when i count :-)

cashew chicken

so. about the delay in posts-- so sorry about all of this! we have both been superbly busy. i was finishing my semester of school (which was exhausting. so exhausting.), and miss erica is getting ready to go out of town for the holidays. i sure hope she starts to blog again-- i don't know about you, but i miss her writing style~!

for the first time evah i cooked my chicken perfectly! i almost always overdo it and it's tough. and if it's tough it ruins the dish. if it's cooked perfectly, the dish is perfect.

take some chicken. cut it into bite size pieces. in a bag, put some cornstarch, then toss the chicken in it. over a pretty hot skillet, cook the chicken. cook it with a bit of soy sauce and some ginger (have you noticed that we're all about "a bit" and "some" instead of measurements? usually...).

once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pan. put it in a bowl, then store it in the microwave just to keep it warm. in the same pan, cook just until tender crisp some red pepper that is chopped as big (or as small) as you want it. add some green onions for a touch of spice, more soy sauce, more ginger, and some cashews.

mix it all together, serve it up, top with some more cashews and green onions, and enjoy! it's definitely a keeper recipe.

i love recipes like this that are so simple, so easy to make, and don't have a ton of seasonings.
enjoy!

my "domestic" thanksgiving

i had a lovely thanksgiving. and dinner was delicious. here's how you can have a thanksgiving dinner like mine. minimal work, maximum happiness.
get in yer car.
drive to the nearest eatery that is open.
order coffee. or hot cocoa. who cares about caffeine, it's a holiday weekend.
beg for a side of stuffing with your dinner.
enjoy with your new husband.

my dinner. chicken strips with rice and stuffing. carb overload, FTW!

chris' dinner. chicken fried steak, potatoes, green beans.

a thanksgiving favorite...CHEESY POTATOES!

i'm aliiiivvveeeeeeeeeeeee! 

i have been the worst blogger ever this month. lots of things happening...not that that's an excuse.. but it is what it is. even though i haven't been blogging, i have been cooking, so i have a few new recipes to share in the near future.

i wanted to get back into blog mode with a recipe that i LOVE for thanksgiving- cheesy potato casserole. this recipe isnt anything fancy schmancy, and a lot of you have probably had or made some rendition of this at one time or another, but, here it goes:

you will need:

1 (DEFROSTED) 2lb bag frozen potatoes. i use the 'southern style' cubed ones but have heard of people using shredded hashbrowns
1/4 c melted butter
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 c (or more to taste) chopped white onion
1 1/2 can cream of chicken soup
1 c milk
1 c sour cream
1 8oz bag shredded cheddar cheese


topping:
3 c crushed corn flakes
1/2 c melted butter

mix all the ingredients (minus topping) together in a 9x13 casserole dish

i like to crush the corn flakes in a big ziplock bag, then add the melted butter

pour the butter/cornflake mix over the potato mix

bake casserole at 375 degrees for 40 minutes, let cool for 5.

that's it!!!!! it will be a hit, promise!

have a fab turkey day. see you soon!

spaghetti squash and meatballs

i made an amazing dinner last night. amazing. and i only took one photo, just now, of my leftovers. sorry.

so i made homemade meatballs first. easy. one pound of ground beef, half of a small onion (diced small), 1/2 cup bread crumbs, salt, pepper, one egg, 2T water. mix it all. form into balls and bake at 350 until done (20 minutes? 30 minutes?).

then i baked a spaghetti squash. there are so many ways to cook it if you look online-- but they all come to the same conclusion. cut it in half, put it face down, and bake or microwave. well, i found a better way to do it on the pioneer woman's blog. you just take the whole, intact squash, put it in the oven at 375 for an hour. that's it. then it's done, and it is so much easier to cut in half. scoop out the seeds, and use forks to shred. all the photos for that are on her website. sorry i didn't take any.

except for this amazing iphone photo of the leftovers.

i served the spaghetti squash (which, by the way, was still crunchy and amazing) with a few of the meatballs and some organic spaghetti sauce (thank to watching food, inc earlier in the day). also served with a side salad and red wine.

it was awesome.

from the "archives"-- french onion soup

this recipe comes from my other blog. i was browsing on it, looking for this recipe-- because it's getting cold and i'm in soup mode. this is one of the best soups ever, especially for winter. and i love how much better it tastes than even one from a restaurant, which is usually too salty for me. this one has a delicious sweetness to it, if you use the right type of onion and *accidentally* double the sugar during the carmelization process.


so, enjoy one of my favorite recipes!

I have this sort of ongoing goal to try a few new recipes every week. This week, you may have seen my horrible attempt at Orange Chicken. Absolutely inedible. Boo.

Well. It's all better this time. I made French Onion Soup for the first time ever and it was amazing. So good, it's worth sharing the recipe with you.

1. Slice 7-ish medium to large yellow or purple onions, and sautee in some olive oil. I bought a special slicer for it (a mandolin), where you run them along it and it slices them really thin. It went so fast! By the time Chris had peeled an onion, I was waiting to slice it. I love it.


Simmer the onions for quite a while. Serious. Like, maybe 40 minutes. 10 minutes into the cook time, add about a half teaspoon of sugar. It helps with the caramelization. Now, mine never actually caramelized, but they got plenty cooked and delicious. After they're cooked, add two cloves of minced garlic and sautee for another minute or so.

2. Add 8 cups beef stock (*not* broth!), 1/2 cup dry red wine, 1 bay leaf, some thyme, and some salt and pepper. Don't add too much salt.


3. Simmer it together for about 30 minutes to let the flavors mingle, then ladle into individual oven-proof bowls.

4. Top with a piece of french bread toast and some cheese. The original post called for gruyere cheese, but Walmart didn't have it (surprise!), so I got Havarti because I know it melts well. Broil for about 10 minutes.


5. Immediately after removing from the oven, top with some fresh parmesan cheese. My only change will be adding more cheese next time.

This one got rave reviews from my new roomie and from my boyfriend. Yay!

sweet? savory? ahh-- "delicious" pumpkin cheesecake

i love pumpkin. you may have noticed lately. well, i've stopped using "safe" recipes, and now i'm on to ones i haven't heard of, or have been too scared to try.
this weekend, it was pumpkin cheesecake. and it was awesome.

i was nervous because the recipe only called for 1 cup of pumpkin puree, instead of a whole can. that can't be enough! i need to feel smothered with my pumpkin! but, surprisingly, it was. don't be distracted by the smell of cream cheese that over powers the pumpkin. it's worth it.

however, i didn't bake it long enough. sad panda. well, sorta sad. it ended up more like a custard than a cheesecake, and you can't really ruin anything with pumpkin in it, right? right.
i already can't wait to make it again. this time, though, i'll cook it for about 10-15 minutes longer.

have i mentioned how much i love the sour cream topping? it's a deliciously spectacular mix of sweet and tart.

crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup finely ground ginger cookies
1T white sugar
4-5T melted butter

cheesecake:

2/3 c (145 grams) light brown sugar

1/2 t ground cinnamon

1/4 t ground ginger

1/8 t ground cloves

1/8 t ground nutmeg

1/4 t salt

1 pound (454 grams) cream cheese, room temperature

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup (210 grams) pure pumpkin puree (canned or homemade)

topping:

1 c sour cream

1 t vanilla extract

1/4 c white sugar

for the crust, mix together all the ingredients (i did this in the food processor so that it finely ground the graham crackers and the gingersnap cookies), then press into a greased springform pan.

for the cheesecake, in a small bowl, combine the sugar, spices, and salt. in the kitchen aid mixer (or by hand mixer if you are a poor, unfortunate soul like i was such a short time ago), beat the cream cheese until smooth. slowly add the sugar mixture, beating until smooth again. add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl between each addition. beat in the pumpkin and vanilla last.

pour into the prepared pan with the crust, then place in the oven. ALSO place in the oven a bread pan half full with some HOT water to keep it moist in the oven. bake in the 350 oven for 35 minutes, then decrease temperature to 325 and continue baking for 10-20 minutes more, or until the edges are puffed but the middle still jiggles some when you shake the pan.

for the topping, while the cheesecake is baking, whisk together the sour cream, sugar, and vanilla. when the cheesecake's done, pour this topping over it and rotate the pan so it's completely covered. then return it to the oven for about 8-10 minutes to set the topping.

remove from the oven and run a sharp knife along the inside of the springform sides-- this prevents cracking as the cheesecake cools. place on a wire rack and cover with foil so the cake cools slowly. when it's completely cooled, cover and put it in the fridge for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight.

 

edited: after just a few days in the fridge, it tasted even better than it did the first day. it firmed up enough to be like a "real" cheesecake and not the thick custard thing i mentioned at first. however, i'll still cook it for a few minutes longer next time i make it.

starbucks got nuthin' on me

i made homemade chai this weekend.

i'd been putting it off, because it calls for cardamom. do you have any idea how expensive cardamom pods are? it's like, $13 for that glass jar. so expensive. then i realized that one chai from starbucks costs about $6, and since i only use less than a third of the seasoning per batch of homemade chai, it's waaaay cheaper to make your own. i didn't do the math. but probably it costs a few cents (definitely less than a dollar) for a cup of homemade awesomeness.

per my husband, it's the best chai he's ever had. take it for what it's worth.

here's how you can do it, too.

i don't remember where i found the recipe. i think i just changed a bunch of recipes. so we'll call this "erin's chai recipe"-- i'm so creative. seriously.

boil 10 cups of water with the following (all are approximate. do what you will with it.):
20-ish cardamom pods
24-ish whole cloves
1-2 t fennel seeds
a lot of cinnamon. i never measure, i just sprinkled a lot.
some ginger. see cinnamon, just in smaller quantity.

bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.
add 3 cups milk and 10 black teabags. i used 2% milk, but skim would probably be good too, then it'd be that much healthier.

let it cool a little, then strain into a big pitcher. i used cheesecloth because i wanted to catch most of the smaller items, too. up to you. if you use cheesecloth, have your husband (or any available person) hold it for you and go slow or else it will spill over the counter.

clean up the mess. it makes a lot. we got a really big pitcher, and look how full it is!

i stored mine in the fridge. then you can have either iced chai, or you can heat it up for a bit in the microwave (like we did every night this weekend).
it's awesome.
one of the great things about this recipe is that it's totally customizable. you can use chocolate milk instead of regular. you can add vanilla or almond extract if that suits you. you can use peppermint tea instead of black tea. if you can dream it, you can chai it!
cheers!

amazing roasted chicken

this is one of my favorite fall-back meals. super easy, very moist, and impressive for guests on a sunday evening.

oh, it's cheap, too.

so, here's all you do.

buy a chicken. you can get the fryer or roaster kind. it does not matter one bit. plus, it's like, less than $5.
open it. clean out the inside (they sometimes keep the, um, organs? in there). rinse it. drain it.
separate the skin from the breasts, carefully. add a few thin pats of butter between the meat and the skin.
tie up the legs if they are spread too far. aka, if your chicken is a floozy. joke. but seriously, tie those babies up.
cut into big bit-size pieces some onion, carrots, potatoes. celery if you want. add that all to the space around the chicken.
sprinkle the whole thing with seasoning. whatever kind you want. i think i used a sort of parmesan herb seasoning? use anything.

put in a 400 oven for an hour. maybe an hour and a half. depends on the size of your bird.
sorry i don't have an "after" photo.

it's done when you poke the breast with a toothpick and clear juice runs out.
more specific? stick a thermometer in the thickest part of the breast and if it says the temp is good for chicken, it's cooked through. i don't know the temp. my meat thermometer says that on the holder.

not your momma's pork and beans

i haven't made my menu for november yet. shame on me. i promise to work on that this weekend.

related, i have a bunch of food leftover from my plans for october. because, you know, life happens. so we eat leftovers one day. or we forget to add a veggie to the spaghetti. yeah. so i have enough food for the first week in november and won't have to go grocery shopping until NEXT weekend! yay!

but, as i'm making things, i'm kind of out of plans. and i still need to account for my late nights at class, and that i'm trying to prepare something for husband. AND that it's totally crock pot season and i haven't used mine enough yet.

so i foraged through my cupboards and freezer, and came up with my own pork and beans. i was extremely nervous, but it turned out so good.

here's what you do:

cut up a large onion. put it in the crock. add other things. whatever you want. i added kidney beans and corn and a bit of leftover black beans. this would have been delish with some rotel though, now that i think of it. add it all to the crock.

top with pork chops. i used bone-in, and next time i'd use boneless (because they were so tender that they fell apart. awesome).

then i topped with homemade cream of celery soup. i would use cream of mushroom, but i didn't have it. some worcestershire sauce, some seasonings (basil, garlic, salt, pepper in mine), and that's it. cook on low for 8 hours.

it was so good. i love when i just throw things together and they turn out delicious.

good food served here: lasagna rollups

this was a pretty good weekend. we went to the outlet mall yesterday and spent the entire day there. my FAVORITE purchase was a fun sign steve bought me and hung in our kitchen. it is just perfect! as i was trying to be fancy and photograph my dish and the sign, he thought he'd be funny and this is what i got:

one of my favorite pictures to date, actually. it captures some of the things that i heart most. wunderbar.

so, these lasagna rollups are pretty yummo. i actually freeze these and they taste fresh even after being reheated.

this recipe comes from one of my favorite go-to cookbooks- better homes and gardens: easy everyday cooking. this is the cookbook with all of my post-it flags. ..we all have one! i use the main recipe and toggle it to my liking. here is my version:

ingredients:

1lb ground turkey (this time i used my costco pack- 1.25lbs)

1 medium onion, chopped

2+ cloves minced garlic

(the recipie suggests 1cup sliced mushrooms here...ew)

1 cup water

1 14oz can diced italian tomatoes +/- more if you want more (i used 1.5 cans)

2 6oz cans tomato paste

italian herb blend- to taste

fresh or dried basil (fresh! fresh!)- to taste

salt- to taste

12 packaged dried lasagna noodles

2 beaten eggs

1 30 oz carton ricotta

1 10-12 oz package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

3 cups mozzarella

1.5 cups grated parmesan cheese

sauce:

in a large skillet cook turkey, onion and garlic until turkey cooked thru; drain fat.

pre-cooked. obvs.

add tomatoes (undrained), tomato paste, italian herbs, basil and salt.

bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat- simmering for 25 minutes.

it's impossible to not eat this while it's simmering.

in the meantime, cook lasagna noodles according to package. drain, rinse with cold, drain again.

filling:

in a mixing bowl- OR your kitchenaid mixer (hear the angels sing)- mix together:

egg, ricotta, spinach, 1.5 cups of the mozzarella and 3/4cups parmesan cheese.

assembling of the rolls:

lay a few noodles out for filling

 spread enough filling down each noodle, probably about 1/2 cup

roll noodles with filling (start from a short end if there is one)

place rolls seam down in a glass baking dish (i lightly sprayed mine with oil, you dont have to)

pour sauce over rolls

cover with foil and bake in 375 degree oven for 25 minutes.

after 25 minutes, remove foil and sprinkle remaining mozzarella over top

bake 5-10 more minutes, let sit for about 5 before serving. sprinkle remaining parmesan cheese over top, serve with garlic bread.

note: after baking, i separate into smaller, freezable dishes for different meals. these are very filling, 2 at a time are usually more than enough for us (well, 1.5 for me). when reheating, cover dish with foil and warm at 375 for about 10-15 minutes.