It'll Be Better for All of Us

Any of my loyal readers (thank you!) who have been with me for a while have probably noticed the increase in food/cooking posts over the last year. I'm basically a hopeless Foodie and cannot help but talk about all things food related. The problem is that even though it's a big part of who I am and what I like to do, I feel like it's kind of taking over this blog. It's become a bit of an overbearing monster to the memories and daily happenings that I would like to shine through here.

Because I don't want my food obsession to take over this blog and because I don't want to stop talking about it and because I enjoy it so much, I've decided to start my own food blog. I know there are about a bazillion other food blogs out there but I don't care. So for those of you who love food as much as I do and enjoy all my blah blah blah about cooking, join me over at Gravy Training.

For now I'm going to keep all of my past food posts on this blog, but I've also transferred them over to Gravy Training, so you can find them there too. Keep in mind this new blog is still a work in progress, there are glaring errors and bugs that need to be worked out, but I'm too excited to keep from posting there, so join me, warts and all.

Today's Special: Breakfast Edition

As a pre-cursor to this post, let me say that I do not make breakfast on weekdays. Seth is out the door by 4:30am and he's lucky if I'm half-conscious when says 'goodbye.'  My neighbors are lucky if I have my pants on when I rush out the door at 7:15am. However, I do try to make up for my lack of early morning meals by whipping up some good stuff on the weekends. Some of these are faster to make than others, but none of them require much skill. And according to Seth, you have to serve them all with bacon. Otherwise, it's just not breakfast.

German Apple Pancake

A super easy and fairly quick breakfast option. I made this in my cast iron skillet and it worked perfectly. This is one of those breakfasts that seems a little special... I mean, you don't get German Apple Pancakes everyday, right?

Denny's Style French Toast

I love, love, love this French Toast. It's not too eggy and always turns out so delicious. I think it's the addition of flour to the batter that makes it so good. I like to use Texas Toast bread or even better, leftover French bread. Regular bread works too, just not nearly as delicious as the thicker stuff. This is definitely one of my favorite breakfasts.

Crunchy Delicious Waffles

Seriously the best waffles ever. They always turn out wonderful. I typically use 8 tbsp. of butter (the recipe gives an option as to how much you can use). I've also made these with half wheat and half white flour and they were great that way too. For some reason these tend to turn out better on waffle irons with the larger squares (think Belgian waffle) than the traditional smaller squares. But still good either way.

Banana Pancakes

These are a great variation to traditional pancakes. I typically make these when I have a banana or two that are overly ripe. I like these because the banana flavor isn't too overwhelming and the texture of the pancake is always nice and fluffy. Try these with Blueberry Breakfast Sauce (also works well with mixed berries) and you'll probably die. Also, I have to call pancakes "pampcakes" because of this.

Baked Ham and Cheese Omelet

I've never been very good at making omelets, so this is a great alternative to the stove-top method. You can pretty much use any kind of filling you want... I've used cooked diced bacon instead of ham and I'm sure you could add onions, peppers, or mushrooms. This is VERY filling. I usually halve the recipe and there's still leftovers.

(Uh... I made this today but sort of screwed up and even though it still tasted fine, it looked a little odd so imagine a delicious looking omelet... or look at the pictures in the recipe link. See, I mess up sometimes too!)

Eggs On Toast

So the link to this one just goes to a basic white sauce, but that's pretty much all you need for this recipe. I  hard-boil about 4 eggs, chop them up and add them to the white sauce. Grind in some fresh pepper and salt then throw the sauce onto a couple slices of toast and you're done!

Today's Special: Butternut Squash Apple Soup, Garlic Soup, Beef with Snow Peas, Sausage, Mushroom, & Spinach Lasagna, and Homestyle Macaroni & Cheese

Butternut Squash Apple Soup

New Recipe. A couple weeks ago I made some butternut squash gnocchi and had a ton of squash left over. So, I froze it. And used it for this recipe! I honestly just made this to use up the extra squash and didn't have super high hopes for it. BUT, I really liked this a lot! The recipe says to use salt, pepper, cinnamon, and nutmeg to "season to taste." I HATE IT when recipes say that without giving you a starting point as to recommended amounts. But, I delved in and seasoned and tasted away and the final product was just what I was hoping for... a nicely seasoned soup that didn't taste sweet. I think it's hard to use cinnamon and nutmeg as a savory ingredient... usually they give more of a dessert quality to a dish. So, in order to help you make this, I will give you the amounts I used for the seasonings: 1/8 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp black pepper, and 2 1/2 tsp. salt. You may want to start with 2 tsp. salt, just to be safe. So anyway, this recipe was definitely a winner and it's ORANGE! Perfect for Halloween dinner! (I totally didn't plan that.)

Garlic Soup

New Recipe. I didn't realize how much time this was going to take to make... at least an hour I think. But, the end product was really good. I think I like this more than the garlic soup I've made in the past... more flavor and a thicker consistency. I used half and half instead of the heavy cream and it was still really delicious. This was good as a light dinner with salad and french bread. It didn't make a whole lot... maybe enough for 4 people... maybe. This would also be good in place of a dinner salad... if you are one of those ambitious people who have several courses to a meal (I'm not). Oh, I also used Jarlsberg cheese instead of Gruyere because I couldn't find any of that.

Beef with Snow Peas

New Recipe. If you're looking for a fast recipe this week, this is your winner! It took me maybe a half hour and that included all the prep work and cooking the brown rice (pressure cookers are awesome!). The sauce was perfect and the beef and snow peas were so delicious! The extra addition of crushed red pepper made it that much better. This is the first Asian-y beef  recipe I've made that has turned out to my liking. I really haven't had much success with this category of food... it's very rare for me to make something and actually like it as much as the stuff I get at restaurants. It's nice to have found another winner!

Sausage, Mushroom, and Spinach Lasagna

New Recipe. Now, I am really picky with my lasagna. Usually I only like the kind I make with my sauce recipe and my mom's lasagna recipe from when I was a kid. But I thought I'd try this one out because #1 It looked a lot healthier and #2 Who doesn't love sausage, mushrooms, and spinach? I made this exactly as written using the Italian flavored ground turkey, but I also used an oven-ready pasta. I was a little worried about the pasta not getting cooked through and/or the lasagna being too dry. Oh, I also added 2 cloves of garlic to the turkey mixture. So, this actually turned out really good. I didn't think it tasted healthy at all and the oven-ready pasta worked just fine. It wasn't the fastest meal ever because of the hour long bake time, but it was well worth the effort.

Homestyle Macaroni and Cheese

Old Favorite. Have I said how much I love this stuff? Seriously the best homemade mac and cheese I've had by far. Ok wait, I lied. Rachel made some for us once and it rocked too. But other than that... every other homemade mac and cheese I've made or eaten pretty much sucks. The Dijon mustard in this is what gives it an extra punch of flavor. It only calls for 1 tbsp., but I usually double that because I love it so much.

Today's Special: Pot Stickers w/ Soy Dipping Sauce, Chicken Wellington, Kelly's Chili, and Deep-Dish Apple Pie

I resisted the urge to raid my "new recipe" feeds on Google this week and dug out the old-fashioned cookbook. These are definitely some of my favorite recipes!

Pot Stickers with Soy Ginger Dipping Sauce- These pot stickers rock my world. It's a little time consuming to make all the individual folded pouches, but so worth it. Also, do not skip the dipping sauce, it'll take you five minutes to make it and it's amazing! I usually make double batches of these because it's more common to find 48 packs of the won ton wrappers (usually in the produce section) and a full pound of ground pork.

Chicken Wellington with Creamy Mushroom Sauce - So remember a couple weeks ago when I made Crap in Rolls? Well think of this as its more sophisticated, incredibly delicious older sister. The recipe calls for 8 small chicken breasts, but I used 4 large ones and cut them in half. I also pounded out the chicken to a uniform thickness to make sure they cooked evenly (I don't have a mallet... just used the side of a can of beans!). Also... I have a confession to make... I completely forgot about the corresponding Mushroom Sauce this time around. Which was fine... they are totally awesome on their own. HOWEVER. I have made the Mushroom Sauce before and it is awesome. And I would have made it this time had it not completely slipped my mind. Oh, and the recipe says to take the puff pastry out of the freezer 10 minutes before you use it. I'd say make it more like 20-30 minutes. But seriously... this looks really fancy but it's not hard at all to make!

Kelly's Chili- I'm not usually big on chili. In fact it's typically one of my least favorite "soups." But this chili is so good! It always turns out with the perfect amount of heat and it doesn't have a lot of beans in it. In fact I add an extra can of beans to make the meat/bean ratio a little better. I made this for a work party once and everybody loved it. And Seth and I were able to make it through an entire crockpot full of this stuff before it went bad, so that's saying something!

Deep-Dish Apple Pie- This week a friend of mine at work gave me a bag of homegrown apples so of course I had to make a pie! I love making this pie because it always turns out delicious. And look how beautiful! This isn't exactly a fast recipe to make (what apple pie is?) but it's well worth the effort. I use an apple peeler thingy which helps cut down the prep time a lot. A food processor is also a very useful tool with this one.

Today's Special: Oreo Balls, Chicken Enchiladas, To Die for Crock Pot Roast, and Pork with Dried Apples & Proscuitto,

Oreo Balls- New Recipe. So I've had these in my "To Try" folder in my Recipezaar account for a long time, but for some reason never got around to making them. The other day a co-worker shared one of these with me and I knew I had to have more. So I made some! These were seriously so awesome. They're just blended up Oreos with cream cheese but man... they rocked! Plus they were actually really easy to make so that was definitely a bonus! Corinne... you better not make these. You'll probably die. Or gain 50 pounds.

Chicken Enchiladas- New Recipe. So I first saw this recipe on the Blue Muse's blog and thought it looked awesome. The night I made this the Internets were down at my house so I had to guess on how to make it. I basically did everything as it says in the recipe, except I didn't add any onions or garlic because I forgot about them. But it still turned out so good! I think the rotisserie chicken made a huge difference in the flavor. Also, I'm not sure if I've used white corn tortillas before or not, or maybe it was the brand I bought (Mission), but these ones were a million times better than the corn tortillas I've used before. Usually they break when I roll them, but these held together very well. I'll definitely buy them again. Anyway, this recipe was definitely easy AND delicious. I'm sure I'll be making them again!

To Die for Crock Pot Roast- Repeat. This is my favorite pot roast recipe. It always turns out good and it makes its own gravy! The gravy is very salty straight out of the pot, so I always thin it out with water and then use a thickener to get it back to a good gravy consistency.

Pork with Dried Apples and Prosciutto- New Recipe. I really liked this recipe. It definitely had a great "Fall" flavor. It was super easy to make and fast and used up some prosciutto and sage I had in the fridge! (You know you're out of control when you have leftover sage and prosciutto). I don't normally like pork chops much, but these were delicious!

Today's Special: Beef Bourguignon, Autumn Chicken Stew, Fish Sticks, Squash Gnocchi, Cheesy Chicken & Rice, and Cinnamon Bread

Beef Bourguignon- New Recipe. After making this recipe I can now claim I've flambéed something. Check that off my list of things to do before I die! I have to admit it was a little scary, but all turned out well and I didn't burn any of my hair off. This tasted like a fancy beef stew. Actually Seth and I called this "Alcoholic Beef Stew" because of all the liquor involved... a full bottle of wine and 1/2 c. cognac. Wow. I think next time I'll try making Julia Child's recipe so I can compare. Anyway, two thumbs way up for this one.

Autumn Chicken Stew- New Recipe. I love making seasonal recipes for obvious reasons.... ingredients that are not only cheaper than usual, but tastier as well. It's a win-win situation. The only reason I was skeptical of this recipe was the addition of not one, but two granny smith apples. I thought the resulting flavor would be too sweet for a "stew." Nay nay. This was some good eatin'. Seth thought the apples were potatoes. And he  raved about how much he loved the parsnips (a close cousin to the carrot) and I agreed. Why are parsnips not a common cooking component? Ok ok I know I'm getting carried away with the alliterations. Let's just cut to the chase. This was awesome. You should make it.

EatingWell Fish Sticks- New Recipe. Ok I could not make fish sticks without referencing this episode of South Park. With that out of the way, these were incredibly easy to make and tasted really good. Seth especially really liked these. This was also my first time using Panko bread crumbs which are supposed to be crunchier than regular bread crumbs. I think it worked! I couldn't find the whole wheat Panko bread crumbs, so I just used 1 cup of the regular ones. Oh and don't forget the tartar sauce!

Chickpea, Spinach, & Squash Gnocchi- New Recipe. Doesn't this look so beautiful with all those fun colors? Sadly, the beauty of this dish was only skin deep. It was heart breakingly bland and there wasn't much depth to it. Oh well, guess I don't have to chop up all that squash again.

Cheesy Chicken & Rice- Repeat. This isn't a gourmet meal by any means, but it requires very little prep and it tastes pretty good! Spend five minutes putting it all into a pan, throw it in the oven and do something else for an hour while you wait for it to cook. Oh, and don't forget to cover this with tin foil, otherwise your rice will be crunchy. (Yes I've made that mistake before...)

 

Bonus: Cinnamon Bread

I'll admit I'm a rookie when it comes to making bread. I honestly just guess my way through it. But I love homemade bread. I'm usually just too damn lazy to make it because let's be honest... it's very time consuming. I decided to try this recipe because it looked awesome and because there were step by step instructions on the Pioneer Woman's blog complete with pictures. How could I screw it up if there were pictures? I couldn't!

So I made this bread one Saturday morning when I woke up at the butt crack of dawn because my body is now used to my early to bed early to rise dork schedule and I can't sleep in past 7am even if I want to. The one thing I really hate about bread recipes is I always have to add a ton more flour than it says to get the right texture and it sort of freaks me out. This recipe said to add 1/4 c. extra flour after kneading for a few minutes if it was too sticky. I ended up adding probably a cup or more.

So I finally got the bread all made and it turned out ok. However, I don't think I rolled it tight enough so it was kind of floppy after slicing. Also, I overcooked it a tad, so after it cooled it was dry. I was a little disappointed. BUT... I sliced it all up and froze it and I plant to unthaw it this weekend and make it into cinnamon french toast! That should save it! At any rate, it looks beautiful. Kinda makes me want to bake bread more often.

Today's Special: Ranch-Parmesan Chicken, Korean Chicken & Peanut Noodles, Crap in Rolls, Beef Stroganoff, and BLTs

Ranch-Parmesan Chicken- New Recipe. I made this on the spur of the moment because I hadn't gone to the grocery store yet. It turned out surprisingly good. Not healthy in the slightest, but good!

Korean Roast Chicken (new recipe) with Peanut-Ginger Noodles (repeat)- The Korean chicken turned out surprisingly well. I actually used boneless skinless thighs and it worked just fine. It did reduce the cooking time to 45 minutes. I'd probably let these marinate longer if I were to make them again. And the noodles? What can I say? This is my favorite peanut sauce/noodle recipe I've tried. And it's super easy.

Crap in Rolls- Old family favorite. OK so there's a story to this one. These things are actually called "Chicken Rolls." We pronounce it more like "crap'n-rolls." My now brother-in-law JR was coming over for his first Sunday dinner at the Holley home. When asked what we were having, Corinne said something like, "I don't know... crap in rolls or something." And he still came over. Bachelors sure are desperate for a home cooked meal. Don't worry, they're better than they sound. And my mom still gets pissed off when we called them Crap in Rolls.

Crap in Rolls

Rolls
2 cups chicken, cooked and shredded
1/4 tsp lemon pepper
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 can mushrooms
1 stalk celery, diced
2 tbsp. butter, melted
2 cups breadcrumbs
2 cans Refrigerated Crescent Roll dough (16 rolls)

Sauce
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
Milk

Combine chicken, lemon pepper, cream cheese, mushrooms, and celery. Roll out dough. Spoon mixture onto dough (about 1 rounded tablespoon each), roll up, and seal. Dip in melted butter and then into bread crumbs. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

To make sauce combine cream of chicken soup with enough milk to thin to desired consistency and heat. Spoon over hot rolls.

Makes 16 rolls.

Beef Stroganoff- Repeat. Comfort food at its best. I always add mushrooms to the meat/onions when they're sauteing.

BLTs- Repeat. So I'm pretty sure the name is self-explanatory of the recipe for this one. Unless you want to get all technical and say it doesn't include the mayo or bread. But come on. If you don't know how to make a BLT, there's no help for you. Quit now.



Today's Special: Pressure Cooker Meals

So about a week before my birthday my mom called me to chat. Sometime during the conversation she asked me what I wanted for my birthday present:

Me: Um.... hmmm.... I know I want lots of stuff... let me think for a second.

Mom: Corinne got a really cool 3-in-1 steamer/pressure cooker/slow cooker. She really likes it.

Me: I know there's something I wanted I just need to think for a second.

Mom: Has she told you about it? It's really amazing.

Me: Wasn't there some sort of fishing thing I needed?

Mom: So I have one of these 3 in 1 pressure cookers too. It's really amazing. It's ELECTRIC.

Me: Wait, what?

Mom: Yeah it's an electric pressure cooker.

Me: Really? Does it work good?

Mom: Oh yeah. You can just type in the amount of time you want it to go for and after it's done it shuts down to a "warming" mode. It's a steamer too. You can cook rice in it and use it as a slow cooker. And it has a delay cooking option.

Me: I've never even heard of such a thing! I need one!

Mom: You can think about it if you want and let me know.

Me: Nope I've made up my mind. I need a 3 in 1 electric pressure cooker for my birthday.

Mom: Ok, if that's what you really want.

Isn't my mom so geniusly talented at getting me to want stuff? It was like some sort of Green Beret tactic of making me ask for the thing she already had in mind. Those are some serious skills.

So I use my pressure cooker on a regular basis, but usually just to cook potatoes or frozen chicken breasts. But now that I had this new fancy contraption, I had to expand my mind and use it as intended... a quick one dish delicious meal producer.

I scoured the Internets and found a handful of recipes that sounded enticing and thought I would share them with you in this week's theme: Pressure Cooker Meals. Enjoy.

Corned Beef & Cabbage: This was by far my favorite meal of the week. It wasn't exactly fast at about 90 minutes, but much faster than a regular corned beef meal and definitely tasty. Plus since I didn't have to watch the pressure cooker at all, I was able to fit in a pre-dinner run . I don't know if the recipe producer had a giant sized pressure cooker or what, but I wasn't able to fit all my veggies in the pot. I will definitely be making this again.

Navy Bean Soup- This one took a little preparation to soak the beans overnight, but it was hardly time consuming or difficult. I couldn't find a 3 lb. ham shank... only a bunch around 10 pounds, so I thought maybe it was supposed to use ham hocks instead. So that's what I used. They look really disgusting but the soup turned out great. I cooked mine a little bit longer as I noticed the recipe says to cook it at 15 psi and the high setting on my pressure cooker is 9 psi. Oh, I also ended up using both my regular pressure cooker and the electric one because this made a ton of soup. If you only have one regular sized cooker, I suggest cutting the recipe in half. This was a very good soup and one I would make again. If you've never tried Navy Beans (aka White Beans) you're missing out. They are very buttery and delicious!

Ham with Vegetables- While this wasn't a gourmet meal by any means, it was a good solid meat and potatoes type meal and it was fast! If you like ham and vegetables, this would be a nice addition to your weekly menu.

BBQ Ribs- I picked up some pork baby back ribs on impulse when I saw they were on sale. Turns out you can cook them in the pressure cooker too! I think they could have used a few extra minutes in the cooker as the meat wasn't quite as tender next to the bone as I would have liked, but the sauce was great! I cut back on the sugar by 1 full cup as suggested by other reviewers and doubled the cayenne pepper (they were not spicy in the slightest). I may like this recipe even more than my regular standby. Awesome!

Today's Special: Fish Tacos, Beer Can Chicken, Tijuana Tortas, Dry-Aged Steaks, & Banana Pudding

Fish Tacos- New Recipe. I saw Alton Brown make these on Good Eats the other day and thought they looked really good. I made kind of a cheater version though. I didn't make my own tortillas and I didn't make my own sauce. I did however make the fish/marinade like he did. For my cheater version I used soft flour tortillas and some store bought spicy ranch dressing for the sauce. My ranch dressing wasn't that spicy though so I added a couple chipotle chilies in adobo sauce (I had some leftover in the fridge... doesn't everybody?) and blended it up, which he does in the recipe. It takes 24 hours to make the sauce his way and I just don't plan ahead that much. Anyway, I really liked these and thought they turned out really good. I'll have to try making that sauce one of these days to see if it's worth it.

Beer Can Chicken- New Recipe. I love making whole chickens. Mainly because I think they look funny when I'm prepping them for cooking. I feel like I'm giving a little chicken child a bath and a rubdown! HA! I also like to make whole chickens because they are just so darn cheap. I got a 4 lb. chicken for $2.38. Awesome huh? Anyway, as far as this recipe goes, I really liked the flavors (have I mentioned how much I love fresh thyme?) and it was very simple to prepare. The chicken turned out incredibly moist. The skin wasn't quite as browned as I would have liked so in the future I'd start it out at a higher temp to brown it and then back it down to keep the meat moist. This was a great basic recipe that has potential for a lot of tweaking/customizing. Also, the recipe says you can use a small mason jar filled with chicken stock instead of the beer.

Tijuana Tortas- New Recipe. Good not great. Probably won't make them again, but not bad for a vegetarian meal. (I have never actually had a regular torta so I have no idea how these compare, sorry Rachel.)

Dry-Aged Ribeye Steaks- New Recipe. Another Alton Brown recipe (he used Porterhouse steaks though). Although I thought these turned out well, I don't know that it was good enough to warrant days worth of prepping. It was fun to try but I doubt I'll do it again.

Southern Banana Pudding- New Recipe. This tasted a lot like banana cream pie but without the extra step of making a crust. If you make this, don't get impatient like I did and eat it an hour after you make it. It uses layers of Nilla Wafers which need time to soften in the pudding. I didn't want to wait to try it out and the cookies were really dry. This was much better the next day, so make sure you plan ahead. It won't be worth it otherwise. Also, I used an 8x8" (2 quart) pan and only had enough pudding and such for 2 layers, not 3 as it states in the recipe. The recipe says to use a 1.5 quart pan so maybe I would have had enough for 3 if my pan had been a bit smaller. Not that it really matters as far as taste is concerned. Anyway, I thought this was a good, easy dessert.

Today's Special: Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

Balsamic Grilled Portobello Sandwiches with Goat Cheese and Roasted Peppers- New Recipe. Wow these turned out so good! Seth mentioned at least 3 times during the meal how awesome they were. Very easy to make and healthy to boot! This is definitely a keeper.

Penne with Mushroom Sauce- New Recipe. This was a bit disappointing. I didn't think the brown sauce looked very appetizing on the pasta and it was surprisingly bland.

Sauerkraut Chowder- Repeat. Man I love this stuff. Have I mentioned that before?

Today's Special: It's All Good

Balsamic Grilled Portobello Sandwiches with Goat Cheese and Roasted Peppers- New Recipe. Wow these turned out so good! Seth mentioned at least 3 times during the meal how awesome they were. Very easy to make and healthy to boot! This is definitely a keeper.

Shaker-Style Smoked Chicken Thighs and Grilled Corn-on-the-Cob- New Recipe. This turned out really good despite the fact that I didn't actually do any of the smoking as stated in the recipe (too lazy, too hungry, and no wood chips). Also, just as a tip for all you chicken barbequers out there: use chicken thighs! Chicken breasts have to be cooked "just-so" on the grill in order for them to not turn out dry. Chicken thighs keep their delicious texture and are more forgiving if you overcook them a little. Plus, thighs are much cheaper and quite frankly I think they taste better too. I was able to pick up 2 pounds of chicken thighs for only $2.50 and easily removed the skin myself (you can buy them boneless and skinless).

If you've never grilled corn on the cob, it's time you had. You can get fancy with putting butter and such inside the husks beforehand, but I always just throw the corn on the grill (husks still on!) and rotate them every 5 minutes or so. They're done when all sides start to blacken a little. Mine were done at the same time as the Shaker chicken this time around. Oh and if you don't want to burn your flesh off but still want hot corn to eat, shuck the ears while wearing oven mitts, works pretty good!

Cassoulet-Style Chicken Thighs- New Recipe. I'm always a little wary of these crazy bean recipes, but somehow they turn out surprisingly good! I think white beans are my favorite. They have a great creamy texture and a nice mild buttery flavor. My food processor was my best friend when I made this. I used it to turn 2 pieces of wheat bread into crumbs (and blend the oil into them), chop the onion, and mash up the beans. That food processor saves me so much time. Anyway, this recipe is a keeper!

Mama Hanson's Fish Stew- New Recipe. One day Dad Hanson raved to me about this "tomato based fish chowder" Mama Hanson had made. He said, "It's the best chowder there is to be found and all gourmet fish places should hang their heads in shame." I knew I needed the recipe. Mama Hanson is a soup/stew guru so I felt very privileged to gain access to this recipe. It didn't actually come with instructions, just a list of ingredients, so hopefully I made it right. I thought it turned out very well and was even better the next day (which is usually the standard for soups).

Mama Hanson's Fish Stew

 2 tbsp. olive oil

1 green pepper, diced

1 red pepper, diced

1 large onion, diced

2 carrots, sliced thinly

2 stalks celery, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups chicken broth

1 (28oz.) can diced tomatoes

1/2 tsp. basil

1/2 tsp. thyme

1/2 tsp. turmeric

1 bay leaf

1/8-1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper

1 lb. cod fillets, cut into 1" pieces

1/2 lb. white fish, crab, or shrimp

2 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped

Heat olive oil in a large stockpot. Add green pepper, red pepper, onion, carrots, celery, and garlic and cook until onions are translucent.

Add chicken broth, tomatoes, basil, thyme, turmeric, bay leaf, and crushed red pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes (for thicker stew, leave off lid).

Add all fish/crab and continue to simmer until fish is cooked through (about 5-10 minutes more). Garnish with parsley and serve.

Serves 4-6

Today's Special: A Whole Lotta Food

Turkey Soup- New Recipe. This is the recipe that saved Seth's wild turkey from culinary disaster (long story short, it was way too salty after I roasted it). This soup helped tone down the saltiness of the turkey a lot and made it not only edible, but incredibly delicious. The recipe name doesn't sound too fancy, but it was some of the best soup we've had in awhile. Definitely a keeper! (p.s. I substituted corn for carrots because I didn't have any).

Basil Pesto Pasta- New Recipe. This pesto turned out so good! Even better than the stuff in the jar I buy at the grocery store. I have to admit I was a little scared to try it, but I was pleasantly surprised. Very fresh tasting. Oh, I did sub pecans for the walnuts. I also used this on gnocchi instead of regular pasta.

 Fajita Burgers- New Recipe. These were really spicy so watch out if you're cooking for kids. They were a bit crumbly but I think it was because I didn't chop up my onions small enough. Seth really liked these, but I thought all the stuff mixed into the burgers was a bit overwhelming. I'd probably tone it down a bit next time. Also, the roasted peppers were good (Seth made them!) but not sure they were worth the effort. I'd suggest using some store bought roasted red peppers in a jar. I think this would actually cut back on the spiciness too. Oh and one more tip: Don't eat one of these right before you go running. Bleh.

Sauteed Chicken Breasts with Creamy Chive Sauce- New Recipe. This turned out ok... maybe a bit on the bland side. I think it would've been better had the sauce simmered longer and/or the flavors had more time to meld. Definitely not bad by any means, but nothing spectacular.

Mediterranean Tuna Panini- Repeat. These were Seth's exact words the other night when I made this... "This one of my favorite things you make." Enough said.

Granola Bars- New Recipe. This is another Alton Brown recipe. I wanted to try and make my own granola bars for a couple reasons. #1 Store bought granola bars are pricey #2 Store bought granola bars aren't that good or filling or healthy. I wanted to make my own granola bars so I could control all those variables and I have to say my experiment worked pretty well.

There were a couple changes I made to this recipe. I couldn't find hulled raw sunflower seeds at the grocery store, so I just left them out. Also, I tried using agave nectar in place of honey. For my dried fruit I used a mixture of regular and golden raisins, dried cranberries and I believe there were some dried blueberries in the mix as well. These turned out pretty well. They are more of a soft granola bar and mine were a bit crumbly, but not too bad. I read reviews on the recipe that said these were hard to cut or really crunchy... I think this may be the difference between the honey and agave, but I'm not sure. I've already bought ingredients to make a second batch and I think I'll try using honey this time to see which I like best. I'll let you know how it goes.

Ok so update on that last paragraph. I made a second batch of these with honey and they turned out even better I think. I let them cool in the pan this time and I couldn't get them out. So, I nuked it in the microwave for a minute to soften it up and then it came out... in pieces. I would suggest baking this then right away (before it cools) dump it out onto a cutting board and press it together/shape it and then let it cool.

p.s. These were made in a 9x9 pan and I cut them into 8 bars- using these proportions the granola bars have about 400 calories, which is a good sized breakfast. Perfect for my drive to work!