Our Big Meal

My mom, Nika, and I prepared the meal together this last week and each did a little part.  I prepared the soup and pretty much just followed the recipe.  Everything cooked up nicely and I blended it all up in the blender.  The soup had a very nice flavor and the smoked cheddar was an excellent addition!

We marinated the london broil in a little balsamic vinegar and oil to give it a little extra flavor before it was grilled on the barbeque.  It was a little thick so it took a while to cook. The balsamic onion rings had a good flavor but because of the sugar they seemed to burn.  Robyn said to cook it at a medium-high but we recommend a lower temperature. 

The pizza cookie was surprisingly good and fun to make.  The two little girls helped Grandma make this, which resulted in a little extra work but was fun for them. After it was first taken out of the oven the dough seemed a little too soft but after everything cooled it was perfect. 

 

 

Final Recipe Selections From Robin MIller Cookbook

Since this will be our final cooking from the Robin Miller Cookbook (which I have THOROUGHLY enjoyed) I am selecting 3 recipes. I hope some of you get a chance to try them out and let all of us know how/if you enjoyed them.

Sweet Potato Soup with Smoked Cheddar & Chives (p 16)

London Broil with Balsamic Onion Rings (p 196)

Pizza Cookie (p 287)

New Cookbook

We have decided to start a new book in September called The Pioneer Woman Cooks.  I sent an email out to everyone about it so hopefully everyone got that.  So far I know that Heidi, Audrey, Kim, myself, Jacki, Nika, Tarin, Kelly and NaDee will be cooking along with us.  Let me know if anyone else wants to join in too! We will start the week of September 6th so you have a little time to get your new books and get caught up on the old one if you would like.  We will be posting a schedule for choosing recipes soon!

Ravioli and Onion Soup

Last Wednesday we made the ravioli and onion soup. It was supposed to be tortallini but we had ravioli in the freezer so we used that. The only only change was using less sage. It was very good and easy to make. The soup was very tasty but we did have a lot of onions left in the bottom of the pot. For the bread we toasted some french bread with mozarella in the oven and that really made the dish. I will try to add a picture of the soup later.

Three Onion Soup with Smothered Toast

MMmm this was a tasty meal! I was quite skeptical since there were so many onions in this soup and nothing else really, but it was very good! I had never used leaks before and our store only had these huge ones… (at least they were organic:)

I cooked everything as directed on the stovetop.

 

For my own toast I decided to make some “Hearty Whole Grain Bread.” It is quite hearty has the name suggests and went perfect in the soup.  Sean decided to not try the gluten free bread and just used some regular wheat bread. 

None of are bowls said they were oven or broiler safe so I just put the toast bread in the oven with cheese on top and broiled that and then added it to the bowls.  We used pepper jack cheese to add a little zip. 

Sean and I both really enjoyed this soup.  It was so easy to make and rather healthy too!

Recipes for week of 8-15

Three onion soup with cheese-smothered toast page 20
Tortellini with sage-walnut sauce page 64

Leslee's Sesame Chicken with Bok Choy

Part of the reason I chose this recipe was because you can put it in the crock pot.  I followed the crock pot instructions at the end of the recipe but put the chicken in frozen.  I think if I had thawed it out first I could have really seasoned it and would have given much more flavor to the dish.  We thought it was okay but not amazing.  It didn't have quite enough flavor and neither Sean or I were big fans of the bok choy.  Maybe a different green would have been better.  I served it over some delicious rice noodles, although it might have been better over rice.  All in all it isn't something I would try again but maybe with a few changes it could have been better.  

Audrey's review of Three-Mushroom Spinach Fettuccine

My family likes mushrooms, so I thought that this would be a good recipe to try out. I used regular fettuccine and the 3 varieties of mushrooms, but used extra chicken broth in the place of the Marsala wine. I think that the wine would have made a big difference. We didn't think that the dish was very flavorful. My family complained, so I ended up opening a jar of Alfredo sauce and they used that also and were happier with the dish. I also served some garlic bread with it and some broccoli. I need to try it again and add the red wine vinegar like Jacki did and that would probably help:) I haven't tried the tomato salad yet, but I just got some more grape tomatoes, so will try and get that done.

Jacki’s Review of Sesame Chicken w/ Bok Choy

Tonight we had the Sesame Chicken with Bok Choy and we both thought it was good.  I served it over steamed rice with watermelon on the side.  I used regular green cabbage instead of the Bok Choy because I already had some I wanted to use up.  I just shredded it and sauteed it in the olive oil with the red peppers for a bit.  I don’t think I have ever used Bok Choy so it would have been fun to try but the green cabbage was really good.  I couldn’t find any Rice Wine in the store so I just omitted it – added a little more chicken broth instead.  The rice wine probably would have added a little more flavor.   I used Chicken tenderloins so the whole dish cooked up quite easily and quickly.  I am looking forward to trying the Hummus and Pita Triangles later this week.

New Recipes for Week of August 1-7th

Sesame Chicken with Bok Choy pg- 108
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cups chopped Bok Choy (stems and leaves)
1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and sliced into thin strips
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup sake
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon red curry paste (can use curry powder)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. Heat oil in a large skittle over medium-high heat.  Add the bok choy and bell pepper and cook, stirring for 2 minutes.  Remove the veggies from the pan and set aside.
2. Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper and add to the hot pan.  Cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side.
3. In small bowl, whisk together the broth, sake, sesame oil, ginger, and curry paste, pour over the chicken and bring to a simmer.  Return the veggies to the pan, partially cover and summer until the chicken is cooked through, 2-4 minutes.  Remove from heat, top with cilantro and serve.
**There is also a slow cooker option in the book!

Red Pepper Hummus with Toasted Pita Triangles pg. 30
Toasted Pita Triangles
4 whole wheat pita pockets, cut into triangles
cooking spray
garlic salt to taste

Red Pepper Hummus
one 15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 cup roasted red peppers (from a water-packed jar)
1/4 cup tahini (sesame paste)
2 Tbl fresh lemon juice
3 gloves garlic
1 tsp ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbl chopped parsley

1. Preheat oven to 400'F
2. Place the pita triangles on a large baking sheet and spray to the tops with cooking spray.  Sprinkle them with garlic salt. Bake until golden brown and crisp, about 6 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a blender or food processor, combine the chickpeas, red peppers, tahini, lemon juice, garlic and cumin.  Process until smooth.  Season with salt and pepper.  Transfer to a serving bowl and top with parsley. 

Traditional Potato Salad

We enjoyed the new potato salad recipe last night with some BBQ chicken, corn on the cob, and watermelon.  It was the perfect addition to a summer meal! I did not add the relish or red onion but used the other suggested ingredients.  After reading the suggestion about using sour cream or yogurt in place of the mayo I decided to do a combination of both sour cream and mayo which I thought was quite delicious!