Thursday, February 26, 2009

Sloppy Joe Night!

Remember that French Baguette recipe I fell in love with a couple weeks ago? Well, turns out they make AWESOME french rolls too! Before I baked the rolls, I topped them with olive oil, garlic powder, basil, and parsley, then baked them at 375 about 12-14 minutes. They were the perfect shape, size, and consistency to hold our Sloppy Joes...Firm and held their shape, but soft and chewy when eaten. Mmmm mmmmm mmmm! Speaking of the Sloppy Joes, they were pretty awesome too...http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sloppy-Joes-II/Detail.aspx...I only had spicy brown mustard, which was a little strong, so I might decrease that amount next time. Otherwise, served with the warm Spiced, Sliced Apples, and Roasted Potato and Carrot slices, it was a perfect meal. I can't wait to enjoy the leftovers for dinner tonight!

Anatomy of A Great Sandwich

First, take some homemade Focaccia Bread. Then spread some homemade Red Pepper, Green Onion, and Spinach Pesto on each side of said Focaccia Bread.
Next, layer Turkey, Bacon Glorious Bacon, and Swiss Cheese...
Wrap in foil to create a Packet of Deliciousness.. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes until hot and cheesy gooey...
Serve with Chips, and Warm Homemade Spiced Apple Slices. I used this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sarahs-Applesauce/Detail.aspx. But, I kept the apple slices whole instead of mashing them.

Steak Fajitas

These Steak Fajitas were from Everyday With Rachael Ray and they were very good. I will have to post the recipe soon...Very easy too. And, a good way to use some of the $1.99 sirloin that was on sale at Albertson's last week. (I ended up buying 8lbs, so we still have plenty on hand!) The beans and corn were good...just threw in some black beans with frozen corn, cilantro, and some spices...could use some tweaking, though. And, the Mexican Rice was NOT good. Something about me and rice...Unless it says "Minute Rice" on the box, I am horrible at making "real" rice. All in all, though, this was a very good meal...Until we went to have the leftovers for lunch on Tuesday, and the tortillas were moldy. Oops. Fajita Nachos anyone??

Monday, February 23, 2009

Steak Vegetable Soup

I'm not sure why I didn't love this soup...I like everything I put in there! Steak, Carrots, Celery, Zucchini, Spinach, Potatoes, Rice, and Garlic...Parsley, Basil, Salt, Pepper and of course Red Wine...It just turned out a little bland. I really don't know what I did wrong. On the other end of this meal, a Bread Tragedy occurred and I can't put my finger on it...I took one of my loaves out of the freezer and defrosted it like normal, but it soon developed an "off" smell and a strange freakish crust appeared. Baking it only made it worse. The color was different and it remained raw on the inside while burning on the outside. Weird. I made Garlic Toast instead. Not Italian Bread, but at least it fulfilled my Carb Requirement for the meal.
As with most soups, this one improved with age. This was the second night of the soup, and even the picture looks better. I made some French Bread, covered it with EVOO and sprinkled some parsley, basil, and garlic powder on it. So yummy. Is it wrong that we ate the entire loaf in 10 minutes? I didn't think so either.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

My Menu for the Week

Saturday and Sunday
2/21 and 2/22
Beef Stew
Italian Bread

Monday
2/23
Steak Fajitas
Black Beans and Corn
Tortilla Chips and Guacamole

Tuesday
2/24
Turkey Bacon Paninis on Homemade Focaccia Bread
Apple Slices
Chips

Wednesday
2/25
Sloppy Joes
Carrot Sticks
Chips

Thursday and Friday
2/26 and 2/27
Balsamic-Garlic Chicken
Roasted Potatoes and Zucchini
French Bread

Saturday and Sunday
2/28 and 3/1
Shepherd's Pie
Rolls

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Now This Was Good!

If you know me at all, you know that I consider great bread to be the hallmark of a great meal. This french bread (as referenced in a previous post) has an amazing store-bought flavor without the store-bought price. Not to mention that I can eat it straight out of the oven. Many a time have I waited the extra half-hour at Vons for them to bring out the warm bread, then proceeded to stuff my face and finish half the loaf before getting into the car...But, my carbaholic issues aside, this is seriously good bread. The recipe calls for an egg wash, but every time I do that it ends up tasting more like scrambled eggs than anything...so this time I melted a little butter and brushed it on before baking. Mmmm, isn't this a regal shot? This bread deserves it... Oh yeah, dinner. I cut said bread into sandwich size, and since I had a ton of leftover chicken that wasn't "casseroled" last night, I decided to make sandwiches out of it. I also made some mashed potatoes...red potatoes I cut up, covered in olive oil and spices for a few hours before boiling them...and carrots that were cooked in said potato water, which was quite tasty. Now this is lunch today, and I must admit I'm looking forward to it. At a complete loss for dinner ideas tonight...any suggestions?

Not A Hit...

So, I had this awesome idea for dinner the other night. I put 3 lbs of chicken breasts in the crock pot with a can of chicken broth and some Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce...shredded it, added some black beans and corn...and made some Homemade Buttermilk Cornbread to put on top to bake like a casserole. Sounds good, doesn't it? Well, it wasn't baaaad, but it wasn't that great. The cornbread dried up a bit on me...Next!!!

Nothing Better Than Soup...

Or Homemade Fresh French Bread when you're sick. Well, actually we have been able to fight it off so far (knock on wood), with the help of Zicam, orange juice, and bananas; but Taylor wasn't so lucky. And, having a sick 6 month old who won't sleep is more than enough to crave comfort food. This bread is my new favorite. So good. So good. Did I already say that? http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/French-Baguettes/Detail.aspx
So, here's our soup. It was sure good! I sauteed up some carrots and celery in butter. You can never go wrong with butter. Then added 6 C chicken broth, 2 C water, 2 C cooked shredded chicken...I love my FoodSaver. (I had frozen some shredded chicken last time I roasted a whole bird.) And, finally some egg noodles. Oh, and some parsley, sage, rosemary, and marjoram. You were waiting for me to say thyme, weren't you??? And, served with the delicious crusty french bread, it was the perfect meal for a sick, rainy day.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Valentine's Day

My sweet husband knows I love steak...and potatoes...and bread...so it's quite easy to find a romantic meal for moi. Eric q'ued it up. Grilled the steak and potatoes...Filet Mignon no less. They had it on sale at Henry's. It actually ended up costing less than dinner at In'N'Out would have, so I didn't feel bad about it...Anyway, throw in some Focaccia Bread, and you've got yourself the perfect V-Day meal.
Then for dessert...Cookies. Yes, cookies. Yummy heart shaped cookies. Actually, these were not the cookies I made, but I didn't take a picture of my Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Coconut Masterpiece, so this will have to do. I made these last week, and they weren't great, but Eric was appreciative of the "I" "Heart" "U" cookie shape. I do love my husband...on every day, not just Valentine's Day...But, a Steak Dinner doesn't hurt either :)

Rotini with Proscuitto in White Wine Sauce

As is the common theme for most of my meals, the best part of this meal was the bread http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Michaels-Foccacia-Bread/Detail.aspx. I don't add the onion, just top it with all kinds of good herbs and parmesan cheese. Of course, not to take anything away from the pasta, which was great too. It was made from a whole bunch of leftover stuff in my fridge. Spinach, pine nuts, proscuitto...for the sauce I melted 1/4 C of butter and added some white wine and garlic until it was tasty, then I added the fixins', the pasta, and mixed it all together. Yummy!

Roasted Red Pepper and Spinach Pesto

This was pretty stinkin' good. Homemade Italian Bread http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mama-Ds-Italian-Bread/Detail.aspx, with a Roasted Red Pepper and Spinach Pesto, topped with Pancetta. Pancetta was a bit too salty, but the pesto was awesome. I did 1 C packed spinach leaves, 4 oz or so roasted red peppers from the jar, 2 cloves garlic, 3 TBS pine nuts ,5 TBS parmesan cheese, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/2 C olive oil. I think. I kind of forgot, so you'd have to taste and adjust as you go...But, the real star of this meal was the bread. Mmmmm!

Hello There!

Hello to all my fans and groupies...okay, friends and family. With the suggestion of my sister, I've decided to set up a blog. This is probably because my family is tired of hearing "Guess what I made for dinner last night?" Now, they can just say "I'll check the blog later...So, how about this weather?"

Well, enjoy...good eats, bon appetit, blah blah blah, and all that good stuff!