Category: Entrees

Yum. I’ve made these pork medallions before, but decided to try them with this mustard sauce, this time. Some penne with pesto and asparagus on the side. A HUGE hit with everyone. For the pork, I used half regular breadcrumbs and half panko and mixed in a bit of Baby Bam seasoning. I also salted the medallions a tiny bit before breading. For the cream sauce, I used chicken stock instead of wine and half-and-half instead of whipping cream. I also omitted the basil and dill, since we would already be having so much basil in the pesto. Dee-lish.

Chicken Paprikash, adapted from this Cooking Light recipe

1 Tbsp. canola oil
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 medium sized breasts), cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 tsp. Baby Bam seasoning
1 cup chopped white onion
1 cup chopped red or green bell pepper
2 pressed garlic cloves
1 Tbsp. paprika
(add a little sprinkle of pimenton, too, for extra smoky flavor)
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 tsp. caraway seeds
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
a sprinkle (1/4 tsp?) freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup half-and-half
2 scoops sprouted ground flaxseed (available at Costco)

1/2 pound pasta or egg noodles, cooked and drained

Heat the oil in a large skillet or saucepan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the Baby Bam over the chicken pieces and toss/stir to coat. Add chicken to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. Add the garlic, onion and bell pepper to the pan and cook, stirring frequently, until softened (about 3 minutes). Add the paprika, chicken stock, tomatoes, and tomato paste to the pan and cook for 5 minutes or so, turning down the heat, if necessary, to prevent bubbling over. If you would like for the sauce to be smoother and less “chunky”, use an immersion blender at this point (right in the pan) to puree the sauce. Add the caraway seeds and half-and-half to the sauce and season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in the ground flax. Stir to blend completely. Return the chicken to the pan and continue to simmer (5 to 10 more minutes) until the sauce is nice and thick, the chicken is cooked through and the flax is completed mixed in. Serve over the cooked pasta, with sauteed spinach on the side.

Sauteed Spinach

1 lb. fresh baby spinach leaves
2 Tbsp. olive or canola oil
Baby Bam seasoning to taste (1 to 2 tsp.)

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a VERY large saucepan. Add the spinach, a little bit at a time (it will shrink CONSIDERABLY as it cooks). After all of the spinach is added and has started to wilt a little, sprinkle the Baby Bam over it, stirring (I like to use tongs) to incorporate. When all of the spinach is at least partially wilted (you don’t have to cook it to death), remove it from the heat and serve.

I’m still looking for a great, basic, all-purpose lasagna recipe. I saw this one and thought I would give it a try the other day. It was good and was definitely “classic” (I used ricotta instead of cottage cheese), but the sauce wasn’t as rich as I would have liked. If I make this again, I will maybe add a little tomato paste or some balsamic vinegar to give the sauce a little more depth, but this was a good, kid-friendly, basic lasagna. Girl liked it a lot. Boy isn’t a big fan of tomato sauce, so I made him some little individual, pesto-sauced lasagna wraps:

Directions:

Take a cooked lasagna noodle and spread it with a very thin layer of prepared (or store-bought) pesto, just enough to very lightly coat it. Spread a thin layer (2 to 3 Tbsp.) of the ricotta cheese mixture (from the above lasagna recipe) on top of the pesto. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and crumbled, cooked hamburger meat (just reserve a little when you brown the meat for your lasagna, above). Very gently roll the lasagna into a spiral and place it carefully in a small glass or ceramic baking dish. Spread a little more pesto over the top and sprinkle with a little Parmesan cheese. Bake for the last 15 – 20 minutes of the time that your lasagna is baking, until completely cooked and bubbly (you just want to make sure that the eggs in the ricotta are cooked though). Boy really loved these and had one in his lunch the next day.

Little Brother and his wife came over for our early Christmas celebration last night and I decided to make this recipe by Laurent Tourondel. I’ve had it tucked away for a few months, meaning to try it. A recipe that calls for 3 BOTTLES OF WINE?! What’s not to like?

I used 8 shortribs, instead of 6, because that was how many that were in the package that I bought (from Costco). I had a TON of the (very indulgent) sauce left over and am going to find something to use it for. It may end up being the base for a stew or becoming some sort of soup – we’ll just have to see. The browned butter was a little superfluous, but it was good on the mashed potatoes. If I make that again, I will add the garlic at the very end, because the garlic ended up getting a little overbrowned and bitter before the butter browned.

The salad was just baby spinach, thinly sliced apple, shaved parmesan and balsamic-glazed pecans with a balsamic vinaigrette.

Little Brother brought over pies: one chocolate-coffee-pecan and one peanut butter-chocolate (LB had roasted and ground the peanuts himself to make the peanut butter!). Mmm…

AND, LB and his wife bought me this for Christmas, which I have been wanting FOREVER – thanks!

My mother gave me this EASY Crock Pot Pork Tenderloin recipe many years ago. It’s super kid-friendly and very low fat. You can throw it in the Crock Pot and let it cook with you’re out shopping for presents or decorating the Christmas tree.

Crock Pot Roast Pork Tenderloin with Cranberry Gravy

1 (two to three pound) pork tenderloin
1 can whole cranberry sauce
1/2 cup cranberry juice (not cranberry juice cocktail)
1/2 cup sugar (I usually cut this just a bit)
1 tsp. dry mustard powder
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
2 Tbsp. cornstarch

Put cranberry sauce, juice, sugar, mustard and cloves in crock pot. Stir with a whisk to thoroughly combine. Add pork tenderloin. Set crock pot to cook for 8 to 10 hours on low setting.

When the timer goes off, carefully pull pork loins out of crock pot (leaving sauce) and set aside to rest on a cutting board.

Carefully pour gravy from crock pot into a small saucepan. Add the cornstarch and whisk thoroughly to combine. Cook over medium-low heat until gravy has thickened to serving consistency. If you are serving picky eaters who might be turned off by the whole cranberries, you may puree the gravy with an immersion blender.

Slice tenderloin (1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thick). Place it on a serving platter and drizzle with the cranberry gravy. Serve the rest of the gravy on the side.

Everyone liked this recipe, but it is on the “sweet” side, so you may not care for it if you don’t care for “sweet” meat sauces (Hubby prefers savory/herb/garlic-type dishes). I just found this similar (but maybe less sweet) recipe on Epicurious. I think it might be good, too, and might be possible to adapt for the Crock Pot. I may give it a try sometime soon.

Our brother-in-law, who is a great cook, made a homemade version of the classic Campbell’s green bean casserole for Thanksgiving and I’ve been craving it again ever since, so I decided to try to recreat it for dinner last night.

Homemade French Fried Onions

about 1 and 1/2 cups VERY thinly sliced red onion
about 1 cup milk
about 1 cup flour with a little salt (1/2 tsp?) mixed in
oil for frying (I used a blend of peanut and canola)

Soak the onions in the milk for about 5 minutes while you eat the oil to about 350 degrees in a deep skillet. Remove the onions from the milk a small handful at a time and dredge, in batches, through the flour to coat. Fry in the oil until onions are golden brown – be careful not to let them burn! Remove from oil and drain on paper towels. Set aside to cool. Try not to nibble too many of them while you assemble the rest of the casserole ingredients.

Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup

1/4 to 1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 pound sliced fresh mushrooms
2 cups liquid: milk, chicken stock, cream (or a combination thereof – I used the milk from soaking the onions, plus a little stock and cream)
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves
salt and pepper to taste

Saute mushrooms in 1/4 cup of the butter until softened. Remove mushrooms and set aside, leaving butter in the pan. Add the flour and stir to thoroughly combine, adding more butter if necessary to create a smooth, blended roux. Cook the roux over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes until thickened. Slowly stir in the liquid and continue cooking until well combined and thickened to cream soup consistency. Chop the mushrooms up a little bit and add them back to the soup. Add the thyme and salt and pepper to taste.

Homemade Green Bean Casserole

One batch Cream of Mushroom Soup
One batch French Fried Onions
2 (10 oz) packages frozen green beans, cooked according to package directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Layer half of the green beans in a large rectangular casserole dish. Sprinkle with half of the onions.

Layer in the rest of the green beans and then half of the remaining onions. Pour mushroom evenly over the whole casserole and top with the remaining onions.

Cook for about 30 minutes or until the casserole is heated through and bubbly and the onions on top have browned a bit more.

This recipe was really good, but did have a much stronger mushroom flavor than the canned soup version. Hubby and I loved it, but it wasn’t a great big hit with my mushroom-doubting kiddos. I wouldn’t recommend making this for your kids unless they are mushroom lovers.

NB: I adapted this recipe from one that was published in Southern Living magazine many years ago. I didn’t notice, originally, that this recipe requires 8 hours of refrigeration before baking and had planned to serve this for last night’s dinner. Luckily, I had the ingredients on hand for the “comes together quickly” Hot Brown sandwiches and we had those instead. So, don’t make the same mistake that I did: be sure that you start preparing this at least 9 hours before you want to eat it! Also, the original recipe called for thawed frozen broccoli florets, instead, so feel free to substitute – thawed frozen spinach might be good, too (squeeze out all of the excess water first). A small sprinkle of your favorite herb would also be a nice addition.

Turkey-Cheddar Strata with Peas

1 Tbsp. softened, unsalted butter
6 oz, by weight, cubed French bread pieces (about 3 to 4 cups)
2 cups chopped leftover (cooked) turkey
1 package (10 oz) frozen green peas, thawed
1/2 cup diced celery
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
6 lightly beaten large eggs
2 cups milk
3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. black pepper
cooking spray

Spray 9 X 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Saute celery in the butter in a small saucepan. Layer half each of bread cubes, turkey, peas, celery and cheddar cheese in pan; repeat layers, ending with cheese.

Whisk together eggs and remaining ingredients in a large bowl; pour evenly over cheese, pressing down lightly to absorb liquid. Cover and chill 8 hours.

Remove from fridge and uncover. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until golden. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting into serving-sized pieces.

Another option:
Layer the ingredients, as directed, into custard cups (7 of them, 10 ounces each) instead of the baking pan, to make individual serving cups. Bake for just 30 minutes.

I had not ever had these before and have really only heard them mentioned in conjunction with burgoo and juleps, as a Kentucky Derby food, but when I saw both Cooking Light and Epicurious plugging them as a good use for leftover turkey, I had to give them a try. I combined the parts of both recipes that appealed to me to make this version, which was a big hit with all 4 of us. We bought our smoked turkey from a wonderful local BBQ place called The Salt Lick.

Kentucky Hot Browns sandwiches

Makes 4 sandwiches.

3 Tbsp. VERY finely chopped red onion
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2 Tbsp. flour
1 1/2 cups milk
pinch of cayenne
1 Tbsp. dry sherry (optional)
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese (sharp preferred)
3 Tbsp. chopped roasted red pepper (I had some leftover from the salad that I made for Thanksgiving, but you could substitute pimientos)
1 Tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
4 slices Texas Toast bread, lightly toasted
about 2 1/2 cups leftover turkey meat, shredded into strips
8 to 12 thin slices of tomato
4 slices cooked bacon, crumbled

Preheat oven broiler.

In a small saucepan, cook the onion in the butter over moderate heat, stirring, until it is softened. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking, for 3 minutes. Slowly pour in the milk, whisking to combine, until the mixture is thick and smooth. Add the cayenne, sherry, salt and pepper to taste and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes or until sauce is thickened. Stir in the cheddar cheese, stirring until the mixture is smooth and thick.

Place the toasts on a baking pan or cookie sheet. Top toasts with turkey, then tomato slices, then some of the cheese sauce. Sprinkle with the bacon and Parmesan cheese and broil for a couple of minutes, until warmed through and bubbly (watch carefully so that the bacon doesn’t burn). Remove from pan with a large spatula and serve.

Don’t read this part if you’re a purist from Kentucky:
These would probably be good with ham, too, instead of the turkey.

Here is a version of Hot Browns from Southern Living magazine, too (apparently, they agree with me about the ham):
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=257506