Cioppino!!

Way back before Reese was a twinkle in our eyes, T and I took a vacation to San Francisco.  Well, we actually squeezed in Tahoe, Reno, Napa Valley and San Francisco in one trip - you know, 'cause us Okies don't get out West that much.

So, my number one goal while in San Francisco was to eat clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl and I'm proud to say I enjoyed it each of the 3 days we were in town (sometimes more than once a day).  T, on the other hand, is much more hardcore when it comes to seafood than I.  So, he opted for the San Francisco fisherman's stew called Cioppino (pronounced "cheeo peeno").  According to old folklore, it was the stew the fishermen used to make after a long day out on the sea.  They would pull into port, unload all the "good" stuff to send to market and use the leftovers to make dinner for themselves.

Prior to this trip, I had never heard of Cioppino, but T ate it everyday (while I enjoyed my chowder) and longed for more once we returned to our "couldn't get further away from the ocean" home in Oklahoma.  I did some looking around for a recipe similar to what he had in SanFran, but ended up taking bits and pieces from several to create my own.

I've commented before what a picky eater my husband is.  That said, this is his favorite meal (made by me) - I can't compete with the awesome Japanese dishes his Mom makes.

So, here it is.  It's kind of expensive to make (depending on the amount of seafood you choose to use).  Or maybe it's not if you live anywhere relatively close to the shore...which, for anyone not very good at geography, Oklahoma is NOT.

Ingredients:

1 Tbs. butter

1 Tbs. olive oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 medium white onion, chopped

2 carrots, sliced

1 jalapeno, chopped

1 stalk celery, sliced

96 oz. tomato sauce                         Seafood choices:

1 tsp. basil                                          white fish - 3/4 lb

1 tsp. oregano                                    shrimp - 1 lb

1 tsp. parsley                                     mussels - 1/2 lb

1 tsp. fennel                                       clams - 3 lbs

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper                  crab - 1 1/2 lbs

1/3 tsp. ground clove                       scallops - 1/2 lb

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 bay leaf

Splash of white wine

dash of Tabasco

1 Tbs. Worschestershire sauce

Add butter to the pan.  When the butter sizzles, add the olive oil, garlic, onion, carrots, jalapeno and celery. 

   

Saute until the onion is transparent, then add basil, oregano, parsley, clove, fennel seed, black pepper, cayenne pepper and bay leaf.

Saute 3 minutes then add the splash of white wine (I used cooking wine), a dash of Tabasco, the worchestershire sauce and the tomato sauce.

Simmer on low while you prepare the seafood.  I'm sure it doesn't have to be done this way, but I always steam all my seafood prior to adding it to my stew.  That way, it's done as soon as I mix it all together and I don't have to question whether or not my seafood is cooked.

The seafood choices listed above are what I used for this particular recipe, but you could add any seafood you wish.

Once the seafood has been added, change into an old t-shirt, get out your prettiest bowls, ladle out some of your new creation and prepare to get dirty.  Cioppino is a delicious spicy meal, but it is messy!  I served mine with slices of sourdough bread just so I could pretend I was sitting back on Pier 39.

My pictures really do not do this dish justice...it is awesome!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Muffins

Last weekend, Reese and I made chocolate chip cookies - with a twist.  We made the recipe exactly like the back of the Ne.stle Toll House bag told us to (except we added a teaspoon of cinnamon - yum!), but then modified the way we baked them.

We put muffin liners in our muffin tin and filled them about 1/2 way. 



We baked at 375 for 12 minutes then took them out to cool.  The middle of our cookie muffins sank a little which was perfect for the hershey kiss we added in the center.



So, no rocket science here, but it was truly much easier for Reese to fill the muffin tin with dough than try to roll out perfect 1 inch balls...plus, she really loved putting the kisses on in the end.

The highlight to me - the muffin liners keep the cookies soft, plus I can have a whole lot of cookie and still say I just had one!

Try it sometime - I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Easter Memories

Here are a few pics of our Easter festivities:

Coloring eggs

Reese decided she wanted to make Easter cupcakes for the girls at daycare.  We decided to go with rainbow cupcakes (since "rainbow" is currently her favorite color).  Sometimes she says things so cute, I can't correct her - sorry honey, but rainbow isn't really a color, it's many colors...you get the drift.

So, we made our batter



 and filled our cupcake liners.

Reese helped decorate and was sure to tell me how much the girls at daycare loved eating their rainbow cupcakes.  Gotta love a kid who flatters her momma!!!

Need something to brighten a dreary day?  How about a cupcake with a rainbow inside?

Works for me everytime!

Hope you all had as great an Easter as we did!

Now, it's more egg salad sandwiches for me!



Friday Chicken

A picture taken by Reese that has nothing to do with this post!

My friend, Tanya, was telling me about Friday's Spinach Artichoke Dip.  She said it was like alfredo, spinach and artichoke got together and had a love child.  Who wouldn't try it after a description like that?  She mentioned eating it with freshly cooked pasta which sounded great.

So, T was out of town and I broke the cardinal rule.  I went to the store to get the ingredients to make this instead of eating out - all while the chanting in my head got louder and louder:  "you don't cook when T's out of town, you don't cook when T's out of town", on and on.  But I knew I needed to try this myself before offering it up to his scrutiny because he's the world's pickiest eater.  He's also not a fan of "white" sauces (what the what?, who categorizes things and puts them in the "don't" pile like that?) 

So, with the no cooking rule broken, I proceeded to make this dish that I've named Friday Chicken:

3 ingredients

The next picture is really corny because there's nothing really to show.  I put the dip in the microwave, boiled the pasta, added the chicken, then we ate.  But in an attempt to document the process - here's the pasta boiling:



I kinda like how the picture makes the burner look fuschia

I am a big fan of Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals, even though I've yet to make one in the allotted time frame (I need a cute young prep boy to cute the veggies, etc.).  I'm all about making something that tastes good with as little effort as possible.  With that said, this recipe blows her 30 minute meals out of the water.  Start to finish - 20 minutes - that included getting the water to the boiling point.

Reese didn't care for the chicken, but asked for seconds of the pasta.  I would have to agree.  Maybe if I'd grilled my own chicken it would have been better.  But the pasta with the Spinach Artichoke Dip?  In the words of Rachel Ray - it was yumm-o!

And finally, the finished product:



My food pictures suck...don't let that keep you from trying this!


Here's the written recipe:

1/2 lb of penne pasta
1 package of Friday's Spinach Artichoke dip (frozen)
1 package of Tyson Grilled Chicken strips

Cook pasta, microwave artichoke dip, mix it all together and eat! 

Last night we had leftovers and T saw the pasta.  He said, "oooooh, when did you make this?"  Like it actually looked appetizing.  He gave it a thumbs up, but only 45 degrees instead of 90 - but he's picky, remember?  Best part?  The whole meal cost me a whopping $6.62.  Couldn't get Chinese Buffet for that even if they were still open!!



In the Kitchen

Time for another recipe review.  I asked for a new cookbook this Christmas and this is what I received.

I thought it would be awesome because I don't get home until about 6:30, so getting dinner on the table at a decent hour rarely happens.  I thought that using some already prepared ingredients along with a few things that needed to be cooked, would put me ahead of the game - so the first recipe I chose  takes a total of 16 hours to cook - what?

It's called Overnight Pot Roast and isn't nearly as daunting as I just made it sound.  Not quite the "quick" meal I was anticipating, but the prep time was simple and my crockpot did all the work.

So, here's how I did it:

Start with these plus a flank steak!

Rub Montreal Steak seasoning on the flank steak.  I know, it's crazy that we're using flank steak when the recipe clearly states "pot roast", but I trusted Sandra to not lead me astray.  

Next, place the onion slices in the bottom of your crockpot (I only used 1/2 of an onion).  Place the seasoned flank steak on top of the onions and dump the other ingredients in.

Cook overnight (recipe says 8 hours).  In the morning, add the remaining 2 ingredients,

this is a "before" cooking shot

cover and cook an additional 8 hours.

You will not believe the aroma when you walk in the door at the end of the day...it's delicious!  I whipped up some mashed potatoes, used the drippings as gravy and threw a bag of veggies in the microwave to steam.

Even hubby, who's pretty picky (and swears he HATES pot roast) approved.  If you don't tell him it's not really roast, I won't either :)

Here's what it looked like before heading to the table:

And here's the picture straight from Sandy's cookbook (don't you love how she lets me call her that even though this is the first recipe of hers I've ever tried...she's nice like that)

Even though her presentation is much better than mine, I know mine was just as delicious since I copied her!

Recipe details:

One large onion, sliced

One large flank steak (recipe says 3 lbs, I used 2)

2 teaspoons Montreal Steak seasoning

1 packet of Lipton Onion soup mix

1 14.5 oz can of italian stewed tomatoes

3 stalks of celery cut in 1 inch pieces

1 can of Campbell's Cream of Celery soup

1.  Place onion in bottom of 5 quart crockpot.  Rub seasoning on flank steak and place on top of onions.  Sprinkle soup mix over roast and add undrained tomatoes.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours (overnight).

2.  In the morning, mix together celery and soup.  Pour over roast, cover and cook an additional 8 hours.  Serve roast hot with gravy.

That's it.  Not quick, but easy and super delicious.  This one just made the "approved" list.

Weekend Recap

Reese asked all week if we could go to the library (we usually go Thursday nights, but got off course because of the holidays).  I told her that I'd take her Friday afternoon because Friday is my "short day" at work.  We work 9 hour days M-Th and then only 4 on Friday...LOVE IT!

So, the plan was to go to the library on short day.  Complications arose when I instead spent the afternoon at the ER with my Mom.  Library plans never panned out and Reese never knew I copped out on her.

Saturday was spent taking down Christmas decorations.  I know, I know, Christmas was over 3 weeks ago and my tree  was is still up.  I had good intentions of getting it down on Saturday but T convinced me that I needed to take a picture of the lights outside since this is the last year he's going to decorate out there - this is the 4th or 5th year he's said that, but this year he's serious :)  So, I took all the ornaments off and packed them away, but left the tree - lights still on, naked and lonely in front of the window.

It started snowing yesterday, so we spent the day being lazy and lounging around the house.  I went to visit Mom in the hospital, went to the grocery store and then made PW's Comfort Meatballs for dinner.

I've modified her sauce recipe a bit because T thought it was a little tangy.  I'm not much of a meatloaf girl, but these meatballs are fantastic!  I made mashed potatoes/gravy and steamed broccoli to go with them.  For the sake of my diet, I'd like to say I ate more broccoli than mashed potatoes, but why lie to myself?  I meant to take pictures of the meatball process, but like I said, it was a lazy day...and the picture of the house with all the lights on?  Didn't happen either!

Poor tree's still there, it's empty branches beckoning me to put it away already, but my good intentions making it impossible for me to do so.  I'll get that picture tonight, I'm sure.

Anybody do anything more exciting than me this weekend?

Reese in the Kitchen

My little one loves to cook...so much so that she gets upset when I won't let her put her creations into the oven.  She doesn't quite understand that whole hot = burn thing.  But she cracks eggs, measures ingredients (with a little help), mixes and assembles.  The girl already has 3 aprons - that's one more than I have!

She learned to use the microwave (which scares the bejeebees out of T), but she's very careful and knows what does and doesn't go in there.  And, it's not like I'm off eating bonbons when she's doing it...I'm right there!

We went to a friend's house last weekend to watch the Fiesta Bowl (yippee Sooners!) and she decided we needed to take cupcakes to the soiree...

Here's a look at our cupcake making adventure.

Reese size table in the kitchen - check!
Measuring spoons and whisk on hand - check!
Let's get this project started!

Are there shells in there?

Fill 'em up!

Did you notice that in addition to making cupcakes -
she's changed her outfit 3 times?

I didn't have any icing on hand (and was too lazy to make any), so I ran to the store to pick some up.  She was chomping at the bit to get those puppies iced! 

She had the food coloring in hand as soon as I walked back in the door.  She asked if we were ready to ice and I said we were.  I turned around to divide the icing in smaller portions for coloring.  I turned back to find that she had already opened the blue food coloring and had put several drops directly on a cupcake.  I ever so gently explained how the food coloring/icing thing works and then made sure she was allowed to test the first one she "iced"

You can't really tell, but in the top picture, her lips are stained a little blue.  But, she had a blast and never knew that she had shown me a new (albeit, unconventional) way to use that food coloring.

Thanks Reese for helping Mommy in the kitchen and for always coming up with a way to make me smile!!!

Cooking Class 101

I made a new recipe last night.  It's been earmarked in one of my cookbooks for a long time (about 7 years, I think).  The ingredients were appealing, but I guess I let the name of the recipe put me offf.  It's called "Spicy Southwest Corn Cheese Soup".  Sounds yucky, right?  Well, I finally made it since hubby was out of town and it didn't call for any type of meat (he's a BIG meat guy).

I'm going to rename it "Cheesy Corn Soup" so it sounds a little more appetizing.  It was delicious!  Even approved by my 3 year old, so it must be good.  Have you ever wanted to lick the sides of the rotel bowl but stopped short because it wasn't "lady like?"  If so, you'll love this recipe - not only does it remind me of rotel dip, it also allows me to look super sophisticated 'cause I don't have to lick the bowl.  Here it is:

The players

First, put 10oz frozen corn (I used a 14.5 oz can instead of frozen), garlic and butter in large saucepan on medium-high heat until tender.  Reduce heat to medium (I began the second step just as soon as I had these 3 things in the sauce pan since my corn wasn't frozen). 

Second:  Stir in remaining ingredients;  cook until Velveeta is melted and soup is thorougly heated.  Top with crushed tortilla chips if desired.

I kept looking back at the recipe thinking I'd missed something, but it was truly as simple as I first believed it to be.  Beware, this recipe makes a super rich soup...I couldn't eat that much (score on my weight loss challenge), even though it was delicous!  Reese thought so too!!

Ingredients:
1 package (10 ounces) frozen seet corn, thawed, drained
1 clove garlic
1 tablespooon margarine
3/4 pound (12 ounces) Velveeta cheese
1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilis
3/4 cup chicken broth

3/4 cup milk

The Cooky Book - Part 2

Last weekend, we went for cookie #2 from Betty Crocker's 1964 Cooky Book.  Reese picked out her next favorite - Coconut Chocolate Candies.

I have a recipe that's similar to this that my brother got when he was in high school.  I know, who's BROTHER gets recipes?  That's a whole other story for a whole other day - today is about the cookie.  I was looking forward to making these because I thought they'd turn out like the ones I remember making sooooo looong agoooo.

My very enthusiastic helper was all about the picture taking..."hey Momma, I've got a great idea.  Why don't I do this, and you take a picture of me"

This recipe has mashed potatoes in it! It's really very simple - no actual baking!  Just add all the ingredients, mix together and shape into balls. 

Dip in chocolate and you're ready to give 'em a try.



Very easy for my little one to help because there was no oven required.  She thoroughly enjoyed helping to make the cookies, but they earned a sad face in the taste category.  I'm not sure she has ever tried coconut before, but now she knows she's not a fan.

As for me, they didn't taste quite like I remembered from high school.  Now, I've really got to find that old recipe to see how they differ.  Two down, 448 to go!



The Cooky Book

Who spells cookie with a "y" - Betty Crocker, that's who!

My Mom had this Cooky Book when I was growing up.  It's circa 1964, which is NOT when I was born, but close enough.  I cannot say how many hours I spent looking through that book dreaming of making every cookie pictured.  Sadly, I cannot remember making even one.  But that book reminds me of good times I had when I was little.  I loved that book so much that when my daughter was born, I ordered my own copy in hopes that one day she would love it as much as me.  Well, that day has arrived!

We've been looking through that Cooky Book for several weeks now...picking out our favorites (there are color illustrations on almost every page!).  We decided this weekend that we would make our first recipe - which I'm hoping will turn into a tradition for us.  There are 450 recipes, 52 weekends a year - that would give us 9 years of cookie making fun.  Reese had picked out her favorite cookie weeks ago, so we got started.

  

Half 'n Half cookie - the first of many we'll be making

Cinderella mixing up the dough - work harder girl!

We halfed the dough and then mixed chocolate in one half and left the other plain (hence the half 'n half) and then chilled the dough just like we were instructed.  We took the dough out of the refrigerator and baked our first batch.  Here's what we got...

Doesn't look quite like the picture, huh?  The recipe also said to bake them for 8-10 minutes which made the bottoms REALLY brown.  Let's not talk about how I could have used them as skipping stones once they cooled - they were hard as rocks!

Ok, so I couldn't figure out how to bake them into circles, so I got creative and ended up with these:

Cute cookies being held by cute girl.  She ate all 3, but I don't know how.  One bite was enough for me!  Overall, our first try was a huge success.  She was thrilled that we were sort of making the cookies she chose, and I got to start the tradition I wish I'd had growing up...even though I still feel funny spelling cookie with a "y".