Turkey Cutlet Salad

I love making up recipes. I don't do it too often because I don't like the idea of possibly throwing away food. But in this case, I knew it would be easy. I decided to try to eat through my freezer considering I have a ton of food in there that really needs to be eaten.

First item out Turkey Cutlets.

Turkey Cutlet Salad
Serves 4

• 4 Turkey Cutlets
• 1/2 c Italian bread crumbs
• 1/2 c Prmesan cheese
• Salt and Pepper
• 3 c Romaine lettuce, chopped
• 1 c grape tomatoes
• 1 c English cucumber, chopped
• handful of bacon bits
• handful of shredded cheese
• handful of croutons
• Dressing of choice ( I used Claire's Blue Cheese dressing)

Mix Italian bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Dredge cutlets in the bread crumbs and coat them. Add 2 T of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) in a skillet, bring to just smoking. Put in cutlets and brown on both sides (about 3 minutes on each side).

Mix all the other ingredients together.

When turkey cutlets are done, move to a paper towel to drain any oil. Slice and add to the top of the salad.

Enjoy! Burp!

Basic Beef Stew with Carrots and Mushrooms

I love stews. They're so simple, and so comforting. Nothing is as good on a cold winter day than a good stew and a good book. The stew will have to do for now.

The stew I made on Saturday was just a "toss together" meal. Using skills and knowledge from other recipes, I just gathered what I consider stew ingredients and put them together. Cousin Sherrie was over and was surprised that it turned out so good without a recipe. Who needs a recipe?

I did promise friend Vicky that I'd post my favorite stew recipe. I've made this one on a number of occasions. And its tasty.

Basic Beef Stew with Carrots and Mushrooms
Courtesy of MyRecipes
Serves 4

Photo courtesy of MyRecipes

• 1 T Olive oil
• 1 lb Cremini mushrooms (I've made it with white button mushrooms, but its not as good)
• 2 c chopped onions
• 3 cloves Garlic, minced
• 1/3 c all purpose flour
• 2 lbs lean stew meat
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 c Dry red wine
• 1 T Fresh Thyme
• 2 cans Low sodium beef broth
• 1 Bay leaf
• 2 c peeled, white potatoes, cubed
• 1.5 c Carrots, sliced about 1/2 inch
• 1/2 tsp Fresh ground pepper

Heat 1 tsp olive oil in a large Dutch oven over med-high heat. Add mushrooms, and sauté for 5 minutes or until mushrooms begin to brown.

Spoon mushrooms into a large bowl.

Lightly coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion, sauté 10 minutes or until tender. Add garlic, sauté 1 minute. Add onion mixture to mushroom mixture.

Place flour in a shallow bowl. Dredge beef in flour, shaking off excess. Heat remaining 2 tsp oil. Cook 6 minutes, browning on all sides. Add browned beef to mushroom mixture.

Add 1 cup in to pan, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add thyme, broth and bay leaf, bring to a boil. Stir in beef mixture. Cover, reduce heat to med-low and simmer for 1 hour or until beef is just tender.

Stir in potatoes and carrots. Simmer uncovered for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until beef and vegetables are very tender and sauce is thick.

Discard bay leaf.

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This particular recipe I've not messed with much. I have made it without the bay leaf. I'm not convinced a bay leaf adds all that much flavor. But who am I?

Spaghetti & Meatball Stoup

"Stoup" is a Racheal Ray-ism. It's thicker than soup, but thinner than stew = Stoup.

I've been craving this for a couple of days now. I think I'll make it tonight. It makes KILLER left overs. I've not frozen it yet to see how it does. Then again, it's rarely around long enough to freeze.

Its a quick recipe too. Don't let the list of ingredients fool you. This is totally a Rachael Ray 30 minute meal. I can do it in 40 minutes, but that's because I'm slow making meatballs. Ahhh, actually, I bet you could make extra meatballs, and freeze half. Oh man...I'm gonna do that tonight.

Spaghetti and Meatball "Stoup"

Photo courtesy of Food Network

Courtesy of Rachael Ray
Serves 4

• 2 T extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped into a small dice
• 1 medium yellow skinned onion, chopped
• 2 small ribs celery from the heart, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3 c tomato sauce or 1 (14-ounce) can plus 1 (8-ounce) can
• 3 c chicken stock
• 1 lb ground beef, pork and veal mix (meatloaf mix) available at butcher counter
• 1/2 cp grated cheese, Parmigiano or Romano
• 1/2 c Italian bread crumbs, a few handfuls
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 2 T chopped parsley leaves
• 1/2 pound spaghetti, broken in half
• 1 c basil leaves, torn or shredded
• 1 loaf Italian crusty bread, for dunking

Preheat a medium soup pot over medium heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan, carrots, onions, celery, garlic and sauté 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce and stock and cover pot. Turn up heat and bring to a fast boil.

While soup comes to a boil, mix the ground meat with cheese, bread crumbs, egg and parsley. Roll into 1 1/2 to 2-inch balls.

Remove lid from soup and slide balls into soup. Bring back to a boil then stir in spaghetti. Reduce the heat and simmer soup 10 minutes more, until pasta is tender and balls have cooked through. Stir in basil and remove "stoup" from the stove.

Serve soup with bread and cheese.

On a side note, I decided to become my dad temporarily this weekend. I bought onions in bulk and decided to "chop" them and freeze them (in case you don't know me, and my dad, he loves to shop for things in bulk.). Anyhow, chop I did. My eyes watered soooo much that my eyes hurt for a day or so. And frankly, I think they still hurt.

Steak Tips with Mushrooms, Garlic, and Thyme

I love to cook on Friday nights. Most people, I think, are probably too tired to cook on Fridays. All that aside, I made a fantastic dinner tonight. Dinner guests included me and the movie Persuasion.

Steak Tips with Mushrooms, Garlic, and Thyme
Courtesy of Cook's Country
Serves: 4

Photo courtesy of Cook's Country

• 2 T Vegetable oil
• 10 ounces White mushrooms, halved or quartered
• 4 cloves garlic, sliced thin
• 1 1/2 lb Sirloin steak tips, patted dry
• Salt and pepper
• 1/4 c Brandy
• 3/4 c Low sodium Chicken broth
• 2 tsp Roughly chopped thyme
• 2 tsp Dijon Mustard
• 1 T Unsalted butter

Heat 1 T oil in a large non stick skillet over high heat until just smoking. Cook mushrooms, stirring occasionally, until brown in spots.

Reduce heat to medium and push mushrooms to sides of the pan. Add 1 tsp oil and garlic to clearing in center of pan and stir until garlic is browned and crisp, about 30 seconds.

Stir garlic into mushrooms, cook for 30 seconds, then transfer mixture to serving platter.

Increase heat to high, add remaining 2 tsp oil to skillet, and season steak with salt and pepper. Place steak in pan so pieces are not touching. Reduce heat to medium-high and cook until well browned, 3-5 minutes per side. Transfer steak to platter and tent loosely.

Combine brandy and chicken broth in small bowl. Add to pan along with thyme and mushroom mixture. Using wooden spoon, scrape the brown bits from bottom of pan. Simmer until thicken, 5-7 minutes.

Add accumulated beef juices back to pan, whisk in mustard and butter, and season with salt and pepper. Pour mushroom and sauce over meat.

Serve.

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So, what did I do different? Someday I may learn to follow a recipe, but until then...

I didn't have any chicken stock, but conveniently I had about a cup of beef broth. It might have made the sauce a bit too rich, but it was still quite good.

I used dried thyme instead of fresh, and may have used a bit too much. If you're using dried, use less than the recipe calls for.

I served this with rice - which I cooked wrong, but that's another story. And a nice meaty Merlot, of which I'm still "finishing".

Would I make this again? In a heart beat. It was easy, quick and filling.

Enjoy!

Tangy Almond Garlic String Beans

Vicky asked me yesterday for the recipe for the green beans I made on Thanksgiving. It was a recipe that I got from the Food Channel, which I should buy stock in since I watch it ALL The time. So here's the recipe. For like, once in my life I didn't actually mess with the recipe. I did, however, forget the last step of topping it with the toasted almonds. So guess what ended up on my oatmeal the next morning. Yum.

Photo courtesy of FoodNetwork

Tangy Almond Garlic String Beans
Courtesy of Dave Lieberman, FoodNetwork
Serves 4 to 6

• Salt
• 1 pound string beans, trimmed
• 1/2 c sliced almonds
• 1/2 c olive oil
• Salt
• 4 to 5 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1-inch piece ginger, grated
• 1/2 tsp dried red chili flakes
• 1/4 c red wine vinegar

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the beans and cook for just 1 to 2 minutes, until the beans turn bright green. Strain them and run under cold water to stop them from cooking.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the almonds and toast them until golden brown, about 4 minutes, shaking the pan often to avoid burning the almonds. Remove the toasted almonds from the pan.

Return the skillet to the burner and increase the heat to medium-high. Heat the olive oil in the pan and add a few pinches of salt, the garlic, ginger, and chili flakes. Cook just until the garlic starts to brown. Add the vinegar and let cook down for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove pan from heat and toss in the beans to coat them thoroughly and evenly with the dressing.

Serve on a platter and scatter the top with the toasted almonds.

Farmer's Market Chicken

Welcome! Welcome to my new adventure. While I do have a regular blog, Jenn's Doings, this blog, however, will be all about cooking, eating, and anything related to food.

I have wanted to start writing about food and cooking for awhile. I love to cook. I live to cook. And so it seemed so fitting that I create a venue in which I can share my wisdoms, my recipes, and my general wit about cooking. The occasional flaw in my meal preparation will also show its ugly face here.

I do not pretend to be Rachael Ray - well maybe just a little. And I do not proclaim to be the best cook in all the land - well, maybe just a little. But, I do know that I can cook, my friends have experienced it and have gained many a unwanted pounds because of it.

I will admit I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to recipes and cooking. I come by it naturally though, my mom and dad are both cookbook/recipe hounds. So it just so happened that this apple didn't fall far from the tree.

Just how "freakish" am I? I call it brilliant, but I can see how some might think it's, well, odd. But here it goes.

I have about 800 recipes. The soups to nuts gamut of recipes. Appetizers to desserts. I focus, though, on main dishes or side dishes. Not much of a baker anymore. Takes too long (this is where the Rachael Ray part of me comes into play - little patience for baking). Of these 800 recipes approximately 500 are main dishes or side dishes. All 500 of them have at one time been put in a BIG brandy snifter. Every week, I pick ONE recipe from the snifter to make. It sure is helpful when it comes to planning my week of meals. I've gone through about 45 recipes in the year 2006.

But, you'd think I'd get through with all these wouldn't you. Well no, because on average, I add about 10 a month to the snifter. See, I read cooking magazines, watch food channel, etc. I'm always being graced with a new recipe.

So stay tuned. This blog will be a blast. To start you off. THIS was my recipe of the week this week.

Farmer's Market Chicken
Courtesy of MyRecipes
Serves 4

Photo courtesy of My Recipes

• 1 T Tomato Paste
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/4 tsp Black pepper
• 1 can Low salt chicken broth (10 Oz)
• 1 Clove Garlic, minced
• 2 T Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 4 skinned, boneless chicken breasts, halved
• 1 T Olive oil
• 1 c Diced Carrot
• 1 c Diced yellow squash
• 1 c Diced zucchini
• 1 c Diced red onion
• 2 T Dry Vermouth
• 4 cs Hot cooked long grain rice
• 2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary

Combine Tomato paste, salt, pepper, broth and garlic. Whisk well.
Place bread crumbs in a shallow dish; dredge chicken in breadcrumbs. Heat olive oil in a large non stick skillet over med-high heat; add chicken and saute 6 minutes on each side.

Remove chicken from skillet. Add carrot, squash, zucchini, red onion, dry vermouth, saute 3 minutes stirring occasionally.

Return chicken to the skillet. Add the broth mixture. Bring to a simmer, cover and let simmer for 15 minutes.

Serve chicken and vegetable mixture over rice, sprinkle with rosemary.

So, what did I do different? Well, I missed the vermouth step. Seemed to taste just fine. Also used more than one clove of garlic, dah. I used 3 medium cloves. Who uses just one clove of garlic?

I also didn't have any tomato paste on hand. Instead I took tomato sauce and used 4 T instead of 3 T of paste.

For my rice, I actually did a rice pilaf type. Sauteed onion, garlic, then used basmati rice and chicken broth. The combination with the chicken was really good.