Apple Crisp Pizza

Who doesn't love pizza?

And when you make it into an apple crisp you have a sensational dessert. 

I wouldn't change a thing about the recipe. I'd change something about the chef, me, but that's neither here nor there.  I neglected to peel the apples which made for tough cutting at times. So don't make my mistake.  But do make this pizza.

Apple Crisp Pizza

Serves 6

• Pastry for one pie crust (I bought pie crust. Its good and easy.)
• 2/3 c sugar
• 3 T flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 4 medium baking apples, peeled and sliced

• 1/2 c flour
• 1/3 c packed brown sugar
• 1/3 c rolled oats
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 butter
• 1/2 c caramel ice cream topping or caramel apple dip

Roll pastry to fir a 12 in pizza pan; fold under or flute the edges.

Combine 2/3 c sugar, 3T flour, 1 tsp cinnamon in a bowl. Add apples and toss to coat.

Arrange apples in a single layer in a circular pattern to completely cover pastry.

Combine the rest of the flour, brown sugar, rolled oats, cinnamon, butter; sprinkle over the apples.

Bake at 350F for 35-40 minutes or until apples appear tender. Remove from the oven and immediately drizzle with caramel topping.

Serve warm and with ice cream.

Cajun Chicken Stroganoff

A simple and quite frankly a flavorful dish without heat.  When I hear the word "cajun" all too often the sensory of heat comes to mind.  While this recipe does have cayenne to it, it doesn't have the heat associated to it.

For once I, not only followed the recipe, but I wouldn't change a thing about it. Try it! You'll love it. This recipe will make it to next year's cookbook and will be in the "Jenn's Favorite's" rotation. That's HOW good it is. Oh wait, I did change it slightly.  I chose linguissa sausage instead of kielbasa.  I LOVE linguissa sausage and so an opportunity to impart it's flavor into a Cajun dish, I couldn't resist. I think I made the right choice.

I'd venture a guess that it's not necessarily low cal thanks to the sausage. The sausage gives such a distinct flavor that it really shouldn't be omitted. You can, however, use low cal sour cream. I did and you really can't tell.

Cajun Chicken Stroganoff
Recipe from Cuisine at Home Weeknight Menus Volume 2
Makes 6 cups of stroganoff & noodles

• 1 package dry wide egg noodles
• 1/2 lb kielbasa, sliced (I used a linguissa sausage and used the whole pound)
• 1/2 lb button mushrooms, quartered
• 1 1/2 lb chicken tenders
• 1/2 tsp EACH: cayenne, paprika, black pepper, kosher salt, dry basil leaves, dried thyme leaves and dried oregano leaves
• 2 T flour
• 1 T tomato paste
• 2 tsp garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup dry sherry
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 T Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• sliced scallions for garnish

Cook the noodles according to package directions.

Sauté kielbasa and mushrooms in 2T olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat until browned, 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl; set aside.

Combine chicken with seasonings, toss to coat, then dust with flour.  Sauté chicken in same sauté pan in 2T oil (or use reserved oil given off by the linguissa sausage if you used it) over medium-high heat until nearly cooked.  Push chicken to one side of pan.  Ad tomato paste and garlic; sauté for 1 minute.

Deglaze the pan with sherry, simmer until nearly evaporated, then add broth, Worcestershire, and reserved kielbasa-mushroom mixture. Bring to a simmer and reduce by half, about 5 minutes..

Off heat, stir in sour cream. Serve stroganoff over prepared egg noodles and garnish with green onions.

You will not be disappointed. And I promise you, the cayenne pepper does not produce any serious heat.

Panaeng Beef in Red Curry Peanut Sauce

I'm sure I've mentioned before I'm a big fan of red curry.  Such a nice subtle flavor without the danger of having your lips burned off by the heat. Although the heat is present, it doesn't have to hurt.

This particular recipe was just okay.  If I did it again I'd make some adjustments. I've put notes below where I would make changes.

Panaeng Beef in Red Curry Peanut Sauce
Serves 4-6

• 1 c unsweetened coconut milk ( I had light coconut milk in the pantry so that's what I used)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 lb boneless beef (like flank steak), thinly sliced crosswise into 2 inch strips
• 2 T panaeng curry paste or red curry paste (I used red curry paste)
• 2 T fish sauce
• 2 T palm sugar or brown sugar (I used brown sugar)
• 3 T ground or finely chopped peanuts or peanut butter
• 3 wild lime leaves, torn or cut in quarters or fine threads (optional) (Jenn Note: I have no idea what these are or where to get them.  I like the lime flavor with my curry so I just spritz a lime wedge over my dish after I served it up)
• A handful of Thai basil leaves

In a medium sauce pan, stir together 1/2 cup coconut milk and the water. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat.  Sprinkle in the sliced beef, stirring to keep the pieces from sticking together, and simmer 5 minutes, until meat is tender.

Remove the meat from the pan and set aside.

With the milk/water mixture still in the pan, return it to a gentle boil.  Stir in the curry paste and cook to dissolve, 3-4 minutes. The mixture should be fragrant and smooth. Return the beef and any juices to the pan, add the remaining coconut milk and bring back to a gentle boil.  Add the fish sauce, sugar, peanuts and lime leaves, if using.  Stir well and simmer 3 - 4 minutes more, until the sauce is smooth.  Stir in basil leaves and remove from heat.

I served this over a bowl of jasmine rice.

Chicken Tortilla Casserole

I have many, MANY casserole recipes. The problem is I'm not a leftover fan, AND casseroles often make a ton of food. So when I'm having several people over for nothing fancy I like to make casseroles.

Last night I made this Chicken Tortilla Casserole.  It was shockingly good.  Why do I say "shockingly"? Well for starters, I like chipotle, but often it over powers a dish.  I am tempted to cut back on it because of that. This time I didn't cut back and *gasp* followed the recipe.  The flavor would have been missing had I cut back. And there was just enough heat to make you realize there was some extra kick there without it burning your lips off.

Very flavorful and VERY easy. Try it! It'll feed a crowd.

Photo by Jenn Wraspir

Chicken Tortilla Casserole

Recipe from Cover and Bake

Serves 6-8 easily

• 2 T vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, chopped fine
• 2 red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and diced medium (Yah, I so didn't add this ingredient - blech)
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 2 T flour
• 2 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, chopped, with 2 tsp sauce (I removed some of the seeds too - just in case it was too hot)
• 2 (14.5oz) cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed (I didn't have any pinto beans, but I had black beans - used them instead)
• 1 (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
• 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in small bite size chunks
• 1/4 c plus 2 T chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 T lime juice
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 18 6" corn tortillas
• Vegetable cooking spray
• 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
• 2 cups Monterey Jack cheese shredded

Adjust your oven rack to the middle position. Preheat your oven to 300F.

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add the onion, bell pepper, cumin, chili powder and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are soft and the onions are golden, about 10 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add flour and cook, stirring constantly for about 1 minute.  Slowly whisk in the chicken broth and bring to a simmer.  Add the chipotles and adobo sauce, beans, and tomatoes, simmer for about 5 minutes.  Add the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is no longer pink, about 4 minutes.  Stir in 1/4 cup cilantro, the lime juice and pepper.

Taste your mixture and adjust seasoning.

Meanwhile, spray both sides of the tortillas with cooking spray and lay on two baking sheets, some overlapping is fine. Bake until the tortillas are soft and pliable, about 5 minutes. Remove tortillas from oven. Increase oven temp to 450F.

Jenn Note: I didn't do that to the tortillas. I just used the straight out of the package and I'm not sure there would have been any difference. Because they were corn tortillas they weren't gummy or anything like that.

Toss the cheeses together and mix.

Assembling the casserole:  Spread 1/3 of the chicken mixture on the bottom of a 9X13 baking dish.  Layer with 6 tortillas, overlapping and covering the entire dish.  Cover with 1 1/2 cups cheese.  Repeat with a second layer.

For your third layer, pour the remaining chicken mixture over the cheese of the second layer. Cut the remaining 6 tortillas in quarters (Jenn Note: I have no idea why they did this. It makes no sense to me and when I make this again I won't cut them in quarters). Spread the tortilla quarters over the chicken mixture. Cover with remaining cheese.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until the casserole is bubbling.  Hint - put the casserole on a baking sheet so if it flows over your oven will be saved. When it's done, cool for 10 minutes and sprinkle with the remaining cilantro before serving.

Grilled Salmon with Chili-Lime Sauce

I'm a big fan of salmon. And an even bigger fan of Asian flavors.  I have this cookbook called Quick and Easy Thai.  I'm made about a dozen recipes from this book and have yet to be disappointed.

This was a simple meal to put together. Easy ingredients that most grocery stores have.

It was a bit too salty for me. So if, when, I make it again I'd not add any salt to the marinade since the dark soy sauce has plenty. I also think the 1/2 tsp of pepper is a bit too much.  Could be because I made the full marinade and just had one piece of fish, so it was more concentrated - but still, it was really salty.

Photo by Jenn Wraspir

Grilled Salmon with Chili-Lime Sauce

Recipe from Quick and Easy Thai
Serves 4 to 6

Marinade

• 3 T coarsely chopped garlic
• 3 T coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 T fish sauce
• 1 T dark soy sauce (you can use regular soy sauce if you don't have the dark)
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt (again - I'd cut this out)
• 1/2 tsp pepper (I'd maybe to 1/4 tsp)
• 1 1/2 lbs meaty fish fillets, such as salmon, tuna, snapper, cod, halibut etc

Sauce

• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 3 T freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2 T sugar
• 1 tsp finely chopped garlic
• 1 tsp finely chopped fresh hot green chilies - I used a Serrano
• 1 tsp finely chopped cilantro

In a food processor, combine the marinade ingredients. Pulse to make a paste.  Add fish. Marinate for 20-30 minutes covered and in the fridge.

To make the sauce: Combine all the sauce ingredients. Set aside.

Grill fish or bake it at 425F until desired doneness.

Serve fish along side of the sauce.

I made white rice and used the sauce over the white rice.  Delicious!