Talk About Using What You've Got...

There wasn't much for me to cook for dinner last night. No chicken, no onion, no fresh veggies... I felt lost. (But I did have bacon!) I looked in the cabinet and saw brown rice and lentils and I figured I could do something with them. Maybe the (often cringe-worthy) word casserole. I Googled "rice lentil casserole" and discovered that this is an actual dish! Pretty popular, I might add. According to the Internet anyway.

The basics are the right proportions of rice to lentils to liquid. Then whatever seasonings and add-ins you want. I found mostly Mexican flavors going on, but I went Italian instead...

What I Used:

• 3/4 c. brown rice
• 1/2 c. lentils
• 1 1/2 c. chicken broth
• 1 1/2 c. crushed tomatoes w/ basil
• the last bit of a can of cream of chicken soup
• a couple spoonfuls of tomato paste
• 3 cloves chopped garlic
• onion powder (I didn't have an onion!!)
• 2 chopped carrots
• oregano & parsley (just a little)
• peas

Put It All Together:

• Mix it all in a baking dish. 
• Cover and bake. Most of the recipes I found online said to bake at 300 for a little over an hour. But after about 40 minutes I checked on it and realized that would never work. So I upped the temperature to 325. It was in the oven for about 2 hours. ...It did come out a bit mushy, but surprisingly incredibly tasty!
• Oh and the best part: I topped with mozzarella, but didn't have quite enough so I grated lots of fresh Parmesan on top. (The good stuff, from work.) And then crumbled bacon!! This really made it.

I served it with salad & bread (rustic bread with prosciutto and provolone baked in).

*No photo... It's not exactly the most attractive dish. 

Pears & Gruyere from The Piemaker

One of my favorite shows is Pushing Daisies.
It only made it to two seasons, of course. (That always happens with favorites, right?) This show had a personal, hidden danger though: It made me want to bake. Pies. All the time. For a while I was convinced that I could even open a pie shop (like the Pie Hole, as in shut your) and bake pies and delicious treats all the time. Maybe some day...

One of my favorite pies I've baked was inspired by this show: a pear & apple pie with Gruyere baked into the crust. (Apple pie with cheddar in the crust is also great.) And yesterday that particular mood struck again, but I wasn't really into the idea of a buttery crust, so I created something new...

The Facts Were These:

• 6 Anjou Pears (peeled & thinly sliced)
• Flour (as usual, I used white whole wheat)
• cinnamon
• ginger
• cloves
• oats
• brown sugar
• chopped & toasted almonds
• butter (only about 2 tablespoons & cubed)
• applesauce (au naturale)
• salt (a pinch)
• honey
• Gruyere cheese, shredded

1. Mix the pears with flour, cinnamon, cloves & ginger and a little brown sugar. (And some chopped candied ginger if you have it!) I really didn't measure at all... I was in a creative/experimental mood and was just kind of throwing stuff in. But if you've ever made a pie before, you'll have a good feeling for typical ratios. (And if not, just look a pie recipe or two and make your best judgement.)
2. In a separate bowl, prepare the crumbly topping: flour (about 3/4 of a cup?), oats (maybe closer to 1 cup?), brown sugar*, butter, applesauce (maybe about 1/2 cup, if not more), cloves, ginger & salt. It will get a mold-able (malleable?) kind of consistency.
3. In a greased baking dish or a pie dish, spread pear mixture over bottom. Sprinkle cheese over pears and drizzle with honey. Add almonds (however much you want) and top with oat crumble. 
4. Bake at 325 for about a half hour. 

*I ended up using a lot more sugar than I initially intended. But I think in order to get the right consistency for that crumble topping it needs it. I probably ended up using at least a half a cup. I'll measure next time -- this one is definitely a recipe to come back to and work on!

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Lentil Soup

Now, let's be honest: We've all got a relative (...relatives) who can't cook. I've got one. Well... actually... it's not that she can't cook, but that she doesn't really like cooking as much as me or most of my family. Oddly enough, one of my favorite foods that I always remember looking forward to when I was little was made by her. Lentil soup. She made the best lentil soup. (I also remember at their house they'd always have orange-pineapple-banana juice -- or whatever delicious combination it was -- and dark German bread.)

Obviously this means that lentil soup will now be one of my staples. It's delicious, it's easy and it's healthy. Lentils are really good for you. I made it at my dad's last winter and it came out pretty amazing, if I do say so myself. I made it recently and it wasn't quite as fantastic, but it was still really good. It's all about feeling out the right ratios and experimenting with the flavors you like, right? Right. So here are the basics...

What You'll Need:

• olive oil
• onions
• carrots
• thyme
• marjoram (don't skip this one, you need this for the soup's unique flavor)
• cumin
• parsley
• big can of diced tomatoes
• chicken broth
• lentils (about a cup and half-ish)
• and cheddar!

Put it All Together (So Easy):

• Soak lentils for about 20 minutes and then drain.
• Sautee diced carrots and onion.
• Add all other ingredients (except cheese) and simmer until lentils are soft.

Flavors will work differently if you add seasonings in the beginning of cooking vs. at the end. I wasn't thinking and just added everything all at once, which was fine. It's not so important when you're dealing with dried herbs, but if they were fresh I'd toss 'em in towards the end to retain the fresh flavor. (I probably used almost a teaspoon of each.)

Serve with shredded cheddar on top -- trust me, it makes it!! -- and some fresh bread. Or maybe dark German bread. ;) Delicious, comforting, filling and healthy. Can't be beat.

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The Other (Delicious) White Meat

Whenever I get my Rachael Ray magazine I do the initial, first flip-through. Where I mostly look at titles and photos and read a few of the non-food related articles. Then comes the second scan. This is when I check out ingredients and how long meals take and actually read the recipes I'm interested in. I found one in the Weekly Menu Planning section of April's issue: Herb-Crusted Pork Chops with Broccoli & Onions.

I made a few amendments to the recipe, making the pork chops pretty amazing. I used the idea of toasted bread crumbs and baking in the oven, but took it a little further...

What You'll Need:

• Fat free half & half
• 1 egg
• Brown mustard
• Honey
• Pork chops
• Panko bread crumbs
• Parsley, garlic powder, thyme
• Cheese powder from a macaroni & cheese box (my secret ingredient!)

Put it All Together:

• Whisk together the half & half and egg first. Then squirt in the mustard and honey and whisk together as best you can. The honey might be a little tricky because it's going into cold liquid, but you should be able to get it to spread out enough.
• Put your pork chops in a shallow dish, give them a few stabs with a fork and S&P them. Pour honey mustard mixture over them, making sure they're mostly covered. Cover with plastic wrap and stick in the fridge.
• Now, I did this about 3 hours before dinner. You could definitely do it the night before and it would be even better!
• When you're ready, preheat the oven to 425 and heat up a little olive oil in a skillet and add panko bread crumbs. Stir them around a lot while they're in the pan so they all get a chance to get toasty brown. 
• Move the bread crumbs to a shallow dish to cool. Then add about 2/3 of a cheese packet from a mac & cheese box, a few good shakes of garlic powder, just a little parsley and thyme and pepper.
• Get your pork chops out, smoosh them and slide them around a little in their egg mixture before coating them in the bread crumbs. (Sprinkle some extra on top.)
• Place coated chops on a greased rack (I just used the rack from the toaster oven) on top of a cookie sheet lined with foil -- just to make your clean-up easier. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

They will be tender and moist from soaking in the egg and half & half and they'll be crunchy and tasty from the bread crumb mixture! I served them with broccoli and red onion, like the Rachael Ray recipe called for -- with the addition of sliced tomatoes on top -- and quinoa (prepared with chicken broth and a small splash of olive oil).


Broccoli & Red Onion: Heat up some olive oil, soften sliced onion a little. Add broccoli with S&P and toss as much as you can. Add a little water on the bottom for broccoli to steam, cover & cook until tender (but still a little crunch).

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Another Tasty Pizza

Since I had to work on Sunday until 7:00, putting me home around 7:45 and the Oscars were on at 8:30, my window was fairly small for dinner preparation. So while I was on my way home, the boyfriend got the pizza dough ready (another Pillsbury can -- what can ya do?) and the toppings. When I got in we assembled and stuck in the oven and timing with the beginning of the Oscars was just right.

Our Toppings:

• Spinach (tossed in a little olive oil before going on)
• A mozzarella/cheddar shredded cheese blend
• Chopped ham steak
• Thinly sliced red onion
• Some more of that cheese
• Sprinkling of crushed red pepper

 YUM.

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A High Class Peanut Butter Sandwich

I recently started a new job behind the bread counter at Eataly. As a result, the amount of bread I have consumed in the past week has been kiiind of ridiculous. I thought I'd be able to resist, but when you have the opportunity to take free loaves of bread home... well... could you resist?

Right now I've got a semolina baguette with lots of seeds all over it, a bag of chocolate rolls, a cinnamon raisin loaf and one with pancetta and provolone baked right in. Sheesh. But the one that didn't last very long was the fig bread. Amazingly delicious. (Especially toasted for breakfast with a teeny bit of mascarpone spread on top instead of butter.)

One day for lunch I decided to make a grilled cheese on fig bread. Unfortunately I didn't have anything fancy -- I could have gone for some brie or jarlsberg, or even some gouda. All I had was slices of store-brand cheddar. So I thought to myself, "Well... What else goes with cheese?" And I bet your first thought would not be "Peanut butter, obviously." But think about it: Everybody loves those cheese and peanut butter sandwich crackers. And that's how my sandwich was created.

Toast 2 slices of fig bread (of course, any bread would do if you don't have this amazing creation available to you) with cheese on top. Just enough so the cheese is melty and the bread is a little toasty. But before putting them together, add some peanut butter. I used natural crunchy (as always) and it made the sandwich a little messy, but what did I care? I was alone and didn't think twice about mopping up my peanut butter drips with the bread. Completely worth the mess.

So next time you have a craving for a peanut butter sandwich, try it with a slice of cheese. It'd be equally delicious on whatever bread you like and untoasted.

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Superior Meatloaf

3 Key Ingredients That Makes My Meatloaf Better Than Yours:

• Bacon. (Cooked and chopped and mixed right in AND right on top.)
• Barbecue sauce.
• Cheddar cheese (in the middle).

 Add these to your ground beef and you're all set. (Oh yeah... and don't forget 2 eggs, breadcrumbs, crushed garlic, diced onion, salt & pepper and some ketchup... there may have also been some paprika and crushed red pepper involved.) Serve with baked potatoes (with cheese and grape tomatoes -- sauteed mushrooms would have been a great addition, but unfortunately the boyfriend doesn't eat them so I rarely buy them, so when you make this meal have some for me) and broccoli.

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Heeyyy Yoouuu Guyyysss!! It's Pizza Night!

Ah, yes... pizza. But don't pick up the phone for it -- or go to the freezer. It's so much more satisfying to do it yourself. Ideally, you should make it with a bag of fresh dough from a local bakery or pizzeria -- they usually have some at the grocery store. But, of course, dear Bravo (the grocery store around the corner from me) had none of these. My only option was Pillsbury dough in a can -- not bad, but not my first choice.

ANYWAY. Other than dough, you can pretty much do your own Pizza Night however you want. Whatever toppings you like.

Here's what I did -- after pre-baking the crusts for about 5 minutes, like the directions say. It's important -- you don't want to get stuck with soggy crust!! Spray your cookie sheet AND sprinkle a little flour over the top to prevent any sticking. (I used a regular crust for #1 and the thin crust for #2):

PIZZA #1: Barbecue Chicken.

• Pour about 1/3 of a bottle (depending on size) of barbecue (this one is amazing -- sweet, smoky and a little spicy) sauce onto your crust. Use a little less of this sauce than you would tomato sauce -- it tends to be pretty salty and very tasty.
• Add chicken strips on top. (Just cut up & brown chicken breast in a skillet with some olive oil, garlic, paprika & cumin... or whatever.)
• Dump more than half of a bag of shredded mozzarella cheese on top.
• Final touch: Thinly sliced rings of red onion.
• Bake in the oven around 400 until the cheese is melty and the crust is browned to your liking.

PIZZA #2: Classic with Onions and Pepperoni.

• In a small pot, soften about 1/3 of an onion (cut into rings) in olive oil with garlic (I just used powder because I had no cloves!). Once softened, add half a can of tomato paste and about 5 tablespoons of crushed tomatoes (the kind with basil). This ratio can change depending on the thickness you prefer, but I found extra tomato paste was better for the pizza. Add some salt and crushed red pepper. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes then spread over pizza crust when ready.
• Add shredded cheese on top -- four cheese Italian blend was perfect. (I also added some of the leftover chicken since there wasn't enough to save for later.)
• Slice up some good pepperoni and spread over the cheese -- You know, an actual stick of pepperoni. 
• Bake in the oven around 400 until the cheese is melty and the crust is browned to your liking.

Perfect accompaniment for pizzas? Well, salad -- definitely. (I went the super-easy lazy route and just used a bag.) But more important than salad? The movie... ⚡

Easy Peasy Rainy Day Lunch

It's easy peasy, but fear not, Pea Haters -- no peas included.

What You'll Need:

• 1 can (Well... half a can, but you can't only buy half) of Progresso Hearty Tomato Soup
• Some leftover brown rice (...or white, but you should be eating brown rice!)
• 2 tablespoons of ricotta cheese
• Parmesan cheese 

Put it All Together (the easy part):

• Pour soup into your bowl, on top of your brown rice.
• Dollop the ricotta on top.
• Microwave for about 2 minutes.
• Sprinkle with parmesan and some pepper (I prefer freshly ground). 

And... well... that's it. Makes a plain can of soup a little more interesting. (That tomato soup is delicious on its own anyway -- my favorite.)

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