Skinny Chicken Enchiladas with Spanish Yellow Rice

I'm a big fan of Gina's dishes at SkinnyTaste.com. The recipes are unique and inventive while maintaining an interest in staying on the lighter side. A few Sundays ago I made her Skinny Chicken Enchiladas and Spanish Yellow Rice to absolute rave reviews. My very picky family said it was one of the best meals they'd had in ages. I wish Gina could know what an accomplishment that distinction is! I'm also a fan of this recipe because, while very involved, each stage can be done separately and assembled when you're ready. The rice can be cooked completely while the enchiladas are in the oven, and everything is done at the same time. Win!

Creamy Vegetable Soup with Chicken

So, I've been trying to eat healthier, which often means many nights of grilled chicken with a side of salad, spinach or broccoli. Yawn. But really, none of those boring healthy options are really feasible for bringing to work for lunch. I will NOT re-heat meat in a microwave, unless it's in some sort of stew or soup, and salad prepared ahead of time for lunch gets wilty and stale too quickly. 

Luckily my mother-in-law came to visit last week and brought with her a batch of creamy vegetable soup with chicken. I took one bite and knew this was going to be my lunch for quite awhile. She left me the recipe, so I was able to make another batch once she left. While it wasn't as good as hers, it was still really tasty, healthy, and something that I'm not likely to tire of too quickly.

Project Meatball - Part 1

One of my fondest memories of growing up is my great-grandmother's meatballs. She came over from Italy in her 20s, and brought with her centuries of culinary traditions and techniques that still exist in my family today. Unfortunately, no one ever quite learned how to replicate her meatballs before she passed away. We've all tried, repeatedly, to get the right combination of soft texture and warm, savory flavor, and while each attempt has been delicious, none have that certain quality that we've been striving for. 

Mediterranean Steak & Cheese

This recipe was on the recommendation of my mother who was visiting, and follows Dede Med on Facebook. She was particularly intrigued by the Mediterranean Steak & Cheese recipe, so we tried it out, and it was really fantastic and unique.

Moussaka

Moussaka was a special request from John for his birthday. His parents and sister were visiting, it was hovering around 100 degrees in Albany that day, and we don't have AC. So making a dish that was somewhat involved, and required turning the oven on, was a bit of a challenge. But it was so, so, so worth it. One of the top 10 best things I've ever made. We got the recipe from a book borrowed from John's co-worker, who is Greek, so we figured she'd know where to find the best recipe for moussaka. She was right - I've had moussaka many times before, but this was by far the best.

Home-Ground Hamburgers

This will be a relatively short post, for a couple of reasons. First, it's less of a recipe and more of a quick "look what I made." Second, I'm really behind in my posts, but I've been cooking, so I have a good 3-4 posts I want to get written before I completely forget how I made them. 

Vegetable and Gruyere Pizza

If I'm not mistaken, this is the first time I've done a blog post about pizza. I don't often do traditional New York-style pizza, just because it's nearly impossible to recreate. So when I do make pizza, I tend to do more unique combinations of toppings, doughs, and cheeses. Hence my latest creation -- Vegetable and Gruyere Pizza. 

I had just gotten over a really nasty stomach bug, and wanted something a little light, with lots of vegetables, so I decided to make a vegetable pizza. I was cooking for my husband and my sister, and most of the vegetables I wanted to put on got vetoed, so the list got narrowed down to green peppers, mushrooms and red onions. Gruyere is quickly becoming my favorite cheese, and it goes so well with mushrooms, so that was an easy choice. Again staying with the healthy theme, I wanted more of a whole wheat dough. The grocery store had plain and whole wheat, but my eye caught a very seedy multi-grain dough that sounded fun. At least to me, it did. I brought it home to many moans and grumbles from the peanut gallery, who were quickly won over after the first bite.

Healthy Potato Salad

Just as the weather is starting to warm up, and I'm looking for something a little lighter on the palate, and on the hips, the Daring Kitchen challenges us to a healthy potato salad - perfect timing! Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!

Despite the prize for originality, I went with one of the Daring Kitchen-provided recipes - Greek yogurt and dill potato salad. Even when the Daring Kitchen encourages us to go off and create our own dishes within the guidelines of the challenge, I still tend to follow one of the recipes they offer, for a couple of reasons. One, I'm really just not that creative. I love to cook, and I'm getting better at it, but coming up with new twists on old classics, or unique combinations of flavors is not quite my forte. Another reason I like to stay within the provided recipes is that it forces me to use ingredients and techniques that I otherwise wouldn't. If I chose my own recipes, I'd stick to foods and methods that I'm familiar with, no matter how hard I would try to break out of my comfort zone. 

This potato salad was one of the best I'd ever had and, despite my undying devotion to mayonnaise, I think I may be making this one all summer. The peppers gave it a sweetness that was balanced out by just the right amount of sourness from the yogurt and lemon juice. I love, love, love dill, so there was just no going overboard on that. I think I may cut the potatoes a bit smaller next time, though, just because it gives more surface area for the dressing to coat. Really, though, that was my only complaint. I made it yesterday, and as I was packing it for my lunch today I snuck a tiny bite, and I can assure you, this one definitely gets better as it sits. 

P.S. - please forgive the gratuitous pictures. It was an overcast day, which was the perfect lighting for playing around with my camera so I kind of went a little nuts.

Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo

I suppose it was bound to happen eventually - a Daring Cook's Challenge that turned out just ok. I didn't love it, it wasn't terrible, but I don't think I'll be making it again. Still, it was a fun experience, and I got to try okra, which I'd never had before. And that's what it's all about, really!

Our May hostess, Denise, of There’s a Newf in My Soup!, challenged The Daring Cooks to make Gumbo! She provided us with all the recipes we’d need, from creole spices, homemade stock, and Louisiana white rice, to Drew’s Chicken & Smoked Sausage Gumbo and Seafood Gumbo from My New Orleans: The Cookbook, by John Besh.

Crumpets

I made this recipe as a birthday gift for my sister's boyfriend, who is inexplicably obsessed with crumpets. I brought them to Sunday dinner at my grandmother's, intending to give them to him when everyone else gave him their presents after dinner, but they were gone before I even took my coat off.

Insalata Bianca in a Parmesan Cup

Oh boy, this month's Daring Kitchen challenge really focused on a weakness of mine - creativity. I can take a recipe and replicate it to a tee, and make all sorts of dishes come out great, but I really fail at being creative. Renata of Testado, Provado & Aprovado! was our Daring Cooks’ April 2011 hostess. Renata challenged us to think “outside the plate” and create our own edible containers. Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 17th to May 16th at http://thedaringkitchen.com.

For the bowl, I went with my most comfortable medium - cheese, of course. And the best type of cheese I could think would harden into a bowl is parmesan. That was the easy bit. Then I figured it had to be filled with something cold, as anything hot would too quickly melt the cheese, so salad seemed the obvious choice. But I didn't want to go with a plain, green salad. Instead I made a marinated Insalata Bianca - a white salad with a variety of marinated white vegetables and lemon vinaigrette dressing. 

Papas Rellenas with Huancaína sauce

The theme of this month's Daring Kitchen challenge was Peru. Kathlyn of Bake Like a Ninja was our Daring Cooks’ March 2011 hostess. Kathlyn challenges us to make two classic Peruvian dishes: Ceviche de Pescado from “Peruvian Cooking – Basic Recipes” by Annik Franco Barreau. And Papas Rellenas adapted from a home recipe by Kathlyn’s Spanish teacher, Mayra.

I made the Papas Rellenas as suggested by Kathlyn, but instead of the Salsa Criolla she recommends, I went with a Huancaína sauce that my mother-in-law got from her co-worker who is from Peru. She's been telling me how great it is on potato dishes, so I've been meaning to make it for awhile now. So it was a perfect time to try it out when a Peruvian challenge came up that featured potatoes! 

Mardi Gras King Cake

Ok this is sort-of cheating, since I used a box to make this cake. But I promise it was the most complicated box mix I've ever made! A few family members recently took a trip to New Orleans, and brought me back a box of Mam Papaul's Mardi Gras King Cake Mix. Having never heard of Mardi Gras King Cake, nor having ever been to New Orleans, I was pretty excited to try it out. I made it on Sunday, and today being Mardi Gras, decided to come out of my blog-hibernation to post about it.

Cassoulet

January's Daring Cook's Challenge was a perfect one for this cold, snowy month - cassoulet. It's a French stew with lots of meat (usually duck or chicken), white beans and pork. This was honestly the most complicated dish I've ever made for the Daring Cooks. It took 4 days! But then I probably picked the most complicated of the cassoulet recipes they provided.


Our January 2011 Challenge comes from Jenni of The Gingered Whisk and Lisa from Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. They have challenged the Daring Cooks to learn how to make a confit and use it within the traditional French dish of Cassoulet. They have chosen a traditional recipe from Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman.

Braised Short Ribs

My favorite restaurant, Cafe Madison, had a spectacular dish on their menu called the Don Quixote - braised short ribs in the most delicious sofrito and rioja wine sauce. They recently opened up into an expanded space next door (the Point), where the short ribs are sadly no longer on the menu (except for the occasional special). 

My mother-in-law gave me the America's Test Kitchen Cookbook for Christmas, which had a recipe for braised short ribs.So I figured it was time to re-create this wonderful dish, and along the way make a small step towards overcoming my fear of cooking meat.

Happy New Year!

I don't even want to actually figure out how long it's been since I've posted, so... very sorry about that. No excuses really, I've just been lazy. But I have been cooking! And I have four dishes queued up to post very soon, including a failed cake, an Italian classic, the best sandwich ever, and a carnivore's dream.


Stay tuned!


E