Fast and Easy Veggie Skillet

I love summer food, especially the vegetables that are abundant and cheap. This is a little meal that I kind of pulled together at the last minute, but I had gone to the store that day and picked up all the vegetables. It's yummy and easy and you can basically use whatever vegetables you want. If you want you can even skip the pasta and add some grilled chicken or shrimp.

Easy Veggie Skillet

2-3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion (you can use the whole onion if you want)
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1/2 pint grape tomatoes
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/2 box penne or rotini pasta
1/2-1 cup Parmesean cheese

Dice up all the vegetables and saute them (all except the tomatoes) in the oil for about 5 minutes until they're soft. Add the tomatoes toward the end of the 5 minutes. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the top and stir to coat the vegetables. Meanwhile cook pasta and drain. Preheat oven to 350. In a quart baking dish combine the cooked pasta and vegetables, sprinkle generously with Parmesean cheese (as much as you want) and stick it in the oven for about 20 minutes to warm everything up and melt the cheese.

Quick Bread

I purchased some chocolate chips for cheap yesterday from Aldi's and thought I'd put them to use today. I didn't want cookies though. I wanted a quick bread. I found one alright! It's quick to make and quite delicious.

A note: Do watch the cooking time. My pans were a bit smaller than called for so I expected a longer cooking time, but in fact both of my loaves were finished in 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees.

Edited to add another note: after about 20 minutes, I had to cover the top with foil to prevent over-browning.

I chose to freeze one of the loaves so I'm interested to see how that turns out when we defrost and reheat it.

Something New (again)

So I did the meal planning, and it worked quite well, with unforseen additional benefits (besides my peace of mind). However, I'm trying something new already. I have read in a couple of different food threads on Danielle Bean's blog about wives who cook the same rotation of meals weekly. So we're going to try something of that variety over here.

Peter and I came up with a list of 14 main dishes that we really enjoy. So we have a set meal plan for two weeks at a time. I realize this really wouldn't appeal to some people, and it may turn out that we won't like it at all either. But I'm willing to give it a try. I'm hoping that it will making grocery shopping easier and less expensive. Plus I won't give up trying to plan meals because I can't come up with different ideas, etc.

Also, I may try some different side dish recipes or do a bit more baking with my extra time, but I don't have to feel obligated to, as long as I get a well-balanced dinner on the table. This is an adventure in the kitchen to be sure! I suppose we'll start this next week as the grocery shopping for this week is done.

I should mention that we'll be using a summer rotation of foods right now. I hope to change at least some of the main meals with each season, and of course for veggies, etc. we'll buy what's in season or on sale! Our list right now is also kind of loose, if you will. For example, I have chicken and rice for one night, but I could do a chicken broccoli rice casserole one week and chicken with pineapple and rice the next.

Do any of you guys do anything special for planning meals? How do you come up with your meals each week? Just curious.

Italian Omlettes

In our house the weekly grocery shopping is done on Monday evening. This week I forgot to buy any meat so now this weekend has found us scrounging for food. I was pretty proud of my Italian omlettes that I resourcefully pulled together tonight!

-4 eggs
-chopped onion
-diced tomato (I would've used fresh, but they aren't ripe yet! I had a can in the pantry.)
-garlic
-fresh basil, chopped
-shredded parmesean
-salt

They were great! Unfortunately, it looks like we're down to spoonfuls of peanut butter for all our meals tomorrow... Kidding, kidding.

Lemonicious Chicken

Lemonicious Chicken by Annie

You will need:
-Lemon Juice
-Minced Garlic
-Fresh Thyme (or dried)
-Bread Crumbs (seasoned or unseasoned)
-Butter
-Olive Oil
-Salt & Peppah
-Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

Start with your melted butter in a bowl (about one Tbs) and 2-3 Tbs of lemon juice. Add in a sprinkling of bread crumbs to thicken it, about 3 cloves of minced garlic, and a good amount of fresh thyme. Salt and pepper the stuff as you go. If it's too dry, add a little bit of olive oil. Once it's a good marinade-ish consistency, roll your chicken breasts around in it and place them in a baking dish. You can dump the rest of the mixture on top, but add some more bread crumbs so it's thicker. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until the chicken is done. Sprinkle more fresh thyme on top before serving.

Yum yum!

Haha, oops...

Well, um, I didn't realize when I switched the template that all our lovely photos would be gone forever. Oopsey. Sorry.

So if you all would be so kind as to email me a picture once more that would be fabulous.

I'll save the pictures this time...or leave the template alone.

Key Lime Pie

OH I have a picture!!
We had limes that needed to be used + Kristine feels the need to bake SOMETHING at 10pm last night =

Key Lime Pie
(from www.noteatingoutinny.com)
Makes 1 9'' pie

1 & 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
5 TB unsalted butter, melted
1 TB sugar
2 TSP lime zest
4 egg yolks
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup lime freshly squeezed key limes juice

preheat oven to 350. To make crust, combine graham crumbs, butter, sugar and zest in a bowl. Press into the bottom of a pie pan with spatuala. Bake 6-8 mins, remove and let cool completely.

very gently beat egg yolks with fork or whisk without beating air into them. stir in condensed milk unti blended. Stir in lime juice until it is smooth.

pour into pie pan and put the pie pan onto a cookie sheet. (like the way it is done in the photo) bake at 350 for 15 mins. remove, let cool and chill for several hour before serving.

My notes:
-I used regular limes. Mom says the only reason it's called Key Lime is because that was what was in the region when the pie was created.
-We didn't have graham crackers, but we did have regular pie crusts frozen. I baked one for 10 mins in the oven at 350. I forgot to poke holes in the crust. So I had to deflate the little air pockets that formed. No biggie. Must not forget next time.
-Since I didn't use lime zest in the crust, I used it in the actual custard. I found that one lime = about 1/4 cup of juice.

New Template?

You might have noticed a template change around here. I'm not leaving it at this one, but I got lazy right after I picked this one. If any of you other cookin' ladies finds a template you'd like to use, let me know. I just got sick of the old one. I'll keep looking too.

Ribs!

wow, I've been gone so long I think I forget how to do this whole thing...

Tonight we had the BEST ribs. The kind of ribs that you can't pick up in one piece. The kind of ribs that require no struggle to get the meat off the bone. The kind of ribs that look like this when you're through:

They were probably the best ribs I've ever had in my whole entire life. Dad got the recipe from a pharmaceutical rep, and now I pass it on to you...

(we had about three pounds of baby back ribs, which generally have the most meat and least fat)

1. Rub ribs in Emeril's rib rub and brown sugar. Lay in pan.
2. Pour Coca-Cola over ribs; we used three cans. The Coke was about 1/2 in thick in the pan.
3. Cover pan with foil; bake at 250 for four hours.
4. Take out of oven and cover with favorite BBQ sauce; back in oven for 30 minutes (we only covered the pan partially with foil this time)
5. Remove from oven; Let sit for 10-15 minutes on the counter, then cover with more BBQ sauce and place on hot grill (indirect heat) for 5 minutes. It'll be hard to get them off the grill-- Dad had to use a spatula because they just fell apart.

Mmm, mmm!
(I said "we," throughout the recipe... but it was really just my Dad. Thanks, Dad!)

Black Bean Brownies - Don't Skip This Post...

Um. Can I say I am blown away? My mom, the skeptic, is also blown away.
I don't have any pictures, they got eaten too fast at work, but they look like regular, DARK brownies. Very soft and gooey. Rather fudge like in appearance and taste really.

Seriously you guys, these are amazing. I think it's the little bit of coffee graunales that really brings out the chocolate flavor. I used unsweetened chocolate like the recipe calls for. Actually, I pretty much did the recipe to a T, I just cut it in half otherwise you'll get 45 brownies and that's a lot, even for my coworkers.

And the kicker is how, um.. healthy? they are ? I mean, we are talking about a flourless brownie, with agave nectar which has a lower glycemic index than other sugar. And they have black beans in them...like WHAT???

don't be a skeptic. Make them for your next get together. No one will know what's in them..

just remember to referidgerate them because these puppies are SOFT and WILL fall apart.

Thanks, Heidi for finding this awesome recipe. I posted the link in my previous post, but here's the recipe with Heidi's notes:


Amazing Black Bean Brownie Recipe
For those of you who have a hard time tracking down agave nectar (which is becoming much more readily available) substitute honey 1:1 for the agave nectar. Ania's head notes encourage you to keep these brownies in the refrigerator, they will slice much better if refrigerated several hours or preferably overnight. I used instant coffee this time around, but you can find natural coffee substitute at many natural food stores.

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups soft-cooked black beans, drained well (hs: canned is fine)
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
¼ cup (granulated) natural coffee substitute (or instant coffee, for gluten-sensitive)
¼ teaspoon sea salt
4 large eggs
1½ cups light agave nectar

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line an 11- by 18-inch (rimmed) baking pan (hs note: or jellyroll pan) with parchment paper and lightly oil with canola oil spray.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a glass bowl in the microwave for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes on high. Stir with a spoon to melt the chocolate completely. Place the beans, 1/2 cup of the walnuts, the vanilla extract, and a couple of spoonfuls of the melted chocolate mixture into the bowl of a food processor. Blend about 2 minutes, or until smooth. The batter should be thick and the beans smooth. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the remaining 1/2 cup walnuts, remaining melted chocolate mixture, coffee substitute, and salt. Mix well and set aside.

In a separate bowl, with an electric mixer beat the eggs until light and creamy, about 1 minute. Add the agave nectar and beat well. Set aside.

Add the bean/chocolate mixture to the coffee/chocolate mixture. Stir until blended well.

Add the egg mixture, reserving about 1/2 cup. Mix well. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Using an electric mixer, beat the remaining 1/2 cup egg mixture until light and fluffy. Drizzle over the brownie batter. Use a wooden toothpick to pull the egg mixture through the batter, creating a marbled effect. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the brownies are set. Let cool in the pan completely before cutting into squares. (They will be soft until refrigerated.)

Makes 45 (2-inch) brownies.

Reprinted with permission from Baking With Agave Nectar: Over 100 Recipes Using Nature’s Ultimate Sweetener by Ania Catalano. (Ten Speed Press 2008)