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Refrigerator Pickles

Have I mentioned how big a deal dill pickles are at our house?? Everyone LOVES them. Except Matt because he’s weird. They are a favorite snack and we even have a specially made vintage Tupperware Pickle container for them that lives in the fridge, filled with mini gherkin goodness.

Since doing some canning last year, I’ve thought a couple of times about drying to make our own pickles. With the acidity level of pickles being pretty high (thanks to the vinegar) they would not require a pressure canner, but just a water-bath canning method. Anyhoo, as far as things to do, it’s pretty far down on the list, but then I saw a recipe on Pinterest for refrigerator pickles! They only last for a couple of weeks, but the way we go through pickles, that is NO problem. So we gave them a shot.

Super easy, super tasty, a TOTAL hit. Here’s how we dunit.

Refrigerator Dill Pickles

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs cucumbers (recipe called for “kirby” cucumbers – I used the grocery store standard, sliced 1/4 inch thick
  • 1.5 cups distilled white vinegar
  • 4t kosher salt
  • 1/3 C sugar
  • 1 t mustard seeds
  • 1 t coriander seeds (we could not find this and instead used ground coriander instead)
  • 3/4 t dill seeds
  • 3/4 C chopped fresh dill
  • 3 cloves garlic coarsely chopped

Directions

Combine vinegar, salt, sugar, mustard seeds, coriander seeds and dill seeds in a bowl and mix to combine. Cover with two cups hot water and stir until salt and sugar have dissolved and liquid is clear. Let cool to room temperature.

Toss together cucumbers, dill and garlic. A note on the cucumbers: the recipe did not say whether to peel or not, so we did two cucumbers peeled and one not peeled. They both seemed equally tasty and the peel provides a nice color and presumably some fiber, so I’d not bother with peeling next go-around. Pour the brine over the cucumber mixture and place a plate or similar on top to keep the cucumbers submerged in the brine.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, stirring once or twice if you happen to think of it (we didn’t, they were delicious anyhow). Transfer to a jar the next day and enjoy for the next two weeks – if they last that long!

 

Nannersp
Check out the other great Pinteractive Projects on Nannette’s Site
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Buffalo Chicken and Blue Cheese Meatloaf

So the first time I made this recipe, I didn’t get to eat it. About 5 minutes into its sojourn in the oven, our power went out. And stayed out for 3 hours. I could have just pulled it out and stuck it back in the fridge maybe, except that I was so distracted by the power outage that I didn’t think of it until after we’d abandoned ship and gone to dinner and come home again. Doh! Luckily it wasn’t too hard to make so I made it again.

This was probably the recipe I was most excited to try from the Biggest Loser Family Cookbook: Buffalo Chicken and Blue Cheese Meatloaf. Matt is a huge fan of buffalo chicken wings and while I don’t like the wings, I do like the sauce and we’ve made many yummy variations using chicken and buffalo sauce, usually with blue cheese including salad and pizza. We hadn’t tried meatloaf though and I’m SO glad we did. It did not disappoint.

Continue reading “Buffalo Chicken and Blue Cheese Meatloaf”

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Grilled Chicken Parm

Matt is a Chicken Parmesan connoisseur. It is his litmus test for any Italian restaurant. So I was a bit nervous to make this no-breading chicken parmesan from Biggest Loser. Though we all agreed there is a special place in our hearts for the yummy breaded variety of chicken parm, this was an excellent option and certainly one we can have a bit more frequently since it is easy and healthy!

I opted to serve mine over a bed of roasted spaghetti squash, the kids had the usual spaghetti, and Matt did a mixture of the two. On the side, we served steamed green beans topped with marinara – it’s a combo I hadn’t had before, but it was very tasty and of course easy. One of these days, I would like to work on perfecting a marinara sauce recipe, possibly to can in the summer when tomatoes are in season. But not today – today it was Classico bought in bulk from Costco. At least I don’t have any Italian ancestors rolling over in their graves. Just the German ones who can’t believe I hate sauerkraut and don’t drink beer. Continue reading “Grilled Chicken Parm”

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Szechuan Beef with Veggies

We tried our first recipe from February’s cookbook this month … Szechuan Beef and Broccoli which I adapted based on what we already had, namely the GIANT bag of stirfry veggies that we buy at Costco and pretty much always keep on hand. The kids already know and love them (they are BIG fans of the baby corn, water chestnuts and carrots) and it’s an easier sell than just broccoli. Tabby is probably the only kid I know who doesn’t like the tree part of the broccoli, but rather the stem. Same with asparagus.

In some ways I’m kind of bummed that I selected this recipe to try. I wish I’d read through it a bit more. It uses bottled sauce and is really really close to what we already make for our weekly stirfry night recipe, just different sauce. But it is a good recipe and it’s a good lesson to me – read these recipes before picking them for the cookbook challenge.

 

Szechuan Beef with Veggies

adapted from The Biggest Loser Family Cookbook

Ingredients

  • frozen veggies in as large a quantity as you like (we use about 2 cups per person minimum) – onions, broccoli spears, snow peas, baby corn, carrots (smaller pieces), water chestnuts all stirfry well and I’m sure fresh would be good too
  • 4 oz steak per person, cut into thin strips or bite-sized chunks; we opt for leaner meats
  • stirfry sauce of your choice for the kids or spice scaredy cats
  • Sezchuan sauce for spice lovers
  • a small amount of cooked rice to serve alongside
  • 1 tsp olive oil or cooking spray

Directions

To make this SUPER quickly, I pre-cook the veggies somewhat. If they’re frozen, I microwave them until they’re about half defrosted. If they’re fresh, it’s less necessary, but you can still steam them in the microwave a bit. I pour off the excess water as well to speed it up. While the veggies are getting defrosted, spray a big skillet with cooking spray or use some olive oil. Heat over med-high heat. Once the veggies are done, throw them in the skillet and hear it sizzle. Keep them moving as they cook. It doesn’t take long.

When the veggies are cooked, set them aside and make sure your pan is nice and hot and add a little more oil/spray if needed. Place the steak in the pan in a single layer. Cook, stirring around a bit until all browned, about 2 minutes. Don’t over cook it or you will be rewarded with tough beef. Ick.

Return the veggies to the pan and warm everything a bit. If everyone likes the same amount of sauce, add your sauce and stir it up. This is easiest to do in the skillet, but if not, put everything into individual bowls and add the sauce there. Not too much sauce! You can always add more.

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Chicken Minestrone

Well the month and our experiment with The Zone is almost up as is my whirlwind tour of Zone Meals in Seconds cookbook. It’s been … interesting. I’ve done well on The Zone, losing about 9 lbs, which for a month is pretty good (and technically, I still have ’til Friday for my four weeks to be up, and I’ll be Zoned until then). I can’t say it’s something I feel like I could live with permanently. I like a bit more wiggle room in my life … I like food, good food, way too much to be this restricted, but I think it put me back on track with what I know to be healthy and reinforced some good lessons. Lean meat, healthy vegetables, less starches, little sugar, good fats.

The cookbook itself was a meh. Let’s say a 4 out of 10. This book had two kinds of recipes … one was real recipes as we think of them, the other, just thrown together ingredients. They were both a mix of awesome and blech! with a few meh … thrown in there. My samplings:

  1. Tex Mex meatloaf – seriously tasty; I’ve recommended this to a few people and it was very well received
  2. Salmon Tagine – loved the spinach, but the Salmon was just so-so
  3. Apple Spice Oatmeal – protein powder completely screwed up the texture; edible, but not yummy
  4. Moroccan chicken stew – ICK. Way too much of the cream of soup.
  5. Zoned Apple Muffins – These were good, but not great. Not a ton of flavor/taste.
  6. Mexican chicken chili – not so much a recipe, just a list of things to throw together in a bowl; pretty tasty though
  7. Blueberry and banana creme freeze – pretty tasty, even liked the sour cream in here – may post this one later.
  8. Chicken Minestrone – quite good!

Anyhow, more about Chicken Minestrone. This is one of those recipe that I don’t even really consider to be a recipe because there’s just not much to it. Just a couple of raw ingredients, the rest from cans or the freezer section, but I know a lot of people struggle with even this and it could be a gateway recipe, so I will post it. It really is tasty and super healthy. This makes 4 4-block meals (a TON of soup)

Ingredients

  • 3 cups of cubed frozen chicken
  • 1 10 oz package cut green beans
  • 1 can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 qt low sodium chicken broth/stock
  • 1 jar marinara sauce
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2-3 zucchini quartered and sliced
  • 3 T EVOO
  • dried oregano and basil

Directions

Heat the EVOO in a dutch oven. While the oil is heating, cook the green beans to about 75% done in the microwave. Add the chicken, garlic, zucchini, green beans and herbs to the dutch oven and cook until all are warmed through and fragrant. Add the kidney beans, broth and marinara. Stir to combine and bring to a boil and simmer for a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

 

I really enjoyed experimenting with this cookbook this month. It’s not one that I expect to turn to often but it gave me a couple good new recipes. Next month will be The Biggest Loser Family Cookbook.

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Salmon Tagine


It would be an understatement to say that this was my best photographic work, or even good. Honestly, by the time I “plated” dinner last night, I was done. We spent ALL weekend sanding and polying the pieces of Ben’s bed. And we’re still not done. Probably not even that close. I was achey and grumpy and I didn’t even really want to cook. But we had to eat, so I did. This is why I buy ingredients. I won’t let them go bad and so I find myself in the kitchen even when I don’t want to making dinner.

This Salmon Tagine was the second recipe we tried from Zone Meals in Minutes. I can’t say it was a pretty meal. I probably could have done more with styling, but it was somewhat in the slop category as far as looks go. Luckily the taste was good. My favorite part was the cooked spinach with walnut sauce. YUM. I would have that anytime and it wasn’t too hard to make (though I always blanch a bit at the thought of cleaning the food processor). The salmon was yummy, despite the fact that I overcooked it – things got hectic. But I’m not sure it was so yummy I’d feel compelled to make it again. I really LOVE our Chicken Tagine recipe. This one was a bit more meh. I was tempted to post just the spinach, but I will post the whole since it make a complete Zoned meal (4 4-block meals) with my suggestions for improvement.

The kids and Matt all liked the salmon well enough which is a pretty good endorsement since it was over-cooked. But personally, I thought the spinach was the star.

Ingredients

  • 30 walnut halves, lightly toasted (i.e. rattle them around in a dry frying pan on med-high heat for a few minutes – watch like a hawk so they don’t burn)
  • ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons dried dill
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
  • ½ to 1 teaspoon hot sauce
  • 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 ½ cups minced onion
  • 2/3 cup water or chicken stock or broth
  • ¼ cup raisins
  • 12 whole, dried apricots, quartered
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
  • 1 cinnamon stick (or 1/2 tsp cinnamon)
  • 1 teaspoon peeled, minced fresh ginger root
  • salt
  • two 1-pound bags washed, stemmed, trimmed spinach leaves
  • 4 cups thinly sliced mushrooms

Directions

Place walnuts, vinegar, dill, garlic and hot sauce in food processor and process until smoothish. In a large fry pan, saute onions in olive oil until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Add apricots, raisins, minced garlic, ginger and spices with broth or water and then top with salmon. Bring to a low boil and simmer until salmon is done, approx 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat a half cup of water (or leftover broth!) in a dutch oven or stock pan. Add spinach and mushrooms and steam until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain if necessary and toss with walnut sauce.

Serve salmon fillets topped with tagine sauce, and spinach on the side.

 

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Tex Mex Meatloaf

Last night we tried the first recipe from Zone Meals in Seconds. I always love it when the first recipe I try from a new cookbook is a winner and this one was a MAJOR winner. Though this is Zone specific, Matt and I both agreed that we would eat it anytime. It’s your basic meatloaf, with a few interesting additions and served with a side of guacamole. Best of all, both kids loved it! Really, what’s not to like?

The full zone recipe has a side salad with romaine (we used baby greens), 1/4 C low fat cheddar per person, thinly sliced celery, shredded carrots and a 1/4 cucumber. Adding the salad makes it a full 4-block Zone meal if you’re interested. I added just a little salsa for dressing. I love me some salsa.

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • ¾ cup  black beans
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder blend
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • ¼ teaspoon ground red pepper (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon tamari soy sauce (optional)
  • 1/3 cup non-instant rolled oats, uncooked
  • 15 ounces lean ground beef  (ground turkey works too)
  • 2 tablespoons dried onion flakes
  • ½ cup fresh or frozen corn
  • 1 cup minced yellow or red bell pepper
  • 1 cup no-salt diced tomato with jalapeño
  • avocado

Directions

Mix and mash as you would any meatloaf. Place yummy mash in a 9×5 loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 60 to 75 minutes or until thermometer regisiters 160 for beef or 180 for poultry. Mash/chop avocado and season as desired for guacamole (we use chili powder and garlic salt). Serve slices of meatloaf with guacamole. Groan and say “oooh” a lot while eating.

We actually made this the night before and baked it about 15 minutes extra to compensate for the chillier meat temps.

 

 

 

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Honey Chicken, Sweet Potato and Peach Kabobs

As I posted last week, I was intrigued by the recipe mentioned in the peaches round-up on theKitchn,  Honey-Glazed Chicken, Sweet Potato, and Peach Skewers. I picked it as my “must try” recipe for the week (I actually picked another too, couldn’t help myself). We tried this last night and it was a wild success! I will say that this is a bit too much work for me for most week nights. Matt cut and marinated the chicken at lunch and I came straight home and started the rest of the prep and let him pick up the kids. There were also quite a few dishes to do after the meal was over. But the results were worth it – adults and kids agree – and we would definitely do this again, but probably on a weekend.

Ingredients (serves 6)

  • 1.5 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 24 1 1/2 inch pieces
  • 3/4 C sherry vinegar
  • 1/3 C honey + 1 T
  • cumin
  • pumpkin pie seasoning
  • 4 T canola oil, divided
  • 2 med sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 24 1 1/2 inch pieces
  • 1 large sweet onion, peeled and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces, layers separated
  • 3 lg peaches, pitted and cut into eighths
  • salt & pepper
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions

An hour or few before cooking, toss chicken with 2 T canola oil, 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, 1 tsp cumin and some salt and pepper. Leave to marinate for a couple of hours.

When dinner time is approaching … Soak 12 twelve-inch skewers in water. Heat gas grill to medium. In a pot with a steamer basket, heat 1 inch of water to boiling. Steam sweet potatoes 10-12 minutes until soft, but not fully cooked.

Heat sherry vinegar in a small sauce pan over high heat. Boil, reducing volume by over half. Stir in honey, 1 T oil, and salt and pepper to your taste. Glaze should be thick enough to coat chicken, but thin enough to brush on easily. Thread skewers with chicken, onions, sweet potatoes and peaches. Reserve half of the glaze and brush kabobs with the remaining half.

Thoroughly oil the grates of the grill. Grill skewers 4-5 minutes covered until well- marked. Meanwhile toss pecans with remaining 1 T oil, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, salt and pepper. Place in foil “dish” and grill along side the chicken skewers, being careful to not burn these. Cook chicken until done and nuts until toasted.

Serve kabobs brushed with remaining glaze and sprinkled with pecans. Swoon.

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Strawberry Lemonade Cake

My mom had a birthday this past week and one of my small joys is to make a birthday cake for those I love. I always do it with good intent, but my cakes are never particularly… pretty. They always taste good, I will give them that, but they’re not big on the looks.

I tried to give my mom a choice of cake recipes I’d been storing up to try out, but after a bunch of back and forth, we really didn’t have a good answer, so in the interest of what went well with my dad’s fabulous dinner (salmon, rice, asparagus, salad), I picked out this Strawberry Lemonade Cake from Baking Bites and decided to give it a whirl. At the last minute, though, I ditched the standard cream cheese frosting for some of the lovely whipped cream cheese frosting I used on the kids’ birthday cakes. I was running out of time and nervous about properly frosting a layer cake with thicker frosting. Sometime I would like to make this as written, but I was extremely happy with the results. The birthday girl enjoyed it as well and my lemon-loving husband just raved.

Continue reading “Strawberry Lemonade Cake”

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Pork Ragu with Creamy Polenta (GRITS!)

So one of my favorite food blogs, Dinner a Love Story posted a recipe for Pork Ragu sometime back late this winter. The minute I saw it I marked it in Google Reader and vowed to make it as soon as possible. The recipe is ridiculously simple as far as prep goes and the only time consuming thing about it is that it cooks for 4-5 hours … but all you have to do is turn it once in a while. It’s the perfect thing to make on a Sunday afternoon while the kids are napping and you’re doing laundry and getting read for the week and darn if it isn’t super tasty. I will say that I have rarely if ever cooked pork before this (except bacon) because I don’t like it much, but this blew me away.

We have always served it with noodles (no yolk – healthier and just as tasty!) and everyone loves it that way. But after a meal I had a couple of weeks ago at Black Cat in Boulder (oh what a meal!) where I was served some tasty tasty pork on top of polenta/grits, I knew that this pork ragu would go AWESOME on some creamy polenta (GRITS) …. and it does. They are just the right offset to the richness of the pork and so so tasty together.

Ingredients

for the pork ragu

  • 3.5-4.5 lb lean boneless pork shoulder
  • salt and pepper
  • pat of butter
  • olive oil (2 T or so)
  • 1 large can diced tomatoes
  • 1 cup wine
  • 1 tsp hot sauce for smokiness
  • handful of fennel seeds
  • a few sprigs each fresh thyme and oregano (or a tsp or 2 each dried)
  • parmesan for serving

for the grits/polenta

  • 1 C stone ground grits/polenta
  • 4 C milk
  • 1 T butter
  • salt and pepper

Directions

Heat your oven to 325. Salt and pepper the heck out of the pork. Heat your olive oil and butter in a dutch oven and brown the pork on all sides … about 2 minutes per side. Add the tomatoes, wine, herbs, spices and hot sauce and bring to a boil. Then transfer to the oven and braise for 3-4 hours. If the liquid does not come 1/3 of the way up the roast, add a bit more (water or wine) to the mix to keep it going. The meat is done when it’s falling apart. Remove from the oven and shred with a couple of forks.

When the roast is almost done, make the polenta. Heat the milk to a low boil and whisk in the grits/polenta. Lower the heat slightly and stir frequently to make sure it doesn’t burn. Continue cooking until desired consistency, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and butter. Serve pork over top of a bed of polenta and top with parmesan if desired.  Dilly green beans were excellent with this! Make it soon before it gets too darn hot to turn the oven on.