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What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Paninis

5 Mar
This made for an awesome Sunday night supper!

This made for an awesome Sunday night supper!

This past weekend was a busy one. We were all over the place on Saturday, and on Sunday it was much the same. It was all good, just busy.

By the time dinnertime planning time came around on Sunday afternoon, I was stumped and had to run out the door onto the next “thing” before I could help with the decision making.

As I was standing outside in the freezing cold that afternoon, helping to man my daughter’s Girl Scout cookie sale at the local grocery store, I got a text from my husband: Paninis for dinner.

YUM!!

I was so excited! We have a panini maker but I never, ever think to use it. It’s stored neatly in the box it came in, with the booklets of recipes tucked neatly inside, all in a closet in our hallway.

Out of sight, out of mind.

Apparently, the decision was a group decision made by Don and the remaining kids at home. A menu of paninis, roasted red potatoes, cole slaw (not seen on my plate because I’m not a fan), and sauteed zucchini was created and the specific types of paninis were requested.

We could have any of the ingredients on our sandwiches, or all of them.

We could have any of the ingredients on our sandwiches, or all of them.

The ingredients for the sandwiches were also decided upon together: bbq chicken, tomatoes, bacon and cheese. We could have any or all of those ingredients in our sandwiches, allowing everyone to tailor their dinner to their liking.

It was SO good. So, so good!

There were even some halves of sandwiches leftover, so they became lunch this week. Don reported his was even better the second time around!

Although we chose chicken, bacon, cheese and tomato for our panini ingredients, you can have virtually anything in yours! A list of suggested recipes were given to us as part of our gift when we received our panini maker, and a guide came with the maker itself.

Here’s a list of some suggested panini recipes for you to try. Be sure to read to the end!!

Portobello Panini

Panini with Prosciutto, Roasted Pepper and Mozzarella

Roast Turkey Panini with Pesto, Roasted Red Peppers and Fontina

Grilled Prosciutto, Soppressata, and Mozzarella Panini

Fresh Eggplant and Roasted Red Pepper Panini

Pesto Chicken Panini

Grilled Eggplant Panini

Grilled Marinated Artichoke Heart, Ham and Provolone Panini

Panini Caprese

Grilled Chicken and Arugula Panini

Mediterranean Tuna Melt

Salami, Sun-dried Tomato, Basil Panini

Ham, Chestnut Honey Mustard and Gouda Panini

Turkey and Cranberry Panini

Roasted Eggplant, Sweet Pepper, Feta and Fresh Spinach Painini

Flank Steak, Vidalia Onion, Porcini and Fontina Panini

Grilled Sausage, Peronata and Herbed Goat Cheese Panini

Sweet Dolci Chocolate Panini

Dolci di Latte Caramel Sauce and Apple Panini

Ricotta and Preserved Orange Panini on Raisin Bread

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What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Breakfast for dinner

26 Feb
These were a fun, different kind of dinner! Of course, they'd be great for breakfast too!

These were a fun, different kind of dinner! Of course, they’d be great for breakfast too!

I’m a football widow.

Not all the time, not all season long, which is FOREVER long, but towards the end, during the playoffs and the Superbowl itself.

I can’t fault my husband in any way. He loves the sport, but even so, he’ll record a game and watch it later on so that he’s available for our family’s needs.

So, during playoffs and the Superbowl itself, it’s only fair that he be able to hang out with his friends and watch the game.

That leaves the girls and I with a few meals that are just for us, and sometimes I try to do something fun. Sometimes I’m just totally out of ideas.

Today’s meal is one of the totally out of ideas meals. It was a Sunday night playoff game and I had no idea what to cook when I got home that night with the kids. We’d been running errands, it was evening, it was winter, it was dark, and it was really any other excuse I can come up with not to want to make dinner.

But, then I remembered that a friend had sent me a fun looking recipe to try, some pancake cups, which she thought looked right about my style. She was right! Except they were breakfast, not dinner. But really, does it matter? Nope! Not in my house it doesn’t.

So on that night (the cold, winter, dark night where I didn’t want to make dinner) I made breakfast instead, trying out these cute little pancake cups, which I have fondly renamed Upside Down Pancakes, because they are made in muffin tins, and when I cooked them there was a better well for my fruit compote when I turned them upside down than there was when I left them right-side up.

And so, with a recipe from “Racing and Saving Mama,” sent to me by my friend Gina, here are the Upside Down Pancakes for your next brunch, or dinner! I have put any modifications I may have made, in parentheses.

When I flipped my pancakes over after taking them out, they had a great well for toppings!

When I flipped my pancakes over after taking them out, they had a great well for toppings!

UPSIDE DOWN PANCAKES
INGREDIENTS
1 cup milk (we use skim)

6 eggs

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp orange zest -optional- (I didn’t use it)

1/4 cup butter (I use I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter) melted

(I also added in some Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage Crumbles to half of my tins.)

The directions state to serve the pancakes with your favorite toppings so I created an apple-cranberry compote and served with whipped cream. YUM!

The directions state to serve the pancakes with your favorite toppings so I created an apple-cranberry compote and served with whipped cream. YUM!

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Blend first six ingredients in a blender. (I used a hand blender to blend them.)

Be careful to see that any flour clumps are well-blended.

Blend in butter a little at a time in order to temper the eggs.

Grease muffin tins well and distribute the batter evenly between the 24 tins (I got 12 but I think my tins are larger than hers.)

The author of the recipe recommends using 1/4 cup of batter in each tin.

Bake for 15 minutes until puffy and golden on top.

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Fun Friday: Hot Fudge Sundae Cake

31 Jan
My mom used to make this all the time when we were growing up, but I'd forgotten all about it!

My mom used to make this all the time when we were growing up, but I’d forgotten all about it!

Today’s recipe for Fun Friday truly is a fun recipe! It’s fun to make and fun to eat. Like many recipes, it’s got a touch of science to it, and I always love recipes that show the kids something very cool. This one definitely does that as it creates a soupy, fudgy sauce underneath a crisp yet cake-like top.

The funny thing about this recipe is it’s one I grew up eating all the time. It was a go-to recipe in our house growing up. However, it’s been so long since I’ve made it myself, that none of my kids (the oldest being 14) even remembered ever having it.

I was recently reminded of it when a friend sent me a link to a similar recipe; she thought it was something I’d like. She was right, I love it! Seeing the link jogged my memory and I went to my oldest cookbook, a Campbell’s Soup photo album type of recipe binder and I pulled out my mom’s recipe for Hot Fudge Sundae Cake.

Elizabeth came into the kitchen, as she often does, and asked if she could help me. And, as she often does, she made almost the entire thing herself, with just some direction from me. It’s a great recipe for kids to learn to make themselves.

First group of dry ingredients get mixed right in the baking dish!

First group of dry ingredients get mixed right in the baking dish!

This recipe is a favorite because it’s a one-dish recipe. You make the entire thing in an 8×8 or 9×9 square baking dish. I used a glass Pyrex dish. You can mix the ingredients in four steps: dry, wet, dry, wet, and then you’re done!

Below is my mom’s recipe for Hot Fudge Sundae Cake, just as I copied it off her recipe card and put it into my first cookbook all those years ago. I hope you’ll give it a try this weekend and you too, will see what a fun, easy recipe it is!

INGREDIENTS and DIRECTIONS

                Step 1:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

 In an ungreased 9×9 square baking dish mix together the following ingredients with a fork:

1 cup flour

¾ cup sugar

2 TBL. Baking cocoa

2 tsp. Baking Powder

¼ tsp. salt

Spread evenly in baking dish.

                Step 2: In a two-cup measuring cup mix together the following ingredients and pour over first five ingreidents.

½ cup milk

2 TBL canola oil

1 tsp. vanilla

Spread batter evenly in baking dish.

Before the water goes on top, this is what your baking dish looks like.

Before the water goes on top, this is what your baking dish looks like.

  Step 3: Sprinkle the following two ingredients over batter:

1 cup brown sugar packed

¼ cup baking cocoa

                Step 4: Pour the following over all:

1 ¾ cup Hot Water

Bake 40 minutes at 350 degrees. Let stand15 minutes and serve.

Spoon sauce over ice cream if desired.

The secret is in the sauce. Underneath the crispy chocolate cake is a fudgy sauce to top your ice cream and cake!

The secret is in the sauce. Underneath the crispy chocolate cake is a fudgy sauce to top your ice cream and cake!

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Superbowl Week: Chili and Loaded Chili ‘skins

29 Jan
Chili with shredded cheese, sour cream and chips

This chili looks almost too good to eat!

ORIGINALLY POSTED JANUARY 27, 2012:

Don makes a great chili, he really does. I’d never even HAD chili until I met him and had his. I also had never had peppers or onions because growing up my dad didn’t like either, so we steered clear of them when cooking. Now though, I eat all of those things and I especially love my husband’s chili. It’s perfect for Superbowl Sunday.

INGREDIENTS

5 lbs ground beef or ground turkey or ground pork (or any combination of the three)

2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 six ounce cans of tomato paste and 2 cans of water

2 twenty-eight ounce cans of diced tomatoes

3 twelve ounce cans kidney and/or black beans

2 green peppers, chopped

1 large onion chopped

4-6 TBL chili powder

1 tsp. oregano

Salt/Pepper to taste

Sour cream, cheddar cheese, chips for topping

DIRECTIONS

1.) Combine and cook meat, garlic, oregano in large cooking pot

2) Add chopped peppers and onions

3) Add all other ingredients and cook on low for two to five hours.

If you’d like to cook this in the crock pot, cook up the meat first and then throw it all into the crock pot to cook on low for the 2-5 hours.

This is the sort of recipe you can make according to your taste. The spicier you like things, the more spicy ingredients you can add to it (hot sauce, chili powder, chili peppers etc.) The more mild you like it, the less you add.

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BONUS RECIPE: LOADED CHILI POTATO SKINS

Loaded chili potato skins

A bonus appetizer that you can use some of your chili to make.

We love potato skins and chili seems to lend itself to an additional appetizer idea: Loaded chili potato skins.

Cook up a bunch of baked potatoes ahead of time. Let them cool a bit.

Cut them in half and hollow them out, leaving about 1/4″ to 1/2″ of the potato in the skin.

Add some of your chili and some cheddar cheese to the inside, and bake them until cooked through.

Broil at the end to crisp up.

Add your favorite toppings: sour cream, guacamole, etc.

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What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Paula’s Pasta y Fagioli

8 Jan
Fast, easy and delicious! Perfect for a cold winter day.

Fast, easy and delicious! Perfect for a cold winter day.

My friend Paula has the most wonderful blog called My Soup For You, and I visit it often. Although it’s named for her delicious soups, it encompasses all of her cooking talents, not just soups. As she says, it’s “so much more” than just her delicious soups.

On one particular day she posted a recipe for a soup I just knew my family would love; a Pasta y Fagioli soup made in the crock pot.

Now, you know how I love my crock pot!

And with this cold, wintery weather, what would be better than a warm, simmering soup awaiting our arrival home one evening?

I only had to make two small changes to her super-easy recipe. The first change was that I didn’t have the pasta she recommended using, Ditalini. I used elbow pasta instead, which is a larger pasta, but still delicious. The second change was that I preferred to put cooked ground turkey into my recipe instead of ham or pancetta as Paula had done. Other than that, I followed her recipe to the T.

As I expected, this soup got all thumbs up from our family! We not only had it for dinner that evening, but there was enough left to send in thermoses for lunches the next day as well. It’s definitely a recipe I’d make again!

I have copied and pasted the recipe below, just as Paula has it on her blog, but I hope you’ll hop on over and visit her on My Soup For You and check out all she has to offer! She’s just recently updated and revamped her blog so there’s lots of great posts to explore!

Fast and Easy Pasta Y Fagioli
1 quart broth – I used chicken
6 oz can of tomato paste
2-3 cups pureed tomatoes
8 oz diced ham or pancetta – I used pancetta
1 can white beans – you can add more if you want a heartier soup
Garlic
Italian seasoning
salt and pepper
8 oz prepared ditalini pasta

1. Put everything but the pasta in a slow cooker.
2. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
3. Serve over the pasta.

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What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Quinoa Tabbouleh Salad

13 Nov
Lunch or dinner, this was a great new recipe!

Lunch or dinner, this was a great new recipe!

Things are constantly getting lost in our house.

“Have you seen…”

“Does anyone know where…..”

“I can’t find my……”

This recipe is one of those lost items. I’d ripped it out of a magazine over the summer. It’s from the June 2013 Woman’s Day magazine. I thought it sounded great.

My husband’s family is Lebanese, he loves Lebanese food, especially tabbouleh, and so does Elizabeth. I love it as well. I thought for sure it’d be a hit.

If I could find it.

Once I ripped it out and showed him, he agreed it sounded great, and then I never saw the page again.

Until last week.

We happened to move the couch away from the wall to get something one of the kids had seen fall back there, and lo and behold…my Woman’s Day recipe!

It just so happened that we’d made quinoa the night before as a side dish for our dinner. We had leftovers and it was in the fridge already.

With the quinoa cooked and cooled previously, this was a super-easy lunch to throw together in the morning before school for Don and Elizabeth’s lunchboxes. I even had sliced cucumbers leftover from the day before too, so I was really already on my way.

The votes came back with big thumbs up for the new salad. I sent wheat pita pockets on the side. Elizabeth scooped hers up with the bread, Don put his right inside the bread.

We had a little bit leftover and they used it as a side dish one night with dinner.

This is a great, quick tabbouleh and if you like Middle Eastern foods, give this a try!

QUINOA TABBOULEH SALAD

Woman’s Day June 2013

In a medium bowl, whisk together:
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice1 Tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley
1 teaspoon olive oil
a pinch each of salt and pepper

Add:
3/4 cup cooked quinoa1/2 cup canned chickpeas
1 plum tomato, chopped
1 seedless cucumber, chopped

Toss to combine.

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What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Sweet and Sour Meatballs

6 Nov
This week's recipe is definitely a keeper at our house!

This week’s recipe is definitely a keeper at our house!

When I was in the midst of my crock pot cooking frenzy of eight weeks, I came across a crock pot recipe for Sweet and Sour Meatballs that the kids wanted me to try.

I never got the chance to try them out, the recipe was still on my list of things to make in the future, but I did not like that the “sweet and sour” part of the recipe was a jar of sweet and sour sauce. I like to make things on my own when I can, so that I know exactly what I’m putting into the recipe and I can modify if I need to.

In the meantime, I follow Six Sisters’ Stuff on Facebook, and this week I clicked on a link of theirs that came through for ground beef recipes, and somehow I kept clicking until I ended up at a recipe from one of the sisters, Mel, on her site, Mel’s Kitchen Cafe for sweet and sour meatballs with a homemade sauce. The Six Sisters often have some good stuff on their sites!

I decided to try it out this week, and I’m glad I did! All but my little non-meat-eater, Alex, liked this recipe. LOVED this recipe. Even Alex ate one meatball. She just didn’t like it.  I got so many compliments on it other than from her though, that it was well worth it!

We also decided that this would be great for a party. We often do traditional meatballs in sauce, but this would be a nice change. When I made them this time, I used my larger of the two Pampered Chef scoops, the same one I use to scoop my muffin batter into my tins. If I did this recipe for a party, I’d use the smaller of the two scoops, which is the same one I use for cookie batter.

I did, in fact, modify this recipe just a bit:

* It called for 1 1/2 lbs. of ground beef but I used 2 lbs of ground turkey instead.

* It said it wasn’t a particularly saucy recipe and that you could double the sauce. Since I prefer saucier than not and since I was using more meat than it called for, I did opt to double it.

*The directions called for making the meatballs and baking them right in the sauce for 30 minutes. I wasn’t all that comfortable with putting the raw meat into the sauce, so I baked them for 15 minutes first, added in the sauce and then baked them the rest of the time in the sauce.

*I left about 12 out of sauce for those who wanted plain. I’m glad I did. We all tried both and we all liked both.

I made sure to bake these in a deeper casserole dish rather than on a baking sheet, so that there’d  be plenty of space for the sauce.

Below is Mel’s recipe, just as she has it here on her site. I encourage you to try it out and take a look at some of the other recipes on her site as well!

Ingredients

Meatballs:
    • 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef (you don’t want the beef to be too high in fat because the fat will all pool at the bottom of the baking dish after baking – big time grody-ness in my book)
    • 3/4 cup quick oats
    • 2 eggs, slightly beaten
    • 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
    • 1/2 cup milk
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
    • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Sauce:
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon mustard
  • 1/4 cup barbeque sauce
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Directions

  1. For the meatballs: Combine all of the ingredients and mix well. Form into about 12 balls, eacha bout 2 inches in diameter. Place in a casserole dish. Cover with sauce (below). Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Serve over rice.
  2. For the sauce: Combine ingredients and blend thoroughly. Heat in a small saucepan until combined and sugar is dissolved and pour over meatballs. (This dish is not overly abundant on sauce so if you enjoy things a bit saucier, double the sauce ingredients.)

Notes

Freezable Meal: After covering the meatballs with sauce, cover the pan with two layers of aluminum foil and freeze. To bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake covered without thawing for 1 hour. Uncover and bake 20-30 minutes more, until meatballs are cooked through.

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What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Chicken and Mushrooms in Garlic Wine Sauce

30 Oct
My first new recipe not made in a crock pot in eight weeks!

My first new recipe not made in a crock pot in eight weeks!

So we survived our season of fall sports.

No more basketball and no more track, at least for now. We’re taking the next eight weeks off from anything, until after the holidays.

This means I don’t need to cook in my crock pot so many nights a week any longer.

On Monday night I made a new, non-crock pot chicken recipe. Everyone seemed to like it except Alex, because as she reminded me, chicken IS on her don’t like list. She had leftover soup. Chicken Soup.

This recipe is one I’d found on a site I use often: Skinnytaste.com, which has lots of lowfat recipes. It seemed similar to a Chicken Marsala, which we all like, but with slightly different flavors.

I’m glad I gave it a try. It was easy and tasty and I’d definitely do it again.

Here is the recipe as is seen on Skinnytaste.com. Be sure to visit their site and check out their other recipes too!

Chicken and Mushrooms in a Garlic White Wine Sauce

Servings: 4 • Serving Size: divide between 4 • Old Points: 4 pts • Points+: 6 pts

Calories: 169 • Fat: 5.5 g • Protein: 22.8 g • Carb: 4.9 g • Fiber: 1.2 g • Sugar: 1.7 g

Ingredients:

    8 chicken tenderloins, 16 oz total

    2 tsp butter

    2 tsp olive oil

    1/4 cup all purpose flour* (use rice flour if gluten free)

    3-4 cloves garlic, minced

    12 oz sliced mushrooms

    1/4 cup white wine

    1/3 cup fat free chicken broth

    salt and fresh pepper to taste

    1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

Preheat oven to 200°. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Lightly dredge in flour.

Heat a large skillet on medium heat; when hot add 1 tsp butter and 1 tsp olive oil. Add chicken to the skillet and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side, or until chicken is no longer pink. Set aside in a warm oven.

Add additional oil and butter to the skillet, then garlic and cook a few seconds; add mushrooms, salt and pepper stirring occasionally until golden, about 5 minutes.

Add wine, chicken broth, parsley; stir the pan with a wooden spoon breaking up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook a few more minutes or until the liquid reduces by half. Top the chicken with the mushroom sauce and serve.

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Fun Friday: A wonderful weekend brunch

25 Oct
This newest muffin recipe went so well with several of our other favorite recipes!

This newest muffin recipe went so well with several of our other favorite recipes!

Sometimes, it just all comes together.

One recent weekend, I tried a new muffin recipe for Honey Muffins from One Perfect Bite. They were so easy, but most of all, they were a perfect complement to two other recipes that we love.

That morning, our breakfast was just amazing.

On the menu were:

The new honey muffins

Homemade strawberry jam!!

Homemade strawberry jam!!

My homemade strawberry jam that I’d made in the crock pot

My famous baked eggs.

The greatest thing was that the jam was made ahead of time, and I actually made the eggs up the night before and reheated them in the morning, which I do a lot during the work week.

These have quickly become a staple on our breakfast menu!

These have quickly become a staple on our breakfast menu!

On this particular morning, we were heading out for the day and this breakfast filled our bellies before we went.

Here’s the recipe for the honey muffins. I did use part wheat flour and part white flour so technically they were a Honey Wheat Muffin instead of just Honey Muffins, but the recipe is otherwise the same as what One Perfect Bite posted on her blog.

One Perfect Bite’s Honey Muffins

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup honey

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease or line standard muffin cups with paper liners.
2) Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
3) Combine egg, milk, butter and honey in a small bowl.
4) Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients just until moistened.
5) Fill prepared muffin cups three-fourths full with batter. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Remove from pan to a wire rack. Serve warm. Yield: 1 dozen.

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Fun Friday: Betty Crocker’s Banana-Cinnamon Muffins

18 Oct
These muffins were fabulous as an after school snack one fall afternoon!

These muffins were fabulous as an after school snack one fall afternoon!

If you’re a regular reader of The Whole Bag of Chips, you know I love muffins. I also love after school snacks.

Many times my snacks are muffins and if there’s enough leftover they are breakfast the next day too.

I can tell you…today’s recipe: none leftover.

These were so good.

I have tons of muffin recipes but I still love trying new ones. On this particular day I was looking to try a new recipe for banana muffins. When I saw one by Betty Crocker that incorporated bananas and cinnamon and sugar; well that had my name all over it.

These were so great, the kids all loved them.

I only made a minor modification: Instead of melting the butter at the end and dipping the muffins into it and then into cinnamon-sugar, I opted to just sprinkle some cinnamon-sugar on the tops prior to baking them.

Normally I also substitute plain nonfat yogurt instead of oil, but on this day I actually forgot and I used canola oil. It wasn’t until I dumped it in, that I realized I’d forgotten. So that’d be another substitute you might want to make if you’re trying to healthify the recipe a little bit more.

Here, from the Betty Crocker website is the recipe as they have it. I also linked to their site above.

Give these a try this weekend, they’re fantastic!

BANANA CINNAMON MUFFINS by Betty Crocker

INGREDIENTS

MUFFINS

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2/3 cup mashed very ripe bananas (2 small)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 2/3 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
TOPPING
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
DIRECTIONS
  • Heat oven to 375°F. Grease bottoms only of 12 regular-size muffin cups with shortening or spray, or line with paper baking cups.
  •  In medium bowl, beat 2/3 cup sugar, the oil and eggs with wire whisk. Stir in bananas and vanilla. Stir in remaining muffin ingredients just until moistened. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
  •  Bake 17 to 21 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Immediately remove from pan to cooling rack.
  •  In small bowl, mix 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Dip muffin tops into melted butter, then into cinnamon-sugar. Serve warm.

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