Tag Archives: dinner

What’s For Dinner Wednesday: Grilled Caprese Portobello Mushrooms

17 Jul
A yummy addition to our summer meal menu options!

A yummy addition to our summer meal menu options!

We are on our second heat wave this month. When you’re in the midst of a heat wave like this, sometimes you don’t feel like cooking. Or eating.

Scratch that. I almost always feel like eating, even when it’s hot.

But what to eat becomes the question. You don’t want to turn on the oven and sometimes it’s even too hot to grill outside, because when it’s 100 degrees, do you really want to stand over a hot fire?

Sunday was that kind of a night. What to eat? What to cook. Don listed everything in our fridge and freezer but nothing sounded appealing. He’s never that thrilled when I say no to everything we have.

On this night however, it was a good thing that I didn’t want anything we had on hand. We ended up trying a great new recipe from the Sugar Free Mom blog and loving it!

I know I’ve mentioned Brenda’s blog before, but if you haven’t visited it yet, now’s a great time to do so. The recipe we tried was for grilled Portobello mushrooms made Caprese style; a great summer menu addition. Another friend of mine posted the recipe on Facebook and I knew immediately that this meal was in our future.

We bought three Portobello mushrooms, (we knew not everyone would like these so we only bought for those who would), some mozzarella cheese to slice and some good-sized tomatoes to slice up as well. Rather than grilling the mushrooms, Don cooked them in our cast iron skillet, and they were fabulous! We served ours with a side of macaroni salad and corn on the cob. A perfect summer meal.

Give Brenda’s blog a visit, and try out her recipe! I know you’ll love it, and  you’ll love her photos.  Her Portobellos were much prettier and more photogenic than mine!

Her recipe is below.

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We did not have fresh basil on hand so we used dried instead.

  • 6 large portobello caps
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • few cracks of pepper from peppermill
  • nonstick olive oil cooking spray
  • 6 ounces mozzarella, sliced into 6 pieces
  • 1 large vine tomato, sliced into 6 pieces
  • 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

Directions

Wash the mushrooms and drain them on paper towels upside down then pat dry. Turn them upright. Spray the mushrooms with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon salt and garlic powder over the mushroom caps. Add a few cracks of pepper then place the seasoned side onto a medium high grill or grill pan. Follow the same procedure for the bottoms of the mushrooms and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes on one side before flipping over. Top each mushroom cap with one slice of tomato and cheese. Close the grill for 1 minute to let cheese melt slightly. Place caps onto a serving plate. Add one large basil leaf to each cap. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil over the tops, season to taste with more salt and pepper if desired and serve warm or room temperature.

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What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Fajita Quesadillas

10 Jul
Fajita Quesadilla veggies

I love the look of fresh vegetables when they’re mixed up and cooking!

ORIGINALLY POSTED JANUARY 25, 2012:

Today’s recipe is again, one that I did not grow up with! Imagine that, four recipes in two days, and not one of them was from my childhood! This recipe is a combination of recipes from two different people and it makes a great meal or an appetizer for a football game.

We actually had never had quesadillas at our house until about four years ago or so. Elizabeth had a friend at preschool whose house we used to go to for playdates often. My friend Jody used to make cheese quesadillas a lot when we went over for playdates. (In fact, this past fall I featured my friend Jody’s Butternut Squash Soup, which was also a playdate lunch. And just so you know, my traditional playdate lunch at my house is mac & cheese from a box with chicken nuggets. we were spoiled at Jody’s!)

Anyway….we started making quesadillas at our house on a regular basis. You can put anything in them so we’ve done just cheese, chicken and cheese, tomato/chicken/cheese, peppers/beef and cheese, and we’ve done bbq chicken/onion/cheese. However, on New Year’s Eve this year my sister in law Jessica made us Fajita Quesadillas which had all kinds of peppers, mushrooms, onions and cheese, and they were so fabulous!! We had to try them at home. So last week, we had them.

Cook up some chicken tenders first. Then shred or dice the cooked chicken.

My sister in law and I are both lucky because we both live near an Aldi’s and you can get everything you need for your Fajita Quesadillas at Aldi’s.  The ingredients vary, depending what you’d like in your quesadillas. You need soft flour tortillas, we use the large ones.

This is another meal where I pull out some frozen chicken tenders, so convenient! Cook them up if you’d like chicken in your quesadillas.

While your chicken is cooking, grate a bowl full of cheddar cheese (a block of cheese is usually plenty.) Slice up your veggies and cook them on top of the stove.

We use a countertop griddle to make our quesadillas two at a time.

Once you’ve got your ingredients pre-cooked, you’re ready to begin the last step. Butter your soft flour tortillas on one side and lay it on the griddle, in a frying pan, or use a Quesadilla Maker (which we do actually have also, but we prefer the griddle most of the time because we can make two at a time.)

Butter one side of the top flour tortilla and place it on top of the others on the griddle and flip (we have a big metal spatula for flipping!)

Once both sides are golden brown and the cheese inside is melted, you’re ready to cut your quesadillas into triangles and eat them!

finished quesadillas

Once the quesadillas are golden brown, cut them into triangles and eat!

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What’s For Dinner Wednesday: Macaroni & Shrimp Salad

3 Jul

This macaroni and shrimp salad is something we look forward to all year long!

ORIGINALLY POSTED JULY 11, 2012: 

If you’re like me, you’re always looking for the perfect side dish to go with the cook-on-the-grill type of meals that happen all summer long. Today’s recipe is one of those perfect side dishes.

As always, it’s super-easy and super-delicious. And as is typical, it’s originally from my mom. She’s been making it ever since I can remember and we’ve been making it on our own for years as well.

You can tell that this photo is of my dish because I actually do put my tomato/cucumber/olive salad in a separate bowl so that nothing runs together, and also because I eat absolutely nothing on my hot dogs. I barely eat the bread. But, I eat every speck of that macaroni salad!

Try this recipe out for your next cookout, I know you’ll love it as much as we do!

MACARONI & SHRIMP SALAD

INGREDIENTS

2 cups elbow macaroni (in general we use a one pound box of pasta and adjust the rest of the ingredients accordingly as well.)

2 stalks celery, thin sliced

1 can tiny shrimp, rinsed

3/4 cup Miracle Whip

celery salt to taste

cayenne pepper to taste

This is a great side dish to bring to those summer dinner parties and cookouts!

DIRECTIONS

Cook pasta according to directions.

Add in shrimp, Miracle Whip and spices.

Cover and cool in refrigerator completely before serving.

Enjoy!

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What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Balsamic Chicken with Rosemary (A South Beach recipe)

12 Jun
This was both simple and delicious!

This was both simple and delicious!

This is a recipe we tried and liked some time back. It’s a South Beach Diet recipe and it was simple, easy and delicious! At this time of year we need quick and easy with all of the end-of-year meetings and events, so I pulled this recipe out again. In this photo, ours is served with couscous and a sauteed vegetable medley of broccoli, cauliflower and zucchini.

BALSAMIC CHICKEN

From the South Beach Diet Book

INGREDIENTS

6 Boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh rosemary leaves, minced or 1/2 teaspoon dried

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

4 – 6 tablespoons white wine (optional)

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

Refrigerate overnight.

Refrigerate overnight.

DIRECTIONS

Rinse the chicken and pat dry.

Combine the rosemary, garlic, pepper and salt in a small bowl and mix well.

Place the chicken in a large bowl. Drizzle with the oil, and rub with the spice mixture.

Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Spray a heavy roasting pan or iron skillet with cooking spray. Place the chicken in the pan and bake for 10 minutes. Turn the chicken over.

If the drippings begin to stick to the pan, stir in 3-4 tablespoons water (or white wine if using).

Bake about ten minutes or until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the portion registers 160 degrees and the juices run clear. If the pan is dry, stir in another 1-2 tablespoons of water or white wine to loosen drippings.

Drizzle the vinegar over the chicken in the pan.

Transfer the chicken to plates. Stir the liquid in the pan and drizzle over chicken.

Serves six

Per serving: 183 calories, 26 g. protein, 4 g. carbohydrates, 6 g. fat, 1 g. saturated fat, 270 mg. sodium, 65 mg. cholesterol, 0 g. fiber

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What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Pork Marinade

5 Jun

Dinner: marinated pork, rice pilaf, and carrots/apples/craisins

ORIGINALLY POSTED JANUARY 16, 2012

One of the things I often purchase at Aldi’s at least once per month are their Pork Tenderloins. They’re inexpensive, just the right size for our family (I buy two if we’re having company for dinner) and they come in an “original” flavor, as well as a couple of other flavors. I like the original flavor because we can do whatever we want to the pork. Sometimes we use teriyaki, sometimes we do barbeque, and sometimes we do a simple pork marinade.

Today I’m sharing the recipe with you for the Pork Marinade. Of course, it’s a recipe from my mom and the instructions say “Also good on steak,” and “Don’t double.”  So don’t.

PORK MARINADE

4 TBL Soy Sauce

2 cloves (1 tsp) garlic, crushed or chopped (we usually use minced out of the jar if we don’t have fresh.)

2 TBL olive oil

2 tsp Brown Sugar

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp pepper

ziploc bag marinated pork tenderloin

Throw it all in a bag and you’re good to go.

That’s all there is to it! Super easy. Throw it all in a ziploc bag or tupperware marinater, throw in the pork and you’re good to go. This can be made ahead and frozen, pork and all, for future use as well. When I was pregnant with my third daughter, during my nesting or as I like to call it, panicking, I marinated and froze many different bags of pork, steak and chicken (different marinade for chicken, I’ll share it another day) ahead of time and we were able to use them for weeks and months afterwards.

Hopefully this budget-friendly dinner idea works well for you too!

Enjoy!

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What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Anthony’s Stir Fry in Valerie’s Cast Iron Skillet

29 May
This was a recipe with all the best ingredients.

This was a recipe with all the best ingredients.

Many of you who have been reading this blog since its inception and even those of you who used to read my Sauce vs. Gravy recipe blog way back when, know that recipes mean more to me than a good meal.

To me a good recipe is one that means something to me because of a connection that I have to it, whether it is from a family member or a friend, whether it’s a dish I ate at a memorable event or maybe even stems from a family tradition that we hold near and dear.

Recipes connect me to others and to memories of others.

Today’s recipe is from my friend Anthony. Anthony owns Reel to Real Recording Studio here in Cranston and we will sometimes bump into each other at local events, but we are friends on Facebook so we “see” each other on there all the time.

Recently, Anthony posted a photo on Facebook of a stir fry he was making for dinner at his house. It looked delicious. I had to have it and I asked him if there was anything special in the stir fry as far as a sauce, but he said it was simple: olive oil in the bottom of the pan, and Worcestershire sauce mixed in while cooking, basically made to your liking. Anthony listed some ingredients he will often throw into his stir fry, including chicken or shrimp,  zucchini, broccoli, and cauliflower.

The next time I went to the store, I bought chicken AND shrimp, zucchini, broccoli and cauliflower. I couldn’t wait to get home to make our dinner that night. There was going to be something in this dish that everyone loved.

Even better, I was going to be using our new cast iron skillet, given to me by my cousin Valerie just a few weeks ago. When Val asked me if we had a cast iron skillet, I said that we didn’t, and she said she had an extra one that she would bring to me when she came down for Alexandra’s First Communion.

When she arrived, she gave me the pan and along with it, an envelope with my name on it. Because we were having the party, I didn’t get to read Valerie’s note until the next day, but when I did, I almost cried as I read.  In the letter, Valerie told me the story of the skillet and how she’d found it while shopping with her brother in-law during their annual summer consignment shop shopping trips. She mentioned that it’s just she and he who love these shopping trips. Her husband and his sister are not fans of the “junk” that Val and John bring home.

The story of my cast iron pan makes everything I cook in it, including Anthony's Stir Fry, that much more special.

The story of my cast iron pan makes everything I cook in it, including Anthony’s Stir Fry, that much more special.

The skillet was part of a set of three, “dusty, rusty, neglected diamonds in the rough,” Valerie wrote. She told me of how she and John bought the pans and took them home. She knew that these treasures only needed “a good home, a hot bath, and someone to make them feel useful again, things we all want.”

Valerie cleaned and seasoned our skillet for us, giving us the last of the three rescued trio of pans in the set that she and her brother in-law had found last summer.

“Good, old, seasoned cast iron is a treasure. it is a work horse in the kitchen. It holds the heat well, cooks evenly, is the original ‘non-stick’ cookware. it makes mean fried eggs, crusty hash browns and frittatas to die for,” Valerie said.

Last week, my new cast iron skillet made a fabulous stir fry, Anthony’s Stir Fry, and it was delicious.

Good friends, good pans, and treasured family members. I am blessed to have them all.

Give Anthony’s Stir Fry a try with your favorite ingredients in it.

And if you have a cast iron skillet of your own, definitely use it.

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What’s for Dinner Wednesday: John Wayne Casserole

22 May
This was a great Mexican dish that we were able to make using many nonfat ingredients.

This was a great Mexican dish that we were able to make using many nonfat ingredients.

My family enjoys eating Mexican foods. I make a good Taco Bake, we eat quesadillas, tacos and a yummy nacho bake. We’ve had to tone down our menu to make it more fat-free or at least low fat, but it’s easy to do with most of those items by changing just a few key ingredients.

Today’s recipe is one that was sent to me by my father-in-law a couple of weeks back. The title of the email said, “Looks good.”  And indeed, it did look good.

I was able to use the recipe by making the following substitutions:

Ground turkey instead of ground beef

Nonfat sour cream instead of regular

Nonfat cheddar cheese instead of regular

Light mayo made with olive oil instead of regular

I also had to cheat a bit and use salsa instead of the fresh onion, tomato and pepper, because I thought I had a pepper here and when it came time to make dinner, I did not.  If I make this again I’d do the fresh veggies instead, but the salsa did work fine.

Of all people, Alexandra was the kid who loved this the most. She’s by far the pickiest eater. Caroline liked all but the top and Liz liked it well enough. Don and I loved it. I even ate it leftover and it was just as good.

It did make a lot, and I think the next time I’d cut it in half, and use an 11×7 dish rather than a 9×13 dish.

Don even said he’d throw the corn right in the layer with the meat. It was definitely a hearty dish and a tasty one! If your family enjoys Mexican meals too, I’d recommend this!

The recipe as my father-in-law sent it, is below.

JOHN WAYNE CASSEROLE

Ingredients

2 pounds ground beef, cooked and drained
1 (1.25-ounce) packet taco seasoning
4 ounces sour cream
4 ounces mayonnaise
8 ounces Cheddar cheese, shredded and divided
1 yellow onion, sliced
2 cups biscuit mix
2 tomatoes, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced
1 (4-ounce) can sliced jalapeno peppers

Directions

1. Heat oven to 325. Brown ground beef and add taco seasoning and water, according to packet instructions; set aside.

2. In a separate bowl, combine sour cream, mayonnaise, 4 ounces of cheddar cheese, and half of the onions; set aside.

3. Stir biscuit mix and water (directions on box) **our box said to use milk so I did and it was skim**to form soft dough. Pat dough on the bottom and one-half-inch up the sides of an 9 x 13 in. greased casserole dish.

4. Saute remaining onions and bell peppers until slightly tender.

5. On top of biscuit mix, evenly distribute ingredients in the following order: ground beef, tomato slices, green peppers, onions, jalapeno peppers, sour cream mixture and end with remaining shredded cheese.

6. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until edges of dough are lightly browned.

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What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Sweet Hawaiian Crock Pot Chicken

15 May
This was a great crock pot recipe, and I'd definitely make it again!

This was a great crock pot recipe, and I’d definitely make it again!

I will apologize in advance that I do not know where this recipe originated. Don saw it online and sent it to me in an email. I later also saw it online on a friend’s page, she was sharing it from a recipe exchange page called Renee’s Exchange.

What I do know is that we tried the recipe and liked the recipe and I’d make it again. I had to do mine on high for less time because I got a late start, but it still came out great. We had enough leftover to serve a second night and it was just as good the second time around.

We served ours with couscous and sauteed zucchini the first time and over brown rice with a side of green beans the second time.

The only thing I cannot figure out is that the original picture that I saw showed the chicken very glazed and crispy, with the glaze sticking to the chicken. Ours was very juicy rather than a glaze. Still very tasty, but different than what I expected.

The ingredients are simple and the directions…even more simple! Give it a try on your next crock pot night!

Sweet Hawaiian Crock Pot Chicken:
Ingredients:
1 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup light soy sauce
2 pounds chicken breast tenderloins  (**I used an entire 2.5 pound bag of frozen tenderloins.)

Directions:
Add all ingredients to the crock pot and cook on low 6-8 hrs and they should just fall apart. Enjoy!

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What’s For Dinner Wednesday: Artichoke and Tomato Pasta from Better Homes and Gardens

8 May
Looking for something a little different to go with your pasta? Try this easy recipe!

Looking for something a little different to go with your pasta? Try this easy recipe!

I love pasta, but I get tired of “plain old” pasta and sauce, especially when I’m out of homemade sauce. I recently came across this recipe in the May 2013 issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine, and I happened to have artichokes on hand, so I gave it a try.

Artichokes are the kind of thing you either love them or hate them. I love them. A few of us here actually love them, and they’re easy enough to remove from your plate if you hate them, so this recipe was great for our family.

If you’re looking for something a little bit different, I encourage you to give it a try. It’s quick and easy and just different enough to spice things up a bit on your dinner table. Serve it with a side salad and you’re good to go.

ARTICHOKE AND TOMATO PASTA
Better Homes and Gardens May 2013

INGREDIENTS

8 oz. dried buactini, fettuccine, or whole grain spaghetti (We went with the whole grain spaghetti.)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup sweet onion

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 28 ounce can crushed or diced tomatoes

1 six ounce jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Fresh basil leaves

Grated Parmesan cheese
DIRECTIONS

1) In a Dutch oven cook pasta according to package directions. (We cooked the spaghetti in a pan on top of the stove, the way we normally do.)

Drain; reserve 1/4 cup of pasta water. Return pasta to pot. Add Parmesan cheese; toss to combine. Add enough of the reserved pasta water that pasta is evenly coated with cheese.

2) Meanwhile, in a large saucepan cook onion in hot oil over medium heat until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic; cook 30 seconds more. Add undrained tomatoes, artichoke hearts, salt and pepper. Cook and stir until slightly thickened. Mash slightly with a wooden spoon.

3) To serve, top pasta with tomato mixture and basil leaves. Sprinkle with additional grated Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Makes 4 servings

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What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Cheesy Quinoa and Broccoli Patties

1 May
Although I had technical difficulties with this recipe, I'm glad I stuck it out, they were delicious!

Although I had technical difficulties with this recipe, I’m glad I stuck it out, they were delicious!

This week I was debating what to post for my What’s For Dinner Wednesday recipe when I came across a new one. I was scrolling through Facebook when I saw a post on Shop Girl for these Cheesy Quinoa and Broccoli Patties.

As always, I looked to see if I had all of the ingredients and I did. I had just cooked up a batch of quinoa the night before, so that was already done, and I had everything else for them.

In the past we have made Zucchini Fritters and even Potato Latkes, and we love them all. I thought this might be similar and I thought my chance for everyone liking them was pretty good too.

The ingredients for this recipe came together very quickly.

The ingredients for this recipe came together very quickly.

I threw the ingredients together pretty quickly, cooking up the onion, and chopping the broccoli. I used wheat bread crumbs, egg substitute and nonfat cheddar cheese in order to keep within our dietary restrictions.

However, when it came time for cooking my patties, I ran into trouble. It wasn’t trouble from the recipe, it was my pan that was not cooperating. It’s not the best pan and on occasion, things will stick. Today was one of those occasions. Each time my patties would get nice and crisp, when I went to turn it over, the layer of crispiness would stay stuck to the pan.

I was tempted to abandon the whole thing, but these really did look and smell good. I didn’t want to let it go. I gave it some thought, and then decided to remove them from the frying pan and olive oil and place them into the oven at 350 degrees and bake them to finish them off. That worked out great.

However, I still had a batch that hadn’t gone into the pan  yet. By now Don had come home, and to my rescue. When I showed him the leftover batter, enough for about five more patties and too much to throw away, he opted to try using our counter top griddle and grill them. Again, it worked out great. Next time, this would be my method of choice to cook them.

I’m glad we kept to it. The recipe was a hit with four out of five of us and there was not even one left over. Don even tried dipping them in Sweet and Sour dipping sauce, which was a great addition.

Tonight as I said goodnight to my oldest daughter, I was shutting off her light on my way out of the room, when she called out to me, “Hey Mom….make those broccoli things again from tonight. They were really good.”

That’s a thumbs up, if I ever heard one.

I encourage you to visit Shop Girl’s blog to see the original post so that you can see what *her* patties looked like, since she didn’t have the technical difficulties I had. Her photos are great and the recipe is a good one. For my family, I doubled it, so we had 12 patties, not six. Additionally, my quinoa was already cooked and cooled, this recipe talks you through cooking it first, and letting it cool. Be sure to rinse your quinoa well before cooking it.

Seemed like all was well when I started out, but my pan did not cooperate with me this evening!

Seemed like all was well when I started out, but my pan did not cooperate with me this evening!

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup water
5 large broccoli florets
1 small onion, diced
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup shredded cheese
1 large egg
Salt and Pepper for seasoning
Olive oil for cooking
DIRECTIONS
1. First, cook your quinoa according to the directions on the packaging. I cooked mine by combining 1/2 cup of quinoa with 1 cup of boiling water, then letting it come to a boil, and simmering, covered for about 15 minutes. Once the quinoa has absorbed all the water (this shouldn’t take longer than 15 minutes), put it on a plate and let it cool completely.
2. Next, saute your diced onion until it’s soft and translucent. Set aside and let cool completely. Cook your broccoli until it has softened a little bit, then let it cool as well. Once the broccoli has cooled completely, dice it into small pieces.
3. Now that you have everything ready, in a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together, leaving the egg until the end. Mix well so you have a smooth, wet mixture that will allow you to make patties that will stick together.
4. Heat some olive oil in a pan, and make your patties. I made each using 1/4 cup of the mixture. Just make a ball out of the mixture, and squash it down a little bit. Cook each patty for about 7 – 8 minutes on each side on medium heat. You want the patty to develop a crust, but not to burn, so watch them carefully. Let cool for a couple of minutes before eating.

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