That yummy kale salad from GAW

Ok I need this here because yum and then I don’t have to worry about losing the photo Cheese Pusher sent me again...

To try to type it out... with a couple of notes...

4 c kale [washed, ribbed, and torn into bite-size pieces]

4 Tbl olive oil [thats a quarter cup, people]

1/2 Tbl sesame oil

1 Tbl liquid aminos [I subbed in soy sauce after K couldn’t find this at the store]

1 Tbl rice wine vinegar 

1 Tbl lemon juice

4 tsp fresh ginger

Sprinkle salt and pepper 

To paraphrase: Prep kale. Mix rest. Rub liquid into kale. Delicious. 

My bento-style lunch pix for my first grader

Ok, first of all, where did January go? I swear I didn't get the allotted 31 days!

Be that as it may, I do have some photos for you. I've been doing sort of American-food bento-style lunches for Pumpkin for school. They work well - she's a bit picky, doesn't always want the same thing, and has a short lunch time. So, by packing a healthy bit of this and a bit of that, and making it pretty if I can, I think she's eating more/better than she would if she just had a sandwich/fruit/treat every day.

Not that some days I don't wonder how she survives since almost everything's still in the box.

I try to include 2 sources of protein (pb in sandwiches/wraps counts), 2 fruits-or-veg, and two grain-y carb-y things. Usually there's a small treat, but not always. I use a small plastic container I got at Tar-zhay in the fall that measure 5 1/4" by 3 1/4" by 2 1/4" roughly. The bottom says it holds 1.7 cups or 0.4L. It comes with a small reusable ice pack that snaps into the lid. Penguin has the same one in blue, and often likes to have her own lunch packed, even though we are usually eating lunch at home anyway.

Without further ado, just a few pix:



*Oh yeah, those little green cups are silicone mini-cupcake cups. Two of them can fit on top of each other, so I often stack them, one with dried cranberries and the other with peanuts or similar.

Mmmm....Chocolate Crinkles!

Huh. Here I was all set to post a lovely recipe for cookies I only remember ever making near the holidays - Chocolate Crinkles. They're the ones Penguin & I were making here. I even took some photos of them all lined up pretty, cooling on their wire racks.

But hey...
I guess I didn't need to...

Oh well, at least I can add the note that we like them much better when they're made with baking chocolate, rather than the substitution of butter & cocoa - they hold their shape better & stand up taller. Still yummy either way though!

Cheddar Chicken Chowder

Yes, yes, I know - another recipe from Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2002. I can't help it - it has a lot of yummy ones in it. I needed a recipe for soup that used chicken broth and leftover chicken from a whole one I'd made earlier in the week. As a bonus, I used up the leftover not-crispy-like-it-was-supposed-to-be Potatoes-Anna I'd made the day before instead of chopping & peeling new potatoes. AND I happened to have a package of 3 bacon slices in the freezer, which totally isn't enough for a meal, but perfect for this recipe!

Cheddar Chicken Chowder

2 [or 3!] bacon slices
1 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces [or sub in leftover chicken or turkey]
1 c. chopped onion
1 c. chopped red bell pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 1/2 c. fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth [I used broth from our basic one-pot chicken, which had been cooked with sweet potatoes so it was especially lovely and rich!]
1 3/4 c. chopped peeled red potato [or if you've got leftover cooked potatoes, chop them up and use those.]
2 1/4 c. frozen whole-kernel corn
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
2 c. 2% low-fat milk
3/4 c. (3 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese [sharp gives more flavor]
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper

1. Cook bacon in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan; crumble; set aside. Add chicken [if raw], onion, bell pepper, and garlic to drippings in pan; saute 5 minutes. Add broth and potato [if raw], and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until potato is tender. Add corn; stir well. [If you're using leftover chicken and/or potatoes, I'd add them at this point.]

2. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup, and level with a knife. Place flour in a bowl. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended; add to soup. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer 15 minutes or until thick, stirring frequently. Stir in cheddar cheese, salt and black pepper. Top with crumbled bacon.

Yield: 7 servings (serving size: 1 1/2 c.)
[If made as originally described...]Calories: 306 (22% from fat); Fat 7.5g (sat 4g, mono 2.2g, poly 0.6g); Protein: 25g; Carb 33.7g; Fiber 2.9g; Chol 58mg; Iron 1.6mg; Sodium 376mg; Calc 193mg

WW - Me, giant! You, itty bitty lamb chop! NOM NOM NOM

(c) 2010 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

(Well, "NOM NOM NOM" after I cooked it, anyway.)

Cross-posted over to Musings & Mutterings.

CSA Year 2 Week 12

Did I mention all the tomatoes? No? How about all the summer squashes?

(I already gave some tomatoes & squash to the nice neighbors 'cuz we just can't keep up at this rate! Hooray for produce! And sharing!)

(Plus, they brought us over a big bag of pears & apples. Yay!)

CSA Year 2 Week 11

Holy 'Maters, Batman! This is definitely the part of the season when we start falling behind in consumption vs. supply. I see spaghetti sauce (frozen) and dried cherry tomatoes and frozen shredded squash in our freezer soon!

CSA Year 2 Week 10

Y'all, I'm sorry I didn't post this sooner. I got the pic taken, but then I was all busy getting the place ready for our outstanding & wonderful & FUN weekend guests & then I just plain forgot. So here it is a bit late. Also, I was apparently standing on one of the tall chairs, because everything looks smaller than it really is. Those squash are all HUGE! Imagine the tomatoes regular-sized, not smallish & you'll see!

CSA Year 2 Week 9

This week there was only 1 "this OR this OR this"... but we still ended up with kohlrabi instead of one of the other veg! I guess it's just the universe's way of telling me I really should try this kohlrabi puree recipe...

CSA Year 2 Week 8

Still a little light in the box, but maybe a little more than last week. Since there's been so little rain, fairly often it's happening that our CSA doesn't have enough of a particular crop to put in all the boxes. So people get this veg OR this one OR a different one. Starred vegetables in the photo are ones listed in the newsletter as being this OR this OR this. We got full-sized tomatoes rather than cherry ones, which is fine since Penguin found (& shared with her big sister & ate) our first couple ripe cherry tomato ones earlier this week. While we got kohlrabi (not a fav of mine) rather than beans or summer squash, I was pleased we got broccoli instead of a green pepper (girls & Mr. Kluges don't like) or beets (we have our own in our garden & they're yum!).

CSA Year 2 Week 7

Eh, I may not be quick, but at least I remembered to post Thursday's CSA photo before this next week's came!


* Everybody got the non-starred veggies, then the newsletter lists "2 other crops will also be in your box." So, we got peas & kohlrabi.

** Both the honey (delicious!) and the portabella mushrooms (this was only 1 from the bag) were purchased as separate shares. Honey comes monthly & mushrooms (reg OR portabella) are every other week.

CSA Year 2 Week 5

Yeah, so sorry about that. We DID get CSA boxes for weeks 2-4, but I just didn't photo and/or post them. One week I was at GAW, and the other two I just forgot. In summary, there were lots of garlic scapes (lots still in my crisper drawer, too), plenty o' lettuce, more yummy peas, and a quart of strawberries each time along with other stuff. Oh yeah, radishes. Lots and lots of radishes. Those are done for a while, but man, the lettuce, it comes in quantity. So, what to do with so much lettuce?! Hmmm... methinks I may have a WF question there... ;)

Rosemary Chicken Salad Sandwiches

I know The Sexy Blonde sent out a link to the recipe she used for the lovely chicken salad sandwiches she and AKJ served us on croissants at Girls' Adventure Weekend, but I know I'll forget that and look on here for it. So, here it is! :) Thanks, TSB!

Rosemary Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Dinner Tonight

Randy Mayor

Yield:5 servings (serving size: 1 sandwich)

Ingredients:

• 3 cups chopped roasted skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 3/4 pound)
• 1/3 cup chopped green onions
• 1/4 cup chopped smoked almonds
• 1/4 cup plain fat-free yogurt
• 1/4 cup light mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 10 slices whole-grain bread

Preparation

Combine first 9 ingredients, stirring well. Spread about 2/3 cup of chicken mixture over each of 5 bread slices, and top with remaining bread slices. Cut sandwiches diagonally in half.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 360 (29% from fat)

Fat: 11.6g (sat 2.1g,mono 3.5g,poly 1.8g)

Protein: 33.6g

Carbohydrate: 29.9g

Fiber: 4.4g

Cholesterol: 76mg

Iron: 2.9mg

Sodium: 529mg

Calcium: 104mg

Brandy Long, Cooking Light, APRIL 2005

It's CSA time again! Yay! (CSA Year 2, Week 1)

Hooray! Today was our first CSA box of the year and I was so excited all day about it. I know, geek, but yay! Here's what we got...


The newsletter said you could just eat the pea tendrils in salad, as lettuce on sandwiches, etc. So we had it with some baby spinach for supper. It was... good, and very much tasted like peas. The green garlic can be used like scallions or garlic, and I found out that apparently you can eat radish greens, too. Huh.

My favorite moment was when I held up the popcorn and asked the girls, "What's this?" Penguin immediately said, "Pop-toen!" while Pumpkin said, "Oh! It's Popallovercorn!" Then she had to make sure I remembered how much fun it was when we put last year's popcorn on a cob in the microwave without it being in a paper bag and watched it pop all over the place inside the microwave. Good fun, good fun!

Matambre aka Stuffed, Rolled, Grilled Flank Steak

According to the intro to this recipe in "How to Grill" by Steven Raichlen, "matambre" means "hunger killer." I think it should mean, "Oh pretty! Look at all the stuff wrapped up into that steak like a spiral! How did they DO that?" Don't decide to do this too late in the day though - it cooks for 1 1/2 - 2 hours! It can be assembled ahead of time though...

For the beef:
1 flank steak (1 1/2 - 1 1/4 lbs.)
6 thin slices bacon
coarse salt & black pepper
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 Tbl. red wine vinegar

[You'll also need aluminum foil (heavy-duty might be best) and butcher's string/kitchen twine.]

For the filling:
1 piece (6-8 oz.) kielbasa, or other cooked smoked sausage, cut lengthwise into thin strips [We used precooked smoked Polish sausage.]
4 ribs celery, cut lengthwise in thin strips
2 large carrots, cut lengthwise in thin strips
6 oz. smoked cooked ham (sliced 1/4 inch thick), cut lengthwise into 1/4 inch strips
6 oz. Romano cheese (sliced 1/4 inch thick), cut lengthwise into 1/4 inch strips
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and cut lengthwise into 1/4 inch strips
[Mr. Kluges said he had a lot of everything left over that wouldn't fit into his flank steak roll.]


1. Butterfly the flank steak - Position the flank steak lengthwise at the edge of the cutting board. Place one hand on top to hold it flat. Using a sharp, slender knife, cut through the side of the steak to butterfly it (open it up). As you cut, fold open the top to help you see what you're doing. Open the meat up like a book.

2. Place a large piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil, 24 inches long, on your work surface, shiny side down. (Double up two smaller pieces if needed.) Arrange the strips of bacon on a sheet of aluminum foil, running parallel to an edge and leaving 1 inch spaces between slices. Lay the butterflied flank steak on top of the bacon, with the grain running parallel to the bacon and season with salt, pepper, oregano, and vinegar.

3. Place a row of kielbasa strips at the ege of the meat closest to you, followed by rows of celery, carrots, ham, cheese and bell pepper strips. Repeat this sequence until all the filling ingredients are used up [or you run out of room]. Leave the last 2 inches of meat uncovered.

4. Starting at the edge of the meat closest to you, and using the aluminum foil to help you, roll up the meat with the filling to make a tight roll, like a jelly roll. Wrap the foil around the meat. Twist the ends of the foil to seal the roll. Make shallow holes in the foil all over, and to ensure a perfectly cylindrical shape, tie the roll in a few places with butcher's string. The matambre can be prepared up to this stage several hours ahead. Store, covered in the refrigerator.

5. Set up the grill for direct grilling and preheat to medium. When ready to cook, place the roll on the hot grate and grill until cooked through and the meat is very tender, 1 1/2 - 2 hours, turning with tongs every 15 or 20 minutes. If using a charcoal grill, you'll need to add 24 to 30 fresh coals after 1 hour. To test for doneness, use an instant-read meat thermometer: The internal temperature should be about 180F. Transfer the matambre to a cutting board and let rest for 10 minutes. Remove the string and foil and cut the roll crosswise into 1/2 inch slices. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Nutella Cupcakes

Ok, I know this is not a quickbread, but every once in awhile I come across a recipe and I know that I must share it with you all right away. This is one of those times.

Nutella Frosted Cupcakes
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup, 12 oz) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
Nutella, approx. 1/3 cup

Preheat oven to 325F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners or grease the cups with some butter. Alternatively, butter an 8-inch round cake pan.

Cream together butter and sugar until light, 2 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Don’t worry if the batter doesn’t look smooth. Add vanilla. Stir in flour, salt and baking powder until batter is uniform and no flour remains.

Fill each muffin cup about 3/4 full (or pour all the batter into the cake pan). The batter will be thick. Top each cake with a dollop (I used about 2 tsp per cupcake and about 1/3 cup dolloped in tablespoon measures for the cake round) of Nutella. Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the nutella.

Bake cupcakes for about 20 minutes and the round cake for 25-30.

Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 12 cupcakes or 1 8-inch round cake.

Ok, who is making these first? Call me, I will come over and help you eat them. :)

Winter Vegetable Cobbler

This vegetarian main dish is just the thing for a cold, rainy, cloudy, crappy end-of-winter day. It's basically a vegetable casserole topped with cheesy biscuits/scones. It comes from the same cookbook (Classic Vegetarian Recipes) as the Crisp-Fried Vegetables I posted a while back, so it's got the same metric/imperial measurement system. I made ours in our Dutch oven since it could handle stovetop and oven, plus this makes a pretty ample amount, though it says it serves 4.

(Ok, yeah, you could/should brown it a little more, but we were HUNGRY!)

Casserole:
1 Tbl. olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
8 small onions, halved [I think they might mean pearl onions, but I did 3 or 4 very small ones from our CSA.]
2 celery stalks, sliced
250 g/ 9 oz swede, chopped [That'd be a rutabaga. I just picked a medium one.]
2 carrots, sliced
1/2 small cauliflower, broken into florets
250 g/ 9 oz. mushrooms, sliced
400 g/14 oz. can chopped tomatoes
60 g/ 2 oz. / 1/4 c. red lentils [I used green 'cuz it's what I had.]
2 Tbl. cornflour (cornstarch)
3-4 Tbl. water
300 ml / 1/2 pint / 1 1/4 c. vegetable stock [I used chicken broth.]
2 tsp. Tabasco sauce
2 tsp. chopped fresh oregano or parsley
sprigs of oregano, to garnish

Cobbler Topping:
250 g / 9 oz. / 2 c. self-raising flour**
60 g / 2 oz. / 1/4 c. butter
125 g / 4 1/2 oz. / 1 c. grated Cheddar
2 tsp. chopped fresh oregano or parsley
1 egg, beaten
150 ml / 1/4 pint / 2/3 c. skim milk
salt


1. Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the garlic and onions for 5 minutes. Add the celery, swede [rutabaga], carrots and cauliflower and fry for 2-3 minutes.

2. Remove the pan from the heat and add the mushrooms, tomatoes and lentils. Mix the cornstarch with the water and add to the pan with the stock, Tabasco sauce and oregano or parsley. Bring to the boil, stirring, until thickened. Transfer to an ovenproof dish, cover and bake in a preheated oven, 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 for 20 minutes.

3. To make the topping, sift the flour and a pinch of salt into a bowl. Rub in the butter***, then stir in most of the cheese and the herbs. Beat the egg and milk and add enough to the dry ingredients to make a dough [Leave a tiny bit for the egg wash]. Knead and roll out to 1 cm/1/2 inch thick. Cut into 5 cm / 2 inch rounds. Remove the dish from the oven and increase the temperature to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6. Arrange the rounds around the edge of the dish, brush with the [leftover] egg and milk and sprinkle with the cheese. Cook for 10-12 minutes. Garnish and serve.




** I looked that up, and according to About.com, you can make self-raising flour by adding 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt to each cup of all-purpose flour.

*** Like in the Orange Butter Scone recipe: Basically you stick your hands in the floury stuff and rub the small pieces of butter into it until it gets kind of crumbly... the texture will be sort of like Bisquick? This takes a while, and you could possibly get a similar effect by just using a pastry cutter, but it wouldn't be as well-distributed.

Quick Pickles

I meant to post this back in January. Sorry. Anyway, this is a wonderful summer treat as it's nice and cool, but really is good any time. You can adjust this to add or subtract anything you like.

1 c. white vinegar

3/4 -1c. sugar (I prefer 3/4)

Mix these two together in a casserole dish or any other container that can hold the rest of the ingredients. It will take a bit of stirring.

1-2 regular cucumbers, sliced, or 1-3 Chinese or English cucumbers, chopped (depending on size) (see pictures)

Layer the cucumbers in any dish with a layer of salt in between each layer of cucumber. Let the cucumbers "sweat" for 1-2 hours. (Will need less time if using Chinese or English cucumbers). Rinse.

Put cucumbers in the vinegar/sugar mixture. Also add (at any time):

1/2 - 1 onion, sliced and cut in half (easy to eat slices)

3-4 red chilis (optional) de-seeded and sliced (They will not be spicy after soaking, but add a good flavor.)

1/2 - 1 red or yellow bell pepper (optional)

Put this all in the fridge and chill for at least 1 + hours. Enjoy! Will keep in the fridge for 3+ days.

*if the cucumbers taste at all salty after marinating for an hour, don't worry. The longer they soak, the less salty they will taste, until there is no salt taste.

Simple Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkin Open Face Sandwiches

I just posted this over at Musings & Mutterings, but I just know if I want to remember how I did them, I'm going to be looking over here, so I figured I might as well double-post these. Fun, and not as time-consuming as I thought they'd be.

Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkin Open Face Sandwiches

First, we used a pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the cheese. I used American slices (NOT individually wrapped!) and did three at a time. Peeling the outside edges before taking off the cutter works well.


After cutting out ALL the cheese slices, I cut out the jack-o-lantern faces. Again, keeping them together as the three-at-a-time I did before worked well, except that last one was always a little tricky to get the eyes and nose out. Still, MUCH better than one at a time!


Then it was time to cut out the bread. Unfortunately, that was one slice at a time, but it didn't go too badly. Pushing the cutter down and then wiggling the whole thing around on the cutting board for a little bit helps get through the last bit cleanly. Again, peeling off the outer edges first makes it easier.

Then I buttered the breads and we put a cheese pumpkin face on each.



Done!

(Aren't they cute?!)

(And all the leftover cheese and bread bits were used up in an egg bake for supper that night! Brilliant, if I do say so myself!)

Candy Corn Cookies

Candy Corn "Log"

Uncooked cookies

ENJOY!!

Candy Corn Cookies

1 1/2 cups butter (no substitutes), softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
Yellow and orange food coloring

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Divide dough in half. Tint one portion yellow. Divide remaining dough into two-thirds and one-third portions. Color the larger portion orange; leave smaller portion white.

Shape each portion of dough into two 8 in logs. Flatten top and pinch side in at a slight angle. Place orange logs on yellow logs; push the sides in at a slight angle. Top with white logs; form a rounded top. Wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for 4 hours or until firm.
Unwrap and cut into ¼ inch slices. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until set. Remove to wire rack to cool

Yield: about 5 dozen

Tip– I rolled the logs a lot longer. I thought the first time I made them they were too large.