Chili Casserole December 14, 2009

I haven’t made a casserole yet, so I decided it was the perfect time! I also decided to use beef, since I haven’t done too much with beef so far.

Ingrediants:

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1/2 cup chopped onion

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 (15 ounce) can chili

1 (14.5 ounce) can peeled and diced tomatoes with juice

1/4 cup taco sauce

1 (15 ounce) can corn

1 (8 ounce) package egg noodles

1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees In a large skillet over medium high heat, saute the beef and onion for 5 to 10 minutes, or until meat is browned and onion is tender; drain fat. Add the celery, chili, tomatoes, taco sauce and corn. Heat thoroughly, reduce heat to low and allow to simmer. Meanwhile, prepare the noodles according to package directions. When cooked, place them in a 9×13 inch baking dish. Pour the meat mixture over the noodles, stirring well. Top with the cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until cheese is completely melted and bubbly.

This was a decent recipe. It probably is not one of the healthiest recipes that I have cooked. But hey, it’s the end of the semester! I would defiantly make a salad as a side to this, so I could get my veggies in for the day. It took a decent amount of time to cook. It did have a good taste and texture to it. Although, it’s just my dad and I living in my house, we had way too many leftovers with this recipe. I would recommend it though!

Chicken and Rice Soup December 14, 2009

I once again decided to make my favorite soup! It was so cold out this weekend. I needed something warm. I have never made chicken and rice soup, so I tried it!

ingredients:

1  cup  uncooked quick-cooking wild rice

Cooking spray

1  cup  chopped onion

2  garlic cloves, minced

3  cups  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

1 1/2  cups  cubed peeled baking potato

3  cups  2% reduced-fat milk

1/3  cup  all-purpose flour

10  ounce  light processed cheese, cubed (such as Velveeta Light)

2  cups  chopped roasted skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 2 breasts)

1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper

1/4  teaspoon  salt

1/4  cup  chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Recipe:                                                                                                                              

Cook rice according to package directions, omitting salt and fat.

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and garlic; sauté 3 minutes. Add broth and potato; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until potato is tender.

Combine milk and flour, stirring well with a whisk. Add the milk mixture to potato mixture; cook 5 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; add cheese, stirring until cheese melts. Stir in rice, chicken, pepper, and salt. Garnish with parsley, if desired.

I liked this soup a lot. It was tasteful! My dad also said he enjoyed the flavors of the soup. It was a great soup for a chilly night. I have thought about adding some celery and carrots to it next time for a little more nutritional value.

Chicken Cutlet December 10, 2009

Easy Easy Peanut Butter Cookies December 8, 2009

Since the holiday season is rapidly approaching (YIKES!), I decided to make some traditional Christmas cookies. I found this recipe on easy-cookies.com. I couldn’t believe how easy they were  to make. With all the work of the end of the semester and all my holiday shopping, this recipe is a huge time saver.

Recipe

• 1 cup peanut butter                                                                            
• 1/2 sugar
• 1 egg

Preheat oven to 325*  Mix everything together until well blended.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes.  Roll into 18 balls.  Place 2″ apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Flatten each ball in a criss-cross pattern with a fork.  Bake for 18 minutes.  Cool.

                                                                                                                                                        

Instead of doing the criss-cross pattern, I pushed a Hershey’s kiss into the center of each cookie as soon as they came out of the oven to make the infamous Peanut butter blossoms. Chocolate and peanut butter! Yum.

These were very good cookies. But I am mostly amazed at how easy they were to make.

Chicken Cutlets December 8, 2009

This is a recipe that I found a couple of years ago and I have just memorized the simple ingredients. It’s an American favorite and easy to make.

Recipe

• 3-4Chicken breasts
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons of salt
• bread crumbs
• olive oil
• pepper
• salt

Beat (I guess that’s the right word???) the chicken breasts with rolling-pin or mallet, in till quarter of an inch thick. Add the 2 tablespoon of milk to egg and beat. Dip the chicken into the egg and milk mixture and make sure the chicken is completely covered. In large plastic bag mix the bread crumbs, salt, pepper. Put the chicken in the bag. Make sure to ziplock the bag and shake to cover the chicken in bread crumbs. Heat oil in a skillet. Add breaded chicken and cook for a couple minutes on each side until the center is no longer pink. 

When I made this recipe there was a lot of smoke. I didn’t burn it though. Apparently, our alarm system is connected to our fire detectors and when the detector went off the alarm went off and the fire department was immediately called. Two minutes later a police man, and Fire Chief were at my house. awesome! I looked like the biggest dumbass. Moral of the story: put on a fan and open the windows! 

I forgot to take a picture because of all the drama with the fire company. It really wasn’t burnt. My dad and I ate the chicken and it was delicious!!!!

Chicken Stir Fry December 2, 2009

I made this recipe up last minute. In the morning I put some chicken breasts in a plastic zip loc baggy with some Asian Stir Fry Sauce. I let that marinade for a couple hours. I think this is a really easy idea that anyone can take and make their own. Vegetarians could use tofu or beef eaters could use beef instead of chicken.

Recipe:

• 2-3 chicken breasts                        
• Asian stiry fry sauce-amount to taste
• half red pepper
• half cup broccli
• half cup carrots
• half cup onion
• extra virgin olive oil

Chop all the veggies. Heat the oil and add the chicken. After 5 minutes or so add broccoli. Stir every minute or so and put lid on.  Then add the rest of the veggies and the sauce. Cook with lid on and continue stirring until chicken is cooked and veggies and tender. Serve over rice.

I really like this recipe. It’s really easy and all the ingrediants are staple foods in my house, so it’s a great last minute meal. It definatly gives you more than one serving of veggies and protein. The sauce is high in sodium, but if you use it in moderation I don’t think it will do too much harm.

Tortellini Soup November 25, 2009

As I’ve said before I LOVE soup. I could eat it everyday. I think it might be the comfort of it. I have had this recipe for a couple years but haven’t made it in a while. I always remembered it as being delicious.

Recipe:

• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 2 medium carrots, chopped
• 2 ribs celery, thinly sliced
• 1 small zucchini, chopped
• 2 plum tomatoes, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cans chicken broth
• 1 can kidney beans

1. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a 6-quart saucepot or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add vegetables, tomatoes and garlic. Cook and stir for 5 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender.

2. Add broth, 1/2 cup water, beans, and Worcestershire. Heat to boiling. Stir in pasta return to boiling. Cook five minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring occasionally.

 

I’ve always loved this recipe. I had some leftover frozen corn and peas so I added that too. It has a great taste and lots of flavor. It has a lot of veggies!!

• 2 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
• 1 package refrigerated tortellini pasta

 

Double Chocolate Cake November 17, 2009

So far I’ve mostly done dinner and lunch recipes. I wanted to do a low-cal cake. But I realzied THIS IS WHY I DON’T BAKE! Actually, the baking part of the recipe was easy because it called for a box of chocolate cake mix. That was easy. The frosting was the hard part.

Thumbs Down!

The recipe told me not to follow what was on the box about baking the cake. Instead, I used 4 egg whites and a pinch of salt. I had to whip the eggs till stiff peak. I am not very good at seperating the yolk from the whites apparently. I got a little of the yolk in the egg whites, but manage to spoon it out. I got the egg whites to fluff up but not as stiff as I am sure they should have been. But the cake turned out to be ok.

The frosting was an interesting combination-which is one of the main reasons that I tried this recipe. I didn’t care for it too much. I could eat it, but I wouldn’t make it again. It had too much vanilla and the pudding made a lot of clumps that I couldn’t get rid of. I think I’ll stick to Duncan Hines frosting.

Recipe:

Cake

• 1 pkg. chocolate cake mix
• pinch of salt
• 4 egg whites
• 1 1/2 cup cold water

Icing

•  1 tub of low cal whipped topping
• 1 1/2 cup of cold water
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 pkg of chocolate pudding
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup sugar

Whip egg whites to peak stiff. Add a salt. Add cold water to cake mixture. Fold in egg whites. Put in a greased pan and back at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Let cool. Combine all frosting ingrediants. Spread evenly over cake.

http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1625,147185-224199,00.html

 

 

Beef and Barley Stew November 16, 2009

I was at Shoprite, waiting for the lady’s room to be open, when I saw a rotating cantraption ( I couldnt think of a better word, sorry) that had free recipes for anyone to take. I immediatly thought of English 329 and how I need more recipes! I picked up some and I decied to make a recipe I usually would not make. As I said before, beef is not a usual food at the Yates household. I decided that once in awhile beef can’t be that bad and the picture of the Beef and Barely Stew looked scrumptious.

Recipe:

• 3/4 lbs beef stew meat
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 (10.75 oz) can reduced sodium cream of mushroom soup
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 cup uncooked pear barley                                                                          
• 1 cup frozen green peas
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1/2 cup chopped tomato
• 1/4 cup sliced green onion

In a large pot heat oil over medium heat. Add meat and brown. Stir in mushroom soup, garlic, and salt and pepper. Stir in 6 cups water. Bring to boil. Reduce hear. Simmer, covered for 30 minutes. Stir in barley. Bring to boil. Simmer covered 40-50 minutes untill beef and barley are tender. Stir in peas and corn and heat through.

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The recipe in general was pretty good. I ended up using more pepper and salt than the recipe called for. Just tasted a little bland to me. It may have been my fault, but I also found that the consistancy was a little thick for a typical stew. Next time I’ll add more water or broth. It also ended up taking a little bit longer than what the recipe said. Once again though it maybe just have been me and my own personal experience.

I like this recipe. It was decently healthy. It had veggies and barley which are both great for you. It was low fat and still had a great taste. It was a comfort food. It also defenatly was more than 4 servings.

Turkey Burgers November 3, 2009

Turkey  burgers are a delicious healthier alternative to a beef burger. Turkey contains less fat than beef. I also choose to watch my beef consumption because I have heard that cows are a huge contributor to pollution in the air. Sounds crazy I know! America is a huge beef eating country and so many cows are being breed and their flatulence contains chemicals that pollute the air! I never would have thought!

I used my handy George Foreman Grill to make these burgers. They might not have the smokey flavor that you would get using a regular grill but it’s cold outside!

ingredients:

1 pound ground turkey

1 packet dry onion soup mix

1/2 cup water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and I used my hands to  mix everything together. I made four nice sized patties and put them on my grill for about 10 min and flipped half way through.

This was once again very easy and the prep and cook times was under thirty minutes. I had some buns in the freezer and I popped them into the toaster. I sliced some cheese, tomatoes and lettuce and added them to the burger.

It was a nice treat to have ,in my opinion a typical summer food, in the fall. It was a very simple burger with new real thrills, but sometimes the simplest things are the best. Maybe next time I’ll experiment with putting more spices in the burger mixture. My dad and I both thoroughly enjoyed the burgers. I probably could have eaten two burgers, but I contained myself.