Fall in my Imagination

First and foremost, a big thank you to those of you who read my pitiful blog post about how sad I was regarding my lack of a KitchenAid. My sister-in-law Kelly MAILED me a hand mixer that she didn't use any more. Can you imagine my joy upon opening that care package?! 

Secondly, my fellow NFL wife and warm climate dweller Cissie gave me the recipe for this pumpkin spice cake. She used to live in North Carolina but now resides in Florida because of her husband's job, and she took pity on me and texted me "combine a spice cake mix with a can of pumpkin and bake! It'll give you a taste of fall." I've done this before with a yellow cake mix, and the spice cake mix is so much better. I also made a cream cheese apple cider frosting, and it was delicious. The recipe for the frosting can be found here, just scroll past the cupcake recipe. And FYI, the cider takes awhile to boil down to 1/4 cup. Be patient.

{We may or may not have eaten this portion of the cake straight from the pan.And the lighting in our apartment is awful, hence the weird yellow light in the picture.}

And Baby A has been making me crave this Santa Fe Soup that has always been a favorite. I made it last night and we were not disappointed.  Thomas is loving the things that I crave these days! Meat and beans?! His dream come true. I got the recipe from Caroline over at Savory Sister years ago, or so my recipe card says. Also, the recipe says not to drain the beans, but I drained and rinsed them to cut out some of the sodium.  I just added a little extra water to make up for it and we couldn't tell the difference. Oh, I also only used 1 pound of ground beef. Thomas didn't even know. And it makes a LOT, so freeze half or share it with a friend. 

Santa Fe Soup

2 lbs ground beef

1 large onion, chopped

2 (1 oz) envelopes of Ranch dressing mix

1 envelope taco seasoning mix

2 c water

1 (16 oz) can black beans, undrained

1 (16oz) can great northern beans, undrained

1 (16oz) can kidney beans, undrained

1 (14.5 0z) can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 (10 oz) can Rol-Tel tomatoes with green chiles

1 (11 oz) cans shoepeg corn, drained

Brown beef with onions, drain. Add remaining ingredients and blend well. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Serve with grated cheese, sour cream and chopped green onion. Yields about 3 quarts. 

THE Tomatoes

Remember the tomatoes I posted about from Gwyneth Paltrow's cookbook? I am more in love with them today than I was two weeks ago. I've now made them 6 times in 2.5 weeks. Three times I made them for non-tomato lovers and they were converted. I put them on sandwiches, on top of fish, chicken...I'm pretty much willing to try them with anything and I'll swear by it. My sister used them in Gwyneth's recipe for frittata and said it was amazing. With these statistics, how could I forget to actually post the recipe? Shame on me.

And while Gwyneth was not the first one to invent these tomatoes, I have to give her credit because her cookbook is the first place I learned about them.

Gwyneth describes them as "a pantry essential. This method turns even the most flavorless, out-of-season winter tomatoes into gorgeous, sweet ones." Preach it, Gwyn.

She doesn't give any measurements for this recipe in the cookbook (which is probably why I love it so much.) But for those of you who need measurements, the last time I made this, I used about 6 Roma tomatoes halved lengthwise. I placed the halves on a rimmed baking sheet, drizzled olive oil all over the top of them (I'd say about 1/2 tsp. per tomato) then sprinkle salt and pepper all over. I use Sarah's Sea Salt  instead of salt and pepper, but if you don't have that, any blend will do.

Place in oven preheated to 275. Bake for 3-5 hours. I usually check them around 3 hours to make sure they aren't getting too brown on top. They will look nearly sun dried and most of the moisture will evaporate. They also keep in the fridge for a week, so I make a big batch and reheat them throughout the week. Hope you enjoy as much as I have!

Summer Salads You'll Love

I've been making a ridiculous amount of salads lately and these two are my current favorites. I recently went through some old Cooking Light magazines and remembered wanting to try these recipes. The good news is, you can make both of them with the same general ingredients. I've been taking them to school for lunch and I look forward to lunch every day!

1. Edamame Succotash  is just as good without the bacon, and I used frozen corn kernels. I'm pretty sure I ate the entire recipe in 2 meals. And you could substitute the edamame with lima beans if you live near The Bush-n-Vine.  Too bad I'm thousands of miles away and most local fruits and veggies aren't available here yet.

2. Golden Corn Salad with Fresh Basil doesn't have to be made with the Finnish potatoes, but it is fun to use those itty bitty potatoes. Shake things up a bit, ya know? This salad is best if you make it ahead of time and let it marinate in the fridge overnight. I ate it on top of fresh greens and it was divine.

That's all for now folks!

My Recipes.com

If you don't already, you should be like me and utilize myrecipes.com  as much as possible. Most nights, I type in whatever ingredient I have that I'd like to use up, and I find a Cooking Light recipe to go with it. For instance, on Thursday night we had haddock that we needed to eat, so I typed "white fish" into the Cooking Light search engine. It gave me this recipe, and we were delighted with how good it was. I did the same thing for quinoa and found this  awesome recipe. Who knew that cooking quinoa in white wine could be so wonderful?

And that my friends, is why I am so successful in life.

Really, make The Salsa. Now.

Remember that salsa recipe I posted from Southern Living? Here it is in case you forgot. Or you thought I was crazy and it really couldn't be that good. But really, if you have a soul, go make it RIGHT.THIS.MINUTE. And if you don't have a food processor (and you also have a soul) then go buy one of those too. As an early birthday present to yourself. Or Christmas. Or late Valentines Day. And throw the salsa ingredients in that thing and MAKE THE SALSA.

And if you're a wimp like me and can't take the heat, leave the jalapeño out. I've now made the salsa 4 times in two weeks. We can't think of enough reasons to make salsa, but Cinco de Mayo seemed like a good one. Note the fact that Husband couldn't wait any longer to eat his taco+salsa, so he just stood to eat his supper. It really is THAT good.

Go forth and enjoy your salsa.

*please disregard the fact that our cabinet door fell off and our groceries are displayed for all to see.

Links you'll love

1. This month's issue of Southern Living had an amazing salsa recipe in it. Here it is. The food processor is CRUCIAL in this recipe. Also, I threw in a little canned corn.  I got the ultimate seal of approval from Thomas when he took one bite and said, "Margaret. This is why I married you. This salsa is comparable to Super Taco's salsa."

And now my life's work is finished. If I can make salsa as good as Super Taco (a dive in Clemson where we lunched every Friday in college) then I can do no greater thing with my life.

2. You'll love me as much as Thomas loves me if you love shrimp and you love easy recipes. This recipe from a recent Cooking Light was a huge hit at our dinner table, and was wicked easy to prepare. (Like how I'm turning into a true New Englander and using the word "wicked" appropriately?) I didn't have thyme so I used fresh parsley, and I threw some zucchini into the pot of boiling pasta noodles. Once again, Thomas proclaimed he was glad he married me.

3. Last but not least, if you regularly read my blog, please consider becoming a follower. Just click "follow" over there on the right-hand side, and you're done. It helps give me some motivation to update this thing!

Hurry hurry to your kitchen

Hurry. Hurry. Hurry. Make these cookies right. this. minute.

They are fat free. 

I am not making this up. In fact, I couldn't make that up, even in my wildest dreams. Thomas has dubbed them "inappropriately good" and is convinced they'll be in heaven right next to Krispy Kreme donuts. These cookies are NOT sugar free, but we don't live in a perfect world now do we?

My sister sent me this website yesterday, and I was instantly drooling. Then I stumbled upon THE COOKIE.  (You can use either recipe listed on the site, I used the one that had slightly less sugar.) I happened to have all of the ingredients (there aren't many) and I figured I'd give them a try. I didn't use as many walnuts as they called for (nor did I toast them), I added a handful of chocolate chips, and I just used plain old Hershey's cocoa powder (dark chocolate of course) instead of whatever that fancy name for cocoa powder is that they used.

Drool away my friends, drool away.

Chicken Noodle Soup

I made this recipe for Chicken Noodle soup today. It is snowing again and they are calling for another 10-12 inches between now and Thursday. And my husband is elevating his foot on the couch looking miserable. As if I needed a reason to make homemade Chicken Noodle soup!

Here are my recipe notes, because of course I didn't follow the recipe exactly: I just put 2 chicken breasts in the oven with olive oil and seasoned salt on 350 for about 30 minutes and used that. I also used seasoned salt instead of poultry seasoning. What is poultry seasoning anyway?

Here is Thomas "enjoying" his soup. Poor guy is still pretty doped up and not feeling too swell. He is being a trooper and is patient with me asking "tell me your pain on a scale of 1-10" every hour and NOT allowing him to have ice cream to "help the medicine go down."

Packing up + Satan Brownies

We're in the process of moving, again. And yet again, we are putting our stuff in storage. So, all of our belongings will either be in storage in a basement in Clemson, SC or in a garage here in Massachusetts. Thankfully, we have amazing friends and they are letting us move into their furnished apartment for the duration of Thomas' surgery and rehab. We found out yesterday morning that his "minor" surgery has a recovery of 8 weeks, with the next 4 weeks including his foot being in a hard cast. So, I would've had to move out all alone before February 15 (when our lease is over) and I just couldn't bear the thought of packing up alone. So, we've packed everything this morning and some gracious fellows from church are about to come move all of it. If only the owners of the NFL knew the headaches they are causing me with their precious lockout.

Now, moving on to more important things. If you love peanut butter, and you love chocolate, and you love peanut butter and chocolate in your mouth simultaneously, then you'd better hurry up and make these. Right now.

Or, if you love your husband who loves chocolate and peanut butter, you will also feel the urge to make them. WARNING: your husband will try to eat an entire plate and he will exclaim "get behind me Satan!" when he is looking at the brownies and trying not to eat another.

I got the original recipe from my sister, but I am lazy and cheap and hate going to the grocery store more than my alloted once a week. So, I looked for a recipe that called for semi-sweet chocolate instead of bittersweet. Other than melting the chocolate in a double boiler, this is super easy. And if you don't have a double boiler, you do this: 

So here is the recipe for what came out of my oven:

Heat oven to 350. In a double boiler, melt 8 oz semi-sweet chocolate with 1stick of unsalted butter. Beat 3/4 cup sugar with 3 eggs and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 1 cup flour. Stir in melted chocolate and butter mixture. Spread into greased 9-inch baking pan. In another bowl, mix 1/2 cup flour with 2 T brown sugar, 2 T granulated sugar, 1/8 teaspoon of salt and 1/3 cup chunky peanut butter. (I used plain peanut butter and the original recipe called for 2 T melted butter as well. I just didn't use it.) Sprinkle streusel over brownie batter and press lightly into the batter with the back of spatula. Bake for 30-35 minutes. TRY to let them cool before you devour them. 

Coq au Vin

Coq au vin French pronunciation (lit. 'rooster with wine') is a French braise of chicken cooked with wine. 


Last night we had Mark Bittman's recipe for "rooster with wine," which I think is a hilarious interpretation of what SOUNDS like a fancy French dish. While this dish does taste fancy, it was incredibly easy to make, and The Husband ate it with much gusto and appreciation. I served it over grits because I am trying to get rid of everything in our pantry before we pack up again, but it would also be good tossed with pasta or over rice, or even in a bowl by itself. The recipe was taken from Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express. 

The thing I love about 'ole Mark is that he writes all of the recipes in Kitchen Express in paragraph format, with hardly any quantities included. He leaves plenty of room for interpretation and adding whatever you'd like:

Coq au Vin

Pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts to half-inch thickness and season with salt and pepper. (I used 2 breasts and cut them in half) Sear on both sides in a bit of butter; set aside. Add two carrots chopped into one-inch pieces and half an onion cut into wedges; cook until onion begins to soften. Add a cup of red wine, (I tasted mine beforehand to make sure it was OK....it was) a bay leaf, a teaspoon of tarragon, and a thyme sprig (all I had was thyme so I skipped the other seasonings). Deglaze the pan (swirl it all around over the heat) return the chicken to the pan, and cover. Simmer for about six minutes until the meat is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. 

**The chicken will turn a hilarious purple color. Do not be alarmed. I also added a handful of spinach and it was delicious! 

Chocolate Nut Bark

I just made this and had to share the recipe with you all ASAP! I don't know if I can control myself around this stuff. But hey, dark chocolate {antioxidants} plus nuts{good fats} equals healthy, right?

Okay, so this is just about as easy as it gets, but it looks impressive if you ask me. You could easily make this and put it into clear baggies with a red ribbon and wah-lah, great Christmas gift!

I got the recipe from Real Simple but I tweaked it a little bit:

12 oz chopped dark chocolate, I used 70% dark but you really could just chop any chocolate you like

2 1/2 c mixed nuts, I used peanuts, almonds, and soy nuts because that is what I had on hand

1 tsp. sea salt {recipe didn't call for this but I like the salty/sweet mixture}

1. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over {but not in} a pot of simmering water. Or if you have a double-boiler, use that. 

2. Line parchment paper or aluminum foil over a cookie sheet. Pour melted chocolate evenly over the sheet. Sprinkle with nuts, gently pressing the nuts into the chocolate with the back of a spoon or spatula. Sprinkle evenly with salt. Place cookie sheet in freezer for 30 minutes. 

3. Break into pieces and wrap up immediately before you eat it all. 

The other man in my life

It is high time that I blog about the other man in my life.

There he is, Mark Bittman. And there I am, gazing lovingly upon him as he signs my copy of his book, Food Matters.  Right after this photo was taken, my sister and I gushed to him about how he "changed our marriages." He laughed and said no one had ever said anything quite like that to him. 

Bittman is famous in the eyes of the Hall sisters because of the following reasons:

1. He wrote How to Cook Everything.  Which is quite literally, a dictionary of cooking. I highly recommend the 10th anniversary edition. I have the non-10th anniversary edition and am jealous of my friend Maggie, to whom I gave the 10th anniversary edition for her wedding. The 10th anniversary edition has an amazing spreadsheet for how to make all kinds of amazing vinaigrettes. Alas, I will continue to use my paragraph-style version of how to make all kinds of amazing vinaigrettes. 

2. Mark Bittman loves to cook with meat, but he does so in a way that isn't heavy or over the top, and he uses the least amount of meat possible, if only to allow the meat to lend its flavor to the dish.

3. He also wrote Kitchen Express,  which makes my heart go pitter-patter, because I love the words kitchen+express in the same title. And it is organized seasonally. Which also makes my organized heart go pitter-patter.

4. And of course because he wrote Food Matters, which is the book I was having him sign in the photo above. The thing I love about him is that he is SENSIBLE about food. He has a wonderful "diet" plan in Food Matters, but I wouldn't even go so far as to call it a diet. Because I don't think diets are sensible. And his plan is sensible, tasty, and easy to integrate into your lifestyle. I've semi-adopted his "vegan until 6" plan {I use milk in my coffee, occasionally have eggs or yogurt for breakfast, and if eat out I'm not about to stress over having an animal free sandwich}. But he has an approach that is simple and let's be honest, I am sick of hearing about these nonsense diets that don't fix any of the food problems that people have. He basically says to make sure your diet it 90% plant based and you'll be fine. I agree. 

5. He writes for Runners World, and runs marathons. I love Runners World. I don't love marathons.

6. He writes for Cooking Light.  Which I also love. 

7. He writes for The New York Times. Love.

8. He is appears occasionally on The Today Show.....you guessed it, I love that too. Back when we had a tv......

WHAT CAN HE NOT DO? Thomas refers to him as the other man in my life. And I think he is right. 

I made his recipe for granola this morning and just had to share it as it is so simple and delightful. I mix it with some plain yogurt most mornings for breakfast. 

• 5 cups rolled oats {not quick-cooking or instant}
• 3 cups mixed nuts and seeds. I used pumpkin seeds and soy nuts. 
• 1 cup dried unsweetened shredded coconut. {I used sweetened because I can't find unsweetened and Whole Foods is too far away!}
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Dash salt
• 1/2 to 1 cup honey or maple syrup, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup raisins or chopped dried fruit {make sure you add these AFTER the cooking process is complete. The first time I made this I didn't read the recipe and they burned in the oven. Had to throw out the whole batch. Mother, if you're reading this, I'm sure you're laughing}.

• 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine oats, nuts and seeds, coconut, cinnamon, salt vanilla, and sweetener. Place on a sheet pan and put in oven. Bake for 30 minutes or a little longer, stirring occasionally. Mixture should brown evenly; the browner it gets without burning, the crunchier the granola will be.
• 2. Remove pan from oven and add raisins or dried fruit. Cool on a rack, stirring once in a while until granola reaches room temperature. Transfer to a sealed container; it will keep indefinitely. {He says to keep it in the fridge but I disobey and do not}.

Last week I also made his recipe for Chicken Not Pie. {Get it? Chicken NOT Pie? He is clever too}. But don't put it over noodles like we did {because I am lazy and hate waiting for rice to cook}. Make brown rice or just put it in a bowl and serve with some sort of bread. 

 It was amazing and Thomas ate almost all of it. Thomas now says "well, I like Mark Bittman. He is pretty smart." 

Took him long enough. 

Cashew Chicken Curry

Good news for you AND your stomach {but mostly my stomach and Thomas' stomach}: I have been cooking a TON lately. I'm reading My Life in France by Julia Child and I'm perpetually hungry because she describes food in such fabulous detail. When she writes these things about food, it makes it all sound so easy and delicious. Sure, I can make light, fluffy croissants! Sure, I can make fish in a complicated white wine sauce! Sure, I can bone a chicken without gagging! At any rate, I've been trying to spend more time in the kitchen and just enjoy the process of cooking. I never had enough time when we were married in college to cook things that were complicated or involved buying a lot of ingredients, so this has been a fun thing for me.

The recipe I'm going to share today is Thomas' all time favorite dish. He made the proclamation the other night that he'd eat it every day if he could. That seems like a pretty dangerous statement, but he did eat the entire recipe. I don't have the cookbook of origin with me {you guessed it! It's in storage} so I had to go by memory. And judging by the fact that Thomas ate it all, I think I did just fine. I used to make it without the fresh ginger and let me tell you, BUY THE GINGER ROOT and spend the time chopping it up. It is so.very.worth.it.

I'm going to call this Cashew Chicken Curry because I can't remember the name. So, here is the "recipe" for Cashew Chicken Curry. Measurements are all estimates.

2 chicken breasts, cubed
2 T olive oil
1 T ginger root, chopped
1 T curry powder (I use a lot because Thomas loves it)
2 c. low sodium chicken broth (or better yet, make your own broth)
3/4 c. bismati or brown rice
1/4 c chopped cilantro
1/2 c chopped cashews

Heat oil in a large pan {preferably a good dutch oven}and add chicken. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook about 10 minutes. I am obsessed with chicken being completely done so use your discretion on the time here. Remove chicken and set aside. Stir ginger and curry power into the pan for about 30 seconds, then pour in chicken broth, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom. Add the rice, bring to a boil and then simmer for 45 minutes or until all of the liquid is gone. Stir in chicken, cilantro, and cashews until heated through. Serve to your big, hungry husband who is agitated that it takes the rice a full 45 minutes to be done.

I also served a salad and my sister's Crispy Kale, because we are obsessed with it. And as Julia would say, Bon Appétit!

Recipe

Some folks said they couldn't see all of the recipe from yesterday. It shows up on every computer I've been on, so I don't know what else to do. So here is the actual link on Pioneer Woman. Enjoy.  :)

2 posts in one week!

I know, this is a huge deal that I am posting twice in one week, but I HAD to share this recipe. Some of the other player's girlfriend's and I made this last night for about 20 guys and they loved it. It's hard to figure out what can be made in bulk without compromising flavor, and this turned out perfect.

Red Beans and Rice

1 package Turkey Kielbasa, chopped (we used 10 packages:))
1 onion
1 can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 tsp cumin, or to taste
1 tbsp butter
2 c. bismati rice, cooked according to package directions

1. Heat butter in skillet. Add onions and saute until lightly browned.
2. Add kielbasa and saute until hot.
3. Add kidney beans, cooked rice and cumin and mix until heated through.

That's it. So. Stinkin'. Easy. We served it with cornbread and the boys went wild over it.

9x13 Appetizers

I'm not sure if I've said this before, but fajita night in our 3ftX6ft kitchen is CHAOS. Add to that the fact that these boys can put away TWO 9x13 appetizers every single week. Add to that the fact that 5 boys ate an entire appetizer before anyone else arrived and dug into the second before I could stop them. Thankfully my friend Brooke intervened and hid the second appetizer so when the rest of the guys arrived they could actually have some.



The aftermath:





This week I threw the appetizer into aluminum pans because the dishes are just too much to handle. The guys BEG me to make it every week and I can't let them down. It really is so easy for a large crowd, and not too bad for the arteries either. Here is the beloved recipe:





8oz. cream cheese, softened (I use fat free and they can't tell the difference)


2 cans turkey chili


2 c. shredded cheddar cheese





-spread the cream cheese in the bottom of a 9x13 Pyrex. Pour the chili on top. Spread the cheddar on as the final layer.


-bake at 350 for 20 minutes.


-be sure to cool the appetizer for about 5 minutes. Just ask Thomas' taste buds....



And last but not least, here is a picture of what the guys do post-fajitas.

Everyone sits around as four people play Mario Cart. I'm sure this is a load of fun for the four people playing Mario Cart, but for the rest of us its B-O-R-I-N-G. But for some reason, they all sit around and watch each other play anyway and yell and scream and make all the dogs in our neighborhood bark. So, I guess I'm the only one who thinks its boring.