I just posted an entry I started on Feb 14 – when I made the flounder dish. I didn’t realize that it would register as being posted the date I started it. Oh well, new blogger. 🙂

I had a can of crab claw (Byrd brand) that I got on sale. And, frozen flounder fillets. I buy them at BJs – very handy, two 1 pound packs per package. And, I felt like having spinach, too. And, as much as Steve and I always enjoy fillets baked with a fairly simple prep, I decided to try something different. (Remember, I was vegan for a number of years and am now still learning about cooking fish and other carnivore favorites.)

After poking around on the Internet, I found a few recipes for fillets with a crab filling, crab spreads and dips, and finally, some spinach and crab fillings. THAT’s what I wanted. However, the latter had egg in them, and Steve is allergic to eggs. (sigh)

Crab dips have cream cheese and I didn’t want that texture… I finally merged a few recipes and got a great presentation idea from one. I did a layer of fillets, a layer of crab/spinach mix, and topped it with a layer of fillets. Popped it in the oven and YUM! Easier than trying to roll up fillets. 🙂

I am determined to create a page with recipes that will be linked from this blog, so I won’t go into all the ingredient details now. Except that I used freshly grated parm-regiano for the cheese in the filling. (I was hoping to use up some ricotta, too, but it just didn’t fit.) But, I will say that I prepped the fillets the same way I do when baking them with no filling. I melt butter and add lemon juice (usually freshly squeezed, but bottled is okay) while the butter is warming on a low burner. This is important. Stupid me TWICE added the lemon juice after taking the butter off the burner. Of course the butter started coagulating! Anyway, I make some bread crumbs (yes, store bought work fine, too, but I am one of those people who actually save the old bread in a paper bag and then whoosh them through the food processor as needed. Actually, if you make your own breadcrumbs from whole grain breads, they will go rancid quickly. The whole slices stay fine once stale, but breaking them up must release the oils in the whole grains. My theory, anyway.)

ANYWAY…I dip the fillets in the lemon butter, then in breadcrumbs seasoned with dried parsley. And, provide lemon slices for garnish and extra flavor.
Okay, that’s it for now. I am way behind in my writing – I made this at least a week ago, I think!

I’m following the recipe for a really cool beef stew from The Complete Meat Cookbook (see link to cookbooks.) Tons of onions and mushrooms, some carrots, bay leaves, thyme, garlic… And beer. Becks Dark or an Oktoberfest amber is recommended. Nothing to hoppy.

It is simmering, now. It says for an hour and 1/2, but I’ll check it in an hour. I usually make some version of a Lorna Sass pressure cooker beef stew, but wanted to try making it via the simmer this time. And the meat guy’s recipe already smells scrumpcious! If you happen to be vegetarian, I bet the onion and mushroom combo – and the whole recipe would work with seitan – just not the kind premarinated in too heavy a marinade. Although, tamari would give depth to a non-beef version.

It will be a while before it’s done, but the beer I selected is very yummy (had to buy a sixpack since it was not sold singly.) Paulaner Oktoberfest Marzen Amber. Fruity. Definitely not lots of hops. Anyway, I’ll report later. I also have to write about a very cool flounder I baked with a crab/spinach/cheese mixture in between two layers of thin fillets.

I bought a big ol’ container of ricotta close to a week ago and wanted to use at least some of it. And, I wanted to try another variation of Rachael Ray’s Ricotta Pasta recipes. BUT, while wandering around online, I found a recipe by Rachael for pasta with arugula and walnut pesto…I just happened to buy, on impulse, the other day, a big bunch of organically grown arugula when I was at Wild Oats. SO – I wanted to find a way to use ricotta and arugula in one dish. And, I did! Oh, also, I had defrosted a pack of four chicken thighs that I had cooked quickly in the pressure cooker to add to whatever pasta thing I made. FYI about 1.75 lb with bone and skin ended up to be about 3/4 lb of cooked meat (I peeled the skin and excess fat before I cooked it and then took off the bone.)

Here is what I did: I had partially defrosted the chicken thighs – enough so that I could peel off the skin, and then put them in the pressure cooker with 2 cups of water and probably around a teaspoon of dried basil and brought it all to high pressure, let it cook for 8 minutes, sit for 4, then ran the pressure cooker under cold water to bring the pressure down. After cooling a bit, I de-boned the chicken and shredded it by hand.

Then I made the pesto. I followed Rachael’s recipe except that I used all of the garlic infused oil when pulsing the pesto in the food processor. (See foodnetwork.com and search for Penne with Arugula and Walnut Pesto)

Then, I mixed the pesto with 2 cups of ricotta (low fat), and, contrary to the Ricotta and Pasta recipe, I didn’t cook the onions but chopped fine and added raw for some crunchy texture.

Cooked the pasta (I used Healthy Harvest brand whole wheat spirals) and mixed everything all together – the chicken, pesto and ricotta, raw onions – along with 1/2 cup of freshly grated Parmigino-Reggiano cheese.

I say YUM! Although, folks more picky than I am would have pulsed the pesto a bit more or would have been more careful to remove the stems down to the leaf of all the arugula – there are a few stem pieces in there. But, hey, that is how you know it is homemade.

It made enough for 4-6 servings, depending on appetites with still some leftover, I bet.

You know, I really want to do a cooking show. One of these days, I will approach my local public cable station to see if anyone might want to work with me on that. Well, dreams start as dreams. 🙂

I love pea soup. I especially loved my Mom’s pea soup. But, since her recipe box was at one of my siblings house since 2002, I didn’t have her recipe until now that it’s my turn to have the recipe box for a while. However, I have to say that what I have come up with is just as good, although I got some refining touches from her recipe.

I use Lorna Sass’s pressure cooker recipe (see cookbook list – and one of these days I’ll get beyond babbling about cooking and start posting the actual recipes) from her book Pressure Perfect. Page 45, I believe…

I added an extra cup water, about 2-3 cups potatoes in one inch or so chunks, used only one stalk of celery and one onion, and, along with the leftover chunks of ham from the very delicious Cook’s brand ham I cooked, I also tossed the bone in for extra flavor. Bay leaves, a bit of salt, etc. YUM! Some of the potatoes charred just a bit on the bottom, but it actually just added to the flavor and didn’t cause any taste or clean-up problem.

anyway, it was really good! Tonight, I think I’ll do a frozen entree thingy – Same brand as the Lasagna from BJs that I use. Trying the sausage/veggie/pasta one. Steve (husband) still thinks I am going to do something to use up asparagus and potatoes that are starting to “see too much” (growing eyes) but I think they will hold until tomorrow when the thick pork chops are fully defrosted. I just don’t like defrosting things in the microwave unless I really have to.

So, no cooking adventures this evening. I can concentrate on my bookkeeping adventures, instead.

Well….so much for pastry-making talents transferring easily. Of course, transposing numbers when increasing the recipe by 60% didn’t help since I used too much water, then added to much flour to compensate… Although, except for it rising more than I wanted it too (It was supposed to be thin crust) it wasn’t terrible. The toppings were great, though. And using 2/3 full fat and 1/3 low fat cheddar does make for a nicely textured cheese.

I think I’ll try a whole wheat crust next, one that entails having it rise for few hours, etc…

Well, nothing like one’s computer crashing to delay blogging! But, I’m back, all is well and much data saved, and thankfully, it was my laptop not the tower. Although, the tower is pretty well backed up regularly. I lost my personal email address book, but it was too darn big, anyway. Quicker to rebuild than delete, one by one, all those old addresses from years back.

BUT – now, I am making pizza. I am embarassed to say that, at age 46, this is the first time I have made my own pizza dough. Well, that’s not quite true.

I worked at a pizza place for years when I was younger. For folks in my area, that’s Wakefield House of Pizza on Tuttle St, Wakefield MA. VERY good pizza as of the last time I got some from there. And, the owner, John Mavredakis, is a great guy. Working there got me through high school, college and part of grad school.

So, I of course sometimes made the dough, but that is not the same as making a small bit of dough at home for one 16 inch pizza! And, baking is not my forte. Although, the two times in my life I made homemade pies, including the crust, they came out really well. I think I somehow inherited my Nana’s talent for pie crust. Although, if this pizza crust doesn’t come out well, that will challenge that assumption! Making any dough or “crust” is intuitive since the measurements can’t be exact. It just has to feel right.

I have all the toppings chopped and sliced (onion, garlic, green pepper, shitake mushrooms, brocoli, peperoni – well, a fancy kind – and I will slice some fresh tomatoes right before assembling to save as much Vitamin C as I can, even though cooking will kill some of it) and I have shredded the cheese. About 2/3 part New York Sharp (nothing fancy, just the Shaw’s brand) and 1/3 part Cabot low-fat cheddar.

The last time I had some pre-made crust and did a pizza, I used the same regular and low-fat cheddar mix and it seemed that the low-fat added a texture (without the extreme gooeyness) of mozerella. Since my local market didn’t have low-fat mozzerella available, I figured I try this mix again to see if it works again.

Okay – time to experiement again. 🙂 Geez, why isn’t the spell check thing working? Well, never mind any typos!

Here is the link for the soup I made last night:

Mediterranean Chicken and Lemon Soup

It was quite good. I think I’ll use a bit less lemon juice next time, although my husband liked it as is. My version was very lemony because I wanted a stew rather than a thinner stew and thus used less of the liquids.

I used only 2 cups chicken broth because I wanted a thicker consistency. Also, turns out that is all I had left! I recommend the Kitchen Basics brand that comes in an aseptic package if you don’t have any homemade broth on hand. I do make my own chicken stock, but it always when I am making chicken soup, so I never have any leftover. (For anyone living in Wakefield, MA, Farmland carries it.)

Although…since I looked for and found a bunch of recipes calling for precooked chicken yesterday, perhaps I’ll start making my own stock from raw chicken parts – save the stock for other things and freeze the cooked meat in portions for all the recipes I found that I now want to try. Well, we’ll see if I really do get that going.

Anyway – along with using less stock, I added an additional 2 Tbsps of rice, and my two cups of chicken weighed 12 oz, versus the 6 oz mentioned in the recipe. I used green pepper instead of red, and only about 4-5 oz of evaporated milk. As to the recipe saying to mix 1 Tbsp each evaporated milk and cornstarch to start the thickening base, I used 2 Tbsp of milk. To thick and lumpy with just one!

I also added a pinch each of salt and sugar (to mellow out the lemon – it worked a little bit) and added a medium plum tomato, sliced thin and cut into quarters or halves, about 10 minutes before serving time. About 5 minutes before, I added the basil.

I steamed up some swiss chard on the side and ended up with a tasty and healthy meal. Although it would have been lower fat if I have used low fat evaporated milk, but I didn’t have any on hand. (My cupboards are getting quite bare – must go shopping soon.) But, as I only used 4-5 oz, I guess that helped even it off.

So – a keeper, as my husband will say.

The Ricotta Pasta and the Bean and Tomato Stew were both really good. I think I’ll probably not make any changes to the stew in the future. Well, I suppose eventually I try some variation, but I liked it as is.

The pasta itself was excellent, but I think that I’d prefer it with either no meat or meat other than ground. I wasn’t crazy about the texture of the ground sausage. I bet it would be nice with chicken or seafood… And, Rachael has five variations in her cookbook, with the other four containing no meat.

I have not done a major grocery shopping for a while…Although, I did pick up some lovely looking swiss chard the other day from our local market. And it needs to be used…tonight! I also have the frozen chicken breast tenderloins from Trader Joes. And I still have fresh basil that is getting less fresh by the day. I’ll have to look, but hopefully, the rest beyond what I use tonight is still okay to freeze.

Anyway – I found a recipe for chicken and rice creamy soup flavored with a fresh lemon juice and calling for 6 leaves of fresh basil added at the end. I am going to adjust the ingredients to hopefully create a very thick stew, or “glop” if you will; thick enough so it can go on a dinner plate along with the swiss chard. I don’t have a red bell pepper, so will substitute green, and I think I with garnish with thin slices of a plum tomato for garnish since it will otherwise be white and green and I am serving it with the chard. Needs color! Too bad it wasn’t the red chard…hmmm, but I don’t think that would do it for color balance.

Although, why am I worrying about the color? My husband is colorblind… Good thing he knows to ask for help when it counts, given that he is an electrician! (No fear, he’s been doing it for over 30 years and hasn’t ever messed up!)

Okay, off to experiment. I’ll put a link to the recipe in my next post. I found it online but can’t find it right now. Luckily, I printed it out so I have the source.

Time to experiment, again. This time I’ll be following the recipes without improvising, for a change, but I think I’ve picked two recipes that will compliment each other well. And, it’s my first time trying either recipe.

One is from Rachael Ray, # 193 (page 170) in the 365 cookbook – see link of cookbooks for publication details – and the other is from the Mayo Clinic Williams-Sonoma Cookbook. I’ll have to add that to my cookbook list link. I haven’t used it a lot, but just rediscovered it in my bookcase and think I’ll be trying it out more often, these days.

My inspiration for trying Rachael’s recipe is that it calls for 2o leaves of fresh basil, and yesterday, I bought a bunch of fresh basil just to have a few leaves that was called for in another recipe. (For those following this blog, I did her chicken/spinach burgers with mushroom sauce again – and again, very yummy! I used dried basil last time and it was fine, but I made the mistake yesterday of picking up a bunch of fresh basil and smelling it, and just had to buy it. What an intoxicating scent!)

Anyway – I am making Rachael’s Ricotta Pasta with Sausage. It is based on her Master Recipe called Ricotta Pasta with Grape Tomatoes, Peas, and Basil. I opted for the version with ground sausage because my husband, while able to deal with vegetarian lunches, is still really used to “meat” for dinner.

This sausage version calls for omiting the peas and tomatoes and adding the sausage. Hmmm, the recipe still calls for all that basil, which is really good for you, and also has fresh parsley, but I knew I needed a veggie dish to go with it.

I was originally going to make the baked tomatoe recipe from the Mayo cookbook, (which I have made before and liked a lot) but then realized that I had some lovely fresh green beans from our local, family-owned market (The Farmland, in Wakefield MA) and I needed to use them!

Luckily, I found a recipe for Green Bean and Tomato Stew in the same Mayo cookbook. It is very simple – grean beans, tomatoes, thyme, green onions, but I am thinking it will taste really good and light in comparison to the sausage, cheese, and pasta dish. And, not only does it have veggies, it will use those beans before they become useless for anything than veggie stock!

I bought a baguettes while at Farmland and will make garlic bread…or, at least offer it plain to be available for dipping in the stew, if I get lazy.

So, I have everything prepped except for chopping the tomatoes for the stew. It took me, probably, a bit over a half and hour just moseying around chopping stuff, etc. (Although I haven’t minced garlic for the bread yet, hence my lack of committment to the garlic bread idea.) Preparing just the green beans took about 5 minutes. You know, snapping off the ends and snapping them in half to approximate the directions saying to cut into 2″ pieces.

Anyway, time to go cook. I do love to cook. 🙂