What’s for Dinner When It’s the Week from Hell?

October 1, 2007 – 1:18 pm

Last week felt like the week from hell, as I finished up a big project and the kids’ after-school activities kicked into gear. When I get busy like that, I fall back on the easiest of the easy:

Tacos. I brown one pound of lean ground beef, use a premixed spice packet, and serve with flour tortillas, crispy corn taco shells, shredded cheese and Pace Picante Sauce. Everyone loves it. Four-year-old Laura calls the crispy tacos “break tacos.”

Pizza. Ordered from a local place. Healthy? Not really. Yummy and easy? Yes.

Chicken Rice-A-Roni Skillet Dinner. Cook up a family-sized box of chicken-flavored Rice-a-Roni. After it has simmered long enough for the broth to be absorbed, stir in one 10 to 12-oz can white meat chicken, drained, then cover and let sit for five minutes for chicken to warm through. You can keep both ingredients in the pantry. Takes less than 30 minutes.

Sauteed Paprika Chicken Breasts. Mix 1 tablespoon paprika, 1/4 tsp ground black pepper, and 1/2 tsp salt in a shallow dish. Pat four boneless, skinless chicken breast halves dry, then rub down with paprika mixture. Heat 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Brown chicken for 3 minutes on each side, then cover skillet and reduce heat to medium. Cook for about ten minutes until done (firm inside, no more pink).

Tuna-Bean Salad. Drain 1 (12-oz) can water-packed tuna and 2 (16 oz) cans cannellini beans. Mix with 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons red wine or balsamic vinegar, and salt to taste. For flavor, add one or more of the following: chopped fresh basil, a tablespoon or two of prepared pesto, chopped sundried tomatoes marinated in olive oil, chopped olives of whatever sort you like, finely minced red onion. Garnish with crumbled feta cheese, if you like. I like this served over brown rice, as the friend who shared the recipe with me likes to serve it.

Pasta with marinara. Cook whatever pasta and whatever jarred sauce is in the pantry. Serve with lots of parmesan cheese.

What do you serve when you’re having a day or week from hell?

By Anne Z | Posted in Main Dishes | Comments (3)

Slow Cooker Green Chili Chicken

September 18, 2007 – 4:10 pm

Remember when everyone was into low-carb diets? Dana Carpender had the best recipes during the Atkins era. This is adapted from her 15-Minute Low-Carb Recipes. She uses weird ingredients like guar gum to thicken the sauce… but you really don’t need to do that.

Slow Cooker Green Chili Chicken
4 servings

  • 3 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (I use Costco frozen ones, thawed overnight)
  • 1 (16 oz.) jar salsa verde (I use La Victoria)
  • 1 medium onion, chopped fine
  • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Dump all ingredients into slow cooker. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or until chicken shreds easily with a fork. Use two forks to shred.

Serve with shredded monterey jack cheese, chopped fresh cilantro, and sour cream, if desired.

By Anne Z | Posted in Easy, Main Dishes, Poultry | Comments (10)

5 Can’t-Do-Without Resources for Family Dinners

September 17, 2007 – 1:18 pm

grilled pork cutlets with peasWe have dinner together as a family almost every night. It’s one of the best times of the day — as long as I don’t get too frazzled by getting dinner onto the table. It’s important to me to do it reasonably inexpensively and quickly without making a huge number of dishes, and I turn again and again to the same few cookbooks, tools, and suppliers to help me do that.

Here are my top five resources for getting dinner on the table without too much stress:

Costco. Where would I be without their frozen food section? I buy lean ground beef chubs, boneless skinless chicken breasts, salmon fillets, chicken nuggets, and fish sticks there. The only trick is to remember to thaw out whatever I need 24 hours beforehand. Since I so regularly use frozen meat, I’m in the habit of doing that.

If only I lived close to a Trader Joe’s, that’d make my list instead of Costco, but sadly, they don’t do business in Colorado.

Cook’s Country Quick Recipes. Most of the recipes in the Cook’s Country magazines take too long for a weeknight dinner, but every issue comes with eight quick dinner recipes on punch-out cards. I’ve found some of my favorite recipes there, including Skillet Chicken and Potatoes; Steak Tips with Mushrooms, Garlic, and Thyme; and Skillet Hamburger Macaroni, a huge hit with the kids. My only complaint is that they publish just six issues a year. I wish they came out monthly.

Express Lane and Vegetarian Express Lane Cookbook by Sarah Fritschner. When I was a vegetarian for ten years of my life, we lived off of Vegetarian Express Lane. Then, when I started eating meat again, I turned to her Express Lane cookbook to figure out what to cook. Fritschner’s recipes are easy but still delicious, innovative while still appealing to kids.

My new All-Clad 6 Quart Saute Pan. Rick cringes when I get it out if it’s his night to do dinner, even though it’s not that hard to clean. It’s just daunting in its 13″ stainless steel greatness. Even though it’s way huger than the burner, the copper core conducts heat and the entire inside gets hot. I can cook four or even six boneless chicken breast halves or four nice strip steaks in it. An excellent, though expensive, purchase.

The slow cooker. Last weekend I made Beef Burgundy and today I’m making Green Chili Chicken. The aroma wafts throughout the house the whole day. But the best part about it is that I get the main part of dinner prepped in the morning and have very little to do by evening. Some days there’s so much going on that I don’t want to knock off at 5 pm just to cook. Those are days I’m glad I planned ahead.

I have a very basic 6-quart Rival Crockpot with a stoneware insert. Cook’s Country recommends a $150 All-Clad model, but I don’t think you need to spend that much to get a decent one.

What are your can’t-do-without dinner resources?

By Anne Z | Posted in Favorites, Tips and Tricks | Comments (0)

Conchiglie with Caramelized Onions, Blue Cheese, and Toasted Walnuts

September 9, 2007 – 4:56 pm

Conchiglie with Caramelized Onions, Blue Cheese, and Toasted WalnutsI developed this recipe last week in conversation with my pantry and my refrigerator. I had pasta, chopped walnuts, a bunch of yellow onions, and some crumbled blue cheese. It was delicious… and so incredibly rich. It might be better as a primi piatti than as a main dish. Maybe have an austere piece of fish or lean steak as your secondi.

Conchiglie with Caramelized Onions, Blue Cheese, and Toasted Walnuts

  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
  • 4 medium onions, cut in half and thinly sliced — or more if you want, they cook down a lot
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 lb. conchiglie (shells) pasta
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

Toast walnuts in dry skillet over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until golden and fragrant. Take out of skillet and set aside.

Heat olive oil in skillet over medium high heat until shimmering. Add butter and stir around. Wait for foam to subside, then add onions plus salt to taste. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown.

Add pasta to water when boiling rapidly and cook until al dente, then drain.

Once onions are golden brown, add chicken broth and simmer for two minutes to reduce broth.

Stir together pasta, onions, toasted walnuts, and blue cheese. Serve immediately.

By Anne Z | Posted in Main Dishes, Pasta, Vegetarian | Comments (0)

Six Tricks for Making Your Own French Bread Pizza

September 6, 2007 – 3:51 pm

I made French Bread Pizza from Cook’s Country the other day. I was wondering why anyone would need a recipe for French Bread Pizza, but I tried anyway, and I learned a bunch of things that might help you if you want to make it without a recipe.

  1. Use supermarket French bread, not artisan-style. The supermarket bread provides just the right amount of crispness and chew.
  2. Make an infused oil by heating some extra virgin olive oil with pressed garlic and chopped fresh basil for about 30 seconds, or until it smells good. You can use the oil on the bread and in the sauce.
  3. Prebake the sections of bread for five minutes so it can crisp up a bit. Before baking, brush with a bit of the flavored olive oil and some grated parmesan cheese.
  4. Doctor up canned pizza sauce with some of that infused oil. Cook’s Country recommends Contadina, which seems fine. I’ve always liked Pizza Quick sauce.
  5. Line the baking sheet with foil — makes your cleanup much easier.
  6. Four cloves of garlic pressed is far too much. Fortunately I’m a web worker so none of my associates had to suffer.

Overally, it was yummy, and a good family entree in that almost anyone will eat it.

By Anne Z | Posted in Main Dishes, Tips and Tricks, Vegetarian | Comments (0)

Salmon with Lentils and Mustard Vinaigrette: Another Vote for Great Food Fast

August 27, 2007 – 7:03 pm

Salmon with lentils and mustard vinaigretteWhat a beautiful, delicious, and easy meal. Healthy too. Big flakes of broiled salmon atop simmered lentils, all drizzled with mustard vinaigrette. I am not only going to buy the Great Food Fast cookbook, I think I will subscribe to Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food magazine, from which the recipes are drawn.

Salmon with Lentils and Mustard Vinaigrette

Adapted from a recipe from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast

Serves 4 people

  • 1 c. dried lentils, rinsed and picked over
  • 3 cups water
  • 1 medium onion, chopped finely
  • 2 stalks celery, chopped finely
  • 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 1 good squeeze spicy brown mustard (about a tablespoon)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 skinless fillets salmon — maybe 8 oz. a piece

Bring lentils and water to a boil in medium saucepan. Turn down heat, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes. Add onion and celery. Cover again and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until lentils are tender. Take off heat.

Preheat broiler and put top rack 4-6″ from heating element. Whisk olive oil, vinegar, mustard, and salt and pepper to taste in small bowl. Mix half of dressing into warm lentils and set aside.

Spray baking sheet with cooking spray. Season salmon fillets liberally with salt and pepper and place on baking sheet. Broil for 8-10 minutes, until salmon is opaque and cooked through.

Flake salmon into large pieces. Put lentils on serving platter and scatter salmon flakes on top. Drizzle with remaining dressing.

Serving suggestion: White or brown rice makes a nice complement to the lentils and salmon. Add a green vegetable or a green salad too and you’ll be feeling really virtuous.

By Anne Z | Posted in Easy, Favorites, Main Dishes, Seafood | Comments (0)

Skillet Chicken with Potatoes: A Family-Friendly Favorite

August 24, 2007 – 12:03 pm

My people love chicken with pan sauce or pork chops with pan sauce or steak with pan sauce or turkey cutlets with pan sauce. In short: they love pan sauce. But pan sauces have fallen out of favor, apparently too French and too gourmet for everyday cooking. So don’t mention the pan sauce! Just call it homey skillet chicken with potatoes, and make a pan sauce.

Every single person in my family from four-year-old to forty-year-old loves this dinner. Chicken breasts are dredged in flour then sauteed in butter and olive oil. The potatoes are par-cooked in the microwave then crisply roasted in the pan, and finally a quick sauce is made with chicken broth and lemon juice to simmer the chicken to a moist finish.

I’m going to have to buy a bigger saute pan, because the four half-breasts I cooked last night didn’t serve my family of six. I had only one bite of chicken; my seven-year-old ate the rest of my piece. I’m eyeing this All-Clad Master Chef 2 6-Quart Saute Pan. Yes, it’s $250, but I do a lot of sauteeing and this looks perfect. It has a cover, which is important, because if your chicken breasts are thick, you may need to cover up them up in the final step to ensure they cook through without all your sauce evaporating.

Skillet Chicken and Potatoes

4 servings

Adapted from Cook’s Country magazine, April/May 2006

  • 1.5 lbs. red potatoes, scrubbed clean and halved if small or quartered if large
  • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 3/4 cup chicken broth
  • Juice from half a lemon (about 2 tablespoons)

Mix potatoes with 1 tablespoon oil in microwave-safe bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave 4 to 5 minutes.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter and remaining 2 tablespoons oil in large saute pan over medium-high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper, then dredge in flour and shake excess off. Add chicken breast halves to pan, putting thick parts towards middle of pan. Cook until browned on each side, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and tent with foil.

Add potatoes, cut side down, to pan which should still have some fat in it. Salt liberally. Cook until browned, about 4 to 5 minutes. If you quartered them, put the other cut side down to brown. Transfer to large plate or platter.

Add chicken broth and lemon juice to pan. Scrape up browned bits (called “fond”) from bottom of pan. Return chicken and accumulated juices to pan. Reduce heat and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes.

Put chicken onto platter with potatoes. Whisk remaining tablespoon butter into sauce and pour sauce over chicken and potatoes.

Notes:

  • I use Costco frozen chicken breast halves. They’re inexpensive, modestly-sized and don’t require much if any trimming before you use them.
  • The original recipe calls for 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage, added with the broth and lemon juice. I left it out because most children are allergic to green specks of any sort. You could use another fresh herb if you had it — thyme or oregano or rosemary (but not too much rosemary, because it’s so strong).
  • Four year old Laura’s comment: “You gotta try the tomatoes! They’re really bad!” Yeah, Laura, if you’re thinking they’re tomatoes they probably do taste bad…
By Anne Z | Posted in Favorites, Main Dishes, Poultry | Comments (6)

Sauteed Corn with Fresh Tomato Salsa

August 21, 2007 – 7:10 pm

Sauteed Corn with Fresh Tomato SalsaWe had this with chili-rubbed broiled salmon and zucchini tonight. The salmon was so easy you don’t need a recipe. Season your fillets with salt, pepper, and a good dousing of chili pepper then broil for 10 minutes or until opaque. I used frozen sockeye salmon from Costco, just thaw overnight in the fridge. Each person only needs half a fillet if you serve some yummy veggies on the side, like this corn.

The sauteed corn — sans garlic (too much work) but with butter (adds such flavor) — won top honors tonight. And it takes only about 10 minutes to make. I’ll definitely be making this again.

Sauteed Corn with Fresh Tomato Salsa
4-6 servings

  • 1 lb. frozen corn
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (can substitute light olive oil)
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1/2 cup fresh tomato salsa
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 lime, cut into wedges

Heat butter and oil over high heat in a large skillet until butter foams. Add frozen corn. Cook over high heat, tossing occasionally, until corn is tender and starts to brown, about six or seven minutes. Towards the end, don’t stir it too much and that way the corn will brown more.

Take corn off heat and transfer to a medium-sized serving bowl. Stir in fresh tomato salsa. Season generously with salt and pepper. Serve with lime wedges to squeeze over the corn (and the salmon, if you’re serving it).

Note: Fresh tomato salsa is available in the prepared foods area of your deli section, in a tub. You could substitute jarred salsa.

By Anne Z | Posted in Easy, Side Dishes, Vegetarian | Comments (0)

Menu Planning: Almost Back to School

August 18, 2007 – 10:24 am

Last week the recipes from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast mostly lived up to the cookbook’s title, so I’m trying a few more this week to decide if I want to buy the cookbook. I don’t know what I liked better — the Grilled Tomato Linguine or the Braised Chicken with Mushrooms and Oven-Baked Polenta — but I’ll be making both of those again.

I also have Cook’s Illustrated’s latest, The Best Make-Ahead Recipe, checked out from the library. I will almost certainly buy that for myself, as the Cook’s Illustrated books are my favorite ones to read, if not actually cook from. I find their recipes overly complex. I always learn from reading them and cooking them, but I rarely make any of their recipes more than once. They’re just too much work.

This week’s plans:

Spinach Mushroom Tart from Great Food Fast. Mushrooms, spinach, and onions on a puff pastry crust dotted with goat cheese crumbles. I love tarts!

Maple Glazed Roast Pork Loin from The Best Make-Ahead Recipe. A double-duty dinner: leftovers will be used in Cubano Sandwiches later on in the week.

Chili-rubbed Salmon with Zucchini and Corn from Great Food Fast. The salmon and zucchini are broiled while the corn is sauteed with fresh tomato salsa.

Cubano Sandwiches from The Best Make-Ahead Recipe. A south Florida favorite, apparently — roast pork, thinly-sliced ham, swiss cheese and mustard on a French roll. Buttered, pressed, and grilled. I think even my pork-doubting husband will enjoy it.

Rigatoni with Sausage and Parsley from Great Food Fast. I’ll use the Italian-seasoned ground turkey from my freezer. It’s not sausage but probably close enough.

Garlic-Marinated Grilled Chicken Cutlets with Potatoes and Asparagus from Great Food Fast. The potatoes are grilled in a foil packet. Could they really get brown like in the cookbook photo? I’m skeptical.

As-cooked recipes for any winners will be posted later. No sense sharing recipes that don’t turn out.

By Anne Z | Posted in Weekly Menus | Comments (0)

Braised Chicken with Mushrooms and Oven-Baked Polenta

August 18, 2007 – 10:07 am

Braising chicken with mushroomsAnother delicious recipe from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast. I would buy the cookbook on the strength of this recipe and Grilled Tomato Linguine alone, but I have a couple more weeks to keep it from the library so I’ll be cooking more from it this week.

Simmering the chicken in chicken broth and sauteed mushrooms gives it a wonderful flavor. I substituted fresh oregano for the parsley that the recipe called for because that’s what I had.

Braised Chicken with Mushrooms and Oven-Baked Polenta

Adapted from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast

  • 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 T extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 lb. white mushrooms, washed and sliced
  • 4 garlic cloves, smashed
  • 1/2 c dry white wine
  • 1 (14.5 oz.) can reduced-sodium chicken broth
  • 2 T chopped fresh oregano
  • Oven-baked polenta

Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Saute until golden in large skillet over medium high heat in 1 T of oil, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and tent with foil.

Add another T of oil to the hot pan and then add the mushrooms and garlic. Season to taste with salt. Let the mushrooms sizzle for 2 to 3 minutes without tossing or disturbing them. Then continue cooking, tossing occasionally, until juices evaporate, about 8 minutes.

Add the wine to the pan and cook until evaporated, about 2 minutes. Add the chicken broth and oregano and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Return chicken to skillet and cover. Simmer over medium-low heat until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Serve chicken and mushrooms over polenta with a bit of the cooking broth poured over it.

By Anne Z | Posted in Main Dishes, Poultry | Comments (0)