TWD: Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins

I'm sure you all thought I abandoned my blog but that is just not true. I am back on board with TWD! I have missed a lot and I hope to catch up on a few of the ones I missed.

This week's recipe was a great one to jump back in with. It was super quick and easy to mix together. I am do not love things too spicy and I have a hate relationship with cilantro so I left out the bell peppers and the jalapeno peppers and the cilantro. My husband likes corn muffins but does not like corn. So, I scooped out 6 muffins for him before stirring in the corn. Since, it was only 1/4 of a cup, I didn't cut it in half for the last 6 muffins and in the end I wished I had doubled the corn for just my 6 muffins. I really liked the sweetness of the corn with the spiciness of the chili powder and wished I had added more of that too.

I made these at the last minute so we just ate them by themselves but they would be a great addition to many meals. Therefore, I will be making these again!

Thanks to Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake for this week's selection! Please visit her blog for the recipe! And if you'd like to see the muffins with peppers, check out the TWD blogroll.

Chicken and Dumplings

Despite what it may look like, I do cook regular food type meals not just TWD delicacies! Though these pictures were taken the first time I made this, I have made it several times since then. It has become one of our favorites.

I remember chicken and dumplings being one of my mom's favorites so it was something we ate often in my house growing up. I know you don't think of a stew being something you want to make in the summer but this one comes together very quickly and using fresh summer vegetables makes it appealing 12 months of the year. I find it to be a great comfort food when I want to relax.

I have to give props to Rachael Ray because we really love this variation. I do want to make my own chicken stock but that I will save for a winter day! I've learned to double this so we have leftovers too.


1 1/2 pounds chicken breast tenders (Remember to COOK them first)
1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
2 tablespoons butter
1 russet potato, peeled and diced (skin can be on or off, we've done both)
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced or thinly sliced
1 medium onion, chopped (I use my microplane to get all the flavor and none of the texture)
1 rib celery, diced
1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning, 1/3 palm full
2 tablespoons flour, a handful
1 quart chicken broth or stock, canned or paper container, preferred brand Kitchen Basics
1 small box biscuit mix(preferred brand Jiffy Mix) (I use Bisquick)
1/2 cup warm water
Handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 cup frozen green peas

Dice tenders into bite size pieces and set aside. Wash hands.

Place a large pot on stove over medium high heat. Add oil, butter, vegetables and bay leaf and cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Season mixture with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Add flour to the pan and cook 2 minutes. Stir broth or stock to the pot and bring to a boil. Add chicken to the broth and stir.

Place biscuit mix in a bowl. Combine with 1/2 cup warm water and parsley. Drop tablespoonfuls of prepared mix into the pot, spacing dumplings evenly. Cover pot tightly and reduce heat to medium low. Steam dumplings 8 to 10 minutes. Remove cover and stir chicken and dumplings to thicken sauce a bit. Stir peas into the pan, remove chicken and dumplings from heat and serve in shallow bowls.

VTV: Freestyle=Eggplant

This week's vegetable was up to us! Since I missed eggplant week I thought I would go back and revisit that vegetable.

Eggplant is something I don't really remember eating as a child. I think my mom stuck to the basic in order to please 5 children.

One of my favorite ways to eat eggplant is parmigiana style. I found this recipe while watching a Tyler Florence episode in which he searched the world for eggplant dishes. He visited a charming woman in Sicily, Anna Tasca Lanza. I decided to give it a try. It is fantastic! I chose to grill the eggplant instead of frying them so I felt like it was a healthy version of eggplant parmigiana.



Involtine di Melanzane con Capelli d'Angelo
Recipe courtesy Anna Tasca Lanza via foodnetwork.com

Ingredients
3 eggplants
2 cups olive oil, to fry the eggplants
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
Pinch sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
12 fresh basil leaves, roughly shredded
1/4 pound angel hair pasta, or spaghetti
1 cup tomato sauce, or passata
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons caciocavallo cheese

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cut off the bottoms and stems of the eggplants. Peel them using a vegetable peeler and slice them into 1/2-inch slices.

In a heavy bottomed pan heat some olive oil and fry the eggplant slices for about 4 to 5 minutes (if you prefer a healthier version of the dish, you can grill the eggplants). Place the cooked slices on some paper towels to drain any excess oil.

In a large bowl combine the butter, freshly grated Parmesan, and salt, to taste. Add the roughly shredded fresh basil leaves.

Place the angel hair pasta or spaghetti into a pan of boiling water, bring back to the boil and cook until al dente. Drain.

Add the cooked pasta into the big bowl with the butter mixture and combine.

Take a small portion of the pasta and place it on top of an eggplant slice. Roll the eggplant around the pasta and place it in an oven-proof dish. Repeat this process with all the eggplants slices.

Pour some pureed tomato sauce, or passata, over the eggplant rolls. Place slices of cacioavallo on the top. Finally cover the dish with more freshly grated Parmesan.

Place the dish in oven for around 20 minutes, or until sauce is bubbly.

Yields 4 to 6 servings.



Side Note: Does anyone know how to make the VTV logo smaller for my sidebar??

VTV: Asparagus

This week's Vindicate the Vegetable is Asparagus! This happens to already be one of our favorites. I don't remember always liking asparagus or maybe I'd never had the opportunity to try it until a couple years ago. It grows wild on my grandma's farm. She steamed it for dinner one night and with some cheese on top, I was hooked. I still love to eat it that way.

Recently, I saw on one of the many blogs I read that someone had roasted asparagus in the oven. This is my new favorite way to eat it. We spray the pan with cooking spray, salt and pepper the asparagus and cook until fork tender.

So, I was excited for this week to find something new to do with asparagus. I found a weight watchers pasta recipe and adapted it. This came out amazing and will most certainly be seen again in my kitchen.

I doubled the sauce part of the recipe and thought it came out great. I also just roasted the asparagus and added it into the pasta with the cream sauce. If you stick to the original weight watchers recipe this recipe makes 6 servings and each serving is only 6 points. Obviously, doubling the cream part and adding asparagus changes that. But, I still felt like it was a healthy meal.


Pasta and Asparagus with Creamy Spinach Sauce
Source: Weight Watchers Recipes (my changes in blue)
Photo: my kitchen


Ingredients

1 lb pasta (penne or ziti) I used a long curly spaghetti like pasta
1 lb fresh spinach, stemmed
1 cup low fat cottage cheese 2 cups
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1/2 cup
1/4 cup low fat milk 1/2 cup
1 pinch ground nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon
1-2 garlic cloves (optional) 2 cloves
salt and pepper (to taste)
1 lb roasted asparagus

Preparation
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
2. Add the spinach and 1 tablespoon salt; cook for about 1 minute.
3. Using a slotted spoon, remove the spinach (reserve the water for the pasta) and transfer it to a bowl of cold water.
4. Drain and squeeze dry the spinach.
5. Chop it coarsely.
6. Bring the spinach water back to a boil. Meanwhile, in food processor fitted with steel blade, mince the garlic (if using).
7. Add the cottage cheese and blend until fairly smooth.
8. Add the cooked spinach and milk, and blend until smooth.
9. Add the nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a shallow serving bowl.
10. Add the pasta to the boiling water, stirring to prevent sticking.
11. Cook the pasta until just tender (about 10 minutes or according to the instructions); drain well.
12. Add the pasta to the bowl with the spinach sauce and asparagus, and toss to coat.
13. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and toss again.
14. Serve hot.

Gilled Chicken Caesar Pizza

When Jake and I were dating we used to have movie night. It was one night during the week dedicated to us. On occasion we would shift the night for a commitment but if we could help it, Thursday nights were spent usually having dinner and watching a movie. Ultimately it was quality time for the 2 of us. Now that we're married, we still plan a special date night but since we now live together we feel like we get a lot of quality time together.

This past week presented itself with a need for a special night. One of our movie nights included Jake making Grilled Pizza. We loved it then and haven't made it since. We thought we would try to recreate since we can't remember where the recipe came from.

Grilled Chicken Caesar Pizza
source: us
photo: our kitchen


Ingredients

Pizza dough
Caesar dressing (recipe to follow)
2 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
mozzarella cheese
romaine lettuce
tomotos
cucumbers


Directions

Roll out pizza dough on a well floured surface. Carefully move pizza dough to the rack of a grill. Note: if using an inside grill pan on the stove, be sure to ventilate the area very well as the excess flour from the pizza dough will burn quickly.
Grill the dough on both sides. You'll know when its done by the grill marks but it only takes a few minutes on each side.
Once the dough is done, move to a baking sheet.
Spread on a layer of Caesar dressing. Top with chopped chicken and mozzarella cheese.
Bake in the oven until the cheese is melted.
Top with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and additional Caesar dressing.
Enjoy!


We wanted to make our own Caesar dressing for this meal and let me just say, I will never buy Caesar dressing again. This is amazing!!

Caesar Dressing
source: cooks.com

1 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 clove of garlic (minced)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon milk

Mix all ingredients together and shake or whisk until well blended.

VTV: Avocados

First, I have to apologize for my delay in posting this week's vegetable. Sorry, Nina! The timing just didn't come together for me this weekend. So, with my avocados and mango super ripe and needing to be used I made my salad as soon as I got home from work tonight.

I was really excited about this week's vegetable but I guess I've really only eaten avocados as guacamole and not by themselves. I did make guacamole this week as well, stay tuned for that post. I wasn't as thrilled with avocados on their own. Maybe mine were a little over ripe and therefore a little too mushy. I'll have to play around with this one some more. I did really love the dressing on the mango though!

The avocado roundup can be found here and come back next week for asparagus!



Avocado and Mango Salad
Source: adapted from Joy of Cooking
Photo: my kitchen

Ingredients

1 lemon
2 avocados
1 ripe mango
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (I don't think I used this much, I just eyed it)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper

Directions

Halve the lemon. Halve, pit, peel and thinly slice lengthwise the avocados. Squeeze the lemon over the avocados. This prevents the avocados from turning brown.
Peel and seed the mango. If you have a mango peeler, it really does the trick!
Whisk together in a small bowl the oil and lemon juice . Season with salt and pepper. Pour dressing over the avocados and mango.
Mix together and chill for 1 hour before serving.

VTV: Artichoke

This week's Vindicate the Vegetable was artichoke. I was really excited about this because I have never eaten a fresh artichoke but I've eaten cooked in other things like spinach and artichoke dip. I'm pretty sure I used a can of artichokes when I made that. I did some browsing for a recipe using fresh artichoke and was planning to use Giada's Baked Artichokes.

Unfortunately, I had a rough week and didn't get back to the farmers market until our regular shopping. Upon arriving at the market, there were no artichokes to be found.

Please check the VTV site for the roundup on artichokes. Then come back here next week to find another new vegetable!

VTV: Yellow Summer Squash

While my in laws were visiting for Easter, we had a conversation about the vegetables that Jake has learned to like, while the list is very short; his mom was very impressed. I believe she said, "Wow, he never used to eat any vegetables as a kid!"

So, I was really excited when my friend, Nina started a new blog, Vindicate the Vegetable. While I enjoy eating many different vegetables, my husband does not. We have been working very hard at introducing new vegetables into our diet. I was glad the first week was a vegetable that we both already like, yellow summer squash. This recipe is one of our favorites ways to eat squash. In the past, we've also used eggplant in this. Today, I decided to top them with some lime zest. It was amazing! (Thanks Mom#2 for the microplane!)

(don't worry, I took the picture mid-cooking, the chicken was fully cooked before we ate it!)

Fajitas
(Source and Photos: my kitchen)

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
2 small yellow summer squash
4 small red potatoes
1 lime
salt
pepper
onion powder
garlic powder
non-fat sour cream
reduced fat Mexican blend cheese
tortilla shells



Directions

Season both sides of the chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. Grill until almost fully cooked then slice and add to the vegetables to finish cooking together.

While the chicken is grilling, I microwaved the potatoes in order to cook them faster. I chopped the squash, added it to the wok and seasoned it. Once the potatoes were cooking, I chopped them, added them to the wok and season them as well. (Note: if you don't precook the potatoes, don't add the squash till the end. It will cook very quickly and turn to mush.)

Let everything finish cooking together. Warm the tortilla shells for 30 seconds in the microwave or toast them in the oven. Layer the chicken and vegetables on the bottom. Add a little non-fat sour cream, shredded cheese and the zest of a lime. Yum!

Husband Rating: A+ He ate all this vegetables tonight and thought the lime zest was a great addition.

Wife: A+ A favorite that we haven't had in a while and it was so refreshing and guilt free, no oil or butter!

Easter Dinner: The Official Menu

If you read my last post, you know I was recruiting help for my Easter dinner menu. Thank you to Clara for posting it as her question of the day. Thank you to Amanda, April and Dawn who left me some wonderful suggestions here on my blog.

Easter Dinner 2008
Brown Sugar & Spice Crusted Ham
(source: Cooking Light)

Deviled Eggs

Roasted Asparagus
Corn

Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes w/gravy

Grandma's Sticky Rolls
(source: my grandma)

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
(source: Good Things Catered)


Come back next week for recipes, pictures and reviews from my guests!

A New Twist...

...on an old favorite! We added spinach to our Fresh Tomato Pizza. It was so yummy. I bought a package of frozen spinach, thawed it in the microwave, drained all the excess water and sprinkled it on top of the tomatoes. Enjoy!

Green Bean Casserole

This is a good Thanksgiving Day side dish!

From: Campbell's Kitchen

Prep: 10 minutes
Bake: 30 minutes

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

1 can (10 3/4 oz.) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup (Regular, 98% Fat Free or 25% Less Sodium)
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. soy sauce
Dash ground black pepper
4 cups cooked cut green beans
1 1/3 cups French's® French Fried Onions

Directions:

MIX soup, milk, soy, black pepper, beans and 2/3 cup onions in 1 1/2-qt. casserole.

BAKE at 350°F. for 25 min. or until hot.

STIR . Sprinkle with remaining onions. Bake 5 min.

TIP: Use 1 bag (16 to 20 oz.) frozen green beans, 2 pkg. (9 oz. each) frozen green beans, 2 cans (about 16 oz. each) green beans or about 1 1/2 lb. fresh green beans for this recipe.

For a change of pace, substitute 4 cups cooked broccoli flowerets for the green beans.

For a creative twist, stir in 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese with soup. Omit soy sauce. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup additional Cheddar cheese when adding the remaining onions.

For a festive touch, stir in 1/4 cup chopped red pepper with soup.

For a heartier mushroom flavor, substitute Campbell's® Condensed Golden Mushroom Soup for Cream of Mushroom Soup. Omit soy sauce. Stir in 1/4 cup chopped red pepper with green beans.