mincin' mama

Its got a little colder this past week so I decided it was time to venture into the world of soups. I found this Edamame and Corn Chowder recipe over at Martha Stewart’s site. I loved that it had some cream but was also broth based. Also it has two of my favorite ingredients, corn and edamame! 

It was super delicious and super easy for a weekend lunch. 

• bacon
• 1 onion, chopped
• 28oz or so of chicken broth
• About a cup of cubed red potato
• 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning (some combo of thyme, marjoram, oregano, basil, and rosemary) its okay to omit one or two. I didn’t have basil or rosemary.)
• 2 cups frozen shelled edamame
• 15 oz or so of creamed corn
• 1/2 cup half-and-half, or heavy cream
• salt and pepper

Cook your bacon, set aside.

Pour all but about 1Tbs grease from pan. 

Add onion, cook until soft.

Add broth, potato, and seasoning. Simmer until potato is tender. 

Stir in edamame, creamed corn, and half and half or cream. Season with salt and pepper. 

Serve topped with crumbled bacon. 

I’m on a mission to try at least one new food a week!

I love trying new things and there are just way too many things I’ve never tried. I think this is one of those goals that will be easy to stick to, because it will be delicious. 

Bok Choy

Fun facts about Bok Choy, it contains glucosinolates. These compounds have been reported to prevent cancer in small doses, but are toxic to humans in large doses. It’s also super high in vitamin A and C. (thanks wikipedia!)

I found this recipe for baby bok choy and shiitake mushrooms, I was helpless against its potential delicious factor. I LOVE an excuse to use mushrooms. I’m such a mushroom junkie I adapted this and made it with a mix of mushrooms including shiitake, oyster, portabello and enoki. (yes they sell these at the local grocery store!). 

1 Tbs oil
1.5 C (about) mushrooms
garlic
ginger powder
1/4 C broth (veg or chicken)
1 Tbs light soy sauce
3 large baby bok choy (the thick end of the stem removed, rinsed and steamed)

1. Heat up the oil, add the mushrooms and saute until tender
3. Add the garlic and ginger powder
4. Add broth, deglaze the pan
5. Add the soy sauce, simmer to reduce
7. Pour the mushroom sauce over the steamed bok choy

My recent foray into bread making has been a wonderful, life-changing experience. There is something empowering about turning so little into so much. 

You’ll need:

• 1 1/2 packages active dry yeast (1 1/2 tablespoons)
• 1 tablespoon plus 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup olive or vegetable oil, plus more for greasing the bowl
• 5 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 8 to 8 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cup warm water

In your mixing bowl, dissolve your yeast and 1Tbs sugar in the warm water, whisk in oil then eggs one at a time. 

Add remaining sugar and salt then gradually add your flour. 

Once your dough holds together, it is ready for kneading. 

You can knead by hand, or using the dough hook of your mixer. Stop kneading before you think you need to or the dough will get tough. You just want it to look a little shinier and be smooth. http://bakingbread.org/how-to-knead-bread-dough/

Clean your bowl, then dry and grease it.

Return your dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until it has doubled in size (1 hourish)

To test it push your finger into the top of the dough ball, if it doesn’t spring back its done.

On your cutting board, release the air from the dough by gently folding it in on itself a few times.

Let rise for another 30 minutes. 

Now the fun part! How to cut and braid your challah

Beat the remaining egg and brush it on your loaves.

Let rise another hour. 

Brush with more egg.

Bake 375 for 30-40mins until golden.

You just made bread! Your house is going to smell awesome.

• I just made a food people lived off of for centuries. 
• My house smells better than it ever has.
• I turned flour, eggs, water and salt into something amazing.
• This begins the start of french toast week 
• I can do small steps throughout my day. Each step in the process takes 10 minutes or less.

• I pretty much followed this one to the letter, as you usually should with baking. 
• After it was done I sliced right into and spread on some softened herb butter that a mixed with a mix of spices like oregano, thyme, garlic powder and marjoram. You can mix it whatever is in your cabinet and smells yummy. 

Thanks Chris Rim Photo for the awesome pics of my food!

I was about to slice up some Italian sausage and toss it into a jar of tomato sauce for dinner. Then I realized I can do something equally as easy, yet far tastier. 

I had some red peppers that were on their last leg. I would have hated to waste them. 

Here’s what you’ll need

• 2 red peppers
• linguine 
• heavy cream
• italian sausage (this recipe would be great with grilled chicken or fish also)
• garlic
• feta cheese and nutmeg (optional)

Remove your sausage from their casings. Just slide a knife up the edge, the casing should peel right off. No need to keep the sausage intact, we’re going to brown it and break it up. 

Brown your sausage. You can do this earlier in the day and stick it in the fridge. This also makes a yum yum pizza topping. 

Roast your red peppers. Never done it? Its easy. Here’s a super quick how-to. Honest, learning to do this will change your life!

Toss the roasted peppers in a blender or food processor. Add some garlic and feta cheese (if you don’t add cheese then add salt).

Start your pasta. 

While your pasta is cooking, combine sausage and red pepper mix in a skillet or saucepan. 

While keeping the pan on low heat slowly add heavy cream. Keep tasting it until you’re happy with the amount of cream.

Optional: Grate some fresh nutmeg into your sauce. 

After your pasta is strained add it into your sauce. Mix to combine. Yum!

• Low ingredient count!
• This is getting added to my lazy meal day rotation.
• Super rich! I love rich italiany food.
• I have an excuse to buy more red peppers. They are so tasty.
• Kid friendly.

• This recipe is highly customizable. I really can’t wait to try it with different shapes of pasta, different proteins and even baked into a ziti-like casserole.
• You can do this without feta or you can replace it with another soft cheese. Even cream cheese would be tasty. Just remember the cheese and the sausage bring the salt in this. So if nixing the feta add salt, after tasting it with the sausage in it. 

Thanks Chris Rim Photo for the awesome pics of my food!

We usually eat chili once every week or so. Its a quick and easy dinner solution. I always use Six Gun Chipotle Chili Mix and ground turkey. I’ve been dying to work on my own chili recipe that could made just as easily from scratch. Plus, having the same type of chili week after week was getting old! So I hunted down a unique spin on things and found this Turkey and Zucchinni Green Chili. I’ve never worked with tomatillos so I figured what a great time to learn about them. I love me some salsa verde too, more than regular salsa. Plus a chance to incorporate fresh seasonal veggies into my chili! Yes! Here’s what happened:

Make your salsa verde, which is the base of this chili. I used this recipe, but you can just as easily use store bought or your own recipe. If making from scratch you can roast the veggies for some extra flavor. 

Sautee an onion until tender and season with garlic and cumin. 

Add your ground turkey and cook until no longer pink. 

Add chicken stock, salsa verde, beans, oregano, jalepenos and salt and pepper. Let simmer for about 20 mins. 

Add zuchinni and corn and simmer for another 10 minutes. 

Remove from heat and add cilantro.

• You basically toss everything in the pot and let it go. 
• It was great for dinner with guests, a lot of food but minimal effort.
• It was a nice change of pace from our traditional chili. 
• Leftovers!

• The recipe calls for 3 cups of stock. I doubled the recipe but only used 2 cups of stock total and it was still very thin. I prefer a thicker style chili so if I try this recipe again I’ll add even less stock, or try a thickener. 
• I didn’t add more jalapenos because I added extra to my salsa verde, but it definitely needed that second set of jalapeno. There was almost no heat in my version. 
• I used fresh corn off the cob, not frozen or canned. 
• Definitely make sure you have the cilantro to add at the end, it brings the flavors together and really makes the dish. It was a bit bland before I added it. 

Thanks Chris Rim Photo for the awesome pics of my food!

My favorite kind of sandwich is the good ol’ BLT. Crispy, salty bacon, juicy, sweet tomatoes, crunchy, fresh lettuce. What could be better? So when I saw this version with a fried egg over at Closet Cooking, my brain almost exploded. 

A fried egg, so deliciously simple! Plus this pulls the BLT into a whole new meal section of the day, breakfast! Closet Cooking also has a tasty take on converting this to a breakfast dish by serving it open faced with a poached egg and slathering it in hollandaise sauce. 

BUT it was lunch time, and I wanted a sammich. So here’s what happened:

Line a deep roasting pan, cookie sheet with high walls, or the bottom or a broiling pan with foil. Arrange bacon on said pan. Push um’ right up against each other its okay if they touch. 

Cook your bacon. Stick the pan in the oven, THEN set it to 400. NO PREHEATING. This is the secret to amazingly crisp bacon. Set timer for 18 minutes. At this point the bacon will still be bendy. If you like your bacon like that, take it out. If you’re like me and like your bacon the right way, leave it in for 2-3 more minutes. Different brands and cuts of bacon will cook differently so keep an eye on it the last few minutes of cooking. Burnt bacon is a tragic thing. 

While the bacon goes, slice up your tomatoes, lettuce and avocado. This is where I plug vine ripened tomatoes again. 

Fry your egg. Low heat is your friend! You can get a perfect sunny side up egg without flipping. Begin with medium heat so your egg doesn’t spread too much on the pan. After the initial shape has formed lower the heat to extra low or simmer. If the egg is still cooking too fast pull the pan off the heat for a few seconds. For extra richness fry your egg in real butter. You know its ready when all of the “clear goo” has turned white and the yolk gets shiny on top. 

Toast your bread. I let mine sit in the toaster for about 2 minutes after it pops to get it extra crispy. 

Smear the mayo on the bread. I used Kraft Sandwhich Shop Chipotle Mayo. But you can make your own by mincing a chipotle chili in adobo and mixing it into 1/4 cup of mayo.

Top your mayo with fresh cracked pepper. 

Assemble and enjoy!

• It has bacon!
• The gooey egg yolk breaks and just elevates the BLT to a new level.
• My husband says “I feel like all of my BLT’s were missing egg and avocado”
• It doesn’t take much more effort than a regular BLT would. 
• It’s a richer version of something I already love. 

• My avocado was a bit under-ripe but it worked. I think you can use hard to mushy avocado on this and it wont make a difference. 
• I used plain old romaine lettuce, but I’m curious how this would taste with a sharper green like arugula. 
• Once my bread baking skills kick in I’d love to try this on a thicker heartier bread.  

Thanks Chris Rim Photo for the awesome pics of my food!