What I've Been Cooking Lately

Honestly...I haven't been cooking that much. At least, not trying out new recipes, since we bought the new house.  We've had pizza over the last few weeks more than I care to admit.  I have been able to find time to test out a few new recipes over the last few months---I just haven't had time to blog about them individually.  So here I'll share my results, along with a link to the original recipe I used, and then note any changes I made.

Roasted Asparagus & Mushroom Carbonara

This is probably one of the most delicious things I've made myself in a LONG time.  And it was pretty darn easy to make.  One day, when I have free time again, I WILL be making more of this.  No tinkering with the recipe--original turned out great. I was nervous about using raw egg in a sauce but it was totally amazing.

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce with Zucchini Noodles

I tinkered with this one a lot, but still really liked the results.  The original recipe here is vegan, but we used regular milk. I didn't have tahini or almond butter, so I used peanut butter, and tossed in some grated parmesan to help thicken the sauce.  I also added a few dashes of Tabasco Chipotle Sauce for some heat and smokiness.  Finally, we added smoked sausage for protein.

LOVE my veggie spiralizer.

One Pot Spaghetti

Saw the Video for this on my Facebook feed and thought a) that looks easy, and b) I've got a ton of basil & tomatoes to use up.  It was very easy, and delicious.

Sweet Potato Quinoa Patties

We made these while doing a one week Daniel Fast, and they were super tasty.  I will probably make them again, but use egg as a binder, since they were kind of crumbly (couldn't use egg during the Fast).  We definitely had to let them cook longer than what the recipe calls for to get them crusty enough on one side so that they could be flipped without falling apart (I'd say 4-6 minutes per side, rather than 2 minutes, but if you use egg as a binder that might change the cook time.  Just make one first as a tester to figure out the times, and then fill your pan with patties after that.)

Served with a side of garlic green beans.

French Onion Soup

This was to satisfy a craving, and can only *sorta* qualify as semi-homemade.  I had some canned French Onion soup, but wanted to step it up, so I sauteed some fresh onions first to caramelize them, then added the canned soup and brought it to a boil.  Then I preheated my broiler, and set two ramekins on a cookie sheet.  I cracked open a raw egg into each of the ramekins (a weird trick one of my Louisiana buddies taught me), added a little pepper, and then gently ladled the hot soup over the top of the egg (the heat from the soup & broiler will cook the eggs).  

Next, I placed a 1 inch slice of french bread onto the top of the soup, and topped with 2 slices of Swiss cheese.  Broiled just until the cheese was melted, and then, devour.

Spaghetti Squash Chicken Alfredo

This spaghetti squash recipe is all over Pinterest, and I was itching to test it out.  As a kid, my absolute favorite thing on the planet was going to Olive Garden & getting the Fettuccini Alfredo.  You know…back in the day when “carbs were good for you” I had a hollow leg and had absolutely no idea what calories were. All I knew was that cheese and noodles and chicken & breadsticks and that magical salad were waiting for me and my dad during their Never-Ending Pasta Bowl special.  We lived somewhere between B.F.E. and a corn field, so a trip into “The City” was a VERY special and rare occasion. 

Of course now, I live in “The City”, and Olive Garden is there all the time…and unfortunately, I now know HOW many calories are in their fettuccini alfredo (1220, for the record)…so I tend to just stick with the soup & salad & breadsticks (especially the Zuppa Toscano—see my recipe for it here!)  But that doesn’t mean I crave it any less.

Finally, I can indulge my need for cheesy garlicky goodness! 

INGREDIENTS: (Serves 2)

• 1 medium-sized spaghetti squash
• 1 boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1/4 tsp each of paprika, garlic salt, & onion powder
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 1 tsp crushed dried rosemary
• 1 tsp dried basil (or a Dorot basil cube)
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1 cup fat free milk
• 1/2 Tbsp fat free cream cheese or Neufchatel cheese
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus 2 Tablespoons extra for topping
• 1/2 tsp Cajun Seasoning
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 tsp Crushed red pepper flakes  (optional for extra heat)

DIRECTIONS:

Cut the spaghetti squash in half, scoop out the seeds, and then place flat side down into a baking dish with about 1/2 cup of water.  Bake at 350F for about an hour.

Once squash is cooked, use a fork to gently scrape the “spaghetti” strands into the center.

In a medium skillet spritzed with olive oil, cook the chicken over medium heat; season both sides with the mixture of paprika, garlic salt & onion powder.  Cover with a lid to help speed up cooking and to help keep the chicken from drying out.  When fully cooked, slice & set aside covered to keep warm.

For the sauce, melt the butter in a medium sauce pot over medium-low heat. Once hot, add garlic and sauté for 1-2 minutes. Whisk in flour, cooking for another minute while stirring. Whisk in the milk, basil & rosemary until no lumps remain.

Once heated through, add cream cheese and stir until smooth. Remove from the heat and add in the Parm, Cajun seasoning, black pepper and crushed red pepper. (NOTE: I recommend including the CRP because the alfredo is a bit sweet, and the heat from the peppers really helps cut that.)

Spoon the sauce into each of the spaghetti squash halves. Use a fork to get the sauce down into the “spaghetti” so it’s well coated. Top with the chicken strips and extra Parmesan and place under the broiler of your oven for 2-3 minutes, or until golden and bubbly.

Serve hot with a side salad and a slice of warm garlic toast.  We loved this because it makes two HUGE portions—that come in under 500 calories each!!!!.  Even so, it was SOOO much food that I actually had to set half aside for lunch the next day!

NutriFacts: (per serving)

Calories 456.7

  Total Fat 20.1 g

  Saturated Fat 8.5 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 1.5 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 9.1 g

  Cholesterol 68.9 mg

  Sodium 1,071.2 mg

  Potassium 774.3 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 31.9 g

  Dietary Fiber 5.1 g

  Sugars 11.8 g

  Protein 38.2 g

Daniel Fast, Days 3 & 4: Morning Infusions & Vegetable Spaghetti!

Day 3: Wednesday
Today’s Devotion – “This is the 3rd day of your fast. Three is the number of resurrection. It’s Jubilee & all can be freed to return to their original families.( Lk.4:18-19) The beggar (poor), the brokenhearted, the bound (captive), the blind, & the bruised can now return to their original state. Jesus has paid the redemption price for all to be free. Embrace your new found freedom, the chains are broken & the things that have held you in bondage are removed. Stand up tall & face this day with a new perspective, a bold confidence that says, “If God Be For Me, Who Can Be Against Me?”
Indeed, today was much easier!  No craving for coffee, no hunger pangs when I smelled my coworkers’ cooking their lunch (my office is all of 10 feet from our kitchen).  Perhaps the chains of bondage are removed!  Even with 18 more days ahead, I know we can do this.  This is not a diet, or some “cleanse”…this is a spiritual commitment.  I think that’s hard for some to comprehend.  I’ll mention I’m doing the Daniel Fast and it seems to translate as “you’re trying out a vegan diet”.  When I mention the things I can’t have, they suggest soy cheese or agave nectar or Boca burgers… but that’s not the point.  Yes, I realize that there are replacements out there for everything under the sun, but if all you’re doing is “replacing” the things in your diet with fake versions, it’s not really a fast.  It’s like you’re trying to outwit God, or “bend” the rules to make the fast comfortable for you.  But it’s not supposed to be easy, or comfortable.  It requires a commitment, and sacrifice on your part.  And you really have to enter into the fast with a heart for God and the challenge ahead, otherwise you WILL be tempted to bend the rules.
Our weather is bleak & cold & snowy this week, and not having something hot to drink in the morning really wore on me today.  So I decided to make an apple & cinnamon infused water.  I put ½ apple and a stick of cinnamon into a big insulated mug, and then filled it with hot water before leaving for work.  By the time I got here, the water was nicely infused!  However…the cinnamon is a bit overpowering for my taste.  Next time, maybe only half a stick.

Breakfast: Flatout MultiGrain Flax wrap w/natural peanut butter, banana & strawberry (makes me feel like a kid!)

Lunch: More avocado salad & applesauce

Dinner:  Here’s a challenge.  Wednesdays, as you well know, are Trivia Night, where we typically head down to our favorite watering hole, and enjoy some tasty Irish grub.  However…ehhh….pretty much nothing on the menu is Daniel Fast friendly.  I don’t have time to run home on Wednesdays, so it meant either bringing dinner to work with me, or finding a spot to eat out.  Thankfully, several Pinterest searches recommended Chipotle being Fast-friendly.  And then…there’s Qdoba!  Which, if you’ve never been there, is almost exactly like Chipotle but with a few extra options.  I used the Nutrition Calculators on their websites and determined that if we went to Chipotle, we’d have to get a Burrito Bowl since they don’t have a whole wheat tortilla.  BUT, Qdoba does…and, with the same ingredients, the sugar content at Qdoba was lower than Chipotle, meaning Qdoba was less likely to have added sugar into their salsas and fillings.  So we did Qdoba.

YUM.  But…here’s the thing…I don’t know if you’ve ever eaten at a Chipotle or Qdoba, but the portions are HUGE.  One veggie burrito (wheat tortilla, brown rice, black beans, fajita veggies, lettuce, pico, corn salsa, & salsa verde) = 680 calories.  That’s with NO meat, cheese, or sour cream.  So if you’re gonna go there, PLEASE share with someone (like we did—we just split it) or take half home.  Seriously.  Otherwise you WILL be in pain later.
And then…there’s trivia.  Where our teammates are chowing down on a delicious burger or roast chicken dinner, and sipping on cold brew.  It’s challenging to be around, but we survived with only a few pangs of envy.  And we even won 3^rd place!
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Day 4: Thursday
(Since I got home late on Wednesday, I’m combining these posts.)
Today’s Devotion: “Day 4: A Time to Be Creative” 2 Cor.5:17 ‘Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.’  Four is the number for Creation. The 4 corners of the earth are north, east, west, & south. This gives us the acronym News. News always travels faster when something incredible has happened. Your new life in Christ needs to be proclaimed throughout the earth. Be creative, innovative, & allow a God idea to break forth out of you that will change somebody’s world. It’s a new Day!
Alas…it hasn’t been a very creative day.  It’s been a day of billing clients, actually, which is not terribly creative at all. That does frustrate me at times about my job—it’s a science job, full of data and facts & no real frills.  Some days the artsy side of my brain gets really antsy because of that.  There are days I miss working in the media (TV, newspaper), because it was a creative job.  We “made” the news. I assembled commercials. I took pretty photos and put them in the paper. I wrote articles that used alliteration and got to be subjective, share my opinion. 
BUT…that’s why I have this blog.  Even when we had The Scoop open for the season, I couldn’t let this refuge go fallow.  This is my creative outlet now.  That, and my kitchen!  I love thinking up new recipes, and scouring the interwebz (aka Pinterest) for ideas.  Today, the Hubs emailed me at work and asked that I “please make a big batch of something hearty tonight so we can have leftovers for lunch tomorrow”.  With our restrictions, that means a whole wheat pasta dish or meatless chili….or….OOORRR…. are there other things?  Something with marinated mushrooms!  Ooh, quinoa!  Maybe some pasta e fagioli?  Maybe it’s weird, but I love spending my lunch hour figuring out what I want to make for dinner.
Another cold day today, so this morning I just did hot water with some lemon slices in it.  PERFECT!  So good, I had two more glasses that way.  There’s something about snow on the ground that just DEMANDS a warm cup in your hand!

Breakfast:  Two oat-raisin pancakes with all natural peanut butter, like a sandwich (VERY filling! I highly recommend!)

Lunch: 1 tomato, 1 cup carrots, 2 tbsp garlic hummus (oooh….need to roast some garlic!!!), and a half of a whole wheat flatbread

Afternoon Snack: Applesauce
Dinner:  We decided to go with pasta!  I did my basic spaghetti recipe, but replaced the meat with some dark red kidney beans.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 onion, diced
• 2 cups mushrooms, diced
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 2 tbsp minced garlic, divided
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp dried rosemary, crumbled
• 2 tbsp Italian seasoning
• 2 Dorot cubes basil
• 1 can dark red kidney beans
• 1/2 box whole wheat spaghetti
• 2 cans tomato sauce w/ oregano & basil
• 1 can diced tomatoes w/garlic & onion
• 2 tsp Cajun seasoning
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Directions:
While you’re boiling your pasta, in a separate pot sauté the mushroom, garlic, onion, and bell pepper in the olive oil.   When the pepper & onion are soft, add the beans, tomato sauce & tomatoes and seasonings.   Season to taste.

When the pasta is done, mix it into the pot & serve!

I miss parmesan…but otherwise it was pretty tasty!

NutriFacts:
Calories 286.4
 Total Fat 3.5 g
 Saturated Fat 0.5 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.5 g
Monounsaturated Fat 1.8 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
 Sodium 2,326.8 mg
Potassium 294.9 mg
Total Carbohydrate 56.8 g
Dietary Fiber 12.8 g
Sugars 9.0 g
Protein 12.1 g

Homemade pasta!

 

Not just sauce.  PASTA.  NOODLES. 

Let’s set aside my love of Cajun food for a moment.  Because my first food love, aside from “Mom's cooking”, was Italian.  My grandpa (Pawpaw) used to make spaghetti all the time when we visited him—it’s actually the only thing I remember him cooking, since my Grandma (Nana) typically did most of the cooking.  It was the only way I would eat mushrooms—in PawPaw’s spaghetti.  When we ventured into the big city & went out to eat, Olive Garden was always my top choice—and ALWAYS fettuccini alfredo.  ALWAYS. Ravioli, fried or canned?  LOVE.  There’s just something about carbs & meat and tomato sauce in a big bowl that sets one’s mind at ease. Or maybe that’s just the carbo overload.

Anyway… my friends Jenn & Paul gave us the Kitchenaid pasta roller attachment as our wedding gift…but up til now, we hadn’t had a chance to use it.  But there’s no time like the present—especially when you have half a jar of Prego in the fridge.

Though it took a few tries to get it right & get the hang of the roller, here’s the nice thing about making your own pasta—it’s very forgiving.  It’s meant to be kneaded & rolled & rolled again to get it to the perfect thickness & consistency.  So if it doesn’t come through your roller nicely the first time, just fold it over & pass it through again.

Ingredients: (makes enough noodles for 4 servings)

1 cup all purpose flour (some recipes call for durum flour, but it’s not cheap, and AP worked just fine for me)

1/2 tsp garlic salt

1.5 tbsp water

.5 tbsp olive oil

1 beaten egg

 

Directions:

Add your dry ingredients into a large bowl & mix.  Then make a slight indention in the center of the flour & add the beaten egg.  Begin the mixer, and then add the water & oil.  Continue mixing until well combined and it forms a ball. 

Lay some wax paper on your counter & lightly flour it.  Sprinkle some flour on the dough as well & knead.  The oil should help it from being sticky, but you can sprinkle with more flour as needed.  Then, set up your pasta roller (you could probably also roll out with a rolling pin if you don’t have a pasta roller) to the thickest setting, and roll through. Pass through a few times till you get a good even sheet.

Then, start thinning it down.  Move the setting down a notch, pass through again, and so on. If it starts to tear or weaken, no worries, just fold over & pass through again.  Continue to ratchet down one level at a time until you get to your desired thickness.  For the record, I stopped at a “4”, on the Kitchenaid roller, 1 is the thickest, and 8 is the thinnest.

Once you’re happy with the thickness, lay it out on the wax paper & sprinkle w/a bit more flour so that your cutter won’t stick when you start slicing into noodles.

I don’t have the Kitchenaid cutter attachment because I just can’t seem to justify the cost.  Rather, I have a hand roller like this one, that I got for 75 cents at the thrift store.

Works just fine & makes a lovely pile of noodles.

If you don’t have either of these, a pizza cutter also works just fine.

Then all that’s left to do is whip up a quick sauce:

(1/2 jar Prego, 1/2 lb cooked turkey sausage, 1/2 package fresh sliced mushrooms, 1/2 onion, 1/2 bell pepper, 1 tbsp minced garlic, & Italian seasoning to taste)

Set a pot of water to boil, and add a pinch of salt & a tsp of olive oil.  Once the water boils, add your pasta.  The oil will help keep the noodles from sticking together.

Boil for 1-7 minutes—it’ll depend on the thickness.  Taste them to check for doneness.

Then mix with your sauce & serve!!!

 

NutriFacts:

Calories 378.6  

Total Fat 15.3 g   

Saturated Fat 4.0 g   

Polyunsaturated Fat 0.7 g   

Monounsaturated Fat 3.0 g  

Cholesterol 86.3 mg  

Sodium 1,332.1 mg  

Potassium 137.0 mg  

Total Carbohydrate 39.1 g   

Dietary Fiber 5.1 g   

Sugars 9.2 g  

Protein 21.9 g