Wordless Wednesday: BACON!

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Monthly Menu Planning - December Menu

I can't believe that Thursday is December 1st!! Everyone says time flies when you have kids, but I think 2011 went by with supersonic speed! The menu is probably a little over-ambitious this month with it being the holiday season and subject to change with Christmas parties and such, but I like being prepared!

I am definitely trying a few new recipes this month and bringing back some favorites. It's chilly and rainy where I am tonight...so tonight it is chili for dinner!

Happy menu planning!

Meatless Monday: The End of Thanksgiving

Sick of turkey yet?

Even if I did cook a 14-pound turkey for just me, my husband and son and then inexplicably also cook enough sides for as many people as a 14-pound turkey could feed..I do enjoy Thanksgiving because it is THE holiday dedicated to eating. As the below photo shows:

Did I mention this was for just me, my spouse and our 4-year old?

Anyway, there is turkey pot pie filling in the crock-pot while we speak , augmented by leftover veggies. Speaking of veggies, with it being Meatless Monday I thought I would share some vegetable dishes starting with 3 different broccoli preparations from my favorite Cooking Light::

Cheddar Beer Sauce Broccoli

Broccoli with Red Pepper and Toasted Garlic

Lemon Parmesan Broccoli

I made my broccoli for Thanksgiving in the spirit of their lemon broccoli but having used all the lemons during my other prep and cooking I improvised with leftover lemon Caesar dressing…quite good!

Next it’s a good time to revisit those mashed sweet potatoes because since according to my husband I made 3 pounds of them, I had leftovers I used in a sweet potato cheesecake:

Finally I direct your attention to my new favorite easy and tasty appetizer/side item: spicy saltines! These went fantastic with a good friend’s famous white chicken chili at the recent college football tailgate. Literally there are 4 ingredients: 1 ¼ cup canola oil, 2 tablespoons crushed red pepper, 1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix, 1 box of saltines:

Have a great post-Thanksgiving week everyone! Next blog will be the December menu…only 27 days until Christmas!

Wordless Wednesday: Part II Turkey Has a Bath

Wordless Wednesday: And so it begins....

Sunday Supper: Mom's Chili

I learned to make chili from my mom and a few years ago she gave me her recipe. She can't remember where she got it from but it's the chili she has cooked for years and I get to share the recipe with you!

Mom's Chili

Ingredients

• 2.5 lb ground chuck
  
• 2 cups chopped onion
  
• 1 chopped green pepper
  
• 2 cloves garlic pressed
  
• 3 Tbsp chili powder
  
• 1.5 tsp oregano
  
• 1 tsp basil
  
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
  
• 2 tsp ground cumin
  
• 1 tsp sugar
  
• 2 tsp salt
  
• 2 cans whole tomatoes, undrained
  
• 2 cans tomato sauce
  
• 1 can tomato paste
  
• 2 cans kidney beans, light and dark or both same
  

Cooking Directions

1. Cook meat until no longer pink and then drain. 
2. Reserve meat and add onion and green pepper to pan. 
3. Next add garlic and all remaining spices. 
4. Stir in the ground beef and the remaining ingredients except beans. 
5. Bring to a boil. 
6. Simmer 1 hour and then add the beans.
7. Cook another 15 minutes.
   

Simple right? Now me being me and The Cook Crook after all, I don't actually follow this recipe to the letter. In fact, since Sunday's meal was in fact chili, I started it this morning before we all headed to church. Once I browned my meat and reserved it, I sauteed both red and yellow onion and omitted the green pepper all together. My husband likes spice so too the mix I added some fresh chili peppers from this handy kitchen helper:

I live by these little tubes now!

Anyway, I then added 1 can of diced tomatoes and green chiles and a new product made by Hunt's that is tomato sauce seasoned for chili. The only change I made to the spices in mom's recipe was I cut back to 2 tablespoons of chili powder instead of 3 to account for the seasoned sauce. With no other tomatoes or suace added, this by itself would make wonderful hot dog chili!

Today the chili went into the slow cooker and I added the remaining ingredients and if you were in my house right now, you would definitely smell chili! Nothing like it when it cooks all day and those flavors come together!

I love chili and have won a few chili competitions just by experimenting with my Mom's basic recipe. Have any chili tips to share? Let me know! And as always send in your "cook crook" moments as I would love to share them.

The Reality of Putting Yourself Out There

One week with no blogging makes a food writer crazy! I had every intention of sitting down and composing a bunch of different pieces but the world outside of food blogging wasn't having it. First it was preparation for and the running of an arbitration for my paid profession. Then my car suddenly dies one morning, was thankfully jumped and started, but then needed $7000 in repairs. Yep, that was my week.

But life is funny...and the world often seems to sometimes equal itself out. When I came home Wednesday from my ill-fated trip to the car repair place I realized I had missed a call on my cell phone. It was from a young lady named Katie calling from Master Chef. Yes you read that right. They are taking applications for Master Chef Season 3 and I one night in a whirlwind of inspiration decided to apply. So my application had made it through and here she was inviting me to the Open Call casting in Washington DC on Saturday.

Then I had a decision to make. I have had an experience with a reality cooking show and although a local based competition, once you cook under the pressure of 1 hour or 45 minutes there is nothing like it....and you find yourself wanting to do it again but on the other hand, the competition was Saturday and I had an unreliable car and what was I going to make, and when would I drive up for a 10am start, and where would I stay and what would it be like..and...and....

And my friends. My fabulous friends who are my family. My friends told me I would be crazy not to go. My dear friend Kandice offered to drive. My friends Jim and Jennifer offered up a place to stay the night before at Bigglesworth Manor (their home which deserves the name by the way). Other friends offered up places to stay and ideas and someone to watch my son and there was so much support that even if I tried to talk myself out of it, they wouldn't have let me.

So Friday afternoon Kandice and I drove up to Northern Virginia and stayed the night with our good friends of Bigglesworth Manor and I made a dish that I thought represented me: meatloaf with a basil and roasted tomato sauce and a side cauliflower smash with roasted garlic. The sauce was Kandice's idea... remember that roasted tomato and basil spread? Well Kandice said I had to find a way to use it so I did. And it made a fabulous sauce when thinned out with Fresca...I kid you not.

This dish was made and tasted and then remade at 7:00am the next morning. The components were packed up and stored in a newly acquired  Rachel Ray "casserole keeper" and we headed to the venue. While I can't give a lot of details, I can tell you I got there a little before 9am and was number 275. I got to shake Chef Gordon Ramsey's hand and he told me, "Good luck". I go to meet some home cooks just like me, one who was really cool and I hope gets on the show and others who scared me with the food they brought.I also got to stand in line for 6 hours until it was my turn to present my dish and make an impression on a show producer in less than a minute but I also got to spend that entire time with my dear friend Kandice...and at the end we were still friends!

It was a great experience and even if I am not called on to compete to be the next Master Chef I am glad I put myself out there. My good friend Zack often says that when you put yourself out there, the Universe has no choice but to respond. I think he's definitely right. This may not be the opportunity meant for me, but there is one out there. In the meantime I will continue to write this blog that I love and cook for my friends and family and eat at great places and share those experiences with you.

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams - Eleanor Roosevelt

Quick Meal: Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken Breasts

I think every cook, when faced with a cooking disaster finds herself retreating back to familiar tried and true dishes or at the very least a simple one. I bring this up because the long string of successful dishes came to an end on Sunday when I tried to make a stuffed pork tenderloin. When I am fully over the trauma, it will be its own post as I have never said this blog was about cooking perfection (remember that roast chicken?). In the meantime, when it came to the night I had set aside to use chicken breasts, I was not in the mood to do anything particularly adventurous.

I wasn't feeling like anything pan-fried and shockingly had no interest in Mexican or pasta. A quick scan of the fridge revealed prosciutto and that I still had parmigiano-reggiano. So enter my quick meal: prosciutto wrapped chicken. For a side,the pantry revealed some sweet potatoes left over from our last Farmer's Market trip and I knew the mashed sweet potatoes would be a success.

I salt and peppered two chicken breasts and wrapped each one in three pieces of prosciutto.

I heated some olive oil in a stainless oven proof pan and placed the chicken in the pan, seam side down:

After about 5 minutes on each side, I shaved some slices of parmigiano-reggiano on top of the wrapped chicken and slid them into a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes:

I let them rest and served them with my potatoes that I had prepared while they had been cooking.

Quick, easy and pretty good. Hubby suggested adding more cheese, preferably on the inside. I agreed on the cheese and thought maybe some tucked in rosemary or other chicken-loving herb would be great. With a meal successfully accomplished, I think I can now go off experimenting again...just not pork tenderloin anytime soon!

Friday Night Bites: Driscoll's Moments Cooking Demonstration

Tonight I am excited to be joining my first virtual cooking/tasting event! Driscoll's berries is using social media to host a live cooking demonstration with Chef Rick Rodgers of Williams-Sonoma and Bon-Appetit fame.  In preparation and support of the event I am preparing the Brie with Honeyed Raspberries and Pistachios. I am sure it won't look as beautiful as the picture as the photo Driscoll's provided, but I have no doubt it will be delicious. You can register for the event at www.driscollsmoments.com and Tweet tonight's hashtag #DriscollsMoments. Below is the recipe for the brie and hope to Tweet you later!

Holiday Warm Brie with Honeyed Raspberries and Pistachios

Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes Servings: 4 to 6

Number of Ingredients: 7

1/2 cup (2 ounces) shelled pistachios

1 wheel (13.3 ounces) ripe Brie, box reserved, top rind sliced off,

cheese chilled

1/4 cup honey

1 tsp. balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp. finely chopped fresh rosemary

1 package (6 ounces or 1 1/4 cups) Driscoll’s Raspberries

Water crackers or baguette slices for serving

Preheat the oven to 350˙F. Spread the pistachios on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake, stirring

occasionally, until lightly toasted and fragrant, about 10 minutes.

Transfer to a plate.

Place Brie, in its box, on baking sheet. Bake until warm and the top

is softened, but not until cheese is oozing, about 15 minutes.

Transfer cheese in box to serving platter.

Stir honey, vinegar, and rosemary in a medium skillet over medium

heat just until warm. Add raspberries and pistachios and gently fold

in with a rubber spatula.

Pour raspberry mixture over warm cheese. Serve at once, with the

crackers for spreading.

Reader Recipe: Cake Mix Cookies

I obviously have a great love for social media! I love how it connects me with old friends, keeps me connected with current ones and helps me connect to new people as well. When I started this blog, I really didn't just start it for me as I liked the idea of sharing food ideas with others but as I am the Cook Crook, I also wanted readers to share with me too!

Enter friend Michele, who I met through Facebook as she is the dear friend of one my sister-in-laws and of course knows my husband and the rest of his immediate family. She sent me a quick an easy recipe for cookies since I constantly lament about my lack of baking skills (I am working on them!) Her recipe for cake mix cookies was so easy I couldn't wait to try it! Here is her recipe as she told it to me.

Cake Mix Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 Box of cake mix (any flavor - we used carrot cake this time around)
  
• 1/2 cup solid Crisco (I used the stick!)
  
• 1 tablespoon water
  
• 2 eggs
  

Mix the ingredients by hand or in a food processor.

Roll into 1 inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 8-10 minutes.

They should still be a bit gooey in the middle when you take them out.

Let sit on cookie sheet for 2 minutes and then cool on a wire rack.

From Michele: "I dipped the chocolate ones in some powdered sugar before baking so they looked pretty...these also freeze really well...I put a few in a snack size bag and the kids put them in their lunches when they pack them and they are defrosted by lunch."


My family loved them as did my office. Good thing the grocery store recently had 10 boxes of cake mix for $10. Can't wait to try other flavors.Thanks Michele!