Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Steal of the Week: Chicken with Pepperoni Marinara Sauce

Every once in a while I come across a dish that is not only company worthy but SHARE-worthy. After I made Chicken with Pepperoni-Marinara Sauce I told anyone I came across (including my no-carb mother) about it. It was delicious and I cannot wait to make it again! Thanks to Cooking Light for another awesome recipe. It was so simple and made practically with ingredients most of us have on hand.

Here is part of my mise en place:
I used turkey pepperoni because that's what we always have on hand and the jarred minced garlic because, well I was in a hurry! This is already one of Cooking Light's 20-minute super fast suppers and I shortened the time even further!
Jarred sauce obviously is the trick to a super fast meal and again is a home staple. I used the olive oil and garlic flavor for this go round.
Using chicken cutlets like the recipe calls for is another huge time saver. I purchased a package specifically for this recipe but usually I make my own.
The finish in the oven really makes the dish, allowing the cheese to melt and brown. I only use 2% mozzarella and with no pasta, this is a pretty carb friendly dish.I had no fresh basil on hand but used the fresh parsley I had left over form another recipe. It really came out beautiful and the response from my husband was overwhelmingly positive. It is already on next month's menu!
I am looking forward to trying different sauces as we continue to tweak the dish and the basil will definitely be on hand next time!

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Oh Where Oh Where Has My Free Time Gone?

The date of my last post cannot be correct...I have cooked some good meals and found a few "keeper" recipes and one that I will tell anyone who will listen how delicious it is (The Cooking Light chicken with pepperoni marinara sauce which will be my NEXT post). But in all honesty, it's been a rough two weeks of craziness at work and home, out of town travel, overwhelming school assignments and consequently I have been a little too friendly with the take-out menu and depleted my store of emergency freezer meals.

BUT, the worse seems past and I have an amazing trip to Arizona in a few days to look forward to as my friend Amy and I are already planning wonderful eateries to visit. Every foodie needs a foodie friend!

In the meantime, thought I would share a very yummy (and healthy!) recipe from Paula Dean for baked sweet potato fries...consider it a belated Meatless Monday!

Baked Sweet Potato Fries - Paula Dean - Food Network


Ingredients
Olive Oil, for tossing
5 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch long slices, then 1/4-wide inch strips
Oil
1 tablespoon House Seasoning (recipe follows)
1/2 teaspoon paprika

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Line a sheet tray with parchment. In a large bowl toss sweet potatoes with just enough oil to coat. Sprinkle with House Seasoning and paprika. Spread sweet potatoes in single layer on prepared baking sheet, being sure not to overcrowd. Bake until sweet potatoes are tender and golden brown, turning occasionally, about 20 minutes. Let cool 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
House Seasoning:
1 cup salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder

For the House Seasoning:  Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

On the Other Side of Sickness...party time?

And just like that I lost a week! Part of my absence I will blame on the bronchitis that would not die that was finally felled by 1600 mg of antibiotics a day. Part of it was my grad school class ramping up and part of it was I (GASP) lost my camera. The camera has since been found, I think I have school under control and now I can thankfully breathe through my noise AND complete a sentence without a coughing fit.

Now Valentine's Day is around the corner but also the time when I sort of ramp down with get togethers until the warm weather starts up again. Football is such an easy sport to build a party around and since the only one in my house and immediate friend circle with a college basketball obsession is my husband...don;t expect another big gathering until Spring!

That being said, I would be remiss to not share some highlights from our Super Bowl party...the two biggest being the blue cheese dip I made from Emerill's Potluck Cookbook (a gift from my mom this past Christmas) and the Nacho Normal Cheesecake made by my dear friend Ingrid. Below is the cheesecake:
Nacho Normal Cheesecake - recipe Food Network
I have mentioned my master baker friend Ingrid before and when I saw this featured in last month's issue of Food Network Magazine, I immediately passed it along to her and asked her to bring it as her contribution to the potluck. It looks like the magazine photo (actually IMHO it looks better, thanks Ingrid!)

Now about that blue cheese dip...
The recipe can be found here: Classic Blue Cheese Dip or buy a copy of Emeril's book: Emeril's Potluck (or if you are local I will happily loan it to you).

No matter where/how you get the recipe...make it...love it..and try not to eat an entire container of it yourself. This dip isn't exactly good for you except it has no sugar or artificial ingredients, so you low-carbers out there, enjoy!

It was a great football party, and maybe I am a little sad to see the fall and winter party season go, but there are more excuses out there to party I am sure!!!

Friday, February 3, 2012

Friday Night Bites: Cook Crook Created Sausage and Cheese Wonton Cups

Planning a get together for the Big Game? My family is having a ton of people over for Sunday and since we are providing the main dishes and asking people to bring their favorite sides, I am excited to see what people come up with.

Do need an appetizer for your Super get together? Try these sausage and cheese wonton cups. We had friends over for the NFC and AFC Championship games and I was looking for a fun finger food to make. I had just bought a package of wonton wrappers and was originally going to just make Chinese dumplings. However, I had come across a Bob Evans recipe for wonton sausage cups. The idea of turning the wontons into crunchy little vessels to hold yummy filling, sounded like a great idea. What didn’t sound great was the recipe which included a lot of cheese and Ranch dressing. Seriously ranch and cheese and sausage? I am sure some of you out here have had these and think they are delicious but I was not game for it.

Instead, I looked around my kitchen, found a pound of ground Italian sausage and a container of chive and onion cream cheese and thought that would make a much better filling! I followed the instructions from the original recipe on how to make the wonton cups. Spray a mini muffin tin with cooking spray and carefully push in a wonton wrapper into each well, making a fluted cup.
Into a 375 oven they go for about 5 minutes…just until they brown slightly. Remove them and allow them to cool. If you are like me and just own one mini-muffin pan you will have to repeat this step several times! In the end you will have a ton of fillable cups.

Next brown and crumble the sausage, drain it and allow it to cool slightly.
Add the tub of cream cheese, and mix well:
Next fill each cup with the filling.
Place back into the oven for about 8 minutes…again carefully watching for the right amount of browning.

Voila, pretty and tasty appetizers.
Both my husband and step-daughter went CRAZY over these. I originally intended to only make half the package of wontons but their pre-game snacking required the rest of the package get used.

I am excited to try different meat and cheese combinations…just no ranch thanks!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Wordless Wednesday: Like mother....like son

The Cook Crook has been felled by illness this week, but I had to share this shot of my son copying me and photographing his food!