Light Macaroni and Cheese: Encore Please

This time of year is perfect for one of my family's favorite dishes: Mac n' Cheese courtesy of Cooking Light that has appeared on this blog before. It is a little time consuming in terms of the prep, but the actual dish comes together in minutes. What I do recommend is reading up on how to peel and cut a butternut squash before attempting it. The pre-peeled stuff in the grocery store will NOT give you the flavor you want. This time I also tried a Gruyere and cheddar cheese mix from Trader Joe's. The flavor was fantastic!

Steal of the Week: Kid-Tastic Pizzadillas

Now that I seem to have the monthly meal planning almost to a science, I am trying to work on developing a plan for lunches as well. This will prove to be a most daunting task in many respects, as both my husband and I work outside the home and have occasions where there will be impromptu lunch meetings, our son has his lunches included Monday thru Friday but needs lunch on the weekends and my 12 year-old step-daughter needs lunch at least once a week when she is with us and every other weekend. Whew! Writing that out it seems even more complicated!

I have already documented that often on weekends we do leftovers for lunch and my inability to cook small portions of anything also means there are meals in the freezer. But as we try to further improve our eating habits and I try not to bore myself or anyone else with a sandwich every day, I am trying out different ideas for lunch. I started small and simple with this recipe for Kid-tastic Pizzadillas from Cooking Light.

They only take a total of 15 minutes. I decided since I was packing them for work and school that instead of trying to send separate marinara, I was just going to sprinkle a little over the cheese and pepperoni. The key is not to use too much so there is no oozing. I used the whole wheat fat free tortillas and they worked great.

Once they cooled enough to handle, I cut them into wedges and packed them into reusable plastic sandwich containers. I popped mine int the fridge when I got to work and did a quick warm-up in the toaster oven at my office kitchen. My step-daughter kept them in her Pack-it lunch bag and just ate them out of the container. She thought they were great! of course me being me, I am dreaming up other fillings for me and the husband and letting the kids come up with ideas too. A fun and delicious way to start off trying lunch recipes! I will keep looking for new ideas but what do you do to keep lunches exciting and keep from eating out?

Sunday Supper: Chili-Corn Chip Pie

Continuing with cooking new recipes out of Cooking Light I next attempted a recipe I really wanted to try: Chili-Corn Chip Pie. If you have never had the full fat version of this, with handfuls of corn chips (of course I love Fritos) in layers topped with beef chili and gobs of cheddar cheese, it IS delicious but of course not good for you. This recipe sounded like a good compromise since it still had the meatiness but just the flavor and crunch of the chips instead of handfuls of them.

The recipe starts with making just a simple skillet chili. I used ground beef instead of sirloin and while I understand the reasoning of using the sirloin, I had no issues with the ground beef.

Once you add the tomato paste, broth, water and tomatoes and chilies, it's a lot like making taco meat: waiting for the liquid to reduce down:

I found I had to add another tablespoon of tomato paste to get it to thicken to my liking. Once the chili is done, the assembly is a snap!

My step-daughter had two helpings as did I! We all enjoyed the quick chili so much we are already dreaming up other ways to use it. It could have also used a little more heat too but I think that also depends how we use it.

Steal of the Week: Chicken and Herb White Pizza

This month I tried something a little different when I planned for the month...I decided to concentrate on one source for my new recipes. I thought this might be a fun way of trying new things but also help me get through my pile of magazines! The recipe I stole this week is from by now what most of you should know is one of my favorite magazines: Cooking Light. The husband was especially interested in their Chicken and Herb White Pizza so I added it to the menu and went to work!

First of all, I always scoop up the pizza dough balls from my local Harris Teeter whenever they go on sale for 99 cents AND on Sunday's they usually mark down their rotisserie chickens $2 off. And since I also plan my menus based on ingredients...I already had the grated fresh pecorino Romano cheese too! The sauce was very easy and took no time to make. The only change I had to make was one of my own doing...how on earth was I out of fresh garlic? So in went garlic powder instead!

I will admit I am still having some difficulty with making a round of pizza dough! But the sauce still looked pretty yummy on it even if it was misshapen:

I followed the instructions to the letter, even ensuring I cooked it on the bottom rack. Anyone with a pizza stone know if that would make a difference? This picture in hindsight makes me laugh...looks like my tasty pizza is in jail!

Topped with parsley and chives from my very own herb garden (I didn't have fresh oregano and decided it didn't really need it) and the result was very good. Hubby suggested adding some crushed red pepper to the sauce (shocker) and the fresh garlic will definitely make a difference.

I think it will make a great appetizer pizza and I plan to try it with my own homemade dough...sometime soon!

RECIPE: Chicken and Herb White Pizza courtesy of Cooking Light

Meatless Monday: Creamy Light Macaroni and Cheese

Every once in a while I try a recipe just because I am curious. Maybe it’s something I have never prepared before (like short ribs) or maybe it’s something that has a unique ingredient. Thumbing through my Cooking Light magazines and cookbooks in preparation of creating the monthly menus, I revisited their September cover recipe: creamy light macaroni and cheese.  I had some real interest in this because my hubby bless his heart loves the stuff but he has high cholesterol so I very rarely if ever make it. What makes it light? Well, here is where the unique ingredient comes in: butternut squash! Yep, Cooking Light shared a recipe that calls for a butternut squash béchamel and since they are in season I said, why not?

Frankly the hardest part of preparation was pealing that damn squash!! Perhaps this would be the point that I should mention this is the second time in my life I have dealt with this particular gourd in its original form (I usually cheat and buy the pre-peeled and cubed they sell in the produce section). I spent Saturday at our local Farmer’s Market with my family and some friends and picked up just-from-the-farm butternut squash and promptly struggled to peel it and seed it. If only I had seen this first: How to Peel and Cut a Butternut Squash.

RECIPE: Creamy Light Macaroni and Cheese:

I varied a little from the instructions, choosing to use my stick blender rather than attempt to pour hot squash and chicken broth from my pot...and it still came out wonderfully creamy:

The sauce was in fact absolutely delicious! I was so impressed that it didn't taste like squash at all. The high quality cheese is certainly a little pricey but it makes all the difference. Once it's added to the pasta it already looks delicious, and I used whole wheat penne:

The topping was super easy and it takes only a few minutes to brown the panko which when combined with the Parmigiano-Reggiano surprisingly made enough to sprinkled over the top as indicated.

The moment of truth was the taste test after it's 25 minutes in the oven. It was more than a success as hubby almost went for thirds! The 4 year-old ate it too and it made a ton so we had plenty to freeze for another time. Definitely a keeper!!

Sunday Supper: Cabernet Short Ribs with Parmesan Polenta

When I received this month's issue of Cooking Light magazine I was super excited about the section on cooking in a Dutch oven. I recently acquired a very nice seasoned cast iron one and have been waiting for the opportunity to break it in! The first recipe that caught my eye was the one for Cabernet Short Ribs with Parmesan Polenta. I love short ribs, but frankly have never cooked them so this was going to prove to be an adventure...luckily my Harris Teeter had these already on hand:

NOTE: I halved the recipe since it was just for me and hubby!

The recipe has several parts so I actually prepared my mise en place:

I could have eaten the short ribs after they were just browned in the pan:

Here is another case for smell-o-vision...I think I tweeted the night I was cooking this about how heavenly the house smelled. Just the ingredients through the rosemary smelled delicious, but the addition of the wine made everyone's mouth water:

Once the short ribs went into the oven, it was time to start the polenta. This is also something I have never attempted. The recipe called for "quick cooking polenta" and I bought this:

Once I read the package I realized I may have erred, but it turned out to be a simple fix. While the recipe called for 3 cups of milk and 1 cup of water, since the package said the contents could be reconstituted with 1-2 cups of liquid, I just used 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of water.

When the short ribs came out of the oven, I had to refrain myself from tearing into them right there:

After I strained the cooking liquid and used my fat separator, I returned the liquid to the pan as the recipe indicated...here is where I made another error: I let it reduce too much. the flavor was still fantastic but I didn't get the sauciness I expected or the recipe promised. But the dish was in fact beautiful and every step was worth it:

Turns out hubby is not quite the short rib lover (he has this thing about "fatty" meat) but I am using the leftover ribs (two per person was more than filling) to make a shredded beef BBQ I will be serving over the reused polenta, fried into cakes. If I ever have someone over for dinner I want to impress, these will make an appearance again.

Steal of the Week: Baked Mozzarella Bites

I am always on the lookout for healthy versions of my family's favorite foods. One of our guilty pleasures is mozzarella sticks. I have never bought them frozen at the grocery and made them at home but on occasion when we are at a restaurant that has them on the menu, we indulge. So I was very excited to receive my August Cooking Light magazine and find one of their Super Fast 20-Minute Cooking recipes was one for Baked Mozzarella Bites! I decided to whip them up as an appetizer one night when I was serving pasta for dinner.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 3 (1-ounce) sticks part-skim mozzarella string cheese
• 3 tablespoons egg substitute
• Cooking spray
• 1/4 cup lower-sodium marinara sauce (such as McCutcheon's)

Preparation

• 1. Preheat oven to 425°.
• 2. Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add 1/3 cup panko to pan, and cook for 2 minutes or until toasted, stirring frequently. Remove from heat, and place the panko in a shallow dish.
• 3. Cut mozzarella sticks into 1-inch pieces. Working with one piece at a time, dip cheese in egg substitute; dredge in panko. Place cheese on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 425° for 3 minutes or until the cheese is softened and thoroughly heated.
• 4. Pour the marinara sauce into a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at HIGH 1 minute or until thoroughly heated, stirring after 30 seconds. Serve with mozzarella pieces.
• David Bonom, Cooking Light  AUGUST 2011
• I used my usual Bertolli tomato sauce that I always have on hand for dipping and these were gobbled up in a minute! I am looking forward to making them again as the magazine suggests for an after-school snack. I also thought these would be a fun little garnish on a salad for us grown-ups although I ate my fair share of these too.