Trying Some New Recipes

In my ongoing quest to shake up the menus around here, I recently tried a couple of new recipes.  One is a soup that appeared in the March 2015 issue of Country Living.  It's a lemony chicken orzo soup.  Since I love Panera Bread's version, I figured it was well worth a try.

It's light, yet filling.  The fresh dill adds a nice touch.  You can find the recipe on the Country Living site here.

An even better success was a scrumptious mini chocolate chip Bundt cake.  It was a big hit with me and our son.  I found this recipe in one of those compilation fundraiser cookbooks -- love those.

My cake stuck to the pan a little bit, as you can see in the photo below.  The topping is put in the pan first, and is maybe a little too buttery.  Tastes great, but leaves the fingers a little greasy if eating out of hand.

Nutty on top!

Imminently snackable

Toll House Bundt Cake

from A Cookbook by Sunset House Auxiliary Toledo Ohio (1991)

2 3/4 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon vinegar

1 cup less 1 Tablespoon milk

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 Tablespoon vanilla

4 eggs

1/2 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

Nut Topping:

1/2 cup butter, softened

4 Tablespoons granulated sugar

1 1/3 cup chopped nuts

For topping, combine butter, sugar and nuts; mix until crumbly.  Spoon into well-greased and floured 12-inch Bundt (or tube) pan.  Chill in refrigerator while you prepare cake batter.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.  Place vinegar in 1 cup measure, fill with milk to 1 cup line; set aside.

In large mixing bowl, combine butter, brown sugar and vanilla; beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Turn mixer to low.  Gradually add flour mixture, 1/3 at a time, alternating with milk.

Gently fold in chocolate mini chips with a rubber spatula.  Pour into prepared pan.  Bake at 375 degrees F for 50 minutes.  Loosen edges of cake with spatula.  Immediately invert on cooking rack.

Printable recipe

Something Fishy

I am back among the living, having come out of the weeds and the zombie state of an imminent deadline.  After a weekend spent celebrating the baby's twenty-first birthday, I have now settled back into my usual routine.

It is still winter here, despite the occasional robin sighting, so last night I decided on a warming meal of seafood chowder.  I had eaten clam chowder lots of times, but didn't discover seafood chowder until a trip to Ireland in 2009.  Our daughter went to the University of Limerick for a semester, and she and I spent about ten days driving along the west coast of Ireland before school started.  Being cheap, I soon learned that a bowl of chowder, served with that wonderful Irish brown bread, made a fabulous, inexpensive meal.  It was available almost everywhere, and I never had a bad bowl.





I recently watched Ina Garten make seafood chowder on Food Network, so when I saw wild-caught shrimp at the grocery store, I decided to try it.  I followed her recipe as closely as I could, only substituting cod for monkfish, which was not available.  This is a hearty, fishy soup, loaded with fish, shrimp, scallops, and crab meat.

A pound of shrimp, half pound of scallops, a little more
than a half pound of cod, and  six ounces of crab meat

There are vegetables, too: carrots, potatoes, celery, corn, and onion, but seafood is definitely the star of this chowder. The husband actually said he would like more potatoes, and I think I agree with him.

The vegetables simmering before the stock and seafood are added.

I would also add more flavoring I think.  Some recipe reviewers said they added a touch of cayenne.  That might help.  It was very good overall, but a little mild.  The stock was flavored with thyme, onion, and garlic, but it just needed more ooomph.  Maybe I didn't add enough salt and pepper.  For the recipe, you can click the Food Network link, here.

Get Well Potato Soup

This potato cheese soup is my go-to soup when someone in the family is sick.  I know, I know, chicken soup is the original medicinal soup, but this soup is popular at our house for sore throats, wisdom teeth removal, and also just for everyday eating.  It's quick and easy to make, and I almost always have all the ingredients on hand.

served with grilled chicken and stir-fried vegetables

Potato Cheese Soup

2 tablespoons butter

1 large onion, minced

1 large clove garlic, minced

6 medium russet potatoes, diced

3 cups chicken broth

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1 cup cream

1/2 cup milk (you can vary the proportions of milk to cream – even all milk)

2-3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Melt butter in large pot.  Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is soft.  Add broth, potatoes and dried thyme.  Bring to a boil and cook approximately 20 minutes or until potatoes are soft.  Remove pot from heat.  If you have an immersion blender, blend right in the pot, leaving some potato chunks.  If not using an immersion blender, pour 2/3 – 3/4 of the soup into a blender and blend smooth.  Then add soup back into pot.

Add cream/milk and return pot to heat.  Heat almost to a boil.   Stir in cheese and heat thoroughly until cheese is melted.  Serve at once.  This soup also reheats well.

Printable recipe

All Day Vegetable Beef Soup

Homemade vegetable soup is a bowl full of love and caring.  It is a bowl of "good for you."  It is also a bowl of easy to make.  Both children came home yesterday to spend the weekend celebrating a family birthday.  The day dawned gray and drippy as so many winter days this year.  It was the perfect day for All Day Vegetable Beef Soup.  

I always start this soup sometime mid morning and just let it simmer all day on the stove.  After a while, I may turn it off and let it set for an hour and then turn it back on.  The beauty of this soup is that you can't really overcook it.  It just keeps getting better as the flavors meld and it cooks down.  It is also fabulous reheated.

So yesterday morning I pulled down my old pressure cooker pot, which is very heavy and prevents any possible scorching.  Then I got to work.  The most time-consuming part of the process for me is trimming and cutting up the chuck roast.  I always buy a roast instead of pre-cut soup or stew beef.  I like to know what I'm getting, and I believe the quality of the meat is better with a whole roast.  I am also kind of obsessive about trimming as much fat as possible from the meat.

Once the meat and onions are browned and all the ingredients are in the pot, the soup virtually minds itself.  Just check back now and then to stir and/or adjust the lid.  I leave the lid partially askew to allow steam to escape and to prevent the soup from boiling.  The key is to simmer the soup over a long time, which makes the meat melt-in-your-mouth tender.  And being from the South, I don't mind my vegetables soft.

Turns out, the All Day soup was an especially good choice yesterday.  The daughter got caught in a snowstorm and there was a wreck on the interstate.  The road was closed and she was stuck for some two hours waiting for the accident to be cleared.  No problem, the soup didn't mind waiting, and neither did we.

All Day Vegetable Beef Soup

3-3 1/2 pound chuck roast

1 medium-large onion, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

2 carrots, sliced

1 28-ounce can tomatoes, cored and rough chopped

1 1/2 cups frozen green peas

2 cups frozen green beans

2 cups frozen lima beans

3 cups frozen corn

1 large russet potato, diced (about 2 cups)

9 cups water

2-3 bay leaves

1 teaspoon dried parsley

2 teaspoons dried oregano

2 teaspoons dried thyme

Trim fat from chuck roast and cut meat into bite-sized pieces.  Heat skillet over medium high heat, add meat and onions.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Brown meat and onions, stirring frequently.  Transfer browned meat/onion mixture to large, heavy stockpot using a slotted spoon to allow fat to drain.

Add tomatoes, carrots, frozen vegetables and potato to pot.  Add water and stir to combine.   Stir in herbs.  Cover with lid set slightly askew and cook over low heat about six hours or more.  Stir occasionally.  Add more water if needed.

Printable recipe

Brrrr! It's Chili!

"I just wish I had time for one more bowl of chili." -- Kit Carson's last words (according to Wikiquote).

I'm not sure I'd want chili for my last meal, but I do love a good bowl of chili, especially with a sprinkling of shredded cheddar cheese on top and some hot, crispy cornbread on the side.  It's hard to beat on a cold night.

I usually make chili the way my mother makes it, which is to say, with dried kidney beans and no recipe.  Just throw in chili powder until the color looks right.  But just for you, I've figured out the proportions and written down the recipe.  

There are lots of good chili recipes out there with different bean combinations, different meats, more vegetables, but this is a good, basic chili that is always popular.

This recipe is for a flavorful, but mild, chili.  You can add more chili powder and cayenne if you want more heat.  In any case, I recommend tasting the chili part way through cooking to adjust the seasoning.  Chili powders vary in their spiciness.  And, yes, using dried beans takes more time than using canned beans, but there is no comparison in the quality of the chili.  It really is worth the extra time.  

With some Martha White skillet cornbread on the side!

Sweet Posy Dreams Mild Chili

1 pound dried kidney beans

1 – 1 ½ pounds ground chuck

1 large onion, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

1 (28 oz.) can whole peeled tomatoes

2 tablespoons chili powder (add more for spicier taste)

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder (more for spicier)

Water to fill the tomato can (28 oz.)  2 ½ times

Sort the kidney beans, removing bad beans.  Rinse the beans thoroughly in cool water.  (I put the beans in the pot, cover with water and swirl the beans around to wash, then drain in a colander and rinse with cold water.)  Place beans in a heavy stock pot and cover with about 2 inches of water.  Bring to a boil, then turn off heat and cover beans.  Let sit about an hour.

While beans are soaking, break up ground chuck in a non-stick skillet.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Add onion and brown meat until completely cooked. 

Drain beans in colander and return to stock pot.  Using a slotted spoon to allow fat to drain, spoon meat and onion mixture into beans.

Open canned tomatoes and drain juice from can into the stockpot.  Cut up tomatoes, removing the cores, and add to pot.  (You can use diced tomatoes rather than whole if you want to skip this step, but I like the whole tomatoes because they are softer and cook down better than diced canned tomatoes.)  Use the tomato can to add water to the beans.

Add chili powder and cayenne.  Stir to combine.  Bring to a near boil, reduce heat, and simmer with lid askew on pot to allow steam to escape.  Simmer about 2 hours, or until beans are tender, stirring occasionally.  It’s hard to overcook the chili as it gets better the longer the flavors are allowed to meld. 

Printable recipe

Turkey Leftovers

While most people are looking ahead to Christmas, I am still stuck at Thanksgiving.  Specifically, with the Thanksgiving bird.  It's actually mostly gone, but last night I used the remainder in turkey noodle soup.  It was perfect for a chilly evening and only took a half hour.  I diced up both white and dark meat and combined it with chicken broth, egg noodles, frozen peas, a couple of bay leaves, some dried rosemary powder, dried sage, and cracked pepper.  Let it simmer until the noodles were done, and voila!  Soup!