Two Happy Bellies

Homemade Coffee Creamer

I have been loving Coffee Mate's Italian Sweet Cream for quite some time, and then I took a look at the ingredients. Gulp. Time to get creative. I started spelunking around on the internet and found several variations of the same recipe for homemade (liquid) creamers; here is mine (using ingredients I always have in the house): 1 can sweetened condensed skim milk, 1 1/2 C. skim milk, and roughly 2 T. flavoring. Put in container, shake well before using each time, lasts about 2 weeks in the refrigerator . . . if it lasts that long. This time I've made vanilla. While it isn't Italian Sweet Cream, at least I can pronounce all of the ingredients in my creamer and that is a good thing.

The Newlywed Cookbook

I've gotten out of the habit of telling you about new and favorite cookbooks. I will try to get better about that. And to start up with this again, I'm going to tell you about one that unexpectedly came our way: The Newlywed Cookbook (9780811876834) by Sarah Copeland. Based in New York City, Sarah Copeland is co-founder and former spokesperson for the Food Network and Share Our Strength’s Good Food Gardens campaign. Not only does she create recipes, she is also an urban gardener, and promotes living well. Sarah created The Newlywed Cookbook in an effort to persuade other newlyweds to build the habit of cooking and eating well together. She knows how important it is to share each other’s favorite comfort foods in both times of happy and in times of sick. Filled with recipes to cook together, many of which make just two servings (so perfect for newlyweds and empty nesters), she also encourages readers to learn how to compost, plant urban gardens, and support the local farmers’ market. Ending up with some menu ideas, foodies will drool over the photo excellent cookbook. I highly recommend the baked risotto recipe on page 115. Don’t forget to also check out her blog at www.edibleliving.com.

Cheese Enchilada Stack

Inspired by a recipe found in More Make it Fast, Cook it Slow (9781401310387) or at A Year of Slow Cooking, we made the Cheese Enchilada Stack (with chicken) for dinner this week.

Definitely not the prettiest meal, it really was easy to make. However, we found it to be on the bland side and if we do decide to make it again, we will definitely need to find a way to add some flavor. It is a good base recipe though so here you go:

• 8 corn tortillas
• 4 C. shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 (4 oz.) can sliced olives, drained
• 2 C. shredded cooked chicken (optional)
• 2 C. enchilada sauce
• sour cream
• salsa

Put a layer of tortillas into the bottom of a 4 quart slow cooker. Add a handful of cheese and some sliced olives. If you choose to add meat, we added some cooked shredded chicken we had on hand. Scoop some enchilada sauce on top of that. Repeat your layers until you've run out of ingredients, finishing with tortillas on top. Cover and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours or until the cheese is melted and the top layer is beginning to pull away from the sides. Let sit unplugged with the cover off for about 15 minutes. Serve with sour cream and salsa.

Adding a green salad made this a complete meal . . . although why I chose to plate up an orange recipe on an orange plate confuses me!

Peach Jalapeno Jam

One of the items we bought at Shaffer Farm's Texas Bar-B-Q was Peach Jalapeno Jam.

We opened it up the other day and enjoyed some as we tend to enjoy our homemade jalapeno jelly - on crackers and cream cheese. While it was interesting, we found it not quite as spicy as we had hoped (granted, we do enjoy heat with our flavor). This one would appeal to a lot of people with the good peach flavor and being on the sweet side. However, we would have preferred more kick from the peppers. As a result, we found it just interesting enough to inspire us to create our own. Because, after all, we do love peach salsa so we think we can create one we will adore. As soon as peaches come into season here, we will be in the kitchen experimenting.

Fresh Strawberries

I have finally gone berry picking as desired. Friends told us about Valley Home Farm down in Wartrace, TN. We immediately planned some Saturday fun. I will admit, I have no need to make a habit of this. However, there are definite rewards. Not only did we enjoy local popsicles made only from (their) strawberries, (their) honey, sparkling water, and pectin . . . we also have local strawberries to make strawberry vanilla lemonade. What a treat! And we will be going back come blueberry season in a few weeks. I can't wait!

Found via Pinterest, this recipe for Strawberry Vanilla Lemonade is very tasty.

However, it is a bit more work than I'm willing to do on a regular basis (although once we found our hand juicer, at least the lemon part became much easier!). Instead, we want to play around with the strawberry simple syrup and see how it works in club soda, or as a popsicle, even as a basis for pancake syrup. And the next time we go berry picking and get those blueberries? Well there is a blueberry port jam recipe from BH&G calling my name.

Crispy Herbed Shrimp with Chive Aioli with Roasted Asparagus and Tomatoes

From Cooking Light March 2012, we decided to try their Crispy Herbed Shrimp with Chive Aioli. This is served with Roasted Asparagus and Tomatoes. While we did not create the recipe exactly as written (no chives so we used cilantro - good use of ingredients around the house), we still proclaim this one a winner! Using items such as Greek yogurt to create the Aioli sauce and taking advantage of the seasonal nature of the asparagus we happily ate this one up. It also halved very easily which is always lovely as this was not one in which we were looking forward to leftovers. Dinner Tonight? This one is easily ready in the 40 minutes they promise.

Chicken Divan

Last Monday we made dinner for a new mom. We love to help feed others, so volunteer to do this quite frequently. We have several dishes we'll do in rotation and this one is perfect for feeding others. It is (almost) a perfect one dish meal. The only reason it isn't perfect? I can't stand not having something on the side. In this case we made a beautiful fruit salad as the side item and actually hit all the food groups with the main dish and side. Amazing!

While it isn't the prettiest thing on the plate, it sure is tasty! We made a double batch - one 9 by 13 for them and two 8 by 8 for us (one went promptly into the freezer for a future meal). Due to their sensitive palattes, we also made theirs the traditional recipe. Ours? Got doused with sriracha sauce, only our favorite sauce of the moment. We discovered it when we first made spicy chicken wraps. Speaking of them, it is just about time for them to show back up in rotation. Hoping our basil comes in soon!

Anyway, here is our recipe for one 9 by 13 pan:

• 8 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (about 4 cups meat)
• 1 bunch broccoli
• 1 1/2 C. cooked rice
• 1 stick butter
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 can cheese soup, condensed (this is one ingredient I'd like to swap out)
• 1 can evaporated skim milk
• 1/4 C. slivered almonds, toasted
• 1/2 C. crackers, crushed (the Ritz type, not the Saltine type)

Spray a 9 by 13 pan. Cook broccoli in boiling water for about 6 minutes. Meanwhile, saute onion with 1 T. butter. Add soup and milk to create sauce. Layer bottom of pan with broccoli, then rice, then chicken. Pour sauce over chicken. Don't stir, but jiggle the pan around to make sure sauce seeps through. Melt rest of butter. Scatter crackers across top of pan, then drizzle the butter, and scatter the almonds. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Serve with hot sauce for those who like extra seasoning.

With our fruit salad made of kiwi, cantelope, and watermelon, we had two happy bellies in the house.

Garden 2012

Sorry for the delay folks! Typepad released a new version which had issues with Internet Explorer and until they pushed out a statement (which means I'm now using Firefox at home), I was only able to blog text and no images. That isn't any fun. However, we are once again able to include pictures so here are two that will give you an idea of what we've been up to - playing in the dirt.

Closer bed has tomatoes, peppers, and herbs. Back bed has our tasty peas and the start of our okra.

Down here we have sunflowers right off our deck. Somehow I'm betting the birds will get a lot more of the seeds than we do. I just hope I get to enjoy the beauty of them. (If you look closely in this picture, you will see my purple shamrock has started to recover from when the birds tried to steal it for nesting material. I'm so glad it survived!)

I can't wait for everything to start coming in . . .

Chicken Fajita Medley

I was asked by a friend the other day about our penchant for "makeover" meals. While I don't call them out that often here on the blog, we do try to find a way to change up leftovers whenever possible. One of the easiest ones to share would be our chicken fajitas/fajita rice bowls/chicken quesadillas. The first night of this series we saute up a bunch of peppers and onions

 
and Aaron grills a couple of chicken breasts.

We enjoy these that first night on tortillas and with whatever accompanists we feel like . . . in this case: cheese, sour cream, salsa, and grilled corn.

The next day we make rice and then have those same ingredients of chicken, peppers/onions, salsa, cheese, etc. in a bowl

and then on the last night, we make quesadillas once again using our chicken, pepper/onions, cheese, etc.

There you go, three meals out of one set of ingredients.