Thinning out the Supplies: Not a Gourmet Endeavour

My dog has gotten spunky lately. He is getting more and more brave about jumping up to places he is not allowed to be to get into stuff he is not allowed to get into. Last Sunday, it happened to be the chicken breast that I had removed from the refrigerator and placed on the counter prior to its preparation. I came into my room to print off the recipe, and when I returned to the living room, there were my perfectly defrosted chicken breasts, mauled and strewn throughout the (carpeted) living room. He knew he was in trouble. He put his eyes down and walked immediately to his crate. What really stinks about the situation is that I spent more than a little time planning this meal, finding the recipe, finding sides... I don't remember what we had instead. Probably Sonic.

Monday, Brad went out of town. I ordered pizza from Papa Johns.

Tuesday, Brad was still out of town. I stopped by the grocery store on my way home to purchase more grapes and picked up some pre-made chicken salad, which I had for supper in the form of a sandwich.

Wednesday, I ate leftover Pizza. (This is the part where we all think, wow... I didn't realize she was such a bachelor.)

Thursday, Brad came home and wanted something home cooked, he had been dining out at all of his favorite restaurants for the past three days. Poor guy. We had Tilapia Parmesan, Green Beans and a tube of Italian Bread.

Tilapia Parmesan
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup butter, softened
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon celery salt
2 pounds tilapia filets

Preheat broiler. Line a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with aluminum foil. Mix together all ingredients but Tilapia.

Arrange fillets in a single layer on the prepared pan. Broil a few inches from the heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Turn and broil 2-3 additional minutes. (More for thick fillets) Cover fish with Parmesan cheese mixture on the top side. Broil for 2 more minutes or until the topping is browned and fish flakes easily with a fork.


As previously mentioned, we also had frozen green beans, and I baked a tube of Italian bread. I gotta admit, other than shape, I couldn't tell a difference between it and the tube of French loaf, but for $2 and fresh bread in 20 minutes, I am not going to complain.

This meal used Tilapia from the freezer and green beans from the freezer. Woo Hoo. It was also tasty, but If I did it again, I would make 1/2 as much sauce and just baste the fish with it. If you actually like the taste of fish, the sauce totally overpowers it. If you are trying to disguise fish for a picky eater, it is perfect.

Back to School Cookies

I keep forgetting to mention that I did make cookies the day before school started.

Brad's Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop 1/4 cup dough onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes. Remove when the middle is set and the edges are brown. If they are nice and evenly brown in the oven, they are overcooked.

Slacker!

Okay folks (both of you)... I know I have been remiss on the updates, but school started 2 1/2 weeks ago, and well, I've been busy. A) Busy and therefore not posting and B)Busy and therefore not cooking. Because it has been close to two weeks since an update, I will make a little sketch here to remind myself what I did when, and then will come back and add stories and updates. I'm going backwards...

Today...(8/27)
Hamburger Helper

8/26
Orange Chicken

8/25
BLTs

8/24
Dinner at Mom's... I brought blueberry pie

8/23 Taco Bell... Attack of the bacon...

8/22 Spaghetti and bread/ Nut Cookies

8/21 Thursday Parmesan Tilapia and herb rice pouch/ Chocolate Banana Bread

Wednesday, 8/20 Brad out of town...Pizza
Tuesday 8/19 Brad out of town... scrounge
Monday 8/18 Brad out of town... Pizza

Sunday 8/17 ... tragic chicken mishap... don't remember what we had

From the Request Line...

Summer Squash Enchiladas

1 medium chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cups chopped zucchini or yellow summer squash
1 4 oz. can diced green chili peppers
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
8 7-8 inch flour tortillas
1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes


Cook onion and garlic in hot oil in a large skillet just until tender. Stir in squash, cook 3-5 minutes until just tender. Stir in half of chili peppers, 1 teaspoon of chili powder and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Stir one more minute. Remove from heat. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan melt butter. Stir in flour, salt, remaining 1 teaspoon chili powder and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Cook and stir about 1 minute. Stir in milk. Cook and stir until thick. Remove from heat. Stir in 1 cup of cheese until melted. Add the rest of the chili peppers. Stir 1/2 cup of cheese sauce into squash mixture.

Spoon 1/3 cup squash mixture down the center of each tortilla; roll up. Place tortillas in a lightly greased 13x9 inch baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over tortillas. Cover and bake at 400 F for 25 minutes or until heated thoroughly. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and the tomatoes.

RESERVATIONS = What I Made For Dinner This Week

No Joke. Last night was the first night I'd cooked in a week. Don't believe me?

Last Friday Night, August 8, I made breakfast for dinner. We had french toast, which used up some leftover french bread we had, bacon (from the freezer) and scrambled eggs. The recipes for these items are posted on Thursday, July 17.

Last Saturday Night, August 9, as per a request from my darling fiance, Brad, we had pigs in a blanket.

Pigs in a Blanket
8 bun length all beef hot dogs, cut in half
4 pieces American Cheese, folded in half on the diagonal
2 packages crescent rolls

Preheat oven to 375F. Place one triangle of cheese in the triangle end of the crescent roll. Place a hot dog half at the wide end of the crescent roll, and roll up. Put on a large cookie sheet. Repeat 15 times. Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes, or until rolls are golden brown.


I served this particular delicacy with Ore Ida onion rings, baked in the oven per the package directions.


Last Sunday Night, August 10, I ordered Papa John's Pizza. One of the fund raisers I bought from a kid last year is a discount card, and on it is buy one get one free large pizzas from Papa John's.

This past Monday, August 11, was my first day back to school. We had Chinese Buffet for supper.

Tuesday was the day before the official "First Day of School." We went to a very yummy restaurant in Wentzville called West Allen Grill. They have nightly specials, which are delicious and very inexpensive. Tuesday night is Porterhouse Steak night, which include a porterhouse steak, a salad and a side for the low, low price of $13.99. Wednesday is Ribs and Thursday is Prime Rib. All are delicious.

Wednesday, the first day of school, was EXHAUSTING. I actually fell asleep at the stoplight on my way home. I realized I was in dire need of a nap, so when I got home, around 6, I set my alarm clock for 7. This was an unreasonable expectation, so I reset it for 7:30. I woke up to Brad at 11, very upset because I hadn't called or answered the phone for several hours and he thought something was wrong. I woke up for about 2 hours... long enough to make us both a grilled cheese sandwich and a can of tomato soup, do a few chores. I went back to sleep around 1. I did, however, use some supplies, as the can of tomato soup was from the cupboard. Do I need to post the recipe for grilled cheese? Really? There are whole cookbooks devoted to grilled cheese, so I guess perhaps I should.

Grilled Cheese Sandwich (as I made it on Wednesday)
2 pieces cheap wheat bread
margarine
2 pieces American cheese
1 piece Swiss cheese

Turn stove to medium. Lightly butter one side of each piece of bread. Place the buttered side of one piece of bread face down in the skillet. Layer cheese on top. Place the other slice of bread on top, buttered side face up. Cook until first side is golden brown. Flip. Cook until other side is golden brown and cheese is melty.


As for the soup, I made it on the stove top per the package directions.


Thursday, August 13, Brad brought home Sonic from work. We each had a popcorn chicken, and I had a mixed root beer float.

Friday, August 14, Brad brought home Taco Bell. I fell asleep minutes before he walked in the door, so I had my Taco Bell reheated the next day.

... which leads us to Saturday's Pot Roast...

I have two Eye of Round Roasts of approximately 2 pounds each in the freezer. I have no idea what one does with an Eye of Round Roast, but it looked really good when I bought it. After doing careful research, I realized it is a crock pot cut of meat.

Pot Roast
2 lb. Eye of Round
1 envelope dry french onion soup mix
1 can cream of mushroom soup

Place all three ingredients in the crock pot. Cover. Cook on high for 4-6 hours or on low for 8-12 hours. (I cooked on low).


This recipe makes its own gravy. The meat was pretty tender because it had cooked all day, but I think I still prefer my usual cut of meat for pot roast, which is chuck roast. I just trim the fat off and toss it in the crock pot with the same ingredients listed here. I think it is even more tender and delicious.

I served the pot roast with some instant mashed potatoes from the pantry and a tube of french bread. It is a whole loaf of french bread squished into a tube, like biscuits and crescent rolls, etc. They are in the refrigerated section at the grocery store.

I used the roast from the freezer and the potatoes from the cupboard. (And I cooked for the first time in a week. Tonight, I think we are having chicken enchiladas -- though that depends on if I go to the store to get tortillas... Either way, I have chicken defrosting.)

From the Request Line...

Seafood Fettuccine
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped green onions
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled
1 pound sea scallops
2 cups half-and-half
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 pound lump crab meat, shell pieces removed
3/4 cups grated Parmesan cheese
8 cups hot cooked fettuccine (about 1 lb. uncooked pasta)

Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic; saute 1 minute or until tender. Add shrimp and scallops; saute 3 minutes or until done. Reduce heat to medium-low.

Add half-and-half, salt, pepper and crab meat; cook 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring constantly (do not boil). Gradually sprinkle cheese over seafood mixture, stirring constantly; cook one minute, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat. Combine pasta and seafood mixture in a large bowl. (Initially, it looks kind of runny. After standing for a few minutes, the pasta will absorb a lot of the liquid).

...all to not waste...

Have you ever wanted really badly not to waste some sort of food item, only to use a lot more ingredients and realize it actually would've been cheaper in the long run to let the original ingredient go bad? I first learned this with canned pumpkin. My favorite pumpkin cookie recipe requires 1 cup of packed canned pumpkin. A can of pumpkin has just under 2 cups in it. What does one do with 1/2 can of pumpkin? I don't know either, so I double the recipe to avoid throwing away a perfectly good can of pumpkin. Instead of wasting 1/2 can of a $.99 can of pumpkin (or worse yet, SAVING it, only to have it get lost in the fridge and resurface months later as a science experiment), I use twice as much flour and sugar and oil to create well over 100 pumpkin cookies. Even teachers won't eat 100 pumpkin cookies before they get stale, so if I have to throw any away, I've now wasted ALL of the ingredients and my time.

Enter the head of broccoli. I bought a head of broccoli at the grocery store last week, and knew I needed to use it up. I wanted to use it in a main course, because it would take us a week to eat that much broccoli as a side dish. What main courses include broccoli? Beef and Broccoli. Yum! (out of soy sauce). Stir fry - Yum! (out of soy sauce) Broccoli cheese soup - Yum. (the heat index today was close to 100) Broccoli casserole... includes cream of mushroom soup and Velveeta cheese. Also, as an extra added bonus, most recipes actually call for frozen broccoli rather than fresh. That just contains too many processed ingredients for me. I found a recipe for lemon broccoli risotto. It was tasty, don't get me wrong. It was darned tasty, even. But check out how many other ingredients I used NOT to let $2.50 worth of broccoli go to waste...

Broccoli and Lemon Risotto
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 large sweet onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 cup dry white wine (I used Yellow Tail Chardonnay)
4 cans chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
3 cups cooked broccoli florets
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter and olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until translucent. Add lemon juice, wine and 1 can chicken broth. Let simmer on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until rice absorbs most of the liquid. Add another can of chicken broth. Repeat this step twice more. When most of the liquid has been absorbed from the last can of chicken broth, add the cream, cheese, broccoli and salt and pepper. Stir well. Let simmer another 5 minutes before serving.

I used arborio and chicken broth out of the pantry, and the broccoli didn't go to waste, but in an effort to not waste produce, I chopped onions and garlic, and spent 45 minutes making a rice dish that also included relatively expensive ingredients such as cream and Parmesan cheese. But gosh darn it, I used that broccoli... My grandmother would be so proud.