Caramelized tomato baguettes

Two words: Oh, wow.
I had these at a relief society Christmas activity and just had to make them for my family party tonight. They are so surprising. I bit into one expecting a cool summery tomato but was greeted with a warm, sweet, creamy treat! Caramelized tomato baguettes are a new favorite appetizer for me!

Caramelized Tomato Baguettes 
(Orifinally From dealstomeals.com, but below is my modified version)1 long loaf of baguette bread, sliced into 
1/2-ish inch slices 
3 cans petite diced tomatoes (Italian stewed and garlic/olive oil ones are good as well as plain
2/3 c. white sugar  
1/4c.to 6T butter 
Salt and pepper to taste (coarse black pepper tastes the best) 
In a nonstick saute pan, bring the butter and sugar to a low boil, stirring constantly (just until the sugar begins to soften and simmer). Add the canned tomatoes to the pan.. Turn the stove to medium high heat and let the tomatoes simmer in the butter and sugar mixture. Let the tomatoes and sugar reduce to caramelize in the butter sauce. About 20 min. Salt and pepper the tomatoes. Set aside until baguettes are ready. Spread each baguette slice with a thick layer of cream cheese. Place on a cookie sheet. On top of each piece of cream cheese slathered bread, place a spoonful of caramelized tomatoes. Continue to top each piece of bread with the tomato mixture. Broil baguettes until the cream cheese is soft and bread is slightly golden brown. Serve warm. 

Spaghetti Squash Alfredo and Broccolini

As I was getting dinner ready, avoiding poultry in preparation for the upcoming turkey binge, I decided on spaghetti squash Alfredo with broccolini. The kids were indifferent, except Carson. He was overly kind and complimentary stating things like, "want to know why I love you?... Because you are the best food maker in the whole world". He even was so thankful and showed it by cheerfully setting the table and helping with the simple prep involved.
Let me just say, earlier in the day I received an email from Shutterfly, a website that I frequent, reminding me of the free calendar promo ending at midnight. Being me, I took on everything at once thinking nothing would suffer. Well, over-cooking a spaghetti squash was what the whole family had to suffer, and suffer Carson did. He was gagging and complaining throughout the whole meal, "this is the grossest thing I EVER put in my mouth!" And, "Why do you cook such NASTY things?!?" Were among some of his whiney rants. (So much for the worlds-best-cook application he was thinking of filing) When all was said and done, Ashlyn, who is my pickiest eater, comforted me by saying, "it really wasn't that bad, it was just ssssuuuuuuppppeeerrrrr soggy".
Hopefully my free 2013 photo calendar doesn't turn out as NASTY as my spaghetti squash.

Recipe for Spaghetti Squash Alfredo:
Ingredients:
1 large spaghetti squash
1 T Olive oil
1 8oz block cream cheese
1/2 c (1 stick) butter
1 to 1&1/2 c milk
Garlic salt
1/2 c Parmesan Cheese

Instructions:
1) Slice squash in half lengthwise. Rub with Olive oil. and place face down on foil lined, baking sheet or casserole dish. Bake at 350' until soft when skin is pushed on with a spoon. About 30 min. (In the meantime continue to step 2) Remove from oven and allow to cool to a holdable temperature (if you're in a hurry you could hold it with an oven mitt, it's just harder to keep your grip.) Using a fork, gently separate from edges of skin. It should pull away fairly easily and resemble stringy spaghetti noodles. Put stringed squash in casserole dish.

2) If you'd like to add chicken to your dish, prepare it now then cube and place on top of squash. Otherwise... Melt butter on medium heat on stovetop, add softened cream cheese and about 1/2 c of milk. Whisk until smooth. Add more milk to desired consistency. Add garlic salt stir until well blended. Pour over squash noodles then top with Parmesan cheese before serving. If using fresh Parmesan cheese, top then bake at 400' for 15-20 min.

Serve with broccolini on top or even mixed in.

Creamy Butternut squash soup

Ok. For those who know me know one of my favorite foods is soup. Pretty much any warm, non-seafood, soup. I've been craving a butternut squash soup I had at a restaurant that I can't remember anything about, except the soup. So, I tried a few Pinterest recipes and a few from all-recipes and found my personal winner. I just took screen shots of the soup and recipe to save my thumbs, but below the recipe are my modifications and instructions.
No one in my house likes this soup.
I could eat it every day.

Instructions:
(Very first, take one, 8oz, block of cream cheese... I only use one... Or even 1/2 of one, two is overwhelming) out of fridge so it can come to room temperature)
*step one can be skipped, I just like the flavor roasting gives instead if boiling.

1- Roast the squash: First, prepare cookie sheet by lining with foil and spraying with non-stick cooking spray, or a light rubbing of Olive oil.
If Costco has the package of peeled cubed squash I buy it, it is the perfect amount. If not, I buy the biggest one I can find at the grocery store. To prepare the Costco squash: place in single layer on prepared cookie sheet. Bake 40 min till squishy-soft. For full squash, if you have a good peeler, peel it then half it, then de-seed it (like a cantaloupe). If your peeler isn't up to peeling a squash, just skip that step and leave the skin on. Place it face down on prepared cookie sheet. Roast for 35-45 min or until soft all the way through. Cube.

2- While squash is roasting: combine all other ingredients--EXCEPT THE CREAM CHEESE--in large sauce pan. If you're not roasting the squash, just add it to everything and bring to a boil. (I've never used marjoram, because I've never purchased it, and I never use black pepper because I don't like it, and it makes the soup look flawed.)

3-Once everything is soft, use immersion blender and purée everything together (or blend in heat tolerant blender... If you don't have immersion blender or heat tolerant blender, bring to room temperature and blend until smooth.

4- Blend cream cheese into hot soup.
Serve.

Worlds Best Mac 'N' Cheese

I've probably blogged about this before, but I can't remember (which I may have said before...). This is by far the most requested meal at my house (and many of the houses we've taken it to). If you haven't had it, make it. Tonight. Oh, and pre-p.s., it's not just for kids, adults love it too.

Ingredients:
1 24 oz. bag of large elbow noodles (not small elbows, not shells...) cooked al-dente
3-4 c. Shredded Colby jack or cheddar cheese
1 c. Milk
3T butter
Salt and pepper

Instructions:
Coat 9x12 dish with non-stick spray
Spread 1/2 of cooked pasta in dish.
Salt heavily. Yes, heavily.
Pepper to taste (I omit pepper, yech!)
Cut butter into 6 dabs, place 3 on heavily salted noodles. Yes, heavily salted.
Sprinkle 1&1/2 to 2 c of cheese on top of heavily salted noodles. Yes, heavily salted.
REPEAT for a second layer. Pasta, heavy salt, (pepper), butter, cheese.
Pour milk over top.
Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 50-60 minutes, or until milk is no longer runny. Top layer of cheese will get crispy and delicious. If you cover it for the last half of cooking time it will be soft (and you won't really enjoy it as much ;) and you may have to cook it a little longer.

Fajita omlet

The title says it all.
Leftover fajita ingredients from your favorite Mexican restaurant, sautéed in a skillet.
Then, add three egg whites over the top, jiggle the pan for a sec, cover and heat till cooked through, about 2 min, top with cheese if you want, fold and enjoy!

Where's Lord Tubbington?

The hit tv show GLEE has ruined my love for fondue. Every time I think of the delicious cheesy delight, a vision of a triple-x sized cat and a ditzy blonde (or is she secretly a genius?) pop into my mind... As well as the jingle, "fondue for two, fondue for two...." Ugh.
In spite of that... Tonight for dinner we took out the table leaf and gathered around the fondue pot. Skewering chunks of seasoned Italian and pumpernickel-rye breads we talked about our day and our plans for the future. After I got the image of Lord Tubbington out of my head, I really enjoyed it.
The kids loved the scaled down table but sadly, weren't fond of fondue.

Oh, and yes, my boys are usually shirtless.

Crêpes

Crêpes
(Makes about 15, 10 inch crêpes)

You asked for them (you know who you are) here ya go!
Combine in blender:
4 egg whites
2 eggs
2&2/3 c milk
2 c flour
1/4 t. Salt

Blend till smooth then add:

1/4 c melted butter

--- while blender is on ---(hopefully you have the kind with the lid that lets you do this?)

Blend for another 10 seconds or so.

Pour into non-stick, medium-low, pre-heated, 10 inch skillet. Pour a wet basketball print sized circle then roll pan to spread the full circumference of the pan. When top looks matte, instead of glossy & edges are dry, gently flip (I sometimes just grab the edge with my fingers to flip it). After a few seconds put it on a plate and brush with butter.

Top with anything you want! My current fav is a toss up between Nutella and sliced bananas & Asian pears and whipping cream....

(Today we had them with leftover cinnamon rolls, but usually we don't have anything else with them)

Perfect potato soup

I love the fall. Who doesn't, right? Crisp cool air, leaves changing colors, life seems to slow down, if only for a second, before the holidays start to roll around. But I must admit, one of my favorite things about fall:
Soups.
I could eat soup every meal. Every day. In the fall.
Today's soup d'jour was "perfect potato" named just right.


Recipe:
4 c.red potatoes cubed, boiled & set aside
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 stalks celery, diced
4 c 2% milk
1 c heavy cream
1/2 c butter, melted
1/4 c flour
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook potatoes, set aside.
In pot, on medium heat, add butter and flour and whisk till smooth (should be quick) whisk in milk & cream. When smooth, add everything else, except potatoes. Bring to just boiling, stirring often so milk scalds but doesn't scorch, then reduce to low until celery is soft, (not soggy) then add potatoes. Continue to cook until potatoes are heated through.
Add salt, (add pepper if you like ruining a perfect soup)
Enjoy.
Twice.

Possible add ins: corn, green onions, cheese, bacon crumble, sour cream cubed ham...

Leftover makeover

When Bj made Chili Verdè the other day, we had a bunch of leftover pork. So what do you do with leftover pork... Turn it into sweet and sour, that's what! My whiney little princess refused to eat more than one piece, but my hollow-leg-boy cleaned up and professed, as he does most every night, that it was the best dinner of his life. (While AJ suggested I stick to more "casual meals" like hot-dogs and steak.)
Can't win them all.

Chile Verde

Chile Verde.
That is what Bj was making when I got home from work. Tomatillos, peppers, onions, herbs and spices, all hand-chopped and simmered with seared pork for a few hours. Mouth watering goodness.
But wait... He cooked yesterday too! Grilled chicken tacos... Oh...my...word.
And, boy, can he cook.

Baked chicken n tradition

When it's 90+ degrees out and I'm using the stove, microwave, and two burners, nothing you cook really tastes that good...
Except this. YUM!
Traditional dinner. Chicken baked in sun dried tomato Italian dressing, Rhodes warm-n-serve garlic rolls, mashed russet potatoes and poultry gravy and Costco's Normandy blend veggies.
Easy, 8/10.

Tacos and....turnips?

I doubt turnips are traditional Mexican fare. But I've never had one and there was a fresh one in my produce box this morning. So thanks to the "all recipes" app, I found that Ashlyn, of all people, was the only one who didn't have to choke them down. "They're actually pretty good!", she stated as I grimaced through a mouthful. Ugh. Not even with butter and brown sugar. I would not could not.... Eew.
The tacos were great tho ;)

(Looking at the picture I realize I should have just made breakfast burritos and hash browns.)

Biscuits n gravy

Bjs Birthday Beakfast! Biscuits and gravy is such a simple meal. The kids don't love the gravy but we still have this quite often (every 2-ish months) we use 1/2 lb jimmy dean sage sausage (we've tried a few different kinds of sausage but this is our favorite) browned in a sauce pan. If there is a lot of grease we will drain it out then add about 1/4 c flour, just enough to coat the cooked ground sausage. Then add enough milk to cover the sausage completely. (How's that for measurements?) cook till heated through, (will thicken as it heats) stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Salt and pepper as desired. Ladle on to broken biscuits.

Sweet Pork tenderloin

I love a good pork tenderloin. I bought some during my last Costco trip and found the following recipe on the All Recipes app:

It turned out really well. I didn't grill it, but baked it for an hour on 350. While it baked I boiled and mashed potatoes & steamed veggies. When it was done I wrapped it in foil for 15 min while I baked the rolls (bake n serve) and made gravy from the drippings (good, but pork with applesauce is much better). Carson ate his weight in meat. And he got a lesson in cutting meat too! Ash wasn't feeling well and was really sad she couldn't have mashed potatoes :(. Next time, sis.

Stir-Fry

I love stir-fry.
The kids tolerate it.
Tonight's was a little different. I had some white asparagus, yellow, green and red bell peppers, carrots, onions and marinated beef tenderloin.
All cooked together with garlic and ginger made this dish not only beautiful, but extremely savory.

(Ours got eaten too quickly for a picture, this is from the web... Mine looked better ;)

Taco night

Tacos.
Classic.
Easy?
So many people consider tacos an "easy" meal. Chopping onions browning with beef, simmering with seasoning, dicing tomatoes, shredding lettuce, grating cheese, experimenting with Spanish rice (yet to find a worthy recipe...) heating canned black beans, baking taco shells to a crisp... Deciding if another side is necessary...
That's "easy"?!
Casseroles.
Those are easy.

Carson is my only black bean eater... Without a fight, anyway.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

This dish was inhaled, as were the seconds. 10 stars with a "next-time, leave out the onions" request.
3 step Recipe/instructions:
Step 1- chop one onion. In sauce pan, sauté in 1/3 cup of butter. Add 1/3 c flour, 1/8 t ground mustard, 1/8 t nutmeg, 1&3/4 c milk. Heat through, stirring frequently. Pour over step 2.
Step 2-In casserole dish layer: cooked cubed chicken, cubed ham steak, and generous sprinkling of Swiss cheese. (Enough meat to feed the fam, precise measurement not necessary)
Step 3: melt 1/4 c butter add to 1&1/2 c soft bread crumbs (I actually use 1/2 pkg stoveTop stuffing) stir in 1/2 c shredded Swiss cheese, sprinkle on top of casserole.
Bake 350 covered 45 min or till bubbly.
Serve on rice or alone.

Breakfast scramble

The movie Parental Guidance has been seriously overplayed at our house since we brought it home. There is one part that always cracks me up (well, more than one, but this one strikes a more personal note) There is a little boy who hates having his food touch... Hates it. I'm not 5 so I don't throw my self on the floor and pound my fists raw, or in his case, take off running and screaming.... But I do avoid it if at all possible. That's a whole other post... Anyway. When making scrambled eggs my kids never want any add-ins. I always do, but I don't like mixing them with the eggs (don't judge me). But.... Cooking them separately and topping my eggs with them is completely appropriate.
And extremely delicious.
Today's topper: spinach, onions, bell peppers and ham.
Extremely Delicious.

Breakfast chowder

An unintentional meal. This started as the makings of "breakfast for dinner" but when I was almost done making the red-potato and bacon crumble hash browns I realized I had no eggs. What are hash-browns without eggs? Lame, that's what. So I added celery, a little more butter, flour and milk to make it into chowder. So we had chowder, sausage and biscuits for dinner. Weird, but pretty darn delicious.

Lasagna again

The nice thing about lasagna is, whenever I make it, I double it and freeze one. Tonight's dinner thawed all day yesterday and today. After school we headed to gymnastics, went and closed on our refinance, went to smiths, then dropped AJ off at scouts with a banana in his belly and the promise of lasagna in an hour.
And like I said before, this kid-rated-10/10 gets devoured.