White Turkey Chili CEiMB

Tonight was another evening that both hubby and I enjoyed our dinner.  This is the norm for when we eat one of Ellie’s meals, meaning Ellie Krieger, a chef dedicated to healthy cooking.  Our group, CEiMB cooks mostly from her two latest published books, The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life and
So Easy: Luscious, Healthy Recipes for Every Meal of the Week .

So far, all the meals have been easy to make and comfortably delicious to eat.  I usually ask my husband after I have heard he is happy with the meal, whose recipe does he think this is.  Even he, is getting to used to the sound of Ellie’s name.

This was an everything meal although, I served it with rice.  For the happiness of my husband, I eliminated the Poblano pepper and subbed in a red pepper.  I used less seasoning than called for and I think it lacked in flavor because of it.  A little fire would have been just right. Despite this, it was delicious.

It is one of those recipes, where you keep adding ingredients and when the last one heats in the pot, the food is ready to go.  Chopping the vegetables was probably the most time-consuming and it really did not take more than a few minutes.  This is typical of Ellie’s recipes.

Would you like to join us at Craving Ellie with My Belly?  We have done lots of good eating, this past year.

Check out  Leslie from Lethally Delicious for the recipe.  Go to CEiMB and check out the other cooks from the group.  Leslie is a great baker and knows what she is talking about as well what she is doing.  She is also witty which comes through in her blog-style.  You will enjoy yourself, visiting her.

By all means, buy yourself a gift or get someone to do it for you and get Ellie’s books.  I don’t think you will regret it.

MENU PLAN MONDAY

Last week was a good one for following through.  I only missed one of the designated recipes.  I am beginning to really get into this system and it is working.

This week’s Menu follows:

Monday- Fettuccine with Creamy Red Pepper-Feta Sauce   –    Ellie Krieger

Tuesday – Potato Spinach  Casserole

Wednesday – Meatball Soup

Thursday – Broccoli Cheddar Crepes  -   Taste of Home

Friday – Roast Chicken with BalsamicVinaigrette    –    Giada

Saturday -  Chulent

Top photo is early in the storm.  Bottom is a car with lots of snow on it.

Linked to Menu Plan Monday

Breakfast Patties with Inside Out Sweet Potatoes

I am finishing up my breakfast for dinner menu and I ended up making all but one of the recipes.  Most of them were dairy centered but this one is meat.  It is called a breakfast sausage recipe but it didn’t work for me so I removed the word sausage.  These were turkey burgers from start to finish.  The best part of the meal, for me, was the inside out sweet potatoes which came to be through sheer laziness.  How wonderful to be lazy, at times.

Instead of making sweet potatoes with a crunchy topping, I included the topping in the mashed sweet potatoes so every bite afforded one the opportunity to crunch a little.

By the way, speaking of lazy, both these are quick an d easy recipes that satisfy you, in short time.

I am starting with the sweet potatoes which are easy to make delicious as a side dish.

Inside Out Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

4 medium sweet potatoes

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons Rice Milk

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/4 cup chopped pecans, roughly chopped

If you want to add some melted butter or margarine, it will only add to it.  I am cutting back on fats when I think they are not necessary.

Method:

Peel sweet potatoes and cube into one inch pieces.

Boil potatoes until tender, easy to mash.

Add all other ingredients and mash these together until smooth.

I was going to bake this for twenty minutes but decided, it was not necessary.  It was delicious.

Breakfast Patties:

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground turkey
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Method:

• In a large bowl, combine the turkey, salt, sage, thyme, nutmeg and cayenne. Shape into eight patties.
• In a large skillet, cook patties in dry pan over medium heat for 5 minutes on each side or until juices run clear.
• Drain on paper towels.
  

Yield: 4 servings.

Linked to the January Potluck at the Crazy Kitchen. Sister, Sister Sunday,   Mommy’s Kitchen-Potluck Sundays  Seasonal Sundays

Cornmeal Dumplings for Chicken Soup Bon Appetit

My first copy of Bon Appetit ever, arrived today.  I glanced through it, reading bits and pieces and I find it to be a different kind of magazines.  Based on first look, I would say it is more intellectual.  The articles appear to be well written and I like their choice of topics.  Of course, is this what I see only in a few minutes for the first time and I do like it.  I hope our positive relationship continues.

I had to make something from it for the Sabbath.  I usually end up with a dessert but I have been baking a great deal, recently.  I have a freezer, stocked with cookies and cakes.  Who knows how long it will take to finish that?

Cornmeal Dumplings

Ingredients

dumplings

• 3/4 cup gluten-free flour mix
• 3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4  cup soy milk
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions

Method:

Dumplings

• Line rimmed baking sheet with plastic wrap.
• Whisk first 5 ingredients in medium bowl. Stir in milk and butter, then green onions.
• Let stand at least 1 hour and up to 2 hours.
• Using wet hands, shape mixture, 1 tablespoon at a time, into 18 dumplings, arranging on sheet.

• Drop in dumplings to simmering soup. Cover; reduce heat to low. Simmer until dumplings are tender and cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes. Season soup with salt and pepper.
• Ladle soup and dumplings into bowls.

Soup with Dumplings Coming.

Sables – Baking with Dorie BWD

This week, the gals from Baking With Dorie made sables, a rich and buttery cookie.  I have made these before so this time, I decided to make Sable Fingers and changed the shape.  Everything went smoothly with this recipe and the taste was a melt in your mouth deliciousness.

For the recipe, check out Cookin’ Up North.  She made these special with the addition of nuts.  Check it out.  To see what the other bakers made, check out Baking with Dorie. Feel free to join in the fun by contacting Grapefruit.

Menu Plan Monday

I feel quite accomplished.  I followed last week’s menu to a tee.  I never thought, I would pull it off.  I am making progress with my meal planning.

This week, I decided on a theme, Breakfast for Dinner Nightly.  I have the Taste of Home Breakfast book and honestly, I could make almost every one of these recipes.  Trying to limit the number was near to impossible.  I am looking forward to this week.

Monday – Cheesy Egg Puffs   http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Cheesy-Egg-Puffs

Tuesday – Pleasing Potato Pie -

Wednesday – Turkey Patties

Thursday – Apple Raisin Crepes  http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Apple-Raisin-Crepes  Photo from Taste of Home

Friday – Chicken

Saturday – Chulent

Drinks:  Spiced Tomato Juice, Hazelnut Mocha Smoothie, Peachy Fruit Smoothie

Quick Breads to have with main dishes – Cherry Surprise Muffins, Coffee Lovers’ Coffee Cake, Orange Rhubarb Breakfast Bread, Spiced Pear Bread or Cappuccino Muffins

Spiced Butter-Glazed Carrots, page 335.

I am getting into the swing of things with FFWD, French Fridays with Dorie( http://www.frenchfridayswithdorie.com/    my links are not working again) and it has been a pleasure.  I have enjoyed Dorie Greenspan’s recipes, up until now because of her low-key good advice and direction.  She has continued this in her new book, Around My French Table. For the month of December, we have had five recipes and I have made three of them and plan to make a fourth shortly.  I will, most likely, skip the beef.

As you can see, the variety is great.  We get a little bit of everything.

Sweet and Spicy Cocktail Nuts, page 18.

My Go-to Beef Daube, pages 244 and 245.

Leek and Potato Soup, pages 66 and 67.

Speculoos*, pages 406 and 407.

Spiced Butter-Glazed Carrots, page 335.

In sum, the sweet and spicy cocktail nuts were fantastic.  First, I could not taste the spice but on the second day, it was in full bloom.  The combination of sweet and spicy was a treat.  I would like to have these on hand, as often as possible.

The potato soup. being potato soup, had to be a winner.  I love it.  I am not sure how I feel about leeks so I subbed with scallions.  It was a hearty, warming soup.

The carrots were just right.  I did not know what to expect but I got a side that I would be pleased to serve again.

Next, I am hoping to make the speculoos.

For this week, I did make the spiced butter-glazed carrots.  It was a good side and everyone enjoyed.  It went together, with ease, and was a good contrast to the other food, being served.  Another “atta boy” for Dorie.  I guess that should be “atta girl.”

Try it.  You’ll like it.

Beef Taco Salad with Chunky Tomato Dressing CEiMB Ellie Krieger

When, I approach a new recipe, I have three mindsets.

• It may appeal to me greatly and I can’t wait to collect my ingredients and get started.
• It may be challenge me and I feel the thrill of a challenge.
• It may bore me or not be to my liking and I start looking for excuses why I can’t make it.

The results of each of these leave me with completely different feelings.  Assuming, I am successful with each of these, I am satisfied when I feel positively from the beginning.  If I am challenged, I feel a sense of satisfaction and want to share my food.  If I am negative and I end up liking the dish, I feel fantastic.

Truly, the third is more of a challenge than the difficult recipe.  A difficult recipe is challenging my skills.  A recipe which pushes me away is challenging my psyche.

This recipe was one with potential but it had meat and nowadays, rarely does meat appeal to me.  I knew if Peggy selected it, it had to be good, but that did not mean, I would like it.  I made it, ate it and wanted more.  The best part is I was the only one home for dinner which meant, I made it just for me and it was well worth it.  To be sure that it was kosher, I left out the cheese since we do not eat meat and dairy at the same meal.

Like most of Ellie’s meals, this was an easy one and a delicious dish.  It seems to me that CEiMB, Craving Ellie with My Belly is a group that does a lot of good eating.  Thanks to Peggy of Pantry Revisited for this wonderful selection.   You can find the recipe at Pantry Revisited, in the book or here.

Wishing all of you who celebrate this month, very Happy Holidays.

I Love Teriyaki….I Love Salmon…I Love Teriyaki Salmon

I have never used many ingredients that I read about on the blogs, so when shopping, if I see an item I don’t have, I buy it.  The other day, I hit the jackpot and found about a half-dozen items, I wanted to get.  One of them was mirin.  When I first came across that word, I had no clue what it was.  A little research and I became smarter and now I know it is a rice wine.  I came home and asked myself, “What do I do with it, now that I have it?”  I checked out a few items on the Net (I should have looked at Mark Bittman’s book, instead.) I ended up making a different teriyaki sauce than I have ever made.  It was as simple as can be.

First things first.  I buy my salmon from Costco which means it is not fresh but it is really good.    I defrosted my fish and put it aside.  Onwards to the sauce.

Teriyaki Salmon

Ingredients:

3 salmon fillets
salt and black pepper to taste
1 stalk green onion, sliced

Teriyaki Sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup mirin
2 tablespoons sugar plus one teaspoon

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small saucepan, mix the sauce ingredients and keep on low for a few minutes.  Mix it frequently and you should see it thicken slightly.

Place sauce in appropriate sized baking dish.

Add the scallions to the sauce and gently mix.

Place salmon fillets in the baking dish.  Place in oven and cook for 20 minutes.

Everyone raved about this sauce.  It was so simple to make and yummy to eat.

My thoughts about making this again:  I would add one teaspoon or more of orange peel.  I would slice an onion in place of the scallions and fry it until golden.  I would add that to the sauce and serve with the salmon.

This served with noodles or rice and a salad is a light meal that should surely delight.

Sweet and Spicy Nuts and Leek and Potato Soup FFwD

French Fridays with Dorie is a relatively new group cooking from Dorie Greenspan’s relatively new cookbook,  Around My French Table. When I purchased the book, I was doing so, because it was Dorie’s but I was not in the least, excited about it.  I doubted, I would use it, even with the new group, starting.  I signed up to join and was relieved that we did not have to commit to any number of recipes.

The first month, I made  two recipes and started reading the book which is filled with lovely vignettes and I got caught up, and could not put the book down.  I did not have time to cook, this month, with Chanukah and report cards.  Tonight, I decided to make something and I made Sweet and Spicy Cocktail Nuts and Leek and Potato Soup and I am hoping to make the carrots, tomorrow.

I enjoyed cooking these two recipes.  No one was home and the house was quiet and I absorbed myself in these recipes, not that they were difficult; rather they were enjoyable to make.  I find, I have been able to follow Dorie’s instructions, with ease, in both her books.  She is clear and to the point.

I cut the nut recipe in half and I think, I measured the spices, incorrectly since it was sweet but I could not taste the spices.  I am guessing, I did not put in enough cayenne.  Despite this, they were good, more like candied popcorn though.  I still gobbled them up, enjoying every bite.

 

 

With the potato soup, I had to make some changes since I was missing ingredients, one being leeks.  I don’t really like leeks so this worked to my benefit.  I subbed in scallions.  The soup was delicious.  Next time, I would like to grate some carrot into the soup for appearance, not taste.  Rather than the green garnishes, I think that carrot would be quite attractive.

These are the recipes for the month.  I plan to make the cookies and carrots.  I am going to pass on the beef since we have cut back on meat.

My attitude to this book has changed, radically.  The book is gorgeous and I think it is a “coffee table book” that gets used.  The photos are wonderful and the stories that Dorie tells grabs you right in and you want to read more.

There is no need to discuss recipes.  Dorie proved herself to be in Baking From My Home to Yours and she is simply confirming my opinion of what she cooks and bakes.

Sweet and Spicy Cocktail Nuts, page 18.

My Go-to Beef Daube, pages 244 and 245.

Leek and Potato Soup, pages 66 and 67.

Speculoos*, pages 406 and 407.

Spiced Butter-Glazed Carrots, page 335.

For a great food experience, join us at French Fridays with Dorie.

Check here to see what others made.