Thursday, October 28, 2010

Lots of Cooking

I have not been blogging much, but I have been cooking and I have a few recipes (and substitutions) to share.

A few Sundays ago, I had friends over for dinner. Adults and children totalled 30 people. I made a pot roast in the crock pot. I tripled the recipe for Italian Pot Roast and it worked really well. I did need two crock pots! I also served the asparagus and melon salad and Parmesan potato wedges.

I'm on the crock pot kick and later in the week made Pork Ribs Pizzaiola. I had about 3 ribs and 2 cups of sauce leftover, so I made soup. I sauteed celery and onion, added garlic when hot added the leftovers. To that I added chicken stock and brought to a boil. Then I added rice. It came out really well.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Sausage and Peppers

I was not planning on having sausage and peppers tonight, but, plans change. I was going to make pasta with broccoli and pasta with roasted zucchini. It has been a long week and I did not even feel like cooking, which is rare, but it happens. I did take ground beef and sausage out of the freezer so that I could make a pot of sauce.

I came home from work and got some laundry put away and remembered that I had the meat ready for the sauce. I started the sauce when I realized that I had more sausage out than I needed. So, when life hands you sausage, make sausage and peppers. Here's how I make it:

4 links sausage, sweet or hot as you like it
5 potatoes, sliced
1.5 can diced tomatoes
1 green pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

Brown the sausage links in an ovenproof pan. Remove to a cutting board and slice into 1-inch rounds.

Add potatoes to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes before adding the sausage back to the pan. Cook until the potatoes and sausage are done: this can be done on the stove top or in the oven.

After about 20 minutes, add the peppers and cook the mixture for about another 5 minutes. Serve with salad and bread.

Parent's are not always right

My husband and I thought it the kids would love pizza dip. It is an old Pampered Chef recipe and I used to make it a lot when we were just a couple. I was sure the kids would love it so I made breadsticks and pizza dip, salad, carrot and celery sticks. The kids were not impressed with the pizza dip. I still can't believe it.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

I just baked

One of my friends is having her kitchen remodeled so I had her family over for dinner last night. I must admit, I used a good amount of convenience foods. One reason is that I had a freezer full of items that was given to me by my sister-in-law when she was moving. And the other reason is that some convenience items are very good. Our menu was:

Crab Cakes over salad greens with remoulade
Shrimp Skewers over rice
Cheeseburgers (for the non seafood eaters)
Banana Bread Cobbler with vanilla ice cream

I made the remoulade with mayonnaise, whole grain mustard, lemon juice, paprika, parsley and hot pepper. Yum.

The best part, usually, is dessert and this dessert is very easy and fantastic! I have had the recipe for a while but the kids would eat the bananas before I could make the cobbler. This week, I beat them to it.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Fall Party

My friend hosted a fall party this weekend with pumpkin painting and hot dogs roasting on an outdoor fire. I felt compelled to bring my favorite fall adult drink: apple cider warmed in the crock pot with orange slices and cinnamon sticks served with a side of Southern Comfort. This drink is belly warming.

Let's not forget about the kids. Open fire means marshmallow roasting and to me that means s'mores. Food Network Magazine had variations to try and we did try. I must say that the marshmallow, rolo, and green apple s'more was the most popular. If you are going to serve these- but extra rolos. You will need them.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Fall Couscous

After entertaining on Friday evening, I also had friends over for dinner on Monday evening. I made a pork chop recipe from the Molto Mario cookbook. It was fabulous.

As a side dish I made couscous with apples and scallions. Here's the recipe:

3 cups chicken stock
3 cups dried couscous
4 tablespoons butter
2 apples, chopped
3 scallions, sliced

In a large pot, boil the chicken stock. Once the stock is boiling add the couscous. Cover and remove from the heat.

Melt butter in a skillet. Add apples and scallions and saute until hot, about 3 minutes. Fluff couscous with a fork. Stir in apples and scallions in butter. Serve.

The adult and kids loved this side dish.

New Dishes

I was hosting dinner for my cousin and his fiance last weekend. I had a traditional menu planned:
Shrimp Cocktail
Rib Eye Steaks
Baked Potatoes
Asparagus and Melon Salad
Apple Pie a la Mode

First, the asparagus and melon salad was served as a side dish. I was watching a cooking show and saw the recipe and it looked good. Well, in person, it is an impressive dish. I double the recipe and the four of us finished almost all of it. The recipe is linked. This will be my "go to" recipe for a while and I will be taking it whenever I need to bring a side or salad anywhere.

Second, the rest of the meal was delicious, but traditional. Nothing fancy, except my new plates. I have a "thing" for plates. For a few years, I have been looking at the three compartment serving dishes in different sizes and wanted to use them as dinner plates. The whole meal will fit on the plate. The problem was that at regular price, they were $25 per plate. Until last week, that is. I was in the grocery store and on the clearance table were plates that I had in mind and in colors that match my dining room. The best part: they were $4.22 each! Score! Table setting and meals look impressive.