Warm White Beans with Roasted Fennel

I made this recipe from Cooking Light (October 2011) for dinner tonight.  It was delicious and easy.  Walter loved it!  I added some grilled chicken that I cubed and froze from out last grilling session (a la Taylor) and it was a one-dish meal.

Get the recipe here.

Perfect Summer Sunday Supper

Just had this for Sunday supper:  Orecchiette with Peas, Shrimp, and Buttermilk-Herb Dressing.  Delicious!  It's a Cooking Light recipe, from the June issue.

I couldn't find orecchiette, so I substituted campanelle, which looks like a little trumpet flower and is the right size.  Also, I doubled the shrimp.  Next time I may halve the dill, as it was a little much.  But then, I had just picked it from the garden, so maybe it was super-fresh!

Week of January 16 - 22

This was pretty much a Cooking Light week!

Sunday -  Fettucine with Mushrooms and Hazelnuts  This doesn't sound good, but it was fantastic.
Monday - Pork Tenderloin with Red and Yellow Peppers  Also very good.
Tuesday - Had a meeting, so Walter was on his own
Wednesday - Honestly cannot remember what we ate...I just know I didn't fix what was on my list!
Thursday - Mexican Casserole with Charred Tomato Salsa
Friday - International Date Night - went to Huey's
Saturday - our favorite Memphis Pizza Cafe pizza

Mexican Chicken Casserole with Charred Tomato Salsa

(I'm sure you could just use some jarred smoky salsa, but this was delicious and not hard.)

Yield:  8 servings

Salsa:8 plum tomatoes, halved and seeded
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
1 seeded jalapeño pepper, quartered
Cooking spray
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Casserole:1 cup chopped onion
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
1 cup diced zucchini
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
3 cups shredded cooked chicken breast
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 (10-ounce) can green chile enchilada sauce
1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles
12 (6-inch) corn tortillas
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 cup (4 ounces) crumbled feta cheese
1. Preheat broiler.

2. To prepare salsa, combine first 4 ingredients on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Broil 20 minutes or until charred, stirring once. Remove from oven; cool slightly. Place tomato mixture in a food processor; add cilantro, lime juice, and pepper. Process until smooth. Set aside.

3. Preheat oven to 350°.

4. To prepare casserole, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly coat pan with cooking spray. Add 1 cup onion, corn, zucchini, and bell pepper; sauté 6 minutes or until tender. Add chicken and next 5 ingredients (through green chiles); sauté 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat.

5. Spread 1/2 cup salsa over the bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange half of tortillas over salsa. Spoon 2 cups chicken mixture evenly over tortillas. Top with 3/4 cup salsa. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of each cheese. Repeat layers, starting with remaining tortillas and ending with remaining cheeses. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes until bubbly.


CALORIES 331 ; FAT 12.3g (sat 6.1g,mono 2.8g,poly 1.2g); CHOLESTEROL 74mg; CALCIUM 242mg; CARBOHYDRATE 30.8g; SODIUM 535mg; PROTEIN 26.1g; FIBER 4.2g; IRON 1.6mg

Cooking Light, JANUARY 2011

Pork Tenderloin with Red and Yellow Peppers

Anchovies melt into the pepper mixture, adding a savory, salty quality. If you don't like anchovies, omit them and add 3 tablespoons minced olives. Serve with mashed potatoes.

(I substituted kalamata olives for the anchovies.)

Yield:  4 servings (serving size: 3 ounces pork and about 1/2 cup bell pepper mixture)


1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut crosswise into 1-inch-thick medallions
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary, divided
4 canned anchovy fillets, drained and mashed
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1 1/2-inch strips
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into 1 1/2-inch strips
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar


Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add pork to pan; cook for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; turn pork over. Add 1 teaspoon rosemary, anchovies, garlic, and bell peppers; cook 7 minutes or until peppers are tender and pork is done. Drizzle with vinegar. Top with remaining 1/2 teaspoon rosemary.


CALORIES 215 ; FAT 10.1g (sat 2.7g,mono 5.4g,poly 1.2g); CHOLESTEROL 78mg; CALCIUM 26mg; CARBOHYDRATE 5g; SODIUM 441mg; PROTEIN 25.2g; FIBER 1.4g; IRON 2mg

Cooking Light, JANUARY 2011

Week of October 24-30

Let's see, what did we do last weekend?  Friday night we went to see Wicked at the Orpheum, which was very enjoyable.  Walter and I were lucky enough to see it on Broadway and this production was almost as good.  We had a nice dinner at Felicia Suzanne's.  I had a goat cheese and carmelized onion tart to start and it was outstanding.  Saturday Walter worked, as usual, and I had my needlepoint group, then we went to Huey's for dinner.  Great fries.  Sunday night I cooked:

Chicken Marsala
Rice Pilaf with Vermicelli
Sugar Snap Peas with Lemon, Garlic, and Basil

All of these recipes are from Cooks Illustrated.  I will say, don't attempt this menu unless you're pretty good at doing several things at once.  I was mighty challenged, but it all came out ok and almost at the same time!  The pilaf and the peas were especially good to know about as I am always looking for good side dishes.

Monday 10-25-10

Chicken and Parsnip Soup

From Cooking Light, this soup was very easy and tasty.  I cooked some extra chicken when I was doing the Chicken Marsala yesterday, so I had that part done.  I intended to make some biscuits to go with this, but Walter informed me at the last minute that he wouldn't be home for dinner and then I was running late for my lit class, so I just did the soup.  My friend Pam and I spent almost all day on a gardening project, so I was pretty tired when I got home.  This soup was perfect.


Tuesday 10-26-10

My former neighbor Nancy invited Dotsie and Wanda and me to lunch today at her new digs at Trezevant Manor.  How nice is that place!  Nancy and Gordon have an apartment in the new building and it is first class.  They're very happy and very busy there.  We had a great lunch and a great visit with each other.  Thanks again, Nancy!  I took her these chocolate chip cookies which Walter later proclaimed as the best cookies ever (of course he says that about every cookie I make...) I had my Search class tonight so didn't really feel like cooking. Thankfully, Monday night's Lore of Literature class was the last one for this semester so I won't have double class nights for the rest of the year.  My wonderful neighbor Troy made a huge batch of spaghetti gravy earlier this month and brought some frozen to me.  I snatched that sauce out of the freezer and had spaghetti for dinner!  Thanks, Troy!

Wednesday 10-27-10

Get ready.  I made Pork Ragu Al Maialino and it was fantastic.  Notice that I'm big on one-dish menus.  They're not always balanced, but I don't worry about Walter, he eats pretty good all day long.  And I get lots of vegetables at lunch, so nights are kinda whatever.

Thursday 10-28-10

It's Thursday morning as I write this and we're leaving today for North Carolina.  We're driving to Asheville to spend the night, then to Charlotte on Friday where we're going to shop for a Murphy bed to put in Walter's upstairs office.  Then on to Blowing Rock for the weekend, can't wait.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Vanilla Bean Shortbread

Vanilla Bean Shortbread Recipe - MyRecipes.com

"This half-oil, half-butter version yields a crisper, more delicate cookie," says Cooking Light Advisory Panelist Greg Drescher of the Culinary Institute of America. Make up to five days in advance, and store in an airtight container.

Yield: 32 servings (serving size: 1 piece)

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Line bottom and sides of a 13 x 9–inch baking pan with foil; coat foil with cooking spray, and set aside.

3. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, cornstarch, and salt in a large bowl; stir with a whisk.

4. Place butter in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed 2 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add oil; beat with a mixer at medium speed 3 minutes or until well blended. Gradually add sugar, beating well. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean, and add seeds to butter mixture; discard bean. Add flour mixture, beating at low speed just until blended. Spoon dough into prepared pan. Place a sheet of heavy-duty plastic wrap over dough; press to an even thickness. Discard plastic wrap.

5. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool in pan 5 minutes on a wire rack; cut into 32 pieces. Carefully lift foil from pan; cool squares completely on a wire rack.

Dinner with Bud

My father and stepmother are making their fall move from their farm in Arkansas to their "fishing shack" in Florida.  They arrived about noon on Saturday and spent the night with us, leaving early this morning.  For dinner we had:

Beef Filets with Pomegranate-Pinot Sauce

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes (you can do this, right?)

Fall Salad with Apples, Walnuts, and Stilton

Bananas Foster Bread

All of these recipes are in the October, 2010 issue of Cooking Light.  Are you seeing a theme here?  When I get the new issue, I immediately try new things!  As the month progresses, I'll use other sources or go back to old favorites.  As a matter of fact, my plan for this coming week draws from a different source every night with nothing from Cooking Light. 

But back to Saturday night.  I've never bought a pomegranate before and I must say I'm not that impressed.  The seeds had a texture that I didn't like that much and I really couldn't taste the pomegranate.  I guess I'll stick to Walter's famous Pomegranate Martinis in the future!

Everything else was great, though.  I chose the Bananas Foster Bread because I'm always on the lookout for good banana bread recipes.  We buy bananas every week and often end up with "ripe" ones that I hate to throw away, even if they do go into my compost.  Plus I figured that I could wrap some up for Daddy and Grace to eat on the road. 

Here's how I started.  I like to get everything out first, what the French call mise-en-place.  That way if I'm missing something, I can make substitutions or go back to the store before I start cooking.  Which happened, by the way, when I started making the Pomegranate-Pinot Sauce.  Who would have thought I'd be out of pomegranate juice?



I've really become a convert to weighing flour instead of measuring it.  So much easier!

My friend Leslie Hanna bought this great yogurt for me - Thanks, Leslie!

And here's the finished product - everyone liked it!

Here's Bud and Grace as they were leaving Sunday morning + a picture of Bud with his brown-eyed girl in her jammies!

Fall Salad with Apples, Walnuts, and Stilton

Fall Salad with Apples, Walnuts, and Stilton

This is really a main dish salad!  Use crumbled goat cheese in place of Stilton, if you prefer a milder flavored cheese.
Yield:  4 servings (serving size: 2 cups)
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1 1/2 tablespoons champagne or white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 dried apricot, finely chopped
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups torn green leaf lettuce leaves
2 cups thinly sliced Belgian endive (about 2 heads)
1/4 cup (1 ounce) Stilton cheese, thinly sliced
1/4 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 (5-ounce) package baby arugula
1 ounce very thin slices prosciutto, torn
1 Granny Smith apple, cored and thinly sliced

1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a blender. With blender on, slowly add oil; process until well combined. Stir in salt and pepper.

2. Combine lettuce and remaining ingredients in a large bowl; add apricot mixture, tossing gently to coat.

CALORIES 294 ; FAT 18.4g (sat 3.6g,mono 8.9g,poly 5g); CHOLESTEROL 9.5mg; CALCIUM 254mg; CARBOHYDRATE 28g; SODIUM 429mg; PROTEIN 9.2g; FIBER 10.8g; IRON 3.7mg

Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2010

Beef Filets with Pomegranate-Pinot Sauce

Beef Filets with Pomegranate-Pinot Sauce

Pomegranate seeds make a pretty garnish (look for convenient, ready-to-eat seeds in the produce section.  I couldn't find any, so de-seeded a fresh pomegranate.)

Time: 20 minutes
Yield:  4 servings (serving size: 1 steak and about 2 teaspoons sauce)

4 (4-ounce) beef tenderloin steaks, trimmed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon minced shallots
1/3 cup pinot noir or burgundy wine
1/3 cup pomegranate juice
1/3 cup fat-free, lower-sodium beef broth
1 thyme sprig
1 1/2 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces


1. Heat a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle steaks evenly with salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add steaks to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Remove steaks from pan; keep warm.  Walter grilled the steaks outside - yummy!

2. Add shallots to pan; sauté 30 seconds. Add remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper, wine, juice, broth, and thyme sprig; bring to a boil. Cook 7 minutes or until reduced to about 3 tablespoons. Remove from heat; discard thyme sprig. Add butter to sauce, stirring until butter melts. Serve sauce with steaks.

CALORIES 227 ; FAT 12.3g (sat 5.7g,mono 4.2g,poly 0.5g); CHOLESTEROL 82mg; CALCIUM 15mg; CARBOHYDRATE 3.8g; SODIUM 428mg; PROTEIN 24g; FIBER 0.1g; IRON 3.4mg

Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2010

Bananas Foster Bread

Bananas Foster Bread


This adult interpretation switches all of the sugar to brown sugar and cooks the mashed bananas with butter and cognac or dark rum. And it's topped with a slightly boozy glaze.

Yield:  16 servings (serving size: 1 slice)


1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana
1 cup packed brown sugar, divided  I used half dark and half light
6 tablespoons butter, melted and divided
1/4 cup cognac or dark rum, divided
1/3 cup plain fat-free yogurt  I didn't use fat-free :)
2 large eggs
6.75 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup ground flaxseed  not sure what this adds, but I bought a bunch - look for future recipes with flaxseed!
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
Cooking spray
1/3 cup powdered sugar1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Combine banana, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 5 tablespoons butter, and 3 tablespoons cognac in a nonstick skillet. Cook over medium heat until mixture begins to bubble. Remove from heat; cool. Place banana mixture in a large bowl. Add yogurt, remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar, and eggs. Beat with a mixer at medium speed.

3. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (through allspice) in a small bowl. Add flour mixture to banana mixture; beat just until blended. Pour batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Remove bread from pan; place on wire rack.

4. Combine remaining 1 tablespoon melted butter, remaining 1 tablespoon cognac, and powdered sugar; stir until well blended. Drizzle over the warm bread.

CALORIES 194 ; FAT 5.8g (sat 3g,mono 1.5g,poly 0.9g); CHOLESTEROL 34mg; CALCIUM 32mg; CARBOHYDRATE 31.1g; SODIUM 181mg; PROTEIN 2.9g; FIBER 1.5g; IRON 1.1mg

Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2010

Oct 3-9 2010

I went to Blowing Rock on Tuesday, Sep 28 and got ready for some good friends to join me for the weekend.  On Thursday they arrived:  (from left to right below) Patty Lynn Ellis from Los Angeles, Marcia (Mar'-cee-ah) Stone from San Francisco, Donna Amundson from Minneapolis/St. Paul,  and Chris Wright from Cincinnati.  We had a fantastic time in BR!  I love you all!

I drove back home on Monday the 4th and Walter was supposed to return from his meeting in Las Vegas that evening.  Alas, his flight was cancelled so I was on my own for dinner that night.  That means I had crackers and ice cream!  The rest of the week was business as usual.

Tuesday 10/5/10
  
Cider-Glazed Chicken with Browned Butter-Pecan Rice
   from Oct '10 Cooking Light
Sauteed Portobello Mushrooms
Salad of Iceberg Lettuce, Argula, Baby Bellas, Shallots

     This was a big hit with Walter.  I used walnuts instead of pecans 'cause that's what I had.  The mushrooms, shallots, and iceberg lettuce were leftovers from the girls' weekend.  I took a plate to my neightbor, John Glass.  I'm doing dinner for him this week as his wife, my friend Dotsie, is at the beach on her own girls' getaway!  He liked it, too.

Wednesday 10/5/10

Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Sauteed Apples
    from Oct '10 Cooking Light
Spinach Salad
  
     Fantastic flavor for these pork medallions and the sauteed apples were yummy.  This is a keeper.  For the spinach salad I just used a container of Organic Girl and added some Herbs de Provence goat cheese from Ripshin Goat Dairy in Lenoir, NC (but any good goat cheese will do), chopped shallots and crumbled bacon.  I splashed in a bit of white balsamic vinegar.  Pretty good.

Thursday 10/6/10

Loaded Potato Soup
   from Oct '10 Cooking Light
Bread - at least I meant to have bread, but got busy and forgot to go to Panera :(
 
     I put the soup together on Thursday morning because I planned to be away from home most of the day and because I think soup is better if it can meld for a little while.  It came together very quickly, went into the fridge and I was off!  The soup that evening was good, even if the weather did become unseasonably warm, not quite soup weather.  The salt and pepper in the ingredients weren't enough for us, and I don't like a lot of salt (Walter does!)  I have another recipe for Potato Soup that is almost identical except it uses leeks instead of onions.  I'll have to make it soon and do a taste comparison.

Cider-Glazed Chicken with Browned Butter Pecan Rice

Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2010

Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 cutlet and about 1/2 cup

rice)

1 (3.5-ounce) bag boil-in-bag brown rice (such as Uncle

Ben's)   I used Village Harvest Brown Jasmine Rice (from Schnuck's)

2 tablespoons butter, divided

1 pound chicken breast cutlets (about 4 cutlets)

3/4 teaspoon salt, divided

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup refrigerated apple cider

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/4 cup chopped pecans

2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1. Cook rice according to package directions in a small saucepan, omitting salt and fat; drain.

2. While rice cooks, melt 1 teaspoon butter in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle

chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or

until done. Remove from pan. Add cider and mustard to pan, scraping pan to loosen browned bits;

cook 2 to 3 minutes or until syrupy. Add chicken to pan, turning to coat. Remove from heat; set

aside.

3. Melt remaining 5 teaspoons butter in saucepan over medium-high heat; cook for 2 minutes or

until browned and fragrant. Lower heat to medium; add pecans, and cook for 1 minute or until

toasted, stirring frequently. Add rice and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt; toss well to coat. Serve

rice with chicken. Sprinkle with parsley.

CALORIES 333 ; FAT 13g (sat 4.4g,mono 4.9g,poly 2.2g); CHOLESTEROL 81mg; CALCIUM

23mg; CARBOHYDRATE 24.2g; SODIUM 601mg; PROTEIN 29.1g; FIBER 1.9g; IRON 1.5mg

Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Sauteed Apples

Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2010

Sweet spices coat lean pork tenderloin, while apples get a

savory treatment with shallots and thyme. Serve with a

spinach salad.

Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 3 pork medallions and about

1/2 cup apple mixture)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 pound pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut crosswise into 12 pieces

Cooking spray

2 tablespoons butter

2 cups thinly sliced unpeeled Braeburn or Gala apple  I used Honeycrisp

1/3 cup thinly sliced shallots

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup apple cider

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

1. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Combine first 5 ingredients; sprinkle spice

mixture evenly over pork. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add pork to pan; cook 3 minutes on each

side or until desired degree of doneness. Remove pork from pan; keep warm.

2. Melt butter in pan; swirl to coat. Add apple slices, 1/3 cup shallots, and 1/8 teaspoon salt; sauté

4 minutes or until apple starts to brown. Add apple cider to pan, and cook for 2 minutes or until

apple is crisp-tender. Stir in thyme leaves. Serve apple mixture with the pork.

CALORIES 234 ; FAT 9.7g (sat 5g,mono 3.2g,poly 0.7g); CHOLESTEROL 89mg; CALCIUM

18mg; CARBOHYDRATE 12.3g; SODIUM 468mg; PROTEIN 24.4g; FIBER 1.5g; IRON 1.7mg

Loaded Potato Soup

Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2010

Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: about 1 1/4 cups)  I doubled this recipe

4 (6-ounce) red potatoes

2 teaspoons olive oil

1/2 cup prechopped onion

1 1/4 cups fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups 1% low-fat milk, divided

1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 bacon slices, halved

1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese

4 teaspoons thinly sliced green onions

1. Pierce potatoes with a fork. Microwave on HIGH 13 minutes or until tender. Cut in half; cool

slightly.

2. While potatoes cook, heat oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 3

minutes. Add broth. Combine flour and 1/2 cup milk; add to pan with 1 1/2 cups milk. Bring to a

boil; stir often. Cook 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream, salt, and pepper.

3. Arrange bacon on a paper towel on a microwave-safe plate. Cover with a paper towel;

microwave on HIGH for 4 minutes. Crumble bacon.

4. Discard potato skins. Coarsely mash potatoes into soup. Top with cheese, green onions, and

bacon.

CALORIES 325 ; FAT 11.1g (sat 5.2g,mono 4.5g,poly 0.8g); CHOLESTEROL 27mg; CALCIUM

261mg; CARBOHYDRATE 43.8g; SODIUM 670mg; PROTEIN 13.2g; FIBER 3g; IRON 1.3mg