Freelance Foodie

Rosebud Potato Salad

This salad is so good, I had to put it away so that we'd stop eating it. It was great warm, which was a good thing b/c I didn't plan ahead enough for chillin' time. It was even better cold the next day.

From one of my very favorite cookbooks, A Muse Came to Dinner by Anne Bunch.

2 lbs. baby or small red potatoes, unpeeled
1 small purple onion, finely chopped
4 celery ribs, finely diced
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 cup brown rice vinegar (I used seasoned rice vinegar)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 cup mayo or Vegenaise

Wash the potatoes well, then boil them in a large pot of salted water til tender, about 30 minutes. Drain and let cool just enough to handle. Quarter potatoes into large mixing bowl and toss with vinegar and salt while still warm. Toss veggies with potatoes, add the mayo, pepper and toss. Refrigerate until ready to eat. Serves 6.

Panini of the Week: Greeky Pita

So, I am stretching the definition of "panini" a bit here, but I did want to include this one. It shows the desperation I sometimes have to create a decent lunch out of the odds and ends that often make up my pantry/fridge stock.

It's not pretty, but it's good. I was in too much of a hunger-induced hurry to get all fancy with it, so I just tore the pita bread when I found that it wouldn't fold over nicely like a tortilla. No worries...next time I'll cut it or use two different pita.

Greeky Pita on the Panini Grill

Whole wheat pita bread (keeps in the freezer forever)
olive oil (don't skimp)
dried or fresh oregano
dried or fresh mint
salt and pepper
diced red onion
sliced fresh tomatoes
black olives, whatever you have on hand. I used diced olives from a can that were leftover
feta cheese
fresh spinach

Coat the bread with olive oil and make sandwiches. This one is a little messier b/c the feta doesn't melt the bread together like in a traditional panini. It's still yummy, though.

Yogurt breakfast bowl

I'm posting this so I'll remember. Delicious, healthy, easy.

Yogurt Breakfast Bowl

Nonfat yogurt (hopefully, you can get grass-fed locally made yogurt for 1.50 per pint like I can!)
Slivered almonds (got these at Dodson's, for you locals)
dried Zante currants (my new favorite dried fruit, now available from SunMaid next to the raisins)
a squeeze of honey

Mix together and enjoy. This might be my new before-bedtime snack, with a few dark chocolate chips thrown in. Hey, it's better than a Skinny Cow.

Yummy Spinach Mac

I navigated to this recipe off of Yahoo's main page. Check out the comments, get sucked in for at least 15 minutes, like I did the other day. Haven't seen such robust comment-ry since I read the ones after Sandra Lee's recipes on foodtv.com. Makes me kind of glad that I don't get many any comments on this site!

For the record, the Spinach Mac was easy to make and delicious. For the record, I was very good and had one, normal serving, with a side of green beans and a salad. For the record, neither of my children would eat this. Evan's a toddler and doesn't eat much of anything besides hunks of cheese, grapes, "barrrr"s (Barbara's natural cereal bars), and bananas. I'm surprised Aidan didn't like it, but, then again, there's no way I would have eaten anything with cooked spinach in it before I was 25 years old. I know he was thinking, "Damn, woman, why'd you go and ruin it?"

Panini of the Week: Square Grouper Tuna

This week's panini was inspired by a tuna melt I had at The Square Grouper, a really cute restaurant on Hwy. 1 in the Florida Keys. Ahh...lazy Florida days....Where was I? Oh, yeah...

Square Grouper Tuna Panini

Artisan bread slices
Havarti cheese with dill
a few spoonfulls of canned tuna
thinly sliced banana pepper rings

1. Do I really need to write out the recipe? Put the cheese next to the bread, and put on the other ingredients as you see fit. Oil the outsides of the bread. Let the press do its magic.
2. Look up what a "square grouper" is on the link I gave above. Heh.

Panini of the Week: Portabella Squash

I got this panini press a while back. It's gotten much love in this household ever since. We use the grill part for panini mostly, but I've also grilled meat on it and quesadillas, too. We also use the griddle for pancakes and french toast. The griddler got me through a lot of meals when my husband, Matt was deployed for four months this past spring. Now that the hot summer months are here, we'll be using it a lot again, in hopes of sparing ourselves and our decidedly un-carbon-neutral house a roasty oven. So, I want to challenge myself to make a new panini every week this summer. This is one that I made for us on a day last weekend, in about 20 minutes. You can use a George Foreman grill, or get creative and press your sandwich with a hot brick, like in the old country.
Portabella Squash Panini
(This one's less recipe/more method.)

1 zucchini squash
1 yellow squash
red onion
1 or 2 portabella mushroom caps
seasoning
olive oil
bread
spinach
sliced pepperjack cheese

1. Heat up panini press or whatever you're using
1. Cut up veggies.
2. Saute in hot olive oil for a few minutes. Add whatever seasoning you like. I like Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute. S & P will do, as well.
3. Spray outsides of bread slices with cooking spray or brush with olive oil. Don't call it EVOO or I might have to kill you.
4. Cover bread slices with cheese. It's important to begin and end your stack with cheese next to the bread so that your sandwich will adhere together in melty goodness after it's been through the press.
5. Pile on as many hot veggies as will fit. Layer on some fresh, raw spinach. It will cook up just right in the press.
6. Add more cheese, top with other bread slice.
7. Let the press do its magic.
8. Pat yourself on the back for doing this yourself while places like Panera Bread are charging $7 for something this easy.

WT Redux: Tuna Casserole

One of the quick meals my mom frequently made while I was growing up was Tuna Casserole. Her recipe was pretty simple: one can of cream of mushroom soup, one or two cans of tuna, and a box of orange-powder-variety macaroni-and-cheese. There was probably milk in there somewhere, too. Although I'm on board with healthy eating, and my food tastes are somewhat more, a-hem, elevated than my mom's were, I still get the hankering for food like this every once in a while. It's fun to think about ways to make this stuff using healthier ingredients.

My Tuna Casserole

1 box of Annie's Shells and Cheese (the kind with the squeeze cheese)
1 packet of Simply Organic Ranch dressing mix
1/4 cup milk
1 family size can of tuna (I get chunk light b/c it's supposed to have less mercury)
1 big handful of frozen peas and carrots

1. Make the mac accoding to box directions.
2. Pour milk into measuring cup and add dressing mix, mixing very well.
3. Pour hot mac into a casserole dish, add cheese packet, ranch mixture, tuna, and veggies.
4. Crumble a few crackers over it if you want a topping.
5. Bake at 400 for about 15 minutes.

Week's Eats

Saturday - seasoned baked organic chicken breast with peas and carrots on the side for the boys...on top of a spinach salad for me.
Sunday - Tempeh "sausage", potato, and fennel pizza and cheese pizza for Aidan. (from Vegan with a Vengeance.)
Monday- leftover pizza with warm roasted veggie spinach salad
Tuesday- leftover roasted veggies mixed with cooked orzo, feta cheese, lots of spinach, fresh garlic, olive oil, vinegar, and cannelini beans, garlic bread
Wednesday - Tasty Bite Indian food I've had in my cabinet for a while now. Panini if this doesn't work out.
Thursday - Crockpot beef burritos (I'm making a lot and taking some to a friend who just had a baby.)
Friday - out to a friend's for my birthday
Saturday- out to book club meeting...something simple for my mom and the boys
Sunday- oven baked chicken with baked potatoes and salad...my mom will still be here.

Chicken Fry/Fried

Having grown up in Texas as the daughter of country folk, I ate chicken fried steak for dinner probably once a week. It was one of the few meals that my mom could make from scratch, and one of the only entrees I can really claim as part of my 7th generation Texas heritage. I don't eat it very often, mostly b/c I hardly ever visit the type of restaurant that would know how to make one of these from scratch, as opposed to just pulling a pre-breaded half-soybean patty out of the freezer and throwing it in the deep fryer. My mom doesn't make it anymore, either. So, when I signed myself up to get a 10 lb. sample pack from a locally raised, hormone-free, pastured beef and saw that there was a tenderized steak included, my mouth immediately started watering at the thought of teaching myself how to make this Texan classic. (Oklahoma claims it as their classic, too, but most people here call it simply "Chicken Fry," which I just don't get at all.) I used a recipe I had printed out several years earlier when I was living in CA and just aching for any little taste of home. Come to find out, the author of this recipe is the man behind the Oklahoma Food Coop, which we've been meaning to join since we moved here 2 years ago. It will have to wait til Matt gets back in May, but for now, I'll share with you this awesome recipe. I made this way back in December and even took a pic, so better late than never. Plus, looks like the old link to the recipe doesn't work anymore. Darn, I have to type.

Chicken Fried Steak and Gravy courtesy of Robert Waldrop

Ingredients:

Tenderized round steak
flour
salt
cayenne pepper
ground black pepper
2 cups milk
2 cups water
oil for frying

Directions:

1. Mix salt and peppers with the flour. Put seasoned flour in a paper bag or on a baking sheet with sides.
2. Cut steaks into silver-dollar sizes (so they get more yummy breading). Soak steaks in milk in a pie pan.
3. Dredge steaks in flour, dip them again in the milk, and then back into the flour. (I think this is really the key to this great crust.)
4. Fry steaks in hot oil in skillet. Make sure your oil is hot enough by sprinkling water on it to see if it sizzles. Don't turn too soon or the breading will stick.
5. Set all steaks aside and keep warm. For gravy, pour off most of the oil but leave a bit in the pan. Mix some of the seasoned flour in and brown it, scraping up all the meaty bits as you go. Add 2 cups of milk or water (I think milk would be better) and stir stir stir til the gravy thickens. Season to taste if you need to.

Don't forget mashed potatoes!

Week's Eats

Well, my husband is now deployed for the next few months. Normally, I slack off a bit in the cooking dept. when he's away, but I just can't do that for 4 months, esp. with the young ones around and my own health/fitness to consider. I'm going to try to limit our eating-out to just once or twice a week, only when we really need to for sanity's sake (like we did last Saturday when we were all starving and drove home late from a bday party across town) or when we want to be with friends (like last Thursday when we played at Burger King for 2+ hours). I need easy meals now more than ever. I need some un-gourmet shortcuts like bottled minced garlic and frozen chopped onions. I need to make a few big entrees every week, a big salad, and some good bread. Here's my plan for this week. So far, so good.

Sunday - Balsamic chicken with roasted red peppers and goat cheese over Kashi pilaf. Recipe to follow. Aidan ate the chicken!
Monday - Changed my plans at the last minute when Aidan suggested pancakes for dinner. Splendid! I used the recipe for Postcoital Pancakes out of Dirty Sugar Cookies. Go buy it!
Tuesday - veggie chili or fried rice if we're in a hurry and salad
Weds - roasted veggies tossed with white beans,cooked orzo, Italian dressing and salad (I already roasted the veggies today while Evan napped.)
Thursday - Tacos with organic ground beef, cheese, and a corn/pepper/pineapple/black bean frozen mixture I discovered at Target. Avocado salad if I can remember to pick some up.
Friday - Invited to a friend's house
Saturday - There's supposed to be an ice storm, so I'll have sandwich fixings on hand in case the power goes out. If power's on, I think it will be a soup day. Hmmm...potato tofu? peanut butter chicken?