German Potato Salad

Hey Y'all-
I have been beating myself up every time I cook something great that I don't take process photos. I know I know not everyone needs that, but I know my favorite cooking tutorials have them, and I try to write a blog I would want to read. I've made several really good things lately, and I decided that sharing the recipe with only the finished product is better then nothing.

This is something I have always loved, and since it will be a while till I go to Oma's Haus in San Antonio (My go to dinner after Six Flags) and M's aunt's mom probably wont share her recipe (although I haven't asked) I decided to try it myself. This is a mixture of a few things I found on pinterest. Also I added eggs, because I like it that way, its not traditional.

German Potato Salad
 1 pound potatos
2 hard boiled eggs
Olive oil
Half a medium onion
2 cloves garlic
2-3 slices Bacon
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
dash of rice vinegar (optional)
2 Tablespoons mustard
salt and pepper to taste
chopped parsley

Boil potatoes until you can pierce with a fork (depending on the type you may want to peel them first) I just put the eggs in with the potatoes to hard boil them at the same time. drain and set aside, potatoes will need to be warm enough to handle to room temp. Cook bacon too.

In a pot (the same one you just drained?) add olive oil, diced onion and minced garlic to sweat out: About 2 min. add vinegar, mustard, and bacon.

Cut potatoes into 1 inch cubes, dice peeled eggs ( I usually throw out one of the yolks, less cholesterol) stir to combine in pot over very low flame until all the liquid is absorbed. add more olive oil (one recipe said until potatoes are glossy, I thought that sounded like too much, just use your best judgement. I might have put 3 more tables spoons) stir in parsley, add salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm.

Enjoy!
The Artsy Girl

Pepper Steak

M's family ween beach camping this past weekend. I don't really care for it, but usually go along, but this year I refused, newborn babies don't need to sleep on the beach. I went to my Grandparents for the weekend (Nana and Papou) because they love seeing their first great grandchild. When I was there we cooked a lot, because Nana was sure that I didn't want to take the baby to a restaurant. While Munchy does fine out in public that was fine with me, you know I love cooking.

This is one of Papou's favorite meals. Just like me he doesn't think that there are many things worthy of eating the next day, and this is one of the dishes he thinks holds up after reheating. Also Nana had been thinking about it since she was in the hospital. she was going off of a recipe so old that no one could really read it, and she still has some speech delays from her stroke last year, so needless to say it was an adventure. I wrote everything down, but just realized that I sent the paper through the wash! Ugh! Here it is to the best of my memory.

Sirloin beef tips (we cut a sirloin into strips, because the meat was better)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
1-2 green bell peppers, cut into rings
1-2 Cups chopped mushrooms (optional)
2 cans stewed tomatoes
1 can beef broth
2 Tbs corn starch
2 tsp soy sauce (although Nana called it Worcestershire sauce)
1/4 cup warm water
1 Tbs oregano
salt and pepper to taste

Use one of the 12 in skillets that is wide and has deep walls, or a pot, there is a lot of liquid and stuff here.

In a little olive oil saute onions and garlic until translucent, about 5 min.
Add beef tips and saute until brown.
if using add mushrooms and saute 5-10 min. 
Put in the 2 cans of tomatoes. If you are using whole caned tomatoes cut them up first. Add beef broth and oregano, Bring to boil, then cover and let simmer for 25 min.
Stir in bell peppers, let simmer 5 min. 
 Add corn starch to water, dissolve, add mixture to pot, add soy sauce.( I really think this is optional)
When thickened it is ready

Serve with pasta.

Freezer Meals

With any luck I will get to meet my wee little baby in just eight short days!  Well I don't start maternity leave till Friday, so the days won't feel short, but I have plenty to do in the mean time.

Since last week was spring break the nesting instinct had chance to gain a foothold, as I had little else to do. The nursery is almost finished, and I started making meals to freeze.

Never one to reinvent the wheel I headed over to pinterest to find some freezer recipe. I wish I could say that I hit a slam dunk, but with the combo of M's finicky eating habits, Crohn's, and my corn allergy there was not much out there.  I did manage to cobble together a list of things that will work for us, and am attempting to adapt a few of my own favorites into things that I can freeze and cook later.  I'll put my list of meals with links here, as much for me as anyone. I'll be sure to post any of my own recipes that I freeze. and link them back to this page. Not every recipe was touted as a freezer meal, but if I list it here then I froze it!

Recipes from around the web:

Homemade Applesauce This was not planed, but we had a ton of apples last night! It freezes just fine.
(UPDATE: This worked out really well!)

The Best Pot-Roast I have ever eaten (sorry Dad) I'm going to sear the meat, add all the veggies and whatnot and then freeze to put in the crock-pot later. I haven't ever frozen this before, but I have made it in the crock-pot and it works fine. (UPDATE: this turned out really tough, which is something that I have never experienced making this. I guess it didn't work out as a freezer meal.)

Gourmet Magazine's Meatloaf  I'm going to make this up until the: and then cook for an hour step. I leave out the celery, use all beef (no pork for M), and substitute the cherries for raisins and it tastes amazing. (UPDATE: cook this in fist sized balls and cook for 30, they freeze, defrost and microwave perfectly)

 Crock-pot Cilantro Lime Chicken
(UPDATE: This was fine, but its so easy you really don't have to freezer meal it, especially if you can keep fresh celantro around.)

Chicken and Wild Rice
(Update: We really didn't like this, which was surprising since we like all the parts alone. My advice, up the oven time or cut the chicken into bits, it needs more time to cook.)

Breakfast Tacos
(Update: AMAZING)

Mom's Keftethes (Meatballs)

Beef Stir-fry
(you can do this however)

Need more about freezer meals? This blog has lots of good info about prepping freezer meals (and lots of recipes M will never eat)

Now I know there are lots of things that I could have made and frozen, but honestly there are some things that are not worth making myself sometimes. If there is a commercial version available that M and I can actually both eat, you better believe I would rather just buy it then make it. Example: hamburger patties. Yes I am capable of flattening out some beef and freezing it, only to thaw and grill later, but unless I am having people over chances are hamburgers are being made because we are out of food and I'm too lazy to make anything. Guys, if that is the only reason why I am eating a hamburger then newsflash: THEY SELL THOSE PRECOOKED! And there is usually a coupon giving me buns or ketchup or soda for free if I buy it. You must be thinking "But you can buy precooked meatballs!" You are right there, but for some unknown reason they put cheese in those and M will not eat it.

Let me leave you with a genius freezer meal I made yesterday. At HEB they sell this premeditated Fajita meat. I usually don't buy this unless I have people coming over, but I thought, humm..... dinner tonight, dinner after baby comes.

There were 7 chicken thighs in there. I made three last night for dinner, and cut up an onion and pepper to throw in with the remaining four.  I figured there might be extra people around visiting the baby when it comes time to eat this.

All I have to do when the time comes is put it in the fridge in the morning, and have M grill it in the evening! Done and done. Could I have marinated my own chicken? Sure, but not for the price I paid. It also took me about 2 min to prep since I was cooking this for dinner anyway. Just had to label the bag. Bonus: this leftover meat makes awesome Arroz con Pollo in about as long as it takes to cook some rice. Yep, that was dinner tonight.

Hope my freezer rambeling hasn't driven you too nuts!
Later
The Artsy Girl.

Build Your Own Adventure Chili

Better Homes and Gardens put out a magazine all about soup recently. I told M that I would really love to only eat soup from here until New Years Eve. It probably won't ever happen, but I started today.

One of the first recipes is called Make-it-mine Chili. Basically it tells you how to build a bowl of chili, telling you where you can customize the recipe. I like it, because it reminds me of those make your own adventure books, and I am always doing this anyway for M.  Another cool thing is they give you suggestions about what to fill in. I can't tell if they are just suggestions to get your mind working, or combinations that are well known.

Here is my take on the recipe.

Ingredients
  1 1/2 lbs of meat                    3 cups chopped vegetables               4 cloves minced garlic
1 Tbs olive oil.                        2 15oz cans of beans rinsed and drained
2 14oz cans diced tomatoes drained                                                  1 15oz can tomato sauce
1 cup liquid                              2 Tbs Chili powder                           1tsp dried herb
1/2 tsp black pepper                 desired topping

Options that can be played with. My choices are red.
Meat                       Beans                   Liquid                 Dried Herbs                Vegetables
Boneless                 Black                   Beer                     Thyme                         Onion         Potatoes
   beef chuck           Pinto                    Water                    Oregano                      Green Peas     Corn
Beef stew meat      Garbanzo              Beef Broth           Italian seasoning      Small Broccoli Tomatoes
Ground beef           Cannellini             Apple Juice         Basil                            Celery        Zucchini
Ground Pork          Kidney                  Chicken Broth                                         Carrots  Sweet Peppers
                                                                                                                              Green Beans
Directions
In a large dutch oven brown veggies and meat. Drain fat. I like to make sure the veggies are well on their way before I add the meat. 

Like that camp oven? Yeah, me neither. I can't wait for someone to get me an enameled Le Cruset so I only have to deal with cleaning this thing at the beach.

Then I add the meat.

Notice how the meat is all broken up here and not just thrown in in one hunk? I'm not trying to be insulting when I say this. Break the meat up before you put it in. Just trust me. I speak from years of experience, it cooks faster.  Just do it.

Then add beans, (I only used one can) tomatoes, (I used waaay less tomatoes then this) tomato sauce, liquid, herbs and chili powder, and pepper.

It's gonna start smelling really good if you used beer like I did.  Bring the pot to a boil, then cover and simmer for 20min.

I like to eat chili with Fritos and cheese. I could have added diced onions, but I didn't. You can top this any way you want.  M loved it, but didn't like that there was tomato.

Happy eating!

Stuffed chicken

New delicious recipe! I trimmed my basil plant again and used this recipe to get rid of some of that delicious herb. As always, I didn’t exactly follow measurements (or even bother to get out a measuring cup) but I did try to stick close to these general measurements. this fed about 5 people with a breast left over, but if you have big eaters I'd generally say one breast per person.
Ingredients:
4 boneless chicken breast
halves, skinned
2 Italian sausages
¼ to ½ cup sun dried tomatoes
1/2 cup fresh goat cheese (feta or other)
3 basil leaves, shredded or 1 teaspoon dried, crumbled (I used a lot more then this)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 egg, beaten to blend
1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter melted

Mushroom-Wine Sauce
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup dry white wine
¼ red onion
2 garlic cloves
2/3 cup chicken stock or canned low-salt broth
4 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter (1/2 stick), cut into 4 pieces
Salt and pepper

Directions:
For chicken:
sauté sausage in a pan.
Preheat oven to 350F. Pound chicken between sheets of waxed paper to thickness of 1/4 inch using meat mallet. Pat chicken dry.
On top of chicken layer cheese, cooked sausage, basil, and sun dried tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper ( I didn’t). Roll chicken up, starting at one long side, into tight cylinders. Tie ends with string or stab with toothpick to secure. Or you can cut a slit in the breast and stuff that way. Dip chicken in egg, allowing excess to drip into bowl. Roll in breadcrumbs, shaking off excess. (Can be prepared 4 hours ahead. Refrigerate.)

Place chicken in 8-inch square baking dish. Pour 2 tablespoons melted butter over (or put a piece of butter on top of each piece of chicken. Throw extra chicken stuffing and basil leaves on top of chicken in pan. Bake until cooked through, about 40 minutes.

For sauce:
Meanwhile, melt 1/4 cup butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, minced garlic and mushrooms and sauté until tender, about 8 minutes. Add wine and boil 3 minutes. Add stock and boil until liquid is reduced by half, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat and swirl in 4 tablespoons cold butter 1 piece at a time (to thicken). Season sauce with salt and freshly ground pepper.
Remove string or toothpicks from chicken. Cut rolls crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick rounds. Fan on plates. Serve immediately, passing sauce separately.

I served this with steamed red new potatoes. It was reallllllly good.

Drink some Melon.

Just in time for the 4th of July! Delicious drink recipes.

Watermelon Lemonade
I found this on Good Life {Eats}

Small Seedless watermelon 15ish cups. (I used about half, but a whole would work too)
Two 12 oz cans of Lemonade concentrate
Wisk
Strainer
Knife
Blender
Cut up Watermelon in cubes and blend in blender strain through fine mesh strainer if you have one, or don’t like pulp. Add melted Lemonade concentrate and wisk together. Serve chilled. Makes about a two-liter pitcher.

This is kind of tart and strong; (but so refreshing) I would cut this in half and add water to dilute it some, which would make two 2-liter pitchers of the lemonade. Perfect for a party.

Sparkling alternative: Add Sprite to dilute the mixture.

Slushy Watermelon Mint Mojito
I found this in Southern Living

5 cups cubed seeded watermelon
1 cup sparkling water, chilled (or Sprite…. Again)
3/4 cup white rum
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
1 (6-ounce) can frozen limeade concentrate, undiluted
Mint sprigs (optional)
Lime slices (optional)

Arrange watermelon in a single layer on a baking sheet; freeze 2 hours or until completely frozen.

Combine frozen watermelon, sparkling water, rum, mint, and limeade in a blender; process until smooth. Garnish with mint sprigs and lime slices, if desired. Serve immediately.

Quick and Easy Watermelon Mint Mojito:
Add Rum and crushed mint to sparkling Watermelon Lemonade.

Until Next Time, Drink Responsibly and all that.

French Onion soup.

Some how this blog has really turned into something incredibly food dominant. I guess I just like to eat, and now that I’m not in school for the summer I have been having time to experiment with food. More on crafts soon I promise! I made a wrap skirt, but didn't take any process pictures, so I’m trying to figure out how to explain what I did.

My Great Grandpa Papou Mancy opened a steak house in Toledo Ohio back in the day. It’s called Mancy’s and it’s still there. My great Uncle John ran it after his father died, and now his son runs the place. Mancy’s has this awesome French onion soup that they have spent years perfecting, and since I haven’t had it in about 2 years I decided I wanted some. I told my grandma to call her brother and get the recipe, but of course he didn't answer, and it’s just as well, as I’m sure he wouldn't appreciate my posting his recipe online. (UPDATE: They put it on Pinterest! If you follow me you can find it) I did however make some French onion soup, and as always I played around with it so it is nothing like what I found online.

6 sweet (Vidalia) onions. (or 4 if you use Texas sweet onions, cause like everything else in Texas, they are big.)
3 tsp butter
Salt
Thyme
Parsley
Bay leaves
20 oz of beef broth
20 oz of chicken broth
Cooking sherry
Apple cider vinegar.
French bread
Mozzarella
Swiss cheese
Gruyere cheese.

Cut the onions in half, and then cut across so they are like crescent moons. (Or just cut how you like, I’m not a cutting Nazi. Just please don’t dice.) Put the butter in a pot and melt it, lay down a layer of onions, sprinkle with salt, put another layer, sprinkle with salt etc. till all the onions are in the pot. (It’s going to look like waaaaay too many, trust me, its not.) The recipe I went off of said not to stir, but I thought it would be good to coat the onions with butter, so I did. Just don’t stir a ton, because you want to let the onions reduce down, and if you are standing there stirring it takes forever.

At this point go make yourself a Gin and Tonic, cause you are going to wait a while for these suckers to reduce down and caramelize. I’d say a minimum of thirty minuets. Don’t worry about the onions burning; because that just adds to the flavor, but if you keep the heat high then make sure you can keep an eye on them. After a while they will start to turn brown and taste super sweet (if you are the kind of person who tastes constantly) start stirring, because you want all the onions to get a chance to brown and not stick to the bottom totally.

After you are happy with the color. (Mahogany is what the recipe said, but I didn't wait that long) pour enough cooking sherry in to cover the onions, put the heat on high and reduce the liquid to syrup. This will take like 15 minuets, but don’t leave, because if it burns your house will smell (but the flavor will rock) you want to control the amount of burn. Note: Every recipe is different, and I found ones with red wind and white also, so it seems you can use what you have on hand if you don't want to go out and buy sherry.

Once that reduces pour in the chicken and beef stock, bay leaves, thyme, and parsley. (Sorry I didn't measure this, just put however much you like) I accidentally bought cilantro, which it turned out I needed for other things anyway, but this just proves to me that parsley is not really all that necessary. If you don’t like it leave it out. Also if you want the soup to be thicker use less of the beef and chicken stock. The recipe I used called for half that amount of both and I didn't think it was enough. Throw a dash of apple cider vinegar in there too. The recipe I was going off of said 10 oz of the vinegar, and that frankly would have ruined it. No more then a tablespoon. Let the whole thing simmer for like 10 minuets.

Cut up a French baguette and put it in the oven and broil at 375 for a few minutes to make the croutons. The size of each piece should be about the size of the bowel you put the soup in. Pay attention here, these are easy to burn.

Okay, we are almost done. Put the soup in an oven safe bowel, and using a cookie sheet, stick it in the oven with one of the croutons on top and a slice of each cheese. If you put the Swiss on top it will brown better then the other cheeses. The cheese should overlap the opening of the bowel so the cheese can drip down the sides and crust over. This is what makes the Mancy’s French onion soup I think. If (like me) you don’t have a bowel that can go in the oven just use a coffee mug, it works wonderfully. I found that if you put the mug to the side of the broiler in a gas oven it browns the cheese the best. You could also use a torch if you have one.

If I had the time this is what I would probably serve this soup with:
Steak, Mushrooms, and Onion rings

Although it is a meal in its self.

Until Next time.

Texas Pecan Pesto.

My brother came up with the name for this while drinking a lone star beer. Go figure.

For some reason or another basil grows really well in Texas, despite the heat. An important aspect of basil maintenance is cutting back the plant before it flowers so that it continues to grow fully and doesn’t get bitter. The draw back with this pruning is that you are left with a ton of basil, more then you can usually use to spice up one meal. After you have had your fill of garnishing salads, and topping bruschetta, give this recipe a try.

2 cups fresh basil
Olive Oil
½ cup parmesan or Romano cheese
½ cup pecans
4 medium sized garlic cloves, minced.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Lemon.

Official recipe for any pesto.
Combine Basil garlic and nuts (traditionally pine nuts) in a food processor, pulse several times slowly drizzle olive oil into the mixture while blending. Add cheese and blend together.

Snore.

My recipe.
Throw basil, Pecans, Garlic and a half a cup of olive oil into a food processor or blender and mix together. Remove from mixing device, add cheese, and more olive oil, as much as you like, and stir together until pesto has reached desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste, and throw some lemon in if you think it needs an extra kick.

A food processor is probably best for this recipe, but I didn’t have one, so I just used a blender, which I found to work just fine, although I had to dig the blended part out and push the non blended part to the bottom myself, which I wouldn’t have had to do with a processor I’m thinking. The half a cup of olive oil that goes in the blender is mainly to keep everything moving and from sticking to the blender insides, although there will still be some of that.

I also found that using already chopped pecans made life easy also, cause you can in theory leave it all to the end and just mix in with the basil mush after it is out of the blender. I put half in the blender and mixed half in later. It seemed like having the nuts in the blender helped the mixture move better.

So how does putting pecans in pesto make it “Texas?” Well, it adds a taste that other nuts seem to be lacking. You can also use pesto in ways other then just Italian spaghetti. You can use it in pasta salad, an awesome pick nick staple. Its also good on baked potatos, tortillas, and as a dip for chips.

Helpful tip- if you don’t want to eat a ton of pesto all at once you can freeze the pesto in an ice cube tray if you leave the cheese out and add it later.

Until next time.

Moroccan Stewed Chicken

I know that food is not the main focus of this blog, (UPDATE: Who cares?) but I love food, and this recipe was AMAZING. I found it in the January issue of Women’s Health magazine and just tried it last week. This is my personal adaptation, which is a little more haphazard then the original recipe, and has a few extra ingredients. It’s so quick and easy! You can find the Men’s Health version at http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/b/mens-health/3191/moroccan-stewed-chicken/
Image from website.

Ingredients:
1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs
I large zucchini, cubed.
1 can garbanzo beans
1 can diced tomatoes
chopped fresh cilantro
½ Tbsp olive oil
1 cup chicken stock or water
½ tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground cinnamon
2 cloves minced garlic
1-ish onion
1 bell pepper

All of these measurements are totally subjective other then pouring out cans I didn’t measure a thing. I’m sure I put more of the spices then was called for, but I tried to use the measurements as a guide to my haphazard pouring. I used a 2 cup can of chicken stock instead of one cup. It will seem overly soupy but if you keep any as leftovers it will evaporate in the fridge and the extra moisture will be needed. Also any kind of chicken will work, even leftover rotisserie chicken from the grocery store.

Make:
Heat the oil in a large pan over medium-high heat.
Sauté two cloves of garlic and half a large onion, or a whole small onion and bell pepper.
Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper, place them in the pan and cook them for two to three minutes on each side, until brown.
Add the zucchini and continue cooking, stirring occasionally.
When the zucchini has browned lightly, add the chickpeas, tomatoes, chicken stock, cayenne, cumin and cinnamon.
Turn the heat to low and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until the chicken is tender and cooked through.
Season to taste with more salt and pepper, add garnish with chopped cilantro. Serves four. (although it served my family of 4 more or less twice, so unless you get seconds expect leftovers)

Side:
Cook plain couscous according to the box instructions, add pine nuts, raisins, and chopped cilantro (this is from the Magazine). From Me: plain couscous is BLAND. To make this better add ground cumin, garlic powder and celery salt. You could also just use a box of flavored couscous. To get the flavor of the pine nuts, raisins, and cilantro in the couscous, mix it in with the boiling water.

Serve: in a bowl together not much broth.

Mmmmmmm! Until next time.