We are taking a little Christmas inspiration from food-blogging-goddess, Joy The Baker. I've made this recipe a couple times in the past and each time I've changed it a bit here and there to better suit my family's tastes.
I love this recipe for it's simplicity....dump it in the blender then dump it in the skillet. So easy! And it's delicious!
Monday, December 24, 2018
Monday, January 22, 2018
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Recommended Kitchen Essentials, Gadgets, and Other Goodies from America's Test Kitchen, Cook's Country, and Cook's Illustrated |
I have been an avid follower of the America's Test Kitchen brand since 2011. I love that they test and retest recipes so that the average home cook can (typically) produce a wide variety of dishes. Did you know that they also do the same intense processes to their cookware? They do every test imaginable, from sawing coolers in half to bashing skillets against cement blocks to test their durability.
My kitchen utensils in the past have mostly been acquired out of necessity and price. Most, even the cheapest of items, have lasted for several years with proper care. Then my niece came to visit. Let's just say that 15-year-olds don't do well with cheap kitchen items. Now I'm in the place of needing to replace some items and while in the process I figure I might as well upgrade.
While all these "winning" items are listed on their website, I find it quite time-consuming to repeatedly search their website and spent a rainy day just cutting and pasting the links of items I'm planning to purchase, would love to own, and some of the "this actually exists?!" items into a file. Now I am sharing my list of links with you. (Most of these links point back to Amazon, with a few to William's Sonoma.)
My kitchen utensils in the past have mostly been acquired out of necessity and price. Most, even the cheapest of items, have lasted for several years with proper care. Then my niece came to visit. Let's just say that 15-year-olds don't do well with cheap kitchen items. Now I'm in the place of needing to replace some items and while in the process I figure I might as well upgrade.
While all these "winning" items are listed on their website, I find it quite time-consuming to repeatedly search their website and spent a rainy day just cutting and pasting the links of items I'm planning to purchase, would love to own, and some of the "this actually exists?!" items into a file. Now I am sharing my list of links with you. (Most of these links point back to Amazon, with a few to William's Sonoma.)
This is in no way meant to be a complete list and I will occasionally add to this list and repost it as I find new items, new reviews, and, inevitably, realize that I've left off some items.
The Kitchen Essentials
A good non-stick skillet. ATK recommends the 12" OXO Good Grips skillet. When it comes to non-stick skillets, I like to have 2 10" skillets and a 12" with a lid. No matter how much you spend, the non-stick coating wears out, gets scratched up, and destroyed in other various ways. I prefer to buy this type of skillet at the restaurant supply section of Sam's Club or Costco. They end up being about $15 instead of around $40 each for the OXO brand. Also look for one that is also oven safe, so you can quickly melt cheese on top of one-skillet dinners.
A high quality stainless skillet with a lid. The top brand is All-Clad. It also comes with a top of the line price tag that is enough to make the average home cook cry. But after having used lesser brands and then acquiring one of these...WOW, what a difference! It's also almost indestructible, so one will last you a lifetime. (They also have a great warranty if you register your products). If you can't afford over $100 for a skillet, Cuisinart makes a 12-inch skillet comparable in performance. It just won't stand up to the same level of abuse as All-Clad. Or keep an eye on eBay and other online resale sites. I got 2 pieces of All-Clad for under $42 including shipping!
A good 7.25 quart enameled cast iron Dutch Oven. Le Creuset is crazy expensive and on my "Dream" list. If anybody would like to buy me one, I love the Provence color sold at Sur La Table. I will be your best friend if you buy me this! Lodge also makes a nice Dutch Oven for much cheaper. I have a large and small one of these.
A 5 1/2 quart enameled cast iron Dutch Oven. Necessary for certain recipes.
A 3 1/2 quart enameled cast iron Dutch Oven. Necessary for certain recipes.
A 10-inch Cast Iron Skillet. One of the most versatile items you can own! Amazon currently sells this skillet cheaper than any brick-and-mortar store I've ever seen. I personally have 2 of these and reserve one for "sweet" and one for "savory" dishes just because some flavors can tend to linger in the skillet for a bit. I'm not a fan of biting into a blueberry-garlic flavored pancake YUCK!
A 12-inch Cast Iron Skillet. You may ask why you need a 10-inch and a 12-inch...a lot of dishes are size-specific, such as Dutch baby pancakes, one-skillet meals, and baked goods. It's great for stovetop and oven use.
A giant stock pot. This All-Clad one top of the line. There are cheaper options which are satisfactory.
Sauce Pan aka the standard 'pot' or this one. It is good to have at least 2 different sizes. 3.5 or 4 quart is a good size but you may also want a small one for heating canned soup or boiling water for a make-shift double boiler.
Mixing bowls, in several sizes
Muffin Tin. Because cupcakes.
9x13 Inch Broiler Safe Pan. A 9x13 pan is one of the most useful bakeware items. Lasagna, cakes, one pan dinners, and so much more can go into this pan.
1.5 lb loaf pan Works for both 10 x 5-inch ( 1/2 and 2-lb) and 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch (1-lb) pan recipes. The loaves will be shorter and bake faster but a smaller pan is not a necessity.
Angel Food Cake Pan. Nothing else can duplicate this pan, so it is one of the few "single-use" items on this Essentials List.
Bundt Pan Another single-use pan, however there are countless recipes for various bundt cakes, so if Bundt cakes are your thing, you can get excellent use of this item.
Baking Sheet While one of these work, ideally you would want 2 so you can bake multiple trays of cookies at a time. Personally, I prefer to have 4 or 5 cooking sheets like this. One of my favorite things about this pan is that there is also a lid available, which is ideal if you bake bar-style cookies and are too lazy to cut and remove them like I may be.
Cooling Rack You need at least 2 of these. This one fits perfectly inside the NordicWare half-sheet pan baking sheet.
Steamer Basket Great for steaming veggies without the need for a special steamer pot.
Collander (aka strainer) Great for straining pasta & veggies, rinsing fresh fruits and vegetables, and saves you from needing an expensive pasta pot with a built-in strainer.
Kitchen Tongs. Essential for searing meat, grabbing ears of corn from boiling water, and so much more!
Spatulas. Buy 2 or 3. You always seem to need more.
Wood Spoons. Another item you always seem to need at least 2 of.
Spoonula. A mix between a spoon and a spatula. I love mine for mixing cookies and other baked goods.
Vegetable peeler. You wouldn't think the handle shape would make a huge difference, but this peeler is amazing!
Highly Useful Kitchen Items-Unlike the essentials, these are very handy and good to have items but not highly necessarily as you can "make do" with items from above.
Large Roasting Pan with rack. This is great if you have a family and roast a lot of meat. This particular one holds up to a 25lb turkey. I love this rack because it allows for easy removal of the meat to transfer to a board for resting and carving. Most smaller cuts of meat can be roasted in a standard 9x13 baking dish.
Counter Top Griddle. Great for pancakes, multiple grilled cheese sandwiches, or breakfast for a crowd. Many newer griddles have one major drawback...they are slightly domed to help remove excess grease from food, which is not ideal when trying to cook thin batters.
9-inch Round Cake Pan - You need 2 or 3 of these for layer cakes
Square Cake Pan - Ideal for thicker brownies, small cakes, and many other desserts
Glass 9x13 Baking Dish. Great for numerous oven dishes from sweet to savory. I have 3 because they are used frequently in my kitchen.
Rimless Baking Sheet. Handy for baking and allows more air circulation around cookies, which is helpful for some cookies. Nice to have but not a necessity as a rimmed baking sheet will still do a satisfactory job.
1-lb loaf pan Gives smaller loaves the necessary rise so your loaves aren't short and squatty.
Pie Drip Catcher Highly necessary to protect your oven if you bake pies
Pie Server Great for dishing up sliced pie, round cakes, and pizza.
Mandoline. Makes quick work of slicing. Very nice when slicing large quantities of something.
Meat Pounder. I've been known to pound meat thin using my rolling pin, but this ensures more evenly smashed meat.
Nice to Have a few items that are nice to have but by no means irreplaceable in your kitchen. If you have the space and money these can be nice items to have around.
Pie Weight Yes you can use beans, ceramic pie weight beads, and other numerous inventions to keep your empty pie crust in the proper shape. BUT this is just nifty to have.
Sunday, January 21, 2018
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Meal Planning on a Budget - Take 3 |
Here it is Sunday again. Remember when we were little and weeks seem to just drag by, weekend breaks from school seemed like a massive amount of time to play, have fun, and be with family? Whatever happened to that? Now you blink and whole weeks seem to just vanish. This has become especially true since having my boys. I have no idea how they have gone from these tiny helpless creatures to independent, stubborn little trouble makers who snatch my ingredients off the counter when my back is turned. My toddler ended up eating almost an entire diced, raw onion I had setting out waiting on the pan to get hot to begin our Creamy Cauliflower Soup.
To simplify your meal planning, here is a look back at my week of yummy eats, complete with shopping list and prices from my local store. My menu does include some items that should be left over from last week, which are noted in a separate list. Using what was in my pantry, some couponing apps (Do you use Ibotta? I got back over $300 last year!), paper coupons, and local sales my total for the week of food was just over $135 (for 2 adult meals and 2 kid meals, that comes out to $1.61 per meal!)
To simplify your meal planning, here is a look back at my week of yummy eats, complete with shopping list and prices from my local store. My menu does include some items that should be left over from last week, which are noted in a separate list. Using what was in my pantry, some couponing apps (Do you use Ibotta? I got back over $300 last year!), paper coupons, and local sales my total for the week of food was just over $135 (for 2 adult meals and 2 kid meals, that comes out to $1.61 per meal!)
Thursday, January 18, 2018
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Pork Lo Mein with Vegetables |
There is something immensely satisfying when you find a restaurant that can produce a flavorful, perfectly charred Lo Mein. For the last 20 years that had been a local place near my father's house. But like all wonderful family-owned restaurants, the family-element has moved on and the new chef leaves something to be desired. So I have spent a few weeks researching recipes, techniques, and ingredients to produce my beloved lo mein at home.
Living in the middle of nowhere, with almost a foot of snow on the ground makes for wonderful excuses to mix up some Hot Chocolate, toss in some homemade marshmallows, and flip through cookbooks and scour the world-wide-web in search of the perfect lo mein dish.
If you live in a well-populated area or have access to Amazon Pantry, getting the ingredients for this recipe should be pretty simple. If you live in the middle of nowhere, like me, this is one of those dishes you'll want to stock up on the pantry/shelf items used in this recipe, mainly the dried lo mein noodles. Also, opt for the more expensive brand of toasted sesame oil, it makes a huge difference!
Living in the middle of nowhere, with almost a foot of snow on the ground makes for wonderful excuses to mix up some Hot Chocolate, toss in some homemade marshmallows, and flip through cookbooks and scour the world-wide-web in search of the perfect lo mein dish.
If you live in a well-populated area or have access to Amazon Pantry, getting the ingredients for this recipe should be pretty simple. If you live in the middle of nowhere, like me, this is one of those dishes you'll want to stock up on the pantry/shelf items used in this recipe, mainly the dried lo mein noodles. Also, opt for the more expensive brand of toasted sesame oil, it makes a huge difference!
Sunday, January 14, 2018
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Meal Planning on a Budget - Take 2 |
This past week was the first full week of sticking to a strict food budget. And it was mostly successful-my toddler may have sabotaged me just a bit by getting his own milk (i.e. pouring a full gallon on the floor) and giving the dogs a box of crackers.
By cooking from scratch, and using some of what was already in my pantry, I was able to feed 2 adults and 2 kids for under $150 for 21 meals, 7 snacks, and 7 desserts! My husband might argue that "there's nothing in the house to eat" but he will slowly adjust to the lack of processed, pre-made junk. We by no means went hungry, although it took almost the entire week to break the habit of walking into the pantry to find the quick and easy foods. Well it took the week for me, my poor husband hasn't adjusted as quickly.
After posting in a few foodie groups I belong to on Facebook, I realized that many people struggle with meal planning or find it too complicated to start. I would like to share my past week of yummy eats, my shopping list, and the prices at my local store.
Let's start with my favorite meal...BREAKFAST!
1. Pancakes with blueberries
2. Oatmeal with cinnamon, raisins, and real maple syrup
3. Scrambled eggs with sausage, tomatoes, and cheese. Served with 1/2 a grapefruit.
4. Dutch Baby Pancake with real maple syrup. Served with "Cuties" (i.e. the baby oranges/tangerines)
7. Fried eggs, toast, and sausage
Lunches were fairly simple, sandwiches, fresh fruits and veggies, and a small treat.
1. Grilled Cheddar Cheese sandwiches served with pickles, and a small handful of potato chips
2. Yogurt, cheese & crackers, carrots and celery with peanut butter, Cuties
3. Left over sausage ragu, french bread and butter
4. Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches, celery with peanut butter, Cuties
5. Turkey sandwiches with mayo, tomatoes, and lettuce; handful of potato chips, orange slices
6. simple tuna salad, crackers, sliced tomatoes
7. Yogurt, turkey lunch meat on crackers with cheese, apple slices with peanut butter,
And for the delicious dinners...
1. Brown Sugar glazed Salmon, fried white rice with peas
2. Sausage Ragu with Pappardelle pasta, french/italian bread & butter
3. All Most Hands-Free Risotto with Chicken and Herbs
4. Left Over Sausage Ragu
5. Cast Iron Chicago Style Pizza
6. Sausage, Rapini/Broccoli Rabe, and White Beans , corn bread
7. Left Overs Clean Up
Dessert all week was a double batch of Molasses Spice Cookies that made just under 4 dozen cookies
I love that this worked out so well that there are no leftovers sticking around my fridge at the end of the week. (Except for a few cookies in the freezer). Everything that was cooked has been consumed, so no "science experiments" get lost at the back of the fridge. (This is a HUGE win in my life. I have a very large fridge and over the last year have frequently "lost" food in there.) One of the biggest wastes of money is throwing away food that gets forgotten or goes bad.
Here is my shopping list from this past week. Eventually all these recipes will be up on my blog, however a simple Google search will give you the results for all of these recipes.
I have posted the shopping list and prices at my local store below. The ingredients came out to a total of $203.06 but that is if you have to buy everything from the store and do not have anything in your pantry. At the end of the week you will still have the flour, sugar, spices, and a few other pantry staples remaining.
Grocery List
| 1 bulb garlic | 0.69 |
| 5 tomatoes | 2.49 |
| 2 grapefruit | 1.98 |
| 5lb bag of cuties | 6.47 |
| 4 oranges | 3 |
| fennel bulb | 2 |
| celery | 1 |
| carrots | 1.98 |
| 4 apples | 2.5 |
| head of lettuce (I prefer romaine) | 2.28 |
| 1 lemon | 0.5 |
| 1 onion | 1 |
| rapini | 2.48 |
| 2 lb Sweet Italian Sausage (bulk) | 5 |
| 1 lb Milk Italian Sausage (bulk) | 2.5 |
| 2 bone in, skin on chicken breast | 6.46 |
| 4 pieces of salmon | 16 |
| breakfast sausage patties (I prefer Swaggerty's) | 7.98 |
| 1/2 lb turkey lunch meat | 4 |
| 1 loaf French/Italian bread | 1 |
| 2 loaves sandwich bread (I prefer Pepperidge Farms) | 3.99 |
| 1 jar sweet pickles | 1.98 |
| mayo | 2.48 |
| soy sauce | 2.48 |
| peanut butter | 1.98 |
| grape jelly | 1.93 |
| 1 15oz can cannellini (white kideny) beans | 0.58 |
| canned whole tomatoes | 2 |
| tomota paste | 1 |
| white rice | 0.98 |
| arborio rice | 2.79 |
| 2 lb pappardelle pasta | 4.96 |
| triscuit-thins crackers | 2.36 |
| 2 cans of tuna | 2.26 |
| pepperoni | 2.48 |
| bag of potato chips | 2.48 |
| vegetable oil | 1.93 |
| olive oil | 4.12 |
| salt | 0.4 |
| crushed red pepper | 0.97 |
| pepper | 2.68 |
| oregano | 1 |
| parsley flakes | 1 |
| fennel seeds | 2.71 |
| ground cinnamon | 1.98 |
| ground ginger | 1.98 |
| ground allspice | 2.98 |
| vanilla extract | 4.98 |
| molasses | 2.98 |
| baking soda | 0.52 |
| baking powder | 1 |
| yeast | 1.34 |
| sugar | 1.58 |
| dark brown sugar | 1.06 |
| flour | 1.08 |
| cornmeal | 1.44 |
| raisins | 2.87 |
| pizza sauce (I used a pasta sauce) | 0.99 |
| Better than Bouillion, Chicken flavored | 3.48 |
| oatmeal | 2.33 |
| pure maple syrup | 6.98 |
| dry red wine | 3.46 |
| dry white wine | 3.46 |
| 8 oz mozzarella cheese | 1.72 |
| 3 oz parmesan cheese | 3.98 |
| 16oz cheddar cheese | 3.42 |
| 8 yogurts | 2.74 |
| 1 gallon of milk | 2.5 |
| 2 lb of butter | 4.72 |
| frozen blueberries | 9.64 |
| frozen peas | 1 |
| 2 dozen eggs | 4 |
Add in a box of K-Cups, a box of tea bags, a bottle of apple juice, a bag of Tostitos, and a jar of salsa and you have my entire shopping list for the week. I managed to stick to my $150 budget because I already had the flour, sugars, spices, other baking staples, blueberries (fresh picked and frozen from the summer), the wines, and a few other ingredients that I always have on hand. Even if you're starting from scratch with your pantry, there are still over $70 of ingredients you won't have to buy again for the remainder of the month, some for multiple months.
Happy Cooking!
Thursday, January 11, 2018
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Sausage Ragu with Pappardelle |
This sounds like a fancy recipe but it's really simple. And best of all, it comes out to under $2.50 a serving! I saw this recipe in an older copy of Cook's Country Magazine, from October of 2016.
I live in a remote area and had a little trouble sourcing a fresh fennel bulb for the recipe, but it was definitely worth the effort to locate this wonderful ingredient. Fennel is the slight anise-like flavor used in Italian sausage. My picky-eater of a husband loved this, as did both my boys.
With the original recipe calling for either using 2 lb of pasta or freezing half the sauce for a later date, I decided to go ahead and pick up extra pasta. Once the sauce was finished however, I realized that I wouldn't need 2 lb of pasta since we like our pasta pretty saucy.
I live in a remote area and had a little trouble sourcing a fresh fennel bulb for the recipe, but it was definitely worth the effort to locate this wonderful ingredient. Fennel is the slight anise-like flavor used in Italian sausage. My picky-eater of a husband loved this, as did both my boys.
With the original recipe calling for either using 2 lb of pasta or freezing half the sauce for a later date, I decided to go ahead and pick up extra pasta. Once the sauce was finished however, I realized that I wouldn't need 2 lb of pasta since we like our pasta pretty saucy.
Sunday, January 7, 2018
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Meal Planning on a Budget - Take 1 |
Meal planning. It seems simple enough. Find yummy food and cook it. So why is it such a complicated task?
I used to sit down once a month and dig through cooking magazines, food blogs, and a massive pile of cook books. I would scribble out recipes on a note pad, clip things from magazines, and bookmark a ton of links on my computer. Then I married a man who doesn't eat most foods and I had 2 babies back to back. I got out of the habit.
2018 is the time to get back on track and back on budget.
I used to sit down once a month and dig through cooking magazines, food blogs, and a massive pile of cook books. I would scribble out recipes on a note pad, clip things from magazines, and bookmark a ton of links on my computer. Then I married a man who doesn't eat most foods and I had 2 babies back to back. I got out of the habit.
2018 is the time to get back on track and back on budget.
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