Monthly Archives: March 2014

Lamb Rolls with Tzatziki Sauce

Posted in Cooking, Quick and Easy by

I am the first to admit that as a person who grew up not eating lamb, I had a hard time warming up to the idea as an adult.  I always kind of thought I had plenty of proteins in my lineup so there was no real reason to add another, but then I made this dish.  It’s the first lamb dish I ever made and I use it as a litmus test for those who are skeptical about lamb (read: my mom).  In the years that I’ve been making it, I’ve never had someone determine that they truly disliked lamb after eating it, so if you aren’t sure, give it a try.

The recipe originally came from a Rachael Ray cookbook we received as a wedding present nearly 7 years ago.  I generally am not a huge Rachael Ray fan – I find that in her “30 Minute Meal” gimmick it generally translates to 30 hours of dishes, which I’m so not down with, but in an effort to actually try something out of each cookbook, I gave it a try and was pleasantly surprised at the lack of dishes.  I usually serve mine with a big Greek salad, and estimate that each diner will eat half of one roll (it makes 2 big rolls or 3 moderately sized ones).

Lamb Feta Rolls with Tzatziki sauce

1lb. ground lamb

1 cup feta cheese

2 green onions

1 jalepeno (only use half if you’re heat sensitive)

2 cloves garlic

10-12 sheets phyllo dough (I just buy a package – inevitably some will rip) – defrosted

6T butter

for the sauce:

2 cups Greek yogurt

1/2 of a cucumber

1/4 of an onion

1 clove garlic

1 small handful of mint leaves

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Finely chop the green onion, mince the garlic and jalepeno, and melt the butter.  Mix the lamb, feta cheese, garlic, green onions, and jalepeno together in a mixing bowl.

2. On a large cutting board or cookie sheet, lay out your first two sheets of phyllo dough, brush it with some of the melted butter, season with salt and pepper, then add another 2 sheets, butter, salt and pepper again.  Continue until you have 6 sheets of phyllo dough.  Spoon the mixture in a log shape in the center of the dough and fold it up like a burrito.  Repeat for the second and, if you want smaller portions, a third roll.  Use a little butter to seal the edge and brush the tops with a bit before you place them in the oven.  Bake for 15 minutes, until the phyllo is a golden brown.

3. While the rolls are baking, grate the cucumber and onion, mince the garlic, and finely chop the mint leaves.  Stir together with the Greek yogurt to make a sauce.  Serve the lamb rolls with the sauce.

 

 

Spicy Pasta with Prosciutto

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For some reason or another, I’m not really a huge spaghetti fan.  I love pasta, marinara sauce is definitely my jam, but there’s something about plain old spaghetti and marinara that really doesn’t do it for me.  Not long ago, I realized that it was actually just the shape of the noodle (for the record, I’m not big on fettucine either).  Since I had this revelation, I’ve made a bunch of new pasta dishes with various pasta shapes and my interest in pasta and sauce meals has gone up tenfold.  This is a perfect example of that.  The sauce is pretty chunky, so it needs a substantial noodle, but you could definitely use spaghetti if that’s what you like or what you have in your pantry.  We used a curly rotini (my personal favorite).

All told, this meal is really easy and fast – and while I think it would be great to take for lunch the next day, we’ve never had any leftovers to save. Oh, and it has wine in it, which is awesome because you have a great excuse to drink the rest of the bottle of wine on a random weekday!

Spicy Pasta with Prosciutto

1lb. dry rotini noodles

4 oz. proscuitto

1 onion

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

2 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup red wine

28oz diced tomatoes

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

small handful of fresh basil

Olive oil

1. Chop the prosciutto, mince the garlic, and dice the onion.  Start the water for the pasta.  Heat about a tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and fry the prosciutto until browned (about 10 minutes).  Transfer the prosciutto to a paper-towel lined plate and add the onion, cooking until softened and translucent.

2. Add the red pepper flakes, garlic, and salt, stirring everything together for about a minute.  Pour in the wine and cook for a few minutes while the wine reduces.  Then add the tomatoes and simmer the mixture for about 10 minutes.  Cook the pasta according to package directions.  Chop the basil.

3. Add the prosciutto and the 75% of the cheese into the sauce and stir to combine.  Add the cooked pasta and stir everything together to coat the noodles.  Serve with the reserved cheese and basil.

Honey Wheat Bread

Posted in Baking by

At my house, Monday are bread baking days.  More specifically, I make the bread on Monday, but per my husband I can’t start baking it until Monday evening when he gets home because he hates missing out on the fantastic smell that baking bread fills the house with.  This honey wheat bread is pure heaven from the smell of the baking to cutting the first piece.  It’s not overly sweet, and it isn’t outstanding for sandwiches (it’s a bit dense – it’s great with an open-face sandwich), it’s absolutely the perfect bread for toast.  During the week, I’m not into huge breakfasts and I like something fast and easy on my stomach since I go to Stroller Strides in the morning to workout, so 2 pieces of this bread with a little butter or peanut butter works really well.

The recipe yields 2 loaves and in my family we never have trouble polishing off both loaves by Sunday, but if you don’t eat as much, you could easily freeze one loaf after it’s cool.  The only downside would be that you don’t get bread baking smell as often.  The original recipe comes from a West Texas Girl Scout cookbook (odd since we don’t, to my knowledge, know any West Texas Girl Scouts).

Honey Wheat Bread

2 envelopes dry yeast (or 1.5T if you buy it in a jar).

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup honey

1 T salt

1/4 cup melted butter

1 3/4 cup warm water

3 cups whole wheat flour

3-4 cups all purpose flour

1 T butter

1. Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water in a mixing bowl (I use my stand mixer).  Add the honey, salt, butter, and 1 3/4 cup of water.  Stir together until well combined.

2. Add the whole wheat flour and mix until incorporated – I use the bread hook on my mixer.  Add the flour, one cup at a time, making sure it’s completely incorporated before adding more.  Stop when the dough is still a little sticky, but pulls away from the side of the bowl.  Continue either kneading or letting your bread hook do the kneading until the dough forms a ball.

3. Transfer the dough to a large bowl with a little oil in the bottom and swirl the dough to make sure all sides are coated.  Place the bowl in a warm area of your kitchen (I turn my oven on warm and then turn it off when I put the dough in so it’s not HOT, but still warm).  Allow the dough to raise until it has doubled in size – an hour or so.

4. Punch the dough down and split into two loaves.  Place the dough into two greased loaf pans and allow the dough to raise in the loaf pans for another hour or two until doubled again.

5. Bake at 375 for 40 minutes.  Rub the last T of butter over the top of the hot loaves.

 

Thai beef stir fry

Posted in Cooking, Goals, Quick and Easy by

In our efforts to add more Asian dishes to our repertoire, stir fry has become a mainstay.  My favorite thing about stir fry is that virtually all of the work is done in prep, so once you’re there it’s just a few minutes of cooking and then you’re ready to serve!  This particular stir fry is loaded with veggies and really is a complete meal in one dish.  We served ours with quinoa instead of rice (due to not having any rice), and honestly I think I prefer the quinoa in this case – it really soaks up the sauce and is a little fluffier.

You can substitute, add, or omit any of the vegetables involved if you don’t like them, don’t have them, or whatever.  That’s my favorite thing about stir fry – it’s great for a “clean out the fridge night” (Friday, in our case, as our trash pickup is Saturday).

Thai Beef Stir Fry

1 cup dry quinoa or rice

1 lb beef, cut into small strips – I used some thin-cut steaks that were on sale.  The cut isn’t really important

2 garlic cloves

a small piece of ginger

1 red chile (half if you don’t like spicy dishes)

8 oz mushrooms

1 large carrot

1 bell pepper

6 oz sugar snap peas

2 green onions

a few sprigs of basil

olive oil

For the sauce:

3T soy sauce

2T oyster sauce

2T fish sauce

2T rice vinegar

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp cornstarch

3T water

1. Rinse and cook the quinoa according to package directions.  Cut the beef into small strips.  Peel and mince the garlic, ginger, and red chile.  Chop the mushrooms, the carrot, the bell pepper, and the green onions.  Chop up the basil and set aside.  Whisk all of the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl.  Congrats!  You’re almost done.

2. Heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil in a wok (or big frying pan) until hot and sear the beef until the outside is brown, but the beef isn’t completely cooked (it will cook more later).  Transfer to a paper-towel lined plate.

3. Add a little more oil and stir fry the garlic, ginger, and red chile until fragrant (a minute or so).  Then add the mushrooms, carrots, and about 1/4 cup of water.  After another minute or so add the bell pepper, snow peas, and green onions.  Stir fry another few minutes until the vegetables are a little tender (check the carrot).

4. Add the meat back into the stir fry and pour the sauce over the top, stirring to coat everything.  Once the sauce has soaked up into the stir fry, turn off the heat.  Serve the stir fry over quinoa and top with a little basil.

Source: Adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s Healthy Appetite

Tandoori chicken with mango and pineapple salsa

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There are certain friends you have in life who become more of kindred spirits than friends.  The friends who really get you and, regardless of how long it’s been since you’ve seen them you’re always able to pick up where you left off.  One of our friends like that often comes over bearing a makeshift tupperware full of marinated meat and, upon his arrival, makes plans to grill it for us (a true friend brings dinner that they cook for you!).  Tandoori chicken is his specialty and this recipe is inspired by his many visits bearing delicious food.  He loves garam masala and, actually introduced me to it.  It’s totally worth buying – it’s a unique taste that can’t really be replicated by any other combination.  I like it mixed with greek yogurt as a dip.

This meal is great for a Friday, especially if you’re having company because you can make it all ahead of time.  In the afternoon (or night before), you make the mango salsa and marinate the chicken.  I made a quinoa salad to go with it last time, and it’s best made ahead, too.  Then you can clean the kitchen, and come dinnertime all you have to do is grill the meat and serve.  It’s also very flavorful and tastes very fresh.  I cut the chicken breasts in half width-wise before marinating them to increase the surface area and to avoid the unfortunate mass of dry chicken you sometimes get when grilling a whole chicken breast.  Alternatively, you could pound them out flat.

Tandoori Chicken with Mango and Pineapple Salsa

4 chicken breasts, butterflied or pounded flat

1 tsp turmeric

2 tsp garam masala

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp cumin

2 garlic cloves

a small piece of ginger

half of a lemon

1/2 cup greek yogurt

For the relish:

1 can diced pineapple (or fresh)

1 ripe mango

1/2 red onion

1 red chile

1 lime

1. Several hours or the night before you intend to serve, mince the garlic and finely peel and chop the ginger.  Mix the spices, ginger, garlic, and the juice of the lemon together with the greek yogurt to create a marinade.

2. Butterfly the chicken and place it into your “marinating tupperware” (or a big ziploc bag), pour the marinade over the chicken and move the pieces around, coating all of the sides.  Place in the refrigerator until you’re ready to finish your dinner.

3. Dice the mango into a size similar to the pineapple.  Finely dice the onion and mix the pineapple, mango, and onion together.  Start by mincing half of the red chile and adding into the relish with the juice of the lime.  Taste and add the rest of the chile if you need a little more heat.  This can also be made ahead of time and left in the fridge until ready to serve.

4. When you’re ready, grill the chicken until cooked through.  Serve with the relish.