Righetous "Everything But the Kitchen Sink" Soup

So, I'm a "Moms' Group" which is really exactly what it sounds like-- a bunch of moms who get together, hang out to socialize their kids and themselves, and generally help each other out.  Its pretty awesome, and God bless the Internet which makes these groups so easy!

One of the activities I have recently offered to host is a "Dinner Swap".  Its a simple idea that I hope you steal and use with your friends.  The idea is that you cook once, and get up to five meals.  You know I'm a fan of anything that requires a little more work for a HUGE payoff!  I'm constantly making twice the dinner and freezing it for ourselves, so this idea appealed to me instantly.  We limit our meetup to five people total, since making more than that at one cooking session can really start to be a LOT of extra work.  When we respond that we're going we also respond with what we're making (this way we don't end up with five people making lasagna).  Then you commit to cooking a little extra one night, keep one meal for yourself, and bring the other four family sized portions of the meal to the meetup.  When you leave, you've got four other meals to take home and use or freeze.  I've made things like Chicken Pot Pie, Thai Chicken Curry, and today, soup and Homemade Beer Bread (see tomorrow's recipe).

So, why soup?  Well, the weather still warrants it-- its warming up during the day, but is cooling off considerably in the evenings.  Plus, I forgot that the meetup was today, (in my head I was sure it was next week), so I needed something I could make a lot of quickly out of the contents of my fridge before people started arriving.

My philosophy on soup is this: its a comfort food.  I don't make soup as a "starter" at home-- who has time to make a "starter" and then a real meal?  So I want my soup to be hearty.  And because its a comfort food, it has to be easy to make; it loses some of its comfort if its super complicated to prepare.  So, unless I'm making something for a special occasion or I'm craving something specific (say, Sausage and Lentil Soup), I apply my philosophy of "Everything But the Kitchen Sink" to my soup making.  This means a recipe is hard to come up with, but can be a lot of fun.  Plus its easy.  We like easy.

Today, in my fridge/freezer, I had 3/4 of a whole, cooked, free-range chicken, homemade chicken stock, cooked brown rice, onions & garlic, and frozen spinach, corn and carrots and frozen wine cubes.  (Yes, you CAN freeze leftover wine, if you're the kind of people who have wine left over, it keeps really well in the freezer for occasions just like this!)

I also had green beans, red potatoes, a wide variety of canned beans (black, kidney, garbanzo, navy etc...) and dry lentils.  I left those things out, because my pot is only so big.  Things I might have added if I'd had them were leaks, fennel, celery, whole or even stewed tomatoes.

The thing to remember when you're applying the "Everything but the Kitchen Sink" philosophy to soup making is that no matter what kind of veggies/protein you use, you'll want them to be pre-cooked just a little bit before you add the broth.  If I were to have used the fresh carrots I have in the fridge, I would have sauteed them first, before adding the stock.  Same with the fennel and leaks.  I would probably have done something similar with fresh tomatoes or even canned tomatoes, to break them down a little bit.  Frozen veggies can go right in the soup-- they've already been started. The proteins you want to be cooked, but if you're going to stick this sauce in the crockpot and let it get happy all day, your chicken doesn't have to be cooked all the way through, just get it started, the heat will take it home.

But today, I'm going to give you a recipe for my "Chicken and Rice" Soup, since that IS what I made.  Or at least my best estimation of seasonings, etc.  Keep in mind when I cook for others, I tend to under-salt foods, since I don't really know what others' tolerance for salt is.  It might seem a little bland, but I tell people they can always add salt themselves to their own tastes.  Also-- keep in mind that you're going to use a lot more salt if you use homemade stock versus store-bought or using chicken base and water.

I'd love to hear what would go into your "Everything but the Kitchen Sink" Soup.  'Cause mine is currently on the stove and smells delicious!

Chicken and Brown Rice Soup
(Otherwise known as "What I had in the Kitchen in a Moment of Panic Soup")

Ingredients
2 T olive oil
1 small onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small can tomato paste
1/4 cup white wine (or two frozen wine cubes)
8-10 cups chicken stock
1 lb cooked chicken meat-- (whatever you have left off that whole chicken you roasted for dinner last night)
1 lb frozen carrots (or 3-4 fresh, peeled, cut into coins)
1 lb chopped spinach
1 cup frozen corn
2 cups cooked brown rice
1 sprig fresh rosemary (1 tsp dried rosemary)
3 Tablespoons cumin
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or less to taste, to start-- keep in mind the blandness of the veggies and stock)
1 teaspoon sage
1 teaspoon sea salt (more or less to taste)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Preparation Instructions
Heat oil in deep soup pot (unless you're transferring everything to the crockpot, then you just need a large skillet).  Saute onions and garlic on medium until translucent (not brown).  (Now is when you saute up fresh veggies if you have them-- otherwise save the frozen ones for later).  Add tomato paste and wine, stir and reduce for 4-5 min over medium-low.  If making entire soup on the stove, add the stock, veggies, chicken, rice and spices, and bring to a simmer, turn down to low and cover, stirring occasionally.  Otherwise, transfer all the tomatoey goodness to your crock pot, THEN add the stock, veggies, chicken, rice and spices, and let sit on low being happy happy until its time to eat.  I cannot stress, though, how important it is to test the flavor of the soup before you want to serve it.  If its bland, play around with the spices and flavors.  But remember that especially with soup, it takes a little while for the soup to fully take on the flavor of added spices, so I like to do it about 1/2 hour before I serve it.

See how easy that was??  I totally have time to make Beer Bread and take a shower before my guests arrive.  And that's WITH our munchkin running around!  :)

Thai Chicken and Pineapple Curry

Finally got the pics off my camera!  This batch was made in the crock pot!!

 
I am not an adventurous eater.  I'm not.  I mean, I love food.  LOVE food.  And obviously I love the memories that go with those foods.  But I don't like seafood.  I don't like it so much that when I was living in Spain, I told people I was allergic to it so I wouldn't have to eat it.  (In my defense-- it does get difficult trying to explain to someone in a second language that you're very appreciative of the food they just made you, and its not the chef's fault you're literally gagging trying to get it down.)  I like a lot of food, but I can almost always be counted on to order the Hawaiian pizza (don't even try to tell me pineapple doesn't belong on a pizza!) the burrito when we go out for Mexican, or a hamburger (usually with avocado if its available) at a diner.  I'm willing to try new things-- but I generally don't fall in love with new stuff when I do.  Living in Maryland for 10 years, I'm still more satisfied with a "chicken box" (fried chicken wings covered in hot sauce, served with fries that you get in a "box" from the corner store) than with the crab cakes for which the state is so famous.

One food that I did try and loved instantly though, is Thai food.  The most Asian we got growing up was Chinese and maybe one time Korean.  (I don't think this is so much due to my parents not being adventurous eaters, but more that we simply didn't eat out all that often.)  But I discovered Thai food in college, at a fabulous restaurant in Baltimore aptly named "Thai Restaurant".  I had no idea what to order, so I let my friends order for me.  Pad Thai and Panang Curry.  I remember this well because every time I frequented that establishment for the next 10 years, I ordered Pad Thai and Panang Curry.  Its a flavor explosion.  (And, very stereotypically, what Caucasian people order at a Thai restaurant.   I don't care.  I'll be that girl.)  I instantly fell deeply and passionately in love, and I was gone forever, turned on to Thai food and most especially the magic of coconut milk.  (Ironically, I don't even like real coconut, or coconut flavored sweets.)

At the time I was happy to frequent "Thai Restaurant" anytime I needed a fix.  No matter what part of the city I lived in, I would make the trek to pick up their deliciousness when I was craving some Thai goodness.  They (along with the number for Pizza at Costco) were entered in my phone as a go-to dinner out.  Who needs a menu when you KNOW what you're going to order?  Except for the money it was costing me, it was a great system.  And being in my early 20s, single and gainfully employed, who really cared about money, anyway?

And who knew how to make a good panang curry?  I didn't know for YEARS that you could make your own curry at home if you wanted to, that its simply just a mixture of different spices.  Growing up, we had a very steady supply of must-haves in the cupboard, but curry wasn't one of them.  It just wasn't.  So I had no idea what to look for, or even what most of the ingredients were, much less what to look for at the market.  But then my friend and co-worker, C, went to culinary school.  I don't mean the way an 18 year old goes to culinary school, but a real live, "I'm studying to be a chef, and I'm actively pursuing it" kind of school/mentality.  And, ironically (but working in my favor) his wife is (or was) less of an adventerous eater than I am.  So every day during lunch hour, I got to smell and often taste what he made for dinner the night before.

One thing other thing (besides being choosy eaters) that C's wife and I have in common is that she has her very own love affair with curry.  So among his other culinary pursuits, he actively sought out and tested MANY different curry recipes, in an attempt to make his amazing wife happy.  And one day he found it!  Eureka!  It was the one, just like the one she fell for in her own amazing curry-love story, having taken place somewhere out in California, I think.  And because he is so amazing, C shared it with me.  Asking where he found this amazing recipe, he told me he had connections to-- wait for it-- Thai Restaurant.  Yes, MY Thai Restaurant where I fell in love with Thai food so many years ago.  He had gotten the recipe from one of the chefs there.

That was the beginning of my adventures into the very, well-- foreign-- world of Asian market shopping.  Over the last couple of years I've changed the recipe a little bit (mine just never was as good as Cs or the original curry), and moving away from Baltimore, I've not been able to find a replacement for my beloved Thai Restaurant.

So the recipe below is my version of Thai Curry.  I call it Thai and not Panang because you could use whatever kind of curry paste you like (I happen to like masaman).  Plus, I don't really know what makes Panang curry "Panang" versus Red or Green (other than the obvious reasons).  So I call it Thai; you can say its more vague, I say its more fun.  :)  But I digress... the recipe below is a fusion of 3-4 recipes I've found over the years (now that I know what the ingredients are and how they interact, its kind of fun to put together your own curry recipes)!  Plus it would be unfair of me to post the recipe I originally got from C, since not only is he a chef, but Thai Restaurant is still actively in business-- and that's just bad mojo putting people's recipes out there they haven't published themselves.  But I do give him all the credit for teaching me what the ingredients are and HOW to make fantastic curries.

Oh, have I mentioned this is a chicken curry recipe?  You could use shrimp if you want, but, as previously mentioned, I kinda hate seafood.  You could also make it vegetarian if you leave out the protein all-together and find a substitute for the fish-sauce.  I know C's wife really likes it with just the fruits and veggies.

You might be thinking: (I know I was during my first curry making experience):
What the heck are all of these ingredients anyway?
I'll post up a picture for you (as soon as I get the camera working) of the ones I use.  But honestly, just find yourself an Asian market, and wander around.  See what you find.  Its kind of a fascinating world.  Then when you still need stuff on the list, ask someone where you can find it.  They've always been very helpful to me at all of the Asian Markets I've shopped at, and are more than happy to help someone who has no idea what they're doing.  But just go with it.  Trust me.  This food will take you places you've not been before.  Its a mind trip for your taste buds and belly.  And did I mention its made in the crock pot?

Special preparation notes:
--I like to "grate" my onion, since I live with a Serial Onion Hater, who doesn't like to find chunks of onion floating in his food.  Feel free to chop/dice/slice in any shape or size you like if you're not one of those people.
--You can use whatever kind of curry paste you want...  it changes the flavor, but not so much that the dish becomes bad.  Try a couple, use what you like.
--Kaffir Lime Leaves are kind of essential-- they REALLY make a difference.  If you can't find them (either fresh OR frozen) then you can use the zest from one lime and the juice from half of that same lime.  It works in a pinch, but its not the same.
--FISH SAUCE is essential.  Its not fishy in any way-- remember, I don't like seafood-- but you NEED the sauce for this recipe.  There are fish-sauce substitutes out there on the internet, feel free to try those if you're morally or mentally opposed to fish-sauce.  I don't know if they're any good, but they HAVE to be better than leaving it out entirely.  It adds that special something-- the curry tastes very "flat" without it.  (If it makes you feel any better, I get the super cheap fish sauce that doesn't actually have any fish floating in it-- its better for my mental health that way.  And that works out just fine.)
-- You don't HAVE to smash the chicken.  It works fine if you simply cube it, but it takes longer to cook through.  I cut into cubes and flatten with the side of a chef's knife or the flat side of a meat tenderizer.

"Thai" Chicken and Pineapple Curry
Yum Yum

Ingredients
1 Can coconut milk (not water, not juice, MILK-- the richer the better)
1/2 can masaman curry paste
1 Tablespoon Thai fish sauce
2 Tablespoons Palm sugar (brown sugar in a desperate pinch)
2 Tablespoons tamarind paste
1 Tablespoon fresh basil
1 can pineapple- drained
1/2 lb chicken breasts, cubed and smashed flat
1 small onion - chopped or grated
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped or sliced
3 Kaffir lime leaves

Preparation Instructions
Add all liquid/paste ingredients to crock pot set on high-- stir together.  It may not homogenize right away, the coconut milk evens out as it warms up. That's fine, as long as its mostly mixed together.  If your palm sugar is in solid form, smash, and add to liquids.  (If it was more of a paste, it should go in as is with the liquids.)  Add everything else.  Stir.  Cover crockpot and walk away for 1 hour.  Your house should now smell divine.  Check to see if chicken is cooked through and veggies are cooked to your personal taste.  Serve over rice.  (I like brown, but white would be more traditional.)  After you stuff your face and try to drink the curry liquid, come back and tell me how much you are in love with this SUPER simple recipe.

Spicy Lentil and Sausage Soup

Finally, we've got a picture!!

I recently had the pleasure of a week-long visit from one of my dearest friends, K.  She lives in Europe now (I know, jealous, right?) but we met in New York in 2003 when we were both training to become teachers.  As cliche as it sounds, for reasons that are immensely obvious and yet indescribeable we became fairly instantly the best of friends.   We even look somewhat alike-- or did back then with the same haircut and glasses-'- we went walking around our Bronx neighborhood to exclamations (en Espanol) of "Mira mama, gemelas!" (Look mom, twins!)  And while I don't think we were THAT much alike on the outside, our "insides" seemed to match very well.

And so it stayed, through years of learning how to teach and eventually doing it, through boyfriends who become husbands (and the ones who didn't make the cut), through several moves that separated us in distance, we have spent many hours sharing good food, talks, movies.  And I miss her like hell.  Technological advances have helped us stay in touch over the miles, but its not the same as being in the same room eating cookies together.  We had a wonderful visit while she was here, and I cherish the time we were able to spend and just "veg" in each others' presence.

Perhaps that is why it was even more of a delight than usual when K's husband L came for a visit a week after she left.  L occasionally comes back to The States for work, and when he does, he usually drops by for a visit.  Its always wonderful for us, since my Loving Duke and L get along so famously, but this last visit was an especially nice one.  Perhaps it was because he's been here so often now that I don't feel like I have to "super clean" the house before he arrives-- he more like a long-traveled family member than a friend, so he's been upgraded to "lightly clean the house" status.  I think for me, however, it had more to do with the fact that I had just seen K, so seeing L so soon afterward felt like we got to spend more time just enjoying him for the interesting person that he is.

Cooking for L is always a challenge.  He's on a special diet that does not allow him to eat gluten or any kind of dairy.  I usually just give up on desserts since everything I can think to make has either flour our milk in it.  But you can't invite a man to the house and not feed him dinner-- that would be criminal-- so I've made exciting things such as a HUGE green salad with chicken, pears, sunflower seeds, all kind of exciting salady things.  I've made smoked chicken with potatoes and grilled veggies.  This time I made Sausage and Lentil Soup.

Inspired by the soup from Carrabas Restaurant, I dug around on the internet to find something that would suit our needs.  And I found The Soup Lady.  This lady rocks my world, especially because its COLD this winter, and nothing seems to taste so good on a cold evening as a steaming bowl of soup.  I have made more than one of her soups, and I always enjoy them!

I have very literally copied and pasted her recipe here, except I've take the time to create an ingredients list first (she likes to put it all together in the instructions directions).  Also, she calls for hot italian sausage-- I think we used "Caribbean Sausage" from The Olde Town Butcher here in town.  (No, they're not advertising, I just LOVE all places small and local where they provide excellent customer service.)  I highly recommend going to a butcher and checking out their different sausages-- you might be surprised at what you find.  VERY different from a supermarket meat section.  Anyway, I digress...

So I made the soup.  First, it made the house smell DIVINE!  Secondly, I LOVE dinners I can make ahead and leave in the crock pot, which is what I did with this one.  Then dinner was ready whenever I wanted it to be.  Thirdly, EVERYONE loved this soup.  My loving Duke couldn't get enough, L thought it was fantastic, and I was pretty proud of myself.  I hardly missed the hearty bread that I would normally make to dip into it.  Its SO easy, and again a great dinner to make ahead, put in the fridge, and drop in the crock pot on your way to work.  Yum yum.  Bonus-- you could do it vegetarian pretty easily, if you were to add in some extra spices and use vegetable stock instead.  But why?

Spicy Lentil and Sausage Soup
Excellent make-ahead dinner.  Could also be listed in the "freezes beautifully" section of any cookbook.  Simply add a little more chicken broth if it thickens up too much.

Ingredients
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
2 carrots- diced
2 stalks of celery- diced
1 large sweet onion- chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped or crushed
1 lb hot sausage, removed from casings
8 cups chicken broth (or even better, chicken stock)
2 cans whole tomatoes
2 cups dried lentils, washed according the package directions
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (we like it spicy, use less if you like stuff mild)
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon of fennel seeds
two bay leaves
1 package of frozen spinach, thawed and "wrung out"

Preparation Instructions

1. In a large saucepan, heat oil. Add one carrot, celery, onion and garlic.  Saute until tender.

2. Remove vegetables from the pan and and add sausage, removed from the casing, to the pan. Brown the drain off fat.

3. In a large stockpot (or crockpot), put chicken broth, the sauteed vegetables and the sausage meat.  Open two cans of whole tomatoes, break them up by squeezing them with your hands and add to the soup along with the juice. Add the dried lentils.

4. Season with salt, black pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, oregano, thyme, fennel seeds and bay leaves (don't forget to remove bay leaves before serving).

5. Simmer until the lentils are tender, 45-60 minutes. Remove 1/3 of the soup and puree it using an hand-held blender, then return it to the pot, add spinach cook for 5 min until the spinach is warm. Correct seasonings and remove bay leaves.

Spaghetti Sunday!

Check out that steaming action!  Straight from the Crock Pot!

I'm BAAACK!  I'm sorry about the unannounced hiatus, some of it was planned (out of town attending a wedding) and some of it unplanned (I lost my camera for a good while), but we're still cooking up a storm here in the Wholesome Household, and this week I'm making a big reveal: The Duke's Crock-Pot Spaghetti!

Shortly after our nuptials, in that blessed time when you're still madly falling in love with someone and learning how to live with them, my Loving Duke and I had a negotiation over how many times a week we could have pasta for dinner.  See, not only can my Loving Duke eat pasta every night of the week without getting bored of it, he could also eat pasta every night of the week without seeing any change in the scales.  Oh, how I envy that genetic trait (and dearly hope that it has been passed on to our children).  Its not one that I possess however, demonstrated by the fact that a mere glance in the direction of pasta causes my scales to climb perilously, so we came to the agreement that together, we would limit spaghetti to one night a week with occasional other pastas thrown in.

But when?  And what kind of Spaghetti to make?  There is Bachelor's Spaghetti, the Duke's personal favorite and self-named easy pasta.  But even people who aren't prone to emotional eating still can get wistful in their food memories, as the Duke has demonstrated.  He has very fond memories of his very Italian grandmother spending a day at a time making red spaghetti sauce, to serve on Sunday nights with a big family.  Having been party to one or two of those dinners myself (and having a special place in my heart for recipes that come from Grandmas) it was decided.  That is how Spaghetti Sunday came to be.

I myself thought I would get bored with Spaghetti every Sunday night.  I was so certain of it that in a very non-supportive way I refused to be a part of developing the recipe.  Undeterred, the Duke spent many Sundays in the kitchen, playing here and there with the different spices/seasonings in the cabinet--garlic powder or garlic salt?  (Both in this recipe, apparently.)  He tried different styles of sauce- bolognese or meat balls (either/or, according to preference).  Different cooking styles-- to brown or not to brown the meat?  (Definitely, to brown!)  Writing them down as he made each one, making revisions the following week, as we sat, week after week taste testing his newest spaghetti creations.  I smile as I think back to how dedicated he was, in the tiny kitchen of our first home, to creating the perfect spaghetti sauce for our weekly family tradition.

And I don't know if its the holidays, during which we spend so much time thinking of family traditions, or the fact that I'm pregnant again, causing the hormones to fly out of control, but lately I've been thinking about how much I love Spaghetti Sunday.  Yes, it makes my life easier every week, because I'm not usually the one cooking, and even if I am, I'm not worrying about the ingredients (we ALWAYS have them in the house).  But its not merely for the simplicity that I love Spaghetti Sunday.  Its not even for the constancy.  Its certainly not for its authenticity (we use canned tomato puree and molasses among other ingredients that would make native Italians faint).  Its the joy our one-year-old takes in sucking his spaghetti like Lady and the Tramp.  Its that everyone we know knows that if they come by on Sunday, they can share in a delicious family-style dinner.  But mostly its that it was a family tradition of my Loving Duke's, one of those warm memories that he will always have of his family, that we made in to ours.

I will always have my family's memories-- those memories we get in recipes and moments that we hold on to, passed down from generation to generation (which I'll continue sharing with you as family law allows-- some recipes are super-secret even still).  But a big family spaghetti dinner wasn't my memory.  It wasn't something I hoped to pass on to my children, it was the Duke's.  In his tenacious way, he made it ours and after almost four years of Spaghetti Sunday I'm still so very grateful that he chose me to share it with.

Because I cannot lay claim to this particular Wholesome Recipe, I've asked him if I could share it with you.  He says recipes are meant to be shared (reason number 3,783 why I love him!).  We are aware that this is a recipe that might make some people cringe-- its done in a crock pot for simplicity's sake and honestly doesn't have a whole lot of fresh ingredients (any, actually).  Feel free to substitute or change as you will/your cabinet allows.  Just don't tell us about it.  As far as we are concerned, this is the Mona Lisa of inexpensive and easy homemade pasta sauce, and we haven't had any complaints from anyone, even people who like only "real Italian food", so we're happy with it!

What I am hoping you will share though, are your acquired family food traditions.  The ones that aren't from YOUR family (at least not the family you were born with), but somehow you've picked up along the way and integrated into your special traditions and memories.  Please post a reply with your thoughts!  It will be a nice way to kick off the Holiday Season Recipes!

**Special Note about preparation: this recipe calls for beef base, which is still only occasionally used by some cooks.  Its much like bullion, but comes in a wet form and is MUCH stronger.  It can be found usually in the soup isle, very near the bullion/dried soups of major grocery stores (we first got ours at a random Greek Restaurant Supply Store).  If you MUST, you can substitute bullion cubes (they're not as good but will do in a pinch), but please, for the love of all delicious food, don't leave the extra beef flavoring out all together.

The Duke's Special Crock-Pot Spaghetti Sauce
This makes enough for two meals with leftovers, so we usually freeze the extra sauce to use the next week.

Ingredients
(2) 29oz cans tomato puree
(1) 12oz can tomato paste
1 lb ground beef (or any kind of ground meat you like)
2 teaspoons beef base
2 Tablespoons dried oregano
1/2 Tablespoon ground black pepper
2 Tablespoons minced onion (fresh or dried, its up to you)
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon onion powder
1 Tablespoon garlic salt
1 1/2 teaspoons molasses (or sugar if you need a substitute)
1 lb pasta (we like whole wheat spaghetti, but its up to you)

Preparation Instructions
Brown beef in a frying pan, then turn down to med-low and add paste and beef base to cook briefly.  Pour tomato puree into crock pot set on low, add all spices and beef mixture.  Stir to combine, and let everything come together to get happy at least four hours.  You COULD leave it all day, if you want, that's the beauty of the Crock Pot, but I'd leave it on your absolute lowest setting then ("Keep Warm" or something similar).  Serve over cooked spaghetti, preferably on a Sunday.

Easy Poultry Pot Pie

Don't mind me, I'm just a delicious pie.  I could be any kind of pie.  Mmmm...

It kind of surprised me to realize that some of my favorite young child memories are of my dad in the kitchen.  He wasn't really a cook.  He could make potato or macaroni salads (probably because my mom taught him how, but he could).  He was a master griller, or at least he did it often enough to be a master.  And he could pair grilled goodies with rice or potatos to make a decent dinner.  But generally the kitchen was Mom's domain, as evidenced by the Great Cookie Disaster of 1989.  In the GCD-'89, somehow my Dad got involved in the baking of Chocolate Chip Cookies.  He and I together successfully made the dough, and scooped it out onto a cookie sheet.  Dad, being Dad, was convinced we could fit just a few more cookies the sideless cookie pan, and we stuck the whole thing into the oven.  It didn't take long for the oven to start smoking.  As predicted by any experienced baker: they had all melted down and spread out, not only making one big cookie on the sheet, but falling off the cookie sheet onto the floor of the oven.  Even the giant cookie was ruined by the smoke.  It was a sad day for cookies.  But I look back fondly on that day and I don't remember the probable frustration of a 9 year old who would have to go cookieless nor do I remember the irritation of a smoke filled kitchen.  Only the impetuousness of my dad, who had such a zest for life (and chocolate chip cookies).

Other favorite Dad food memories are making beef jerky from scratch.  Without a dehydrator, mind you, in the oven.  To this day I do not remember eating the jerky, I do not remember tasting it or if it even came out.  I remember the thin slicing of the meet, getting to stir the marinade, and laying it all out on racks before it went into the oven.  I remember watching him prepare for his weekend with the boys, chopping up potatoes and beating the eggs together so he could make breakfast on Saturday mornings.  And I remember going to the store to pick out frozen dinners.  I'm sure we went with mom too on certain occasions, but I remember specifically going with Dad.  He would read to us what was in each package, to make sure we were really getting exactly what we wanted.  We didn't do frozen dinners often, just occasionally when my parents were going out and we were going to be with a sitter, or if mom was away for the evening, but even those prepackaged (and probably terrible for you) dinners have become special and important to my upbringing.  Especially the pot pies.  They were individual sized, and as he took them out of the packaging and my sister and I would watch as he would take a knife and carve our first initial into the top of each pie, ostensibly to create a vent for the hot air, but we really knew it was  so we would know which one belonged to us.  It was a very important part of the pot pie ritual, even though I'm sure the pies were exactly the same.

Time passes, as it does, and frozen dinners became a thing of the past, as we eventually became old enough to fend for ourselves when our parents went out.  I grew up, went to college and became part of the work force before pot pies once again entered my reality.  This time, I was 25 and had moved in with some wonderful friends.  B, one of the said friends, who is a fabulous cook in her own right, made a pot pie for dinner.  From scratch.  I thought it was the most magical thing I had ever seen-- roll out crusts from the grocery store made this a fabulously easy meal, and you could even make it ahead of time, and pop it into the oven when you get home from work, or (gasp) freeze it!  Oh, and the left overs!  Its like a working girl's dream dinner and a delicious way to use up the veggies in the fridge.  It even had squash it it, and even though I kinda hate squash, I had a second helping.  It was that good. 

I have to say that the veggies I put in the recipe are just what we had in the fridge that we all will eat.  Feel free to modify for whatever you like or have on hand.  A lot of people like celery or fennel in theirs, I highly recommend either, but there are certain people (I wont mention names) in my house who are a little picky about aromatics, so they're not in the recipe.  (A note about fennel-- I would saute it up in the butter a little before you add the broth-- gives it a better flavor.)  Peas are also common, use them frozen, just like the corn for a dash of color.  In this recipe I used remnants of a smoked turkey that we made a while back, which definitely adds a dimension of deliciousness that I had not previously reached with my pot pie recipe.  If that's not your style though, you can cook up some chicken breasts yourself ahead of time, or some people I know just pick up a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and use the meat, to make an even easier version. Just make sure the poultry is cooked before it goes into the pot pie goodness.  Also, this is not a low fat recipe.  If you wanted to make it lighter, you could omit the milk all together, go lighter on the butter/flour mixture, and only use one pie crust on top, instead of both.  If you do though, don't tell me. It would make me sad.

I have shared this recipe with many people because I love it that much.  They in turn have shared their versions with me, and the recipe below is a compilation of all the favorites, so I can't credit any one person for the specific recipe below.  I will however, give a shout out to my friend B who brought the pot pie back into my world after a long haitus, and my sister who, by trying to follow my instructions, made an even more delicious version.  And to my Dad, the non-chef, who laid the foundation of how to properly vent the pot pie.

Its a little messy, but its worth it.

Easy Poultry Pot Pie

This makes the filling for two pies-- I freeze the leftovers and have an even easier pot pie next time.

Ingredients

Two pre-rolled pie crusts, found in the refrigerator section of the store
3/4- 1lb cooked poultry
4 Tablespoons butter
1/2 small onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 Tablespoons flour
1 1/2-2 cups chicken stock
1/8 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon (or more to taste) hot pepper sauce (Tobasco, etc)
5 medium red potatoes (about 3/4 lb) skins on, cut into 1/2" cubes
1/2 lb peeled carrots, cut into bite sized pieces
1/2-3/4 cup milk/half and half or cream (I use whole milk, feel free to use what you  have)
1 cup frozen whole kernel corn
Spices/herbs to taste
 Egg wash (1 egg white 1 tsp water, beaten together)

Preparation Instructions
Take your pie crusts out of the fridge, leave in bags, set aside.  
If you need to, cook up your poultry and set aside.

In a large sauce pan or dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add in the onions, until the become translucent (about 4-5 mins).  Add garlic, cook for 1 minute.  Sprinkle flour over mixture in pan, let it come together, and the flour cook, for another min.  Add in your chicken stock, powdered mustard and hot pepper sauce, stir.  Add in potatoes, cover and cook for 10 min.  All potatoes should be at least partially touching the liquid.  If not, add more chicken stock.  Add carrots and cook uncovered until veggies are cooked through.  They won't cook that much more in the oven, so make sure they're pretty much where you want them.  Don't forget to stir occasionally.

While the goodness is cooking, we'll address the crusts.  The crusts are easy-- open box, cut open bags.  Voila!  They don't have to be room temp (AND DON"T PUT THEM IN THE MICROWAVE!!) but you don't want them straight from the fridge either.  Unroll one crust into 9" pie plate.  Press gently to fill in the plate.  Unroll your second crust onto a cutting board.  Brush the egg wash across the top of the crust.  Use a butter knife to gently scrape away lines in the crust, about 1" apart.  Don't be exact, this is homemade.  Turn the crust about 45 degrees, and scrape again, creating a diamond pattern on the top.  Set aside your crusts for baking! (Keep the egg wash for later.)

When the veggies are done cooking, stir in the milk/cream, add in your chicken and corn.  Taste it now.  You'll probably need salt (more than you might think if you used homemade stock) and pepper.  Feel free to add a little more hot pepper sauce and mustard-- they're supposed to give it a little special something, not be the main flavor.  Feel free to add in whatever exciting spices/herbs you have in the cupboard.  I usually add a little extra onion and garlic powders.

Once you've got it where you want it, pour/spoon it into pie crust.  Don't fill ALL the way to the top, it will drip down the outside of the crust.  Ick.  Freeze your leftovers, or set aside to serve on the side of your pot pie slice.  Once the shell is properly filled, brush egg wash over the exposed crust on the side.  This will help the bottom crust bind to the top.  Take your top crust, place egg washed side up.  Press around the edges, rolling and fluting as necessary.  Vent  your pie with a few knife slits (or your initials) in the center of the pie.  Bake in a preheated oven until the bottom crust browns, about 45 min.  If the top starts to get too brown, lie a piece of foil over it (don't wrap, just place).  This will allow the crust to firm up without trapping in the steam.

Once you take your pie out of the oven, let it sit for about 10 min, just to let things firm up.  Slice and serve.  It will be messy, but delicious!

Pan Fried Noodles with chicken and veggies

Pan fried noodles with chicken and veggies

Our home is a testament to where we've been; the $5 Ikea mirror, the (arguably) artsty items picked up on trips around the world, the couch purchased for $75 at a second hand store that almost didn't fit into the back of the Duke's now-donated-to-charity chariot.  The essence of what makes our house our home is, of course, the memories.

But not in the kitchen.  The greatness of the kitchen lies not in the memories but in the possibilities.  We can be dynamic, beautiful, interesting people in the kitchen.  We can always try something new and fresh in the kitchen.  Honestly, when was the last time you said to yourself, "I think I'll reupholster the armchair in the living room, just to try something different tonight?"  Ok, that actually sounds like fun, but when was the last time you actually did it?  In the kitchen, however, we become adventurous, even if the only reason we add soy sauce to the sloppy joes is because we forgot to pick up Worcester sauce at the grocery store.  If it works out (and it does, my friends, it does!), soy sauce suddenly has a whole new life, and is added to your "Go-To Guys".

Meet my Go-To Guys:

Back Row: Lemon juice, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, pre-minced garlic, Fish sauce
Front Row: Balsamic Vinegar, Sriracha, soy sauce, sesame oil

In addition to the obvious basil and butter, there are quite a few staples in my kitchen-- these are the things I feel like I'm short a limb if we run out of them.  I know some of them might look a little new, (I know there was no fish sauce in my house growing up) but try them out anyway.  Heck, I don't even like fish generally speaking, but the sauce has a nice salty flavor that adds a nice undertone to whatever it goes in.  These are my background players, the ones who make a dish what it really is, the versatile ingredients that can be matched and married into countless flavor combinations to compliment whatever else I've got on hand.  I won't go so far as to call them friends, but they do talk to me, even if I don't use them all at once.  When I don't know what I'm making for dinner, I just pull them out of their respective homes, and ask them.  Last night I called and they answered, "Stir fry.  But instead of over rice, try pan fried noodles." In this case, balsamic and lemon juice were the only ones left out and put back in the cupboard to play another day.

What can I say, my "Go To Guys" get it done.

The noodles I used are recommended by just about anyone who makes Asian cuisine for a living.  The brand isn't so important as the type: the dehydrated noodles do much better than the "fresh" ones you might find in your produce section or refrigerator case, which, in my humble opinion, can come out a tad gummy.  And they're cheaper-- usually about the same price as a pound of pasta.  Check your "Asian" section of your grocery store (or even better yet, a local Asian market- they're usually even less there!!).  If they're not available where you live, I suppose some kind of linguine might work, but won't be as sticky.  (Please note, when I say egg noodles, I don't mean the big, flat, short egg noodles famous for pairing with stroganoff, I mean soba noodles.)  A note about cooking the noodles:  The noodles will probably instruct to cook for 2 min in boiling water.  I'd cook about 1:30 seconds, because we will finish them off later.  Also, when they say boiling, they mean exactly from the time the noodles hit the boiling water, not from when the water becomes boiling again after they're in the pot.  Short story: set your timer for 1:30 seconds, carefully put noodles in the boiling water, then hit start. Don't go anywhere, don't do anything, DO NOT OVER COOK these noodles, they become a sad mushy mess, and no one likes that.  No one!

As for the chicken and veggies-- no need to get anything special, just use the veggies/protein you have on hand (which is what I've done for the recipe below).  Just make sure you are cooking the veggies in the right order (the longest to cook goes into the pan first etc...). 

Pan Fried Noodles with Chicken and Veggies
This made enough for the Loving Duke and I for dinner, with enough leftovers for one lunch.  If you're not as hungry, feel free to use one package of noodles.

Ingredients
Noodles:
2 packages dehydrated egg or soba noodles
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
3 Tablespoons vegetable or peanut oil


Chicken and veggies
2 Chicken breasts, cut into cubes then smashed with mallot or side of knife.
3 cloves of garlic, minced (or 3 Tablespoons pre-chopped garlic)
1/2 small onion, shredded/minced
5-6 leaves basil, confettied
1/4 lb carrots, chopped into bite sized pieces
2 bell peppers, cut into strips (different colors is prettier, but I only had red)
1 small head broccoli (or broccolini) cut down into bite sized pieces.
1T sesame oil (or more to taste)
1T fish sauce (or more to taste)
2 small squirts Sriracha for heat 
Soy sauce to taste 
sesame seeds and cilantro (or more basil) for garnish


Preparation Instructions
In a large saucepan, add enough water to cover the noodles and bring to a boil. Add the noodles, stirring to separate. Cook until the noodles are al dente - tender, but still firm. (About 30 seconds less than the package recomends.) Drain thoroughly. Rinse with cold water, drain again, and toss with the sesame oil.

In a heavy frying pan or a wok, heat 3 tablespoons oil over medium-high to high heat. Add the noodles. Quickly spread them out to the edges of the pan, and then let them cook, without stirring, until they are browned on the bottom (5 - 8 minutes).

Flip over and brown the other side. Remove to a plate. Keep warm while preparing the rest of the food.

In the same pan used for the noodles (don't wash it, just keep going), add some more oil, and let it heat up on medium heat.  Add the garlic, onion and basil and cook briefly-- 30 seconds.  Then add the chicken and let that brown up and cook through.  When the chicken is fully cooked, remove from pan, put with noodles to keep warm.  Add in a little water to the pan, just to deglaze it, and add your veggies, starting with the carrots.  (Make sure to keep a little liquid in the bottom of the pan at all times, you dont want all the water to boil off and burn the good stuff in it!)  Let them steam/fry up for about 4 min, then add the bell peppers let them cook for another two minutes, and finally the broccoli pieces, cooking for another 4 minutes.  At this point, add the rest of the seasonings, oils and sauces, stir it all up, and make sure all the veggies are the appropriate tenderness for your liking.  Add back in the chicken mixture and the noodles.  Remove from heat.  Use tongs to mix everything together, and top with chopped cilantro and sesame seeds as garnish if desired.

  

Spaghetti with Bacon, Artichokes and Leeks

Spaghetti with Bacon, Artichokes and Leeks

Today was a busy day, as many days are.  Clean up, play with baby, work for a little bit, then run errands all afternoon into the evening.  As such, I was less than inclined to stop at the store for those last minute additions we need for dinner than I might otherwise be.

So, reaching into my pantry, fridge, and mental recipe box of stuff I'd like to attempt cooking, I settled on a compromise of two recipes I found on Ree Drummand's website.  (Thepioneerwoman.com is just plain awesome.  As in awe inspiring.  As in I am "in awe" of how she runs the website, works on cookbooks, posts recipes everyday, as well as info about farming, gardening, homeschooling, and being a mom of four.  She's pretty much my blogging world hero, and I highly recommend you check out her page.)  At any rate, she had two recipes, Spaghetti with Artichoke Hearts and Tomatos and Pasta with Pancetta and Leeks, both of which looked delicious, so I kinda stole from one and added to the other to fit my pantry's needs.  I've given you the link to the original recipes, since she really deserves the credit for this one, but posted the recipe the way I made it below.

I loved the leek in the recipe but not everyone in my house feels the same way, so if you, like me, are cooking for a Serial Leek Hater, you could use just plain onion, finely chopped in place of the leek.  Also, the recipe calls for freshly grated Parmesan.  I almost never carry that, because, lets be honest, I'm trying to be frugal. We used the kind that comes out of the cardboard can, and that works just fine (although I'm sure it would be even more amazing fresh).  If you're using the stuff from a can you should add some time to let it melt, since the preservatives tend to keep it more in grated form (I'm opting not to think about what that means for me...).  Also, regarding the cheese, the original recipe called for one whole cup.  I thought that it was a little too parmesean-ish, so I've reduced it.  Feel free to start with a little, and add more as you'd like.  Its hard to imagine a reality where there is too much cheese, but it exists.  And its a sad, gooey place where you can no longer taste the artichokes or the garlic, and you wish you could just take it back.  But you can't, my friends, you can't.  So start with a 1/2 cup, and add as you go.  Better to be careful than sorry.


Spaghetti with Bacon, Artichokes, and Leeks
If you're one of those odd people who don't just keep bacon in your freezer, or you'd rather go vegetarian, then I suppose you could just use a little butter and olive oil to saute up the leeks/onions and garlic.

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb of Bacon or Pancetta
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 2 leeks sliced into coins or ½ of a medium Onion, Finely Diced
• 1 can Artichoke Hearts (14.5 Oz. Quartered Or Whole) Drained AND squeezed
• 1/2 can crushed Tomatoes
• 1 cup milk (cream if you have it)
• ½ cups Chicken Broth (More As Needed)
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• 1 pound spaghetti (we like whole wheat)
• 1/2 cup + more to taste Parmesan Cheese
• 2 Tablespoons Fresh basil (or Other Herbs) Chopped

Preparation Instructions

Cook spaghetti till al dente. Drain and set aside, reserving some of the pasta water for later, in case you need it.

**Start with a big pan, everything is going to end up in the pan, even the pasta!**

Chop up bacon, and render it in a pan, removing the bacon bits to a paper towel and removing most of the bacon fat from the pan. Add onions or leeks and garlic and saute for 2 to 3 minutes.

Add artichoke hearts and tomatoes. Stir and cook for 8 to 10 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Stir in milk and chicken broth, add the bacon back in. Add salt and pepper to taste (do not undersalt!) Cook over low heat until heated through, then turn off heat. 

Sprinkle Parmesan into big pan, and stir into sauce, to let it melt a bit.  Add pasta to the pan, and add basil. 
 Toss lightly to combine and coat; add a tiny bit of reserved pasta water if sauce seems too thick.

Yum yum!