French Onion Faux

My husband loves french onion soup, but I can't stand it.  Don't get me wrong, the flavors are great, but the mechanics of eating it just turn me off.  First you have to cut through cheesy toast that plunges into the soup as soon as you put pressure on it with your spoon. Then the toast gets all soggy on the bottom, which is nasty, and finally, the soup is mostly broth, which should be sipped, but the onions in it are usually so large they need to be chewed, so I just about choke every time I get one in my mouth.  Every time my husband asks me to make it, I hem and haw and make excuses till he lets it drop, but I know he really likes it, so I was stoked when I found this recipe that combines all the great flavors of french onion soup, but without all the annoyances of the real thing!  Plus, this is practically a whole meal in one skillet, whereas the soup is just an appetizer.  My kid hates onions, but I just left them off her chop and she liked it just fine, even with the onion flavors.  The best part is, my husband loved it and he said it tastes just like french onion soup, so hopefully he'll start asking for this instead! 

French Onion Pork Chop Skillet
Prep time: 4+ hours for marinating
Cook time: 25 min
Serves 4

4 pork chops, 1/2 inch thick
1 (10.5 oz) can french onion soup
2 onions, thinly sliced
2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 (6 oz) pkg stuffing mix for chicken
1/2 cup hot water
1 cup shredded mozzarella

 
Combine soup and pork in a large zip-top bag or shallow dish and marinate for several hours or overnight. Remove meat and pour marinade into a medium saucepan. Add 1/2 cup water to marinade and heat to boiling; set aside.

Heat large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat. Add chops and onions. Cook 10 minutes or until chops are done (145°F), turning chops and stirring onions after 5 minutes. Remove chops from skillet; set aside.

Cook and stir onions 5 more minutes or until golden brown. Stir in Worcestershire sauce. Return chops to skillet. Spoon onions over chops.

Stir stuffing mix into reserved marinade; spoon around edge of skillet. Top with cheese; cover. Cook on low heat 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

643 calories per serving.  Click here for more nutritional info and shopping list!

Perfect for Every Occasion Panini

Have you ever noticed the labels at the bottom of each of my recipes?  They are a handy way to help you find the kind of recipe you want.  If you look on the lower right side of each page, you should see a list of all the different categories of recipes on this site.  Looking for a side dish?  I have 14 to choose from and you can see them all by clicking on "side dishes."  Obviously, some recipes are going to fall into more than one category; in fact, most do, but this recipe wins the prize, hands down, for the most!  This scrumptious sandwich would be great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, a late night snack or dessert.  It's meatless, so it's good for vegetarians and Lent-observing Catholics, it's quick and easy, so it's great for the lazy, and it's kind of fancy, so even the highbrow can appreciate it.  For you simpler folk, don't be turned off by the word "panini," it's nothing but a hot sandwich that's been squished into deliciousness.  You can make this in a gourmet panini press, in a pan on the stove like a grilled cheese, or even in a George Foreman grill, like I usually do.  However, and whenever, you make it, it will be great!

Apple Pie Panini
Prep time: 5 min   Cook time: 5 min
Serves 4

1/2 cup mascarpone cheese (you can get this at Wal-Mart near the deli section with the fancy cheeses)
1 1/2 Tbs honey
4 Tbs (1/2 stick) butter, softened
8 slices cinnamon raisin bread
1 apple, cored and thinly sliced
2 Tbs brown sugar 

Heat a panini press to medium-high heat.  Whisk the mascarpone and honey together until it’s well combined and fluffy.
 
Spread butter on one side of each slice of bread to flavor the outside of the sandwich. Flip over and spread 1 tablespoon sweetened mascarpone on each. Top 4 of the bread slices with a layer of apples and close the sandwiches with the other slices, buttered side up. Sprinkle some brown sugar on top.

Grill two panini at a time, with the lid closed, until the fillings are warmed and the bread is toasted, with a sweet crust, 3 to 5 minutes. Top each sandwich with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, if desired. 

328 calories per serving.  Click here for more nutritional info and shopping list!

Taquito Double Take

You've no doubt heard the saying, "Why reinvent the wheel?" but I've never been a real strong follower of this adage.  The wheel, of course, is mainly for function (unless you're a teenage boy, then it is apparently a status symbol of utmost importance, or so my friends who parent them say,) so sure, you might as well stick with what works.  So many other things, however, cry out to be reinvented, if for no other reason than it's fun!  That's my only explanation for why I've redecorated my living room no less than 6 times in the last 8 years, why I rarely wear the same outfit twice to the same place, and why I subject my family to a new recipe (or 3) almost every night of the week.  Of course, some things are so great that they don't really need much improvement and any reinvention is simply for variety, not necessity. Such is the case with this taquito recipe.  You may recognize it from my previous steak taquitos post, because it's very similar, except this one uses chicken and has an awesome dipping sauce to go with it!  This is slightly spicier, with the addition of a serrano pepper, but that could easily be excluded.  I've seen similar recipes that are called flautas instead, so I did some googling to figure out which was the correct term for a filled, rolled, and baked flour tortilla.  I got more answers than there are recipes for it, so I'm sticking with taquito because I like the way it rolls off the tongue - almost as much as I like the way it tastes on it!

Chicken Taquitos with Avocado Crema

Prep time: 20 min   Bake time: 15 min
Makes 10

Taquitos
12 oz shredded cooked chicken
1/2 cup shredded jack cheese
1/2 cup shredded cheddar
1/2 cup corn kernels
2 green onions, sliced
4 minced cloves garlic, divided
1/3 cup salsa
1 tsp cumin
1 Tbs lime juice
1 tsp salt
1 serrano pepper, seeded and minced
1 (6 oz) container plain or Greek yogurt
10 small flour tortillas
1/4 cup oil

Sprinkling
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried cilantro
1/2 tsp chili powder

Avocado Crema
1 avocado, mashed
1 (6 oz) container plain or Greek yogurt
1 Tbs lime juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp chile powder

Preheat oven to 400. Combine the chicken, cheese, corn, green onions, 2 minced garlic cloves, salsa, cumin, lime juice, salt, pepper, and yogurt.

Heat 1/4 cup oil and two minced garlic cloves in a small saucepan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, turn off the heat and let the garlic infuse into the oil for 5-10 minutes. Assemble the tortillas by adding about 2 Tbs of the filling along the lower third of the tortillas -- feel free to sprinkle with a bit more cheese on top if you like it extra cheesy! Roll up and place seam-side-down on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a Silpat.

Brush the taquitos with the garlic oil and sprinkle with salt, dried cilantro, and chipotle chile powder. Bake for 10-15 minutes, flipping over halfway through cooking so both sides are able to brown and crisp.

While the taquitos bake, combine the avocado crema ingredients in a small bowl.

Approximately 300 calories for one taquito with sauce.
 

Winner Weiner

When I was younger, I used to love going out to eat because it gave me the chance to enjoy all the yummy foods I couldn't get at home.  Now that I've been cooking (and trying a lot of new recipes) for quite a few years, I've spoiled myself on my own good cooking! Not that I don't appreciate someone else doing the cooking and cleanup once in awhile, but so many times I'm disappointed when the dish I get at the restaurant isn't as good as what I can make myself at home.

There are still a few holdouts, of course.  I have yet to make a really excellent pizza, which stinks because that's my favorite food, and my Chinese dishes lack a certain je ne sai quoi. The soft pretzel is another one of those treats that I always assumed I'd have to leave in the qualified hands of Auntie Anne, until recently when a friend told me how easy they were to make at home.

When I found this recipe for pretzel-wrapped hot dogs I knew I had to give 'em a try. Wouldn't you know it, they turned out great! I was all set to make these with regular hot dogs, as the recipe says, but my husband found some Polish sausage links on sale the other day, so we wrapped those instead--absolutely fabulous! I like my pretzels dipped in nacho cheese, so I served some on the side, but they were so tasty they really didn't need it. Don't be intimidated by the lengthy directions, aside from the rising time these came together really quickly and were easy as could be. 

Pretzel Dogs
Prep time: 10 min (then 1 hr rising), then 10 min    Bake time: 12 min
Serves 8

1 1/4 cups warm (110 to 115° F) water
1 Tbs sugar
2 tsp salt
1 package (7g) active dry yeast
4 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup baking soda
2 Tbs butter, melted
1 tsp kosher salt, for sprinkling
8 hot dogs (or fully cooked sausages)

Combine the warm water, sugar and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Let sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam.

Add the flour, salt, and butter. Combine with a spoon or the paddle until it start to come together, then switch to the dough hook. Mix with the dough hook on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. You may need to add a bit more flour, but be aware that this is a pretty soft dough. You should be able to touch it without it being impossible to get off your fingers, though.

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour, or until the dough has doubled in size. I like to put mine in an oven that has been turned to 170˚ (warm) for about a minute, then turned off.

Preheat the oven to 450. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and lightly brush with vegetable oil. Set aside.  In a large pot, bring 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil (the ratio is important.)

Meanwhile, knead down the dough, turn it out onto a slightly floured work surface, and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a rope that’s about 18 inches long, depending on how big your hot dogs are. Starting at one end, wrap the dough around the hot dog, pinching each end together so that it’s sealed. Place onto the pans and repeat with the remaining dough and hot dogs.

Place the pretzel dogs into the boiling water two at a time and boil for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large, flat, slotted spatula. Return the boiled pretzel dogs to the pans, leaving plenty of space between them so they'll brown evenly, then brush the tops with melted butter and sprinkle with the kosher salt.

Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

522 calories per serving.  Click here for more nutritional info and shopping list!

On Demand Chicken Sandwich

Why is it that we always want what we can't have?  Rachel has stick straight hair but longs for luxurious curls, I wish for a waif-like physique but am flabby and plump, and Allen desires a miser but married a shopaholic instead.  Plus, I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who spends every Sunday pining for something I absolutely can't have: a Chick Fil A sandwich.  Every Sunday after church when my thoughts turn to lunch, my first response is always Eat Mor Chikin.  I greatly admire the Cathy family's decision to close their stores on Sundays to honor the Lord's Day, but gosh darn it if that closed sign doesn't instantly make me want some chicken!

You can get a chicken sandwich just about anywhere, but there's something unique about that Chick Fil A flavor that has always been a mystery - until now.  This is going to sound really weird, but the secret is....pickle juice!  Give your cluckers a good soak in it and they turn out juicy and tender with just a touch of tanginess.  Now, whenever I empty a jar of pickles, I like to freeze the leftover juice in ice cube trays and keep them handy for the next time I have a Sunday craving.

CopyCat Chik Fil A Sandwich

Prep time: 10 min (plus 1 hr marinating)
Cook time: 10 min
Serves 4

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup pickle juice
1 egg
2 Tbs milk
1/2 cup flour
1 Tbs powdered sugar
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp celery salt
1/4 tsp basil
Peanut oil for frying
4 buns (buttered and toasted)
8 pickle slices

Put chicken in zippered bag and pound gently with the flat side of a mallet until about 1/2″ thick.  Cut each breast into 2 equal pieces.  Marinate chicken in the pickle juice for an hour.

Heat the oil in a skillet to about 350°F.  Beat together egg and milk in a bowl.  Mix together the flour, sugar, and spices in another bowl.

Dip each chicken piece into the egg, covering both sides, then coat in flour on each side.

Fry each chicken piece for 2 minutes on each side, or until golden and cooked through.  Drain, then serve on toasted buns with pickle slices.

265 calories per serving.  Click here for more nutritional info and shopping list!

Do-It-Yourself Dunkins - Glazed Chocolate Donut Holes

I used to work at Dunkin' Donuts a lifetime ago and had donuts for dinner every day.  Not once did I get tired of them. My favorite? Well, that's kind of hard to decide because I love them all, but I always go back to the chocolate glazed. On just about any given day you can bet I've got a hankerin' for them, but up until recently I was limited by the scarcity of nearby donut shops. Now, of course, there are more donut shops in this town than my figure can afford to know about, but I have since mastered the art of making my own donuts whenever I desire them. That is probably a lot more dangerous for my diet, but awfully satisfying to my sweet tooth.

I tried this recipe for the first time today and was thrilled with the similarity to my favorite little Munchkins. These are baked, not fried, so they are presumably a little healthier, but when you're eating donuts, who the heck is counting? This recipe makes a ton, so feel free to half it if you don't like donuts quite as much as me.

Glazed Chocolate Donut Holes
Prep time: 10 min  Bake time: 15 min
Makes 48

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs, beaten
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup plain yogurt (or sour cream)
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbs unsalted butter, melted

Glaze:
1 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon juice


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray two 24-count mini muffin pans with nonstick spray. 

Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.  Sifting is important; you want to remove any clumps of cocoa.  

In a medium bowl, whisk the beaten eggs, milk, yogurt, and vanilla together until completely smooth.  Whisk in the melted butter until combined.  Slowly fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, careful not to overmix. Over-handling this batter will make your donut holes dense and tough.

Spoon batter into the mini muffin tins, only about 3/4 of the way full.  Be careful not to overfill or your donut holes will end up looking more like mushrooms!  Bake for 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Do not overbake them; they burn easily.  Allow the donuts to cool for 5 minutes in the pan and then transfer to a wire rack to cool for 5 more minutes before glazing.
 
While the donuts are cooling, make the glaze by sifting the confectioner's sugar into a medium bowl. Stir in the milk, vanilla, and lemon juice until smooth.  Add more confectioners' sugar to make it thicker if desired; add more milk to make it thinner.  Dunk each slightly warm donut hole into the glaze and place on a wire rack on top of a large baking sheet to let the glaze drip down. Let glaze harden before serving--if you can wait that long!

69 calories per donut hole.  Click here for more nutritional info and shopping list!

Lobster-ific Biscuits

It's almost Valentine's Day, and that means my 11th wedding anniversary is fast approaching. If you've been following my blog since last year, you may remember that my 10th anniversary was slightly underwhelming. I wanted to go to Hawaii; we went to Red Lobster instead. I have a wonderful husband, but a romantic he is not!

This year, I've lowered my expectations a little; in fact, I'm pretty sure we'll be eating Valentine's dinner at 5 Guys. There were a couple great things about last Valentine's Day: a kid-free weekend, a romantic movie, and some super yummy coconut shrimp and biscuits. This year, I intend to duplicate at least two of those experiences, and you can too, with my coconut shrimp recipe found here and the cheddar biscuit recipe below. These biscuits are cheesy, garlicky clouds of addictiveness and they probably went a long way towards helping me keep Mr. Romantic satisfied for the last 11 years!

Copy Cat Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits 
Prep time: 5 min  Bake time: 20 min
Serves 12

2 ½ cups Bisquick baking mix
3/4 cup cold milk
4 Tbs cold butter
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 ½ cups grated cheddar cheese

Topping:
2 Tbs butter, melted
1/4 tsp dried parsley flakes
1/2 tsp garlic salt

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Whisk together Bisquick and garlic powder in a medium size bowl. Grate butter over the bowl and gently combine by hand. Do not over-mix. Add cheddar cheese and milk. Mix by hand just until combined.

Drop ¼-cup portions of the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown.

Combine topping ingredients in a small bowl. Brush over tops of biscuits. Return to oven for 5 minutes or till golden brown.

217 calories per serving.  Click here for more nutritional info and shopping list!

Forget About the Awful Weather Fruit Dip

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate winter?  Yeah, maybe a couple times.  This winter has really been a doozy for just about everybody.  My hometown has like 76 inches of snow on the ground, and even here, 700 miles south in Burlington, NC, Rachel got 2 1/2 snow days last week.  Of course, we only got 1/2 an inch of snow, but for North Carolinians, that's a big deal!  Being a summer-lover myself, I am desperate for some warm weather and sunshine.  Unfortunately, summer is still a long way away, but at least I can have a taste of summer with this incredibly refreshing fruit dip.  I served it with some pathetic, white-bellied winter strawberries and it made them taste great, so I can only imagine how fabulous this would be on some halfway decent produce.  Heck, if I can't find any good fruit to dip in it, I'd try graham crackers or Nilla wafers or just about anything I could use as a scoop!

Creamy Yogurt Fruit Dip
Total time: 5 min
Serves 6

1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup plain yogurt
3 Tbs honey
1/4 tsp cinnamon

In a medium bowl, combine yogurt, honey, and cinnamon.

Whip cream to desired consistency (I prefer stiff peak stage* for this dish.)  Gently fold into yogurt mixture.

Serve as a dip or between layers of sliced fruit for a beautiful trifle.

111 calories per serving.  Click here for more nutritional info and shopping list!

*To test your cream for stiff peaks: stop your beater, pull it straight out of the cream and turn it upside down.  If the cream forms a stiff peak that doesn't flop over, you've reached the stiff peak stage!

Perfect Harmony Spinach and Sausage Pasta

Wouldn't life be nicer if we all just got along? If there were no personality conflicts, no misunderstandings, no differences of opinion? Sadly, neither humans, nor food, always go well together, and once they clash, sometimes there's no salvaging it. I'm an adventurous chef, and I'm willing to try all kinds of food combinations that might, or might not, turn out okay, but some days you just want a dish that you know is gonna be good. This simple skillet meal is in perfect harmony--all the flavors play well together--and I appreciate that kind of peace, even if it is just amongst ingredients!

  
Creamy Spinach and Sausage Pasta
Prep time: 5 min  Cook time: 20 min
Serves 4

1 (13 oz) pkg smoked sausage, sliced
1 medium onion, diced
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes w/chiles
2 cups chicken broth
8 oz egg noodles
3 cups fresh spinach
1 cup shredded Monterrey jack cheese
1 green onion, sliced

Saute the sausage in a large skillet over medium heat until nicely browned. Drain off the excess fat.

Add onion to the skillet and continue to saute until softened. Add the can of diced tomatoes with chiles and the chicken broth. Stir to combine and dissolve any browned bits off of the bottom of the skillet.

Add the uncooked pasta to the skillet. Cover and allow the mixture to come to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for about ten minutes, or until the pasta is tender. Stir once or twice while the pasta cooks to keep it from sticking.

Stir in the fresh spinach, one cup at a time, until wilted. Keep the heat on while adding the spinach so the liquid will continue to simmer and thicken.

Sprinkle the shredded cheese on top, replace the lid, and let it sit for a few minutes, or until the cheese is melted. Sprinkle with green onion. 

656 calories per serving.  Click here for more nutritional info and shopping list!

Quicker than a Biscuit - Donuts

I'm supposed to be on a diet.  Problem is, I have very low self control.  All it takes is a free Saturday and a good-looking Pinterest recipe to blow my whole week's worth of effort.  Actually, sometimes all it takes is a poorly-timed food commercial, but that makes me sound really bad!  I have been trying hard not to indulge myself in all the yummy recipes I run across (and trying to avoid Pinterest altogether) but when I saw how reasonable the calorie count was on these little beauties, and realized that I could be eating them in about 10 minutes, yeah, the self control was out the door.  I was really skeptical at first that these would taste like a donut and not like a biscuit, but they were great!  I coated them with cinnamon sugar as the recipe says, but I think they would also taste fabulous with a glaze or a flavored icing.  I'll try that next time and let you know how it turns out.  Just like at Krispy Kreme, these are best when they're warm, but they were still good several hours later.  Just ask Rachel - I made them around 9am, but she didn't get out of the bed and try one till 1 o'clock!  She's lucky there were some left!

Biscuit Donuts

Prep time: 5 min  Cook time: 5 min
Serves 10

1 can biscuits (any kind, just not flaky layers)
3/4 cup sugar
1 Tbs cinnamon
1/4 cup margarine
Vegetable oil for frying

Pour oil into skillet to the depth of a little less than 1/2 an inch and heat on medium to medium high for about five minutes.

In a bowl, melt margarine. In a separate bowl, combine cinnamon and sugar.  Cut the center out of each biscuit (a plastic bottle cap works great for this.)

Drop dough into hot oil, watching carefully and turning when golden, less than a minute per side. Once donuts are golden on both sides, remove to a draining rack (see example here.) Repeat until all dough is cooked, including donut holes.

Dip both sides of each donut into melted margarine, then press both sides into cinnamon sugar mixture. Serve warm.

159 calories per serving.  Click here for more nutritional info and shopping list!