Back with More Deliciousness

I had the good fortune to come across this recipe for Murphy’s meatloaf in the AJC’s “From the Menu Of” feature a few weeks ago. Since I love Murphy’s, I tried it out last night, and it was delicious. As a bonus, I have deemed this recipe “kid friendly” and have hatched an evil plot to serve it to Avery for dinner to get her to eat a vegetable serving! Mwah ha ha ha! (That’s evil laughter in case you need a translation).

Murphy’s Spinach and Sausage Meatloaf

Hands on: 15 minutes, Total time: 1 hour, 10 minutes, Serves: 12

2 pounds ground chuck
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well-squeezed dry
1/2 pound spicy Italian sausage
1/4 pound mild Italian sausage
1/2 onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 egg
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Small pinch of each: dried thyme, dried basil and dried oregano

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place parchment paper on a rimmed cookie sheet.
In a large bowl, combine ground chuck, spinach, spicy and mild sausage, onion, egg, Parmesan, bread crumbs, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, basil and oregano. Mix well but do not overwork.
Form mixture into a loaf and put on cookie sheet. Cover with foil and bake approximately 45 minutes or until loaf is cooked through and has an internal temperature of 155 degrees. Let meatloaf rest 10 minutes, covered, before slicing.

Per serving: 345 calories (percent of calories from fat, 70), 21 grams protein, 5 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 26 grams fat (10 grams saturated), 99 milligrams cholesterol, 562 milligrams sodium.

Plate Lickin' Good

Saturday, Greg set out some venison tenderloin to thaw for Sunday dinner while I set to getting inspired about how to cook it. I perused a few cookbooks and decided to go with this Cooking Light recipe for a Bourbon and Brown Sugar marinade and sauce. I skipped the recipe’s potatoes and instead made Gruyere Cheese Grits and added some roasted asparagus.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=349280

Not one to use cheap Bourbon, due to the fact that we didn’t have any in the house, I stayed true to my Kentucky roots and used Woodford Reserve in the sauce. Let’s just say it wasn’t one of the dogs licking our plates when we done.

If your husband isn’t the type to hunt and gather for your food, then I am sure this recipe would taste equally as good with flank steak. Enjoy!

The Art of the Reverse Marinade

Atlanta chef Philippa Kingsley's recipe for Thai Beef Salad in the AJC caught my eye last week. I'm always looking for filling and flavorful salad recipes, but this recipe intrigued me mostly because of the marinade. You cook the meat first, marinate second. I just had to try it!

Before you begin, take note of Philippa's keys to success: #1 the long marinade time and #2 the cut of your meat. Philippa suggests 24 hours in the marinade, and since I had the awesome idea to prep this Sunday and eat it Monday, this is what I did, and I'm totally with her. As for the cut, she suggests top-notch beef tenderloin (filet mignon), but that was too rich for my wallet, so I used London Broil. I wish I'd spent a few extra dollars and gotten a bit of a nicer cut, as I think the marinade would've made filet absolutely melt in your mouth. The London Broil was still good - but let's face it. It's just no filet mignon.

Serves: 4

1 pound beef tenderloin
Salt
1 ½ cups fresh lemon juice (I used bottled, no way was I juicing all those lemons)
1 cup sweet Thai chili sauce (found in the ethnic isle of my Publix)
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 small red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
3 green onions, chopped
1 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped or torn by hand
1 cup fresh mint, roughly chopped or torn by hand (I omitted b/c Publix was out)
2 small to medium tomatoes, cut into wedges
½ European cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 head red leaf or green leaf lettuce, washed, separated into individual leaves and dried
Additional mint and cilantro for garnish (optional)


Set broiler on high. Rub beef tenderloin with salt and place in a shallow roasting pan or broiler pan. Cook each side for 10-15 minutes — until medium (just pink at the interior). A meat thermometer inserted at thickest portion of the tenderloin should read 135-140 degrees; the meat will rise another 5-10 degrees when removed from oven. (Chef's Note: you may also grill the meat.) Set aside to rest for 15-20 minutes, and slice. (Betty's Note: using a digital thermometer in the meat while broiling will result in complete and utter destruction of your thermometer probe, just so you know).

In a large mixing bowl, add lemon juice, sweet Thai chili sauce, granulated sugar and fish sauce. Stir well to dissolve sugar. Add the sliced beef, red onion, green onion, cilantro and mint. Cover and chill for at least four hours, or overnight. Or, 24 hours if you want to be like me.

One hour before serving, add cucumber and tomato to the beef mixture. Stir, cover and return to refrigerator. (I think skipping this step is no biggie).

In a large bowl or serving dish, make a circle of lettuce leaves. Spoon the beef mixture onto the lettuce and pour in the marinade. If desired, garnish with optional cilantro or mint sprigs.

The result: The flavor is really delicious, and this is healthy, too (nutritional info below). I consider the reverse-marinade a success, and think I might try the leftovers in noodle bowls tomorrow night for dinner. Yum!

Per serving: 310 calories (percent of calories from fat, 27), 32 grams protein, 28 grams carbohydrates, 9 grams fiber, 10 grams fat (3 grams saturated), 60 milligrams cholesterol, 117 milligrams sodium.

Cooking ahead

So, I'm traveling this week for work, so I went ahead and cooked two meals for the boys. Both turned out well, so I thought I'd share with three other working moms!

First, I made my mom's Shrimp Salad recipe:

1 or 1 1/2 pounds shrimp, peeled

1 pound of pasta (usually use shells or tubes), cooked

6 eggs, hard boiled and chopped

2 stalks of celeby, finely chopped

Mazetti Slaw dressing

garlic powder

seasoned salt

pepper

Cook the shrimp for about 2-3 minutes. I usually cook in chicken broth to give some flavor. Add the shrimp, the pasta, eggs and celery to a large bowl. Stir in about 1/2 cup of Mazetti dressing. Stir well. Add about tsp of garlic powder, salt and pepper. Stir well. Add another 1/2 cup of the dressing. Stir well. At this point, at more dressing, if necessary. The salad is even better the next day!

Second, I made a modified version of an Oven Chicken Risotto recipe that Heather Fleming gave me:

2 T butter

1 cup Arbiso rice

3 cups chicken broth

1 cup of broccoli

1/2 onion, diced

1-2 cups of diced or shredded chicken (you can use rotisserie chicken, Tyson shortcuts or boil some yourself)

6 oz fresh mozzarella

1 cup of grape tomatoes, halved

Preheat oven to 400. Melt the butter in the bottom of 9x13 pan. Add the rice, broth, broccoli, and onion, and stir to distribute. Bake, covered, for 35 minutes. Check towards the end if you need to add another 1/2 cup of water. I had to add a bit more. Once done, add the chiken, mozzarella and tomatoes and stir. Delish!

I love make ahead meals....

What's Been Happening In Betty's Kitchen

Dear Loyal Cook Club Participants and Readers:
We’ve hit a rough patch in our commitment to this little culinary club, and for that, I 100% blame summer. The heat, parenthood, summer block parties for some, vacation and the lack of structure of the summer months have kept a few of us out of the kitchen. But in an effort to keep this extremely popular and well frequented blog going (we’re probably going to be featured on Rachel Ray soon), here is an update on what culinary masterpieces I created in the kitchen in July. I cite farmer’s markets, and apparently, Southern Living magazine as my inspirations!

First up, I pseudo completed Sue’s challenge, and made these bacon pimento cheeseburgers from Southern Living.
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1906337
They were just okay for me – the pimiento cheese recipe made A LOT and I ended up tossing most of it after having a pimiento cheese sandwich or two. Not really my thing, but if it’s yours, this is probably a good recipe for your repetoire.

Mr. Focker did get in on the recipe fun and perfected his margarita recipe. These involve a little elbow grease as only fresh lime juice will do, but it’s well worth it. Just don’t throw a fiesta and invite all your friends over for batches of these bad boys – they are too labor intensive for a crowd! For a crowd pleaser, ask me for my Beergarita recipe. You’ll be so happy you did!
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1997552

By far, the two best new recipes I prepared in July focused on fresh, seasonal ingredients. I procured a few Heirloom tomatoes one Saturday morning at the Farmer’s market and made this deliciously-awesome-extremely-mouth-watering-fabulous Southern Tomato Vegetable Pie. Mr. Focker really liked it, too. Seriously, stop what you are doing and make this pie. It’s a little time consuming, but very, very worth it.
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1906309

Last, but not least, I entertained with this recipe paired with grilled chorizo and shrimp kabobs:
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/summer-vegetable-casserole
This was super easy and really, really delicious.

And in case you are wondering, Baby Focker did not allow a single bite of any of these delicious dishes to cross her tiny little lips. Better luck in August? You’ll find out if you promise to share what you’ve been up to in the kitchen – both messes and successes! Maybe I'll be back with photos in August too - you don't know!

Are we still doing this thing?

I didn't really complete July's challenges. I am not going to lie! But before I throw one down for August, is anyone out there still playing?

July Challenge from Olive

For my challenge I am suggesting making a ceviche. Since it is so versatile (and we may not have access to seafood much longer.....Thanks BP) you can just about put any kind of seafood you like in it. Good luck and happy July.

PS. I am still in the middle of putting together my June results. I did complete the challenge, just have not put it on paper yet.

July Challenge from Sue Chef

Sorry I've been MIA. No excuses. Since July is all about fireworks, and outside BBQs, and hotdogs and watermelon and baseball games and Independence day.....my challenge to you is to create the All-American meal. Must include three courses (a drink creation can count as one of the courses).

Play ball!

July Challenges Anyone????

I am ready to redeem myself for June but where are the challenges?

Betty's Momtini

This cocktail was inspired by my Dad who once made himself a vodka and Gatorade to "hydrate" after a tennis match. Why? Because my Dad is smart, and works with his resources. Similarly, the situation may present itself, say, where I have vodka, but no cranberry juice, but am desperately in need of a martini. And that's precisely why the Momtini was created - so that I could work within my resources.

Take 1.5 oz of vodka and 2.5 oz of "Roarin' Waters" Capri Sun. I like the kiwi strawberry flavor, but hey, that's just me (and baby Focker, of course). Pour this mixture over ice in a cocktail shaker to chill and shake vigorously. Meanwhile, rim a martini glass with sugar. Then pour the vodka mixture into the glass, and garnish with a strawberry if you happen to have one. If not, improvise, because that's what this cocktail is clearly about.

The verdict? It's no Cosmo or Pomtini, but it's not bad either, and it's a nice alternative to the somewhat pricey Rimmers mixers, especially if you are out of those...but Publix just had a 3 for $5 sale on Capri Sun!

Giada's Cocktail Creation: Redneck Sangria

No pictures of this one but it is dead easy to make!

Ingredients:
1 bottle cheap red wine
1 bottle Mountain Dew
1 bottle apple juice

Pour wine into pitcher. Use about 1/2 as much Mountain Dew and apple juice as wine. If desired, garnish with some canned peaches and serve over ice. Not the best sangria I ever made but it was definitely drinkable!

June Challenge Results: Made From Scratch

This month, I read Sandra Lee’s “Made From Scratch: A Memoir.” I have never watched Sandra Lee’s show on the Food Network and have never been particularly interested in her, but I admit, like everyone else in the Cook Club, she intrigued me at the South Beach Festival, and now she’s on my radar screen. So, I came across her memoir and decided to read it for the June Challenge. I was amazed to find out that Sandra’s childhood included a severely dysfunctional family and abuse, forcing her to grow up well before her time to take care of five brothers and sisters. She is entirely self-made and very dedicated to her craft: making life easier for busy women with the “semi-homemade” concept. As a working mom, I can certainly appreciate the concept of combining fresh and package foods to create a delicious, healthy, and quick meal for my family. But while I came away from Sandra’s story with a respect for her that I didn’t have before, I found the writing bland and a lot of the details lacking. The book was just semi-ok for me.

I do have two of her cookbooks, and was inspired to break one out to try a new recipe. I chose “Crock-Pot Beer Cheese Chicken” to try. The recipe follows:

1 onion, diced large
1 cup frozen green pepper, diced (I used once fresh pepper)
16 oz bag of diced red potatoes (I used wedges from the refrigerator section)
Garlic Salt
Pepper
1 can of Campbell’s condensed cheese soup
¾ cup Lager beer
4 chicken breast halves
3/4 cup bacon pieces

Combine onion, pepper and potatoes in the bottom of your crock-pot. Season both sides of chicken with the garlic salt and pepper, then lay chicken over vegetables. Combine beer, bacon and cheese soup in a small bowl, then pour over the chicken. Cook on low 3 ½ to 4 ½ hours.

My Rating:
I had high hopes for this recipe, but it was just ok for me. The chicken was very tender but the sauce was too thin for me, and not as flavorful as I hoped. Mr. Focker said he liked it, and maybe with a few tweaks, I could be more into it. Anothe semi-ok result!

Giada's June Challenge Revealed

Time to throw down the June challenge y'all! Since summer is getting into full swing and temperatures are rising, I challenge you to cool yourself down with a new summer cocktail creation. That's right, go ahead and invent a new refreshing alcoholic beverage that you would be brave enough to serve to summer guests and then share the recipe here. Bonus points for creative names and/or garnishes!

Happy drinking!
Giada

Betty's June Challenge

School is out, summer reading lists are in, and those temperatures are starting to climb. So, this month, hang up your apron, get out of the kitchen, and get to the lake, pool or beach with a good book. Your challenge this month is to read the memoir, biography, or autobiography of someone with a culinary presence, and share your review with us. Ruth Reichl is a great place to start if you haven’t read any of her books, or pick up Julie Powell’s 2nd book, “Cleaving.” Want to read “My Life in France” but haven’t gotten to it yet? No time like the present! “Confections of a Closet Master Baker” made me want to bake, and Kathleen Flinn’s “The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry” was mouthwatering. Dig up a culinary inspired title all on your own, or check out one of these. If you are so inspired, kick up the challenge a notch and make a recipe of your choosing inspired by your novel and tell us about that, too. Enjoy!

Final May Results from Betty

I would have put up this post last night, had I realized it was May 31, but somehow, I was in a Memorial Day weekend enduced fog! How is it June 1 already? Time for Betty and Giada to roll out some new June challenges!

Before I get to that, I need to wrap up May. I decided to make a Cooking Light Recipe from my 5 Ingredient, 15 Minute cook book, and though my hopes were high, the recipe was kind of a bust, until you get to the nutritional info.

Athenian Flounder:

2 flounder fillets ($6.99 for 2 servings of frozen fillets)

Greek Seasoning (pantry staple)

1/2 a package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry ($0.75 for the whole box)

1 plum tomatoes, diced ($0.41)

1/2 package of feta cheese ($2.29 for the whole package)

1 cup Quinoa (7.5 servings in a whole box for $5.39)

Directions:

Coat the flounder in the Greek seasoning, then lightly saute the flounder fillets in a non-stick pan coated with cooking spray, turning once. Once the fillets are cooked through, top with the spinach, tomato and feta and turn off the heat. Serve with a side of Quinoa cooked according to the package directions.

This recipe was super healthy with the lean fish, spinach, and the 100% whole grain Quinoa, but it was a little lacking in flavor for me. The only reason I would make it again? The nutrition info. The flounder had 147 calories per serving and 3.1 fat grams with 25.3 grams of protein. The Quinoa added another 172 calories, 2.8 fat grams, and 6 grams of protein. So yeah, a whole dinner for under 325 calories and 6 grams of fat? I can give up a wee bit of flavor for a meal with those stats.

If I were to adapt this recipe to serve our family of 3, all I would need to do is buy a bag of Goldfish crackers and add $1.66 to the cost of the meal. Avery doesn't exactly try a lot of new things these days!

Giada's Cake Challenge Results

Well I got my cake challenge completed just under the wire last night. Finished frosting it at about 11:15pm. It is admittedly not my best effort in the kitchen but not too shabby considering the amount of entertaining our family has done in the last couple of weeks. I was kind of caked out after two recent birthdays at our house so it took me a while to gear up for this challenge. I chose to bake a carrot cake because it is wholesome, but also a little spicy. Just like me!

I used Williams Sonoma's recipe and while it wasn't bad, I will probably try a different one next time. I was not a fan of the frosting, which proved to be a little too cream cheesy for me, even after adding about half a box of powdered sugar to try and even it out a bit. I don't know, maybe the cake would have been better if I had plumped the raisins and toasted the walnuts per the recipe directions, but seriously, who has time to plump raisins? I am usually lucky if I get a shower everyday, so consider a cake with any kind of raisins a success. I did zest an orange for this so it felt fancy enough at that point. It turned out edible and thus went to work with my husband today so we don't eat the whole thing!

Looking forward to see what the June challenges have in store for us, cooking friends! Until then...

Sue Chef's May Results

I didn't realize how hard the cake challenge would be It's kind of silly, when you think about it (I know it was my challenge, so sorry). But, throughout the month, I kept coming back to the same cake to make.......A Pineapple Upside Down cake. I like how you are basically taking a plain white cake and dressing it up. Like a jeans and a white shirt girl with a fun piece of jewelry or crazy accessory. The ordinary girl who likes to get a little wild once in a while. A little bit sweetness on top of mellow cake. Can you see the parallel?

Well, if you've never tried Pineapple Upside Down cake, you've got to do this one. It's so deliciously yummy. Seriously..... bake it. Super easy too!

All you need are:

1 box of white cake

1.5 cups of brown sugar

1 stick of butter

1 can of pineapple rings

cherries

And, a Cast Iron pan. Not sure why, but this is very important.

Melt the butter in the pan, then sprinkle the 1.5 cups of brown sugar over the melted butter. Put the pineapple rings around the bottom of the pan, and stick a cherry in the center of each. Prepare the white cake mix according to the box, but substitute some of the pineapple juice for the water. Yum. Then, pour the cake over the melted gooeyness. Bake according to the box instructions. (it took mine about an extra 10 minutes).

When done, let sit in the pan for about 20 minutes, then turn out onto a plate. And voila! Perfectly sweet, perfectly ordinary. You'll eat three slices yourself on the first night. I promise.

Now, to tackle the $15 challenge, I decided to do Inside Out Cheeseburgers, Corn on the Cob and Baked Beans. $5 for the meat. $2 for the cheese, 1 egg, $1 for the corn, $2 for the Baked Beans.

To make the burgers, you'll need to shape out 6 very thin patties (or use a basic hamburger press like I did). In between two patties, put your toppings. Usually I use Monterrey Jack cheese with Jalapenos, but today, I just used cheddar (sharing with Owen, you know). You can also jazz it up with whatever other toppings you'd like to include, like onions, bacon, etc.

Then, press the other patty on top of the bottom one and the toppings, and pinch the edges to make one large burger. See below.

I also made corn on the cob. I shuck the corn, salt and pepper, spread some butter and pour about a tablespoon of white wine on top, then wrap in aluminum foil. Throw on the grill for about 20 minutes, and turn frequently to avoid burning.

Here's the result on the burgers. Sometimes some of the yummy cheese escapes. Mmmmm.

And, plated up.....a perfect Memorial Day holiday meal. Followed by three slices of Pineapple Upside Down Cake. Enjoy.

My Hollaback to Olive's $15 Challenge: by Giada BeKiddingme

Stuffed Green Peppers
Feeds: 4 Hungry Adults!

Ingredients:
2 lb ground beef (or turkey if you want to be healthier) $5.99
4 green peppers $4.00
white rice $1.00
2 15 oz cans stewed tomatoes $2.00
garlic powder, salt, pepper (staple items)
tomato paste $0.50
1 loaf italian bread $1.00

Total cost with 2% NC food tax = $14.77

This did not include my staple items, which most households keep on hand.

My parents have been visiting and my mom suggested this meal for dinner the other night. I immediately took her up on it since it was one of my faves as a kid and I knew it would meet the criteria of feeding a family of 4 for under $15. Whether or not some would consider it a "healthy" meal is subjective however and I had forgotten that part of the challenge. So let's just say you can swap out the ground beef for turkey and use brown rice if you prefer more whole grains in your diet. But I do think there are worse things you can put in stuffed peppers, so compared to all the eating out we've done with family in town, this qualified as a healthy change for us!

Not only is this meal cheap to make but it is super easy. Here are step by step instructions with pictures:

Step 1: Chop tops off peppers and remove seeds. Then add peppers to a pot of boiling water to blanch. You will want to start cooking your rice at this point so it is ready when you need it, and add the ground beef/turkey to a hot pan to brown as well.

Step 2: When peppers have fully changed color in the water, pull them out and place them in a 9x9 baking dish.


Meanwhile, add the stewed tomatoes to the ground beef/turkey, along with a few generous tosses of garlic powder, salt and pepper.


Step 3: Add rice to beef mixture. No picture for this one!

Step 4: Stuff the peppers with the beef/tomato/rice mixture.


Step 5: Slather some tomato paste on top of each pepper and put in the oven at 350 to bake for 20 minutes.

Voila! Peppers are done and ready to serve. We had ours with some fresh italian bread and butter. Not too shabby for 4 adult sized dinners, and I just ate some of the leftover stuffing for lunch too. Challenge success!

May Challenge Results: Betty Bakes

Baking intimidates me. Maybe it’s because there are usually so many steps, and taking a short-cut, or getting distracting and missing one has some pretty catastrophic results. My tasty failures include a Nutella pound cake that wouldn’t part from its loaf pan, and a chocolate bundt cake that overflowed from the confines of the pan into the oven. Oops. That recipe was written for a 14-cup bundt pan, and mine was “close enough.”

I’ve learned from these mistakes though, and decided to put my proverbial toes back in the baking waters via the world of “cupcaking.” Since Avery doesn’t eat sweets, there are just two of us to eat my creations. Obviously, cupcakes are the perfect dessert for two. Why? Well, because you can easily unload half a batch to co-workers at the office, and that is somehow way more appealing than a half-eaten cake. They also travel easily and let’s face it, they are cute. So, it’s only logical that for the Ace of Cakes Challenge that I make some cupcakes, right?

Yesterday, I tackled Southern Living’s Key Lime Cupcake Pies. And guess what? I remembered to spray the cupcake liners, just as the recipe directs. The result? A delicious cupcake that pleased both my palette and my eyes. Yeah!
Recipe note: I did use low-fat cream cheese to cut a few calories. I also didn't buy enough limes, which meant I didn't have enough lime juice. Unfortunately, Greg was mowing and Avery was napping, so I had to sub in a little lemon juice. When I mentioned this to Greg later, he said that I should have used margarita mix instead of lemon juice. It was such a brilliant idea I wished I'd thought of it myself, and done it! My substitutions had no ill effect on this recipe, so feel free to make the same ones yourself, but definitely remember that margarita mix tip if you run out of limes, or just want to run out on purpose!

Now I know you are wondering….how do Key Lime Cupcake Pies fit my personality? Well, I think they represent my resilience, my willingness to try new things, and my health consciousness. They are also super witty and very smart, too ;)

Bonus Post: Betty Says Eat Your Veggies!

If you need a good excuse to eat your veggies this month, and let's be perfectly honest -who doesn't? - then try this awesome green bean salad recipe from none other than Rachel Ray. It's too good not to get it's very own May bonus post!

Green Bean Salad (4 servings)

Ingredients:
1 pound fresh green beans, washed and trimmed
1/4 red onion, sliced thin
1/4 European cucumber, cut into thin sticks resembling shape and size of green beans
1/2 pint grape tomatoes, halved
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
1/2 lemon, juiced
Coarse salt and pepper

Directions:
Steam green beans in 1/2 inch boiling water covered for 3 or 4 minutes. Cold shock beans by running under cold water and drain well. Place beans in a bowl and combine with onions, cucumber and tomato. Dress salad with a generous drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and the juice of 1/2 lemon. Season salad with coarse salt and pepper, to taste.

That's it for now! I'll be back when I have some challenge results to post!

Crap!

I totally cooked my first challenge last night. Was very excited about it all day. Cooked it, ate it..... then I realized I forgot to take pictures. Crap! Oh well. I'll try again this week.

May Results from Olive

I love baking because I love to eat desserts. So for Sue's challenge I decided to try a recipe that I have made before for a soup swap although it was previously from a box mix. I got the recipe off a blog a while ago. I took two recipes and merged them together and fortunately had a special event to serve the cake.

The first recipe is a Golden Butter Cake:

3 cups cake flour (not self rising) I used all purpose

1 tbls baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup softened butter (2 sticks)

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease and flour the pans.

In a bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl mix the butter and sugar at high speed for 5 min until light and fluffy.

Blend the eggs in one at a time on high speed.

Beat in vanilla.

Reduce mix speed to low and add flour mixture and milk alternately beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

For this recipe to be converted to the rainbow cake I doubled the recipe and divided the batter into six equal portions. With food coloring, I mixed the batter to make one purple (blue and red), one blue, one green, one yellow, one orange (red and yellow) and one red. Fortunately for me I had a helper to help mix everything.

I then baked each one for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Once cooled , put icing on the purple cake and the blue cake. I had help with this also.

Place the cake in the refrigerator for 2 hours or 1 hour in the freezer to set.

Continue to ice the green and yellow cake and refrigerate or freeze to set.

Finally, ice the orange and red cake and refrigerate.

Then you can serve this huge delicious cake. We served our for my big man's graduation from gymnastics. I hope he enjoyed it.

For the Healthy inexpensive dinner, I made two mustard chicken, squash and apples and a veggie confetti.

For the Two Mustard Chicken here are the ingredients:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (Mine was on sale see the sticker!! WHOOHOO!!) ($3.73)

2 tbls stone ground mustard ($2.89)

1/4 cup Dijon mustard (had on hand)

2 tbls honey (had on hand)

Combine both mustards and honey and coat chicken on both sides.

Cook for 25-30 min at 375 until done. (My chicken was thin cuts so only took me 10 min.)

220 calories

6 grams of fat

Price $6.62

However, since my chicken was thin cut, I believe that it was less calories and fat.

For the Apple & Squash here are the ingredients

1 squash ($2.03)

2 apples ($2.14)

1/2 cup water (On Hand)

1 tbls butter (On Hand)

2 tbls sugar (On Hand)

1/2 tsp ground Cinnamon (On Hand)

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg (On Hand)

The directions tell you to peel the squash with a vegetable peeler. This sucked and made me realized I definitely need a new peeler. Then you slice the squash in half and scoop out the seeds.

Cube the squash and put it in a dish with the water and cover. Microwave for 5-7 minutes until tender. You heard me microwave.

Peel and cube the apples and add to the squash with the remaining ingredients.

Microwave for another 2-3 minutes and serve.

70 Calories

1 Gram of Fat (recipe stated 0 but there is butter which I feel would amount to some fat..??)

Price $4.17

Vegetable Confetti

1 pepper chopped ($.57)

1 cucumber shredded ($.65)

1 cup shredded carrots ($.89)

Add together and add 2 tbls Fat Free Italian Dressing and pepper to taste. (On Hand)

35 Calories

0 Grams of Fat

Price $2.11

I then decided that I would make a jello rainbow.

I just took 5 different jello colors and made them one at a time letting it set and then adding the next color.

The recipe I found was called Jello ribbons and included yogurt but I did not want to over do the calorie so I just used Jello. Although the colors were a bit hard to see, once it was cut you were able to see the different layers. The kids loved it and it was super easy. I would probably rearrange the colors a bit next time since I let the kids decide what colors to do this one.

50 calories

0 grams of fat

Price $2.95

In all the dinner was super easy and some what cheap and very colorful. The hubby said that he liked it but I am not sure I believe him.

Total Calories: 375

Total Grams of Fat: 7

Total Price: $15.87

Although I did go over budget, the calorie count is in range and I got to eat all this food!!!

Catching Up: Giada BeKiddingme’s April Results

So sorry for the delay in posting my April cooking challenge results. It has been crazy at the BeKiddingme household lately. We moved into a new place last week and while that didn’t stop me from completing the challenges, it did manage to keep me from finding the time to tell you about them. But never fear—our Internet connection is now back up and running and I am slowly digging myself out of boxes in the kitchen so I will be back in business in no time!

I did another two for one in the interest of saving time this month: A lemony seafood risotto with shrimp and scallops paired with Shingleback sparkling shiraz. I really thought I trumped Betty Focker on the BSD front until I got a call from her after her trip to Total Wine. Oh well! At least I managed to find a sparkling red, although I must agree with Betty that I prefer a nice prosecco to the shiraz, especially this time of year. The Shingleback was different and fun, but I doubt I’d shell out $20 again for another bottle. I actually liked it better the second day when it was still just a bit bubbly. But I am classy like that!

Moving on to the risotto, I was anxious to use the homemade seafood stock I had in my freezer following March’s challenge, so I carefully selected a seafood risotto recipe that was highly rated on allrecipes.com. It turned out quite well for a first try, although I did end up adding more stock than the recipe called for and cooking it a bit longer than suggested. While I wouldn’t necessarily have plated and served it to Gordon Ramsay , the hubs was quite impressed and the plates were both very empty at the end of the meal.

I have a boatload of leftover Arborio rice in my new pantry and am dying to try Betty’s risotto so stay tuned for an update on my next foray into risotto-land! I mean when you put bacon in it how could it go wrong?

Here are some risotto photos (ba dump ump) including a picture of my “helper”:

May Challenge #2 - Ace of Cakes

Pound cakes, Angel Food Cakes, Pineapple Upside Down Cakes....cakes, cakes, cakes. I could eat one every day! These days, it seems like it's so much easier to just buy the cake at the grocery store or local bakery. But, there's nothing like the way your house smells when you're baking a cake in the oven. So, my challenge to you this month is to bake a cake (from scratch, of course) that best represents your personality. Take pictures, blog about it, and allow us to vote on how well the cake you baked exemplifies you!

May Challenge from Olive

I know that today is not officially May but since I am going to be out of town tomorrow raising money for Lupus, I thought I would go ahead and get my challenge underway. The challenge I bestow upon you is make a healthy family meal for less than $15. Since most of you only have two adults to actually feed this should be easy. I may have some obstacles but plan to make it as healthy as possible while staying under my limit. I think an account of the purchases and if possible the calorie count to verify healthiness. Good luck to all!

April Challenge - Sue Chef's Results

I was excited to see a risotto challenge issued as I love, love cooking risottos. They are not nearly as difficult as people make them out to be, and I lust after the rich, thick pasta-like rice result. So warming to the belly, and just a small serving amount fills you up!

Just a few days before, I enjoyed a wonderful risotta at one of my favorite Savannah restaurants - Garibaldi's - and two Sundays ago I attempted to replicate it at home. Sundays, more often than not, we grill out some steaks, so this seemed like a perfect time to pair a risotto with a good steak.

Here are the ingredients for the risotto - a Parmesan Pea Risotto....

You know the drill.....you gotta saute the onions in the butter, then add the risotto and brown up a bit, then start adding the liquid slowly, and only after the previous addition has been totally absorbed. All risottos need at least a half cup of wine, in my humble opinion.

And......here's the end result! A nice, creamy risotto with a healthy dose of peas and parmesan cheese added at the very end, paired with fresh asparagus (also covered in a little parmesan) and your favorite steak. I'll take this every Sunday night!

Now, on to the second challenge. I found a sparkling shiraz at our local wine store. It was a little expensive ($20) I thought, but couldn't wait to get home and try it. I put it in the frig to chill while I started dinner.

I did this challenge this past Sunday and looky here....steak again. I promise I didn't plan it this way. But, I was craving a black and bleu steak, and thought that a sparkling red would go nicely with this.
The end result? Well, Mr. and Mrs. Chef are not big fans of sparkling shiraz. The texture and pizazz of the wine just aren't for us. In fact, we struggled a bit to drink it through dinner. And, if you know me at all, you know that's a tough admission for me to make. I normally drink wine like it's water! I had high hopes for this one, but I just don't think it was for me. Next time, I'll stick to one of my favorite Cabs.

Can't wait for next month,

Sue