151 Everclear Limoncello

Ingredients:
10 Lemons
5 Limes
30 fl oz 151 Proof Everclear
8 fl oz sugar
25.5 fl oz water

Directions:
Zest lemons and limes into an airtight container. Pour in Everclear, let sit for at least 3 days (longer is better).

Combine sugar and water in a saucepan. Cook on stove over medium heat until the sugar dissolves completely. Let cool.

Strain the zest from the Everclear. Pour Everclear and syrup together. Store in an airtight container in the freezer.

Enjoy!

Menu Plan 4/21 - 4/27

Thursday - Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
Friday - Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
Saturday - Spaghetti
Sunday -Baked Breaded Tilapia, Oven Fries
Monday - Spaghetti
Tuesday - Pork Loin with Marsala Mushroom Sauce
Wednesday - Pork Loin with Marsala Mushroom Sauce

Meal Plan 4/14 - 4/20

Wednesday - Sweet Chili Pork
Thursday - BBQ Chicken
Friday - Baked Salmon with Blackberry Ginger Glaze
Saturday - Out, probably Blue Bayou
Sunday - Baked Salmon with Blackberry Ginger Glaze
Monday - Pumpkin Pasta
Tuesday - Pumpkin Pasta

Meal Plan 4/6 - 4/13

Wednesday - Hot Dogs
Thursday - Out with family at Deleece
Friday - Out with family at Cheesecake Factory
Saturday - Takeout from
Sunday - Tilapia with Thai Coconut Curry Sauce
Monday - Tilapia with Thai Coconut Curry Sauce
Tuesday - Sweet Chili Pork

Meal Plan 3/2 - 3/9

Wednesday -Salmon with mango sauce and couscous
Thursday - Salmon with mango sauce and couscous
Friday - Hot and Sweet Ginger Orange Tofu
Saturday - Out
Sunday - Hot and Sweet Ginger Orange Tofu
Monday - Chicken Adobo with Bok Choy
Tuesday - Chicken Adobo with Bok Choy

Meal Plan 2/23 - 3/1

Wednesday - Butternut squash pasta
Thursday - Working late, so probably just pick something up
Friday - Out
Saturday - Out
Sunday - Out
Monday - Black beans and rice with chicken
Tuesday - Salmon with mango sauce

Turkey and Portobello "Burgers"

I was looking around for things to do with ground turkey because we got some at Costco, and turkey there comes as 4 containers packaged together. So we have enough ground turkey to last for a while! I came across as recipe for Mediterranean Style Burgers with Caper Yogurt Sauce and Portobello on the Jennie-O website (self-proclaimed "Turkey Store), but I didn't care for some of it, so I was planning on changing some of the spices and the sauce. Turns out I ended up changing more than that because when I went to cook dinner Wednesday, the middle of the pack of ground turkey was still frozen! Oops! But it all worked out ok in the end, and we enjoyed a very tasty dinner and will definitely put this recipe on the "Keep" list!

Ingredients
"Burger"
12 Medium sized portobello mushrooms
1 20 oz Package ground turkey
2 T Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 Red onion, diced
1/2 Red pepper, diced
2 Cloves of garlic, minced fine
Salt
Pepper
Dill (dried)
Parsley (dried)

Sauce
12 oz Greek yogurt
2 T Yellow mustard
2 T Honey mustard
2 T Balsamic vinegar
Salt
Pepper
Dill

Directions
Heat olive oil large skillet and saute the onion, red pepper, and garlic with a pinch of salt. Add the turkey to the skillet along with a little black pepper and dill and parsley to taste and cook through.

Remove the turkey from the skillet and set aside, returning the skillet to medium heat. Brush mushrooms with extra virgin olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Cook the mushrooms in the skillet until they just begin to soften.

To make the sauce, whisk together yogurt, mustards, vinegar, and seasonings in a small mixing bowl

To serve, arrange 3 mushrooms on a plate. Top with 1/4 of the turkey mixture, then sauce. Enjoy!

Meal Plan 2/16 - 2/22

Here is what's on the menu for this week!

Wednesday - Turkey & Portabella Burgers
Thursday - Turkey & Portabella Burgers
Friday -Out
Saturday - Out
Sunday - Takeout
Monday - Leftovers
Tuesday - Pasta with Butternut Squash Sauce

Homemade Pasta

Last night we made homemade pasta for the Pasta and Cheese recipe I posted the other day. Making pasta, while somewhat time consuming (especially when it involves V making a trip to Walgreens to get eggs), is not very difficult once you get the hang of it and is totally worth the time because it tastes so much better than the dried stuff you get at the store.

The first time we tried to make pasta was kind of a disaster. I have a KitchenAid mixer with some of the pasta attachments, so I decided to follow the recipe that's in the little booklet that came with the attachments. It's a pretty simple recipe:
4 eggs
3 1/2 cups flour
1 T water
Salt

All you do is put the ingredients in the mixer bowl with the paddle attachment, and mix until it just comes together. Then you switch to the dough hook, and let the mixer knead the dough for about 5 minutes. Dump it out, and then knead it a few times on the counter, and let rest for 20 min before you start rolling.

Seems simple enough, right? Well, not really. Getting the dough the right consistency is the first obstacle I've faced in trying to make pasta. I don't think I've ever once used only 1 T of water. Last night I used probably a quarter of a cup, maybe more. It really depends a lot on the weather. The first time I made pasta, it was a crumbly mess that just fell apart when I tried to roll it. Now what I do is put everything in the mixer and start mixing with the paddle. Usually there is quite a bit of flour left in the bottom, but I find at this point it's ok to switch to the dough hook. After that, I'll add water slowly until all the flour is just incorporated into the dough, and then follow the recipe again from there, letting the mixer knead the dough for 5 minutes, kneading it a few times by hand, and letting it rest for 20 min.

Once the 20 min is up, we come to the second obstacle: rolling (and cutting) the dough. The key to this step, which also took me a few tries to figure out, is rolling the dough through on the widest setting enough times to get the dough to the right consistency to be able to get it really thin. To do this, you take about 1/4 of the dough, flatten it out into a shape that will just fit through the roller, and run it through. Take the piece of dough, turn it long ways, fold it in thirds (like a letter) and run it through the machine again, feeding the raw edges of the dough into the roller. A lot of recipes say to repeat this process at least 5 times, but that depends on how long you kneaded it before you let it rest, and the weather/humidity/etc. I would guess that 5 times is probably a pretty good estimate, but what I do instead of counting is keep rolling, turning, and folding the dough until the dough feels smooth and silky. Once you've got the right texture, you can start rolling the dough thinner. Run the dough through on the widest setting, and then set your roller down one setting and run it through again. Keep rolling and narrowing until you reach the thickness you need, depending on the shape of pasta you're making.

Once you get to the right thickness, then you're ready to cut and cook! Last night, we made fettuccine using one of the cutters that my sister-in-law so kindly gave me (she ended up with a spare set). It was perfect with the cheese sauce! We had been cutting by hand, which was kind of a pain and left us with pasta that looked like it had been cut by a little kid, so I was very tickled to be eating homemade pasta that looked like the real deal!

Balsamic Poached Chicken (with review)

Ok, I'll admit I'm a little scared of cooking chicken in balsamic vinegar, but the picture in Real Simple looked so good I have to try it! I'll update later with a review of how it turned out.

**Update**
This chicken was really, really good. It came out kind of sweet, and once we got the sauce to thicken (which took WAY longer than 10 min) that really added a lot of flavor. I expected the sauce to caramelize a lot more than it did, and almost make kind of a glaze, but it definitely did not. Also, it needs salt and pepper like woah. But the basic idea is quite tasty! This recipe is definitely a keeper.

Ingredients
1 14.5-ounce can low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 pound chicken

Directions
In a saucepan, bring the broth and vinegar to a boil. Add the chicken and, if necessary, enough water (up to 1/2 cup) to cover it. Simmer for 1 minute. Cover, remove from heat, and set aside until cooked through, about 15 minutes.
Transfer the chicken to a cutting board. Return the liquid to medium-high heat and simmer until reduced to about 1/3 cup, about 10 minutes.
Thickly slice the chicken and divide among individual plates. Drizzle with the balsamic mixture.

From Real Simple

Meal Planning

When we moved to Chicago over the summer, we were pleasantly surprised that our apartment has a ton of storage (and not so pleasantly surprised that it has no A/C!). So, we decided to start doing some of our shopping at Costco. We quickly found that we can only tolerate one Costco trip a month because it's always a zoo and tends to make us twitchy, so I've really had to step up my meal planning to make sure we get enough meats for the month (we get a lot of frozen, or put stuff in the freezer). It's been really tricky, but here's how I've tried to go about it, and I think by now I have a pretty good system down.

First, a few things you should know:
We do some weekly shopping at a regular grocery store for things we can't get at Costco, fresh produce, etc.
I usually cook 4 servings for the 2 of us, and we have leftovers on the second night. Usually the exact same thing, sometimes with a different starch or veg.
Sometimes I find a good recipe for a protein (for example, this week's Balsamic Poached Chicken), and we just add some kind of starch and veg to it as sides. We keep a lot of frozen veg for this purpose in the winter, and grill/roast a lot of them in the summer.
We try to limit eating out to one night a week, usually on Saturday because it makes a nice date night.

Ok, on to the tips!

1. Keep a list! This has always been crucial for me, even for weekly meal planning. For monthly planning, it's even more important. I keep a running list in my google docs of things we run out of during the month, as well as ingredients for the meals I've planned so I always know what I've started the month with, what ingredients go with certain recipes, what we have left at the end of the month, and what we'll need for the upcoming month.

2. Keep a spreadsheet! This is a new one for me. I was having a hard time making sure we got a good "rotation" for our proteins, and this has helped a lot. We try to have fish or some other kind of seafood two nights a week, and then I like to mix it up with chicken, pork, and the occasional red meat or vegetarian meal. I love pasta (hmm, think this has something do to with being overweight?), and now I can easily make sure we're not eating it too often. This also helps me determine what we need for the month. I actually make my list in the spreadsheet as well so it's all in one convenient place.

3. Keep track of recipes. Which is why I'm blogging again  =) I've found this is a very helpful to tag, rate, and review recipes so I can go back to them later when I'm looking for meal ideas. I used to keep them on my computer, but I found it was too hard to look up certain recipes and pretty much impossible to search based on ingredients.

Meal Plan 2/9 - 2/15

So here's the plan for this week:
Wednesday - Balsamic Poached Chicken
Thursday - Balsamic Poached Chicken
Friday - Pork Stir Fry, Brown Rice
Saturday -Out somewhere, maybe BW3's. Nothing fancy where we'll get caught in a crowd of people celebrating Valentine's Day early  ;-)
Sunday - Pasta (homemade) with Cheese, Shrimp, Salad
Monday - Pasta (homemade) with Cheese, Shrimp, Salad
Tuesday - Pork Stir Fry, Brown Rice

Pasta with Cheese

I'm planning on making this sunday (and having it again monday for Valentine's Day) with some grilled shrimp, a salad, and some garlic bread. Sundays are so perfect for cooking meals that take a little more time, like homemade pasta! Maybe one day soon I'll talk a little bit about using my KA pasta roller. I looooove that thing, and my awesome sister in law gave me a spare set of cutters that she had. I have yet to use them, but I'm going to sunday. I can't wait to try them out!

Ingredients
1 pound angel hair Pasta (I'm planning on using homemade)
½ cup Grated Mozzarella
½ cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
½ cup Goat Cheese (chevre)
2 Tablespoons Butter, Softened
1 cup Fat Free Half&Half
1 whole Garlic Clove, Peeled
½ teaspoons Salt, More To Taste
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Minced Fresh Parsley

Directions

Heat half&half in a small saucepan on the stove over low heat.

Rub garlic clove all over the inside of a large serving bowl.

Cook pasta in lightly salted water, leaning toward the al dente side. Do not overcook! Drain pasta, then return to the cooking pot. Pour in half&half, add butter, and add cheeses and salt and pepper. Stir gently to combine, adding hot pasta water as needed for consistency. Don’t overmix; if there are little clumps of cheese here and there, it’s fine! Taste and add more salt if needed. Mixing stage should happen very quickly.

Turn pasta into large serving bowl. Sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately with a nice medium rare steak.

Adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Cauliflower Mac and Cheese

Ingredients:

Salt
1 pound short cut wheat pasta, such as macaroni, ziti or penne rigate
1 bag frozen cauliflower
3 tablespoons butter
1 onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 tablespoons flour
About 2 1/2 cups skim milk
Freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg
3-4 sprigs fresh sage leaves, very thinly sliced
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 cup sharp white cheddar cheese, divided
1 cup Gruyère cheese, divided
1 cup shredded Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, divided

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Bring the water to a boil for the pasta. Salt the water and undercook the pasta by 2 minutes to allow for baking later.

While the water comes to a boil, heat the cauliflower in the microwave. If desired, cut the cauliflower into smaller pieces.

Over medium heat, melt the butter, then add the onion and garlic. Sauté for 3-4 minutes, until tender. Add in the flour and whisk for 1 minute. Whisk in the milk and season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and sage. When thickened, stir in the Dijon mustard and two-thirds of the combined cheeses.

Drain the pasta and add the cauliflower. Stir in the cheese sauce, transfer to baking dish and top with the remaining cheese.

Bake until brown on a baking sheet to catch the bubble-over. The casserole will take 40-45 minutes to heat through.

Adapted from rachaelray.com

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Ingredients:
1/4 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
5 teaspoons butter, melted
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 teaspoon paprika
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 thin slices ham
4 slices Swiss Cheese
Cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Place broth in a small microwave-safe bowl; microwave at high 15 seconds or until warm. Stir in butter and garlic. Combine breadcrumbs, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and paprika in a medium shallow bowl; set aside.

Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap, and pound each to 1/4-inch thickness using a meat mallet or rolling pin. Sprinkle both sides of chicken with salt, oregano, and pepper. Top each breast half with 1 slice of ham and 1 slice of Swiss Cheese. Roll up each breast half jelly-roll fashion. Dip each roll in chicken broth mixture; dredge in breadcrumb mixture. Place rolls, seam side down, in an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Pour remaining broth mixture over chicken. Bake at 350° for 28 minutes or until juices run clear and tops are golden.

From http://www.cookinglight.com/

Fresh Eggnog

Ingredients:
4 egg yolks
1/3 C sugar plus 1 T
1 pint skim milk
1 C fat free half & half
1 pinch nutmeg
1/4 t vanilla
4 egg whites

Directions:
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the 1/3 cup sugar and continue to beat until it is completely dissolved. Add the milk, half and half, nutmeg, and vanilla and stir to combine.

Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat to soft peaks. With the mixer still running, gradually add the 1 tablespoon of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.

Whisk the egg whites into the mixture. Chill and serve.

For cooked eggnog follow the procedure below:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the 1/3 cup sugar and continue to beat until it is completely dissolved. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan over high heat, combine the milk, heavy cream and nutmeg and bring just to a boil stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and gradually temper the hot mixture into the egg and sugar mixture. Then return everything to the pot and cook until the mixture reaches 160 degrees F. Remove from the heat, pour into a medium mixing bowl, and set in the refrigerator to chill.

Using pasteurized egg whites, in a medium mixing bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. With the mixer running gradually add the 1 tablespoon of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Whisk the egg whites into the chilled mixture.

Recipe from foodnetwork.com

CrockPot Lingonberry Pork Roast

The original recipe uses cranberry sauce instead of lingonberries, but I happened to have a jar of lingonberry sauce in the cabinet, which I prefer to cranberries, so we used that instead with very good results.

This has become one of our favorites! How can you go wrong with pork tenderloin and Lingon? Plus it means we were probably at Ikea recently, which always makes me happy =)

Ingredients
1 (2.5-3 lb) pork loin roast or rib roast
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon dried mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 jar of Lingonberry Preserves from Ikea
1/3 cup golden raisins
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/3 cup cranberry juice
1/2 small lemon, thinly sliced

Instructions
In a plastic zipper bag, put dry spices and cornstarch and add meat. Shake to coat. Put contents into your slow cooker. Add lingonberry sauce. Put in raisins and garlic. Pour in cranberry juice, and top with lemon slices. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for about 4. The longer you cook the meat, the more tender it will be.

Adapted from http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

Jalapeno Baked Fish with Potatoes

The first time I made this I used a can of Rotel and jalapenos, and it came out a bit too hot. I think next time we'll stick to either just Rotel or plain tomatoes and jalapenos. I did have to cook the potatoes a bit longer to get them cooked through, but that was no big deal. Just make sure your potatoes are done before you start putting the other ingredients in!

Jalapeno Baked Fish with Potatoes

4 medium (1 pound total) red-skin boiling or Yukon Gold potatoes, sliced ¼-inch thick
1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil
Salt
1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes in juice
1 large garlic clove, peeled and cut in half
About ¼ cup sliced canned pickled jalapenos
1 tablespoon jalapeno pickling juice
Four 4- to 5-ounce (1 to 1¼ pounds total) skinless fish fillets, preferably ¾ to 1 inch thick

1. Turn on the oven to 400 degrees. Scoop the sliced potatoes into a microwaveable 8×8-inch baking dish. Drizzle on the oil and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt. Toss to coat, then spread the potatoes in an even layer. Cover with plastic wrap and poke a couple of holes in the top. Microwave on high until the potatoes are nearly tender, about 4 to 5 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in a food processor or blender, combine the tomatoes with their juice, garlic, jalapenos, and pickling juice. Process to a puree, leaving just a little texture.

3. Lay the fish fillets in a single layer over the potatoes. Pour the tomato mixture evenly over the fish and potatoes.

4. Slide the baking dish into the oven. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the fish flakes when pressed firmly.

5. Scoop a portion of the fish-potato-sauce onto each dinner plate and serve right away.

From http://www.crumblycookie.net/