Eating Out

Last night was a late night getting home from work for my husband and a lazy night for cooking for me.  We drove around town and finally decided where to eat.  We had a dilemma since we were not eating meat as to where the best choice of menu would be.

We ended up at Reunions Pub on West Tusc in Canton.  It was quiet, and had reasonable prices.

I had their fish specialty which was potato crusted scrod -- a nice piece of fish topped with a thin layer of crispy hash brown potatoes with a lemon butter sauce drizzled on top.  It was really good, I'd recommend it for something a bit out of the ordinary for fish.  The butter sauce was minimal, maybe a Tablespoon or less on it.

My husabnd had their homemade crab cakes, 3 nice sized crab cakes with the traiditional thousand island type sauce to dip them in. 

Our side dishes were good, I had a baked sweet potato which comes with cinnamon butter if you want to use it.  My husband had rice pilaf and a nice garden salad which had some homemade croutons on it, which were very tasty.

I'd recommend trying this place out.  Reunion's Pub 5153 Tuscarawas St W Canton OH, 44708.  It's in a shopping plaza with 2 grocery stores.

Pizza and Nachos

Another easy meal!  We made an Organics spinach and feta frozen pizza.

I also had a hankerin' for some loaded nachos.

Blue corn chips
1/2 can black beans, drained
~1/3 cup queso dip
~1/2 cup of your favorite salsa
2 1/2 slices of cheddar cheese (if you have it use about 3/4-1 cup of shredded cheese of your choice)
Jalapeno slices

Spread blue corn chips on a platter.  Sprinkle beans onto chips and drizzle queso dip on top.  Put salsa on next layer.  Crumble cheddar cheese on top.
Microwave mixture for about 2 minutes, until cheese is melted and it's hot.
Sprinkle Jalapeno slices on top and eat!

Other options are to add sour cream and fresh chopped tomatoes after heating too.

The Husband Cooks

My husband doesn't make much on his own. He is an excellent griller and makes a mean "canned" tuna casserole.  However, he does make a good stir fry in a real wok.  Tonight he made a shrimp stir fry.

1T vegetable or canola oil
1 head of broccoli, florets cut off
2 cans of water chestnuts, drained
2 oz of fresh snow peas
1 cup of grated carrots
1 can of bean sprouts, drained
1 pound of cooked shrimp
3 cups of brown rice, cooked
Soy sauce
Garlic powder
Corn starch, as needed

Coat wok with oil and heat.  Add broccoli and soy sauce.  Stir until broccoli is bright green.
Add water chestnuts and snow peas and toss with garlic powder.  Stir ingredients until well coated and cook with lid on until tender.  Add carrots, bean sprouts and shrimp and toss to heat through.  Use corn starch if too much liquid in in the center of wok to thicken sauce. 

Serve over brown rice.


For dessert we had sliced strawberries and blueberries drizzled with Kahlua and topped with Lite whipped cream.

Grilling Season is near!

Tonight's menu was:

Crab Stuffed Tilapia
Grilled Asparagus
3 cheese artisan bread

I bought the stuffed fish at our local grocery store.  We grilled the fish on a foil pan on medium heat until cooked through.

Blanch the asparagus in salted water.  Then grill directly on the grate, turning frequently until slightly charred.  Remove from the grill and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. 

I also created a bread dipping sauce with extra virgin olive oil and some fresh ground pepper.

Pizza!

I have been remiss in regular posting as of late because I have not been cooking much! Work schedules, social events and all have been taking up a lot of my time.  I did attend another cooking class, so look for that post soon.

The last dinner I made was a homemade pizza. 

I purchased whole wheat already made pizza crust.  I found a brand at Marc's that was whole wheat and gave me 2 pizzas for under $3.00.

I topped my pizza with

1/2 jar of Mid's brand pizza sauce
1 bag (2 cups) of Miceli's shredded pizza cheese

Then I added toppings, as much as you like
sundried tomatoes
sliced garlic cloves
black olives
canned mushrooms

Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes on cookie sheet or for a crispier crust bake right on the oven rack.

It was a pretty big pizza, about 8 slices and very cost effective for a family pizza night.  I served it with a small homemade Caesar salad (see earlier blog post for recipe).

St. Patty's Day Favorite!

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, tonight's menu consisted of:

Corned beef
Cabbage
Mashed potatoes
Guiness

1 corned beef, about 3-5 pounds
1/2 head of green cabbage, sliced into shred pieces

Place corned beef in slow cooker, and cover with cabbage.  Fill about 1/2 -3/4 of pot with water and add seasoning packet.  If there is no seasoning packet add 2 Tablespoons of pickling spices.  Cook on low for 8 hours, until beef shreds and cabbage is soft but still hold shape, not mushy. 

Boil potatoes until soft, we boiled with the skin on.  Drain and mashed with fork or masher.  Add fat free milk and butter to moisten.  Keep mashing with spoon or fork.

Serve piece of corned beef, topped with cabbage, and drizzle broth on mashed potatotes.

The Guiness was tasty with the new CO2 cartridges that help keep the foam and flavor.

Top O' the Mornin' to ya!

A new Sammy!

Today for lunch I tried a new sandwich recipe I found on Weight Watchers website.  I added my own twist since I did not have the exact ingredients.

1 Arnold sandwich round whole wheat
2 slices of grilled eggplant
1 roasted red pepper, sliced in half
1 piece of Caesar salad lettuce with dressing on it (leftover from Sunday dinner)
Balsamic vinegar
Dried basil

Drizzle vinegar on both sides of bread, try not to saturate.
Layer eggplant on one piece of bread.  Next red pepper and lettuce.
Sprinkle top with basil.
Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight to let flavors blend.

This was delicious!  I have another eggplant which I may grill up to make more sandwiches.  The vinegear and the olive oil from the grilled eggplant and the tartness of the red pepper makes this a delightful lunchtime treat. 

Quick comfort food

A lazy rainy Sunday afternoon... what to have for dinner?  Something simple

Eggplant rolls
Angel hair pasta
Caesar salad

I found these great eggplant rolls in the Market Day order.  Eggplant that is lightly breaded and rolled and filled with ricotta cheese.  They are frozen and quick to pop in the oven for 40 minutes at 375 degrees.  Remove and eat or serve with your favorite sauce.

I served them with some angel hair pasta and Mid's Garlic and Mushroom spaghetti sauce.  Along with a small homemade Caesar Salad (click link to see recipe from previous post) it was the perfect comfort meal on a Sunday afternoon.

Potpourri Vegetable Soup

I made this soup today with what I had in the fridge, I only had to buy the spinach and the fresh loaf of artisan bread we had with it.  These are estimated measurements.  When I cook something that is a potpourri mixture I don't measure but season to taste as I go.

3-4 cans of vegetable stock
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 zucchini, cubed
1/2 eggplant, cubed
1 package of white mushrooms, sliced
2-3 carrots sliced, or a handful of mini carrots, sliced
2 stalks of celery, sliced
4 oz of fresh green beans, ends snapped and halved
3-4 T of minced garlic
2 small onions, chopped
1 regular bag of fresh spinach
dried basil
dried parsley
italian seasoning
salt and pepper

In a large pot, pour in vegetable stock.  Add all ingredients except spinach and stir.  Season to taste.  Add water as needed to cover and stir.  Cook on medium heat, stirring periodically, about 2-3 hours or until vegetables are tender.  Add spinach and stir.  Cook another 30 minutes until spinach is cooked and wilted. 

Ladle into serving bowls and sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese on top. 

Easy Pizza

Since my husband and I drive so far to work and sometimes have after work events, I have stocked my freezer and cupboards with quick and easy meal ideas and foods.

One of those items we have grown to like are frozen pizzas.  We buy them on sale or at the wholesale club and they are less expensive than take out and it's less tempting to get all those high calorie toppings or added sides.  Tonight we had a Spinach and Feta pizza by Earth's Pride Organics.  The pizza is moderately sized, about 4 pieces.  Thin crust and a good amount of spinach and feta cheese with a nicely spiced sauce, not too spicy but you know there is a red sauce.

Heat oven to 425 degrees, place pizza (after unwrapping) on oven rack.  Cook for 10-14 minutes.
Cut with pizza cutter. 

This is great on it's own or add a salad to make a meal and have some leftovers.

What else can I use?

Today's post is about substitutions.  What if you don't have a can of evaporated milk or some fresh parsley?  What do you do? Do you scrap the whole recipe?

No, I found a handy book that gives substitutions and equivalents Food FAQs : Substitutions, Yields and Equivalents by Linda Resnick and Dee Brock.

I referred to it for our dinner tonight, which was slow cooker mac and cheese.  I did not have any evaporated milk, but you could use heavy cream or half and half instead. 

The equivalents are helpful, you can find out how much dried herb if the recipe calls for fresh.  In addition, you can use it to determine baking changes and lots of other items.

My book is dog earred and well used.

Simple and Filling

A quick and nutritious meal on a work night.  Tonight we had my parents for dinner since my Dad was helping my husband with a home chore.  At the last minute this was quick and easy.  I got home at 5:45pm, changed by clothes and started dinner and we sat down and ate at 6:30pm.

Serves 4
4 Norwegian salmon fillets
2 boxes of Near East brand Roasted Pine Nut couscous
   [this was too much, we have leftovers]
Homemade salad

Open sheet of foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Place fish on foil.
Grill on medium heat until medium rare or to taste.  Turn frequently to prevent burning or charring.

Make couscous according to package directions.

Salad
1/2 head of iceberg lettuce, torn in pieces
10 grape tomatoes, halved
1 avocado, cut into cubes
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
2T of reduced fat feta cheese

Put lettuce into bowl and add other ingredients and toss.
Serve with your favorite dressing.

A Night Off!

My husband went to dinner with some work colleagues tonight which left me on my own for dinner.

I went to the Wholesale club on my way home and one of the items I bought was a new hummus, spinach and artichoke hummus by Sabra.

My dinner was an old favorite from my single days.

Single Gal Salad

Tear up Iceberg lettuce in a bowl. 
Add red wine vinegar and olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. 
Top with Parmesan cheese. 
Toss and eat!

A Little of This and a Little of That

My husband and I ate leftovers tonight. 

We had salmon and had some leftover.  So I made a salmon salad for sandwiches.

Quick and Easy Salmon Salad

Flake salmon from skin (if it had skin) into a bowl.
Mix with mayonnaise (I used the reduced fat).
Add a spoonfull, to taste, of  dill relish
Add a spoonfull, to taste, of Chili Sauce
Mix everything together and add some salt and pepper


Egg Salad -- another easy

4 hardboiled eggs
Mayonnaise
salt and pepper

Our leftover smorgasboard consisted of: cheese ravioli, pierogies, vegetarian hoppin john, and pasta and sauce.

French and Middle Eastern??

Today I made a Vegetable Ratatouille we learned how to make in our French wine and food class a few week's ago.  In addition, my sister brought over some uncooked beef kibbee her father in law made -- yum!

Vegetable Ratatouille

1/3 cup olive oil
2 small eggplants, cut in one inch cubes
1 onion, chopped
1 lb. zucchini, chopped in cubes
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb. fresh tomatoes
salt and pepper
Parsley

Put olive oil in bottom of pan and heat on medium  heat.  Add onion and eggplant.  Stir until eggplant it tender, about 10 minutes.
Add zucchini, garlic and tomatoes and stir.  Cook another 20 minutes or more until soft and stew like.
Add salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with parsley to serve.
@Loretta Paganini

We served it with some brown rice for additional texture and fiber.
We also had a nice Woodbridge Sauvignon Blanc wine.


What is Raw Kibbe?
A raw beef (only the leanest best cut ground) patty or ball seasoned with allspice and wheat and pine nuts.  It is often served with pita bread, fresh sliced onions, and olive oil.  My sister's father in law makes it and he is of Syrian descent.   We enjoy it immensely!

Dinner with a Four year old

Tonight we had our nephew overnight.  So we have "kid approved" food!

Grilled cheese and tomato soup

Grilled Cheese sandwiches

2 slices of multigrain bread
butter spray
1-2 slices of your favorite cheese, I like to cover the bread and make it cheesy

Spray one side of a slice of bread with butter spray.  Place buttered side down in non-stick pan.
Place cheese on slice of bread.  Place second slice of bread on top of cheese, and spray with butter spray to coat.
Cook on medium heat slowly until toasted and then flip.


Campbells tomato soup

2 cans of Campbells condensed tomato soup
1 can full of water
1 can full of fat-free milk

Mix all together in a pan, heat and stir until warm and blended.


We had hot pepper cheese for my husband, swiss cheese for our nephew and I had a provolone cheese sandwich.

Sorta Seafood Pasta

I threw this together tonight for a quick dinner. 

1/2-3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
3 T minced garlic
1 can minced clams
1 can crab
1 pound cooked shrimp, medium size, if frozen, thawed
sundried tomatoes (optional and to your taste)
6 oz linguini
Parmesan cheese

Fill pot for pasta with water and turn on to bring to a boil.  When boiling add pasta. 

While waiting, pour 1/4 cup of olive oil into skillet on medium heat.  Add minced garlic and stir until garlic and oil are well mixed.  Add clams and crab and stir.  If fish absorbs oil, add another 1/4 cup of olive oil and stir.  Add fresh ground pepper and stir to saute'.  If shrimp have tails, remove them and add to the mixture.  If oil is absorbed, add more as needed.  Stir well and add sundried tomatoes.  Keep stirring to coat and mix well. 

When linguini is done, drain.  Add linguini in spoonfulls to mixture and toss each time to coat. Toss and coat well and cover for 5 minutes and turn down heat.  To serve, spoon into pasta bowls, add sauce too, and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.


A leftover salad

8 oz fresh spinach
1/2 medium head of iceberg lettuce, torn in bite size pieces
4 oz white button mushrooms, cut in fourths
4 oz blue cheese crumbled with cranberries
6 mozzarella fresca balls and oil
fresh ground pepper
red wine vinegar

Combine spinach, iceberg lettuce, mushrooms and cheese.  Toss to mix.  Add mozzarella balls and drizzle seasoned oil from them onto salad.  Add fresh ground pepper and vinegar to taste.  Toss and serve.

Back Home Dinner is Served!

I made something simple yet full of flavor tonight.

12 Mrs. T's Potato and Cheddar Pierogi's
1/4 cup + 2 T Olive oil
2T minced garlic
2 small onions, sliced thin, separated
5 button mushrooms, sliced
5 sundried tomatoes
3 oz fresh spinach

Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in skillet on medium heat.  Then add garlic and onions and mushrooms.  Cook until onions are soft and mushrooms are tender.    Add fresh spinach and the 2T more olive oil and cook until starting to wilt. Add pierogi's.  Stir everything together, coating pierogi's.  Add more olive oil as needed to keep mixture from sticking.  Let simmer until pierogi's are tender.  Serve in pasta bowl and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

What did the hubby survive on?

My husband managed to eat out 2 nights with members of my family while I was gone.  The few night's he was in he feasted on popcorn and frozen dinners!  So funny, lots of easy to prepare food in the house, and he never eats that light when I cook!

Also, I found a cool item that I could purchase to have food on the plane on the way home.  They were called To Go picnic lunches.  I purchased one at my hotel to have for lunch on the plane since I would not have a lot of time on my travels home and the airline only serves pretzels. 

I chose one that had dried apricots, cheese sticks, crackers and cheese, and a shortbread cookie.  The cheese was a cream asiago and the crackers were flat crackers, they were really hard.  That was all I ate from the packet.. I'll take the rest for lunch sometime next week.

Rio Rio Cantina and Zuni Lounge on the Riverwalk

Tuesday I spent the evening with some old friends at the Rio Rio restaurant.  We ate outside with blazing heaters and we could watch everyone cruising on the river walk and the boats as they went by.

We started with Margaritas!  They were served in brandy snifter type glasses and were delicious!  Most of us got the Horni Margarita as described -- Voted one of the top 5 margaritas in San Antonio with Sauza Hornitos Tequila, GranGala and our own sweet & sour.  It was tasty I had 2 large ones! If I wasn't presenting the next day I would have had another :-)

I tried the Baja Fish Tacos which were very spicy but delicious. As decribed, fresh beer-battered fish served on a soft corn tortilla with chipotle aioli sauce. Served with veggie beans, rice à la Mexicana.  The rice was good and the beans were good however, I didn't eat much of them, the 3 tacos were filling as it was.

I would go back here again for margarita's and fare!

Achiote - Pan Latino Cuisine

Monday night we ate at a Latino restaurant called Achiote in the Grand Hyatt hotel, it was so windy and cold we decided not to go out.

Here is the restaurant as described: Showcasing the rich culinary heritage of Mexico, South and Central America and the Caribbean, as well as San Antonio’s unique fusion cuisine, our menu provides a tantalizing diversion from typical fare.

A diversion from typical fare is right!  It was right up my alley since I will try most anything.  Their wine list was very nice as well.

We split an appetizer called Tostones con Yucca frita y salsa criolla which was Fried Green Plantains, Crispy Yucca, Sweet Onions in a Garlic Cilantro Sauce.  I had never had Yucca which I thought tasted similar to and had the texture of a potato.  The Plaintains I had not had either and they were crispy, a bit cold and not as flavorful as I would have hoped.  The shrimp and the onions were delicious!

I had their Paella A Achiote with mussels, shrimp, calamari and roasted vegetables. It was very good, I wonder if the rice should not have been cooked a bit more, but not knowing the cuisine, maybe that is how it should be prepared.  I enjoyed the flavors in the food and the seafood was delicious!  Thanks to my phone camera here is a picture before I dug in!

No room for dessert but to finish the Michael and David Viogneir that I had.