Category Archives: cooking

A Not Lamentable Supper

Posted on April 2, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

Usually when I do a cooking post, I have cooked something unusual or made up a new recipe. However, I enjoyed tonight’s supper so much, I feel it deserves a blog post.

Steven had to work till 5:30 this evening and he had rehearsal at seven for Dirty Work at the Crossroads (the show he is directing for Ilion Little Theatre; perhaps you read some of my blog posts about it) (I have a small but pivotal role). Being a dedicated director, he planned to be at the theatre by 6:30.

“I’ll just grab something,” he said, when I asked him what he wanted to do for supper.

As 5:30 approached, I couldn’t help noticing there was not a lot to just grab in our refrigerator or pantry. We had some Heidelberg bread left over from Easter dinner (we left some for Mom and Dad and brought the rest home. Love that Heidelberg bread!). If we had some deli meat, which we often do, I could have made him a sandwich and had done with. No luck. We had some mozzarella cheese. I could make grilled cheese sandwiches.

The question was did we have any tomato soup. It is perfectly possible to eat a grilled cheese sandwich without tomato soup, but the last time we did, Steven lamented the lack of soup. I wanted him to go to rehearsal happy. Ah, we had the soup. Did we have enough milk, because tomato soup made with water is, again, lamentable. Yes!

I got the soup on. I sliced the cheese. It wouldn’t do to start the sandwiches too early. Of course it would be nice for Steven to walk in the door and hear me say, “Oh, supper is just about ready, sit down!” However, for Steven to walk in to me scraping black grilled cheese sandwiches out of the frying pan would be — you know, it’s a very good word — lamentable.

Of course he was late getting home. I threw the sandwiches on while he changed into his jeans. They didn’t take long. When they were done I cut each one into four slices, for better dipping.

I must say, it was a very satisfying supper. No doubt the Heidelberg bread deserves the credit. Can I just say: YUM! Still, I had to feel a little pleased with myself for thinking of it. And I hope that as a blog post, it was not too lamentable.

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More Green Cooking

Posted on March 20, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

I realize that headline implies my recipe (if I may call it that) will be good for the environment. I don’t think it is necessarily bad for the environment, but “green” in this context is meant only to denote St. Patrick’s Day.

Yesterday I wrote about how I added a green pepper to sausage balls in honor of the day (perhaps you read my post). While the sausage was cooking (I did mention it tends to take a long time), I made guacamole with a couple of avocados I had purchased the week before, when they were on sale. How clever of me to save my GREEN avocados for St. Patrick’s Day! Luckily, they last a long time, especially if you intend to mush them, as in guacamole.

I didn’t bother looking up a recipe; I just threw stuff in. A little of the garlic I had crushed for the sausage balls, some minced onions from the spice rack (I had had enough of chopping onions), a splash of lemon juice, a smaller splash of Worcestershire sauce, some cumin, some lemon pepper (actually, I think they call it Lemon & Pepper now). I mushed it with the potato masher, then stirred it thoroughly with a fork.

I taste tested it, as did Steven. I added more spices and let the flavors blend. It turned out pretty good.

I had meant to include this recipe (such as it is) with yesterday’s post, coming as it did in the middle of that cooking adventure. However, as I typed that post in, I feared it would be too lengthy. I always say, waste not, want not. Now I have plenty of time to worry about tomorrow’s post.

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St. Patrick Sausage Balls

Posted on March 19, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

Since yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day, I thought it would be a good idea to cook something green. I just happened to have a large green pepper I had purchased at Hannaford. I had also purchased some Hannaford All-Purpose Baking Mix (they didn’t have my usual Jiffy). This was going to be good.

Regular readers (if any) will recall that Saturday I had wanted to make sausage balls but lacked the proper ingredients. I still had the sausage (from Dino’s in Utica, NY). Now I had the baking mix. The green pepper would be a new addition to the recipe, which in any case I couldn’t find. I found a similar recipe in a book. I felt confident in my ability to wing it.

I started by peeling and crushing some cloves of garlic. I set the timer for 15 minutes, so the garlic could reach its full antioxidant benefits (or is that cancer fighting qualities? Whatever). I chopped up a yellow onion and put it in a cast iron frying pan with some olive oil. Then I cut up my green pepper into small pieces and added that to the onions. I put the sausage in the pan all in a lump. I figured it would be easier to break apart as it cooked. I added the garlic shortly after the sausage, as soon as the timer went off.

It took a long time to cook, as sausage often does. I kept chopping the sausage into smaller and smaller pieces with the spatula, which helped. At last it was ready. I emptied it into a bowl and added two cups of baking mix.

And it didn’t seem to do much but kind of sort of coat the sausage a little. I added some more. Then a little more. Then I poured some milk over it. Finally I got a consistency I liked.

I turned the oven on to 350 degrees and sprayed no-stick stuff on two baking sheets. I dropped the sausage mixture onto the sheets by the spoonful. I filled both sheets and a pizza tin. I put them in to bake for 20 minutes. I took the oven temperature and baking time from the recipe I had found, which may have been silly of me, since I didn’t really follow anything else in it.

The sausage balls turned out perfectly tasty. Perhaps I could have taken them out of the oven a trifle sooner, but really not too bad. Some people like them extra brown. Steven and I enjoyed them. And there are plenty left over. I ate a couple before typing in this post. Still perfectly enjoyable. I hope all my readers enjoyed Menu Monday.

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Menu Monday

Posted on February 12, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

I missed What’s for Supper Sunday, so how about Menu Monday (I leave off the question mark, because I’m not really asking; I fully intend to write a cooking post).

Regular readers (I do love my regular readers) may recall that I invented a recipe for Chicken Florentine. Then recently I saw a commercial for one of those pre-made entrees you heat up in a skillet on the stove — it may have been Bertoli — of Chicken Florentine. It did not look anything like what I had done. It actually looked way easier. I said, Hmmmm….

No, I did not run to the freezer section of my local Hannaford looking for Bertoli. I opened my refrigerator at home and looked for ingredients.

For once I cooked with wine by actually putting wine in the food. I chopped up an onion and put it in my cast iron frying pan with a good dousing of some Chablis I happened to have on hand.

Just a side note: I had purchased the Chablis because Steven and I had recently watched Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. That movie, in case you didn’t know, features a fascinating character named The Lady Chablis. But I digress.

While the onion boiled in the wine (I put in a lot of wine), I crushed up some garlic and set the timer for 15 minutes, the length of time I’ve read it should breathe. At the end of 15 minutes I added it to the frying pan and let it cook a few minutes before adding the chicken and spinach.

I took both of those items out of my freezer. The chicken was fully cooked breast strips by, I believe, Tyson. The spinach was Hannaford brand frozen chopped.

The wine had pretty much cooked away by this time so I added a little olive oil and covered the pan. After a bit I sprinkled on some lemon pepper and Perfect Pinch Salt Free Savory stuff.

I had intended to put the mixture over pasta, but there wasn’t any sauce per se. The chicken had not dried out or anything, there was just no extra liquid such as one likes to put over pasta. I did not feel like messing with it and perhaps letting the chicken dry out (breast meat can be so touchy), so we skipped the pasta.

Instead, I made garlic toast with some French bread I happened to have on hand. Butter, garlic power, basil, oregano in a 350 degree oven. Oh, don’t shake your gourmet fingers at me over the garlic powder. My garlic press was soaking in the sink and I didn’t have 15 extra minutes to let the garlic breathe anyways.

But as long as you are shaking your fingers at me, though, I’ll confess that I used Country Crock instead of real butter. As usual, I had not planned ahead and I felt like using something I could spread easily.

It was not a bad supper. I believe, however, that I will want to tweak the recipe if I desire to make such a dish in the future. It will probably rate a blog post if I do. As always, I hope you’ll stay tuned.

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Semi-Fancy Eggplant

Posted on January 17, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

I purposely cooked a semi-fancy supper last night so I could have a blog post today. Then I thought I had probably written a post about that recipe (if you can call how I cook a recipe) before (full disclosure: I’m too lazy to check). Then I thought maybe I would find different things to say about it. I do tend to do these things differently every time, depending on circumstances.

Circumstances this time were that fresh cilantro was on sale at Hannaford, and it looked pretty good. I picked up some eggplant, too, because I like eggplant roasted with cilantro. Then I grabbed some Roma tomatoes, because there would certainly be enough cilantro to also make a batch of salsa, maybe even for the pending dinner meeting of Ilion Little Theatre Club.

I hesitated long and hard over the mushrooms (good to roast with eggplant). I did not like the way the pre-washed, pre-sliced ones looked. The unsliced ones looked extremely dirty. I do hate washing mushrooms (point and laugh if you must). I finally found a package I could live with.

I pre-heated the oven to 400 degrees. I’ve done eggplant at 350, but it seems to me that 350 is baking and 400 is roasting. I think I read that somewhere. I peeled and pressed a goodly amount of garlic (no worries about vampires at my house) and set the time for 15 minutes.

I pulled the blender out of the cupboard and poured in the rest of my olive oil then supplemented that with some canola oil. I pulled a bunch of cilantro leaves off the stems and threw them in. No point in chopping them when the blender would do it for me.

Plenty of time while the garlic breathed (or whatever it does) to chop up the eggplant. I had not gotten such a large one as I sometimes do. They say the smaller ones have better flavor (no, I don’t know who “they” is). I always pick whichever looks good at the time.

I had it in my head that I had to wash the mushrooms. Me and my middle-aged memory. Imagine my delight when I realized I had so purchased a pre-washed pre-sliced package.

Eventually I put the garlic in the blender, blended, poured some of the resulting mixture over the eggplant, stirred, poured that into a glass baking dish (previously sprayed with no-stick; I left that part out), and put it in the oven. I set the timer for 20 minutes and thought I could type in yesterday’s blog post.

No luck. The computer was acting up. Now what to do? Oh, all right, I could start on the salsa, which, if it turned out well I would bring to Thursday’s dinner meeting. My actual salsa method I will save for a future blog post (waste not, want not, I sometimes say).

Regarding the roasted vegetables, I stirred the eggplant after 20 minutes then set the timer for a further 15. When the eggplant was looking pretty good I put on water for farfalle, sometimes called bow-tie pasta, I believe. Normally I have roasted vegetables over angel hair, but sometimes I like to mix things up a bit.

The farfalle was to cook for 12 to 14 minutes, so when I put that on, I added the mushrooms (tossed with the oil-garlic-cilantro mix) to the eggplant. I tossed the cooked pasta with a little of the oil mixture as well.

Steven had bread and butter with his pasta and vegetables. I put grated cheese on mine.

Roasted eggplant is one of my favorite meals. I’ll probably write another post about it the next time I fix it. Dire warning or preview of coming attractions? You decide.

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Suddenly Supper

Posted on January 14, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

How about a new feature? Instead of Wrist to Forehead Sunday, I’ll have What’s for Supper Sunday. I’ll talk about what I cooked on Saturday. It worked last week, maybe it’ll work this week.

Unfortunately, it is not that exciting this week. I had thought to spend the afternoon lovingly creating my creamy potato soup, which Steven loves. It is labor intensive, and I was in a labor adverse mood. I thought I could throw something together at the last minute instead.

I actually did not wait until quite the last minute, which would have been after Steven got home. He worked till 6:30. I started moving about ten after six. I started, as I often do, by peeling and pressing garlic, then setting the timer for fifteen minutes. I had in mind to do something with some frozen, already cooked chicken breast tenders. Such a handy item to keep in the freezer.

I also had two avocados I thought I’d better do something with. I figured they had reached the mushy stage, so guacamole seemed a good bet. For another reason, that’s about all I know to do with avocados anyways. I did not have any green chiles, which my favorite recipe calls for, so I thought I’d just wing it.

I used garlic, dehydrated minced onion, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce. It seemed a little bland, but I put it in the fridge to let the flavors blend.

In the meantime I had put the chicken in a frying pan and was heating it through. I took some tomato sauce out of the freezer and put it in a bowl of warm water to thaw. I’ve mentioned this sauce before: it comes with some pizza crust we sometimes buy but we absolutely never use it in the pizzas. Waste not, want not, I always say (among other things).

When the chicken was somewhat heated, I added the sauce, the rest of the crushed garlic, some fresh portabella mushrooms I happened to have and a can of pieces and stems along with the water in the can. I added some tap water too, because the sauce seemed a little thick. I added basil and oregano and covered it.

And that was about it. I kept lifting the lid to stir it around. Then I cooked some shells to put it over. It turned out pretty good.

The guacamole, however, was not one of my better efforts. We didn’t get into it last night, but I did taste it after it had set for a while. Still a little bland. I may add something more to it before we consume it, probably later today. I’ll let you know.

I had big plans for today’s dinner too, so you may have been in for another cooking post tomorrow. However, a sinus headache intervened. You’ll be happy to know that drugs, rest and coffee helped, so at least you will be spared another post detailing my pain. Only I don’t feel like cooking. Is that a wrist I feel against my forehead? Ah well, it is Sunday.

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Popeye Would Have Liked It

Posted on January 10, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

I got such good results with my Chicken Cordon Bleu, I thought I would invent a recipe for Chicken Florentine.

I learned a long time ago from Mr. Food (may he rest in peace) that “florentine” means “with spinach.” I’ve made Mr. Food’s recipe for Steak Florentine. I’ve eaten Eggs Florentine at a Chauncey’s Restaurant in Vermont. I could get silly and say the old Popeye cartoons were Violence Florentine, but, you know, I used to like those. My sisters and I would sing the Popeye song every time our mother fixed spinach.

Where was I? Ah yes, inventing a recipe. We preheated the oven to 350 degrees. Steven put in potatoes to bake (he was helping me cook because of my bad ankle) (see yesterday’s post).

I grated some mozzarella cheese (not as much as I grated for the Cordon Bleu, because I did not intend to make a cheese sauce). Once again, I did not pound the boneless skinless thighs (once again, instead of breasts), but sliced them so that I could kind of sort of fold them open. I put cheese, spinach and baby portobello mushrooms on them (I bought the pre-washed, pre-sliced mushrooms. I’m not too lazy to slice, but it is such a pain to wash mushrooms) (and I used fresh spinach, although I suppose the frozen kind would work just as well). I folded the chickens over and rolled them in breadcrumbs as best I could.

A word about the breadcrumbs. I normally buy the Italian Seasoned, but when I shopped on Sunday, I noticed 4C were made in Brooklyn, NY (Hannaford puts out helpful signs telling you these things). They were “Seasoned” not “Italian Seasoned,” but when I read the ingredients, it looked to me like they used all the same stuff. I thought, why quibble over an adjective? I went with the New York State brand.

One further note: I saw the word “wheat gluten” in the ingredients, too, and made a mental note not to use breadcrumbs in anything I may fix for my friend Phyllis. I have become more aware of gluten since I found out Phyllis has Celiac’s. Is that a HIPPA violation to mention that? Oh dear.

After I got the chicken in the oven I put some spinach and mushrooms in a casserole dish, drizzled olive oil over them, sprinkled on a little lemon pepper, garlic power and minced onion (oh, stop shaking your purist gourmet fingers at me! I’m sure garlic powder and dehydrated onions are perfectly respectable), and tossed it with a bamboo spoon and fork (just to give you an accurate picture). I did not put that in the oven till the last ten minutes or so.

As a matter of fact, Steven put them in. I set the timer for twenty minutes, showered, then flipped the chicken while Steven poked the potatoes. I set the timer for a second twenty minutes and left Steven with instructions to check things again, decide how much longer it needed, and put the spinach/mushroom mixture in for the last ten minutes or so. Then I went upstairs and started writing yesterday’s blog post (which I composed at the computer. Today I am writing in a regular paper notebook on a break at work) (again, in the interests of an accurate picture).

Steven cooked the chicken and potatoes an additional ten minutes while the other vegetables cooked. The potatoes perhaps could have baked a little longer, but it was a yummy dinner. I felt pleased with myself. Perhaps I’m no Rachel Ray, but I do my best.

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Waste Not, Want Not

Posted on January 7, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

In lieu of Wrist to Forehead Sunday, I offer the following cooking post:

For dinner last night, I decided to use up some leftovers. We had some meatballs and some cheese dip. The cheese dip was an attempt I had made at Horned Dorset Dip, which I have enjoyed at wine tastings at Ilion Wine and Spirits. The guy there told me the recipe and I wrote it down.

The recipe is basically equal parts chopped onion, grated cheddar cheese and mayonnaise. You mix, put in oven and bake at 350 degrees till bubbly. I think. I confess, I relied on memory rather than searching through various notebooks I may have written it in (although now that I think about it, I bet it’s in my wine tasting notebook in my purse. Silly me!).

The dip did not turn out as well as what they served at the wine tasting. I don’t know if my oven was too hot or I baked it too long, but the cheese kind of separated, as melted cheddar sometimes does. We ate it and liked it anyways. We put what was left over in the refrigerator.

Regarding the meatballs, well, shake your gourmet fingers at me if you must, they were the pre-made frozen kind. I had heated them in the oven and we had dipped them in sauce as an appetizer/munchy kind of thing. The leftovers had no sauce on them so were open to many possibilities.

I set the oven to 350 degrees to preheat (kind of the universal temperature, isn’t it?) and grated some mozzarella cheese. I put on water to boil for macaroni then thought some garlic would be welcome. I peeled and crushed a few cloves, then set the stove timer for fifteen minutes, so it would reach its full antioxidant potential (or is it cancer fighting? I can never keep these things straight).

Where I somehow managed to time things right: the water in the pot came to a boil almost as the timer was at eleven minutes, the time needed to cook the rigatonis (my chosen pasta shape of the day). Once the pasta was cooked and drained, I added the leftover cheese dip, the freshly grated cheese, the leftover meatballs and a little butter for good measure (I used the butter that came with the Italian bread we didn’t eat the last time we ordered from Salvatore’s). I almost forgot the garlic but remembered it in time.

It was immediately after I put the stuff in the oven that I remembered that I had intended to add a can of mushrooms (pieces and stems) for a vegetable. It wasn’t too late: I pulled the casserole dish out and added them. This had the added benefit that I was now sure the garlic was thoroughly mixed in as well.

I baked it for fifteen minutes, stirred it, then fifteen minutes more, covered. Then I sprinkled the last of my Italian style breadcrumbs over top of it and baked it uncovered for five minutes more. I immediately added Italian style breadcrumbs to my grocery list (preview of coming attractions).

Even if I do say it myself (and who else is here to say it?), it tasted pretty darn good. There is a little bit left over, but I intend to heat that up for my dinner tomorrow. Steven won’t be home before seven, and I have a meeting at 6:30. So I’m feeling all kinds of pleased with myself today: used up left overs, have a plan to use up the left over left overs, and avoided a Wrist to Forehead Sunday post. Hope to see you Monday.

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Don’t It Make My Chicken Bleu

Posted on December 31, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

I thought I’d change up Wrist to Forehead Sunday with a cooking post. Saturday I figured out how to make Chicken Cordon Bleu.

The only recipe I had was the memory of a co-worker telling me how she made it in the late ’80s. That is, she told me in the ’80s. When I reminisce about the ’80s with my friends, we don’t usually share chicken recipes. But I digress.

I started out by pouring myself a glass of wine, because I like to cook with wine (sometimes I put it in the food) (I read that on a refrigerator magnet or a t-shirt sometime). I set the oven on 350 degrees to preheat and grated some mozzarella cheese.

So right away I differed from my friend’s recipe. She used slices of cheese and ham which she cut into strips and rolled up together. I had nice chunks of leftover Christmas ham my sister had given me and a brick of mozzarella I had purchased that morning.

I differed from every Chicken Cordon Bleu recipe I’d ever heard of by using boneless skinless chicken thighs instead of breasts. I have better luck with thighs not drying out on me. Plus, I like dark meat. I think you’re supposed to pound the chicken with a hammer to flatten it out, but this is something else I’ve never had much luck with. I sliced it in half through the thickest part and spread it open.

I put the grated mozzarella on, then the ham, folded it back together and rolled it in Italian Style Breadcrumbs. My mother always uses Italian Style for all her breadcrumb needs.

I put the chickens in the pan (on which I had previously sprayed no-stick cooking spray) and stuck a couple of toothpicks in them to keep them from opening back up. I’m not sure if the toothpicks were really necessary. I ended up taking them out after 30 minutes anyways, when I flipped the chickens with the help of barbecue tongs.

The chickens ended up cooking about 50 minutes total. Thirty, then flip, then check after 10, then after 10 more. While they cooked I made a cheese sauce with the extra mozzarella I had grated (I never guess the right amount).

And here’s where all you cooking purists will shake an admonitory finger at me. Also nutrition purists. I used a can of cream of mushroom soup to which I added the cheese and some spices. Well, you purists can shake your fingers or your heads or your groove things for all I care. My mother had suggested the cream of mushroom soup when I told her my dinner plans earlier. Everybody agrees that my mother is a marvelous cook. So there.

The Chicken Cordon Bleu turned out very tasty, even, dare I say, yummy. We had it with a macaroni salad I made using some leftover ziti (waste not, want not). And I am especially pleased that it enabled me to keep my wrist from my forehead on a Sunday.

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Practically Health Food

Posted on December 23, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

This will be a cooking post. I had wanted some Running Commentary, or even a Pedestrian Post, but the weather is working against me. In desperation, I made some Chocolate Bark, just so I would have something to write about.

I got out my fancy double boiler (you know, frying pan of water with a pot in it), and set some dark chocolate chips to melt, adding a tablespoon of olive oil. The recipe also calls for some extract, almond or peppermint or something, but I didn’t have any so left it out and hoped for the best.

While it heated, I pulled out a baking dish and lined it with tin foil, which I sprayed with cooking spray. The recipe said “greased tin foil.” What I did was good enough, right?

Then I commenced to breaking up the candy canes. I forgot what a pain in the butt it is getting the plastic shrink wrap off those things! It comes off in pieces then the pieces stick to your hand when you try to throw them out. Grr! And I had not realized we were out of large plastic bags so pulled out a sandwich bag and looked for my metal meat pounder. Of course I could not find it (regular readers are not surprised either). I used the handle of my pizza cutter. Soon I had a baggy of large pieces of candy cane and candy cane powder. It would have to do.

By now the water was boiling and the chocolate was melting. I stirred it till the lumps were gone and poured it into the baking dish. That sure didn’t make much! Damn! I threw in some of the peppermint, almonds and raisins. Then I put the (fancy) double boiler back on and found my other bag of dark chocolate chips (I try to keep a spare of such things on hand in case of just such an emergency).

Two bags worth of chocolate looked good. I put in the rest of the candy cane remains, added more almonds and raisins and stirred. Spread it out as evenly as I could — no egregiously deep spots, no tinfoil showing through. After I had scraped the pot and cleaned up a little, I covered the baking dish and cleared a space for it in the refrigerator.

Tomorrow or much later tonight (Steven and I have a play to go to — preview of coming attractions), we will break or cut up the bark and taste test it. Whatever is left after taste testing I plan to take to my parents’ house for Christmas Eve, but I make no promises. For heavens’ sake: dark chocolate, almonds, raisins — I’m sure there’s even health benefits from candy canes, because, you know, peppermint tea — it’s practically health food!

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