Rinderrouladen - A Genuine German Dish

So the first time we were having genuine Germans over for dinner, my hubby asked me if we could have genuine German food to serve them.  Well, that was a bit of a trick for me... considering I am an American who has never even been to Germany.  But since I am a good wife I decided to give it a whirl.  First step was sending a frantic email to a genuine German that I had met named Ute.  She sent me a few recipes and this one sounded like I could handle it (and find the ingredients to make it).  So that is how I ended up making my very first batch of Rinderrouladen.  There have been many batches since then because of how yummy it is and since my husband keeps asking me to make it, I am sharing it with you as well.  If you are at all adventurous... you must try this scrumptious meal!

Rinderrouladen

adapted from: Ute Koenig

Ingredients

• 8 pieces of thinly cut beef larger than your hand

• spicy german mustard

• 8 slices of bacon

• 1 large onion

• 16 small dill pickles

• salt

• pepper

• red wine

• cooking string

Preparation

• Cut onion into small pieces and saute until tender. Cut dill pickles into thin slices. 

• To assemble the roulades: spread one slice of meat with mustard, place one slice of bacon down the middle, add onion, about 2 pickles worth of pickle slices, salt and pepper. Roll it up and secure with cooking string. Keep going until you have made all eight. 

• Place them into a baking dish and roast the roulades in red wine for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees. 

Hubby's Healthy Rice Pudding

I wish that I had written the post: Nostalgic for Nursery Pudding as a prelude to my post here.  But I didn't.  So I'll link you to it instead so that you can read the magical words of Gail Monaghan and be transported into a happy place.  At the end of the article there is a recipe for caramelized ginger rice pudding, which sounds amazing, and I have customized that into a healthier (and somewhat plainer) version for my hubby tonight when he comes home from work about midnight. Because when you come home late, there is nothing like having a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (yet simple) dessert waiting:

Hubby's Healthy Rice Pudding

adapted from: the wall street journal

Ingredients
• 3 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups white rice
• 4 cups fat-free milk
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs

Preparation

• In a saucepan, bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Add the rice and cook about 10 minutes. Pour into a colander and drain thoroughly.

• In a saucepan (I just use the same one), add the milk and brown sugar. Cook until hot and add in the cooked rice and vanilla extract. Simmer over low heat until the mixture is thick and the rice is tender, about 30 minutes Remove from the heat and cool.

• In a small bowl, whisk together the egg whites and pour into the rice mixture.

• Preheat the oven to 350°. Lightly grease a baking dish, spoon the pudding mixture into the baking dish and bake until the pudding is set (about 1 hour).
• Remove from the oven and give the whole pudding a good stir.  Serve warm or cold.

Note: Healthy is relative of course, I mean, this is dessert.  If you divide this recipe into 8 servings they will each about roughly 200 calories and 2 1/2 grams of fat.  Not horrid for dessert (just remember not to eat the whole recipe)!

Note: If you are making this for "company" and you just want a decedent dessert, replace the 4 cups of fat-free milk with half and half.  It will be heavenly creamy.  Also, consider a fruit topping like fresh strawberries, raspberries or apples tossed in cinnamon and sugar.  

Busy Mom's Macaroni & Cheese

Okay, so if you have Pinterest (and use it) you might have noticed the craze for "Panera Bread’s Signature Macaroni & Cheese" a few weeks ago.  Although I should note that many have speculated that Panera was still hiding their real secret to creaminess (which is in fact boiling the pasta in the milk).  Yeah, they left that out and Stephanie over at Macaroni and Cheesecake had to clue us all back in.  Well, I noticed this trend and although I do like the creaminess of Panera's macaroni and cheese, I could never give up the lovely crunchy top that comes with a good homemade baked macaroni and cheese.  So I decided to search out the best of both worlds.  I think I have found it!!!  It is a combination of the best of both... and so I share it with you, because I love my readers... and it is just that good:

WARNING: If you read this recipe and think it is too good to be true because there is no laborious melting of cheese sauce and whisking and thickening and all that... well, you're wrong... and you're right!  This recipe is totally true (and tasty) and yet it does not involve any of that other stuff.  Literally you just toss in all the ingredients - without even cooking the pasta - and out of the oven comes your delicious homemade baked macaroni and cheese.  It's kind of like a miracle really. You should believe in it.

Busy Mom's Macaroni & Cheese
adapted from: smitten kitchen

Ingredients
• 2 cups ricotta cheese
• 5 cups skim milk
• 2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 pounds extra-sharp cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 pound elbow pasta, uncooked.

Preparation

• Heat oven to 375° and position an oven rack in upper third of oven and grab two 2.5 quart round corningware dishes (or two other dishes about that size - or one big one).

• In a large bowl mix: ricotta cheese, milk, mustard, salt and pepper together.  Combine this milk mixture with grated cheese (reserve 1/2 cup grated cheese for topping) and uncooked pasta. Pour into dishes, cover tightly with foil (or use lids) and bake 30 minutes.  Uncover dishes, stir gently, and sprinkle with reserved cheese. 

• Turn the temperature up to 450° and bake (uncovered) 30 minutes more (or until it is nice and golden brown on top - this step is preference driven). Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving... if you can.

Freezer Instructions: Mix everything together following steps up until the final bake.  I like to freeze my casserole-type meals in disposable 8 inch loaf pans that come 3 in a package (but you will need at least 4 pans to makes this recipe). Then just slide each loaf pan into a gallon freezer bag before placing in the freezer.  How easy is that?!  This will make great portion sized dinners for a few adults and a few kiddos when you need it.  

Tourtière du Mommi

Tourtière is a traditional French-Canadian dish served by generations of French-Canadian families all year long throughout Canada and the bordering areas of the United States.  I spent a large part of my growing up years in Buffalo, NY and anyone who has ever been there knows that region to be quite close to Canada.  In fact, I have walked across the border many times (back in the day when you could do that).  There is no one correct filling so you will find all different traditional recipes.  This just happens to be my favorite - super yummy - version (note corningware instead of pie pan - I am in love with corningware).

But let me backtrack because I am guessing that most of you have never made a tourtière before.  Am I right?  Which is why you are going to find super detailed instructions below.  Super-duper detailed, because when I read the directions for making a multi-step dish I tend to get confused as well.  But when it comes right down to it, if you want to have something super yummy and meaty and pie crusty... you need to make this.  It is worth it.  You will have to make this to believe me though because the directions look intimidating.  I get it.

And to get at the heart of the matter, let me tell you why I even thought to make this complicated dish at right now in my life.  You see, after having this baby (baby number three is coming in June) I want to have a lot of things in my freezer that are actually really yummy to eat.  This is one of those things that you can make a big batch of and then be delighted to snatch out of the depths of the freezer when you are hungry and tired (both of which I'm sure I will be).  So make it and eat it.  Make it and freeze it.  Make it and eat some and freeze some more.  Whatever way you choose to go about it, just make it.  You and your family will thank me.  Which of course you can leave in the comment section below (it makes me happy).

Tourtière du Mommi

adapted from: epicurious

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Crust Ingredients (scratch pie crust - double batch)

• 5 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting surfaces, dipping fork

• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

• 2 teaspoons table salt

• 4 sticks unsalted butter, very cold

• 1 cup water, very cold

Crust Preparation 

• Follow directions for making my scratch pie crust, remembering that you need to make it at least an hour ahead so that it has time to chill.  You will end up with 4 wrapped flattened balls of dough (but if you know you are doing the freezer recipe I suggest you divide the dough into 6 balls instead to make it easier later).  I usually do this whole step the day before.

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Crockpot Ingredients

• 3 pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into 2 inch pieces

• 1 (16 ounce) bottle white cooking wine

• 2 cups chicken stock

• 1 medium onion, quartered

• 2 garlic clove, chopped

• 10 whole black peppercorns 

• 10 sprigs thyme

• 4 bay leaves

Crockpot Preparation

• Cut pork into 2 inch pieces and place in crock pot.  Add, wine, stock, onion, garlic, whole black peppercorns, thyme and bay leaves.

• Turn crock pot to high and cook for 4 hours (or low for 6 hours).

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Filling Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, chopped,

• 3 garlic cloves, chopped

• 1 (8 ounce) package mushrooms, finely chopped

• 3 cups grated, peeled russet potato

• 2 tablespoon olive oil

• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling Preparation

• Transfer pork shoulder to a work surface. Shred meat with your fingers and transfer to a medium bowl. Strain pan juices through a fine-mesh sieve; add 1 cup juices to pork; discard solids in strainer.

• Pour remaining juice into sauce pan and reduce down to about 1/4 cup.

• Add onion, garlic, mushrooms and potatoes to large nonstick pan and pour olive oil over everything.  Cook on medium heat until browned, about 15 minutes. Add cinnamon, cloves, pepper, salt and cook about 5 minutes more to combine flavors.

• Remove from heat. Stir in shredded pork with juices as well as the extra juices you just reduced.

• Chill until cold, about 1 hour.

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Final Assembly Ingredients

• all-purpose flour

• 2 large egg yolks, beaten

• 2 tablespoons water

Final Assembly

• Roll out 1 dough disk on a lightly floured surface into a 12" round.

• Transfer to pie dish (or corningware), leaving overhang.

• Fill with 1/2 of the cooled meat mixture.

• Roll out second dough disk into a 10" round.

• Place dough over meat filling. Fold overhang over top crust and crimp edges.

• Brush crust with egg yolk, beaten together with water.

• Cut decorative slits in top crust and chill for 1 hour.

• Repeat for the second tourtière.

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The Bake:

• Preheat oven to 400°F.

• Bake tourtière for 30 minutes.

• Reduce heat to 350°F; bake until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbling, 40-50 minutes.

• Let cool for 20 minutes before serving.

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Note: Pie crust takes only a few minutes to mix up, crock ingredients only take a few minutes to toss in, cooking up the filling takes about an hour (between shredding the pork, chopping everything up and cooking it together), and assembling takes about 1/2 an hour to roll out crust and put in filling.  Then the bake is about an hour but only takes a second to throw in the oven.  So really it takes about an hour and a half of "work" but there is a LOT of down time between all the different steps (about 1/2 a day of downtime).  I suggest doing the crust and the crock on one day, making the filling and assembling on the next.  That is how I do it to keep things simple.

Freezer Instructions: To prepare this for your freezer this is what you are going to want to do. Get yourself one package of disposable 8 inch loaf pans (3 in a package).  Assemble them according to instructions above (just use 1/3 of your crust recipe in each loaf pan and 1/3 of the meat mixture).  Cut slits in the top crust, but do not brush them with egg yolk.  Then just slide each loaf pan into a gallon freezer bag before placing in the freezer.  When it comes time to bake them, you can defrost the day before in the refrigerator or just put them directly in the oven (remembering to brush them with egg yolk to get a nice looking crust).  If you are cooking them frozen, you are going to want to cover the top of the crust so that it does not burn before the tourtière is hot and increase the baking time.  Uncover the top for the last 30 minutes of cooking to get a nice golden crust.

Braided-Stuffed-Whatever-Bread

This is basically an emergency meal.  Like McDonalds, but made in your own kitchen.  If you have been reading my blog you know that I have a recipe for amazingly easy dough that you can keep in your refrigerator (or freeze) so having homemade dough laying around is never a problem.  That being said... you can pretty much make dinner.  All the time. Without having to plan ahead.  Tonight I was pretty much out of steam, by about 3:30 in the afternoon all I wanted to do was lay on the couch.  But that is usually when I start my dinner prep so needless to say it was not going to be amazing. Or was it?  See, I just grabbed some dough and made up a delicious loaf of braided-stuffed-pizza-bread that can be cooked in less than 15 minutes so we could just have a no stress dinner.  Good deal!  Let me tell you how to go about this marvel in your own kitchen:

Braided-Stuffed-Whatever-Bread

adapted from: the girl with a curl

Basic Ingredients
• 1/2 a batch of my easy-peezy pizza dough (1 ball of dough)
• olive oil
• 1 egg

Filling Ingredients
• pizza sauce
• mozzarella cheese
• peperoni
• spices: garlic powder, onion powder, oregano
• bleu cheese dressing

Preparation

• Heat oven to 450°. 

• Put a bit of olive oil on your cookie sheet and roll out the dough to form a rectangle (however big your pan is - it's not a science).

• Put on your fillings.  I chose to do pizza style fillings this time so I put on sauce, spices, cheese and pepperoni.  But you can really use whatever leftovers you have in your refrigerator!

• With scissors make cuts 1 inch apart on long sides of dough to within 1/2 inch of filling. Alternately cross strips over filling. Fold ends under to seal.

• In small bowl, beat egg until smooth and brush over dough.

• Depending on your filling you can decide what to sprinkle on top.  I chose garlic powder since this was pizza style. 

• Bake 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. 

• Cut into slices and serve with something for dipping.  I am going with pizza sauce and blue cheese dressing.

Note: Other combinations that I think would be good to try are: leftover chicken and BBQ sauce with ranch dipping sauce, leftover spaghetti with extra cheese added, leftover ground beef and potatoes with ketsup for dipping, leftover scrambled eggs and bacon with syrup to dip, I don't know... let me know what you make okay?!  

Baked Doughnuts - Yes, It's Possible

So this weekend was a rough one at our house.  I got sick which led to getting dehydrated which would have landed me in the ER getting IV fluids if it weren't for being able to get down 1 1/2 liters of Pedialyte (that stuff is magic for pregnant ladies).  Anyway, on the heels of that last night was a real loser.  My oldest daughter was up about every hour and a half to two hours (the kind of up that needs a parent).  When I asked her today what the deal with that was... she told me this: "I was just too excited about going shopping today for musical instruments and yo-yo's!"  What?!  (I bet you can guess this was not the plan for today.)  Anyway, to keep the day from being a total loss I decided that we could make homemade doughnuts just for kicks.  And if you know me... you know I don't fry.  Not that I am a health nut, but being the daughter of a nutritionist I was never taught how to do this dietarily offensive practice and even to this day cannot being myself to adopt it in my kitchen.  So I baked the doughnuts.  And can I just say... please try this?  You will be in love.  Granted there is enough butter involved to make up for the oil (so I'm not really sure you are any better off) but YUM.  (Picture to the left is Beatrice eating them, daddy style.  Mommy style is below!)  Go for it - and here's to brightening our own days instead of sitting under the cloud.

P.S. For those of you keeping track, here is what we have so far.  My husband likes balsamic vinegar, yellow mustard and dark rick chocolate.  He does not like any-kind-but-yellow mustard or cinnamon.  Got it?

Baked Doughnuts

adapted from: mel's kitchen cafe

Doughnut Ingredients
• 1 1/3 cups warm milk, about 100º
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt

Topping Ingredients (cinnamon)
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Topping Ingredients (chocolate)
• 1/4 cup vanilla frosting
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder

Preparation

• Place the warm milk in a bowl. Stir in the yeast and sugar. Add the butter. Mix the eggs, flour, and salt. Beat mix the dough with a wooden spoon (or your hands) for 2-3 minutes.  The dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl and be very soft and smooth but still slightly sticky.

• Knead the dough for a few minutes (between your hands) and then transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for about an hour or until it has doubled in size.

• Punch down the dough and roll it out to about 1/2-inch thickness on a lightly floured counter. Cut out circles in the dough (I used a tupperware lid).  Then stamp out the smaller inner circles using a smaller circle (I used a juice glass). Be sure to make the holes large enough that as the doughnuts rise again and bake, the holes don't fill in.

• Transfer the circles (big and small) to a lightly-greased baking sheet and cover the tray with plastic wrap and let the doughnuts rise for about another 45 minutes, until they are puffed and nearly doubled.

• Bake in a 375º oven until the bottoms are just golden, about 8 minutes.  They should still be pale on top, not golden and browned, and just barely baked through. Remove the doughnuts from the oven and let cool for 1-2 minutes. 

• For cinnamon sugar topping (my favorite): dip each one in the melted butter and toss in the cinnamon and sugar mixture.
• For chocolate topping (husband's favorite): spread top of each doughnut generously in rich, creamy chocolate.

Note: This was a process that we started in the morning and completed with hot doughnuts after nap time.  I am guessing that this is not the ideal time frame for most people who may be trying to serve them for breakfast.  After all, that is more normal.  So, here is what you can do.  Perform all the steps through cutting out your doughnuts and placing them on baking sheets.  Then, instead of letting them rise again - place them in the refrigerator overnight (or whatever time frame you are working with) and then start up the preparation with a 45 minute rise when you want to get ready to bake.  Just an idea.

Note: I have "heard" that you can skip the whole dough step entirely if you just buy a can of flaky biscuits from the store.  I have not tried this... but if you do let me know what you think.  (Here is the basic recipe on how to do this à la pillsbury.)

Magical Mustard Chicken

My husband loves yellow mustard (almost as much as he loves balsamic) and not quite as much as he loves me.  He used to think that he loved all mustard, but when it comes right down to it... he is a yellow only kind of guy.  So having a good mustard chicken recipe in my collection is pretty much a no brainer.  And since this one also includes the blessed balsamic, it is the prefect choice for a very hard working husband who could use a good meal.  If you don't have a good mustard chicken to serve your family you are going to want to give this one a try.  It is very, very good (which in my opinion is do to the rosemary, but my kiddos think the syrup is the magic).  What do you think?

Magical Mustard Chicken

adapted from: Witty in the City

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken, cut up

• 1/2 cup yellow mustard

• 1/4 cup maple syrup

• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

Preparation

• Mix together mustard, syrup, rosemary and vinegar.

• Put chicken into a quart sized plastic bag and pour mixture over them.

• Place this in the refrigerator to marinate for at least an hour.
• Preheat your oven to 450º.

• Empty chicken and marinade into a large baking dish and place in the oven.

• Bake for about 40 minutes (basting chicken 1/2 way through) or until a meat thermometer reads 165º. 

• Let chicken rest for 5 minutes before serving and then plate the chicken, making sure to spoon some extra sauce over the top.

Note: You can really use whatever part of the chicken you want to make this recipe.  I had a whole chicken so that is what I used.  You can use breast or thigh or drumstick or wings... it would all be yum.  Just grab what you have and go from there.

15 Minutes to Hot Pizza

If this looks as good to you as it tastes to me, then I have a secret for you.  This pizza was made in about 15 minutes, which is faster than you could get delivery.  How?  Well, last night my hubby was craving some extra tortillas before bed (the homemade kind - recipe here) and so I whipped up a batch for him and an extra batch of dough for the refrigerator at the same time.  So when lunch time rolled around I thought to myself, "self, you have all the ingredients to make a fabulous pizza right in front of you."  And so I did.  I made this in about 5 minutes just by rolling out that tortilla dough to cover a greased 14x16 air bake pan, spreading on a few tablespoons of sauce, a few handfuls of mozzarella cheese and tossing on some turkey pepperoni (my concession to health).  Heat that oven up to 550° degrees and cook for 10 minutes (flipping the pan 180° half way through).  And that is it.  15 minutes to fresh pizza.  Which makes me think you should probably go make some tortilla dough so that you can do this too.  Okay?  You'll thank me.

FYI: This pizza was just featured on the fabulous site: Marriage on a Budget.  After all, this pizza can be made for only 32¢ a slice (and that is without buying any ingredients on sale).  Just wanted to let you all know!

Soft Little Snickerdoodles

I made these last week but didn't get a change to write this up until today.  But first, let me just say that I  can't explain why I have never attempted to make the snickerdoodle. I mean, I would imagine that everyone has all the ingredients to make them at any given time (well, except for cream of tartar). I never have had that in the house and perhaps that has been keeping me from making this cookie? But, with a little research I discovered the proportions for substituting cream of tarter for baking soda and made myself the very best cookie I think I have ever eaten. Oh and of course I also fiddled with the baking time, because at our house we like a nice soft cookie with crispy edges. The hubby does not approve of a crunchy cookie coming out of my oven. I have learned this (if nothing else) in our seven years of marriage. So here is my recommendation for making a very delicious snickerdoodle:

Easy Snickerdoodles

adapted from: Mrs. Sigg's Snickerdoodles

Ingredients 

• 1/2 cup butter, softened

• 1/2 cup shortening 

• 1 1/2 cups white sugar 

• 2 eggs 

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 

• 2 teaspoons baking powder 

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

• 1/4 teaspoon salt 

• 3 tablespoons white sugar 

• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 

Preparation 

• Preheat oven to 400°. 

• Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. 

• Blend in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 

• Mix the 3 tablespoons sugar and the 1 tablespoon cinnamon together in a bowl. 

• Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls and roll balls of dough in mixture. 

• Place at least 1 inch apart on greased baking sheets. 

• Bake 5 minutes, or until set but not too hard. 

• Let cool a few minutes on baking sheets before you remove them to finish cooling. 

Note: I did not say that these cookies were healthy. As you might have noticed they have quite a bit of butter and sugar, but as a "once in a while" treat I don't think it's such a bad thing. So... in case you really want to know (and so I remember not to eat too many) let me just say that if you make 60 cookies from this recipe, it works out to about: (75) calories and (4) grams of fat per cookie. Definitely in the treat category!

Lemony Lentil Soup & Homemade Tortillas

This is my family's favorite soup.  I usually have this in the freezer so that I can have something hearty and flavorful to pull out on a busy night (or sometime when I just really don't feel like cooking anything).  However this was not "quite" true tonight.  I did have the hankering to try my hand at homemade tortillas to go with the soup.  This soup is pretty thick so it goes well with some dipping-bread and tonight... that was tortillas at our house.  I'll include both recipes below:

Lemony Lentil Soup

adapted from: been making this so long I don't know

Ingredients
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 yellow onions (chopped)
• 1 bunch organic celery (chopped)
• 1 cup fresh cilantro (chopped)
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 2 tsp tumaric
• 2 (28 oz) cans diced tomatoes
• 20 cups water
• 4 cups lentils (well rinsed)
• 4 (15 oz) cans chickpeas (well rinsed and drained)
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

Preparation

• Use olive oil to sauté onions, celery, cilantro, along with curry powder and turmeric for 10 minutes.

• Add tomatoes and cook for another 10 minutes.

• Add 20 cups of water and the lentils, chickpeas, salt, lemon juice and balsamic vinegar.

• Bring to a boil, then simmer partially covered for 2 hours (to really meld flavors).

• Check that there is enough liquid every once in a while and add 1 cup of water if necessary.

Note: I changed the recipe to read 4 cups of lentils just to make it more clear.  My favorite kind of lentil to use is split peas, but really whatever you use will probably be delicious.  Just remember that you are putting them in dry and adding 20 cups of water to rehydrate them... so no need to do it ahead of time.  Hope that helps!

Soft Flour Tortillas 

adapted from: Homesick Texan

Ingredients
• Two cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 teaspoons of olive oil
• 3/4 cups of warm milk

Preparation

• Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and oil.

• Slowly add the warm milk and stir until a loose, sticky ball is formed.

• Pick up the dough and between your hand, knead for two minutes. Dough should be firm and soft.

• Place dough in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap for 20 minutes.

• After the dough has rested, break off eight sections, roll them into balls in your hands, place on a plate (make sure they aren’t touching) and then cover balls with plastic wrap for 10 minutes.

• After dough has rested, one at a time place a dough ball on a floured surface, pat it out into a four-inch circle, and then roll with a rolling pin from the center until it’s thin and about eight inches in diameter. Don’t over work the dough, or it’ll be stiff. Keep rolled-out tortillas covered until ready to cook.

• In a nonstick skillet heated on high, cook the tortilla about thirty seconds on each side. It should start to puff a bit when it’s done.

• Keep cooked tortillas covered wrapped in a napkin until ready to eat (which you can see my kiddos helped me sample nice and warm with a little butter spread on top).

• Can be reheated in the microwave for just a few seconds each under a damp paper towel, so they don't get dry.

Disclaimer: There are a LOT of tortilla recipes floating around the internet and I have to admit that I have tried a few that we not at all good.  This recipe is, however, very good.  That is why I included a picture of my kiddos gobbling them up. Just to show you that I am a real person, who really made these and didn't just cut and paste a recipe off the web to share with you.  So go make them!  They are easy and delicious!

Delicious Sauer Stroganoff

When I facebooked that I was looking for dinner recipes the people that submitted probably did not foresee being on my blog... but since this is where I have been keeping track of my recipes, here they are. This recipe came from another busy mom (with a baby on board) so of course I had to try it out.  And of course I cannot make anything without fiddling with it a bit, so this is my version her recipe.  It was very very good so I can see why they like it so much over there!  I should also say that this is a great recipe for having leftovers as it makes a great big batch of stroganoff.  For real, I think we will get about three dinners out of this.  So if you like beef stroganoff like I do, you have to give this a try:

Sauer Stroganoff 

adapted from: Mindy Sauer

Ingredients

• 1 bag egg noodles

• 3 packets Swanson Beef Flavor Boost

• 3 small heads of garlic, roasted

• 1 pound ground beef

• 1 (8 ounce) package mushrooms

• 1 onion, chopped fine

• 1/8 cup dried parsley

• 1/2 cup Philadelphia cooking creme

• 1 can cream of mushroom soup

• 2 cups 2% milk

 Preparation

• Reconstitute 1 packet (only 1 packet) of Swanson Beef Flavor Boost according to directions (add 1 cup of water) to make 1 cup of beef broth and set aside for use with roasted garlic.
• Roast garlic (see roasted garlic - demystified for help) and mash it lightly with a fork.

• Mix garlic together with stock and bring to a boil.

• Boil egg noodles according to package directions, drain.  Pour stock over noodles, toss and set aside.
• Brown ground beef together with onion and mushrooms, then add parsley, cooking creme, milk and cream of mushroom soup to the mixture.  Simmer for 10 minutes to blend flavors.

• Mix stroganoff and noodles together before serving.

Note: I made this with leftover pot roast, which was very yummy.  Any kind of beef will work so this is a great way to use leftovers.  If you are using meat that has already been cooked, just add it after cooking the onions and mushrooms. Everything else is the same.

Roasted Garlic - Demystified

I needed to use this in another recipe and realized that some people may have never roasted garlic before.  Amazing.  It's really good.  You can add it to dishes for a nice subtle garlic flavor or spread it on crunchy bread for a real treat (maybe a girl night thing).  Anyway, if you have never done this, it's super easy and you should give it a whirl.  Ready, set, go...

Simple Roasted Garlic

adapted from: simply recipes

Ingredients

• Garlic bulb(s)

• Olive oil

Preparation

• Preheat the oven to 400°.  

• Peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulb skin, leaving the skins of the individual cloves intact.  Using a knife, cut off 1/4 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic.  

• Place the garlic heads in a baking dish and drizzle olive oil over each head and cover with aluminum foil.  Bake for 1 hour, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed.  

• Allow the garlic to cool enough so you can touch it without burning yourself and then use a small small knife cut the skin slightly around each clove. Use a cocktail fork or your fingers to pull or squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins.

Apple Pie Tookies

For those of you who wonder what I do while my husband is out of town moonlighting... here is a glimpse.  After we had pot roast for dinner (which was amazing) and after the kiddos were all snug in their beds I decided to try a recipe that sounded amazing (and like it would make a great breakfast surprise for the hubby when he got home).  See, being a pregnant gal you get a little hungry and when you are home with the kids, with no car, you need to get creative when you get hungry.  So here is what I did and it was/is so yummy I can't wait to give some to my hubby (and the kids tomorrow). If you are also in the mood, here is the recipe for the most delectable "cookies" ever:

Scratch Pie Crust

adapted from: smitten kitchen

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting surfaces, dipping fork

• 1 tablespoons granulated sugar 

• 1 teaspoon table salt

• 2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, very cold

• 1/2 cup water, very cold

Preparation

• Whisk together flour, sugar and salt in the bottom of a large, wide-ish bowl.

• Using a pastry blender, two forks or your fingertips, work the butter into the flour until the biggest pieces of butter are the size of small peas, (chop your butter into small bits first.)

• Gently stir in the ice water, mixing it until a doughy mass forms.  Then pick up all the dough and knead it in your hands until smooth, and form a ball.

• Divide dough in half. Wrap each half in plastic wrap and flatten a bit and chill in fridge for at least an hour or up to two days.

Apple Pie Tookies 

'tiny-cookies'

adapted from: smitten kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 batch of scratch pie crust recipe (above)

• 3 medium apples, whatever you like to bake with

• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

• 1/3 cup granulated sugar

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• just a pinch ground cloves (less that 1/8 teaspoon)

• 1 large egg

• granulated sugar for garnish

Preparation

• Get out four shallow dishes.  Mix the sugar, cinnamon, cloves in the first dish.  In another, put a little water.  In the third dish put a little bit of flour to dust your surface and dip your fork for crimping. In the fourth one, whisk an egg with one teaspoon of water until smooth.

• On a well-floured counter, roll out your pie dough pretty thin, a little shy of 1/8-inch thick.  Use a drinking glass to cut as many rounds as you can from the dough. Transfer them to parchment-lined baking sheets and keep them in the fridge until you need them. Once you’ve finished the first ball of dough (remember, we made two in the recipe above) repeat the process with the second ball.

• Peel the apples.  Cut thin (1/8-inch thick) slices from one side of whole apple, stopping when you hit the core. Repeat on opposite side.  (FYI: I got about 10 usable slices from each side of my small-medium-ish apples.)  Place them in a second bowl, and cover them with a bit of lemon juice to keep them from browning quickly.

• Preheat oven to 350º.

• Assemble your tookies: Grab your first disc of chilled dough and lightly dampen it on one side with the water (this is to help it seal). Take your first piece of apple and toss it in the cinnamon spice sugar. Place it on the damp side of the bottom disk of dough. Place a second piece and then dough on top.  Press the tops and bottoms around the apple with your fingers.  Back on the floured counter, cut decorative slits in your tookies and dip your fork in the flour and use it to create a decorative crimp on the sealed edges.  Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sugar.  Replace on baking sheet and chill while you prepare the others.

• Bake for about 25 minutes, or until puffed and bronzed and very pie-like.  Transfer to a cooling rack to cool before eating them... or you WILL get burned.

Note 1:  You can keep a uncooked batch in the freezer for emergency parties by doing all the steps above EXCPET for brushing with egg and sprinkling them with sugar.  Then just bake them directly from the freezer, just adding a couple minutes to the baking time.

Note 2: You can use store bought pie crust to make these and save yourself the whole first step.  But, I will add that homemade pie crust is even more yummy and not all that hard to make.  But still, you can buy if you need to and they are still very-very good!

Pregnancy Pot Roast

This pregnancy I have been in LOVE (okay more obsessed) with pot roast.  I think I could eat it every night for dinner. Unfortunately on a resident salary we cannot afford it every night, which means I need a really good recipe so that it turns out perfectly every time.  So I'm sharing my golden recipe with you - my current favorite thing to eat in the whole world.  If you want to buy me a chuck roast or just bring me a pot roast already made... we will be best friends.  Just saying!

Pregnancy Pot Roast

adapted from: my recipes

Ingredients

• 1 (3-pound) boneless chuck roast

• 1 (16 ounce) red cooking wine

• 1 cup beef broth

• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons dried rosemary leaves

• 4 carrots, peeled & cut into 1-inch pieces

• 4 potatoes, peeled & cut into 1-inch pieces

• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped

Preparation 

• Preheat oven to 350º. 

• Place roast in large roasting pan (or corningware, which I use for everything). Pour wine over meat.  In a separate bowl, mix beef broth with all the rest of the spices and then pour over the meat too.  Cover pan and bake at 350° for 1 1/2 hours or until the roast is almost tender. 

• Add carrots, potatoes and onions (if you have them or you can just major in meat like this lady has been known to do). Cover and bake an additional 1 hour or until vegetables are tender and meat is done.

A Pizza & Chicken Wings Party

Okay readers, here's the deal.  My husband told me that we were having company from Germany for dinner tomorrow night and the first thought I had was... why not make food from our old hometown?  Which of course if you know us means Buffalo, New York - land of sheet pizzas and wings (and chicken finger subs but that is a whole other food group almost)!  So I embarked on a mission to make some Buffalo pizza and wings.  I combined recipes and played with cooking methods and below is what we ended up with.  Delicious, delicious success.  Everyone raved about the amazing pizza and wings and my hubby (Buffalo native like myself agreed).  Perfect reproduction.  Try it for yourself with the recipes below:

Easy-Peezy Pizza Dough

adapted from: Homemaker's Challenge & 101 Cookbooks

Ingredients
• 5 cups white, whole-wheat flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 tsp instant yeast
• 3 tbsp honey
• 2 cups room temperature water
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Preparation

DONE AHEAD
• To get started, dump all of your ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Stir together, using a large spoon, until everything is almost wholly combined.

• Grab the dough out the the bowl and start kneading it with your hands for about 5 minutes.  It is sticky but don't add more flour, just keep working with the dough.

• Coat the ball of dough with olive oil and place it on a cutting board.  Cut into 2 pieces.

• Shape the pieces into balls (roughly) and place one in each plastic bag.

• Place plastic bags into the refrigerator for at least 24 hours, we are going for at least one overnight fermentation here.  You can leave the dough in the refrigerator up to three days and it turns out just fine (some even say it turns out better)!
DAY OF PIZZA

• Remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator 2 hours before making the pizza.  

• Take them out of the bags and smash them flat (about 1/2 an inch) and then put them back in the bags to rest for the next two hours.

• Stretch out the dough as thin as you want it for your pizza and place it on your greased cooking pan. (If you are lucky enough to have a pizza stone, wood fire over or whatever ever else then good for you, use that.)  Then top your pizza however you want to and you are ready to bake it. 

• Heat your oven as high as it will go, probably 500° or 550°.  Now toss in your pizza and close the door. wait about 2 minutes and then rotate the pizza 180° for even baking (the back get's hotter).  In about 5-8 minutes your pizza will be done.

Note: This recipe makes enough dough for two large pizzas.  (When I make this recipe in the future I think I will double it so that I can freeze two dough balls and have two in the refrigerator.)  I topped ours with store-bought sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, dried oregano, mozzarella cheese and pepperoni. Just the classic way. I'm sure you can fancy this all up but I didn't attempt that. Oh, and of course I put fresh basil strips on top, because that is just too delectable not to!  

Baked Buffalo Wings

adapted from: the food network

Ingredients
• 15 whole chicken wings (about 4 pounds)
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 cup Frank's RedHot Wings, Buffalo Sauce

Preparation

• Remove the tips of the wings (save for making stock). Use a sharp knife to separate the wings at the joint.
• Place a 12-quart stock pot, with a steamer basket and 2 inches of water in the bottom, over high heat.  Bring to a boil and place the wings in the steamer basket.  Cover, reduce the heat to medium and steam 15 minutes. 

• Preheat the oven to 425°.  Remove the wings from the basket and place in a single layer on a baking sheet (one that has a rim to catch juice run off).  Roast on the middle rack of the oven, about 20 minutes. Turn the wings over and cook 20 to 30 more minutes, or until the meat is cooked through and the skin is golden brown.

• While the wings are roasting, melt the butter in a small bowl. Pour this along with the hot sauce and garlic into a bowl large enough to hold all of the wings and stir to combine ingredients. Remove the wings from the oven, transfer to the bowl and toss with the sauce. Serve warm.

Note: If you are having a party and want to prep the wings ahead of time (say in the morning) and then wait to bake them just before guests arrive, this works totally fine.  Just cut up and boil the wings and place them in the refrigerator until you want to bake them.  This cuts down on the last minute preparations.

Crispy Brussel Sprouts with Garlic Dipping Sauce

So my hubby is working late (aka on call) as usual and I decided that it was time for some chick food.  So after the kiddos got all snug in their beds I whipped this up for me.  All I can say is yum (between bites of crunchy, salty, creamy goodness).  So if you are in need of a treat (granted it takes about an hour to make from start to finish because those little brussels are so slow-cooking) make up a batch of these treats.  I suppose it would make a great side dish too, but that would require making a main course (which is so not on the books for me tonight).  Enjoy!

Brussels & Dip

adapted from: Savoring Life with Anna Costa

Ingredients
• 1 pound brussel sprouts (or more)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• 6 tablespoons fat free sour cream
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon chicken bullion
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley

Preparation

• Cut brussel sprouts in half  and place them on a baking sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil and shake on a little salt and pepper to taste.  Mix around to get everything nicely coated in the oil.  Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

• To make dipping sauce, mix together sour cream, garlic, lemon juice, bullion and parsley.

Clam Chowder

I downloaded my first iPad magazine Thursday morning (which let me tell you was a wonderful treat with a nice big cup of Earl Grey tea).  I choose Good Housekeeping because it would be fun to read without giving me any complexes about how my life really should be.  Anyway, I found this recipe for clam chowder in there that looked yum - and since I had never made clam chowder before I thought why not?  Here are the results my friends: it was spectacular.  I plan to serve it tonight but my hubby had it for a late night treat, you know... just a big bowl to sample.  But hey, if anyone else want's to pretend (like I do) that you are in Maine sitting on an icy wharf eating chowder tonight, this is for you.  Hope you enjoy!

Clam Chowder

adapted from: Good Housekeeping

Ingredients

• 1 rutabaga, peeled

• 1 pound carrots, peeled

• 1 head celery

• 4 large potatoes, peeled

• 2 large onions, peeled 
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1/2 teaspoon ground thyme
• 2 tablespoons dried parsley
• 3 tablespoons chicken bullion
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

• 2 (8 ounce) bottles clam juice

• 4 cups water

• 5 tablespoons cornstarch

• 3 cups reduced-fat (2-percent) milk

• 5 (6.5 ounce) cans whole baby clams

• 1 (16 ounce) bag corn kernels

Preparation 

• Chop rutabaga, carrots, celery, potatoes, and onion into 1/2-inch chunks. 
• In 12-quart sauce pot: combine oil, vegetables, thyme, parsley, bullion, and black pepper. 
• Cover and cook for 30 minutes or until onion softens (stirring). 
• Drain juice from clams and add to pot.  Rinse clams to make sure they are sand-free and set aside.

• Add clam juice (from the cans and bottles) and water; heat to boiling on high.
• Cover; reduce heat to simmer 20 to 25 minutes or until vegetables are tender (stirring occasionally). 

• In cup, stir cornstarch into milk until dissolved. Add to soup and heat until simmering (stirring).
• Cook 5 minutes or until thickened (stirring).
• Add clams and corn; cook 5 minutes or until hot (stirring). 

Spicy Thai Noodles

UPDATE: I revised this recipe to make it even healthier!!!  You can see the new recipe here, but basically you just take out all the oil (yes, NO OIL) and add another 1/2 cup of chicken stock.  That's it and you save about 500 calories of pure fat.  Sounds good to me!!!

So this recipe was a bit of a challenge, but promised to be so amazing that I decided to dig in and make it a new family favorite.  The first time, I made it according to the recipe but quickly discovered three big problems (at least for our family):

• First problem: My husband does not like soy sauce (at all).  I know there are only 6 tablespoons called for in the original recipe but that was too much for him.  Granted he was super nice and ate it anyway (I get sensitive about my cooking sometimes), but I knew that I had to find another ingredient to make it again.  I decided to use hoisin sauce instead, and wow... I think it's better that way!

• Second problem: There was 3/4 cup of oil required in the original recipe and that not only equals about 1500 calories but about 150 grams of fat as well!  Yikes.  That was certainly not an okay amount of fat to add to our arteries (and my thighs).  And with all pasta dishes we totally eat more than we should, and with all that oil it was really not a good idea.  So I wanted to fiddle about and cut down on that (by a lot).  My solution was to use 1/4 cup of olive oil and substitute the other 1/2 cup with chicken stock.  Can I just say that this saves 1000 calories, 100 grams of fat... and you can't even taste a difference?

• Third problem: I had a topping issue.  You were supposed to use carrots, green onions, fresh cilantro and crushed peanuts.  Umm... didn't have any of that and even if I got it this once I never keep that in the house so how as it to be a family favorite?  So I decided to rehydrate some onion powder and dried cilantro which worked out nicely. Then I bought tomato and carrot flavored pasta to help out with the carrot step.  And then I just crushed up some of the almonds that I always keep in the cupboard for snacking.  BINGO.  Problem solved and still of so tasty!

So with all my little changes and fudges, here are the proportion I came up with that made it soy-sauce free, a whole lot lighter and very convenient.  Hope you enjoy this as much as we do!

Spicy Thai Noodles

adapted from: A Small Snippet

Ingredients

• 1 box barilla piccolini mini farfalle with tomatoes and carrots
• 2 tablespoon dried cilantro
• 2 tablespoon onion powder
• 4 tablespoons crushed red pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 6 tablespoons honey
• 6 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• 3 ounces crushed almonds

Preparation

• Cook pasta according to package directions and drain.

• Rehydrate your spices.  Place cilantro and onion powder in a small bowl and add about 1/2 a cup of hot water. Stir and then let sit for at least 10 minutes.

• Place red pepper, olive oil and chicken stock in a small sauce pan.  Use medium heat for about 5 minutes - stirring so it doesn't burn or stick.

• Strain red pepper flakes out of oil by placing a strainer in a small bowl and pouring in the mixture.  Let the oil drain off for a few minutes to make sure you get it all.

• Mix honey, hoisin sauce, crushed almonds and rehydrated spices with the spicy oil and broth mixture.

• Add mixture to pasta and stir.
• Let pasta sit (in refrigerator) for at least 20 minutes to allow sauce to absorb.  

• Heat and serve.

Note: According to the box of pasta, this recipe makes 7 servings. But to be perfectly honest, you are going to have trouble not eating 1/2 the recipe in one sitting. So I will give you just a bit of nutrition information to help you decide how much you really want to eat. If you divide this recipe into 7 servings they come out to be about 420 calories each, which of course also means that if you eat 1/2 the recipe you will be eating about 1,500 calories. You decide, just don't blame me because it's so so so delicious! 

Another Note: This makes a killer spicy pasta. I love it. My husband loves it. But if you are a little on the cautious side I would suggest using only 1 or 2 tablespoons of crushed red pepper in the oil and stock at the beginning. Okay, you have been warned... now go make it hot!

Best Balsamic Potatoes & Extra Sauce

My husband loves balsamic vinegar. I love my husband. He is amazing and I feel so fortunate to be married to him. Of course he loves me too, but a dish made with balsamic vinegar really let's him know I was thinking of him. So when I found this recipe I knew I had to try it. Of course it had to be adapted as I never have all the ingredients for any recipe (and with two little kiddos and another on the way - running to a grocery store is not always in the cards). But let me just tell you that these turned out amazing and I will be making them again (at my husband's very pleased request).

Balsamic Roasted Red Potatoes

adapted from: Alaska From Scratch

Ingredients
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 pounds small red potatoes, quartered (if using larger red potatoes, cut into sixths or eighths)


Preparation

• Preheat oven to 400.
• Measure out onion powder, garlic powder, thyme, rosemary salt and pepper.
• Mix spices with 1/4 cup of hot water to "rehydrate" and let sit for at least 10 minutes.
• Add olive oil and vinegar.
• Cut up potatoes and place them in a shallow baking dish.
• Pour mixture over potatoes and toss to coat.
• Roast for an hour (stirring a few times) or until potatoes are golden and tender.

Okay, now here is the real kicker.  You need to make extra balsamic sauce to go with the potatoes.  This was not an instruction in the original recipe, but my husband was absolutely desolated that there was not more of the yummy balsamic goodness to pour over the potatoes (the sauce basically cooks into the potatoes and there is none extra).  He wanted it for his meat too.  He just couldn't get enough of the flavor.  Fortunately it is really easy to make up some more!  So I suggest you make more sauce too.  Here is how to whip up an extra batch to have on the side:

Balsamic Reduction Sauce

adapted from: Alaska From Scratch

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons onion powder

• 2 teaspoons garlic powder

• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

• 2 teaspoon dried rosemary

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

• 1 cup balsamic vinegar

Preparation

• Measure out onion powder, garlic powder, thyme, rosemary salt and pepper.

• Mix spices with 1/4 cup of hot water to "rehydrate" and let sit for at least 10 minutes.

• Add vinegar.

• Place mixture in small sauce pan and cook over medium-low heat for 30 minutes to meld flavors and slightly reduce vinegar.