Spinach & Artichoke Dip

Appetizers are my favorite thing in the world to order at a restaurant.  So delicious and usually bad for you.  Seriously, everything’s fried or covered in cheese or both.  How is that not the best thing in the world?

Spinach and artichoke dip at restaurants comes in a little dish that you’re supposed to share with people.  It’s usually hot, cheesy, and a little oily.  This version is also hot and cheesy, but it’s not oily.  I adapted this from an old Better Homes & Garden recipe.  You could do it with frozen, thawed spinach, if you wanted to, but I think the fresh baby spinach makes it a little lighter in terms of taste.

I could eat an entire pie plate of this by myself because I love it so much.  It’s my go to appetizer that I bring with me when I can.  It’s super easy to do and honestly, the results are worth the amount of time you spend slicing and dicing.

Spinach & Artichoke Dip

• 1 -2 cups loosely packed baby spinach
• 1 can (packed in water) quartered artichoke hearts, chopped, or artichoke heart bottoms (Pastene makes them. I use these because they hold together when you bake them – they don’t get as soggy and it’s a little heartier than the usual ones), chopped
• half of one medium red onion, diced small
• 3/4 to 1 cup mayonnaise
• 3/4 to 1 cup sour cream
• shredded mozzarella cheese, about a cup plus more for topping
• shredded parmesan cheese, about a cup plus more for topping
• white pepper to taste
• salt to taste

Pre heat oven to 350.

Slice spinach into ribbons by stacking leaves into a small pile and rolling up into a tube shape and then slicing through. It’s called chiffonade.

In a medium mixing bowl, mix together ribboned spinach, diced onions, chopped artichoke hearts, sour cream, mayo, and a handful of both cheeses.

  

Spread mixture into a pie plate or shallow baking dish.  Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.

Bake in oven until hot and bubbly – around 20-25 minutes.

Serve with pita chips, tortilla chips, sliced baguettes, veggies, whatever floats your boat.  It’s so yummy.

Lemon Chicken Soup with Rice

It’s been the kind of week at the Yellow House on the Corner where comfort food became a must.  Hubby sick, migraine for me, a snowstorm that dropped two freaking feet of snow in my yard, and a child who ate cereal for dinner at least twice.  Besides that big glass of wine I poured myself, I craved something warm and familiar.  But I had a fridge full of roasted chicken and veggies on the verge of being no use to me anymore if I didn’t get them cooked soon.  Soup seemed like the best bet and what’s more comforting than chicken and rice soup?  Maurice Sendak knew that, which is why Pierre and Carole King were like magic for my childhood (Google it).

I’ve made chicken noodle soup before, but I wanted something a little different this time so I figured rice was a good substitute.  I’ve never made chicken and rice soup before, so this is an experiment, hopefully a good one.  (By the way, why is it chicken noodle soup and chicken & rice soup? But chicken & noodle soup sounds just as weird as chicken rice soup.)

Because we are eating a low sodium diet in our house these days for health related purposes, I did not add any salt to this.  Please feel free to salt where you need to, but the lemon is so bright in the soup and that you don’t need a lot of salt.  I roasted a chicken last week that I stuffed with lemons and a head of garlic, so I am not actually cooking chicken in the soup – I’m using chicken that I’ve already cooked.  If you don’t have leftover chicken around, use a rotisserie chicken or add the chicken when you add the veggies and cook until no longer pink.

Lemon Chicken and Rice Soup

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2-3 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 stalks of celery, cleaned and chopped
• 1 large zucchini, diced
• 1 small red pepper, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced or grated
• 2 lemons
• 2-3 teaspoons fresh dill
• 6-8 cups chicken stock or broth (low sodium)
• 1 cup white rice, uncooked
• 1 cup white wine
• 2-3 cups cooked chicken, shredded or chopped

Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat in a soup pot.  Add veggies as you chop them, stirring occasionally.  Once veggies are all in the pot and softened, add garlic, zest from two lemons and the fresh dill, along with any salt and pepper you want to use.

Add the juice of two lemons and the white wine.  Stir in the rice.

Start with about 6 cups of chicken stock – you may want to add more later because the rice will really thicken up the soup.  Bring to a boil and let cook until the rice is done – about twenty minutes.

Stir in shredded chicken and add more stock if you feel like your rice has absorbed a lot of the liquid.  Turn heat on low and let simmer until chicken is warmed through (maybe five minutes or so).

The lemon really adds a lot of freshness to the soup and the slight hint of wine is delicious.  Don’t skip the zest part – it really adds a nice zing to the soup.  This is definitely going into my arsenal of go to meals.  It warms you up nicely and keeps you warm (although part of that may be the glass of pinot grigio I’m downing as I type this).

Enjoy!

Meatless Enchiladas

This is one of the recipes my mom gave me around or after college that was relatively cheap to make, filling, and easy enough for a novice not to screw up.  Over the years, I’ve changed up the original recipe and adapted it for different occasions.  When I want to do a meatless meal, this is a great option.  I often make it with added chicken and you could certainly do that as well, but I would advise you to cook the chicken before you add it to the filling.

The recipe below makes two trays and I can fit five enchiladas in each tray.  Serving size varies – some nights I eat one, others two – so you can either get five or ten servings from two trays.  If you only want to make one tray, halve the recipe below.  They’re great for leftovers, though.  It takes no time at all to reheat in the microwave for dinner or lunch the next day.

This is the first time I’ve made them with whole wheat shells, though.  The grocery store was completely picked over for fajita-sized wraps and I prefer to use those instead of the larger burrito ones, mainly for portion control purposes.  This isn’t exactly a light recipe.

Also, don’t worry if you have leftover veggie/chile filling.  It is amazing scrambled with eggs and hot sauce the next day.

Meatless Enchiladas

• 10 flour or whole wheat fajita sized wraps (I used Chi-chi’s brand because that’s literally ALL there was on the shelves today)
• 2 14.5 oz cans of refried beans (I used fat free, but you could certainly use spicy or traditional or whatever)
• 1 28 oz can of enchilada sauce, plus one small 12.5 oz can
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium to large green pepper, diced small
• 1 medium to large onion, diced small
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 2 small 2.5 oz cans diced green chiles
• 2 small 2.25 oz cans black olives (optional – my husband loves these)
• 1 package cheddar, monterey jack, or Mexican blend shredded cheese

Dice onion and pepper into an equal size.  Add two minced cloves of garlic.  Saute over medium high heat in the olive oil with salt and pepper to taste until softened.  Once veggies are softened, add chili powder and cumin.  Cook an additional couple of minutes, then add chiles and black olives (if using).  Stir well to combine and allow chiles and olives to heat through.  Remove from heat and set aside.  Let cool a little bit so they’re not super hot when you want to work with them.

Preheat oven to 350.  I usually line my trays with aluminum foil, but you can skip that part if you don’t mind scrubbing later.  Spray with cooking spray, then add a little bit of enchilada sauce to the tray and swirl the sauce to coat the bottom of the tray.  This should help your enchiladas not to stick to the bottom of the pan.

Lay one shell flat.  Spread beans on the shell, then layer with a small amount of cheese (just a sprinkle), then cover with the vegetable/chile mixture.  Roll up carefully, keeping filling from falling out, then lay seam side down in a 9 by 13 tray.  Once the tray is full, pour sauce over the enchiladas until well coated.  Sprinkle cheese over everything – as much or as little as you want.

Bake uncovered in a 350 oven for 20-25 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbling.

Let cool for a couple of minutes when you remove them from the oven.  The filling will be very, very hot.  Serve with sour cream if you want to add a little creamy coolness to the  meal.

Tyler’s Ultimate Macaroni and Cheese

In my pre-kid days, when I actually was allowed to watch TV that didn’t have Muppets or animation, I used to spend my Saturday and Sunday mornings watching the Food Network.  My absolute most favorite shows were from Nigella Lawson (I love Nigella), Tyler Florence, Ina Garten, and Anne Burrell.  I’ve made recipes from each of them and they’ve all come out ah-mazing.  I made a lot of Tyler Florence recipes because his always seemed the most approachable out of all of them.  And it was almost always comfort food that I liked and was just getting a more decadent version of. (His ultimate pot roast recipe was also really, really good.)

This macaroni and cheese recipe is beyond incredible.  I made it once for Steve in our old place and my sister made it once for us when we’d moved into the Yellow House on the Corner.  I’m not going to lie; it’s a lot of work.  There’s a lot of steps.  But you will not be disappointed by this meal.  It’s pretty incredible.  It’s not the healthiest thing you will ever eat, but as long as you don’t make it every week, I think you’ll be fine.

We’re serving this elegant mac and cheese tonight with dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets because Thomas felt like we needed protein and he picked them out himself at the grocery store.  For a green, we went with steamed broccoli.  You could eat this on its own, but it’s pretty rich.  I felt like having a vegetable sort of balanced out the rest of it.

Tyler’s Ultimate Macaroni and Cheese

• Kosher salt
• 1 lb elbow macaroni
• 4 cups milk
• 2-3 sprigs thyme
• 4 garlic cloves, smashed and divided
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 3 tbsp all purpose flour
• 5 1/2 cups shredded sharp white cheddar
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
• 4 slices bacon, cut crosswise into thin strips
• 1 large onion, diced
• leaves from 1/4 bunch of fresh thyme.

Cook macaroni to al dente (7-8) minutes in a pot of boiling salted water.  Drain.

Preheat oven to 450.

In a small sauce pan, heat the milk with the thyme sprigs and 2 garlic cloves.

Melt the butter in a large, deep skillet (or pot of you don’t have a deep skillet) over medium high heat.  Whisk in the flour and cook for about 1 minute, stirring constantly, to keep lumps from forming.

Strain the solids out of the milk and whisk it into the butter and flour mixture.  Continue to whisk vigorously and cook until the mixture is smooth.  Stir in 4 cups of the cheese and continue to stir until cheese is melted and mixture is smooth.  Season with salt and pepper.

Add the cooked macaroni and parsley.  Stir to coat the macaroni with the cheese mixture, then pour into a three quart baking dish (I coated mine with cooking spray).  Sprinkle with the remaining 1 1/2 cups of cheese.  Bake for 30 minutes.

    

(Sorry some of these are blurry. My camera has been horrible lately)

While macaroni and cheese bakes, heat a saute pan.  Add the bacon and let the fat render, cooking until crispy.  Add onion, remainder of garlic (minced), and thyme leaves and cook for about five minutes to soften the onions.  Season with salt and pepper.

When mac and cheese comes out of the oven, scatter the onion and bacon mixture over the top of the tray (much better than breadcrumbs, if you ask me).

   

Sausage and Ricotta Calzones

I love homemade pizza and calzones.  Growing up, my dad made these amazing, gooey calzones.  He and my mom liked the kind with spinach and veggies like roasted red peppers and artichoke hearts.  As a kid, I liked the kind with sauce and pepperoni; it wasn’t until I was an adult that I appreciated the veggie kind.  My husband makes calzones with provolone cheese and different kinds of meat – they’re his specialty besides grilling.  They’re so delicious – he brushes them with an egg wash so they come out golden and gooey with just a hint of salt from the meat he uses.

I’ve adapted this recipe from a Rachael Ray one I found in one of her cookbooks.  I wanted a little more taste to the filling, so I switched it up a little from what she had but it’s the same basic idea.  I used turkey sausage here, but feel free to use pork sausage.  The turkey sausage has less fat so I can pretend this is a healthy dinner.

What I like about this dinner is how creamy the ricotta gets.  It just makes it seem a little sweeter than if you used mozzarella by itself.

Sausage and Ricotta Calzones

• 1 1/4 lbs sweet turkey sausage (or hot, depending on your preference)
• 1 small onion, quartered and thinly sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 7 oz jar roasted red peppers, chopped
• 2 cups part skim ricotta cheese
• 2-3 tablespoons crushed tomatoes (optional)
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• pinch of nutmeg
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tubes of refrigerated pizza dough (or your favorite pizza dough)

Preheat oven to 425.

In a large skillet, brown sausage until no longer pink.  Add the sliced onions and minced garlic and cook until onions are softened, about five to seven minutes.  Stir in crushed tomatoes if using.  Put aside to cool.

Place sausage mixture in a large mixing bowl.  Add ricotta, parmesan cheese, 1 cup of shredded mozzarella, diced roasted peppers, nutmeg, and salt and pepper.  Stir to combine.

Create four rectangles with your pizza dough (if you use the tube dough, you need to cut the dough from each tub in half so you have two rectangles for each tube).  On one half of the rectangle, mound up filling and 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella (you will probably have extra filling – it’s awesome mixed with hot pasta or just reheated with garlic bread).  Fold the other side of the rectangle over the filling and pinch the sides together so the filling can’t spill out.

   

Bake at 425 until golden brown – 12 to 17 minutes.  If you don’t have a huge cookie sheet, you will have to use two.  Dip in your favorite marinara sauce if you are so inclined.

Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

My husband has a hierarchy of favorite meals.  This one falls in the top five.

My only quibble with this meal is that it’s not super spicy.  It only calls for a quarter cup of hot sauce.  So I serve it with extra hot sauce and increase the amount of hot sauce in the recipe.  If you do that, you will need to eliminate liquid somewhere else in the recipe so this doesn’t become too wet.  Since it’s served on rolls, the rolls will get too soggy and your sandwich will fall apart.

I make this mostly on weekends because it’s a slow cooker meal where you have to precook the ingredients.  And the precooking part is kind of a pain in the ass, but this meal is worth it.

This is from Everyday Food magazine.  The recipe says it feeds eight, but I think it’s more than eight servings.  We usually have leftovers for days.  The leftovers are amazing over iceberg lettuce with a little cucumber and celery and blue cheese dressing or even just reheated in a dish.

I’m serving this today with coleslaw, homemade oven french fries, and broccoli (for anyone who wants it).

Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

• 1 lb skinless boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1.5 inch pieces
• 1 lb skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1.5 inch pieces
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 medium red pepper, diced small
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced small
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 14.5 oz can of crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 cup hot sauce
• 3 tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp yellow mustard
• 1 tbsp unsulfured molasses

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium high heat.  Add the chicken thighs and season with salt and pepper.  Cook until the meat is golden brown (stir once), about 5 minutes. Transfer the meat to your slow cooker with a slotted spoon.

The thighs are fattier, so by cooking them first you shouldn’t need to add any more oil to the pan.  Put the chicken breasts in the same pan after the thighs have been moved to the slow cooker and cook the chicken breasts until they’re golden brown.  Move to slow cooker.

Add your veggies to the skillet and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the onion is softened and translucent (about 6 minutes).  Add 1/4 cup of water or chicken broth, stirring and scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan, and cook for another 5 minutes.

If you’re going to add extra hot sauce, cut the amount of liquid you use here to deglaze the pan.  I used maybe a couple tablespoons of chicken broth the last time I did this so I could increase the hot sauce.  Season the veggies with salt and pepper, then move them to the slow cooker.

With the chicken and the veggies in the slow cooker, now you add the rest of your ingredients – crushed tomatoes, worcestershire, hot sauce, mustard, molasses – and stir to combine.  Cover and cook on high for 4 hours until the chicken is fall apart tender.

Shred the chicken and season with salt and pepper.  Rather than remove the chicken from the slow cooker to shred it, use a potato masher.  Much better way to get the chicken shredded than using forks.  Neater for clean up, too.

Serve on rolls or hamburger buns with the usual accoutrements for wings – extra hot sauce, blue cheese or ranch dressing, and carrots and celery on the side.  I also use blue cheese crumbles over the chicken because that stuff is HOT temperature wise when it comes out of the crock pot and the cheese melts into the chicken in the most amazing way.

I don’t have photographic evidence of the sandwich itself because by the time I remembered I wanted to take it, we had all demolished our dinner.  It was that good.

Bacon & Scallion Frittata

The first time I made this, I said to Steve, “This may possibly be the only way I want to eat eggs for the rest of my life.”  My husband’s mouth was too full to respond.

Eggs for dinner is a staple on Fridays at the Yellow House on the Corner.  But tomorrow night I’m going  drinking with the other preschool moms for our monthly night out, so I moved the eggs up to tonight so I can throw a frozen pizza in the oven tomorrow night before I rush out the door to drink Scorpion bowls.  Friday night is that one night during the week where I absolutely cannot stand the thought of being in my kitchen.  I just want something easy, possibly premade (Trader Joe’s fried rice is pretty awesome for a Friday night, too), and minimal clean up.  A frittata is a great option for that because you can throw your leftover veggies, meat, and pasta into a pan, pour eggs over it, smother it with cheese and BAM, dinner’s done.

You could, of course, make this for brunch as well.  Serve it with fried potatoes and roasted red peppers.  I might do that for Christmas breakfast.

But for tonight, I am making this and serving it with a salad.

Part of what makes this so awesome is that you cook the scallions and the eggs in the bacon fat.  Most recipes will tell you to remove the bacon, drain all but a tsp of the fat, then return the cooked bacon to the pan with all its other ingredients.  Oh no, my friends, we are cooking those delicious eggs in bacon fat.

Which probably makes the salad moot.

Bacon & Scallion Frittata

• 8 eggs, beaten with a little milk and hot sauce
• 6 strips of bacon, cut
• 6-8 scallions, chopped
• shredded cheddar cheese (less than 1/4 cup)

Pre heat oven to 425.

Snip bacon into a large, cold oven proof skillet with kitchen scissors. Over medium heat, cook bacon until fat is rendered and bacon starts to crisp.  Add scallions and cook until softened.

   

Pour eggs into pan and stir once.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Let cook on stove over medium heat until eggs are mostly set, but still a little runny in the middle.

Place pan in oven and cook until eggs are golden and set.

You can serve hot from oven, cold from fridge, or room temperature.