More Chip-o-rama--Turkey Burgers

So, the chips in my care package (after I ate them straight) made me think about what recipes I had that use chips. One of my favorite ones is Turkey Burgers. I don't have a formal recipe for this, but here is the general idea.

Ground Turkey (about 1 lb)
Fresh Cilantro (about 2 tablespoons)
Tortilla Chips crushed (about 1/4 cup)
Salt and Pepper
Mango Chutney (about 2 tablespoons)

Mix together, make into patties, grill.

I like my turkey burgers with sweet potato fries. Yum!

100th Post--Chip-o-rama

So, this is my 100th post! I'm not creating anything special for this, just a regular a post. My dad is always sending great care packages (you are never too old for one). He send these homemade tortilla chips from his local Whole Foods (I'm so sad that my Whole Foods does not carry them). So I made a few meals to use up the chips. Here is the first one: Chicken Tortilla Soup:

1 c. chopped onion
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
4 c. chicken broth
1 c. chopped red bell pepper
1 tsp. ground red chilies
1 tsp. dried basil leaves
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 (15 oz.) can tomato puree
Tortilla chips
2 c. shredded cooked chicken (I used some left over Peruvian Chicken)
Shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Avocado slices tossed with lime juice

Plain Yogurt

Cook and stir onion and garlic in 2 tablespoons oil in 4 quart Dutch oven until onion is tender. Stir in broth, bell pepper, ground red chilies, basil salt, pepper and tomato puree. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for 30 minutes. Divide tortilla chips, chicken, avocado slices and cheese among 6 soup bowls. Pour broth over. 6 (1 1/2 cup) servings.

Cheese

I love cheese, no seriously, I love cheese. A good cheese store is worth it weight in Gouda. A few of my favorite cheese stores are East Village Cheese Shop. This is one of the places I learned to love a good smelly cheese. But since I'm no longer in the 10003 zip code, I've had to find other resources. Here in the Boston area, I love the cheese counter at Russo's. I have found some wonderful finds at Wasik's or the Cheese Shop in Wellesley. The cheese mongers are the key to a great shop.

So after a long day at work, I went to shop at Russo's and at the cheese counter asked some thing good and creamy. I got Brescianella Stagionata, WARNING: This cheese smells like old socks left in the gym bag. It tastes nothing like that however. Here is my dinner plate, the only thing missing is the Chardonnay I had with it. The Brescianella was rich and creamy with a full flavor. Next time I would add some olives to the plate.

Holiday Breads

So, I know that this is a bit late, but on my holiday travel, I wanted to make pumpkin gingerbread, but who knew that there was a canned pumpkin shortage? So I went with my back-up bread. Cranberry-Zucchini Bread. This is from my time in Brooklyn where I fell in love with this muffin at Cousin John's (oh I remember many a coffee run there from the Food Coop).

So here is my recipe (inspiration from Rose Levy's Zucchini Muffins from The Cake Bible)

Cranberry Zucchini Bread

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup safflower
2 cups (firmly packed) grated zucchini--use largest holes on box grater
1 cup cranberries (soaked in orange juice)

Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.

2. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, spices. Whisk well to blend.

3. In a mixing bowl beat the eggs, sugar and oil for 2 to 3 minutes or until very smooth. Add the zucchini and beat just until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and cranberries and beat until completely moistened.

4. Scrape the batter into greased and floured loaf pans, filling each cup 3/4 full. Bake 20-25 minutes, until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes. Unmold onto the rack. Cool completely and wrap airtight. Makes 4 small loafs or two large loafs.

Breakfast for Dinner

My little friend L. loves breakfast for dinner. I'm right there with her. Many of our special nights out or at home include this treat. Here we made a breakfast pizza. First we used store bought pizza dough (I know, I know easy to make, but this is about having fun). We rolled out the dough, put some cream cheese down, then added soft cooked eggs with cooked bacon on the top. A little Parmesan cheese on top and voila. L, in true small child fashion ate the pizza part by part, but loved the bacon the best. Next time I would make two smaller pizzas. And making a special treat that your older sister doesn't get to have.....priceless.

Cold Weather Meals

This winter has been hard on the North East (not as bad as Washington DC area). In fact the snowmageddon was supposed to arrive last week, so in true panic fashion, schools closed or let out early, my work declared a snow emergency, and my neighbor wanted to park in my garage if I wasn't using it. I was slated to work at the R. house (car shuttle to the repair shop, meetings and after school activities) so I decided that a meal that would be cooking all day was in order. Here it is...and the house smelled great all day.

The braised short ribs, I used a recipe from Foodnetwork.

Roasted Beets
Two batches beets with greens
Peel, and cut up beets (I like to use disposable gloves to keep the Dexter effect down)
Place beets in roasting pan with a little olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt, 1 teaspoon fresh thyme.
Cook at 375 for 30 minutes. When after you take them out of the oven, mix in 1 tablespoon orange juice and 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar.

Sauted Greens
Wash and trim beet greens. Cut the stems in to small dice, shred the leafy greens into medium size pieces.
saute three cloves of garlic in olive oil until the oil is flavored with the garlic. Add the steams and saute until soft. Add 1 cup chicken broth and then add the leafy greens. Saute 2-3 minutes until they are soft. You can add some lemon zest if you like.

Roasted Vegetables
This is from an favorite recipe from the Moosewood Brunch Cookbook
1 lb small potatoes (I use 1/2 yukon gold and 1/2 red)
3 cloves of garlic
2 carrots
1 red onion
fresh rosemary
fresh marjoram
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper

Cut up all veggies, place in large baking dish with other ingredients. Cook at 375 covered with foil for 30 minutes, then uncover and increase temperature to 400 for 15-20 minutes. Turn once or twice to brown all edges. I also make this sweet potatoes (Japanese are my favorite).

Oh and we had less than 2 inches of snow, but the tummy was happy!

Super Cute Present

My sister made me this coffee cup cozy for Valentine's Day. It is felted and she added some Starbucks money to fill the cup with, that will wear the cozy. So cute!

No Bake Oatmeal Chocolate Cookies

My family is now one bigger, my nephew CV arrived January 2010 and boy is he a cutie. I was able to go and stay with my sister and brother-in=law. These cookies are a favorite of the new dad, created by his Mom (or so I was told). I made both the regular and peanut butter version. I even had some with football strings piped for the superbowl (those didn't make it to the photo shoot). Here is the recipe:

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups quick-cooking oatmeal
1/2 cup peanut butter

Combine sugar, cocoa, butter and milk in a saucepan. On medium heat, bring to a boil for one full minute.

Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter (optional), vanilla and oatmeal.

Drop by spoonful onto wax paper. Let cool for at least 30 minutes.

Note: if you are making this with kids, the batter is very warm, be careful you can transfer to bowl from the pot and use spoons.