Quaker Oat Sqaures Party Mix

I picked up Martha's Holiday edition the other day and it got me thinking about a sweet party mix that my friend Jen used to make to give away at the Christmas holidays. The year that I got a tin, I think I demolished the entire tin in two days! Thanks to Jen for sending it on over. (I'll add a pic as soon as I make it, unless I eat it all before I can get to my camera.)

Here it is:
8 cups Quaker Oat Squares
1/2-1 cup pecan pieces
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup margarine
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda

Combine cereal and pecans in 13 x 9 baking pan. Combine corn syrup, brown sugar and margarine in sauce pan and heat to boiling. Remove from heat and add vanilla and baking soda. Pour over cereal mixture. Cook at 250 degrees for one hour, stir every 20 minutes. Spread on wax paper to cool.

Economy of Time - Chicken 3 Ways

As a busy mom I know that making a healthy and appealing dinner each night is a huge challenge. Last year I bought a cookbook called: "Cook Once a Week, Eat Well Every Day: Make-Ahead Meals that Transform Your Suppertime Circus into Relaxing Family Time" by Theresa Albert.

This book really has changed the way that I look at food preparation and planning. One of the most important ideas that I got out of this book was to prepare large quantities of meat a few different ways, for future use. I usually shop at Costco and used to think I was pretty organized by separating the huge family pack meats into smaller quantities and freezing these. Theresa goes one step further by actually cutting up the meat (if needed) and adding the marinade or spice mixture to the freezer bag and freezing it all together. Brilliant! All you have to do is take out the meat of choice the night before, put it in your fridge to defrost and then place it on a foil-lined baking sheet when you're ready to cook it. Bake at 350F for 35-40 minutes, or until juices run clear. Add a few appropriate sides (carbs, veg, etc.) and voila, dinner is ready!

Chicken 3 Ways

• 1/2 head of garlic, minced and divided into 3 freezer bags
• 3 lemons juiced, divided into 2 of the freezer bags
  

Bombay Chicken (left bag in picture)

• Cut up 1/3 of the chicken into 1-2 inch size chunks and place in freezer bag with lemon and garlic
  
• Add 2 tbsp. commercially prepared curry paste (I like Patak's mild curry)
• Optionally, you can add 1/2 can coconut milk now or when cooking

Empty contents into an oven-safe casserole dish. Cook as directed. Serve with steamed rice.

Chinese Chicken (top bag in picture)

• Cut up 1/3 of the chicken into long strips and place in freezer bag with garlic only
  
• Add 1 tbsp. chili garlic sauce
• 1 tbsp. sesame oil
• 1/2 cup soy sauce

Open up a bag of pre-shredded cole-slaw mixture and spread around on baking sheet. Remove chicken from marinade and place on top of cole-slaw. Bake as directed.

Greek Chicken (right bag in picture)

• Cut up 1/3 of chicken into chunks or strips and place in freezer bag with garlic and lemon juice
• Add 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. dried rosemary
• 1 tbsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
  

Bake and serve wrapped in pita bread with cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, hummus and kalamata olives.

Ratatouille

I bought one of those big bags of red, yellow and orange peppers at Costco a few weeks ago (you know the ones) and they weren't looking so great any more, so I decided to put them to good use. Also, when I was shopping the other day I saw some beautiful eggplants, which are a strange vegetable, that most people pass by. Usually I pass them by because they are more than likely old, soft and wrinkly and eggplant does take some effort, dredging (salting), rinsing, drying.

A lovely fall day calls for something yummy simmering away on the stove and ratatouille is exactly what I felt like. Ratatouille is Provincial vegetable stew, and I think it makes an excellent side dish or vegetarian main course and freezes well for future use.

Ratatouille

• 1 medium red onion
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 1 large, firm eggplant
• 3 zucchini's
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 yellow pepper, chopped
• 1 can of diced tomatoes (or peeled fresh, if you have them)
• 6 chopped sun dried tomatoes packed in oil, rinsed
• 1 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
  
• 3 tbsp. dried basil
• 2 tbsp. Herbs de Provence
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup red wine
• salt for dredging

Peel and slice the eggplant and zucchini into rounds. Lay in a colander and sprinkle a generous amount of salt on both sides and allow to sit for 20 minutes. This process removes the bitter flavor that turns most people off of eggplant and removes a lot of the water from the zucchini. Rinse and dry between layers of paper towel.

Dice the onions and garlic and heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy bottom pan. (I use a Le Cruset enameled pot.) When the onions are translucent, add the peppers and allow to saute for about 5 minutes. Keep stirring and don't allow the garlic to burn. When the peppers have softened add the remaining ingredients except for the wine. Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat and simmer for at least 2 hours, or until the skin on the peppers is soft.

Once the peppers are soft, taste for seasoning and add the wine. Allow to simmer on low for a little while longer.

Serve as a side dish or in a bowl with Parmesan sprinkled over top.

Baja Fish Tacos

When I was visiting San Diego in the spring, I had the pleasure of going to Brigantine's on Coronado Island. This was where I had my first taste of Baja Fish Tacos. I have tried to recreate it to the best that I could remember it, but it's one of those things that you can make a bit different every time you try, and it never turns out the same.

I haven't made these since our summer vacation, but my sister wanted the recipe and I was trying to remember how I made them. I thought I would post it so that I had a copy of the recipe somewhere. (If there are any pictures taken when my sister makes them maybe my she will send them to me so I can post.)

Baja Fish Tacos

Baja cream

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 tbsp. fresh lime juice
• 1 tsp. finely grated lime peel
• 1 tsp. chili powder (or more if you like it spicy)
• 1 dash of Frank's Red Hot Sauce or Tabasco sauce
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• Pinch of salt

Reserve about half for serving on top of the tacos with the other condiments.

With the remainder, add:

• 2 cups shredded cabbage
• 4 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 small chopped red onion (or thin rings of onion work too)
• 2 tbsp. white vinegar

Mix until blended.

Fish

• 1 lb. Cod, Soul or Tilapia
• 2 tbsp. chili powder
• 2 tbsp. cumin
• 1 dash of garlic powder
• 2 tsp. salt
• 3 tbsp. lime juice
• 2 tbsp. olive oil

Mix together spices. Mix together lime juice and olive oil.
Marinate fish in lime juice and olive oil mixture, then dredge in spice mix. Alternately, you can sprinkle the spice mix over top of the fish. Broil or grill until flaky and cooked through.

You will also need:

• 8 to 10 small corn tortillias, soft or hard
• fresh guacamole
• salsa

To assemble:
Fill tortillias about half-way with coleslaw mixture, add a piece of fish or two and top with a dollop each of Baja cream, guacamole, and salsa.

Fall Minestrone

To me, fall is about slow food and slowing down. That's probably why I usually spend all of my free time cooking in the fall. It must go back to the natural instinct of *hunkering down for the winter.* On this chilly fall day I wanted to cook something for dinner that reflected the season's change, could simmer on the stove and be ready for dinner whenever I was and could easily be reheated for Aaron's late evening arrival.
I looked in my fridge and freezer, as usual to try to drum up inspiration. There were 2 left over Italian sausages and lots of veg. All I needed was a few things from the pantry and I had dinner!

Fall Minestrone

• 2 Italian sausage links taken out of their casings

Fry the sausage, drain the fat and add the next 6 ingredients.

• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, diced
• 10 baby carrots, diced
• 3 celery ribs, diced
• 1/2 a green pepper, diced
• 1 tbsp. olive oil

Sauté vegetables and add remaining ingredients when onions are translucent.

• 1 tsp. ground fennel (that great flavor used in most mild Italian sausages)
• 1 tbsp. dried basil
• 1 tbsp. dried oregano
• 1 tbsp. salt
• 1 large can diced tomatoes
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 1 can white kidney or any other white bean (navy, cannelli)
• 2 tbsp. fresh basil pesto (I cheat and use President's Choice)
  

Bring to a boil and allow to simmer for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours. Freezes great. Serve with crusty bread and herb butter. Serves 4 plus leftovers!

I would rather use fresh herbs and fresh homemade pesto (Aaron's is the best), but realistically, living where I live, finding fresh herbs all of the time is difficult or expensive and a lot of the time, I'm cooking when my son is napping, so running to the store is out of the question.

It tasted good and I look forward to another bowl for lunch tomorrow!

Updating a classic - Banana Bread

Aaron is on his way home tonight and in celebration I made one of his favorite guilty pleasures, banana bread. Plus I was running out of room in my freezer and had the 3 bananas that I needed right there. My original recipe for banana bread is a classic for me. Tried and true, used it a thousand times. However, it is like cake. White flour, white sugar, bananas and oil. With all the talk these days about the importance of a healthier diet enriched with whole grains, less refined starches and omega-3 fatty acids, I decided to update my banana bread recipe and see if anyone noticed the difference. My son sure liked it and proceeded to eat that entire first piece.

Updated Banana Bread

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup spelt flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 3 tbsp. ground flax seed
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Mix together.

• 3 bananas mashed (I freeze them when they're brown and then defrost them on high for 2 minutes in the microwave)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup Canola oil (or replace 1/4 of the oil with apple sauce)
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (I use pecans, as I find walnuts bitter these days)

Combine and add to above. Mix until blended.
Bake at 350F for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.

By adding ground flaxseed, whole wheat flour, spelt flour and a half a cup more nuts than originally called for I've increased the fiber and added those healthy omega-3's. So it's not that bad for you. I find using the apple sauce instead of half the oil makes the bread more spongy in texture, I prefer to use all the oil.

Ice Cream Treats

OK, admittedly not the best day to make ice cream sandwiches given the cold weather, but we've had these super cute Tovolo Farmyard Ice Cream Sandwich Molds laying around the kitchen for a few weeks and we were bored. Truthfully, making cookies always makes me happy, maybe it's the dough, which I tend to eat a lot of.

I used my super-easy, never-fail, chocolate chip cookie recipe, spread it out on a cookie sheet and let it bake. After it cooled for a bit, Izzy happily cut out the shapes, and we assembled with ice cream in the middle. They didn't turn out too bad for a first attempt. A few notes: make the dough much thinner, only let the ice cream soften for about 10 minutes and store the finished ones in the freezer because they melt quick!
Izzy and I agreed that we liked the pig best. Can't wait to try these to assemble sandwiches for her bento boxes that I've been making for her school lunches. A fun and crafty, rainy day activity that tastes great.

Soba Noodle Soup

Today was a gloomy and cold fall day outside, not to mention Aaron went away for four days to Vancouver. So I was looking for some warmth and comfort that would agree with the kids as well. I had been wanting to use some Dashi powder that my friend Anna had given to me in the spring when I visited her in San Diego, and I had long ago bought some dry soba noodles.

I brought 6 cups of stock to a boil and added about 5 grams (half of the package of Dashi) along with a good handful of noodles. To it I added some random veggies that I had: red pepper, corn, green onions, 4 mushrooms, a few carrots. I let it all boil until the noodles were soft and then I added 1 tbsp. of sesame seed oil and 2 tbsp soy sauce. My soba noodle soup turned out surprisingly well. The kids ate it, and I loved it, but felt that it needed some more heat, so I added a dash of hot chili paste to my second bowl. Perfect.