Takeout to Eating In

When I was in college, I probably ate Chinese takeout twice a week. I went the night school route so at 8:30 pm, takeout was hot, fast and just plain tasty. Even though there are a number of common takeout dishes that I enjoy, I almost always ordered two pork eggrolls, pork fried rice and hot and sour soup. This was like my late-night trifecta.

After college, I moved away and I found that not all takeout hot and sour soup was the same. The soup I was used to was packed with carrots, cabbage and mushrooms and you could actually taste why they called it HOT and SOUR soup. Then, to add insult to injury, my (now) husband and I bought a house in a small town that didn’t even have a Chinese takeout place! By the time one opened in our town, I had already created my own recipe for hot and sour soup.

My recipe started with winning a gift certificate to a health food store. While I was shopping around, I picked up some kelp (seaweed). I had read a crazy long list of health benefits that come along with various seaweeds but I had no idea how I was going to prepare it. The best “beginner” idea I read was to use it in soup. I read that because it is grown in salt water, it makes a nice salty broth. My train of thought was also stuck on an Asian flavor track because I only think of seaweed being used in sushi at my favorite Hibachi place. So began the reading of about a dozen hot and sour soup recipes.

When I finally made mine, I also wanted it to be inexpensive and have ingredients that were easy to find in my small town (for the exception of the kelp that I already had). In the couple of years since the first time I made this, I have added things like bamboo shoots, peeled and julienned broccoli stems, and this time I tried shiitake mushrooms. Shiitakes add their own list of health benefits; bamboo shoots add a nice texture and julienned broccoli stems are a great way to use something that I often throw out. All of these additions or none of them, this is probably my favorite homemade soup! I should point out though, this soup is REALLY good, but it isn’t really like takeout. The main thing is that I choose not to thicken this soup like most takeout places. I just don’t find it necessary and I like it better reheated when it’s not thickened.

My only complaint, it isn’t really a meal. Adding tofu would possibly help to make this more filling but I’m not a particularly big fan of tofu, nor is it easy to find when you live in a small town. Going back to my late-night trifecta, a batch of fried rice alongside this soup rounds it out nicely! Now if I could only master eggrolls at home… Anyone have a tried and true recipe for eggrolls they want to share?

KitchenSward Hot and Sour Soup

1 large piece dried kelp

6 cups water

1 inch fresh ginger, grated

2 large clove garlic, grated

4 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce

5 Tbsp white wine or rice vinegar (or a combination of both)

1/4 – 1/2 tsp red pepper flake (depending on heat preference)

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 beef bouillon cube

8 oz baby portabellas, sliced

1 carrot, shredded

1 cup shredded cabbage

In large soup pot, simmer kelp in 6 cups water for 20 min. Remove kelp to cutting board add slice into bite-size pieces. Reserve kelp broth for soup base.

To kelp broth add ginger, garlic, soy, red pepper, black pepper, bouillon cube, and mushrooms. Simmer 10 min or so.

Add vinegar, sliced kelp, cabbage and carrots. Simmer another 10 min until cabbage is tender. Top with sliced scallions is desired.

Sometimes, You Burn the Hash Browns

Multi-tasking. Double edge sword. On the positive side, more tasks get down simultaneously. On the down side, the hash browns burn.

Yesterday’s variety of hash browns happened to be rutabaga. They are not hard to make. Shred, dry, season, bake and devour. “Easy” often gets me in trouble. I think that because it is easy, I can do 6 other things at the same time. In this case, hollandaise sauce, scrambled eggs, grind coffee, get meatballs in the oven and empty the dishwasher. Yeah, just because I can think all those thoughts at once, does not mean I can execute them.

Luckily, breakfast was not lost. I was able to salvage enough hash browns for everyone to have a (small) portion and all of the other elements turned out right on point. The kids amazed me! Not only did they like the rutabaga hash more than they seem to like potato hash browns, they each ate more meatballs than I did. This was the first time I have made breakfast meatballs. Basically, they are a delicious excuse to make hollandaise (as if I need any more excuses) and a ton of fun for the kids!

The kids had all of their breakfast parts in separate piles; eggs, meatballs and hash browns. For the adults, I piled it up; hash browns, meatballs, fried egg and smothered with hollandaise sauce. A bite with all the pieces in one was excellent! A touch of smoky spice from the hash, slight sweetness from the meatballs and just perfect richness from the egg and hollandaise… I’m going to drool. I’m not going to lie, this breakfast had a lot of pieces. However, if I had just done the dishes and coffee before making breakfast… well maybe we could have enjoyed a few more hash browns! Even if you don’t make them all in the same breakfast, I recommend rutabaga hash and breakfast meatballs. Fun ways to liven up your weekend breakfast!

Breakfast Meatballs

1 lb ground pork

½ tsp kosher salt

½ tsp black pepper

1 tsp dried sage (or 2 tsp fresh, minced)

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 Tbsp brown sugar

Dash ground red pepper

Dash ground nutmeg

1 egg

1/2 cup dried bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place all ingredients in mixing bowl. Mix with hands until very well combine.

Take roughly 1 Tbsp per meatball and roll into balls. Place on greased sheet pan and bake 25 – 30 minutes.

Rutabaga Hash Browns

2 cups shredded rutabaga

3 Tbsp coconut oil, melted

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp chili powder

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Use a kitchen towel to dry shredded rutabaga as much as possible and place in mixing bowl. Whisk together oil, salt, pepper and chili powder and pour over rutabaga. Toss to fully coat rutabaga.

Spread rutabaga as evenly as possible in a single layer on sheet pan. Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes or until edges begin to brown.

Cheesy Fancy Pants

Does anyone else feel like a rockstar when they make something at home that seems fancy? I feel that way almost every time I use gorgonzola. I don’t know if it is because it is a fairly expensive ingredient or what but I feel all import when a gorgonzola recipe comes together!

A few years ago, I stumbled upon a recipe that paired gorgonzola with caramelized onions. I cannot even remember what the original recipe was for but I know that I first made the combo as a flat bread and I added Canadian bacon to make it a bit more of a main course. At that point, it didn’t really know if I liked gorgonzola, I thought the flavor was a bit much for me, but I did know that I loved caramelized onions! Onions cooked until they are nothing but sweat, velvety goodness! I love the flavor in French Onion Soup, on burgers, out of the pan… and, as it turns out, combined with salty, funky gorgonzola!

As I mentioned the last time we talked, my husband and I are working on eating a little better. The perspective that we are trying to take is that food is fuel so let’s start using the premium stuff that will extend the life of the engine. With that thought in mind, I’ve been doing some experimenting with chia seeds. From what I read, they pack a lot of nutritional punch for such tiny little things. My most exciting chia discovery so far is chia crackers! I found a really simple recipe and they turned out light and crunchy, I was amazed!

So, chia crackers, gorgonzola and caramelized onions… where in the blue blazes am I going with this? Cheese and crackers. Don’t feel bad, my husband has a hard time following my train of thought sometimes too. My main purpose here was to use up the gorgonzola I had in the fridge. It is really hard to tell if cheese that is already green has gone bad so I just assume use it up as quickly as possible. I knew I wanted to combine the gorgonzola with caramelized onions because I really enjoy the flavor combination and I had new knowledge of chia crackers so dip was the first thing that came to mind.

Rather than dip, this idea morphed into more of a spread. Also in my fridge was a brick of cream cheese that ended up creating a lovely base for my onions and gorgonzola. This was a really yummy (but filling) snack! The cheese spread had this sophisticated flavor and the chia crackers held up so well to it, I was pleasantly surprised. You maybe be thinking “sounds great but I’m not up for making chia crackers”. No worries, this spread would still be awesome on any grainy cracker and even vegetables. If you try it and end up with leftovers, it also makes a pretty rich bowl of pasta when you warm it up with a splash or two of milk!

Gorgonzola and Caramelized Onion Spread

2 cups yellow onions, sliced

1 Tbs olive oil

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup gorgonzola cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in large skillet over medium low heat. Add the onions and cook until brown and sweet, stirring occasionally. This will take some time, 30 to 45 minutes or so.

When onions are caramelized, allow to cool slightly. Add the cheeses and salt and pepper to onions while they are still a bit warm to melt the gorgonzola and make mixing easier.

You may serve this immediately or refrigerate to let it set.

Sick Mom, Guilty Mom

I read once that children temporarily stop growing when they are sick. I can’t remember where I read this and I have not researched it but it makes perfect sense to me from watching my own kids. First of all, their poor little bodies put everything they have into getting well. There is nothing leftover to put into growing. Second, they just aren’t hungry. This comes in extremely handy when mama is sick too…

When I got up yesterday, I was pretty sure my head was going to explode. My kids have had colds for a few days and I was starting to have my own symptoms on Sunday. But oh man, yesterday was rough. I made the kids toast with honey on it for breakfast because it was about all I could do, and even that was a challenge.

As of late, my husband and I have been trying to make an effort to eat more healthy foods. One thing that makes that really easy is to only keep healthy foods in the house. The only problem… slicing cucumbers to snack on is just too much work when your head is going to explode. I believe that your body can do amazing things as far as making you well if you give it proper nutrition but proper nutrition translates to “too much work” when you’re sick.

I did put the effort into one thing that I’m pretty sure made a difference in me feeling WAY better today. I made ginger tea. Do you know the cold medicine commercial that says that we always blame mucus but sometimes inflammation is the real culprit? I learned a while ago that fresh ginger is used as a natural anti-inflammatory and I just so happen to keep that around. Now, I can’t really taste a whole lot when my nose is all stuffed up but I am pretty sure that this stuff would be lovely on any winter’s day, cold symptoms or not, but it really seemed to help me recover. My kids even drank some when it cooled and I noticed their coughing fits were less frequent as well.

My best friend wrote this yesterday, “In real relationships, we are constantly plagued by our humanness… by our desire to put ourselves first.” She was talking about her relationship with her husband but I think this spans many types of relationships. I was feeling a little guilty yesterday because I didn’t feel like I was doing much for my kids. I was more worried about how I was feeling than I was about them. I was plagued by my humanness, both physically and mentally yesterday. The most amazing thing though, my kids still love me today. Even mom can be human.

Ginger Tea

2 tsp grated fresh ginger

1 Tbs raw honey

2-3 lemon slices

3 cups boiling water

Place ginger, honey and lemons in glass container, like a measuring cup or quart-size canning jar. Add boiling water and let steep for 10 minutes.

Strain through fine mesh strainer into mug and enjoy.

Chicken Meatball Mania

I don’t know about you, but I cannot think of anyone in my life who does not like meatballs. It is hard to go wrong with meatballs. Well, I’m sure there is a way to make meatballs wrong, but decent meatballs never seem to go uneaten.

Meatballs are one of those things that I like to make a ton of and then freeze for later. The problem is

that I have to make like 128 meatballs in order to have enough to freeze! That’s only a small exaggeration. It never fails, meatballs mysteriously disappear before I get them all into the sauce or soup that I have prepared for them. They are just so easy grab and just plain tasty!

From appetizers to main courses, from simply sauced to stuffed, from beef to pork to poultry, I think the only thing I haven’t tried to do with meatballs is breakfast (challenge accepted). I think meatballs are pretty simple to make. I know it takes a little bit of time to roll them all but it really is a labor of love!

There was a little extra labor involved when I made these meatballs this weekend. Back when our grocery store had its’ “legendary meat sale” and I purchased 40 pounds of chicken breast, I had to trim them myself before I froze them. The “scraps” that I trimmed off to make my chicken breasts pretty and presentable, added up to quite a bit of chicken, so I threw those in the freezer too. Another one of my favorite things about meatballs; you can make them out of “scraps”. I happen to have a meat grinding attachment for my stand mixer but I feel like I have seen a whole slew of appliances or attachments so the home cook can get gritty and grind up any kind of beef, pork or poultry they get their hands on. I’m not going to lie, it is fun to see your specially seasoned chicken come out of the meat grinder looking all professional and stuff!

Now, I don’t grind my own chicken every time I make chicken meatballs! But I think it is a fun project and I love having this as an option when all kinds of meat are on a huge sale. Whether I grind my own chicken or buy it that way at the store, I do like to add ground pork the meatball mix. I really enjoy the flavor that comes from the fatty pork and the texture comes out perfectly!

Being inspired by Super Bowl Sunday, last weekend’s chicken meatballs were served with buffalo sauce and crumbled gorgonzola. DELICIOUS! And that’s all I have to say about that. I was able to stash a couple dozen of these bad boys in the freezer. Now I’m having two struggles; 1) I kind of want to just pull them out and snack on them… like now… and 2) I can’t decide how to dress them up when I do take them out. Chicken meatballs are awesome in the slow cooker with teriyaki sauce! They can be an appetizer or served over a bed of rice with some steamed veggies for dinner. Then again, chicken meatballs floating in Italian Wedding Soup is like pure bliss. But let’s not forget about chicken parmesan meatball sandwiches… See, this is why I have to make 128 meatballs at a time!

Chicken Meatballs

1 lb ground chicken (or turkey)

1 lb ground pork

2 eggs

3/4 - 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs

2 Tbs dried parsley (4 Tbs fresh, minced)

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Preheat oven to 350° and spray 2 large cookie sheets with non-stick spray.

Combine all meatball ingredients in a large bowl. Start with 3/4 cup bread crumbs - if the mixture is still too wet to hold meatball shape, add more of the bread crumbs until it's rollable.

Gather roughly 1 Tbs of mixture for each meatball and roll. Bake for 25 minutes or until cooked through.

How do you Bolognese?

When I was a brand-new mom and my sweet little girl was in the “I just want to nurse at all times” stage, Food Network was closest friend. We spent countless hours together at all times of the day or night, taking thrilling culinary adventures with world class chefs! All from the comfort of my glider.

I would dare to say that I learned a significant number of things from Food Network during that time. Even more than learning, I was inspired to try cooking food that I had never even tasted before (this is a gift in a way; if it doesn’t taste exactly like it should, you don’t even know it!). One particular dish that I desperately wanted to try to make was Bolognese. Bolognese is something that I have tried at restaurants because it most often comes on a pile of pasta and it is delicious! When you have all of that heavenly rich, savory, meaty sauce served to you at a restaurant, you just assume that it contains some ingredient that you will never find in the store or requires some technique or specialized kitchen equipment that you will just not be able to obtain at home. It’s just so good!

Food Network was kind enough to enlighten me on this matter. There is nothing complex or even surprising about what goes into Bolognese. It just takes time. I can vividly remember watching two different Food Network chefs prepare Bolognese during my culinary television escapades. The actual ingredients varied slightly but they both prepared it on the stove top and over many hours. The chefs did the initial preparations, cooking of the meat and combining the ingredients and then the luscious sauce just simmered away, performing magic. Both chefs discussed monitoring the sauce and adding more liquid when necessary and then allowing it to reduce back down to create and almost indescribable depth.

Almost 3 years after I learned about the art of Bolognese, I finally tried to make it at home last weekend. One big factor that had been holding me back was the idea of doing this stove top. I was afraid that I would not be able to get the temperature low enough or that I would leave it alone too long and forget about it. I decided that the best fit for me was a slow cooker recipe.

The recipe called for simple ingredients and the process was also simple. The preparation does take a little bit of time on the stove top before heading the slow cooker for 6-8 hours but I took the author’s suggestion of doing those steps the night before. The Bolognese came out beautifully! My husband, son and I all went back for more. My daughter, on the other hand, did not seem to enjoy the texture. She didn’t have any objection to eating the pasta that had soaked up the sauce, unless it had a chunk of a vegetable or meat on it… Oh well, 3 out of 4 of us approved!

As I was putting the leftovers in the fridge, I had to laugh a little bit at the quantity. There was a ton of Bolognese left! Normally, I would have scooped enough of the leftovers for another meal and popped that in the freezer for another week. Instead, I decided to see what other ways I could come up with to use this sauce.

First, the ideas I had that I did not actually make (maybe next time):

Sandwiches – I was picturing sautéed onions, mushrooms and red bell peppers, topped with provolone cheese, on a toasted sub roll and smothered with Bolognese to bring it all together. Almost along the lines of a meatball sub with some added veggies.

Lasagna – I read somewhere along the line that lasagna is a very common place to find Bolognese. I completely understand why. That deep, meaty flavor would really stand up to the creamy cheesiness of lasagna.

Polenta – This suggestion is right from the blog post in which I found the recipe I used. Polenta is offered as a gluten-free option.

Now, the dishes I did make:

Pizza – Plain and simple. I just threw together a pizza dough and spread all of the Bolognese goodness on it and covered the whole deal with mozzarella. I had thought this was going to been a sure-fire way to get my daughter to like Bolognese. It was not, she still didn’t eat it. My son, he loved it!

Bolognese Bombs – I made these on the same night as the pizza so I could use some of the same pizza dough to wrap up some deliciousness. I cut roughly 3-inch squares out of my dough, added about 1 tsp of Italian cheese blend and 1 Tbs Bolognese to each square and sealed them up. I put them seal-side down on a baking sheet and gave the tops a little egg wash and baked at 425°F until golden brown. These would make awesome appetizers! The only thing, they need more cheese!

Lasagna Soup – I just added some tomato puree, basil, a touch of salt and pepper and pasta. A dollop of ricotta at the end may have sent this on over the top but it was still yummy with topped with just and Italian cheese blend.

On a Spoon – This may be a significant factor in my love of pasta; it’s not just the pasta that I love! Bolognese is hard to resist, with or without pasta!