Sauteed Swiss Chard with Stems Recipe

As a woman in my child-bearing years, I try to be pretty alert to the nutrients I am taking in. Although I'm no nutritionist, from what I understand dark, leafy greens are some of the best foods for you to eat. Swiss chard ranks number two in the "world's healthiest foods," right next to spinach. Only a handful of fruits and vegetables contain folate, the all-important nutrient that prevents spina bifida in growing babies, and chard is one of those.

The risk for spina bifida is refuced by 75% if a woman takes in adequate amounts of folate or folic acid before she is pregnant. Even if I am not trying to get pregnant, I think it's important to include folate in my diet just in case.

Some beautiful rainbow chard jumped into my cart at Earth Fare last week, and I found inspiration in (strangely) an episode of Chopped on the Food Network. The judges gave great accolade to one chef who used the stems of the Swiss chard in his basket as well as the leaves. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about ... you need to watch an episode of Chopped. It's wild.)

This chard recipe incorporates the stems, smoky and delicious bacon, and garlic. And you can't go wrong with bacon and garlic, right? It's necessary to boil the dish some to get out the bitterness of the chard and leave just the rich, tasty flavor.

I found one bunch of chard only made a side dish for two people. Like most greens, it cooks down quite a bit.

Sauteed Swiss Chard with Stems

2 strips bacon
1 bunch chard (Swiss, rainbow, or other variety)
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 cup chicken broth or stock
salt and pepper

"Butcher" the chard: cut off long lengths of stem. If stems are very thick, you may want to cut them lengthwise in half. Discard woody end and then slice into 1-inch lengths. Cut the leaves away from the remainder of the stems. [This YouTube video shows what I mean when I say cut it away from the stem.]

Cut bacon into small pieces (I use kitchen shears for this) and saute on medium-high until crispy. Remove bacon to a paper towel with a slotted spoon, leaving fat in pan.

Add the stem pieces and garlic cloves. Cook on medium heat about 8 minutes, until stems are soft. Add chard leaves and toss. Stir until wilted. Remove garlic cloves.

Pour in chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-high and let boil, uncovered, for 5-7 minutes. Taste to make sure chard is not too bitter.

Drain off any remaining chicken stock. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in bacon pieces and serve.

More chard recipes:
Quinoa with Chard and Mushrooms
Crustless Chard Quiche
Swiss Chard Tart

Submitted to Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, Sliced and Diced at Once a Month Mom, and Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

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Tilapia with Honey-Tangerine Sauce

Do you ever buy ingredients for a recipe ... and then not make it, for weeks? Or is that just me? I kept putting off making Sauteed Tilapaia with Honey-Scallion Dressing because we did something else that night, or I didn't feel like fish, or I didn't feel like fighting with Libbie about it, etc, etc.

By the time I went to make it on this past Friday night, my scallions and lemon were far past usable (and either used for something else or thrown out). So I improvised and tweaked a little, creating a warm sauce instead of a cool salad dressing. I think it turned out wonderfully!

You could, of course, replace the tangerine juice with any other citrus for a different flavor. Tangerines are in season right now, so I grabbed one for twenty cents--cheaper than a lemon!

(Normally there would probably be some rice under that fish, but I was having a REALLY bad day and just didn't think to start rice soon enough to have it with dinner. Oops.)

Tilapia with Honey-Tangerine Sauce

3-4 fillets tilapia or other firm, mild-flavored white fish
salt and pepper
3 T olive oil, divided
1 shallot, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 tangerine, juiced
1 T honey
1.5 T soy sauce {Stephanie O'Dea says LaChoy is gluten-free and I trust her!}
.5 tsp sesame oil
.5 tsp powdered ginger


In a small saucepan, heat 1 T olive oil over medium-low heat. Add shallots and sweat them until they are soft. (Try not to brown them, although I was not too successful at that endeavor. The first time I burnt them. The second time they got brown because my heat was too high. I was not going to try a third time!)

When shallots are soft, add tangerine juice, honey, soy sauce, sesame oil, and ginger. Whisk until well-combined and let cook over low heat.

In a large saute pan, heat remaining 2 T olive oil over medium-high heat. Sprinkle fish fillets with salt and pepper and add to pan. Cook 3 minutes on each side or until fish is flaky. Remove from heat.

Bring sauce to a bubble over medium heat. Let cook until reduced by half, about 3-4 minutes. Sauce should be thicker but not goopy. Spoon sauce over fillets and serve.

Added to:
Mouthwatering Monday
Tasty Tuesday
Ultimate Recipe Swap (Fish on May 19, assuming I remember to link up!)
Parade of Gluten-Free Recipes at Heavenly Homemakers 
Share Your Sunday Best at Feels Like Home







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Healthier Chicken Nuggets

I'm sure by now you know that my daughter is selective about what she will put in her mouth.  She has been since she was 9 months old. Some days I don't think it's gotten any better. But we do seem to have moved past the era when she would literally only eat bread, cheese, and bananas.

One of the only non-peanut-butter protein sources she will eat is chicken nuggets. (Breaded shrimp and fish are also usually winners.) I am none too keen on giving her McDonald's three times a week, so when I saw this recipe in All You for pretzel-crusted nuggets I knew I had to give them a go. Here is my slightly altered version.

Healthier Chicken Nuggets

1 pound white-meat chicken, cut into 2-inch nuggets
2 cups salted pretzel twists
.5 cup grated Parmesan cheese
.5 cup whole wheat flour
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard

Pulse pretzels and Parmesan cheese in a food processor until coarsely ground. Transfer to a bowl.

Put flour in another bowl. Season the flour with pepper, if desired. In a third, whisk eggs with mustard. Dip chicken pieces in flour, then egg mixture, then pretzel/cheese crumbs.

Place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400F for 20-25 minutes, until browned and cooked through.

For some reason when I made these they did not freeze well. When I microwaved them from frozen, the chicken was too tough to eat. Did I just microwave them too long? Any help on that?

Added to Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, Delicious Dishes at It's a Blog Party, and Full Plate Thursday at Miz Helen's Country Cottage.

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Recipe Redux: Ziti with Italian Sausage

I apologize to those of who who may have seen this in your feed reader yesterday and then been confused. Blogger apparently no longer understands future dates, or at least it didn't yesterday. Sigh!

I posted one of our favorite dinners, Ziti with Italian Sausage, about a year and a half ago. But there were no pictures and it was basically a copied-from-AllRecipes recipe. No fun! And not me at all.

So the other night I was making the ziti and decided I needed to share its yummyness with you in pictures. Sadly, my pictures didn't turn out that great. But here they are, anyway, to give you an idea of the process and the results.

Ziti with Italian Sausage

1 lb. bulk Italian sausage (or breakfast sausage)
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced onion
14.5 ounces canned diced tomatoes (Italian-flavored with garlic are great here)
15 ounces tomato sauce
1/4 tsp. garlic powder (omit if using tomatoes with garlic)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3/4 teaspoon salt
12-16 ounces dry pasta (preferably ziti or penne rigate)
8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (the real stuff, if you can!)

1. Brown sausage with celery and onions, breaking up the sausage into small pieces. Drain off fat. Set aside.

2. In a saucepan, combine tomatoes (drained), tomato sauce, garlic powder, oregano, and salt. Bring to a simmer; reduce to low.

3. Boil pasta until very al dente - it will continue cooking when baked. Preheat oven to 350F. Drain pasta when done.

My main issue with this recipe is it takes too many darn pots and pans!

4. In a deep dish, layer pasta, sausage mix, mozzarella, and sauce. Repeat layers once. (I just used the pot I boiled the pasta in, because that makes one fewer dish I have to wash!) Top with grated Parmesan.

5. Cook at 350F for 35-45 minutes or until brown and bubbly.

Mmmm! Cheesy, sausagey, tomatoey, carb-loaded goodness!

For a variation, you could stir 4 ounces of cream cheese into your tomato sauce. It would make it a lovely tomato-cream sauce instead. If you're in a pinch, you could also use jarred pasta sauce in place of the "semi-homemade" one here.

Added to Mouthwatering Monday, Tasty Tuesday, $5 Dinner Challenge, Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life as Mom, and Delicious Dishes at It's a Blog Party.

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Peachy Granola Muffins

Tuesday morning I woke up with a yen for muffins. Muffins are not regular guests in our household, although I enjoy them. I don't have great muffin pans and (as you will tell in the pictures) I am a messy muffin-maker. Also, a lot of times my muffins mold before they get eaten, because Mr. V is not a big Muffin Man.

I do enjoy muffins when we have them, though, and there was no way around it: Baby Boy was craving muffins.

I was inspired by Amy's peaches-and-cream muffins but limited to what I had in our pantry and fridge. I started with a blueberry muffin recipe, subbed peaches, made my own more-whole-food adjustments, and then thought a sprinkle of granola on top might add some crunch and interest.

They turned out delicious. My granola had pecans, which did burn. If you're worried about the granola burning, wait until halfway through the cook time to sprinkle it on top.

Peachy Granola Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter or coconut oil
1 egg
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar (or your choice of sugar alternative, such as maple syrup, sucanat, etc)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 large fresh peach, diced (skin on is fine)
1/4 cup granola, any kind (I used Bear Naked maple pecan)

Preheat oven to 400F. Grease muffin pans.

Mix first seven ingredients together until just combined (milk through salt). Fold in peaches.

Divide batter into 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle each with a little granola.

Bake about 20 minutes or until cooked through. Cool on a wire rack.

Added to Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Sliced & Diced: Peaches, and Real Food Wednesdays.

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Weight Watchers Cheese Review and Giveaway: I Like to Snack.

Congratulations to the winner, #31, Nanette! 

I'm nearly 19 weeks pregnant, which means I am well into the second trimester. And what comes with the second trimester? HUNGER.

I still maintain I was hungrier when I was nursing than I ever was pregnant; but still, the second trimester is when I find myself gnawing away at my arm if I don't make good use of protein and fats during the day.

When Weight Watchers^® contacted me to see if I wanted to review their new cheese items, at first I was a little skeptical; obviously, Weight Watchers and pregnancy don't mesh!

Their campaign, however, is about snacking. And I DO like to snack! So I said yes and got to try WW's  new gourmet cheese wedges and reduced-fat cream cheese.

Here's some info on the two products.

• The new Weight Watchers Gourmet Cheese Wedges come in four mouth-watering varieties – Original Swiss, Garlic & Herb, Parmesan Peppercorn and Jalapeño Pepper – and are perfect for spreading onto crackers, apple slices, celery sticks and more for a deliciously fun and easy snack.  Each rich and creamy wedge has only 30 calories, packs more fiber than the leading competitor and comes with a POINTS® value of 1. The wedges have a suggested retail price of $2.99-$3.99.

• The new eight-ounce variety of Weight Watchers Reduced Fat Cream Cheese Spread is ideal for baking and snacking alike with pre-measured servings and the same easy-to-spread goodness that has made Weight Watchers cream cheese products a hit. And in addition to its flavor props, the spread boasts 40 percent less fat than regular cream cheese and a POINTS® value of 1 per serving. The cream cheese spread has a suggested retail price of $1.69-$1.99.

• Look for both products at national retailers such as Wal-Mart and Kroger.

Weight Watchers sent me a great snack basket! I got this Picnic Time collapsible picnic basket, Kashi TLC crackers, Back to Nature nut mix, Emerald dried fruit mix, a Frisbee, a cheese spreader, all 4 kinds of cheese wedges, and one block of the reduced-fat cream cheese.

The original Swiss cheese wedge was definitely my favorite. It makes a great snack on the Kashi crackers. (And occasionally breakfast ... I do have a toddler!) My Bible study group and I tried the other kinds and all were given a thumbs up, although I thought the Parmesan Peppercorn was a little strong for my tastes. I don't love peppercorn flavor anything, but if you do, you might like them.

With the cream cheese, I made Kate's Cream Cheese Noodles. I sauteed some garlic in about 2 tablespoons of butter and mixed in 4 oz. of cream cheese and a little salt and pepper. I then mixed in 1/2 a pound of cooked thin spaghetti. YUM! I couldn't tell at all that the cream cheese was reduced fat; usually I am not a big fan of reduced-fat dairy so that is a good thing.

Would you like to win the exact package I got from Weight Watchers? Leave me a comment with which flavor of the cheese wedges you think would be your favorite. A winner will be drawn Sunday, August 1st at 3pm EST.

If you do not leave your email address in your comment or have it linked to your Blogger account (check "show my email address" under "Edit Profile" at blogger.com) I WILL DELETE YOUR COMMENT. I have had too many issues with this in the past. Please just change your Blogger profile. Then I can respond to all your comments by email.

For an additional entry, Tweet the following and leave me another comment letting me know you did:
Win some delicious #WeightWatchersCheese and other snacks over at @vanderbiltwife until 8/1! http://bit.ly/azzWCe

And since I REALLY like snacking and talking about snacking, here are my top ten favorite snacks ever.

Top Ten Favorite Snacks
{I talk extensively about my relationship with some of these foods in this post.}


1. Bagels with cream cheese, or egg, or cheese. I just love bagels. A lot.

2. FiberOne bars. These actually fill up my hungry baby belly!

3. Tortilla chips or crackers with cheese melted on top. Melted until it's crispy. Yummm!

4. Granny Smith apples with havarti. I think Michelle introduced me to this fine delicacy. The creamy Havarti and bite of the green apple really balance each other out. It's DELISH!

5. Hard sausages and cheese with crackers. I like salt. So kill me! Not something I have a lot, but I will devour it if it's out at parties.

6. Raw veggies, pretzels, and dip. If we were in a musical, I might start singing, "Any dip will do!" I like dips. Speaking of ...

7. Spinach and artichoke dip with chips. We're talking fantasy snacks, right? Cause I've made this homemade maybe once, but I LOVE it. The frozen kind will work if needed.

8. Cherries. While I don't splurge for Raniers, I love my Bing cherries and will happily eat a bowlful for a delicious and fresh snack.

9. Candy. Straight up sugar is my pregnancy weapon of choice. I am not proud of it, but it's true.

10. Ice cream. Lemony, chocolatey, peanut buttery--I'm sort of indifferent. Just bring me a bowl: not melted, and no marshmallows please.

Added to Top Ten Tuesday at OhAmanda and Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam. 

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Creamy Salmon Mac-and-Cheese

Libbie and I were going to have salmon patties and macaroni and cheese for lunch. (Yep, that's what the menu plan said!)  And then I got a little lazy. I was trying to make tonight's lasagna at the same time and got overwhelmed. So then I thought: Self, we like tuna mac-and-cheese. Why not salmon?

It was delicious.



And no, I don't usually eat lunch off my china. But I was feeling a need for something special--and a new dish to photograph that isn't my same old everyday plates and bowls.

Creamy Salmon Mac-and-Cheese

1 lb. small pasta shapes, such as macaroni, corkscrews, or penne, cooked and drained
1 can red salmon, drained, with as much skin and bones removed as you can get out
3 T butter
3 T whole wheat flour
2-3 cups milk (preferably whole or 2%)
salt
1/2 tsp. ground mustard
1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes or to taste
8 oz. block of white cheddar, shredded (or 2 c. shredded cheese)
Optional: crowns from one head broccoli

In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour and bring up to medium-high, whisking constantly. After a minute or so, add milk. Stir regularly as milk heats and bubbles. Let bubble, whisking, until sauce thickens (sauce should coat the back of a spoon, like this).

Remove sauce from heat. Stir in a sprinkle of salt, ground mustard, and red pepper flakes. Stir in shredded cheese. Add pasta and salmon and mix well.

If you want to have a vegetable in this dish, let broccoli boil with your pasta. Drain together and add them back in together as well.

Added to Tasty Tuesday.

And FYI, the winner of our Sisterchick Scavenger Hunt was Krystal from The Clever Mommy! Congratulations, Krystal!!

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Potato Cubes: Simple Side Dish

This is less a recipe and more a technique, but I had to share because Libbie is crazy about these. I don't know whether it's the yummy roasted flavor or the ease she has picking them up with her little fingers, but she will gobble down a ton of sweet potato cubes! (She prefers sweet potatoes to the white potatoes, but she'll try either.)

I'd never thought of doing anything like this until I was making Kate's Loaded Baked Potato Salad and to bake the potatoes she had you make baked cubes. So really, you can thank Kate for this mini-tutorial.

If I just do regular potatoes, I might add some Ranch dressing mix or other seasoning to the potatoes before roasting; if just sweet potatoes, maybe cinnamon. But since I made a mixture the other night, I just stuck with salt and pepper for a classic but delicious taste!

I find these cubes to be perfect to pick up extra sloppy joe meat that falls off the bun!

Potato Cubes

Any variety potato, cut into even cubes (I used sweet potatoes and Yukon golds here)
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Place the cubes on a rimmed baking sheet or jelly-roll pan. Drizzle some olive oil on top and toss with fingers to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper or desired seasonings.

Cook in a 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, stirring once halfway through the cooking time.

For more wonderful recipes, visit Mouthwatering Monday at A Southern Fairytale and Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

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De-luscious Lemon Cake

I'm a sucker for lemon desserts. Tart and sweet is kind of like chocolate and salty--you can just keep eating its perfection forever. (OK, that's not necessarily a good thing.)

I came across the recipe this morning on VocalPoint and something in it just screamed, "Make me, Jessie!" I knew all I would need was lemons, so I listened the voice. I am bringing dinner to my Bible-study group tomorrow night and thought it would make a perfect sweet ending. As a somewhat wise cook, however, I also knew I'd better test it before I took a new recipe to a bunch of people I'm just getting to know. Wouldn't want to poison anyone.

This dessert is like a sponge cake on top and a custard on the bottom. Mmmmm. It'd be even better with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top to balance out the tart lemon. Maybe I'll pick up a pint for tomorrow night. (If you're interested, I'll also be serving Jo-Lynne's beef enchiladas and Mexican Corn Dip AKA Magically Delicious Dip according to Amanda.)

I modified the recipe to fit with my whole-foods-hopeful lifestyle. If you use white flour and white sugar, it will probably be a much lighter color.

De-Luscious Lemon Cake
3/4 cup sucanat or turbinado sugar
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs, separated--let the whites warm to room temperature while you prepare the rest of the recipe
3 T  butter, very soft
1 tsp lemon zest (from about 1 lemon--zest before you juice)
3/4 cup lemon juice (from about 3 lemons. Meyer lemons are actually cheaper than regular ones right now, and very flavorful!)
1 1/2 cups milk

Heat oven to 350°F. Coat an 8x8 pan with cooking spray (or butter it, if you're anti-Pam).

In a small bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks about 1 minute. Stir in butter, lemon zest, lemon juice, and milk. Add sugar mixture and stir together well.

Beat egg whites in a large bowl with an electric mixer until stiff peaks appear. Add contents of other bowl and mix on medium for a minute or until the batter is smooth.

Pour batter into your prepared pan. Place that pan in a larger dish (like a lasagna pan or roaster) and fill with hot water to about 1 inch up the sides of your cake pan.

Cook for 40-50 minutes or until top is brown and starting to crackle. Serve warm or chilled, preferably with ice cream!

Linked up to Tasty Tuesday & Lemon Recipes at The Happy Housewife.

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Sweet Beet & Heat Salad

For our first wedding anniversary, Mr. V and I had a little Nashville staycation. We spent one night at a bed and breakfast in Leiper's Fork, saw a movie in the (now-closed) Franklin Theatre, used our season passes to see a show at the Boiler Room Theatre, and had a fancy dinner at Restaurant Zola (also closed now ... are we bad luck?).

Perhaps other foodies can relate, but I remember pretty much every dish I've cooked and many that I've eaten out. Some sort of crazy Food Memory.

At Zola, I had a wonderful salad they called "Beet and Heat" (I think). While I'm not a huge beet eater, I love pickled beets on the salad bar. Last week, visions of this salad started floating in my head after I bought some lovely, organic beets at Green Life.

So I pretty much made it up as I went along. Forgive me lack of real measurements, and experiment to make it to your liking!

Sweet Beet and Heat Salad with Mustardy Vinaigrette

Serves two

1 beet, roasted (I used this as a tutorial)
1/4 cup pecan pieces, toasted in a skillet and then sprinkled with brown sugar and cayenne pepper (lots of sugar, a pinch of cayenne is my preference. Stir to let combine and cool.)
romaine or spring mix lettuce
crumbled goat cheese

Divide your lettuce among two salad plates. Slice your beet and put slices atop lettuce. Sprinkle with goat cheese and pecan pieces. Add vinaigrette just before serving.


Mustardy Vinaigrette
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/4 c. white wine vinegar
salt and pepper
olive oil, to taste

Whisk together mustard, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Stream in olive oil until runny but not too oily--you want it to still be very tart. Taste as you go along until it is how you like it. Drizzle over salads.

Hopefully your husband will at least taste it. Ahem.

Linked to Mouthwatering Monday and Tasty Tuesday.



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Stewed Lentils and Tomatoes - $5 Dinner Challenge

After hearing Jo-Lynne talk all the time about her love for Ina and reading somewhere that most of the Barefoot Contessa recipes are whole foods, I knew it was about time I tried an Ina Garten creation.

I'd snagged a copy of Barefoot Contessa at Home from Paperbackswap (after being on the wait list for about three years!) a few months ago. But with the hubbub of moving, I had yet to try a recipe.

I like lentils but I have had issues knowing how to prepare them. The one time I tried to make them like I had them in Brazil, my final product really fell flat.

These stewed lentils, though, did not disappoint. Aromatic, deeply flavored, and singing with thyme, I could eat them every week! We ate them as a side with a little bit of leftover London Broil, but they would be a fine main meal as well.

Stewed Lentils and Tomatoes
slightly adapted from Barefoot Contessa at Home by Ina Garten

2 tsp olive oil
2 c. large-dice yellow onions (.40)
2 c. large-dice carrots (.44)
1 T minced garlic
28 oz. diced tomatoes (I used fire-roasted with garlic, and omitted garlic above) (.40)
1 c. green lentils (.39)
2 c. homemade chicken stock
2 tsp. mild curry powder
2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves (.24)
2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 T white or red wine vinegar

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add onions and carrots and cook for 8-10 minutes, until the onions start to brown, stirring occasionally. Add garlic (if using) and cook for 1 more minute.

Rinse and pick over the lentils to make sure there are no stones in the package.

Add tomatoes, lentils, chicken broth, curry powder, thyme, salt, and pepper to the pan. Raise the heat to bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer covered for 40-50 minutes, until lentils are tender.

Remove from heat and let sit, covered, for 10 more minutes. Stir in vinegar and season to taste.

Total Cost: $1.87 + trace amounts for items I always have on hand
Leftover London Broil: $2.67 (about 1/3 of the beef I bought)

Grand Total: $4.54 for a whole lot of deliciousness, and plenty of leftover lentils for lunches!

As a bonus, Libbie LOVED them! For a girl who only a week ago would eat just bread, cheese, bananas, and applesauce, that's definitely saying something!


Linked up to the $5 Dinner Challenge and Tasty Tuesday.





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Still Not Sure What to Make for Christmas Dinner?

My mother-in-law will be doing all the cooking this year, so I won't get to experiment with any holiday recipes. But maybe you will! Here's a menu that will satisfy many tummies.

Turkey
Easiest Way to Cook a Turkey -- Heavenly Homemakers

Bread
Holiday Dinner Rolls -- The Finer Things in Life
Grandma Ruth's Stuffing -- AllRecipes (the picture is awful, but I've made this and it was delicious!)

Salad
Cornbread Salad -- The MawMaw (or)
Layered Salad -- VW

Side Dishes
Crockpot Mashed Potatoes with Cream Cheese and Sour Cream -- A Year of Slow Cooking
Bacon-Wrapped Green Bean Bundles -- The Finer Things in Life
Broccoli and Rice Casserole -- Giving Up on Perfect
Simple Sweet Potato Casserole -- Happy Housewife
Scalloped Corn -- VW

Cranberry Sauce
Crockpot Homemade Cranberry Sauce -- A Year of Slow Cooking (or)
Cranberry, Cherry, and Walnut Chutney -- VW

Dessert
Molasses Cut-out Cookies -- Musings of a Housewife
Cake Balls -- Busy Girl Blog
Cherry Cheesecake Pie -- VW


For more delicious recipes, visit Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

[P.S. For a while, the most-searched for phrase on this blog was "broccoli cheese dip." I do NOT have a recipe for that on the blog, but I ran across this one on Kraft foods the other day: Hot Broccoli Dip. So there ya go. Now all those who are dying for some broccoli cheese dip can make it!]

C is for Cupcakes

When the cold weather starts to bite, I start to bake. I don't know why. The Christmas-ness of it, I guess.

See evidence A:



Erm, yes. My stove really is THAT dirty. Unfortunately the cold weather doesn't make me want to CLEAN.

Friday night I dragged Libbie out in the cold to Target, to which I had a gift card, so I could buy baking supplies. A cart full of butter, eggs, oats, M&Ms, chocolate chips, and a size 18 month shirt later, I was back at home and tucked Libbie in. Then I was tired. Heh.

I did make Crystal's Lazy Granola on Friday and then called it a night.

But Saturday I was back in the kitchen with a vengeance and started to attack these Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes.



I followed the cake recipe exactly, so I'm not going to repost it here--you can see it at that link. It is a very tasty chocolate cake recipe and the surprise peanut butter ball on the inside only adds extra goodness! I ended up only making 18 cupcakes rather than 24, but I think I filled the cups a little too full trying to cover the PB ball.



I forgot to get Cool Whip at the store so I had to improvise on the peanut butter cream cheese frosting. Here's what I did.

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 T butter, softened
2/3 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup peanut butter
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted or whisked

With a electric mixer, whip the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until well mixed. Add peanut butter. With mixer on low, add the powdered sugar one cup at a time until you reach desired consistency.

(Make sure you refrigerate anything you make with cream cheese frosting, of course!)



I didn't have any tools with which to pipe the frosting on nicely, but they still taste pretty darn good. The frosting is heavenly. These 12 are all sitting nicely in my Wilton cupcake/cake carrier, ready to go to work tomorrow. To a party for me. Because I don't have anyone to feed them to here, and I'm not going to eat them all by myself!

Linked to Mouthwatering Mondays, Tasty Tuesday, and Cupcake Tuesdays.

Chock Full of Healthy Muffins

DISCLAIMER AND NOTICE TO YOUR NASAL HEALTH: Do NOT give these to your one-year-old. There will be gastrointestinal distress and you WILL be sorry.

(I know they don't look pretty, and these were frozen and I don't have a picture of them fresh out of the oven. Oops!)

I'm sure Mr. V would be somewhat alarmed to find out I've been experimenting more with "whole foods" options in his absence from our home. I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, which I personally believe is so prevalent because of the hormones that are found in our foods. Because I've started thinking about when we might start trying to have Baby #2, and because I don't want Libbie to have to deal with this struggle, I am trying to stick to healthful foods for her.

I'm definitely not a purist, but I try to keep things in moderation, especially for her. And maybe some day I'll be able to wrench the diet drinks out of my hand and stick to water and herbal tea...

Anyway, these muffins are moist, delicious, and a WONDERFUL source of fiber. Because of all the fiber, they are quite filling and make a satisfying breakfast for me. You do need to freeze them after three days if you haven't eaten them all or they will mold. Not that I figured that out by experience. No siree Bob.

Chock Full of Healthy Muffins
Adapted from AllRecipes

1 cup all-purpose, unbleached flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or use all whole wheat, I think it would work fine)
3/4 cup flax seed meal
3/4 cup oat bran
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar (could substitute sucanat, rapadura, or turbinado sugar)
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 T honey
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
2 T melted butter or coconut oil
2 cups shredded carrots
2 apples, shredded (can peel if you want; I didn't.)
optional mix-ins: 1/2 cup raisins, 2 T sunflower seeds, and/or 1 cup mixed nuts

In one bowl, combine flours, flax seed meal, oat bran, brown sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Whisk to combine.

In another bowl, stir together maple syrup, honey, milk, eggs, vanilla, butter or oil, carrots, apples, and mix-ins.

Add wet ingredients to dry and stir together until just blended. Pour into lined muffin tins. Bake at 350 F for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry.

Makes 18 muffins.

Submitted to:
Mouthwatering Mondays at A Southern Fairytale
Tasty Tuesdays at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
Cupcake (and Muffin!) Tuesdays at Hoosier Homemade

Bon Appetit!

My Attempt at Being the Pioneer Woman

... and also at healthy-ing up a dish, somewhat.

Poppy Seed Chicken is a Southern favorite. But it's usually made with sour cream AND cream of chicken soup. Add a whole sleeve of crushed Ritz crackers to the mix and you have your fat for the day in a small dish.

I was feeling creative Saturday night but didn't have much in terms of food to work with except a package of chicken breasts. So I decided to put my own spin on Poppy Seed Chicken and see how it worked out.

I only cooked mine for 30 minutes, which was a mistake. The sauce needed to thicken up more and the chicken needed to cook through slightly more, I think. It was pretty done but not quite as done as I like my poultry.

Without further ado, here is my Pioneer Woman-esque recipe. [For any of you who don't know what that means, it's just that it has step-by-step pictures.]

Poppy Seed Chicken with Havarti
a Vanderbilt Wife original

In a large saucepan, melt three tablespoons of butter.



When the butter is completely melted, whisk in three tablespoons of flour (I used whole wheat). Whisk continually for about a minute.



Whisk in 1 1/2 cups milk. Continue whisking until your sauce thickens. This took about 5 minutes for me on medium-high heat. You want to be able to have your sauce coat a wooden spoon, like this:



Sprinkle in a little salt and freshly ground pepper and about two teaspoons of chicken base or boullion. Then remove the pot from the heat. Chop up three boneless, skinless chicken breasts and about 3 ounces of Havarti cheese (if you are too lazy to find your cheese grater, dicing the cheese is fine).



Stir the cheese and chicken into your sauce. Add 1 tablespoon of poppy seeds. (I only had about half a tablespoon on hand, so my sauce was not very poppy seed-y.)


(oops. blurry sauce. sorry!)

Stir until the cheese is all melted and incorporated into the sauce. Fold in 1/3 cup plain yogurt. Pour the mixture into a medium-size casserole dish (about a 2qt or an 8x8 cake pan).

Next, you need some bread crumbs. I usually have a canister on hand, but I didn't for this, so I made my own for the VERY FIRST TIME EVER. Then when I went to buy some today, I looked at the list of ingredients on the can of bread crumbs and just about died. It's bread! Crumbed! How can there be corn syrup and red #67 in it? Decided from now on I'll just make my own. I used half a hamburger bun from the freezer and it worked fine. Just processed it in my mini chopper.



Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the top of the casserole (this is probably about 1/3 cup). Dot with butter so the crumbs will get nice and golden. (About another 1 1/2 T of butter, cut into very small pieces.)

Pop it in a 350 degree oven for 40-50 minutes or until bubbly in the middle. Serve over rice or egg noodles, something to sop up all the yummy sauce.




And the simplified version.

Poppy Seed Chicken with Havarti

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
3 oz. Havarti cheese, diced or shredded (could substitute Swiss if you can't find Havarti at a good price)
4 1/2 T butter, divided
3 T flour
1 1/2 c. milk
2 tsp. chicken base or boullion
salt and pepper
1 T poppy seeds
1/3 c. plain yogurt
1/3 c. soft bread crumbs

Melt 3 T butter. Whisk in 3 T flour. Whisk for one minute or until bubbly. Whisk in milk; stir continuously for 5 minutes or until thickened. Add salt, pepper, and boullion. Remove from heat.

Stir in chicken, cheese, and poppy seeds. Keep stirring until cheese is all melted. Fold in yogurt. Pour into a casserole dish.

Top with bread crumbs; dot with butter. Cook at 350 for 40-50 minutes. Serve over rice or noodles.

Joyfully submitted to Mouthwatering Monday, Tasty Tuesday, and Friday Feasts.

Visit Kitchen Stewardship for more Un-Processed Foods Recipes as part of the October Fest Carnival of Super Foods. Next week’s theme: “Healthy Fats.”

Mumbling through the Muffins in My Mouth

Lately, I've found that muffins make a great make-ahead breakfast. I am always looking for things I can take to work and eat once I get there, and these are perfect! I made strawberry muffins to take on vacation last week, and they were a big hit! They tasted very dessert-y and got gobbled up. This weekend, I made brown sugar oatmeal muffins that are much more healthy-tasting. They make a great, filling breakfast with a piece of fruit.

As I almost always do, I tweaked recipes, but stayed pretty true to course. Here's the recipes I made.



Fresh Strawberry Muffins adapted from A Recipe a Day

1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour [I used 1 cup all purpose and 1 cup whole wheat]
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups chopped strawberries
1 T turbinado (raw) sugar [using raw sugar really adds a crunch to the topping, but if you don't have it you can use regular sugar or cinnamon-sugar]

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and mix well.

Add flour, baking powder, and salt to a small bowl. Stir well with a wire whisk. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to butter mixture. Add vanilla. Gently stir in strawberries.

Spoon batter into muffin pans.

Sprinkle turbinado sugar over muffins.

Bake at 400º for 20-25 minutes.

Makes one dozen muffins.

Brown Sugar Oat Muffins originally from Taste of Home but found at this blog

1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small bowl, combine the first six ingredients. In another small bowl, beat the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Stir into the dry ingredients just until moistened.
Fill muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 400° for 15-17 minutes. Yield: 1 dozen.

For more Tasty Tuesday recipes, visit Jen at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam. And here are some of my old Tasty Tuesday submissions. Also, visit Cupcake Tuesday at Hoosier Homemade!

Sloppy Chicken Pizza, My Way

It ain't perty, but it sure is gud!

I find that Rachael Ray recipes are hit-or-miss for me. Sometimes they are just too crazy, too spicy, too many ingredients. But I will say, I love the 365: No Repeats cookbook. It has tons of great recipes, and some of them don't even make me completely insane (or breathe fire).

This one I've cooked several times, and I think I've finally got my tweaks down. I confess that I do not garnish, because garnish = extra groceries = money. But I'm sure the suggested herbs and scallions would make this pretty. I don't think it could taste any better, though!

Her recipe calls for ground chicken, which is what I have always used in the past. Since I already had frozen chicken cutlets on hand, however, I decided to make do with those and LOVED the result. I thought the topping was less heavy and I just enjoy the taste more than the ground chicken. I think any meat could probably be substituted, though.

"Rach" calls this 4 servings, which I think is laughable! It easily feeds 6 hungry adults with a side vegetable or salad.

BBQ Sloppy Chicken Pan Pizza
Adapted from Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats

2 boxes corn muffin mix (8.5 ounces each)
2 eggs
4 T unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup frozen corn kernels
extra virgin olive oil for the pan

TOPPING
1 T olive oil
1 lb. chicken (I boiled frozen chicken breast cutlets and cut them into small pieces)
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, diced
salt and pepper
1 T chili powder
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. hot sauce
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 cup tomato sauce
3 T brown sugar
2 c. shredded Cheddar cheese
[optional: 3 chopped scallions and 2-3 T fresh chopped parsley or cilantro for garnish]

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

In a large bowl, mix the corn muffin mixes, eggs, milk, melted butter, and corn kernels. Drizzle a little olive oil into a very large nonstick skillet and wipe it around and up the sides with a paper towel. Pour the batter in the skillet and bake at 400 for about 20 minutes or until it is well set and brown on top.

In another skillet over medium-high heat, add 1 T olive oil, chicken, garlic, onion, and red pepper. (If the chicken is uncooked, cook it first before adding veggies.) Season with salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, and hot sauce. Cook for about 5 minutes or until veggies are tender to your liking. Add Wocestershire sauce, tomato sauce, and brown sugar; stir and reduce heat to low. Let simmer about 10 minutes or until your cornbread is done.

Pour the chicken mixture over the cooked cornbread (leaving it in the skillet) and sprinkle with cheese. Return to oven for another 5 minutes or until cheese is all melted. Top with garnishes if you wish.

Mr. V declared this very tasty and I agree!

This post is linked to Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam and Saturdays with Rachael Ray at Taste and Tell.