Recipe review: White Bean Chicken Chili

I saw a yummy-looking recipe pinned on Pinterest the other day and thought it sounded like great food for a snow day. But when I looked up the recipe, it didn't sound so great. The recipe was scaled to feed a crowd, and used very little actual chicken.

I still loved the idea, though, so I hit AllRecipes and found this one there.

Photo from AllRecipes.

I made a couple minor tweaks: I only used one can of beans, and skipped the cayenne. I also used already-roasted chicken breasts from Dillon's deli to cut down on some time and effort. (The secret to getting juicy roasted chicken at the grocery store? Pick it up at 3:30 or 4 pm. By 5 or later, they've been sitting under heat lamps too long and have become nasty-dry.)

This was a hit with my husband -- and that's sayin' something, because he is an avowed soup-hater! And he even commented on how good the chicken was. He's not really a huge fan of chicken, either.

I liked it because it was fairly simple to throw together. And yes, yummy! (A tiny bit too spicy for me, but then, I'm a spice wimp.)

If you've already made traditional chili in the last week but you're not out of snow days yet, this is great cold-weather food! White Bean Chicken Chili, via AllRecipes. Husband and wife approved.

Recipe review: Pork paillards with sour cream sauce

photo from marthastewart.com

So, to use up the other half of the tenderloin I used the other night to make herb roasted pork tenderloin, I was again looking for something quick but tasty. I remembered a Martha Stewart recipe I'd torn from a magazine and tucked away months ago, and tracked it down on the web. Here it is: Pork paillards with sour cream paprika sauce.

A paillard (pronounced "pie-YARD") is simply a cut of boneless meat that that been pounded thin. They're easy to make -- the pounding can be very therapeutic if you've had a stressful day! And because they're thin and of even thickness, they cook quickly and evenly. Here's a step-by-step explanation, also from Martha.

I made this recipe exactly as written, with the exception of swapping out ancho chili powder for the paprika, in about half the quantity. And since we avoid white flour, I served it with brown rice rather than egg noodles, with a side of green beans and pine nuts.

It was a big hit with both the hubs and me. I'll definitely be making this one again!

Recipe review: Herb Roasted Pork Tenderloin

(Plus a recipe for Emergency Herbs de Provence)

It was one of those days when 4:30 was here before I knew it, and I didn't have dinner planned. I have no good excuse. Not even a lousy one.

What to do? Same as usual, when "the usual" doesn't sound good... Hit a recipe website I trust and search for "quick." After a couple other stand-by's (All Recipes, Simply Recipes), I landed on Pioneer Woman and came up with her Herb Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Preserves. Which sounds and look very elegant, but is super, super simple, and comes together in 30 minutes or less.

photo by Pioneer Woman

Basically, you salt and pepper a pork tenderloin, then coat it generously in Herbs de Provence before roasting. Top it off with a simple fruit-preserves-based sauce.

Not having any Herbs de Provence on hand, I googled for a recipe. I came up with several, but ended up using (as a starting point) this one by Emeril. (Yeah, we're on a first-name basis.)

Herbs de Provence often contains lavender, but I didn't have any on hand.  :/

Why this one? Well, because all the herbs have the same proportion, and I like simple! From what I understand, Herbs de Provence has some standard ingredients that are almost always in the mix, but the mix has evolved over time and also, every cook has his or her own variation. Which is great, because there were several ingredients I didn't have on hand. So here's my variation:

Recipe: (Emergency) Herbs de Provence

for one 1.35 lb. tenderloin; multiply as needed

1 t. dried basil
1 t. dried oregano
1 t. dried rosemary
1 t. dried thyme
1/4 t. dried ground sage

PW's original recipe called for 8 tablespoons of H.d.P. That's half a cup - yikes! She was cooking up two whole tenderloins; I was just fixing one tenderloin, slightly over one pound. So I just used all of the above mix, and I still thought it was plenty potently 'picy!

A note on cooking pork... Rather than cooking by time, use a meat thermometer. Pull the roast from the oven when the temp hits 140-145 F. Then tent lightly with foil and let rest at room temp, till the internal temp hits about 160. Slice and serve. Mmm... perfectly tender and juicy!

For the sauce, PW recommends fig, peach, plum, or whatever preserves you wish. I used blackberry. It adds a lovely sweetness that mellows the pungent herb crust. Perfect for a quick dinner for just me and the hubs -- but impressive and foolproof enough to serve special guests!

Recipe review: Chocolate cupcakes in a jar

A couple weeks ago, I happily volunteered to help fill the sweets table at the bridal shower of a family friend. When I asked the bride-to-be about her favorite cakes or pies, she said "Banana creme pie. Or anything chocolate!"

I really worked on the banana creme idea for a while, but because of a busy schedule that weekend, I needed to make the desserts a day in advance, and depend on someone else to deliver them. I was afraid the bananas would be brown and nasty in that time, so I went for something chocolate.

I decided to try this recipe for Super Easy, Super Moist Chocolate Cake from SimplyRecipes. It's an old recipe, and because it's made without eggs, butter or milk, it has been popular in times and places where dairy is hard to get. For that reason, it's sometimes called "War Cake" or "Depression Cake." It would also be a great cake for someone who's allergic to eggs or milk.

It uses vinegar to help give it the rise (along with with baking soda), but don't let that scare you! You won't taste it at all. 

Since I was making this for a shower and wanted something that would look cute on the table, I decided to bake them in 4 oz. Mason jars. Another advantage of cake in jars over cupcakes, is that little kids can eat them with a spoon, making much less mess than unpeeling a cupcake liner and stuffing into little mouths with little hands!

I followed all the directions on the SimplyRecipes version. (Except subbing cider vinegar for white vinegar. Not a significant different in taste or acidity between the two.)

Then I filled up some jars, sitting on a cookie sheet. This is the first batch that I made, using a scant 1/3 c. batter for each jar:

Those came out pretty tall, so for the second batch, I used a scant 1/4 c. of batter. Here's the difference between how the two batches came out:

So if you want tall cakes that pop out the top of the jar, go with the larger amount. If you want them shorter, use the smaller amount -- perhaps even less, if you want to frost them and then put the lids on for transport.

Elise at SimplyRecipes says to cook them for 18 to 20 minutes. I tested them using the toothpick test. (Insert a clean, dry toothpick in the center and pull it back out. If it's clean or just has one or two dry crumbs, the cake is done. If there's batter on the toothpick, put it back in for a few minutes.) I checked them first at 15 minutes, and added 5 minutes to the first batch; just 3 or 4 for the second. 

Elise also said the cake is so moist it doesn't really need frosting. She includes a recipe for a chocolate icing, but I decided to just melt some white chocolate chips and pipe decorations on top. I melted Ghirardelli white chips over simmering water in a double boiler, taking it off the heat when it was mostly melted but still with a few lumps. Then I stirred till the lumps were gone, and stirred a few minutes more, till I thought it was cool enough to not melt a baggie. Poured the chocolate into a sandwich baggie, snipped off just a tiny corner, and went to town: I piped a heart on most of them, and "L" and "M" on a few random ones, for the bride's and groom's initials.

I tasted them after they were cooled: I thought they were okay, but I wouldn't call them super moist. (Maybe hers came out better than mine. Quite possible!) I was thinking/hoping that after sitting closed up for a day, they might get moister. After tasting them the next day, however, I wish I would've done some icing or frosting before applying the initials. But they were cute, anyway!

If you're looking to do something similar for a baby shower, here's a simple decoration from Martha Stewart:

The "pacifier" on top is just two mint Lifesavers candies and one jellybean, held together with a bit of royal icing. I think these would be cute with pink and/or blue jellies for the passy, on top of chocolate icing!

Recipe review: Hummus salad dressing, Mediterranean salad

Last week, Kalyn's Kitchen posted a recipe for Mediterranean Salad with Hummus Dressing, and I made it for dinner that night. I mean, hummus-based dressing -- how genius is that?

To suit our tastes, I made a few tweaks.

• Added a sliced roasted chicken breast, for added protein. (Picked up at the deli.)
• Swapped out red wine vinegar for the lime juice in the dressing. (To suit the hubs' taste.)
• Added a little Splenda; again for my husband. I love things sour; him, not so much. (I mean he doesn't like things sour; not that I don't love him so much!)
• Substituted sun dried tomato slices for the olives, since neither of us are olive fans.
• Sprinkled a little zaahtar seasoning on top.

It made a tasty, easy-to-throw together meal. Still plenty zesty, even with the tweaks. Two thumbs up!

Recipe review: Super-thin pizza crust

Pizza crust made from scratch doesn't happen around here unless my carb-lovin' daughter is home. She's tried several different recipes, and this one from food.com is her favorite. It's easy, pretty foolproof, and has a nice crispy crunch to it. Also, it only calls for eight minutes of resting time, so there's not a long wait for the dough to rise.

She says, "Kneading is key to both the chew and the crunch. Use the windowpane test to see if the dough has been kneaded long enough."

And for low-carbers, here's my favorite low-carb quick fix for a pizza craving.

(Note: the above photo is by Wildflour, a food.com user.)

Peanut butter cups - homemade!

Today's post is a guest appearance by our dear daughter, Annica. Which can only mean one thing: There will be carbs!

Hello, blogosphere! There's a new sheriff in town. By which I mean I am taking over my mom's blog for a day! If you follow the blog (the wonderful, magnificent, glorious thing that is “oh, that's tasty!”) you'll know that I've been mentioned before – in passing. I'm a poor, malnourished college student, so when I come home, my parents make sure I am well fed. And I always help them along with a culinary splurge or two of my own. ;)

At the beginning of spring break, my dad announced that he was absolutely, definitely not going to bake anything sweet while I was home, and he would appreciate it if I would do the same. He didn't want my Rushmore-sized sweet tooth undermining his diet – understandably so. (I've done it before, and I regret to say, I'm all too likely to do it again.) 

Well, fast-forward to yesterday, when he says: “Hey, we should bake something to mail up to your brother.” And if some of the mail-destined sweets happen to “accidentally” make their way into our mouths, well… (Diet be damned, apparently!)

Today I head back to dorm food and Easy Mac, so yeah, I was good with making something sweet!

We debated for a few minutes about what to make, and finally settled on homemade peanut butter cups. I'd made them before, and I knew that while my brother is a fan of Reese's, he no longer would be after eating one of these babies. (Yes, they are that good.)

I went onto allrecipes.com and pulled up this recipe. Plus side: it only calls for four ingredients, all of which are easily found in any pantry in America. (You can dress it up with additions, but let's not get ahead of ourselves here.) Down side: it takes a while to make, and if you want to stay clean … well, that ain't gonna happen, flat out.

Start by melting half of a standard 11.5 oz bag of chocolate chips: milk, white, or dark. (I'm usually a dark chocolate gal – the darker the better – but peanut butter goes well with any percentage. I can honestly say I have no preference.) We used chocolate chips, but also threw in some Ghiardelli chocolate bars.

I used our double boiler, because our microwave is now sitting in my dorm room, 158 miles away. Kinda inconvenient. But you could just put the chips in a plastic baggie and nuke them on the lowest setting until they're almost melted. You'll want to be careful to take them out just a little bit early, though. Over-heated chocolate gets thick and muddy, and you don't want that near your peanut butter!

Fill a mini muffin tin with mini muffin liners. A helpful hint: the smaller the ridges on them, the better. If your muffin liners have deep ridges, they'll be harder to peel off.

If you melted your chocolate in a plastic baggie, congratulations! You have automatically completed the next step! If you didn't, transfer your melted chocolate to a plastic baggie and snip off just the tip of one corner. This is where the mess begins, if you're not careful. Here's where the mess begins even if you are careful!

Fill each muffin cup about a quarter to a third full of chocolate. It wouldn't hurt to spray them with a bit of Pam, either. You will want easy access to these things, so anything you can do to make them easier to peel, go for it!

Next, smush the chocolate up the sides. It helps to move your spoon up and in a diagonal motion, not just straight up. Moving it in a diagonal way helps to get the chocolate into the ridges. Be careful not to leave any holes in the chocolate in the bottom of the cup.

Once you've finished this, pop them in the icebox to harden up.

Next up, the peanut butter filling, a.k.a. the easiest thing to make in the world! Just mix up a cup of peanut butter, (I used Kroger's natural creamy because it consists of peanuts and salt only,) ¼ teaspoon of salt, and half a cup of powdered sugar. Some reviewers suggested adding graham cracker crumbs, in order to get that signature Reese's texture. I personally am not a fan of the texture, but if you are, then this would be the way to go.

Once this is mixed up and your shells are hardened, (which only takes a few minutes) take a spoon or a scoop, -- I used a scoop that equals about 2 T. -- and plop the peanut butter mixture into the shells.

You might need to flatten the PB out a little, with the back of a spoon, or clean fingers.

Melt some more chocolate, then transfer to a plastic baggie as before. Snip off the corner, and cover the peanut butter with chocolate. I suggest going from the outside in. That way, the peanut butter doesn't cave, and the chocolate has a chance to meld together. 

Smooth the tops off (if you want), stick 'em in the fridge to harden, and you got yourself a treat to rival an all-American classic!

And just for kicks, how about these weirdos? Yes, the beauty you see before you is nothing less than bacon peanut butter cups.

My dad is a voracious lover of all meat, especially if that meat has been smoked, and especially if that meat is bacon! We were going to make chocolate-covered bacon, but then I ended up using all of the chocolate on the peanut butter cups. Oops! So we figured, why not get a little bit funky and throw some bacon on the peanut butter cups!

I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by how well these turned out! You can hardly taste the bacon; it just adds a little bit of saltiness that complements the bitterness of the chocolate nicely, and brings out the saltiness of the peanut butter. If I make these again, however, I'll mix the bacon in with the peanut butter.

I hope you enjoyed my guest blog! Now it's back to school for me! (With some of these little delights stowed away in my suitcase...)

You might also like:

Nut tarts

Almond poppyseed shortbread

Super Bowl sweet treats

Recipe review: tiramisu cups (quick & easy!)

I recently did a recipe round-up of a dozen cute little dessert shots. One of those made the final cut for the special birthday party we hosted last week: tiramisu cups from Sprinkle Bakes. Or, as my daughter calls them, "tirami-shooters."

I chose these because: A) they're so gosh-darn cute, B) they're super easy, and C) who doesn't love tiramisu?

Sprinkle Bakes uses a mixture of sour cream and cream cheese in place of the traditional but hard-to-find (and more expensive) mascarpone. I do wish I'd thought to purchase a large star tip for that finessed look when piping the creamy stuff on, but had to make do with a plastic baggie with one corner snipped off. It doesn't affect taste though, does it?

You may notice that there's chocolate in mine.... I couldn't find lady fingers at my grocery store, and didn't feel like taking the longer trip to a specialty store, so I subbed Milk Chocolate Milanos -- which are basically just ladyfingers sandwiched with chocolate. When the tiramisu had sat at room temp for a while, these worked okay because the chocolate became somewhat soft. But when they were served straight out of the fridge, it didn't work so well, because the chocolate hardened and interfered with the creamy, fluffy texture that is tiramisu. So, next time, I will start hunting earlier and go farther afield to find real ladyfingers. Or if I'm feeling especially industrious, make my own.

But these are simple, and darling, and delicious. I will certainly be making them again!

Recipe review: Zucchini Noodles with Peanut Sauce

One of my go-to recipes when I'm cooking lunch for myself is Pantry Pasta from the ever-so-helpful cookbook, Desperation Dinners, because everything you need to make it is stuff you usually have in the pantry.

But I've loaned my copy out to a friend, so today I tried this very similar dish from Kitchen Confidante. It's pretty similar in ingredients and the quick-and-easy factor. And it's tasty, too! I just finished eating it and my tummy is very happy.

I've used zucchini and summer squash as a low-carb alternative to pasta many times -- most frequently when I'm craving spaghetti, or want something noodle-y in my chicken soup. (And as an alternative to pizza crust.) But today I didn't want to mess with making the squash noodles (which means I'm feeling very lazy; they're not that hard!), so I just used some pasta I had on hand and cooked it al dente.

Like most Americans, I'm accustomed to and usually prefer pasta that's been cooked till it's uniformly soft. But al dente means "to the tooth," and requires pulling the pasta out when the outside is soft but the inside still has a bit of resistance when you bite into it. The reason I cook it this way is because this lowers the glycemic index a bit.

I made the peanut sauce as posted by Kitchen Confidante, with a few minor changes:

• I sauteed about a tablespoon of finely diced onion in a bit of canola oil, and added the rest of the sauce ingredients to that, whisking it all together over low heat and eating the finished dish warm.
• I added a pinch of ground ginger.
• I used chicken stock instead of water. This adds flavor and also a bit of protein to the dish.

This dish could easily be made vegetarian by swapping out tofu or some type of pea or bean for the chicken, and using vegetable stock in place of the chicken stock.

It was quick, easy and delish! And I look forward to trying it again with zucchini noodles.

Recipe review: Coffee Heath Bar Ice Cream

For me, living a low carb life means that the majority of the time, I stay away from sugary foods. But it also means that it's okay to splurge once in a while. If "once in a while" turns into "pretty much every day," then it's not working! Also, if I'm going to compromise my healthy habit by eating something sugary, I will only do it for things I really, really love! Grocery store cake or cookies? Nah. Homemade carrot cake or cinnamon rolls? Worth it!

 This ice cream is one of those things that's worth it.

This ice cream recipe from Simply Recipes originally caught my eye as something to make for my husband. He LOVES coffee, and his favorite candy bar is Heath or Skor. But once I tasted it, it became one of my favorites, too!

 We served it at Christmas dinner. It goes great with pumpkin or pecan pie!

 By the way, we don't have an ice cream freezer. (Well, we have a vintage hand-crank one, but that only gets used if there are young children around, eager to take their turn at cranking!) We just put it in a shallow container in the freezer, and stir it every 30-60 minutes. I'm sure it would be even more amazing made in an ice cream freezer, but if you don't have one, don't let that stop you from enjoying this totally-worth-it treat!

You might also like:
Peanut Butter Pie
No-bake Raspberry Lemon Cheesecake

Recipe review: Two "emergency" cookies

First off, let me say that I think the idea of a one-cookie sized recipe is brilliant! I mean, sometimes a girl does just need a little something sweet, and fresh out of the oven, and right now! But usually that means a whole bunch of cookies are going to be calling you from the cabinet for days. Or hours. Depending.

Last week when my daughter was home, she had seen me pin a couple of these one-cookie recipes from Eating Well - Living Thin, and one night morning at our Insomniacs Association meeting, she said, "Let's make some emergency cookies!"

We tried the peanut butter cookie first. And I have to confess: we baked the "whole batch" size. (It was her idea -- honest!) I thought they were great; she was so-so on them at first. But SOMEbody polished off the rest of them the next afternoon and it wasn't me!

The next night we tried the oatmeal cookie version. The recipe recommends quick oats, but all we had was old fashioned. They didn't hold together too well, and the texture just wasn't so great. I figured it was 'cause we had the wrong oats.

So I made them again tonight. This time, I ran the oatmeal through our mini-blender for just a short bit, to make them more like quick oats. And I added some sunflower seeds, because I love them in oatmeal cookies. The cookies (four of them, this time) held together much better, and smelled wonderful while they were baking, but -- I'm disappointed to say -- I still didn't like the texture, and the artificialness of the Splenda was overwhelming.

I dunno... maybe using Whey Low would make a big difference, maybe I'm doing something wrong, maybe sugar and chocolate chips would change everything... but I won't be making the oatmeal cookies again. The peanut butter ones, though, just might make another late night appearance!

Homemade, whole-wheat, and heavenly!

My husband got me a bread machine for Christmas, but couldn't wait till then, so he had me open it a week early! (I had remarked one day that even though we're trying to cut out bad carbs, not all bread is bad. And I mentioned that I'm sure you could make healthy bread at home, but it was such a hassle. Thanks for listening, Honey!)

First, we tried the recipe for whole wheat bread that came with the  machine. It was so dense... ugh! So I hit All Recipes and found this recipe; it was the second one we tried, and we haven't tried any others -- it was a home run! And as toast... yum!

We made it daily for the next four days. (In our defense, the kids were home from college, so it wasn't just the two of us snarfing it down!)

A few tips:

1. I used the method I found in another recipe there, which is to put the water, honey and yeast in the bread pan first and let the yeast bloom while you put together the dry ingredients. I know, I know -- that's opposite of what the manufacturer and most other recipes recommend, but it worked great. The bread came out with the perfect balance of light fluffiness and having just enough texture to feel satisfyingly healthy.

2. Even though it's whole wheat, use the "basic" and "light crust" settings on the bread machine.

3. In my machine, I actually had better luck scaling the recipe up to 16 servings. (Which is really easy to do on All Recipes; it does the math for you!)

4. If you like the recipe as much as we did, here's a time-saving tip: once you have all your ingredients in the machine, make another batch of the dry ingredients (leaving out the yeast) and pack it in a gallon baggie. That way, you only have to dirty those measuring cups once and you'll save yourself a little time every other time you make it!

Recipe review: Twice-baked cauliflower (low carb!)

photo by Kalyn's Kitchen

Yes, this is every bit as delicious as it sounds! Whether you're trying to cut down on carbs, or trying to sneak more veggies into your kids' meals, or just want to play a trick on someone who says they hate cauliflower (perhaps your own taste buds?), this is your ticket.

In Kalyn's updated version of this dish, she uses reduced fat cream cheese and sour cream, but me, I use the real stuff. Do as your own conscience allows, though.

Kalyn's recipe calls for completely mashing the cauliflower -- which I think would peg the comfort food scale! -- but I don't have a potato masher I'm happy with, and I wanted a chunkier texture than the mixer would get me, so I used a pastry blender. Worked great!

If you try this dish and fool someone into thinking it's really potatoes, let me know. I bet you can pull it off!

You might also like:
Roasted Garlic "Mashed Potatoes"
Garlic Herb Cream Cheese Dip
Peanut Butter Pie (low carb)

Recipe review: Salsa Verde Chicken

Mmm... Made this for dinner tonight! The original recipe from simplyrecipes.com is super simple, but I wanted to get some vegetables and fiber in the meal without making a second dish, so I put one 10-oz. can of Rotel with Lime and Cilantro and part of a can of black beans in the pan before putting the chicken breasts in. It worked great! I placed the hot, cheesy chicken on the dinner plate first, then scooped out some of the saucy beans and tomatoes as a side dish. And all from one pan!

Oh, and I only used one 7 oz. can of salsa verde. Yeah, I'm a spice wimp!