seafood bisque and herbed fococcia bread

This one is being tweaked as I write it. The directions can be a bit tricky and I modified as I made it.

The basic ingredants are:

1 can minced claims
1 can tiny shimp
1 pkg of imitation crab meat
bacon -- I had 1/2 a pound frozen in the freezer and just cut three narrow strips
front the side, chopped that into smaller peices
3 large potatoes -- peeled and diced
1 1/2 C dice onion
1 can cream of celery soup + 1 soup can of milk
1 1/2 c milk
2 c boiling water
1/4 tsp curry
2 c cream or half and half
3 T cornstarch
thyme

In your largest soup pot (cause yeah, I need a bigger one) put in a dab of olive oil to start the bacon browning.

While the bacon is browning peel the potatoes and dice (I actually sliced and then dice but meh do what you want) and dice up the onion. Once the bacon is browned saute the onion for a few minutes and then throw in the pototes to start cooking.. let this cook for a while until the potatoes are softish

While all of that is cooking, drain the clams and shimp -- keep the juices those go in a large bowl, the meat goes in a small bowl. Add to the large bowl of juices the can of soup and all the milk, the curry and the boiling water. Add this to the pot and let it simmer for about 25 minutes.

Add clams, shimp and crabmeat -- let simmer for another 5 minutes

Combine the cream/half and half with the cornstarch and slowly add to the pot, stirring, let his simmer for a few more minutes

The bread, I'm not a bread maker so actually stole my bread idea from another blogger

http://joyinmykitchen.blogspot.com/

it's good ..

Long time no see

It's been awhile, but life has been busy.. Since I last updated, I've moved -- sharing a condo with a good friend of mine, I've been to a convention -- yayyy Origins, and have worked on breaking away from the crockpot. I also saw my brother leave on his deployment to Afghanistan with the National Guard -- he's out there somewhere, but the location is top top secret lol.

Making a promise to myself to keep up on this a bit better, however, life is crazy with work and school and the contemplation of a part-time job... soooo if it isn't updated come and find me cause I'm buried.

I'm still doing the menu by the month thing, so here we go

Seafood bisque w/herbed fococcia bread
Beef Stroganof
Honey ribs and rice
Meatloaf -- this one all of you know already lol

Sweet and Sour Sausage Dish

Ok .. it's easy and it's zomg delicious...

kielbasa
1 can pineapple chunks - drained
2 bell peppers -- I used a yellow and an orange
honey bbq sauace

Julienne the peppers, cut kielbasa in chunks and drain the pineapple -- and that is all the prep work for this dish.

Throw it all in the crockpot and let it go .. mine started to scorch a bit after 2 hours on high, so I'm going to go with the assumption that about 1.5 hours on high, then on low for a couple more.

Meatloaf

Mini-MeatLoaf

1/3 C packed brown sugar
1/3 C ketchup

1 pound ground meat – use your favorite
1/3 C finely crushed cracker crumbs
1/3 C milk or 1/3 C dried milk and 1/3 C water
1 egg

To taste: usually 1 ½ teaspoon

Beef powder
Dried garlic
Oregano
Italian seasoning
Basil
Worcestershire sauce
Dried mustard or prepared (honey Dijon is awesome)
Salt and pepper
Dried onion

The “to taste” items are really to taste; if you don’t like garlic don’t use it for example. The spices and seasonings can be replaced, extra added, less added. I love onions and so I end up doing about 2 tablespoons of onions. I rarely measure anything except for the few ingredients that have specific amounts listed.

In a large mixing bowl combine all your dry ingredients. Stir to ensure that everything is mixed up then add the meat; break it up a little bit if you need to. Add the wet ingredients and combine until well mixed.

Lightly spray a casserole dish with cooking spray so the meat doesn’t stick. Form the “dough” into four approximately equal mini loafs and place in the dish.

Mix the brown sugar and ketchup together, for variety add a little Worcestershire sauce for some added kick; and spread over top of the meat.

Preheat oven to 350 and bake for approximately 45 minutes or until done.

This dish makes 4 dishes of food. For the single that means your meal tonight, and three lunches at work. Add in some mashed potatoes and a veggie and you’re set for the week.

Variations:

This recipe makes excellent meatballs. Prepare as normal but roll the meat into small meatballs, place on a tray or plate to freeze if you want to keep them or cook them right away and add into your pizza soup, spaghetti or whatever you want for the night. The meatballs will freeze, wrapped in plastic wrap, for about 3 weeks.

Peach Baked Oatmeal

Ok, this one actually brought back memories of summer camp. Getting up early to be the first to the tables to dig in. And super bonues it's super easy. The only change I made was to omit the 1/2 C of oil *gag*.

1/2 C sugar/splenda
1 egg
2 C dry quick oats -- I used old fashioned, turned out fine
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
sale
3/4 C milk
Fruit

Spray the crockpot with cooking spray -- honestly this didn't seem to matter much

Throw everything in the crockpot, layer peaches on top -- can use any fruit you want and for the short cooking time don't worry about fresh. I used canned peaches and it was perfect

Cook on high for approximately 2 hours. You want the oatmeal to look dry when it's done.

If you save this for in the morning, microwave for about a minute, sprinkle with a bit of sugar and float in a bit of milk. yummy!!!
Notes:

Change nothing but the mix-ins.... other fruits, nuts... skys the limit.

Sour Beef

I didn't really change this recipe at all. The smell it gives while cooking is phenominal to be honest

3-4 lb pot roast -- I used a sirloin tip roast that was on sale
1/2 C cider vinegar
1 large onion - chopped -- I did only 1/2 an onion
3 bay leaves
salt to taste
1.4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp garlic powder

place roast in crock pot. add remaining ingrediants.

Cook for 8-10 hours on low.

Notes:

So far again, nothing I would change.

Vanilla Bean Rice Pudding

I halved this recipe and used vanilla extract instead of a real vanilla bean -- although if you want to use it I'll give you the information on adding it to the recipe. This turned out exceedingly well and it just the right amount of sweet that it kills the sweet craving. I also used Splenda intead of real sugar as I'm trying to use that more and more to cut back on my sugar intake.

3 (6)C Milk
3/4 (1 1/2) C uncooked rice
1/2 (1)C sugar/Splenda
1 C Raisins (options as I loathe raisins)
1 T butter melted
sprinkle of salt
1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp extract
1 egg
cinnamon
4 (8) oz sour cream

Combine milk, rice, sugar, butter and salt -- add raisins if using them, in crockpot and stir together. Add vanilla extract or scrape seeds from the bean and add them with the bean husk

Cover and cook on high for 2.5 - 4 hours or just until rice is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed -- I had approxmately 1/2 c of milk roaming around.

Scramble egg and mix with a bit of the rice to temper the egg and then put into the crockpot. Cook for 1 minute while stirring and then remove the inner shell of the crockpot and place on the counter top.

Let it sit for about 5 minutes and then add cinnamon and sour cream -- at this point pull the bean husk out and throw it away.

Notes:

Really nothing I would change with this recipe.. it's really good just the way it is.

Wild Mushrooms Italian

I cut parts of the recipe down a bit as one person cannot eat the full recipe w/out going insane, the correct amounts will be in () in case you're making this for more than just one.

1 (2) large onion -- chopped
1 (3) large red bell peppers -- I used a yellow one
2 T oil
1 container of mushrooms -- my grocery store had baby portobellas on sale
dried minced garlic to taste -- recipe called for 4 minced cloves
3 bay leaves
10 fresh basil leaves chopped -- I used a handfull of dried and it worked just fine
pepper
tomatoes -- calls for a 28 oz can of diced plum, I found real plum tomatos on sale
so I cut those up, I used an heirloom tomato I had and then 5 plum tomatoes

saute' onions and pepper in oil in a skillet until soft. I threw the dried garlic in as well to give it time to soften and infuse into the oil. Stir in mushrooms and saute' until mushrooms begin to turn brown.

Put everything into your crockpot and cook on low -- I actually set mine on high for about 4 hours and it worked just fine.

Notes:

I'm hoping that this will be a good side for the sour beef I've also made. I'm not a huge fan of bell peppers tho was assured by a friend that yellow, orange and red have a different flavor than green so I'm trying this.

Facebook and other sundries

In my bordom at the end of this week I found myself accepting more food stuffs for cafeworld on Facebook -- what a delicious waste of time, but now I'm obssessed! I have to upgrade all the time, I'm using all the free food people have sent me cause making the stuff actually takies way to much time... and I actually posted a facebook status asking my friends to send me more cafeworld food. It's sad, but yeah.

Friday night I went to a friends' house and a bunch of us watched a movie in our quest for the worst movie ever... in my mind Plan Nine from Outer Space is probably close to the worst one I've ever seen --- it's sooooo horrible it's quite comical lol. But it was a good night. We also watched a dark and twisted version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs -- can't remember the exact title but it had Sigourney Weaver cast as the wicked step mother .. quite interesting indeed.

Saturday the boyfriend came over, did the meanial tasks that one does on the weekend -- including grocery shopping weeee ... I hate going to the grocery store but alas as it's a necessary evil I went for the month and got everything I needed to make some of the recipes on my list.

This weekends cooking forays were Wild Mushrooms Italian, Vanilla Bean Rice Pudding and Sour Beef. I'll, of course, post those in separate posts but the mushrooms turned out really good, the rice pudding excellent and so far the sour beef smells divine.

So with my homework done, the kitchen all clean and laundry started -- which btw who takes someone else's laundry out of the washer and leaves it out? Slightly rude in my opinion!!! I now shall blog and play facebook lol.

Soup

So, it's winter -- sorry being redundant and couldn't think of a better way to start this, but yeah .. so soup .. soup is a wonderful thing .. easy and oh so good.

Gawd I hate cliches but there we go

So.. Creamy Steak Soup, sounds more complicated than it really and can can easily be turned into a vegetarian dish for those that are not meat inclined (but really meat is sooooooo good and everything has a life cycle and cows are for us to eat in my humble opinion)

1 lb ground beef
1/4 large onion diced
12 oz can of V-8
2 med potatoes diced
can of cream of mushroom soup
can of cream of celery soup
16 oz bag of frozen veggies
basil, marjoram, dried garlic, salt/pepper, bay leaves, beef broth powder
Optional
Celery, mushrooms, seasonings.

Chop the onion and saute slightly before adding the hamburger and garlic. Throw in some beef broth powder, basil and the marjoram to taste. (roughly a 1/2 teaspoon of each) Cook til brown.

While the hamburger is cooking chop celery -- I used an entire heart of celery cause umm I had it and it's good. Dice potatoes and throw in bowl with the celery.

In the crockpot put the potatoes, celery, soups, V-8 juice and can of mushrooms with juice, and veggies. Put meat on top of it all and stir well to mix it up. Salt and Pepper to taste, add in some more herbs if needed and toss in a couple of bay leaves.

Cook on low for approximately 8ish hours until potatoes are cooked through.

Notes:

This is extremely easy to make, and really any veggies can be thrown in; it's kind of a kitchen sink soup.

No extra liquid really needs to be added.

Turkey Noodle

This is my way of rebelling against the whole low carb thing and using what I already have and what was free. My mother cans, basically if it can be cooked she has canned it.

Noodles -- your favorite kind, tonight mine was a mixure of what was left of my
Campanelle and some of the Rigatoni that I had on hand.
Turkey -- This is home canned pre-cooked turkey so it will just be mixed in
Green beans -- again home canned
Mushrooms -- yeah well .. she hasn't learned how to home can mushrooms yet so store
bought lol
Cheese -- favorite kind of course
Bread.

Cook the noodles and drain -- reserve some of the water so it's not to dry. Add in Turkey, beans, mushrooms and cheese, mix well. Toast a slice or two of bread and spoon noodle mixture over the top. I usually add in some spices like dried oregano or basil, just to taste.

Ruben Chicken

I really modified this dish, the original called for 6 chicken breast, and while I'm a damn good German, I cannot eat that much saurkraut. So here is the modified dish that I made.

2 boneless chicken breast
Light Thousand Island dressing
11oz can of saurkraut
honey dijon mustard
swiss cheese

Spray crockpot with cooking spray. Spread a thin layer of drained saurkraut on the bottom of the pot and put some of the dressing on top. Place chicken breast on top and then cover with more saurkraut and dressing. Place swiss cheese on top of mix and cook for approximately 3 1/2 to 4 hours.

Notes:

You can get away with a smaller can of saurkraut -- tho the large can makes a perfect grease container for in the freezer so if you need a new one go for it lol, you can always reserve what you don't use for another dish.

The saurkraut needs to be drained really well as it leaches even more moisture during cooking and can turn the dish super soggy.

Hold off on putting the cheese into the dish until towards the end, cooking that long it turns into a leathery hocky puck kind of texture among the saurkraut.

Breakfast Skillet

So, I made my breakfast... crockpot style lol

The original recipe was a little different then what I ended up doing, so I'll post both the original and the revised recipe.

Original:

3 C milk
5 1/2 oz box au gratin potatoes
1 tsp hot sauce
5 eggs
1 T prepared mustard
4 oz can sliced mushrooms
8 slices of bacon, cooked and crumb led
1 C shredded cheese

Revised:

2 C milk
2 Medium potatoes, peeled and sliced
5 eggs
2 squirts honey dijon mustard
1 tube breakfast sausage
dried oregano and basil to taste
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1/2 med onion

Cook sausage on stove top until fully cooked, drain well.
Peel two medium potatoes and slice -- I used my food processor
Slice medium onion in half, reserve half for another recipe, remaining half chop in foot processor.
Mix milk, soup, mustard and eggs together, add potatoes and onions and seasonings.

Pour liquid mixture into crockpot and add sausage. Cook on high for approximately 4 hours, stir once in awhile.

Notes:

The mushrooms were left out because I forgot them, will have to remember in the future.

Milk could be reduced to 1 1/2 cups as there is still quite a bit of liquid to the dish

I left out the hot sauce, but it could definitely be added, I just don't like hot sauce that well to want to have it on hand.

I think I will try hand slicing the potatoes next time, the processor left them really thin, while nice, this is not the texture I really wanted.

This makes a lot, more than the allotted 4-5 servings that the recipe stated, I think this could be pared down a bit more for a smaller amount, will have to test this further.

This is a tasty dish, however, and with some feta cheese for added flavor should be an interesting one at that


Ang