Worldly Wednesday: Lo Mein and Coconut Shrimp

Welcome to my annual recipe crush. Each February I choose a theme, and provide one or two recipes each day for the whole month. This year the theme is Weekly Menu Planning. What are the categories, you ask? We have Sunday Special, Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Worldly Wednesday, Thrifty Thursday, Fishy Friday, and Celebrate Saturday.

Here we are. End of the month. End of the daily recipes for another year. I really hope you found this month an interesting journey. Making life easier—for myself and others--is a goal of mine. And systematizing meal planning is one way I made my life easier. I make calendars for meals so I know what to buy and what I’ll be cooking. I hope you will have an easier, less stressed cooking life, too.

Being Worldly Wednesday is a great way to end the month since I have readers from around the world. I hope you enjoy this last offering. This year. Next year will be a whole new category for February recipes.

I hope you will stop in again, even if it’s not February, to see what’s going on here. The normal posts are about mysteries, recipes, or recipes in mysteries. You just never know!

And if you come back regularly, you’ll find out when Pastabilties is released from Red Adept Publishing this fall as well as the other books in the series. On to the last recipe for February’s Month-of-Recipes.

Half of our current household loves foods of the Pacific Rim. Half does not. The “does not” half will eat Asian foods if served, but the “does not” half never requests them. Too bad! I served this lo mein with shrimp since I knew “does not” wanted more to eat than the noodles. You could make this a Meatless Monday meal without the shrimp.

 

You’ll also note in the picture below that I roasted EVO coated Brussel sprouts that baked alongside the shrimp. Same time! Easy way to cut down on the pans needed for dinner.

Did you ever wonder about the difference between chow mein and lo mein? In chow mein, the noodles are fried first and the sauce added. In lo mein the boiled noodles are tossed with a sauce and done. Lo mein is the easier, quicker dish, right? Also, a more healthful option.

One thing about cooking with rice noodles for this dish is how easy it is compared to cooking wheat-based pasta. After the water comes to a boil, you add the noodles, and take the pot off the heat and let it sit for 8 minutes or so. Drain and use immediately or they get too soft and gushy.

Lo Mein (serves 6-8)

1 pound rice noodles

¾ cup soy sauce

3 cloves garlic, minced

4 teaspoons fresh ginger (raw or Gourmet Garden in produce aisle)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large onion, rough chopped

3 celery stalks, thinly sliced

½ head cabbage, rough chopped

In a small dish, mix soy sauce, garlic, and ginger. Set aside.

Cut up onion, celery, and cabbage as the water comes to a boil for the rice noodles.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add celery and cook for three minutes, stirring so it doesn’t brown.

Add onion and cabbage to the skillet and stir to mix up vegetables.

Put rice noodles into boiling water. Cook according to package directions by removing boiling pot from the heat.

Stir veggies in skillet and cook for another five minutes until onion is tender and cabbage is wilted.

Drain noodles and dump into skillet on top of veggies. Pour sauce over the top and toss to coat veggies and noodles. Serve immediately.

Coconut Shrimp (serves 6) 

1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/c cup cornstarch

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups flaked sweet coconut

3 egg whites, whipped to foamy

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.

Rinse and dry shrimp.

Mix cornstarch and salt in a shallow dish for coating the shrimp. Put coconut in a separate shallow dish.

Beat egg whites until foamy and put in a shallow dish between the cornstarch and the coconut.

Dredge shrimp in the cornstarch and shake off excess. Dip into the egg white and roll in the coconut. Place shrimp on baking pan. Repeat with all the shrimp.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Check for doneness and toasting of coconut. Serve alone or with your favorite dipping sauce. One good sauce is orange marmalade, horseradish, and Dijon mustard combined to your taste. More marmalade if you want it sweeter; more horseradish for more bite.

NOTE: I cheated this time. I always keep frozen appetizer-style foods in the freezer in case someone drops by, and I need to serve something with drinks. One of those is breaded shrimp. I used a box of the breaded shrimp and dipped them into whipped egg whites and coconut before baking. Not as good as my recipe above, but very fast to do.

DH’s Rating: 4 Tongues Up

DH: “You know I don’t particularly like Asian food. This is tasty, it’s just not my favorite. And it was too salty.” Me: “So should I make it again? Use low-sodium soy sauce?” DH: “Mmmm. Maybe.” Me: “What did you like best about it?” DH: “The shrimp.”  Sigh.

Taco Tuesday: Mojito Carnitas Fajitas + Two-Bite Pie

Welcome to my annual recipe crush. Each February I choose a theme, and provide one or two recipes each day for the whole month. This year the theme is Weekly Menu Planning. What are the categories, you ask? We have Sunday Special, Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Worldly Wednesday, Thrifty Thursday, Fishy Friday, and Celebrate Saturday.

Remember earlier this month when I said that I have a loose definition of taco? Yeah, well, this is an example of that. We love fajitas since they are quick and tasty and different from having traditional tacos on Tuesdays. So if you’re a purist, you can move this recipe, on your planner, to Worldly Wednesday or Thrifty Thursday.

This is also one of my very quick-to-make meals. You could even do all the prep in the morning (another good recipe benefiting from mise en place) and let it sit waiting for you. The meat will be even better sitting with its spice blend all day.

I make this two ways. Sometimes I use a raw, boneless pork chop cut into strips before seasoning. Other times, I use a leftover already-grilled pork chop cut into strips. I add a bit of olive oil to the spice blend and rub it into the meat to add flavor. Either way is good, but the already-cooked pork chop is an even faster meal.

Mojito Carnitas Fajitas (serves 2-3)

1 large pork chop

Motjito Lime spice blend (McCormick Grill Mates)

one large bell pepper (I use a third of three different colors for eye appeal)

large onion cut into strips

Olive oil

Flour tortillas

Toss the veggies with olive oil and a generous sprinkling of Mojito Lime spice blend. Put into a zipper bag and let sit for at least a half hour.

In a separate zipper bag, coat the strips of pork chop the same way.

Heat a grill pan to medium high heat and brush with olive oil. Put veggies on and turn once. Grill until al dente. Remove to a bowl while you cook the meat.

Before serving, return veggies to the grill and toss with the meat to cook all together.

Serve on flour tortillas immediately.

I’ve mentioned before how much DH likes sweet stuff. These two-bite pies (I call them pie-lettes) are a family favorite. If you just want a bit of pie, not a whole slice, these are perfect. There’s no real recipe, just ingredients you assemble.

Two-Bite Pie-lettes (makes about 30)

2 pie crusts

1 can cherry pie filling (or apple or other flavor).

There will be leftover fruit in the can to put on ice cream.

NOTE: I use my Pampered Chef “Cut and Seal” cutter which cuts the circles of dough and then  crimps the edges when I fold over the dough. If you don’t have this tool, fold over the dough and seal the dough with a fork.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put a Silpat sheet on a large baking pan.

Cut about 30 circles of dough from pie crusts, re-rolling to use up all the dough.

Put 2 cherries and little dab of the cherry filling on a pie circle. Fold over, crimp, and put on baking sheet. I like to put a little of the cherry filling on top to identify the flavor. For apple, I dust the pie-lettes with cinnamon sugar.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Cool down on a cookie rack to allow air to circulate.

DH’s Rating: 5 Tongues Up

He loves his Mexican food. This dish, with the low meat and high veggie ratio appeal to his health consciousness. Plus it tastes yummy.

Meatless Monday: One-Pot Spaghetti

Welcome to my annual recipe crush. Each February I choose a theme, and provide one or two recipes each day for the whole month. This year the theme is Weekly Menu Planning. What are the categories, you ask? We have Sunday Special, Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Worldly Wednesday, Thrifty Thursday, Fishy Friday, and Celebrate Saturday.

Today’s recipe doesn’t have the flavors of marinara sauce cooked for hours, but the fact that you can put it together and sit down to eat in minutes has a lot to recommend it. It’s very tasty, just not Grandma’s “gravy”.

This is by far the quickest and easiest of any of my pasta dishes. When things are too busy to think, I can put this one together and sit for a few minutes to gather myself. With a prep time of five minutes and about 15 minutes on the stove, this is a fast dinner.

There are versions of this all over the Internet, so you may already be familiar with it, but here’s how I cook it. I enjoy a dish of this for lunch later in the week. I could eat pasta anytime! And, this recipe is a good one to use up a lot of that basil in my herb garden.

One-Pot Spaghetti (serves 6-8)

1 pound spaghetti (or penne or other pasta)

1 large onion, rough diced

2 cans diced tomatoes with herbs

3 cups basil leaves

5 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

salt and pepper to taste

4½ cups water

1 cup shredded Asiago cheese (you can use Parmesan) + more for the table

In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, combine all ingredients except cheese.

Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes until pasta is al dente. Stir occasionally to push down spaghetti and distribute ingredients.

Stir in cheese and let sit for a few minutes. The sauce will thicken up as it sits, so serve when it is the right consistency for you. Serve as is or with extra cheese

NOTE: If it’s not Meatless Monday, say it’s Italian-inspired Worldly Wednesday, I cut up a kielbasa into bite-sized chunks and throw it in the pot with the other ingredients.

DH’s Rating: 4 Tongues Up

“I like your regular spaghetti sauce better. This is good, but I like the other one. Is that okay to say?” Yes, it is. When I have time, I do make a realllly good marinara sauce!

Special Sunday: Rosemary Orange Game Hens

  Welcome to my annual recipe crush. Each February I choose a theme, and provide one or two recipes each day for the whole month. This year the theme is Weekly Menu Planning. What are the categories, you ask? We have Sunday Special, Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Worldly Wednesday, Thrifty Thursday, Fishy Friday, and Celebrate Saturday.

Who doesn’t love the little chicks we call game hens? These cuties are fun to work with and look great on a plate. I prepare mine just like I do my turkey for Thanksgiving, except I add sage and thyme to the rosemary for the holiday bird.

Despite my opening line, game hens are not little chickens. I wouldn’t want you to leave here thinking that we kill baby chickens for this meal. They are also not game birds. Nope. The 2½ pound game hens are a hybrid of Rock Cornish and White Plymouth Rock hens. They go by many names: Cornish hen, poussin, Rock Cornish hen, or Rock Cornish.

Because the birds have more meat than is recommended for a serving size, we cut them in half. But, of course, you don’t need to and that’s why this recipe serves 4-8 people.

Rosemary Orange Game Hens (serves 4-8)

4 Rock Cornish game hens, thawed and rinsed out

1 orange, cut into 8 segments

4 tablespoons fresh orange juice

large handful of fresh rosemary, divided

1 stick of butter, melted

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

Divide the rosemary into four equal piles. From each pile set aside a few leaves.

Stuff each bird with one orange segment, the larger pile of rosemary and then the last orange segment. Coat each one with butter, covering the top and bottom of each. Drizzle one tablespoon orange juice over each bird. Sprinkle remaining rosemary of top of each bird.

Bake for an hour to hour and a half or until meat registers 165 degrees on a meat thermometer. Let hens rest for 10 minutes.

Beginning on top, cut through each bird’s breast all the way through the backbone. Remove oranges and rosemary and discard. Serve ½ a hen (or whole) to each person, drizzling each with pan juices.

DH’s Rating: 5 tongues Up

“Tasty! I feel so virtuous eating this. It’s good for us, right?” Yep, roasted is better than fried, healthwise. And the rosemary and orange add a bit of brightness to the meal.

Celebrate Saturday: Cheese Fondue

Welcome to my annual recipe crush. Each February I choose a theme, and provide one or two recipes each day for the whole month. This year the theme is Weekly Menu Planning. What are the categories, you ask? We have Sunday Special, Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Worldly Wednesday, Thrifty Thursday, Fishy Friday, and Celebrate Saturday.

When you want to celebrate casually, but with something other than pizza, you might try this cheese fondue recipe from Andrew Zimmern that was featured in the January 28, 2018 Sunday paper Parade Magazine.

Fondue, like the Mongolian Hot Pot that I started this month with, is communal dining, so it is casual and fun. Everybody sits around the fondue pot and dips (once only!) into the cheese sauce.

Back in the day, I made parties from having Mongolian Hot Pot, cheese fondue, and finished up with dessert of chocolate fondue. Good times! I always made my cheese fondue with beer, but I decided to give this one a try. I’m glad I did!

The secret to a fondue is low and slow. Cook the cheeses at a low temperature and stir, stir, stir until all the shredded cheeses are melted and you have a smooth mixture.

This is also a perfect recipe to practice mise en place (everything prepared in advance so you just add ingredients when needed). I made a few selective changes to his recipe, but the ingredients and quantities are all him.

Cheese Fondue ala Andrew Zimmern (Serves 4-6)

1 garlic clove, cut in half

1 cup dry white wine

1 tablespoon lemon juice

8 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated

8 ounces Emmental cheese, grated

4 ounces fontina cheese, grated (or Appenzeller or raclette)

4 tablespoons corn starch

3 tablespoons kirsch (cherry brandy)

2 pinches ground nutmeg

salt and pepper to taste

Rub inside of heavy pot with cut sides of garlic. Add wine and lemon juice. Heat to simmer over medium heat.

Working in batches, add cheeses and cornstarch. Do NOT bring to boil. Add the next batch of cheeses when the previous batch is fully melted.

When the cheeses are all added and melted, stir in the kirsch, nutmeg, and salt and pepper.

Pour mixture into a fondue pot set to low.

Serve with kielbasa or other cooked sausage, cubed day-old bread, roasted or blanched cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, (and other veggies), and cubed boiled potatoes. This will be a really filling dinner.

If you have any leftover cheese fondue, thin it with a wee bit of milk, cook up some pasta, and toss them together. The best mac and cheese ever!

DH’s Rating: 4 ½ Tongues Up

DH: “This  is really salty.”  Me: “Yeah, it’s all the cheeses. Do you not like it?” DH: “Oh, no it’s really good, it’s just that we don’t eat much salty food anymore so it’s noticeable.”

Fishy Friday: Pecan-Crusted Tilapia with Brandy Butter Sauce

Welcome to my annual recipe crush. Each February I choose a theme, and provide one or two recipes each day for the whole month. This year the theme is Weekly Menu Planning. What are the categories, you ask? We have Sunday Special, Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Worldly Wednesday, Thrifty Thursday, Fishy Friday, and Celebrate Saturday.

We are trying to eat more fish, like many Americans, and we want to have some variety in how we eat it. This nutty, baked mild white fish recipe is one of the ways we’re doing that.

If you haven’t tried tilapia, this recipe is one way to eat it. Tilapia is a mild white freshwater fish. It is the fourth most consumed fish in the U.S. We sometimes eat it baked with an olive oil and tarragon rub for a simple and easy dinner. This pecan-crusted recipe is a bit more time-consuming but not by much. This recipe is really easy but a bit messy. However, DH thinks the mess is worth it, and he’s the one who does the clean-up.

Pecan-Crusted Tilapia (serves 4)

½ cup all-purpose flour, more as needed

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup crushed pecans

3 teaspoon crushed dried rosemary (see NOTE)

1 teaspoon salt

black pepper to taste

16 ounces tilapia fillets

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.

Mix pecans, rosemary, salt, and black pepper in a shallow dish.

On separate shallow plates, place flour, beaten eggs, and pecan mixture.

Dip tilapia fillets in flour and shake off excess; dip fish into beaten egg, then into seasoned pecans, lightly pressing pecan coating onto fish.

Arrange fillets on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake in preheated oven until fish flakes easily with a fork, 12 to 15 minutes. Serve with Brandy Butter Sauce.

Brandy Butter Sauce (serves 4)

2 tablespoons butter

2 ounces brandy

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Melt butter over medium low heat.

Add Worcestershire sauce and brandy. Whisk to blend thoroughly.

Cook sauce for three minutes then spoon over pecan-crusted tilapia.

NOTE: You can season this dish with herbs or spices other than rosemary. Tarragon, fennel, dill, oregano, basil and others go well with fish. Changing seasonings make the same dish seem like a different one!

DH’s Rating: 5 Tongues Up

“I think this is really good. What did you think of it?” Oh, goody! Another way I can serve fish. I’m always on the lookout.

Thrifty Thursday: Bishop's Buffet + Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Welcome to my annual recipe crush. Each February I choose a theme, and provide one or two recipes each day for the whole month. This year the theme is Weekly Menu Planning. What are the categories, you ask? We have Sunday Special, Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Worldly Wednesday, Thrifty Thursday, Fishy Friday, and Celebrate Saturday.

Want to know a little family secret? When the boys were very young, we lived in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Oldest son’s favorite place to eat was Bishop’s Buffet. You went through the buffet line perusing the foods and then told a server what you wanted.

He loved that there were choices, and he could mix and match to create his unique plate of food. A little light on each table could be switched on so a waiter could bring you other items you’d like to have.

Such a good idea! So I started doing this once a week at home. I’d haul out the various dibs and dabs of leftovers and arrange them into proteins, carbs, veggies, and miscellaneous. The boys would go through the “buffet line” and tell me what they wanted on their plates, nutrition be da. . . rned. Bishop Buffet night was about cheap dinner, easy dinner, and fun dinner. You see how this fits Thrifty Thursday with making sure those leftovers get eaten!

But you came here for a specific recipe, so here’s a simple meal that I could assemble after work and have on the table lickety split. The one version is in the recipe, but see the Note for alternatives. Serve the mushrooms as an entrée on a plate or as a sandwich.

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms (to make one mushroom per person)

Large Portobello mushroom cup

½ teaspoon olive oil

5 or so baby spinach leaves

2 tablespoons shredded cheese of your choice

1 teaspoon onions, diced

1 teaspoon tomatoes, diced

cilantro (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Coat all sides of the mushroom with olive oil and place on a baking pan.

Layer the spinach on the mushroom cup and press down gently, making an indentation for other ingredients.

Mix cheese, onions, and tomatoes. Spoon on top of spinach. Bake in oven for several minutes, watching to make sure it doesn’t get too done. Remove when the mushroom gets soft looking and the cheese melts. Add cilantro, if using.

NOTE: Serve the mushrooms with quinoa or fries on a plate in lieu of meat or put on a hamburger bun for a sandwich. Sometimes I just spread it with a butter and garlic mix and broil them. Or DH will grill them. Before eating as a sandwich, we put on some shredded cheese. This makes a nice alternative to a meatburger.

DH’s Rating: 4 Tongues Up

DH: “It always surprises me how filling this is.” Me: “Yep. Portobellos are meaty.” DH: “And tasty!” Yep, and tasty.

Worldly Wednesday: Americanized Quiche Lorraine

Welcome to my annual recipe crush. Each February I choose a theme, and provide one or two recipes each day for the whole month. This year the theme is Weekly Menu Planning. What are the categories, you ask? We have Sunday Special, Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Worldly Wednesday, Thrifty Thursday, Fishy Friday, and Celebrate Saturday.

This French-inspired dish has been a family favorite for years, and fresh from the oven, all puffed up, it has impressed brunch and dinner guests alike.

Quiche is a standby in our family’s panoply of foods. I’ll bet I make it at least once a month, sometimes meatless, sometimes with chicken or salmon, and sometimes in the more classic Quiche Lorraine recipe of today.

DH loves it for dinner, brunch, or lunch. And because he is abstemious in his eating habits, one quiche provides us with three meals each.

My quiche is a simple matter--I don’t do hard, remember--so you can whip this up in nothing flat and then forget it in the oven for an hour to an hour and a half depending on the altitude and how your oven cooks.

Americanized Quiche Lorraine (serves 6-8)

1 pie crust

1½ cup Asiago cheese, divided

2 cup packed spinach

½ cup mushroom pieces

8 large eggs, slightly cooler than room temp

2 cups heavy whipping cream

sprinkle of salt and pepper

2 teaspoons nutmeg

3 green onions, sliced

6 slices of crispy-cooked bacon, torn to bits

Preheat oven to 375º. Put pie crust in pie pan. Spread ¾ cup of cheese on the pie crust bottom, going up the sides a bit.

Layer spinach and mushrooms. Press into pan, but it will be full.

Cut onions and bacon into small pieces and set aside.

Whisk eggs until a light, lemony color. Add cream and blend thoroughly. Add spices and whisk again. Fold in onions and bacon.

Pour the eggs slowly over the spinach mixture, making sure the eggs coat all the spinach mixture. Press down on spinach, if necessary, to coat with eggs. Sprinkle remaining cheese over the top.

Bake at 375º for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350º. Bake for at least another 45 minutes and check for doneness.

Quiche can take up to 1-1½ hours of baking time depending on the oven. A done quiche has three characteristics: rises to a lovely brown dome, no jiggle in the middle, and a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

DH’s Rating: 5 Tongues Up  

It doesn’t matter what quiche I make, DH loves it. It’s so reassuring to know you have an easy, go-to, never-fail dinner on tap!

Taco Tuesday: Kalua Carnitas Tacos

Welcome to my annual recipe crush. Each February I choose a theme, and provide one or two recipes each day for the whole month. This year the theme is Weekly Menu Planning. What are the categories, you ask? We have Sunday Special, Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Worldly Wednesday, Thrifty Thursday, Fishy Friday, and Celebrate Saturday.

Kalua pork, not be confused with Kahlua, is a dish that originated in Hawaii, but like most foods has morphed into a variety of recipes. The one we like best is a combo of different recipes we’ve tried. For us, this one has just the right balance of flavors—sweet, sour, salty, and umami.

Kalua Carnitas Tacos (serves 10-12)

3 ½ pound boneless pork roast

2 tablespoon liquid smoke

5 teaspoons fresh ginger (or use Gourmet Garden in produce section)

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 large garlic cloves, minced

5 tablespoons crushed pineapple

corn or flour tortillas and/or taco shells

cilantro and lime wedges to garnish

Whisk together liquid smoke, ginger, soy sauce, garlic, and pineapple. Place pork in slow cooker and cover the surface of the pork with the soy-ginger sauce. Sprinkle seat salt over the top and put the lid on.

Set on high for one hour. Reduce heat to low and cook for 5-7 more hours, until pork shreds easily.

When the pork is done, remove to a cutting board. Using two forks, shred the meat, removing and discarding fat chunks. Put the pork back into the slow cooker and stir the pork to moisten with the sauce it cooked in.

Serve on tortillas or in taco shells with a sprinkle of cilantro and a lime wedge on the side to squeeze on if desired.

We serve this with Spicy Pineapple Coleslaw for a taco topping or as a side salad. For that you need:

Spicy Pineapple Coleslaw (serves 6-12 depending on serving size)

½ cup cole slaw dressing (store-bought or homemade)

½ cup crushed pineapple

1 tablespoon canned diced chilies

4 cups coleslaw vegetable mix (cabbage, carrots)

Blend thoroughly cole slaw dressing, pineapple, and chilies. Toss with coleslaw mix. Serve as topping for Kalua Carnitas Tacos or as a side salad.

DH’s Rating: 5 Tongues Up

“This is great! Lots of flavors on my tongue.” This is my husband talking??? What’s come over him? Then he continued, “But you know, I think I liked the Elote Lime Chicken Tacos even more. That surprises me ‘cause you know I usually go for the pork.”  I do know that.

Meatless Monday: Mushroom Stroganoff

Welcome to my annual recipe crush. Each February I choose a theme, and provide one or two recipes each day for the whole month. This year the theme is Weekly Menu Planning. What are the categories, you ask? We have Sunday Special, Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Worldly Wednesday, Thrifty Thursday, Fishy Friday, and Celebrate Saturday.

This old standby shows up regularly on our Meatless Monday rotation because we both love beef stroganoff but have cut back drastically on the amount of red meat we cook. Honestly, to us, this is very close in flavor and texture to the Beef Stroganoff I used to make with leftover prime rib from Christmas Dinner.

Several years ago I came across a recipe for Creamy Mushroom Pasta that I modified to what we eat today. Important Note: Buy thick balsamic vinegar. It’s more flavorful. Spend some bucks on it, or this will not taste like beef stroganoff.

Mushroom Stroganoff (serves 4-6) 

12 ounces wide noodles

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

16 ounces mushrooms (we use a mix of two or three kinds)

3 large cloves garlic, minced

½ cup white wine

1 cup heavy cream

½ cup vegetable broth

3 tablespoons best-quality balsamic vinegar

¼ cup Asiago cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Cook noodles to al dente per package directions. Drain, set aside, and keep warm.

Melt butter and olive oil over medium heat in large skillet. Add mushrooms and garlic. Saute 5-10 minutes until mushrooms are browned and fragrant.

Add wine and bring to a boil to reduce liquid by half.

Add cream, broth, and balsamic vinegar and bring to boil. Let boil for 10-15 minutes to reduce and until the sauce thickens. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in cheese to thicken the sauce further.

Serve over cooked noodles. Have a crusty bread to sop up the sauce.

DH’S Rating: 5 Tongues Up

Looking over my shoulder. “Oh, good! Mushroom Stroganoff. I’ll make the salad.”

Special Sunday: Roast Chicken

Welcome to my annual recipe crush. Each February I choose a theme, and provide one or two recipes each day for the whole month. This year the theme is Weekly Menu Planning. What are the categories, you ask? We have Sunday Special, Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Worldly Wednesday, Thrifty Thursday, Fishy Friday, and Celebrate Saturday.

Sunday dinner was often chicken when I was a child. Fried chicken, that is. In lard, of course. My mother never roasted the bird. She left that for the Thanksgiving turkey. Beats me why it never occurred to her she could roast chicken, too.

Even if she had, however, I’d put money on her not ever preparing it like I do as a slow roast to keep it juicy and moist. Unfortunately, it did get a little done-r than I’d like as the picture shows, but with those roasted Brussel sprouts, it was mighty tasty and made enough for the two of us to have other chicken meals with the leftovers. I call this my Norman Rockwell Roast Chicken because it is so bedrock American.

Norman Rockwell Roast Chicken (serves 6)

3-4# roasting chicken, washed and patted dry inside and out

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1 tablespoon sea salt

1 tablespoon pepper

Preheat oven to 250º. Spray non-stick cooking spray on a baking dish or pan big enough so the chicken doesn’t touch the sides.

Spread butter over the outside. Rub it on every surface. Any drippings in the pan can be used to spread around inside the chicken.

Mix together the salt and pepper and sprinkle half inside and half on the top of the chicken.

Roast for 3-3 ½ hours. Check temperature. The chicken is done at 165º internal temperature.

Put the au jus from the chicken over the top. Let sit 10 minutes. Carve and serve with pan juices.

DH’s Rating: 5 Tongues Up

He always takes the breast meat first. I always take a leg/thigh section. He also pulls off the crispy skin (where the fat is), and I eat it all. We’re funny that way! “It’s a simple meal, but I feel so virtuous eating something so plain, with no sauces.” And no crispy, crunchy, fatty skin, big boy!