Lucky Pot Roast

Ok, so it wasn't a lucky pot roast.  I was just lucky that I usually keep a supply of seasonong packets and broths on hand in case I need it.  Last week I needed it!  I defrosted a pot roast and was all ready to sear it and realized I didn't have everything I needed.  I dug through my cabinets to see what I could find.  I came up with a box of chicken broth and packet of Montreal steak seasoning.  I'm so glad I did!

I put a nice sear on both sides of the chuck roast in my dutch oven and then added the chicken broth.  Once the broth was in I poured the Montreal all over the chuck and the broth.  I brought the broth to a boil and then covered it and put it into a 375 oven for about 3 hours. 

Everyone noticed that this was something different than what I normally made.  The kids really liked it and my hubby actually wanted to take left overs for lunch and he hardly ever does that with pot roast.  Lucky Pot Roast will definitely be on the menu again!

Happy Friday!

I decided today that I wanted to try my hand at making spinod.  For the uninitiated that is Italian Easter bread.  My grandmother used to make it with anisette and without the hard-boiled eggs that the traditionalcEaster bread braids have.  I tried out a recipe today that worked pretty well.  Thank goodness for my professional Kitchen Aid mixer with the dough hook!  I got to catch up on The Guild while the mixer did all the work.  All in all this bread turned out really well and I'll be making it again soon.

Italian Easter Bread

Showing My Geekiness

As you can tell by the name of this blog, I'm a geek.  I love Star Wars, Star Trek, and Tolkien.  I'm currently home for the next few months (hopefully only a few months!) so I don't have to do marathon cooking on the weekends.  While I'd much rather be working, I'm glad that I don't have to use my entire Sunday to cook!  So, a while ago I was feeding my geeky needs for LOTR and new recipes and I came across this website Middle Earth Recipes that has lots of new recipes for main dishes and desserts.  I was reminded of it today because my son is currently reading The Hobbit (yes, I have a geek of my very own!).  Now that I have time on my hands I need to start using some of these recipes and reporting back.

Until next time!

Quinoa Salad

I made an awesome quinoa salad the other day!  It's part Food Network Magazine recipe and part my own.  Here goes:

1 cup quinoa rinsed
2 cups vegetable stock
1 1/2 cups frozen corn, thawed
2 scallions, thinly sliced

Add vegetable stock and rinsed quinoa to a sauce pan.  Bring to a boil.  Once boiling, cover and reduce to simmer for 12 to 15.  Toss with the thawed corn, scallions, and salt and pepper to taste.

Very very tasty!!

If it's Sunday it must be Sunday Gravy!

Today has been a very busy cook day!  I'll post more later about the other things I made but I wanted to put the recipe out there for the Sunday Gravy that I've been making.  I remember my Granny making this sometimes when we would visit for dinner.  Every Italian family probably has their own.  Since I don't have my Granny's recipe I had to rely on the good people at http://www.foodnetwork.com/ to provide one for me and it does not disappoint!  It's a crowd pleaser in my house.  I make beef brasciole and stuff it with whatever they'll eat like garlic and fresh Italian parsley.  I also add hot Italian sausage and today I made the meatball recipe I blogged about a few months ago, not the recipe above.  I'll try those another time.  I know Big Jim's Meatballs are a hit so I don't want to mess with what works!  Can't wait to dig in!!

It would have made my Granny proud!  Here she is with her Italian sisters, Pia, Mary, and Jae.  My Granny, Etalia, is the one in white.

Chicken Cassarole

Today I made a chicken cassarole that came out so well!  I used someone else's recipe but I had to modify it based on what I had on hand.

1 tbsp EVOO
1 1/2 to 2 pounds of boneless chicken thighs, cut up
2 cans of cream of celery soup
1 large onion cut into rings
4 cloves of garlic
Savory (herbs) or poultry seasoning if you have it
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  In a sautee pan with EVOO cook the onion and garlic until the onions are softened.  Then add the chunks of chicken.  Sautee the chicken until lightly browned.  Once browned add mixture to a 13x9 baking dish.  Stir in 2 cans of cream of celery soup.  Add a sprinkling of savory or poultry seasoning.  Add salt and pepper to taste and stir.  Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 2 hours.  Serve over chicken flavored rice or your whatever rice you choose.

Salisbury Steak and Parsnip Mashed Potatoes

Tonight I made a Rachael Ray recipe I saw this morning and boy was it good!  I forgot to take pictures of it and the family demolished it.  I boiled and mashed parsnips in with the potatoes just as the recipe called for and they were wonderful.  It was a great way to hide a vegetable because none of them know they were eating anything other than mashed potatoes.  Mmmmm mmmmm!

Corn and Carrot Salad with Golden Raisins

While watching Food Network this morning we caught a little bit of Paula Deen's show.  She and her son Bobby made a Corn and Carrot Salad with Golden Raisins.  I'm not a fan of mayo so my hubby decided to make it for himself.  It was so nice and easy and he really loved it! 

Bacon Cornbread

I was watching Food Network this morning (as I always do on weekend mornings) and I caught Claire Robinson's show 5 Ingredient Fix.  She was doing Truck Stop Gourmet this morning and the cornbread looked sooooo good!  This was so easy to make and it turned out so good!  I also made the butter to with it.  I didn't have the cast iron cornbread pan so I used a 10'' cast iron skillet to bake it in the oven.  Enjoy the pic and Claire's fabulous recipes!

Bacon Cornbread

Honey Whipped Butter

One of my favorite new utensils

I chopped A LOT of onions today.  All totaled I diced about 6 onions today.  I have a little chef's blade that I saw Alton Brown use to scoop up his diced veggies and it has come in so handy today!  It's so worth the price!!

Chefmate Chop n Scoop

Sausage Soup

Today I made some pretty awesome soup!  I used someone else's recipe as a guide but tweeked it and made it my own.  Here's the recipe:

1 box of chicken broth
2 lbs of chorizo
2 (15 oz) cans of kidney beans (I didn't use the beans)
1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
2 yellow onions, diced
1 red onion, diced
4 stalks of celery, diced
5 cloves of garlic, minced
4-5 boullion cubes
1 box of ditalini pasta
1 stick of butter
1 can tomato paste

Remove the casing from the chorizo.  Sautee in a stock pot with some olive oil.  Once browned completely remove from pot and set aside.  Keep drippings in the pot.  In the same pot sautee the onions, garlic, and celery.  Once the onions are soft add the sausage back into the pot.  Add the chicken broth and diced tomatoes.  Season with some salt and pepper.  Bring it to a boil and let it simmer for about 35 minutes.  Add kidney beans.  Add 2 tomato cans full of water.  Let it simmer for another 35 minutes.  In the mean time boil water for the ditalini.  Follow box directions and drain pasta.  Set aside.  Add 4-5 bouillion cubes and stick of butter to the soup.  Then add the cooked pasta and can of tomato paste.  Let it simmer for about 10 more minutes. 

This goes great with some Italian bread to sop it up!

Best. Meatballs. Ever.

My hubby got me the Diners, Drive-ins, & Dives cookbook a while back and little by little I've been making dishes from it.  We love this show and I try to replicate some of the things I see so when I got the cookbooks I was so happy! 

Guy did an episode at Big Jim's in Pittsburgh, PA and did a feature on their meatballs and this marinara sauce that Jim makes JUST for the meatballs.  These meatballs were soooooo good!  The sauce was soooooo good, too!  Sometimes I follow the marinara recipe exactly and sometimes I use fire roasted tomatoes and it still comes out great. 

Here's a link to meatball recipe:

Big Jim's Meatballs

And here's the recipe for the marinara:

6 celery ribs
2 carrots
1 Spanish onion
1 green bell pepper, stemmed and seeded
1 cup olive oil
3 tbsp granulated garlic
1 tbsp dried basil
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes

1. Roughly chop the celery, carrots, onion, and bell pepper.  Put them in the food processor with the olive oil and pulse until very finely chopped, but not liquified.

2. Heat a heavy bottomed pot over medium heat, add the vegetable mixture and saute for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep the mixture from scorching.

3. Add the garlic, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper and saute for 3 minutes to help release their flavors.  Add the crushed tomatoes and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally to keep from scorching.


I just threw everything in a crock pot and minus the veggies and let it go.  I baked the meatballs and then I put them in the sauce for a few hours.  Here's the finished product:

Christmas 2010

Christmas 2010 was a little crazy in our house.  My 5 year old daughter started with the flu at 11 o'clock Christmas Eve night and was up sick all night long.  Then my 10 year old daughter started the day after Christmas.  Thankfully no one else got it!

So anyway, this Christmas Santa was very kind to me in the culinary department!  He brought me a Kitchen-Aid Professional 600 series mixer in the color meringue.  Absolutely beautiful!  Yes, I think a mixer is beautiful.  I just mixed up a double batch of chocolate chips in it and didn't even break a sweat.  I think I'm in love with the thing!

Santa also brought me the Sandra Lee Semi Homemade cookbook.  I've made a few things out of it so far and I absolutely love it!  She has all kinds of good tips in there and I've learned a few things.  This is a great cookbook for the busy cook or someone who doesn't want to make things that are too complicated.  Her style is just right for me and this is normal food that my family eats.  Not too chefy, if you know what I mean!

Catch up later!