Heritage Cooking Club

Last Fall, Maddie hosted cooking club and the theme was one of my faves: cook a dish from your heritage. So I decided to make my Grandma Pete proud and make Swedish meatballs. I used a modified version of this recipe with some lingonberries and it was spot on. I tasted my childhood in these little guys. I even got the stamp of approval from Joe!

We also had a shepherd's pie, Norwegian meatballs, challah bread, bolognese and a potato pancake of sorts (it's hidden by my pasta on my plate!). So, sooo good.

What would you make for a heritage cooking club?

P.S. Here are past cooking clubs.

Hearty, Healthy, Summer-y Pasta

I will interrupt your regularly scheduled vacation updates for a little meal I conjured up recently. I'll call it Meatball, Zucchini and Squash Delight. I'm proud to say that I dreamed up this little recipe on my own. Now that Fred Meyer is no longer in my backyard, it's a lot less convenient to go pick up ingredients for a meal each night. I realize that the grocery store is still like only a mile or two away, but with all the stoplights and pedestrians (and the fact that I had already put on scrubby clothes), I try to be inventive with what we have in our cupboards.

So what did I have to work with? I had to use up a package of ground turkey breast, but burgers didn't sound appetizing. I also had some zucchini and squash - I often pick it up with no idea of what I'll do with it, but it's an easy veggie to incorporate into a meal. With a couple eggs (for meatballs), a half of an onion, random spices, garlic, breadcrumbs, pasta, chicken broth and parmesan, it came to me: I'm going to make homemade meatballs.

I won't kid around and pretend I know how much of each ingredient I used for the meatballs*, but I'm sure you can find another recipe like this one. I decided I would boil half reduced-sodium chicken broth, half water and drop the meatballs in for awhile to give them a little extra flavor and cook them all the way through. Then, I drained the liquids and just pan fried them for awhile, until they were lightly browned. (I realize I could have baked them, but that would have been too easy, huh?) At the same time, I was boiling pasta and sauteing the squash. Then I put it all together in a big pan with a little olive oil, sprinkled a little cheese on top, and found myself with Meatball, Zucchini and Squash Delight.


*I did put in too many onions, which made some of the meatballs fall apart since onions take away from the sticky meat/egg factor. Lesson learned.

Salmon Remixed

If you ever find yourself with leftover salmon (Thanks Dad!), you must make a tuna-like salmon sandwich. Just crush up the salmon - while picking out any stray bones - and add a little mayo, celery and black pepper. Throw it on some bread, then top with lettuce, tomato, onion and parmesan cheese.

It's messy, but mouth-watering good!

Anyone else have any go-to recipes for leftover fish?

A Quick, Easy Go-To Recipe

After a long day at work, it can sometimes be difficult to think of healthy, filling, and quick meals. But we all have them: our go-to recipes. You know, the meal that never sounds too time-consuming and always sounds delicious. For me, that's taco salad. (Or taco soup for the winter, but I'll get to that another time!) Just pick out your fave veggies, cook up some ground turkey with low-sodium taco seasoning, throw it all onto some romaine lettuce and top with a little salsa and fat-free sour cream. Talk about DE-licious.

Oh, and don't forget to pick up tortillas. The leftovers are perfect for a burrito for lunch the next day.

What are your go-to recipes?

Cali Sandwich

This California Sandwich has been making the rounds on Pinterest and every time I see it, my mouth waters a little. A bell is to Pavlov's dog as Pinterest is to Erika. The recipe is pretty basic: bread, chive spread, avocado, tomato and sprouts. (The original recipe also called for pepperjack, but I nixed it.) I followed this recipe for the chive spread, using low-fat cream cheese in an attempt to keep it healthy. For a little more substance, we paired it with a cup of tomato basil soup. You guys, it was delicious. I think this sammy has made it on the quick, easy and scrumptious list, which means that it'll likely be a regular on the weekly menu.

P.S. Do you like the red wine shadow in the first pic? I'm just keeping it classy.

Penne a la Erika!

We've made Penne a la Betsy from PDubs' site before and it's scrumptious and sinful. Heavy cream, butter, oil - oy vey! We thought we would attempt to make a slightly healthier version - much less butter, oil, replacing heavy cream with half and half, and skipping the salt. Maybe a not-so-healthy replacement, we also substituted turkey sausage for the shrimp. It just seemed quicker, rather than deveining the little suckers.

To be honest, I don't think I could taste the difference from the original! Maybe if I had them side-by-side, but these slight modifications still made a heavenly dish. Yes, I admit, it's still not healthy, but it's healthier. There has to be some indulgence on Valentine's Day, right? A little Lilyhammer, pasta and your main squeeze? Perfection.

P.S. Please don't judge my portion size above. This lady was hungry! And I wonder why my pants are feeling tighter this week? :)

Penne a la Erika! (Original recipe)

Ingredients
3/4 pounds Penne Pasta (if you use the full 1 lb. box, add a bit more tomato and half and half)
1 pound turkey sausage
1 Tablespoons Butter (was 3)
1 Tablespoons Olive Oil (was 3)
1 small whole Onion
3 cloves Garlic (was 2, but we wanted more)
1/2 cup White Wine, Or To Taste
1 can Tomato Sauce (8 Oz)
1 cup half and half (was heavy cream)
Fresh Parsley, to taste (we tend to add more because we can never finish a full bundle, so we want to get some get use out of it!)
Fresh Basil, to Taste (ditto, above)
Pepper To Taste

Instructions
Cook the penne pasta until tender-firm, also known as al dente.

Brown the turkey sausage. Remove from pan onto plate.

Finely dice one small onion. Mince two cloves of garlic. In a large skillet heat 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoons olive oil. Add the garlic and onion and sauté, stirring occasionally. After the garlic and onions have cooked a bit add your white wine. Let the wine evaporate for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.

Now add an 8-ounce can of plain tomato sauce. Stir well until combined. Then add 1 cup of half and half. Continue stirring. Turn heat down to low and let simmer.

Chop your herbs, about 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley and about the same amount of chopped basil.

Now add the turkey sausage into the tomato cream sauce. Give it a stir and add pepper to taste. Throw in your herbs and stir until combined. Finally add your cooked penne pasta and give it a good stir.

Cooking Club

We've been talking about starting a new tradition (to add to the dozens we have already: Puyallup Fair, Sunriver, Chelanigans, Pumpkin Patch) and we finally made it happen: Cooking Club. Dinner Party? Grub Club? We still haven't settled on a name quite yet, but we would welcome ideas!

Basically, we rotate hosts, who then picks a food theme and we all bring a dish that corresponds. Maddie so graciously offered to host last weekend and picked "brunch for dinner" as her theme. Cha-CHING! I love brunch food. On the mouth-watering menu? Well, prepare yourself to get hungry:

• Pomegranate mimosas, with prosecco, pomegranate seeds and juice - Liz
• Balsamic-marinated strawberries - Liz
• Monkey Bread - Stephanie
• Eggs Benedict - Maddie
• Fruit Salad - Maddie
• Spinach, bacon and more good stuff quiche - Autumn
• Lemon and blueberry coffee cake, topped with ice cream - Erin
• Potato pancakes - Lizzie
• Egg bake with sausage, onions and peppers - Petes (can't find the recipe I adapted!)

I left 9 pounds heavier, but it was totally worth it. Any ideas for the next theme?

Watch out, Tom Douglas

Last night, Stephanie had Maddie and me over for dinner for this black bean tortilla pie. Delish! (P.S. When I googled black bean tortilla pie, I found this pic at a blog called "Stephanie's Kitchen" and totally thought Steph was hiding the fact that she blogs... but then I saw it wasn't her. How ironic though?!)

It comes from this amazing cookbook that I bought about 2 or 3 months ago, but still have yet to make anything from it. However, I thumbed through it the other night and realized that I have tried a lot of the recipes... but only because Maddie, Stephanie and (I think) Autumn have tested out its' recipes on me. I bring the wine, they cook me tasty goodness. (I realize that I totally have the better end of the deal...)

Then it got me thinking, those girls are amazing cooks! I've always known this (and my stomach knows best), but seriously? Homemade cheesecake? Slow-roasted pork tacos? Homemade gnocchi? Man, I am lucky to have such fantastic chefs as friends.

I should probably experiment a little more. I mean, my taco soup does bring all the girls to the yard, but I need to up the ante! (Editorial comment: One time, my cousin's daughter told her the day after we had a huge family dinner that my taco soup was better than the chocolate ice cream she had for dessert. That's right. Take that, Ben & Jerry!)

One thing I know for sure - I do like to bake! I once made banana cream chocolate chip whoopie pies with cinnamon cream cheese filling for my office. Man, they take awhile to make, but they turn out so pretty! And fairly tasty...