Cooking: No Halloween and two recipes

Holy Smokes! It is FREEZING! We had a mini version of Halloween last night. One kid is out of town the other is grounded, so no parties or trick or treating for us. We did give out candy and then about the time the polar vortex hit, shut off the porch light and called it a night.

Warm day  a few weeks ago when I hiked to Lula Lake on Lookout Mountain

Delaney was supposed to row in the nation's largest regatta this weekend. However, she had already committed to a Model UN conference and had to choose on or the other (in September, mind you). She chose her first commitment and wisely, it turns out. They canceled the event she would have rowed in and now it looks like the whole Head of the Hooch is going to be canceled. That stinks as people come from all over the world for this weekend.

Cooking: A recipe and the menu

Farewell, Lilly Pulitzer, you coolest of all housewives

Last week I thoughtlessly mentioned the delicious shrimp I made on Easter.

Then failed to share the recipe.

Poor you.

I mean this is one of the best uses for root beer outside the float. 

So, if you are having people over, or you are just craving some spicy sweet shrimp, these are the shrimp for you.

*Disclosure. I am NOT paid  to use or even acknowledged to be THE MOST loyal Alchemy spice user in Chattanooga. I know I speak of them often, but what can I say? A good product is a good product. Do yourself a favor, order some today. If  I come to stay at your house, I will bring you some as a thank you gift.

Casa Swann's No Shrimp This Week Menu

• Grilled chicken, roasted broccoli, sweet potato home fries
• Ground beef tacos/ black bean tacos (DALS recipe)
• Crock pot lasagna/kitchen sink salad
• Crustless quiche, some sort of soup 

Tanya's Root Beer  Jerk Shrimp

• 2 lbs peeled and deveined shrimp (tails on)
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 1 can real root beer (no corn syrup, that's nasty)
• 1 tbl. Alchemy Spice "The Jerk" 
• Salt and pepper to taste

In a sauce pan, saute onion in a small amount of olive oil until soft. Add seasoning and stir to mix, cooking until fragrant. Turn heat up to med-high and add soda, cook until it reduces to about half. (This takes awhile). When reduced to about half volume add shrimp. Shrimp cooks fast, so stir to coat and reduce heat to a high simmer. 

Once shrimp is cooked, adjust salt. Pepper generously, or to your taste (I like spicy). Remove from shrimp from pan  and if necessary, reduce remaining liquid until thick, almost like syrup (be careful, it quickly goes from almost done to scorched). Poor over shrimp and serve with LOTS of napkins. This is messy, but oh so worth it.

Yum.

Cooking: A new pie

I need to update my monthly list, but that will come tomorrow, when I have a chance to sit down and think.

Today, I am cleaning bathrooms, working, washing the last three loads of laundry including my couch slip covers and blogging about the delicious dinner I made last night.

I love quiche. I love that it is easy, full of vegetables and that I can make one for the carni folk and one for me at the same time. I have pretty much mastered  cooking for them/me at the same meal, but I always feel a little left out when they are eating pork tenderloin, baked chicken, or grilled anything that is not a veggie, while I am eating a salad and a baked sweet potato. So, quiche is the great equalizer in my mind. 

The other great thing about quiche is my youngest, picky eater has loved it since she was a toddler. She would never eat green foods, but quiche was somehow exempt from her color prejudice.  I could put anything in it and she gobbled it right down. So, for years it had tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, mushrooms, chicken, turkey...pretty much anything I could pack in it and get her to eat. She rarely ate dinner as a little kid, except when we had quiche.

The other great thing about quiche is that I get an entire pie to myself, which means I get dinner and three breakfasts out of it. Lovely, as I hate to eat until about 9 am, which usually coincides with me trying to get eight other things done as well. Microwaved quiche gobbled as I walk by is quite satisfying. Another perk to being the only vegetarian in the house is that I get to make my quiche like I want it. No "I hate spicy" or " I hate onions" palettes to which I must cater. So, last night I put almost an entire onion in mine. 

Last night's quiche was a different affair than what I normally make. Less eggy and more veggie with a homemade crust, it was more like a pie than a quiche. Mine had just enough cheese to add a whiff of flavor, but not enough to make me sick. There's had bacon to make them feel loved. I am doing a stint on the Weight Watchers to get my portion control back under my control after a holiday season winter season of binging and little exercise.  Veggies are key to weight loss and you would think I would be a rail with all the ones I eat. However, I make up for my pious eating by having a lethal sweet tooth and a nightly habit of two glasses of white wine. I have to rediscover the healthy balance, hence the WW. 

I  you like these sorts of things, I highly recommend my newest recipe. My family raved, all except the onion hater, who somehow got ALL of the three slices I put in theirs.

 Princess and the Pea? You bet.

Cooking: Chili two in one

I just finished reading a book about an American who meets a Frenchman, moves to Paris to be with him, and ends up living there. The book details their adventures in buying an apartment and her efforts at embracing the cultural mindset of the French in work and everyday life. Oh, and there are recipes.If you are looking for an interesting, fluff book (non-fiction) I am happy to loan it/recommend it to you.  I dream of taking my family and going to live in a foreign country, so this fueled my desire to do so. AND it also brought to the forefront my Americanness. I am not ashamed to be an American, in fact, I am quite proud to be one. However, when I hear about 4,000 calorie meals and listen to my husband complain about our $1,400 a month insurance bill, I do sometimes wish I lived somewhere else, even for a short time. 

VIA

The main character in  Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard (Elizabeth) freely admits to being more comfortable in Victorian England than her native New York City, so when she moves to London to get her master's degree, she does not feel out of place. After meeting her future husband at a conference in Paris, and eventually moving to Paris, she still feels very much at home shopping daily at the local market and eating as the French do, long and late. However, when her very American mother visits, she is annoyed by her American ways of wanting to have leftovers and seconds.  Bounty and the celebration of it is indeed a very American thing. We are a nation built on hard work and determination. We are also very much of the mindset that we deserve the bounty that should come with hard work. 

I have become very conscientious in the last year of the amount of food my family wastes. As someone who really hates leftovers, I have slowly trained myself to eat more of them. (Luckily my husband loves them and falls on that grenade a fair amount). I have started trying to extend my cooking into two meals, for example, turning leftover pork ragu into pork soup with tomatoes and white beans.  I like to think my American love for something to be "two in one".

This week I created my own recipe for a two in one. 

My family love Mex, Tex-Mex, Cali-Mex, really any form of Mexican inspired food. As I mentioned, this week is a hectic week of swim meets (2), volley ball tryouts, talent show auditions, swimming/diving practices, homework and school. That is my kids alone. 

We get home at 6 pm and I like to have dinner on the table before 7 if possible. So, my friend Crock Pot was put to work this week. I read enough recipes to realize that the frozen chicken thighs could be put in the crockpot at 9 am and at 6 pm would be ready rock. 

Boom! My theory was proven right. I put 2  pounds of chicken thighs, a 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes, 1 package of  taco seasoning, and 1 table spoon dried onions in the crock pot, salted it and peppered it, closed the lid, turned her up to high and went and worked out.  I checked it a few times and made sure the chicken was thawing, but I could have left well enough alone.  I also made a batch of Dinner A Love Story's Mexican slaw.

Most of my cookbooks

At 5, I turned it to low and went and picked up the girls from school. When I got home, I sauteed some onions, mushrooms and bell peppers with a little cumin, garlic, salt and pepper for myself. While that was sauteing, I sliced and avocado, warmed up the shells and shredded about half the chicken.  Viola! Chicken tacos with slaw. 

We sat down by 6:30! Everyone loved it.  I was so thrilled with myself!

The girls ate more of the chicken out of the crockpot, but I still had about 5 thighs left and all the juice. I just shoved it in the fridge and called it a night, sharing my plan with my husband for the next night's dinner. ( I may have gloated a bit).

My collection of recipes that work

Steve questioned my plan, wondering if that was gonna be enough.  I assured him I was a master, but decided to stop after drop off the next morning and buy a pound of some sort of beef. 

I won't bore you with the blow by blow of  how the chili came about, just suffice it to say my family was almost giddy and my husband told me several times just how much he really, really  loves me.

I think I hit a carni home run.

Here is the recipe for the two in one. I upped the chicken to 2 1/2 pounds for my future reference as my kids eat like teenage boys. If you are not as inclined to eat what amounted to 9 large tacos,  feel free to just do the 2. Also, I originally was going to get beef stew meat, but the store was out. So fiddle as you like.

Tanya's Two Night Two in One Tex-Mex Coup D'etat 

or

Tanya's Taco/ Chili Two in One

(After making tacos using 2 1/2 lbs chicken thighs, one can diced tomatoes, taco seasoning, dried onions and salt/pepper, start the below recipe with remaining 1 lb chicken)

• 1 lb. Chicken thighs
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 sm. can tomato paste
• 1 onion diced
• 1 can pinto beans, drained
• 1 can black beans drained
• 1 tbl. diced onion
• 1 tbl. chili powder
• 1 tbl. cumin
• 1 tbl paprika
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 clove garlic, minced 

Fire up the leftover chicken in the crock pot on low. (It will look greasy. Ignore it.) In a skillet, brown beef  with a little salt and pepper. Drain and add to crock pot along with all ingredients EXCEPT beans.  Cook over low for 8ish hours. Add beans one  hour before serving. Serve with cheese, sour cream, left over slaw, etc. 

*If you will not be home for an hour, you could always add the beans in the beginning. I think they might be mushy, but maybe not.         

Cooking: Soup is my one true love

We went to a couple of parties this weekend in our neighborhood.

They were really nice. However, we ate pretty much nothing at either one of them.

A few bites of dip and some delicious cookies. 

Needless to say, we did not get enough to eat.

That usually leads to cheese and crackers at about midnight.

 So by Sunday, we were not only starving but in need of some healthy food.

Cooking: Oh, slow cooker, oh slow cooker...you are my best friend!

The holidays are here! 

 

I am in the spirit in every way except buying gifts. 

I have bought a few, but nothing grand or exciting.

I miss having little kids for that very reason.

I am really excited, though, by how much fun I am having with my kids.

This morning for instance, we went and bought presents (Hershey Kisses and nail polish) for one daughter's friends after her plan to make them all cookies fell apart last night when we realized we needed about 100 cookies. We sat in the parking lot of Walgreens stuffing bags, tying them up and listening to and singing Christmas carols. I noticed the moment for once and it was really awesome.

This week, we are finishing up school for the year. Then the real fun begins. 

Marathon movies (did this Sunday and it was glorious), hot chocolate, starting finishing shopping, wrapping presents, making cookies and just having fun is the name of the game.

 Swim practice is our only obligation. Meals will be easy and hopefully in the crock pot

 The holidays are here.

Casa Swann Week Before Christmas Menu

• Tomato soup, frittata with mushroom, zucchini and red peppers, bacon,corn bread
• Crockpot bbq chicken sandwiches, oven roasted eggplant and zucchini,  sauteed kale, baked sweet potato for Momma
• Chicken Tortilla soup, Veggie tortilla soup
• Baked Chicken, sauteed kale, sweet potato biscuits
• Chili

Cooking: Sometimes you gotta give in

Pumpkin.

Chocolate.

Brownies.

Got your attention, didn't I?

As the weather here in Tennessee has turned a freakishly cool 45 and damp, I have turned to my favorite past time. Eating Baking to warm up my house. There is nothing like the smell of something baking in the oven. I have spent much time the past few weeks on Pinterest and reading my cookbooks looking for something pumpkin to bake that was not the run of the mill pumpkin bread. I am not a huge fan of pumpkin bread or for that matter, pumpkin desserts in general. I know that is blasphemy as I am in the demographic of the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte lovers. But, while I have enjoyed one or two in my day, I am not a dedicated follower. 

But, I do love chocolate. Especially dark chocolate. And I love gingerbread and spice cake. Oh, do I ever so much love gingerbread and spice cake. Lately, I have had a taste for something pumpkin, spicy,chocolate and different.

She's not chocolate. Just spicy and different.

So, in my quest for pumpkin, spicy and chocolate I got in my head yesterday that I wanted pumpkin brownies.  I did what all people my age do when they want to find something, I Googled "Pumpkin Brownies." And, lo and behold, not only is there such a thing, there were loads of recipes. Some of them even have pumpkin AND chocolate in them.

 (Who ever heard of brownies without chocolate? Weird, right?)

I narrowed it down to one and then completely changed it to fit my wants and desires. 

I upped the cocoa powder by 240x and removed several spices. I also used both brown sugar AND molasses (How can you have mo' lasses if you ain't had no lasses?...it never gets old!). If you want a less spice cake taste, us only brown sugar. Also omit the cinnamon and add 1 tsp vanilla. 

I also frosted it after deciding it wasn't sweet enough. The brownies are just like I like them, fudgey and rich. A very little goes a long way, in other words.

With out further adieu, here is my version of that nagging taste in your mouth.

It totally satisfied my craving.

Tanya Swann's Pumpkin Brownies

• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup molasses
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin (unsweetened)
• 1 whole egg
• 2 egg whites
• 2 tbl vegetable oil

Oven to 350. Spray a 11X7 baking pan with non stick spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. Add pumpkin, eggs, molasses and vegetable oil and stir until mixed. Do not over mix.

Pour into prepared pan and bake 20 minutes. Do not over cook, the brownies will still seem a little like batter. Cool and frost. Yum-O!

Tanya's last minute frosting

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup milk ( I used vanilla almond milk)

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Stir until mixed. Will be thick and require some muscle, but sets up nicely.

Cooking: And...we're off!

School is back in the swing of things.

My kids are busy with homework, sports and social lives. Not necessarily in that order.

Most days, I get home at 6pm. That is about to change. My oldest is now swimming until 7:30 two nights a week. So, now we will be eating later on those days.

We like to eat at 6:30 and then have an hour or so to chill out before my early bird husband goes to bed at 8:30.  

 

It's exhausting being so awesome

We also like to eat things other than tacos, so I am trying to find things I can make and stretch or make extras of and freeze (other than chili).

My routine will hopefully be set now that my sale is over and we are pretty much on the course for the rest of the year. My day goes like this:

Drop off, workout,work, chores, make dinner,  pickup, eat dinner, dishes, hangout.

We'll see if that jives with the rest of the family.

This week, I am trying a new "make now, freeze for later" meal.

As the only one who is not eating it, I am hoping it works.

 

The Casa Swann " try something new" menu

 

• sloppy joes, roasted carrots and broccoli
• Pulled chicken sandwiches, oven fried okra, roasted squash
• Pesto pasta with shrimp, salad
• black bean and zucchini quesdillas

 

 

Food: Stuffed poblanos recipe

I spent a large a fair amount of time surfing the 'net looking at food.

I really enjoying reading about foods that people cook. I have picked up several new techniques by doing this, including cooking a very juicy chicken breast on the grill (indirect heat) and pulling the pit out of an avocado the easiest way (hacking into it with the knife). My newest skill is roasting peppers. 

Being from Texas, I love peppers. Spicy, smoky peppers are my very favorite and I took it for granted that all Mexican restaurants serve #1 Tex Mex food and #2 Vegetarian stuffed poblano peppers. WRONG on both accounts. The Mexican food in Tennessee is okay. It is very hard to find true Mexican food and even harder Tex Mex. 

So, when I found a bumper crop of peppers in my garden, I decided that is what I would make, my favorite, stuffed poblanos. However, the peppers of my childhood are stuffed with cheese, battered and deep fried. Delicious, but a night of insomnia waiting to happen.

So, I got on the internets and read about how to roast the perfect pepper and I created this recipe.

Enjoy.

via

Tanya's Stuffed Poblano Peppers

6 large poblano peppers. De-seeded*

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 large zuchini diced

1 medium onion, diced

1 large tomato, chopped

1 large garlic clove, diced*

2 Tbl. Alchemy Southwestern Spice or southwestern spice of your choice

1 tsp. chili powder

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Heat your oven to broil. Place peppers split side down on a cookie sheet and roast for approximately 12 minutes or until they start to turn and blister. Turn oven down to 400 and cook for about 5 minutes longer. You don't want them to completely blacken, but you want them to be roasted. While you are roasting peppers, chop and diced vegetables can combine all except onions and garlic in a large bowl. In a pan over med. heat, cook onions, seasonings, and garlic until translucent. Be careful not to burn garlic (I add it in the last minute or so). Add to veggie mixture, combine,adjust salt and pepper and allow to sit at room temperature to combine flavors.  Once peppers are roasted, remove from cookie sheet and place slit side up in baking dish, making sure there is enough room for each, but that they are touching. Fill with veggie mixture and sprinkle with feta cheese. Return to oven and bake 20 minutes or until cheese starts to brown. Serve with sliced avocado. YUMMO!

* Seeds can be removed easily by cutting round top of pepper and slicing 3/4 lengthwise down. Remove all seeds and membranes. 

* I use jar garlic. Easy and potent.

Cooking: Backup meals

We got home from Florida at 3:30 on Monday.

In the a.m.

My husband and I both had to be at work at 9, so of course, neither of us got a lot of sleep.

We had an exhausting weekend...at the dog track

I was on autopilot all day, and so when I went to the grocery store, I struggled to come up with dinner.Mexican, my usual fall back, did not sound good after a weekend of eating fried food and subway.So, I resorted to one of my old standbys, which we had not eaten in quite awhile.

As I started making it later, I started thinking of all my backup meals.You know, the ones you keep all the ingredients for on hand. My friend Meg ,has cheese and bread for when meals fall through. Another friend makes scrambled eggs. I have several meals that I rotate keeping on hand, depending on how often we have had them. My family gets a little picky sometimes.

My favorite thing to keep on hand is salmon burgers with pita and hummus. We always have hummus, and the other ingredients are great kept in the freezer. Add some greens and feta cheese and you have a meal. Perfect for a night when you have been to two practices, on opposite ends of town to pick up kids.  My family apparently has eaten a little too much of that, so we had nothing "standbyish" in our freezer yesterday other than frozen pizza and chicken. 

Last night we had tortellini soup and kitchen sink salad. Detox, if you will, from all the fast food and Cheese-Its we ate while traveling. As a busy parent, it is always ideal to have one meal in the chamber so to speak. Something you can whip up at the drop of a hat if plans change or you are caught with only three hours of sleep. As my family does not eat sandwiches, I have to be a little more creative. This soup meets all the criteria thrown at me from the various camps at my house. Tortellini soup is easy and vegetarian (me), has pasta with cheese (Baby girl), is Italianish (Oldest) and has lots of fiber (husband). I grilled chicken for the carni-folk and made a mixed greens salad with blueberries, walnuts, red bell, and avocados for my husband and I to round it out. The amount of time it took was literally the time it takes to grill chicken, quick and painless. Then I went to bed.

Tortellini Soup

1 container vegetable broth (4 cups)

1 large can roasted tomatoes, diced

1 onion

1 clove garlic diced (or 1 tsp. garlic)

1 package frozen spinach ( I don't even thaw it)

1 package cheese tortellini

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tbl. Italian seasoning

Olive oil

In a stock pot heat olive oil over medium heat. Add diced onion and garlic, cook until fragrant. Add broth, seasoning and tomatoes, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered for about 8 minutes. Add spinach and cook until well distributed. Add tortellini and cook according to directions until done.

Salt and pepper to taste. This is a hearty soup. Yum!

* I used fresh bagged collard greens yesterday and have used fresh spinach before as well. You can use whatever green you like.

Eating: How I stay warm

It was freezing in my neck of the woods this weekend. REALLY cold. I mean it dropped 40 degrees in 24 hours cold. I hate being cold, so I tried not to leave my house.

Now my oldest took the ACT this weekend (bragging is allowed on one's own blog!) and so I had to run her there and back. Other than that, I stayed home all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday.

And...I cooked. All day long. 

I made homemade from scratch brownies, bread, chili, and a garlicky greens soup that made the bread just perfect. My house smelled great, my kitchen was toasty and I was happy. Sunday we continued cooking and made homemade pizza. We all piled onto one sofa (we have three, but all need  to lay on each other for some reason) and watched the Grammys and Napoleon Dynamite. Fun!

Homemade pizza is the best!

Last week I mentioned that I was cooking all Pinterest pinned recipes all week.
I did for the most part and they turned out great!
Here is a small review. 

• Warm butternut squash and chickpea salad- very delicious if you ask me. Too many chickpeas if you ask everyone else. Cut the chick peas in half and you will have a hit. The savoriness of the tahini balanced the sweetness of the butternut squash and it was easy to make.
• Spaghetti squash with garlic shrimp-my mouth is watering just typing this. It was the best thing I have made in a long, long time. Uses large shrimp and they cooked up beautifully!
• Bread- it wasn't on the menu, but I made it saturday...It was easy, got great reviews and disappeared in about 6 seconds. I grow rosemary in my garden and I think it made a big difference.
• Soup- the soup I made was my own recipe, but I got inspiration from pinterest.  

As often happens, our plans changed. I started a new job and was tired on Thursday and so we ate out. Friday, my husband took me on a fun date to a fancy restaurant and to hear a band with some friends. We were wild and stayed out until 10pm. Crazy, I know.

This week, it is Valentine's day and so I am making dinner special for my peeps. We are having something I hate to cook, but they love to eat. Bacon wrapped chicken. Nothing says love like a vegetarian with texture issues touching a dead pig AND a dead chicken (or 4 in our case). True love, I tell ya.

Happy Valentine's Day...hope you spend it surrounded by the ones you love.

Casa Swann Valentine week menu

• Homemade oven sweet potato fries, salmon, sauteed collard greens
• Bacon wrapped chicken thighs, butternut squash hash browns,  spinach souffle
• Baked chicken, squash and tomato casserole
• Tacos
• Dinner out with friends
• Nachos with chicken