Saturday, June 13, 2009

Devon's Cooking...Food to Keep Dave Fed While I'm Gone!

Last summer Dave and I were gone for nearly the entire month of June-- we went to Rome, Venice, Florence, Croatia, Barcelona, Naples, Monaco and Monte Carlo first, and then went on a great diving trip to Roatan, Honduras. This June, our travels are a little less exotic and a little more local, but I'm still gone for nearly the entire month of June. I head to New Jersey for 2 weeks (not quite Europe for 2 weeks, huh?) tomorrow and then Dave is meeting me at the end of my summer institute there and we're going to New York City, Annapolis and DC. Of course, this means 3 weeks of no blog updates (I know my NINE followers will just be heartbroken over this), but it also means that Dave has to fend for himself for the next two weeks.

Dave is a grown man, fully capable of feeding himself...I know this. But I have fully embraced the role of happy homemaker now that I am on summer vacation, so I couldn't leave him high and dry. Dave only has to look so far as our freezer, then, while I'm gone for good eats. I left him comfort food (he'll be sad that I'm gone, right?) with some meatloaf and "fried" chicken, and Italian food (I've been on a tear with Italian food lately-- I'm worried he'll go through withdrawals without it) with some homemade pesto. Enjoy and Happy early 4th of July!

TURKEY MEATLOAF
Ingredients:
1.5 lbs ground turkey (I used the 93% fat free kind)
1 chopped onion
1/2 cup Egg Beaters
1 cup salsa
3/4 cup old-fashioned oats, uncooked
1 package Knorr Vegetable Soup Mix
salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Preheat oven to 350. In large bowl, mix all the ingredients together with your hands. Place meat into loaf pan and smooth out. Cook for 60 minutes, or until juices run clear. Let meatloaf cool for at least 5 minutes before slicing. Serves 8.

OVEN-"FRIED" CHICKEN
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
3 oz. buttermilk
1/2 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)

Directions: Preheat oven to 365. Mix flour, salt and cayenne in one shallow bowl. Pour buttermilk in second shallow bowl. Put panko in third shallow bowl. Coat each piece of chicken with flour mixture, then buttermilk, then panko. Place in 8x8 glass baking dish (that has been coated with Pam) and bake for 30 minutes. Serves 4.

HOMEMADE HEALTHY PESTO
Ingredients:
1.5 cups lightly packed fresh basil
2 Tbsp toasted pine nuts (you can buy pre-toasted pine nuts at Trader Joe's or toast them yourself in a frying pan for about 2 minutes)
2 Tbsp vegetable broth
2 tsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp salt
1 package fresh pasta

Directions: In a mini-food processer, combine basil, pine nuts, broth, oil, garlic and salt and process until a smooth paste is formed. Cook pasta according to package directions; after draining pasta of all water, combine with pesto and serve! Serves 4.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Devon's Cooking....Homemade Pasta



Last year Dave made the choice (mistake?) to purchase Amazon Prime. He paid for it when we bought our big TV because it was almost the same cost to ship the TV as it was to get free shipping on Amazon for a year. The reason this was potentially a mistake, however, is that I now feel much freer to make whimsical, of-the-moment purchases whenever I feel like it. Hence the purchase of my new pasta-maker. Proud of my Italian heritage, I decided it was high time to learn how to ditch Ronzoni and make my own pasta.

The prospect of homemade pasta seems daunting; if it were easy, I've always believed, everyone would make their own pasta! Or perhaps the pasta makers are just REALLY expensive. But a quick trip to the Amazon website showed me that pasta makers were inexpensive... and my first attempt at making pasta yesterday showed me that making homemade pasta is EASY (although my first attempt turned out "rustic"-- a nice way to say it was a little ugly).

We had the Davies over for dinner last night-- Jen made a delicious caprese salad to accompany the basil fettucine with tomato-garlic ragu, green beans with sauteed onions and mushrooms and Italian bread. Buon Appetito!

HOMEMADE BASIL FETTUCINE
Ingredients:
3/4 cup chopped basil
3/4 cup semolina flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg
1 tsp olive oil
2 Tbsp water

Directions: Coarsely chop basil and then place in food processor to chop finely. After basil is finely chopped, add both flours and pulse a couple of times to mix the basil and flour together. Add egg, olive oil and water and turn on food processor until the dough turns into a ball (it sounds crazy, but it will happen! And it doesn't take very long). Wrap dough in plastic wrap rubbed with a couple drops of olive oil and refrigerate for 2 hours. After 2 hours are up, split dough into 6 balls and roll out using rolling pin or pasta machine; then cut to desired shape and length. Let pasta dry for about 1 hour (I just left mine out on a piece of parchment paper and it worked out perfectly). When ready to cook the pasta, just place it into pot of boiling water for about 4-5 minutes.




TOMATO RAGU
Ingredients:
28 oz. can of diced tomatoes
1/4 cup fresh chopped basil
1 sweet onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced2 Tbsp dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Heat large skillet over medium-high after spraying with Pam. Sautee all ingredients for abouy 30 minutes, until most of the liquid reduces. Toss with pasta.


GREEN BEANS WITH ONIONS AND MUSHROOMS
Ingredients:
8 oz. green beans
1 sweet onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 oz. mushrooms, chopped
2 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Steam green beans; in the meantime, spray large skillet with Pam and sautee onion, mushrooms and garlic until soft. 5 mintues before serving, add steamed green beans to pan and stir to mix.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Devon's Cooking...Matzoh Lasagna


A few months ago-- April, to be exact, since it was Passover--one of my Jewish friends mentioned this crazy recipe for lasagna that used matzoh instead of lasagna noodles. Dave and I LOVE our lasagna (as evidenced by the 2 recipes for lasagna already on this blog) and we couldnt' resist trying such an interesting recipe! This morning I whipped up some sauce, using the amazing onions we bought at Farmer's Market this morning, a 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes, a 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes, fresh garlic, parsley, basil, salt and pepper. I also baked 6 slices of eggplant (just sprayed a little Pam on them and sprinkled them with salt, pepper and Italian Seasoning-- threw them in the toaster oven for 5 minutes each side), which I put in the middle of the lasagna, alongside some Farmer's Market zucchini we picked up, as an addition to the below recipe. Then I got to putting this Koshertalian lasagna together, with sauteed zucchini (I just diced 2 zucchini, put in large sautee pan sprayed with Pam, sprinkled with fresh dill, salt and pepper and sauteed until cooked) and a fresh green salad with grape tomatoes and a little smoked gouda...Enjoy!

MATZOH LASAGNA

Ingredients
4 matzoh boards (I used whole wheat matzoh, which is not kosher...but I'm not Jewish and it's not Passover, so I'm not too worried about it)
1/2 lb fat-free cottage cheese
1 1/4 cups grated mozzarella cheese (I used the Trader Joe's AMAZING low-calorie Mozzarella that only has 45 calories per oz.)
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon black pepper (optional)
30-34 ounces of tomato sauce

Directions: Grease a pan large enough to fit the one matzoh board. You can use olive oil spray. Place enough sauce to cover the bottom, about 1/2 cup. Place the 1 matzoh board on top. Spread more tomato sauce over the matzoh. Place some cottage cheese on top of the matzoh. Sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Repeat steps 3-6 until you have used up all 4 matzohs. End with tomato sauce. Top with the last 1/4 cup of mozzarella and the rest of the Parmesan cheese. Add 1/2 cup water (this may sound gross, do it anyway). Cover with silver foil, and bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 5-10 minutes until cheese is browned.