Meatball Tortellini Soup

On a recent bone-chillingly cold day here in Birmingham, I saw this recipe on the cover of the January/February issue of Food Network Magazine, and I couldn't get the ingredients fast enough!  I love soups that are chunky, with plenty of yummy ingredients.  No wimpy soups around here.  This one is jam-packed with deliciousness like meaty meatballs, cheesy tortellini, and hearty baby spinach.  It was the perfect solution to winter's chill.

The meatballs are easy and flavorful.  They're formed into one-inch balls and browned until golden in a dutch oven.  Next, all the soup ingredients are combined through a few additional steps, and then the meatballs take a second trip into the pot and finish cooking while the soup simmers for a few minutes.  The tortellini is added at the very end, and voila!

The great thing about this soup is that it's on the healthy side.  The magazine states that there's 474 calories per serving.  You could make it even healthier by substituting ground turkey for the ground beef.  

Hopefully, this soup will help keep you warm on one of these chilly nights coming up!

Bon Appetit, my friends.  :)

Meatball Tortellini Soup
Adapted from:  Food Network Magazine

Ingredients:
8 ounces ground beef chuck

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, plus more for topping
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 clove garlic, grated
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 quart low-sodium chicken broth
1 9-ounce package refrigerated cheese tortellini
4 cups loosely packed baby spinach (about 3 ounces)

Directions:

Combine the beef, parmesan, 2 tablespoons parsley, the egg, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste in a medium bowl; mix with your hands until just combined. Form into 1-inch meatballs; set aside. 

Heat the olive oil in a pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and cook, turning, until golden, 3 to 4 minutes; remove to a plate. Add the carrots and celery to the pot; cook, stirring, until just softened, about 5 minutes. Add the broth and 3 cups water; bring to a boil. Return the meatballs to the pot along with the remaining 2 tablespoons parsley and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Simmer until the meatballs are just cooked through, about 2 minutes. 

Add the tortellini and cook until they float to the top, about 4 minutes. Add the spinach and cook, stirring, until wilted, 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper. Top with more parmesan. 

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Chicken-Fried Steak with Cream Gravy - Lightened Up!

There's a funny story that I think of every time I have country-fried steak.  It was actually the very first meal that I ever cooked my husband, on one of our first dates.  I wanted to pull out all the stops and make him a home-cooked meal.  For some reason, country-fried steak was my meal of choice.  Can you blame me?  It's comforting, delicious and easy to make.  I figured I couldn't go wrong.  I was only about 19 years old at the time...boy, how my cooking style has changed since then!

About half-way through the meal, my clumsy self managed to spill a full glass of sweet tea all over Brad.  Boy, was I embarrassed!  He must not have minded too terribly much, because he's still hanging around.  A little spilled tea apparently wasn't enough to scare him off (thank goodness!).  :)

These days, I don't really deep-fry much anymore.  I'm always on the look-out for lighter versions of my favorite dishes, so this lightened up recipe caught my eye.  Instead of mounds of cream and butter in the gravy, it incorporates fat-free half-and-half and low-sodium beef broth.  The steaks are coated with crushed cornflakes and BAKED in the oven until cooked through.  Those techniques make this dish a wonderful, much healthier option than the classic pan-fried method.

The results were great (and we both made it through the meal completely dry!).

Bon Appetit, my friends!

Chicken-Fried Steak with Cream Gravy
Adapted from:  Bobby Deen; Food Network Magazine, Jan/Feb 2013

Ingredients:
For the steaks:
Cooking spray

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup 1 percent milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Hot sauce, to taste
3 cups cornflakes, crushed
4 cube steaks (4 ounces each)

1 tsp garlic powder

Salt & Pepper, to taste
 

For the Cream Gravy:

1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup low-sodium beef broth
1/4 cup fat-free half-and-half
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

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

Pour the flour onto a dinner plate. In a shallow bowl, whisk together the milk, egg and a few dashes of hot sauce. Place the cornflakes on a second dinner plate.

Season the steaks with salt, pepper and garlic powder, to taste. Dredge them in the flour, patting off any excess, then dip into the egg mixture, letting any excess drip off. Finally, dredge them in the crushed cornflakes, pressing lightly to help the flakes adhere.

Place the steaks on the prepared baking sheet. Spray the tops of the steaks lightly with extra cooking spray. Bake until cooked through, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small cup, mix the cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of the beef broth and stir until the cornstarch is dissolved. In a small saucepan, combine the cornstarch mixture with the remaining beef broth and the half-and-half. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Let the gravy boil, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Season generously with pepper and serve the steaks smothered in the gravy.

 

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Martie Duncan's Arancini - Perfect for Super Bowl Sunday!

Who's ready for the Super Bowl tomorrow??  If truth be told, I'm probably more excited about the commercials (and food, of course!) than the actual football game, but hey, the commercials are usually awesome.  And they better be, especially when the average cost of a mere 30-second ad spot during the game is $4 million!

That's right...$4 Million....WOW.

Awesome party food is an absolute MUST for any Super Bowl party, and my new friend Martie Duncan, from The Next Food Network Star, knows her stuff when it comes to party food.  Martie kicked some serious butt on Season 8 of the show as a finalist, and I recently had the opportunity to help her prepare for her latest cooking segment on our local Fox 6 station here in Birmingham.  On the segment, she demonstrated how to make her A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Arancini (AKA Italian Rice Balls).

Folks, these are simply irresistible...When you bite into that first perfectly-fried little sphere, your tastebuds are greeted by cheesy, meaty, melty goodness!  And you can't eat just one...Oh, no...I won't tell you how many I had before we left the studio that day!  Hah.

These are super easy to make and are perfect for a large crowd.  Here are some tips that I learned from Martie along the way:

1.  You can make these ahead and freeze them.  Simply thaw and fry as usual just before your guests arrive.
2.  The recipe calls for 1 lb of ground beef + 1 lb of veal.  To save money, you can simply use 2 lbs of ground beef.
3.  This recipe can easily be doubled, if feeding a larger crowd.
4.  It's best to use sticky rice.
5.  If you're pressed for time, use store-bought marinara sauce.

Now, hurry and make these very soon.  You'll thank me, I promise.  :)

CLICK HERE for the recipe.

Be sure to visit Martie's website, Martie Knows Parties, for lots of great party-planning tips, tricks and recipes!

Here's Martie in action on Fox 6 News/Good Day Alabama:

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Homemade Egg Rolls

Not sure how to wrap an egg roll?  Don't worry...It's easy and fun.
Delno - This video is for you!  :)

Today, I'm excited to share with you what has always been a family favorite of ours...Homemade Egg Rolls.  My family has been making these for as long as I can remember, and we've tweaked the recipe here and there to make it just right.  

The wonderful thing is that these rolls are so much fun to make, and this recipe is enough to feed a small army of your hungriest, most favorite people.  Which, makes them perfect for a party or family gathering.

My awesome sisters were in town recently to visit, and we couldn't resist the urge to whip up a batch of these yummy egg rolls.  We tried something new this time around, by putting a few in the oven to see how they would taste baked.  Our thought was...Maybe, just maybe, they'd be just as delicious baked, which would save on calories.  But alas, the baked rolls paled in comparison to their fried counterparts (no surprise there).  I'm not one to fry much AT ALL, but this is one exception I'm very willing to make.

When we first started making these, we would chop up our own cabbage and carrots.  But, using bagged coleslaw mix is a super trick and cuts down the prep time drastically.  Sweet & Sour sauce is also an accompaniment that must not be forgotten, along with soy sauce and yellow mustard.  

Yellow mustard?!?   Yes...just trust me on this one!

And as for the Sweet & Sour sauce, Ty Ling is our favorite brand.  However, we were able to purchase a huge container of it from our favorite local Chinese restaurant.  This tasted even better and was actually cheaper!

I hope you enjoy the little video I put together to go along with the recipe.  I had fun making it.  :)

Bon Appetit!

Homemade Egg Rolls

Servings:  Makes approximately 40 egg rolls

Ingredients:

2 lbs. ground beef

2 (16oz) bags coleslaw mix

1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce

2 eggs, beaten

1 onion, diced

8 oz. white button mushrooms, diced

1/2 cup bean sprouts (optional)

Juice of 1 lemon

Garlic salt, to taste

Salt & Pepper, to taste

2 packages of egg roll wrappers

Canola oil for frying

Sweet & Sour sauce, yellow mustard and soy sauce for dipping

Directions:

In a medium skillet, brown the ground beef until cooked through.  Drain on paper towels and set to the side.

In a large bowl, mix together the coleslaw mix, Worcestershire sauce, beaten eggs, onion, mushrooms, bean sprouts, garlic salt, lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Mix together very well (Clean hands are great tools for mixing the filling and makes the job easier...Don't be afraid to get your hands a little dirty!).

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place the mixture in the refrigerator for about 1 hour.  This will allow the flavors to come together.

To Assemble:

1.  Place filling diagonally on wrap.

2.  Fold bottom corner over filling;  roll snugly half-way to cover filling.

3.  Fold in both sides snugly against filling; moisten edges of last flap.

4.  Roll wrap up and seal top corner;  lay flap-side down until ready to cook.

To Fry:

Add oil to a large dutch oven or saucepan, until it comes approximately 2 inches up the side of the pan.  Heat oil to 350 degrees F.  Carefully place egg rolls flap-side down into the hot oil, a few at a time.  Don't crowd the pan.  Turn the egg rolls occasionally, until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side.

Remove egg rolls from the oil and prop up vertically on paper towels (I do this by placing a baking sheet covered with paper towels on the counter.  Then, I prop a 2nd baking sheet behind the first, so that the egg rolls have something to lean against).  This method will allow the excess oil to drain from the egg rolls.  Rolling the egg rolls snugly and sealing them tightly will help keep the excess oil to a minimum.

Serve immediately, alongside Sweet & Sour sauce, soy sauce, and yellow mustard.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Mixed Meat Pilaf with Pomegranate Seeds

the help of recipes like this one, leftovers can indeed be exciting!  Versatility is always great in the kitchen, and this dish from Nigella Lawson is a very versatile recipe that could be different every single time that you make it.  Often, I have left-over beef or chicken from the previous night, and this is the perfect way to incorporate those leftovers and give them new life. You can add any sort of meat that you have on-hand to this dish...sliced steak, chopped chicken, shredded beef, lamb, shrimp...so many possibilities!

The flavors of this dish are interesting and wonderful with the addition of pomegranate seeds.  I haven't really added them to dishes very much in the past, but I'm excited to find new ways to use them now.  The simplicity of this meal also makes it a flash to put together on a busy weeknight when the last thing you want to do is spend hours in the kitchen.

A distinct nuttiness is added by the toasted almonds, which helps to round out the flavors, and the parsley and cilantro add a freshness to the palate that dried herbs just can't compete with.

Give this robust and satisfying meal a try...You'll love it!

Bon Appetit!

Mixed Meat Pilaf

Source:  Nigella Kitchen:  Recipes from the Heart of the Home, by Nigella Lawson

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion -- finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 1/4 cups basmati rice, or a mixture of brown basmati, red Camargue, and wild rice
2 cups chicken broth (can, carton or cube), preferably organic
2 cups cold shredded meat
salt and pepper, to taste
2-3 tablespoons toasted pine nuts or sliced almonds, or a mixture
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, to serve (optional)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, to serve (optional)
2-3 tablespoons pomegranate seeds, to serve (optional)

Directions:

Warm the oil in a heavy-based saucepan which comes with a lid, then add the chopped onion and cook for 5 minutes over a lowish heat, stirring frequently, before adding the cumin and coriander seeds and thyme, and cooking, as before, until the onion is soft;  this should be about another 5 minutes, giving 10 minutes cooking time in total.

Add the rice and push it about in the oily, spiced onion with a wooden spoon or rigid spatula until it is slicked and glossy. Heat the broth until almost boiling, then pour the hot broth into the pan and bring to a boil. Cover the pan firmly with a lid and cook over the lowest heat possible for 15 minutes for regular basmati rice, or up to 40 minutes for the 3-way rice mix. 

Add the shredded meat and fork it all through, then replace the lid and leave it all to cook for another 5 minutes to let the meat heat through and the rice finish cooking. 

Check that the meat is piping hot and the rice is tender, season to taste, then take off the heat and fork through most of the pine nuts, herbs, and pomegranate seeds (if using, or tip into a dish before doing this), and decorate each bowl of pilaf with the remaining bits.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

A Stellar Brunswick Stew

So, my sisters came to visit again a few weeks ago, and as usual we just HAD to spend some quality time in the kitchen trying new recipes together.  That's one of our favorite things to do.  Thankfully, I'm not the only foodie in the family!

They brought along this recipe for Brunswick Stew that they had found in their Southern Living magazine.  We couldn't think of anything that would be better for dinner than a comforting, hot bowl of meaty stew that night.

And I mean meaty!

The original recipe calls for 2 lbs. of chicken and 1 lb. of beef brisket.  We decided to kick things up a notch and add 2 lbs. of beef brisket instead.  

Yes, because we're daring like that!  

After all, an extra pound of beef brisket can only make it extra delicious, right?  Yes...I think so!

The recipe called for chopped barbequed beef brisket.  Instead of taking the easy way out and stopping by the nearest BBQ joint for our brisket, we headed to the store and bought a beautiful hunk of meat to cook ourselves.  We plopped it into the crock pot (along with beef broth, onion, garlic, salt & pepper) that morning and let it go for about 6 hours until it was melt-in-yo-mouth tender. 

I have to say that this stew is quite delicious.  It will warm you up on a cold night and put a smile on your face.

Bon Appetit, my friends!

Brunswick Stew

Adapted from Southern Living magazine

Ingredients:

• 2 large onions, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons jarred beef soup base (Add one box of beef broth OR add another 2 cups of water in with the 1 1/2 tablespoons beef soup base...to make sure there is enough liquid in the soup)
• 2 pounds skinned and boned chicken breasts
• 1 (28-oz.) can fire-roasted crushed tomatoes (OR 2  14-oz cans)
• 1 (12-oz.) package frozen white shoepeg or whole kernel corn
• 1 (10-oz.) package frozen cream-style corn, thawed
• 1 (9-oz.) package frozen baby lima beans
• 1 (12-oz.) bottle chili sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
• 1 pound chopped barbecued beef brisket; without sauce (We used 2 pounds)
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• Hot sauce (optional) 

Directions:

1. If you are cooking your own beef brisket, place it into a crock pot set on high heat.  Cover the brisket with beef stock, 1 chopped onion, 1 clove minced garlic, salt and pepper.  Let it slowly cook in the crock pot for 5 - 6 hours, or until the meat is very tender and comes apart easily with a fork.  Once it's done, place the brisket on a cutting board and shred it using 2 forks.
2. Next, sauté onions and garlic in hot oil in a 7.5-qt. Dutch oven over medium-high heat 3 to 5 minutes or until tender.
3. Stir together beef soup base and 2 cups water, and add to Dutch oven. Stir in chicken and next 9 ingredients. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring occasionally, 2 hours.
4. Uncover and shred chicken into large pieces using 2 forks. Stir in brisket and lemon juice. Cover and cook 10 minutes. Serve with hot sauce, if desired.
   
   
   

reade more... Résuméabuiyad