Easter Eggs

The Junior Easter Bunnies were back again on Good Friday. The Master Mommy Easter Bunny simmered eggs (for 20 minutes this time, as the 15 minutes recommended in her Joy Of Cooking yielded soupy eggs the past 2 years; 2 cracked and we were happy to find they were perfectly cooked all the way through, and just-right creamy) and prepared 7 cups of different colors.



We used McCormick’s food coloring: standard yellow, green, and blue; and neon purple, pink, blue, and green; with one tablespoon of vinegar per cup of boiling water and ten drops of dye. A little salt added to the water during the simmering process gives the eggs a more realistic, grainy texture.



The JEBs did all the actual coloring. The MMEB will be up early to hide the eggs on Easter morning. They are so excited for the hunt. Happy Easter!

Elizabeth’s Chicken Extravaganza

This was a fun experimental dish that everyone really loved.

First, I made my own sauce. I seared red onions and garlic in olive oil, then added black pepper, kosher salt, and basil. I lowered the heat and then added a jar of crushed tomatoes. I let this simmer for a few minutes and then turned off the heat.

Then I coated a large baking dish with olive oil and poured in the tomato sauce. I sliced up boneless chicken breasts into long quarters and put them into the sauce.

I was going to make this just like that, covering it with foil and baking for a half hour before adding mozzarella. Then I thought of the spinach I had in my fridge.

My daughter watched with horror as I piled on a pound of fresh spinach leaves. She didn’t believe me when I said I always add a pound when I put it in the rice or pasta – you can’t see it all when it is thrown into a pasta pot, and it shrinks down to one-tenth of the size once it is cooked.

I had to snap a picture of how the spinach looked all piled on top of the chicken and sauce.



This I covered with foil before putting it in to bake at 400 for about a half hour. Then I removed the foil, added a pound of shredded part-skim mozzarella, and put it back in the oven for ten minutes.



Although the kids were skeptical when I served this, once they tasted it they agreed it was delicious! Oh, and they didn’t notice the red onions, which were cut up small and hid well in the red sauce. (Cooked red onions are great as a natural decongestant and we use it almost daily through the winter and allergy seasons.)

I served this with thin spaghetti, tossed with olive oil, salad, and homemade dressing on the side. No mustard sauce for me, thanks; I’ll stick with my Fennel and Flax Seed Vinaigrette.

Elizabeth’s Creamy Mustard Vinaigrette

For the version in the picture, I mixed about 1 tablespoon of mustard, 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise, and 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. Experiment with proportions for the taste and consistency you are looking for.

I hate both mustard and mayonnaise, so it is an act of love to make this for my husband. I do it to keep him from going to the store and buying bottles of dressing that are filled with preservatives and inferior ingredients. He said it tastes a little like Burger King’s “special sauce”. On the Fitness Channel I saw another version of this, which replaces the mayonnaise with plain nonfat yogurt.

Palm Sunday 2009: The Week in Review

For the first time perhaps in our entire family history, we got to church early enough to get seats for Palm Sunday. I love it when we can get a whole pew for our family. Usually there is a solitary person sitting at the end of the pew, and they look like their peace was disturbed when all six of us trip past. Then they have to tolerate all the bumps and nonsense that occurs throughout the mass. Often the person disappears right after Communion. I wonder if they found a better spot or left entirely.

“Wasn’t it worth getting there ten minutes early?” I ask my husband as we leave.

“What’s the difference? We have to stand for most of it anyway,” he replies.

He’s not the one the little one usually goes to, so if we are forced to stand I wind up holding all 30 pounds of her, while wearing heels. Just knowing we can sit if we need to is a relief.

So I enjoyed our Mass. As soon as we got home, my ten-year-old daughter and I went to get our raggedy hairs trimmed. Then we all went for a bike ride.

The kids and my husband spent what seemed like hours washing the cars. They haven’t been cleaned for the entire winter, so there was lots of scrubbing to do. Meanwhile, I worked in the kitchen, making up my own special dish I christened Chicken Extravaganza, which will be featured in this blog tomorrow.

I also helped my eleven-year-old daughter with her Hungarian culture project. There was research to be done for the report, and for the class food sample we made these lovely little cookies that are similar to Linza Tarts. These also will be displayed on this blog this week.

We got some fun shopping last night. I am not big on shopping, but I do enjoy buying Easter dresses for my girls each year. I took my two older girls to Kohl’s where they each tried on about twenty dresses. They were really hysterical, laughing and commenting loudly to each other through the stall. I wondered how many people outside were listening to the songs they made up.

They finally settled on what they called “seaweed mermaid dresses”. They are matching, flowy, green and blue dresses with thick straps, which they will wear with white sweaters on Easter. They reminded them of mermaids because of how flowy they are, and of seaweeds because of the surreal mixed green and blue pattern.

This week at softball practice I commented to another mother on how cute the girls were at this age. She looked at me like I was crazy. She looked at my toddler and said, “I’d like to bottle them up at this age and keep them that way forever.”

What I thought adorable was the pure enjoyment that girls take in their friends and teammates. My girls have been playing in the same league since they were five, and have played with each of the other girls on the same team at least once, and against their team on the other years. When they met for the first practice, they literally jumped into each other’s arms, hugging one another.

God made babies to grow up, and watching them fulfill their potential as they grow through each stage is such a blessing.

Painting by Fra Angelico, 1450, Entry into Jerusalem

Dinner for Three Nights: Chicken Legs with Paprika

In anticipation of the first three nights of ball practice for three kids in different divisions, last night I made twenty oven stuffer chicken legs. We only ate seven, which means we can have leftovers on both Wed. and Thurs., with freshly made sides of pasta and vegetables.

Sprinkle chicken legs with salt, pepper, and Hungarian Sweet Paprika. Bake at 400 degrees for one hour.

Shown here with Barilla tri-color rotini, tossed with olive oil; and steamed string beans, also tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Menu Planning for After-School Sports

Seventh Inning Stretch

Baseball/softball season starts April 1, and with it comes a very rigid and simplified dinner schedule. I am fortunate to be home during the day, so if I am making a new dinner I start preparing it between 2:00 and 3:00. The kids get home at 3:00 and have to do their homework right away and then get dressed for the ball field. During the rest of the year, I make them go outside right away and do their homework later. But now they will have a few hours of fresh air and exercise to look forward to after dinner.

We eat at 4:00. My husband’s dish gets wrapped up for later. Those who are done with their homework can practice the piano in shifts. Practices and games are always at 6:00, but we have to be there at 5:30, and there usually is no bathroom available – which means we have to have thoroughly digested everything by 5:00!

Today I did my food shopping and planned out the rest of the week’s meals in my head. I got several packages of chicken legs, and will make as many today as I can fit in my oven! That means we can have leftovers on Wed. I also got a family pack of sausages, which are an easy entrée to make for Thurs., leaving enough leftovers for Sat. For Friday I got flounder fillets for the kids and stuffed flounder for me and Kevin.

We generally don’t get home until after 8:00, which during the rest of the year is the children’s official bedtime. They have a quick dessert and make the next day’s lunches while everyone takes turns in the showers – luckily I have two of those. I have everyone in bed by 9:00.

Even though there might be housework, such as a dirty floor and laundry, to do after 9:00, I leave it until the morning. Otherwise I will get all revved up and be unable to sleep. Evening hours are mine for writing, reading, and watching television with my husband.

Other self-imposed rules that keep me sane during this season:
* Big school projects MUST be completed on the weekend – I have no patience for last-minute rushes to meet deadlines.
* Social commitments are kept to a minimum.
* I try to get all errands done in the morning so the baby can get a good nap in.
* Sunday is an absolute day of rest and relaxation. After Church, the only plans we make are with extended family for afternoon dinners.

Elizabeth's Turkey Stir Fry

This is a great dinner for those nights when I forgot to defrost the meat. I can still have dinner on the table within twenty minutes, from start to finish!

Sautee onions and garlic in olive oil.


Add one pound of ground turkey. This works even if it is not completely defrosted!

Keep flipping over the turkey, shaving off the cooked parts with a spatula until the entire pound is completely cooked to a light brown color.

In the meantime, cook pasta and spinach together. Add frozen spinach at the same time as the pasta; add fresh spinach after the pasta starts to simmer. Keep lid on for the steam to help cook the spinach.

Serve stir fried turkey over the pasta and spinach. If you toss the drippings from the turkey into the pasta, you will not need to add olive oil to the pasta.

Variation:
Another night, I made this with the addition of mushrooms. The mushrooms would be added towards the beginning, around the circumference of the meat.

Elizabeth’s Turkey Meatloaf

In an effort to create more meals containing lean protein, I have been trying to come up with more dishes containing ground turkey. I have found that I can easily use this as a substitute for ground beef. This weekend I tried a meatloaf containing 2 pounds of ground turkey, one egg, salt,pepper, and Italian bread crumbs. Although my husband at first complained, “Where’s the beef?” and my children comment on the unusually light color of the dish, everyone did enjoy the entrée.

Fish: It’s What’s for Dinner, and Lunch, and Breakfast

Some may find fault with this, but I find I look forward to Lent, if only for the culinary delights. I love fish; my husband just tolerates it.

This Friday morning I made him a tuna sandwich. I made one can, which makes two sandwiches for us. Rather than have to wrap up the second one, I ate it for breakfast.

The kids being home early from a half-day at school, we had fish sticks for lunch.

For dinner there were flounder and salmon, over a bed of my metabolic rice garnished with fresh steamed broccoli. The kids and I love salmon, but my husband really hates it. So I make both. Everyone is happy, and eating healthy.

Here is my husband’s plate.



Here is my plate.



Here is my son’s plate.



Elizabeth’s method for cooking all sorts of fish:
Coat a glass baking dish with olive oil.
Coat both sides of the fish with olive oil.
Place skin-side down in the dish.
Sprinkle with seafood seasoning, usually a combination of salt and sweet paprika.
Seal dish with aluminum foil.
Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes.
Fish should be flaky through the middle when it is done.

Elizabeth’s Metabolic Rice (so named because it is filled with all sorts of ingredients which raise your metabolic heat, therefore burning more calories):
Place rice and water in pot at a ratio of one cup rice to two cups water.
Pour in kosher salt, pepper, and hot paprika, as desired.
Slice onions and place on top.
Bring to a simmer.
Cover and lower heat.
Simmer for 15 minutes.

Elizabeth’s Steamed Vegetables:
Place in glass casserole.
Drizzle with olive oil.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Microwave for approximately seven minutes.

Enjoy!

Elizabeth’s Simplified Manicotta

Did you know that you don’t have to precook pasta or sauce when making a baked Italian dish? This discovery has saved me lots of time and trouble. No more dealing with hot, floppy lasagna, stuffed shells, or manicotta while stuffing them with ricotta cheese. No more cleaning sauce off the stove and walls from the lengthy simmering of a homemade sauce. No more cleaning of multiple pots and bowls from premixing.

Here is how I made tonight’s meatless manicotta. Modify to make stuffed shells or lasagna. To add meat, simply stir-fry meat in a pan with olive oil, salt, and pepper until cooked. Sprinkle into the sauce or on top of the dish before adding cheese.

Coat the bottom of a 9x13 glass baking dish with olive oil. Pour in a large can of crushed tomatoes. Sprinkle with kosher salt, pepper, and one teaspoon of nutmeg (optional). Slice garlic and intersperse into the sauce. One by one, stuff uncooked manicotta noodles with ricotta cheese. Use the end of a wooden spoon to help. Place the manicotta in the sauce and turn it so that it is completely covered with sauce. The sauce should come at least halfway up the noodle. If it does not, add another can of crushed tomatoes with a little more salt and pepper. Seal tightly with aluminum foil. The pasta will be cooked by the moisture of the sauce and the steam that is trapped inside.

Bake at 400 degrees for a 30 to 40 minutes. You may want to turn the noodles after twenty minutes. It is done when the noodles are al dente.

Remove the foil and cover with sliced mozzarella cheese. Bake for about five minutes until the cheese has melted.

Elizabeth’s Healthy but Yummy Snacks for Kids

Lunch Time

Each of these recipes are designed to be a healthful snack, with no salt or sugar, and very easy to prepare. The first two require no cooking and the third utilizes a microwave. The dishes have been approved by several children that play and snack in my home.

Banana Milk Shakes for Two (Makes 2 cups.)

Blend together until smooth:

1 small banana
1 cup skim milk
1/2 tsp. almond extract
4 ice cubes


Honey Bee Applesauce
(Makes 6 cups.)

Wash and peel 3 large apples. Remove cores and seeds.
Slice as thinly as possible.

Blend together until smooth:

3 large apples, prepared as stated above
1 qt. cold water
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup honey


Hot Cinnamon Apples
(Makes 2 cups, requires microwave)

Wash and peel 4 small apples. Remove cores and seeds.
Slice into quarters.

Combine in microwavable dish:

1/3 cup water
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp. cinnamon
1.4 tsp. allspice

Pour over apples. Cover with waxed paper.
Microwave on high power for five minutes.

Enjoy!

Elizabeth’s Turmeric Chicken with Vegetable Medley over Rice and Pasta

I have been looking to incorporate turmeric, used in Indian dishes and widely touted for its anti-oxidant properties, into my cooking lately. I came up with this. You can use more turmeric for a spicier dish, or less to let its taste be overtaken by the brown sugar. More turmeric makes the dish yellow, like in my picture. Less makes it brown. This combo will have you using your entire kitchen to capacity.

1. Prepare chicken tenderloins in a glass baking dish. Cover tenderloins with olive oil. Sprinkle first with kosher salt (which makes the meat more tender), then with pepper, then with desired amount of turmeric (a little goes a long way!). Finally, cover with a generous amount of brown sugar. Cover dish with tin foil to lock in the moisture. Bake at 350 degrees for about a half hour or until completely cooked through.

2. Meanwhile, mix a cup of rice with 4 cups of water, a tablespoon of kosher salt, and a generous amount of olive oil in a large pot. Bring to a boil. Add a pound of macaroni, lower heat to allow it to just simmer, and cover. Cook for 15 minutes, until both rice and pasta are tender.

3. Cut up green and yellow squash into a microwave-safe dish. Top this with red onions and sliced cherry tomatoes. Drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Steam in microwave for about 7 minutes.

4. Layer the dish with pasta/rice combo on bottom, then vegetables, and finally the chicken. Drizzle the pan juices from the chicken over the entire dish. Kids are suspicious at first of the color of the chicken, but tell me it is delicious!

5. This is an original recipe. Please share and enjoy, but remember it is under copyright.

Elizabeth’s Fennel and Flax Vinaigrette

This is a very light, yet extremely healthy and satisfying dressing. I wanted something that would pour more easily than my Fennel Parmesan Vinaigrette , and one that would not spoil easily. So I came up with this, and loved it. Hours later, I still felt satisfied. If you are trying to cut out late-night snacking, this just might help you to do it.

½ cup balsamic vinegar
1 ½ cups 100% virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt (or regular salt, or sea salt)
1 teaspoon ground pepper
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, lightly crushed
1 teaspoon flax seed, milled or whole

Funnel ingredients into a jar and shake to mix. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

All the above ingredients, excluding salt, are excellent for cholesterol levels – bringing up the good and lowering the bad. The fats are all good ones, which help to burn “bad” fat, and help to keep you feeling full longer. Vinegar and pepper both help to burn both fat and calories. Fennel seeds are great for the digestive system. (Fennel seed tea was part of the cure for my bout with morning sickness a few years ago.) Flax seed is excellent for the circulatory system; milled has more calories but a greater positive overall effect on the body, while whole is recommended for those trying to lose weight.

Elizabeth’s Baked Chicken with Paprika

This comes from my Hungarian background. Basically you take any kind of meat, sprinkle it with salt and paprika, and you have a Hungarian dish! Paprika comes in sweet and hot varieties. (Sometimes I use the hot variety instead of pepper in dishes such as meatloaf.)

The Hungarians, being landlocked, had to use many foods that were preserved. But most of their livestock was grown fresh by the housewives. They grew their own chickens and other fowl, killed them, and prepared them. Fortunately I am spared the trouble. But did you hear that chicken producers clean the chicken pieces with bleach after chopping them up? Make sure you clean your chicken thoroughly and cook it until it is really done.

Lay chicken pieces out in your pot. Sprinkle with salt and sweet paprika. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour.

Elizabeth’s Rice with Spinach

This is a great way to get some fresh spinach into a dish. Small families will need one cup of rice with two cups of water. My family needs two cups of rice with four cups of water. In a large pot, add some salt. Bring to a simmer. Put large bag of washed spinach on top of the water and cover. Lower heat to its lowest setting, so that water continues to simmer. Cook for 15 minutes. Do not open the lid to test the rice – this will release steam and interfere with its proper cooking. Only when the timer goes off should you test it. The rice should be puffy but with a slight bite. Not crispy. It should have absorbed all of the water. If it has not, you have another 5 minutes to go. When rice is done, remove from heat, fluff with a fork and recover for 5 minutes to let the steam continue its work on perfecting your rice.

Elizabeth’s Simply Steamed Brussel Sprouts

Cover bottom of a Corningware dish with a small amount of water. Cut off ends of fresh brussel spouts and place in dish. Drizzle lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover with glass dish. Steam in microwave for about 7 minutes.

Elizabeth’s Divinely Simple Cooking

I cook from scratch every night. If you are thinking of the recipes in magazines with their complicated lists of ingredients and multiple steps, you might think this to be daunting. But my meals are very simple, often a variation of the same theme, yet never quite the same twice. I like things that can be thrown together very quickly and left to cook while I tend to the children.

I use mostly fresh produce, with a moderate dose of olive and/or canola oil, salt, and pepper. (I keep an oil dispenser handy in which I make a mixture of about 20% olive oil to 80% canola oil.)

My method of choice for cooking meats and fish is baking, because once it is dressed you can basically ignore it until you smell that it is almost done. I love to use glass Pyrex baking dishes for this. For fish and thinly cut chicken, I cover the dish with aluminum foil to keep the meat from drying out.

I like to steam my vegetables in the microwave, in a glass corningware dish.

On the side, I usually make pasta, rice, or potatoes.

Elizabeth’s Simple American Lamb Chops

Coat glass baking dish lightly with olive and/or canola oil
Place lamb chops in the dish.
Cover the lamb lightly with oil.
Sprinkle with rosemary and marjoram.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes or until slightly browned and cooked inside.

Elizabeth’s Simple Quartered Potatoes

Coat the bottom of a glass baking dish with olive and/or canola oil.
Wash and quarter potatoes.
Place potatoes in a single layer in dish.
Spray generously with canola or olive oil.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Bake at 375 degrees for about one hour or until lightly browned and fork tender.

Elizabeth’s Simply Steamed Asparagus

Put a small amount of water in the bottom of a corningware dish.
Wash asparagus; cut off the woody ends.
Place asparagus in dish.
Sprinkle with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Cover with glass cover.
Steam in microwave on high for about 7 minutes.