3 Milks...

Tres Leches, 3 Milks, sweet goodness, whatever you want to call it...I love it.
So, NO, I have not been back in the kitchen since Little Bit debuted in the world last week. Been no need to since so many have been so generous and kind and supplied our fridge and mouths with more food than we could ever consume!
Yesterday I woke up craving milk, perhaps due to the great amount exiting my body at a high volume, but in either case we didn't have any in the house. BUT there was hope, my friend Sarah was bringing over a delicious dessert...none other than Pioneer Woman's Tres Leches cake.
Needless to say, I consumed approximately half it yesterday. Perhaps the other half will go today. You must try it, now. Thanks Sar!!

Apple Strudel by Senor

Senor here, this weekend we took a short trip into the mountains and bought ten pounds of delicious apples. I highly recommend buying apples now, even if you don't make strudel, they're in season and scrumptious. And since I had been dreaming about apple strudel, I knew I wanted to make some. Cherie helped me find a recipe and I went to town and Cherie mostly stayed out of the kitchen; you know the power struggles that can occur with two chefs in the kitchen.

The dough was easier than I expected to roll out thin. It worked fine, I just used a rolling pin I didn't make it to 2ft x 3ft. Made it to 20" x 25"...it was fine.

The raisins were soaked overnight in apple juice instead of rum. We used way too many apples, I would use 3 or 4 apples instead of the six we had. I am adding more nuts, raisins, cinnamon and sugar next time, make it a little more decadent.

If you follow the recipe the dough works pretty well, it only stuck to the kitchen towel in a few spots and had to scrape it off with a knife.

The hardest part of the recipe was after it was baked not eating it for 30 minutes.

The crust was flaky, good texture, and the apples had great flavor, once we added some sugar back on top it was pretty near perfect and tastes like what we had in Eastern Europe from what I remember from 2007.

Will make again, and again.

Balsamic Chicken

This was a new one for us, I found it on Cast sugar. It turned out to be simple, flavorful and definitely approved for the "make again" dinner menu in the future. The only thing for this is you need to make the marinade the night before (not a big deal) and let the chicken marinate. We had jasmine rice (with lemon juice and parsley--but mashed potatoes would be good too!!), green beans (steamed with EVOO, salt/pepper), and carrots/pears (sauteed with little butter and honey). I marinated 3 boneless/skinless breasts and then 2 with bone+ skin. So we had enough for last night, tonight + 1 lunch. We opted to make some gravy from the leftover chicken juice but you could just use it straight from the pan (after cooking...).

Balsamic Chicken:
4 lb of chicken (4-5 chicken breasts)
1/2 c Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 c Dijon mustard
1/4 c lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, chopped up
1/4-1/3 c EVOO
salt/pepper as desired, I think used about 1/4 tsp black pepper or maybe a bit more...

Mix it all together, toss it into a huge freezer ziplock bag, toss in the chicken. Let it do it's thing in the fridge overnight.

On the day you want to eat this chicken, preheat the oven to 400F. Pour the chicken and marinade into an aluminum-lined baking dish (9x13 is a good size). Bake for about 45-1 hr 15 min (depending on how long your chicken takes...the boneless/skinless was done very quickly). Remove from oven. If you want to make gravy melt 1 Tbsp butter in small saucepan over med-lo heat. Add 1-2 tsp flour, whisk til smooth. Pour in the marinade juices from the baking dish. Whisk til smooth and allow to heat for a minute or two. Optional: add 2-4 oz mushrooms.

Tomato, Cheese-ravioli Soup

This soup was so ridiculously easy and delicious! I made it in less than 20 min, no joke. I ran across the recipe in "Weight Watchers: Down to Earth" magazine (pg 14??) and thought "sounds too easy to be good", so it was placed on the back burner. Then, as I was making the October calendar I decided to try it out since I'm looking for easier, quicker dinners. I did alter it a bit and will go into that at the end. It was a great meal this evening as it's below 55F outside! I would say it's comparable to the minestrone I LOVE but without all the fuss!

Tomato Cheese-Ravioli Soup: (this is the recipe as is)
1 (14.5 oz) can stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 (14.5 oz) can vegetable broth, undiluted
1/2 tsp italian seasoning (google for subs if needed)
1/2 (25 oz) pkg frozen cheese ravioli (about 20-24 raviloies)
1 cup sliced zucchini
1/4 tsp black pepper

1. Combine first 3 ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Cover, reduce and simmer for 5 min.
3. Stir in the remaining ingredients, return to boil.
4. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 7 min (or until pasta is done--it floats)
Makes 4 (1.25 c) servings

See!! Super easy!
Here are my alterations/recipe version:
1. I added about 1/3 lb italian sausage (I had leftover from spinach lasagna roll ups in the freezer)
2. I sauteed my zucchini (I used 1 whole zuch), about 12 grape tomatoes and sausage over med-low heat for a few min
3. I added extra veggie broth b/c I knew I'd need extra with all the extra stuff I was adding.
4. I used Knorr's vegetable broth bouillon cubes and made 3 cups of broth (couldn't find vegetable broth canned)
5. I used Italian stewed tomatoes.
I contemplated adding white beans (rinsed and drained) but decided against it--so just ignore those in the picture below, this soup had enough going on and was just fine the way we made it!

So here's how my recipe would read:
1 (14.5 oz) can Italian stewed tomatoes, undrained
1.5 cubes Knorr's vegetable bouillon cubes (dissolved into) 3 c boiling water
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 pkg (25 oz) frozen cheese ravioli (I used 20)
1 small zucchini, quartered/sliced
10-12 grape tomatoes, halved
1/3 lb Italian sausage, mild, browned and drained

1. Bring the first 3 ingredients to a boil; while waiting heat skillet and sautee zucchini, sausage. Add tomatoes for a few min.
2. Stir in zucch, tomatoes, sausage, and rest of the ingredients into the saucepan. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, simmer and cook til pasta is tender (5-7 min)
3. Serve with shredded parmesan cheese or grilled cheese sandwiches!

Pecan, Craisin, Goat Cheese Salad with dressing

I had this salad, or some version of it, at a restaurant many years ago and it was how my love for goat cheese all began. I decided it was time to have a version at home for dinner. We had this salad with grilled-spicy pork chops and steamed veggies. The dressing is from my MIL, but I think you could easily use a balsamic vinaigrette as well.

Romain lettuce, chopped
fresh baby spinach leaves, chopped
craisins (or dried cherries would be yummy too)
pecans, coarsely chopped (I candied them, but they would work toasted too)
goat cheese

For candied pecans:
In a non stick skillet heat 1 Tbsp butter + 1/4c sugar over med-hi heat (like 7-8)...do not stir, wait for sugar to begin melting and browning around the edges of the pan; toss in pecans, stir like crazy for about 1 min then dump them quickly onto a greased plate or cookie sheet to cool. When cooled, break up into small pieces.

For breaded goat cheese:
Cut round of cheese into slices/medallions. Roll through bread crumbs (on all sides). Place in a greased skillet over med-hi heat and flip quickly...otherwise cheese will melt! You could also broil it on a cookie sheet in the oven. (which might be easier)

Place desired amt of greens in bowl, top with toppings.

Red wine vinaigrette:
1/4 c veg oil
1-2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
pinch or 2 salt
2 tsp poppy seeds

Stir all together, serve on salad.

Asparagus, Gnocchi, and Prosciutto

Senor does not care for asparagus. In fact, when we were dating he informed me it was on his "no-can-do" list of veggies. (Cauliflower's on there too, sigh.) But I had a small breakthrough and he agreed to try this meal out for dinner recently. I forgot pictures. I was excited about it because I really like asparagus. Sadly, it was only mediocre. I'm not a huge gnocchi or prosciutto fan, senor wasn't too keen on the asparagus (he did eat some) so you can imagine what kind of negotiations/food swapping went on at the dinner table. Oh well. It's worth trying. And it was very easy...kind of on the expensive side for a meal though (gnocchi-$2.99, asparagus-$2.49/lb on sale, and prosciutto-$3.99) The end.

Slop, Slop, Sloppy Joe's

I used the 1/2 lb of browned ground beef (with onions and peppers) from the enchiladas the other day to make Sloppy Joe's tonight. This was definitely a Senor request (and success, he gave it a solid thumbs up). I thought they tasted satisfying enough as well. It tasted JUST LIKE the sloppy joes with Manwich mom used to make when I was growing up. It's been at least 12 years since I'd had a sloppy joe. Senor had tater tots with his (every now and then I give in!) and I had greek vanilla yogurt and granny smith apple slices. Definitely a quick meal. Easy. Tasty. Satisfying. You could jazz it up with some sharp cheddar, lettuce, or homemade buns--I just didn't feel like putting forth the effort for the buns like I did for Philly Sandwiches. Maybe next time.

Sloppy Joe's--not sure where I got this recipe but here's what I used
1/2 lb lean ground beef
1/4 c onion, chopped
1/4 c green pepper, chopped
little chili powder, oregano, pepper
(all of this was mixed and browned previously for enchiladas...so all I did was dump it into the skillet)

Sloppy Joe Sauce: (for 1/2lb meat)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp yellow mustard
5-6 Tbsp ketchup (add more as needed)
1 1/2 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp worcestshire sauce

Brown the meat in skillet, when it's all done (with veggies), drain. Mix together sauce, stir into meat in skillet over med-lo heat. Add little water, cook on low for 10-15 min or until heated through. Serve on buns.
Options:
You could add chopped tomatoes, chopped zucchini or other veggies if you wanted.
Makes about 3-4 sandwiches.