With the holidays here, this is one of my favorite dishes to put on the table! Yep, it’s the classic green bean casserole. My sister gave me an alternate recipe to use this Thanksgiving which was really tasty, but I also like this creamier traditional recipe, but with a little kick of course!
For the Campbell’s Traditional Green Bean Casserole recipe, you can click here. But why not try this variation on the classic!
Ingredients:
1 medium onion chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
4 tablespoons butter
4 cups cooked green beans (frozen or fresh work best)
1 can Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk (or for an even creamier taste substitute half and half)
1 to 2 cups French’s Cheddar Cheese Fried Onions
1 cup parmesan cheese grated
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- If using fresh green beans, wash and cut into 2 inch pieces.
- Steam/Microwave green beans until just tender. Set aside to cool in a large mixing bowl.
- Saute onion and garlic in the butter over low heat until they are caramelized.
- Add 1/2 cup milk/half & half and scrape all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan (this is much easier to do if you are using a non-stick pan.)
- Add mushroom soup mix and stir until creamy.
- Add onion/mushroom soup mixture to the green beans and toss. Then add 3/4 cups of both the parmesan and cheddar cheeses and toss. Also add about 1/2 cup of the French’s Fried Onions and toss.
- Lightly grease 2 quart casserole dish. Place green bean mixture into casserole and top with the remaining French’s Fried Onions, parmesan and cheddar cheeses.
- Bake in 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until bubbly.
For another variation, fry up some chopped red peppers and add to the mixture!
When I was researching SINS OF THE FLESH, I wanted to make sure that I gave readers a taste of the characters in a variety of ways, including in the foods that they would eat. Since my research revealed a large Mexican population down the shore as well as in towns like Freehold, it seemed that my mercenary and ex-Army Ranger hero, Mick Carrera, would be Mexican.
And since I love books with foods/chefs (THE PERFECT MIX, SEX AND THE SOUTH BEACH CHICAS and MORE THAN A MISSION), it only seemed right that after Mick’s family had legally immigrated to the United States, they would succeed in their American Dream by opening a Mexican restaurant in one of the shore towns.
But Mexican food is more than tacos and burritos or the Tex-Mex dip recipe I gave you so long ago. I’ve been lucky to visit Mexico City, Tequila and Guadalajara on various occasions and sample the amazing dishes available in those cities (as well as the margaritas!).
But today’s Tuesday Tip comes courtesy of a visit that my daughter paid to a local Mexican restaurant in Philadelphia. She made the dish for us and it was delicious. Plus, it’s simple and incredibly tasty. What could be better? So here is today’s Tuesday Tip Recipe:
Ingredients:
- ripe plantains (2) or 2 packages of Goya Frozen Ripe Plantains
- sour cream
- queso fresco
- chopped chives
Directions:
- 1. Most stores carry plantains, but they must be ripe for this recipe. That means they should have a deep yellow/spotted black outer skin so they will be sweet. Getting them perfectly ripe can be hard, which is why I cheat and rely on the Goya Frozen Ripe Plantains. Always ripe, no peeling and lots of sweet.
- 2. If you’re using fresh plantains, peel them. Cut diagonally into ovalish slices. Alternative – open the Goya box.
- 3. Fry up the plantains, either in vegetable oil or butter. This is one time not to use virgin olive oil because it will overpower the sweetness factor. Cook until golden and caramelized.
- 4. Place the fried plantains on a slightly greased serving dish (They are so sugary, they will stick!).
- 5. Garnish with sour cream, some crumbled queso fresco (available in the dairy section) and the chopped chives.
- 6. Serve. This recipe will comfortably provide a side dish or appetizer for 4 to 5 people.
Hope you enjoyed today’s Behind the Scenes look and Tuesday Tip recipe!
I was in Costco last weekend and came across Jose Cuervo Strawberry Margarita mix. Yum. The only thing tastier is a mango margarita, but I’m not sure that flavor is popular enough to merit a mix.
But, I love strawberry margaritas and even better – It’s delicious as just a smoothie! Add a banana or some other fresh fruit or even some fruit sorbet to kick your smoothie up a notch.
I haven’t tried adding a low fat yogurt or ice cream for a creamy smoothie, but I think I’ll give that a shot this weekend when I have some friends over.
For more great Jose Cuervo products and recipes, you can visit www.cuervo.com.
**Disclaimer: In my other life, Jose Cuervo is a client, but I’m offering you this Tuesday Tip because it’s an awfully good mix!
Sunday was one of those lazy days and neither hubby nor I wanted to cook. Plus, I had done some food shopping and there were some things we had to use so they would stay fresh. Hubby recalled a recipe he had seen on TV and did a little improvisation. You can as well and end up with a healthy, hearty and economical meal!
So today’s Tuesday tip is a recipe for Cannellini & Pasta! Now the fun thing about this is that if you some protein in the meal, you can use either ham, chicken, sausage or even shrimp.
Bob’s Cannellini & Pasta:
Ingredients:
2 cloves Garlic
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 cup Olive Oil
28 oz can Crushed Tomatoes
1 16 oz can cannellini beans
2 handfuls fresh spinach (baby if possible, if not, please chop)
1/2 pound pasta (preferably a rigatoni, penne, etc. This is for 2 people. Make it a pound for more than 2 people)
Optional: 1/2 pound protein (ham, chicken, sausage, shrimp)
Directions:
Saute garlic and red pepper flakes in olive oil until garlic is soft.
Add canellini beans and also, the liquid from the can. Saute for a few minutes and then add crushed tomatoes. Reduce sauce until it begins to thicken. Add chopped spinach. Allow spinach to wilt. Spinach has a lot of natural water, so you will need to reduce the sauce a little more.
If you are going to add the ham, chicken or sausage, cook this first with the garlic and red pepper flakes. If you’re using shrimp, you don’t want to overcook them and should add them with the spinach.
Hope you enjoyed this Tuesday’s Tip. Also, don’t forget about the Brenda Novak auction and some fun news for you – we’re having a guest blogger tomorrow – Kathye Quick. Kathye is a dear friend and the author of several books. Tomorrow she’ll be blogging about her latest CYNTHIA AND CONSTANTINE. Here’s a little blurb about it! Also, if you drop by and leave a comment, you will be eligible to win a CALLING T-shirt!
Lady Cynthia of Abertaine is trapped. Not only has her fiancé. Sir William Leyborne, not been back to the castle for over ten years, but she’s also not a titled Lady. Lord Simon of Cowell, a renegade warlord aligned with Mordred against Arthur and his Knights, has declared himself sovereign over Leyborne Castle and everything that once belonged to Sir William – including Cynthia. Sir Constantine, Knight of the Round Table, has come to the shire to give Cynthia the news that her fiancé has fallen in battle. With him is William’s oral will giving all he owns to Cynthia as though they had been wed. But when he finds Cynthia and discovers that the shire under the control of an evil warlord, he knows he cannot leave without first driving Simon and his soldiers from the land. Drawn together by an attraction older than time, Cynthia and Constantine soon discover that though a vow made by a knight’s honor has brought them together, it may just also cost them their lives.
There are just some herbs and spices that I always keep around the house. Basil. Parsley. Oregano. Chili. Cinnamon. Garlic (is that a spice?)
Lifetime TV has a list of spices for you to use to spice up your life! Just click here or cut and paste this link into your browser: http://www.mylifetime.com/lifestyle/health/diet-nutrition/best-bites-nice-spice-3?cmpid=Email-Healthy%20Living-2009-03-31.
Some of Lifetime’s recommendations are cayenne, my favorite cinnamon, cloves (blech!), fennel (double blech!) and my most popular garlic!
I use cinnamon a lot in my coffee, hot chocolate and my grandma’s secret cold recipe (not so secret since I told you about it last year). Garlic is great on food, but also by itself when it’s roasted and you can spread it on bread.
What are some of your favorite spices?
I got tired of the same old same old that we’d been eating and decided to try something different last Saturday — Pulled Pork. I have a dry rub recipe that I use on my ribs and brisket and slathered that on some pork loins, slipped them into the oven to cook for some time and then pulled apart that tender pork and added some more rub and KC Masterpiece BBQ Sauce (the tastiest so far in my book).
The problem was, what to eat with the pulled pork sandwiches? I decided on a simple corn salsa. In the summer I’d probably roast fresh corn on the BBQ, but this time I had to rely on some frozen corn and the other ingredients in my fridge and pantry. So here goes my recipe for a simple corn salsa, a bright side dish to any spicy or sweet meal.
CORN SALSA
4 cups cooked corn
1 cup finely chopped onions (red make a nice color variation if you have them)
1/2 cup chopped pimentos
2 cup chopped tomatoes
1 16 oz can black beans
fresh parsley or cilantro if you have (if not dried will work)
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil and pepper to taste.
Just mix all of the above in a bowl and let it marinate for about an your. Like your salsa spicier? Add a shot or two of Tabasco or Cholula sauce or even better, some chopped jalapenos. For more color variation, chop avocado and add it to the mix.
Hope you enjoyed this Tuesday’s Tip!
I love the combo of sweet and spicy. Don’t know whether it’s a Cuban thing or not, although Cubans have a tendency to have a lot of sweet/spicy or sweet/salty kinds of combos. The easiest one to do and a staple in my house — pasta de guayaba (which is guava paste) with queso blanco (white cheese which is kind of like a salty more set Farmer’s Cheese). Aged cheddar is always a good substitute.
One of my favoritest combos of sweet/spicy is a pairing of my sister Carmen’s Corn Casserole with chili/taco meat. YUM!!! Actually, the corn casserole is fabulous in and of itself and I could eat a huge bowl of it all by myself. The casserole is a cross between cornbread and Virginia spoonbread and again, YUM!!!
Carmen’s Corn Casserole is much easier to make than the spoonbread. So easy you’ll say, I can make this all the time. My sis serves it topped with monterey jack cheese and we often pair it with chili or taco meat for a tasty lunch/dinner. If you like this basic recipe, you can experiment by chopping and adding red peppers, jalapenos, cheddar cheese or even some finely diced onions to the mix for a change of pace.
So here is today’s Tuesday Tip and Cook’s Treat addition -
Carmen’s Corn Casserole
One 15 ounce can cream corn
One 15 ounce can kernel corn drained
One pint low fat sour cream
One stick melted butter
One package Jiffy corn muffin mix
One cup shredded monterey jack cheese (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine first 5 ingredients. Grease casserole or brownie pan with butter. Pour ingredients into pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes until firm. Sprinkle cheese over top and let melt 5 minutes. Remove from oven and let casserole sit for another 10 minutes. Enjoy!
Hoep you liked this Cook’s Treat and Tuesday Tip!
My abuelita Nieves was a fabulous cook! She could take any combination of ingredients and make them taste great. Even something as simple as fried eggs and rice (one of my favorite quick meals).
One of her best dishes was an amazing bread pudding. I always loved it and try to make it whenever I can. The basic dish is simple to make and once you get the hang of it, you can try a number of variations, such as substituting brioche for the regular bread or cinnamon-raisin bread for a super cinnamony/raisiny version.
So here’s my Grandma Nieves’s recipe for Bread Pudding! I hope you enjoy it!
Basic Ingredients:
For the baking process: Large loaf baking pan or round quart and a half dish. Corningware is great since you can make the caramel in it and then add the pudding ingredients thereby using only one pan! You’ll also need a large baking dish to use for the bain marie and enough hot water to fill large baking pan halfway up the sides.
For the caramel: 1 cup plain white sugar
For the bread pudding:
3 whole eggs
3 cups whole milk
1 can Condensed Milk (Not evaporated, but Sweetened Condensed Milk. Magnolia or Eagle Brand are favorites!)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Raisins (about a 1/4 cup soaked in water or an alcohol like rum for a kick)
A loaf of stale Italian bread (no seeds)
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place a large baking pan in the oven with hot, but not boiling water about half way up the side of the pan. This will make what is called a Bain Marie. The Bain Marie will help keep the bread pudding from drying out and will allow it to cook evenly.
Step 2:Make a caramel much like you did for the Cuban Flan.
Start with 1/2 cup of sugar and dissolve it in 1/2 cup to 1 cup water. Make sure the sugar is fully dissolved before you begin to heat it (if you have any sugar left, it will form crystals and be gritty). Once the sugar is dissolved, set the pan with the sugar over medium heat in a heavy medium/small saucepan or preferably, an ovenproof dish. Use a wooden spoon to stir until the sugar water is reduced (it should get thicker as it cooks). Grandma liked it light, but you can let it get golden and keep on going until it is a dark brown. (Again, be very careful!! Cooked sugar is very hot and can burn the skin if it spatters.)
Step 3: Beat eggs lightly in large bowl. Mix in condensed milk, regular milk, vanilla and cinnamon. Break Italian bread into chunks and place in bowl to soak. Let soak for at least half and hour and then mix with hands to make sure there are no dry spots in the bread pieces. It’s okay if the bread pieces get really really small or even disappear. This bread pudding version doesn’t have large chunks of bread. Once it’s mixed, add the raisins and give one final mix.
Step 4: Place bread pudding mixture into the caramelized pan. Place the pan in the hot boiling water (bain marie) and bake at 350 degrees for about 35 to 45 minutes or until the pudding is set and a knife placed in the center comes out clean.
Cool the bread pudding on the counter for about half an hour before placing into the fridge to chill.
I always loved eating the bread pudding with a drizzle of condensed milk over the top (have you guessed that Cubans love condensed milk yet?)
Hope you try this out!
My daughter has been watching THE DEADLIEST CATCH and since we’d never really tried King Crab Legs, I decided to pick up some at Costco. Since they had some great-looking mussels which we all love, I picked up a bag of those as well.
What’s the best way of cooking mussels, clams, crabs, lobster, etc.? Well, I’m a big fan of steaming since it keeps them moist, is quick and relatively easy. My favorite way to steam them is with beer and here’s the recipe for you to try out!
First of all, you’ll need a pot big enough to hold the steaming liquid and your shellfish. I end up needing one that’s at least 12 quarts or more. Before you steam, make sure everything is clean with a quick scrub with a plastic brush. If you’re doing clams, put them in salted ice water for about 15-20 minutes so they spit out any sand. Same with the mussels. A lot of mussels are farm-raised now, so they are relatively clean and beardless so there’s little to clean.
If there’s any clams/mussels that don’t close up after being in the iced salt water, toss them. They’re dead. Likewise, if they don’t open up after steaming, toss them. They’re dead!
Steaming Liquid:
1 or 2 beers
Handful of chopped fresh parsley
3 to 4 garlic cloves chopped
1 small onion chopped
Some pepper
1 or 2 bay leaves
If you want to add a little zing to the liquid, slice up a small lemon and put that in there as well.
Put the liquid in the bottom of your pan and place a steamer insert above it (one of those little collapsible ones you find in the dollar stores). Layer your shellfish with the bigger pieces at the bottom, like the crab legs, whole crabs or lobsters. Then put the mussels, clams, etc. If you want to do some corn and potatoes, put them right above the bigger pieces and below the mussels, etc.
Yep, we’re talking mini-clambake here. Well, almost. Cover the pot, crank up the heat on high and once it’s steaming, it shouldn’t take more than about 8 to 10 minutes to cook all your shellfish. If you’ve got big lobsters down on the bottom, you may need to do 15 minutes or more depending on the size of the lobster.
Anyhow, make sure you’re melting some butter while the shellfish is steaming!
Once you take the pot off the stove, place the shellfish in a big bowl and ladle just a bit of the steaming liquid over them. Also, put a little bit of steaming liquid in a small bowl or cup and also put some butter in a second small bowl or cup. This way you can dip your shellfish in the steaming liquid and then the butter.
Yum! Way tasty! Hope you check this out and enjoy a shellfish summer steam!
There are some tried and true Italian dishes that satisfy no matter what and you can find at every typical Italian restaurant (like Luigi’s from THE CALLING vampire novels).
Chicken parmigiana is one of those dishes, but when you’re trying to eat healthy, this kind of dish can be a problem. It’s breaded and fried. There’s the cheese with its animal fats and you generally serve it over/next to pasta, a problem if you’re watching carbs.
So what can you do to enjoy this dish? Well, here’s some alternatives that will help you make a tasty chicken parmigiana that even your most difficult critic (like my Italian hubby) will enjoy! Try one or all of the alternatives.
Lower Fat Chicken Parmigiana
Step One: “Breading” the cutlets. This accounts for the step where you can lose the most calories!
First Alternative: Most Chicken Parmigiana is breaded and fried. If you don’t want to lose the breading, lose some of the fat by using either an egg white wash or just plain water to get the bread crumbs to adhere to the chicken breast. Lose the dredging the chicken in flour as well. Some will say it helps the bread crumbs stick better. I’ve always found that it just makes the bread crumbs fall off faster and adds extra carbs you don’t need. As for the frying part of this, try baking the chicken! Use a cooking oil spray and lightly grease a baking dish. Place the breaded chicken breasts in there and give the tops of the breasts a spritz with the cooking oil spray. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or so (or until the bread crumbs begin to brown).
Second Alternative: Again use an egg white wash or water, but this time, dredge the chicken breasts with a good freshly-grated parmesan cheese. In a frying pan spritzed with cooking oil spray, toast both sides of the chicken breasts. The cheese will create a coating on the chicken breasts.
Third Alternative: Lose the “breading” entirely to cut out the fat and carbs. Just brown the chicken breasts in a frying pan spritzed with cooking oil spray.
Step Two: Using either your own sauce or a bottled spaghetti sauce, spread a thin layer of sauce in a baking dish. Place the “breaded” chicken breasts on the sauce.
Step Three: Place some sauce on the chicken and then a slice or two of a low-fat or fat-free mozzarella cheese on the chicken. For variety, you can also add a slice of prosciutto, grilled eggplant or zucchini or roasted red pepper on top of the chicken before you add the mozzarella. The addition of the lower fat vegetables really helps to make this a complete meal.
Step Four: A little bit more sauce on top of the cheese/chicken (but not enough to hide all the cheese since you want it to get nice and toasty in the oven) and a fresh grate of some parmesan! Cook the dish at 350 for at least 30 minutes or so, until the sauce is bubbly and the cheese has browned a bit. You may want to even broil it for a few minutes to toast the cheese, but make sure you have a pan that can be used to broil.
Last but not least, serve with a whole grain pasta or Barilla’s Plus pasta that has lower carbs.
Hope you like this variation on an Italian Classic!
