Grandma’s Chicken Soup #Recipe Kind of . . .

Before I begin with this tribute to grandma and her fabulous cooking, a question for you. I’ve been thinking about compiling all the recipes into a cookbook that I would make available for sale. Any thoughts on that? I’d love to hear what you think about it.

And now, for a little bit about my grandma. Her name was Nieves which is now my middle name. Her father was a blacksmith so that meant her family was a little better off than those in her little village in Galicia in Spain.

Nieves was a very determined lady. She followed the love of her life to Cuba to find a better way of life and then took care of her daughter’s two little girls (my sister and me) for nearly two years as we tried to make our way out of Cuba and to the United States.

She was loving and cared for us daily since my mom worked. We were very lucky to have her and granddad living with us. He was a kind, loving and gifted man who could make or fix anything with his hands. They both sacrificed a lot for us and for my mom and for that I am eternally grateful.

My grandma could cook something truly delicious with what she had at home. Nothing went to waste. Nothing. So today’s recipe is my grandma’s recipe for soup, but with some changes. First, however, a picture of my grandparents and my mom!

Grandma’s Chicken Soup . . . Kind of

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts
chicken parts if you have them (necks, wings and backs)
1/2 cup finely chopped carrots
1/4 cup finely chopped celery greens (the inside part of the hearts)
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
32 oz chicken broth
32 oz water
1 leek, sliced
2 or 3 sprigs of fresh parsley
1 cup sliced carrots (on a bias for a little nicer look)
4 small corn cobs (or 2 large ones snapped in half)
egg noodles (as many as you like! I like my soup really noodlely)

Directions

Saute chicken breasts in a large stockpot until just starting to brown.

Add chopped carrots, celery and onions and sweat until onions are translucent. Do not brown.

Add broth, water, leek, parsley and bring to a slow boil. Do not make it too hard a boil as it will cloud the broth.

Let simmer for at least one hour. If you used chicken parts also, now is the time to remove them, take off any chicken meat and return just the meat to the pot.

Add carrots and corn and cook for another hour. Taste for salt and add if necessary. Remove parsley sprigs.

Add noodles when you are just ready to eat. Too far ahead and they will be soggy and soak up all the broth. One trick to consider is to boil the noodles in some chicken broth on their own and add to the plates as you serve. This will let you keep the rest of the soup for longer and also adjust noodlelyness (LOL!) to each person’s likes.

For an added zip of taste, serve with lemon slices and squeeze a little juice into the soup.

For another added zip, dice up some ripe avocado and spoon about 1/3 cup into the soup bowls. Yummy!

You can also substitute cheese tortellini for the noodles for a change of pace.

Hope you enjoyed today’s recipe.

November 5, 2013February 23, 2021

Fridge Cleaning #Recipes

Everyone has that moment. They have no clue what to make. The fridge is either filled with stuff or half-empty and the brain just isn’t putting together any kind of items for that day’s meal.

Here are some sites that I hope will help you in one of those challenging moments. We call them Fridge Cleaning moments in our house ’cause we just want to empty whatever is in there and make it before it goes bad.

These sites let you plug in your ingredients and provide a list of recipes for things you can make with those ingredients.

Supercook

My Fridge Food

Recipe Key

If you prefer hard copy versions of recipes, here are some recipe books that I would highly recommend be keepers in your cooking library to help you with your daily meals.

The Good Housekeeping Cookbook

Betty Crocker Cookbook

Silver Palate Cookbook

Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook

Julia Child: The Way to Cook

Hope this helps you solve your meal planning dilemma!
fridge

October 29, 2013April 28, 2021

SlowCooker Chorizo & Pork Red Bean Chili

I’m learning lots about cooking in a crock pot. Apparently it seems that the order of things matters. Also, you can’t just dump raw beans into your pot the way you would if you were cooking it on the stove.

This weekend I had lots of running around to do and so I decided to use the crock pot to make some chili since I didn’t want to have to keep an eye on something on the stove. I also decided to take some step-by-step photos for you!

Chorizo & Pork Red Bean Chile

Ingredients:

1 lb red beans
2 lbs pork loin chopped
2 small chorizos chopped
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup chopped leeks
3 chopped garlic cloves
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 can Rotel tomato and chile
3 tablespoon chile powder
1 tablespoon cumin
3 bay leaves

Directions:

You’ll add the ingredients to the crock pot in the order shown above.

Wash and check red beans for stones and debris. Place in small cooking pot with enough water to cover them and a pinch of salt. Boil to soften. I started these when I began prep for the rest, so they cooked for about 30 minutes before I added them to the crock pot. Add water as necessary, but not too much. You’ll want to put the beans and their water into the crock pot once they are softer.

Place a little oil in a non-stick pan and add the chopped chorizo. Cook for about 5 minutes, then add the chopped pork loin. Why chopped pork loin again? Well, Cubans and pork go together like peanut butter and jelly. Also, it was on sale and I’m counting pennies. Finally, it’s lean and has a lot less fat than a chuck roast, so I could use those calories for the tastier chorizo.

Brown the meat and transfer to a plate. Leave some of the oil from the pan in there to cook the onions and leeks.

Saute the onions, garlic, and leeks until just browning. You want the brown on both the meat and veggies since these are the sugars caramelizing on them and will add flavor to your chili. Why leeks? I love them and I had some in the fridge that I had to use. Feel free to also clean out your fridge and add carrots, celery, etc. during this step.

Now it’s time to put everything into the crock pot in the order listed above. When it’s all in there, add the cumin, chili powder and bay leaves and set your crock pot to cook. I did mine for 6 hours on high.

We ate it with some chopped fresh tomatoes, onions and grated cheddar cheese. A hearty and warming meal for a chilly day.

I hope you enjoyed today’s recipe!

October 22, 2013

#SlowCooker Tex-Mex Roast Pork Loin

It’s getting chilly and we’ve all got lots of work so that may make it hard to have a nice hot and hearty meal waiting for us when we get home. I mentioned weeks earlier that I’d finally purchased a slow cooker and our first attempt at a pot roast was fabulous!

Last night I started up a pork loin for today’s meal and I hope it’s as tasty. Here’s the recipe, but again I haven’t tried it yet myself. But considering the ingredients, I’m hopeful I’ll have a tasty meal waiting for me tonight.

Slow Cooker Tex-Mex Roast Pork Loin

1 cup Chopped Onions
1 cup Chopped Red Peppers
1/8 cup chopped celery (this will add natural salt taste)
2 lb pork loin
1 can Rotel Tomatoes & Chiles ( I LOVE THIS STUFF!!)
Pepper to taste

Saute the red peppers. When soft, add the chopped onions and celery and saute until translucent.

Brown the pork loin roast on all sides.

De-glaze the cooking pan with the Rotel Tomatoes and Chiles and then put the mix of celery, onions, peppers, Rotel and pork loin into your crockpot.

Set it on low of 6 hours.

When it’s done, you should be able to shred the meat together with all the other ingredients. Serve over rice or in tortillas (either corn or flour). Top with cheese and any other ingredients you love for a Tex-Mex kind of meal.

October 1, 2013

Nutty Granola Bar #Recipe

Sometimes at the end of the work day, I need a quick pick-me-up on the train ride home and to tide me over during my workout. I try to keep things healthy and not grab something bad at the local deli and lately I’ve taken to keeping some kind of granola bar in my knapsack for that quick bite.

Of course, those quick bites can be chock full of calories also, so I try to be careful about what I grab. Because of that, the thought of making my own bars with my favorite things popped into my head and after scouring the Net, I’ve come up with this Nutty Granola Bar recipe.

Nutty Granola Bar

1/2 cup melted Almond Butter (you can substitute peanut butter)
1/4 cup fat free condensed milk (not evaporate – condensed! The really thick sweet stuff)
4 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup honey (or agave syrup **warning** agave is way sweeter!)
1/2 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts/almonds/peanuts)
1/4 dried cranberries (or raisins)

You can also mix into the above:

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9×13 pan.

Mix all of the above in a bowl. If the mixture is too dry, add a little more almond butter and/or condensed milk. Press the mixture into the 9×13 pan. Cook for about 25 minutes.

Take it out of the oven and let it cool a little bit. Cut out your squares or bars while it’s still hot. It’ll make it easier to get them out of there when they are cool. This will make about a dozen bars for you.

If you are lactose intolerant and can’t handle the condensed milk, substitute more almond butter and/or peanut butter for the milk. Also, if you find it’s too sweet, also substitute the nut butter for the condensed milk.
granolabars

September 17, 2013

Multi-Grain French Toast in the Oven #Recipe

My favorite meal of the day is breakfast! I could eat eggs, pancakes, french toast, bacon, etc. at any time of the day. In fact, when hubby and I hit one of our local Jersey diners, I almost always get a breakfast kind of meal for dinner.

But as you know, I’ve been trying to eat healthier and change my lifestyle. That doesn’t necessarily mean losing some favorites, just making them healthier.

This recipe is not only healthier, but easier than regular french toast. Why? Well, it’s all assembled in the fridge the night before, so no hurried make each toast and hope it soaks enough, etc.

I use this recipe when I have company staying over, like my writing buddies for a weekend. It lets me still get some writing done in the morning and lets them get some sleep until the aromas of the french toast make them too hungry to stay asleep! LOL!

Multi-Grain French Toast in the Oven

You will need the following ingredients:

1 loaf slightly stale multi-grain bread (you can also use challah or raisin cinnamon bread)
8 eggs
2 cups 2% milk
1/2 cup low fat half & half
1/2 cup flour
1/2 brown sugar
2/3 cup honey
1 stick butter (softened)
2 tbsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Lightly grease a 9×13 baking dish. Break bread into chunks and place in the baking dish.

Mix the eggs, milk, half & half, vanilla, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1/3 cup honey together. Pour over the bread. Cover and place in the refrigerator.

In the morning, preheat the oven to 350. Mix the softened butter, 1/3 cup honey, 1 tsp cinnamon and brown sugar. When that’s mixed, add the flower. Remove your baking dish with the bread from the fridge. Cover with the butter/sugar mixture.

Bake for 45 minutes to an hour (depending on how set you like your french toast!).

Serve with maple syrup and/or honey and/or powdered sugar. Some turkey bacon on the side to watch the calories and fat again!

Hope you enjoyed today’s recipe.
FrenchToast

September 10, 2013October 10, 2019

Cuban Mashed Plantain #Recipe Fu Fu

In FOR LOVE OR VENGEANCE the Cuban FBI Agent hero, Miguel Sanchez, takes his partner and love interest, Helene, to eat at a Cuban-Chinese restaurant. Yes, Cuban-Chinese. A unique mix, but many Chinese immigrated to Cuba to work the sugar plantations and their take on Cuban food is delicious.

Miguel and Helene might have ordered a dish like today’s recipe – Fu Fu. Now, there are lots of variations on Fu Fu and others make similar dishes, like Mofongo. The difference is a combination of the kind of plantain used and what’s added to the mashed plantains.

This is my family’s variation on it. We always used green plantains which are not as sweet and therefore give you a dish that’s more like mashed potatoes than variations made with ripe and semi-ripe plantains. If you like sweet, let the plantains turn yellow or go to black and try your own mashed variation.

A caution about plantains. Although Latins will often call them bananas, they are very much a vegetable and cannot be eaten raw. They must be cooked and Latins have all kinds of dishes, like plantain chips, ripe plantains (maduros), squashed flat plantains (tostones), etc. They are a staple much like potatoes and rice.

Cuban Mashed Plantains

4 green plantains
1 chopped onion
2 gloves garlic
4 chopped slices bacon

Cut the plantains into one inch chunks. Cut a slit or two across the skin (from end to end and not along the circumference) until you reach the flesh of the plantain. This will help you peel them once they are boiled. The skin will split away from the plantain beneath while boiling.

Boil until fork tender. Make sure to put some salt in the boiling water.

Cool and peel as soon as possible.

Cook the chopped bacon until almost crispy. Remove some of the bacon grease and add the chopped onion. Cook until almost caramelized and then add the garlic. Cook for a few more minutes.

While you are waiting for the final cook of the bacon/onion/garlic mix, mash the plantains. Do not mash them too much. You do want some texture and different sizes and you don’t want it to get gluey. This is especially true if you are using a ripe one.

Once mashed, top with the cooked bacon/onion/garlic mix. Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the top and serve.

Yummy, trust me. I mean, it’s got bacon. What doesn’t taste good with bacon? LOL!
plantain