Lentil Tacos

Lentils are one of those ingredients known as a "super food".  They have been eaten for thousands of years, and are often used as a meat substitute.  They're full of protein, amino acids, fiber, and minerals.  In fact, Health magazine selected lentils as one of the 5 healthiest foods.

They're really good for you. And here's an easy way to get them into your diet. This can also work for a Meatless Monday idea -- for those of you familiar with that concept.

 (Stock photo)





You will boil the lentils and then add them to oil, diced onions, and green chilies.  Then just add taco seasoning, and you're there!

Once you add all the usual taco accompaniments, you'll never know there isn't any meat in there.  Just think of a bean burrito -- but even more hearty.  I like to top it with lettuce, shredded cheese, green onions, black olives, hot sauce, and sour cream.  It was filling, and totally satisfying.  I was a bit skeptical at first.  But it works.

Chicken Pot Pie

I flipped the script on my wife, and I made a dinner request.  This is possibly my very favorite thing she makes.  And it's a great dish for the winter.  It's warm & rich -- the perfect winter comfort food.

First you partially cook a chicken.  You can buy a lot of chicken breast for really cheap if you're willing to skin & de-bone it.  That's what The Mrs did.  You can poach the chicken, or just cook them in a pan in the oven.  Then shred it.

Next add 1/3 cup of butter and chopped onion to a large skilled.  Soften the onion and let it sweat a little.  Then add 1/3 cup flour to make a roux.  Cook off the flour and let it thicken a little.

Add 1.5 cups of chicken broth and 1/2 - 3/4 cup of milk to the roux and let it thicken.  Season with thyme, salt & pepper.  Next add the chicken and a package of frozen vegetables.

Arrange a refrigerated pie crust into an oven safe casserole dish and pour the mixture inside.

Top if with the remaining pie crust, and do an egg wash.  Cut slits in the top to allow steam to escape, then bake it at 350 degrees for 30 minutes covered in aluminum foil.  Uncover and bake for 15 minutes more until the top is golden brown.

Let it stand for about 5 minutes and serve.  I love pie crust.  Love it!  It is so buttery & rich.  Then you have the warm, creamy filling of a chicken pot pie ... and it almost makes me forget that I spent a good chunk of my day digging our house out of a blanket of snow.

Thanks honey.

Frittatas with Asparagus, Tomato, & Swiss

My wife requested that I make a frittata this week.  As I have previously disclosed: I'm an egg lover.  So I was all too happy to honor her request.  This dish is packed with flavorful vegetables, dairy, and protein.  It's really a great meal.  In fact, we decided to make it a dinner option this week.

Start by getting all your mise en place.  That will really help you with a dish like this.

Then turn on your broiler and get a 9.5" non-stick (oven safe) skillet on the stove over medium heat.  Heat 1 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of olive oil, and then add your vegetables.  I used asparagus, green pepper, yellow onion, and mushrooms.  Saute these for about 2 minutes with a little salt & pepper.

Next add sliced tomatoes and continue cooking over medium to medium-high heat for another 2 minutes.  Meanwhile, whisk 6 eggs with 2 tbsp of milk in a large mixing bowl.

Pour the egg mixture over your vegetables and add some cheese.  I used Swiss because I really like the sharp, tangy flavor.  Frittatas are really versatile, though.  So you can really add any number of vegetables, cheeses, or even some meats.

Let the eggs set up some, but the top should still be runny.  Then throw the skillet under the broiler and continue cooking for maybe 5 more minutes until the top is golden brown.

Let the frittata rest for 2 minutes and then serve.  You can flip the entire skillet upside down onto a plate if you use a spatula to release the edges a little.  Top it with a little Parmesan cheese and some smoky hot sauce to really round out this dish.

Yummm mmmmm mmmmm mmmmmm mmmmm!  Asparagus is a really great vegetable because it is so flavorful.  Then the tomatoes give a sweetness and acidity.  Mushrooms have that nice earthy flavor, and the peppers & onions provide your aromatics   What more could you want?

French Toast with Brown Sugar - Cinnamon Bananas

Now that we are back home, and more importantly, have been grocery shopping, it's time to hit the kitchen again.  I decided to make a really rich breakfast to get things started off right.  I often will gravitate toward savory egg-based breakfasts; but I also really love French Toast.

You will start by getting a dredging station going with some eggs, milk, vanilla extract, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

I also sliced up some bananas and started to caramelize them in butter with cinnamon and a little brown sugar.

The brown sugar & cinnamon add a nice sweet flavor to the bananas.  But cooking them releases the natural sugars in the fruit and will really enhance the flavor.  I love the combination.

Heat another non-stick pan over medium heat and melt some butter. Then dredge the bread through your egg mixture to make sure it is soaked in through the slices.  This will impart a lot of flavor into your French Toast; and it will also help to keep it moist.  Then cook them for about 3-4 minutes per side until they are golden brown.

I like to have a baking sheet in the oven at about 275 degrees so I can keep the first batch warm while the second one is cooking.  Then you will need some real maple syrup.  My wife is very adamant about that.  It must be maple syrup.

Top the French toast with your caramelized bananas and some syrup and you have a really decadent way to start your day.  You could top it with some powdered sugar for some added presentation points.  But I thought I already had more than enough calories wrapped up in this breakfast.

Now we need to exercise!  (But it was totally worth it.)

Vacation Absence

We were away on vacation again recently.  So that is why there weren't any posts.  Sorry.

I am back now and will be hitting the kitchen with a renewed sense of purpose.  Expect some good meals to be popping up soon!

Rocky Road Popcorn

This is a delicious (and relatively simple) snack that perfectly combines sweet & salty.  We made some of this over the holidays, and our little nephews kept going back for more & more.

You'll need some microwave popcorn, salted peanuts, marshmallows, and chocolate.  

Start by microwaving some popcorn.  The next step is possibly the most important:  strain the popcorn in a colander with holes large enough to allow any unpopped kernels to fall through.  We found this out out the hard way ... no pun intended.  Otherwise these kernels will get stuck inside marshmallows & chocolate, and your unsuspecting molars will take a beating.

Once you have sifted out all the kernels, add the marshmallows and chocolate and stir everything together to melt.  You need to do this relatively quickly while the popcorn is still hot, otherwise it won't melt them.

Finally, add in the peanuts, give it all a few more tosses to mix everything together, and that's it!

The popcorn is salty & buttery, and the peanuts add a nice crunch.  Then you get the sweetness from the marshmallows, and the bitter-sweet taste of chocolate.  I think we have made this 4 times now, so that should tell you we're quite fond of it.  I nearly ate half the bowl while we were watching a DVD.  I tried to stop myself, but my hand just kept going back for more & more.

Pork Chops with Apricot-Peach Chutney

I was watching some Food Network over the weekend, and one of the hosts cooked up some beautiful pork chops.  As the name "The Hawkeye Plate" might suggest:  I'm an Iowa boy.  And if there's one thing we do very well in Iowa, it's pork.  So I went out and got two pork tenderloin chops on the bone and found a recipe in a Food Network cookbook that my wife gave me last Christmas.  So this post was brought to you by Food Network ... via Iowa.

The chutney is really a nice spin on the old "pork chops & apple sauce" line from The Brady Bunch.  Pairing a fruit with pork is a really nice combination.  But by using a chutney, I was also able to add a nice floral/spicy element to the dish.  You start with the juice from 1/2 a lemon, 2 cloves of garlic (minced), a 1-inch piece of fresh ginger (minced), 1 stick of cinnamon, 3 tbsp of apricot preserves, and 1/4 of an onion (chopped), all in a microwave safe bowl.  Cover it with cling wrap and microwave on high for 1 minute.  

Carefully remove the foil -- trying ever so hard not to burn yourself with the steam -- and add 1 lb of thawed frozen peaches along with 2 tbsp of dried cherries.  Cover again with the cling wrap and microwave for 2 more minutes on high.  Allow the mixture to cool and stir in 1 tsp of whole-grain mustard. 

My grill was put away for the winter after I fought a blizzard blowing it over 5 times in one afternoon.  So I had to cook the pork chops inside in my Dutch oven.  I would prefer to grill them, but this isn't a bad substitute.  Heat up some vegetable oil over medium-high heat.  Vegetable oil has a higher boiling point, so it won't burn.  Then dry both sides of the pork chops with a paper towel, and season both sides with salt & pepper.  Using tongs, carefully place the chops down in the hot oil.  Leave them alone. Let a nice sear form on the meat, cooking for about 4-5 minutes.  Then add 1 tbsp of butter and carefully flip the chops over.  Cook them through (about 5 more minutes).  Remove them from the heat, cover with a tin foil tent, and set aside to rest about 5 minutes.

If you don't allow your meat to rest, you will cut into it and loose all the delicious juices.  

I served this over a bed of lentils and topped it with the peach chutney.  The pork chop was juicy and really flavorful.  The chutney was both sweet & savory, and provided a really nice compliment to the meat.  The lentils had caramelized onions and were finished with fresh lemon for acidity.  Check back later in the week for a post about that "super food".

Gnocchi with Marinara

Yesterday I spent a fair amount of my time down in the basement watching playoff football.  Unfortunately, the team I was rooting for really blew it.  Fortunately, my wife was upstairs making dinner ... and timed it perfectly when she brought it down to cheer me up.  Now I'm really glad she wanted to buy that dinner tray. It makes perfect sense to me:  she wanted to cater to my natural couch potato ways. ;-)

She was upstairs making a marinara sauce from scratch.  This starts by combining two cans of diced tomatoes with a tbsp of tomato paste.  Then she adds oregano, parsley, basil, salt, pepper, and a bay leaf.  Then add some red wine and minced garlic.  Let this cook down for a while to develop the flavors and to cook off some of the wine.  You can sift out the bay leaf when you're done, or you can play a fun game of "Who gets a bay leaf in their mouth?" when you're eating.

Gnocchi is a potato pasta that looks like little bitty dumplings.  The dough is rolled out into a long roll, and then cut into bite-sized little rounds.  I really like them because they are plump and chewy.  It's a very gratifying pasta.  They're like delicious little pillows.

A glass of red wine (a bonus of cooking with wine: you usually have an open bottle to drink with dinner), a Caesar salad, and some warm pasta with homemade marinara was a perfect way to forget about a crummy football game.  Thanks honey.  You're the best!

Chicken Alfredo

If you're ever at the grocery store and struggling for some meal ideas (hard to imagine, I know), grab a rotisserie chicken.  They are quite possibly one of the easiest ways to make dinner.  And they are surprisingly affordable.  We picked on up for only $5 this weekend.  

My dad and I have talked about how we can make 3 or more meals out of one chicken.  The simplest thing to do would be to eat rotisserie chicken, of course.  But you can also cut the meat off the bird, and make anything that would call for chicken ... which gives you a staggering number of dishes at your disposal.  Then after you have used all the meat, you can use the carcass/bones to make a stock for soup.  

We decided to make an Alfredo pasta with broccoli and crispy chicken breast.  As my wife said, "This meal was brought to you tonight by Hy-Vee."  You can clearly see that we are in favor of buying the store-brand whenever possible.   

Boil the pasta until it is al dente, and steam/boil the broccoli in another pot.  Drain the pasta, but don't rinse, and then continue cooking it in the Alfredo sauce.  This will help bind more of the sauce to your pasta.

Meanwhile in a non-stick skilled, place the sliced chicken breasts skin side down.  The meat is already cooked through; so you're just heating it up.  But this will ensure that your skin is nice and crispy.  That's one of the most flavorful parts of a rotisserie chicken.  And you would want it to be some rubbery slime that people ultimately throw away.  So take a few minutes to crisp it up!

Serve the pasta in a wide bowl with the breast served on top.  You can also garnish your pasta with a little bit of green onions, or even cherry tomatoes.  Alfredo sauce is really rich, though.  So be sure you taste everything before you start adding too much.  If you're going to add bacon, you could easily make this a super salty & rich dish.  So be sure to use some moderation.

Voila! Chicken Alfredo pasta for dinner.  

Now what will I make for nights #2 and #3? ... ...

Breakfast Burrito

During the week I eat a very, very light breakfast.  But sometimes on the weekend I like to have a nice, hot breakfast to wake me up.  This breakfast burrito isn't as heavy as some, either.  So it isn't all that bad for you.  Of course, I was much more interested in flavor thank in keeping it healthy.  So I used sausage & cheese in mine!

I started by filling a whole wheat tortilla with some Muenster cheese, spicy brown mustard, hot sauce, and green onion slices.  The Muenster cheese is sort of nutty, and the spicy mustard will definitely help wake you up by opening your sinuses.  The little crunch & bite from green onions, coupled with a dash of hot sauce, and you've got yourself the perfect pick-me-up compliment to a steaming cup of coffee.  And I thought it looked pretty cool too!

Next I slit a Polish sausage down the middle and got a hard sere on both sides.  Then I added that to the tortilla above, and wrapped it up tight.  It helps if you fold the ends in first, and then wrap.  That way it will help ensure that your ingredients don't ooze out the sides.  

Cook the whole thing in a non-stick skillet to melt everything together.  It will also crisp up your tortilla, which will add a nice textural contrast to this handy little breakfast.

You could easily add some eggs to this burrito to make it much more filling.  But I was just having a wrap for breakfast ... not making an egg dish.  That's why I said it wasn't all that heavy.  I thought I was showing a little restraint. ;-)

Mushroom Risotto

I thought I would kick of 2013 on the blog the right way.  This is an idea I got from watching the Cooking channel and learning how to cook risotto from Chuck Hughes.  Thankfully watching food TV is one of the things my wife and I have in common.  When I watch sports, she tunes out.  When she watches shows I don't like, I leave the room ... or the house!  But we both really like watching cooking shows.  There is probably no dish more notorious for getting people kicked off cooking competitions than risotto.  In fact, this week on Top Chef, a contestant was eliminated after his risotto found him on the bottom.

I think part of the controversy stems from a different expectation of what risotto should be. Wolfgang Puck and Anthony Bourdain are both very passionate that risotto should have a loose consistency and instantly spread out if you put it on a plate.  Many of the contestants have learned at their restaurants (highly acclaimed restaurants, I might add) to cook risotto with a tighter consistency.  The latter is what we prefer at our household.

I started by finely dicing some celery to saute with olive oil.  I tried to have them be the same size as the rice will eventually become.  This dish has been a bit rich in the past; so I was trying to add a little acidity.  Plus, celery will add some texture to the dish as well.

Next, heat up 2 cups of beef broth in the microwave for two minutes.  I have also used chicken stock in the past.  Add 1 cup of uncooked rice to your saute pan and toss it to ensure all the rice pieces are coated by the oil.  Toast the rice over medium to medium-high heat for a few minutes.  

Now you will start to add the broth, only about a 1/2 cup at a time. It will look like the picture above at first. And here is where your patience will be tested.  Risotto takes time.  You now need to stir constantly until all of the liquid is absorbed by the rice.  Only then will you add the next 1/2 cup of liquid.  The rice will start to look like this when it's ready:

Continue adding the broth in 1/2 cup increments until all has been absorbed.  The rice will be very plump because you have a 2:1 ratio of liquid to rice, and all of it has been absorbed.  Meanwhile, quarter some button mushrooms and saute them in butter.  

I like to let them get pretty broken down.  They will reduce in size, but increase in flavor by a ton.  These little morsels will add that "meaty" quality to the dish.

Finish the risotto by adding a little Parmesan or Swiss cheese and stir it until it melts through.  Use this sparingly because like I said, it can be pretty rich.  To add a little more acidity, I also added some lemon juice to round out the flavor profile.  Add your mushrooms to the rice, and top with sliced green onions.

This is a really decadent dish.  And I love it!  It's pretty simple ... it just requires patience.  But your efforts will be well rewarded.  Enjoy.  And Happy New Year!