Banana Bread Waffles

Banana Bread Waffles 

1 stick butter, softened

4 ripe bananas

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 1/2 cups AP flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

In mixer, cream butter, add bananas, sugar, eggs,  milk and oil and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes.

In separate bowl mix dry ingredients, minus the nuts.

Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture, 1/2 cup at a time. Scrape sides. Stir in nuts.

Heat waffle iron. Spray with cooking spray, then pat dry. 

(You only need to spray 1 time)

Make waffles according to iron directions. Serve with whipped cream, Carmel sauce and sprinkled nuts. 

Seared Scallops with lemon dill cream

Seared Scallops with Lemon Dill Cream

1 lb sea scallops, thawed

Salt & pepper

1/4 cup white wine

1/2 stick butter plus 2 tablespoons

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic

4 tablespoons lemon juice

3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

1/2 cup heavy cream

Thaw scallops, pat dry, season with salt and pepper

In medium high saucepan, melt 1/2 stick butter.

 Add minced garlic and dill. Sauté for about 2 minutes. 

Add lemon juice. Cook another minute, stirring.

Add cream slowly, stirring constantly until well blended, remove from heat.

In another saucepan set on medium high, melt 2 tablespoons butter with olive oil. Add scallops and sear for about a minute and a half. Flip and sear on other side. Lower heat to medium. Deglaze pan with wine and continue cooking until wine evaporates. 

OMG! Hope you give this a try its special!

Cranberry Apple Sausage Stuffing

Here is my traditional Sausage Stuffing recipe, jazzed up with apples and craisins. I separate some out for stuffed mushrooms too.

Cranberry-Apple Sausage Stuffing

1 cup diced onion

4 stalks celery, diced

2 tablespoons plus one stick butter

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp dried sage

2 (16 oz) tubes sage sausage

3-4 peeled and diced baking apples

1 cup craisins

2 1/2 quarts chicken stock

3 bags croutons 

For mushrooms:

1 pkg white buttonMushrooms

1/4!cup diced onion

3/4 cup diced bell Peppers

6 strips Bacon, cooked and crumbled

Sauté onions and celery in 2 tablespoons butter until softened, add sausage and cook through until meat is browned. Add apples craisins, stick of butter and stock. Bring to a gentle boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat.

For stuffing, stir in croutons and spread into baking pan 

Bake for 30 minutes at 350.

I normally make in advance, storing in freezer bags until ready to bake. 

For stuffed mushrooms, before mixing in croutons, set aside  4 or 5 cups of the cooked sausage broth mixture.

Remove and dice mushroom stems. Set caps on a greased baking dish.

Sauté onions mushroom stems and peppers until softened. Add sausage broth mixture and crumbled bacon. 

Remove from heat and toss with 3 cups of croutons. 

Top mushroom caps with stuffing mix and bake for 15 minutes at 325. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, then bake for another 7 minutes.

Yumm! 

Chicken Pot Pie

Have you ever made something, then a few days later your family wants it again? Well I got myself into one of those situations this week when I made chicken and dumplings.

There was enough left over to feed the family again for a second dinner, but only a few dumplings. My daughter and I took care of those dumplings for lunch, then mixed the leftover meat and gravy with the left over peas and carrots. Threw that in a pie shell and topped with some leftover mashed potatoes and cheese to make leftovers into a whole new meal, chicken Pot Pie!

The problem is that they wanted the meal again, right away! It was a lot of work to make dinner one; Chicken and Dumplings. It was a little work to make dinner 2; Chicken Pot Pie.

How to make dinner 2, without the work of dinner 1?

Here is what I did:

I omitted the dumplings and allowed my stewed chicken to cool in the morning, then used instant mashed and a frozen pie shell to put the pie together in the evening. Still work but worth it! Also, the recipe made filling for about 3 or more pies. I had 2 frozen shells so froze the leftover filling for another meal. 

Chicken Pot Pie

Seasoning for chicken: 

 1 Tablespoon Paprika

 1/2 tsp salt

 1/2 tsp pepper

 1 tsp garlic powder

 1/2 tsp onion powder

 1/4 tsp chili powder

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons butter

5 large boneless skinless chicken breasts 

2 large onions, diced

8 stalks celery, diced

1/4 cup finely diced celery leaves

3 Tablespoons parsley

1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, ground

2 quarts chicken stock

1 (12 oz) bag frozen peas

1 (12 oz) bag frozen carrots

1  1/2 cup prepared stuffing mix

1/4 cup cranberry sauce (optional)

Mashed tater topping

5 to 6 cups cold, leftover mashed potatoes, or instant.

2 eggs

1 cup shredded cheddar

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan 

Salt, pepper, 1/4 tsp garlic powder

Mixed together in a bowl, set aside.

Directions:

Season chicken and set aside to allow seasonings to penetrate the meat. In the meanwhile, dice the onions and celery.

On high heat sear the seasoned chicken in olive oil and butter on each side until well browned. Remove from pan, set aside. (Don't worry, we'll add it back in later)

*technique tip* chicken is NOT cooked inside but has good sear marks on outside. . Purpose is the sear marks will create flavor in pan when deglazing) 

Add onions and celery to pan  and sauté, adding more butter if needed for several minutes. 

When pan drippings dry and turn dark, dark brown, deglaze the pan with chicken stock and bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer and replace the chicken and drippings back into to pot. Cover and cook for 20 minutes.

Remove and dice chicken pieces, set aside to cool enough to handle.

Meanwhile,  bring remaining broth to boil and cook to reduce. About 30 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons cornstarch to 1 cup broth until smooth. Stir into broth to thicken. Add the chicken back in along with some peas, carrots, and stuffing. stir and allow to cool. Mix in cranberry sauce. Fill frozen pie shells with chicken mixture 

Then top with mashed potato mixture. Bake at 425 for 10 min then lower oven to 350 and bake another 30 minutes until browned

*use a cookie sheet underneath to keep spills clean*

This is what they look like when they're done. We've done this many times by mixing leftover thanksgiving ingredients and topping with the mashed potatoes mixture and its always a huge hit! Hope you enjoy it!! 

Whiskey Orange Chicken

Whiskey Orange Chicken

This recipe starts with a sweet and tangy sauce that is very versatile. It can be used as a marinade, sauce, spread or dip for chicken, fish, veggies, pork, beef or lamb.I usually double the recipe, separate it into zip-lock sandwich baggies, then store them in a large freezer bag in the freezer until I need them. 

Whiskey Orange Sauce

1 tablespoon roasted Garlic mojo

(Slow roasted garlic in olive oil)

1  1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup terriake sauce

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 cups brown sugar

Juice from half a lemon

1/4 cup diced red onion

1/3 cup honey flavored whiskey

1 can crushed pineapple plus juice

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

In saucepan. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour or reduced to thick sauce. Allow to cool then blend in blender until smooth.

Whiskey Orange Chicken

2 cups Whiskey Orange Sauce, divided

2 lbs chicken breasts, cleaned and halved

1/4 tsp Hungarian paprika

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Salt & Pepper

Marinade chicken in 1 cup whiskey orange sauce for at least 3 hours.

 Remove from marinade, season with spices.

Then grill or bake---

Grill for 8 to 10 minutes on each side, basting with remaining sauce until done.

OR bake at 35 for 45 to 50 minutes.

To use in a stir fry, add at the end after meat is cooked through. 

For a tangy rice dish replace 1/4 of the water with sauce in your rice cooker.

Baste grilled burgers, or meat or kabobs with this sauce too!

I hope you give this sauce a try and let me know how you use it!

Baked Ziti

Nana's Baked Ziti

When I first moved to Magnolia, Texas, I worked at a credit union in Houston, where they celebrated Diversity Day each year.

Diversity day is a day when we recognize and celebrate our cultural differences. 

Well, what makes me unique to "these people"? These Texans? 

I am from NJ, of Sicilian, Irish and German descent, and my family, both sides,  emigrated through New York.

That might not seem like a big deal, but to ME, it is everything.

Moving to Texas was the single most eye-opening event of my life.

I never realized how different I was until I plopped myself down in the middle of people that were nothing like me. Not to say there isn't cultural diversity in New jersey, there Is! By far, New Jersey is MUCH more diverse than Magnolia TX, or even the "Big City" of Houston. Sure there are several different cultures represented here, but not nearly as many variety as there are  in the New York-Metro area.  At the same time, there are not nearly as many Italian-Americans. So while I was used to Cultural Diversity, I was Not so used to Cultural Singularity. I admit, I had feelings of loneliness. When I heard about this Cultural Diversity day I was over-joyed to share a little piece of me in the form of a Baked Ziti.

Baked Ziti is a dish of pasta, cheese, and sauce that is baked.

 For MY family, Ziti is something that is traditionally served on holidays, as its cooking process from start to finish is time consuming, but it can be prepared in advance. This is the secret to those giant dinner spreads Italian families are Known for- Make Ahead Dishes. Yup.

So, when I talk about ziti I want you to know that I AM the self-proclaimed expert. But only as far as my very own family and experiences.

I have to be honest, I don't even know if Baked Ziti is actually something made in Italy.

 What I DO know is that MY Italian-American family, that came through Ellis island and settled in New York, then the next generation in New Jersey, I know WE consider Baked Ziti to be a very special dish. So, for cultural diversity day I made it with great excitement and brought it in and shared it. It was well-received, and my coworkers made me feel accepted by asking a lot of questions about my dish and my culture.  I'd like to share it with you all too, and I'm glad to put it up on the Internet for y'all, but also as a permanent place for my own people, my daughters any my future grand children to be able to retrieve it long after I'm gone.  Its THAT special to me. 

I have planned to share it for well over a year, and have only been waiting for my mother to visit so we could do this project together.

Jersey Girl and Jersey Nana

 Of course, like all families, I have  learned to cook all of the traditional dishes of importance from my mom. My girls have learned from me. This is the way of the world and a chain that I hold dear and pray is never broken until the end of time.
 So Mom/Nana came to visit last month, we shopped together and cooked together with my 3 girls, I took a few (hundred)  pictures, and I wrote down our family recipe as we went along. Yeah. This recipe wasn't written down. We just do it. How precarious is that??? Kinda scary to think there could have been an apocalypse that wiped  us out and the ziti would be gone forever. 

Well, not really, as ALL Italian New Yorkers make almost this exact same recipe.. But I will sleep better knowing its up on the blog and printed in triplicate in the fire safe. So, here it is:

Baked Ziti

1. Meatballs

2.Sauce

3.Cheese mixture

4.Pasta

Start with meatballs

1 lb (80/20) ground beef or sirloin.

1/2 ground pork

2 to 2 1/2 cups coarse breadcrumbs

3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

3 Tablespoons parsley

2 tsps Italian seasoning*

       *see my blend*

2 eggs

Mix it up. Make small meatballs, about the size of a gum ball. Line on greased foil-covered cookie sheet and bake on 325 for about 12 to 15 min. Lift foil from pan and pour into sauce, then bake next tray.. And follow until done.

After I roll out all of the meatballs, this is about 3 cookie sheets full, I pop the first batch in and have just enough time to get the sauce going while the meatballs cook. 

Ziti sauce

*I'm calling it "Ziti Sauce" because its different from spaghetti sauce or Sunday Gravy. This is such a complicated concept that I have to write another entire blog article to explain it so for now, just trust that it IS different. To me.*

3 to 4 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil. (The good stuff, don't skimp here!)

2 onions, chopped

8 to 10 garlic cloves, chopped

1  1/2 lb Italian sausage, removed from casings.

3 Tablespoons Italian seasoning*

1/2 tsp salt

3 Tablespoons parsley (yes, Italian!)

1 Tablespoon red pepper flakes

1 (12 oz) can tomato paste

2 to 3 cups red wine 

3 (28 oz) cans crushed tomatoes

1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes

In thick-bottomed pot on medium-high heat, saute onions for a few minutes until they begin to soften, add garlic, saute another 2 to 3 minutes, add sausage, cook another 5 minutes while occasionally stirring to break up the chunks. 

As the meat browns add the spices and then the paste.

Now when the meat is pretty uniformly cooked you have to stop stirring and let it stick. Almost burn. I am serious. Just leave it alone! Key here is this bit of crust that's forming on the bottom of the pan has an incredible amount of flavor. You want for it to become dark brown, almost black. Almost. It's hard to keep from touching it. I took me years really, to find the exact moment when it's perfect but I can help you get there much faster by simply telling you, just when you can't stand it anymore and you think it's going to burn DON'T touch it. Give it one more minute. Or two. Then de-glaze with the wine and bring it to a boil. Use a wooden spoon to scrape that stuck-on flavor up and add the canned tomatoes. Bring that to a boil, then reduce and simmer while adding the batches of meatballs.

Next is the cheese

3 (30 oz) tubs of ricotta cheese

2 1/2 to 3 lbs shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

6 eggs

1/4 cup dried italian parsley

1/4 cup shredded or grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp Italian seasoning*

Mix this up in a large bowl, cover, and set aside. This bowl should be twice as big as you think because you're going to add the pasta to it. 

Next, boil your ziti al dente MINUS 2 MINUTES.

Means follow the package directions but subtract 2 minutes from the suggested al dente.

 Drain and plunge into ice water to stop cooking process then drain and mix with cheese mixture. Mix it with your hands to prevent the noodles from cracking and splitting. Mix it well, but gently, so the cheese coats the insides and outsides of the pasta.

Next, layer your pans. This will make 2 or more large deep trays. I use disposable aluminum trays because I freeze these and don't want to tie up my pans in the freezer. This also makes it easy to gift a tray to a neighbor or friend when they're sick or have a death in the family. (Another tradition. Someone died? Send ziti)

The layering is sauce on the bottom, a layer of cheese noodles, a layer of meatballs and sauce, another later of noodles, another layer of sauce, then cover with foil and bake for 50 min on 325 then remove foil and top with more shredded mozzarella then 10 more min in the oven till the cheese is golden and the sides are bubbling. Serve with another ladle of sauce over top and some fresh parm on top.

I love this dish so much. My whole heart and soul are in this dish from the moment I begin making it till it gets served and eaten. I hope you will make it and feel loved too!

Manga! 

*Italian Seasoning*

1 tsp red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons oregano

1 tablespoon sage

1 tablespoon marjoram

1 tablespoon rosemary

1 tablespoon dried minced onion

1 tablespoon dried minced garlic

Grind for 5 to 10 seconds in blender

Grilling for Fun, and for Good Health

Here in Texas we do a lot of grilling. Don't get me wrong, we always liked grilling and made the most of the grill when we lived in New Jersey too, even grilling in the snow, but here in Texas the weather is almost always perfect for grilling, and if it isn't, just wait a few minutes!

Grilling make sense for so many reasons. First of all, its too hot to cook in the house right now. I can bake, boil, flame grill, smoke, deep fry, or steam almost anything outside, and save us money on cooling the house.

Grilling is healthy. cooking meat on an open flame allows some of the fat to drip out, without flavor being lost. 

Grilling keeps the kitchen clean. Especially if you also eat outside!

We grill for all of these reasons, but today, mostly because we had a scare a few weeks ago...

 My husband had a heart attack.

 The heart attack has left me feeling helpless. My husband feels better, and is back to work and feels invincible again, but I am worried for his health. We agree that there are some things in life that are out of our control, so we have decided to address the things that ARE in our control. Number one being our diet.

We like to grocery shop together, so this week we kept our eye out for things that would not be bad for our health. We are not ready to be health gurus, but we are both eager to take some baby steps, so instead of buying steaks we picked up some sea scallops. Instead of frozen veggies in a "sauce" we opted for fresh.  

I have to say, I enjoyed this meal so much more than I would have liked the bagged veggies! There was absolutely NO suffering associated with this meal! 

For the mixed veggies we washed and trimmed whatever was in the fridge, a half of a leftover red onion, a handful of fresh green beans, some grape tomatoes and 2 par-boiled potatoes. We tossed them with some fresh herbs from the garden, some black pepper and some salt substitute, then grilled them in a veggie pan.

For the asparagus we washed and trimmed them, seasoned with a little lemon juice, a pinch of garlic powder, and black pepper, topped with some lemon zest and set that in the grill in a foil packet. 

For the scallops, we were stumped. I knew we'd grill them in the fish basket, but I have always used the traditional salt, pepper, paprika, garlic mixture for the seasoning and that salt was just Not gonna work anymore. Then hubby remembered a small bit of powdered gold in the back of the cabinet!

 Feiney's Everything Rub!

 This was a gift from a friend of mine, Adam Feinberg. Chef and entrepreneur, as well as a member of an award winning BBQ Team called Crazy Coyote, Adam lives in Denver, Colorado, where he is a chef for The Kitchen Next Door, Union Station.  

Adam gave me a packet of rub when I met him at The World Food Championship last November, and I used it almost right away when I got home. We made some butterfly chicken on the grill with them, and they were "Feintastic"! We used it 3 more times for butterflied chickens over December and January, and then there wasn't enough left in the bag to do another whole chicken so we were saving it for a smaller dish.

Feiney's Rubs are low salt, so they're perfect for someone on a low-salt diet. 

If you're interested in trying some Fein Rubs, check out Adams page ----Fein Tasting Foods, or if you're in the Denver area, treat yourself to something tasty at The Kitchen Next Door, Union Station,  and say hello to Adam for me!

The meal was outstanding, very tasty, and a wonderful way to begin our journey of healthy eating!  I am really looking forward to the day when I am not flat-out scared shit about my husbands health. He is my best friend, and I need him to be around for a very long time! For now, he is taking it easy, being careful with his food choices and taking ALL of these meds twice a day. I am hopeful that good eating habits and lifestyle changes will allow him to wean off of some of these, but for now they're helping to keep him alive. 

Oh, one more thing... a common theory that we have always appreciated but haven't embraced as much as we should... we are taking the time to recognize the blessings all around us! Look at these adorable white-tailed deer we saw on our way to the grocery store! 

Life is Good!!