Gwyneth Paltrow's Corn Chowder

My men bought me Gwyneth's book as a gift and I finally got around to cooking out of it. I knew the first recipe I would make would be her version of a corn chowder. The corn was abundant and fresh in the stores when I made it for my family. They loved it. :)





The cover just invites you into her world and her kitchen. She writes about her father, food in her life, and she gives you a beautiful picture of her sweet life. I like that she gives veggie options.


Corn Chowder
*1 1/2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
*2 slices turkey bacon, finely diced (I used veggie bacon)
*2 medium shallots, peeled and finely diced
*1/2 large yellow onion, peeled and finely diced
*2 sprigs fresh thyme
*1 bay leaf
*kernels from 6 fresh ears of corn, cobs reserved
*1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
*1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
*2 cups vegetable stock (swanson is my favorite for clear veggie broth)
*1 cup milk
*1 tablespoon minced fresh chives, for garnish
*1 teaspoon minced fresh tarrogon, for garnish


You just can't go wrong with ingredients like this!





Melt the butter on medium heat.





Add the *bacon* and cook until browned.





Add the shallots, thyme, and bay leaf and cook for 5 minutes, stirring here and there.





Add the corn kernels, salt, and pepper and cook for a minute.





You now want to add your veggie broth, milk, and corn cobs. Heat it to a boil and then lower it to a simmer until the corn is cooked through. This will take up to 30 minutes.





Remove the cobs and bay leaf...





Puree a ladleful of the soup in the blender. Add it back to the pot once you are done. Season with salt and pepper to taste.





Ladle into 4 soup bowls and garnish with the chives and tarragon. If you do not have chives growing in a pot by the steps outside...DO IT! It would be simple, cheap, fast, and easy at this time of the year. :)





You can also use soymilk instead of the cow's milk.


This will serve 4 people. I wish I had double or tripled the pot I made. Mmmmmm...corn chowder....

My New Favorite Caesar Salad

I came across this new blog called Three Many Cooks. I whipped up their Caesar Salad With Chopped Eggs & Hashbrown Croutons for supper one night. It was so delicious. I must say this is one of my ultimate favorites of 2011!





I loved making my own caesar dressing for the first time. It tasted better than the store bought. I loved store brands until I made this. I like that I can whip it up all the time now. The ingredients are handy in my kitchen.


I had some fresh yellow crooked neck squash, so I fried those up quickly in a traditional cornmeal coating. This is the way my Ninny Jackson makes it and it is yummy. I arranged them beside the salad when I served my men. Everyone ate it up.


I think I will make this very soon in my house again. The hashbrown croutons are so good on this.

Curried Red Lentil Soup with Lemon

Oh how I love anything with CURRY! It makes my tastebuds dance!

This soup was also in my new October edition of VT. It was so YUMMY!

Curried Red Lentil Soup with Lemon

2 cups red lentils

1 qt. veggie broth

1 large onion, finely chopped

4 celery stalks, finely chopped

2 large carrots, finely chopped (food processors are our FRIENDS)

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup chopped cilantro (I just chop and add it to mine, MATT hates it.)

1 tbs. curry powder

1 tsp. ground cumin

2TBS. lemon juice

1. Bring the lentils, broth, and 4 cups of water to a simmer in a large pot. Skim away the foam on the top as it forms. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Add onion, celery, carrots, and garlic; simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes. Add the cilantro, curry, and cumin, and cook another 20 minutes, or until the lentil are soft. Season with salt and pepper, if desired, and stir in lemon juice.

I am a soup girl and this one ROCKED! The kids ATE IT UP!

Tasty Tofu Patties

This is now Elijahs FAVORITE meal! He ate it even though it had mushrooms. :)

I found this recipe in my new October edition of Vegetarian Times.

Tasty Tofu Patties

1/4 cup vegan mayo

1/4 cup finely chopped onion (I food process them to death so Remy can't find them)

1/4 cup chopped parsley

2 tsp. dried tarragon

1 tsp. dijon mustard

14 ounces of firm tofu, drained

4 ounce can of sliced mushrooms chopped (Again I process them until they are TINY)

1/3 cup grated carrots

4 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained, finely chopped

1 cup breadcrumbs

tomato sauce for dipping

1. Whisk together the mayo, onion, parsley, tarragon, and mustard in a bowl. Mash the tofu into the mixture with a fork, I used a pastry blender. Stir in the mushrooms, carrots, and sun-dried tomatoes. Fold in the breadcrumbs.

2. Heat a large skillet coated with cooking spray, I used olive oil because I didn't have spray, over medium heat. Scoop the mixture with a 1/4 cup measure cup and form into patties with your hands. Place the patties in the hot skillet and cook for around 5-7 minutes on the first side. Flip the patties and cook for another 5 minutes. Repeat until all the patties are made up and cooked.

To serve place two patties on a plate with 1/4 - 1/2 cup tomato sauce to dip.

cal 391

prot 15

total fat 19

sat fat 3

carb 39

chol 0

sod 852

fiber 6

sugar 12

Elijah ate 4 patties and I had to hold him off of his fathers that I had waiting in the toaster!

An Eggplant Gift from a Friend.

My sweet and lovely friend Nicole gave us some of the prettiest eggplants I had ever seen. This woman is the garden queen and I am so glad to have her help next year with out tiny school garden. :)

I promised her that I would share what I ended up doing with them. Here it is, girl!

Eggplant and Portobello Schnitzel

1. Make sure your oven is preheating at 350 degrees and you coat your baking sheet with cooking spray of your choice.

2. You will want to whisk together 1 cup of milk (soy, cow, nut) and an egg in a bowl. Spread about 2 cups of Italian flavored bread crumbs on a plate. Dip the mushrooms (you will need a portobello for each person, I didn't have them so I sliced up some buttons about 3-4 button mushrooms for each person) and your eggplant slices into your milk mixture, then coat them with breadcrumbs. Place the dipped and crumbed veggies on your baking sheet and spray the tops with more cooking spray. You will want to bake them for about 10 minutes, but you will need to watch them until they look good and brown and crispy to your liking. About 10 minutes into it you can flip them carefully and bake another 10 to 15 minutes.

3. To make your Lemon-Caper sauce you will melt 3 Tbs. of unsalted butter over medium-high heat. Cook it for almost 3 minutes until the butter begins to brown. Stir in 3 Tbs. of olive oil and 3 tsp. of capers, and cook for another minute. Remove from the heat and add 3 Tbs. lemon juice and 2 Tbs. chopped parsley.

4. To plate this up place an eggplant slice on the plate for your first layer. For the next layer you would put your portobello, but I just layered as many button slices as I felt it needed. Next stack about 3 more eggplant slices on top of that. Drizzle with your sauce and serve with anything else that strikes your fancy. :)

The mushrooms were so good!!!! If you give it a try let me know!

"Chicken" Lo Mein

I have to share this yum-o recipe for a vegetarian version of chicken lo mein.

"Chicken" Lo Mein from www.vegetariantimes.com

On medium-high heat stirfry 8 ounces mushrooms with your 6 ounces of "chicken" strips in 2 tablespoons of oil. I use Quorn's cutlets and cut them into strips. It takes about 2 of them.

When the mushrooms soften and the strips are "browned" remove the "chicken" and set aside.

Add one bell pepper thinly sliced to the mushrooms. Cook them until the peppers are as soft as you like them.

Mix together 1 cup of broth, 1 tablespoon of cornstarch, 1 tablespoon ginger, 1 tablespoon garlic, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, and 2 tsp. of sugar in a bowl.

Add the "chicken" back to the pan and pour the sauce mixture over the mixture in the pan. Cook until it thickens up.

I like to use these egg noodles that you can purchase from the chinese food store.

They come wrapped up in little noodle "nuggets". I cook one nugget at a time in water like you would with ramen. I then drain, rinse with water, and put it on the persons plate. Top with the "chicken" lo mein mixture and drizzle sesame oil. The sesame is a MUST do it adds so much flavor!

My oldest, Elijah, loves this! It is so yum!

Remy is on a Roll!

After he made muffins he announced he would make lunch the next day.

He thinks he needs to make every recipe in this book.

He made this potato dish for lunch, then he ate it for dinner, and then he ate it again for lunch the next day. I was so ready for this stuff to be gone. :)

Tell Mom you'll make dinner tonight. This cheesy casserole is a fun and easy way to feed your whole family.

Ingredients

* 1 (32-ounce) bag tater tots

* 1 (10-ounce) can cream of mushroom soup

* 1 teaspoon pepper

* 1 (16-ounce) container sour cream

* 2 cups shredded cheese (use your favorite)

1. Remove tater tots from the freezer. Allow to thaw for 20-30 minutes.

2. Spray baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

3. Place tater tots in a mixing bowl.

4. Add soup, pepper, sour cream, and half of the cheese to the mixing bowl. Stir ingredients together with a rubber scraper.

5. Pour mixture into the casserole dish. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.

6. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Use oven mitts or pot holders to remove dish from oven. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.

serves 8

Sushi Party With Myka and Family

We had the BEST time tonight with Myka and her family. We made our own sushi and it was YUMMY!

Eli with his sushi that he made all on his own. :)

Remy making his sushi!

Remy with his sushi! I had to MAKE him look up from his plate. He was so excited.

Elijah tried the wasabi and says it was HOT.

Alban, Myka's son, eating! Silly nut.

This is Myka's niece, the CUTIE! I asked her to be my daughter. She just stared at me.

My Mattmos eating it up!

Asa, I LOVE YOU!

Myka, I needed today! Thankyou!

Company and We are Back to SCHOOL!

One night I go to snapping a few photographs because my boys are just WAY too yummy for me sometimes. :) I love how Elijah loves his puppy doggie. :) He is always snuggling her and talking to her.

And nothing is sweeter to me than my itty bitty asleep. :)

Some of the family have been making the trip to say goodbye to Sweet Paw and we were able to host Matthew's brother Branden and his sister Lindsay one night. She had her two youngest children with her and they are so cute!

Uncle just loved this itty bitty man! Hee hee!

Remy is on a cooking rampage and helped with lunch yesterday.

And then he made cookies...

We gave the kids an easel for Christmas and I love using it for school. Remy also likes to do his work on it. :)

His cursive writing is coming along well and he has worked way ahead in his first grade reading and math. He really likes those subjects. I bet he is done with the reading before lesson day 85 of first grade. I am glad I have learned from Eli and allowed him to do more of one subject if he so chooses for the day. That way he is meeting his own level. But it helps when you either have the next years materials on the subject or the price isn't as high as the first time you order it for the oldest. :)

Remy made a snowman and a card for his Uncle Branden. :)

Okay, I have to share a photo of the CRAZY turtles! The biggest one will be sunning and the tiny male will climb on top somehow and then pull his legs in and then sit there like they are stacked rocks. He is balanced on the very tip of her rounded shell! It cracks me up. Hee hee....he uses her to get closer to the light. Silly turtles. One day I will have to sit on the boys bed and wait to see how he does this.