cooking AL[a] MEL

We've moved!!

Sat, 05 Feb 2011 21:21:31 -0500

We decided to move our blog over to blogger, where we’ll be able to customize our blog and make it easier to find recipes! We’re going to be doing a transfer of a good bit of our blog posts, but some of them won’t be making it.

Come see us over there!!
http://cookingalamel.blogspot.com

Mini pierogies, sautéed up with chicken, broccoli, onions and...

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 20:15:35 -0500

Mini pierogies, sautéed up with chicken, broccoli, onions and garlic, seasoned with salt, pepper & italian seasoning. Quick but full of flavor! :)

Tonight for dinner, we threw together some ham & cheddar...

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 19:23:03 -0500

Tonight for dinner, we threw together some ham & cheddar melts with a small green salad. Pretty simple.

Yesterday we made gingerbread pancakes with some sliced bananas...

Sun, 30 Jan 2011 13:12:04 -0500

Yesterday we made gingerbread pancakes with some sliced bananas for breakfast because I really wanted Alex to try them, so he got to choose whatever he wanted for breakfast today. I ended up making him bacon, ham, sausage, summer sausage and scrambled eggs with toast and some of the leftover potatoes from last night’s dinner mixed with mozzarella. He wanted a spread, so he got a little bit of everything. I made him include a banana for a bit more of nutrition. I made myself an egg, over easy, with some toast and potatoes and a bit of sausage and summer sausage also, topped off with a clementine for freshness.

January 29, 2011:Tonight for dinner, we did a lot of roasting....

Sat, 29 Jan 2011 19:40:00 -0500

January 29, 2011:
Tonight for dinner, we did a lot of roasting. We roasted up some brats (chicken & apple sausages) as per usual with some sliced onions, then we roasted up some carrots with italian seasonings, pepper & salt, and then some diced potatoes with garlic, Onion Onion, italian seasonings and Worcestershire sauce (which Alex doused pretty generously, so we had a nice burnt layer on the pan from the sauce). The potatoes, being quite different from what we usually do, were quite tasty with a hint of ranch dressing. Nice and crispy!!

I haven’t had a good dose of chocolate in a while, so I...

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 18:26:45 -0500

I haven’t had a good dose of chocolate in a while, so I really wanted to make some brownies. With Alex loving all things mocha, I knew this mocha brownie recipe was what I had to make. These are intensely rich. Exactly what I needed.

Mocha Brownies
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup + 2 T cocoa powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking powder
2 t instant coffee granules
1 1/2 t vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used ghirardelli’s 70%..they were a bit big so some fell out once I cut squares after baking)

Preheat oven to 350º F. Lightly coat pan with cooking spray. Line pan with parchment paper, leaving ends hanging over edge of the pan. The parchment paper should stick to the oil coated pan. Lightly spray the paper with oil.
In a large bowl, whisk together applesauce, oil and sugar until all sugar is dissolved. Whisk in the cocoa, salt, baking powder, coffee and vanilla. Whisk in eggs until smooth. With a rubber spatula, stir in flour until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips.
Pour brownie batter into prepared pan and bake for about 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let rest on wire rack until completely cooled. Refrigerate for at least two hours for easiest cutting.

Alex wanted something warm tonight for dinner. Why it ended up...

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 21:12:15 -0500

Alex wanted something warm tonight for dinner. Why it ended up being nachos, I couldn’t tell you, although the heat from the red hot and chili pepper flakes definitely did warm me up.. Alex has been wanting to make nachos for a while now since I got him some sour cream, and it only made sense to have it in the place of dinner because of the large quantity of nachos Alex always ends up eating.

We browned some ground meat, seasoned it with a tiny bit of taco seasoning, melted some cheese on the chips in the oven with some salsa, then added fresh onion, some greens, chili pepper flakes, red hot, the meat and finally, some sour cream.

Today’s been a day of snacking all around; for lunch, we fried up some summer sausage and had it on crackers with some cheddar (although we did have a side salad - hooray for a bit of nutrition!).

Tonight, we made grilled cheese (with cheddar) with tomato...

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 11:46:06 -0500

Tonight, we made grilled cheese (with cheddar) with tomato artichoke soup. The soup was slightly tangy and had a nice flavor. Perfect for dunking!

Tomato Artichoke Soup
28 oz can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
15 oz can artichokes
1 cup water
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter (or olive oil)
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
3 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil

In a large soup pot, heat the butter (or olive oil). Sauté the onions, garlic and bay leaves until onions are translucent. Chop the artichokes into smaller pieces. In the soup pot, add the tomatoes, artichokes, water, oregano and basil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Using an immersion blender (or blender), blend the soup to a smooth consistency. Add 1 cup milk. Serve immediately.

For my friend Jaclyn’s birthday, Lin and I decided to make...

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 22:18:14 -0500

For my friend Jaclyn’s birthday, Lin and I decided to make a chocolate layer cake.. the cake sort of fell apart when we moved it, and the icing hardened before we could really get it spread on, and we didn’t have enough icing, so it looks rather lacking, but it tastes really delicious. It was really moist and the frosting was so good.

Chocolate Layer Cake with Chocolate Frosting
makes 1 two-layer cake

For the cake:
2 cups sugar1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 t salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 t vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

For the chocolate frosting:
2 cups powdered sugar
4 T cocoa
4 T butter, melted
4 T strong, hot coffee
1 t vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray two 9” round pans with cooking spray. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water and pour equally into 2 pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes and remove from pans to wire racks. For the frosting, beat all ingredients together until smooth. Frost the top of the bottom layer of cake, place the top layer on, and frost the top and edges.

With some leftover sautéed mushrooms, asparagus and broccoli, we...

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 19:39:40 -0500

With some leftover sautéed mushrooms, asparagus and broccoli, we added in some chicken cooked in a sauce like the one used for the chicken here. We served it up on whole grain tortillas with mozzarella.

Tonight for dinner, we made some pasta tossed with roasted red...

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 19:01:44 -0500

Tonight for dinner, we made some pasta tossed with roasted red pepper sauce, spicy chicken, garlic mushrooms and parmesan/romano. It was extremely flavorful..definitely a good idea to make this! :)

Spaghetti with Chicken and “Really Red Pepper” Sauce
yields two servings

For the sauce:
1 red pepper, roasted & sliced
2 T red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
salt, pepper & italian seasoning, to taste
1/4 cup water

For the chicken:
2 t tabasco
2 t red hot
2 T worcestershire sauce
3 T olive oil
1 chicken breast, sliced
4 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
chili pepper flakes, italian seasoning, salt & pepper, to taste

Roughly 7 oz. cooked spaghetti

Heat oil, tabasco, red hot, worcestershire in large skillet over medium high heat. Season with chili pepper flakes, salt, pepper and italian seasoning. Add onions, garlic mushrooms and chicken and cook until chicken is cooked through and mushrooms have cooked down.
In a food processor, blend all of the ingredients for the roasted pepper sauce. Add the mixture to the skillet with the chicken and heat on low until fully incorporated. Serve over the cooked spaghetti with some crusty bread. For an extra kick (like this dish really needs it), use chili oil.

For dinner, we roasted up a red pepper and some tomatoes and...

Sun, 23 Jan 2011 19:36:12 -0500

For dinner, we roasted up a red pepper and some tomatoes and tossed them up in a salad with shredded mozzarella, fresh sweet onion, a lettuce mix and balsamic vinegar. We seasoned the tomatoes like you would for the tomato caprese salad, found here. The peppers, we seasoned with a little bit of salt and pepper.

We had a few funky looking bananas, partially green but spotting...

Sun, 23 Jan 2011 17:50:17 -0500

We had a few funky looking bananas, partially green but spotting a bit, so we decided to make some banana nut bread with it. We were running out of granola, so we made another batch of that with sliced almonds, walnuts and dried cranberries, cherries, blueberries and strawberries this time (recipe here).

Banana Nut Bread
yields 8 servings
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1/4 t ground cloves
3 large, very ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs
1/3 cup honey (or 1/2 cup sugar)
1/2 cup milk
2 t vanilla
1/2 cup nuts

Mix wet and dry ingredients until just incorporated. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake at 350º F for about 50 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Wait 10 minutes before removing from pan and placing on rack to cool.

We had some fresh veggies we wanted to cook up, so we decided to...

Sun, 23 Jan 2011 14:29:39 -0500

We had some fresh veggies we wanted to cook up, so we decided to make some frittatas with some broccoli and asparagus. We made some toast with some fresh tomato, warmed to let out the juices.

Broccoli Asparagus Frittatas
yields two servings
3 eggs
splash of milk
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup onion, chopped
3/4 cup broccoli and asparagus, chopped into small pieces
1 t Italian seasoning
2 T olive oil
salt & pepper, to taste
shredded asiago, to taste

Heat the olive oil over medium heat. Sauté the broccoli, asparagus, onion and garlic until tender. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs with milk and add seasonings. Split the egg mixtures between two ramekins that have been sprayed with oil. Add the cooked veggies and mix. Bake at 375º F for about 20 minutes, until fork comes clean in the center. Add asiago and broil until cheese is bubbly and slightly browned (keep a close watch here to prevent burning). Serve in the ramekins.

Tomato Bread
yields two servings
2 slices bread, halved
1 medium tomato, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
pepper, salt & Italian seasoning, to taste
olive oil

Toast bread and drizzle/spray with olive oil. Heat the tomatoes in a skillet over low heat, just until warmed. Remove from heat and add freshly minced garlic and seasonings. Add to toast and eat!

Mel had her pharmacy interview today, so when she got back, we...

Sat, 22 Jan 2011 15:29:18 -0500

Mel had her pharmacy interview today, so when she got back, we made brunch. We had eggs-in-a-hole seasoned with Onion Onion, salt and chili pepper flakes; sausage bites, fried ham and potato hash with onion and garlic and seasoned with Onion Onion, Garlic Garlic and salt. We didn’t drain out the liquid from the potatoes, so they got a little squishy looking, but the flavor was perfect.

Hearty Vegetable Soupmakes about 3 quarts4 cups vegetable stock2...

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 20:17:15 -0500

Hearty Vegetable Soup
makes about 3 quarts
4 cups vegetable stock
2 large carrots, chopped
2 medium zucchini, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup frozen spinach
1 celery stalk, chopped
15 oz. great northern beans (1 can), rinsed
15 oz. diced tomatoes (1 can)
1 potato (I used russet), chopped
about 1/4 cup onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 T olive oil
1 t basil
1 t Onion Onion seasoning
1/2 t pepper
1/2 t salt

Sauté the garlic and onion in the 2 T of olive oil until onion is translucent and both are fragrant. Chop up all of your vegetables and put them into a 3-quart pot or crock pot. Add your vegetable stock, beans and tomatoes and heat over medium heat (or on high in crock pot) until potatoes and carrots are just softened. Add spinach and seasonings and cook until spinach is wilted. Serve with a bit of asiago.

I was really excited to try out my new crock pot, and we had a good bit of leftover veggies from the week, so I decided I’d throw together a vegetable soup. It took longer to cook in the crock pot than I expected, but it seemed to work out just fine. :)

Mel has the day off on Thursdays, and Al has a three hour gap...

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 13:27:16 -0500

Mel has the day off on Thursdays, and Al has a three hour gap between classes, so we decided to make B.E.L.T sandwiches for lunch.

Bacon, Egg, Lettuce & Tomato Sandwiches
Makes two sandwiches
5 strips bacon
4 slices whole grain bread
2 eggs
1 medium sized tomato, sliced
about 3/4 cup lettuce (we used a lettuce bagged mix)
1/4 cup mozzarella, shredded
1/4 cup onion, thinly sliced
mayo or red hot

Cook bacon in a skillet over medium high heat, flipping every few minutes, until browned and crispy. In separate skillet, scramble up some eggs (you don’t need to season due to the salt in the bacon); once done, sprinkle the mozzarella on top so it melts. Drain the bacon fat and place bacon onto paper towel to soak up excess fat. With skillet used for bacon, toast your bread slices. Assemble sandwiches and eat!

I had to use my soft serve ice cream maker as soon as we got to...

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 22:45:32 -0500

I had to use my soft serve ice cream maker as soon as we got to school - the freezer bowls have a permanent home in our freezer now so I can make some ice cream anytime I’d like. :)
We have two packs of oreos, so I decided I’d make some chocolate oreo ice cream. I love how light it tastes!

Chocolate Oreo Ice Cream
yields one 6-oz serving
1/2 cup half-and-half (or 1/4 cup heavy cream, 1/4 cup milk)
2 T sugar
4 t cocoa powder
1/4 t vanilla
3 T crushed oreos (about 3 oreos)

Combine cocoa and sugar and stir to mix. Add a small amount of the half-and-half and mix. Add remaining half-and-half and vanilla. Stir until well mixed. Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions, adding in the oreos in the last five minutes of churning.

Tonight, we made asparagus, zucchini and broccoli, lightly...

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 22:40:28 -0500

Tonight, we made asparagus, zucchini and broccoli, lightly sauteed with two cloves of garlic, onion, and a dash of salt in olive oil, served over a bed of scrambled eggs, lightly seasoned with salt. To top off the flavor, we sprinkled a bit of asiago cheese over the veggies.
This was simple and extremely delicious!

First dinner back at school! Tonight for dinner, we tried out...

Mon, 17 Jan 2011 20:39:52 -0500

First dinner back at school!

Tonight for dinner, we tried out our new grill pan to grill some asparagus, brats (chicken & apple sausages), and onions. We seasoned the asparagus with some olive oil and some Onion Onion seasoning (from Tastefully Simple) and then topped it with some shredded asiago cheese when it was finished grilling. The grilled onions were delicious!

We also roasted up some brussel sprouts with three small cloves of fresh garlic, Onion Onion seasoning, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. We used our new Misto (we got two for Christmas) filled with balsamic vinegar so we could ensure an even coating by spraying it.