Growing up in Panama City, we used to eat at a restaurant called The Cheese Barn and they served one of my favorite dishes, their French Onion Soup.  I had a bit of nostalgia a few weekends ago, so I started hunting for a recipe to satisfy my craving.  If you have time one weekend, I recommend you try out Betty Crocker’s Golden Onion Soup.  It takes a little over 3 hours but the majority of that time is spent cooking the onions in the oven so you won’t be in the kitchen all day.

I made a few subtle changes to the dish merely because I didn’t have all the ingredients I needed.  Instead of making the Parmesan Croutons, I cubed up some Asiago Cheese Bread from Panera Bread.  You could also use Parmesan croutons, like those you put on a salad.  I only had one can of condensed beef broth so I improvised; using water and beef bullion cubes.  Once the soup was complete, I poured portions for Adam and me into two ovenproof bowls.  I added the cubed bread and sprinkled 1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese on top.  I then broiled the bowls of soups in the oven for about 2 minutes until the cheese was melted and golden brown. Be sure to put the bowls on a sheet pan as it is easier to get them in and out of the oven and the pan will catch anything you spill.

One of my co-workers gave me a recipe last week for French Tarragon Burgers.  The recipe is from Taste of Home which has fantastic recipes in their magazines and online.  I tried it out Wednesday night and loved it. I only made four burgers but I made the full amount of mayonnaise mixture so I still had a bunch left after dinner.  I didn’t want it to go to waste so I used it on some sandwiches that gave it some flavorful zing.  Definitely give it a try if you want to change up your typical burger tonight.

On Monday, I chose to make the Meaty Quesadillas and Perfect Guacamole from the May 2010 issue of Food Network magazine.  I made the 30-minute Meaty Quesadillas recipe with lean ground beef and only used a few alternative ingredients.  I didn’t have ancho chili powder so I just used the generic chili powder.  I also used the Mexican blend shredded cheese instead of muenster or Monterey jack cheese.  Zoey LOVED the taco meat mixture and shoveled it in as fast as possible. If the recipe can entice my picky 21 month old to eat, I’m sold! 

I wanted an all around Mexican meal so I also made the Perfect Guacamole recipe from the same issue of FNM.  I am a fan of spicy but my tummy is not so I left out the Serrano chiles.  I used roma tomatoes and fresh cilantro to finish out the recipe.  It turned out creamy and light with a little kick at the end.  I made store-bought cheese dip and refried beans from a can as sides.  I also made some of my own Mexican rice.  I brought 2 cups of water to a boil.  I added 1 cup of white rice, 3 tablespoons of my favorite salsa, a 1/2 teaspoon chili powder and a pinch of salt.  Cover and cook on low for 20 minutes and you have a tasty side dish for you favorite Mexican meal.

Both of these recipes were simple to make and wonderfully delicious.  The guacamole recipe has three additional recipes, Spicy Papaya Guacamole, Southwest Corn Guacamole and Creamy Tomatillo Guacamole.  I am looking forward to trying these later. 

The past few weeks my husband and I have been battling busy schedules, bad weather, common colds, an teething 18-month old not to mention pure laziness.  In the past I have made large meals such as lasagnas, pot pies, stir fry and other easy freeze meals so that we have them on hand for busy nights.  Unfortunately, we have munched through all of those meals and so I ventured through the freezer isle to try out some premade meals for our family.  I wanted to have some lunches and dinners that were healthy enough that we could take to the office or heat up for dinner when we are in a pinch.  This week was testament to that because we had Freezer Food almost every day this week.

Over the past two months we have tried a few different frozen pizzas.  DiGiorno’s was pretty tasty and so was California Pizza Kitchen but I must say that I didn’t mind the Wal-mart  version very much. I was surprised how well it was made and it was a couple of dollars cheaper than the other two brands.  And by the way, the Totinos pizza that I adored as a child, tastes pretty nasty as an adult. 

We have been trying out a bunch of frozen meals to take to the office for lunch.  We tried a bunch of the Hot Pockets products such as the HOT POCKETS SIDESHOTS – Mini Cheeseburgers 4 Pack, HOT POCKETS® Cheese Stuffed Crust Pizzeria – Pepperoni Pizza, HOT POCKETS® brand Bruschetta Chicken Panini, HOT POCKETS® brand Deli-Style Ham & Swiss Panini plus a bunch of the other hot pockets.  My personal favorite was the Chicken Panini.  The exterior was flaky and the interior was flavorful.  Not too bad.  We also tried the Boston Market® Beef Pot Roast which was pretty good and a more food than the typical meals.

For our “Little Bit” we bought a few of the Michelina’s products, in particular the Chicken Nuggets and Potato Fries which are shaped like smiley faces.  Her favorite freezer treats are Gorton’s fish sticks and Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage biscuits.  Of course, none of these items are particularly healthy, they do there duty when necessary.

For those meat lovers in the Birmingham, Alabama area DJ’s Fine Meats is the place to go for the highest-level quality meat choices, delicious sides and friendly service.  This locally owned and operated butcher shop helps the Birmingham residents turn their “homes into steakhouses”.  I have been visiting DJ’s Fine Meats for over two years now and though it is an across town drive for me to Alabaster, I wouldn’t buy my meat goods anywhere else. My all-time favorites are the Tortilla Encrusted Tilapia, the Ribeye Steaks, and their Applewood Smoked Bacon.  I literally buy a dozen of the tilapia filets just to have on hand on any given night.

This week’s theme is Tailgate Specials. 

• GAME DAY – $89.00
  • 8 x 12 oz Ribeye Steaks
• FIRST DOWN -$89.00
  • 8 x 12 oz NY Strips
• FIELD GOAL – $99.00
  • 3 x 12 oz Ribeyes
  • 3 x 12 oz NY Strips
  • 3 x 8 oz Filets  
• TOUCHDOWN – $129.00
  • 6 x 12 oz Ribeye
  • 6 x 12 oz NY Strips
  • 6 DJ’s Steakburgers
  • 6 Jalapeno Sausages
• SAFETY – $13.00
  • 2 Tuna Steaks
  • 2 Chicken Breasts
• P.A.T. – $10.00
  • 4 x 3 Cheese Potatoes  OR
  • 1 x 32 oz Loaded Potato Salad and 1 x 32 oz Deviled Egg  Salad
• FREE TWO POINTER
  • All Beef Packages come with 2 lbs of sausage.

*As always call-ahead orders are encouraged and appreciated.

Currently, DJ’s has new extended spring/summer hours and they are open seven days a week. Check out their website www.djsfinemeats.com for their daily specials, store hours and savings discounts.

June 8th – 14th, 2008

Well, another wonderful week has passed.  Coupons clipped, groceries shopped, food prepped, and bellies bursting.  This week’s menu had quite the variety but enjoyed by many.  Most of the recipes are from cookbooks and other resources, but I threw in my “twist” when I could. From semi-homemade pizzas to slow-cooker recipes and on to luscious desserts, I recommend these dishes to the food lover in you. 

Sunday, June 8th: After venturing through my cookbooks and then visiting the local super market to pick up the ingredients for this week’s concoctions, I returned home to endulge my kitchen obsession for, sad to say, seven hours.  Sometimes, I get so caught up playing around in the kitchen, with my little tv tuned to the food network, that I lose track of time.  Baby Zoey was in my belly just dancing away and other than a little ache in my feet, I was tickled pink to be making these creations. 

June 1st – 7th, 2008

Each Sunday, I sit down and go through my cookbooks and decide the menu for the week.  I admit I’m a coupon clipper and after the Sunday paper gets here, I clip away and then venture out to the local grocery with my menu in hand.  I do use recipe books and magazines for most of my meal choices but I take creative license at every opportunity to make the dish my own.  This particular week, I let Adam influence the menu as he tends to go for more bold and hearty cuisine than I normally would prepare. 

Sunday, June 1st: Our wonderfully, dear friends Michael and Carol had just introduced little Baby Ben into the world and Adam and I indented to visit bareing gifts from the kitchen.  I wanted to put together a few menu items that would last them a couple of days and at the same time, prepare a meal for Adam and I to enjoy.

First, I put together a typical Italian Sausage Lasagna from Betty Crocker’s New Cookbook.  I doubled the batch so that I could take one pan to our friends and have the other for dinner when we returned.  I did add a little ground beef that I had remaining from an earlier recipe to the italian sausage meat.  I ran out of Mozarella Cheese after putting together their lasagna so I used the Chive and Bacon cheese from Beechwood Cheese Factory.  It is a monterey jack base so it was creamy like the mozarella but with a little something extra. 

In addition to the lasagna, I also put together the Ground Beef & Twice-Baked Potato Pie from Pillsbury’s Simply One Dish magazine (Feb/Mar 2008).  This was quite the crowd pleaser as Michael is definately a “meat and potatoes” kind of guy.  Instead of dried sage, I used fresh sage from my garden and instead of the refrigerated potatoes, I used instant garlic mashed potatoes with a little extra garlic powder added.  I carried the tomato, green onion, and bacon garnishes on the side to their home so that they wouldn’t turn to mush before they were able to enjoy it.  Check out my great tips for precooked bacon on this site.

Monday, June 2nd: It was a busy Monday morning for both of us at the office, so I am glad I had this fast receipe set aside for the evening.  Tandoori Tikka Chicken straight from the Tandoori sauce packet.  Add a little yogurt and marinate you chicken pieces until you are ready to grill.  For sides I put together Rachel Ray’s Curry Couscous from her 30-Minute Meals 2 book which I have made twice before and keep going back to because it is so fast and refreshing.  For a vegetable I just made a quick romaine salad with fresh strawberries and oranges along with some toasted almonds since I had those out for the curry.  My co-worker, Dorothy turned me on Ken’s Steakhouse’s Raspberry Walnut Vinegrette and I am addicted to it now.  Adam came in the kitchen and helped scewer the chicken and since he was heating up the grill I tried another quick grill recipe for dessert, Grilled Banana Boats.  This recipe comes from Pillsbury’s Potlucks magazine (June 2008) but I have seen my step-dad, Gary, make it before.  Bananas stuffed with chocolate pieces, marsmallows, pecans, wrapped in foil and thrown on the grill.  I know this seams like a lot for a “long” day at the office, but the chicken and the banana only took 8-10 minutes to cook at which time I made the couscous which takes about 10 minutes and the salad put together in a few minutes while the couscous was setting.  I tell you, Rachel would have been proud of me.  Not to mention, I had the leftovers for lunch and curry always tastes better the second day.  YUM!

Tuesday, June 3rd: Adam loves the Orange Peel Beef from PF Chang’s and so I did the dumbed down version of that on Tuesday night.  Beef Strips with Orange and Ginger from my Chinese: The Essence of Asian Cooking cokbook.  I didn’t really change anything in this recipe but I was rather upset that I ran out of white rice (my favorite food, really).  I searched the far depths of my pantry and came back with this ancient box of Instant Minute Rice.  I’ll admit, I don’t think I have ever had minute rice, but it worked for the meal.  Besides, you put crunchy rice noodles on anything, and I’ll eat it.

Wednesday, June 4th: I had originally intended to have th Fajita Chicken Wings from Pillsbury’s Potlucks magazine (June 2008) on Tuesday but I didn’t realize that the chicken needed to marinate for at least 4 hours. So while making dinner on Tuesday, I put together the marinade and vacuum sealed the chicken refrigerating it for the following night.  I really think the vacuum sealing helped concentrate the flavors of lime and cilantro into the meat.  Also, my co-worker Ted, had recently made the recipe and suggested that I definately add the lime zest that the recipe note recommends. (Thanks, Ted!)  I wasn’t really sure what to have with the wings, which, by the way, I did not split from the legs, nor did I remove the tips. They were just fine.  I decided to “use up” some little bits that were in the fridge so I came up with this hodge-podge of menu items.  There were a few frozen hush puppies that I threw in the oven with the chicken and then served with the little bit of Ranch dressing I had left in the jar.  I also cut up the last of the celery and carrots and served those as a vegetable with that ranch dressing.  I used a Mahatma packet of spanish rice but I put the last bit of leftover salsa and a dab of butter into the water as it boiled.  The salsa added the litle bits of onion and peppers that the yellow rice needed and complimented the fajita chicken very well.  For dessert, I had some leftover plain yogurt from Monday night’s Tandoori so I added a dolop of whipped cream, the last few strawberries (diced), some dried cherries, and a few chopped pecans.  I then took a Hershey’s kiss from the candy jar and shaved it on top.  It wasn’t the sweetest dessert by any means, but it was a fairly healthy end to the meal.

Thursday, June 5th: We had leftovers from the night before so I planned on just eating that but we needed a little something extra to round out the meal.  I put together the Bacon-Crab Dip from Pillsbury’s Summer Appetizers magazine to eat with crackers, celery and carrots.  It was very good; however, I did add some onion powder and garlic powder along with some smoked paprika to give it a little zip.  It was a quick fix, especially because I had my bacon precooked for the week.

Friday and Saturday we attended Geoffrey and Courtney’s rehearsal dinner, wedding and reception so I didn’t need any additional meals for the week.  The food catered was so delicious I am glad that I didn’t eat too much before heading over there.  Oh, we also tried McDonald’s new chicken biscuits on Saturday morning and my friend Kendall was right, they ain’t got nothing on Chik-Fil-A.

So… that was our eccentric week of food and of course, today, being Sunday, I started the whole process over again. I look forward to putting together this week’s choices: Lamb Tangine with Potatoes, Chickpeas, Pistachio Mousse Brownie Torte, Flank Steak Pinwheels and much, much more. Look for Last Week’s Menu, next Sunday.

Bon Appetit!