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.

This evening I made an awesome bagel sandwich for dinner. I toasted whole wheat bagels to start. Next, I mixed a tablespoon of mayonaise with a tablespoon of Limin’ Lady Gourmet Mustard that I bought at the Pepper Place farmers marker. I spread both sides of the bagel with this mixture and then layered turkey lunch meat, muenster cheese and two bacon slices. I followed that with fresh veggies from Pepper Place: mixed greens, cucumber slices, tomato slices, radish slices, and alfalfa sprouts. The top half of the bagel was balanced neatly on top of this mound of garden fresh vegetables. I am telling you it was so yummy. It tasted like I had just pulled everything from the garden myself. I ate it with a roasted sweet potato from the market and some steamed broccoli and carrots. I think I may have to go Pepper Place every weekend to get more of their beautiful produce.

While I was making the Fast & Easy Lemon Chicken last night, I decided we needed a succulent vegetable to accompany the savory lemon sauce and I thought baby spinach would be a good pairing.  However, while watching The Next Iron Chef on Food Network a few weeks ago I heard Jeffrey Steingarten mention that raw spinach does not have nearly the nutrition value that cooked spinach does. This intrigued me since I enjoy a spinach salad a couple times a week over traditional lettuce.  I knew that spinach was high in fiber and great for your eyes but I wanted to know more.  I called Popeye but he wasn’t unavailable so I plundered through the world wide web instead.

I did little research on NutritionalData.com and found that when comparing 1 cup of raw spinach to 1 cup of cooked spinach with no salt added the nutritional value of the cooked spinach is significantly higher. For instance, the Vitamin A in uncooked spinach is around 56% compared to the 377% in cooked spinach. Both versions are low in saturated fat and very low in Cholesterol.  That is not to negate the nutritional values of eating spinach raw.  It contains high quantities of vitamin C and other phytonutrients (nutrients that fight against disease). The Healthy Foodie,  Doug DiPasquale stated on the website ThatsFit that “raw spinach contains a substance which blocks the absorption of many minerals, including iodine, a mineral critical to the proper functioning of the thyroid. It also contains oxalic acid, a substance that interferes with the absorption of calcium, but which is destroyed in cooking. Raw spinach should therefore be avoided by those with thyroid issues, or those at high risk for osteoporosis, and should only be enjoyed on occasion by the rest of us (one spinach salad per week shouldn’t be an issue).”

Now – on to the nom, nom food.  This recipe combines the flavors of spinach and carrots with a dash of lemon zest that will help break down the iron for easier absorption into the body.  The pecans and bacon are just added flare.

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 carrot peeled
• 12 ounces baby spinach, washed
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1/4 cup of pecans
• 2 tbsp. crumbled bacon pieces
• salt and pepper to taste

Using a potato peeler, shave the carrot into thin, one-inch long pieces.  Zest the lemon to make 1 teaspoon of lemon zest. In a dry sauté pan over medium heat, warm the pecans for about 2 to 3 minutes, stirring once or twice.  Remove pecans from pan and set aside. Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat.  Add the shredded carrot and the spinach leaves along with a dash of salt and pepper.  Toss spinach and carrots in pan until the spinach leaves are wilted and the shredded carrots are just al dente. Remove from heat and add the lemon zest and the crumbled bacon and toss to incorporate.  Plate and sprinkle with toasted pecans.

My sister, Danielle, created this simple but elegant mushroom dish.  She loved it so much that she immediately picked up the phone to share it with me and the readers of Cooking with Brandy. The recipe serves 2-3 people.

• 12 large white button mushrooms (stems removed and dirt wiped off)
• 12 slices of brie cheese from a 1 ½ inch round log (1/4” slices)
• 12 small basil leaves
• 3 tbsp of melted butter
• 1 tsp garlic powder

Preheat oven to 400°. Take two large pieces of aluminum foil and turn up the edges to form two shallow bowl. Place mushrooms in foil bowls with tops down. Top with brie slice and basil leaf. Drizzle butter over mushrooms and sprinkle with garlic powder. Bake in over for 5-10 minutes until brie starts to melt and mushrooms firm, dark and juicy.

Dani

www.danielledesigns.com

My sister, Danielle, recently posted this beautiful recipe/scrapbooking page on her popular website www.scrapoutsidethebox.com.

Danielle writes: Here is an old family recipe from Spain. This is a great recipe when you need something fast and easy. It take less than 15 minutes to make if you include cutting the mushrooms and peeling the shrimp. It will be in your favorites I promise. If your kids don’t like the spice just leave out the red pepper flakes for them.

Asparagus is one of my go-to vegetables when I need a healthy side dish to fish or chicken.  I make it many different ways but typically I use a lemon dill sauce that takes seconds.

First I remove the ends of the asparagus with snap.  Then I chop the stalks to  1 1/2 to 2 inch pieces. Next I add the asparagus to a pot of boiling water for about 3 minutes. After 3 minutes, I remove the asparagus and place it in an ice bath to stop the cooking process.

In the emptied cooking pot, I toss the asparagus back in on medium heat.  I add about a 1/4 tsp of dried dill, a pat of butter (or olive oil) and a squirt or two of lemon juice. Toss together and serve immediately. Easy as pie… I mean Easy of Veggie!

I love to cook and to collect cookbooks. When I was pregnant with Zoey, my sweet husband bought me a collection of cookbooks featuring recipes for babies and young children.  Now Zoey is almost six months old and loving life.  She has been eating the different Stage One baby foods for almost six weeks now.  I thought that since I am always in the kitchen anyway, I might try my hand at baby food. I used one of the books Adam gifted to me to research the foods that are healthy for a child eating Stage One foods.  The store offers a variety of stage one foods, but there is a limit. 

In the book “Naturally Delicious Meals for Baby”, I found that there are a variety of foods that are healthy for babies, but not provided by local supermarkets.  Some of the options listed in the book are the typical sweet potatoes, carrots and peas, but they also have recipes for broccoli, cauliflower, rutabaga, parsnip, fennel and beet purees and that is just the vegetables. My particular favorite is the avocado puree since I have been obsessed with them since pregnancy.  My daughter suffers from eczema and avocado is not only known for being packed full of monounsaturated fat, a good fat that provides energy, but they help with wound healing and a good complexion.

That being said, though I was excited that there were more options to explore when offering my little one — more than the typical 10 items sold commercially, I still wanted to take things slow.  Tonight, I made the carrot puree.  I purchased a bag of organic carrots for about two dollars.  After shredding, simmering for 10 minutes, pureeing and finally pushing through a fine strainer, I had a smooth dark orange perfection.  I offered it to Zoey for dinner and she loved it.  I used small plastic containers to freeze the remaining carrots.   I can just pull them out and defrost them as needed.  My recipe yielded about 15 ounces for the two dollars I spent.  That same quantity would cost about $3.50 for the organic brand at the supermarket. It isn’t really a cost savings but I did it more for the joy of feeding her something that Mommy made.

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!

I have presented stuffed mushrooms in many different ways but I was up for a challenge when my vegetarian friend asked for a spin on a sausage-stuffed mushroom. An easy fix was using vegetarian style beef that tastes just like the real thing.

Ingredients:

• 12 large button mushrooms
• ½ cup of vegetarian meat substitute
• ¼ cup finely diced white onion
• 1 clove of garlic, finely minced (about a ½ teaspoon)
• ¾ cup seasoned Italian bread crumbs
• ¾ cup Pecorino Romano, finely grated
• ¼ cup Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
  
• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil plus 4 tablespoon for cooking preparation.
• water
• 4 slices of mozzarella or provolone cheese.

Serves 6 (2 per person)