Turkey roast french dip? Yes please!

During my post graduate school, pre-job period I've had a lot of time to watch some quality TV (read: Law & Order, The Nanny, HGTV, Food Network). While flipping through the channels I learned that we also have the Cooking Channel. Fancy! So now I've started watching Kelsey's Essentials and have fallen in love with her food. I decided to whip out the crock pot again and make one of her recipes (the first of many I'm sure). Her amazing sandwich, Turkey Roast French Dip is now a Brett family favorite!

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
• Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 (3-pound) bone-in turkey breast
• 6 demi French baguettes, sliced in half
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 12 slices Gruyere cheese

Directions

For the turkey: In a small mixing bowl, mix together the softened butter and fresh herbs. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Spread the chopped onions over the bottom of a slow cooker. Pour the chicken stock and Worcestershire sauce into the slow cooker. Sprinkle the turkey with salt and pepper. Slather the turkey breast with herb butter, spreading half under the turkey skin. Place the turkey on top of the onions, breast side up. Cover and cook on high for 4 to 6 hours, checking it after 4 hours to see if the internal temperature has reached 170 degree F. Once the turkey reaches 170 degrees F, remove it from the slow cooker, transfer to a cutting board, tent with aluminum foil and allow to rest 10 minutes before slicing. Reserve any juices from the slow cooker. After the breast has rested, remove the skin and slice very thinly using a sharp knife.

For the sandwich: Preheat the broiler. Brush each side of the sliced bread with the softened butter and place on a baking sheet, buttered side up. Top each buttered baguette with sliced cheese. Place under the broiler until the cheese melts and begins to turn golden brown.

Carefully remove from the oven. Pile the sliced turkey on the bottom half of each sandwich before topping it with the cheesy top. Serve the turkey au jus left over in the slow cooker for dipping.

My Edits: I did not have any fresh herbs therefore I substituted 1 teaspoon of dried herbs instead. Next time I'll make sure to pick up the fresh herbs from the grocery store to see the taste difference. Additionally, I had Havarti cheese in the fridge and decided to use that instead of buying Gruyere... Next time I won't make that substitute unless it is dill Havarti.

Yogurt Balsamic Dressing

I love a good steak but I rarely eat them. This week I was in the mood for steak but did not want to pay $10 per steak. I decided to get creative and buy one steak and make a hearty salad with it. I grilled the steak on my Le Creuset grill pan (my current obsession) and found a great dressing to compliment the flavors of the meat. I've never made a yogurt based salad dressing so I was ready to try something new! I found a low-fat yogurt balsamic salad dressing to go on my salad! Oh and did I forget to mention that I also made myself a cosmo? Perfect meal!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 tablespoon honey
• 3 tablespoons nonfat Greek yogurt (may substitute regular nonfat yogurt but finished product will be a little different)
• 1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil.

Directions

Mix well. Store in refrigerator.

My Edits: I did not have any Dijon mustard so I used 1/2 tablespoon of ground mustard and 1 tablespoon of yellow mustard. It worked out quite well. Other than me not having the right mustard, I would not make any changes by choice. It was very good!

Crock pots are the truth

My bff/old roomie was obsessed with his slow cooker and I always thought he was a little crazy. Not to mention I thought that only old women used them. I was wrong. Yes Patrick, I can admit when I get things twisted. Therefore, I put one on my wedding registry and surprise, Patrick bought it for us! I was eager to find a recipe to make to experience the joys myself. A friend posted a Creamy Tex Mex Chicken recipe to make in the crock pot on Pinterest. It seemed easy enough and I had all of the ingredients so I made it. I could see how this recipe would be ideal for a family of four, note, for a family of 2, it made about 4 meals worth. I put three servings in the freezer to eat at another time.

Ingredients

• Bag of frozen Chicken Breast Tenderloins (2.5-3lb bag)
• 8 oz block of cream cheese (don't use Fat Free! 1/3 less fat or regular is fine)
• Can of Black Beans, drained & rinsed.
• Can of Corn, drained.
• Can of Rotel
• Small scoop of low-fat sour cream
• Red pepper flakes

Directions

Put frozen chicken in the crock pot. Put Cream cheese on top of the chicken. Dump in the Black Beans (make sure they are drained & rinsed). Dump in the drained corn. Dump in the Rotel. Cover & cook in your Crock Pot on low for 6-8 hours. Every 2 hours, I stir the ingredients. You can shred the chicken when it is done, or just leave it as tenderloins. I turn the crock pot off, add the sour cream, red pepper flakes, and let it sit for about 30-45 minutes. It is a little soupy, but letting it sit causes it to not be as soupy. I serve this over rice.

My Edits: The recipe does not include sour cream or red pepper flakes but I added them in. After the 6 hours the sauce was not as creamy as I would have liked so I decided to add a little sour cream. It instantly changed the texture to what I was hoping for. Also, when I tasted it, it was as spicy as I wanted so I added about a teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes. Fixed, finished, delicious.

Mom knows best

My mom is a great cook. She never follows recipes and knows what to mix together and when things are done based on experience. Every time I try to get her to follow a recipe she fails miserably. So when I tasked her with writing down her spicy/cheesy cornbread recipe it was a struggle. But, like the superstar that she is, she got it together and emailed me her recipe. It is so tasty and I was happy to make it for my husband.

Ingredients

• 1 cup yellow Cornmeal (1 box of jiffy mix)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder (heaping)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup oil (I used canola/olive blend)
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (approx. 6 oz)
• 1 can cream corn (15-16 oz)
• 1 (4 oz) can chopped green chilies (I used 1/2 can jalapenos)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, grease 2 (9-inch) round pans. Combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl (set aside). Combine sour cream, eggs, and oil in a medium bowl, stir well. Add cornmeal mixture to the sour cream mixture, add cream corn, cheese and chilies. Mix well. Pour mixture into pans. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10-15 minutes, cut and serve warm.

My Edits: None. Mom knows best. It served as the perfect compliment to my bbq chicken!

Happy 4th!

While spending some quality time with my new obsession, Pinterest, I found this irresistibly cute recipe and project! Jason and I had plans to spend some time with friends over the holiday weekend therefore I used it as an excuse to try out this recipe. Turns out everyone at the party loved the patriotic cupcakes as much as me. I hope that you'll find these treats an inspiration for your next party regardless of the time of the year.

Ingredients

• Jars (I used 1/2 pint canning jars)
• 1 Vanilla cake mix (from a box or from scratch)
• Frosting (from a can or homemade)

Directions

Prepare the batter of your favorite vanilla cake (from a box or from scratch). Divide the batter as equally as possible into three bowls. Color one bowl of batter red, and one blue (using concentrated gel coloring). The final bowl will remain uncolored. Prepare 3- 9″ cake pans (round or square) by greasing the pan lightly (with butter or oil), and lining with parchment paper. Fill pans with batter. Bake cakes according to recipe instructions.

Once baked, cool cakes completely. Remove cakes from pans, and level cakes as needed. Then, use a 2″ round cookie cutter to cut out circles of cake. Prepare a batch of frosting and fill a piping bag fitted with a large round or star tip. Layer cake and frosting as shown above (blue cake, a little frosting, white cake, a little frosting, red cake, a nice swirl of frosting). Top with festive sprinkles.

My edits: I've never made a cake from scratch so I was hesitant to go down that road when making food for others but I hope to learn soon. Therefore I used a boxed cake as well as a jar of frosting. Judge away :)

I heart chicken wings

It isn't a trick title, I really do love chicken wings. Buffalo sauce may be my most favorite thing ever (and super healthy... i know). But you can't help what you love! Even though I have always loved eating wings I've actually never made them. In fact I've never prepared a chicken wing to be cooked and had to look up YouTube videos on how to break down a chicken wing. It turned out to be quite an adventure a little more work than I had anticipated. But, I saw Claire Robinson make them 5 Ingredient Fix the week before and I was determined to make them for myself. Broiled Hot Pepper Wings turned out to be as delicious as they looked on TV. I loved the sweetness and the heat while not being completely unhealthy.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus extra for oiling rack
• 5 pounds chicken wings, split, wing tips cut off and discarded
• Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
• 1 cup hot pepper jelly (recommended: Stonewall Kitchens)
• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1/2 cup hot sauce (recommended: Frank's)

Directions

Preheat the broiler. Line a sheet pan with foil, place a rack on top of the pan and oil the rack.

Toss the wings with the 2 tablespoons oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread the wings on the rack in 1 layer. Broil 4 to 5 inches from the heat, turning over once, until barely cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes.

In a small saucepan over moderate heat, whisk the hot pepper jelly, lime juice and hot sauce until smooth. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and let simmer 1 to 2 minutes. Brush 1/4 cup sauce on the cooked wings and broil 1 to 2 minutes. Brush the wings with 1/4 cup sauce again, and then turn the wings over and brush with another 1/4 cup sauce. Broil until crispy about, 2 to 3 minutes. Brush with the remaining sauce before serving.

My edits: I actually have no edits for this recipe. It is pretty point on flavor wise and technique. Enjoy :)

Salmon is easy

My love of salmon is a semi-recent one; I did not start eating it until about5 years ago. It was a treat to make it while I was in school since it isn't as inexpensive as ground turkey or meatless dishes. I was thrilled when my husband told me to buy whatever I want at the grocery store to make whatever makes my heart happy. One of the first meals I made for him was this mustard roasted salmon.

Ingredient

• 1 1/4 pound wild salmon, skin removed, cut into 4 pieces
• 2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
• 2 tablespoons 100% pure maple syrup
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Directions

Preheat oven to 400-degrees Fahrenheit. Place salmon pieces ona sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Season with salt and pepper; roast for 8 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine mustard, maple syrup, garlic and lemon juice. After the 8 minutes of cooking, brush salmon with mixture and return to the oven for 3 minutes or until salmon is just cooked through.

My Edits: I've just made a few edits to this recipe and those were to the baking times. The original recipe over cooks the salmon. Other than that the recipe is quick, easy, and pretty tasty. I wasn't sure how it would turn out but I was pleasantly surprised!

(Please excuse the photo quality. I took the picture with my iphone)

Now a wifey...

So i'm back after a year hiatus. I finished graduate school, got married, and officially moved to Louisiana. To keep myself from dying of boredom while looking for a job I've become quite obsessed with Pinterest. I have found that it is a great way to bookmark recipes and ideas without creating a traditional bookmark in my internet browser that usually gets forgotten. Therefore I have challenged myself with trying 2 new recipes a week and writing about them the week that I make them. That is my challenge from this point going forward and so I need to catch up just a little bit. I hope you enjoy the recipes I find and the tweaks I make to them!

xoxo

Sweet potato mash

Jason took me on a lovely date night last Friday. He knows that I enjoy trying new restaurants so he treated me to 2Johns. It is a steak place about a mile away from our apartment. With my amazing ribeye I had a sweet potato mash that was heavenly. I decided to google a few different recipes and come up with my own. Here is what I got.

Sweet Potato Mash (2 servings)
1 sweet potato (about 3/4-1 pound)
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons of maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
2 tablespoons of milk (I use organic 1%)
pinch of salt
pinch of ginger
dash of vanilla
orange juice


Peel and cut up the sweet potato into cubes. Boil the cubes in water and orange juice until tender (about 15 minutes). I use 75% water and 25% orange juice. Once the sweet potatoes are tender I drain the liquid and use a fork to mask up the potatoes. Add the butter, milk, salt, ginger, vanilla, cinnamon, and mix together. As the finishing touch add the maple syrup. Easy side dish!

I heart Ina

I have a true love for everything and anything related to Ina Garten. I could probably watch her all day on the food network (and trust me, I have time to do just that this summer) because she cooks good food and doesn't need to scream or make jokes while walking the viewer through the process. Don't get me wrong, I love when people are passionate about what they are doing, but I don't need to watch them squeal and moan over how good their potatoes turned out. (cut to, cooking with the Neelys)

I was recently watching the Food network and an old episode featuring the recipe below came on. It looked tasty and fairly simple so I decided that I needed to try it for myself.

Indonesian Ginger Chicken (serves 4-6)
1 cup honey
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup minced garlic (8 to 12 cloves)
1/2 cup peeled and grated fresh ginger root
2 (3 1/2 pound) chickens, quartered, with backs removed (I bought chicken thighs and legs instead)

Cook the honey, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger root in a small saucepan over low heat until the honey is melted. Arrange the chicken in 1 layer in a shallow baking pan, skin side down, and pour on the sauce. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the baking pan in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover the pan, turn the chicken skin side up, and raise the temperature to 375 degrees F. Continue baking for 30 minutes or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh and the sauce is a rich, dark brown.

The ginger, garlic, soy sauce made a delicious sauce. The only thing I'd change would be to add some heat. I think next time I'll add 1 or 2 tablespoons of sriracha sauce and maybe a few red pepper flakes. I think that would really add another layer of flavor to this dish! Enjoy :)