Guest Blogger: Jen from Adventures of a 30 Something

April 19, 2011 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 7 Comments

Get excited y’all, I have an awesome bunch of bloggers that will be guest posting here on IGTBH for the next two weeks!!

Kicking off the lineup is Jen from the fabulous blog Adventures of a 30 Something!

She’s been one of my closest friends since 5th grade (!), and from first boyfriends to being bridesmaids in each others’ weddings we’ve been fixtures in each others’ lives for almost as long as I can remember. Ah, the tales we could tell. :) (I almost put in a horrendous picture of us from 1992 but I decided to do us all a favor and spare your eyeballs.)

Anyhoo, I was so excited when Jen started her blog back in November of last year, and she has quickly smitten the blog world with her amazing recipes and adventures around San Antonio with her husband, Kyle, and trusty weiner dog named Frank. Without further adieu, here’s Jen!

*** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ***

Hello fellow IGTBH fans! I’m Jen from Adventures of a 30 Something and Liz kindly invited me to do a guest post – thanks Liz!

I have found that cooking is MUCH more appealing when you have fun toys! I wanted to share a few of my latest favorites with you guys today:

1. Olive oil mister – this awesome tool requires only a few pumps, then gives you a continuous spray of whatever type of olive oil you fill it with. It is so handy and functions like a cooking spray but without all the additives. My favorite use so far is spraying corn tortillas on both sides before warming in the oven 3 minutes at 350° – this is a little trick I learned from Rick Bayless that will leave you with pliable ready to roll corn tortillas and you can avoid the old school, time consuming (and calorie adding) way of preparing them in oil stove top. It is also handy for spritzing a salad or veggies, or for spraying a pan before cooking.

2. Pasta measure – Before buying this little guy I would always eyeball the amount to cook – I usually do half regular and half whole wheat spaghetti, so that makes eyeballing it even trickier! Many times I would end up with too much or not enough. Now I know exactly what I will get, and as someone who hates to throw away food, that is really helpful!

3. Herb keeper - Until I finally get my act together and plant the herb garden I have been telling myself to plant for a while now, this is helping me keep fresh herbs handy. You add an inch or so of water to the base, stand up your herbs, pop it into your fridge door, and it will keep them fresh and ready to use for about 2 weeks! Hooray!

4. Immersion blender – I absolutely love this tool! Now that the weather is warming up my Cuisinart Smartstick Hand Blender is getting a little rest since I use it most often to make soups. A couple of my favorites are Spicy Black Bean and Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper (check out the links for more on those). Basically, this allows you to keep everything in the pot without having to go back and forth from a traditional blender to a pot, and I have found that it tends to get absolutely everything in the pot blended where a traditional blender often misses an onion that sticks to the side or a chunk of garlic that gets caught in the base…

5. Rotary grater - I can’t believe I ever bought pre-shredded Parmesan cheese…it is so much better freshly shaven with a rotary grater.

I thought I would share a quick and easy spaghetti recipe with you today that uses a number of these tools:

Spaghetti with Beef, Mushrooms, and Tomato Sauce

Spaghetti pasta (I use 1/2 regular and 1/2 whole wheat – 1.5 servings of each with the pasta measure tool will make 3-4 servings)
24 oz jar tomato sauce (I use Classico sauces, usually either Tomato & Basil or Spicy Tomato & Basil)
1/3 lb ground beef sirloin
1/3 lb sliced cremini mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
fresh basil leaves, chopped
Parmesan cheese & rotary grater

Prepare pasta according to package. Spray a sturdy pan with olive oil and set over medium heat. Add minced garlic and beef. Once beef is browned, add mushrooms. Once mushrooms begin to wilt, stir in tomato sauce and red pepper flakes. Turn heat to low, cover, and allow sauce to simmer 10-20 minutes. Add chopped basil just prior to serving and serve with Parmesan cheese (and rotary grater, of course).

What tools do you have in your kitchen that make cooking more fun?

**** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ***

Thanks, Jen! You guys should definitely swing by Jen’s blog to check out her recipes – I’ve been trying them and they’re delish! Jason is obsessed with making one of her salsa recipes, and I definitely can’t complain about that!

A Lazy Gal’s Chicken Noodle Soup

March 28, 2011 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 24 Comments

I had high hopes of finishing my breakfast room chairs this weekend but, alas, it didn’t happen. So you get my homemade soup recipe instead!

My approach to soup is simple (and lazy) – throw some things in a pot with some chicken broth and call it a day. It typically works out pretty darn well! I’ve come up with a version of chicken noodle soup that is incredibly easy, and Jason and I think it’s really tasty.

You can adapt this recipe however you want, but here’s how I make it:

Ingredients*

32 oz low-sodium chicken stock

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can corn

1 can navy beans

1 tablespoon bacon bits

2 tablespoons minced dried onions

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

ground pepper to taste

3 handfuls fresh, washed baby spinach

1-2 cups cooked, shredded chicken (you can use rotisserie, canned, whatever – Jason always bakes a few chicken breasts each week and we use them for sandwiches, pizza toppings, tacos, and soups!)

8 oz uncooked pasta (I use acini de pepe – little round pasta balls)

*These are all things that I always have in my pantry/fridge – make changes to the recipe to incorporate staples from your kitchen!

Pour the chicken stock into a large pot and whisk in the cream of mushroom soup (this gives the soup a little more substance). Start heating the chicken stock/mushroom soup to a boil while you start opening cans, etc. Then drain and rinse your cans of navy beans and corn.

Add the beans/corn into the soup pot and add in bacon bits, onions, ground pepper and red pepper flakes.

Add in the shredded chicken, and then tear the baby spinach into small pieces as you add it to the pot.

The last ingredient you will add is your pasta – by this point you want your soup to be at a boil. I think it’s fun to use the tiny acini de pepe instead of macaroni noodles just for something a little different and unexpected – they kind of act like rice in the soup, but you don’t want to add them until the end because they can get really gummy if they’re overcooked.

Just cook the pasta as directed (mine took 9 minutes) and then your soup is ready to enjoy! It should make about 6-8 servings.

(The soup thickens as it sits, so any leftovers will look a bit more stew-like).

I like to serve this with jalapeno cornbread – delish! How about you guys – do you like to experiment with making soups? Or maybe you’ve created some other delicious dish? Do tell!

Easy Appetizer: Rollups

March 15, 2011 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 17 Comments

I can’t recall a family gathering in the last 30 years (I can say “the last 30 years” now that I turned 30 today) that didn’t involve chowing down on these yummy tortilla rollups. I made them for my little birthday shindig on Saturday and they were a hit!

The best part is that the recipe is really easy. Or maybe the best part is that it’s not at all healthy. I’ll let you decide.

Tortilla Rollups

Serves 15-20 people

*Ingredients:

1 can diced green chilis (I use the small can, but you could use a big one)

1/4 – 1/3 cup minced, pickled jalapenos, depending on your tastes (I buy a huge tin can of jalapenos from Sam’s, chop them up in the food processor and stick them in a big glass jar in the fridge so I always have them on hand)

2 tablespoons dried, minced onions

1 small can minced black olives, drained

1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 small jar minced pimento (I didn’t put pimento in these)

4, 8oz packages cream cheese (don’t use fat free)

24 flour tortillas (small-ish, not the huge burrito ones)

* The beauty of this recipe is that you don’t really need to measure and you can throw in or take out any number of ingredients to suit your tastes. Get crazy.

Soften the cream cheese in the microwave so that it’s easy to work with. Add all of the ingredients into the bowl (except the tortillas, ha!) and mix it all up. Spread the cream cheese mixture onto the tortillas while the cream cheese is still soft. Then just roll up the tortillas like cigars and stick’em in the fridge for a few hours until they firm up (cover them or else the ends will get crunchy). (Note: if you don’t want to serve them anytime soon, stick the rollups in the freezer for up to 3 months.) Once you’re ready to serve, cut the ends off each rollup and discard, then cut the remaining rollup into 4-5 slices. Serve with salsa, and enjoy!!

The end result should look something like this:

I forgot to take a photo of my glorious rollups, so this is a stand-in from this blog. Sorry for being a bad blogger!! But I swear my rollups were very yummy looking, and I served them on a super cute striped tray from Pier 1 that was a gift from a friend (I actually wrote about it here) – oh, and the recipe actually makes about a bazillion more slices than are shown here.

So that’s my go-to appetizer for parties, family functions, and everything in between. I’ve also been known to snack on the leftovers – I had a bunch of them for lunch yesterday, actually. :) What’s your go-to recipe?