Slow Cooker Curried Chickpeas and Spinach

My two kids are currently watching PBS nature shows. While most kids love movies, cartoons, etc., my kids love documentaries, history shows, and animal shows. At first I thought it was a phase, then the phase only got stronger. My oldest wrote about Christopher Columbus in his class journal last week. While most kids were writing about monsters, princesses, what have you, my child was writing a history paper. When his class goes to the school library he goes to the reference section and comes home with science encyclopedias, and he reads them cover to cover. Most of my kids odd behavior I blame on my husband and I. My favorite books are classics and I love social and medical documentaries. My husband was a history major and knows the answer to just about any history question you can ever ask him, and he doesn't just give a simple answer, he goes on for 30 minutes. Apparently my kids are following on the traditions that my husband and I started, hopefully they can find other people that share their same interests.

The males in my family love meat, I was a vegetarian for over ten years. To make everyone happy I make meat for dinner 5 nights a week. The other two nights I make vegan or vegetarian meals. Over the years my husband has grown to love many of the vegetarian meals we have tried and his cholesterol levels have stayed nice and low. Tonight I tried a new recipe for Slow Cooker Curried Chickpeas and Spinach from the April 2014 issue of the Food Network Magazine.

This recipe has 13 ingredients. It takes 4 hours and 20 minutes of total time, 20 minutes of which is active, and makes 4 servings. I only made a few changes to the original recipe. First, I ran out of curry powder so I used a tablespoon and a half of curry powder and a half of a tablespoon of garahm masala. For the cheese I used 8 ounces of Feta and increased the amount of spinach to 15 ounces. I microwaved the spinach and then rang all the water out before adding it to the rest of the ingredients in the crock-pot. Finally, I served the curry over brown rice.

The amount of salt in this recipe is perfect. The cheese adds just enough that it doesn't need to be further salted, which is nice since most recipes have to have a large amount of salt adjustment. If you aren't a fan of feta another type of cheese such as paneer would also work. My husband and I really liked this recipe. It was easy to prep in the slow cooker and made more than enough for two meals when served over rice.

For the recipe go to Slow Cooker Curried Chickpeas and Spinach.

Butternut Squash Tortilla Soup

Butternut Squash Tortilla Soup

I have a ton of cookbooks. The bad thing is I never really use them. That's right I am horrible about using my vast supply of cookbooks. Most of them were either gifts or belonged to my mother. I love looking through them and finding ideas, but I really if ever actually follow a recipe from one. A great deal of it has to do with the fact that I find so many recipes on the Internet. Finding a recipe in a cookbook can involve looking through an index and flipping through multiple books. Most of the time I just want to find something quickly. That's where online recipes are great, I can type in the ingredients or recipe I am thinking of and thousands of recipes appear instantly. There are a few things that I prefer with cookbooks. My mother's handwritten notes and modifications being the biggest. Both my mother and grandmother loved their cookbooks and wrote in the margins with the changes that they made. There is such a sense of history and connection to these notes that they are a big part of the reason I love my cookbook collection. An online recipe can have reviews, but it has far less tangible history linking it to the past. Plus I still love the feel and smell of books. There is something so romantic about standing in the middle of a very old library, it feels perfect to me.

During the winter I make a large number of soups and stews. I am always cold in the winter and soups does a great job of warming me up. Last week I tried a new recipe for Butternut Squash Tortilla Soup from the January 2014 issue of Southern Living magazine.

Butternut Squash Tortilla Soup

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes 45 minutes of total time, 25 minutes of which is active and makes 10 cups. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. First, I make my own chicken broth. As I have stated numerous times before I prefer homemade stock since its inexpensive, lower in sodium and tastes better than store bought. Plus it is so easy to make! For the toppings I did not add chicken or tortilla chips. Instead I used cheese and served corn tortillas on the side.

The only thing I would change in this recipe would be to use a sweet or yellow onion instead of a red one. The red onion was a little strong, a sweet onion would be perfect. That aside my family liked this recipe. My husband thought it would be better with black beans instead of the squash, he isn't a fan of the current food trend of putting butternut squash in every soup recipe. The soup reheated very well the next day and made enough servings for two meals, which is always nice when following a food budget.

For the recipe go to Butternut Squash Tortilla Soup. 

Don't Know What to Do with Fresh Sage? Try Savory Feta and Sage Muffins

Gluten Free Feta Sage Muffins

I have started to hate eating at restaurants. When I was younger I ate at restaurants, once or twice a week. Now I eat out maybe once a month. A large part of it has to do with my expectations on food. In my 20's I was happy with any food that I didn't have to cook myself. Now that I am in my mid-thirties my expectations are much higher. If I am going to spend 10 dollars on a burger, it better surpass any burger I can make at home. There lies the problem. It rarely is as good as I can make at home. Now my expectations might be higher than most people. I cook daily and can adequately cook most recipes and dishes. There are also some things that I like more at restaurants that cooked at home, french fries is the best example. They always taste better at my favorite fast food restaurant. Baked goods can be split down the middle, there are some baked goods that taste perfect at a bakery such as donuts, but for the most part I prefer to make them at home. Muffins are an example of a baked good that I think tastes better homemade. Last week I tried a new recipe for Feta Sage Muffins.

This recipe has 13 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of total time, 10 minutes of which is active and makes 12 muffins. I made a significant amount of changes to the original recipe. First since I eat gluten free I substituted gluten free all-purpose flour for the whole wheat pastry flour. Since I cook gluten free there needs to be eggs or something equivalent to rise the muffins or they will end up very flat. Therefore I added one large egg to the recipe. Finally, I was out of muffin liners so I used ramekins instead. I ended up with a total of 7 ramekins.

I served these muffins as a side to a bean recipe. They were perfect and created a nice savory side dish. The combination of the feta and sage was perfect. These would make a nice compliment to a pork or chicken recipe or a bean soup. Converting the recipe to being gluten free worked perfectly and serving them in ramekins made them the perfect size to serve as mini breads to go with the beans.

For the recipe go to Feta and Sage Muffins.

Recipe for Roasted Chicken Thighs with Tomatoes, Olives and Feta

Roasted Chicken Thighs with Tomatoes, Olives, and Feta

I hope that everyone had a great Easter! We had a nice relaxing day at home. I woke-up early and made homemade yeast rolls. The recipe is from my mother-in-law and they always turn out delicious. For the main food I made glazed ham, buttermilk mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus with goat cheese and crumbled bacon. If you have never tried roasted asparagus before you really should. My two sons love it and ate over a pound of asparagus between the two of them. Roasted veggies are a great way to get kids to eat their vegetables since they take on a caramelized flavor. For dessert I made a gluten free yellow cake with cherry filling and homemade butter cream frosting. My boys had fun helping me decorate the cake with peeps and Cadbury eggs. It was a great day! Today's recipe is for a family favorite, roasted chicken thighs. Last week I tried a new recipe for Roasted Chicken Thighs with Tomatoes, Olives, and Feta from the April 2013 issue of Martha Stewart Living.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes 1 hour of total time, 10 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I did make a few changes to the recipe. First I had potatoes that needed to be used so I added baby potatoes cut in fourths and tossed with olive oil. My two boys love olives so I doubles the amount and sliced them before roasting. I left off the fresh mint leaves for garnish since I was serving it to my children. Make sure to temp the chicken, over cooking chicken thighs makes the meat tough. As I have said before a great meat thermometer is a must (and a great present for a home cook).

The skin on this chicken turned out crispy and the thighs had great flavor. Oftentimes with roasted chicken recipes that actual chicken part of the dish turns out rather bland, this recipe was an exception. The thighs were well flavored and the vegetables turned out delicious. My two boys loved the olives and told me that this one of their favorite dishes that I have made recently. High praise from two very picky little boys.

For the recipe go to Roasted Chicken Thighs with Tomatoes, Olives and Feta.

Mediterranean Rigatoni

My two boys have decided that they are chefs lately. They enjoy taking things from around the house and my fridge and making a dish. Most of the time they claim that they are experimenting. I think they might watch too many cooking shows with me since they are always creating something with food that they find. They have made some things that I have to admit were pretty good. Yogurt seems to be their specialty lately, they have discovered some combination that have actually turned out pretty well. I love that they like to cook and they don't see it as a pursuit that only girls should do, which I think is great. I try to reinforce with my two boys that they should learn how to do everything around the house since it's always a good idea to be self sufficient. Teaching my kids to cook is something that is very important to me and my oldest helps me with dinner at least three times a week. Tonight for dinner my son helped me make Mediterranean Rigatoni from the March 2013 issue of Family Circle magazine.

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes 26 minutes of total time, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 6 servings. Since I eat gluten free I used gluten free ziti. I have never seen cubed feta in my area so I bought whole feta and crumbled it instead. After the pasta was done I added it to the sauce and allowed it to cook with the tomatoes until they started to break up. My husband isn't a fan of firm fresh tomatoes so I always allow them to cook slightly longer than recipes call for.

If you have a family that likes a lot of protein in their food I would suggest adding more chicken to this dish. Since their is only a pound of meat for six servings, there isn't a lot of chicken per bite. I would double the chicken and the amount of tomatoes. The flavors are nice and I liked the taste of the olives and fresh oregano. A balsamic vinegar reduction would also be delicious with this dish and the flavors would make the dish even better.

Currently this recipe isn't available online (Family Circle's decision not mine :). Here is the link to the photo on their site or you can find the recipe in the March 2013 issue of the magazine. 

Taste of Home Mediterranean Chicken Bake

Chicken breasts have never been a family favorite. My family loves chicken thighs and will eat them happily, but normally groan and complain when dinner includes chicken breasts. I tend to agree with them for the most part, chicken breast oftentimes turns out dry and unappetizing. It doesn't help that my mother rarely made chicken breast growing up and when she did it had the texture of rubber. Luckily for me she only served it once in a blue moon. She was a great cook, chicken breasts just weren't her forte. When my husband and I first got married I tried making chicken breasts a few times and each time it ended in disaster. Due to this less than stellar history I literally stopped cooking chicken breasts until my kids starting eating solid foods. Once my kids were regulars at the dinner table I slowly started trying new recipes using chicken breasts. Some had the expected dried out taste that I grew-up eating, but other such as the recipe for Mediterranean Chicken Bake from the April/May issue of Taste of Home magazine turned out delicious.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of prep and cook time and makes four servings. I did have to go to multiple stores to find sun-dried tomatoes, but that might be a specific problem in my area. For the herbes de Provence I lucked out and found some on clearance. I found that it took less than the 15-20 minutes for my chicken breasts to fully cook in the oven. I temped my chicken at around 12 minutes and it was done. I did pound out my breast relatively thin and that might be why the cooking time was decreased. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

Everyone in my house loved this recipe. My husband in particular thought this was one of the best chicken breast recipes he has ever had and for him to like a chicken breast recipe is a feat. I loved the blend of artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes and feta cheese. This will definitely be a recipe that I would try again.

For the recipe go to Mediterranean Chicken Bake.

Better Homes and Gardens Garlic-Olive Loaf

As I've said before we eat a lot of bread in our house. My two boys will eat over a half of a loaf in an evening. I love bread also, but I tire quickly of the same bread over and over again. Over the summer I got into a rut of making the same whole-wheat bread recipe at least once a week and by the time winter rolled around I couldn't stand to eat any more. I spend most of December and January looking through new bread recipes and trying out a number of new options. I found a recipe for Garlic-Olive Loaf in a special Holiday Recipes magazine from Better Homes and Gardens, which looked full of flavor from the cheese and olives and with 6 grams of protein per slice.

This recipe has 15 ingredients. It takes approximately 2 and a half hours plus chilling overnight and makes 12 servings. I ran out of time the night before to allow the bread to rise overnight, so instead I put it in the fridge in the morning and left it in about 6 hours. For the spinach I microwaved it on high to thaw and then pressed it with paper towels to remove all the moisture. I ran out of eggs before I made this recipe, so I left out the egg wash and brushed the top of the loaf with water instead. For the last 5 minutes of baking time I tented the top with foil to prevent burning. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I was impressed with how well this bread turned out. I served it as a side at dinner and everyone in my family agreed that it was better than the main dish. I love how it has spinach, cheese and olives. The combination of flavors is great in a bread and when toasted with butter for breakfast was delicious. A great way to get spinach into a meal and was friendly enough for my kids to eat.

For the recipe go to Garlic-Olive Loaf.

Martha Stewart Living Chickpea, Tomato, and Feta Salad

When my two boys were younger they absolutely loved tomatoes. I would catch them eating cherry tomatoes straight out of the fridge. As they have gotten a little over they have changed their love of tomatoes to a love of pickles and berries. I will hear them sneaking around stuffing fistfuls of blueberries in their mouths. My husband loves cooked tomatoes, but isn't a fan of raw tomatoes unless their heirlooms. I try to vary our diet as much as I can to include many types of fruits and vegetables, even the ones that not all of my family cares for. Recently, Martha Stewart Living Magazine had a recipe for Chickpea, Tomato, and Feta Salad, which looked like a nice blend of vegetables and protein and very easy to put together.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes approximately 15 minutes to prepare and makes 4 servings. All the ingredients I either had or were easy to find at my local grocery store. I used cherry tomatoes since finding grape tomatoes can be hit or miss at my local stores, and I always prepare flat-leaf parsley since it chops finer. The cucumber I purchased was on the large side, so I cut it into eighths, instead of quarters like the recipe suggested. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I love salads that take only minutes to prepare. This recipe is very easy to put together and the ingredients are basic. I found that this salad made more than the 4 servings suggested, we had more than enough for two meals for my family of four. The lemon juice makes a nice dressing and is light and doesn't overpower the other ingredients. I added more than the suggested 2 ounces of feta since my family loves this type of cheese. Overall, a nice blend of protein and vegetables that literally can be made in minutes.

For the recipe go to Chickpea, Tomato, and Feta Salad. (This recipe from the site doesn't have the cucumber, the magazine had 1/2 of a cucumber chopped)

Everday Food Corn and Zucchini Orzo Salad

Pasta is a stable in my household. I never have to worry about having too many leftovers that won't get eaten if a dish includes any type of pasta, someone in my house will eat it. My love of pasta goes back to my childhood. Growing up my family didn't have a lot of money, so pasta was a common meal. Luckily my mother was a very good cook and almost every meal she made was delicious. I especially loved pasta and she invented a recipe for Asian noodles, that to this day is one of the best dishes I have ever tasted. My two boys have inherited my love of all things pasta and literally cheer when they realize a pasta dish is for dinner. Recently, the September issue of Everyday Food magazine had a recipe for Corn and Zucchini Orzo Salad, which looked delicious and a great way to use pasta as a side dish.

This recipe has 11 ingredients. I makes 6 servings and takes a total of 35 minutes, all of which is active cooking time. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. Make sure to add lots of salt to the pasta water when cooking the orzo or the dish will be very under-salted. Even with the pasta water being adequately salted, I still had to add a decent amount of salt to bring out the full flavor of the zucchini and fresh corn. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

If your trying to feed a crowd this is a great recipe. The recipe states that this makes 6 servings, but they would be 6 very large servings. I would say that this salad could easily serve 12 or more people. This dish was light and delicious the day it was made, but was even better tasting after it had sat in the fridge overnight and soaked up all the flavors from the dressing. I didn't feel that the taste of the jalapeno was very apparent. I would suggest either adding another seeded jalapeno, or if you enjoy spicy dishes, keeping the seeds in for extra flavor. Overall, a light vegetable and pasta salad, that makes enough leftovers for another meal. 

For the recipe go to Corn and Zucchini Orzo Salad.

Martha Stewart Living Zucchini Salad

My two boys love any type of fruit they are given. However, vegetables are another story. There are certain vegetables, such as broccoli and asparagus, which they absolutely love and will eat willingly. Other vegetables such as cauliflower and lettuce they won't touch. I have been trying to find new recipes, that will taste delicious and encourage my family eat more nutritious vegetables and was intrigued when a recent issue of Martha Stewart Living had a recipe for Zucchini Salad.

This recipe has 7 ingredients, including salt and pepper. It takes less than ten minutes to prep and is very easy to prepare. I had to make a major modification to this recipe. For whatever reason my local grocery stores never seem to have fresh dill in stock, so I had to leave it out entirely. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My husband had never eaten raw zucchini before and was skeptical of this recipe. However, after tasting it, he thought it was delicious. I don't think that leaving out the dill made a major difference to the overall taste of the dish, it was still appetizing and my two boys ate it willingly. The best part of the recipe is the fresh feta, which when paired with the zucchini is a delicious combination. A great way to use fresh summer garden vegetables

For the recipe go to Martha Stewart Living Zucchini Salad.

Everyday Food Feta-Stuffed BLT Burgers

In the summer my family eats their fair share of burgers. I try to prepare burgers made with a variety of different meats and flavors so my family doesn't get bored. I have found a number of turkey burger recipes that we enjoy, but I have had a harder time finding a stuffed cheese beef burger that lives up to expectations. The burger either ends up greasy or the cheese is overwhelming. The June issue of Everyday Food magazine had a recipe for Feta-Stuffed BLT Burgers, which looked interesting and different from the usual stuffed burger recipe.

This recipe has eight ingredients and takes approximately 35 minutes to prepare. For the beef, I used chuck roast and ground it using my mixer attachment. I left off the tomato portion of the BLT, since my husband isn't a fan of fresh raw tomatoes, so I actually made a bl not a BLT. I had no problem finding any of the ingredients and used Boston lettuce, which is what was available. Instead of pan frying my burgers, I used my indoor grill in order that all the burgers would be finished at the same time, my two boys can be very impatient dinner guests. I served the burgers with buttermilk mashed potatoes and squash gratin using fresh vegetables from a friend's garden.

My husband and I really enjoyed this recipe. Unlike previous stuffed burger recipes that I have tried, the cheese on this dish was not overpowering or greasy. The feta provided a nice contrast to the beef and my two boys got a kick out of the Boston lettuce, which they thought looked like 'baby lettuce'. This is a great alternative to overly greasy stuffed cheddar cheese burgers, and a nice change of pace from the usual BLT.

For the recipe go to Everyday Food Feta-Stuffed BLT Burgers .

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