Steak Dinner Soup with Gorgonzola Toasts

Today is definitely a soup kind of day. I was thinking about what makes a steak dinner so good and I thought of steak (obviously), potatoes, mushrooms, a side of spinach, and blue cheese dressing on my salad. Here’s that dinner, all put together in one steaming and hearty bowl. This isn’t just a great meal for a stormy night, but is also a great way to stretch a pound and a half of steak to feed four to six people.

Ingredients:

For the Soup:

Steak Seasoning (such as Chicago or Montreal style)-as much or as little as you like. I used about 2 teaspoons
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 ½ pounds flat iron or chuck steak, cut into 1 inch pieces (freezing the steak for 10 minutes before you cut it makes it so much easier to slice)
½ cup chopped onion
1/3 cup finely diced celery (1 stalk)
¼ cup finely diced carrot
1 ½ cups chopped mushrooms (cremini are nice)
1 (32 ounce) carton beef broth (about 5 cups)
2 teaspoons steak sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
1 medium russet potato, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes
1 cup frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess liquid

For the toasts:
8 slices sourdough, French, or Italian bread, about ½ inch thick
Cooking spray
2 Tablespoons mayonnaise
1/3 cup crumbled gorgonzola
Pinch of garlic salt
A few drops of Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons fresh chives, chopped

Directions:

Heat the oil in the bottom of a 5 quart or so Dutch oven on medium heat. Add the steak, seasoning it lightly with a few pinches of steak seasoning, and cook until nicely browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. You may want to cook the steak in batches so you don’t overcrowd the pan and steam it. Remove the steak from the pot and cover with foil. Add the onion, celery, carrots and mushrooms to the pot. Sprinkle with a few more pinches of steak seasoning. Cook, stirring often, until the veggies are softened and fragrant. Add the steak pieces back into the pot. Add in the broth and steak sauce. Bring the soup up to a boil and reduce it to a simmer. Cover and cook for about 1 hour. Add in the potato cubes and simmer for another 30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender, but not breaking apart. Taste for seasoning and add more steak seasoning and/or salt and pepper. Add in the spinach and turn off the heat. The spinach will cook right in the hot soup.

While the soup is simmering, you can make the toasts. Preheat the oven to 350 and place the bread slices on a foil lined baking sheet. Spray both sides of the toast with cooking spray and pop in the oven for 6 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, flip the bread slices over and let them rest until you’ve made the gorgonzola sauce by combining the mayo, gorgonzola, garlic salt, Worcestershire  and chives. Spread each slices with some of the gorgonzola sauce and pop the baking sheet back in the oven for 20 or so minutes, or until the cheese mixture starts to bubble up.

Spoon the soup into bowls and serve the toasts alongside for dunking.

Bacon, Chile, Cheese and Egg Casserole

This is the kind of dish I love. It’s great for breakfast, lunch, dinner or even in the middle of the night. Try this paired with a simple salad and grapes.

Ingredients:

5 slices of bacon
1/3 cup onion, finely chopped
1 jarred roasted red pepper (about 1/3 cup), finely chopped
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
6 eggs
¼ cup milk or half and half
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
1 cup grated cheese (your choice—cheddar is great, so is a Mexican food blend, so is mozzarella)

Garnish (optional-whatever you like):

Sour cream
Avocado
Chopped tomato
Chives

Directions:

Cook bacon in a large frying pan until crisp. Remove the bacon, crumble and reserve. Drain off all but 2 teaspoons of bacon drippings. Toss the onion, red pepper and green chiles into the pan with the bacon drippings and cook for about 6 minutes on medium low until the veggies are soft, fragrant, and there is no more liquid left in the pan. Remove the pan from heat and cool to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 1.5 quart casserole with cooking
spray. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper together. Stir in the cooled onion mixture, the cheese, and the reserved bacon crumbles. Pour into the prepared casserole dish and bake for 40 minutes. Let the casserole rest for a few minutes and then cut into wedges.

Mom’s Garlic Biscuits

My mom was a genius in the kitchen. You could give her a 25 cent can of biscuits and watch it turn into a meal for six. This is one of my favorite variations on the biscuit theme. You get the crunchy crust of the biscuit on the bottom, then the garlic butter soaks into the soft inside and then there is an almost brulee type crunchy coating of parmesan. Makes 16 garlic biscuits and every single one of them will fly off the plate and into hungry mouths.

Ingredients:

One can (8 biscuits) refrigerated biscuits (any kind you like will do-I used a store brand “Jumbo Buttermilk”)
½ cup butter or margarine
1 Tablespoon garlic salt (hey, I’m making garlic biscuits here!)
½ cup grated parmesan

Directions: Prepare biscuits according to package directions. Once they are cool, split them in half horizontally. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix together the butter and garlic salt and spread generously over each biscuit half. Place them on a foil lined baking sheet and top each biscuit half with parmesan cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes, checking every few minutes after 20.

Polenta Casserole with Simple Tomato Sauce

Gnocchi Alla Romano sounded really good today, but I don't have any semolina. Also, I love red sauce. This is just such a good, filling casserole, I can't even begin to describe it. Try it for yourself, adjusting the ingredients to make you happy.

Ingredients:

For the cheese mix:

1 to 1 ½ cups grated parmesan (I’m a cheeseaholic, I used 1 ½)
1 cup grated aged Gouda or aged gruyere

For the polenta rounds:
5 cups milk
2 teaspoons salt (or more to taste)
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
3 Tablespoons butter
1 ½ cups cornmeal

For the sauce:

1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
¼ cup onions, finely chopped
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
Salt and pepper to taste
½ teaspoon sugar (optional)

For the topping:

2 Tablespoons butter, melted
The remaining cheese mix

Directions:

First, mix the cheese mix ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.

Next, make the polenta for the rounds by putting the milk, salt, nutmeg and butter together in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil and slowly whisk in the cornmeal. Turn the heat down to low and whisk for about 4 minutes or until the polenta is good and thick. Turn off the heat and add in 1 ½ cups of the cheese mix. Let cool for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it is almost room temperature. Take a long piece of plastic wrap (say 30 inches) and lay it on your work surface. Spray it with cooking spray and place dollops of polenta along the edge of the plastic wrap closest to you, lengthwise, leaving about 3 inches clear on each short end. Use your very clean and damp hands to shape the polenta into a roll about 2 inches thick. Roll the plastic wrap around the polenta roll and twist the ends together so you have a chubby polenta roll about 2 inches thick. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

While the polenta is chilling, make the tomato sauce by putting the oil in a large saucepan (I just used the same one I used for the polenta after I rinsed it out well). Heat the oil to medium and throw in the onion and chopped garlic. Stir until the onions and garlic are slightly soft, but not browned. Add in the tomatoes and salt/pepper and sugar. Cook over medium low heat for about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Assembly time! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 3 quart casserole dish with cooking spray and place it on a baking sheet so you don’t have any spill over problems. Put as much tomato sauce in the bottom of the casserole as you wish. Take the polenta out of the fridge and cut it into ½ inch rounds using a sharp knife that has been run through hot water. Nestle the polenta rounds on top of the tomato sauce, overlapping slightly. Brush the rounds with the melted butter and put on as much of the remaining cheese mixture as you wish. Bake for 55-65 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking, until the polenta rounds are golden brown.

Here’s the beauty of this: You have plenty of cheese mixture, plenty of polenta and plenty of sauce. You can use one small casserole, like I did (1.3 quarts) and save the rest of the cheese, polenta and sauce for another meal. Even my smaller casserole will serve 3 as a vegetarian main dish. Make a salad and you are good to go!

If you have leftover cheese, try this: Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray. Place the cheese mix in little bundles (like you are making cookies) on the foil and bake at 300 for about 5-6 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven and let cool. It is a wonderful snack.

You can leave any extra polenta in the roll and just fry it up in olive oil for a quick meal, served with any leftover sauce.

Have fun and play with this food!

Peach-Mango Chiffon Pie

This is a light and airy dessert and I wanted a crust that wasn’t heavy like pastry or coarse like graham crackers or cookies would be. Crisp rice cereal did the trick! To me, this is like peaches and cream taken to a new, melt-in-your mouth level.

Ingredients:

Crust:
2 ½ cups crisp rice cereal, like Rice Krispies®
¼ cup butter, melted
2 Tablespoons sugar

Pie Filling:

1 (1/4 ounce) packet (1 Tablespoon) unflavored gelatin
½ cup peach-mango juice, like V8 Fusion®
1½ cups heavy cream, whipped
¼ cup sugar
1 (15 ounce) can sliced peaches, drained
½ teaspoon lemon juice

Directions:

For the crust, preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly crush the cereal by pulsing a few times in a food processor or placing in a plastic zip bag and rolling over with a rolling pin. You don’t want them pulverized, just lightly crushed. Put the cereal in a mixing bowl and stir in the melted butter and 2 Tablespoons sugar. Spray a 9 inch spring form pan with baking spray and pat the crust mixture into the bottom and slightly up the sides of the pan. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

For the filling, dissolve gelatin in the juice for 10 minutes in a small saucepan. After the gelatin has dissolved for 10 minutes, bring the gelatin mixture up to low heat and cook for 5 minutes until the gelatin is fully dissolved. Turn off the heat and remove the pan from the stove, allowing it to come to room temperature. Meanwhile, beat the whipping cream until it just starts to thicken and add in the ¼ cup of sugar a bit at a time. Turn the mixer up to high and beat until stiff peaks form. In a large bowl, lightly break the peaches up into bite size chunks. Add in the lemon juice and the gelatin mixture and then fold in the whipped cream. Pile into your cooled crust and refrigerate at least two hours before serving. Garnish with a little more whipped cream and a sprig of mint if you like.
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Honey and Lemon White BBQ Sauce

Baste some of this on your grilled chicken in the last few minutes of cooking and save some to slather on the cooked chicken or to dress up a grilled chicken sandwich. This light sauce lets the flavor of the chicken shine through.

Ingredients:

1 cup mayonnaise
Juice of ½ lemon (about 1 Tablespoon)
1 Tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate until ready to use. If you are using this while cooking the chicken, please be careful to only use it during the last few minutes of cooking. Since it has honey in it, it will burn if cooked a too high a temp or cooked too long.

“Crab” Salad

It’s a hot day and I really felt in the mood for something cool, light and clean tasting. If you have real crab, go for it, but I had some imitation crab and that is just fine for a simple meal. Serve this my favorite way (on saltine crackers) or rolled in lettuce leaves, rolled in a flour tortilla, in a bowl next to celery and carrot sticks, or piled on a buttered and toasted bun. Wish I had a nice avocado—I’d spoon some of this into a half.

Ingredients:

3 Tablespoons cream cheese, softened
3 Tablespoons mayonnaise
Juice of ½ lemon
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
1teaspoon of seafood seasoning like Old Bay®
1teaspoon sugar
1 stalk of celery, finely chopped
¼ cup cucumber, finely chopped
3 green onions, fine chopped
2 teaspoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 (14 ounce) package imitation crab meat, cut into bite size pieces

Directions: In a mixing bowl, whisk the cream cheese, mayo, lemon juice, vinegar, seasoning and sugar. Add in the celery, cucumber, green onions, parsley and imitation crab. Mix to combine. Taste for seasoning and change as your whimsy takes you. Chill until ready to serve.

Really Beefy, Really Juicy Burgers

I am not a fussy person (really!), but when I do afford myself the luxury of having a burger, I want some flavor and I want it juicy. I also don't want to add too many spices that get in the way of the burger itself.  

Ingredients:

1 ½ pounds 80/20 ground beef
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire
1 Tablespoon grated onion with juice (just grate the onion right over the bowl with a small grater)
1/3 cup beef stock (veggie stock works, too—it’s just a way to get flavor and juiciness into the meat)

Directions:

Let the ground beef sit at room temperature for 15 or so minutes. Put it in a mixing bowl and add in the rest of the ingredients. Mix with your very clean hands until the mixture just until everything comes together. Let stand for 5-10 minutes for the liquids to be absorbed into the meat. Preheat your gas grill (or pan or charcoal grill) to medium heat. Form the beef into 5 or 6 patties and place on the grill. Cook 6-10 minutes per side for nicely done (Hey, you know how you like your burgers better than I do). Here’s a neat trick—when you pull your burgers off the grill (or out of the pan), put them directly on the buns, close the buns and gently squish together for a few seconds. This gives the juices a chance to soak into the bun. Then just open the bun back up and garnish any old way you want to! Me? I'm all about lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, cheddar cheese, ketchup and mustard.

Four Layer Vegetarian Rice Bowl

This isn’t an authentic recipe of any kind! I just read a review of a local restaurant that serves rice bowls and thought a rice bowl would be fun to try with things I have on hand and things I like. I love the balance of flavors, textures and temperatures here. You bite through the beautiful egg into a clutch of cold vegetables, hit the cooked vegetables and end with a bit of rice. Lovely. Who knew I would like Kimchee? This easily serves 4.

Ingredients:

Cold vegetables:
2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons cold water

1 cup very thinly sliced cucumber

¼ cup very thinly sliced radishes
¼ cup thinly sliced green onion
¼ cup kimchee

Rice:
4 cups of prepared rice, kept warm

Cooked vegetables:

2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons light brown sugar
2 teaspoons garlic-chili paste
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
¼ cup water
2 teaspoons cornstarch

2 Tablespoons canola oil

½ cup onion, chopped
1 (15 ounce) can chop suey vegetables, drained (please substitute canned or prepared mung bean sprouts if you have them-I didn’t)
½ cup carrots, cut into thin strips about 2 inches long (I’d love to say ‘julienned, but it’s just too much precision for me)
½ cup sweet bell peppers (red, yellow, whatever), chopped
1 cup of mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 cups baby spinach
½ cup frozen peas, thawed

Eggs:

2 teaspoons canola oil
4eggs

Directions:

Start with the cold veggies. Mix the rice wine vinegar, sugar, salt and water together in a small mixing bowl. Divide into two small bowls and add the cucumbers to one and the radishes to the second bowl. Stir them around once in a while as you are prepping the rest of the dish.  Keep the green onions and kimchee plain and in two other bowls. Set all these bowls aside until needed.

For the cooked veggies: Mix together the soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic-chili paste, ginger, water and cornstarch. Stir and set aside. Add the canola oil to a wok or large saucepan that is set on medium heat. Add the onions, drained chop suey vegetables or mung bean sprouts, carrots, bell peppers and mushrooms. Cook over medium until the veggies are soft (about 6 minutes). Add the spinach and then the reserved sauce. Cook until the sauce thickens, about 3 minutes.  Turn off the heat and add the peas.

Make the eggs by heating the oil in a frying pan, cracking the eggs into the pan and cooking on medium heat until the whites are set, the edges are slightly brown, but the yolk is still runny.

Next, just layer everything into 4 bowls: 1 cup of rice, ¼ of the cooked veggies, and ¼ of the cold veggies (keeping them in separate little bunches in the bowl) and then topping with a fried egg. If you are serving people who may or may not like some of the cold veggies, just put them in bowls and serve as condiments alongside the big bowls of goodness.

Get creative on me: Are you kidding? You can play with this nine ways from Sunday. Change the veggies, change the heat level by using different chili sauces or pastes…….

Grecian Garden Cottage Cheese

I remember having cottage cheese delivered by the milkman every morning, fresh from the dairy. It was a glorious thing. One of the varieties was a garden style cottage cheese with lots of fresh veggies. I didn’t appreciate that much when I was 8, but I sure do remember it. Today I was looking for a wrap or pita stuffing and I thought this might be nice. It is. This one you have to do by yourself, I’ll just give some guidelines. Use what you like in the quantities that you like.

Ingredients:

2 cups cottage cheese
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
¼ cup pepperoncini peppers, chopped
½ cup sweet bell pepper, chopped (I used orange, because I had them)
¼ cup green onions, chopped (red onion would be even more traditional)
¼ cup kalamata olives, chopped
2 teaspoons capers, chopped
2-3 teaspoons Greek seasoning (if you don’t have this on your spice rack, do yourself a favor and get some)

Directions: Couldn’t be simpler, just toss everything together and let sit for an hour or so to give the flavors a chance to know each other. Top with plain tuna, stuff into a pita with fresh spinach or lettuce (maybe some tomato and cucumber), pile on crackers, stuff into veggies, whatever you want!

Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Pretzel Dessert Bars

Here’s a different version of the beloved Strawberry Pretzel Salad. Crunchy crust, chocolate and a fluffy peanut butter filling. Oh, yeah!

Ingredients:

For the crust:

3 ½ cups crushed pretzels
½ cup butter, melted
2 Tablespoons white sugar

For the chocolate layer:
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 teaspoons canola oil

For the filling:

1 ½ cups creamy peanut butter
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese at room temperature
5 Tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
1 (8 ounce) container whipped topping, thawed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and spray a 13 by 9 baking dish with cooking spray. Mix the pretzels, melted butter and sugar together and press into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 11 minutes and remove to trivets to cool. There, you are done with the oven!

In a microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips and canola oil for 2 minutes on 50% power. Stir. If your chocolate isn’t completely melted, pop it back in the microwave for 30 seconds more. You want it just melted, not burnt.

Reserve about a ¼ cup of the chocolate mixture and spread the rest over the pretzel crust. Place the baking dish in the fridge for 45 minutes to 1 hour to firm up.

In a mixing bowl, mix beat the peanut butter, cream cheese and confectioner’s sugar together. Stir in the whipped topping, a bit at a time. Remove the baking dish from the fridge and add the filling by placing spoonfuls all over. Smooth out the top. Garnish by drizzling the top with your remaining chocolate mixture (reheating slightly if needed to get it melted again). Refrigerate for at least two hours to firm up. Cut into small squares if you are only being slightly decadent, big squares if you are really feeling decadent.

Beefy Soup with Bread Dumplings

Even though it is May, it is 43 degrees here with heavy rain. Just the kind of night to curl up with a comforting bowl of broth, veggies and dumplings. Don't fear the dumplings--they will come out just fine for you, I know it. You can make the same type of thing vegetarian by swapping out the beef broth for good, hearty vegetable stock.  

Ingredients:

Soup:

2 teaspoons olive oil
½ cup onion, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
6-8 cups beef stock, depending on how much soup you want (I’m using home made, but store bought will do)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup torn baby spinach leaves

Dumplings: (about 8 egg sized dumplings)
4 cups torn pieces of stale bread (like an old baguette or white bread)
1 cup milk
2 eggs
½ to 1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of onion salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons fresh parsley, chopped
1 cup plain, dry bread crumbs (as much as needed-see directions)

Directions:

In a Dutch oven, heat the olive oil and add the onions and mushrooms. Cook and stir over medium heat until the veggies are soft, but not browned. Add the stock and let it simmer for 30 minutes or so. Taste for seasonings and adjust the seasonings.

Start the dumplings by placing the bread in a mixing bowl. Heat the milk in a microwaveable bowl for about 2 minutes on medium power until you just see steam coming from it, but it is not boiling. Pour the milk over the bread, stir it to ensure that all the bread is coated and let it sit for 15 minutes. Then squeeze the bread in your very clean hands to remove any excess milk. Discard the excess milk and put the bread back in the bowl (or use another bowl-up to you). Mix in the eggs, salt, onion salt, nutmeg and fresh parsley and as much of the dry bread crumbs as you need to get a slightly stiff, yet fairly sticky dough (I needed about ½ cup).  Roll into palm sized balls-the dumplings should hold together. If they are too wet, you can add some more plain bread crumbs. Put the dumplings on a plate until the soup is ready.

Bring the soup up so that it is hot, but not boiling (your dumplings will fall apart if it is boiling). Add the spinach to the soup and then carefully drop the dumplings in. Cover and simmer, leaving the lid on the Dutch oven slightly cracked, for 20-25 minutes. Take out one dumpling to check it for doneness. If it is still gooey in the middle, return the dumpling to the pot and cook for another 10 or so minutes.

[NOTE: if you are worried about your dumplings, do one ‘test dumpling’ first to see if it falls apart. If it does, put all the dumplings back in a bowl, add more bread crumbs and reform your dumplings. Also, turn down the heat on the soup.]