Pizza Beans

 

A family favorite from: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/weeknight-beans-on-toast

To make this a superfast meal, I use a giant jar of spaghetti sauce (my favorite for this is the big jars of Victoria marinara from Costco) in lieu of the crushed tomatoes. No need to cook it down.

For the beans:

2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1 lb. sweet or hot Italian sausage, casings removed

3 thinly sliced garlic cloves

½ tsp. dried oregano

¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes

3 tsp. kosher salt, divided, plus more

1 5-oz. package baby spinach, coarsely chopped

2 15.5-oz. cans white beans, rinsed

fresh parsely (optional)

For the garlic bread:

1 stick butter

1/4 C grated parmesan

1/2- 1 tsp garlic powder

1 TBSP dried parsley flakes

1 loaf italian or french bread or a baguette

1. Step 1

   Heat oil in a large Dutch oven or high-sided skillet over medium-high. Add sausage and press down on it with a heatproof rubber spatula to flatten slightly. Cook, undisturbed, until browned underneath, about 4 minutes. Turn sausage over and cook, undisturbed, until browned on the other side, about 3 minutes. Break up sausage into bite-size pieces with spatula.
   
   Add sliced garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes (if using) and cook, stirring, until garlic is beginning to get golden around the edges, about 1 minute.
   
   Carefully add tomatoes (beware of splatter!), then 2½ tsp. salt and 1 cup water. Bring sauce to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly reduced, 10–12 minutes. 
   OR 
   Add the jar of marinara sauce
   
   Mix in spinach and cook until wilted, about 2 minutes. Add beans and cook until warmed through, about 3 minutes. Taste ragù and season with more salt if needed.

   Step 2

   Meanwhile, heat broiler. Cut your loaf of bread in half lengthwise, or into slices. Soften butter in the microwave. Mix in cheese, garlic powder, and parsley. Spread butter mixture generously over the bread. 

   Step 3

   Arrange bread on a  baking sheet and broil until golden brown, about 1-2 minutes. 

   Step 4

   Divide toast among plates. Ladle a generous amount of ragù over and top with extra Parmesan and fresh parsley, if you want.

   Step 5

   Do Ahead: Ragù can be made 3 days ahead. Let cool; cover and chill. Reheat over medium-low.

Mom's Roasted Costco Chicken Soup

 

Mom’s Roasted Costco Chicken Soup

This is a long and fairly complicated recipe, but makes two huge meals or more.

These directions are for egg free and GLUTEN FREE chicken and rice soup, but I LOVE this soup with fat, German spaetzle dumpling/noodles.  I like Bechtle brand.

To make the soup, I first roast a Costco chicken a second time with lots of root vegetables: the leftovers go into the soup.

 

Here is a shopping list

1. Costco chicken

2 large onions

Celery (I use about 5 stalks)

Jar of chicken Better Than Bouillon 

Carrots (1-2 lb of nubbies or more)

1-2 lbs small new potatoes 

2 yams or sweet potatoes 

1 large apple

Butter

Rice or noodles

First reroast the chicken and veggies:

 

Take the elastic off the chicken 

Slice I onion:put half on bottom of big soup pan (at least 8 deep x 12” across) on top of olive oil or butter. This helps insulate the chicken and keep it from overcooking on the bottom.  Peel and core apple and put chunks of apple and onion inside the chicken.  Save the peels for the broth.

Cut potatoes and sweet potatoes in half and surround the chicken. Dump carrots on top. Put 1/2 cup hot water in Costco chicken bag to dissolve juices and gelatin in bag and pour that over chicken and veggies. 

Put lid on pan

Roast at least 3 hours at 325 degrees (or 5 hrs at 300)

When ready, carefully lift everything out of pan: chicken will practically fall apart. 

To make gravy, put onions and apples from the stuffed chicken in a blender, along with all pan juices. Add 1-2 cups hot water into pan to get drippings. Add that to blender along with 1/2 peeled cooked sweet potato Add I tbsp corn starch for each cup of gravy makings. Blend well and pour back into the pan the chicken was roasted in and cook until thickened.

Serve.

 

 Now to make the soup: 

 

Strip all the leftover meat off the roasted chicken.  Keep all the bones, skin, etc to make broth.

Next step is to put the entire carcase, skin, etc of the roasted chicken in the pot you roasted it in and made gravy in: you don't even need to wash it first.

You can add things like the tops of the celery, or potato skins or old carrots or old apples to the broth. Cover with water.

Simmer the bones, etc for at least 3 hours or more.

Using a sieve or strainer, pour the broth into a clean bowl or pot.  Throw away all the bones, skin, boiled veggie parts, etc.  I put them all in a plastic grocery bag to keep the trash neater and lessen the probability of some animal trying to get into the trash.

Chop up the 2nd onion and as much celery as you want in the soup. In the soup pan, melt 2 tbsp butter or olive oil and cook the celery and onion in the fat until it is translucent.

Next,  add the broth you made to the onion and celery and at least 1 cup of uncooked rice  (or noodles) to the broth and simmer.  When the rice (or noodles) is tender, chop up all the leftover veggies and as much chicken as you want. Add meat, veggies and leftover gravy to the soup and simmer for about 1/2 hour, adding water if needed.  Now test for flavor: if you want more flavor, add Chicken flavor Better than Bouillion one tablespoon at a time until the soup tastes good.  Add freshly ground pepper to taste.

Enjoy.

 

 

マミー

 This is a kids' yogurt drink I liked to buy when I was in Japan. I tried to recreate it based on memory of how it tasted.

• 1 cup greek yogurt
• 14.5 oz can of sliced pears in heavy syrup (dump the syrup in as well as the pears)
• 3 oz lime jello powder
• 3 oz cream cheese
• 1 cup milk

blend until homogenous

drink cold

Chicken Enchiladas (Cosby family recipe) (post made by Levi)

 Ingredients

*Note: almost all measurements here are not exact, whatever is available/cheap/on hand will probably work fine*

1-2 lbs chicken or equivalent size rotisserie, diced 

1 or 1/2 onion (type and amount depend on your preference), diced

1 block cream cheese, softened

1/2 pound pepper jack cheese, shredded

12 tortillas, cooked if not precooked (2 per person in our family, if you have fewer people you can scale the recipe to fit or just have more leftovers)

1 8 oz bag Frontera green chili enchilada sauce (or 10 oz can of Great Value enchilada sauce or whatever similar amount of green chile enchilada sauce you can find)

1 1/2 teaspoons Cumin (or until chicken is well seasoned in step 3)

1/2 teaspoon Chili powder (or until chicken is lightly seasoned in step 3)

Cream if desired

*make sure the ratio of cumin to chili powder is 3:1*

Recipe:

1. Sautee onions (use a large pan here if using raw chicken)

2. Add chicken, cook (unless using precooked chicken, in which case just add to onions and turn off heat)

3. Add seasonings, stir well, turn off heat. 

4. Add cream cheese. If not soft enough, microwave in 10 second increments until a thumb easily dents it

5. Add about 1/4 C of the sauce

6. Add a little of the pepper jack cheese

8. Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray

9. If desired, drizzle bottom of pan with cream and some sauce

10. Fill each tortilla with ~3/4 C filling and roll up, place in bottom of pan side by side

11. Drizzle with rest of sauce, top with rest of pepper jack cheese

White Chicken Chili

 

Ingredients

4 servings

3

Tbsp. unsalted butter

2

Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1

medium onion, finely chopped

4

garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1

lb. ground chicken, preferably dark meat

1½

tsp. Diamond Crystal or 1 tsp. Morton kosher salt, plus more

1

tsp. chili powder

1

tsp. ground cumin

½

tsp. ground coriander

Freshly ground pepper

2

4-oz. cans diced green chiles

2

15.5-oz. cans white beans, rinsed

3

cups low-sodium chicken broth

Sliced avocado, sour cream, cilantro leaves, sliced jalapeños, corn chips, and lime wedges (for serving)

Preparation

1. Step 1

   Heat 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter and 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil in a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot over medium-high until butter is melted. Cook 1 medium onion, finely chopped, and 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, 4–6 minutes. Add 1 lb. ground chicken, preferably dark meat, 1½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or 1 tsp. Morton kosher salt, 1 tsp. chili powder, 1 tsp. ground cumin, and ½ tsp. ground coriander; season with freshly ground pepper. Cook, stirring often and breaking up chicken with a wooden spoon, until combined and chicken is no longer pink, 3–4 minutes. Add two 4-oz. cans diced green chiles and cook, stirring often and continuing to break up chicken, until chicken is cooked through, 2–3 minutes. 

   Step 2

   Add two 15.5-oz. cans white beans, rinsed, and 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth to pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally and mashing some of the beans with spoon, until flavors are melded and chili is slightly thickened, 8–10 minutes. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed.

   Step 3

   Divide chili among bowls and top with sliced avocado, sour cream, cilantro leaves, sliced jalapeños, and corn chips. Serve with lime wedges for squeezing over.

Balsamic Vinegar Zucchini

 This is my favorite way to eat zucchini.  I've been eating 2-3 zucchini a week lately, all from our one plant.  This even works when you miss one of those zucchini and it turns into a baseball bat.

• 1 medium zucchini
• 2 Tbsp. onion/garlic infused olive oil 
• Alternatively used 1-2 cloves chopped garlic and sauté in olive oil
• 3 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

None of the measurements are particularly important and all can be adjusted for taste.

Chop the zucchini into 2-3 mm thick slices, saute in olive oil until they are starting to brown.  Add vinegar and allow it to boil off until it has been absorbed or thickened into a syrup ( depending on how much you have added).  Salt and pepper to taste.

This is great on its own, really good cold as a topping on a sandwich, and fantastic as a toping on a pizza.

Rice Pudding

 

This is a recipe for using it up when you have too much cooked rice.

Ingredients: 

• two bowls of cooked rice
• two cups of whole milk
• 1/2 stick of butter
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• a few handfuls of raisins or craisins
• about a teaspoon of vanilla extract I guess
• 1/3 tsp salt
• some cinnamon to taste

Cook the cooked rice, and most of the milk in a saucepan on medium for about 10 minutes, uncovered. It's okay if the rice has gotten a little dried out, because it will soak up the milk. You don't want high or you'll burn the milk. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for 5 more minutes.