Perfect Pairs

I love salmon! One super easy way to prepare it is to place it skin-side down on a baking sheet, coat it in Caesar salad dressing and bake it for 15-20 minutes. It's delish! And the leftovers make wonderful salmon cakes later in the week. And yes, you'll have leftovers because neither your Sweetie nor your munchkins eat it.Of course.

Salmon and Caesar dressing. You must try it someday.

Mint Chocolate Softies

I told you a while back that I'd have more recipes for you that involved using boxed cake mixes creatively. I'm finally doing it! I've made this recipe several times with great results. The chips I used for this batch are limited edition, only available during the holidays, so snap 'em up while you can. These cookies soft and rich and taste just like Thin Mints!

Mint Chocolate Softies

1 package triple chocolate fudge cake mix
1/3 cup water (or brewed coffee if you have it)
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 cup dark chocolate and mint chips

Preheat oven to 350. Combine first four ingredients in a large bowl. Beat with electric mixer on low speed until combined. Increase speed to medium and beat for one minute. (Dough will be very thick.) Stir in chips. Drop dough by heaping teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart on cookie sheets sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until set. Let cookies stand on cookie sheets for one minute. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Obviously, you can use any combination of flavors of cake mix and chips. I got this recipe from a cookbook called Cake Mix Magic in Minutes.

Cornbread Dressing

I've not always been a fan of dressing/stuffing. It seems so mysterious as to ingredients and I've traditionally been quite picky. I never knew when a giblet or a neck or a hard-boiled egg would show up.  I like it simple! Anyway, the ladies' ministry at our church used to have a tradition in which the November ladies' meeting would be when we all brought a favorite holiday dish. I've collected lots of good recipes that way, and this is one of them. My friend Ashley's original recipe is slightly different than this and makes a larger amount of dressing. I've adapted it for everyday family dinners so we're not eating leftover dressing for a month!

1 (small) recipe cornbread, crumbled
2 cups soft breadcrumbs (I use whole-wheat)
1 cup diced onions
1 cup diced celery
1 stick butter
sage or poultry seasoning to taste (1 teaspoon or so)
2 cups chicken broth
1 can cream of chicken soup
1-2 teaspoons pepper to taste
2 eggs

In a skillet, saute the onions and celery in butter until tender. Add in the sage/poultry seasoning; cook for 1 more minute. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. You may need additional chicken broth -- the mixture shouldn't be too dry. Pour into a lightly greased 9x13 baking dish. You can refrigerate this for 8 hours or so, or bake right away at 375 for 45-60 minutes.

* I try not to buy canned stuff if I can help it, so I use my white sauce recipe in proportions of 2 in place of the canned soup. It's an extra step that's worth it to me.

Chicken Parmesan Calzones

One afternoon I was stuck about what to fix for dinner. It's tough trying to come up with something everyone will like, as anyone who cooks for their family knows! I ended up just making things up as I went along and was pretty surprised to come up with a meal that was a hit with all the members of my family!

I started with my basic pizza dough crust ...

1 2/3 cups warm water
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons dry milk powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/2 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons yeast

All that goes in the bread machine to be rescued an hour and twenty-five minutes later. (This recipe makes 2 crusts.) Of course, you could use your own recipe or store-bought dough.

For the calzone filling, I made a basic white sauce ...

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk (if I'd had chicken broth, I'd have used 1 cup broth, 1 cup milk)

(When I melted the butter, I threw in a chopped clove of garlic, too. Yum!)

To which I added ...
2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
1 cup fresh spinach leaves
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
salt and pepper
about 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Other delicious additions would be chopped onion, zucchini, red pepper, mushrooms, ricotta cheese ... whatever your family likes! I just used what I had.

To put it all together, I divided the dough in half, setting one half aside for the freezer. The rest of it I divided into fourths. I rolled out each section into a circle -- not too thin! Each circle was topped with a touch of olive oil, some mozzarella cheese, and about a fourth of the filling. I folded the dough up over the filling, making a bun, and placed them seam-side down on a lightly greased baking sheet. Into the oven for 15 minutes or so on 375!

I served them with warmed spaghetti sauce for dipping.

Mold Shakes

After making my kids' lunch the other day, I called them in from playing outside. I told them that sometimes I had to be creative with leftovers in order to make the most of our groceries, so they had to just eat what they were given without complaining. (They're plenty used to hearing that!) Then I explained that I had found a container in the back of the fridge with mold in it and decided to make it into something special for them.

Both kids were giggling and tasting and trying to decide what it could be. Oldest Girl guessed sherbet. The Boy thought it was green tea. After they both drank every drop and admitted they loved it, I confessed what it really was.

Here's the recipe so you can gross your kids out, too!

Mold Shakes
1 avocado, peeled and sliced
1 cup milk
1 cup ice cubes
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons sugar

Combine all that in a blender and give it a whirl!

Lemon Orzo Soup

This soup is so very simple that you won't believe how these flavors come together to make such wonderful comfort food! I'm giving you the proportions to make one serving, or two small ones because that's how I make it the most. The recipe is easily doubled, though.

2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth (homemade is best!)
pepper to taste

Bring the broth and pepper to a boil. Stir in:
1/4 cup orzo pasta

Cook for 9 minutes. Remove from heat.

While pasta is cooking, whisk together 1 egg and 1 teaspoon lemon juice until foamy. Just after removing broth from the heat, stir a spoonful of broth into the egg mixture to temper it. Pour the mixture into the pot, stirring constantly. Serve immediately. (Note: this results in a creamy-looking soup, not with strings of egg like in egg-drop soup.)

That's the basic recipe and method. One great thing about this soup is that it's a terrific starting point for a heartier "makes-you-feel-all-better" soup for when you're sick.

Chicken broth: especially if this is homemade, it has major healing powers -- just ask your mom!
Pasta: carbohydrates to give you energy
Egg: protein to fill you up and build energy
Lemon juice: a little jolt of vitamin C

Now to have fun with it, you can add a variety of different stuff either at the beginning, when you add in the pasta, or to finish. Here's a starting point:

diced mushrooms
green onion
grated veggies like carrot or zucchini
parsley
cilantro
ginger
spinach
Parmesan cheese
shredded, cooked chicken

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

I didn't know bread was so important until I married my Sweetie. He grew up eating it at every meal. I learned quickly that if I didn't make bread to go with dinner he'd grab a slice of loaf bread. White loaf bread! The stuff that isn't worth eating unless it's slathered with butter and cheese, transforming it into a delicious grilled cheese sandwich! I remember thinking that the man had lost his mind. To make things worse, he didn't like cornbread. (Don't worry, I've since converted him.) Anyway, I had to find more and more bread recipes to satisfy his carbohydrate cravings and in the process I learned to like it more, too. Not that the following recipe is really bread. It's actually more like cake! Yum ...

Chocolate Zucchini Bread
3 eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup unsweetened apple sauce
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups shredded zucchini
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
½ cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, oil, applesauce, sugar and vanilla. Stir in zucchini. Combine dry ingredients; add to zucchini mixture and mix well. Pour into 2 greased 8x4x2 loaf pans. Bake at 350° for 1 hour. Yield: 2 loaves

*This freezes really well, too!

Here's the recipe made into muffins! Bake these for about 15-18 minutes. The recipe will make 2 dozen muffins.