Comeback Chef

Please join me in celebrating my return to the kitchen and blog world!  I have recently began a new primary job that allows me to be home for lunch and dinner, meaning I can once again don an apron on a consistent basis.  I am so excited to not only have the time to cook home made meals again, but also to have the opportunity to share my recipes, kitchen trials, and product recommendations on Great Vittles!  Of course, I now have to keep pushing back tiny toddler hands from the keyboard and playing with the pens on my desk...and touching my touch screen computer...but it is worth it if I can share recipes and information that will help others in some way.  A new recipe from the comeback chef is coming soon!  Thank you, friends, for being a part of Great Vittles.

~Mrs. B

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A Dish Fit for My Mother-in-Law

5 ingredient recipe for meal time? Yes, please!

My mother-in-law is the person responsible for getting me to eat asparagus on a regular basis after years of my family trying to do the same thing.  She is also a United Methodist minister and when she decided last fall to take a leave of absence beginning this summer, we all knew that meant lots of packing.  During the transition of moving from the parsonage back to the family house she participated in the town wide yard sale that occurred over Mother's Day weekend this year.  We spent the weekend with her and my sister-in-law to visit, pack up my husband's stuff, and to see what little things we could find for Sprout--that's our nickname for the baby until the actual birth day--and for our home.  While out and about we stopped by a yard sale that had 3 bundles of Everyday Food for $0.25 a piece.  Being the foodies we are, we walked away with a ton of small recipe magazines for $0.75 and they are proving to be a great investment!

One of the recipes we decided to try was the Pasta with Goat Cheese & Roasted Asparagus. We were intrigued by the simplicity of the recipe and we liked that it didn't take many ingredients to throw it together for a quick dinner, so we decided to give it a whirl.  Per the usual there were a few modifications, albeit that's because we were unable to get a hold of a couple of ingredients.  First, I had to use a different kind of noodle.  The cavatappi noodles were not on the grocer's shelves, so I found cellentani, which is another kind of short, corkscrew pasta.  I'm not sure what was up, but we couldn't find chives for the sauce anywhere we shopped, so instead I sprinkled in herbs de Provence & garlic powder. Also, we bought crumbled goat cheese--it was actually cheaper than the log and it meant less prep. Instead of dotting the asparagus with 1T of butter, I decided to melt the butter with the salt & pepper and then I just brushed the baking sheet & asparagus with it.

I was pleasantly surprised by how creamy this pasta dish turned out just by virtue of the goat cheese!  We had my mom and grandparents over to try a bite, too, and they also liked it very well.  I hate how much the goat cheese costs, but it is well worth it!  This recipe is a part of my recipe collection now and I can't wait to share it with the person who got me to give asparagus one last chance. 

Lunch with a Calzone

During our weekend grocery shopping, I picked up some pizza fixings and a can of Pillsbury Classic Pizza Crust.  I remembered a recipe I had pinned awhile back on Pinterest on how to make homemade calzones and thought I would give it a try for one of our lunches this week. Today is our lucky day!  Below I have provided the link to the website where the original recipe is posted. There are great instructions and pictures for step-by-step assembly.

http://www.squidoo.com/homemade-calzone

Now for the modifications...because I am notorious for that! 

I quickly softened one small chopped onion, 3 diced garlic cloves, about 5 or 6 small whole mushrooms-sliced, and some pickled banana pepper slices sprinkled with Italian seasoning and a couple squirts of pizza sauce.  Once slightly softened, I removed the mixture to a bowl and began cooking a small package of turkey Andouille sausage homemade by Horrocks.  Once cooked, I added my veggie mixture back in to meld the flavors together.

Next in the process I melted about 2 tablespoons of stick butter and seasoned it with garlic powder. I greased my baking sheet with some of the garlic butter, then rolled out my refrigerated pizza crust.  I proceeded to apply the pizza sauce to the middle of the dough and top with my meat and veggie mixture.  Now for the yummy part! I cut up chunks of fresh mozzarella cheese and placed it all over the toppings. 

Finally I cut the edges of the dough and assembled the calzone in lattice style like the original recipe instructs.  The rest of the garlic butter mixture I applied to the top of the calzone and then I sprinkled finely shredded Italian style cheese on top, and popped it in the oven for the recommended length of time.  

Out of the oven:

And plated:

Perfect taste!  Gooey mozzarella, a bit of heat from the banana peppers and Andouille sausage, and a flavorful garlic buttery crust--what more could you want?  Filling and tasty for lunch or even dinner.  And of course you can adjust the flavors to your tastes. These are the best kinds of recipes to have on hand!

This recipe is definitely a keeper!  A Pinterest success!

Thank God for Crescent Rolls

I think we can all thank Pillsbury for creating wonderful meals and appetizers at one time or another.  For me, Pillsbury came in especially handy for helping my husband fix himself dinner.  I had found a recipe for their ham and cheese crescent roll up at the store and am I glad I did!

The 1st time I made these I used what was on hand--honey smoked turkey and provolone. I assembled the sandwiches by unrolling a few crescent rolls, and placing the meat, then the cheese on top, then proceeded to roll them up. Afterwards I placed them in a sandwich bag and left heating instructions for Ben. 

The second time I used muenster cheese with the turkey. I was going to drizzle some honey mustard into mine and of course pregnancy brain got in the way, so I ended up drizzling it on top of my rolls. Once again, the roll-up sandwich was a hit.

These sandwiches are super quick to assemble and very versatile, as you can use any meat and cheese combo you like, and you could add in anything that will hold up in the oven really. Since I tend to work a lot of evenings, this really helped to keep my hubby from dining out and depending on his hunger-meter 2 or 3 of these filled him up! Little meal, big satisfaction!

To get this recipe, visit Pillsbury here: Ham & Cheese Roll-Ups

Roast Beef Reinvented

This past Saturday the mister and I went grocery shopping at our favorite farm market, Horrocks. Our goal was to pick up enough produce and meat to last us a whole week--absolutely no eating out for the coming week for any meal. I found a good size, inexpensive roast and decided that I could definitely get a few meals out of it. The rest of our shopping landed us at Walmart for odds and ends, where I picked up a bottle of Burgundy cooking wine.

The cooking method was simple: I threw it in the slow cooker with about 2/3rds of the Burgundy and enough water to cover it and let it cook on low overnight. 

Meal number one was a roast beef sandwich. I shredded enough meat to make 2 sandwiches to which I added banana peppers, mushrooms, onions, and provolone. Not very creative, I know.  I broiled the sandwiches on high to get them warm and crispy, and then I plated them with some of the au jus.  Ben and I devoured our sandwiches and had I not been needing to leave for work so soon after eating I would have treated us to seconds.

Meal number two was just beef and noodles.  I had a box of cellentani noodles that needed to be used up, so I cooked them to al dente.  I reheated some of my roast and it's broth.  For myself, I had a bowl of noodles and beef with broth, sprinkled some Italian seasoning and shredded cheeses on top, and out the door I went with my lunch before work.  Ben had just a bowl of noodles and beef with broth.  Amazingly there's still plenty left and it's currently been frozen for another day.

I like the fact that I was able to take one small roast and do nothing to it other than cook it in the Burgundy and it turned out so flavorful, tender, and most importantly versatile. 

I apologize for no pictures--maybe next time.

Red Chicken Enchiladas

This evening I decided to make chicken enchiladas using picante salsa. Normally I would use the Old El Paso canned enchilada sauces--green or red--but not having any on hand, I decided to try something different.  I have a Taste of Home Mexican cooking special edition magazine that offers three sauces, and one is using prepared salsa. Why not try it, right? This recipe was also a great way to use up chicken thighs in the freezer, a remaining bag of frozen corn, an open jar of pickled jalapenos, and the rest of the shredded Mexican cheese in the fridge.

How I did it:

In my slow cooker, I threw in the 4 chicken thighs I had left. To it I added some water--basically enough to cover the meat to cook. I will admit to you right now that I use garlic powder and cumin in a lot of my recipes and tonight was no exception. I seasoned the chicken with said favorite seasonings and chipotle seasoning I buy from a local farm market.

Next I added in frozen corn and of course I don't have any idea how much. If you want to try this yourself, just add in the amount of corn you're satisfied with using--you know your taste buds after all!  In addition, I chopped up a small white onion and threw that in as well. I let this little concoction go on high until the chicken was cooked thoroughly and able to be easily shredded.  Definitely keep an eye on it since cooking times vary slow cooker to slow cooker.

While the thighs were cooking, I opened a can of re-fried beans and heated up about 1/4 of the can since it's just my husband and I eating.  I added in a little bit of water to make the beans slightly thinner and more spreadable on my tortillas.  I sprayed my baking dish with a little bit of Pam and added a thin layer of picante sauce to the bottom. This really helped prevent any sticking to the bottom of the pan. I also got the oven preheated to 350*F.

Once my chicken had finished, I used a slotted spoon to remove enough for the two of us to eat--probably 2 thighs worth--along with some corn and onions to add to the filling, and shredded the meat.  Yes, I did cheat and taste it--yum yum!

After shredding the chicken, I turned my attention to constructing the enchiladas.  I spread a layer of beans on each corn tortilla--we had 2 a piece--then added my chicken & veggie filling, topped with a few slices of pickled jalapeno, and sprinkled on some cheese.  The cheese we used wasn't your usual run-of-the-mill brand name "Mexican" cheese. Here's what we used:

I don't think either of us could begin to describe how yummy this cheese was in comparison to the what you normally find on the shelf.  We found it at a comparable price to the brand names at Walmart in case you're interested in trying it for yourself.

Okay, enough singing cheese praises and back to enchilada assembly. After rolling up the enchiladas and placing them in the baking dish, I topped them off with a few small spoonfuls of picante sauce and more of that fabulous cheese.  Off in the oven for 15 minutes they went and my tummy gurgled with anticipation.

15 minutes later we had a delicious dinner!  We both lamented that there wasn't more, it was so good.  It was rather filling, though. Well, not for me, but then again I am at the end of my pregnancy and am a bottomless pit right now. 

The only adjustment my husband would make is using a green sauce.  I will probably try this again with the Herdez salsa verde that we are in love with, but until then, I am pretty proud of myself for tonight's meal.  As for the left over chicken and broth, I am going to freeze it and use it later as a soup.