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Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook

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Frutti Di Mari and Steamed Asparagus -- back to top

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We made this similar to other times(w/o broccoli). We used the seafood mix from Trader Joes. One thing I did differently is I cooked the seafood in a separate pot and constantly drained the water so I didn't overcook everything else. I sautéd onions and garlic then added the tomatoes. I used fresh and dried basil, TJ's 21 seasoning salite, and normal seasonings. Once the pasta and seafood were mostly done, we combined them all and let it cook. I then shaved some fresh cheese (I forget which kind. Meredith, can you comment on the kind) over it all. I felt like it was not very flavorful. I need to season it more next time and perhaps a bit more salt.

Meredith made steamed asparagus with a soy sauce concoction over it. It was about 1 Tbsp of low sodium soy, some sesame oil and cayenne pepper. It was good!

Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1323, 2011-08-01_120933



Stuffed Poblanos and Tomato-Zucchini Tian -- back to top

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The main meal was the stuffed poblanos which we did about a year ago. Meredith did most of this so I do not know exactly, but I think we followed the same recipe except a lot less tomato sauce as we stated lasted time. They were very good except they needed more salt. I am copying the recipe below since I didn't last time.

The side dish was called Tomato-Zucchini Tian. We followed the recipe (copied below) except we didn't have eggplant so we skipped that part. We also didn't really have Herbs de Provence so we looked it up and just sprinkled the top (haphazardly) with

It was very, very good. I really liked it all cooked together. Maybe it was just us, but this also needed more salt. I also used yellow squash intermixed with tomatoes. While the dish was great, what was not great was dropping the soapy dish while cleaning it and shattering the ceramic (sad!!!)


Stuffed Poblanos (from Shutterbean)

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Tomato-Zucchini Tian (From Lanas Cooking)

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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1326, 2011-08-02_141250



Pizza -- back to top

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We made pizza again. We used the same dough recipe (1/2, normal swap) though I had some issues. I made it the night before, let it rise once, then punched it down and refrigerated it overnight. I took it out the next morning and despite being out for a while, I didn't think it really "came alive" very much at all. Maybe it was the cold or maybe it was just bad yeast (though the first rise was normal). I do not know. Either way, it made for harder to spread pizza (I always use a rolling pin but Meredith is usually able to avoid it) and more a cracker crust. The crust was still good.

Today's sauce was really good. I did basically the normal of onions but I added one habanero pepper (chopped really, really finely). I sautéd them, then added blended tomatoes and tomato paste. I added some salt and pepper then let it cook away much of the water. It was very flavorful.

My two pizzas (one small, one big) were pretty similar. They were both sauce, part skim mozzarella, and soppressata. My first one (top photo right) also had zucchini and some goat cheese which gave it a really nice bite...or if you ask Meredith, made it inedible. My second one (very bottom photo) had cut cherry tomatoes and some dried rosemary on top.

Meredith's were much more interesting. Hopefully I get it right. Her first (top left) was a greek pizza. She made a fat free tzatziki instead of sauce and then used olives and cucumbers. I do not know if there was feta. Her second (below) was a mexican pizza. She mixed the tomato sauce and Pace hot salsa. Then she topped it with pieces of avocado with sprinkled cumin, as well as corn, some soppressata and I think something else but I do not remember. Hers was VERY GOOD! I liked it more than when she just uses salsa

Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1334, 2011-08-04_160921



Chicken and Vegetables -- back to top

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We made a chicken and vegetable thing just like last time. We basically just sautéed bunch of onions, then added eggplant,zucchini and yellow squash. We learned this time to cook the chicken separately and add it at the end so as to not overcook it.

I love this meal because it is a lot of food for very, very little calories/points

Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1337, 2011-08-08_165912



Taquitos -- back to top

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We again made taquitos following the same principle as the past time, and the time before that (linked from the past one). Except this time, they were even more flavorful. I started with onion and a very, very finely chopped habanero (I really like it like this since it only gives it a small kick but a lot of flavor). I let them sauté but I used a bit more oil (still not very much though). I then added some pepper strips, garlic and corn (new addition). Meanwhile, I pressure cooked the chicken with a sodium-free brother and pepper. When that was done, I added the broth to the onions to let them cook down while Meredith was shredding the chicken. I kept adding more as it cooked.

Once I added the chicken, also added a bit of salsa, a tad of hot sauce, and then melted Laughing Cow wedges.

We got new whole wheat tortillas at Costco (100 cal each which is low). The worked fine in the oven except they took a bit longer to crisp. Like the previous times, we cooked them at about 375 then broiled them for a bit more.

The taquitos were extremely flavorful. We thoroughly enjoyed them. Letting it cook with the broth and the bit of extra oil to help really reduce the onions made a big difference.

Oh, we also served them with a Pasta Side. (Note, we had vegetables at lunch so it wasn't a fully vegetable-free day)

Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1340, 2011-08-09_170205



Koftas -- back to top

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We made beef koftas based on the recipe below. Basically, we just subbed extra lean ground beef (around 0.75 lbs) for the 1lbs of turkey. We used ground cumin and coriander so we skipped the toasting of the spices. We did use fresh mint but dried dill.Finally, I screwed up and put too much salt into the beef. I didn't read the "divided" part. Thankfully, I thought it was too much so I didn't do all of it. Also, I just used grill-pam with the cast iron pan instead of oil to cook the beef.

They were salty but really good. I do not know if is was the salt but they were surprisingly moist despite using such lean beef. We liked the flavor quite a bit and we will do them again. But, less salt!

Meredith made her own tzatziki but I do not know her recipe. She also added some fresh mint since we had it. I didn't really taste the difference with the mint but Meredith said she liked it less.

Recipe moved to My Recipe Book

Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1344, 2011-08-11_144433



Shepherd's Pie -- back to top

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This was really just like the last times except that I seasoned the beef a bit more. I let the onions get very caramelized then I added the beef. Despite being lean beef, there was a lot of liquid so I had to drain it. I then added corn, peas and a mix of seasonings.

Meredith did the topping which was basically healthy mashed potatoes. As usual, we used Yukon Gold.

We made a double portion and took it for lunch the next day too.

Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1349, 2011-08-16_114201



Bean Fajitas -- back to top

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Because we had to go grocery shopping, we were running late and needed a quick and easy meal. This was the result. It was just sautéd onions, peppers (including one habanero). I added a can one black beans towards the end so they got heated but not mushed. We used McCormick Fajita seasonings.

Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1351, 2011-08-17_114259



Vegetarian Breakfast Taquitos -- back to top

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Emily was visiting so it had to be vegetarian. I caramelized some onions with a habanero pepper. I then added a bunch of Gimme Lean pieces. I tightly wrapped them in whole wheat tortillas with some low fat cheese. I baked them until they were crispy.

Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1353, 2011-08-20_114357



Falafel and Roasted Vegetables -- back to top

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First, the vegetables. This was inspired by the Vegetable Torta at Bertuccis. I french cut a few onions and super caramelized them with a lot of whole garlic cloves. This was actually done a few days in advance. Anyway, I cut up a WHOLE LOT of zucchini and yellow squash. Next, I used one graffiti eggplant. I then added a can of (rinsed) artichoke hearts and I bunch of cherry tomatoes which I first cut, and then squeezed over the sink to remove some of the juices. I mixed it all together with some olive oil and seasonings. I used cumin, rosemary (a lot), ground thyme, salt, pepper, and garlic and onion powder. I put them into two dishes and baked / roasted them for an hour at 400. I stirred them every 10-15 minutes. I was happy enough with how they turned out. They were good and flavorful but still not as good as the thing at Bertuccis. I think I used a bit too much zucchini and squash since it drowned out the presence of artichoke hearts. I will have to play a bit more with it. It was still delicious but not there yet. I think the Tian was better.

The falafel were made with the same recipe as last time except doubled since Emily was here. I used fresh cilantro this time. I did not add more red pepper but it still had a nice bite. They didn't come out as crispy this time despite being cooked at a higher temperature (needed for the vegetables). My theory is that with the oven so full, especially due to the vegetables, they steamed a bit more. Don't get me wrong, they were still very good. We served them with tahini and buffalo (as in the buffalo chicken) hummus.

Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1355, 2011-08-20_114434



Sloppy Joes -- back to top

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I am not over week since updating this so I do not remember any specific details but it was the standard sloppy joes. I think we bought good bread to use for it instead of Arnolds rolls. They sloppy joes were good as usual. Much better than last time when I put way too much tomato in.

We also had (a lot) of steamed asparagus. It was standard but very good.

Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1362, 2011-08-22_161736



Borscht and Hot dogs -- back to top

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This was our waiting-for-the-power-to-go-out meal. We madeborscht earlier. It was not our best. First of all, we didn't have carrots and the beet greens were not good so we didn't use them. Also, we used way too much potato. Then I added water but let it boil down too much. It was tasty but not incredible like it had been in the past. Especially the last time that was really good.

The hot dogs were intended so that if the power died while we were cooking them, we could eat them no matter what. We just used the griddler on the 97% fat free ones. Note that even the low fat have a huge amount of fat and calories but these have very, very little. They are 40 cal each! As I have noted in the past, I am now against using crappy buns so we used "focaccia rolls" we bought. I put it in quotes since it was really nothing more than ciabatta with seasoning. I was happy with that since it mean less oil.

Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1364, 2011-08-27_161800



Homemade Blush Sauce and Pasta with Scallops -- back to top

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This meal was quite an experiment. We made pasta by hand using the standard recipe (halved). We made a blush sauce basically by exactly following the vodka sauce recipe also on that page except with extra basil and water in place of vodka (to save calories). We again used fat free evaporated milk for cream and smart balance.

We pan seared sea scallops and added them to the sauce as well. It was a big meal but good! If we do it again, we will use a seafood mixture and maybe cook it longer so that the sauce becomes infused with the flavor of the seafood.

Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1366, 2011-08-28_161839



Turkey Tenderloin and Broccoli -- back to top

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This was a very simple meal. We bought a pre-marinated/brined turkey tenderloin. Basically, I just put a meat thermometer in it and let it cook until it hit 165. The insides were still a good bit red so we microwaved it. I think they were fully cooked but we felt better when they were more turkey colored. Probably because of the brining, it was still juice. So next time, we will cook it longer. It was really easy and pretty delicious.

We also had steamed broccoli.

Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1373, 2011-08-29_212848



Black-eyed Peas and Tomatoes and Stuffed Zucchini -- back to top

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First, the black eyed peas stuff. We followed the same recipe as last time. Except I went overboard with the cayenne. I think I started with more than double the recipe and sprinkled more in. I also sprinkled dried ginger in addition to the real ginger I grated into it. Surprisingly, it was still not _too_spicy though it did have some kick. Overall, it was really tasty. We let it simmer for a while. Also, to make the crushed tomatoes, I sparingly used the immersion blender on diced tomatoes so that there were still some chunks. Again, I used smart balance on the bananas.

Meredith made the stuffed zucchini again (first time) from the recipe out of her Italian cookbook. She translated it below. These were also very good. The filling had a nice flavor to it and it makes zucchini, which is already delicious, even more interesting. She skipped the nuts and used fat free feta, as well as egg beaters.

Stuffed Zucchini (From Meredith's italian book, translated by her from Italian)

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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1376, 2011-08-30_150011