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Guest Post on Dori’s Shiny Blog

Click over to Dori’s blog to read my guest post about my Italian Wedding Casserole! Lots of pictures and the Sage Parmesan Meatball recipe! This is a really fun meal that Matt and I made together and has lasted through several rounds of leftovers…yum yum yum!  Here are the instructions for putting the casserole together (you’ll have to head over to DSB to get the meatball recipe!):

• What You Need:
  • Pasta (We used Rotelle, but any curly or spiral pasta will work)
  • About 1/3 of the sage parmesan meatball mix
  • Chicken stock
  • 1 Tb Flour
  • 1 Tb olive oil
  • 1 Tb Minced garlic
  • 1 Diced onion
  • 1 bunch fresh spinach, washed, drained, and chopped. (Or frozen spinach, defrosted, drained, squeezed as dry as possible)
  • Ritz crackers
  • Butter
  • Parmesan Cheese
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Basil, parsley, sage, cayenne pepper

 

• What You Do:
  • Cook pasta, as directed on package, drain, and set aside.
  • While pasta cooks, mix your meatballs and pan fry.
  • Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels — if there is a ton of grease in the pan, pour off or soak up (with a paper towel) most of it, leaving about 1/2 a teaspoon
  • Sprinkle flour around pan, stirring to coat with grease in the pan and let it cook for a couple minutes on medium heat (this will take away some of the floury taste)
  • Add salt, black and cayenne pepper, basil, parsley and sage and slowly add stock, stirring constantly and mixing completely with the flour after each bit is added.
  • When all the stock has been added to the pan, keep stirring so it doesn’t burn or stick. Bring it to a simmer and let it cook for 5 minutes. This will get it just a little bit thick.
  • While sauce is cooking, heat olive oil in pan over medium-high heat.
  • Sauté onion and garlic in pan until very soft and translucent (caramelized a bit if you want that extra sweetness).
  Add spinach to pan and stir. As the spinach cooks it will wilt down quite a bit. It might seem like you have a TON of fresh spinach, but it will result in a lot less cooked than you think.
  • Cook until spinach is wilted and tender, stirring constantly. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, mix pasta, meatballs, spinach, stock mixture and a handful of parmesan cheese until well blended.
  • Pour into large, greased casserole dish.
  • In small saucepan, melt 1 stick of butter. Crush 1 tube of Ritz crackers (you can really use any kind of crackers you want, but Ritz are super buttery and have the best taste as far as I’ve found so far)and add to the melted butter (along with a small handful of parmesan cheese), stirring to coat.*
  • Top the casserole with the deliciously buttery cracker mix.
  • Bake this in 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes or until bubbly and hot in the middle. The time will vary based on what size/shape casserole dish you use. You’ll want to watch the crackers, because they could burn if the oven is too hot or they’re in there too long…if you see them starting to get too dark, just cover with aluminum foil. Since everything is already cooked, you’re really just aiming for it to be heated and bubbly all the way through and for the cracker topping to get nice and brown! 

*It should be noted that the topping on this casserole comes originally from a broccoli cheese casserole side dish I learned from my greasy friend from KY, Bob…while we were Undergrads, we spent a LOT of time topping things with butter and crackers.  It’s delicious.

Thanks to Dori for letting me guest post! 4th bar review later today after my afternoon snack! (The last of the leftover italian wedding casserole for lunch today, so that will probably hold me over for a while!)

Apple Bread & Bar Review 3/5

Today’s Bar: White Chocolate Macadamia Luna Bar (also by Clif Bar)

Package Goodies: High in Calcium, Folic Acid, AND Antioxidants. 70% Organic, Entirely Natural (again, this means nothing…in some cases, things that are allowed by the FDA to be listed as “Natural Flavor” are more toxic than some “Artificial Flavor”). 6g Fiber, 3g Protein, Low Glycemic. Ingredient List: LunaPro (Soy Rice Crisp [Soy Protein Isolate, Organic Rice Flour], Organic Toasted Oats, Organic Roasted Soybeans, Organic Soy Flour, Organic Flaxmeal), Organic Brown Rice Syrup, Organic Coating (Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Organic Palm Kernel Oil, Organic Soy Flour, Organic Soy Lecithin, Organic Vanilla), Organic Macadamia Nuts, Inulin (Chicory Extract), Organic Macadamia Nut Butter, Vegetable Glycerin, Organic Oat Syrup Solids, Organic Sunflower Oil, Sea Salt, Natural Flavors. Very similar list of ingredients as yesterday’s bar. Chock full of nutrients and good-for-you stuff. The Verdict: Was this actually nutritious? Because it tasted like dessert! White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies are one of my favorites, so I knew I had to try this flavor bar. So delicious! I really liked the texture of the puffed rice type bar, with the layer of white chocolate on the bottom (and swirled across the top!). Sometimes I need a more fruity snack, but this is perfect for that chocolate/sweet craving I get some days. I had a Luna Bar with Matt the other day at the gym…I think it was something with peanut butter. It was equally as satisfying. I can see why these are getting such rave reviews across the blogs! I will definitely be stocking up on these anytime I see them on sale!! I have noticed with both yesterday’s Clif Energy Bar and this Luna Bar, that I am completely a sucker for nice packaging. Pretty colors, interesting designs, feel-good statements about the product philosophy…this stuff absolutely works on me. (I think it’s interesting that the Clif Bar company has an entire bar spawned off of it devoted to natural energy for women…this seems a bit sketchy, but I’m still a sucker, so I’ll buy into it for now) I’m a marketing team’s dream. Does it affect whether I enjoy actually eating it?? I’m not sure…probably a little, but I also know that I’ve had bars in hideous packaging that I’ve loved, and bars in really cute, promising packaging that have been horrible. Either way, yum for Luna Bar! There are a bunch of flavors, so I can’t wait to try more!

Even though I was really busy on Monday night, I managed to make some yummy apple bread for breakfast the next day! It’s from my Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, and it was super easy! We doubled this batch because we had a giant pile of apples leftover in the fridge that weren’t good enough for eating out of hand, but perfect for shredding into some bread!

Apple Bread

• 1.5 cups AP flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 cup sugar
• 1.5 cups finely shredded, peeled apple
• 1/4 cup cooking oil
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, toasted (I didn’t toast them because I was lazy…it was 100% fine)

1. Grease your loaf pan (I used about 6 mini loaf pans for my double batch) and set aside.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg.  Make a well in center of flour mixture; set aside.
2. In another medium bowl combine egg, sugar, apple, and oil.  Add apple mixture all at once to flour mixture.  Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy).  Fold in nuts.  Spoon batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes (our oven is wonky and vacillates in temperature a lot, but all my mini-loaves baking at once took about this long to cook…I’d recommend checking on them at 30 minutes or so, just to make sure you don’t burn them!) or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Remove from pan.  Cool completely on a wire rack.  Wrap and store overnight before slicing (HA! This did NOT happen.)

I’m really glad I took the time out of editing to make this. It was really easy and everyone here, at my work, and at Matt’s work loved it!  Fruit breads like this (very similar to bananananana bread) are so easy because there is no special folding or sifting or straining or anything to do….mix the dry, mix the wet, throw ‘em together and you’re good to go! I grew up with Shed’s Spread Country Crock spread, and it is the PERFECT smooth flavor for this kind of bread, even though we go for regular butter most other times.

If you’re not a big baker, this is a good kind of baked good to start with (probably why I love it so much!).  Now, back to editing!! Tomorrow, guest post on Dori’s blog!

Blogger Bake Sale Begins & Bar Review 1/5!

Happy Monday! I think Tuesdays are the new “Mondays” for me…Mondays I am refreshed, full of mocha, and in a pretty great mood. Tuesdays, I am dragging and not so peppy.

So there is a lot going on this week. I’m still busy editing (hopefully only through next Sunday!), I’ll have a guest post on Dori’s blog later this week, we’re planning for my parents’ visit in a few weeks, Passover starts Thursday, we need to dye some Easter eggs, the Blogger Bake Sale starts today and we have lots going on with applications at work.

To keep up my posting all week, make sure I try some new delicious things and save me from coming up with a new post idea or meal all week, I’m doing a series of bar reviews! Turns out, the blogging world LOVES bars, breakfast cookies, mini snacks…really things that come in wrappers and taste delicious. Last week, on my way back into the office on afternoon, I stopped in the school bookstore and realized they have an entire wall filled with bars! All different brands, flavors, sizes, shapes, etc. So, I spent a decent chunk of money on a big pile of different bars…the person working there must have thought I was at least a little nuts. Plus, I got a staff discount! Discount bars are my favorite!! So, I have 5 bars to try this week and the plan is to share one each day.

Today’s Bar: Oskri Coconut Bar with Mango by Oskri Organics Â

Package Goodies: Gluten Free, Lactose Free, Vega, USDA Organic, and it has some symbol that I absolutely don’t recognize. Ingredient List: Coconuts 50%, Rice Syrup, Mango Concentrate 1% Such a basic list of ingredients! The nutrition facts are not crazy wonderful for this, but it’s nice and simple, so at least I know that the calories and fat I’m getting from the bar aren’t coming from a ton of additives and other junk. The Verdict: This is pretty much what it says…Coconut. Shredded coconut packed together in a bar shape. There are little bits of mango throughout and a slightly orange tint to the coconut, but not a hug mango taste at all. At first, I thought it was a little too dry and plain flavored, but as I kept eating, the coconut was really nice (if you like coconut!) and not too sweet, which is definitely a plus. I actually nibbled on little bites of this one throughout the first hour or so of the day, because it was a little too much coconut for me to eat all at once. If I was in the right mood, I’d probably get this again…not necessarily for a breakfast bar, but more as a snack to last me through the morning or afternoon. I like things that I can consistently snack on for a long period of time…which is why chips or nuts or other bite size things are my downfall. “I’ll just have a few of these chocolate covered edamame” turns into “Hmm…how’d that entire container get empty??”

Make sure you check out Meghann’s Blogger Bake Sale. It just started today and there are a TON of amazing-looking goodies on there to bid for (plus some customizable nut butter cups from me!). The proceeds go to a great cause, and you’ll end up with some really delicious treats!

BBQ!? In Seattle!?

Several weeks ago we decided to try out a restaurant that we had been eyeing for some time.  I did my Undergraduate work in Kentucky and completely fell in love with southern food.  When my then-bf’s mother offered me a glass of sweet tea and I assumed this was the Sweetened Iced Tea I knew from NY, I nearly choked on the sugar in it.  But after the initial coughing and sputtering, I was hooked.   At this point, I am probably made up of at least 23% sweet tea (that number is based on very precise calculations).  It is addicting and delicious.  Along with sweet tea, I fell in love with pulled pork, fried pickles, hot browns, Chik-Fil-A, and numerous other not-so-good-for-you-but-to-die-for-delicious stuff.  It was an indulgently wonderful four years, and I have carried certain parts of KY with me back to NY and now to Seattle.  I can make some killer ribs, have tried my own fried dill pickle slices and sometimes crave sweet tea so badly that I make a giant pitcher that lasts us about 2 days.  When we went to KY in July because one of my best friends was getting married, I had the entire trip planned around food (and the wedding, of course).  We ate way too much, but Matt had never been to KY before and I was really missing it.  Thankfully, I have some equally indulgent friends and we had lots of company at our various food-detours.  I’ll hopefully be heading back there in June (for another wedding!) and I am already trying to decide what the best use of my time will be food-wise! 

   

Anyway, in my near-constant yearning for southern yumminess, we came to the subject of this post: RoRo BBQ, formerly the Rowdy Cowgirl, on Stone Way in Seattle.  I was skeptical, simply because this was a bbq place in the Northwest…the farthest we could get from KY, practically.

The decor was really cute…it’s a small one-room shack of a restaurant, with a mish mash of cowgirl/cowboy knick knacks, paper towels & wet naps on the tables, a giant collection of empty hot sauce bottles, etc.  A few tables and a window bar-top (the picnic tables outside are probably fun when it’s not freezing cold!) were the only seating aside from the counter looking into the kitchen.  Inside, the only other people there when we arrived were two little boys and their parents.  On the flat screen TV in the corner, they were playing old Bugs Bunny cartoons from a DVD. Fun! The kids were loving it.  The TV was muted and old country music was playing.  The only thing I recognized was some Johnny Cash every once in a while, which made me pretty happy.

It smelled delicious and properly bbq-y when we walked in, and the wonderfully sweet woman running the place was really friendly and welcoming.  She asked us if we’d ever been there before and pointed us to the menu.  

Pretty basic and all written up on a large board behind the counter—various combinations of bbq choices, sides, sandwiches, a couple desserts, sodas mixed in-house (neat!) and sweet tea!! SWEET TEA!!! We ordered ribs and a pulled pork sandwich deluxe (with coleslaw and pickles on top).  For our sides we had their shoestring fries, baked beans and cornbread.  When I ordered my sweet tea, she asked “How sweet? Alabama Sweet or Seattle Sweet?”   There was half a second where I debated saying “KENTUCKY SWEET!” but with very little actual hesitation it was without a doubt, Alabama Sweet!  Matt got the same thing (he’s a sweet tea convert, thanks to me) and she told us to grab a table and she’d come over to explain the sauces to us.

Explain the sauces?? Could that possibly be necessary?  Turns out, yes!  They had 7 squeeze bottles on the table….one was ketchup, one was their standard bbq sauce…the rest were variations on their sauce, with different levels of heat, smokey and sweet flavors.  After her really wonderful explanation of them all, we of course taste-tested them with our fries!

The fries were so delicious…I love shoestring fries!! And there were a ton of them! With any meal you get two sides OR an order of fries. At first we were grumpy about this, but it made sense when we saw how many fries there were!

Actually, everything was delicious…the baked beans had noticeable pieces of bacon in them, the ribs were completely falling apart and the pulled pork was perfect for adding your favorite bbq sauce from the table-top selection.  All I could have asked for would be some fried pickles, which were NOT on their menu.  They also didn’t have cheese grits, but I have only really ever seen these at Billy’s BBQ in Lexington.

About 5 minutes into our meal, I had finished my first glass of sweet tea, and she brought the pitcher out for a refill…she also suggested that she loves the tea with a splash of their homemade blueberry syrup (which they use in their sodas).  She thought I’d love it, and I DID! YUM!!! Sweet tea + Blueberry Syrup = Enough reason to go back to RoRo’s. 

Our meal wasn’t necessarily cheap, but that was largely because we ordered WAY too much food.  You get a ton of food for the money, and the meals are definitely splittable.  Plus, they have compost and recycling!! We bussed our own trays and split the garbage into compost and recycling and then the rest went to the counter, where the sweet woman, who had been calling everyone  “baby” the entire time, let us know that we better be back! We assured her that we would, and that is definitely the plan.  Yummy food that was fast and fun! Plus they have a take-out window, just in case you need to eat your ribs on-the-go… a very common problem for me.

Yummy Work Potluck!

For some reason, we decided to have an Admissions/Financial Aid potluck this week (students are on spring break, and it is pretty quiet in the office).  YUM!  Even though I was pretty busy, I managed to put together a big casserole of macaroni and cheese.

This was based on my grandma’s mac&cheese, which is amazingly perfect when she makes it.  I am still practicing (it’s not really a recipe, just the specific ingredients thrown together in the right way).  When she taught me how to make it and I asked how much of something we needed, her response was basically “as much as it takes.”  No measurements! How frustrating! The only sure thing is that it uses a whole box of macaroni (I used whole grain rotini, because that’s what we had on hand) and a TON of extra sharp white cheddar (I actually used an orange/white blend, because of what was on sale at whole foods).  It gets mixed with flour and milk (as much as it takes to get it to be perfect when you take it out of the oven…) and topped with breadcrumbs and more cheese!!

Since this was for a lunch potluck today, I mixed it last night before we went to Thai Tuesday.  After we got home around 9, I baked it, taste-tested, resisted the temptation to eat a giant bowl of it right then and then stored it in the fridge.  This morning I popped it back in the oven while I took care of Santana, got ready for work, and made a blueberry bagel for breakfast.  After it was nice and bubbly, I covered it, wrapped it in several kitchen towels and hauled it to work in our Hot/Cold thermos bag.

It was a complete hit!! I hardly had any left at the end of the potluck, and it went spectacularly with the rest of the meal, which included: baby back ribs, potato salad, fruit salad (with amazingly ripe cantaloupe!), some soy balsamic chicken, a meatloaf that was half veggies, gluten free bread, cornbread, chocolate strawberry cake, chocolate-butterscotch-peanut butter rice krispy treats, and iced tea-lemonade.  I can easily say that there was very little productivity in the office after lunch.  What a great chance to take a (LONG) lunch and sit around with a bunch of comfort food in the middle of the day, gossiping and relaxing with the entire office (plus some people from the office down the hall!). 

Tomorrow is a long day of driving for a grad fair (I’ll leave by 5:30am and get back hopefully by 8pm)…yuuuck.  No cooking or blogging tomorrow!

In the meantime, some GIVEAWAYS!:

– Jen at Prior Fat Girl is giving away Popchips!! As a crazy lover of chips, crunchy things, salty things, snacky things..this is super exciting for me!!

– Meghann, of Blogger Bake Sale fame, is giving away some Erin Baker’s yummies….I haven’t tried these yet, but they have been raved about on blogs far and wide. Good luck!