I know you’re supposed to save the best for last, but for my first recipe, I’ve got to share one that my family thinks is absolutely incredible.

I called this Party in a Packet because the flavors of this dish taste like party snacks to me. You’re going to LOVE it.

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I always use organic when available)
4 tbsp French onion dip (the kind in the dairy case)
1 cup semi-crushed cheese crackers (like Cheez-Its or Goldfish – I actually used Late July organic cheese crackers which are the same thing)
Salt and pepper

Yes, that’s right. 4 ingredients.

Prepare this dish as 4 individual packets. In each packet place one chicken breast in the center. Salt and pepper it. Brush 1 tbsp of the dip over it. Cover with 1/4 cup of the crackers. Repeat for the other packets. Seal up the packets and bake at 400 for 25 minutes.

Open it up and enjoy your party! This has a rich, deep flavor that makes you feel like you’re snacking on high calorie party snacks, when actually you’re enjoying a healthy chicken dish. Ssh – don’t tell the kids!

*Reader favorite: This appears in The Parchment Paper Cookbook

I know you’re supposed to save the best for last, but for my first recipe, I’ve got to share one that my family thinks is absolutely incredible. I called this Party in a Packet because the flavors of this dish taste like party snacks to me. You’re going to LOVE it. 4 boneless skinless chicken … Read more →

I was inspired by Lucinda Scala Quinn’s stuffed shells on Mad Hungry recently and wanted to try a version of her recipe. She uses prosciutto in hers, which intrigued me. I could only find large shells, not XL which was a bummer, but I made do. I also did not use radicchio since I don’t care for it. Instead I substituted spinach. I used jarred tomato sauce and cottage cheese instead of ricotta (what a cheat I am). I like some sauce on top of my shells so I poured some over the top before baking.

This was good, but I don’t think I would use the prosciutto again. It was interesting, but was kind of a smoky taste that I didn’t feel really went with the dish. I do like stuffed shells and I wish I could find the XL ones because stuffing all those little shells took me FOREVER!

I was inspired by Lucinda Scala Quinn’s stuffed shells on Mad Hungry recently and wanted to try a version of her recipe. She uses prosciutto in hers, which intrigued me. I could only find large shells, not XL which was a bummer, but I made do. I also did not use radicchio since I don’t … Read more →

I’ve been looking at the cookbook: The Complete America’s Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook, 2nd edition. I got it from the library. I totally love the idea of this cookbook – they’ve tested many recipes to find the very best recipe for everything they include. I’m going to be making several things from this, but so far the best thing I’ve made was Baked Ziti. I know this is considered a staple for many Italians, but it’s not really something I’ve had very often, except at big banquets, where it is inevitably bad (mushy pasta and bland sauce) The recipes in this book start out with a description of the problems they see with regular preparations of the dishes and the various things they tried to remedy them. This explanation mentioned the mushy pasta and bland sauce complaints, so I was drawn in. And I HATE ricotta cheese, but this used cottage cheese. It sounded really good though, so I gave it a try.

Amazing. Out of this world, insanely good. I thought it was going to be very tomato-y but somehow the sauce gets absorbed or mixed in with the creamy/cheesy sauce. We nearly came to blows over the leftovers. Don’t tell anyone, but when I made this I separated it into two pans and froze one, so we’ll be having it again (no one in the family knows there is another pan of it in the freezer or they would demand I heat it up NOW).

This recipe gets HUGE points from me and I can see why it made it into the book. The only changes I made were that I used whole wheat penne instead of ziti and I ended up adding more sugar than the recipe says since I like my tomato sauce to be sweet. And I used dried basil.

1 lb whole milk or 1% cottage cheese

2 large eggs, beaten

3 oz Parmesan cheese, grated

salt

1 lb ziti

2 tbsp olive oil

5 medium garlic cloves, minced

1 28-oz can tomato sauce

1 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes

1 tsp oregano

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil

1 tsp sugar

pepper

3/4 tsp cornstarch

1 cup heavy cream

8 oz while milk mozzarella, cubed

Preheat oven to 350. Whisk cottage cheese, eggs, and 1 cup of Parmesan in a bowl. Cook the pasta with salt, about 5-7 minutes until it begins to soften.

Heat oil and garlic in a skillet over medium heat until the garlic is fragrant, 2 minutes. Stir in tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and oregano. Simmer until thickened about 10 min. Then stir in 1/2 cup of basil and sugar, season with salt and pepper.

Mix cornstarch and heavy cream and cook over medium heat until thick, 3-4 min. Remove from heat and add cottage cheese mix to it with 1 cup of tomato sauce and 3/4 cup of the mozzarella. Add the pasta and stir.

Pour the pasta into a 13 x 9 dish and spread the rest of the tomato sauce on top. Sprinkle remaining mozzarella and Parmesan on top. Cover with foil and bake 30 min. Remove foil and bake another 30 min. Cool for 20 min. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tbsp basil.

I loved this and so did everyone in this house. Truly a fantastic recipe.

I’ve been looking at the cookbook: The Complete America’s Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook, 2nd edition. I got it from the library. I totally love the idea of this cookbook – they’ve tested many recipes to find the very best recipe for everything they include. I’m going to be making several things from this, but … Read more →

Somewhere recently I saw a mention of lamb meatballs and it’s been haunting me ever since. I definitely had to do something to get it off my brain. So I decided to play around with the concept. Here’s what I came up with:

Greek Meatballs over Couscous with Yogurt Sauce
1 cup couscous
1 onion
parsley
1 lb ground lamb
1 garlic clove
Greek seasoning (mine comes from Penzey’s)
1/3 cup breadcrumbs
1 egg
2 tbsp heavy cream
1 cup feta cheese
4 cups spinach
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
8 oz plain yogurt
1 small cucumber
4 tbsp lemon juice

Cook 1/4 of the onion in a few tsp of olive oil. Add the couscous and some chopped parsley. Add water as instructed by couscous package and cook according to direction.
Make lamb meatballs by combining lamb with 1/2 cup chopped onion, egg, cream, chopped garlic clove, Greek seasoning, salt and pepper, 1/2 cup feta, and breadcrumbs. Mix and form meatballs.
Place meatballs on greased baking sheet and add cherry tomatoes and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
Wilt spinach in a pan with a small amount of olive oil, seasoning with salt and pepper.
Mix yogurt with remaining onion, remaining feta, lemon juice, Greek seasoning, salt and pepper and small cucumber which has been peeled and chopped.

Serve by placing couscous on the bottom and topping with meatballs, spinach and tomatoes and yogurt sauce on top.

This was SO good. A wonderfulm lighter alternative to regular spaghetti and meatballs and easier to eat than souvlaki pitas. I loved it. The meatballs are tender and flavorful and the yogurt sauce is creamy and delicious. Absolutely fantastic. And my kids love Greek food so it was a hit all around.

Somewhere recently I saw a mention of lamb meatballs and it’s been haunting me ever since. I definitely had to do something to get it off my brain. So I decided to play around with the concept. Here’s what I came up with: Greek Meatballs over Couscous with Yogurt Sauce 1 cup couscous 1 onion … Read more →

We have lots of salmon Dude Martha and Mr. MarthaAndMe caught in Alaska, which is filling my freezer. This was our first try with the coho salmon Mr. MarthaAndMe caught. It was delicious – milder in flavor than the king, which I kind of liked.

I stumbled upon a great recipe for arctic char in Cooking Light and adapted it for the salmon. It it incredibly easy. Cook your salmon on the grill or in the oven, however you like it. About half an hour before dinner, mix one small container of plain yogurt, one peeled and diced small cucumber (gherkin size), 2 cups chopped cilantro, 1 tbsp lime juice, and salt and pepper. That’s it! Serve the yogurt over the salmon. It’s cool and creamy and light and refreshing. The cilantro, cucumber and lime give it a very fresh taste that allows the salmon to shine. Fantastic. A sauce that doesn’t have to be cooked – you can’t beat that! Even Mr. MarthaAndMe, who believes that he does not like yogurt really liked this one.

We have lots of salmon Dude Martha and Mr. MarthaAndMe caught in Alaska, which is filling my freezer. This was our first try with the coho salmon Mr. MarthaAndMe caught. It was delicious – milder in flavor than the king, which I kind of liked. I stumbled upon a great recipe for arctic char in … Read more →

I adore brisket. And I’d never had until about ten years ago when I tried Emeril’s recipe for it. Luckily, I happened upon this incredible recipe. Once a year or so I will make a big batch of this and freeze it. I get many meals from one brisket (the leftovers are fantastic on buns or if you buy refrigerated crescent roll dough and line muffin tins with them and fill them with shredded brisket).

You have to plan ahead for this recipe and make it the day before, because it needs to sit overnight. Then you just reheat it the next day. It is sublime. I’ve had so many compliments on this. My in-laws, traditional meat and potato folk, love it. A business associate of my husband’s from India came to dinner and was crazy about it, never before having heard of brisket. The sauce is sweet and a little spicy. It has layers of flavor because you start with studding the brisket with garlic, then browning the brisket, then you braise it in broth, then you add carmelized onions, chili sauce, ketchup, brown sugar and spices. The meat turns out moist and incredibly tender.  It’s a hit every time.

I adore brisket. And I’d never had until about ten years ago when I tried Emeril’s recipe for it. Luckily, I happened upon this incredible recipe. Once a year or so I will make a big batch of this and freeze it. I get many meals from one brisket (the leftovers are fantastic on buns … Read more →

My kids love sesame chicken takeout. If we get takeout (a rare occurrence) we have to get two large orders of this to prevent fisticuffs. I don’t mind it, but always seem to end up with a piece that is fatty or grisly, so I don’t eat much of it. They like it because it is sweet and deep fried.

I came upon a recipe for sesame chicken by Ellie Krieger in Food Network Magazine’s Sept issue. No deep frying involved, yet it promised a flavorful dish that is a good substitute. The verdict? They’re right. The chicken is browned in a bit of oil so it gets a nice flavor to it and the sauce is complex and rich. I really liked this a lot. I served it with some somen noodles. Like seemingly all Asian dishes, there are a lot of ingredients and steps, but I would say this was definitely worth it.

5 tbsp soy sauce

4 tsp toasted sesame oil

2 tsp honey

1 1/4 lbs skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into 3/4 inch chunks

6 tsp canola oil

2 scallions

1 tbsp grated ginger

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/4 c chicken broth

3 tbsp sugar

3-4 tsp cornstarch

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tsp chili paste

4 cups snowpeas, trimmed

cooked brown rice

2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

whisk 3 tbsp of soy sauce with 2 tsp sesame oil and honey. Add chicken and marinate 20 min.

Remove chicken from marinade and cook in 2 tsp oil in nonstick pan over medium heat. Cook in 2 batches, turning once or twice, until done, about 3-5 min

Remove chicken and wipe out pan. Heat 2 tsp oil and add scallions (reserving some tops to sprinkle on dish), ginger, garlic and cook for 1 min. Whisk broth, sugar, cornstarch, vinegar, chili paste, and remaining 2 tbsp soy sauce in a bowl. Add to the pan and cook until thickened, 3-4 minutes. Add remaining 2 tsp sesame oil.

Cook snow peas in a steamer 2-3 min.

Return chicken to pan and heat through. Serve over brown rice with snow peas. Top with sesame seeds and reserved scallion.

My kids love sesame chicken takeout. If we get takeout (a rare occurrence) we have to get two large orders of this to prevent fisticuffs. I don’t mind it, but always seem to end up with a piece that is fatty or grisly, so I don’t eat much of it. They like it because it … Read more →

The person who introduced me to homemade Chinese food was the Frugal Gourmet. He was a crazy hippie/ordained minister who had a cooking show on PBS in the late 80s/early 90s when I was a newlywed. My husband and I used to watch him together and found him to be entertaining (“Hot pan, cold oil, food won’t stick,” I can still hear him saying). It was around this time that I took some books out of the library about Asian food and began experimenting. My recipe for Peking Chicken was born.

This recipe is a family favorite. Mr. MarthaAndMe has been known to request it for his birthday dinner. It’s one of those dishes where everyone is literally licking the plate at the end of the meal. When my kids were younger I used to make some pancakes without scallion and they would gobble them up with chicken and sauce on them. Now I make them all with scallions. One word of warning. Make sure you can open your windows when you make this! It always smokes up my kitchen. Open your window before you start cooking this to get some ventilation going.

I adore this recipe. The chicken gets a magnificent color and has crunchy skin. The sauce is rich, dark, and thick. The pancakes are soft and absorb the sauce wonderfully. You taste the bite of ginger and garlic, the sweet darkness of the hoisin, the moist chicken, and the soul soothing pancakes.  It’s a perfect dish.

Peking Chicken

1 whole chicken

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp tamari

1 tbsp minced peeled ginger

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tsp seasoned rice wine vinegar

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup hoisin sauce

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Place chicken in sink and pour 1 quart boiling water over it, flipping chicken halfway through.

Place on rack and roast in oven for 50 minutes.

Mix honey, tamari, ginger, garlic, rice vinegar. Once the chicken has roasted for 50 minutes, brush with half the honey mixture and return to oven for 5 minutes. Brush again with the rest of the mix and return to oven for another 5 minutes.

Allow chicken to rest while you make the sauce. Add the chicken broth and hoisin to the chicken pan, first removing any blackened pieces, leaving all the brown pieces.  Bring to boiling, whisking, and scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Serve sauce separately.

Scallion Pancakes

2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups water

2 large whole green onions, finely sliced.

Mix ingredients together. Heat a skillet or large pan and add 1 tbsp oil (vegetable or olive are fine).  Use the batter to create pancakes, about 4 inches diameter each. Flip when the bottom is slightly brown. Repeat until all are made. Pancakes can be kept in a warm oven until they are all made.

To eat, put a pancake on your plate and top with a slice of chicken. Pour sauce over it and enjoy with a knife and fork.

This is also wickedly good cold! Note that I’ve tried to make this with half whole wheat flour and it just wasn’t the same – the pancakes were too chewy somehow.

The person who introduced me to homemade Chinese food was the Frugal Gourmet. He was a crazy hippie/ordained minister who had a cooking show on PBS in the late 80s/early 90s when I was a newlywed. My husband and I used to watch him together and found him to be entertaining (“Hot pan, cold oil, … Read more →

You already know I think Lucinda Scala Quinn is a genius. I’ve got her cookbook, Mad Hungry, and I love the segments she does on Martha and the pieces she writes for Living. She’s got her own tv show now on Hallmark, called Mad Hungry. I’ve been DVRing it daily. One day she made Pork Chops with Apples and Onions and also sauteed cabbage. Both recipes are from her book and I already had them flagged as things to try, so the show gave me that nudge I needed to try them.

A couple of admissions first. I don’t have a cast iron pan. And I used boneless pork chops. So sue me.

The pork chops were very easy to make. Essentially you sear them then you cook the onions and apples, add some liquid and add the chops back in to cook until done. I love apples and pork and liked this method of cooking them. Next time I would add some thyme or some sage – it needed some herbs I think. I might also be tempted to sear the pork, then stick the whole thing in the oven. The pork was moist and the apples amazing. I liked this a lot. Very hearty and homey.

The cabbage was a little trickier. The ingredients are simple – some onion, a little tomato and then cook the cabbage until wilted. I had to cook mine a really long time to get it to be soft enough to eat (and I covered it to get it to cook faster). I don’t like it crunchy. So if you make this, just be prepared to be patient. I did like it once it was done, but thought it was a little bland. Not sure what it needs – something.  Lots of leftovers, but I used them in all sorts of things (quesadillas and fried rice).

You already know I think Lucinda Scala Quinn is a genius. I’ve got her cookbook, Mad Hungry, and I love the segments she does on Martha and the pieces she writes for Living. She’s got her own tv show now on Hallmark, called Mad Hungry. I’ve been DVRing it daily. One day she made Pork … Read more →

Since there was virtually nothing to cook in Sept Living, I’ve had to branch out to some other sources for dinner ideas. One that struck me was chicken stuffed with feta, pine nuts, and spinach from Sept Cooking Light. Mr. MarthaAndMe could eat feta all day. I adore spinach. It sounded like a perfect match. I had to do some juggling for the kids though. Dude Martha got a plain chicken breast, breaded. Teen Martha got a chicken breast with feta and pine nuts.

I enjoyed this dish a lot, however it was somehow incredibly salty. I was using a new type of feta so that may be why, since I did not add a lot of salt.

I liked cutting a slit for the stuffing – very easy to do and no pounding and rolling required which I don’t enjoy. Thumbs up on this dish – something I will make again and again.

5 oz fresh spinach, chopped

1/2 cup feta

2 tbsp toasted pine nuts

1 tsp thyme

2 tsp lemon juice

2 garlic cloves, minced

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 chicken broth

Preheat oven to 350. Cook spinach until wilted then squeeze dry. Mix with cheese, nuts, thyme, juice and garlic. Cut a horizontal slit through the thickest part of each breast and stuff 1/4 of the stuffing in. Close with toothpicks. Season chicken with salt and pepper, then cook in the oil in a pan over medium high heat, 3 min per side, then add chicken broth to the pan. Bake at 350 for 15 min or until done. I cooked mine entirely on the stovetop and just covered the pan after I browned the chicken.

Since there was virtually nothing to cook in Sept Living, I’ve had to branch out to some other sources for dinner ideas. One that struck me was chicken stuffed with feta, pine nuts, and spinach from Sept Cooking Light. Mr. MarthaAndMe could eat feta all day. I adore spinach. It sounded like a perfect match. … Read more →