It's Healthy Midwest Comfort Food!

Growing up, my mom used to make Salisbury Steak on occasion and it was always so good and hearty and made my belly happy. As I got older, the dinner became less frequent as it wasn't "healthy" any more to eat red meat and then it was just the two of us at home - so why go to all that trouble.

In college, I loved when the dorms had Salisbury Steak night, it reminded me of my time at home.

But after college, again, I never made it - back to the it just wasn't healthy fact of eating it.

Enter Skinny Taste and Gina's recipe for Skinny Salisbury Steaks with Mushroom Gravy. HOLY FANTASTIC!!! Who knew you could try to eat healthy and still eat Salisbury steak?!

We had this for dinner a while back and it was just such a comfortable meal to be eating and was so filling and hearty. I did stay from her recipe to lighten it up even more and I have to say, we both thought it was fantastic! I can not wait until our first cool night to make this again in the fall! Served it with some mashed potatoes and some red cabbage, such a yummy dinner!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 tsp oil
one large onion, minced
2-3 cloves of garlic minced
2 lbs. lean ground turkey * Note I strayed from Gina's recipe here using all ground turkey and not two types of meat. It was still fantastic! I did this so it was easier to portion out how many oz. we could have on our plate - 5 oz. of turkey - since a mixture of meats would have been too difficult to deal with.
1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs
1 large egg
1 large egg white
2 cups beef broth
salt and pepper to taste - I didn't measure
16 oz sliced mushrooms * I doubled up here from the recipe because we adore mushrooms and the more the merrier.
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce, to taste
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1/4 cup water

Directions:

Sauté onions in oil over medium heat until golden brown, about 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine half of the sautéed onions, garlic, ground turkey, bread crumbs, egg, egg white, 1/4 cup beef broth, salt and black pepper.

Shape into 8 oval patties * I pre-weighed our patties to 5.5 oz or there about raw so I knew we could eat a whole 5 oz. patty once it was cooked. Just easier for us and it did yield more than 8 - I believe 10 or so?

In a large deep skillet over medium-high heat, brown both sides of patties. Set aside on a dish.

Add mushrooms to the skillet, season with salt and pepper and sauté 2-3 minutes.
Return patties to the skillet with the mushrooms.

In a small bowl, blend flour and remaining broth until smooth. Mix in remaining onions, tomato paste, vinegar, water, worcestershire sauce and mustard powder.

Pour over meat and mushrooms in skillet.

Cover and cook on low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

AND do you know what this makes as a wonderful leftover??
A short cut version of an open faced meat loaf sandwich! 1 5 oz. patty, some gravy, 1.5 oz. of potatoes and bread respectively and a nice side veggie and voila! Leftovers made anew!

It's Over 90 Degrees Out...

And I'm going to post a soup recipe. Why? Because that's the way I roll. And truthfully I made this back in the winter time.

It may very well be one of the best soups I've made. The hubs and I, being true blooded midwesterners, adore Amish and Shaker foods - including their noodles.And while we can't really find Amish noodles out here, we can still enjoy the Amish foods that we love.

I found this recipe for Shaker Chicken Noodle Soup on Isn't Everything in the Kitchen Trial & Error?  It was  simply wonderful.  The link here goes to the recipe, but since lately many recipes I've just linked to have gone missing from websites & blogs that have gone defunct, I've decided to copy it here and make my edits/tweaks.


shaker chicken noodle soup
13 cups chicken stock, divided - I made my own by stewing a chicken first and then adding in some water.1/4 cup dry vermouth or sherry1/4 cup unsalted butter1 cup cream, to lighten it up I used light cream1 cup diced celery1 cup diced carrot12 ounces dry egg noodles - I used Simply Smart ones for a little higher fiber option2 cups cooked diced chicken - again, I used shredded chicken from my stewed chicken1 1/2 cups water1/2 cup all purpose flour
Seasoning - I seasoned with some salt, pepper, thyme, garlic powder, and sage. DELICIOUS!

1. in a small saucepan, combine 1 cup stock, vermouth, and butter. bring to a simmer and cook until reduced to about a quarter cup, about 20 minutes. the mixture will darken and be thick and syrupy. remove from heat and stir in the heavy cream. set aside.

1. Pre-cook your noodles and set aside. You'll mix these in cooked at the end. I like this method instead of cooking them in the broth.

1. coat the bottom of a stock pot with olive oil and set over medium heat. saute the celery and carrot until softened, about five minutes. add the remaining 12 cups of chicken stock and bring to a boil. and then stir in the chicken until heated through and bring back to a boil.

1. whisk the water and flour until no lumps remain. add a ladle of hot broth to the mixture and whisk to combine. 

1. while continuously stirring the soup, add the flour and water mixture. cook, stirring continuously for about 2 minutes, or until slightly thickened. do not let the soup boil. 

1. stir in the reserved reduced stock, vermouth, butter, and cream mixture. taste and season with salt and pepper. serve immediately and do not let the soup boil. leftovers reheat perfectly.

Cheese Curds...

The hubs now makes cheese...

So for my birthday, I got cheese curds....

And unless you're either a Midwesterner or avid fair-goer you can't possibly understand the glory, deliciousness and love that are cheese curds.

And yes, I married the best man on the face of the earth. I mean any man that makes you fried cheese for your birthday is worth keeping around!

Not Yo Mama's Tuna Noodle Casserole

I love a good tuna noodle casserole. The creaminess, the crunchy potato chip topping - I'm salivating thinking of it. But I've yet to master a good t.n.c. There are just so many elements one can play with and manipulate! Do you add peas or not? Potato chips or panko? Egg noodles or spaghetti? What is your ratio of tuna to noodles? Condensed soup or cream sauce? Ok well that last one is easy - condensed soup only makes an appearance in this house for green bean casserole.

So after much debating about how to make my t.n.c for dinner, I opted for using a recipe. I know, what descent home cook uses a recipe for t.n.c.?

Well, I did and I will from now on - holy deliciousness. The only thing I feel this was missing though was some green peas, although the hubs didn't feel it needed them. I don't know to me it's just not a good t.n.c without peas.

The hubs and I both agreed this was the best t.n.c we have ever had - the flavor, the creaminess, the texture - So good, so comforting, and so wonderful!!

Tuna Noodle Casserole

courtesy of Epicurious

1 medium onion, finely chopped

4 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter

10 oz mushrooms, trimmed and sliced 1/4 inch thick (4 cups)

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1/4 cup Sherry

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 cup whole milk

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice - I omitted this in fear of curdling my milk (frequent blog followers will know I have issues with milk curdling in my cooking)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 (6-oz) can tuna in olive oil, drained (we used 2 cans)

6 oz dried curly egg noodles

1 1/2 cups coarse fresh bread crumbs (I used a mixture of panko and bread crumbs)

4 oz coarsely grated Cheddar (1 cup)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

print a shopping list for this recipe

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F. Butter a shallow 2-quart baking dish. Cook onion in 1 1/2 tablespoons butter (I used Pam) with a pinch of salt in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately low heat, covered, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Increase heat to moderately high and add mushrooms, then sauté, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms begin to give off liquid, about 2 minutes. Add soy sauce and continue to sauté mushrooms, stirring, until liquid mushrooms give off is evaporated. Add Sherry and boil, stirring occasionally, until evaporated. Remove from heat.

Melt remaining 3 tablespoons butter in a 2- to 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderately low heat and whisk in flour, then cook roux, whisking, 3 minutes. Add broth in a stream, whisking, and bring to a boil, whisking. Whisk in milk and simmer sauce, whisking occasionally, 5 minutes. Stir in mushroom mixture, lemon juice, and salt. Flake tuna into sauce and stir gently. Season sauce with salt and pepper.

Cook noodles in a 5- to 6-quart pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain noodles in a colander and return to pot. Add sauce and stir gently to combine. Transfer mixture to baking dish, spreading evenly.

Toss together bread crumbs and cheese in a bowl. Drizzle with oil and toss again, then sprinkle evenly over casserole. Bake until topping is crisp and sauce is bubbling, 20 to 30 minutes.

Easy Beefy!

I grew up outside of Chicago and grew up eating Italian Beef Sandwiches. Ever since moving to RI I've yet to find a suitable replacement for Italian Beef Sandwiches; there's cheese steak galore, steak grinders, you name it - but nothing that would be a suitable replacement for my beloved Italian Beef Sandwiches.

A few weeks ago I was browsing around on All Recipes and found a recipe for Pepperoncini Beef and what drew me in was that it was so easy, done in the crock pot, and followed a similar technique to my Kalua Pork recipe that I make.

This came out so delicious and made some killer sandwiches - so great actually we ate them 3 times in the week!

Still not the replacement of my Italian Beef Sandwiches from Chicago, but still pretty damn' good!

Ingredients

1 (3 pound) beef chuck roast

4 cloves garlic, sliced

1 (16 ounce) jar pepperoncini - I used the whole peppers, not the rings

Directions

Make small cuts in roast, and insert garlic slices in cuts. Place roast in the slow cooker, and pour the entire contents of the jar of pepperoncini, including liquid, over meat.

Cover, and cook on Low for 6 to 8 hours.

Shred the meat and the pepperoncini and return to the crock pot on warm to sit in the juices and get tender. Serve on buns with cheese.

Shortcut Lasagna

If you're a frequent reader you may recall I finally made my first lasagna back in 2009, and to be honest, I haven't made one since. The reason - it's so time consuming!! Now sure, I've made many other time consuming recipes on this blog in the meantime, but I mean lasagna is so time consuming for it to be just some noodles, cheese and sauce.

But when I came back from our vacation and went through my reader (all 2K+ posts!!) I stumbled upon a recipe for Lighhouse Lasagna. Now I decided to read it, because I do like lasagna and am for trying new things. Now this was right up my alley - quick, easy, simple ingredients. I had to make this!

So finally, in January, I made the Lighthouse Lasagna recipe from Lauren's Kitchen food blog. I made it just as she did and let me tell you it was absolutely fantastic! Easy, flavorful, and the leftovers were just as wonderful! I will 100% be making this again, and more frequently - I vow to not let two years go by again before I make this one!

Now this recipe is floating all over the web in a variety of places, and it popped up in my Google Reader many times throughout the month of December. Some called for cheddar cheese on top (um, NO!). Others used more of this, less of that. But this recipe was the perfect balance of cheesy goodness and saucy flavor!

Thanks Lauren - this was a hit!

Lighthouse Lasagna

adapted from Potluck at Midnight Farm and from Lauren's Kitchen

1 pound ground meat - I used ground Turkey

1 small can tomato paste

1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

Coarse salt

12 ounces egg noodles

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 1/2 cup sour cream - I used light sour cream

5 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature - I used low fat cream cheese

1 bunch scallions, finely chopped

8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese - I used low fat cheese

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Sauté the meat until lightly browned in a large skillet over medium heat, breaking it up as it cooks. Add the tomato paste, tomato sauce, and sugar. * Note I also added in here, aside from Lauren's recipe, some black pepper, garlic powder and a little dried basil - it was a very nice addition to the flavor!* Fill the tomato paste can with water and stir it in. Simmer, covered, for 15 to 20 minutes.

Boil your egg noodles and drain when done. Then return them to the pot and toss with butter. *Now I don't usually like to toss things with added fat, but I did here, and recommend you do too - it added another layer of richness to the meal that I think you'd miss without it.*

In a small bowl, combined the sour cream, cream cheese, and scallions. Layer the ingredients in the casserole dish- sauce, pasta, cheese mix, sauce, pasta, cheese mix, sauce, mozzarella cheese.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, the casserole will be set up and the cheese bubbly browned.

Back home to our Midwest Roots

I adore sandwiches - I really do - they are like the perfect food. They can be healthy, fatty, vegetarian, meatatarian, you can customize it to your liking, it's quick, it's easy, and oh so good!

My mom laughs that I love sandwiches so much, but I really do have quite an affinity for them and I'm thankful the hubs doesn't fight the sandwich craze here either!

We took a trip back to my Midwest roots for this dinner. In Southern Illinois, loose meat sandwiches are quite popular - remember those episodes of Roseanne?? Well I didn't realize until reading my plethora of food blogs a bit back that the loose meat sandwich craze is NOT just a midwest thing. Reading the blog Coconut & Lime, I realized that in Baltimore they are called Steamburgers. And really the recipes are the exact same from what I grew up eating and what I researched on other websites as well.

And since Coconut & Lime has never let me down before I went with their recipe.

We enjoyed these with some pickles and the first corn on the cobs of the season for us. It was such a fun meal and made me feel like a kid again!!

Loose Meat Sandwiches aka Steamburgers or whatever you call them where you are from!

My adjustments to the recipe is here, the one from Coconut & Lime is at the link above.

1 lb very lean ground beef
2 can beef broth - low sodium and low fat
1 onion, minced
1 shallot, minced
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Pam
1/2 teaspoon paprika
salt
pepper


Directions:
Heat PAM in a large, shallow skillet. Sauté the onion and shallot softened. Add the beef and brown the beef - be sure to drain off the fat - no need to eat that!! Once drained, add in the seasonings and then the can of beef broth - I used low sodium and reduced fat beef broth but you can use whatever you want. Simmer until all of the liquid is gone - you'll notice the meat breaks down even more and gets REALLY tender. Serve on hamburger buns with mustard - so tasty and good!