chicken broth

Mushroom Cornbread Dressing

Leah Short — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 15:19:59 +0000

I can’t believe it’s taken me years to get this Mushroom Cornbread Dressing on the blog. This is my absolute favorite dressing and we have it almost every year. I say almost because I like to change it up, but nothing so far beats this recipe. It’s the perfect texture with cornbread, mushrooms, green onions, and almonds. Of course I slather it with cranberry sauce, too. I just love everything in this dressing! It’s also easy to halve if you don’t want to make the full recipe.

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Smothered Pork Chops

Leah Short — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 12:08:20 +0000

I was flipping through my cookbooks last week and nothing sounded good to me. Do you ever get in those moods where you want something, but you have no idea what that something is? I was in the mood to cook, but had no cravings. Nothing was jumping out at me, until I flipped to Smothered Pork Chops. Crispy pork chops smothered in a white wine-mushroom-chive cream sauce. This is why it’s essential for cookbooks to have pictures! I think I even said, “Oh yeah, smothered chops for dinner!” I definitely eat with my eyes first.

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Summer Shrimp Succotash

Leah Short — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 13:06:53 +0000

Get ready to click the print or save to recipe button on this one! It’s been a few months since I’ve made a shrimp dish, which is really a shame because they cook so quickly, are packed with protein, and are low in calorie. Let’s not forget they’re completely delicious and can take on almost any flavor combo. This Summer Shrimp Succotash is going to absolutely knock your socks off! There was really nothing that special about it when I chose this recipe, I just wanted shrimp and veggies. Holy cow did I stumble upon a lip-smackin’ keeper!

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Cheeseburger Pie

Leah Short — Wed, 14 May 2014 13:30:21 +0000

I can barely contain myself with my excitement to share this recipe with you! Now I know Cheeseburger Pie sounds crazy, but stick with me. Let’s not forget that I brought you Taco Spaghetti and that’s been one of my top recipes on the blog. So trust me when I tell you this pie is drool-worthy. I have looked forward to every single slice. It’s fantastic out of the oven, but the leftovers get better and better. And yes, it REALLY tastes like a cheeseburger, minus all those pesky calories. You can taste the mustard and ketchup, plus those glorious pickles and tomatoes on top, and tons of cheese. This is comfort food at its best with no guilt. Now that’s a burger I can sink my teeth in!

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White Turkey Chili

Leah Short — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 16:48:21 +0000

Last week I was craving chili something awful. I had a bunch of turkey in my freezer that I had fried and was itching to make a White Turkey Chili. I found this Williams-Sonoma recipe and couldn’t get the addition of cornmeal out of my mind. I had to make it. Plus any reason to add cheese and a dollop of sour cream to my food is good enough for me!

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Caramel Sea Salt Shrimp + Bonus Recipe

Leah Short — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 14:52:45 +0000

When I was approached by Private Selection to see if I’d be interested in sampling their new finishing butters, I think it took less than a millisecond for me to say yes. Um, butter? And you have six flavors? And you want me to taste them? Yes, yes, yes! One of my favorite things on earth is a toasted piece of bread with fancy butter on top. My mom makes a concoction with butter, Parmesan, oregano, and basil and I could eat my weight in it. Not only is fancy butter great for spreading, but it can be the finishing touch on so many meals. I wanted to get creative and use one of the sweet butters for a savory dish, so Caramel Sea Salt Shrimp was born!

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Cornbread, Sausage, and Pecan Dressing

Leah Short — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 16:05:58 +0000

How was your Thanksgiving? I hope it was amazing with good food and family and friends. This year’s Thanksgiving feast was pretty much a success with no mishaps. In past years, we’ve had a dish or two that didn’t quite cut the mustard (I like to make new dishes every year), but not this year. For the next couple of posts, I’ll be recapping what we had on our table. I know you may be sick of Thanksgiving food, but these are great recipes to bookmark for Christmas or save for next year! Also, please excuse the pictures as they’re all from my phone. I think my favorite dish this year was this Cornbread, Sausage, and Pecan Dressing. Two years ago, I made a similar Cornbread & Sausage Stuffing…but no pecans. Pecans make everything better in my book!

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Lemon Chicken Soup with Fettuccine

Leah Short — Mon, 18 Nov 2013 15:22:22 +0000

I was really in the mood for some classic comfort food a few weekends ago. I wasn’t quite up for a big pot of chili, but soup sounded so good. I found this Lemon Chicken Soup with Fettuccine in my Giada at Home: Family Recipes from Italy and California cookbook and was instantly sold. Homemade chicken noodle soup but with a few twists. Giada uses spaghetti, but I wanted thicker noodles so I opted for fettuccine. The addition of lemon smelled amazing while it was cooking on the stove. Using already cooked rotisserie chicken makes this a cinch. It doesn’t get any better than a big bowl of soup, especially when you didn’t have to slave over the stove all day.

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Pierogi, Sausage & Squash Stew

Leah Short — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 16:04:35 +0000

We’ve barely mentioned pierogies on this blog. Back in 2010, they were on my recap post of a food tour I took in NYC. I love them. If you’re not familiar with pierogies, they are a carb-lovers dream. Pillows of dough filled with mashed potatoes. I like to slather mine in sour cream and onions. As I flipped through my Food Network magazine, I had eyes for this Pierogi, Sausage & Squash Stew. I added sausage to the title because it’s such a huge part of this dish. So much going on in this recipe and it makes four huge servings. I like the word “huge” when it refers to a serving size and I’m counting calories.

So, how’s it taste?

I was iffy about it because the ingredients have the potential to be too weird together to be good. Especially when you add the cabbage. It stinks! Seriously stinks! Luckily the smell is no where near the flavor. I had to alter the recipe a bit and used pork sausage instead of turkey. That worked out really well, so I highly suggest making that substitution. I also couldn’t find pre-cut butternut squash either fresh or frozen and I wasn’t about to cut one myself, so I substituted frozen, pureed butternut squash. I really toiled over that decision at the grocery store, but again, I think it worked out better than if I had used cubed. It makes the stew really thick and comforting. There’s enough chunks it it with the mushrooms, sausage, and the pierogies, so I liked not having yet another chunk of something.

The flavor was incredible. I’ll repeat that. Incredible! I was surprised at how much I loved it. It was hearty and comforting and had so many textures. The cabbage stays a bit crunchy, then all the chunks of mushrooms and sausage, and oh those pierogies! A dollop of sour cream makes it so rich. I started using a bit of prepared horseradish in this soup and now I try it in others all the time. It works fantastic in this stew. It gives just a bit of kick and yet another layer of awesomeness.

I would suggest cooking the pierogies separately as you need them for a serving. While I really enjoyed the leftovers, the pierogies got a bit soggy the longer they were in the stew. If you’re using full size pierogies, I also suggest cutting them in thirds. It makes for much easier eating.

Pierogi, Sausage & Squash Stew

adapted from Food Network Magazine
makes 4 servings
per serving: 388 calories, 13g fat, 46g carbs, 4g fiber, 24g protein

Ingredients:

2 tsp. olive oil
8 oz. Italian turkey or pork sausage, casings removed
1 tbsp. tomato paste
1 lb. cremini mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
3 cups shredded coleslaw mix or shredded cabbage
10 oz. box frozen butternut squash, thawed
1 (12 oz.) package cheddar and potato pierogies
Kosher salt
1/3 cup sour cream
Freshly ground pepper
Horseradish, prepared, optional

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat; add sausage and cook, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, until browned, about 5 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. Add mushrooms and stir well to coat. Increase heat to medium high, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are tender, about 5 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring, 1 minute, then stir in chicken broth and 2 cups water, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.

2. Add coleslaw mix, cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the cabbage is wilted, about 3 minutes. Add the squash and pierogies* and simmer, uncovered, until the pierogies are cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes. Season with salt. Divide among bowls and top with the sour cream, and pepper to taste. Add horseradish for a spicy kick.

*Note: I would suggest cooking the pierogies separately and adding them as you need them for each serving. The leftovers tasted great, but the pierogies did get a bit soggy the longer they were in the stew. So if you're not going to eat the entire recipe in one sitting, cook as many pierogies as you need per serving. It's also good to cut them into thirds to make eating the stew easier.

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Roasted Cauliflower Soup

Leah Short — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 13:00:28 +0000

A few years ago I made a Cream of Cauliflower Soup and was obsessed with it. Obsessed. When I saw this Roasted Cauliflower Soup recipe in Cooking Light, I knew I had to make it asap. I’m a huge, huge fan of roasting vegetables. They are so easy to pop in the oven with just salt and pepper, and what a wonderful flavor you get for almost any vegetable, especially cauliflower. I could only imagine how good that flavor would be in a creamy soup.

So, how’s it taste?

Oh my my my was it ever good. It gives the illusion that it would be a thick and creamy soup, but it’s actually on the thinner side. Not quite as thin as broth, but it’s not as thick as a “cream of” soup. I loved it. I thought it was so pretty in such a simple way with the flecks of the darker spots on the roasted cauliflower. I used an immersion blender and purposely left some small chunks of cauliflower in my version. There’s really not much to the ingredients, but roasting the cauliflower first is where all the awesome flavor comes from. The original recipe has additional steps to add ham and a bread topping, but I was too lazy for all of that. I topped a few servings with parsley and other servings with crumbled blue cheese and almond slivers. All of those toppings really worked well, but it’s good plain if you don’t want to fuss with the extra steps and make this a weeknight meal.

Yield: 4 servings

Roasted Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients:

1 large cauliflower head, cut into florets
2 tsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. kosher salt, divided
Cooking spray
1 1/2 tsp. unsalted butter
3/4 cup chopped yellow onion
4 garlic cloves, chopped
4 cups unsalted chicken stock or broth (or vegetable for vegetarian)
1 cup water
1/2 cup half-and-half
optional toppings: sliced almonds, parsley, blue cheese crumbles

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450F.

2. Place cauliflower in a large bowl; drizzle with oil, and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Toss to coat. Arrange mixture in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Bake 30 minutes or until tender and browned, stirring once after 15 minutes.

3. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Melt 1 1/2 teaspoons butter in pan. Add onion and garlic; sauté 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cauliflower, stock, and water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in half-and-half.

4. Place half of cauliflower mixture in a blender (or you can use an immersion blender in the Dutch oven and skip the next few steps). Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender. Place a clean towel over opening in blender lid (to avoid splatters). Blend until smooth; pour pureed soup into a bowl. Repeat with remaining cauliflower mixture. Stir in remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt.

per serving: 245 calories, 12.6g fat, 14.7g protein, 21.7g carbs, 5.6g fiber
*note: nutrition information from original recipe on Cooking Light

adapted from Cooking Light, January/February 2013

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