The gray steak that I returned to Winn Dixie.

You never want to see gray on your steak, and that’s exactly what I saw on all the undersides of the boneless eye round steak I bought from Winn Dixie yesterday.

I was pretty unhappy, as I had prepped all the vegetables for the Swiss Steak crockpot recipe when I discovered the steak was gray on the bottom. Zipping out to return the meat was not on my original agenda for the day, that’s for sure!

Keith, a manager of the Winn Dixie store off Atlantic Blvd. and Girvin Rd. in Jacksonville, Fla. was very apologetic about the meat, and offered me a fresh new package of steak free of charge (in addition to reimbursing me for the grayish steak). I thanked him but declined. I was mainly upset that my dinner plans of Swiss Steak were ruined. It takes 6-8 hours to cook in the crockpot, and starting it at 1:30 p.m. is a definite no no for those who like to eat dinner at 6 p.m.!

I ended up making chicken pot pie for dinner. I took out some diced organic roast chicken from my freezer, defrosted it, and added it to a mixture of sauteed onions, Healthy Request Cream of Mushroom, sliced carrots, zucchini and frozen peas.

I added a topping of Pillsbury pie crust and baked it for about 19 minutes. What a delicious dinner! There was silence at the table while it was being scarfed down.

Delicious Chicken Pot Pie on the Quick Side

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

• 2 cups diced roast chicken
• 1 can Healthy Request Cream of Mushroom
• 1/2 can 2% milk *
• 1/4 can Reduced Fat Chicken Broth *
• 1 cup diced sweet onion
• 1 zucchini, sliced thinly and halved
• 1 carrot, thinly sliced
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1/2 teaspoon Poultry Seasoning
• small pinch Herbes de Provence
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a pot, preheat on low and saute onions, carrots and zucchini. Season with a pinch of salt, poultry seasoning, and Herbes de Provence. Stir. After onions are translucent, pour in Cream of Mushroom, milk, and chicken broth. Stir and let heat about 5 minutes. Add in frozen peas and diced cooked chicken. Stir. Meanwhile, spray an 8×8″ Pyrex pan with non-stick spray. Pour in chicken mixture and top with pie crust, pinching the sides closed. Cut the dough away from the handles. Make a design, such as a star or heart, in the middle of the pie crust to allow bubbles room to escape while the pot pie is baking. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, til the pie crust is golden brown. Serve and enjoy!

Keith, the Winn Dixie manager, also gave me a $10 Winn Dixie gift card. I will be doing a giveaway in the very near future for my readers and that will be one of the things included.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend full of great food and happy times to treasure!

Photos by Kelly Estes

Big demand for organic eggs!

Publix at Windsor Commons has a sign up in the dairy aisle today, apologizing to customers for its short supply of organic eggs.

Overseas, Germany is also experiencing high demand for organic eggs, though for different reasons than here in the States.

I had no idea that organic eggs are so popular. Apparently, the demand for organic eggs is so high that it is creating a supply problem!

Photo by Kelly Estes

That’s why I was ecstatic to find out the solution was pretty simple: marinate the chicken breasts for about 8 hours in the refrigerator. I used Teriyaki Ginger marinade, but your favorite marinade should do just fine.

I made this happy discovery after tiring of the 30-minute marinades available in grocery stores. Marinating the chicken breast in the marinade for half an hour would add a little taste to the chicken breast, but not enough to make you forget that you’re eating a low-fat piece of chicken!

So I put my chicken breasts in a gallon size Glad bag, zipped it up, and pounded them with my trusty meat mallet. After the chicken breasts were flattened to about the same width, I poured about half a bottle of Teriyaki Ginger marinade into the bag. Having had marinade accidents in the past in the fridge, I have learned to put my zipped bag of chicken into a glass Pyrex casserole dish to avert a marinade drip disaster!

Eight hours later, I pulled out my very happy, Teriyaki-laden chicken breasts and grilled them on my gas grill. Using techniques and a recipe from The Cook’s Illustrated Guide To Grilling And Barbecue, I successfully grilled the boneless chicken breasts in about 10 minutes. Leftovers make a great lunch the next day. What an easy dish!

Photo by Kelly Estes

Slightly sweet, a little crunchy, and moist inside, this cornbread is addictive and fabulous. Ah, there is nothing like a homemade piece of cornbread to go with your chili on a cold winter night.

Memories of eating cornbread with a bowl of chili abound. What makes the hearty meal irresistible is a fabulous homemade cornbread that is easy to whip up. Make this, and watch the basket of cornbread go from full to empty in mere minutes.

Cornbread

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Bake time: 20 – 25 minutes
Total time needed: 30-35 minutes

Serves 9

*If you’re serving a big crowd, double the recipe and serve in a 9″x13″ Pyrex baking dish.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 T. + 1 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 2 Tbsp. light sour cream
• 1/2 cup frozen corn

Mix ingredients. Spray a square 8″x8″ (2 quart) Pyrex with non-stick cooking spray. Pour batter into greased pan. Bake at 425 degrees F. for 20-25 minutes. Serve hot.

It’s sure to brighten your day, and won’t hurt your wallet quite as much as a jaunt out to Starbucks.

I like making a decaf mocha in the late afternoon, because caffeine that late in the day gives me problems when I’m trying to go to sleep at a regular hour later! But to each his own. Make yours with regular Via if you’d like.

Decaf Mocha

Ingredients

• Decaf Starbucks Via packet
• 8 oz. boiling water
• 3 oz. hot milk (just warm up in Pyrex measuring cup in microwave 25 seconds or so)
• 1/8 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Ghirardelli’s)
• 2 tsp. granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. Coffee Mate powder
• 1 tsp. Half and Half
• very light shake ground cinnamon

Pour 8 oz. boiling water into a 12 oz. cup with the Via , cocoa powder, sugar and Coffee Mate already in it. Stir. Add the hot milk and stir again. For a creamier finish, add the half and half. And for a delightful aroma, add a very small shake (one light shake) of ground cinnamon.

Enjoy!

Photo by Kelly Estes

If you do, you’ll understand why I ‘gave’ myself two Gastroflex silicon molds. When Santa doesn’t know where to get certain baking items, one must procure these things after Christmas!

These silicon molds are so easy to clean, they truly are non-stick, and best of all, muffins pop right out of them. After the muffins are baked in these beautiful molds, I let them cool on the cooling racks for 10 minutes before turning the muffins out. No muss, no fuss!

I made a variation of my favorite cranberry sauce filled oatmeal muffins in them, and boy did the kitchen smell good. These sweet treats won’t last long!

Cranberry Sauce Oatmeal Muffins

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Ingredients

• 1 Cup quick-cooking rolled oats
• 1 Cup 2% milk
• 1 Cup unbleached flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
• 1 egg (beaten)
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 3 oz. non-fat Greek yogurt
• 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup homemade cranberry sauce

Combine oats and milk; let stand 15 minutes. Oats will soak in the milk.

Meanwhile, put flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, ground ginger and cinnamon in a bowl and whisk to combine. Add chopped pecans to bowl.

In a third bowl, combine a beaten egg, the non-fat Greek yogurt, and canola oil. Stir well.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir just to moisten; be careful not to overmix.

Prepare your muffin pans as needed (non-stick spray, muffin papers, etc.). Put 2-3 T. muffin mix into the bottom of each muffin on the tin. Then put 1 T. cranberry sauce on top of each muffin mixture. Follow with 2 T. muffin mixture to top it off. The cranberry sauce should be sandwiched between the muffin mixtures.

Bake at 425 degrees F. for 20-25 minutes. Makes about 1 dozen muffins.

Photo by Kelly Estes

The medical profession admits homemade chicken soup helps those who are sick with colds or the flu recover a bit faster. One of my pet peeves about chicken noodle soup is that it doesn’t have much staying power. I prefer adding some beans instead.

The most time-consuming part of homemade chicken or turkey soup is making the broth. So, planning ahead is good. After making a Thanksgiving turkey recently, I made turkey broth, and froze what I didn’t need.

Fast forward a few weeks later, and a couple of us in the house have scratchy throats. It’s time to pull out the turkey broth from the freezer and rustle up the ingredients to make a lovely vegetable soup. Follow the recipe, and in a little more than 30 minutes, you’ll be sitting down to a steaming hot bowl of hearty soup. Happiness. Joy. Scratchy throat relieved. For a little while.

Hearty Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

• 8-10 cups Turkey broth (I used 5 cups homemade turkey broth + 4 cups low-sodium Swanson chicken broth)
• 15.5 oz. canned black beans, rinsed
• 15.5 oz. canned cannellini beans, rinsed
• 1 small piece dried or fresh ginger
• 1 lb. mixed frozen vegetables
• 1/2 lb. frozen corn
• 1/2 lb. frozen broccoli

Heat broth and bring to a boil, then reduce to low. Add beans and ginger, stir, then let simmer for 30 minutes. Midway through, after the beans have cooked 15 minutes, add the mixed vegetables and broccoli. After 30 minutes of cooking, add the frozen corn and let cook an additional 5 minutes. Taste to see if you need to add salt or pepper.

I make my turkey broth with salt, so I generally don’t have to add salt to my soup. I do like to add a little ground pepper. Enjoy!

There’s nothing like a freshly baked turkey! With many of our extended family coming over for a big feast tomorrow, I am dishing up a delicious fresh turkey, baked in the oven for several hours, kept moist with a couple tricks.

The day before Thanksgiving, there’s no time to defrost a frozen turkey. So you absolutely must buy a fresh turkey. I bought an almost 18 pound turkey, as I have a lot of guests coming to dine. And many of them love second helpings (those men)!

My secret to a moist turkey is stuffing it with a lemon, among other things, and using a box of chicken broth. The broth was an idea I lifted from renowned chef Bobby Flay, who used broth on the bottom of the roasting pan to give the big bird a steamy environment in a recent Food Network show. Yes, the broth does a great job at keeping that bird moist!

Along with the turkey I’m serving up acorn squash (mixed with sauteed apples in butter and cinnamon), steamed brussel sprouts drizzled in sauteed garlic butter, green beans with pine nuts, arugula with sliced oranges salad, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, and cornbread. My mom is bringing three pies: blueberry, apple, and pumpkin. I’m mixing up fresh whipped cream after we’ve stuffed ourselves with turkey.

Moist Turkey
Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. If your rack is in the middle of the oven, move it to the lower part of the oven to accommodate the big turkey.

Ingredients

• Turkey (17.75 lbs was the weight of mine)
• 3 T. unsalted butter
• 1 medium onion, quartered
• 1 lemon, halved
• 2 garlic cloves with ends cut off
• 2 T. Herbes de Provence
• 2 T. kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground pepper
• 1 quart low-sodium chicken broth

Wash turkey with water (and remember to take out the giblets). Put the turkey on a rack in a roasting pan. Carefully slide your fingers underneath the skin of the turkey and put some kosher salt in there so the salt will cook into the turkey meat and won’t just be on top of the skin. Then season the turkey in the cavity and outside, on top of the skin, with the Herbes de Provence, salt and pepper.

Put the onion, lemon and garlic cloves in the turkey. Tie the legs together with butcher’s string (for more even cooking).

Put your turkey breast side down on the rack in the roasting pan. This will allow the breast meat to stay moister. Tuck the wings underneath. Pour the chicken broth into the bottom of the roasting pan (don’t pour it over the turkey–all that seasoning will slide right off).

Microwave the butter for 30-45 seconds in a Pyrex measuring cup. Pour the butter over the top of the turkey. Season with a tad more salt if needed.

Get your meat thermometer and put it into the thigh of the turkey, but do not have it touch the bone.

Put the turkey into the oven. Roast at 425 degrees for 30 minutes. Then turn down your oven to 325 degrees F. and roast until the bird is 165 degrees F. internally. Take the turkey out and let it rest for 15 minutes before getting it out of the roaster. Put on a wooden cutting board, carve and enjoy.

**Note: my 17.75 pound fresh (not frozen) turkey took 3.5 hours to cook. The time your turkey takes to cook will vary depending on how many pounds it is, and how accurate your oven temperature is (many are a little off one way or the other).

Happy Thanksgiving!

Photo by Kelly Estes

After a busy day, I realized I needed to think about what was for dinner, and reached for my already cooked ground round that was in my freezer. But what to make with it?

Homemade spaghetti sauce takes three hours to cook, so I crossed that off my list. Chili? I just wasn’t in the mood for it.

But what about a Beef Stroganoff using ground meat? I had all the ingredients, except for fresh mushrooms. And my kids aren’t huge fans of mushrooms, although they’ll eat them cooked in a casserole dish.

Instead of mushrooms, I sliced 1/2-inch discs of fresh zucchini and then quartered those, sauteing them with the already sauteed onion slices and sprinkling some Herbs de Provence on top. The sauteed zucchini pieces add a fresh crunch and taste to the creamy meal. While some may raise their eyebrows at adding zucchini to the Beef Stroganoff, remember that what makes some meals so delicious and memorable is the juxtaposition of textures. In this case, the creamy taste contrasts well with the sauteed fresh zucchini. But don’t just take my word for it–try this dish out yourself!

Luckily, my twist on this Beef Stroganoff came off so well my family was asking for seconds. Served over Barilla Plus angel hair pasta, this creamy dish is one you can feel good about serving. In addition to being quick to pull together, this Beef Stroganoff is delicious and nutritious.

Sometimes, we just don’t have that long to pull together a meal.

With Thanksgiving around the corner, and Christmas fast approaching, this dinner is one you can serve up in 30 minutes. Priceless!

Photo by Kelly Estes

Now, I don’t go to Fresh Market very often–maybe once every three months. But since they’re supposed to be the more premium grocery store, I was shocked that their produce bags were of such poor quality.

Ripped produce bag containing pears.

Even their checkout clerk seemed embarrassed when I mentioned the bag problem, and said they do seem to be very cheaply made. This, after the sweet potatoes escaped the produce bag at checkout and rolled onto the floor!

To date, I have not had produce bags rip on me at Publix or Winn Dixie. Bags that rip that easily can’t be impressing customers.

Holey bags aside, the fruit and vegetables at Fresh Market were most impressive.

My daughter and I marveled at the huge Honeycrisp apples. And we sighed over the pears. Thoughts of pear apple crisp inspired me.  Then I saw the big display of Pistachios, and I recalled the strange sales pitch Ron Blagojevich does, hawking pistachios in a new TV ad. No, I didn’t buy any pistachios.

I did go for the brussel sprouts. They are absolutely delicious simply steamed, with a little kosher salt tossed on them in the end.

The eggplant, squash, and organic apples looked beautiful. Touring the produce, I was inspired to try some new recipes this Thanksgiving.

It’s always a treat to visit the Fresh Market. Maybe next time, their produce bags won’t rip on me. Here’s hoping!

Photos by Kelly Estes