cooking – Page 2 – Lauren Warnecke

What happened to What’s in the Box? and, a recipe for tacos

I’ll tell you what happened.

I couldn’t keep up.

and then I went on vacation.

and then, I thought, those posts just didn’t seem that interesting to me anyway.

So I ditched the weekly updates on what arrived in my box of deliciousness and opted to spend the time eating said deliciousness instead. What has resulted is perhaps one of the most culinarily creative summers I’ve had to date, and a REALLY conscious effort to not let anything go to waste. Once you’ve weeded carrots with your own hands you’ll never let them turn flimsy and brown in the fridge again.

So now comes that point in the post where I share a recipe, and although I can’t take credit for the nifty taco shell because I saw it on The Garden Pantry‘s Facebook Page and had to try it. The rest? Leftovers.

Lauren’s Leftover Taco Night

Ingredients:

Corn tortillas (make sure they are good quality and extra soft)
1/2 lb. Ground Turkey
1/2 packet taco seasoning
1 onion, diced
shredded cheese
sour cream
avocado
cilantro
lime
whatever veg is in your fridge: I used lettuce, scallions, cherry tomatoes

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 375 deg-F. Using a muffin pan turned upside down, press tortillas into the notches and spray with cooking spray. Bake 10 minutes for cute little crispy taco shells.

Brown the ground turkey in a skillet coated in non-stick cooking spray over medium high heat. Add the taco seasoning and diced onion and cook until onion is soft and translucent. Place turkey aside on a plate covered in paper towel to drain oil.

Prepare your tacos in the shells. with the meat on the bottom. Add your toppings, squeeze some fresh lime juice over the top, and pour yourself a margarita.

What’s in the box: Week 3/4

With being in San Francisco since Tuesday, most of my CSA box is still at home in the fridge. But I managed to make some bang up meals before I left.

Ravinia date with myself:

An on-the-fly Spinach Artichoke Dip used up all the spinach I had left over, plus cream cheese in anything is delicious. Simply sautee the spinach until wilty (add a little water to the pan so it doesn’t burn. Mix with a jar of drained artichoke hearts and equal parts cream cheese and sour cream. I took this beauty on my Ravinia picnic before attending the live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion and paired with grapes, crusty bread, homemade pickles and a bottle of red.

Shrimp Something-Or-Other

In an attempt to throw as many of my box ingredients as possible in the same dish, this delight (not being facetious) started off with sauteed onion, kohlrabi, garlic scape and kale with a bit of soy sauce and a bit of adobo seasoning. I added ramen noodles and shrimp that were sauteed separated in butter, and was pretty much the envy of my Facebook newsfeed for the evening.

I’m thinking that at some point it would be helpful to find actual recipes to complement the ingredients that I find in my box, but honestly, I’m short on time and seem to be doing just fine throwing a little of this and a little of that into a pan and seeing what comes out. Maybe that’s the beauty of having fresh produce around all the time… it tastes amazing no matter what you do with it.

If only baking was that easy… but what with it’s chemical reactions and such measuring cups and recipes come in quite handy for that…

Downsizing is hard.

Don’t mess with a woman’s counter space….

The past couple of weeks I’ve been going through a series of life changes. Sometimes you have to give up a few things in order to grow, and part of my last few weeks has included a serious downsize back to apartment living.

While I can say for certain that I’m in a good place personally, perhaps the hardest part has been giving up my enormous chef’s kitchen for a 2′ x 4′ slab of Formica in my current abode. While I have every confidence in my ability to cook in a small kitchen (proved, in part, by the mean apple cobbler you see here), I’ll admit that I got pretty accustomed to spreading out.

As Alton Brown has drilled into me, muti-taskers are key, and in a small kitchen this is all the more true. So the things that I’ve chosen to take with me to the apartment are going to have maximum impact with a minimum footprint. If ever faced with nuclear holocaust, or a downsize of major proportions, these are the things I would (and did) take with me.

Lauren’s must-haves for a happy kitchen of any size:

An awesome wooden spoon, spatula, and scraper. Don’t skimp on quality here; break the bank and get the best.
Corning ware. My set was a wedding gift to my parents in 1975. Oven, microwave and dishwasher safe (not that I have one of those anymore). Plus they have lids, so you don’t need extra tupperware. You can use them for baking, too!
A fantastic mixing bowl. Do I really have to justify this?
Chef’s knife. No meal is made without it. Again, don’t skimp here; get the best and keep it sharp.
A soup pot, a skillet, and a sauce pan. If they are good ones, you only need one of each. Will Calphalon pay me if I plug them as my brand of choice?
A french press. The coffee tastes better, and it’s small enough to store in the cupboard.
My vintage, 1st edition Betty Crocker Cookbook. When times get tough, my mantra is always that Betty knows best.

Scones, glorious scones

If I were stranded on a deserted island, and I could bring two things, one of them would be my recipe for Trail Mix Scones. Now, I realize that there is not an overabundance of brown sugar and pumpkin seeds on deserted islands… I am simply trying to exemplify the importance of this scone in my life.

In fact, baking scones is one of the things I do best, and this quality makes it into every biography I write.

So, it is with great joy that I present to you my cherished recipe for Trail Mix Scones (although, it does make me a little nervous, since I often bring these to impress people at parties). I originally came across the recipe in the Tribune several years ago when they did a special publication of favorite reader dishes from restaurants around Chicago. The “Take a Hike Scone” is a schmorgeshborg of ingredients thrown together by the owner of the Bleeding Heart Bakery. The result: magic. I loved it instantly because it’s a vegan baking recipe that actually works and even tastes good (I was vegan at the time, and baking is perhaps the biggest challenge as a vegan chef) .

Since that time I’ve modified the recipe to my own liking, with one of the biggest differences being that I make it as a drop scone. I mean, sure, you could be all fancy, roll out the dough, and cut it in triangles before baking, but honestly, skipping that step doesn’t affect the taste or texture one bit. Needless to say, these beauties are a staple in our household, and dried cranberries are ALWAYS on the shopping list.

Trail Mix Scones

Ingredients:

1 C. (2 sticks) salted butter, softened to room temperature
2-1/2 C. all-purpose, unbleached flour
2/3 C. dark brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking powder
1-1/2 C. old fashioned rolled oats
3/4 C. dried cranberries
1/4 C. raw pumpkin seeds
4 TB whole flaxseeds
1-1/4 C. soymilk, rice milk or organic non-fat milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375-deg F. Using the dough hook, mix together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, soda, and oats in an electric stand mixer on low-medium speed (*Note: the whole recipe can be mixed by hand, but your wrist will be mighty sore by the end).

Cut the butter into approximately 1-TB chunks and add to mixer while it’s running, until pea-sized chunks are left. Add dried fruit, pumpkin seeds, and flaxseeds to mixture (*Note: I’ve tried tons of variations…. you can add nuts, coconut, sesame seeds, chocolate chips, raisins… the list goes on, but cranberries, pumpkin seeds and flaxseed is by far my favorite combination). Add milk and mix until incorporated (dough will by slightly wet).

Scoop out approximately 1/4-C. of mix onto greased cookie sheets with two spoons. Bake 25-28 minutes and transfer to cooling rack for as long as you can stand it. Makes 12-15 scones, best enjoyed with a glass of milk or a bitter cup of Joe.

Words of Wisdom:

Don’t spend the money on fancy packaging and buy things like Craisins. Visit your local mercado or fruit market and find the bulk section. You can get the extras for this recipe for a third of the price this way.
You can use cooking spray to grease your cookie sheet, or parchment paper, but I’m not too keen on waste and cooking spray doesn’t cut it for baking since I switched over from Pam to a DIY Misto sprayer. Best bet: invest in an expensive tub of non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening. It rocks for greasing baking sheets, and has lasted me a year so far.

Snow, Headache, Chicken and Noodles

The first big snow of the season has arrived (very late for Chicago), and the blustery weather in addition to the five games of pool and complimentary bottles of beer last night mean that we are cooped up with blankets, movies, and a giant headache today.

Perfect day for Chicken and Noodles.

I am very deliberate about me use of the Oxford comma, and in this case, the chicken and the noodles go together so harmoniously that they shan’t be separated by a comma. This dish was torn out of a Country Home magazine in 2009 and, along with the rest of the 1″ thick pile of magazine recipes, had gone unmade until Friday. Being of a full-time worker constitution, I opted for the slow-cooker directions, and it’s those that I will share with you here:

Old-Fashioned Chicken and Noodles

Ingredients:

3 medium onions, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1TB olive oil or butter
3 lb. Chicken (leg-thigh)
4 C. reduced-sodium broth (vegetable or chicken)
4 carrots, sliced
1 TB fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 16-oz. package egg noodles
1-1/2 C. frozen peas
2 TB lemon juice

Directions:

In a 5-6 Qt. slow cooker, place onion, celery, garlic, carrots, thyme, bay leaf, seasoning, salt and pepper. Place chicken on top of vegetables. Melt butter in broth, and pour over top of chicken. Cover and cook on low 8-9 hours. Remove chicken and bay leaf from cooker. When cool enough to handle, remove from bones and place chopped chicken back in pot with frozen peas and lemon juice. Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions. Stir to combine and mmmmm.

Soup love: Hearty Black Bean Soup

This soup has been a winter staple in our household for about three years. You can easily substitute the chorizo for italian sausage (as I did this time) or veggie alternatives like “Soyrizo”. We like to eat it just by itself as a late supper, but cornbread, toast, or a peanut butter sandwich are great compliments.

It’s flavorful. It’s delicious. and in three days, it was gone.

Slow Cooker Hearty Black Bean Soup

Ingredients:

1/4 lb. Chorizo (4 oz.)
1 small onion, chopped
1 small green pepper, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 TB dry sherry (or red wine vinegar, or apple cider vinegar)
1tsp. ground cumin
1 bay leaf
15 oz. canned black beans (not drained)
15 oz. vegetable broth
1 med. lime, squeezed
1/8 tsp. each salt and ground black pepper
2 TB fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions:

Saute chorizo in a pan for 2-3 minutes. Add onion, garlic and peppers, saute over medium heat for 5 minutes or until meat begins to brown. Add to slow cooker

Add all other ingredients except cilantro, salt, pepper, and lime to cooker. Cover and cook 4-5 hours on low setting.

Add remaining ingredients and simmer uncovered for about 5 minutes.

Yields 1 cup per serving, makes 8 servings (I double the recipe for my 7 Qt. cooker)

Stocking up and making ready

Since December 2, I’ve been living the fantastic life of a housewife. Working occasionally, blogging frequently, and cooking constantly. Today, that all changes as I go back to my typical 60-hour work week.

I’m nervous.

When I get nervous, I prepare by cooking lots of food. That way, even if nothing goes according to plan, at least I’ve got dinner. It’s winter, so, naturally that means lots of soup. Lots and lots of soup. My hope is that these two beauties will last all week and next for dinners.

That’s Hearty Black Bean Slow-Cooker soup on the left, and Winter Ham and Beans on the right. I’ll get you those recipes later in the week.

I was hoping to get a third pot going too, but it wasn’t in the cards today.

That’s right; I said it: we have three crock pots. When it comes to crock pots, you can’t just have one. Plus, we have a chili cookout every Halloween and so all those slow cookers come in quite handy.