Almond and Parmesan Chicken Tenders

This one is kid and adult approved.  It's a great, more healthy alternative to flour-laden, carb-dense recipes.  Yummy!

Recipe For Almond and Parmesan Chicken Tenders

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, rinsed and patted dry
3 eggs
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 cup of almonds, chopped in a food processor to a coarse meal texture
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon garlic or onion powder
big pinch of kosher salt
couple of grinds of black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Set up a breading station:

• Whisk eggs and then whisk in lemon juice and put in a shallow bowl. 
• Mix the almonds, parmesan, paprika, garlic or onion powder, salt, and pepper and put in a shallow bowl.

Working a couple at a time, coat chicken tenders with egg mixture, then with almond mixture, and shake off excess.  Place on parchment paper-lined baking sheet; no crowding.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and crispy.

Broccoli Cheddar Cheese Crustless Quiche

This is a breakfast/brunch dish for those of us who have childhood issues with runny eggs and need them to be thoroughly cooked and disguised with plenty of cheese.  Our picky kids seem to like this one too since it has the flavors of broccoli cheese soup.  You can bake this recipe in individual ramekins, which I think makes it kinda fun for kids, but you can also bake it in a pie dish.

Broccoli Cheddar Cheese Crustless Quiche Recipe

10 ounces fresh broccoli
6 large eggs
1/2 cup half-and-half
big pinch of salt
couple grinds of black pepper
1/4 teaspoon of your favorite seasoning:  nutmeg, toasted onion powder, garlic powder, etc.
3/4 cup shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
butter for greasing ramekins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter four 8-ounce ramekins or a 9-inch pie dish.

Bring a stockpot of salted water to a boil.  Add broccoli.  Return to the boil and cook 1 minute.  Drain well. Transfer broccoli to a cutting board and blot dry with paper towels.  Chop broccoli coarsely.

In a large bowl whisk together eggs, half-and-half, a big pinch of salt, a couple of grinds of pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon of your favorite seasoning.  Stir in broccoli and cheese.

Place ramekins or pie dish on a rimmed baking sheet.  Ladle the broccoli/egg/cheese mixture into ramekins, dividing evenly, or ladle it into a pie dish.  Bake until golden brown and a knife inserted in the middle comes out pretty clean, about 35 to 40 minutes for individual ramekins, 10 to 15 minutes more for a pie dish.

Making Pesto With Morgan

Morgan is a wee bit shy and doesn't like for me to post photos of her.  I think she'll be okay, though, with this little pic of her presenting the yummy pesto that she made with me.

Homemade Basil Pesto

2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup walnuts
3 peeled and roughly chopped garlic cloves
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese or a combination of the two
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Use the measurements as guidelines and adjust the amounts to suit your taste.

In a small saute pan or skillet, toast the pine nuts and walnuts over medium heat, shaking constantly, for a few minutes to give them a nice toasty flavor, but being careful not to let them burn ... the difference between toasted nutty goodness and blaring smoke alarm is, oh, about a second, haha.  Let the nuts cool until they can be handled easily.

Put the basil, pine nuts, and walnuts in a food processor and pulse a few times to roughly chop.  Add the garlic cloves and pulse a few times.

With the food processor running, slowly stream in the olive oil.  Stop processing and scrape down the sides of the food processor with a spatula.

Add the grated cheese and pulse just to combine.  Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper and pulse to combine.

Let the pesto rest for a few minutes, especially if you're using Kosher salt, which has larger granules than table salt and needs some time to dissolve.  Then give your pesto a quick pulse in the food processor, taste it, and add more olive oil, salt, or pepper if necessary.

Spaghetti Squash Casserole

Spaghetti squash is a tasty, low-carb option to use in place of pasta.  I'm not gonna lie to you, it absolutely does not have the same flavor and consistency as pasta; it is, however, yummy and satisfying.  You can mix it with leftover tomato sauce and top it with cheese to make a great low-carb meatless casserole.  This is a nice Meatless Monday kind of main dish if you're trying to reduce your carb or animal protein intake or cook on a budget.  And a big bonus for my family is that our young'uns like it and every serving provides them a couple of their daily servings of veggies as well as some calcium.

I don't have exact measurements to give you for this recipe.  I used two fairly small spaghetti squash, a few cups of leftover tomato sauce, and enough grated Mozzarella cheese to cover the surface of the mixture, and cooked it in an 8-by-8 baking dish.

For the tomato sauce, here's a recipe for a quick and easy weeknight tomato sauce or use your favorite recipe.

There are several ways to prepare spaghetti squash.  You can Google "how to cook spaghetti squash" for info about different prep methods.  I chose the method where you cut the squash in half lengthwise before baking.  This requires a very, very sharp chef's knife or cleaver and some muscle; having a strong hubby to hack through the squash for you is highly recommended (muchas gracias, mi amor!).  After you cut the squash in half, scrape out the seeds and pulp.  If you're patient, it's worth separating out the seeds to roast in the oven, just like pumpkin seeds.  They're super-yummy!

Line a baking sheet with foil and spray the foil with nonstick spray.  Put the squash halves cut side down on the foil and bake at 375 degrees until you can easily insert a fork right through the skins and the flesh, about 30 to 45 minutes.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a while, then use a fork to scrape the flesh from the squash.  The flesh will shred into spaghetti-like strands as it's scraped.




Shredded spaghetti squash


Mix the squash and tomato sauce and put it in a greased casserole dish. 

Cover with a nice, thick layer of grated Mozzarella. 

Bake at 375 degrees until the casserole is hot and the cheese is ooey-gooey melted, 20 to 30 minutes.

Broccoli Cauliflower Cheese Soup




This twist on broccoli cheese soup is creamy, cheesy, and pretty darn nutritious.  It has just a touch of butter and flour, only enough to allow the cheese to melt without separating, and it has milk instead of cream.  The primary thickener is the cauliflower.  Our gradually-becoming-less-picky kiddos like this soup, and it provides them lots of veggies and calcium ... winning!!!

For the cheddar in this recipe I highly recommend the Cabot extra sharp white cheddar available at Wal-Mart.  I know, it's totally counterintuitive to think the best cheese comes from Wal-Mart, but this is our family favorite for taste, smooth melting, and reasonable price ... go figure.

One other recommendation, and it's about specialty ingredients.  It's seldom necessary to invest in specialty ingredients.  For instance, the cheapest black peppercorns will taste great as long as they're freshly ground and I love Lawry's seasoned salt more than any higher-priced version I've ever had.  Once in a while, though, a specialty ingredient really makes the recipe, well, special.  I think that's the case with this soup, where I used Penzeys toasted granulated onion (no, they don't pay me anything to tout their products; boy, don't I wish).  You can of course substitute regular onion powder, but the results just won't be quite as toasty yummy good.

Broccoli Cauliflower Cheese Soup Recipe

3/4 pound broccoli crowns
1 head of cauliflower
cloves of half a head of garlic
2 cups stock (see note)
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup lowfat milk
1/2 pound grated extra sharp cheddar cheese
2 teaspoons toasted granulated onion
salt and freshly ground black pepper
splash of Sherry (optional)

Note:  The best stock for this soup is a smoky one, such as a stock made from smoked chicken or ham bones.  Use the best stock you have available.

Procedure

Rinse and drain the broccoli and cauliflower.  Trim away the very ends of the broccoli stems and any leaves.  Cut the florets off the stems and roughly chop the florets.  Set the chopped florets aside.  Roughly chop the broccoli stems.  

Cut the cauliflower head in quarters and cut away the stem/core and leaves.  Rough chop the quartered cauliflower. 

Peel the garlic cloves.

(Remember to throw all the veggie trimming "discards" in your freezer bag for making stock later.)

Veggies prepped and ready to fulfill their soup destiny

Fill a large heavy-bottomed stockpot with water, add a few big pinches of salt, and bring to a low boil.  Add the broccoli stem chunks, the cauliflower chunks, and the garlic cloves.  Boil gently until all veggies are very tender and can be easily pierced with a fork, about 20 minutes.

Once you have the broccoli stems, cauliflower, and garlic boiling in the salted water, bring the stock to a boil in a large saucepan, add broccoli florets, and gently boil while you complete the remaining steps.

When the broccoli stems, cauliflower, and garlic are tender, drain them through a strainer, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water.  Put the heavy-bottomed stockpot back on the range; you're going to use it again.  Process the broccoli stems, cauliflower, and garlic in a food processor or blender until smooth, working in batches if necessary, and adding a little of the cooking water if necessary.

In the heavy-bottomed stockpot, melt the butter over medium heat, add the flour, and whisk for a couple of minutes to cook the flour.  Whisk in the milk and continue whisking until the mixture thickens like gravy.  Add the cheese a handful at a time, stirring to incorporate.

When all the cheese has melted, pour in the stock with the broccoli florets, add the toasted granulated onion, salt and pepper to taste, and Sherry, if using.  Simmer for a while before serving to allow all the flavors to blend.

Makes roughly (very roughly) 2 1/2 quarts of soup.