Food Archives - Lynda Makara

Does Aldi irish butter whip Kerrygold?

February 17, 2020/2 Comments/in Food, Reviews /by [email protected]

Aldi used to carry Kerrygold irish butter and then they stopped. Now they carry their own brand of irish butter. I’ve had both of them before but not at the same time. So I went out and got one of each (and two others) to compare them side by side.

Watch my Aldi irish butter review

Aldi Countryside irish butter vs. Kerrygold

Both of these butters have the same two ingredients, cream and salt. When I unwrapped them, they looked identical in color. They were a medium shade of yellow. When it comes to butter, just like with egg yolks, the deeper the color, the richer the nutrients.

The texture was the same also. And when I tasted them, they tasted exactly the same to me. There’s no way I could tell one from the other in a blind taste test. It makes me wonder if they come from the same supplier.

Bonus review: Irish butter vs. european pasture raised butter

When I was shopping for irish butter, I happened to find this Danish Creamery european pasture raised butter.

It also has the same ingredients, cream and salt. The box implies that their pasture raised butter is better than grass fed because their cows are grazing all day on a “rich and varied natural diet.”

The color is definitely lighter than irish butter.

But the color is slightly deeper than your average supermarket butter. Here it is compared to Kirkland butter.

And the taste is different as well. It tastes more like fat and has less of that butter flavor that I prefer. When checking the box, indeed it does have one more gram of fat per serving.

The verdict: Does Aldi irish butter whip Kerrygold

When it comes to taste, Aldi irish butter and Kerrygold are tied. But Aldi butter wins because of price. It currently is $2.99 for 8 ounces ($5.98/pound). And that’s even cheaper than buying Kerrygold in bulk at Costco ($6.50/pound).

Have you tried Aldi Countryside irish butter? Which butter is your favorite?

Do Aldi free range eggs beat Vital Farms pasture raised eggs?

February 8, 2020/9 Comments/in Food, Reviews /by [email protected]

Recently I was doing a little shopping at Aldi and looked to see if they carry any pasture raised eggs. The answer to that is no. But they did have free range eggs that are “sustainably raised” and “raised on small family farms.”

That last phrase especially gave me hope that the hens might have a lifestyle almost as good as pasture raised hens. But the proof of that is in the egg yolk. So I bought some to see for myself how they compare to the Vital Farms pasture raised eggs I normally buy.

The difference between free range and pasture raised eggs

The term “free range” means that hens have access to the outdoors and have less than two square feet of space. They may actually spend very little time outdoors.

The term “pasture raised” means that hens have at least 108 square feet of space and they spend most of the day outside scratching dirt and eating bugs.

The moment of truth, cracking open the eggs

It was instantly obvious which egg is superior judging by the color of the egg yolks. Vital Farms eggs are a deep orange yellow, while the Aldi eggs are yellow with a touch of orange. (They do seem to have a bit more color than regular Goldhen eggs.)

And there is a difference in taste as well, with the flavor being more intense in Vital Farms pasture raised eggs.

My video review

The verdict

Aldi free range eggs DO NOT beat Vital Farms pasture raised eggs.

Even though Aldi free range eggs are half the price at $2.99, I will continue to buy Vital Farms eggs. I feel confident their hens are living their best chicken lives down on the farm which also means their eggs are more nutritious.

Easy keto beef jalapeño skillet

December 13, 2019/0 Comments/in Food, Main dishes /by [email protected]

Here’s a quick, simple keto recipe involving ground beef and jalapeños. Yes, those jalapeños are making another appearance because I still have about a half gallon left from the gargantuan bottle I got at Costco.

Anyway, I’ve discovered the heat and vinegar infusion from the jalapeños gives the ground beef a really good flavor. So here goes one of the easiest recipes ever.

Ingredients for keto beef jalapeño skillet

1 lb ground beef
½ onion, chopped
½ cup nacho sliced jalapeños (remove seeds)
1 tsp salt
½ tsp garlic powder
8 oz grated cheddar cheese
Sour cream for garnish (optional)

Cooking instructions

In a medium skillet, brown the onion and jalapeños in oil or bacon fat. Chop the jalapeños up as they are cooking (or before if you prefer).

Add the ground beef and season with salt and garlic powder.

Stir all the ingredients together and cook until the hamburger is done.

Spread the cheese on top.

Put the skillet in the oven and bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Dinner is ready! Add sour cream if desired.

This makes four servings for me and is a good recipe for meal prep or freezing for later.

Keto chicken jalapeño popper casserole

December 6, 2019/0 Comments/in Food, Main dishes /by [email protected]

I love keto jalapeño poppers but they’re kind of a pain to make. And I love chicken but sometimes it gets a little boring. So I decided to put the two together in a casserole using shortcuts that eliminate the hassle.

All the ingredients combine together beautifully and yet the individual flavors don’t get lost. You can still taste the jalapeños, the cheese, the bacon and the chicken. And it’s so rich and filling, a modest serving will keep you satisfied for hours.

Shopping for ingredients

I decided the biggest shortcut would be to use a rotisserie chicken so off to Costco I went. (Leftover turkey would also work well in this recipe.)

After picking up the chicken, I went over to the produce section for the jalapeños. How can this be—no jalapeños! Rather than go to another store, I decided to get the next best thing which was the biggest jar of sliced jalapeños I’ve ever seen. This turned out to be shortcut #2.

I almost succumbed to shortcut #3 by buying a bag of crumbled bacon at Costco, but I decided to cook my own.

Chicken jalapeño popper casserole recipe

18 oz cooked chicken, cubed
12 oz bacon, cooked and chopped
6 large jalapeños, roasted and chopped, or
1 cup sauteed nacho sliced jalapeños, chopped
(Save a few jalapeño rings for the topping)
1 cup grated cheddar cheese + extra for topping
8 oz cream cheese, softened
½ cup sour cream
½ cup chicken stock or water
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
Salt and pepper to taste

8×8 inch baking dish, greased
Combine ingredients as follows and bake at 375 degrees 30 to 40 minutes
Serves 6

Assembling the casserole

If using fresh jalapeños, cut in half, remove seeds, add a little oil. Roast on a baking sheet in the oven at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes.

If using jarred jalapeños, rinse and dry them, then saute in butter until soft. Save a few rings for the topping and chop up the rest.

In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, sour cream and spices.

Then stir in the cheese.

Mix in the chicken broth or water to thin it out a little.

Mixture should be quite loose.

Add cubed chicken, chopped bacon (reserving some for topping) and all the chopped jalapeños.

Pour mixture into greased baking dish and top with a little extra cheese.

Sprinkle on reserved jalapeño slices and reserved bacon.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes, or until bubbly.

Enjoy!

Keto low carb skillet pizza in 10 minutes

November 21, 2019/0 Comments/in Food, Main dishes /by [email protected]

Faster than you can say “DiGiorno” you can make yourself a low carb pizza. Okay not that fast, but faster than you can heat up the oven for that frozen pizza. My skillet pizza only takes ten minutes from start to finish. That means I can satisfy my pizza craving any time I want. And because it’s low carb and high protein, it fits into my keto diet.

Low carb

This pizza uses a low carb tortilla for the crust which is only 6 net carbs. I like using Mission Carb Balance low carb tortillas.

The next most carby ingredient is the sauce.

Sometimes I make my own from tomato paste which is really low carb. But most of the time I use the lowest carb sauce I can find (that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg). Surprisingly, Great Value marinara sauce has 6 net carbs per ½ cup serving. I only use 2T for the pizza so that comes in at 1.5 net carbs.

High protein

The next macro I like to focus on is protein. Altogether with the toppings I’ve chosen, this pizza has around 30 grams of protein, the minimum for muscle protein synthesis. You can read more about that here.

What you need to make low carb skillet pizza

10 inch skillet with lid
1 pat of butter
2T marinara sauce
1 oz grated mozzarella
1 oz grated cheddar
½ oz grated asiago
16 slices of pepperoni (1 serving of Great Value pepperoni)
Olives (optional)

Watch my video to see how I make low carb skillet pizza

See me make low carb skillet pizza

How to make a keto skillet pizza in 10 minutes

Heat up the skillet over medium heat.

Add the butter and put the tortilla on top.

Spread the sauce over the tortilla.

Cover with all the cheese.

Cheese on top of skillet pizza — Cheese on top

Top with pepperoni and olives.

Pepperoni added to pizza — Pepperoni on top

Olives added to pizza — I like Kalamata olives for their extreme olive taste

Cover the skillet and turn the heat down to low.

Set the timer for 8 minutes.

And presto! Your crispy thin crust pizza is ready to eat!

keto low carb skillet pizza on plate — Perfect every time!

Homemade sauerkraut, my flat belly secret

August 19, 2019/0 Comments/in Food /by [email protected]

I hope that got your attention! Yes, I believe eating a little of my homemade sauerkraut every day helps keep my tummy flat. I will explain why and show you how I make my own sauerkraut.

Food fermentation has a long history

Humans have been fermenting food since an estimated 10,000 BC. The reasons for this were to preserve food and enhance the nutritional benefits.

Just about every culture has traditionally used fermented foods in their diet, such as yogurt, kefir, kimchi, natto, cod liver oil, high meat and, of course, sauerkraut.

Americans do not typically eat fermented food. In fact, most of us tend to treat our stomach like a garbage can and just eat anything without regard to the effect it will have on our bodies.

I want to have a long and healthy life (and fit into my size 4 jeans) so I decided to make fermented food part of my diet. And of that list, sauerkraut appeals to me the most.

The nutritional benefits of sauerkraut

Something magical happens when you mix cabbage, salt and water together in an anaerobic environment. It produces lovely probiotics, enzymes and vitamin K2, to name a few. All these things are good for gut health and your overall health because if your digestion is messed up, you won’t be healthy.

When your digestion works properly, you won’t have gas, bloating, heartburn, etc.

And you get all this good stuff for just pennies a day compared to buying nutritional supplements.

Making sauerkraut vs buying it

You don’t have to make your own sauerkraut but you’ll save a lot of money doing it and you can customize it to your taste.

If you’d rather buy sauerkraut, make sure to get it from the refrigerated section. Any sauerkraut that is shelf stable has been pasteurized which kills all the probiotics.

I could make vats of sauerkraut for what one jar from the store would cost. And here’s how I make it.

How to make sauerkraut

You will need a 64 oz mason jar with optional plastic lid, glass weights* (optional but highly recommended), large knife, cutting board, large mixing bowl, water, sea salt and cabbage (slightly over 4 lb).

*You need some kind of weight, not necessarily these, but these are perfect!

64 oz mason jar, plastic lid and glass weight

This basic recipe makes about a half gallon of sauerkraut.

Cut cabbage into thin strips. Save one leaf (cut into a circle) to fit inside the jar as floater control.

Cut a circle of cabbage to control floaters

Discard the core.

Put cabbage into mixing bowl with about 1T of salt. Knead and massage cabbage with your hands for a total of 10 minutes.

Sliced cabbage with 1T sea salt ready for kneading

After five minutes you can add extra spices or veggie slices if desired.

garlic, onion flakes, red pepper flakes — I sometimes add crushed red pepper, garlic and onion flakes

Transfer cabbage into mason jar and use your fist to press out all the air. Pour in the liquid from the cabbage.

cabbage kneaded for 10 minutes — Cabbage after 10 minutes of kneading

Tamping down the cabbage with my fist to remove air

All the cabbage pressed into mason jar. This was a little smaller batch.

Add the floater control circle and put at least one glass weight on top. You may need to add extra brine to completely cover the cabbage and weight.

The recipe for brine is 1T sea salt to 4 cups of water (I use filtered water). Save extra brine in the refrigerator.

Leave 1 to 1½ inches of space from the top of the jar. The liquid is going to rise during fermentation.

Lay the lid on top but don’t screw it on. This is just to keep bugs out.

Lid placed on top of jar and put inside bowl

Put the mason jar on a plate. Cover the jar with a clean cloth and set aside out of direct sunlight for 7 to 14 days. (Longer in cooler temperatures.)

Check sauerkraut every day to make sure there’s still enough liquid. Sometimes after the liquid rises it will begin to evaporate and you need to add more brine.

When the sauerkraut is ready, remove the glass weight and cabbage circle. Now you can screw on the lid and place the jar in the refrigerator. This will keep up to a year.

remove and discard cabbage circle after fermentation — After fermentation, remove and discard cabbage circle

Watch my video on how to make sauerkraut

See me make sauerkraut step by step

So there you have it! I eat about ¼ cup each day. Being a low carb food, it fits well into my keto diet.

Sauerkraut finished and ready for the refrigerator

I hope you’ll enjoy your sauerkraut and good tummy health!

My cold brew coffee recipe

January 20, 2019/0 Comments/in Food /by [email protected]

No doubt about it, cold brew coffee is really hot right now. For me there’s nothing more refreshing than cold brew coffee poured over ice with billowing swirls of half and half.

Iced coffee is my favorite drink and I used to just make it in an electric drip coffee maker and then refrigerate. But I started noticing a bitter taste no matter what type of coffee I used. So I went on the hunt for a better brewing method.

Through a lot of trial and error, I finally devised an easy method for making cold brew coffee without the mess.

The benefits of cold brew coffee

The main benefit of cold brew coffee is the taste. It’s mellow and smooth, not sharp or bitter, because less acid is released.

The next benefit is that less caffeine is extracted with this method. That might not be considered a benefit by some but it probably should be.

Too much caffeine is bad for your adrenal glands, and that’s a concern for me. So I use half decaf to bring the caffeine level down even more.

Equipment for making homemade iced coffee

Only a couple of things are needed for making cold brew coffee at home that you might not already have: a 64 oz wide mouth mason jar and this metal filter.

Finding this filter was a game changer. It strains out all the sediment without having to use an additional paper filter inside.

cold brew coffee filter and jar — Cold brew coffee making supplies

It’s also nice to buy plastic lids for the mason jars. I prefer those to the two-part metal lids that come with the jars.

You probably already have a funnel which helps when transferring the brewed coffee into a storage vessel of your choice.

How strong do you like your coffee?

Before getting to the recipe, you need to determine how strong you like your coffee and I have a little test to help you figure that out.

Using a Mr Coffee-type drip maker as an example, if you use one scoop of coffee for two cups of water, then follow the recipe below for regular strength coffee. If you use one scoop of coffee for one cup of water, then double the amount of coffee. The filter can hold up to 2¼ cups of coffee grounds.

My recipe for cold brew coffee (one gallon)

Use one cup of coffee per gallon of water.

Place the metal filter in the mason jar and put one cup of coffee inside. Take a one gallon bottle of water and pour water over the grounds until you reach the top of the jar. Put the remaining water aside until the next day.

Put a lid on the jar and stick it in the refrigerator. Let brew for 12 to 24 hours. I go up to 24 hours. Beyond that it starts to get bitter.

Coffee ready to brew in the refrigerator

And that’s it, simple as can be.

Twenty-four hours later, I take the jar out and balance the filter on the jar to let the coffee drip out.

Draining the coffee filter — Draining the filter

After a few minutes, I take the filter to my trash can, dump it out then rinse it.

Then I put a funnel into the plastic gallon water jug and pour the brewed coffee inside where it mixes up into the perfect strength, ready for drinking.

Pouring brewed coffee into plastic jug — Pouring brewed coffee into plastic water jug

If you don’t want to store yours in a plastic jug, you can get glass carafes. I just find this method more convenient and there’s one less thing to wash.

Cold brew coffee stored in plastic gallon jub

As soon as I’m finished making one batch, I rinse out the jar and repeat.

How long can you keep cold brewed coffee

I would say the coffee is fine for at least a week, maybe even ten days, in the refrigerator. Always keep it refrigerated so things don’t start growing in there.

I keep about a week’s worth on hand. I usually make coffee for four days in a row, then I wash everything in the dishwasher so it’s ready for the next time.

cold brew iced coffee — Cold brew iced coffee

Colorful brownie pop bouquet

June 14, 2016/2 Comments/in Dessert, Food, Food decorating /by [email protected]

My niece just celebrated her 21st birthday and I wanted to give her a little homemade treat along with her gift, so I made her this festive bouquet of brownie pops.

This fun bouquet is a little different because the whole thing is edible except for the container and sticks. And I was able to make it for around $20, much less than it would have cost from a bakery.

How to make a brownie pop bouquet

This is what I bought/gathered together for the project:

Brownie mix
Ingredients for chocolate buttercream frosting (butter, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla)
White chocolate candy melts
Assorted candy sprinkles
Paper straws (they were colorful and solid, and cheaper than cake pop sticks)
Large 42 oz bag of M&Ms (instead of styrofoam) for the bouquet part
Large recycled glass jar to hold the M&Ms
Ribbon for decoration
Cardboard, paint, glitter and bamboo skewer for “21” decorative pick

: White chocolate candy melts

: Paper straws

: M&Ms, recycled jar and ribbon

And here’s what I did.

I made fudge brownies from the brownie mix. I prefer coconut oil over vegetable oil, but you can use what you like.

Fudge brownie ingredients

Then I made my own chocolate buttercream frosting using very little liquid so that the brownie pops would hold together really well.

Ingredients for chocolate buttercream frosting

Chocolate buttercream frosting recipe
2 sticks butter
1 lb powdered sugar
¾ cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
Milk to slightly thin out frosting

I don’t like store bought frosting and this is easy to make. You just cream the butter with the sugar, then add the other ingredients a little at a time until you get the right consistency.

Stiff chocolate buttercream frosting for brownie pops

Stiff chocolate buttercream frosting to mix with brownies

I mushed up the brownies leaving the hard outside edges behind. I used my mini chopper but I could have just used my hands. The end result was a very sticky and gooey ball of chocolate goodness.

I added the frosting to the mixture, one part frosting to two parts brownie dough, again using the mini chopper to blend them together. (This is when I wish I had a food processor!)

To form the pops I took a large spoonful of dough and rolled it around in my hands until it was nice and smooth and roundish.

The goal was to make them all the size of a golf ball. There was enough dough to make 20 pops but I only used 12 for the bouquet.

The pops were placed on a tray lined with wax paper and stuck it in the refrigerator for about an hour to firm up.

Brownie pops before sticks are added

When the pops came out of the refrigerator, I made holes in them using one of the paper straws. I tried to make the holes about ¾ of the way through. At this point chilled pops were very solid.

Brownie pops with holes for the sticks

I melted the white chocolate candy melts in a teeny tiny crock pot. They could also be microwaved or heated in a double boiler. The crock pot got very hot after a while and I had to keep turning it off and then back on to regulate the temperature.

Candy melts in mini crock pot

I dipped one end of the paper straw into the melted chocolate and pushed it into a brownie pop.

Putting frosting “glue” on the end of a paper straw

I left the pops on the tray until all the sticks were inserted. I put them back in the refrigerator again for just a few minutes for the candy to set up.

“Gluing” sticks into brownie pops

Before decorating I made this stand from a clean cardboard box to hold the pops while they were drying. I taped the box together then punched holes in it for the sticks.

Makeshift brownie pops stand

Then came the best part—decorating!

Before I dipped each one, I did a little reshaping with my fingers. They had gotten a little flat on top plus they weren’t exactly round to begin with.

I rolled each pop around in the melted chocolate until it was completely covered. Then I twirled and tapped to remove excess chocolate before sprinkling the top with assorted cake sprinkles.

Swirling brownie pops in melted chocolate

This is kind of tricky and after a while you get the feel for it. If you don’t remove enough excess coating, it will slide off when you put it in the holder, along with the sprinkles. If you wait too long and try to remove too much, the coating hardens and the sprinkles won’t stick to it.

Here’s a tip for adding the sprinkles. Put a little dish underneath the brownie pop to catch the sprinkles that fall off and also to keep them from rolling all over your counter.

Assorted colorful brownie pops

I noticed that as these were drying, some of them developed cracks. All I did was smear a little melted chocolate over them with a spoon and topped with more sprinkles.

Finally it was time to arrange these babies in a bouquet. I filled the jar with M&Ms. Fortunately there were some leftover for the chef!

Edible base for brownie pops

Then I just stuck 12 of them in, inserted the “21” pick and tied a ribbon around the jar.

“21” decorative pick for brownie bouquet

If you want to know how I made the pick, please ask me in the comments.

And here is the finished colorful brownie pop bouquet. I recommend keeping it refrigerated.

Brownie pop bouquet for 21st birthday

So cute and delicious. I had a couple leftover for myself. I liked biting through the hard candy shell into the smooth and creamy center. Mmmm…tasted like chocolate truffles.

And my niece loved her bouquet, I think even more than the actual gift!

Authentic Lebanese hummus recipe

April 25, 2016/0 Comments/in Food /by [email protected]

My friend Suzie is from Lebanon and she makes the best hummus I’ve ever had. So I asked her for the recipe and I’m sharing it with you.

People like to put their own spin on hummus and add different things that aren’t part of the traditional recipe. I must confess I fell into that category, mostly because I didn’t know any better. Hummus should have a creamy, delicate chickpea flavor enhanced with tahini, lemon and hints of garlic.

Having tasted Suzie’s recipe, which she assures me is authentic, I will never be satisfied with anything else.

Authentic Lebanese hummus

Ingredients for authentic Lebanese hummus

2–15 oz cans of chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
2T (heaping) tahini
3T water
Juice of 2 lemons (about ½ cup)
4 cloves garlic, diced
Salt to taste
Extra virgin olive oil, parsley flakes, ground cumin, a few whole chickpeas for garnish

Preparation

Reserve a few whole chickpeas for garnishing later. Mash one of the beans with a fork to see how soft it is.

It should mash easily and have the consistency of mashed potatoes. If not, the rest of them need to be boiled.

Say what? Whoever heard of boiling canned chickpeas, but Suzie says they have to be really soft or the hummus will be grainy, and nobody wants that. She buys the Mid East brand from the Arab market because they’re always soft enough.

Suzie’s favorite Mid East brand chickpeas, tahini and olive oil.
Photo credit: SM

Put the chickpeas in a pan along with the water from the can and boil for five minutes.

Boiling canned chickpeas

Mix tahini with the water in a small bowl.

Tahini mixed with water

Juice the lemons into a measuring cup.

Dice the garlic.

Four cloves of diced garlic

Instructions for Lebanese hummus

Drain the boiled chickpeas and begin blending them in a food processor or mini chopper like mine. (Using a mini chopper I have to do this in batches.)

Chickpeas in my mini chopper

Throw in the garlic and some salt and add the tahini/water mixture along with some lemon juice. Put enough liquid in until the blended chickpeas become the consistency of yogurt.

You may not need to use all of the lemon juice. Taste it as you go along. I ended up not using 1 or 2 tablespoons. But you may need to add more water until the consistency is right.

Put the hummus in a bowl, smooth out the top and make a little swirl with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle the reserved chickpeas on top. Garnish with extra virgin olive oil and a little bit of chopped parsley (dried or fresh). Then just around the outside edge sprinkle a little bit of ground cumin. Not too much because you don’t want it to overwhelm the chickpeas.

Hummus garnished with olive oil, parsley flakes and ground cumin

Now serve with some nice, soft pita bread or raw vegetables. Many times I’ll have hummus as a light lunch with carrot sticks.

Hummus on pita bread

This is so good you might end up eating the whole thing. But just in case you don’t, you can freeze the leftovers.

Try this for yourself and let me know what you think!

My favorite yellow squash recipes

August 3, 2015/0 Comments/in Food, Main dishes, Soup /by [email protected]

This year I planted my first vegetable garden in many years. My motivations were to save money on food and be able to eat nutritious organic vegetables within minutes of harvesting. One of my choices was yellow squash because it’s low carb, easy to grow and has lots of vitamins.

I was so excited watching the little sprouts rise out of the ground and couldn’t wait for my babies to start bearing fruit. I resolved to keep on top of the situation by picking the squash while they were still quite small.

Every day I got such satisfaction watering the plants and charting their progress: the first leaf, the first blossom, the first tiny squash developing. I longed for the day when I could start harvesting.

Well that day finally came and nearly every day afterward I’d pick four or five little squash and sauté them up for my dinner. Things were under control. I got this, I thought.

Then the inevitable happened. Not content to stay neatly in their little plot, virtually overnight my babies had grown into monsters, seemingly bent on world domination. They began choking out my other vegetables, spilling out of the garden and marauding across the sidewalk.

And with it came squash. Lots and lots of squash. I gave away as much as I could but was still left with a small mountain. By this time I was ready to find some new recipes for all that squash, and here are my favorites—roasted yellow squash and jalapeño soup, tamale squash pie casserole, and pepperoni pizza squash.

Roasted yellow squash jalapeño soup

Roasted yellow squash jalapeno soup

Ingredients

1½ lb yellow squash, cut into ½” slices
3 jalapeños
1 chopped onion
4 or 5 cloves of garlic
1T ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1½ cans of chicken broth
4 to 6 oz half and half
olive oil
salt and pepper
sour cream and chives to garnish

Instructions

Place the squash, jalapeños, onion and garlic and in roasting pan. Drizzle with olive and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven at 425° for 30 to 45 minutes, until they look like this.

Roasted squash, jalapenos, garlic and onions

Peel the skin off the jalapeños. You can also scrape out the seeds if desired. Put all the vegetables in a saucepan with cumin, oregano and chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Purée the vegetables with an immersion blender. Add the half and half. Turn the heat back on until soup starts to bubble.

Pureed yellow squash jalapeno soup

Serve with a little sour cream on top and a sprinkling of chives.

Spicy yellow squash jalapeno soup topped with sour cream and chives

Tamale squash pie casserole

For this recipe I used squash instead of corn and it came out great! This tamale pie is a little bit spicy and very cheesy.

A slice of tamale squash pie

Ingredients

1 lb hamburger
1 chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp salt
black pepper
1 to 2T chili powder
1 lb yellow squash, sliced
1 7-oz can green chilis
1 lg can olives, sliced
1 15-oz can tomato sauce
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp cayenne pepper
olive oil
grated cheese

For the corn meal topping:

¾ cup corn meal
2 cups water
½ tsp salt
½ tsp chili powder
1T butter
grated cheese

Ingredients for tamale squash pie

About a pound of squash for tamale pie casserole

Instructions

Cook the onions in a large skillet with olive oil. When they start to brown add the hamburger, garlic, salt and pepper. I also threw in a few jalapeños for good measure.

Browning the meat, onions and garlic with a few jalapenos

When the hamburger is cooked, add the chili powder and cook for about a minute. Then add the squash, green chilis, olives, tomato sauce, sugar and cayenne pepper.

Vegetables added to browned meat

Simmer for 25 minutes then stir in a generous amount of grated cheese.

Adding grated cheese to tamale squash pie

Ten or 15 minutes before the meat mixture is done, start cooking the corn meal in a pot with water, salt and chili powder. Stir constantly until it starts to thicken up. At that point add butter.

(I actually used organic polenta because I couldn’t find organic corn meal. The polenta is a coarser grind than corn meal and has more texture. Why organic? Because it’s non GMO.)

Adding butter to cooked corn meal

Add even more cheese.

Putting cheese into cooked corn meal

Spread the corn meal over the meat.

Note: If you’re not using an oven-proof skillet, you’ll need to transfer the meat into a buttered casserole dish.

Cooked corn meal goes on top of meat mixture

Top with—yes—more cheese. I probably use about 8 oz of cheese altogether.

Cheese goes on top of the corn meal

Pop the casserole in the oven at 375° for 40 minutes. This is what it looks like when it’s done. Saucy with a thin crunchy shell on top from the melted cheese.

Tamale squash pie casserole

Let it cool for a little bit before serving.

A serving of tamale squash pie casserole

Pepperoni pizza squash

This is by far my favorite recipe with all the flavor of pizza and none of the carbs. It’s so good I don’t even miss the crust, and the quickest to put together of the three recipes. The amounts are left off because you can make as little or as much as you want.

Pepperoni pizza squash

Ingredients

yellow squash cut into slices
marinara sauce (my favorite one is Bertoli Organic Olive Oil, Basil & Garlic)
quattro formaggio grated cheese
pepperoni slices
olive oil
salt and pepper
fresh basil leaves (optional garnish)

Quattro formaggio and pepperoni

Instructions

Sauté the squash in a frying pan with olive oil, salt and pepper until browned.

Sauteed yellow squash

Transfer to a baking dish to cover the bottom in one layer.

First layer: squash

Put enough marinara sauce on top to cover the squash.

Second layer: marinara sauce

Then sprinkle with cheese.

Third layer: cheese

Top with pepperoni.

Fourth layer: pepperoni

Bake in a 350° oven for about 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Baked pepperoni pizza squash

Garnish with basil leaves torn into pieces if desired.

I’m eating this whole thing!

The perfect bite

Heaven!

Too easy spicy baked chicken

June 20, 2015/0 Comments/in Food, Main dishes /by [email protected]

I always keep a bag of frozen boneless skinless chicken thighs on hand for those times when I don’t feel like cooking something elaborate. Today is one of those days when I want something tasty without dirtying up a pan. This dish goes from freezer to plate in an hour.

I just put a piece of foil over the toaster oven baking sheet, throw two pieces of frozen chicken on top, and season. The real magic is in the seasoning, and this is my latest favorite combination of flavors.

Hot sauce, sea salt, smoked paprika, ground cumin

Directly on top of the frozen chicken I squirt some Tapatío hot sauce followed by sea salt, smoked paprika and ground cumin. In the toaster oven it goes, 350 degrees for one hour.

Frozen seasoned chicken thighs on foil

One hour later, cooked spicy smoky chicken

The hot sauce is tangy and the paprika is sweet and smoky, kind of like a barbecued potato chip. Altogether, it’s really good.

Sweet potatoes with garam masala

To go with it I’ve got some leftover sweet potato. I microwaved it, topped it with butter, salt and garam masala. It tastes a little like pumpkin pie and for some reason I’m really liking it with the chicken.

Here’s the completed dish

I poured some of the juice over the chicken. Yum-my!

Baked spicy chicken with sweet potatoes

You should give this recipe a try when you want something fast and fuss-free.