Beef and Noodles

This is one of those easy kind of recipes that Sandra Lee would prepare. I almost redid my kitchen to match my outfit while I cooked it. Since I was home getting ready for the party, I decided to find something I could stick in the crock pot. After going through my cabinets and freezer, this is what I came up with.

Beef and Noodles

1/4 cup all-purpose

2 lbs. beef stew cut in 1-inch cubes

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 (18 oz) can Creamy Mushroom Soup (like Progresso)

1 (12 oz) jar fat-free beef gravy

1 cup milk

1 envelope onion soup mix

1/2 cup red wine

1 1/2 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed

hot cooked noodles

Place flour in large resealable plastic bag, season with salt and pepper and add beef. Toss to coat. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat, brown beef in batches. Transfer to 5qt. slow cooker. Add red wine to skillet, stir to de-glaze pan and add to crock pot. Add soup, gravy, milk and soup mix to crock pot and stir. Cover and cook on low for 7 to 8 hours. Add thawed vegetables and cook another 15 minutes. Serve over noodles.

Sun-Dried Tomato Dip

This is a great dip for chips or veggies. This is another recipe that I will be serving Saturday along with Dan's Mexican Corn Dip, Easy Cheese Ball and White Bean Dip .


Sun-Dried Tomato Dip


1/4 c. sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped (about 8)
8 oz. 1/3 less-fat cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup lite sour cream
1/2 cup lite Miracle Whip
10 to 20 dashes hot red pepper sauce
1 tsp. Pickapeppa sauce
1 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 green onions, thinly sliced, green and white parts

Combine all ingredients in food processor, except for green onion. Puree until smooth. Place into a bowl and stir in onion. Garnish with a chopped sun-dried tomato if desired. Serve at room temperature.

Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

Since today was a snow day, I took a personal day from work. When you live north of the river and work in Lee's Summit, the drive can be a little on the scary side. Plus I need to get ready for a party we are throwing on Saturday for some of our neighbors! I decided to make my meatballs in tomato sauce. When they were done I put them in the freezer, so all I have to do Saturday is thaw them and place them in the crock pot. This recipe is one that I adapted from my mother.



Meatballs


3 lbs. lean ground beef
2 eggs
1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
3 Tbsp. fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. salt
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 Tbsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix the ingredients in a large bowl, roll into 1-1/2" balls. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the meatballs, in batches, cooking until browned on all sides. Remove meatballs to baking dishes. When all the meatballs are browned, place into heated oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove to plates lined with paper towels to drain. Add to prepared tomato sauce.

Panettones

I love making these wonderful mini panettones! I'm not a fan of fruit cake, but I do like these fruited Italian breads. You can use pretty much any fruit that you like, but I prefer to use candied citron, lemon and orange peel and cherries. This recipe comes from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook with a few differences in my recipe. She uses vanilla and I use Fiori di Sicilia, a citrus vanilla flavoring that I get from http://www.kingarthurflour.com/. The Fiori di Sicilia is also great in sugar cookies and cakes. This year I purchased my candied fruit from the grocery store, but the stuff you get from the King Arthur people is much better. The recipes calls for using 2 panettone molds, I buy the mini wrappers from King Arthur and divide the dough into 12 balls. They are great for dessert or breakfast and make great gifts. When I got my yeast packets out, I only had 1 active dry and I quick rise. I used the quick rise in the first step and it worked out just fine.

Panettones

1/3 cup warm water (110 degrees)
2 envelopes active dry yeast
4 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 cup warm milk (110 degrees)
2/3 cup sugar
4 large eggs, plus 3 large egg yolks
1 tsp. Fiori di Sicilia (or pure vanilla extract)
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
1 1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups mixed candied fruit
1 Tbsp. milk

In a medium bowl, sprinkle 1 envelope yeast over warm water. Stir with fork until yeast is dissolved and let stand until foamy, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup flour and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let rise in warm place until doubled in bulk, about 30 minutes.
Pour warm milk into small bowl and sprinkle with remaining yeast packet. Stir with fork to dissolve and let stand until foamy. Meanwhile, whisk together sugar, whole eggs, 2 egg yolks and Fiori di Sicilia. Whisk in milk-yeast mixture.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, salt and remaining 3 1/2 cups flour on low speed until mixture is crumbly. With mixer on low, slowly add egg mixture and beat on medium until smooth. Add the water-yeast mixture; beat on high until dough is sticky and elastic and forms long strands when stretched, 6 to 9 minutes. Beat in fruit. Transfer dough to buttered bow and cover with buttered plastic wrap. Let rise in warm place until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.
Generously butter 2 panettone molds; set aside (if using disposable molds, you don't need to butter them). Turn out dough onto lightly floured surface; knead a few times, turning each time, until smooth. Divide dough in half (or into 12 pieces) and knead into balls. Drop balls into molds. Place on rimmed baking sheet; cover loosely with buttered plastic wrap. Let rise in warm place until dough reaches just above the top of the mold, 45 to 60 minutes. preheat oven to 400 with rack set in the lower third.
In small bowl, whisk together remaining yolk and milk. Brush tops of dough with egg wash. Using kitchen shears, cut an X in top of each ball of dough. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven to 350, continue baking, rotating sheet halfway through. Bake until golden brown about 45 minutes ( if baking smaller breads, bake for another 15 to 20 minutes). If tops brown to quickly, tent with aluminum foil. Transfer to wire rack and cool for 15 minutes. Loaves can be wrapped in plastic and kept at room temperature for 3 days.

Asparagus-Radicchio Risotto

Saturday night, while Alicia and Shazam were here, I decided to fix dinner. I thought a nice veggie risotto would be nice since we had been eaten so much during their visit. I shredded a head of radicchio and sauteed it with some sliced baby bella mushrooms in a little olive oil. I cut up a bunch of asparagus and blanched it , adding the heads to the water about a minute after I dropped the other pieces in. Once the asparagus was cooked to my liking I added it to the risotto. I finished it off by adding about a cup of grated Pecorino-Romano cheese and served it with bread and salad. My basic recipe can be found here: Risotto.

Zuk's Pacific Tango Sauce

A few weeks back, Green Acre's Market celebrated their 1 year anniversary at Briarcliff Village. One of the vendors sampling their wares was the creator of Zuk's sauces, Wendy. We tried them all and bought the Pacific Tango sauce, although we liked all of the one's we sampled. It's a very thick, garlicky-ginger sauce that I thought would be great on grilled chicken. I basted my grilled chicken with the sauce at the end of it's cooking time and was pleased with the results. The sauce has a very nice flavor and if you like ginger and garlic, you'll love it. You can check out the website at http://www.zuksdelights.com/.

Dining Out in Kansas City

This was a very busy weekend for us. Our friend, Alicia, came to visit from Phoenix with her new boyfriend, Sherrod (we call him Shazam!). We had a great time with them and really enjoyed getting to know Shazam. They also got to enjoy our crazy weather and some great Kansas City food.


On Thursday night we went to PizzaBella. This was like my 3rd visit there in the last 2 weeks, but I have a slight addiction to the Brussels sprouts. We ran into our friend Stacey, who had just finished dining with a friend and while we were leaving, we ran into Paul and Chris.


Alicia and Shazam ordered the crispy Brussels sprouts, fingerling potatoes and the calamari salad, all of which they loved. I had the sprouts and the mushroom pizza, while Dan ordered the green salad and the biancoverde pizza. Both of us were happy with our meals, too.


On Friday afternoon, we headed over to JP Wine Bar to meet up with Lisa and Karen. The place was much different than it was last Saturday. This time it was packed and noisy, which ruined the atmosphere for me. They had the music turned up way too loud to compensate for the human noise and that only added to the problem. We found a booth in the back and settled in for some great conversation, drink and food. We ordered the bruschetta , hummus and antipasto and enjoyed them all.


From there, we headed over to The Mango Room for dinner. They were also busy and there was live music. We had an excellent server and really had a great meal. Alicia ordered the fried chicken with mac and cheese and the fried green bean bundles. Shazam had the ox tails with the cheddar peppa' grits and fried green bean bundles. Dan ordered the salmon along with the grits and the green bean bundles and I had the pork chop with Brussels sprouts and the grits. All of the food was good and the company was excellent.



On Sunday morning we went to The Cafe at Briarcliff Village. While the food was good, the service is still a little questionable. Our server did not know the menu as well as she should have and that caused some problems with the ticket in the end. Dan and Alicia ordered the farmers breakfast and Shazam and I had the skillets. This place could be really good if they could just train the servers. We find ourselves opting for other places to eat, even though they are so close to home.