Main Dish | Eat Your Heart Out

Thai Chicken Pizza

March 6, 2013 by Stephie 12 Comments

Growing up, my mother made it a point to cook dinner for our family every night. Eating out was rare, eating dinner together was a nightly ritual. My first memory of having a frozen pizza? High school. And I’m fairly certain it was at my boyfriend’s house. I was in college before I figured out that this was not necessarily the norm for many of my friends – they thought that I was the weird one to have a mom who actually cooked, instead of relying on take-out or prepared foods.

So when my cooking adventures inspired one of these friends to cook dinner for me this past summer, I was like a proud momma. And the meal was so good, I insisted she email me the recipe! I had forgotten about that recipe until recently, when I suddenly found myself craving some of that Thai Chicken Pizza. I dug up that recipe the next day, did some tweaking, and feasted on Thai Chicken Pizza for the next three days.

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Filed Under: Main dish Tagged With: Chicken, Healthier, Main dish, Pizza, Thai

Easy Meaty Spaghetti Sauce

February 20, 2013 by Stephie 4 Comments

Remember earlier this week when I told you to hang on to your sloppy joe leftovers? Now you find out why!

Growing up, my mom would often make sloppy joes for dinner one night, and then the next night would turn the leftovers into spaghetti sauce. This is a great way to re-purpose leftovers – it is quick, easy, can be done ahead of time if needed, freezes well, and keeps you from eating exactly the same thing multiple nights in a row!
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Filed Under: Main dish, Pasta Tagged With: Gluten-free, Main dish, Pasta, Quick and easy, sauce, tomatoes

Sloppy Joes

February 18, 2013 by Stephie 12 Comments

I feel like sloppy joes are one of those overlooked comfort foods. I mean, they certainly don’t upstage foods like mashed potatoes or mac and cheese or chicken pot pie (read: carb overload foods), but they do deserve a comfort food mention. Your mom probably made them on weeknights while you were growing up, maybe accompanied by some homemade french fries or corn-on-the-cob (depending on the season). Sloppy joes just take me back to my childhood.

And do you know why your mom made sloppy joes on weeknights? Because they are so dang quick and easy. The most time consuming part of this whole process is browning your ground beef (or feel free to lighten things up with some ground turkey). Once you do that, you throw in the other ingredients and let everything simmer for just a bit until the sauce thickens up to your liking.

Once you make these, hang on to the leftovers, because later this week I will be giving you my mom’s favorite quick-and-easy way to re-purpose those sloppy joes!

Adapted from Better Homes and Garden

Sloppy Joes

Yield: About 6 servings

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef
1 small onion
2 large carrots
1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
2 tablespoons rolled oats
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
½ cup water
1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Peel the carrots and onions. Cut each into several large pieces, then pulse in a food processor until finely diced. You don’t want a puree situation on your hands – just a very fine dice.
Place the onion and carrot mixture in a large pan with the ground beef. Cook over high heat until the beef is cooked through. Remove from heat and drain the fat. Return the meat and vegetable mixture to the pan. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer over medium-low heat, uncovered, for about 30 minutes or until desired consistency.

Filed Under: Main dish, Sandwiches Tagged With: beef, Gluten-free, Main dish, Quick and easy, Sandwich

Shrimp and Crab Gumbo

February 11, 2013 by Stephie 11 Comments

I’ve mentioned before that my maternal grandmother is originally from Mississippi, and that when I was 10, my family took a trip to New Orleans and my grandmother’s hometown of Brookhaven, Mississippi.

While I have grown up on some southern staples – grits, bread pudding, and the “correct” kind of cornbread (read: not sweet) – the whole trip was an opportunity to eat some other foods that my grandmother grew up eating, but I had never had a chance to try, such as beignets, pecan pralines, and – perhaps most importantly – gumbo.

I have spent my whole life hearing my momma talk about eating her grandmother’s crab gumbo and how wonderful it was. Unfortunately, Ma-Ma never wrote down her gumbo recipe, and so we were never able to replicate it. But, after eating at the famous Brennan’s, Momma declared that their gumbo was as close to Ma-Ma’s gumbo as she had ever had.

And so, on a recent visit to my parents’ house, Momma and I put together bits and pieces of her memories, along with some guidance from Brennan’s and John Besh, and set out to recreate my great-grandmother’s gumbo.

Gumbo, while not a difficult dish to make, does require a few different components, all of them important. First, there’s the roux: make sure you take the time to get the color in your roux – it’s what is going to give your gumbo that deep, rich flavor! Then, there’s the filè: made from powdered sassafras leaves, this is going to help thicken your gumbo, and also imparts flavor. While you can make your gumbo without it, it should not be too hard to find at your local grocery store (and can definitely be found online). And finally, there’s what you put in your gumbo: while we stuck with shrimp and crab, those of you who prefer a little extra spice in your gumbo can most certainly add in some andouille sausage.

So bring a piece of New Orleans into your home and celebrate Fat Tuesday – or, really, any day that ends in “y” – with some seafood gumbo.

Adapted from Breakfast at Brennan’s and Dinner, Too and My New Orleans

Shrimp and Crab Gumbo

Yield: 6-8 servings

Ingredients

½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup flour
1 medium onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound okra (fresh or frozen), cut into ½-inch pieces
1 16-ounce can tomato sauce
1 16-ounce can diced tomatoes
1½ teaspoons dried thyme
1½ quarts seafood or chicken stock
⅓ cup Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
1½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 pound raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 pound cooked lump crab meat
1 tablespoon file powder

Instructions

Heat the oil in a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the flour – it will sizzle and spatter a bit – and whisk until smooth. Lower the heat to medium and continue stirring for about 15 minutes, until the roux is the color of milk chocolate.
Add the onion to the pot and continue stirring until the mixture is the color of dark chocolate.
Add the pepper, garlic and okra (if using fresh). Cook for about 3 minutes, then add the tomatoes and tomato sauce. Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the stock, thyme, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. (If using frozen okra, add it now and allow to thicken slightly before continuing.)
Add the uncooked shrimp, and simmer for about 10-12 minutes, just until the shrimp is mostly cooked. Add the crab and continue simmering until the shrimp is completely cooked and the crab is heated through.
Remove from heat and add the file (do not add while the gumbo is still simmering, or else it can become stringy). Remove bay leaves. Serve over cooked white rice.

Filed Under: Main dish, Soups Tagged With: Main dish, seafood, Soup

Broccoli Cheese Soup

January 28, 2013 by Stephie 15 Comments

This morning I did something that, until this moment, completely terrified me.

This morning I handed in my letter of resignation at work.

I do not have anything officially lined up for when I leave.

It was absolutely one of the biggest leaps of faith that I have ever taken. Yet I am standing firm in the belief that this was the right move for me, and that God will provide.

I find it highly symbolic that when I walked into work this morning, it was gray and rainy and generally crappy outside.

When I walked out of that meeting – feeling lighter, and less stressed than I have in months – it had stopped raining and the sun was starting to peek out from behind the clouds.

You can tell me I’m crazy {you’d be right}, but I’m choosing to believe it was a sign.

I don’t know what this next chapter of life holds for me, but I do know this: There will be plenty of food. Starting with this soup.

Remember last week when I said that your freshly baked loaf of sourdough bread would be fabulous with some soup? This is the soup I had in mind. And here’s what’s really great about it: it’s loaded with veggies and, without any cream, is lighter than other recipes you might encounter. Don’t get me wrong – I loooooove those versions, but sometimes you just need something a little lighter.

Besides…then you can have an extra slice or two of bread.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

1 large bunch broccoli
2 large carrots, diced
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
3 cups milk
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh black pepper
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions

Cut the broccoli into florets. If you want, you can also dice up the tender parts of the stem. Set aside.
In a large dutch oven, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the carrots and onion, sautéing until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic and sauté one more minute.
Sprinkle in the flour, stirring to combine. Cook for one minute, then slowly stream in the stock and milk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, then reduce heat to low. Add in the broccoli and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until broccoli is tender.
Using an immersion blender (or carefully transferring the soup to a regular blender, about ⅓ at a time), blend soup until it reaches your desired consistency. Add salt, plenty of freshly ground pepper and the cheese to the blended soup, stirring over low heat until cheese is melted. Serve warm, preferably alongside some freshly baked bread.